Chris Spangle

“Statesmen may plot and plan. Learned men may calculate and conclude. Diplomats may debate and prevaricate. But chance rules the immediate affairs of humankind.”
― Peter Ackroyd, Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors

“To be a Christ follower is to be faithful amid tension. To stay engaged, to remain hopeful, to love anyway, to walk with integrity, and to bear witness to the love, mercy, and grace of Christ. This is becoming increasingly difficult, but such is our call as followers of Jesus. It’s not merely what we believe but also how we engage.”
― Eugene Cho, Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian's Guide to Engaging Politics

“It is interesting to note that St. Augustine began to document the identity of its landladies and the location of its brothels only when it enacted its first ordinances outlawing prostitution in the late 1800s. Up until that time, prostitution and brothels were simply “business as usual” in the city and deemed invisible to polite society. Even after passage of laws making the businesses illegal, law enforcement took the stance that brothels were to be raided now and then to assure the public that the city was enforcing the laws, but as was true in the cases against Blanche Altavilla, very few convictions were sustained and no brothels were actually shut down. After all, the judges, the sheriffs and the men who constituted the juries were mostly longtime customers.”
― Ann Colby, Wicked St. Augustine

“The American species (to the extent that there really is such a thing) is, of course, populist rather than conservative—and for a very forceful reason: America happens to be the only society in creation built by conscious human intent…and developed, by Europeans tired of Europe’s ancient commitments, and determined,…each in his own way, on a “new beginning.”
― Stuart Stevens, It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump