stephen matlock
@stephenmatlock.bsky.social
270 followers 320 following 200 posts
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Reposted by stephen matlock
piperformissouri.bsky.social
There is no bailout that will solve this problem.

It took decades to create the markets for beans and months to devastate the markets for beans.

NY Times: China Bought $12.6 Billion in U.S. Soybeans Last Year. [52% of exports] Now, It’s $0.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
We are lesser for these actions "done in our name," especially when done in our names as "Christians" in America.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
The meaning of his execution was simply revenge, a meaning that destroyed a man's life, and a meaning that further corrupted the souls of those who thirsted for his blood in paroxysms of anger and fear.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
Nothing was accomplished by withholding justice from Troy Davis, and nothing was accomplished by withholding mercy from Troy Davis.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
It's hard to break away not only from this duality about people as "good" or "bad," but also to break away from this assumption about people and power itself.

There is a better way, we're told.

Some people find it and follow it.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
Often in Western Christianity the people on the margins - people of the Global South - are predicted to be "bad" and so our social and political viewpoints assume this, while people of Western European descent are considered "good."
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
We like to categorize people as "good" or "bad" depending upon how we *want* to categorize people.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
The church I belong to - the Mennonite Church - does not hold to this belief for reason having to do with its belief that the church is not the agent of the state, and the state is not the enforcement arm of the church.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
This view is the Roman Empire and Roman jurisprudence imposed upon Western Christianity around the middle of the 4th Century CE. The Western Church has only rarely been able to disassociate from this belief.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
... the belief that God had to torture his son in public to the point of death as a way to fix the problem of having the creatures God created not obeying God.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
This moment predicted my abandonment of the peculiar branch of Christian belief called "Penal Substitutionary Atonement"...
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
It was, I think, the turning point in my thoughts about the death penalty. It was from this moment that I became dead set against execution as a form of justice.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
calendar.eji.org/racial-injus...

Troy Davis Executed in Georgia Despite Evidence of Innocence

---

This was a seminal moment in my redevelopment - the merciless execution of a man for the sake of revenge, not justice.
Sep. 21, 2011 | Troy Davis Executed in Georgia Despite Evidence of Innocence
Learn more about our history of racial injustice.
calendar.eji.org
Reposted by stephen matlock
Reposted by stephen matlock
thorbenson.bsky.social
Seven countries currently get 100 percent of their electricity from renewable energy. Norway and Costa Rica are at 98 percent
Reposted by stephen matlock
marcelias.bsky.social
Here is the truth: there is no secret plan to defend American democracy. There is no hidden set of tactics that those of us in the pro-democracy movement are waiting to unveil at the right moment. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/what...
What Gives Me Hope
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
This book is not one to give unworkable advice and also does not say 'do these two or three things.' Rather, it gives us the structure and understanding to go _do_ the work of Jesus. And for that reason, this is a book worth reading and thinking about.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
It is a shock to realize that this is not at all the priority for the follower of Jesus. Instead, the central purpose is to do what Jesus did to the people caught in webs of oppression and poverty and want to bring them wholeness.
stephenmatlock.bsky.social
MAKING IT PLAIN by @druhart.bsky.social

Growing up as a putative 'Christian' & spending all my adult life as one, I had been pushed to believe that my central purpose in life was to 'share the good news' which meant get people to listen to the 'Gospel' & then get them to say the 'sinners prayer'.
Reposted by stephen matlock
emilylhauser.bsky.social
*9/5/2025 noncooperation thread*

Boston making the thread TWICE today! 💪

9/
Reposted by stephen matlock
emilylhauser.bsky.social
*9/5/2025 noncooperation thread*

Hey are you in/near DC?

Have I got a Saturday plan for you! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

8/
freedcproject.bsky.social
We're hitting the streets tomorrow and marching to the White House to make it clear once and for all: federal forces OUT of DC NOW!!! #FreeDC
Make sure to RSVP: freedcproject.org/event-list/w...
Reposted by stephen matlock
emilylhauser.bsky.social
🧵*9/5/2025 noncooperation thread*

A daily thread of acts of noncooperation, noncompliance, defiance, & whatnot by individuals, communities, &/or institutions.

*
Protesters outside the Broadview [Chicago] Processing Center today:

When immigrants
are under attack
what do we do?
Stand up
fight back!
100-200 protesters under a brilliant blue sky outside the Broadview Processing Center.
Reposted by stephen matlock
sonsofliberty.bsky.social
Kinda wild how China, Russia, and North Korea had a meeting and didn't invite Trump, he got super salty about it on Trough Social, and then suddenly NYT has a detailed writeup about a highly-classified mission with the most secretive spec-ops unit in America. I bet it was Kegbreth leaking it.