Let’s Talk About The Two Other Faces They Just Put On The Department Of Education Next To Charlie Kirk

Posted on March 2, 2026 by theboeskool

Maybe you saw that they put up a banner with Charlie Kirk’s face on in it outside of the Department of Education… And maybe you didn’t. It’s difficult to keep up with significant stories when each new day is a torrent of terrible news. The regime we are living under has FULLY embraced Steve Bannon’s strategy of “flooding the zone,” which you can read more about HERE. It’s basically a plan to overwhelm the press (as well as the hearts, souls, & minds of anyone with anything close to a sense of decency) with so many crises that you can’t keep track of them… Let alone sufficiently respond or react to them in a meaningful or consequential way. I mean, suddenly we’re at war. The U.S. military & Israel just bombed two primary schools (one a girl’s school) in Iran, killing 148. And that’s just yesterday. It’s just too much. You know that feeling where you feel like you need to choose between being informed and being sane? It’s that.

The news cycle these days reminds me of a summer while I was in college where I worked for my friend’s dad’s construction company. I was put in charge of power washing the rusty roof of an industrial space. It was in Northern Michigan, but it was HOT. And as I successfully removed the layer of corrosion using the industrial-strength power washer, the reflexion from the newly cleaned metal beneath my feet made it even hotter. I was up there in the hot sun, wearing these giant rubber galoshes, spraying high pressure water everywhere. And I was getting very, very thirsty. I tried spraying the water into the air, hoping that the mist would float back down to my sun burned face… But it was so hot that the the mist disappeared well before it gave me any relief. So I tried to keep doing my job… Slowly removing an inch-wide swath of corrosion for a giant tin roof, where every bit of success just worked to reflect the hot sun back onto my squinting, increasingly drowsy eyes. I was snapped back to really when the stream of water sliced through the toe of the galoshes I was wearing like a hot knife through butter that was about to pass out. I was very lucky all my toes were still there. I thought to myself, “I need to get off of this roof.” That’s the feeling of being an informed, compassionate person in trümp’s America… It’s like dying of thirst, and instead of a drinking fountain, you are only given an industrial power washer that will leave your face looking like the dude who opened the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

🚨 Flooding the Zone ~ is the strategy Donald Trump uses to make YOU think he's winning.But Donald Trump is NOT winning, Donald Trump is LOSING We're NOT losing… Find ways to look for the WINS because they WON'T be in the headlines!Here's what we miss 👇👇👇

— True Blue 🇦🇺🐨 (@spbmckenna.bsky.social) 2026-02-22T23:20:04.089Z

But yeah… Charlie Kirk. I wrote about Charlie Kirk before. One post was called “Just Because I Don’t Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Death Doesn’t Mean I Have To Celebrate His Life,” and the other post was called “Charlie Kirk Was A Christian.” The first one was about what a terrible person he was. The second one was about how he actually exemplified American Christianity… and also what a terrible person he was. Not to toot my own horn, but you should read them both. They’re good. So I’m not going to spend a whole lot more time writing about him here. What I’d like to talk to you about briefly is the choice of the two OTHER faces they chose to put next to Charlie Kirk’s face, hanging next to a banner that reads, “Empowering our states to tell the stories of our heroes in American education.” The faces of Catharine Beecher and Booker T. Washington.

If only this regime was as good at making jobs, educating out kids, and building a working healthcare system as they are at trolling, this country would be in great shape…

Now, admittedly, I am no expert on the lives of Catharine Beecher and Booker T. Washington. But I do have the internet and at least half a brain… And I ALSO know that if the trolling bastards of this administration put their faces up next to ‘ol Chuck’s face on the walls of the headquarters of the same Department of Education that they have vowed and worked so hard to disassemble and defund, there had to be a reason for it. And I’m also smart enough to know that that reason was going to be about as pleasant as a power washer stream in my face.

Catharine Beecher was—among other things—a prominent American anti-suffragist who lived in the 19th century. For those who don’t know, anti-suffragists (much like shitty “pastor” Doug Wilson, who Pete Kegsbreath invited to lead chapel at the Department of Defense) believed that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote (Incidentally, I wrote before about the amazing story of how the road the constitutional amendment that finally granted women the right to vote came though Nashville. It is titled “The Story Of How A Woman’s Right To Vote Came Through Nashville–A Story Of Hope,” and you should totally read it if you—like many of us—are short on hope). Beecher worked on & wrote books promoting girl’s education, but that education was focused on skills for teaching and motherhood, which she thought were the noble ones. Kathryn Kiss Sklar wrote a biography of her titled “Catharine Beecher: A Study in American Domesticity.” Look it up… Beecher believed the role of girl’s education should be to prepare them for “domestic management.”

And then there’s Booker T. Washington. Again, I am no expert on his life… But I have been around Black people enough to know that calling someone “Booker T” is NOT a compliment. When I asked Google what it meant in the Black community when they called someone “Booker T,” here is what it said: “Calling someone “Booker T” (referencing Booker T. Washington) typically implies the person is seen as overly accommodating to white authority, moderate in their racial views, or focused on economic self-help rather than direct political agitation. It is often a nuanced critique of someone prioritizing peace or economic advancement over challenging systemic racism.” Look up and read about the Atlanta Compromise. While W. E. B. Du Bois was building the NAACP to work for political change, he he referred to Booker T as “The Great Accommodator.” Sure, Washington was the first African American invited to the White House… And yes, he was also a successful business man… But a SIGNIFICANT portion of Booker T. Washington’s legacy is him being known for accommodating white supremacy.

That’s whose faces they hung on the sides of the Department of Education. Don’t get me wrong: Both of these people are important figures in our history, and they are very much worth learning about… But of all the great Americans they could have chosen to highlight, THOSE are the American “heroes” whose stories they want our children to learn about: A woman who thought women shouldn’t be allowed to vote… who used all her influence, her prominent family’s name, and her writing to tell women to focus on domestic, motherly life rather than the workplace. And a Black man, known for accommodating white supremacy, whose name is an insult in the Black community. Them, and Charlie fucking Kirk: A sexist, racist college drop out who hates both women and Black people. Damn, if there’s one thing these monsters know how to do, it’s troll.

Last thing: This isn’t a trümp thing. I can guarantee you that trümp knows about as much about the lives of Catharine Beecher and Booker T. Washington as he knows about “Two Corinthians.” These are knowledgable, evil people who are using a mildly charismatic, amoral moron to tear apart every good thing that the diverse, wonderful people of this nation have worked to create. And for those of you waiting on “When It Finally Happens” as a respite to our national suffering, the awful people responsible for these horrible banners will still be around. But if you feel your face melting, please consider this: There are more of us than there are of them. I truly believe that. In the words of the prophet Jim Morrison, “They’ve got the guns, but we’ve got the numbers.” We’ve got work to do…

For a much-needed dose of hope, I recommend joining the millions of people on the next “No Kings” protest in your area. The next “No Kings” protest is on March 28th. Yes, it may sometimes feel ineffectual, but seeing all those people marching & protesting together MATTERS. It matters when the regime sees it, but it also matter when WE see it. It changes things… not fast enough, and not enough enough. But at this point, any movement in opposition to this awfulness is good for our souls. Anyway, thank you again for reading. I don’t advertise on this page. If you are interested in supporting my writing, please share this post with the people in your lives. You can also BECOME A PATRON, or if you really like this post, you can LEAVE A TIP ON PAYPAL or Venmo me at chris-boeskool. Otherwise, please follow me ON FACEBOOK or ON BLUESKY. Love y’all.

Posted in 2) Politics, 5) Not Quite Sure | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Olympics, Hockey, and How NOT to Be A Terrible Human Being

Posted on February 26, 2026 by theboeskool

I have always loved the Olympics. There is just something so special about seeing people—regardless of where they’re from—who have spent so much time training & practicing & working so hard—just to have a chance to showcase their preparation & talent & hard work. I love sports. I love the drama of competition. Really, I love expertise in all its forms… But the Olympics is different: Once every four years, every nation sends its best athletes… Seeing people proudly stand up with a medal around their neck, smile, and wipe away tears while their national anthem plays… Watching athletes collapse with exhaustion & relief after giving it their all in their events… Witnessing the joy of winning and the heartbreak of losing… I basically can’t get through it without crying. Though, if I’m being honest, I’m the sort of person who tears up when someone wins a car on The Price Is Right, so that tracks. But it’s more than just the drama of the Olympics. It’s the SPIRIT. This year a doctor from Mexico qualified to compete in cross country skiing. She’s an ER doctor in Miami, she trained on roller skis, and she paid her way to Italy by walking people’s dogs. She ended up finishing last in her race, but SO MANY other athletes from around the world waited for her to finish, hugged her, and congratulated her on her accomplishment. It was beautiful. I was a mess. But this year the Olympics also made me cry for a different reason.

Before the Olympics even started, the U.S. women’s team was favored to win the gold. The other top women’s team in the world is Canada, but in the five previous U.S./Canada matches this year, the U.S. team won fairly handily. When these two powerhouses met in the earlier Olympic qualifying stage match, the U.S. beat Canada 5-0. Since the inclusion of Women’s Hockey as an Olympic sport, only the U.S. and Canada have won the gold medals… So when they met each other in the gold medal match, it was no surprise. What WAS a surprise was when—with just over two minutes remaining in the gold medal match—Team Canada was winning 1-0 after going ahead early on a short-handed goal. The U.S. team pulled their goalie, they tied the game, and they sent it to overtime, where they won in dramatic fashion. Here is a TikTok creator I follow (and you should too) describing the excitement of that game…

@jcubedhax

NOW I HAVE TO MAKE MY ALYSA VIDEO OMG #womenssports #hockey #usa

♬ Outro – M83

After the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team won the gold medal for the first time since 1980 (also against Canada, also winning 2-1, also in dramatic fashion in overtime), Kash Patel was seen partying with the U.S. men’s team. Even though in the past he had been vocally critical of former FBI Director Christopher Wray (who, unlike Patel, actually had experience in the FBI before being appointed as the agency’s Director) for using the a government aircraft for his personal trips, Kash took the FBI jet to Milan to watch the game. After the game, for some reason he was in the locker room (“looking like,” as Barrett Adair describes, “the first motherfucker to ever be given a Make-A-Wish for being terminally 5’4” and crosseyed), chugging some Mexican beers with the bros, jamming out to some Toby Keith songs, celebrating the victory. He even facilitated a call from his dimwitted boss, donald trümp. You can hear the audio here…

For those of you who either aren’t in a place where you can listen/watch, don’t have Instagram, or don’t have any interest in hearing the voice of a man who can’t help but ooze sexism with every slimy syllable that slithers from his lips, here’s what happened: After inviting the men’s team to trümp’s State of the Union and to the White House to give them medals, he jokes, “and we have to, I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that”—A comment that is met with a bunch of laughter from the men’s team—and then he goes on, “that I do believe I probably would be impeached, okay?” This shameful, disgusting, diminishing “joke” at the expense of the women’s team has been brought to you by the party of “protecting women’s sports.”

20 of the 25 U.S. Men’s Hockey team members accepted trümp’s invitation both to the White House, as well as accepting an invitation to be used as political pawns during the State of the Union address on Tuesday… Though it should be noted that NONE of the five that didn’t go had anything bad to say about trümp. The entire Women’s Team declined his invitation.

