Patrick John Gillam

@patrickgillam.bsky.social

291 Followers 720 Following

I’m not Christian in any conventional sense, but I love this thought in John 9:3: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” A good thought whenever I behold something needing fixing.

In a secondary sense more common in contemporary U.S. usage, it denotes a foolish, silly, dim-witted, or inept person, often applied in a joking, friendly, or mildly derogatory way [1] [3]. Less commonly and in vulgar slang, it can refer to the penis [3]. The term first appeared in print in 1866 and entered widespread use by 1874 in American English, borrowed from Dutch dinges ("thing" or "whatchamacallit") and possibly influenced by Afrikaans dinges, with spelling adapted in English
Maria Kuznetsova and Dan Storyev share a few terms to describe life in the disinformation age.
Slate Money podcast hosts talk about the massive quantities of capital going into artificial intelligence businesses.
Reporter profile at the Nww York Times: Susan Dominus I’m a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine covering a broad range of topics. AboutContactFeaturedLatest What I Cover I write longform stories that explore shifts in our culture and the ripple effects of current events on people’s lives. I often draw on psychology and neuroscience in my work, and I make sure to be rigorous in how I present scientific research while making the material as accessible and transparent as possible.
Boulders along a brook stacked to make a bridge abutment.
“From The New York Times, this is The Interview. I'm Lulu Garcia Navarro. Love him or loathe him, Tucker Carlson has been at the center of our political conversation and conservative media for a decade now. Few other media figures are more closely identified with the Trump era. His massively popular Fox show started just after the 2016 election, and despite being fired in 2023, Carlson remained a pivotal figure, launching his own network and boosting Trump into a second term on his podcast and in campaign rallies. Then Trump decided to attack Iran alongside Israel, a decision that Carlson is completely opposed to.” From The Daily: What Does Tucker Carlson Really Believe? I Went to Maine to Find Out., May 2, 2026 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily/id1200361736?i=1000765759854&r=35 This material may be protected by copyright.
Evil is not the attempt to eliminate the play of another according to published and accepted rules, but to eliminate the play of another regardless of the rules. Evil is not the acquisition of power, but the expression of power. It is the forced recognition of a title-and therein lies the contradiction of evil, for recognition cannot be forced. The Nazis did not compete with the Jews for a title, but demanded recognition 32 of a title without competition. This could be achieved, how- ever, only by silencing the Jews, only by hearing nothing from them. They were to die in silence, along with their culture, without anyone noticing, not even those who managed the institutions and instruments of death.
Passage from James P. Carse’s “Finite and Infinite Games” regarding the necessity of culture to surpass societal norms.
Passage from Carse’s “Finite and Infinite Games”
Pedocon theory is a theory like gravity is a theory. Women's subservience is what they believe in: they'll just tell you. Children's obedience is what they believe in: they'll just tell you. Fathers' right to rule their families is what they believe in: they'll just tell you. Pedophilia is the natural outcome of all these ideologies: children are the property of men. MAGA has made a religion of patriarchy. In many cases, this toxic vine is wound deeply through their actual religious practices of fundamentalist Christianity. If that is the theory, pedophilia is the practice. The evidence is there, if you're willing to look.
We removed your post Feb 20, 2026 Why this happened The post may contain symbols, glorification or support of people and organizations we define as dangerous. patrickgillam After Adam Lanza murdered 20 Sandy Hook Elementary School students, we didn’t pass gun laws because, you know, Americans and guns. And Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t limited Instagram’s harm to children because his money and power are more important. Can’t wait to see who stands up for the Epstein class so we can hang them upside-down from lampposts with the shits they’re defending. Feb 20, 2026 You shared this on your profile This goes against our Community Standards on dangerous organizations and individuals.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
“Moral injury also typically has an impact on an individual's spirituality (7). For example, an individual with moral injury may have difficulty understanding how one's beliefs and relationship with a Higher Power can be true given the horrific event the person experienced, leading to uncertainty about previously held spiritual beliefs.“ —“Moral Injury,” by Sonya B. Norman, PhD, and Shira Maguen, PhD, at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD
“Since the 1980s, Republicans pushed the idea that a popular government that regulates business, provides a basic social safety net, promotes infrastructure, and protects civil rights, crushes the individualism on which America depends. “As cuts to regulation, taxation, and the nation's social safety net began to hollow out the middle class, Republicans pushed the idea that the country's problems came from greedy minorities and women who wanted to work outside the home. More and more, they insisted that the federal government was stealing tax dollars and destroying society, and they encouraged individual men to take charge of the country.” —From Letters from an American: January 5, 2026, Jan 6, 2026
A postcard from this week’s Post Secret blog says “Just realizing I eat to please my man, I dress to please my friends, and I pray to please my family.”
