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Advent Reflection by the Presiding Bishop
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church released a short Advent reflection. Set aside a couple peaceful minutes for it: Happy Advent, everybody!
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Hey Networks! I’m Talking To You!
I’m starting to really distrust network television. It is almost as if they actually want their viewers to hate them. With the cutting of Cougar Town and Community, ABC and NBC (respectively) are showing disrespect for their fans, who are particularly rabid and consistent. The 20th Century broadcast model was built on getting butts on couches to…
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Fox News Viewers: Less Than Ignorant?
You have to admit that there are some things that you know intuitively and when they are confirmed, it is all less shocking than it should be. Having said that, it was still pretty amazing to see this headline: “Fox News Viewers Know Less Than People Who Don’t Watch Any News: Study.” The study, which…
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A glimpse of the Republican Alternate Universe
There’s not believing something because it seems so wrong. There’s not believing because the wrong keeps happening. There’s believing because of precedent. And then there’s not believing again because the precedent is just too much. Tuesday night, the scales were tipped into lala land. After eight Republican debates, we have now found a list of…
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The Gilded Age of Media
When faced with something they find confusing, most journalists give up. They don’t do the real legwork of engaging the story. They write the “process story” instead. You’ve read the kind in which the author doesn’t actually write the story about the intended subject’s work, but how confusing that work is. They trot out tired…
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A shocking lack of historical knowledge
We all know the paraphrase, if not the real quote by George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to fulfill it.” And we seem to believe it. Sort of. Considering the ease with which we warn each other that such a leader as our own is the second coming of Hitler, it…
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Mixtape Mondays: begin at the end
In which I pick a song to go on a never-ending mixtape. We know the rules for the mixtape are pretty solid. You start with the best track. Seriously rocking number. Then you dial it back for the second track, then shift hard into track number three. You really only get three tracks to hook…
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Violence is not a given
I used to play over 30 hours of video games per week, so as a former gamer, the recent Supreme Court decision overturning a California ban on violent video games on free-speech grounds makes me happy. I’m predisposed to supporting a maligned and misunderstood industry. However, it is how the industry won that is deeply…