PicoBlog

Dear friends and supporters, Contemporary conservative Protestantism is being riven over the worldview conflicts inflaming our culture. A prime reason it has not been able to weather our current cultural conflagration is that it has long been deeply ensconced in a warm, otherworldly ecclesiastical theology (see “The Free-Floating Irrelevance of Ecclesiastical Colonization”). As long as the chief alien worldviews stayed mostly outside the church as they did during much of the 20th century, the church could maintain a strong unity on nothing but narrow, orthodox, ecclesiastically theological premises.

I’m not going to be gaslit into thinking Carrie Bradshaw is the worst, truly horrible or a pure piece of shit. Please, I’m Melissa Gorga on my frickin’ knees begging for no new Sex and the City discourse. Happy to focus on Oh Mary’s Broadway transfer (did you get your tickets?) or Anne Hathaway being a “secret Gooner,” fine, but no Carrie hate please! Sex and the City crash landed on Netflix on April 1.

I can now tell you what I’ve been haunting Golgotha over: my wife is divorcing me.I wrote about it here, and included this statement, which she previewed and of which she approved: It pains me more than I can say to announce that my wife recently filed a petition of divor… ncG1vNJzZmiqn5mxs7HHnqlnq6WXwLWtwqRlnKedZL1wus5mpqedXZyytb%2BMqKytZZ%2Bbeqmx0Z5krqaSp7yssc0%3D

Photo Credit: William Issac | @william.isc Yesterday a U.S. District Court judge blocked the enforcement of Texas' abortion law, granting an emergency request from the Justice Department. The law, SB 8, banned almost all abortions in Texas after six weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape, sexual abuse, and incest. This is a joyous, temporary victory in what has been a long, uphill battle for families against anti-abortion zealots.

It was 2019 and I was thriving at Netflix. In many ways it was the perfect company for me – it had an iconic culture that gave us freedom and autonomy, they paid us really well and we worked on the world’s most relevant and impactful brands. When they made me the offer, it was incredibly validating, and I felt like I’d graduated to the big leagues. For long time, it was.

I have never been someone who has been at a loss for words. In elementary school, my report card always had some version of “talks too much” on it. When I was in high school, I got in trouble with one of my math teachers for unending conversations with my best friend. I have always been an extrovert who is energized by being around people. All that said, I do enjoy films that play with dialogue and sound, so I was interested to check out Brian Duffield’s latest movie, “No One Will Save You,” currently streaming on Hulu.

This week, many of you stepped up, opting to pay for a year's worth of dispatches, including early access to excerpts from a promised summer novella or story collection. At this moment, I lack the words to adequately express my gratitude for your belief in me. So, I figured I'd waste no time delivering the first of these exclusive rambles. Earlier this … ncG1vNJzZmiaop6ur6%2FAp5yvnaJjwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89opahlopq0pr7TrA%3D%3D

When I lie awake at night, I ask myself the important questions. The questions with no answers. The questions that hound me all the time. Questions like “Why isn’t Donald in Mathmagic Land streaming on Disney+?” (Listen, this is a Disney-themed Substack. You will have to accept that I’m not always going to be asking actual tough questions.) A couple weeks ago, I was tagged in a Twitter thread inspired by a question very much like that one.

I am not sure why I am going to spend part of my day ranting about a company that accounts for approximately zero percent of the US sports betting market by share, but here we are. Betr seems to be a bit of a media and industry darling, despite its underwhelming launch this year. The company, which includes a media and betting division, just raised $35 million in funding this summer.