So I’ve got a few things I’d like to say about this…

  • FIRST—If you listen closely, at least one person responded to trümp’s “joke” about having to begrudgingly invite the women’s team as well—not with laughter, but by saying “ABSOLUTELY.” Like, “of COURSE you would invite the women’s team as well.” And I think that’s important to point out… Maybe just for my own hopefulness that not everyone there responded to trümp’s shitty sexism with laughter. But it’s clear that the majority laughed. And that’s so sad & gross. There’s a German saying about how if you’ve got one nazi at a table and nine people sitting down with him without protest, you’ve got TEN nazis sitting at that table… And I think the same is true for 20 young white men leaning in for a smiling photo op.
  • SECOND—After so many expressed such deep disappointment with the men’s team for their laughter at trümp’s sexist “joke,” many MAGA cultists & sympathizers rushed in to defend the men’s team, excusing the laughter that filled that locker room by talking about how the U.S. men’s team are some of the “biggest supporters” of the women’s team. I call bullshit. Listen: If I claim to be an ally to Black & Brown people, and then you catch me on video laughing at a racist joke, you’re allowed to tell me that I’m full of it. In fact, you SHOULD tell me that I’m full of it. The same goes for laughing at sexist jokes while claiming to be a “supporter” of women’s sports.
  • THIRD—The ones saying people are making too big of a deal out of this, defending this as “locker room talk,” and “boys-will-be-boys”ing this whole thing are—not coincidentally at all—the same sort of people who defended & dismissed trümp’s “grab ’em by the pussy” comments as “locker room talk.” Also, when these guys laughed at HAVING to invite the women as well, these guys KNEW they were being recorded. There were phones taking video everywhere. You think THIS is “locker room talk??” Just imagine the kinds of comments they bust out laughing at when they know there are no cameras around.
  • LASTLY, and I think MOST IMPORTANTLY (for me, at least)—I probably would have laughed if I was in that same situation… Especially when I was their age. Hell, maybe even when I was much older. I am far from perfect. And I’m not saying this to excuse what they did. At all. It’s probably more an admission of the so often deficient Y chromosome I have pumping through me at a cellular level. It’s the broken boy in me… This need to be liked and fit in… The many times I have awkwardly laughed in the past at jokes that skewed sexist or racist… And the cowardice that kept me silent so many times in my life when I knew the right thing to do was to speak up.

Again, I’m not talking about how I would react to that today. Today every beat of my heart is metronome of hatred for that bloated orange bag of bigotry and lies. Today? If that diseased pustule was ever on speaker phone anywhere NEAR the sound of my voice, I can guarantee you he would clearly hear the words “ROT IN HELL, YOU DIRTY F*CKING PEDOPHILE!” drown out any room full of laughter. My hatred for him burns with the heat of 1000 suns. But these young men have spent their lives focusing on hockey… There’s a really good chance they are not as politically informed as I am. And they have also certainly had way more concussions & traumatic brain injuries than me (which may have something to do with why they went to the white house and put on MAGA hats). Yes, they might be dumb male dipshits. But there is no excuse for when men act this way… Least of all, the fact that this brokenness is so prevalent in men. I just want to admit that I have failed in this way many times.

But here’s the difference: The men’s team has had time to sit with it. And they’ve had time to HEAR the voices of the women who felt so hurt & betrayed by the sound of that laughter… Voices like the hurt & betrayed voice of Coach Jackie (whose video I shared above), who dedicates her whole life to singing the praises & spreading the joy of women’s sports. In every person’s pocket, there are literally thousands of ways to hear how that laughter has done real harm. When so many voices tell you that your actions have hurt them, here is what decent people do: They apologize. Not “I’m sorry if anyone…” Just I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry and ashamed for laughing at that sexist pig’s attempt at humor. I’m sorry for the way my laughter felt like a betrayal to both the women’s team AND those people out there who expected so much better than that from me. I wasn’t even in the room laughing at that orange turd, and I feel like I need to apologize for it. When—WHEN??—did the willingness to admit you were wrong become interpreted as weakness??

The whole thing is just so shameful. And deeply disappointing. Their laughter reminds me of the worldview-shifting feeling I had after the 2016 election… the way trümp’s depravity simply grossed me out, but all those votes for him broke something in me and made me question whether love really is stronger than hate. As far as I can tell, NONE of the members of the men’s team have apologized for that laughter. Ellen Hughes (former Olympic women’s hockey player, member of the 2026 women’s team’s coaching staff, and mommy to the men’s team’s Jack & Quinn Hughes) took to social media to defend her boys, speaking about their love for this country, and how we should use this win to “unite,” and saying, “at the end of the day, it’s just about the country,” but she definitely didn’t apologize. But this refusal to apologize… this inability for introspection… this resistance to humility is part & parcel of the brokenness that infects the souls of so many men. The toxic disease that caused that shameful outburst of locker room laughter is the same toxic disease that prevents its cure: A simple apology.

This woman says it better than I ever could…

@cocainekenz

The good ol boys club lives on in the year 2026 #usmenshockey #uswomenshockey #olympics

♬ original sound – cocainekenz

Thank you for reading. If you are on TikTok, please go follow Coach Jackie. She’s rad, and her love for women’s sports in infectious. If you’d like to support my writing, there are many ways you can do that. You can share it with people you know… You can subscribe to this blog… You can BECOME A PATRON… You can leave a tip on PAYPAL or Venmo me at chris-boeskool… Or you can follow me on FACEBOOK or on BLUESKY. And if you can stay informed while also staying hopeful, maybe share how you do that.

Posted in 2) Politics, 3) Bathroom Humor, 5) Not Quite Sure | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bad Bunny, Kid Rock, and A Tale Of Two Americas

Posted on February 9, 2026 by theboeskool

Last month, I travelled to Puerto Rico for the first time. We went to celebrate a wedding, and we were there for about a week… First in Old San Juan for a couple days, then for a day on the island Vieques, then spent the rest of the trip a a resort in Rincón where the wedding was held. Everything about the island was lovely: The weather… the scenery… the drinks… and ESPECIALLY the people. We arrived in San Juan right before the San Sebastián street festival (a festival in the middle of January that kind of unofficially marks the end of Christmas), and both of the parking garages we knew about were closed down for the festival. As we drove around looking for a place to park, I realized I had never before been in a place where my mastery of the English language was worth so little. Luckily, even though Spanish is the dominant language, it’s mostly bilingual and just about everyone speaks at least a LITTLE English… even if it’s slightly broken. Regardless, even after taking 3 years of Spanish classes, the least capable English speakers I encountered in Puerto Rico communicated WAY better than I could communicate in Spanish.

I was just such a cool place. Such a rich history—One that I knew embarrassingly little about. I saw where Ponce de León lived… Like THAT Ponce de León. The explorer/conquistador. I stood on forts that were 250 years older than the Declaration of Independence… Churches older than the USA. We kayaked in the dark of night on a magical, glowing bioluminescent bay. The people we met were the sort of people who—after just meeting you—were insisting that you MUST come back, and inviting you to stay with them at their house when you did. They emanated hospitality & kindness. It was just… Lovely.

By now, you’ve no doubt heard about the uproar & outrage so much of MAGA America had to the idea of a Spanish-speaking man performing at the Super Bowl. So Turning Point USA got together with TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network—the largest christian broadcasting network in the world) to give an alternative “All-American” halftime show featuring Kid Rock that was “celebrating Faith, Family, & Freedom,” I don’t want to spend a lot of time writing about it… It was embarrassingly bad. Kid Rock flailed all over the stage, seemingly forgetting the words to his own songs so that his lip-syncing was exaggeratedly UN-synced. You can watch an incredibly cringy clip here:

Kid Rock appears to forget the lyrics to his song while lip syncing at the Turning Point USA halftime show.

— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) 2026-02-09T03:04:14.810063278Z

In case you were—for some reason—unable to catch the words by reading his lips, what he said there was as follows: “And this is for the questions that don’t have any answers, the midnight glancers and the topless dancers, the gander freaks, cars packed with speakers, the G’s with the 40’s and the chicks with beepers.” Kid Rock sang that. On TBN. Well, I guess technically, he didn’t sing it… He mouthed it. On TBN. Very poorly mouthed it. On TBN. He was “celebrating Faith, Family, & Freedom,” In that song, he goes on to celebrate “Southern Comfort, punctured veins, crackheads, methadone clinics, bastards at the IRS, crooked cops, shots of Jack, caps of meth, & hookers all trickin’ out in Hollywood.” On TBN… All on TBN.

Kid Rock unveiled a giant American flag at his halftime lip-sync fest… But if you're wondering which flag was Bobby James Ritchie's REAL first love, you don't have to look too far.Gotta love it when the rich, white, skinny son of a Detroit suburbs millionaire flexes for "heritage, not hate."😂

— Chris Boeskool (@theboeskool.bsky.social) 2026-02-09T09:56:30.317Z

As is often the case, the ones feeling the deepest sense of outrage are the ones most unburdened by the importance or even cursory knowledge of history. Puerto Rico was a possession of Spain for 400 years. It was acquired by the United States in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, and since 1917 its citizens are American citizens… Even though they can’t vote in American elections. They are federally taxed, without representation—Otherwise known as “taxation without representation.” They spoke Spanish in America more than 100 years before anyone was speaking English here. Bad Bunny (who I admit I knew VERY little about before this Super Bowl Streisand Effect) famously said, “English is not my first language. But it’s okay, it’s not America’s first language, either.” Rad. People were very angry about him singing in Spanish… in California (Spanish name)… in a stadium in Santa Clara (Spanish name)… near the Bay Area of San Francisco (Spanish name). How DARE he? It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad. What ISN’T sad is what was at the heart of Bad Bunny’s halftime performance. And as I talk about this, please be thinking about which part of this performance felt so “un-American” to the MAGA cultists…

He walked through the sugar cane fields whose sugar & rum turned Puerto Rico into such a rich port… past vendors selling piraguas and seeing scenes of daily life on the island he loves. He turned the field into a beautiful, bustling market. And then a block party. He gave one of his Grammys to a little Latino kid watching him on a television. An actual couple who had asked him to attend their wedding was married in real life and celebrated live on the most watched program in the world. He climbed onto power lines, highlighting PR’s continued struggles with power & infrastructure… Struggles, by the way, that are not helped by an orange moron tossing desperate people rolls of paper towel after a hurricane.

And he introduced himself in Spanish, using his full name. He said, “Mi nombre es Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, y si hoy estoy aquí en el Super Bowl 60, es porque nunca, nunca dejé de creer en mí. Tú también deberías de creer en ti. Vales más de lo que piensas. Confía en mí.” Which is translated in English as, “My name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, and if I’m here today at Super Bowl 60, it’s because I never, ever stopped believing in myself. You should also believe in yourself. You’re worth more than you think. Trust me.” These are words spoken by a 31 year old man who is right now the most popular artist on the planet… A young man who, ten years ago, was working as a bagger & cashier at an Econo supermarket in Puerto Rico. “Believe in yourself.” Sounds like some woke garbage to me…

The difference between the two visions for the promise of America could not be starker. One man sings about his Auntie or the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York… The other one puts on a “wife beater” and sings about strippers, doing drugs, and celebrating statutory rape. On TBN.

The only English words he said were “God Bless America.” And then he had the audacity to suggest God might want to bless the countries in ALL the Americas… South America, Central America, and North America. He named all the countries while the people surrounding him danced & proudly carried the many different American flags. He held up a football that said, “Together, we are America.” Behind him, the words on the Jumbotron read, “The only thing stronger than hate is love.” This was a callback to his speech last week when he won a Grammy and said, “We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans. The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love.” I don’t know about you, but this sounds like some more woke nonsense… the kind of garbage that makes me want to quickly change the channel to TBN so I can cleanse my offended eyes & ears with a scrawny middle-aged white dude screaming about topless dancers & doing meth. On TBN.

