On Shooting Ourselves in the Foot

It seems like we're about 27 years into the Trump presidency, even though we're only about halfway into his first term.
From this article by columnist Ben Shapiro:

"President Donald Trump is deeply unpopular. According to RealClearPolitics, his favorability ratings now stand at just 41 percent -- near-historic lows. This means that Democrats have the upper hand heading into 2020.  All they have to do is not be radically insane.  And they just can't do it."

Medicare for all?

Every morning, I receive a newsletter from David Leonhardt, a New York Times opinion columnist.  As this newsletter is widely distributed, I hope I am not violating the spirit of fair use by quoting a good-size chunk of this morning's newsletter.

This morning, he discusses Kamala Harris's stance on Medicare for All. 

Will there always be an England?

C-c-c-cold

We had a blizzard of electronic and voice communications last night.  It started about 8 pm, when my wife and I received both text and email messages from our local high school district that school would be closed today because of predicted snowfall overnight (expected to be 6-10", with heavy snowfall during morning rush hour).  A few minutes later, our land line (yes, I still haven't cut the cord) rang with a prerecorded call with the same info.  Then, a bit after 10 pm, the phone rang again, this time from the Catholic school where one of my daughters teaches, another prerecorded call announcing that it also had caved to impending snow doom.  Finally, at 5 o'clock this morning, the land line and my wife's cell phone, both at her bedside nightstand, each rang simultaneously, causing both of us to hit the ceiling, with a prerecorded call announcing that her office has a delayed start.  (As I work from home, and my employer's US operations are based in Texas, it has no official interest in Chicago weather.)

I am writing this just a few minutes after my wife handed me a plastic 12-inch ruler from the kids' elementary school days.  I stepped out onto our stoop in my sneakers and plunged the ruler into the snow on the walk.  Three inches, which far from spelling doom is practically yawn-worthy around here.  Supposedly the heavy bands now have moved out across Lake Michigan and Indiana.  Our street is plowed.  I'll shovel during lunchtime today.  Doom averted, apparently - and in fact, I've driven my children to school many times in worse conditions.

But wait.

Illumination

This is a true story.

My mother died suddenly when she was 51.

I got the call at dawn and somehow pulled myself together enough to borrow my friend's car and make it up to the city before noon. Because I have the dubious talent of being able to keep my head under pressure, only falling apart after the crisis is over, I was given the job of finding a mortician, picking out a coffin, and buying a grave. This done, I found myself alone in her room standing at the foot of the bed where she had died the night before.

The last time I had seen her was just a week before, at a wedding. Although I only lived 140 miles away, I would come up to Chicago only two or three times a year and didn't see her very much anymore. The wedding the week before had been fun enough, but I hadn't seen much of her there because as always, she was the vivacious life of the party and in much greater demand than I, the distant cousin. But I figured that I would see her after the wedding, since I would be spending the night on her couch.

As the reception wore down and the last dance was called, she suddenly came up to were I was sitting in a sulk and said “Let's dance”.

It was a slow dance. I had a bad habit then of staring at my feet when I danced, perhaps because I wondered where they were going to go next. But she quickly put me to rights. “Don't look at your feet. Look at me!”

Embarrassed, I looked at her. And she looked back at me in a way that made me feel a bit uncomfortable, intently staring into my eyes as though she were trying to chart them. Her eyes were a bit bloodshot and red rimmed, and my impression was that this was not from drink. As she continued to gaze at me, I decided to try to break the spell.

Americans think we have problems!

What is a backstop? I am informed that it is a sports term, e.g., the catcher in baseball or the goal tender in hockey, i.e., a person or thing placed behind something as a barrier, support, or reinforcement.  

Apply the idea to politics.  The UK Brexit agreement with the EU provides that no border wall or physical boundary will be reestablished between Ireland and Northern Ireland, i.e., the UK will have to remain in the EU customs union until an alternative to a border is discovered, i.e, a technological device or magic incantation. Radical Brexiters are demanding an end date to the Backstop. The EU says no end date until we have the technology or the magic.

The Backstop was seen as a brilliant solution to keeping Mrs. May in office with the votes of the Northern Irish UDP.  Without their votes she would lack a majority. Otherwise she could have dumped them and let the border between England and Ireland be drawn in the Irish Sea. Northern Ireland would de facto be Ireland and remain in the EU.   [I hope this is clear; I have puzzled long and hard over it; I could be wrong]

BUT: Mrs. May having lost the vote in Parliament is stymied. This week-end an idea has emerged in Brexiter quarters that Ireland could leave the EU and join the UK, hence avoiding a border issue. Irish officials have said absolutely not.  Yet, the UK could crash out of  at the end of March. 

What then would transpire at the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland?

Has it come to this? I'm asking

 One of the kids says my wife recycled before recycling was cool. It's true. We raised five children on the motto of "use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without." And I am happy to say that their children now endure what they used to claim was barely endurable.
 So it should be no surprise that my helpmate attempts to get drinking straws banned, or at least kept behind the counter until applied for, every place we eat. The idea is to keep them out of the big, plastic vortexes in the oceans. California has already banned plastic straws. So have a lot of cities.
 When Marilyn began talking down the straws, she was usually met with polite incomprehension. But lately waiters are telling her that an effort was made, but customers complained, so the restaurant backed down. Yesterday we heard about customers who became downright hostile when told they have to ask.
 Florida is an angry state. We encourage everyone to get concealed-carry permits so any kind of shooting is likely to be a fair fight. If all the participants are armed, the police should not charge the one still standing because he was "standing his ground," and the other guy died nobly defending the Second Amendment. If a cop makes a mistake and does arrest someone, the judge is supposed to throw out the case.
 But anger over having to ask if you want a plastic straw? That seems like the last straw to me.
 Have plastic straws become a tribal fightin' issue anywhere else? Or is it simply  another case of just us.

Walk to Jerusalem

Is anyone else's parish doing the Walk to Jerusalem?  Our parish is starting the program this weekend.  It will run until Easter.  The idea is to find out the approximate distance in miles from your location to Jerusalem. The participants log their walking miles or other activities. It's not a competition, there is no pressure to achieve a certain distance. There are devotional pages each week, and you learn about the culture and geography of the places you are walking "through". The hope is that people will improve their physical fitness and grow spiritually. The web site linked above lists a $35 fee, but I believe that is for the whole parish since no fee was mentioned for individuals participating. Since both our priest and our doctor are promoting it heavily, we decided to take part.  Will let you know if the parish makes it to Jerusalem. Some of the other congregations in town are also doing it.

Who is Juan Guaido?

Just a brief distraction from navel gazing (U.S. version--as fascinating as it is).

The Guardian has this brief story of Juan Guadio who swore himself in as interim president of Venezuela until honest elections can take place. [Thanks Jean, link has been fixed.]

Reminds me a bit of Vaclav Havel & the 1989 Velvet Revolution pictured here.  UPDATE: Looking less like the Velvet Revolution today (1/25) with the Venezuelan military continuing to back Maduro.






Of course, Vladimir Putin objects while Donald Trump applauds (hmmm wonder if either of them smell an equivalent event in their precincts?).

P.S. And this more Brexit ironicism: The BBC to Netherlands? Or perhaps the Republic of Ireland? Wow! 

More: Here is another, critical view of events in Venezuela  (an opinion piece in the Guardian by a U.S. professor of Latin American studies). 

Get it first, but first get it

 While following up on one of Anne’s links in the string that runs from Cana to Covington, my eye was caught by a comment in high dudgeon because the author of the article was unaware that there is a video rebuttal showing that President Trump “did not make fun of someone with disabilities."

  What do you know? A gen-u-wine video showing what didn’t happen. Who am I to believe – the video or my own, lying eyes? Trump’s performance – a bit of Jerry Lewis shtick that Lewis eventually dropped because of its offensiveness -- didn’t have much to do with the original article, by the way. The comment was just a cry of “Squirrel!”

  The various media are now crossing out and taking down because of a different video, or set of videos, on an all-star performance of American hot buttons assembled in the same space at the same time. Genuine controversy! Let’s argue about what happened maybe!

Speak up and intercede

This is my homily for this weekend, the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C.  The Sunday readings are here.

Washington's next bishop

I subscribe to an email newsletter from the WaPo called "Acts of Faith".  As you are all aware, the previous two bishops/cardinals have been found guilty of  abuse (McCarrick) and of failing to act against abusing priests, Wuerl. Wuerl also denied any knowledge of McCarrick's activities, which I found extremely hard to believe when he made the claim. I had heard about McCarrick's beach house and his fondness for seminarians and young priests  while he was still in charge in DC. As it turns out, Wuerl did also - and wrote to the Papal Nuncio about it. Now he claims that he "forgot" he had heard about the abuse.

Conference on Women Deacons Updated

The link below is not only a report of the conference but also the link to replay the conference. I have deleted the original post of the live conference.  You are welcome to comment, on the report in America, or the whole conference after you have watched it, and/or my comments on the whole conference which will be unfolding after the break.

