SOME D*MN RANDO
@mcprando.bsky.social
House-husband of @marypezzulo.bsky.social (who has more interesting things to say than I do.)
Not quite an academic.
Latin Catholic/internal critic of that tradition.
Congenital Tee-totaler.
Possibly (?) a Skeksis.
Hatred of neighbor is hatred of Christ
Not quite an academic.
Latin Catholic/internal critic of that tradition.
Congenital Tee-totaler.
Possibly (?) a Skeksis.
Hatred of neighbor is hatred of Christ
Pinned
SOME D*MN RANDO
@mcprando.bsky.social
· Dec 5
What @katelynburns.com said but since I do so much of my work with Christian folx I would love to hear from cis Christians.
Why do you support trans people and what are you willing to do to support us if the government comes for us?
Why do you support trans people and what are you willing to do to support us if the government comes for us?
I support because it is right (secular) & because hatred of neighbor is hatred of Christ (theological convergence w above).
I actually adopted that 2nd slogan *specifically* in reaction to Christian trans hate, although it applies more broadly.
Anything I can do.
I actually adopted that 2nd slogan *specifically* in reaction to Christian trans hate, although it applies more broadly.
Anything I can do.
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
The boilerplate that gets us through from week to week! The middle of the month is the hardest time and Thanksgiving's coming up, so this would be a great time for a visit to the tip jar! I'll be on with more writing soon!
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Blogkeeping Notes For Fall 2025
Hi friends, This isn't a real post. This is just my every-few-months blogkeeping post, to help you keep track of what I've been up to and how to
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:06 AM
The boilerplate that gets us through from week to week! The middle of the month is the hardest time and Thanksgiving's coming up, so this would be a great time for a visit to the tip jar! I'll be on with more writing soon!
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
They never care about anything except their agenda.
A long time ago, I used to think their agenda had something to do with old-fashioned family values.
Now, I see that their agenda is just to elevate and protect powerful men.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
A long time ago, I used to think their agenda had something to do with old-fashioned family values.
Now, I see that their agenda is just to elevate and protect powerful men.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Megyn Kelly, The Catholic League, And The Epstein Files
I've been watching the reactions of public Catholics who support Trump, to the Epstein case. The podcaster and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly is a Catholic, of course.
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:55 AM
They never care about anything except their agenda.
A long time ago, I used to think their agenda had something to do with old-fashioned family values.
Now, I see that their agenda is just to elevate and protect powerful men.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
A long time ago, I used to think their agenda had something to do with old-fashioned family values.
Now, I see that their agenda is just to elevate and protect powerful men.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
Is it so extraordinary a claim?
Has he ever pretended to be anything else?
Is it Trump Derangement Syndrome to insist that a man who has taken great pride in being a philandering cad who uses his celebrity to force himself on women, is exactly who he says he is?
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Has he ever pretended to be anything else?
Is it Trump Derangement Syndrome to insist that a man who has taken great pride in being a philandering cad who uses his celebrity to force himself on women, is exactly who he says he is?
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
My Thoughts On The Latest Trump-Epstein Evidence
Is it Trump Derangement Syndrome to insist that a man who has taken great pride in being a philandering cad, is exactly who he says he is?
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Is it so extraordinary a claim?
Has he ever pretended to be anything else?
Is it Trump Derangement Syndrome to insist that a man who has taken great pride in being a philandering cad who uses his celebrity to force himself on women, is exactly who he says he is?
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Has he ever pretended to be anything else?
Is it Trump Derangement Syndrome to insist that a man who has taken great pride in being a philandering cad who uses his celebrity to force himself on women, is exactly who he says he is?
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
Poor people can’t cope with a week’s delay. They may have already spent money they badly needed for rent or bills on their food this week. They might have made a bad deal with a payday loan company or any number of other things to get some grocery money.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
When You're Feeding The Poor This Holiday Season...
Now, one more thing I ask of you: whatever else you're doing, can you help make Christmas happen for the poor in your community?
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Poor people can’t cope with a week’s delay. They may have already spent money they badly needed for rent or bills on their food this week. They might have made a bad deal with a payday loan company or any number of other things to get some grocery money.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
The box of pumpkins tore open as its contents went rolling out onto the ground in all directions. Later, the other volunteers told me they heard my shriek from upstairs, but thought it was a car squealing by in all the rain, which is why they hadn’t come running.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Of Pumpkins, Paintings, And The Virgin Mary
I landed on my rear end. The box of pumpkins tore open as its contents went rolling out onto the ground in all directions.