The president of the United States was ALSO very offended by Bad Bunny’s un-American call for unity, belief in yourself, and love over hate… calling the show a “slap in the face” to our country. Bad bunny finished with the words “Seguimos aquí,” which means “We’re still here.” Perhaps this is what he was so upset about—them still being here. He went on to say, “It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World.” I’m pretty sure there are PLENTY of people around the world who “understand a word this guy is saying,” donald. Perhaps—like tariffs, economics, science, history, religion, the Bible, government, running a successful casino, morality, compassion, or basic human decency—the problem might be with YOUR ability to understand things.

America is so divided. And the division has less to do with big government versus small government, or individual freedom, or taxes… I think the biggest dividing line right now is surrounding DEI. Not the boogieman catch-all acronym DEI that is used (much like the word “woke”) to demonize everything that scares white folks, while shifting the blame for their woes away from billionaires & oligarchs and onto Black, Brown, & immigrant neighbors… The words behind DEI: DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION. Part of America looks at the simple goodness of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, and they actually see something worth fighting against. Another part of America looks at Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion and the see something worth fighting FOR. Guess which group enjoyed yesterday’s Super Bowl Halftime show…

Remember Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves? I love that movie. There’s more to it than just a great love song. When Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood” brings Morgan Freeman’s Moorish “Azeem” back with him to England, a little girl touches his face, fascinated by his brown skin, and she asks him—through her little English accent—“Did God paint you?” Azeem explains his difference with three words: “Allah loves diversity.” And even as a kid, this line just struck me as so true. Like… JUST LOOK AROUND! Of COURSE God loves diversity. Now there seem to be so many angry people—in comment sections and school boards and board rooms—who see a scene like that and think “INDOCTRINATION!!” Some people see that scene and tear up over the simple truth of goodness of diversity in the world… Others see it and they’re angry about them using the word “Allah.” Just like some see Bad Bunny’s love letter to Puerto Rico and tear up at the beauty of a man honoring a beloved culture and language and people… Others see a reason to turn the channel to a Kid Rock concert. On TBN. Some people see this halftime show as “un-American.” Others, like me, see it as one of the most beautifully American things I have ever seen.

Thank you so much for reading this. It made me very happy to write. If you’d like to support my writing and this blog, you can do that a few different ways: The most basic one is sharing this post with the people in your life. You can also follow me ON FACEBOOK and also ON BLUESKY. And if you really love what I’m doing here, you can BECAME A PATRON, or you can LEAVE A TIP ON PAYPAL or Venmo to chris-boeskool.

Posted in 2) Politics, 5) Not Quite Sure | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

He Is The Very Worst Of Us. And Christians Don’t Care.

Posted on February 6, 2026 by theboeskool

Last night, while you slept, the most evil, most selfish, most pathetic, most broken man on the planet took to his “truth social” account and posted over 50 times in one hour. There were many clinically crazy things that he posted. As always, there is a torrent of depravity coming from this slimy man and the shameless ghouls who support him. Each day is a new low. There is so much depravity that it overwhelms our ability to respond… Focusing on just one part of his demented tirades is like getting sprayed in the face with a firehose, and trying to point out a part of the stream that tasted EXTRA gross. But last night, the man who 81% of white evangelicals continue to support posted a video that contained an AI-generated image of the Obamas as gorillas. It’s so harmful & disgusting & awful that I don’t even want to share it… But you need to see it to believe how truly vile it is. I am sorry in advance… This was posted by the president of the United States of America in 2026:

I initially had the screen capture of the disgusting thing the disgusting man in the White House posted. I feel like there is usefulness in posting the horrible things these horrible people do and say… I feel like the picture is so shameful, and they NEED to be shamed. I was enraged. But everyone has seen it by now… You can find it if you want to see it for some reason. I apologize if my posting the image brought any further dehumanization or harm to my Black & Brown friends & neighbors.

I just don’t even know what to write. I feel like I don’t know weather to cry or scream or set something on fire… How are there so many people who are okay with this? Is there nothing too low? I mean, it’s clear that there is no bottom to HIS wickedness. By this point, trümp’s depravity is not very noteworthy. What continues to shock and profoundly disappoint me is how so many white people who identify as christians are still able to justify their continued support for this man. It defies understanding.

They support him as he rounds up Black & Brown people and throws them in concentration camps.
They support him as he paints Latinos as rapists & murderers.
They support him as he lies hundreds of times a day.
They support him as he cheats on all three of his wives.
They support him as he turns the National Prayer Breakfast into a blasphemous embarrassment.
They support him as he threatens to nationalize voting in areas that lean democrat.
They support him as he fully embraces fascism and fawns over dictators.
They support him as he speaks to women reporters with utter distain, disrespect, & disgusting sexism.
And they will find a way to support him through his posting of this pure, distilled racism.

Of course they will. They cheer him on as he demonizes immigrants. Their hero is a main character is the biggest pedophile ring in the history of the world, and they DON’T. CARE. As of the latest Epstein file dump, trümp’s name appears over 38,000 times… And that is AFTER he assigned 1000 FBI agents to go through the files and flag mentions of his name so that it could be redacted. THIRTY-EIGHT THOUSAND TIMES! Jesus’ name is mentioned less than 1000 times in the Bible. In the investigation into a sex trafficking & pedophilia ring, trümp’s name is mentioned more than the word “THE” is mentioned in the English language version of the Bible. And you know who DOESN’T care??? MAGA “christians.” They couldn’t care less. They don’t care about him raping little girls… They’re not going to care about him posting some racist pictures.

#Epstein#EpsteinFiles

— WomenRiseUp2026 (@womenriseup2026.bsky.social) 2026-02-05T16:09:04.076Z

Remember when Hillary Clinton referred to a portion of his support as a “basket of deplorables?” They got upset about that. They were ANGERED that she would call some of his supporters “deplorable.” Consider that for a moment… The people who continue to excuse the constant stream of deplorable shit like the picture above were angry—NOT about the constant stream of deplorable shit… but about being CALLED deplorable. They turned it into a point of pride. They had shirts made! God damn it…

This coming weekend, a bunch of people misguided, hateful people will turn the channel from the Super Bowl halftime show because the NFL chose to have Bad Bunny—arguably the biggest music star in the world right now and a Puerto Rican artist who performs mostly in Spanish—perform at halftime. And people who support a man who was best buds with the most notorious pedophile of all time will tune in to TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network—the largest christian broadcasting network on the planet) and watch a man who wrote a song where he said, “Young ladies, young ladies, I like ’em underage, see. Some say that’s statutory (But I say it’s mandatory).” Franklin Graham is celebrating it. They’re calling it the The All-American Halftime Show… either unaware or unconcerned with the fact that people from Puerto Rico are all Americans.

The white evangelical church is dead. And it wasn’t killed by trümp… It was killed by the cowards within the walls of the churches, afraid to preach what they KNEW was true, for fear that the rich members would take their money elsewhere. It was killed by the silence of people who knew better. It was killed by the complicity of people calling themselves christians. It was killed by a million individual decisions to worship a man who is as objectively opposite to Jesus as a person can get. And honestly, I don’t really mourn its passing. Good riddance.

I am about as disgusted as I get. The grossness of this man soils everything. His ugly words and actions BREED hatred, and his fetid breath infects both his followers and the people who stand apposed to him, radicalized by basic decency. The actions of the church of my youth make me long for the judgement of the hell I no longer believe in. I find myself exhibiting less & less grace. I have all but abandoned the noble non-violence of moral heroes like King & Gandhi. I want justice. I want people shamed. Like, I WANT these people to HEAR the words, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” And I want to see their faces when they hear it.

That or repentance. I guess I’ll settle for repentance. God, I’m heartbroken…

I’m sorry if any of my readers are looking to me for hope right now. I don’t have much. I believe it’s time to separate ourselves from friends and even family members who still support this monster. Imagine being a Black woman or man in this country, and watching white folks choose to prioritize family ties over the clear immorality and racism of this man. There is no one in my family I love more than I hate the evil of this regime. Lord have mercy… Anyway, if you’d like to support my work, you can BECOME A PATRON. Or if you’d like to leave a tip, buy me a well-needed drink. or help me pay for the tree that fell on my house during this ice storm. you can DO THAT ON PAYPAL or Venmo me at chris-boeskool. Follow along on FACEBOOK or on BLUESKY.

Posted in 1) Jesus, 2) Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

First They Came For The Talk Show Hosts…

Posted on September 18, 2025 by theboeskool

It’s a very short poem. You’ve probably read it, or seen it, or heard it before. It was written by a German pastor named Martin Niemöller in 1946. And it’s not so much a reflection on the atrocities committed by the nazi party in his country, as it is a condemnation of the COMPLICITY of the people—especially of people like clergy and intellectuals—who said nothing while they watched fascists get bolder & bolder with their silencing of groups they hated. Here is one of the English translations:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

This version is probably the one that most people in America are familiar with… It’s the version posted in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Funny story: The first stanza of the original version written by Niemöller says that they came for the COMMUNISTS first… But the in the middle of The Cold War, I guess American decision makers conveniently left out the bit about the evils of staying silent while they rounded up all those dirty commies. Anyway, if you want to see the poem in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, I’d go quickly… The way things are going, I doubt it’ll be up much longer.

Public enemies #1 and #2. Imagine sitting in the most powerful seat on the planet, and still being such an absolutely fragile, insecure man-baby that you can’t handle comedians making jokes about you.

Yesterday, a couple significant things happened in the trump administration’s goose-stepping march toward full-on fascism ( I say “full-on” fascism, because fascism is already here… it’s just a matter of whether or not there are any meaningful limits left in place to safeguard democracy & the constitution). One you almost certainly heard about by now: Jimmy Kimmel’s show was suspended indefinitely. The other was somewhat overshadowed by the Jimmy Kimmel news: trump’s declaration that he’s targeting the Antifa movement as a “terrorist organization.” I address this one briefly first…

For those who don’t know, Antifa is just a shortened way of saying “anti-fascist.” Little-known fact: The name “Antifa” was borrowed from the German Antifa movement that started in 1933, opposing what Hitler and the other fascists were trying to do before the nazi party came into power there. Most people in America (myself included) heard about Antifa for the first time after clashes with the violent white supremacist & neo-nazi groups at the “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. To refresh your memory, after a white supremacist murdered nine Black people at a prayer meeting in Charleston, SC at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, many states were like, “Maybe we should take down some of these confederate monuments.” In Charlottesville, they decided to take down a Robert E. Lee statue, and white supremacists, neo-confederates, and many other trump supporters were not too happy about it. The Unite The Right rally was well-advertised, so a bunch of counter protestors showed up as well… Many of them clergy. Some more militant anti-fascist groups showed up as well, and some violence broke out, culminating with a 20 year old neo-nazi murdering Heather Heyer with his car and wounding many others. You may remember that this was the event of which trump said there were “very fine people on both sides.”

Antifa has no centralized structure or leadership. There is no chain of command. There is no central office. Antifa is simply a loose affiliation of people who think that fascism is a bad thing, and they’re against it. MANY people who call themselves “Antifa” rely on totally non-violent means of protests. Some do not. Some carry shields and weapons and look ready for battle. Cornel West was at the UTR rally & described anti-fascists forming a barrier that prevented their group of counter protesters from being “crushed like cockroaches“ by white supremacists. Imagine if there was a decentralized anti-racist movement called “Antira,” some people identifying as Antira occasionally had violent interactions at protests, and the president of the United States declared anti-racism groups as “terrorist.” In the same way, to “designate” the entire Antifa movement as a terrorist organization would be designating everyone who is anti-fascism as a terrorist. It’s lunacy. It’s another direct attack on free speech. And coincidentally, it comes on the same day as this corrupt, fascist administration quietly took down a report from a government study showing that THE VAST MAJORITY OF VIOLENCE in this nation comes from people on the political right rather than the Left. But really, this is just another day for the fascists in the White House. If being anti-fascist is a crime, y’all might as well lock me up.

