Last night was Trump’s address to the nation making his case for The Wall™, and Nancy and Chuck’s response which became an instant meme, as Chuck and Nancy were trying to downplay the characterization that Democrats were for open border and anti-ICE, Crazy Eyes had an interview with Maddow making the case for open borders and attacked ICE. Just another night in Trump’s political theatre.
Commercial supersonic plane is in the next stage of development after Steve Job’s widow provides $100 million in funding.
Disclaimer: there’s a lot of Israel stuff in here- do NOT take that as meaning I support any sort of US involvement there, but I selfishly admit that it is the only spot on Earth that would accept me as a citizen, other than the US. And it’s absolutely no libertarian paradise, but in the context of the region, it’s Libertopia. So I admit some bias, but I’m an American, not an Israeli.
I love field guides. I use them for mushroom hunting, and there’s similar ones for birding, rock collecting, and other flavors of nature observation. So it’s well past due to start assembling a guide to spotting anti-semites. And since the world has turned upside down recently, with Leftists now being pro-war McCarthyites, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that anti-semitism has become much more of a Team Blue phenomenon. So I think there’s a need to help in both identifying species and also warn against false identifications. Like any good field guide, I’ve tried to pack this with photos.
First, we need to look at the things that can bring down anti-semitism charges that are misidentification. For example, politicians and candidates have suffered accusations of anti-semitism because they attacked Jewish donors to political parties. Call out Sheldon Adelson (who actually is a statist toad) and you’ll hear yelping. Going the other way, attack Tom Steyer or George Soros and ditto. So we need to be careful to see the bullshit here. Likewise, political candidates who portray their Jewish opponents (especially incumbents) clutching tax money can expect a call from the ADL. But grabbing and using taxpayer money or big donations and payoffs ARE legitimate things to attack an opponent about. These anti-semitism accusations are dishonest. So how can we identify the real thing?
It’s hard because of verbal camouflage. Many Team Blue politicians and activists like to recite the mantra, “I’m not an anti-semite, I just oppose Israel because of their oppression of Palestinians and failure to give them an independent state.” Now, perhaps in some cases, this could be true. In other cases, it’s a nod-and-wink. How can one distinguish this honestly?
There’s a relatively simple way- if you care about oppression (and I think the idea of Israeli “oppression” is rather arguable, but let’s assume it arguendo), then you’ll be speaking up about Israel, you’ll be speaking up about Turkey, Iraq, and Syria’s oppression of Kurds and failure to give them a state, you’ll be speaking up about China and its oppression of Tibetans and Uighurs and failure to give them a state, you’ll be speaking up about Russia and its oppression of Chechens and failure to give them a state, you’ll be speaking up about Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria’s oppression of Palestinians and failure to give them a state (both now and pre-June 1967)… and of course, you speak out against the Palestinian Arab policy of capital punishment for selling real estate to Jews (not to mention their capital punishment for converting from Islam or being gay).
But if the only thing you’re speaking up about is Israel, and you’re silent (or nearly so) on the rest, I think it’s safe to conclude that you’re an anti-semite, and that your pro-Palestinian Arab stances are outrages of convenience. So assume anyone called out in this Guide has been exclusive in their hatred for Israel, and one can reasonably conclude that hatred of Jews is the common factor.
If you use terms like “apartheid,” that’s usually a clue, though it’s possible that you just don’t know what that word means (and choose to ignore the above-mentioned Palestinian Arab policies). If you clearly do and you use it to sell books, you’re an anti-semite.
If you oppose US government loan guarantees and military aid to Israel, believe that the US should not have any military involvement or obligations there that aren’t defense of the US, and that’s part of an overall view that the US shouldn’t be doing those things anywhere, well, if that makes you anti-semitic, then I’m anti-semitic. If on the other hand you oppose these in Israel’s case, but make no mention of the same stupid waste of tax money elsewhere, well, good on ya, Adolph, we know what you are.
If you like to say that US involvement in Middle East wars is at the behest of the Jews, then you’re a poster boy for Stormfront. Well, OK, this is mostly Team Red revanchists. But I had to throw that in to be fair. And a bit of searching would likely come up with Team Blue players promoting those same tropes.