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:50 AM
The box of pumpkins tore open as its contents went rolling out onto the ground in all directions. Later, the other volunteers told me they heard my shriek from upstairs, but thought it was a car squealing by in all the rain, which is why they hadn’t come running.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
The path went on ahead of me with no end in sight, neither reassuring nor frightening, just there. But the world was beautiful, and I wanted to see it. I had gotten through the dark at last.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Epiphany At Tunnel Number Eight
Tunnel Number Eight is the railroad tunnel those feisty Irish immigrants suffered and died digging out of the rock.
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:34 AM
The path went on ahead of me with no end in sight, neither reassuring nor frightening, just there. But the world was beautiful, and I wanted to see it. I had gotten through the dark at last.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
If the whole thing is waiting for them in the Little Free Grocery, they won’t have to beg for any extra ingredients. They can just take it home and cook it.
I brainstormed all the meals I could think of that only involved shelf-stable cans and boxes...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
I brainstormed all the meals I could think of that only involved shelf-stable cans and boxes...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
What Can You Put In A Little Free Grocery?
I tried to make a list of as many appetizing meals as I could think of, that were made entirely of relatively cheap shelf-stable groceries, so I could drop off a whole meal at once.
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:32 AM
If the whole thing is waiting for them in the Little Free Grocery, they won’t have to beg for any extra ingredients. They can just take it home and cook it.
I brainstormed all the meals I could think of that only involved shelf-stable cans and boxes...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
I brainstormed all the meals I could think of that only involved shelf-stable cans and boxes...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
Can a blind person guide a blind person?
I don’t know, can they?
Will they not both fall into a pit?
I don’t know. Not necessarily. Why would they?
Blind people aren’t helpless.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
I don’t know, can they?
Will they not both fall into a pit?
I don’t know. Not necessarily. Why would they?
Blind people aren’t helpless.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Can The Blind Lead The Blind? A Lesson In Spiritual Sight
Can a blind person guide a blind person? I don't know, can they? Will they not both fall into a pit? Why would they?
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Can a blind person guide a blind person?
I don’t know, can they?
Will they not both fall into a pit?
I don’t know. Not necessarily. Why would they?
Blind people aren’t helpless.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
I don’t know, can they?
Will they not both fall into a pit?
I don’t know. Not necessarily. Why would they?
Blind people aren’t helpless.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
I’ve heard so many misogynistic and abusive takes on what it means. Could it mean anything else?
If she is the perfect mirror of God, could it be that the truest thing you could say about God, is that God is the Mother Who begets and gives birth without violence?
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
If she is the perfect mirror of God, could it be that the truest thing you could say about God, is that God is the Mother Who begets and gives birth without violence?
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
A Mother, Without Violence
I saw her again the other day. Mary, the Mother of God. She was on the side of a building in downtown Steubenville, and I stopped to
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:44 AM
I’ve heard so many misogynistic and abusive takes on what it means. Could it mean anything else?
If she is the perfect mirror of God, could it be that the truest thing you could say about God, is that God is the Mother Who begets and gives birth without violence?
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
If she is the perfect mirror of God, could it be that the truest thing you could say about God, is that God is the Mother Who begets and gives birth without violence?
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
“What is Truth?” asks Pilate. Pilate wants to have a cold, gentlemanly philosophical debate. He doesn’t realize that Truth is standing right in front of him, tied up and roughed up and about to be lynched.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
You Say I Am A King
That is the type of king that Pilate has in mind, when he asks if Jesus is a king. Jesus doesn't answer: at least...
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:30 AM
“What is Truth?” asks Pilate. Pilate wants to have a cold, gentlemanly philosophical debate. He doesn’t realize that Truth is standing right in front of him, tied up and roughed up and about to be lynched.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
The stars were needles of rain flying at my face. The nebulae were real clouds in a patchwork up above: steel, iron, charcoal, ash, gray-brown, gray-blue, gray-purple. The firmament was cracking open and the flood waters were here.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
At The Falling Of The Stars
At first I could only see the movement at the corners of my eyes, but then the whole sky was full of shooting stars.
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:28 AM
The stars were needles of rain flying at my face. The nebulae were real clouds in a patchwork up above: steel, iron, charcoal, ash, gray-brown, gray-blue, gray-purple. The firmament was cracking open and the flood waters were here.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
“Where is the outreach to MEN?” asks the Church which has one-seventh of the sacraments restricted so that only a man can ever get it, and all the top positions necessarily given to the men who have that sacrament and to nobody else.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
They Say The Church Doesn't Listen To Men
"Can't anyone think of the MEN?" says the theologian, who studies the texts of a church which did not name a female Doctor of the Church...