On to Jimmy Kimmel… Here is what JD Vance, who once referred to donald trump as “America’s Hitler,” posted this morning:

ABC claimed that parts of Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue about Charlie were “insensitive.” Below is a video of the commentary and joke that got him indefinitely suspended… Please watch it.

1. Just so we’re clear, this is the clip that got Jimmy Kimmel’s show shelved by ABC. If I’m missing any other clips please let me know.

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yasharali.bsky.social) 2025-09-18T02:08:33.195Z

That’s it. That’s what got him pulled. I suppose this shouldn’t come as TOO much of a surprise to those of us who are paying attention. A mere two weeks ago, after celebrating the cancelling of Stephen Colbert’s top-rated late night talk show, trump posted, “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.“

Just a reminder, Trump openly said after he got Colbert fired that he would get Kimmel fired next. And he did.

— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) 2025-09-18T17:17:53.598Z

But Jimmy Kimmel’s removal—much like Stephen Colbert’s—wasn’t just about a whiney orange man-baby silencing criticism when he gets his wittle feewings huwt. It is—as with most things—about money. You see, CBS’s parent company Paramount Global was attempting a merger with Skydance Media… And in order for something of that size to go through, they needed the approval of the trump’s hyper-loyal FCC commissioner, Brendan Carr. This is the reason CBS settled a lawsuit that legal scholars agreed was frivolous and bound to fail, paying trump $16 million for “deceptively editing” part of a Kamala Harris video. And many speculate that this is also why Stephen Colbert—a vocal trump critic who had the highest-rated nighttime talk show on television—had his show cancelled.

Jimmy Kimmel’s situation is very similar. Trump’s FFC Director Brendan Carr was upset about Kimmel’s opening monologue. A media company called “Nexstar” announced on Tuesday that it plans to acquire another media company called “Tegna.” You can read about it HERE. Basically, there are policies put in place to prevent companies from owning too many stations across the country, and those policies would prevent this merger from going through. But—WOULDN’T YOU KNOW IT—Brendan Carr signaled that the FCC is open to changing the rules. In an interview with Benny Johnson, Carr said there could be “a path forward for suspension over this” and “urged other media companies and local broadcasters to ‘push back’ and stop airing the show.” Now, you probably won’t believe this giant coincidence, but shortly after this, Nexstar (who needs Carr’s approval for their acquisition to go through) announced that—because of Kimmel’s comments—their channels would stop airing Kimmel “for the foreseeable future.”

Sinclair (a notoriously right-wing leaning media company who ALSO has its sights set on acquiring Tegna) also said that they would stop airing Kimmel and wrote, “Regardless of ABC’s plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return Jimmy Kimmel Live! to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.” Before returning Kimmel Live to its stations, Sinclair is demanding that Kimmel to apologize to Charlie Kirk’s family, make a meaningful personal contribution to Kirk’s “Turning Point USA” organization, and “uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform,” whatever that means. AND ALL OF THIS COINCIDENTALLY HAPPENED RIGHT AFTER BRANDEN CARR CALLED ON LOCAL CHANNELS TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST KIMMEL… AND BOTH OF THE MEDIA COMPANIES JUST *HAPPENED* TO NEED CARR’S APPROVAL FOR MERGERS. Anyway, this basically forced ABC’s hand in cancelling Kimmel. Can you believe what a giant coincidence this all was?!?

First Colbert, now Kimmel.Last-minute settlements, secret side deals, multi-billion dollar mergers pending Donald Trump's approval.Trump silencing free speech stifles our democracy. It sure looks like giant media companies are enabling his authoritarianism.

— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) 2025-09-18T02:23:50.084Z

Listen—A few day ago on Fox & friends, Brian Killmeade suggested “involuntary lethal injection” for homeless people. If Jimmy Kimmel had said THAT instead of making fun of republican’s rush to use Charlie Kirk’s death for political points and poking fun of trump’s dementia-addled comments, he’d still have a job. It should also be pointed out that within a few days of Killmeade’s comments, there were two separate mass shootings at homeless encampments…

A few days after Brian Kilmeade suggested “involuntary lethal injection,” two separate mass shootings targeted homeless encampments in Minnesota, injuring at least a dozen people. Yet Jimmy Kimmel is indefinitely suspended.

— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@nothoodlum.bsky.social) 2025-09-18T01:44:51.772Z

But this is the kind of stuff that happens when you appoint department secretaries who are more loyal to a person than they are to the law. This is how AUTHORITARIANISM happens.

Here is how far-right fascism and oligarchy fit together like a hand in a glove:

  • 1) Far-Right fascists promise to lower taxes for the rich, but more importantly they promise to get rid of regulations that prevent the ultra rich/oligarchy class from unfairly using their wealth and influence to get even richer (while eliminating protections for the poor & working class).
  • 2) The ultra rich use their billions to get those far-right fascists elected (thank you, Citizens United!).
  • 3) In turn, far-right fascists promise to use the power of the government and the military to preserve the privilege of the oligarchy class, often corruptly taking payments and favors for policy decisions that protect their interests.
  • 4) The far-right fascist provide “strongman” tactics to fight social upheaval and movements for equality & justice, while the State demands corporations use their considerable means of control (as billionaires buy up journalism outlets, media corporations, and all social media platforms) to use their powers for “national interests.”
  • 5) In return, the oligarchs are given lucrative government contracts, even more extreme wealth, and approval for their mergers and acquisitions that further consolidate their power.
  • 6) You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours… Rinse & repeat. Robert Reich writes about this rotten process RIGHT HERE.

And that is where we are in America right now. We are at the stage where being ANTI-FASCIST means you are a terrorist. And we are at the stage where the free speech of comedians on TV is being silenced because make fun of Dear Leader… Otherwise Dear Leader won’t approve your multi-billion-dollar merger. And the political right is reveling in their own hypocrisy. The party against cancel culture is celebrating it when people critical of trump are cancelled. But everyone know it was never about protecting “free speech.” It was only ever about protecting speech they liked. The party that wanted comedy to be legal again is celebrating when the government silences comedy they don’t like. It won’t be long until news stations are given a script, and if you don’t read it, you’ll be taken off the air. THAT’S where we are.

Don’t let this make you quieter. Get louder.

— Jess Piper (@piperformissouri.bsky.social) 2025-09-17T23:27:39.299Z

Where did all those “Don’t Tread On Me” people go? Where are all the republicans who were so worried about too much government control? And what worries me most is that this administration seems frighteningly unconcerned with how DEEPLY unpopular these actions are… Like they’re not worried about the backlash coming in the next election. Which has me thinking that they are not at ALL worried about being voted out. Perhaps trump (for once) wasn’t lying when he told christians they won’t have to vote after the 2024 election. I fear we may have seen the last free & fair election in this nation for quite some time. But who knows? Part of authoritarianism and fascism is the public’s perception that the people in power ACTUALLY HAVE THE AUTHORITY to do the unconstitutional things they are trying to do. And perhaps if we—the millions of us who see this nazi-level shit for what it is—refuse to believe that the corrupt dimwits in charge CAN do these things… Perhaps we decide to bravely stand together, flooding the streets, to KEEP them from doing these things before it’s too late.

So back to the poem… It’s pretty short. And we’re most of the way through it. How long do you think it will be before they come for you?

Thank you SO MUCH for reading. Once again, please let me know what you think in the comments. I also wanted to say an extra GIANT THANK YOU to a person who decided to support my work with a generous tip. I can’t say her name, because she is fearful of the repercussions of even LIKING something that could get her in trouble… But you know who you are, and THANK YOU! If you also value the stuff I write, the best way you can show that support is by sharing the post. If you REALLY like the stuff I write, you can help support me either by BECOMING A PATRON, or by LEAVING A TIP ON PAYPAL or by Venmoing me at chris-boeskool. Otherwise, you can follow me ON FACEBOOK or also ON BLUESKY. Stay strong and stay hopeful.

Posted in 2) Politics, 5) Not Quite Sure | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Charlie Kirk Was A Christian

Posted on September 12, 2025 by theboeskool

People are calling him a “martyr.” Sorry—That’s just not true. If an author writes a book, goes on a book tour, and is killed at one of the events, that doesn’t make them a martyr for the cause of the book. Words have meanings. I write and say things that people disagree with all the time. If someone who doesn’t like my ideas decides to kill me, that doesn’t mean I’m a martyr… It means a violent person decide to kill me. My understanding of the definition of “martyr” is a person who voluntarily chooses death rather than renouncing their religious beliefs. That’s not how he died. Now, if someone gave Charlie a choice between death and denying Jesus, he refused, and he got killed because of it, THEN he’d be a martyr. Charlie Kirk was the victim of an American culture that puts weapons of war in the hands of little boys and tells them that emotions, empathy, and compassion make them feminine… And femininity is weakness… And weakness is bad. Yeah, even trump called him a martyr. But he was no martyr.

Charlie Kirk isn’t a martyr. He’s a casualty of the violence he incited.

— Harlow’s Musings (@harlowsmusings.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T22:20:42.365Z

He WAS, however, a Christian.

In the storm of posts and opinions flooding social media, I have seen people site examples from the very long, very well-documented list of hateful, bigoted things Charlie Kirk said while he was alive… And they followed those examples with comments like, “There is nothing Christian about him.” Well, I hate to break it to you, but that’s just not true either. In fact, a case can be made that Charlie Kirk is EXACTLY what American christianity looks like.

More craziness. Not a martyr, but “True Modern Day American Christian” I can agree with… Full of hatred and bigotry, and dedicated to capitalism & white supremacy FAR more than being dedicated to Jesus Christ.

Imagine if a child endured horrific abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest… And that same child grew up holding resentment, distrust, and blame against the Catholic Church for the ways that abuse traumatized them… And THEN someone tried to explain to them that the abuser wasn’t a REAL Catholic. A REAL Catholic would never do something like that. That’s some “No true Scotsman”/appeal to purity bullshit, right there. It looks like this… Person A: “Christians are good!” Person B: “Here is a long list of hatred & harm done in the name of Jesus.” Person A: “Well, those people weren’t REAL Christians, because Christians are obviously good.”

It’s the same thing that happens when people call attention to the numerous examples of corruption, abuse, & injustice done by police, and people respond with some tired “one bad apple” defense. REAL cops would NEVER do a racism… Because they start with the axiom that “Police are good.” “Christians are good.” “America is good.” And when people’s foundational beliefs are challenged, their response is usually very heated.

Charlie Kirk was a martyr for free speech, which is why we're going to deport anyone who "makes light" of his death.

— Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T23:04:31.630Z

There are MANY people out there who have come to understand that the white nationalist, patriarchal, authoritarian version of the christian church is horribly toxic and harmful. But they are still operating under the axiom that christianity is GOOD… Therefore, those people practicing & celebrating the white nationalist, patriarchal, authoritarian brand of christianity can’t be REAL christians… They can’t be TRUE christians… They can’t be GENUINE christians… Because christians are Good. So then the harm that people did & do in the name of christianity is filed under FAKE christianity. Well, that is neither fair nor honest.

Charlie Kirk was virulently anti-immigrant. And I hate to break this to you, but the majority of the white christian church in America is anti-immigrant. How many of all those people holding all the “Mass Deportations Now” signs at those trump rallies do you think identified as “christians?” Every one of them. So just because your consciousness has evolved to the point that you understand xenophobia to be “bad,” it doesn’t change the views of a SIGNIFICANT portion of the church. And yes, admittedly, a very strong case can be made that the Bible—front to back—calls people to welcome the immigrant, alien, & stranger and to treat those people as one of your own. But that doesn’t change the fact that a huge chunk of the church doesn’t read it that way… Or credits it to cultural differences… Or suddenly thinks that “context” is hugely important to take into consideration.