If you attend a church for 20 years where the minister regularly preaches these sort of anti-semitic tropes, call him your mentor, and hang out with virulent Jew-haters, you’re an anti-semite.
If you start riots against Jews leading to actual deaths, you’re probably an anti-semite.
Hank Johnson is an interesting case. He makes anti-Jew pronouncements, but is it because he’s anti-semitic or because he’s profoundly stupid?
“There has been a steady [stream], almost like termites can get into a residence and eat before you know that you’ve been eaten up and you fall in on yourself.”
If you ban Jewish symbols from your marches, but Islamic and Christian symbols are A-OK, I think the presumption of anti-semitism is not unreasonable.
Guys! Guys! I found a place for Libertopia! Its just as realistic as every other strategy we have. Seems nicer than Somalia. Uh, downside is we have to cooperate for 226 light-years before we can fuck off and leave each other alone.
I interact with people all the time who say “I wouldn’t even know where to start” or “I’m not handy like that” when discussing the topic of do it yourself maintenance and repair. I grew up learning from a dad who was quite mechanically inclined (he just finished doing an engine rebuild on a Range Rover with little more than an air compressor), so the question in my mind isn’t whether I can execute a repair, but whether it’s worth it for me to do it myself. Certainly, there are plenty of tasks that are beyond my ken, such as HVAC work, transmission work, and anything that involves heights. However, for the more mundane tasks, I find myself weighing a few hours of my weekend against the hundreds or thousands of dollars it would cost to have a technician out to the house. I also know that I won’t take shortcuts (okay, I’ll take some shortcuts, but I’ll have nobody to blame but myself when they bite me in the ass).
Anyway, we often discuss here on glibs that self-sufficiency is positively correlated to not seeing government as a parent and provider. A big part of self-sufficiency is not having to run to an expensive specialist every time something stops working as expected. DIY is libertarian. I’ve seen a few people with the “don’t know where to start” mentality around here, so I thought I’d give a very basic overview of how to execute an appliance repair.
NOTE: I’m a lawyer by trade, which means that I’m by no means an expert when it comes to mechanical things. There are some experts here on glibs, and they’ll probably correct me wherever I go wrong or inefficient. Read this as an amateur giving advice to complete newbies in the DIY space.
How to Diagnose and Fix a Broken Dryer
Our dryer isn’t really old, but it has been acting funny on and off for a while. It’ll work fine for a few weeks, and then all of a sudden one of the loads of laundry won’t dry. This morning, my wife came up from the basement and told me that it had been 2 runs in a row that didn’t properly dry. *Sigh* looks like I’ll be spending the rest of the day in the basement.
The first thing that went through my mind was a vague intuition that dryers are usually not worth repairing if a part goes bad, so I was bracing for possibly having to buy a new dryer today. However, instead of getting the metaphorical checkbook out and writing a metaphorical check for $700, I wanted to investigate the situation first. The one replacement part that is usually cheap enough on a dryer to be worth replacing is the heating coil, so maybe I got lucky and can replace the heating coil for $75 or so.
Anyway, I pushed all of that out of my mind and approached the situation as methodically as possible. In some ways, engineering school helped with this process. There are only so many times that you can fall on your face after making assumptions before you stop making such grand assumptions. You know what they say about people who make assumptions… they get visited by STEVE SMITH, and by visited mean . . .
So, where do you start when you have to make a DIY repair? There’s a bit of a process to follow:
1) Investigate
2) Research
3) Diagnose
4) Plan the Repair
5) Assemble the tools and materials
6) Execute the repair
7) Deal with any setbacks
8) Verify the fix
Investigate
What the hell is going on? My dryer isn’t drying, so something must be going on to keep the clothes from getting dry. If I didn’t have a basic understanding of how a dryer worked, I’d go familiarize myself with the components in order to understand what’s going wrong. However, I understand enough about the operation of a dryer to begin my investigation without preliminary research.
