John Allen
@knowtea.bsky.social
Minister (PCUSA), Musician (conductor, composer, singer, pianist/organist, music director for musical theatre), Whovian, Teutophone, Swedish-American, Jazz aficionado, #faithfullylgbt, and stuff.
Pinned
John Allen
@knowtea.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Ok for those of you who don’t know me: hi. Minister (PCUSA), Composer, Conductor, Singer, Baker, Queer/Bi, Whovian, Barth/Torrance stan, Batman stan. I write church music but I mostly listen to jazz. Liturgy nerd. Nerd in general. Involuntarily single. What’d I leave out?
Reposted by John Allen
American conservative discourse on "socialism" since the 1950s has largely been shaped by well-educated, self-interested rich people desperately worried that socialism *will* work; who use hyperbolic, bad faith arguments to get less well-educated poor people to believe that socialism *can't* work.
January 8, 2026 at 11:12 PM
American conservative discourse on "socialism" since the 1950s has largely been shaped by well-educated, self-interested rich people desperately worried that socialism *will* work; who use hyperbolic, bad faith arguments to get less well-educated poor people to believe that socialism *can't* work.
Reposted by John Allen
The Trump Admin begins the cover up.
January 8, 2026 at 4:15 PM
The Trump Admin begins the cover up.
Reposted by John Allen
“Nail a game of screaming Simon Says with a gun pointed at you or you die” is not a free country
January 8, 2026 at 4:04 PM
“Nail a game of screaming Simon Says with a gun pointed at you or you die” is not a free country
Reposted by John Allen
Reposted by John Allen
Reposted by John Allen
"The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has just revealed that federal officials have 'reversed course,' and the investigation into the killing of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE agent will be conducted by the FBI without assistance from the BCA."
Live: FBI pushes Minnesota investigators aside in ICE shooting probe
Demonstrators gathered near the Whipple Federal Building after thousands attended vigils to remember Renee Nicole Good, who was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Minneapolis public school classes...
www.startribune.com
January 8, 2026 at 4:21 PM
"The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has just revealed that federal officials have 'reversed course,' and the investigation into the killing of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE agent will be conducted by the FBI without assistance from the BCA."
Reposted by John Allen
I think about the comment that Trump could shoot someone in Times Square. But it is worse than that.
He could shoot us all. He is shooting us all. He is trying to kill every part of us that is soft and tell us that fear is the way. That the only way to be safe and free is to turn on each other.
He could shoot us all. He is shooting us all. He is trying to kill every part of us that is soft and tell us that fear is the way. That the only way to be safe and free is to turn on each other.
January 8, 2026 at 3:27 PM
I think about the comment that Trump could shoot someone in Times Square. But it is worse than that.
He could shoot us all. He is shooting us all. He is trying to kill every part of us that is soft and tell us that fear is the way. That the only way to be safe and free is to turn on each other.
He could shoot us all. He is shooting us all. He is trying to kill every part of us that is soft and tell us that fear is the way. That the only way to be safe and free is to turn on each other.
Reposted by John Allen
Anyone with minimal weapons/military training watching ICE videos can see these people have no serious military/law enforcement training. These are parents-house'-basement-dwellers cosplaying their Call of Duty character in real life.
January 7, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Anyone with minimal weapons/military training watching ICE videos can see these people have no serious military/law enforcement training. These are parents-house'-basement-dwellers cosplaying their Call of Duty character in real life.
Reposted by John Allen
A doctor tried to provide aid to the woman and ICE agents pulled their guns on him and threatened to shoot him too if he didn't back away.
Let me repeat, ICE murdered a woman and then threatened to murder a doctor who tried to help her.
Let me repeat, ICE murdered a woman and then threatened to murder a doctor who tried to help her.
January 7, 2026 at 10:03 PM
A doctor tried to provide aid to the woman and ICE agents pulled their guns on him and threatened to shoot him too if he didn't back away.
Let me repeat, ICE murdered a woman and then threatened to murder a doctor who tried to help her.
Let me repeat, ICE murdered a woman and then threatened to murder a doctor who tried to help her.
Reposted by John Allen
Do Trump voters notice that Trump and Noem are flat-out lying about ICE's cold-blooded killing of a Minnesota woman today? Is lying about murder a cool way to own the libs?
January 7, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Do Trump voters notice that Trump and Noem are flat-out lying about ICE's cold-blooded killing of a Minnesota woman today? Is lying about murder a cool way to own the libs?
L goes back in hospital the day after tomorrow. Please help if you can, and please share! Thanks. gofund.me/2c4240a69
Donate to Support Lottie’s Surgery and Care Needs, organized by John Allen Bankson
I'm John Allen Bankson, and I'm raising funds for my daughter, Lottie, who … John Allen Bankson needs your support for Support Lottie’s Surgery and Care Needs
gofund.me
January 3, 2026 at 6:44 PM
L goes back in hospital the day after tomorrow. Please help if you can, and please share! Thanks. gofund.me/2c4240a69
Reposted by John Allen
Bragging that you just passed your 3rd dementia test
is a great way of telling us
they've made you take 3 dementia tests
is a great way of telling us
they've made you take 3 dementia tests
January 2, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Bragging that you just passed your 3rd dementia test
is a great way of telling us
they've made you take 3 dementia tests
is a great way of telling us
they've made you take 3 dementia tests
Reposted by John Allen
Always get nostalgic at this time and remember one year when I was about 8 turning round and my gran was crying. I told her it would all be Ok and I thought she was sad because she was missing grandad but now I realise it was probably because Cilla Black was singing.
