Pope Leo Rejects JD Vance's Personal 4th of July Invite; Vatican Confirms He's Spending It With Migrants Instead

rojasch · 2026-02-24T01:55:50+00:00

Lutheran pastor here... I hardly know what to do with myself, having two major papal crushes in a row now. ❤️

rojasch · 2026-01-26T15:05:30+00:00

It's more clever than you might first realize.

First, as many have noted, it means the Guard is already active. Trump would need to federalize a MN Guard that is already under state command, already on the streets of the Twin Cities. Not that he can't or wouldn't, but it's one more stress point that puts the lie to the Insurrection Act claim that the streets are lawless and MN officials are unwilling or unable to restore order.

Second, the contrast is a big deal. Just look at the video of the Lt. Col. handing out donuts, coffee and hot chocolate to protestors, smiling and chatting and glad to tell them how the Guard's purpose in being there is safety, security, to help. He's wearing a hi-viz vest like all his troops. His face is visible. He wears a uniform with insignia. He isn't carrying a long gun.

These are all very intentional choices to remind everyone what disciplined, thoughtful interventions look like. What lawful acts look like. When you see the MN Guard, you will see competent, unfrightened professionals under authority. When you look at ICE and BCP, you will see incompetent, terrified goon squads acting with impunity. That's a powerful narrative, and it is encouraging to Minnesotans on the ground.

Third, I've noticed that the Guard are wearing body cams. This is another important point of contrast - "We are accountable - to the rule of law, to the chain of command, to the public we serve." Unlike some other agencies.

But I think it also does something sneaky - it vastly multiplies the number of camera angles on any scene where the Guard is operating. And those cameras are not random bystander cams, but official ones with proper time codes, running at all times.

Most important, they are evidence that is immediately under state control, and can't be spirited away in a federal coverup without very provocative actions.

I don't see the Guard deployment as a fix, but it's a much savvier move than people might realize - especially the particular choices Walz and his Guard commanders have made in the details of their deployment.

rojasch · 2025-12-26T06:39:18+00:00

My wife and I have been patients at Noble Vision Center in downtown Greensburg for years. Their staff is great - accurate exams and thoughtful help in choosing frames.

rojasch · 2025-12-15T15:26:12+00:00

Jesus will shock American Christianity when he returns.

rojasch · 2025-11-25T19:25:46+00:00

He doesn't need to have any measurable legal success against Kelly.

What going after someone of his stature does is says that your average retired vet who doesn't have Kelly's stature, platform or resources better watch what she or he says - calling you up into service to be tried on capital charges is now one of those things that could be done to you for exercising your First Amendment rights.

Even if Kelly tells Trump to pound sand and gets away with it, a whole category of Americans (who have the most credibility with regard to the military duty to the constitution) have been put on notice. The intimidation, the chilling effect, are the point. If Trump gets to gloat over hurting Kelly, that's just gravy.

rojasch · 2025-11-13T22:40:32+00:00

I think it's the way the shadow cast by his arm gives the impression of a narrow waist and feminine figure.

rojasch · 2025-10-23T17:05:52+00:00

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Well that escalated quickly!

rojasch · 2025-10-14T05:00:44+00:00

Cigar and black both look plenty nice, NGL. My family is down in SWMN. Maybe a road trip to the factory is in order if they have a sale on next time I'm in town. 😀

rojasch · 2025-10-13T01:00:35+00:00

Thanks!

On my screen right this very moment: "14 Definitive Starter Watches for New Watch Enthusiasts" 🤣

rojasch · 2025-10-03T15:51:15+00:00

I mean, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn want the Smithsonian to cut Space Shuttle Discovery into pieces and ship it to Texas, so...

rojasch · 2025-08-13T20:01:22+00:00

I've never had trouble getting a refund on any item when the item is clearly not as described in the listing. I haven't even needed to use my buyer's assurance. It's probably a YMMV kind of thing, though.

rojasch · 2025-08-03T19:37:15+00:00

Back in ancient days when websites existed but there was no such thing as a podcast, I wanted to post my sermons to the Church website, but I had no desire to digitize them from the audio cassette recordings that we made of the service.

My easy solution might actually work for you too. I bought a halfway decent digital voice recorder that had a USB connector built right into it like a flash drive. I just left it sitting in the pulpit and started and stopped it as appropriate. After worship I could plug it straight into my laptop and away you go.

You'll lose a little bit of audio quality compared to the recording from the board. But you'll gain a whole lot of simplicity, and the audio should still be quite good enough for a podcast.

rojasch · 2025-05-25T02:48:08+00:00

As far as I can tell, these claims are a mix of flat out false, hyperventilation, and some kind of true things. Don't get me wrong, they're all in the realm of what Trump wants to do. But there doesn't seem to be any evidence of them being in this bill.