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:19 AM
“Where is the outreach to MEN?” asks the Church which has one-seventh of the sacraments restricted so that only a man can ever get it, and all the top positions necessarily given to the men who have that sacrament and to nobody else.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
I sat down without genuflecting first, because I didn’t feel very respectful just then.
I gazed at Him, and He gazed at me.
This is the problem I run into again, and again, and again: I believe.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
I gazed at Him, and He gazed at me.
This is the problem I run into again, and again, and again: I believe.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
A November Pilgrimage
I woke up terrified, and sad. I have been learning to be happy for nearly all of 2024. I've had more peace and calm this year than in any other year of my
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:18 AM
I sat down without genuflecting first, because I didn’t feel very respectful just then.
I gazed at Him, and He gazed at me.
This is the problem I run into again, and again, and again: I believe.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
I gazed at Him, and He gazed at me.
This is the problem I run into again, and again, and again: I believe.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
I am still learning what that journey is like, but I believe it will end in happiness.
The spirit of the world loves girls for the pear-shaped sack in the middle of their abdomens. Heaven loves girls because girls are people.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
The spirit of the world loves girls for the pear-shaped sack in the middle of their abdomens. Heaven loves girls because girls are people.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
"Do They Take Girls Who Are Sterile?"
There was a girl at our church who had cancer. I don't know why I'm thinking about this right now, twenty years later, in January, during a
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:16 AM
I am still learning what that journey is like, but I believe it will end in happiness.
The spirit of the world loves girls for the pear-shaped sack in the middle of their abdomens. Heaven loves girls because girls are people.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
The spirit of the world loves girls for the pear-shaped sack in the middle of their abdomens. Heaven loves girls because girls are people.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
Here’s something you guys might not have considered.
I guarantee that if you got your wish and all the LGBTQ people in the Catholic Church disappeared overnight, leaving only the straight people, you would lose regular easy access to the sacraments.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
I guarantee that if you got your wish and all the LGBTQ people in the Catholic Church disappeared overnight, leaving only the straight people, you would lose regular easy access to the sacraments.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
To Those Who Gloat When LGBTQ People Leave The Church
I have a message for the Catholics around me who responded to the Vatican statement on not blessing same sex unions yesterday, and to other such
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Here’s something you guys might not have considered.
I guarantee that if you got your wish and all the LGBTQ people in the Catholic Church disappeared overnight, leaving only the straight people, you would lose regular easy access to the sacraments.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
I guarantee that if you got your wish and all the LGBTQ people in the Catholic Church disappeared overnight, leaving only the straight people, you would lose regular easy access to the sacraments.
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
Never, ever use a nice short clear word when a strange and clumsy multisyllabic behemoth will do. Throw in a word that’s technically wrong but seems so very cromulent every so often. Be certain that your writing style is nothing at all like your speaking style...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
How To Be A Catholic Social Media Apologist
Every social media apologist has an exasperating gimmick that keeps people engaging with you just to see what you'll come up with next.
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Never, ever use a nice short clear word when a strange and clumsy multisyllabic behemoth will do. Throw in a word that’s technically wrong but seems so very cromulent every so often. Be certain that your writing style is nothing at all like your speaking style...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
Step Five: be a bully. Make fun of fat people on the internet. Start rumors that unmarried men at your parish are gay. Arrange a fun field trip for all the catechism students and deliberately forget to invite the family with the autistic kid...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
How To Be A Catholic Traditionalist
Today's topic is, how to be a Catholic Traditionalist for fun and profit. You, too, can be a Catholic Traditionalist...
www.patheos.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Step Five: be a bully. Make fun of fat people on the internet. Start rumors that unmarried men at your parish are gay. Arrange a fun field trip for all the catechism students and deliberately forget to invite the family with the autistic kid...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
The Trump regime has fired an estimated 70 immigration judges since February. This is happening as immigration courts face a record backlog of cases.
Remember: it was never about legal immigration. It was always about cruelty.
Remember: it was never about legal immigration. It was always about cruelty.
“I think most don’t realize how hard it is to immigrate legally to the United States,” says former senior policy official @margyoh.bsky.social. She explains other surprising facts about the immigration system in a wide-ranging new Q&A:
An Insider’s View of the Immigration System
A former senior immigration policy official offers insight into how the system works and highlights urgent problems that must be addressed.
www.brennancenter.org
November 17, 2025 at 5:47 PM
The Trump regime has fired an estimated 70 immigration judges since February. This is happening as immigration courts face a record backlog of cases.
Remember: it was never about legal immigration. It was always about cruelty.
