Do rightwing American Catholics hate pope Francis? Is the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Jewish? On a scale of 1 to 10, would 25 be close enough? From my outside liberal Quaker perspective, Francis is not all that progressive: slow on smashing the priestly pedophile protection racket; mushy on cleaning up the sewer of financial sleaze … Continue reading U. S. Catholic defenders of Pope Francis “Mobilize” behind closed doors
Anchorage Daily News, April 3, 2022 (With comments) When it comes to name recognition in the free-for-all Alaska Race to succeed the late Rep. Don Young, who served 49 years, Sarah Palin is only Number Two. [Who’s Number One? Ho ho ho . . .] A non-MAGA red hat was among the 50 (count ‘em) … Continue reading Alaska and the Weirdest House Primary Ever?
Is Putin in seriously bad health? An independent Russian investigative group called Proekt.media says probably yes, in a major report published online on April 1. [Given the heavy censorship of Russian media, it is not possible yet to independently confirm this report, which depends largely in unnamed sources; but our checks suggest it is at … Continue reading Big Read: We Know Putin Is Sick. But Is He also Seriously Ill??
Hard Truth-telling in a federal court— But likely soon to be Quashed WashIngton Post, Ruth Marcus, April 3 2022: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proclaimed himself unfazed by a federal judge’s opinion declaring provisions of the state’s new voting law unconstitutional and racially discriminatory. As a matter of raw judicial vote-counting, DeSantis is probably right. “It’s … Continue reading Florida vs Black Voters: an Evil Tradition Endures
As a tween in the 1950s, I had a long fixation on all things Disney: seeing the first Disneyland theme park take shape, being glued to the Mickey Mouse Club (where my first TV crush was on the late Mouseketeer Annette Funicello), etc., etc. Even last year, it was a peak pandemic survival session when … Continue reading The Culture Wars Are Coming for Mickey