December 31, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Always get nostalgic at this time and remember one year when I was about 8 turning round and my gran was crying. I told her it would all be Ok and I thought she was sad because she was missing grandad but now I realise it was probably because Cilla Black was singing.
Can’t make this stuff up …
January 1, 2026 at 9:51 PM
Can’t make this stuff up …
Lottie goes back in hospital on Monday and will be in for 5 days. Please help if you can and PLEASE SHARE. Thanks! gofund.me/5e6f8c3d6
Donate to Support Lottie’s Surgery and Care Needs, organized by John Allen Bankson
I'm John Allen Bankson, and I'm raising funds for my daughter, Lottie, who … John Allen Bankson needs your support for Support Lottie’s Surgery and Care Needs
gofund.me
January 1, 2026 at 7:03 PM
Lottie goes back in hospital on Monday and will be in for 5 days. Please help if you can and PLEASE SHARE. Thanks! gofund.me/5e6f8c3d6
Reposted by John Allen
Jesus! Name of wondrous love!
Name all other names above!
Unto which must every knee
bow in deep humility.
Name all other names above!
Unto which must every knee
bow in deep humility.
January 1, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Jesus! Name of wondrous love!
Name all other names above!
Unto which must every knee
bow in deep humility.
Name all other names above!
Unto which must every knee
bow in deep humility.
Well I sprung for the 24-hr pass for Sling so I could watch Andy Cohen & Anderson Cooper tonight, but I’m already in bed: going to try to sleep. Too sad to do anything else.
January 1, 2026 at 1:58 AM
Well I sprung for the 24-hr pass for Sling so I could watch Andy Cohen & Anderson Cooper tonight, but I’m already in bed: going to try to sleep. Too sad to do anything else.
Reposted by John Allen
White supremacists like Miller want to take the country back to an imaginary time when America was really America, without all these nasty Black and Brown foreigners from different cultures mucking it up. But that time doesn’t exist, and neither do those people.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
On Dean Martin, Stephen Miller, And White Supremacism
For a moment, I was so furious I couldn't see straight. Dean Martin himself was the son of an immigrant.
www.patheos.com
December 28, 2025 at 4:52 AM
White supremacists like Miller want to take the country back to an imaginary time when America was really America, without all these nasty Black and Brown foreigners from different cultures mucking it up. But that time doesn’t exist, and neither do those people.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by John Allen
"Academics literally cannot make genAI go away" we also can't make underage drinking go away and we're not advocating for installing bar carts in every classroom.
December 27, 2025 at 11:46 PM
"Academics literally cannot make genAI go away" we also can't make underage drinking go away and we're not advocating for installing bar carts in every classroom.
Reposted by John Allen
Christmas is 12 days, so you still have more than a week to check out these ten holiday tunes, each from a different decade:
A Perfect Christmas Playlist
Ten songs spanning the decades to help you enter into a holiday mindset.
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 27, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Christmas is 12 days, so you still have more than a week to check out these ten holiday tunes, each from a different decade:
Reposted by John Allen
I don't think most Americans have any idea how dangerous it is for a president to declare an entire ethnic group to be "garbage." This is how the worst atrocities in human history have begun.
December 27, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I don't think most Americans have any idea how dangerous it is for a president to declare an entire ethnic group to be "garbage." This is how the worst atrocities in human history have begun.
This will be my 11th Christmas without a family. Without waking up in a house where I reside with my spouse and kids. I’ll be waking up here, in my apartment, quite alone. At least last year I had my dog. She’s dead now.
December 22, 2025 at 2:59 AM
This will be my 11th Christmas without a family. Without waking up in a house where I reside with my spouse and kids. I’ll be waking up here, in my apartment, quite alone. At least last year I had my dog. She’s dead now.
There is ONLY ONE WORD for this: BARF!
Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas...$70 per ticket.
December 19, 2025 at 11:42 PM
There is ONLY ONE WORD for this: BARF!
Reminder: if you sing “Gabriel’s Message” at Lessons & Carols and/or at the Eucharist on Xmas Eve, the refrain begins “Most highly-favoured Lady,” NOT “Most highly-flavoured gravy.” You’re welcome.
December 19, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reminder: if you sing “Gabriel’s Message” at Lessons & Carols and/or at the Eucharist on Xmas Eve, the refrain begins “Most highly-favoured Lady,” NOT “Most highly-flavoured gravy.” You’re welcome.
For these last 7 nights of Advent: the Great O Antiphons: drive.google.com/file/d/1rkD1...
December 18, 2025 at 12:50 AM
For these last 7 nights of Advent: the Great O Antiphons: drive.google.com/file/d/1rkD1...