iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Anil Dash @anildash.com · 31/08/2026

Reposted by Martin Kelley

I’m curious, if “eggs expensive under Biden” was newsworthy, how come “Trump intentionally caused every single fucking thing to be heinously expensive” isn’t a story?

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 30/08/2026

Signs outside of the Medford NJ meetinghouse. Taken because a Friend at my meeting is thinking about signage that might further convince neighbors we’re not an abandoned space.

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Reposted by Martin Kelley

Miaganga @miaganga.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Leadership works💪🏽💟🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 30/08/2026

Fuck Google Maps. At some point you have to decide that the official US federal geographic names database has become an unreliable stew of politicized 💩. What happens when President Demented names the Atlantic Ocean after himself?

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Reposted by Martin Kelley

Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

This is what the growth of surveillance is going to bring. Not safety from crime, but new, non-criminal acts redefined as criminal so as to give the police an excuse to exercise power. local12.com/news/offbeat...

local12.com

Police request public's help to find suspect who picked up $30 off ground in Walmart

A police department took to social media and asked the public to help them identify a suspect who found $30 on the ground in Walmart.

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 24/08/2026

martin_kelley Happy would-be birthday to my mom Liz. She would have been 96 today. This is her in 2014, about a year before she passed.

A woman with four grandchildren sitting on a couch.

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I've had lots of well-meaning Friends tell me we don't need the basic safeguarding policies (windows in doors, background checks of childcare workers, two-deep adults around kids at all time, etc.).

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In terms of putting safeguards in place for children, I agree with a lot of the Stephanie Krehbiel's arguments in the original article's comment thread that what progress we've made has largely been forced on us by insurance companies.

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Don't get me wrong, I like our process but we need to be honest about where it fails us. Or more particularly fails members of our community The protracted debates in liberal meetings over same-sex marriage 20-30 years ago drove a lot of LGBTQ away because they didn't want to wait for us to decide.

A fundamental feature of consensus/sense of meeting is that the lack of it defaults to the status quo ("how we've always done it"). This makes decisions that might involve a perceived or real judgements of the behavior of fellow Quakers quite difficult.

Some very problematic people can be quite charming and deflect any concerns. You're not alone.

Be Ready to Answer the Phone | Quaker Ranter

Thoughts on the surprise Truitt family visit yesterday, because I know Quakers can be really really bad at this… Make sure you have a website that lists a phone number that rings through to a real person in real time. One that also lists an email that will be promptly read and answered...

quakerranter.org

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Truitt Family Visits Meetinghouse - Cropwell Quakers

I had a wonderful time playing host for a visit by an old Cropwell Meeting family that was visiting the area this week. The highlight was definitely 103 year old Margaret Adele McGee, who told stories of worshiping at Cropwell in the 1920s!

cropwellquakers.org

On Wednesday, August 19 members of the extended Truitt family, led by 103-year-old Margaret Adele McGee, dropped by for a visit to Cropwell Meeting. McGee and her daughter Patti McGee Colston had flow...

Annalee @flowerhorne.com · 15/08/2026

Reposted by Martin Kelley

I think what it comes down to is that we have a problem with conflict. We have a lot of Friends who just Cannot Handle frank disagreement. Peace as the absence of conflict rather than the presence of justice, etc.

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 15/08/2026

I’m powered by Freedom, baby! This has always been a sketch location, constantly closing and reopening. There’s definitely been some sort of con going with its owners and this month it’s Freedom Fuels.

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And it makes us vulnerable to emotional manipulation from within. I’m pretty disheartened by recent examples.

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Modern Quakers have a surprisingly hard time with the problem of evil. We find it hard to say “no this is unacceptable” or “yes we will discuss this openly and transparency.” It makes accountability quite difficult.

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It seems incredibly hard, maybe impossible, to go through that kind of situation unscathed. Communities like meetings can be traumatized too.

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Wow that’d be rough. I know members of the meeting with trailer guy were very shaken up.

A half dozen FB threads this morning can attest to some very much not wanting this conversation. Sigh…

My point: abuse can happen in Quaker spaces. And any naivete that we're somehow immune helps keep it hidden. We protect ourselves by being smart and talking about it over and over.

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After these revelations came out I thought back to the visits years before. Had I ever left any of my kids out of my sight? Were there any creepy pats on shoulders or offers to lift them up? I don't think so and there was no trauma of any sort. We were lucky that these were day trips.

My oldest son and I had a great tour of this meetinghouse by a kindly grandfatherly type, complete with a trip up to the attic. He's the former principal at the North Carolina school mentioned in the @friendsjournal.org article. Abused multiple kids at at least two schools.

Photo of the front of an 18th century Quaker meetinghouse.

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I took this photo at a Quaker gathering at a Friend's house. He was a respected administrator at a (non Quaker) religious school, seemed like a nice guy. My two oldest sons are just off camera. Police later said the trailer on the left was the scene of years of rapes of foreign-exchange students.

Sunny lawn with three people playing Frisbee. On the left is a trailer.

And it wasn't Quakers who outed the three, it was law enforcement and journalists. I could link to news articles on all three. At least two remained active in their meetings.

Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 14/08/2026

I'm Quaker and my wife Catholic so my four children have spent time in both communities. The only times I've later learned someone they were close to at some event was a predator was in Quaker circles. I'm not kidding. There are Quakers who don't want us talking about this stuff but we must.

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Reposted by Martin Kelley

In decades past, many Quaker schools and meetings did not have child safeguarding policies. Friends often assumed Quakers were wholly good people, not capable of child abuse. Times have changed. What have Friends learned about developing child protection policies and responding to abuse allegations?

friendsjournal.org

Child Safeguarding in Quaker Spaces

Truth and transparency in dealing with abuse.

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 10/08/2026

For some reason my Friday newsletter didn't go off last week so it's an extra bundle today. Learn how philosophers are rediscovering plainness and what a "worship fluid" Quaker meeting might look like. us17.campaign-archive.com?u=7e77489ebc...

Screenshot of a YouTube interview with the title "Open Worship, Guided Worship, Fluid Worship"

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The AI resistance. These are great. Via @kottke.org aftermath.site/ai-resistanc...

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Reposted by Martin Kelley

Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 10/08/2026

For my newsletter, I spelled out once simple trick for the WNBA to shut down that transphobic publicity stunt by two former NBA players: www.burnsnotice.com/heres-how-th...

burnsnotice.com

Here's How the WNBA Can Win the Anti-Trans Controversy

The league has a golden opportunity to make a definitive and educational point about trans athletes–if it has the courage to do it

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 10/08/2026

Pew Research divides the U.S. political scene into nine typologies. Seems awfully neat still, but does help explain the fractured and sometimes distrustful diversity within "left" or "right" circles.

pewresearch.org

Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology

Our typology sorts the public into nine groups based on their political and cultural values, not their party – painting a picture of American politics with far more than two colors.

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 07/08/2026

Really well-done article on the cult of Anthony Bourdain, complete with a link to a 2002 bulletin board tribute that has been repurposed as an actual Bourdain quote in service to his cultural canonization. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/07/m...

nytimes.com

The Gospel According to Anthony Bourdain (Gift Article)

Fans of the late writer and chef are cultlike in their devotion. But have they misunderstood his message?

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 04/08/2026

It's such a sweet meeting, you can just feel the passage of time there.

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 03/08/2026

His accompanying article on the "the marvelous mystery of worship-fluid meetings" is great.

friendsjournal.org

How Can I Keep from Singing?

The marvelous mystery of worship-fluid meetings.

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 03/08/2026

My interview with John Helding is up. He makes a good case for being open to become more playful and experimental in our worship and suggests better language for our various worship styles. #quakers

youtube.com

Open Worship, Guided Worship, Fluid Worship: A Talk with John Helding

YouTube video by Friends Journal Quakers

Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 03/08/2026

On the blog: Finding the Sweet Harmony in Friends Worship www.quakerranter.org/finding-the-...

quakerranter.org

Finding the Sweet Harmony in Friends Worship | Quaker Ranter

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Martin Kelley @martinkelley.com · 29/07/2026

Not at all a surprising outcome. China's been disciplined and strategic while Trump changes policies every month. In the last 18 months the U.S. has pretty definitively dropped the ball on future-looking energy, transportation, and education policies and they're the odds-on favorite to win on AI.