There was a good article on the NCR site today: Editorial: US bishops made a bad deal with the GOP | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org)
"The alterations to the abortion plank in this year's Republican Party platform provide a telling lesson about political reality and the difference between church teaching and doomed episcopal politics."
Update 7/29/2024 8:43 pm CDT - the original post stated that drag queens are trans persons. Jean kindly corrected me: they are not the same. According to Google's experimental Generative AI, covering some of the same ground as Jean did in a comment below:
While some drag queens may be transgender, and some transgender people may enjoy drag, they are not inherently the same. Being transgender is about one's internal sense of self, while drag is a form of performance or expression.
Consequently, below the break, I've revised the original post in order to correct that error. I've also expanded the content a bit, including quoting from some news articles to provide a fuller explanation of the controversy.
Statista: Sustainability of the Olympics
You will find more infographics at Statista
The opening festivities took place during my work day today, but because I work from home and had a rather light on-the-phone day today, I was able to have the television on, across the room from my work cave. I wasn't able to stay tuned in from end to end, and much of it was on with the sound turned down while I worked, but from what I was able to catch - it was very well-done.
The ceremonies are hard to describe. Imaginative, ingenious, trippy, whimsical, freaky, artistic, stereotypical, stunning, breath-taking, over-the-top, tacky, wonderful, all at once. As pageantry, I can't think of anything I've seen recently that comes close to it. I loved all of it. I loved the boats sailing down the Seine with the athletes. I loved the entertainment breaks. I loved the references to French history, culture (including pop culture), literature and the arts.
In some ways, I think contemporary culture is losing its appetite for public ritual. These spectacular opening ceremonies have been a tonic for people (like me) who think the public needs ritual.
France, and increasingly the Olympics, are two entities which tend to get bad raps in America, especially from conservatives. Maybe I am just a closet Francophile, but anyone who can watch those ceremonies and not fall in love again with France doesn't have a heart that beats like mine. France midwifed our nation's birth. Then our revolution helped inspire theirs. Then, in the 20th century, we helped save their bacon - and if they ever called upon us again, if it was up to me we'd do it all over again in a Paris minute. We can find the French hard to love, and they can return the sentiment, but we are intertwined, and we need one another, and the world is better for having both of us in it.
As for the Olympics: maybe I'm the only one who has issues with it. I find many of the athletes impossible to love, and the Olympics seem to bring out ugly nationalism, at least in some Americans. But the modern Olympics movement was founded to breed peace, and seeing these athletes from all these countries marching together and with mutual respect, I found myself thinking that maybe Liberty, Equality and Fraternity are actually within reach.
Did you watch the ceremonies? What did you think?
This is my homily for yesterday, the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B. Yesterday's readings are here.
According to the New York Times, President Biden has dropped out of the race!
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/21/us/trump-biden-election
To tell the truth I was not expecting that, was giving it less than 50% likelihood. But I think it is probably for the best, for him and for the country.
I feel badly for him. It was a hard decision, and he has served honorably. Which is more than I can say for some people.
Now the question is, who will be the candidate? If it is not Kamala Harris, it will be a really bad, cynical look.
The Washington Post queried its readers about books it would throw off the "classics" list, generally books required in high school and survey courses. These types of exercises are useful as gauges of what's in style (lots of books by women such as Ursula LeGuin, Octavia Butler, and Betty Smith) and what's passe or irritating (mostly dead white males like Hemingway, Melville, Hawthorne, and Fitzgerald).
So here's your assignment: Your old high school has asked you to assess the value of the books you were assigned to read for your English class (more than 50 years ago for some of us). What would you tell the curriculum committee to keep? What would you recommend it toss? What would you recommend it add? Maybe a short reason for why a book had value (or not) to you now at your advanced age.
Possibly keep in mind as you complete your assignment: Many high schools are moving toward a "books of choice" option given the furor attracted by old favorites like "A Catcher in the Rye" and "Huckleberry Finn." In that plan, kids can read one of three or four books in a given unit. I have also heard that some high schools are going to a strictly "read whatever you want" approach in which the teacher talks about aspects of literature (critical theory, symbolism, point of view, theme, etc.), and the students apply that to whatever books they want. Maybe think about how literature is taught now as you make your picks
I'll put my keep/toss/add later in the comments so as not to foist my opinions about this on everybody else.
You can read the Washington Post story here if you haven't used up your free stories reading about the latest political calamities.
I expect we'll all hear a lot of stupid, weird, and godawful things in the upcoming days as details of the Trump shooting and GOP convention unfold, and we might as well gird ourselves for it and pray for an extra dose of strength.
As Stanley noted:
Trump was shot and it happened the way I always imagined it. He gets a superficial wound, other people get wounded and killed. He comes out of it with more votes. As if this presidential campaign season can't get any weirder. The best comment came from previously shot Rep. Scalise, "Violence doesn't belong in politics." I guess that means it's ok everywhere else.
