Lawrence Whitney
@brlawrencelc.com
Chaplain | Scholar | Changemaker
https://brlawrencelc.com
https://brlawrencelc.com
I would go so far as to say that doing this should qualify as a spiritual practice of discernment.
A really valuable practice is to ask yourself what you want to be true — not like how you want the world to be, but what you would find emotionally gratifying and what would fit your priors — and pump the breaks when a piece of information seems to fit that bill.
“The New York Times blew coverage of Harvard’s president way out of all proportion therefore we know it either intentionally ignored or sat on derogatory information about Epstein and Trump” doesn’t logically follow.
Maybe! Also maybe not! Need more evidence, which we may or may not ever get!
Maybe! Also maybe not! Need more evidence, which we may or may not ever get!
November 13, 2025 at 9:11 PM
I would go so far as to say that doing this should qualify as a spiritual practice of discernment.
Reposted by Lawrence Whitney
I keep seeing rhetoric that seems to conflate “criminal” and “in the country without legal status.”
Entering without inspection *is* a crime, though it’s rarely prosecuted.
But overstaying a visa? Not a crime.
And immigration courts are administrative, not criminal.
Entering without inspection *is* a crime, though it’s rarely prosecuted.
But overstaying a visa? Not a crime.
And immigration courts are administrative, not criminal.
November 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I keep seeing rhetoric that seems to conflate “criminal” and “in the country without legal status.”
Entering without inspection *is* a crime, though it’s rarely prosecuted.
But overstaying a visa? Not a crime.
And immigration courts are administrative, not criminal.
Entering without inspection *is* a crime, though it’s rarely prosecuted.
But overstaying a visa? Not a crime.
And immigration courts are administrative, not criminal.
November 13, 2025 at 4:37 PM
First the East Wing, next up the Kennedy Center!
November 13, 2025 at 3:44 PM
First the East Wing, next up the Kennedy Center!
Reposted by Lawrence Whitney
bring back shame
people gotta lose their positions of power and influence
people gotta be shunned from their prestigious social circles
above all, people gotta go to jail
people gotta be shunned from their prestigious social circles
above all, people gotta go to jail
November 12, 2025 at 11:00 PM
bring back shame
November 12, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Judge Gettleman: "I read in the paper that even the Pope got involved here. I don't think we're going to call him as a witness …."
November 12, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Lawrence Whitney
I am amazed by the bandwidth the BBC - Trump fued is taking up on the BBC. Someone plainly needs to state that the President of the United States and his role in stirring up an insurrection on January 6th is defamation proof. Not every incident of journalistic malpractice is equally consequential.
November 12, 2025 at 12:41 PM
I am amazed by the bandwidth the BBC - Trump fued is taking up on the BBC. Someone plainly needs to state that the President of the United States and his role in stirring up an insurrection on January 6th is defamation proof. Not every incident of journalistic malpractice is equally consequential.
For those confused about how this actually works:
Paid a Colombian tea grower $1,500 for a shipment. Got billed $150 by the Trump administration at the border. *I* got billed. Not the tea growers. Not the Colombian government. Me. The American business owner. I paid the Trump tax.
November 12, 2025 at 12:14 AM
For those confused about how this actually works:
Reposted by Lawrence Whitney
Nothing like a proposal for a modest amount of lower-income housing nearby to find out who your neighbors are.
November 11, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Nothing like a proposal for a modest amount of lower-income housing nearby to find out who your neighbors are.
Reposted by Lawrence Whitney
“Christian love and hospitality are responses to God’s generosity. We are often exceptionally good at showing hospitality in our private homes, but we may not have considered how we and our spaces might be unhospitable on a greater, bureaucratic level.”
www.christianitytoday.com/2025/11/hosp...
www.christianitytoday.com/2025/11/hosp...
Charity Begins with Zoning Reforms - Christianity Today
Stewarding our neighborhoods is part of Christian hospitality.
www.christianitytoday.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:03 PM
“Christian love and hospitality are responses to God’s generosity. We are often exceptionally good at showing hospitality in our private homes, but we may not have considered how we and our spaces might be unhospitable on a greater, bureaucratic level.”
www.christianitytoday.com/2025/11/hosp...
www.christianitytoday.com/2025/11/hosp...
Here’s a riddle for you:
What do the religious protests in Chicago have to do with religious holiday deliberations in the Brookline schools?
brookline.news/what-holiday...
What do the religious protests in Chicago have to do with religious holiday deliberations in the Brookline schools?
brookline.news/what-holiday...
November 10, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Here’s a riddle for you:
What do the religious protests in Chicago have to do with religious holiday deliberations in the Brookline schools?
brookline.news/what-holiday...
What do the religious protests in Chicago have to do with religious holiday deliberations in the Brookline schools?
brookline.news/what-holiday...
Reposted by Lawrence Whitney
November 9, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Lawrence Whitney
For forty days, Trump owned the shutdown. Now that it’s over, because of how it ended, it belongs to the Dems.
I think this is the question Democrats are gonna get over and over: if you just handed over your main demand in the end, why cause a painful shutdown at all?
Governing is more than politics, but wild to see this group of Dems arguably toss the whole party under the bus, *politically* speaking.
