Links: Afghan 'arrangements'; a hopeful climate story; bring back Catholic labor schools

Links: Afghan 'arrangements'; a hopeful climate story; bring back Catholic labor schools 

No one controls all of Afghanistan. They have subsidiarity down to a science. Their best hope was if we had signaled to Iran to take over all the way to the Pashtun border, with the Pakistani taking Pashtun and Uzbekistan and Tajikistan taking their enclaves.

Blame Capitalism for the decline in the White population. Also bad math in giving people raises. If everyone gets an equal percentage raise, prices chase the middle class and the poor get poorer. End welfare as we know it and the White birthrate plummets.

Wilkinson is telling people what they want to hear.The natural ecology of California is incapable of sustaining a population that size. The silliest idea ever is living in a forest that is likely to burn.

Like forests, fire is necessary in politics to burn out the deadwood. Texas on fire is the solution, not the problem.

Catholic labor schools had one flaw: Catholic doctrine does not support the right to strike. Oops. If they bring them back, they should start with training Catholic school teachers. Oops again. Doing this would force an examination of the rights of Church workers to support the right to choose and marry a spouse of the same sex. Triple oops. The Church simply cannot handle the truth. It interferes with organizational values and cohesion.

The age of the founders is a lesson in not counting out Bernie's Millenials in current politics. Long live the Squad.

Art is always a part of cultural criticism, like apocalyptic prophesy and other forms of comedy.

Traditional Latin Mass advocates prove Pope Francis was right to suppress the old rite

Traditional Latin Mass advocates prove Pope Francis was right to suppress the old rite 

The noise from the usual suspects is irrelevant. The irony is that they would give no quarter to dissension from the Catholic Left. So much for not believing in Karma. I do not begrudge them their right to make noise, even though their hypocrisy escapes them. Their main error is their love of pageantry, which ignores the key fact of the Divinity, their profound and total Humility. God has no need of our worship, nor the obsequious language in current Roman right. Jesus would certainly not want his flesh and blood treated as an idol. Mass is based on Shabbat and Seder, not pagan Roman worship. We could actually go further in that direction, although I would prefer Pita to modern Passover matzos.

Regarding the Magisterium, Francis no longer speaks that language.

Infrastructure bill's passage a big win for Biden, a big loss for Trump

Infrastructure bill's passage a big win for Biden, a big loss for Trump 

The big victory was for moderates, which include Biden. What he did behind the scenes is unknown - however I bet that Schumer and McConnell also tacitly encouraged a compromise that they could not openly endorse until it was done. Donald Trump, a few dozen progressive activists, commentators on both MSNBC and Fox News are entertainment - perhaps even astroturf. 

At the end of the day, such entertainment means little to the policy process for all but the most cynical of members of Congress. A few weeks in a congressional office mail room shows exactly how much influence astroturf rabble rousing has. Their only impact was the fact that Trump was a Fox News devotee while president. Rookie mistake. 

I am currently editing my book on The National Debt as Class Warfare. I have tables on who pays how much in tax by class. One third of filers pay not tax at all and another third pay a pittance. There are better ways to extract money (while still holding the poor harmless). Like most astroturfers, no one is listening to me either. Or MSW.

There are two ways to get money from the people who have money. You can tax them or you can borrow from them. People who pay no taxes will not pay back much of the debt - which is allowed to balloon because we have a stable income tax. In the long run, paying the interest on the debt is the out of control item. The people who pay it actually own the bonds. The only problem with this is that this bond ownership backstops capitalism. The source of inequality is bad math. We give percentage raises rather than equal dollar raises. In 50 years, this has consequences - almost entirely unintentional. 

Links: Jennifer Hudson on Aretha Franklin; more Latin Mass; Rozanski on immigration

Links: Jennifer Hudson on Aretha Franklin; more Latin Mass; Rozanski on immigration 

We need to vaccinate all children (including migrant children). If the mother getting the shot does not damage the unborn child, it should not hurt infants, daycare and elementary school students. In the interim, asthma meds will stave off symptoms (including inhalers, decongestants and steroids).

Massimo agrees with both MSW and MGB. Just look at who squaks with Ross to see how ideological their position is. I would not lump Amy Welborn with the usual suspects. Read her gender page. Also, she has as much right to an opinion as professionally trained theologians or church historians.  Nice touch on naming Pius X a reactionary. He still has his devotees. 

I remember seeing the Queen at the Clinton concert event on the Mall. I hope this makes it into the movie. I am glad that the tradition of American Olympic swimmers is going strong. The dynasty continues.

Catholic Bioethics Center chooses culture war over Catholicism

Catholic Bioethics Center chooses culture war over Catholicism 

The National Capital Bioethics Center is no stranger to the fringe.It is also Astroturf. Its prior director ignored traditional ethics on when life begins (until after twinning, aka gastrulation) and extraordinary measures for premature (and surviving aborted) infants and at the end of life (both feeding and intubation). He had the ear of St. John Paul II, essentially writing Evangeliium Vitae. 

The new director seems to have been asleep in Ethics class when the principle of the double effect was discussed. Unless an abortion was procured in order to extract the cell lines, which would be evil, using such cells to create treatments and vaccines is not unethical because these uses were not the intent of the current laboratories. Francis is right to ignore him.

Links: Class warfare; 'common good' economics; Ivereigh on Biden and Communion

Links: Class warfare; 'common good' economics; Ivereigh on Biden and Communion 

Brooks have turned the Bobos into the new Jews. A kind of cultural elite, but without Miles Davis. Of course, some of us still listen to Miles. So what? Bobos shop at Kraemer Books.

Bobos are a reaction to Authoritarian Capitalism, which Hawley defends with all his being - including those tuckuses that he kisses.

Not all Catholic Bobos go to brunch on Sunday instead of going to Mass. We are more likely to tell the inconvenient truth to authoritarian bishops who do not want to hear it. We prefer thought to tradition and logic to loyalty.

Hopefully the 65% in Israel also support full Arab/Palestinian rights. There may be hope on the horizon.

The best way to find a person on Grindr is to subscribe and lay in wait. I doubt this was a Meta-data thing. The real scandal is still the priest not becoming woke to the plight of other gay priests and any man or woman, gay or straight, married or asexual, who would celebrate Mass for their fellows.

Other countries are building high speed rail and denying access to freight. Transportation for Bobos.

Cultural, rather than political, theory is best to examine COVID responses. Some people do not trust authority. Others only obey people who they consider to be their authorities. There are more followers of authority than liberty in places like Texas. Bobos get the shot.

A tribute to Trumka, a Catholic whose work we must carry on

A tribute to Trumka, a Catholic whose work we must carry on 

The question on capitalism is not liberty or autonomy, but autonomy for who. CEOs with autonomy at the expense of their employees is called authoritarianism. Bishops taking a stance against the latter would have been inconvenient. The genius of Trumka was the ability to seek solidarity beyond differences, even when such differences are profound. 

This effort ignored the issues presented by the NEA's relationship with the bishops (who are wrong on all counts in both fighting unionization and blaming support for constitutional reality for doing so). Sadly, this challenge remains, largely because of the partisanship of the bishops.