Good morning, Digital Neighbors! Happy Monday. Here was the musing happening in the early hours yesterday when my post went in a direction that wasn’t fit for a day of gratitude. It became a rumination on the last 25 years of engagement and use of the internet. The quote that sparked this TL;DR post was one of my favorite ones from Thomas Jefferson:
"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."
I am a fan of taking reality as it comes at you. I have never seen faith as an escape from reality, but rather the courage to try to see things as clearly as possible. Illumination does not often reveal a pretty picture; rather, one sees the mess first before seeing the means to address it. For those afraid to look at the mess, let alone contemplate how to address it, settling for comfortable lies is good enough. I spent the better part of a year preaching on that topic once a month. We have to desire the truths that free us rather than the lies that please or comfort us. To be informed and engaged—more aware and responsive—is part of mature discipleship, adult life, and active citizenry.
In the early 2000s, I was already exhausted with the narrative of the MSM. At that time, my recourse for alternative information and non-narrative news was Drudge Report and Instapundit. Ace of Spades, Pajamas Media, and Breitbart would join them in the mid-to-late 2000s as newfound sources of alternative information. Back then, the political and cultural news was less toxic and divisive—or at least it seemed so. There might be strong disagreements, but there seemed to be less outright hatred or rage. Cancellation—aborting your career, social freedom, or private life—wasn’t implemented yet, but it was coming. The Left has an unmatched fervor for abortion in all its forms.
I can’t partake as freely of the news as I used to because it has become so wearisome and draining. I’d prefer to know less, but I also know that being neutral and peaceful is determined by your neighbors, not your intentions. Even as I say this, I know I consume and focus on it much more than the average (whatever that means) person out there. I am sure everyone has their preferred balance. Many more people are prone to the mindless distractions of the internet rather than political and cultural issues.
I was not enthralled with the Obama years. While I was hopeful that we might mend the racial divides within our nation, the opposite happened. America became more divided and stopped celebrating the proverbial melting pot, replacing it with grievance ranking and the disenfranchisement lottery for any who could fill out the checkmarks of victimization or historical oppression. I don’t blame Obama for this transformation; I blame him for emboldening it enough to force its way into public life instead of the confines of academia. I guess it would have found its way into public discourse no matter what, but it may not have corrupted policy and discourse like it has if it didn’t have endorsement from on high. I don’t know.
I joined Rubin Report because I wanted a place where I was free to question, critique, or disagree with the anti-Trump narrative in 2019—and then, of course, it went into steroid mode in 2020 with Covid-mania and all its malicious lunacy. I still hold an immense grudge against that year and how it further divided and warped the American mind. It is hard to forgive people who exploit fear to compel compliance or foster division. When the embers of resentment start to smolder or I get exhausted from the news cycle, I go back to prayer, take a drive with the dog, play with the cats, or listen to music.
The Coffee Talks, Speakeasies, Tea Times, and Schmoozes we host on TEAMS at Padre’s offer a place of connection. More than anything, it was meant to provide a more personal connection—hearing a human voice and occasionally seeing a human face. The personal has always mattered to me. ZOOM and then TEAMS have been both a sounding board for concerns, grievances, and rants about the narrative as well as an escape from it when we talk about more mundane or personal things. The vibe from the beginning has been: no set topics—always invited, never expected.
"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend." Or discovering a new friend. Have a great day, digital neighbors!
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
@dr-robot Bill asked for a side by side comparison of the two calendars that were used in Roman Catholicism. One of the pre-conciliar calendar that was reformed in 1962 and then the post-conciliar calendar after 1970. Most of you will have no interest in this, but it was amazing that Grok completed this in about 5 to 8 minutes. Grok knows how I like things laid out, color preferences and with the right prompt this was done while we were playing a card game.
XIII
The Proud Minister
One day there came into the Garden a man in torn clothes badly bruised and cut, who said to the Lover, “In the name of the Beloved I demand your help.”
So the Lover and the Disciple let him in and dressed his wounds and prepared the best of the vegetables from the Garden for him to eat. When his wounds had been dressed and he had eaten and rested the Lover asked him how he had fallen into this plight, to which the man replied, “I was Minister of the Beloved in a city near this place, where I preached His gospel and expounded His doctrine to the people. I pointed out to them how their sins had made them wholly hateful to the Beloved and how therefore they were utterly beyond the range of His love and He would condemn them to eternal torments, whereon some fell into despair and wept bitterly but many were angry. One day the magistrates called me before them and begged me to leave the city and preach elsewhere for they said I had made many people so angry and desperate that they feared there might be a riot and they might not be able to protect me but that I might suffer some injury. I, however, very zealous for the Beloved and believing that the magistrates only feared that their own sins might be proclaimed, preached the more vehemently, denounced the magistrates and made it abundantly clear that the whole wicked city was foredoomed to eternal punishment by the just provision of the Beloved. Whereon a mob, stirred up no doubt by the corrupt and venal magistrates, fell upon me with sticks and stones, nearly killing me and driving me out of the city in the state in which I came to you.”
“My friend,” said the Lover, “this was not a good deed of yours, for besides denying the unfathomable compassion of the Beloved, you have by your obstinacy caused these people to commit a grievous sin, and this cannot be pleasing to the Beloved, that through you who profess to be His minister the people should become worse. Surely you remember that He Himself said, ‘If they persecute you in one city flee to another.’”
Therefore the man was very angry, and cursing the Lover, said, “I see that I have had a very false report of you and I do not believe that you are a servant of the Beloved at all. When I came to you so injured for the Beloved’s sake you set before me only herbs and fruits although the garden is full of birds which you could have killed to make me a worthy meal. I shall proclaim everywhere that you are no true servant of the Beloved but a mere falterer who dares not suffer in the cause of the Beloved. Be sure that you are foreordained to eternal torments who suffer nothing here.”
For the man was so blinded by his own pride that he could not perceive the scars on the hands and feet and the brows of the Lover nor how the cloth beneath the armpits of his tunic was dyed with a red dye. So he went out of the Garden cursing and shouting.
But the Lover looked sad and said, “A man like this does much harm to the cause of the Beloved, for by thus speaking falsely about the Beloved he may bring men to fear Him but none to love Him, and by love alone can any man approach the Beloved.”
