"Was it something they said?"

 Michael Sean Winters has an interesting article on the NCR site today: Can Democrats learn to speak like normal people? | National Catholic Reporter

He writes about the necessity for the Democratic Party to form a coalition.  "The fight for the soul of the Democratic Party continues to percolate, mostly beneath the surface, as Democratic leaders try and discern a way forward. The party must ask itself: How did we lose to Donald Trump? How can we win in rural states again, without which, we will never secure a majority in the Senate? Most immediately, Democrats need to figure out how to take back the House of Representatives in next year's midterms."

Catholic enclaves and Pew Research on the “ Nones”

 The religious professionals (and, maybe the Church Ladies) continue to wring their hands about the defections from Catholicism.  Pope Benedict’s “smaller, purer” church does seem to be becoming the reality. The RCC in the US now seems to mostly hang on to old Catholics, unwilling to give up, and young "trads" who long for an era they never knew.

Paul Baumann in Commonweal discusses an article about the increasing rate at which the RCC in America is losing active Catholics.  The article he references apparently advocates something along the lines of Dreher’s Benedict Option - creating enclaves of co-religionists that keep their distance from general society. 

Disney: Model of the Upper Class Economy

Disney and the Decline of the Middle Class 

In the midst of its fixation on Trump, I found a great article in the NYTimes.  It is a beautiful illustration of what has happened to the American economy in the past decade or two.

The recently renovated 1,863-square-foot King Kamehameha suite at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, which offers a huge bi-level great room, views of Cinderella Castle and a soaking tub, can go for $3,000 a night. The sleek GEO-82 Bar and Lounge in EPCOT offers a package that includes a tower of small bites, champagne or cocktails and a table with views of the park’s fireworks show for $179 a person (entry to the park not included but required). A wine-paired prix fixe meal at the Michelin-starred Victoria & Albert’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian hotel starts at over $1,200 for two. And so on.