[NOTE: I hardly eat fish anymore, though in my old-style Catholic boyhood Fish-on-Friday was a rule. I particularly liked tuna. But tuna (along with a lot of Catholic dogmas) turned out to be toxic, along with a lot of other finned favorites. So I mostly let it pass. But of course that doesn’t absolve me … Continue reading A Superbowl Alternative (or Prequel): Something Fishy. (Two things, Actually.)
China? Spying from the air? Shootdowns? I can relate to that. Or at least, my father could. But for hm, the tables were turned: no balloons, and China wasn’t doing the spying: he was. . . .
[Midday wrap-up: Three short but trenchant items (with an extra about the boreal Forest), covering wars (present and maybe future); climate change tipping points; and not least, why confronting Gov. Ron DeSantis’s racist war on “woke” head-on is a big progressive mistake. Check them all out!] # 1-Wars & Rumors of War: Looking to the … Continue reading Threefer Thursday: Briefs About Everything (Well, Almost)
#1-France vs. “Le wokisme”: THE FRENCH ARE IN A PANIC OVER LE WOKISME The nation’s vehement rejection of identity politics made me recalibrate my own views about woke ideology. By Thomas Chatterton Williams Excerpts from The Atlantic, February 4, 2023 [NOTE: Williams] took part in “a two-day “taboo-free discussion” among public intellectuals about the … Continue reading From France & Texas, Two Striking Takes on Racism, Identity Politics & Cultural Turmoil
AP News: Spiritual advisers offering final comfort in execution rooms BY JIM SALTER — February 6, 2023 ST. LOUIS (AP) — For decades, Missouri executions played out in similar fashion: An inmate was strapped to a gurney in a drab room, alone except for the eyes of witnesses staring through thick, soundproof glass as unidentified … Continue reading Spiritual Companions Now Attend Executions; It’s a Tough Gig, but Righteous