iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

If @hankgreene.bsky.social has said it once, he's said it twice ...

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I was looking for this cartoon last night to use in my sermon this morning. I finally found it at 9:45 p.m. on Sunday, almost exactly 24 hours too late. Sigh.

A cartoon in 6 frames. Frame 1 shows a church chorister singing, “All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the good Lord made them all!” A rat in the lower right of the frame says, “You life out a verse.” In frame 2, the chorister asks, “How’s that?” The rat replies, “You left out a verse. We’ll sing it for you. A one, a two, a one two three four.” In frame four, the rat, a black widow spider and a rattlesnake are singing: “Things that blight and purify, all parasites and lice, all things weird and horrible, not just the stuff that's nice.” Frame 4, a skunk and a flying insect join in the singing: “Every mildew sport at blossoms, flesh-eating virus, too! Maggots on the roadkill were made by you know who!” Frame 5, a vulture has joined the singing: “all things, gross and poisonous, all buzzards in the sky, God made ticks with lime disease, although we can't say why!” Frame 6, the chorister says to the rat and friends, “It’ll never make it into the hymnal.” The rat replies, “Maybe not your hymnal.”

Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Just a reminder: Back in August, Dr. Heather Cox Richardson told us the Trump Administration was planning on exercising voter intimidation at selected polling places in the mid-term elections. heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-28-... We need to stay vigilant!

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

August 28, 2026

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that took place on August 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C., is remembered today primarily because it was the occasion when the final speaker, the Reverend Dr.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

<- in his conversation with Nicodemus (as told in John 3). This is a reminder that we are a part of nature, of creation, and that all of creation are our siblings. 2/2

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The manuscript for today’s #sermon, “Brother Wind,” is on my blog. jeffsjottings.wordpress.com/2026/10/04/b... St. Francis, one of my spiritual heroes, call the Wind “brother,” inviting us to see the connections between wind, spirit, and breath, a connection Jesus also makes -> 1/2

jeffsjottings.wordpress.com

Brother Wind

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

In her August 25 “Letter from an American,” Dr. Heather Cox Richardson summarizes how the Trump administration’s approach to and use of the U.S. military has left the USA worse off financially and defensively—and has left hundreds of civilians dead. heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-25-...

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s August 25, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “The policy of Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to bring a ‘warrior’ ethos to the Pentagon by putting it ‘on offense, not just on defense’ using ‘maximum lethality, not tepid legality,’ and having ‘violent effect, not politically correct,’ has given the U.S. a tremendous loss in Iran.”

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

<- at the high-handedness of colonial authorities to force the start of a conversation on colonialism that’s still underway. We fight where we can and when we can.” (Quoted from billmckibben.substack.com/p/a-year-in-...) 2/2

billmckibben.substack.com

A year in, the data center/AI battle starts to clarify

And the anger is profound

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social wrote for himself, though he could have been writing for me, “I remind myself regularly that I grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, where farmers could not insert themselves into London’s parliamentary debates, and instead used their anger -> 1/2

billmckibben.substack.com

A year in, the data center/AI battle starts to clarify

And the anger is profound

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

VICTORY! It’s official! Governor Newsom has signed SB 868 into law, paving the way for safe Plug-In solar in California.

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

<- And it does not look for patterns outside the mass of historical data on which it is trained. It cannot. In other words, it does not innovate, it recycles.” You can read her whole essay at susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com/p/ai-is-just... 2/2

susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com

AI Is Just Recycling Sexism and Racism

Some large language models even describe women as property and objects

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Jeff Spencer @revjss.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I’ve long had a general dislike of AI being used for what I consider to be creative endeavors—essay and poetry writing, painting, graphic design, etc.—and Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite has helped me figure out why. “AI does not have feelings, consciousness, or true understanding of facts. -> 1/2

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite’s September 30, 2026, Substack that says, “AI does not have feelings, consciousness, or true understanding of facts. And it does not look for patterns outside the mass of historical data on which it is trained. It cannot. In other words, it does not innovate, it recycles.”

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“‘We expect this to get worse and worse and worse until the end of this year,’ she said. ‘This is just the tip of the iceberg.’” 3/3

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<- is 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, warmer than usual for this time of year, compared with the previous 30 years. And as much as 10 percent of the corals appeared bleached in a series of dives over the past few days, Atwood said. 2/3

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

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

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Season 2, episode 1, I think.

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See season 2 episode 1 of “The West Wing.”

No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.

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

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<- does not belong to a political party in the United States of America. Most voters want to elect leaders who are not simply trying to rebuild the past, but trying to create something new and better.” 2/2

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petebuttigieg.substack.com

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

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.

<- Our scripture readings today use clouds to call us to the past and to the future, inviting us to think about the ultimate future. Rather than worrying about the “Second Coming” of Jesus on the clouds, I invite us to recognize that Jesus is here already. 2/2

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jeffsjottings.wordpress.com

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

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

<- human rights violations in the Department of Homeland Security, Dr. Heather Cox Richardson reports about the latest ICE shooting. And then she turns to malfeasance in the White House. It’s a full letter! heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-... 2/2

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

September 23, 2026

Yesterday, William Turton, Avi Asher-Schapiro, Molly Redden, and Kirsten Berg of ProPublica published a blockbuster story reporting that the anti-corruption group of the Federal Bureau of Investigatio...

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.”

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

I still refer to Mary Magdalene as Mary the Tower in my sermons.

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

In this sermon, I invite us to remember that our ancestors are cheering us on in our faithfulness and that we are called to be ancestors for the generations to come. 2/2

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<- they move calmly, and their appetite is relentless. As one North Carolina extension specialist summed it up: cows are too tall, goats climb, and sheep are the one domesticated grazer that can take care of business without damaging the goods.” 3/3

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It turn out sheep are better than goats or cows, at least when it comes to who you want grazing around your solar panels on your solar farm. “Sheep pass every test. They fit under the lowest rows, they eat grass rather than infrastructure, -> 2/3

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I watched it last night and thought pretty much the same thing ... the "evenhanded" part.

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

This skeet makes me feel OLD.

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Reposted by Jeff Spencer

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

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Video: Opinion | A New Inferno

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

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

<- the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation defines as ‘a heave in a concrete or brick pavement caused by pavement expansion from excessive heat.’” 3/3

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

<- I am not used to heat heaving, but apparently that’s something I need to adjust to in a heating world. “Heat waves melt asphalt into goo. Train tracks twist. Overhead power lines sag. Concrete snaps into pieces in what are known as ‘blowups’ — the technical term for what -> 2/3