Jeff Spencer

@revjss

Pastor and Teacher of Niles Discovery Church (a DOC/UCC congregation), punster, and climate activist. CO2 level at birth: 319.5ppm. he/him

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Jeff Spencer@revjss· 17d

What is fascism? Dr. Heather Cox Richardson @hcrichardson.bsky.social offers an excellent explainer in her July 22 “Letter from an American,” starting by quoting how the U.S. Army explained it during World War II. 1/5

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s July 22, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “Fascism has always been a vehicle for frustration with a system that was failing the people. But it has never been a solution for fixing that system.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· 25d

Once again, Dr. Heather Cox Richardson chronicles clearly and concisely what happened on July 16 to add to all that makes these times so perilous. heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-16-2026

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s July 16, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “Trump’s conviction that he and his cronies should run the United States without input or check from Congress or experts and without reference to reality has brought us to a perilous place.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· 27d

Fremont friends, If you need a place to gather in community, grieve together, and know that you are not alone in your desire for justice, please join us.

Jeff Spencer@revjss· 27d

The American Rescue Plan, passed in March 2021, lifted 3.7 million children out of poverty before it expired on December 31, 2021. 1/3

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s July 15, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “At the center of the difference between the Democrats’ signature bill and the Republicans’ is how the representatives of those parties see the purpose of the American government. Should it be used for the good of the American people, or to concentrate wealth and power among a few?”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· 29d

I’ve been thinking about the ICE killings of the past week, and felt the need to write something. So I did. You can read what I wrote at open.substack.com/pub/revjss/p...

A photograph of Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in an undated photo from his Facebook account. He is wearing a navy blue t-shirt and is standing in from of a river or lake at sunset. He looks directly into the camera (it’s probably a selfie) and smiles. Superimposed over the photograph are the words, "ICE killings must be stopped," and a quote that says, "... in the name of God: stop the repression." Below that, it says, "Jeff's Substack" and revjss.substack.com

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jul 10

The birthright citizenship case recently decided by the U.S. Supreme Court hinged on the first sentence of the first section of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Amendment has lots more to say (links below), and in her July 9, 2026 “Letter from an American,” -> 1/3

A screenshot of the first part of the first (of five) sections of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall …”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jul 7

In another example of “Trump’s accusations are actually admissions,” Dr. Heather Cox Richardson points out that, for all his bluster about the danger of Communists, Trump is the one who is actually behaving like a Communist. 1/2

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s July 5, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “Communists call for the end of private ownership of the means of production, giving the state control of private enterprises. In today’s America, it is actually Trump, himself, who is taking government stakes in private enterprises.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jul 4

You know the advice, “Follow the money”? In his June 29 essay, Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social summarizes damning reporting from a team at Pro Publica and Drilled that shows how a 2004 report out of Princeton University was bought by oil giant BP. 1/7

A black and white photograph of a line of US paper currency of several different denominations. At the beginning of the line of money we see the bottom of the legs and the feet of someone looking like they're about to take a step and follow the money. The feet are wearing highly polished, black dress shoes; the legs are covered with pants that look like they're from a formal suit.

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jul 4

These two paragraphs. The first explains what the Trump administration is destructively doing. The second explains that the Republicans know it’s destructive and probably illegal. 1/6

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June 27, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “Administration officials and their cronies are turning the country we worked so hard to build into a vehicle for building their own power and their own wealth, and Republicans in Congress have steadfastly refused to stop the looting or even to investigate.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jul 2

The Christian Left is nothing new. There is a long history of liberal and progressive strains of Christianity working to bring justice in the United States, as the Rev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite points out in her Substack post today. 1/2

A graphic of a quote by the Rev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite that says, “Lincoln called for repentance and reparations for the vast injustices of slavery and there are those today trying to do the opposite, namely drive African American achievements from this society.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jul 2

Graphic offering advice on “How to survive the global heatwave.” It says:
Stay hydrated.
Treat yourself to an ice cream.
Dismantle the fossil fuel industry which is literally burning the planet for the short term profit of a vanishingly small capitalist class.
Loose fitting clothing.

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 30

I just might be getting a (short-term) HBO subscription—just so I can see Josh Fox’s important new film, “The Welcome Table.” Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social explains, “It’s about the surge of climate immigration already underway on our overheating planet. Fox, of course, is the -> 1/2

Photograph of a field and a vast blue sky (with clouds) above. Across the horizon line made of the field is a very long table (actually made of many rectangular tables that are end-to-end). at the left end, a person stands on the chair at that end of the table. The right end of the table stretches beyond the edge of the photo. Above the table at the right end of the photo are the words, "The Welcome Table," written in what letters against the blue sky.

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 29

In his June 24, 2026, essay of “The Crucial Years,” Bill McKibben pulls together reports from various sources to help us understand the dollar costs of climate change, reminding us that addressing the causes of climate pollution (by switching to green energy) will save us money both -> 1/2

A graphic of a quote from Bill McKibben’s June 24, 2026, “The Crucial Years” essay that says, “As the cost of clean energy keeps plummeting, it gets more and more obvious how much money we waste, and how much financial risk we incur, by staying with fossil fuel.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 29

Hey, @hankgreen.bsky.social, is this a trademark infringment?

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 27

In her June 26 “Letter from an American,” Dr. @hcrichardson.bsky.social documents the Republican Party’s continued movement to being a wholesale fascist, white nationalist party, and how that movement is a betrayal of what the Republican Party used to stand for in the 1950s. 1/5

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June26, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “Communism is a political ideology that calls for public ownership of major resources as well as the means of production, so that the state, rather than private individuals or corporations, owns factories, farms, mines, and so on. In theory, although seldom in practice, the state then redistributes wealth according to need.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 25

Yesterday’s letter from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson has even more about the Trump administration’s attempts to control voting in the USA. Among others, she quotes Journalist David Rothkopf: “his [Trump’s] desperation about -> 1/2

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June 24, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “Although the Republicans hold a majority in both the House and the Senate, meaning Trump could work with Congress to pass legislation, he and his advisors appear to be applying the strategy of Nazi political theorist Carl Schmitt.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 25

Back in the early Spring, Trump’s administration deployed ICE agents to airports. Among others, Dr. Heather Cox Richardson @hcrichardson.bsky.social talked about how this was really about suppressing the vote so he can make himself dictator. 1/5

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June 22, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “The administration appears to be trying to intimidate voting rights groups.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 19

A photograph of New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson in uniform, on the basket ball court during the NBA playoffs, framed in blue. Toward the bottom of the photo is this quote from him: “You are allowed to think about the worst possible scenario, but you gotta go out there and do something about it.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 19

National security scholar Tom Nichols called Wednesday (yesterday) “the weirdest and most astonishing day in US foreign policy in decades.” Dr. Heather Cox Richardson explains why he’s right in yesterday’s “Letter.” Read it at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-17-2026

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June 17, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “It looks as if Trump’s war on Iran has cost the U.S. the lives of thirteen service members, injuries to 400 more, and at least $132 billion so far in immediate costs, lost income, and higher consumer costs, only to leave the U.S. in a significantly worse place with regard to Iran than before Trump started bombing.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 15

I deeply appreciate Dr. @hcrichardson.bsky.social's “Letters,” especially when she gives us a history lesson. In yesterday’s “Letter,” she shares the beginning history of the U.S. Army, moving to a vital point that I would frame thus: It could well be that George Washington’s most important -> 1/2

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June 14, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “… the painting of a man voluntarily walking away from the leadership of a powerful army rather than becoming a dictator hangs today in the Capitol Rotunda.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 13

A photo of Bill McKibben with a quote written above and to the left of his photograph. The quote from Bill McKibben, dated April 19, 2026, says, "When I started writing about the climate crisis in the 1980s I was in my twenties, and I didn't fully comprehend that there could be a force on this planet so steeped in greed and power that it would sacrifice the earth and its inhabitants for its own narrow interests. But there is, and it's Big Oil."

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 13

Greed is America’s original sin. I used to think it was slavery and the genocide of indigenous people, but those things happened because of the underlying sin of greed. 1/6

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 11

June 8 was just another day of corruption in the Trump administration, characterized by the nomination of Todd Blanche to become the attorney general of the United States. @hcrichardson.bsky.social brings the receipts in her June 9 “Letter.” heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-9-2026

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June 9, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “the corruption of the administration has become too obvious to pretend doesn’t exist”

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June 9, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “There may well be an effort to downplay the Blanche confirmation process, but make no mistake: it is a very big deal indeed.”

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June 9, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “In the 1920s, gangster Al Capone kept his hands clean of direct evidence of the crimes he committed. The federal government finally took him down by convicting him of federal income tax evasion.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 8

A screenshot of a tweet by “Max Kennerly” (whoever that is) that says, “A notable aspect of private health insurance is the absence of any reason for it to exist. It does not contain costs, expand coverage, or expedite care—it makes those all worse. Its sole function is to profit as a rent-seeking middleman between patients and providers.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 4

Read the full letter at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-3-2026

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June 3, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “Americans trying to navigate rising prices by putting necessities on their credit cards were not likely to be concerned about how their financial pain might hurt credit card companies.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· Jun 2

The “account” Dr. Heather Cox Richardson mentions in the quote in the graphic is his account on “Truth Social.” The posts that she refers to were posted on May 30 to June 1. The fact that Trump turns to violence (state-sanctioned) is revealing. 1/2

A graphic of a quote from Dr. Heather Cox Richardson’s June 1, 2026, “Letter from an American,” which says, “Trump’s account posted a series of images contrasting his vision of Biden’s America versus his own. In his images, Biden’s world was one of theft, illegal squatting, violence, and illegal immigration. The images of Trump’s ‘solutions’ to these problems showed people imprisoned, arrested, and deported.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· May 27

Meet Burrito, a crucial employee at a big solar farm in Tennessee. The 9.5 megawatt facility owned by Volkswagen brought in sheep to keep the vegetation trimmed between the panels, and they were doing a good job. 1/4

A photograph of the donkey Burrito, looking at the camera, standing in the grass in front of a large solar panel.

Jeff Spencer@revjss· May 23

Apparently the Trump administration wants us all to starve.

Jeff Spencer@revjss· May 23

“Climate change and war are making life there almost impossible [to live in Somalia], and now that the U.S. has shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development the ‘almost’ is disappearing,” writes Bill McKibben, May 18, 2026, sharing a central learning from a NYTimes report (link next) 1/5

A graphic of a quote from Bill McKibben’s May 28, 2026, Substack essay, which says, “There were always places where humans couldn’t live: the Antarctic, the centers of the great deserts, the high mountains. But now we’re systematically adding to that list, as places become dangerously combustible, or overrun by rising seas, or just plain too hot.”

A graphic of a quote from Bill McKibben’s May 28, 2026, Substack essay, which says, “Elon Musk, in particular, shut down US AID—boasted about ‘feeding it to the woodchipper’ in the first weekend of his DOGE assault on the federal government. That is to say, the richest man in the world did this, under the auspices of our government. His cruelty and his self-regard—and his abject racism—know no bounds.”

Jeff Spencer@revjss· May 18

When I worked as a chaplain in the Contra Costa County Juvenile Hall (jail), I was surprised that I was the most adamant protector of the children’s First Amendment freedoms of religion. I had to argue for the changing of one unit’s schedule so that the alternative choice to being in the -> 1/6