If God were to revise the Ten Commandments so that even politicians could understand them, he would write, "You shall not misspeak."

Private digital communication through #encryption should be standard practice. It should be the default setting. Whether we "delete" them or not, all SMS text messages are stored indefinitely and are able to be retrieved by others outside of your control. And how many times have we heard of people in the news getting in trouble after authorities comb through their email records? Many claim they have nothing to hide -- that they aren't doing anything wrong. But having nothing to hide doesn't mean we have no right to privacy; and even though we may not be doing anything wrong, that doesn't mean others would agree (think in terms of certain "women's healthcare clinics," or supporting certain political candidates, or being at a certain place at a certain time that's perceived as a national threat, or using "suspicious" forms of cryptocurrency, or having any alleged "hatred" or "phobia," etc. If a person lives in a society where there is freedom of speech, no one can guarantee those freedoms will always exist in the same way. Government regimes change over time, sometimes quickly. If Alice wants to let Bob know she can't make it to dinner because the political or church meeting she's attending is running late, then she may not wish to broadcast that to the world. She may not want that on her permanent digital record, either. Her political or religious views may even change later. She has that right -- the right to #privacy. We already have user-friendly tools for private digital communications. We should be using them regularly. For example, here are just some of the ways a person can reach out to me with a reasonable assurance of privacy:

🤫 Hush Line

An open-source whistleblowing platform for organizations and individuals.

Just now checked in for my annual physical checkup -- though it's been several years for me. I couldn't help but notice that the check-in desk, where the snacking receptionists are, is littered with bags of candy and Doritos and cans of Coke.

This artistic rendition of a real photo comes from my 3-year-old goddaughter. It is entitled "Mr. Darren Holding a Watermelon."

Would you welcome any police officer or government official to come into your home anytime, unannounced, to see the receipts of things you’ve purchased? Maybe to search through your old shoebox of letters and pictures you received from your wife or your parents? Or perhaps to go through your calendar, your to-do lists, or communications to and from your church or political party? If not, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO HIDE? But if you do value that kind of #privacy, why do you not… * use encrypted messengers, like Signal, SimpleX, Session, or XMPP-based messengers? * ditch Gmail and replace it with an encrypted email provider (if you must use email), such as the easy-to-use Protonmail? * store your digital photos on local drives, or on encrypted cloud services like Proton Drive, PCloud, or other cloud solutions like using Cryptomator? * ditch popular social media like Facebook, and replace it (if you must) with privacy respecting social media, such as Mastodon, Nostr, Bastyon, or even Gab, Bluesky, or MeWe? * stop using Office 365 and use the free LibreOffice suite? * get rid of Instagram and share pics on Pixelfed? * try using free and open-source Linux on the desktop instead of the ad-infested spyware called Microsoft Windows? There are so many better choices you can make for your digital activities. Start taking baby steps toward discovering freedom. Small changes are painless, and you’ll never miss out or look back. The very best things you can do is go have fun with your friends in person, and go read a book. Touch some grass and pray.

I miss listening to Rush Limbaugh.

I read a blog post in which the atheist writer said, "Basically I think after you die, nothing else happens. You do just turn into dust." That leads me to ask, How can thoughts turn into dust? What about your love, your intelligence, your reason, your will? Our spiritual realities can't become physical dust. If they didn't come from dust, they can't return to dust.

I think I would be OK if only male heads of households were able to vote.

I'm happy with Debian Linux and the Gnome desktop. It just works. Stable and simple. I can't imagine using Windows regularly at home. The thought makes me shudder.

ENCRYPTED MESSENGERS AND THE EAR SHOOTER A U.S. government task force member said of Trump's ear shooter, "Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a health care aide need encrypted [messaging accounts] not even based in the United States, but based abroad, where most terrorist organizations know it is harder for our law enforcement to get into? That’s a question I’ve had since day one." I have the answer: By default, our private conversations should be private; we should not accept mass surveillance by our own government who admittedly wants to indiscriminately spy on us all. More effective than tracking and recording the communications of all humanity is old-fashioned police work and security procedure. In the ear shooter's case, the problem was not the use of certain chat apps, but the gross incompetency (if not worse) of the secret service. It was no secret that a suspicious weirdo was scoping out the place ahead of time and then climbed on top of a roof carrying a rifle. That's all the information they needed, and they had plenty of time to respond had they chosen to. Don't let government propaganda and fear tactics make you hand over basic rights. They want us to hand over our conversations, our guns, and our religion. All these things get in the way of what they want, which is complete submission -- "emperor worship."

Fox News

Trump shooter had multiple encrypted accounts overseas, including Germany: Rep. Waltz

Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida told reporters he learned the shooter who attempted to kill former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, had encrypte...

I don't like how "encrypted accounts" (messengers) are getting a bad rap lately. Big Brother snooping through personal digital communications is more suspicious to me than people simply using encrypted communication.

I see that most corporate marketing teams are behaving today so far online. In this economy, who can afford to pull a "Bud Light"?

Judging by his 60 Minutes interview, it seems Pope Francis does not understand "Tradition." He speaks as if it were merely like precedence, or something we can consider and learn from historically. But we understand it as something handed down to be guarded and preserved.

1. Easter egg baskets and hunts. 2. Easter bunnies. 3. Outdoor "sunrise services." 4. Hot-cross buns. 5. The English word "Easter." Those who insist "Easter is pagan!" act as if these things are the essence of what Easter is -- that without them, there is no Easter. Yet the observance of Easter (i.e., the annual commemoration of the Resurrection) does not hinge on these things. I turned to Catholicism about 24 years ago, observing Easter each year since then. Not once have I participated in an egg hunt, decorated with bunnies, or attended an outdoor "sunrise service." I don't know whether I've even seen a hot-cross bun. I don't oppose these things; I just haven't done them. They're not important. If the way I've observed Easter is still objectionable to the anti-Easter crowd -- and it is -- then it's not because they oppose "paganism." It's because they oppose the annual commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus. That's a sober realization.

My wife and I just now finished "binge watching" the entirety of the *Little House on the Prairie* television series. It took us about three years to see all the episodes.

Is it wrong that I'm tired of hearing about Bitcoin? It still feels like people here view it as a "religion." I like crypto (Monero in particular), but it's not our savior; it won't bring us world peace or even internal peace. (Though it can bring us some privacy and great services like trusted VPNS, etc.) When we die, we can't take our stacks of crypto coins with us. We're too caught up in the digital life. We need to foster a real life, one with real people, real activity, real interaction, real work, real books. A life ordered toward our proper end: God.