Remember: it was never about legal immigration. It was always about cruelty.
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
Imagine escaping the literal Nazis, making it to America, living three quarters of a century there making your life, and then this:
79-year-old Paul Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a WWII German refugee camp. His family legally emigrated to the U.S. when he was 5.
He’s been taken by ICE in Florida.
www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/s...
He’s been taken by ICE in Florida.
www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/s...
Sanford grandfather, born in refugee camp, nabbed by ICE after 70 years in U.S.
Paul Bojerski never gained official residency, but he checked in regularly with ICE for years. Then in July, at age 79, he was detained and sent to Alligator Alcatraz.
www.orlandosentinel.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Imagine escaping the literal Nazis, making it to America, living three quarters of a century there making your life, and then this:
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
This is yet another example of right-wing people appropriating a beloved book that they know nothing about just to hurt people. Think of how they’re always quoting Orwell out of context, while the way they act is increasingly Orwellian...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
On "Operation Charlotte's Web"
We could have our own Operation Charlotte's Web: a movement for small and seemingly powerless people all over the country...
www.patheos.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:28 AM
This is yet another example of right-wing people appropriating a beloved book that they know nothing about just to hurt people. Think of how they’re always quoting Orwell out of context, while the way they act is increasingly Orwellian...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
Oh hey, I found the war on christmas
"Agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, ERO, and CBP intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25."
Exclusive: Trump DHS Plans Immigration Raids on Churches Over Holidays
The Trump Dept. of Homeland Security is briefing federal agencies on plans for immigration enforcement operations inside churches over holidays.
thisweekinworcester.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Oh hey, I found the war on christmas
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
It’s important that we recognize after all this time that Trump doesn’t believe in the concept of sex crimes. What’s more, he takes the idea of such crimes as a personal affront, an attack on how he has treated women his whole life.
Revealed: Trump White House intervened on behalf of another accused sex trafficker
www.alternet.org
Revealed: Trump White House intervened on behalf of another accused sex trafficker
twp.ai
November 18, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s important that we recognize after all this time that Trump doesn’t believe in the concept of sex crimes. What’s more, he takes the idea of such crimes as a personal affront, an attack on how he has treated women his whole life.
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
Really ties all the threads together, this one
Andrew Johnson — a Jan. 6 rioter who went by "Am🇺🇸rican T🇺🇸rrorist” on Elon Musk’s platform — has been arrested on child molestation charges, with police saying he used the promise of a taxpayer-funded payout from Trump's DOJ to try and keep one of the victims silent.
theintercept.com/2025/11/17/p...
theintercept.com/2025/11/17/p...
Pardoned Capitol Rioter Tried to Hush Child Sex Victim With Promise of Jan. 6 Reparation Money, Police Say
Pardoned Capitol rioter Andrew Johnson tried to keep a child sex abuse victim quiet with claimed $10 million Jan. 6 reparations, police say.
theintercept.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Really ties all the threads together, this one
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
That’s not even the Epstein Files themselves; that’s just one glut of emails.
And how is Trump behaving in the face of all this evidence? He’s going off his rocker. That, itself, is evidence that he’s got even more to hide...
marypezzulo.substack.com/p/lets-revie...
And how is Trump behaving in the face of all this evidence? He’s going off his rocker. That, itself, is evidence that he’s got even more to hide...
marypezzulo.substack.com/p/lets-revie...
Let's Review What We Know About the Epstein Files
...and about conspiracy theories, and how a secret becomes public
marypezzulo.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:25 PM
That’s not even the Epstein Files themselves; that’s just one glut of emails.
And how is Trump behaving in the face of all this evidence? He’s going off his rocker. That, itself, is evidence that he’s got even more to hide...
marypezzulo.substack.com/p/lets-revie...
And how is Trump behaving in the face of all this evidence? He’s going off his rocker. That, itself, is evidence that he’s got even more to hide...
marypezzulo.substack.com/p/lets-revie...
Reposted by SOME D*MN RANDO
Did you read my post from last week about how contract woes caused me to withdraw an accepted story from F&SF, ending my 54-year quest to be published in that magazine? But wait (as the saying goes) — there's more! Scroll down at the link for an update. www.scottedelman.com/wordpress/20...
A dream denied: My 54-year quest to publish a short story in F&SF ‹ Scott Edelman
www.scottedelman.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Did you read my post from last week about how contract woes caused me to withdraw an accepted story from F&SF, ending my 54-year quest to be published in that magazine? But wait (as the saying goes) — there's more! Scroll down at the link for an update. www.scottedelman.com/wordpress/20...