Essentially, a dryer has 4 components. The clothes go into a rotating drum. A heating coil warms the air in the drum. A blower causes warm, dry air to enter the drum and expels humid air out the exhaust. A control panel controls the operation of all of these components using various sensors throughout the dryer.
What’s my first step of investigation? Why not just run the thing for 30 seconds? This will actually tell me a lot about what’s working and what isn’t in the dryer. I hit the start button and the dryer starts going. I can hear the drum turning due to the tell tale thumps of the dryer balls tumbling. It’s likely not a catastrophic control panel issue given that the dryer isn’t going haywire or unresponsive when I use the control buttons. I stop the dryer and can feel the heat inside the drum from the heating coil. However, when I open the door, I can also detect a whole lot of humidity in the drum, much more than it should have if operating properly.
I’m pretty sure at this point that there’s some issue with the blower. Either it has stopped functioning, or there is a clog of lint somewhere in the system that is keeping the air from properly flowing. To confirm this, I started the dryer up again and went out to the exhaust vent outside of my house. Sure enough, there was no airflow out of the dryer.
Now, before moving on to the next phase, I do a few quick diagnostics/repairs attempts to see if this may be a quick afternoon for me. Maybe there’s a lint clog somewhere. I pull off the dryer vent hose and start the dryer again. No dice! No air out the vent port means it isn’t something as easy as cleaning out the vent hose.
I then take the back off of the dryer by loosening a few screws. Maybe it’ll be something obvious and easy, such as a lint clog in the dryer somewhere that I can just pull out. Nope! Not only isn’t there anything obviously wrong, but none of the components are particularly accessible from the back. I really hope that the front is removable. If it is, it’s going to be more complicated than the back, because there is no exposed hardware on the front of the machine.
Research
Okay, I now have a basic problem statement. Something is wrong with the blower of the dryer, and I need to get into the front of the dryer to figure out what, specifically, is wrong.
First thing I need? Something to begin my search with.
Model No.
The easiest place to start is a model number for the appliance. You may be able to find some very useful information about the specific quirks of your appliance based on the model number. Sometimes, you don’t get very much information at all and you have to use trial and error in the diagnosis phase. This is where having an understanding of how the appliance works is helpful. Thankfully, I found a trove of info online. First, I found the service manual for the dryer, which, among other things, has instructions for opening up the front of the dryer. Second, I found a technical bulletin for a manufacturing defect with the blower.
Technical Bulletin
I’ve done this sort of thing enough times to know that I’m probably not lucky enough to have specifically tailored instructions for repairing the exact issue with my dryer, but I know what to look for, just in case this is the issue. NOTE: I printed the document in B&W, but the original is in color, and is much easier to see than the images in the printout.
Now I feel that I have enough information to start the project.
Diagnose
To summarize, I know that there is an issue relating to the blower on the dryer, and I know that there is a previously known manufacturing defect with the blower pulley. (The blower is connected to a central motor that runs both the blower and the drum using a belt and pulley system)
After reading the service manual, I know that there are a pair of hidden clips that secure the top of the dryer to the front of the dryer. I also know that the front door needs to be open, or else the top won’t come off. The service manual recommends using a putty knife to disengage the clips and rotate the top up and out of the way.
This is a good segue into the issue of tools. Most of the difference between a painful repair experience and a tolerable repair experience is using the correct tools. Usually, for repair and maintenance, a good set of screwdrivers (phillips and flathead), a comprehensive ratchet and socket set (with extenders and adapters), and a set of adjustable wrenches will get you most of the way. A utility knife is also quite utilitarian. . . After a few years of DIY projects, you will begin accumulating the less universal tools. Someday, you may even complete a project without having to buy a new tool!! Just kidding, that never happens.
Anyway, I don’t actually have a putty knife to disengage the clips, but I do have some putty wedges, which are essentially the same thing.
Sometimes, you can improvise and get away with it. Thankfully, no putty knife needed. The clips were exactly where the manual stated, and with a bit of finagling, I was able to get the top to pop up. A couple of hex screws (I used the ratchet and an appropriately sized socket) later, and I had the front disconnected from the rest of the dryer. There was an electrical connector for the door open sensor that I tried to disconnect since it was attached to both the front and the frame of the dryer, but it had enough slack that I was able to just set the front aside without disconnecting it. Again, sometimes you can use discretion and get away with it. I’d much rather deal with the front being tethered than deal with a broken wire coupler.
Now, after spending probably 30 minutes investigating and researching, the diagnosis phase took all of about 10 seconds. If you look in the bottom right of the dryer in the above image, you can see something that isn’t in the bottom left of the dryer.
Right there! That hexagon looks awfully familiar! In fact, it’s shown in the technical bulletin. It’s the blower pulley, and it certainly shouldn’t be sitting in the corner of the dryer like that. Hopefully it just went loose instead of snapping off the blower bolt. The only issue is that there’s a piece of ductwork blocking my view of the top of the blower. Four hex screws later, and off comes the ductwork. The left image shows the removed ductwork. The right image shows the exposed blower with the blower intake facing us.
One quick peek, and I’m satisfied that we’re just dealing with a pulley that got loose and fell off. The blower bolt looks fine:
The blower belt also looks fine:
Plan the Repair
Thankfully, due to the technical bulletin, the repair is planned for me. It says to put blue threadlocker on the blower bolt and then use a 1 1/8″ wrench and a 1/2″ square socket to thread the blower pulley onto the blower bolt. We’ll talk more about this in a minute, but I’ll go ahead and say that I didn’t have a 1 1/8″ wrench, and my 1/2″ ratchet didn’t fit the contours of the blower quite right. I also was out of blue threadlocker.
Assemble the Tools and Materials
Given that I (or rather, Maytag) planned the repair, I know that I need some blue threadlocker, a 1 1/8″ wrench, and a 3/8″ to 1/2″ adapter for my 3/8″ ratchet.
Let me try to explain why I need the 3/8″ to 1/2″ adapter. The entire blower spins freely, it’s just a fan on a ball bearing. The pulley and belt cause it to spin, creating airflow. In order to tighten the pulley onto the blower bolt, you have to somehow stop the blower fan from spinning. In order to help with that, the bottom face of the fan has a 1/2″ square hole in the center that fits the square bit of a 1/2″ ratchet. Then, as you tighten the pulley, the fan will rotate only as far as the ratchet can move in the blower housing, which is only an inch or two. Then, once the ratchet is jammed into the side of the blower housing, you can actually make progress on tightening the pulley onto the bolt.
The problem is that I tried to put the 1/2″ ratchet into the square hole, and I couldn’t do it. The design of the blower housing meant that the butt of the ratchet hit the floor before the bit nested into the square hole. I have a few extenders for the ratchet, but they were all too long to fit into the blower housing. This was a goldilocks situation. I needed something that extended the ratchet just the right length. In my opinion, I was more likely to get an adapter that was the right length rather than an extender. I also have a 3/8″ ratchet, so I just needed to find a 3/8″ to 1/2″ adapter that wasn’t 3″ long.
This was probably the most complicated part of the whole project. I knew that I wasn’t going to find an extender that was short enough, so I had to improvise. I went to Lowes hoping that a 3/8″ to 1/2″ adapter existed, and it wasn’t much of a leap of faith. 3/8″ and 1/2″ are the common ratchet sizes, and I knew that 1/2″ to 3/8″ existed, so it seems to follow that 3/8″ to 1/2″ probably exists, too.
I ended up getting a set of 3 adjustable wrenches and a set of 3 adapters that included a 3/8″ to 1/2″ adapter, as well as the blue threadlocker. All in, I paid $28. Probably could’ve cut the cost in half if I stuck to what I needed rather than what may be useful in the future.
Execute the Repair
At this point, I’ve put about an hour into the project, and I’ve only managed to make a mess. However, I have a plan and I have everything I need.
First, I put threadlocker on the bolt. I put a rubber glove on and just used my finger to spread the threadlocker evenly on the bolt. Threadlocker is a liquid somewhat similar to superglue (I’m sure the chem glibs can explain exactly what it is). It gets in the threads and hardens, “locking” the threads into place and reducing the likelihood of the pulley coming off of the bolt again. You can see in the below photo that it’s literally blue.
Then I inserted the adapter and the ratchet into the blower intake and seated them into the socket in the blower fan. Finally, I started hand threading the pulley onto the bolt.
Dealing with Setbacks
First I tried with the belt on, but it was too tight, so I took the belt off, hoping that I could put it on after the fact. I also had trouble getting the pulley to “catch” on the bolt. Turns out the bolt was reverse threaded (you have to turn it counterclockwise to tighten instead of clockwise). 30 seconds later, and I had the ratchet set up to go the other direction, and I had the pulley threading onto the bolt.
It took about 5 minutes to thread the pulley onto the bolt because the clearance was a bit tight for the adjustable wrench, but I had 10 minutes until the threadlocker set up, so I wasn’t worried. Once I tightened down the pulley, I wrapped the belt around the blower pulley and began the process of getting it onto the motor pulley. Thankfully it wasn’t super tight, so I was able to rotate the motor until the belt seated properly. If you can’t tell, a lot of this is “I know what the result should be and I’m gonna try a bunch of crap until I attain the result”. You can always escalate the amount of force you use to accomplish some task, but with the increase in force comes an increased risk of breaking something. That’s why it’s good to go incrementally. It’s often frustrating, but it’s much less frustrating that causing more damage because you were impatient.
Verify the Fix
I gave the threadlocker another 30 minutes to fully set before I fired up the dryer and confirmed that the blower was working again.
Then, I began the process of reassembling the dryer.
It’s a bit blurry, but I kept things organized as I disassembled so that I could easily reassemble. The piles of screws each correspond to a component, and going from right to left is the order of reassembly. This keeps you from using the wrong fastener in the wrong component, which can cause a nightmare if you damage the component or the fastener. Sometimes the component may have many different sized fasteners. In that case, I usually like to set the fasteners out in roughly the same position as they are when attached to the component. The top left screw goes in the top left corner of the storage area, etc.
Finally, with everything back together, I put the dryer back and plugged in the vent and the power cord. I hit the “go” button one last time to confirm that I didn’t screw anything up during assembly, and that was it! After 1.5 hours and $28 of investment, I was able to avoid a $350 service call from the friendly neighborhood Maytag repairman.
There are some things that you pick up as you go, and there are some things that require trial and error, but DIY is, at its most basic, the application of this process in a variety of contexts. It should be apparent that you can modify the process for construction and maintenance instead of repair, but you don’t need much more than a basic toolset and enough patience to navigate the inevitable hurdles you encounter as a DIYer.
Yesterday sloopy and I tuned in to the College Football National Championship game on a lark to see how empty the stadium was when we witnessed an outright raping. Someone needs to call a representative of the #Metoo movement. I haven’t been this happy to watch a college football playoff since Ohio State destroyed Alabama in 2014. It was fanfuckingtastic to say the least.
I had planned on a post of vegetarian Super Bowl apps for party planning. However, time being at a premium during this relocation process, you are getting my go-to biscotti recipes instead.
These are super easy to make and delicious, IIDSSM. Enjoy!
SP’s Biscotti Times Two
Ingredients
2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter softened
4 eggs
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brandy
1 1/2 teaspoons anise extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup almonds, slivered
1-2 tablespoons anise seed
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place parchment paper or silicone baking mats on two half sheet pans.
In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter until fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time, incorporating each before adding the next.
In a measuring cup, combine brandy, anise extract and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.
With the mixer running, alternately add flour mixture and brandy mixture to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
Stir in the almonds and anise seed.
Wet your hands with cold water. Using your hands, drop dough onto prepared half sheet pan, forming two 2-inch wide x 13-inch long strips on each sheet. Moisten your fingertips again as needed and smooth dough into logs. (Seriously, using your hands for this step is by far the most efficient method!)
Bake about 30 to 35 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch.
Cool the sheet pans on racks until completely cool. Turn oven temp down to 300 degrees F.
Cut fully cooled logs on the diagonal into 3/4-inch thick slices using a super sharp knife. Place the slices cut sides down on the sheet pans.
Bake for about 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes, until cookies are dry and slightly brown. Remove to a rack and cool.
Variation: Apricot & Almond Biscotti
Substitute almond extract for the anise extract and omit the anise seed.
Stir in 1 cup chopped dried apricots. Continue the process as described.
After these biscotti are completely cooled, I like to dip one end in dark chocolate. White chocolate drizzle also goes well.
In place of the apricots, you could use dried cherries, or dried cranberries for a seasonal twist.
Good Monday afternoon, Glibertariat. My wife starts another round of PTA clinicals tomorrow, which means I will finally be alone in my house during the day. Which is superawesomefantastic. Kids will be at school, wife will be at work (although not yet PAID for that work, but baby-steps) and I will be once again able to enjoy one of the best perks about working from home. So my week is looking up. How’s about y’all?
Brazil implements a crazy strategy to reduce gun violence: let the citizens arm up. If it works in Brazil, they should try it somewhere really dangerous. Like Chicago.
We pick on Florida Cop a lot, but here’s an officer doing some unalloyed good. Well done, Officer DePierre.
I’d also like to thank Florida Stripper for putting her crazy up on the internet rather than executing, er, going forward with her mass murder plans. Glib Fans can probably write to her care of the Lakeland County Jail.
In 1672, 69-year-old Roger Williams clambered into a skiff and rowed, solo, twenty-five miles down Narragansett Bay to publicly debate several Quakers. It was an action typical of Williams who was never afraid to put his beliefs into action. Williams was a fascinating character for multiple reasons, but in this piece I would like to explore his ideas of religious toleration, formulated in the first half of the seventeenth century, long before the Enlightenment forced such debates into a wider public sphere.
Williams was born c. 1603 in London, graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge 1627, and took orders in the Church of England. However, while at Cambridge, Williams embraced Puritanism which would have had a detrimental effect on his career prospects had he stayed in England. But, in 1630, Williams and his wife Mary (they married in 1629) decided to immigrate to New England. The couple were part of the so-called Puritan Great Migration, precipitated by the crackdown on Puritans initiated by Charles I and William Laud.
Roger Williams, c.1603 – 1683
By the time Williams arrived in New England, he had embraced Separatism, a more radical subset of Puritanism. Most English Puritans believed that, although the English Reformation had not gone far enough, the Church of England (CoE) was a true, albeit impure, church which God could yet purify. Separatists, however, believed the Church of England was not a true church and could not be redeemed (FWIW: the Pilgrims of Plymouth were Separatists; the much larger number of Puritans who settled at Massachusetts Bay were mostly non-separatists).
Even for a Separatist, Williams was a radical. He believed that all those who wished to be members of the new pure churches in New England must publicly repent of their past involvement with the CoE and declare they would never be involved with it again. All ministers who had served in a CoE church in the past had to renounce this involvement. In fact, insufficient separation from the CoE led Williams to turn down invitations to pastor in Plymouth and at Boston’s First Church. However, in December, 1633, Williams accepted an invitation to become pastor-teacher at Salem, Massachusetts a church largely comprised of Separatists.
Williams’s tenure as pastor at Salem was riven with turmoil. Space does not allow for the details to be provided here, but Williams’s public pronouncements precipitated first a rhetorical conflict between Salem church and the rest of Massachusetts and then between the Salem church and Williams. Eventually the church dismissed Williams as their minister and the Massachusetts government banished Williams from the colony in January, 1636 (Massachusetts eventually rescinded Williams’s banishment – in 1936!).
Williams and a handful of followers founded Providence Plantation later in 1636 on land granted to them by the Narragansett sachems Canonicus and Miantonomi. The small band of Christians created a “compact” for self-government. Part of it read: we…submit ourselves in active and passive obedience to all such orders or agencies as shall be made for the public good of the body in an orderly way, by the major consent of the present inhabitants…only in civil things.
This compact is one of the first indications we have that Williams’s interpretation of the bible and godly authority had begun to change. To some extent, Williams new thinking was an extension of his separatist views. Williams desperately wanted to be part of a pure church, one founded by an ordained minister. So far, so good. But, as Williams theology evolved he came to believe that true ordination could only be passed down from Christ. At the same time, Williams believed that Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313 had terminated the true church (under this interpretation, the Catholic Church was a false church) and true ordination. Thus, there could no true ministers, and therefore no pure churches.
Mainstream Puritans believed that their “purified” churches were true churches, planting Christ’s kingdom in the world, and that the cause of Christ’s kingdom could be advanced by harassing, or even making war on, ungodly weeds which threatened to overrun the kingdom. Williams, however, believed that God’s kingdom would only come when God sent new apostles (probably at the time of the millennium) into the world. In the interim, therefore, godly plants had no business harassing ungodly weeds. This would lead Williams to reject the idea that orthodoxy could be enforced by the state.
As Williams grappled with his evolving theology, he was also confronted with political problems. In 1643, Massachusetts Bay attempted to extend its authority over Providence. Williams set sail for London seeking an official charter for his settlement. This was granted to him in the form of a parliamentary Commission for Plantations in 1644 and he prepared to return to New England. But, before he set sail, he published one of the finest statements on religious toleration, The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience. So radical was Bloudy Tenent that the English government ordered it burned.
While the pamphlet contained much of Williams’s new thinking on the church, it was his ideas on the intersection between the church and state which libertarians should celebrate. As with other Puritans, Williams believed that the coming of Christ to Earth had created a gulf, a division, between what had gone before and what came after. But, while most Christians believed that the non-ceremonial aspects of Old Testament law should still be enforced by the state, Williams argued there was no such thing as God’s political kingdom on earth and that no modern nation possessed God’s authority to enforce religious law. Williams argued that it was impossible that God would give civil government—made up of sinful people—authority over the church on issues of religious practice.
And then Williams made the point that should bring warmth to even cold, black, libertarian hearts. He argued that civil peace was not disrupted by religious dissent and debates over religion but by the use of state power to suppress dissent and debate. He wrote: the blood of so many hundred thousand soules of Protestants and Papists, spilt in the wars of present and former ages, for their respective consciences, is not required nor accepted by Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace…enforced uniformity [of religion] is the greatest occasion of civil war, ravishing of conscience, persecution of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of the hypocrisy and destruction of millions of souls.
Thus while Williams criticized Catholic Mary (r. 1553-1558), he also criticized Protestant Elizabeth (r. 1558-1603) for her persecution of Catholics. Williams did not even believe it was necessary that civil rulers be Christians. In a second work published in 1652—Bloudy Tenent Yet More Bloudy—he argued that Jews, Catholics, and Muslims could be good civil rulers.
To be clear, Williams was no anarchist, nor even a libertarian. He was after all, a man of the seventeenth century and firmly believed in the need for a civil government, as practiced in Rhode Island. But religious toleration continued to be adhered to (religious anarchy in the colony was further aided and abetted by the teachings of two other dissenters, John Clarke and Samuel Gorton). Baptists and Quakers, both banned from New England, settled in the colony. In 1658 a small Jewish congregation was formed in Newport and French Huguenots settled in East Greenwich in 1686. Rhode Island was certainly not a kingdom of religious peace. There were harsh words and harsh writings aimed at other religions. Both Gorton and Williams left/were kicked out of churches they founded. For many outside the colony, it seemed a place of lawlessness. As a Dutch Reformed minister in New Netherland wrote, Rhode Island was a place where all kinds of rabble live and which is nothing but the latrine of New England; all the bandits of New England retire thither. But, there were no arrests, violence, or punishment in religious matters. Without the civil power involved in running religion, there was no need for the civil power to arbitrate religion.
Tolerance also played out in other ways: in 1647, representatives from the four main towns in the colony agreed on laws banning witchcraft trials, imprisonment for debt, and removed capital punishment for many crimes. Rhode Island even passed a law banning slavery in 1652 although it was only enforced fitfully and then for no more than fifty years (although one of the earliest mainstream voices of abolition was that of Samuel Hopkins, Congregational minister in Newport, Rhode Island from 1770-1803).
