Pillar: Shoot for the stars and land in the gutter
Usually the loudest anti-gay Catholics are self hating gays. I blame the Church for creating this monster. A realistic view of sexuality would end this nonsense. Being gay (and having monogamous sex) are not sinful. The Monsignor should have stayed and fought, not slinked away ni shame. As for how the information was gathered, someone in clergy likely told the reporters to look. Then, all they had to do was swipe right enough times.
Links: 'Know Your Enemy,' billionaire bribes and 'Latin Mass Hysteria'
Matt and Sam's title is not exactly inclusive, although I can see how MSW appreciates more workers in the field of attacking traditionalist extremism in the Church.
Could it be that Ganswein might be a bit jealous of Cardinal Marx (and mad that the Holy Father did not accept his resignation)?
Tridentine Mass enthusiasts believe we are in the end times and seek St. Michael's help more than ever. They really should read the Book of Daniel more closely.
Bezos wants a subsidy, not ownership. Anyone who loses a contract competition is desperate to give getting it one more try. It is all part of procurement and jobs for his people are at stake. He is selling, not purchasing.
All politics are local. People probably know Elizy better than Mrs. Wright. On the other side, Democrats likely did weigh in during the run-off, so Trump could not have helped her.
The anti-vaxxers will be eating grow shortly. Having SARS-CoV-2D is no fun, especially if your kids or grandkids get very sick (and they will). DeSantis likely will not gloat, so he faces no risk in speaking sanely.
I hope Macron does not suffer from hay fever. At least he is wearing a mask.
Prosecution of Cardinal Becciu shows Francis' reforms will be hard to reverse
Francis is making progress on ending the authoritarianism of the Church, from the Curia to the Cathedral. He has much yet to do. I look forward to seeing how the office of Cardinal Advisor evolves in the new apostolic constitution. Fixing Medieval structures is not enough. I think he knows this. He may not get us there, but he will make it inevitable.
If only he sells off some of the art making the Holy Family appear Milanese and give the money to the victims of abuse. Better now because, according to Our Lady and St. Malachy, Rome not be as eternal as it is made out to be.
Links: Race in schools; China's map complaint; Republicans vs. public health
Voters who care about critical race theory would not vote for progressive candidates anyway. School boards should be local to the school, made up mostly of parents, with teacher representation as well. Critical race theory is a college curriculum thing. It has nothing to do with K-12. They key to any mention of why the Civil War was fought must be in the textbooks. To put it there, the Texas Education Agency needs to be controlled by Democrats.
Totalitarians have no sense of humor. China takes this to the extreme.
Capitalism is authoritarian. So is the Church. They already know each other's business models. As for Facebook, it is simply trying to burnish its image and grow the number of eyes on their ads. Ads and stock sales are how they get money. Whether they make actual profit (when was the last time you clicked on a Facebook ad) is another matter.
Reactionary bills are nothing new. Sadly, they sometimes pass. Democracy in action. Electing authoritarians can be fatal. This is why at least civil rights don't come up for a vote.
Richardson's roundup is not unlike Distinctly Catholic or the Daily Deduction at the Tax Policy Center. It is on Substack, which is equivalent to Blogspot, where I host my Christian Left column. Double standard, MSW?
The Olympics are a mess, but we still love them
NBC's local signal does not reach my house. So I am not watching. That means no commercials. At least the athletes get paid. Smoking weed should not be a disqualifier. It is as much about the athletes and the spectators as national pride in the medal count. If only the world were united, we could dispense with the latter. Perhaps we could make the Olympics a distributed event. The decathalon could be in Greece, with most distance running in Kenya, swimming in Los Angeles and diving in Beijing. The capitalists cannot go everywhere to buy up the tickets.
Why there is grace in barbecue, and why we should be gentle with the sins of others
By wrong, I suspect that Rev. Burge meant selfish. At first, even going to Church is selfish. It is only when spirituality is developed that we quit worrying about our own salvation and concern ourselves with the well-being of others. Start with feeding them.
Cardinal Marx was acknowledging responsibility for past acts in his See. Throwing himself on the mercy of the people and the Church is appropriate, as is forgiveness and the instruction to clean up the messes made. It would have been better, however, if his tenure was the decision of his flock, rather than Francis.
I am not so concerned about Monsignor Burrill's involvement with the bishop's efforts regarding President Biden going to Communion. It is on Biden to explain the constitutional logic of legal abortion to the bishops. He should not do this for himself, but for those of us who vote Democratic - and will do so again next year. What concerns me is Burrill's acceptance of the toxic status quo on priestly sexuallity and homosexual relationships in general.
The system is rotten and a stable, preferably married, homosexual union is not at all sinful. His sin is not being gay, although promiscuity is not recommended because it is an offense against the human heart. It is in surrendering rather than standing for the LGBTQIA community, including priests, and encouraging monogamy as a preferred way of life. By the way, gay men also like a good barbecue.
He could also stand for conversion for his asexual brothers in the priesthood. If they were more in touch with the nature of their own sexuality, they would have compassion and acceptance of those who are different, as they are simply different, not holy.
Links: A Catholic history bible; Cincinnati's archbishop and President Biden
I like Christianity, the First 3000 Years by Dairmaid MacCullough. Like St. John Newman, he brings Anglican sensibility to studying the Church. History should be critical, not faithful.
Schnurr, Putin and Trump are authoritarians. They want loyalty, not logic. They also have no sense of humor.
Biden is correct on abortion. It cannot be banned, nor the status of the unborn changed (or "affirmed") at the detriment of their mothers. His strategy is available contraception (thus preventing gastrulation) and an adequate income for families. The higher the income, the less likely abortion is to occur. Even contraception goes down when income goes up.
Schumer spends too much time making political statements that fall flat on swing voters. Actually getting things done will attract them (as well as more compromise). People vote for success, not self- righteousness.
Just once, I would like to hear some Olympic jazz. Maybe for the closing ceremonies.
Time to put the 'catholic' back into the Catholic Church
Sectarian is just another word for Protestant, although Constantinople recognizes the validity of Anglican Orders, which makes them a separate Great Church. However, I like American Catholic and Latin Music. Episcopal hymns, not so much. Evangelicals practice sectarianism to the extreme. If someone does not like their denomination, they start their own.
Catholics have been going down that road as well. I think the Orthodox have it about right, each national Church has its own autonomous head as Patriarch, with Metropolitans serving under him. Technically, the Western Church uses the same ancient language. They also celebrate a very traditional Rite - one that makes even the pre-Vatican II Roman Rite look liberal.
As for those reactionary crazies MSW always points to, they will only last as long as Carl Anderson breathes and sends his money. Do not call him a libertarian. He is an authoritarian capitalist. He wants to run the Church like a business and is attempting a hostile takeover. He will not succeed. Ignore him and he will go away. Just like the followers of Trump (whose main leadership, including Q, are in custody).
Links: Attacks on Francis in Rockville Centre Diocese; how to combat misinformation
Remnant Catholicism believes in magic, not faith. To really freak them out, tell them that God is perfectly humble.
Misinformation is hard to combat because people want magical solutions. Such people are born every minute.
Gaetz is going to jail, where Q likely is as well. No one has heard from him since the insurrection. Logic, not magic.
In the second quarter, people are hoarding money or using it to buy Bitcoin, bonds and the overpriced stock market. Now is the perfect time to sell and then make donations in advance of bailouts.
As soon as the mob trying to breach the Speaker's lobby were captured or killed, the revolution was off. Those who would lead any new round are mostly under arrest. The revolution was televised. It turned out to be a clown show.
The oddest fact about Nappy is that he was poisoned with arsenic by his captors. It is why his corpse was intact when his casket was opened; hands and all.
On the Latin Mass, Pope Francis pulls off the Band-Aid
Now we know why Cardinal Sarah is retired. That this directive comes after hearing from his brother bishops is indicative that this comes from the whole Church, not just Francis. There is a Latin Mass under the current Roman Rite. Adding back the old forms is what gamers call Creative Anachronism.
What is more troubling is the association between the Old Form and resistance of Vatican II, especially Dignitatis Humanae, which officially ended the old Triumphalism. Salvation is about the inner life, not outside conformity to the will of hierarchy. The Church cannot be a white mausoleum with a rotted core.
Memo to Republicans on vote suppression: We Americans like our democracy
Donald Trump did not encourage a racist insurrection because of his vanity. He is like an animal facing being caged. While his vanity and his racism had him run, his penchant for cheating in business (including cooperating with Putin on Ukraine for his Moscow Project) led him to cover his tracks. This only magnified his crimes.
There are three camps in the GOP, all of which are reactionary. The executive class likes being in control. For them, money is a means to control larger and larger groups of workers and consumers. They don't like what democracy would do for them. Then there are the racists who fear being the minority in the face of a majority of other minorities. The Trump foot soldiers marched under the banner of replacement theory. Just ask them. From the stands are the people whose emotional reaction to abortion has them ignore the constitutional realities. Look in the mirror.
Mix them all together and it is not democracy they fear, it is the rights of others. Their constant attempts to overturn Roe have nothing to do with the unborn. The precedents they seek to establish would give states the last word on rights, making them subservient to the will of the people. Their people.
Sadly, there are those bishops who have cast their lot against individual rights, particularly as they relate to sexuality. State Catholic Conferences are all about having the people in the pews establish a moral government. They don't want to understand the implications of Dignitatis Humanae. Those who resist Vatican II do not really care about which way the priest faces. They care about obedience to what he says. Too bad for them, because the Court won't let them do it, no matter who is appointing the Justices.
Links: Biden goes trustbusting, Trump remakes GOP, Schlumpf debates Douthat
The threshold question in a debate on denying Communion is whether there is any sin in supporting the Constitution. Under the logic of Dignitatis Humanae, (aka, the Cuomo rule); or the logic of individual rights v. Catholic mob rule (the 14the Amendment); or the logic of not setting up a police state that has the power to investigate every pregnancy (the 5th Amendment). Saving the babies is an aesthetic, not an ethical, moral view. Like opposing sodomy or championing animal rights.
Getting the shot has nothing to do with Mad Vlad. Also, a 94% rise over a very low rate is not a very high rate. 2 x 1 is still 2.
Biden's Anti-Trust announcement is going to kill a lot of mergers on the drawing board, which will cool the stock market and may prevent the next Great Depression (which is almost inevitable given the amount of true junk in the bond market).
Increasing the social wage is essential, but it demands tax reform to do without favoring large firms. Corporate income and individual income taxation of business should be replaced by a subtraction consumption tax on employers, with offsets for childcare and a child tax credit, with a negative business tax up to the level of an additional goods and services tax obligation (but no more). Proposals need to be realistic, else we get into the problem of aesthetic morality again.
Trump's party chairs need to wear brown shirts. Of course, when Trump is convicted of being bribed by Putin, he will be unable to hold federal office and lose interest in the GOP. House arrest with a gag order (enforced by the Secret Service) would be the appropriate punishment. The GOP needs to actually get behind something - like ending income taxes for the vast majority of families.
When Trump is found to be poor, White Hispanics, like all White voters, will end their fealty to him. If they support my version of tax reform, they are welcome on the bandwagon.
Latinx was designed for the gender fluid. It was not originally meant as a general term. The term for the day is Log Cabin Latinx. Just because someone is non-binary, it should not be assumed that they vote Democratic. Gender fluidity and the entire LGBTQIA spectrum needs to be embraced by our asexual priesthood and in Latin culture.
Dear Douthat, the church's struggles are not primarily left vs. right
On Monday, I laid out my cultural analysis of the Church, although only in passing. There is a definite authoritarian strain for many, and not just among the bishops and some of the priests. The people in the pews are quite willing to accept the authoritarian culture of the old Church. It works for people, especially the certainty. This is not necessarily a bad thing. There are others who are open to a more thoughtful (read libertarian) Christianity. The two can exist together in the same Communion line.
Some freer thinkers form sectarian groups, however a feature of sectarianism is sometimes separation. For others, it is serving on the parish social ministry. (some of whom are pro-life Republicans). Regardless, those who do charity are the ones who have treasure in Heaven. The hierarchs are more traditional in their belief, but they do engage.
Going back to the authoritarians, there is that danger of mixing their traditionalism with their Republicanism. You won't see many waving rainbow flags. You will see Rosaries. They are all united in a common belief in Christ. The people who simply belief in the belief of God, as Daniel Dennett puts it, have long since departed. So have many for whom authoritarianism did not work. They are spiritual, not religious - in other words, they are both recovering Catholics and Catholics in recovery. Even they still retain the grace of their Baptism. Faith, hope and love, especially love, does not leave them when they leave the Church.
And then there is sex, where all of these cultures are found, from the authoritarians to the nones. There are a few who will not use birth control on one end, while others who think abortion is not immoral (who are definitely not authoritarian). Among the priests, there are those who would have women ordained, some who are gay (not mutually exclusive), some who are happy as asexuals and those who are in the closet, especially to themselves. The last are those who should be both pitied and feared. The old rules will not help them, but if we do not help them the fate of the Church is dubious. It is in these times when the Holy Spirit comes to the rescue.
Note that I just released a revision of my book series of blog posts. Now I have to add this one and reload it onto Amazon (right after Monday's column). See https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LTC18HL
One last thing: Napa Institute Catholics who want their brand of lay oversight are not libertarians. They are authoritarian capitalists. They buy obedience with money (rather than threatening to withhold the Sacraments). Real libertarians are few and far between in large organizations. That is kind of the point.
Links: Texas politics, ministering to the sick, violence in Chicago
The South prohibiting teaching CRT is losers justice (although the South won the peace). Would family control make selecting a good curriculum any better? Because education is publicly funded, their involvement in education is not illogical - just as the propaganda in Catholic schools vis-a-vis the Church happens for a reason. Of course, raising both issues in the public square raises the curiosity of those who are not paying attention - which is probably the best we can hope for. If only Catholic schools would show the same commitment to contrasting the two Vatican Councils and why Pio Nono was such a disaster. Not everyone reads Garry Wills.
There is no advantage to running government like a business. Businesses are run for the selfish interests of management (not even for the owners in the large corporate setting). We tried it once. It's called feudalism. To continue the metaphor, the Church never left it - which is why it must change before it can take a greater role in providing services as an alternative to the government.
Bishops do not integrate their pastoral and organizational motives. Most are kind and gentle until you give them a microphone or put them together in a group. Of course, deep faith and deep thinking cannot really exist in the same space and we do not select for the latter. Deep conviction exists on both sides of the moral spectrum.
People believe what they want to believe and will accept shady thinking like the view that Jesus brothers and sisters were cousins, to affirm this. Note that there is absolutely nothing in the bible that states that Jesus or his parents were asexuals. That Jesus would be married was not considered remarkable in the first century. It would be assumed he would be. When he told Mary not to cling to him, it was a reference how marriage ends at death.
Consider the question of whether Love comes out of Being or Being comes out of Love. An argument can be made either way, if you look at it as the parent of an infant. The reality is that we do not know how the Trinity actually works. Our experience of Their reality is for us, not for Them.
The quorum rules for Texas are interesting and harken back to single-party Democratic rule. Can't let those liberals come in and reverse segregation when the majority is not looking. The irony is thick.
Step one for Chicago is to take the guns away. Start with the police. Gangs rule when the cops cannot be trusted to not shoot the innocent, or even the mildly guilty.
How Catholic social teaching improves all 'four Americas'
The four Americas roughly correspond to the cultural typology of Mary Douglass and Aaron Wildavsky, with Free America correspondence to high group, high organization hierarchy, Just America to high group, low organization egalitarianism, Smart America to low group, low organization libertarianism and Real America to low group, high organization authoritarianism.
A healthy society has room for each way of life. Indeed, too much or too little of each culture is dangerous, even and especially the egalitarians (see the Terror and Pol Pot).
The Church could use a bit of cultural analysis. University theologians correspond to libertarian free thought, the hierarchy to the clergy, authoritarianism to the desire for the people to pay, pray and obey and egalitarianism with social justice and communal (read Franciscan) egalitarianism. Each way of life has its dysfunctions as well. Especially in the Church.
How each Pope fits into these dynamics is pretty obvious. Note that the same Pope who started Catholic Social Teaching also condemned Americanism and the right to strike. St. John's council overthrew the authoritarianism of Popes Pius IX and X and embraced respect for religious diversity - with Francis continuing in that Spirit (not using the royal We in his letters). The right of conscience is libertarian - including the right to form one's conscience as well as to deal with how one deals with moral dilemmas.
When it sheds its asexual bias, ordains women and embraces sexuality for its own sake, I will concede it has made progress. Francis is moving the organizational culture in the right direction, but the Church has a long way to go, especially in respecting the rights of others. Not firing gay people who get married would be a good start.
Will Texas voter restrictions backfire?
The Department of Justice still reviews election policies. The only change was that there is no more preclearance. When (not if) they do so, will there be Republican backlash against the Democrats when Biden's Justice Department steps in? Will it be greater than Democratic backlash for the original law. I suspect that the mutual indignation will cancel out any advantage. Most rank and file voters don't really care. Activists, however, will be motivated. They had to be, because the Trump Justice Department did not do its job. Not this time.
Next year, we will be in the start of a Depression (asset values below loans owed). The current housing market will explode, but not quite yet. Unless the White House is pro-active, Biden will get the blame. The other wild card is Yellowstone. It has been having frequent earthquakes of a size that is worrying. If Biden handles the recovery from a super volcano well, the effect will be like 2004 post 9/11. If he does not, it will be like 2006 post-Katrina.
Links: Trump's coattails, flipping the Senate and corporate tax rates
In 2012, 3 rabid Tea Partiers went down to defeat in Senate races - one against Harry Reid. The best way to flip the Senate to the Dems is to give money to Trump supporters. Of course, Trump may be in a correctional treatment facility (for criminally insane) or his eternal resting place by 2022 (or 2024). He may be bankrupt next week. This kind of takes the shine off his brand.
Zucman and Wezerek's tax reform would legitimize speculative wealth. Wealth and liquidity are not the same thing - and much of wealth is a mirage. To get at luxury spending, a value added tax is a better bet. If the subject reform also includes higher family income payments (child tax credit) paid through other benefits, employers or the IRS directly (the current method), the system would not be regressive. To get at wealth, salary surtaxes and an asset value added tax (with no exception for mutual funds) will do a much better job than a wealth tax.
There are many ways to slice America into political or social tribes based on both wealth and culture/race/class. Authoritarianism is a lot more popular than you think. Many people who identify as libertarian are actually the former. If money buys your obedience or the obedience of others, you are an authoritarian. Authoritarians who are also in the working class (bottom 3rd of total adjusted gross income) generally vote GOP or Dem based on ethnicity. Working class AGI is about $3Trillion total.
The middle class (from 6% to 20% - income up to $85,000 AGI) They get $4.5T. They are hardly decadent and split their votes - although this time they voted for Joe. The upper class get the top $4 Trillion. They are mostly white and they split their votes. Only to top 0.1% is entitled this is the line where more than half of income is from not-working. Rich authoritarians are in both parties, although many in the middle and upper class are more motivated by duty (hierarchists) or creativity (libertarians) than obedience. Rich egalitarians usually have trust funds.
I went to a American U., a top 10 school of Public Administration (my year we were #4 for MPA programs). I worked for my money and was paid to go - any debt I held was because stipends were inadequate to pay all expenses. Scholarship and most loan students do not feel entitled. That would be those who are rich - and being rich is all about luck, not merit.
To dis meritocracy while dishing on Prada is the very essence of cognitive dissonance.