Can't get any weirder? Oh, but it can, Stan!
India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power since 2014, increasing its hold on the country with each election. About six months ago, my husband, Ravi, and a few others began telling people here that its projected win in this year’s elections was far from certain. Few believed them. While everyone wanted it to be true, all the signs said otherwise: not only would the BJP win, but the win this time would be historic. Our children in the United States and the United Kingdom concurred. The reliable sources they were hearing confirmed the news here: Narendra Modi, India’s strongman, was coasting toward a third term as prime ministerBut when the votes were counted after the largest election in the world (650 million people voted), the BJP failed to achieve its projected landslide of four hundred seats and could not even win a clear majority. Without the support of allies, it would be unable to form a government.What did Ravi and his friends know that the mass media and political pundits missed? They had been out and about in villages, small towns, and large cities for months, talking to women, unemployed youth, farmers, and small-business owners. They soon realized that, in spite of a massive media campaign to promote the BJP, many voters had rejected its ideology of hate.The 2024 elections were simultaneously the most hotly contested and the most unequal in India’s seventy-five-year history. Modi did everything in his power to ensure his victory. He jailed some opposition leaders, filed charges of tax evasion and money laundering against others, bought almost all the major media, and froze the bank accounts of the Congress Party—the second-largest political party in the country.Outspent and outmaneuvered, the opposition parties still managed to unite as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), with an agreement to support whichever candidate was the most likely to win in a particular district. Many commentators believe that, had there been a level playing field, INDIA would now be forming a government instead of the BJP.
France's snap legislative election on Sunday, July 7, 2024 has resulted in a hung parliament with no majority and instead will be shaped by three main political blocs.
With 180 seats, the left-wing New Popular Front coalition unexpectedly became the leading political force in the National Assembly, overtaking the presidential party (Ensemble), which won just 163 seats, 82 fewer than the 245 it won two years ago.
In third place, the National Rally, formerly the National Front, and its LR allies won only 143 seats, according to the final results released by the Ministry of the Interior. However, with more than 30 percent of the votes cast in both the first and second rounds, the far-right party continued to gain ground, winning 54 seats compared with the 89 it won in 2022.
With a turnout of 66.7 percent of registered voters heading to the polls in the first round and 66.6 percent in the second (compared with 47.5 percent and 46.2 percent respectively in 2022), the turnout was the highest for a legislative election since 1997.
You will find more infographics at StatistaWe have all heard of Project 2025 by now. Democrats on the Biden campaign are getting awareness of it out on social media and news sites. That's a good thing. But some of the information which is out there is inaccurate or unsourced. Which could lead, on one hand, to it not being taken seriously by voters, or on the other hand, to its importance being exaggerated.
For one thing, the document is nearly 1000 pages long. If it were shorter, people could just download the PDF and read it. As it is, hardly anyone (including, I guarantee, Donald Trump) is going to read the whole thing. I don't know, maybe that's by design, taking Steve Bannon's suggestion seriously of just "flooding the zone with (excrement)."
So it is helpful to have some ''Cliff Notes" type of summaries to get an idea of what Project 2025 is. There are a couple good ones I have found. One is this 7 and a half minute Youtube video by Dan Zimmerman which gives a good overview: What is Project 2025? Project 2025 Explained | 5 Criticisms of Project 2025 (youtube.com)
Another summary is this one from Snopes, which I am going to explore in more detail: What's Project 2025? Unpacking the Pro-Trump Plan to Overhaul US Government | Snopes.com
The Snopes article isn't long, I would recommend reading the whole thing.
From the article:
You will find more infographics at StatistaFrom Gerard O'Connell at America Magazine:
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has been declared excommunicated for schism by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Vatican dicastery, however, opted not to remove him from the clerical state, though canon law does not exclude that penalty...The archbishop has stated that he does not recognize the legitimacy of Pope Francis and said, “I reject and condemn the scandals, errors and heresies of Jorge Mario Bergoglio,” adding, “with this ‘Bergoglian church,’ no Catholic worthy of the name can be in communion.”...The Code of Canon Law considers excommunication as a “medicinal” penalty whose aim is to invite the offender to repentance. As such, there is always the hope that the subject of excommunication will return to communion.
His downward spiral is remarkable. It was not that long ago he was in the upper echelon of the Vatican's diplomatic corps. His story reminds me in some ways of Rudy Giuliani's. Both are grievous.
I don't know how many of you have been following this story about artwork which had been taken from the walls of St. Joseph Apache Mission in Mescalero, NM, for unspecified reasons:
The good news is that the paintings have been returned, though some ceramic vessels are still missing. The disappearance of the artifacts was apparently an "inside job", perpetrated by the pastor, a deacon, and some K of C members..
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