Ron Swanson

north central Illinois farmer

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

The President of the United States, a man who controls approximately 5,500 nuclear warheads, went on social media on a Sunday night to inform the world that the Pope is weak on foreign policy. The Pope. The man in the white robes who spends his days asking people to be kind to each other.

Trump’s complaint, delivered with the subtlety of a concrete mixer reversing into a garden party, was that he doesn’t want a pope “who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” 
One pauses here to consider the geography of this argument. Because from Lagos to Lahore, from Buenos Aires to Bangkok, there are rather a lot of people who have spent the last several decades looking at the United States, its history of regime changes, its aircraft carriers, its habit of deciding which civilizations get to continue existing, and thinking: you know what, we’re not entirely sure America is the right country to be hosting this particular conversation.

Trump then posted an AI-generated image of himself in biblical robes, healing the sick, with light pouring from his fingers, eagles overhead, and what appeared to be the entire American military establishment looking on in quiet reverence. Just in case anyone felt the evening had not yet reached peak theological peculiarity.

The pope, for his part, had spent Saturday leading a prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, where he suggested that the kingdom of God operates without swords, drones, or vengeance.  He named nobody. He threatened nobody. He asked for peace. This, apparently, is what passes for a provocation requiring a 500-word Truth Social rebuttal and a messianic selfie.

Never before has the relationship between Washington and the Vatican revolved around two Americans. Specifically, a 79-year-old politician from Queens and a 70-year-old pontiff from Chicago.  It is, in its own catastrophic way, quite the achievement.

There are roughly one billion Catholics in the world. Trump’s approval among American Catholics alone has already slipped from 52 to 48 percent since the Vatican tensions began. And that is just the Americans. The global ones have not yet been polled, but one suspects the numbers are not trending upward.

The remarkable thing is not that a president and a pope disagree. That is fine. Healthy, even. The remarkable thing is that the president chose to resolve this disagreement by implying he personally installed the pope, casting himself as a divine healer, and then calling the leader of 1.4 billion Christians a radical leftist who is bad at his job.

There are, it turns out, some constituencies even Donald Trump cannot bully into submission. One of them answers to a higher authority. The other one has been around since 33 AD and has outlasted rather a lot of empires.

Gandalv / @Microinteracti1​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[Ron Swanson @wbfinc]

@DDFalpha Done as of Saturday. Bureau County IL

[Dylan LeClair @DylanLeClair]

Just reached max twitter thread length, so I'll call it here.

A share on this thread would be appreciated if you found any of this info valuable.

I publish The Deep with @BitcoinMagazine on the market daily, so check that out as well.

✌️✌️

https://t.co/bTfVh49DCa

[Ron Swanson @wbfinc]

Wordle 212 4/6

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[Betsy Rowland @betsyrowland12]

That harvest sunset 🤌

[Ron Swanson @wbfinc]

Storm chasing from my deck!

[Jim Donnelly @JimDonnelly1]

Everyone is talking about corn rootworm in northern Illinois and across the corn belt. Check out @rachel_willis_ and my latest video update focusing on corn rootworm observations and management. @Bayer4CropsUS @BayerTraits @DKAS_NIL https://t.co/MtBF2Nbudz

[Jim Donnelly @JimDonnelly1]

I miss my grandfather, a deeply patriotic WWII vet & member of the Greatest Generation, Every. Single. Day.

Today I’m glad he’s dead.

I’m glad he’s not here to watch America burn from the inside.

[Ron Swanson @wbfinc]

@weedgirl24

[Ali Arikan @aliarikan]

This was taken yesterday in Central Park. Nature is returning. We are the virus.

[Ron Swanson @wbfinc]

@TDSwx About an inch new snow near princeton il

[John Newton @New10_AgEcon]

#China #Phase1 starts mid-Feb, but over the last decade 70% of sales have been in 1st quarter and 4th quarter following #soybean harvest @FarmBureau

[Kirk 🇺🇸 Hinz @Met_khinz]

It’s been a while since my last free giveaway...who wants one of our fresh off the press new @bamwxcom hats? Retweet this and I’ll pick a random winner by noon tomorrow and personally ship it out as well as a thank you for all your support! Cheers 💪

[Marquis Inc @MarquisEnergy]

Thank you, @SenDuckworth, for supporting clean-burning biofuels and American agriculture.

We also appreciate your stance against the Trump administration’s granting of so-called “small refinery exemptions”.

[Greg Chernack, CEO, Four Seasons Total Landscaping @GChernack]

For some reason, felt like sharing these words from Teddy Roosevelt:

[Dan Zinck @dan_zinck]

Very short RM corn in CIL? Think sunlight: Blmngtn 14 1/4 hrs 8/1 and Mnnpls 15 1/2 hrs 7/1 (apprx normal flower) 9% less light at Blmngtn. 90RM hybrid selected for more daylight at flower & grain fill. Aug heat may reduce time of grain fill. Few hybrids move south that much

[Nick Stewart @NStewWX]

The Mississippi at the Quad Cities has hit 22.70' and is cresting right about now. #iawx #flood2019