Charlie Kirk was a sexist, patriarchal misogynist. And he had plenty of biblical reason to back that position up. After hearing about her engagement, he told Taylor Swift to “reject feminism” and submit to her husband, saying that “a woman should have more kids than houses” and hoped that being married to Travis Kelce might “de-radicalize” her. He told an ambitious 14 year old girl who had dreams of being a journalist that she should go to collage for an “MRS degree,” and warned young women that if they focused on their career and didn’t get married by 30, they would “die alone.” To him, the worth of a woman was her ability to give a man children. I think it’s fair to say that the staying power in America of these ideas of what “good” femininity looks like can be directly credited to American christianity. Hell, rather that vote for an overly qualified, competent woman, 4 out of 5 American christians voted for a bigoted, orange, buffoonish gameshow host…

Charlie Kirk was a homophobic, trans-hating bigot. He called trans identity a “mental disease.” He championed himself as a proponent of a Biblical, “traditional” family—even though a traditional Biblical family often involved multiple wives and viewing wives & daughters as property (and all while supporting a thrice-married serial adulterer who paid a porn star for her silence and frequented the island of America’s most famous pedophile). He even called for “Nuremberg-style trials” (where people were sentenced to death for holocaust atrocities) for doctors who provide gender-affirming care.

Charlie Kirk was a white supremacist and a racist. He might not have described himself using those words (because he, like all of us, was raised & marinated in the axiom “Racism is Bad,” and no one likes to think of themselves as the bad guy), but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. The Bible and christianity were used to justify slavery, used to justify manifest destiny, used to justify the holocaust, used to justify white supremacy… Think of the world’s most horrific events—chances are good people used christianity to justify them. Racism is not an aberration of American christianity… It is a FEATURE.

Now… Does this mean that I believe that everyone who calls themselves a “christian” is necessarily xenophobic, sexist, homophobic, & racist? Of course not. Just as I would not say that every American is xenophobic, sexist, homophobic, & racist. There are lovely, amazing, wonderful things being done by people who call themselves “christians,” just as there are lovely, amazing, wonderful things being done by Americans. But you don’t get to say that someone who does something horrible wasn’t a “REAL American.” Just like you don’t get to say someone who lived a life dedicated to xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, and racism wasn’t a “REAL christian.”

Me hearing the Charlie Kirk shooter is a white conservative Christian male:

— Blue Fairylicious Girl🧚 (@bluesnowflake.bsky.social) 2025-09-12T14:49:27.555Z

I know what it’s like to deflect with “not a REAL christian,” because I did it for decades. And I’d like to genuinely apologize for all the times in the past that I excused & deflected the harmful actions of christians by explaining that they we just “FAKE christians.” I am certain that, in doing this, I furthered the harm that was done to people in the name of Jesus and the name of christianity. I still think there ARE fake christians… For example, I’d bet everything I have that donald trump believes zero percent of what the traditional christian faith affirms. I think he’s incapable of any love other than love for himself, money, & power, and he falsely uses the ruse of christianity as a device to acquire more money, power, & praise. Regardless, I am very sorry for any harm I have done in the past by attempting to “No True Scotsman” the harmful, destructive, traumatic things done in the name of Jesus.

There are over 40,000 different christian denominations in the world—each using nearly the same Bible, and EACH with significant enough theological differences to warrant a division in the church. There is not “one REAL Christian Church” anymore than there is one “REAL” kind of christian. You can try to make a litmus test all you’d like. You can take verses about “knowing Christians by how they love” or “knowing by a tree by its fruit” all you want. The hateful brand of christian will just tell you that the best way to love somebody is by telling them they’re going to burn in hell… Or by hitting & “disciplining” them like you’d discipline a pet dog… Or kicking them out of their house when they come out of the closet… Or by MAKING a woman submit like the Bible says to submit… Or by reestablishing a natural, “Biblical” hierarchical racial order. Jesus… There is not one kind of Christian. There are 40,000+ brands of christians, each with hundreds of sub-brands inside them.

I actually saw this on Facebook. It was posted by someone I used to go to church with. Phrases like “The truth sounds like hatred to those who hate the truth” can be used to cover up and excuse ALL KINDS of hatred.

Someone once said, “If it weren’t for christians, I’d be a christian.” And Mahatma Gandhi said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” The fact remains that 81% of white evangelicals voted for a man whose xenophobia, sexism, bigotry, & racism is about as well-documented as things get. And Charlie Kirk is one of that brand. Sorry, but you don’t get say that Charlie Kirk wasn’t a REAL christian just because he did things that were REAL gross to you. Yes, he said many, many things that can rightly be called “hateful.” But the christians venerating him and calling him a hero right now do not do it DESPITE the giant list of the abusive, hateful, bigoted things he said while he was alive… They call him a hero BECAUSE OF the hateful things he said. Charlie Kirk was a christian… And that fact is why I no longer want anything to do with the christian church.

Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think in the comments. If you like the stuff I write, the best way you can show that support is by sharing the post. If you REALLY like the stuff I write, you can help support me either by BECOMING A PATRON, or by LEAVING A TIP ON PAYPAL or by Venmoing me at chris-boeskool. Otherwise, you can follow me ON FACEBOOK or also ON BLUESKY. One last thought here:

it really is astonishing how quickly it goes from “civil war” and “blood in the streets” to “wow guys it’s just a sad tragedy” when it becomes inconvenient

— onion person (@junlper.beer) 2025-09-12T17:46:46.012Z

Posted in 1) Jesus, 2) Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Just Because I Don’t Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Death Doesn’t Mean I Have To Celebrate His Life.

Posted on September 11, 2025 by theboeskool

Do not let people tell you that these are your only choices. Because it’s just not true. No, Charlie Kirk was not a good person. And no, I don’t think he deserved to die.

You’ve almost certainly heard by now: Charlie Kirk was shot and killed yesterday. He was shot while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. Utah—coincidentally—is one of two states (along with West Virginia) that passed a “Campus Carry” law (2025’s Utah HB128) REQUIRING colleges to allow students to carry firearms while on campus and restricting colleges from putting policies in place that prohibit both open and concealed carry while at school. I heard about the shooting later in the day, and since then, I’ve spent many hours reading people’s thoughts on social media. The reactions are far-ranging: From painting him as some sort of hero or even a “martyr,” all the way to sarcastic calls for “Thoughts & Prayers.” Me? I’m not sure how to feel. I mostly feel sick to my stomach. But what I DON’T see is “celebration.” What I saw is nearly universal condemnation of this act of violence from leaders who opposed Charlie Kirk’s hateful ideology:

We don’t yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy. Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie’s family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children.

— Barack Obama (@barackobama.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T21:26:37.818Z

The killing of Charlie Kirk is absolutely horrifying. There’s no place for violence in our country’s politics. My deepest sympathies to his family.

— Hillary Rodham Clinton (@hillaryclinton.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T23:11:36.774Z

Horrific to hear that Charlie Kirk was shot today in Utah. Political violence must be always and totally rejected. Praying for him and all who may have been injured or impacted.

— Pete Buttigieg (@petebuttigieg.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T19:13:19.662Z

Charlie Kirk called me a ‘lunatic’ and a ‘prostitute’ and demanded I be deported.Nothing, *nothing*, justifies killing him, or robbing his kids of their dad. We don’t know the identity or motive of the shooter but murder can *never* be the response to political disagreements.

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T21:58:24.810Z

This is the furthest thing from celebration. This overwhelming condemnation. MOST of what I see is summed up in this Bluesky post:

Okay, so what I've seen so far isn't generally rejoicing over Kirk's death, more a refusal to grieve and widespread dread at what the Right will do with this latest trigger.

— Anna Orridge (@anna-orridge.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T08:19:26.135Z

I’d add to that a general category of “Pointing Out Hypocrisies and Inconsistencies” in the criticisms of peoples’ reactions—ESPECIALLY when using Charlie Kirk’s own words. Listen—if someone dies from a head injury sustained in a motorcycle accident, and then it turns out that same person spent their life calling motorcycle helmet laws “tyranny” and even had a popular podcast where they encourage people to fight against those tyrannical helmet laws… pointing out that fact is not “dancing on their grave.” If you claim to be the party of “Law & Order” but then you hand out presidential pardons to every January 6 insurrectionist who violently attacked police officers, drawing attention to that inconsistency is not an act of hatred. When talking about the three 9-year-old kids and three adults were killed by a shooter at The Covenant School here in Nashville, Charlie Kirk heartlessly said the following: “I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.” He said, “We cannot allow them to emotionally hijack the narrative.” So when someone post his words next to the news that he was killed by gun violence, it’s not celebration or schadenfreude. It’s just honesty… Honesty about what he stood for.

So what I’m saying is NOT that I support what happened to Charlie Kirk… I’m using his own words to point out that CHARLIE KIRK supported what happened to Charlie Kirk.

“HOW DARE YOU BE SO CRUEL! HE WAS A FATHER! HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT HIS KIDS?”

George Floyd was a father too and Charlie Kirk called him a “scumbag.”

— mamamoo (@thelovelymc.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T22:18:22.805Z

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? HAVE YOU NO EMPATHY?!?

Without comment:

— Rap Bastardz® (@rapbastardz.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T22:03:52.012Z

I can go all day. Charlie Kirk was awful. He was NOT a good person. What’s that? You don’t think we should speak ill of the dead? Charlie literally said that Martin Luther King, Jr. was “awful” and “not a good person.” Charlie was a sexist. When a 14 year old girl asked him a question about her wanting to be a political journalist, he actually suggested that she go to school for “an MRS degree.” Charlie was racist. He talked openly about how Black pilots make him nervous, saying, “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.'” Charlie had a special place in his hateful heart for being both sexist and racist at the same time: He said that Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee are “affirmative action picks” and told them, “You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously. [without affirmative action] You had to steal a white person’s slot.”

He actually said that. This is the person for which the president of the United States is ordering flags at half mast. Sit with that for a moment…

People act like he was some paragon of nonviolence. No. He wasn’t. Not even close. Just because he was made famous by his “prove me wrong” debate style doesn’t mean he didn’t advocate for violence. He cheered as the US military extrajudicially killed 11 people on a boat from long range because they were suspected of smuggling drugs. He said to “bomb the cartels.” Of the nation with the most incarcerated people on the planet, he said, “We don’t have enough people in prison in America. We need a lot more prisoners.” When Nancy Pelosi’s husband was brutally attacked and his skull was fractured, Charlie Kirk called for a “patriot” to bail him out. And now we have Elon Musk tweeting to his 200 million followers, “The Left is the party of murder,” before we have any idea who committed this murder.

In 2015 it was "lock her up." In 2016 it was "2nd amendment solutions." In 2017 it was telling cops "please don't be too nice." In 2018 "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." In 2019 it was "can't you just shoot them in the legs or something?" In 2020 it was "stand back and stand by."

— A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T10:43:50.647Z

But this is fairly routine now. Does anyone remember hearing about David DePape, the crazy person who broke into the Pelosi’s home and tried to commit murder? He was a FAR-RIGHT QAnon crazy person, reposting the My Pillow guy’s stolen election conspiracies… The same conspiracies pushed by Charlie Kirk. David DePape railed in his blog against People of Color, women, LGBTQIA+, Muslims, immigrants… Any of this sound like anyone else we know? He was an anti-vaxxer and he ALSO thought George Floyd was a scumbag who died of a drug overdose. A month before the Pelosi attack, he wrote that any journalist who challenged Trump’s election fraud claims “should be dragged straight out into the street and shot.” And the shooter at trump’s Butler, PA rally was also part of the “violent radical left…” Right up until they found out he was a republican. People asked elon’s AI “GROK” about American political parties and violence, and if you’re still reading, the answer probably won’t surprise you…

GROK has thoughts.