Vatican Commission Members: 

Women Served as Deacons

Salt + Light lived streamed the event from Fordham University on Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Speakers:

Commission member Phyllis Zagano, senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University and author of several books on women deacons

Commission member Fr. Bernard Pottier, SJ, faculty member at the Institute d'Etudes Théologiques in Brussels

Sr. Donna Ciangio, OP, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Newark, and principal and founder of Church Leadership Consultation

Moderator:

Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB, CEO of Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation

Context:

Zagano said that the committee has prepared a report and submitted it to Francis.  It is up to him what to do about the report. She also reminded us that the report was in response to a request from the Union of Women Religious, and that they will be meeting in Rome this summer. Obviously he will probably do something by then.  She also said she was asked not to speak publicly on the topic while the committee was preparing it. Obviously she is now speaking publicly. Given the status of the commission members, of Rosica as a helper to the Vatican, we are obviously being prepared for whatever is going to be announced.

My comments on the conference:

The only way

 The only way Theresa May can see to get Great Britain out of the European Union is to keep it in the EU through a back door otherwise known as Northern Ireland.
 That door can't be closed until there is agreement with the EU about how to keep the border open between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. Otherwise there will be Customs posts, border guards -- who knows, a Wall? -- attacks on the Black and Tans, informers and the Rising of the Moon. At the same time, there has to be agreement with Northern Ireland that closes the border against Ireland without producing  Customs posts, border guards -- who knows, a Wall? -- attacks on the Black and Tans, informers and the Rising of the Moon.
 Of course, achieving those two agreements is what Ms. May and the EU have failed to do through two-plus years of negotiations. So her solution is to keep the back door open until such time as they do agree.
 The Twelfth of Never has been suggested.
 Accordingly, she presented to Parliament an agreement to get out of the EU by staying in. Or, as the Brexiteers saw it, stay in the EU by getting out.
 All that was very simple and clear.
 What is odd is that the irate Members who hurled Mrs. May's dog's breakfast up against the wall and ordered in pizza consists of those who most want Britain out of the EU and those who most want  Britain to stay in.
 And we think we have problems.

How Many So Far?

I'm speaking of Democrats testing the waters for 2020, of course.  Let's see, we have Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders (maybe), Joe Biden (another maybe), Avenati (but he has legal troubles), Tulsi Gabbard (shot herself in the foot with LBGTQ), Kamala Harris, and the latest, Kirsten Gillebrand. Who have I missed?  Probably a bunch who will declare later.
Of the bunch, I would prefer Elizabeth Warren. She has experience in government. As a former law school professor, she's no lightweight. Nobody can say she's not a progressive.  Kirsten Gillebrand?  Forgetaboutit, I hope. I think Joe and Bernie missed their windows.  We'll see, I guess.
And there are some hints of Republicans who might primary Trump.  For now they're laying awfully low.  Would it be too much to hope for that we might have a choice between two actual human beings in 2020?

Waters over the continent

Apropos of our recent discussions on history and book recommendations and reading: Some months ago Tom Blackburn mentioned The Source: How Rivers Made America and America Remade its Rivers by Martin Doyle (pp. 349). It came to the top of my book group list and we met yesterday to discuss it. Amazingly there were no "grumps" as Tom B. predicted: the reviews and comments were positive, even enthusiastic.

The "genius" of the book is to combine history, sovereignty, taxation, and regulation in a tidy compass of three centuries tracing the earliest settlers efforts to crawl over the "fall line" of the Appalachians with their canoes, to schemes drawing water rights from the highland farms of the Colorado River to populous Southwestern cities, and more recently to undo some of the river "improvements" fabricated since the earliest days of the American colony. Along the way Doyle combines big ideas and homey conversations with the men (yes, men) managing dams, canals, tugs, earth movers, etc. And nowhere near 1,356 pages!

The Master Rhetorician

As we complete Day 23 of the government shutdown, inquiring minds want to know: how popular is the president's signature issue, The Wall?

The answer seems to be, Not very.  From Emily Ekins at the Federalist: Americans Used to Support a Border Wall.  What Changed Their Minds?  Ekins goes on to cite a number of public-opinion survey results and trends that illustrate pretty convincingly that what changed their minds was ... Donald Trump.

Among the items she illustrates:

• A majority of Americans tend to support some sort of a barrier (a bit more in the next bullet on what that barrier is called) - as long as the issue stays out of the public consciousness.  Whenever a proposal for a barrier comes to public attention, it becomes unpopular.  The worst salespersons for the wall are its biggest proponents, such as Donald Trump and Patrick Buchanan
  
• Whether it's referred to as a "wall" or a "fence" seems to make a difference.  The public opposes a border wall, but is warmer to the idea of a border fence
  
• Americans are not as anti-immigrant as Donald Trump and his supporters wish we would be

Worth a read.