Pope Francis' latest lesson in ecclesiology
The lesson of Francis is his example. He no longer uses the royal "we." By omitting one word, he has abandoned the Magic Magisterium of Pius IX through St. John Paul, all without saying a word. This preserves the myth of continuity while simply ignoring what came before. This is both inspired and understandable in any analysis of the very human institution, which is the Church. He is our beloved Pastor. Sadly, the prayers for his health are not universal, regardless of what the old order says outwardly (which he is outlasting).
Links: Stagflation, judicial review, living out American ideals
Some people with mental illness or differing abilities need more expensive care. Until Medicaid is entirely federalized, state governments will resist expanding services to more expensive residential settings.
Congress rarely rules federal laws unconstitutional, especially under Chief Roberts. Conservatives generally object to rulings that set aside state laws. Shifting these cases to congressional action would essentially end the ability to do this, essentially bringing back Plessy v. Ferguson. Not a chance.
Stagflation happens when a recession is mixed with inflation. If money is poured into the consumer sector to make the economy go faster, the danger is hyper-stagflation. This is why there is a move to end COVID subsidies, which keep the economy deliberately idle. Prices are already increasing, so giving people loans (such as easy term mortgage loans) or more payments looks like an easy solution. It is not, although retirees and the disabled, as well as TANF and Food Stamp recipients, need more money to get by. If people go back to work, quantity supplied will increase and prices will go down.
Critical race theory gets beyond the assumption that everything is fine now that legal segregation has ended. Racism is both baked into the system and into human DNA. Neuroscience shows that our automatic reactions to those that are different are fear and hate. It takes deliberate mental effort to bypass our automatic reactions and doing so takes training in critical race theory.
The founding guaranteed capitalists the right to have their legislators close at hand. It was a triumph of the authoritarian system which allows one person to control the labor of another, even if cloaked in the "free market." If money buys obedience, the transaction is not entirely free. Opposition to critical race theory is an attempt to keep workers from uniting and keeping people of color to adopt a more radical economic program.
Don't get me started on how the Catholic Church has failed on this front as well, although Francis shows promise. Most popes hated the Enlightenment, even after its embrace at St. John's Council. They also hate Marx, although the feeling is mutual. This also keeps real reform at bay. Critical theory holds that all things are to be held up for reexamination. The Church should welcome that, rather than stand on tradition, and use any such analysis as an examination of conscience.
This Fourth of July, let's see if we can keep our democracy
The lesson of Independence Day is that rights are more important than governments. Things go wrong when governments don't respect these rights and when the government drops the ball in deference to tyranny.
The Civil War happened because the tyranny of the slave power, which punished or killed abolitionists within its borders, went unchecked.
COVID spread because the symptoms which people confused with just a cold or just allergies are precursors to the serious illness (with a break in between for the virus to grow before the body fights back).
The powers that be in the White House, knowing that Trump was insane, did not have the courage to remove him. I don't blame Trump. It is Pence's sin. He had promised Melania he would not ever remove him. That should have been his first clue.
People who can act, must act. Don't expect the peasantry to do it - they vote for people like Trump.
Links: GOP donor pays to deploy troops, heatwave shows rise in climate events
Biden will federalize the SD Guard and send them home (unless the NGB beats him to it). Noem and Kapenga have learned the lesson of Trump and Ryan, that stupidity is good at rallying the GOP base. That GOP states do the bidding for Koch industries is not news.
Yellowstone National Park is having earthquakes and magna buildup (the ground is rising). We may not have to worry about warming much longer - or eating our veggies. That kind of eruption could trigger the Cascadia fault and San Andreas. It is not gay marriage that is bring the wrath of God, it is the accumulation of wealth.
Sectarianism includes Protestantism, especially the Evangelicals who are now in the GOP bed with the Evangelicals. The pending letter is about all pro-choice politicians, especially precinct workers. That is why they are rushing it to this November. November 2022 is too late for this purpose.
It is incumbent on Biden not to make this about him or about women. It needs to be about the law in relation to state government power and the impossibility of recognizing any rights for the unborn without also holding mothers vulnerable to both investigation and punishment. The only answer to abortion is the Biden tax proposals. He needs to get the bishops to make these an essential pro-life vote.