— (@onefinekitty.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T04:04:15.798Z

And now donald trump has weighed in—with no evidence whatsoever—on who is to blame for Charlie Kirk’s death: It’s “the radical left.” The party of “LET’S NOT POLITICIZE A TRAGEDY” has weighed in and started pointing fingers with startling speed. Trump’s confidante Laura Loomer called for trump to “shut down, defund, & prosecute every single Leftist organization” and called the left a “national security threat.” This person with trump’s ear—without anything even resembling evidence—wrote, “They sent a trained sniper to assassinate Charlie Kirk while he was sitting next to a table of hats that said 47” and added “The Left are terrorists.” Later she alluded to calls for violent retribution, tweeting to her 1.7 million followers, “A message to the Left: Debate time is over. You ended it.” She added, “More people will be murdered if the Left isn’t crushed with the power of the state.” Stephen Miller’s wife said liberals “have blood on their hands” and Nancy Mace is blaming his death on democrats, saying “Democrats own this.” FoxNews’ Jesse Waters joined in and said, “Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us. And what are we going to do about it? How much political violence are we going to tolerate?”

It turns out republicans ARE capable of outrage over a shooting… It just had to be someone they cared about who got shot.

It’s very bewildering to watch as the people who throw their hands up at the steady drumbeat of school shootings in America, like “Well, there’s nothing we can do… I guess this is just part of the unfortunate reality of living in a country with more guns than people” are the SAME people who are so outraged that they’re wanting to start a civil war when that same gun violence touches one of their own. When kids are the victims of senseless gun violence, they’re the eggs that need to break when making a freedom omelette. When that same senseless gun violence ends the life of one of their heroes, IT HAD TO HAVE BEEN A TRAINED ASSASSIN! HIRED BY BARACK OBAMA!!!

I mean, I get that many people are upset—one of their ideological mouthpieces was murdered… But isn’t it weird how NONE of these folks had anywhere NEAR the same distain for “political violence” when a far-right trump-supporter Vance Boelter dressed up like a police officer and assassinated Minnesota democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman, killing her, her husband Mark, and their Golden Retriever rescue service dog Gilbert… Or when that same republican extremist also shot State Senator John Hoffman and his wife…. While carrying a list of other democrats to he wanted to kill. At least Utah Senator Mike Lee condemned those shootings, saying, “This murder was a cowardly act of violence, an attack on champions of freedom.” Just kidding. Those were some of his remarks on Charlie Kirk’s death… When the democratic lawmakers were shot he posted “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way” & tweeted what I ASSUME (I guess?) is an attempt at a joke, “Nightmare on Waltz Street,” referencing somehow Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. But in Mike Lee’s defense, he—like trump and Loomer and Charlie Kirk—is just a truly, truly horrible person.

The left isn’t “dancing on Charlie Kirk’s grave,” we’re just pointing out that, thanks to rhetoric like his, a lot of other graves exist.

— The Volatile Mermaid (@ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T12:09:22.982Z

True to form, trump recorded a consoling yet encouraging message to the people of the United States, telling them, “It’s just horrible – so surprising to see it here. But we have to get over it. We have to move forward.” Just kidding again… Those were his comments to the people of Iowa just one day after a yet another school shooting took the life of a 6th grade student and wounded seven others on the first day of school. Technically, it was about 36 hours after the shooting. When he told them to “get over it” and “move forward,” that was the first things he had said on the shooting. To be fair, you can’t expect the guy to hold a press conference every time there is another school shooting in this country… He’d barely have any time to golf. Still, ANY comment is better than his non-existent comments on the assassination of Melissa Hortman. But within hours of the news of Charlie Kirk’s death, trump addressed the nation to calm rising tensions in an attempt to dissuade further violence. Just kidding a third time… He blamed the rise in political violence on the “radical left.”

This guy couldn’t be bothered to say a single word when one of his political allies assassinated the Speaker of the Minnesota House.

— Max Berger (@maxberger.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T01:37:25.779Z

So I’m definitely not happy about Charlie Kirk being killed. I’m not celebrating… I’m sad. My kids are sad. This murder makes us ALL less safe. It’s been less than 24 hours, we still have no idea who did it, and his death is already being used as a rallying cry for violence against people on the left. While I was doom-scrolling people’s thoughts, I was watching Django Unchained. And I was at the part of the movie where a runaway enslaved fighter was being ripped apart by dogs, and Calvin Candie comments, “Your boss looks a little green around the gills.” Django replies, “He just ain’t used to seein’ a man ripped apart by dogs is all.” Calvin says, “But you are used to it?” Django responds: “I’m just a little more used to Americans than he is.” And I started crying. Violence is like a national religion here… And gun deaths are like some twisted ritual. Here’s what my friend Kristen had to say… It felt right:

The problem with allowing guns everywhere is that no one is safe anywhere.

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T20:24:56.425Z

So while I don’t celebrate Charlie Kirk’s death, I don’t have to mourn the death of a terrible man either. Charlie Kirk was no hero. And if he is a martyr, he is only a martyr to a church so demented and warped by nationalism, bigotry, and white supremacy that if Jesus returned today, those church members would call ICE on him and have him thrown into one of our new concentration camps… A church so foreign to the Jesus I grew to love in my youth that I want nothing more to do with it. Here is one more take… I haven’t decided if I believe it or not yet:`

Charlie Kirk was a person. He might not have cared if I died, but if I don’t care that he died then I’ve already lost.I believe in the dignity of all human beings and I want to live in a society that treats each of us as sacred and ensouled.

— Max Berger (@maxberger.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T21:43:27.159Z

I’m not sure if I care. But I’m definitely not mourning. If I’m going to mourn anything, it’s the death of a part of me that believed a rational argument would be enough to change someone’s mind… The death of a part of me that DIDN’T enjoy watching the occasional nazi get punched in the face… The death of the part of me that still had faith in the christian church and christian leaders to speak to people in times like these and call our hearts & souls to something better. I mourn those deaths. I remember a time before the cult of trump infected so many minds. I remember a more compassionate me… A more nonviolent me… A more hopeful me… A BETTER me. I mourn THOSE losses. And I miss that time… But I will not miss Charlie Kirk.

This took a long time to write… I’m still working through some things. I wanted to thank all the calm, rational, loving voices in my life… In person and on social media. Thank you for the way your thoughts helped me work out my own. May we never lose hope, never lose our empathy, and never lose each other. If my writing or this blog matters to you, and you want to support me, you can do that either by BECOMING A PATRON, or by leaving a tip TIP ON PAYPAL or by Venmoing me at chris-boeskool. You can follow me ON FACEBOOK or ON BLUESKY. (Also, the words “Please care like this when it’s a third grade classroom” came from a meme I was sent that was created by AudreyLovesParis. Thank you for the simple truth of those words.)

Posted in 2) Politics, 5) Not Quite Sure | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Dear John MacArthur Fans: Thank God Hell Isn’t Real, Because That’s Where He’d Be

Posted on July 17, 2025 by theboeskool

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’” ~ Jesus

That passage is Matthew 7:21-23. Matthew 5 through 7 are commonly known as “The Sermon on the Mount,” and the above passage comes at the end of that sermon. If you grew up in the church, you’ve probably HEARD of the Sermon on the Mount before, but you might not be too familiar with what it actually says. It doesn’t get a whole lot of press in American christianity these days… The sort of christianity that claims to follow Jesus while voting for fascists and cheering for the building of concentration camps to round up all the immigrants and aliens who Jesus (as well as the entirety of the Bible) calls us to love. Sure, they’ll spend thousands of dollars on poverty tourism mission trips, but if those people come on THIS side of the border, they’d better plan on Alligator Alcatraz/Auschwitz. No, American christians are not very big fans of the red words in the Bible these days. They’ll fight tooth & nail to get those 10 Commandments put up in schools, but the actual words of Jesus in the Bible have become a little too “woke” for them.

The Sermon on the Mount starts with “The Beatitudes,” which are basically Jesus saying that the people the world looks down on are actually the ones who are BLESSED: The poor, the mourners, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, the spat-upon. The second half of Chapter 5 ends with the “You have HEARD that is was said… But *I* tell you” section. Murder? Don’t have a heart full go anger. Adultery? Cut out your lustful eyes if they cause you to sin (notice he didn’t tell women to change what they’re wearing). Turn the other cheek… Love your enemies… All the parts that no one in the Republican Party is trying to put up on the walls in public schools. Jesus is basically talking to people who are concerned with following Moses’ Law, but Jesus says “I am the fulfillment of that law” and instead tells them that it needs to be less about the letter of the law and more of an internal transformation.

Chapter 6 is Jesus talking about sincerity and a critique of the hypocrisy of outward acts of piety vs. inward righteousness. You know—all the stuff about not giving, fasting, and praying in public just to be seen…

Here we see Mike Johnson and the House republicans in a “Prayer Photo Shoot.” He and this room full of rich white people are seen here, I assume asking God for the strength to take away healthcare from the least of these, while also having the perseverance to cut programs that feed hungry kids.

Seriously, if you haven’t read Matthew 5-7 in a while you should. There’s some good stuff there… All of it starkly contrary in every way to the politics of evangelicals and “christian conservatives.” And I realize I’m probably losing the attention of some of you with all this Bible talk, but Chapter 7 talks about judging others, The Golden Rule, and right before the verses I shared at the beginning of this post, Jesus gives a warning about false teachers. Which leads us to the point of this post…

So if you haven’t heard yet, John MacArthur, the influential evangelical pastor of California’s Grace Community Church (quite possibly the most ironically named church in history), has died at age 86. A Facebook acquaintance of mine made a post that said “Praise God for Pastor John MacArthur’s life and devotion to the gospel of Jesus!” I responded with a comment similar to the title of this blog post, and the poster promptly deleted it… So I figured I’d write a short eulogy here.