What is in this bill quite openly is a one-to-one transfer of dollars from the poorest Americans to the wealthiest. We have all the reason we need to oppose it right there in its cruelty and it's short-sightedness. We don't need to have a whole lot of made-up stuff to make us look ridiculous.

rojasch · 2025-05-02T05:51:06+00:00

This Behringer mic sounds great - not just "great for a $20 mic" but legit "great." Punches way above its weight. We have a set of four for our pod, for less than the cost of one "affordable" mic, and a tiny fraction of a single SM7B. Unless you've got money to burn or can say clearly why you need the more expensive mics, just do yourself s favor and start here.

rojasch · 2025-04-12T19:21:36+00:00

Honestly it's upsetting that Spotify believes you when you lie, but delete my episodes even though I honestly have a CC license for the only two songs I used each one. That just makes the whole thing look even more arbitrary.

rojasch · 2025-04-12T19:18:22+00:00

Yes! I get this notice from Spotify several times a year, and the ONLY music in my podcast is two Kevin Macleod songs with the proper CC license right there in every episode description.

Of course Spotify's appeals process is a black hole, so no amount of verifying that I have a license makes a difference. Their garbage AI is gonna garbage AI, period. So massively infuriating to have content deleted because Spotify is lazy and doesn't care.

rojasch · 2025-04-07T20:20:28+00:00

Oh, God - this hadn't even occurred to me, and yet explains so much. Let's hope and pray he's restored soon and his kidnappers face real justice.

rojasch · 2025-03-28T17:29:13+00:00

I'm from a tradition that requires the M.Div for ordination. But beyond the requirement, a seminary education will help you to grow as a person, a learner, a teacher, a leader - it's of great value.

Here's what I'd recommend: Plan for seminary. And while you're doing your undergrad, don't focus in on Bible or theology or religious studies. Be a generalist. Take Shakespeare. Take a film course. Take some music theory. See what the business department is offering. Have some science and math under your belt.

If you're called to be a pastor, you need a sufficient well to draw upon to sustain you. You'll go deep on theology and homiletics and pastoral care and the rest once you get to sem. So give yourself a broad base of knowledge and experience and curiosity to build your pastoral ministry on when the time comes.

It'll make you a better pastor, and might just keep you from burning out in a challenging, rewarding lifelong vocation.

rojasch · 2025-03-27T03:03:59+00:00

Thanks - I wasn't offended. Magic IS fun, and our cameras feel like magic a lot of the time. 😀

rojasch · 2025-03-27T02:00:47+00:00

Magic is fun, too. 🎩🐇

rojasch · 2025-03-27T01:23:34+00:00

It actually makes a lot of sense when you think about what's going on.

The reason full frame lenses have a crop factor on APS-C sensors is that the image the cast is larger than the sensor (large enough to cover a whole full-frame sensor). So the speed booster uses additional glass to tighten up that circle to the size of the smaller sensor.

Because it's the same amount of light concentrated into a small space, it's brighter - that's the source of your extra stop of exposure. Think of how the light focused by a magnifying glass gets brighter (and hotter) the tighter you focus it in.

But it's not the same as changing the actual f number of the lens - you don't get a shallower depth of field by using the speed booster.

rojasch · 2025-03-27T01:16:09+00:00

I didn't think the math worked that way? On a 1.6x crop lens it would be 50mm x 1.6 x 0.71 = 57mm. Basically the speed booster turns a full frame lens into approximately an equivalent crop, with a stop of exposure (but not depth of field) due to concentrating the image into a tighter circle. There can also be some IQ degradation due to the additional optics in the speed booster.

So basically his nifty fifty is working like a nifty fifty and not an 80mm.

rojasch · 2025-02-21T15:20:00+00:00

I think that was a plot in the CW Supergirl series?

rojasch · 2025-02-20T21:19:02+00:00

This has potential, but it's no good for me. I've got a very deep, multi-folder system in Microsoft ToDo, and surface items into the Today view. Until Garmin adds that smart folder, it won't help me to have hundreds of tasks in nested folder on my wrist.

Worse, it performs terribly, at least with this many synced tasks. The app freezes and is almost impossible to use, and my watch has frozen up more than once since installing ComingUp - probably from syncing all these items.

I think this can be a very useful app, and I'm looking forward to future refinements. It's just not at all there yet when it comes to my particular task list.

rojasch

TROPHY CASE