Just A Working Man

He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favours while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort, he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets everything for the best. He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp sayings for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. From a long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage, that we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend.

This reminds me of Cardinal John Henry Newman's book Definition of a Gentleman. I often cite Newman's book because it's so instructive. The term gentleman is so overwrought and frequently abused, but to the degree it means anything at all, I think Newman captures it here:

bad manners. When, as often happens, they break it defiantly in order to shock or embarrass others, they are not necessarily being unchaste, but they are being uncharitable: for it is uncharitable to take pleasure in making other people uncomfortable. I do not think that a very strict or fussy standard of propriety is any proof of chastity or any help to it, and I therefore regard the great relaxation and simplifying of the rule which has taken place in my own lifetime as a good thing. At its present stage, however, it has this inconvenience, that people of different ages and different types do not all acknowledge the same standard, and we hardly know where we are. While this confusion lasts I think that old, or old-fashioned, people should be very careful not to assume that young or ‘emancipated’ people are corrupt whenever they are (by the old standard) improper; and, in return, that young people should not call their elders prudes or puritans because they do not easily adopt the new standard. A real desire to believe all the good you can of others and to make others as comfortable as you can will solve most of the problems.

Let's move on with the rest of the passage.

Lewis recognizes that modesty raises thorny issues, but he sweeps them aside to focus on the more important spirit. I want to bring your attention to the last sentence here:

Terrific

Ben Shapiro: “When the president said deport all the illegal immigrants, I never thought that he meant that literally”

A black background with an orange border. At the top is text: “introverted__hiker: MAGA in 2016: ‘But her emails!!’ MAGA now: ‘Emails don’t prove anything.’” Below the text is an image of Hillary Clinton, wearing an orange outfit and holding her arms out in a shrugging gesture.

But his emails.

ever since I learned about three-cueing I've developed infinitely more patience for replies on social media. mfers literally do not know how to read. people are walking around conjuring random meanings into words they don't know, and they don't know a lot of words. it's crazy

This is exactly why Democrats lose

Medicare for All would save $450B a year.

Every dollar spent on food stamps generates $1.50-$1.80 in economic activity.

Each dollar going to low-wage workers adds $1.20 to the economy overall.

It’s not about what this country can or can’t afford.

It’s about priorities.

I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.

I wanted to offer some thoughts on the Gates climate memo that has been circulating this week. While I can't directly speak for others, I can say that my own response is one of dismay & deep frustration (and that this view is shared by many climate/Earth scientists). [1/n]

The average age of U.S. homebuyers is now 56, up from 49 last year.

In 1981, the year trickledown economics began, it was 31.

Is it agoraphobia or is it just that everything fucking sucks outside and at least in here I can avoid mass shootings, Covid, and Nazis?

I don’t know. Tough call.

I don’t know how to approach “Republicans weren’t racist in the early aughts” as someone who went to Texas during the early aughts and had to debate whether or not Black students were “stealing” people’s spots in class.

The niche of my law practice is representing women, minorities and whistleblowers in vindicating their civil rights in employment.

Having done this work for years now, I have come to understand something that I feel like sharing this morning:

White people and Black people have a VERY different

Young People Are Falling in Love With Old Technology Driven by a feeling they’ve lost control to screens, twenty-somethings are resurrecting CDs, flip phones and digital cameras

“The Luddite Club, a nonprofit group that supports taking smartphone breaks, has 26 chapters, nearly all of them at high schools or colleges.”

Screenshot from article linked below.

“The position of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine is to scrap Daylight Saving Time and permanently stick to Standard Time.” Remind your state and federal lawmakers!

Vance: "If you're an American citizen and you've been to the hospital in the last few years, you've probably noticed that wait times are especially large and very often somebody who's there in the ER is an illegal alien. Why do those people get healthcare benefits at hospitals paid for by American citizens?"

Fascism: assigning blame for all the problems caused by capitalism to minorities in order to defend the interests of the capitalist class.

Et voila.

1. Dr. Jane Goodall 1934 - 2025

In 1962, a very young woman named Jane Goodall stepped into the African forest.

What she would discover shattered our understanding of the place of human beings in the world.

She revealed that chimpanzees use tools, form bonds, and experience emotions.

⚠️ Worth paying attention to the focus on Emergency Room care here because I expect they are going to try to get rid of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which is was passed in 1986 under Reagan and is what makes ER care available to everyone regardless of ability to pay.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

Just gonna keep tapping the sign*

*𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦

no but for real they can't even give a shit about a victim of gun violence for longer than a couple weeks when it was THEIR GUY and they were building a whole cult around him. if there is a hell I hope Charlie is down there losing his mind about how little anyone's talking about him anymore

We know!

a scarf that looks like the pelt of a woolly mammoth draped upon the shoulders of the Are You Gonna Go My Way guy

Winter is approaching and I'm considering purchasing a Lenny Kravitz scarf. The Chicago winter has broken the spirits of many. I want to lug around a big ol blanket and call it clothes. I am prioritizing comfort this year and that means wearing a comforter to work.

*nods head*

@swordsjew.bsky.social did an interview on Know Your Enemy where she advocates bringing back the word "heretic" to describe these types of people. Rather than denying their self-proclaimed faith, call out their reading of that faith as being abhorrent

The colors are already starting to turn in the Chicago area. Peak autumn colors are predicted to arrive in less than 3 weeks.

divorced man with children by multiple women believes he has a “moral and ethical responsibility” for a children’s game

DAL-CHI All22 thread starts now ⬇️

Trans health care "skeptics" lost a key ally—now they're having a meltdown The godfather of evidence-based medicine on rejecting anti-trans "misuse" of his work.

For years, medical professionals and transgender advocates have been saying the "Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine" was not following the principles of evidenced-based medicine.

Now the "godfather" of evidence-based medicine is leveraging the same claim against them. (1/)

Reminder that unless you are a journalist, you very likely do not need to real-time subject yourself to the stream of utter & complete bullshit coming out of a fascist's mouth today.

If you are a journalist, your coverage needs to fundamentally dismantle the bullshit coming out of fascists' mouths.