John MacArthur died a hero to white, bearded theobros mired in reformed theology. He hated all of the things that they hate, and his longevity and financial success gave an air of legitimacy to their own theology of exclusion and supremacy. MANY of you probably have no idea who he was. You may have heard about him during the COVID pandemic when he made national news by suing the State of California for infringing his religious freedom by not letting him hold church services while a deadly & mysterious virus was killing people by the thousands each day. But here’s some things you may NOT know about him:

  • He was rabidly anti-social justice. He was the lead signer of an anti-social justice statement signed by about 4400 pastors and leaders (all men), and he described christians working for social justice as one of the most dangerous heresies the church faces. Never mind all that stuff Jesus said about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or caring for the sick. Sure, his message was good news to the poor, setting the captive free, and proclaiming freedom for the oppressed… But what does any of that nonsense have to do with “SOCIAL JUSTICE,” amirite??
  • He said Martin Luther King, Jr. was “not a christian at all.” He called him “a nonbeliever who misrepresented everything about Christ and the gospel.” This one doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to me. When MLK dreamt of a time when “every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,” that probably doesn’t sound great to someone like John MacArthur, who enjoys and has grown accustomed to the view from one of his three multi-million dollar mansions.
  • He said that slavery is not immoral. And yeah, this one kind of follows naturally from the one above. But you read that right. He was quoted as saying, “Slavery is not immoral. God allowed it. Slavery is not a sin.” He said he thinks “It’s strange that we have such an aversion to slavery, because historically there have been abuses.” He rationalizes that statement by saying, “There have been abuses in marriage, and we don’t have an aversion to marriage.” So gross.
  • He denies the reality of mental illness. In interviews, he said that there is “no such thing” as PTSD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or ADHD. That stuff is just SIN, y’all. And all those medications for those mental illnesses just work to turn kids into criminals and drug addicts. And to be fair, he said this when he was in his 80’s, but his followers defend him. Beth Moore (whose ministry he invalidated because she is a woman) is much more gracious than I am capable of being. She said, “I’ve had several very serious conversations with my daughters and my board concerning my public voice in my aging when filters naturally thin and we’re at greater risk of saying more than we should. Please love and respect him enough to sift what should and shouldn’t be publicized.” Basically, John MacArthur thought that prayer, church pressure, and “biblical counseling” were the answer to every problem. Rachel Klinger Cain talks about this rotten fruit here…
@iblamebill

Replying to @Rachel Klinger Cain Watched the connected video for more. #johnmacarthur

♬ 5 Minutes of Silence – Silenzio
  • He was a giant hypocrite. He told other pastors not to speak at conferences that had women speakers… even though he did that himself. He also disqualified other leaders in the church based on the behavior of their children, even though his own son was found guilty of defrauding clients in a $16 million investment scheme and forced to pay $367,000 in penalties to the SEC.
  • He believed that “empowering women makes weak men.“ Yeah, I know there are plenty of complementarian pastors running around, but it doesn’t make it any less gross. When MacArthur was on a panel and asked about pastor Beth Moore (the same Beth Moore who offered him grace after his disgusting and false comments about mental illness), his response to hearing her name was two words: “Go home.” He preached that “Women are to maintain submission to men in all churches in all times” and that “Women pastors and women preachers are the most obvious evidence of churches rebelling against the Bible.” Just writing these words is like taking a time machine to an era when I am throwing up in my mouth all the time…
  • He excommunicated a mother for refusing to take back her abusive husband. Read those words again. The woman, Eileen Gray, had filed for a separation and a protective order because her husband was physically abusive to her. She later found out that he was also sexually abusing their children. She reported the abuse to elders at GCC. The abuser, David Gray, taught Bible and music at MacArthur’s Grace Community Church. John MacArthur ordered the church to publicly shame her and disfellowship. The associate pastor told Eileen that she should model how to “suffer for Jesus” by staying with the man who was kicking the shit out of her and her kids. That same man, by the way, is currently serving a sentence of 21 years to life in a California prison for aggravated child molestation, corporal injury to a child, and child abuse. You can read the whole tragic, infuriating story (and even see video of his shaming her from the pulpit) HERE.
  • And OF COURSE he supported donald trump. On a phone call with trump, he told him that “any real, true believer is going to be on your side in this election.” I mean, duh, right? Was there ever any doubt that a man who demonizes calls for social justice, vilifies Martin Luther King, Jr., justifies slavery, denies science, practices hypocrisy, fights against women’s rights, protects abusive men, and was seemingly devoid of compassion and just consistently wrong on every issue was going to throw his support behind a monster like trump? (Of course JM is also hugely anti-LGBTQIA+ as well. It goes without saying that someone whose bad theology and level of consciousness don’t allow him to see something as established as racial injustice or the evil of misogyny is ALSO going to treat marriage equality and LGBTQIA+ rights as some sort of demonic plot).

And right now, some of you might be thinking about saying to me, “What about ‘Judge not, lest YE be judged?’ Aren’t YOU judging John MacArthur right now??” Yes. I am. I’m judging him. I think it’s right and good to draw attention to people in power—especially people with large platforms—who preach hatred… Who practice hypocrisy… Who—with their words and their actions—do HARM. And I’m not trying to compare myself to Jesus here, but if we’re supposed to follow his example, Jesus saves his harshest critiques for church leaders who SHOULD know better.

I mean, who knows? Maybe John MacArthur is a victim too? Maybe he’s a VICTIM of the sort of harmful theology that refuses to acknowledge any sort of progress in the Bible… the sort of theology that has to believe that if someone living in an incredibly misogynistic, barbaric time wrote the words “Women shouldn’t be leaders” in a letter, and then a group of men 300 years later decided to include that letter in the Biblical canon, then we HAVE to believe that those words are true and commanded of us for all time… otherwise the Bible means nothing! I mean, his dad was a preacher too. We have no idea the kind of trauma he lived through… then to be told that PTSD is just sin and disobedience, prayer is the only antidote, and if you disagree, you are going to burn in hell forever?!? Yikes! I can see how something like that could totally turn you into a giant ass and a flaming theological turd in a paper bag on the doorstep of the christian church. Now kind of feel bad for him and his family.

Nah, I can’t feel THAT bad for them… At least his family is inheriting all that cash from all those expensive, leather-bound Bibles he sold with his name on them.

Boy is he in for a surprise.“John MacArthur, Firebrand Preacher and Culture Warrior, Dies at 86” http://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/u…

— litzz11 (@litzz11.bsky.social) 2025-07-15T11:36:59.251Z

I don’t know. I didn’t know the guy. I’m sure—like all of us—he had some good things and some bad things. He was a good speaker. For a preacher who became a multi-millionaire, he seemed critical of the Prosperity Gospel, so I guess that’s something? He was certainly passionate… but then, so were nearly all of the world’s villains. I have done a LOT of research for this post, and watched hours and hours of videos, and the more I learn, the worse he seems. They called him “A lion of the pulpit.” I could see them engraving those words on his headstone. But if I was in charge of carving the words, the epitaph would read, “Here lies John MacArthur. He embodied nearly everything that is wrong with the church.” I just keep thinking about him saying those words: “EMPOWERING WOMEN MAKES WEAK MEN.” Jesus. These are the words of a man who is just so profoundly broken. And scared. And pathetic. And very ironically… So weak.

I know we’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but the world is a better place without his hateful preaching in it. One of the reasons they say we’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead is because they can’t defend themselves… But that didn’t stop MacArthur from attacking Martin Luther King, Jr. a few years ago. MacArthur himself said (when he called The Gospel Coalition “woke” for honoring MLK and my eyes rolled back so far my retinas detached) that “You don’t honor a non-believer who misrepresented Christ and everything about the gospel.” John MacArthur’s legacy is one of abuse, hatred, and harm…May his legacy die with him. He’s the kind of person who reads a Bible verse that says, “you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you,” and he feels compelled to believe that being hated by the world somehow proves he is loved by God. But all it really proves is that he was wrong about so much and cruel to so many. He was the worst kind of christian: That brand of christian whose monstrous, untrustworthy, compassionless theology proclaims and professes an equally monstrous, untrustworthy, and compassionless god. And what’s worse, his preaching skills and large following allowed his perverse theology to do more harm than most. You’d be hard-pressed to come up with a name of someone who’s done more to harm American Christianity than John MacArthur. Sure, trump has done huge amounts of harm to the church in America… But hateful preachers like MacArthur are the reason a trump presidency was ever even possible.

Perhaps he just didn’t possess the intelligence or imagination to free himself from the trappings of unchallenged reformed theology. Think about it: Jesus shows up and tells the Jewish leadership that their sacrifices, rituals, and rule-following are not what God cares about… telling them “Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” The Bible describes our safety & salvation as something God gives freely to us, rather than something we earn… Paul says it’s “so that no one can boast.” But the worst parts of Reformed theology turn that free gift into something they must gate-keep with everything they have. Where the old dysfunctional religion thought their right actions & sacrifices are what justify them before God, the new dysfunctional religion have replaced those idols with the idea that it’s their right theology & beliefs that justify them before God. But the Spirit of Jesus still is desperately seeking MERCY. It tells us that the best way to love God is to love our neighbor. And it cries out: “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.” Spending 50+ years in ministry and missing something this central? What a tragedy… If hell was real, that kind of thing would make a person a real good candidate for a face-full of “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Thank God it’s not. I like to think that right now, God is explaining to John MacArthur all of the many places he got it so wrong over his many years… All of the people he hurt… All of the times he “did not do it to one of the least of these.” And maybe John responds with profound regret and a genuine and anguished apology. That sounds WAY better than a lake of fire. One can hope…

What a weird post. It’s been a while since I’ve written something like this. There’s such a big part of me that wants nothing to do with Christianity anymore… but there’s another part of me that feels like so many of this country’s problems could be solved by correcting people’s harmful, broken, bad theology. This one took a lot out of me. But I was also so energized by a new supporter on PATREON. Her name is Stacy, and she has generously decided to support this blog and my writing by becoming a patron. Thank you, Stacy! Thank you also for the good reporting of Julie Roys and The Roys Report. And thank you to the brilliant Rachel Klinger Cain for what she does. You can follow her on TikTok HERE. If you’d like to support what I do here, you can do that ON PATREON, by leaving a tip ON PAYPAL or by Venmoing me at chris-boeskool, or you can follow the things I post on Bluesky or on this blog’s Facebook page (until something less evil than Facebook comes along). THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!

Posted in 1) Jesus, 2) Politics, 5) Not Quite Sure, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Christians: Want To Actually Help Flood Victims? Keep Your Prayers… Stop Voting Republican.

Posted on July 10, 2025 by theboeskool

If you are friends with any conservative Christians on social media platforms, you’ve undoubtedly seen calls for people to “PRAY FOR TEXAS” after this latest round of floods that washed away homes and left 120 people dead with another 170 more still missing. Mourners gather together to “honor the dead” and sing worship songs with hands raised, crediting the lost lives to an “Act of God.” Do any of these emotional vigils and calls to prayer feel familiar to anyone else?

If your response to a tragedy is “thoughts & prayers” rather than working to ensure it doesn’t happen again, you are missing the point of Christianity. Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images

They leave me with the same taste in my mouth as when Christians have candlelight vigils and post calls for prayer after each new mass shooting in some mall or church or school… After those same Christians have spent all their political capital getting people elected who work as hard as possible to fight against any gun regulations which might have prevented another tragedy. It’s a pattern to which we’ve become accustomed—Especially in red states: 1) Deny the data showing there is a growing problem, 2) Work to elect leaders with an open distain for anything that smacks of regulation or prevention, 3) Claim “There’s nothing we could have done” when tragedy strikes, 4) Offer up fervent “Thoughts & Prayers,” 5) Rinse & repeat. And nothing changes. It’s a handy little republican byproduct of a theology that believes God is in control of everything: If a tragedy happened, and God is in control, then God must have either wanted it to happen or at least allowed it to happen… Either way, it’s an act of God and we have no control, right? RIGHT???

(On a side note, the other way republicans exploit bad Christian theology/ignorance is this: Intentionally work to make government as inept, dysfunctional, untrustworthy, & corrupt as possible… So that when problems arise that require and are best-suited for government intervention, this same voting block is like, “YOU WANT ME TO VOTE FOR MORE INCOMPETENCE AND CORRUPTION?!?” It’s a strategy that’s both cynical and diabolical, but it’s also grossly effective.)

Whether it’s disturbed teenagers with access to weapons of war repeatedly showing up at schools and opening fire, or the lost lives of dozens of young girls at a summer camp swept away by a another 1000-year-flood that seems to be coming every few years, the republican response is always the same: “There’s nothing we could have done.” But in 2016—after research showed the emergency alert systems along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas were woefully lacking—the Obama administration tried to give them federal funds to make it safer. The republican-led commission laughed about taking the $5.1 million dollars (to keep the money from going to liberal states), but decided not to use the money to update the warning system. They even make jokes/puns about how using the funding for a river alert was “dead in the water.” Please watch this video.