Governing is more than politics, but wild to see this group of Dems arguably toss the whole party under the bus, *politically* speaking.
How do you make this your central demand for 40 days and then just let it go
November 10, 2025 at 2:44 AM
For forty days, Trump owned the shutdown. Now that it’s over, because of how it ended, it belongs to the Dems.
For forty days, Trump owned the shutdown. Now that it’s over, because of how it ended, it belongs to the Dems.
I think this is the question Democrats are gonna get over and over: if you just handed over your main demand in the end, why cause a painful shutdown at all?
Governing is more than politics, but wild to see this group of Dems arguably toss the whole party under the bus, *politically* speaking.
Governing is more than politics, but wild to see this group of Dems arguably toss the whole party under the bus, *politically* speaking.
How do you make this your central demand for 40 days and then just let it go
November 10, 2025 at 2:44 AM
For forty days, Trump owned the shutdown. Now that it’s over, because of how it ended, it belongs to the Dems.
Argh! I forgot Durbin is retiring anyway!
Governor Pritzker is correct. Now, will he endorse a primary challenger to Durbin?
This is not a deal — it's an empty promise.
Trump and his Republican Congress are making healthcare more expensive for the middle class and ending it for working families.
Time for Democrats to stand tall for affordable healthcare. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Trump and his Republican Congress are making healthcare more expensive for the middle class and ending it for working families.
Time for Democrats to stand tall for affordable healthcare. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 10, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Argh! I forgot Durbin is retiring anyway!
Governor Pritzker is correct. Now, will he endorse a primary challenger to Durbin?
This is not a deal — it's an empty promise.
Trump and his Republican Congress are making healthcare more expensive for the middle class and ending it for working families.
Time for Democrats to stand tall for affordable healthcare. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Trump and his Republican Congress are making healthcare more expensive for the middle class and ending it for working families.
Time for Democrats to stand tall for affordable healthcare. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Senate reaches deal on ending the shutdown
Democrats are coalescing around a bipartisan agreement to fund the government.
www.politico.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Governor Pritzker is correct. Now, will he endorse a primary challenger to Durbin?
Sycophancy plays into AI anthropomorphism, as I describe here:
brlawrencelc.com/2025/10/31/a...
brlawrencelc.com/2025/10/31/a...
November 10, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Sycophancy plays into AI anthropomorphism, as I describe here:
brlawrencelc.com/2025/10/31/a...
brlawrencelc.com/2025/10/31/a...
Reposted by Lawrence Whitney
I'd put it more like individual expressions of "the economy sucks these days" *just are* expressions of a perceived loss of relative rather than absolute wealth.
November 10, 2025 at 12:53 AM
I'd put it more like individual expressions of "the economy sucks these days" *just are* expressions of a perceived loss of relative rather than absolute wealth.
Reposted by Lawrence Whitney
On the left, Alan Turing’s 1950 paper introducing the imitation game, where he says that using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent is absurd.
On the right, yesterday’s NYT opinion piece using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent.
🧪🤖
On the right, yesterday’s NYT opinion piece using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent.
🧪🤖
November 9, 2025 at 12:09 PM
On the left, Alan Turing’s 1950 paper introducing the imitation game, where he says that using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent is absurd.
On the right, yesterday’s NYT opinion piece using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent.
🧪🤖
On the right, yesterday’s NYT opinion piece using public polling as a guide to whether machines are intelligent.
🧪🤖
November 9, 2025 at 11:34 PM
I have been thinking all afternoon about this possibility and if it’s right then the Dems are playing a whole lot higher level chess than they have demonstrated any capacity for this year, which would be great, but 🤷🏼♂️
Folks, we need to have a little Civics #101 chat, because apparently the media no longer seems fit to explain to you whats happening.
So quick review:
The House passed a clean CR.
The senate has not passed anything.
So quick review:
The House passed a clean CR.
The senate has not passed anything.
November 9, 2025 at 10:15 PM
I have been thinking all afternoon about this possibility and if it’s right then the Dems are playing a whole lot higher level chess than they have demonstrated any capacity for this year, which would be great, but 🤷🏼♂️
🙋🏼♂️
Me. It’s me. I am accusing Dems who vote for this nonsense of caving.
Me. It’s me. I am accusing Dems who vote for this nonsense of caving.
Kinda seems like the Democrats are gonna be accused of caving here: "The deal would include a promised vote on extending Obamacare tax credits in December, the sources said."
If true, seems Dems opted not to (speaking purely politically) take advantage of the negative news of Trump and SNAP?
If true, seems Dems opted not to (speaking purely politically) take advantage of the negative news of Trump and SNAP?
BREAKING: Deal to end government shutdown in reach
November 9, 2025 at 6:44 PM
🙋🏼♂️
Me. It’s me. I am accusing Dems who vote for this nonsense of caving.
Me. It’s me. I am accusing Dems who vote for this nonsense of caving.
Looking forward to @lawfaremedia.org having him on as a guest!
A Reagan-appointed judge has quit the bench so he can speak out against assaults on the rule of law (he is a senior judge so it doesn’t create a vacancy):
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 9, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Looking forward to @lawfaremedia.org having him on as a guest!
Reposted by Lawrence Whitney