Fusion power? Really?

Just for a change of pace.  While our coal loving president tries to establish a steampunk United States of America, scientists and engineers are working on the alternatives.   A standard joke in the energy techie world is that Controlled Fusion power will always be ten years in the future.  But there's recently been a spate of articles on this technology that seem to be hopeful that a number of problems might be solved.  There's a collaboration of companies with MIT in the mix that are betting they can build a demo reactor that can put out more energy than is put in.  The approach they are pursuing is based on the Tokomak.   A hollow doughnut shaped superconducting magnet confines a writhing 100M degree plasma snake in ouroboros.  If it works, atomic nuclei will be smashed into each other, overcoming the repulsive electric force until they fuse, spitting out high energy neutrons in the process.  These neutrons are absorbed by molten salt which is used to heat water and we're back to steampunk.  Energetic neutrons beat the crap out of everything and the reactor will have to be periodically replaced.  It also has to be put in a swimming pool until the radioactivity goes down..  Well, I hope they are right but I'll believe it when I see it.  In the movie "Aliens", the biggest science mistake was the runaway fusion reactor.  They can't runaway.  The history of exploration of this technology shows it doesn't want to work.  If they are successful and it's economical, it'll be an unbelievable boon.  But, in the meantime, my strongest mmediate hopes are for the commercialization of tandem silicon/perovskite solar panels and the eventual replacement by cheap perovskite only.  Definitely NOT steampunk. 

https://futurism.com/mit-commercializing-fusion-power/

https://www.perovskite-info.com/oxford-photovoltaics

The wall as symbol

In the ongoing discussion of the government shut-down, Anne made what I consider to be an excellent comment about the border wall for which President Trump is demanding funding.  Anne's comment included this observation:

...the wall symbolizes [Trump's] campaign and his campaign was based on inciting fear and loathing of Hispanics and of brown refugees who are not christian from other parts of the world.  The walls along the border have not always symbolized racism, but "the Wall" does now, at least to some degree. 

I think this is an astute point: the wall is not just a composite of steel and concrete along a ribbon of land; it is a political symbol that connotes something deeper.

Peter Steinfels' take on the Pennsylvania grand jury report

Commonweal has published an extended critique by Peter Steinfels of the 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report on the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy in six Pennsylvania dioceses.  If you are interested in this story, Peter's article is essential reading.  Please do read it.

Shutdown Tantrum

Is anyone really surprised about Trump's latest move ? He apparently is feeling some heat from his fellow Republicans to end the shutdown. But so far they haven't developed the spine to buck him on the issue.
Part of me feels like the parent in Walmart with a toddler in the shopping cart who is having a meltdown over a toy that he wants. I would know that the other shoppers are thinking, "Just buy the damn toy and let us have some peace. We don't care if the toy is worthless or if it's bad parenting!"
That would be the same part of me that is thinking, it's a small part of the budget. Are we going to hold the whole government hostage, and keep the federal workers under the bus?
But another part of my mind knows that if it works for him this time, playing chicken with the government could get to be a habit. What all the parts of my mind know is that something's going to have to give.

Doobie do?

America is forging ahead with legalizing marijuana.  Is it a good idea?

History Majors Are Becoming a Thing of the Past

The following is from Bob Ginsberg, an occasional commenter on NewGathering:

I have mentioned before my concern that Americans are turning against history.  And now it seems, against historical study, too.

An article in the Daily Beast (of all places!) tells the distressing tale of how the number of undergraduates getting degrees in history is plummeting.  One reason may be the perception that there are no jobs, though the belief that college is meant to provide only a route to a job is also a very depressing. Here is a brief excerpt:

Knowledge of the past provides young people with a sense of place and a concept of temporal continuity, lessons to apply to the present and future, an interpretive framework and perspective for navigating the choppy global world. 

 An epidemic of historical amnesia already plagues this country, which has often paid a terrible price and done grave harm to other foreign people and lands due to its ignorance of the past.

 To add to the above, I would say that knowledge of the past gives us freedom.  If we know that things were once different, then we can see that things need not stay as they are. It shows us that things change. It encourages us and enables us to plan for, and improve, the future.

Marvel-ing about works of art in their times

What will our great grandchildren think about the films we love?

Up Against the Wall....

I understand the feeling.  I really do.  Each day seems to bring some new awfulness from the Trump administration.  But sometimes self-expression is just self-indulgence.  I am talking, of course, about freshman lawmaker Rashida Tlaib, who "...handed Democrats their first controversy of the new term Thursday night when she told a room of liberal activists that Congress would “impeach the motherf—er,” a reference to Trump that earned cheers from her audience and made the moment a viral sensation online."

La plus change...

We died in your hills, we died in your deserts
We died in your valleys and died on your plains
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.

  -- Arlo Guthrie

 

 I promised not to keep stopping you to tell you the same story. I am not the Ancient Mariner, and you are not one of of three. But. Here is a story I came across today.. It spans nearly 90 years. It is chapters from an old story. It's in the Bible. It is a new story. See today's Times.

 Here is some suggested background music.

 Please read the story.  I'll stop now.

January 1st as Day for Prayer for Peace

When we observed the change-over to the year 2000, a lot of attention was paid to midnight as it came in around the globe beginning on Christmas island.

At our parish and some others in the area there was a midnight Mass to usher in the New Year.

I got the idea then of observing a World Day of Prayer for Peace beginning at when it touches down at Christmas Island, praying for people in that time zone as the time zone came into the new  year.

https://www.worldtimezone.com/newyear24.html  gives you the current years places (since time zones occasionally change).

In the Eastern Time Zone it works out well.  New Zealand comes in at 6am,  Australia at 8am,
Japan at 10am, China at 11am.  Bangladesh at 1pm, Iran at 3pm, Russia at 4pm, Jerusalem at 5 pm, Rome at 6pm, London at 7pm,  Brazil at 9pm  Chile at 10pm, East Coast at Midnight, Chicago at 1am.

On the East Coast, I would start the observance by having prayer around 8am on New Year's eve. for Australia etc. signing up people for the various hours. Might be an interesting project for kids to participate in telling everyone about the various areas of the world and their peoples and problems. Maybe they could help prepare a prayer guild. Various people might have experience, or relatives in various places that that could contribute their experience.

The high point of the first year observance would be the 5pm Mass where we would welcome the New Year to Jerusalem at the beginning of Mass, and Rome at the End of the Mass.

4pm and  6pm Christmas Eve Masses have become very popular, and this idea might just make the 5pm New Year's Eve Mass so popular that there might be demand for a 4pm Mass beginning with  welcoming the New Year to Iraq and ending with Jerusalem (with a Mideast peace theme), and the 6pm welcoming the New Year to Europe (Rome at 6pm and London at 7pm). If this became really popular we could add a Mass at 9pm for Latin America, and Midnight for the USA.

I suspect the idea would work well for the Midwest just moving every thing up a hour.

West coast would be more difficult. since Jerusalem comes in at 2pm and Rome at 3pm West Coast time. Would require some bishops permission, maybe even approval from Rome if it is to count for the obligation.

Nice thing about this is that after all this prayer, we can party at midnight, and watch parades and football all day on January 1st.

On not doing what we gotta

 There were a goodly number of people at Mass this morning, about average for a Sunday Mass. But it was the only Mass for the Solemnity of Mary today, and on a normal Sunday there are six Masses on the day itself, plus three vigils. Yesterday, there was one vigil.
 So where was everybody on this "holy day of obligation," or as we used to spit it out "holy d'obligation" when all Catholics gotta go to Mass?
 Not at the cathedral. It had five Masses for Sunday but only two for the Solemnity.
 New Year's Day was not always the Solemnity of Mary. In my youth, it was the feast of the Circumcision. It was years before I found out what that was all about. I never had the feeling the celebrant spent the week eagerly preparing his sermon on the bris.
 There also were efforts to make Jan. 1 the start of an octave for Christian unity or a day of prayer for  world peace. I lived in one diocese that was big on unity, but in none that ever did much for peace.
 In 1969, Jan. 1 was officially designated the Solemnity of Mary, apparently because, well, it was New Year's Day and the Church has to do something about it. Or, just possibly, because the people who decide these things decided they can never do enough for Mary. Before '69 the Solemnity was  observed without obligation at various times in various places in dioceses around the world.
 It isn't as if the failure to feel obliged by the Jan. 1 d'obligation shows disregard for Mary. As I noted earlier, Our Lady of Guadalupe is becoming as big as Christmas even in parts of these United States, where the Immaculate Conception is a d'obligation only four days earlier. People are not boycotting Mary. But enthusiasm is scant in the pews for her Solemnity three weeks after those two.
 My feeling is that the Church really doesn't have to do something about New Year's Day. And the pastors who dutifully note in the small print of the Bulletin that it's a holy day of obligation don't plan in expectation that something is going to happen, not even the obligation.