iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

That super El Niño in the Pacific that’s was forecast months ago? We knew it was happening a month and a half ago. David Gelles reports for the New York Times from Kiribati: “Already, around Christmas Island, one of this nation’s 33 atolls and islands, the ocean surface temperature -> 1/3

nytimes.com

Early-Onset El Niño

The global weather disrupter appears to be taking a toll, and its peak could still be months away.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Our elections face a threat, but the people hold the power. On October 17th, we are fueling the largest early vote in our Republic's history to defend our rights. We choose democracy over wannabe kings. Join the movement. 🗳️🇺🇸 share.indvs.org/s/4g0Ma1iV

share.indvs.org

No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Don’t let them fool you. “Most voters want the same things right now: to be led and represented by normal people who are good at getting things done. People want leaders who respect those who disagree or vote differently instead of calling them the enemy. People who know that God -> 1/2

petebuttigieg.substack.com

Don’t Let Them Fool You: You are Not Alone

I see an American majority ready for a better politics. Watch my message about what we have the chance to deliver in this year’s midterms.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The manuscript for today’s #sermon, “Look at What’s Coming,” is on my blog. jeffsjottings.wordpress.com/2026/09/27/l... Clouds are ephemeral and so they typically call us to the present moment. -> 1/2

jeffsjottings.wordpress.com

Look at What’s Coming

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

@padilla.senate.gov, @schiff.senate.gov, Rep. Wahab, (and though I didn't mention you by name, @khanna.house.gov) -- Did you see my letter to the editor published on Friday by the "East Bay Times"?

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

In addition to sharing news about a corruption investigation of Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) (along with some history of political corruption in the USA), corruption in the Department of Homeland Security, corruption in the Department of Health and Human Services, -> 1/2

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s September 23, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “On Sunday an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan food delivery driver, in the back in Austin, Texas. With a bullet still lodged in his body, he was discharged from a hospital to ICE custody, where he spent the night in pain on a cold floor.”

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

To my USA friends and followers: It 40 days until the election. It's time to make your voting plan—how you will decide who you will vote for (and how you will vote on ballot measures), when you vote, who will be your voting partner (hold each other accountable to vote), etc.

A photograph of buses as a bus station. Underneath in white lettering on a blue background it says, “Picking a candidate is like picking a bus: You look at the buses that are available and you pick the one that will get you closest to your destination the fastest. You look at the candidates that are available and you pick the one who will get us closest to your destination the fastest.” @RevJSS

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Rev. Benjamin Cremer @brcremer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Those who ban the press and start state run media are never the good guys in history.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

More and more EMTs, Paramedics, and Emergency Room docs and nurses are needing how to respond to heat-related injuries (which, if untreated, can kill). Here’s a 15-minute documentary on how Phoenix EMS is dealing with the crisis. www.nytimes.com/video/opinio...

nytimes.com

Video: Opinion | A New Inferno

Firefighters in Phoenix race to save lives in a city that’s only getting hotter.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I grew up in New England where we were used to roadways buckling into four-inch humps called “frost heaves” during the winter when ground moisture expands as it freezes, finding a weak line in the pavement and thrusting it upward. -> 1/3

washingtonpost.com

Why one highway exploded this summer — and why many more are at risk

Hotter summers are wreaking havoc across transportation infrastructure. One solution: Paint everything white.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The wealthy white oligarchs have known how important it is to keep poor folk from uniting. Just look back to the history of Virginia in the 1600s. Dr. Heather Cox Richardson does in yesterday’s “Letter from an American,” especially how they established laws along racial lines -> 1/2

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

September 19, 2026

On September 19, 1676, three hundred and fifty years ago today, Nathaniel Bacon and his followers burned Jamestown, the capital of the Virginia Colony.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The stench of Trump is clinging to these data center oligarchs as they seek to destroy the created world in the greedy pursuit of more computer power.

A photograph from Trump’s second inauguration with four people identified in it: Mark Zuckerberg of Meta (Facebook), Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Sundar Pichai, of Alphabet (Google), and Elon Musk of X (and other tech companies). The picture is titled “Data Center Oligarchs at Trump’s Inauguration.”

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I join with Robert Reich in wondering, “In the 25 years since 9/11, the United States has spent $8 trillion+ on wars that have taken millions of lives in the name of fighting ‘terror.’ Can you imagine if we had instead invested those funds here on climate, health care, housing, and education?”

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I could have used this meme in this past Sunday’s sermon. Ah well. Figure out what meme I’ll be wishing (come next Thursday) I used for this Sunday’s sermon by listening to it live at 10:00 at Niles Discovery Church.

A “photo” (probably AI generated) of a news reporter interviewing a lion. In the background is a rendering of Noah’s ark with an elephant exiting. Two giraffes are already off the ark in the background. Over the photo is a quote (presumably the lion is speaking) that says, “It was a DREADFUL cruise. It never stopped raining. But the buffet was amazing. I ate two of everything.”

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I guess flooding the zone can work, at least on me. I failed to notice what Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite notices: Trump has a “vendetta against JFK and the Kennedy family …. As president, he’s released the records of the Kennedy assassination and appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is -> 1/2

susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com

Brava! Live Drama at the Kennedy Center

I hope someone writes an opera about Rep. Joyce Beatty’s takedown of Trump

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This is so insightful! Read it and then read all of @dianabutlerbass.bsky.social’s thread (it’s only 4 skeets long). Heck, if you’re not following Dr. Bass, do that, too.

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Reposted by Jeff Spencer

Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

It’s funny, but also not funny at the same time.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

If you know California youth who care about the future, please share this opportunity with them.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Yesterday’s “Letter” from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson is yet another wake-up call about the dangers of the Trump administration and their desire and acts to destroy democracy. Please give it a read. heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-...

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s September 14, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “Taken together, the administration’s continued flirtation with Vladimir Putin and his associates, its use of our tax dollars to imprison immigrants in substandard conditions, and its determination to rig the 2026 election add up to an attempt to establish an authoritarian government.”

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Many thanks to @padilla.senate.gov for holding DHS accountable. Keep up the good work. (And those of you who are Sen. Padilla and are seeing this, please read this thread.)

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Chefs are switching to induction cooktops … because they end up with cooler, quieter kitchens that are much cheaper to run. Even the pros who cook with the wok. Really. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

The chefs turning down the heat by switching from gas to electric

As well as being quieter, cheaper to run and easier to clean, induction cookers can cut kitchen temperatures by up to 10C

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I don’t mean to be mean, Elon Musk, but Bill McKibben is right when he writes, “Whatever good [you] did with [your] early advocacy for electric vehicles has now been undone a hundred times over with [your] advocacy for the people who hate EVs -> 1/3

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I’ve been wondering what to post about the 25th anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks, and decided to post the sermon I preached the following Sunday. I invite you to read it. revjss.substack.com/p/christiani...

A color photograph of lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001, by Michael Foran, CC BY 2.0. Plumes of smoke billow from the World Trade Center towers. Superimposed on the photo are the words, “Christianity in the Aftermath,” and “A sermon preached at Tolt Congregational United Church of Christ, Carnation, Washington, on Sunday, September 16, 2001,” and the web address for Jeff’s Substack, revjss.substack.com

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Yes, Trump promised to send us $5,000 if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate after the midterm elections. However, I don’t think Trump can be prosecuted for violating 18 U.S. Code Section 597, Expenditures to influence voting. 1/2

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Schrödinger's Senator = Mitch McConnell

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Do not go to votesafe[dot]org. It is a dangerous website. 1/5

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

PSA: Election officials in California, Oregon, Washington and elsewhere are telling voters if you can, return your ballot through an official ballot drop box rather than trusting it to the mail.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Feeling kind of proud of my Swiss heritage today.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Why do I keep harping on getting politicians to change our policies on fossil fuels from “burn, baby, burn” to “let’s go green”? Because the political world is a subset of the physical one, and there are boundaries in the physical world after which things change. 1/3

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

PROTECT YOUR VOTE! (Though this thread is primarily for my USA friends and followers, some of it may apply to those of you who live in other countries.) 1/6

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

“Worker justice is not just a civil right, it is a fundamental acknowledgment that human beings have an inherent dignity and worth. This idea is called “the image of God” in Christian theology. -> 1/2

susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com

A Moral Vision of Labor

Labor Day reflections

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Climate scientist Michael Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social doesn’t pull any punches in his editorial in “The Guardian.” “The glacial collapse and deluge in Nepal and Tibet was not a freak weather event; it was the structural failure of a mountain itself, nature’s latest commentary on -> 1/4

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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 05/09/2026

Listening to a man at the farmers market explain he’s out of eggs as “the ladies aren’t producing due to heat stress”— and another poultry vendor says he’s out, as he can’t keep them in this heat. Climate change is all around. We just have to open our eyes to see how it’s affecting our daily lives.

static.klipy.com

Sleepy Cartoon Chicken

Alt: Sleepy Cartoon Chicken

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

“The gulf between employers and the employed is constantly widening, and classes are rapidly forming, one comprising the very rich and powerful, while in another are found the toiling poor.… -> 1/3

A black and white photograph/portrait of Grover Cleveland, taken in 1892. From wikimedia.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Why do the people who want to move the United States more deeply into oligarchy also want to do away with public education*? For the same reason slave states made it illegal to teach enslaved people to read and write in the 1830s and beyond. 1/6

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s August 21, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “Someone excluded from access to education could not participate in that national project. Instead, that person was read out of society, doomed to be controlled by leaders who marshaled religion and propaganda to defend their dominance.”

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I was thinking this same thing a few days ago.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I’m thinking about a whistleblower’s warnings that there are “potentially catastrophic problems in the development of the United States Postal Service’s … new system for handling federal election ballot mail.” 1/7

Photograph of a stack of returned mail-in ballots from a previous election being prepared for sorting and counting at the Contra Costa County's election operations facility in Martinez, California.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

“The [Texas electric] grid operator, ERCOT, has not issued a single ‘conservation appeal’ so far this summer, asking Texans to voluntarily reduce electricity consumption to support the grid. By contrast, in 2023, the grid manager issued six between August 24 and August 30.” 1/2

heatmap.news

The Texas Grid Has Had a Boring Summer Thanks to Batteries

Temperatures are high, but electricity drama is low.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I wrote a little reflection on the Nepal/Tibet flooding disaster. revjss.substack.com/p/our-energy...

A photograph taken from the sky of a village in Nepal after the flooding. Superimposed on the photo are the title of the article, "Our energy policies are homicidal," and the subtitle, "We in the west are more responsible for the disaster in Nepal/Tibet than the people who lived there."

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

It’s all about the grift! In her August 27, 2026, “Letter from an American,” Dr. Heather Cox Richardson lists a bunch of examples of how the dealings of Trump and his administration are all about the grift, are all about lining their own pockets. It’s worth a read. 1/2

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

August 27, 2026

This morning, a headline in the Guardian read: “RFK Jr lied in Senate confirmation hearings, newly revealed documents indicate.” The story by Michelle R.

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