The screen capture shows a Bluesky post that says “The military needs to go into the White House and remove Trump from the Presidency now!!” I redacted the stupid fucken poster’s name.
Monolith and apes from “2001: A Space Odyssey”
Trump and Putin in Helsinki in 2018
The video shows a street view of some 300 No Kings demonstrators at the intersection of highways 101 and 202 in Peterborough, New Hampshire, population 6,000+.
Patrick Gillam at the Cornish, New Hampshire, home of 19th-century American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. In the background is a sculpture Saint-Gaudens described as “The Mystery of the Hereafter and The Peace of God that Passeth Understanding.” It was made to mark the grave of Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams (1843–1885) in Washington, D.C.
Letter headlined “Your Medicare plan won’t be offered in 2026.”
At a time when the president of the United States is using his power to go after diversity efforts and engaging in a mass deportation project, some progressives are arguing that people of color, immigrants and members of other marginalized groups who felt dehumanized by Kirk’s commentary, podcasts and debates have to find a way to locate common ground with his followers. “There has been an extreme shift,” Kelley told me. “This treatment is authorizing the idea that white supremacy and racism is not just a conservative idea, but a legitimate one.” Nikole Hannah-Jones is a domestic correspondent for The New York Times Magazine covering racial injustice and civil rights.
Oilprice.com: Trump Seeks $1 Billion From Big Oil as He Vows to Reverse Biden Climate Rules English - OilPrice.com By Charles Kennedy - May 09, 2024, 9:10 AM CDT Trump seeks $1 billion campaign funds from oil executives, pledging to overturn Biden's environmental policies. At a Mar-a-Lago meeting in April, Trump promised to scrap energy and climate policies opposed by the industry. Politico has recently reported that the oil industry has drafted executive orders for a potential Trump re-election.
A host of the Slate Money podcast attributes Trump’s animosity toward renewable energy to some other cause than his deal with oil executives.
Sarah Wynn-Williams’ “Careless People” shows how power corrupts. Screenshot of audiobook cover
Merriam-Webster: Parousia Definition in Christian theology : the time when Jesus Christ will return to judge humanity at the end of the world : SECOND COMING //Christians around A.D. 64 anxiously awaited the parousia, Jesus Christ's imminent Second Coming. — Tom Mueller //In a word, everything hinges on the interpretation, or rather, re-interpretation of the parousia, that is, the time of the arrival of the Messiah. — Otto Rank //… treading the paths of history in order to come at last to the Parousia. — States News Service
J.D. Vance saying New York Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani won support of the elite with his pledge free bus rides. “And I say that not to criticize them, because I think that we should care about all the people in our country, particularly those down-to-the-mobile, college-educated people who feel like the American dream is not quite all it’s cracked up to be. But we have to be honest about where his coalition is. It is not the downtrodden. It is not poor Americans. It is not about dispossession. It’s about elite disaffection and elite anger.”
Paragraph of a Claremont Institute speech by J.D. Vance. “But what might seem like a contradiction makes a little bit of sense if you peel back the onion. Consider a movement that rails against the billionaire class, despite the fact that the billionaire class remains firmly in the corner of the modern left. A movement that idolizes foreign religions, even as it rejects the teachings of those faiths. It rails this new modern left against white people, even as many of its funders and its grassroots activists are privileged whites themselves.”
Screen shot of a drone camera as the flying bomb approaches a soldier target.
Screen shot of Caravaggio’s “Calling of St. Matthew,” from a slide show titled “Piercing the Shadows of the Pope’s Favorite Painting,” by Jason Farago, New York Times, April 24, 2025. Farago’s caption says “That’s art’s whole function: to cast light on what is too often in shadow. ‘Art must not discard anything or anybody,‘ said Pope Francis. ‘It’s like mercy.’”
“What was life but a series of hard jobs you had to endure because you’d screwed up the easy ones.”
Lyric from the Beatles’ “Revolution”: You say you’ll change the Constitution Well, you know We all want to change your head You tell me it’s the institution Well, you know You better free your mind instead
Sarah Schulman quotes Sadir Shafi – “Think about what you can do, not what you can lose.”
Scott Horsley 0:00 There's also just the uncertainty. Bonnie Ross typically places big clothing orders five months out, so there's time to make and move the clothes across the ocean. How do you do business in an environment where you don't know what the tariff is going to be this afternoon, let alone during back to school shopping season next September? Bonnie Ross 0:17 I don't think that they really understood the chaos that was going to ensue once they did all this without giving people enough time to plan, he's going to put a lot of people out of business, and people are going to lose their jobs. And I might be one of them.
Open AI’s ChatGPT writes this: “The United States Constitution does not give the President explicit authority to set tariff rates. Instead, that power lies with Congress. Here’s the key constitutional basis: Article I, Section 8, Clause 1: “‘The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises…’ “This means Congress has the authority to impose tariffs (which are duties on imports). “However, Congress has delegated some of this power to the President through laws. “Over time, Congress passed legislation that allows the President to adjust tariffs under specific circumstances. Some key examples include: “Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232) – Allows the President to adjust imports (including through tariffs) if they threaten national security. “Trade Act of 1974 (Section 301) – Permits the President to respond to unfair foreign trade practices. “International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) – Gives the President power to regulate commerce during a national emergency. “So while the Constitution itself gives the power to Congress, modern presidents use authority delegated by Congress to set or adjust tariffs.”
All Tracked Programs Deaths caused by Funding Discontinuation 50,812 Adult Deaths 106,027 Child Deaths Deaths Per Hour: 103
Robert D. Richardson writes in his biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Emerson was committed to the belief that unless individual reformation preceded social reorganization, nothing would change for the better.”
Lyrics to the Beatles’ “Revolution”: You say you want a revolution well, you know we all want to change the world you tell me that it’s evolution well, you know we all want to change the world but when you talk about destruction don’t you know that you can count me out
New York Times reporter Luke Broadhouse says on The Daily podcast that 15 courts have ruled against DOGE firings and closings. 
A chart by the New York Times’ Christine Zhang showing two lines; one of the S&P 500 during Trump’s first term, the other showing his second term. Title: The Upside-Down Line That Tells the Story of the Stock Market Now Summary: When President Trump entered his first term, stocks were steadily marching upward. This time, the trajectory has inverted.
the only way to get something to turn up when you need it is to need it to turn up —Terry Pratchett’s character Moist von Lipwig, in “Going Postal”
In a clip from her podcast Next Comes What, Andrea Pitzer says two defenses against destabilizing threats are functioning courts and public protests.
Hannah Arendt writes, in “The Origins of Totalitarianism,” that “totalitarian movements are mass organizations of atomized, isolated individuals.”
A cream-colored one-story cottage with turquoise trim half obscured by tall grass. It’s the Before picture.
While writing the previous post’s alt text, the autocomplete suggestions following “Gulf of” include “the,” “Maine,” and ya-da! “Mexico.”
Screenshot of the gulf off the Louisiana coast has the label “Gulf of America.”
Days BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON Daughters of Time, the hypocritic Days, Muffled and dumb like barefoot dervishes, And marching single in an endless file, Bring diadems and fagots in their hands. To each they offer gifts after his will, Bread, kingdoms, stars, or sky that holds them all. I, in my pleached garden, watched the pomp, Forgot my morning wishes, hastily Took a few herbs and apples, and the Day Turned and departed silent. I, too late, Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY Synonyms: fragile, breakable, frangible, flimsy, brittle These adjectives mean easily broken or damaged. Fragile applies to objects that are not made of strong or sturdy material and that require great care when handled: fragile porcelain plates.… Brittle refers to inelasticity that makes something especially likely to fracture or snap when it is subjected to pressure: brittle bones.
Black and white aerial photo of Dresden in ruins
noun (among some North American Indians) the chief of a tribe. the chief of a confederation. a member of the governing body of the League of the Iroquois. one of the high officials in the Tammany Society. Slang. a political party leader. ORIGIN OF SACHEM First recorded in 1615–25, Americanism; from southeastern New England Algonquian (compare Narragansett (English spelling) sâchim, saunchum, Massachusett sontim), from unattested Proto-Algonquian sa˙kima˙wa; sagamore
James Pogue says Trump is a patronage politician who has to please the sachems who hold clout with constituencies Trump needs.
Screen capture of TikTok creator @adriftincyberspace showing a “404 page not found” alert on the page that had recently held a Martin Luther King Day proclamation.
Bertrand Russell saying the man who is actuated by lover power, is more apt to inflict pain and to permit pleasure
Twenty Lessons On Tyranny From the Twentieth Century 1. Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.
Screenshot of timer on the TM app
Screenshot of the timer on the TM app.
The late David Lynch wishing everyone blue skies and internal sunshine, closing with a salute and the words, “Have a great day.”
“We read either for antagonism or confirmation,” he once noted, adding that it made little difference which.
Vinson Cunningham of the New Yorker observes that a teenager is willing to jeopardize her mental health in exchange for an identity