The anecdote I began this piece with says it all. Williams believed Quakers were false prophets and heretics, guilty of all kinds of crimes against God’s truth. But the way to deal with heresy, even at 69, was to get in a boat and go to a public debate. It was most decidedly not to call down the power of the state on those with whom one disagreed.
You gotta feel bad for that Bears kicker. Or not. But Cleveland and Philly fans Venmo-ing him money after the missed FG is a bit much. Tough way for one’s career to end. Elsewhere, the Chargers beat the Ravens (and now head to Foxboro for a date with Tom Brady. The Iggles, who were the beneficiaries of that missed kick will head to New Orleans to take on the juggernaut Saints. And Indy will travel to Kansas City while the Cowboys travel to Los Angeles to take on the Rams. The college season will end tonight in front of a half-empty stadium. And the NBA still doesn’t matter.
And as hockey hits its midway point more or less, the standings put the Lightning, Leafs , Bruins, Sabres, Caps, Pens, Blue Jackets and Islanders in current playoff positions in the Wales Conference, with Montreal nipping at their heels and the Jets, Preds, Avs, Stars, Flames, Army, Sharks, and Ducks in the Campbell with Vancouver, Edmonton and the surging MINNESOOOOODA WIIIIIILD just outside. Enjoy the stretch run, gentlemen.
Oh, and I’d recap the FA Cup weekend, but there’s still a game to go. I wonder if either will field a strong team though.
Happy Birthday if today is your day. And by the way, you share it with: president Millard Fillmore, bluesman Bobo Jenkins, publisher (of a once-great magazine) Jann Wenner, Kenny fucking Loggins, actor David Caruso, libertarianish politician Rand Paul, person in movies Nic Cage, and Formula One great (but also a douchebag) Lewis Hamilton.
It was also the day the following took place: Galileo discovered the first three moons of Jupiter, Francis Bacon became Lord Chancellor of Britain, the typewriter was patented, the US government recognized Castro’s Cuban government, Jimmy Carter authorized bailout of Chrysler, and Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial began.
That wasn’t a lot of great stuff. Oh well, on to…the links!
Socialist says socialism won’t create another socialist state. Interviewer doesn’t press the issue because that would be…what, racist? Mysoginistic? Making fun of a retarded person? Hell, it must be something bad for Anderson Cooper to keep lobbing her softballs. But in his defense, maybe he was still drunk from this three tequila shots he did earlier int he week. Oh yeah, and she also said Trump is a racist.
Wow, a telescope in a plane! Next thing you know, we’ll manage to put one in space beyond the atmospheric interference.
Looks like Kevin Spacey will have to appear in court for his arraignment for felony sexual assault. Quick question: how loose does someone’s pants need to be for someone else to get their hand down them far enough to grab their genitals, in a bar against their will? Without being seen by anybody else? And without taking an ass-beating on the spot? That whole story sounds far-fetched to me.
Scoring a triple double ain’t any easier than chopping a head off.
SEA SMITH HAPPY HE SEE ALL FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN LAND HOOMANS AGAIN. HE BRING LINKS AND MAKE WEEKEND GOOD. BEEN VERY BUSY – NEW YEAR, NEW SHIPS MEAN NEW RAPE. SEA SMITH FIND SEXY CONTAINER SHIP AND SAY HI. BY SAY HI, MEAN RAPE. NOW CARGO ALL OVER PLACE. HA HA HA. SEA SMITH MAKE ISLAND HOOMANS HAPPY.
NOW HE MAKE FUNNY GLIBERTARIANS HAPPY, WITH LINKS.
SO… DEATH SENTENCE WORKED? LOOK LIKE KNOWITALL JUDGE NOT STOP IT ANYMORE.
THIS NO SEA SMITH FAULT! HE NOWHERE NEAR CANADA! BESIDES, SHIP WAS ASKING FOR IT.
IT GOOD SEE HE DO SOMETHING NOW BESIDE EAT HOTDOG IN CONTEST…. WHAT?