@itsamemollio0

Kerr County commissioners refused two grants from Obama and Biden to update their flood emergency warning system. #Republicans #politicstiktok #texasflooding #campmystic #kervilletx #politicalnews #texas #texaspolitics

♬ original sound – its-a-me-Mollio

This isn’t the only way the republican response to school shootings is similar to the republican response to increased climate disasters. Just like the dishonest claims that the mass shootings are “false flag” operations conducted to swing public sentiment toward more gun control, there’s even conspiracies going around that “they” (the all-powerful THEY) are intentionally controlling the weather to produce these tragedies. After Hurricane Helene destroyed huge parts of North Carolina in October 2024, American embarrassment Marjorie Taylor Greene made several comments suggesting a link between the path of the storm and deliberate weather manipulation… And now this same elected idiot is making similar wild conspiracies about the Texas flooding. She even trying to introduce legislation. Just look at this utter lunatic:

That’s right, folks… The party who doesn’t believe in the data and science behind climate change is the same party that believes some powerful illuminati are able to control the weather… perhaps with Jewish Space Lasers. This is where we are in this country. And for me, the really depressing part is that there are enough people in Georgia who are either so easily deceived, so utterly ignorant, or so hopelessly evil that they keep voting for fools like Marjorie Taylor Greene. But one thing’s for sure: With morons like this in charge, it’s NO WONDER so many people think that “government is the problem.”

When disasters happen to people, the need for basic empathy and human decency is suddenly so clear to those affected by the disaster. But isn’t it strange that these same republican voters seem to be unable to muster any of that same empathy or basic human decency when they cheer on the opening of a concentration camp on American soil?

@goodtrouble_

A tragedy is a tragedy is a tragedy

♬ original sound – GoodTrouble

Isn’t it weird how—in the midst of something bad happening to YOU—it’s always so clear that we, as human beings, should be taking care of each other? But somehow, these same people are capable of laughing and mocking hispanic people being rounded up and put into concentration camps, and even buying “Alligator Alcatraz” merch?? When liberal California is burning with wildfires, the cause is a complex mix of God’s holy retribution and the inept Democratic leadership… But when disaster hits YOU, it’s suddenly time to read those verses about taking care of those in need.

Instead of “Alligator Alcatraz” or “Alligator Auschwitz”, let me suggest that we call it simply the Dade-Collier Concentration Camp.Hang the name on Florida. Make them own this disgraceful moment in U.S. history. Make our grandchildren lobby to change the name of Dade County out of shame.

— Tim Pierce (@unchi.org) 2025-07-09T00:09:40.490Z

This nation is so broken. So many people celebrate selfishness while demonizing decency, compassion, & empathy. America is infected by a disease of hatred, bigotry, & indifference… And the festering open wound that keeps us so sick is the continued moral & political failure of the christian church in this time. The christian church is the voting block that keeps the people in charge who are determined to do nothing to prevent preventable tragedies. People are stirred to prayer when they see videos of people swept up in a flash flood… But those same people CELEBRATE when they see families torn apart as people are swept up by ICE’s masked goons in “immigration raids.” And the pastors of those evangelical churches preach NOTHING about this inconsistency & hypocrisy on Sunday mornings. The Christian Church could stop America’s descent into fascism in ONE ELECTION. Instead, it cheers. It leads the way.

So if you’re a christian and you’re somehow still reading this, I have something to tell you: If seeing a natural disaster makes you feel stirred to action, and the action you choose is “thoughts & prayers” rather than working to elect competent, compassionate leaders who work to prevent that sort of thing from ever happening again, you have failed. You want to help flood victims? Stop voting for the party that acts like the science behind man-made climate change is some sort of conspiracy theory while they pull out of climate treaties designed to lessen our impact on the earth we all share & our children will inherit. You want to help flood victims?? Stop voting for the party that would rather fund tax breaks for billionaires than fund early warning systems that could have saved the lives of the girls at Camp Mystic. You want to help flood victims??? Stop voting for the party that cuts funding & staffing to FEMA and NOAA and every other administration designed to help people & make our lives better and safer… All so they can increase the deficit while making the rich richer at the expense of the poor and vulnerable. 

Seriously, though…Have these people ever even READ the Bible? You can read the words of Jesus to them, and they’d accuse you of “liberal indoctrination.” Keep your empty prayers. I’d prefer Christians stop praying and start voting for people and policy that aren’t opposite of Jesus in every conceivable way. You want to pray? Pray that your heart is changed. Pray that you start to care enough for the poor and vulnerable that you stop voting against their interests. Pray that feel the same compassion for the brown people swept up by ICE as you feel for the Texans swept up by a flood. You feeling stirred to pray? Pray that you care enough about your neighbor to stop voting republican.

Thank you again for reading! I understand that most of the christians who are in the cult of trump are too far gone to hear anything I’ve written here. But if you have friends of family who are not totally gone, I’d love for you to share this post with them. You can also share it on Facebook or on Bluesky. And if you value my writing or this post, you can BECOME A PATRON, leave a TIP ON PAYPAL, or buy me a sandwich by Venmoing me at chris-boeskool. Stay strong, stay connected, and don’t lose hope.

Posted in 1) Jesus, 2) Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s Time For Americans To Be Brave

Posted on June 27, 2025 by theboeskool

Anyone else feeling that tension between wanting to be informed and wanting to be happy? I sure am. Every day immigrant families are torn apart as armed, masked, goose-stepping goons in unmarked cars kidnap brown, Spanish-speaking people in ICE raids. I watch in horror as our country’s leaders either cheer on the genocide in Gaza or stand idly by as families are bombed and children are starved in an open air concentration camp. Meanwhile, the government is pulling federal funding from institutions—from colleges to hospitals to businesses—who dare to promote or encourage Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. It never ends. Dismantling consumer and worker protections… Blatant acts of corruption… Gutting care for Veterans… Slashing medicaid funding that will lead to the closing of rural hospitals… Installing a conspiratorial, anti-vax moron in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services… Demonizing trans people who just want to live their lives, while criminalizing the medical care for trans youth that keeps them from being a group that is eight times more likely to commit suicide… Attacking higher education. Attacking Women’s Rights. Attacking the press. Attacking the rule of law. Attacking the truth.

That hopelessly overwhelmed, powerless feeling is strategic. Steve Bannon has talked about it many times. He calls it “flooding the zone.” You can read about it HERE. Even this whole 1000+ page “Big Beautiful Bill” bullshit is an example of flooding the zone. It’s filled with so much awfulness that you can’t take it all in… Especially difficult for a population with an attention span incapable of following something that can’t fit on a bumper sticker or a red hat. I mean, do people even REMEMBER tariffs?? Prices are going up because of trump’s stupid tariffs, and WE are paying for those price increases. But just when people are like, “Wait, I don’t like THAT,” we’re flooded with news of Marines being deployed to Los Angeles. And as people start asking, “Wait a sec… You mean to tell me we’re rounding up Spanish-speaking people in a city named LOS-FREAKING-ANGELES?!? HALF OF THE DAMN CITIES IN CALIFORNIA HAVE SPANISH NAMES,” next thing you know, they’re dropping bombs on Iran. And people are like, “What was I saying?”

Don't get distracted.#ResistTrump

— The Democratic Coalition (@thedemcoalition.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T10:23:17.060Z

There’s no doubt about it — Evil is definitely flourishing right now in America. They’re cutting funding to NPR and PBS, for God’s sake. The GOP is so far gone that when they see Sesame Street teach kids to be compassionate, empathetic, and kind, they think that those moral messages are some kind of ‘propaganda” against the Republican Party. What do you think Mr. Rogers would do if he were alive today seeing all this happen? Well, 56 years ago, he sat down in front of a skeptical Senate subcommittee and asked them to financially prioritize & value the good work PBS does with children. Please enjoy this moment of simple goodness and moral clarity brought to the world courtesy of Fred Rogers…

This isn’t the first time that Fred Rogers has reminded me that Not Everything Is Crap. But for today’s Republican Party, the sort of sentimental display of compassion and caring you just watched is painted as somehow anti-American. There’s a significant portion of the American populace that is so addled by cultist loyalty and deceived by media manipulation that as their leader attacks democracy and the rule of law, their response is, “Well, democracy and the rule of law aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.” It will take decades to repair all of the damage that trump and his army of bigoted idiots have done to the institutions that actually made America great. But I think it’s time to forget about being “great” again. It’s time for America to be BRAVE again.

When one person bravely stands up against tyranny and says, “Not to men like you” when they are told to kneel, EVERYONE gets more brave. Maybe YOU are you one to stand up…

I’ve been thinking a lot about bravery lately. And discomfort. And distraction.

I work at a restaurant. In our kitchen, there are Spanish-speaking people. They’re not criminals… They come into a hot kitchen, work hard, and cook delicious food. They have families. They laugh and tell jokes that I often can’t understand. I sometimes teach them some English, and they sometimes teach me some Spanish. Without being able to fully communicate with them, I know I like them. Just like with everyone else, there are some I like more than others. But because of the ICE raids in the Nashville area, we had to have a protocol for what to do if ICE shows up. And as my soul welled up with righteous anger at the injustice we’re living though, I decided that I think I’ve lived long enough. Not in a “I want to die” sort of way… I don’t. I really enjoy living. There’s a quote by author Tom Robbins that says, “There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, and nothing worth killing for.” But I’ve been thinking about how our grandparents and great-grandparents literally ran toward nazi machine gun fire on the beaches at Normandy. And about people marching in Selma, knowing there was a good chance they would be beaten up and arrested. And I think people are probably going to have to be willing to die for this cause.

We are PERILOUSLY close to losing the right to free and fair elections. Honestly, we might have already lost them. Think about this for a minute: To this day, trump insists that the election he lost to Joe Biden was “rigged.” He is purging federal employees who do not hold this same view. Watch the complete distain that trump appointees show for anyone who questions their authority. Observe the ease with which the lies flow when someone dares to confront them with facts. In this BS bill they’re trying to pass, there is a section (specifically section 70302) that allows them to ignore judicial orders. If that happens, it’s basically game over for the separation of powers. The actions and policies put forth by this corrupt administration are DEEPLY unpopular with the American people. And the lack of concern shown by republicans about losing mid-term elections makes me think that perhaps they are not planning on HAVING mid-term elections. How hard would it be for them to see polls that foretell a loss, declare the elections “rigged,” and take control of the mean & technology for voting? How out of character would that seem?? I suspect that the injustice around us will not go away without conflict, and the power that this group of fascists has acquired will not be given up without a fight.

We cannot be distracted… Not by the flood of misery and awfulness and injustice that makes us feel like we are drowning, and not by the phones in our hands or the screens in front of our eyes. We have to be prepared to be uncomfortable. Think about how many people can’t even WATCH Saving Private Ryan. It’s too uncomfortable for so many of us to even sit through three hours of cinema to see the sorts of sacrifices people made to fight tyranny. We have to be willing to get arrested… To be hit by the stones they are throwing at the most vulnerable people around us… And—if necessary—to put ourselves between them and the guns that are pointed at them. We have to be brave. Generation before us ran toward gunfire. They marched toward the dogs and the firehoses and the batons.

Thank you for reading. If you’re low on hope, perhaps anger will suffice. Look for inspiration in the arts. Read The Hunger Games. Watch some Andor… Or any of the Stars Wars movies, really. Watch those young men run toward the bullets in Saving Private Ryan. Look at the photos of the millions of people who were at the “No Kings” protests. Hell, watch some episodes of Mr. Rogers if that’ll help. Don’t be distracted. Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be brave.

And if you like this post and you’d like to leave this server/blogger a tip, you can do that on PAYPAL or Venmo me at chris-boeskool. If you really want to support my writing, you can also become a patron on PATREON. You can also follow me or share this post on FACEBOOK or on BLUESKY. Thanks again, and take care of each other.

Posted in 2) Politics, 5) Not Quite Sure | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment