Chuck Brotton

early middle aged professional & cranky confirmed bachelor, recovering alcoholic, retired immigration officer, science fiction/fantasy fan, centrist

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@ArthurBoreman Almost *every* cultural tradition anywhere in the world has roots & influences that come from somewhere else & got adapted to local conditions/interests. E.g., Punch and Judy shows are the most quintessential "Ye Olde England" thing imaginable, but have 17th century Italian roots

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@robertgraham That really was something that, quite genuinely, confused the heck out of ancient Greco-Roman commenters of the Second Century

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@chadfelixg My two younger nieces (age 16 & 14) are dual citizens of the US & Brazil, based on their late father. Would be significant if they want to travel to Brazil (I would guess, to a lesser degree, also to other Mercosur countries). Otherwise, a semi-interesting detail

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@the_ason Of course, I suspect the US will lose that edge in women's soccer as the great soccer powerhouse countries in the Southern Europe and Latin America become less sexist in their broader culture. Already, Spain has the most recent FIFA women's championship

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@devahaz DoD has actually had a built in bias for making more use of Evangelical chaplains, white & black, in "interfaith" roles, as people w/ Bible college bachelors & license to preach are more plentiful & easier to recruit than Mainline clergy w/ a M of Div & full ordination

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@devahaz I take sort of a contrarian view that there's a possibility that Hegseth did it Evangelical chaplains could be staffed "in a pinch" for any service member listed as "Christian (...)" and excluded Mormons because he knew they would push back on that matter

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@22ABZ_ Hmm, at the height of my drinking, I was up to about 15-20 beers & 8-9 shots of hard liquor 5-6 nights a week. Of course, then I "came to believe that I was powerless over alcohol" and "that my life had become unmanageable" and have been sober for 19 years

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@jacobra1776 @Logicull @LumenExTenebris Oh, I understand where a European is coming from saying "zero hostility." We certainly don't have a sports culture with belligerent fan subgroups who show up w/ specific expectation of starting brawls with the other teams supporters. Of course, I don't see why that's desirable

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@Bob4Florida @hemantmehta as a utilitarian, believing that "good" is "that which brings the greatest measure of happiness to the greatest number of people" per Bentham, if it improves military morale & efficiency, then Meh. FTM I have zero interest in golf, but don't object to golf courses on bases 🤷

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@Bob4Florida @hemantmehta Speaking as a retired bureaucrat, if your job is to review qualification to be a military chaplain, a License to Preach or ordination (or whatever) from, say, The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel is a check-off on a form, not a question of validity of beliefs

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@DolphinMossad Apart from the Strangites, the breakaway Mormon groups that stayed in the Midwest and didn't go west, like Community of Christ (formerly Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), Rigdonite, Church of Christ (Temple Lot) are pretty close to conventional Protestant

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@DolphinMossad The ancient prophets that lived in the Americas part, doctrinally, really isn't the silly side of Mormonism. The B of M, apart from rejection of original sin, is actually pretty conventional Protestant (Arminian). It was later revelations Joseph Smith that define Mormon theology

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@SarahIronside6 Mormons found out quite well, from their history in the 19th century, that abstract assurances of separation of church & state and freedom of religion on paper mean diddly squat if they aren't backed up by political alliances and entrenched power

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@hemantmehta That evangelical bias has some ideological roots (though not all that partisan, as it also advantages black churches), but it's mostly staffing. Evangelical Bible colleges simply crank out far more people w/ minister credentials than Mainline denominations

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@hemantmehta FWIW, I know why the Mormons feel snubbed, but this might be good, at least for the ones in the military. The trend of DoD over the last 30 years has been to blur denominational lines so that Christian (particularly Protestant) chaplaincy can be handled mostly by evangelicals

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@PageBaltimore @BamaExpat In fairness, that photo was probably taken in the 1870s, just based on her apparent age. A mock-"candid" pose like that, taken indoors and w/o blurring would've required the subject to hold the expression for over a minute.

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@BoeufEtLiberte @BamaExpat Why would old people have any meaningful amount of Legos to steal?

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@LagrangeSquared @BamaExpat That's true. It's located in Utah. If you want to research your family history, it's very much open to the broader public.

[Chuck Brotton @CMB1969]

@N_Boyajian @number_pizza111 They were almost wiped out in Czech lands after the 30 years war, reduced to a few small, secret groups. In 1722, one of those groups fled Moravia and found asylum in Saxony in the lands of a German noble, Nicolaus Zinzendorf, who had strong pietist beliefs. That was the nucleus