A street prophet preaches the truth and offers wisdom freely to all who pass by. All you have to do is listen. This is true of Daily Kos’ own Street Prophets Group, situated at the intersection of religion and politics, and offering succor to any passerby.
Back in the day, when most web designers were hand-coding and people still thought the internet was a passing fad, Street Prophets began. “Originally,” Ojibwa wrote, “we were a separate site under the Kos umbrella and often referred to the group as ‘Little Blue.’ When Daily Kos reorganized its format and began recognizing the importance of groups, we formed a group here and the separate website disappeared.” The brainchild of Daniel Schultz (pastordan), a minister in the United Church of Christ, and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, Street Prophets intends to foster Community, promote activism, and inform with truth, reflecting the values and goals of Daily Kos itself, but with a slightly different spin. As Ojibwa explained, "Conservative Republicans seem to feel that religion—usually defined as Protestant, evangelical, fundamentalist religion—is their domain."
It's not.
Religion or spirituality, whether defined as a guiding belief, or a philosophy of life, or something you feel but you just can't name, is something everyone shares. As it explains in its mission statement, the Street Prophets take "a broad view of religion, and want to include many voices which are often excluded from religious forums. Over the years, our writers have included pagans, Christians (Protestant and Catholic), Jews, Muslims, atheists, agnostics, and many others." It is, has always been, and will continue to be a welcoming corner of Daily Kos, a place to find peace and come away refreshed.
Michelewln, who has been a part of Street Prophets almost from the beginning, calls it "an oasis in a world of anger," and "a respite for those difficult days." Starting from faith and politics—since all faith calls believers to make the world a better place and politics is the mechanism to make that happen—the Street Prophets Group channels philosophy into action. Every day, the group posts an open-thread Coffee Hour at around 1p.m. PST; it’s a place for chatting, with a topic to get things started. "The Coffee Hour hosts have different interests," Ojibwa said, "and their posts reflect this: recipes, art, theater, religious studies, museums. Perhaps most important are the efforts to help others with the Humpday Help Coffee Hour ... Street Prophets is about community and this means that we try to help each other."
From the early days of "Little Blue" to today, no matter your flavor of belief, the Street Prophets Group welcomes everyone to share and to help. Or just to chat—that works, too.
This week’s roundup shows that racism and its reckoning are very much on our collective minds, as four of our 10 rescues this week deal with whitewashed history and continuing attempts to repress minority participation in democracy; three others examine right-wing extremism, both in government and in the street. The question of how white Americans can help to build a more just, more equitable, inclusive and fair country for all is also one that the Daily Kos Community is discussing right now.
Good news: You don’t have to search to find our rescued stories! The nightly News Roundup, published six days a week at 7:30 PM PDT, includes links to each day’s rescued stories.
I’m following Besame’s lead from last week in making the blurbs shorter and encouraging you to click through and read the story. The numbers in parentheses after each author’s name indicate the year that member joined Daily Kos, how many stories they’ve published, and how many we’ve rescued.
When heat deaths outpace COVID-19 deaths, will Fox News tell viewers to ignore warnings and government help? by MotherMags (2005-675-65)
What would a responsible government do when its citizens are dying from a known cause? “Help them” comes to mind. What will Republicans do when the temperature soars into triple digits? In Arizona, it's a matter of life and death, but we can guess what the GOP will say.
To The Table: Century: Golem Edition by Ulanopo (2004-45-20)
Ulanopo begins a weekly series of game reviews with Century: Golem Edition. This tabletop game is Euro-style, "a style of game that tends to feature less conflict (and less interaction overall), a lack of player elimination, less randomness, and a focus on trading, negotiation and engine-building"—all skills we can really use these days.
Do white Senate Democrats get it? by Stevescoop (2020-40-1)
"I have never had to wait in a long line to vote, certainly not for hours. I have never had anyone offer me food or water, probably because my waits in line have been short. I have never cast a vote on Sunday. That is because I am not Black," Stevescoop writes. "Nor have I ever had my voter identification challenged. I don’t even ever recall seeing 'poll watchers' cast their gaze or aim their cameras my way when I did my democratic and patriotic duty to participate in our form of government." If white Senators, or white people in general, had to overcome the obstacles put in the way of minority voters, then would they get it? Would they understand the urgency of voting rights?
Air-Minded: Shirtsleeves ... in space! by pwoodford (2012-405-73)
Pwoodford explores the pressurization requirements that let Richard Branson and his companions go to space in their shirtsleeves instead of pressurized suits, and wonders why commercial airliners can't fly at much lower altitudes without passengers going through routine ear-popping.
The Capitol riot and critical race theory, or America's refusal to struggle with its own demons by Kravox (2019-1-1)
What happened on Jan. 6 was not a foreign attack, but one that came from within. First-time writer Kravox explains how that attack was “the story of us,” and how we as a country have done plenty of not-so-nice things and spent much of our time whitewashing and justifying our actions. Now is the time to stop.
A farmer, a steel tycoon, and a coal magnate walk into a bar ... and a new securities scam is born by ErinMcClelland (2021-1-1)
First-time writer Erin McClelland unmasks the players in a dizzyingly brazen financial scam in the most recommended rescue of the week. The collapse of Greensill Financial is "a realistic depiction of a new, post-2008, Wall Street security scheme. The depth and breadth of its damage remains to be determined."
Modern-day ‘commie’ hunts by MDGluon16 (2016-25-3)
Today's "commie" scare that has all the upstanding right-wingers panicked is critical race theory, and Idaho's lieutenant governor has organized a group of "hunters" to sniff out any whiff or hint of it in the educational system. MDGluon16 asks just what they intend to outlaw, how far they'll go, and whether they're conspiracy theorists or just political poseurs; they also assert that education is too important to censor.
Hunting with non-lead by sandyc954 (2014-8-1)
Sandyc954's first rescue is a celebration of bald eagles and other wildlife, and an examination of the risks they face in secondary poisoning, whether from rodenticide or lead pellets, as well as other poisons that travel up the food chain. Responsible hunters "want to eat food they bagged, and they have great respect for wildlife, the continuation of their love for natural beauty and toxin-free plentiful game."
Lamentations of a technology troglodyte by babushka (2021-1-1)
First-time writer babushka remembers the pleasure of slamming down a rotary phone receiver as "deeply more satisfying" than anything Steve Jobs could ever offer. She traces the evolution of business communication and the devolution of user pleasure, all the way down to a two-inch screen.
What I learned in American History class—aka Whitewashing 101 by Kenwards (2008-25-7)
After a conversation about racism and American history, Kenwards presents himself as "Exhibit A": a model of learning a sanitized version of American history as taught in public schools, "mostly because it gives me a chance to brag about myself, but also to show what a poor job we have done historically with the teaching of history." The bragging is on the muted side, while the U.S.’ poor job of teaching history—and how that produced people who sincerely believe the whitewashed public school version of history—is showcased.
Back in the day, when most web designers were hand-coding and people still thought the internet was a passing fad, Street Prophets began. “Originally,” Ojibwa wrote, “we were a separate site under the Kos umbrella and often referred to the group as ‘Little Blue.’ When Daily Kos reorganized its format and began recognizing the importance of groups, we formed a group here and the separate website disappeared.” The brainchild of Daniel Schultz (pastordan), a minister in the United Church of Christ, and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, Street Prophets intends to foster Community, promote activism, and inform with truth, reflecting the values and goals of Daily Kos itself, but with a slightly different spin. As Ojibwa explained, "Conservative Republicans seem to feel that religion—usually defined as Protestant, evangelical, fundamentalist religion—is their domain."
It's not.
Religion or spirituality, whether defined as a guiding belief, or a philosophy of life, or something you feel but you just can't name, is something everyone shares. As it explains in its mission statement, the Street Prophets take "a broad view of religion, and want to include many voices which are often excluded from religious forums. Over the years, our writers have included pagans, Christians (Protestant and Catholic), Jews, Muslims, atheists, agnostics, and many others." It is, has always been, and will continue to be a welcoming corner of Daily Kos, a place to find peace and come away refreshed.
Michelewln, who has been a part of Street Prophets almost from the beginning, calls it "an oasis in a world of anger," and "a respite for those difficult days." Starting from faith and politics—since all faith calls believers to make the world a better place and politics is the mechanism to make that happen—the Street Prophets Group channels philosophy into action. Every day, the group posts an open-thread Coffee Hour at around 1p.m. PST; it’s a place for chatting, with a topic to get things started. "The Coffee Hour hosts have different interests," Ojibwa said, "and their posts reflect this: recipes, art, theater, religious studies, museums. Perhaps most important are the efforts to help others with the Humpday Help Coffee Hour ... Street Prophets is about community and this means that we try to help each other."
From the early days of "Little Blue" to today, no matter your flavor of belief, the Street Prophets Group welcomes everyone to share and to help. Or just to chat—that works, too.
***
This week’s roundup shows that racism and its reckoning are very much on our collective minds, as four of our 10 rescues this week deal with whitewashed history and continuing attempts to repress minority participation in democracy; three others examine right-wing extremism, both in government and in the street. The question of how white Americans can help to build a more just, more equitable, inclusive and fair country for all is also one that the Daily Kos Community is discussing right now.
10 STORIES RESCUED FROM 1P.M. PDT FRIDAY, JULY 9, TO 1 P.M. PDT FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2021
Good news: You don’t have to search to find our rescued stories! The nightly News Roundup, published six days a week at 7:30 PM PDT, includes links to each day’s rescued stories.
I’m following Besame’s lead from last week in making the blurbs shorter and encouraging you to click through and read the story. The numbers in parentheses after each author’s name indicate the year that member joined Daily Kos, how many stories they’ve published, and how many we’ve rescued.
When heat deaths outpace COVID-19 deaths, will Fox News tell viewers to ignore warnings and government help? by MotherMags (2005-675-65)
What would a responsible government do when its citizens are dying from a known cause? “Help them” comes to mind. What will Republicans do when the temperature soars into triple digits? In Arizona, it's a matter of life and death, but we can guess what the GOP will say.
To The Table: Century: Golem Edition by Ulanopo (2004-45-20)
Ulanopo begins a weekly series of game reviews with Century: Golem Edition. This tabletop game is Euro-style, "a style of game that tends to feature less conflict (and less interaction overall), a lack of player elimination, less randomness, and a focus on trading, negotiation and engine-building"—all skills we can really use these days.
Do white Senate Democrats get it? by Stevescoop (2020-40-1)
"I have never had to wait in a long line to vote, certainly not for hours. I have never had anyone offer me food or water, probably because my waits in line have been short. I have never cast a vote on Sunday. That is because I am not Black," Stevescoop writes. "Nor have I ever had my voter identification challenged. I don’t even ever recall seeing 'poll watchers' cast their gaze or aim their cameras my way when I did my democratic and patriotic duty to participate in our form of government." If white Senators, or white people in general, had to overcome the obstacles put in the way of minority voters, then would they get it? Would they understand the urgency of voting rights?
Air-Minded: Shirtsleeves ... in space! by pwoodford (2012-405-73)
Pwoodford explores the pressurization requirements that let Richard Branson and his companions go to space in their shirtsleeves instead of pressurized suits, and wonders why commercial airliners can't fly at much lower altitudes without passengers going through routine ear-popping.
The Capitol riot and critical race theory, or America's refusal to struggle with its own demons by Kravox (2019-1-1)
What happened on Jan. 6 was not a foreign attack, but one that came from within. First-time writer Kravox explains how that attack was “the story of us,” and how we as a country have done plenty of not-so-nice things and spent much of our time whitewashing and justifying our actions. Now is the time to stop.
A farmer, a steel tycoon, and a coal magnate walk into a bar ... and a new securities scam is born by ErinMcClelland (2021-1-1)
First-time writer Erin McClelland unmasks the players in a dizzyingly brazen financial scam in the most recommended rescue of the week. The collapse of Greensill Financial is "a realistic depiction of a new, post-2008, Wall Street security scheme. The depth and breadth of its damage remains to be determined."
Modern-day ‘commie’ hunts by MDGluon16 (2016-25-3)
Today's "commie" scare that has all the upstanding right-wingers panicked is critical race theory, and Idaho's lieutenant governor has organized a group of "hunters" to sniff out any whiff or hint of it in the educational system. MDGluon16 asks just what they intend to outlaw, how far they'll go, and whether they're conspiracy theorists or just political poseurs; they also assert that education is too important to censor.
Hunting with non-lead by sandyc954 (2014-8-1)
Sandyc954's first rescue is a celebration of bald eagles and other wildlife, and an examination of the risks they face in secondary poisoning, whether from rodenticide or lead pellets, as well as other poisons that travel up the food chain. Responsible hunters "want to eat food they bagged, and they have great respect for wildlife, the continuation of their love for natural beauty and toxin-free plentiful game."
Lamentations of a technology troglodyte by babushka (2021-1-1)
First-time writer babushka remembers the pleasure of slamming down a rotary phone receiver as "deeply more satisfying" than anything Steve Jobs could ever offer. She traces the evolution of business communication and the devolution of user pleasure, all the way down to a two-inch screen.
What I learned in American History class—aka Whitewashing 101 by Kenwards (2008-25-7)
After a conversation about racism and American history, Kenwards presents himself as "Exhibit A": a model of learning a sanitized version of American history as taught in public schools, "mostly because it gives me a chance to brag about myself, but also to show what a poor job we have done historically with the teaching of history." The bragging is on the muted side, while the U.S.’ poor job of teaching history—and how that produced people who sincerely believe the whitewashed public school version of history—is showcased.
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An edition of our rescue roundup publishes every Saturday at 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT) to the Recent Community Stories section and to the front page at 9:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. PT). |