Daily Archives: February 9, 2022

Many grandees of the Catholic Church in Europe are falling in with the Rainbow Reich. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg is president of the Churchs partner to the E.U. bureaucracy, the Commission of the Bishops Conferences of the European Union. In a recent interview with Germany's Catholic News Agency, he asserted that the Churchs current teaching about homosexual acts is false.

Hollerich adverts to tendentious historical scholarship introduced by John Boswell in 1980 and popularized by William Countryman in the 1990s. This work purports to show that New Testament condemnations of homosexuality concern only its role in pagan cults and do not rise to the level of moral teaching. Moreover, Hollerich continues, the world has changed: We cannot give the answers of the past to the questions of tomorrow.

The trend in Europe is not good. More than two years ago, the German Church embarked on the Synodal Way, a legislative process of bishops, clergy, and lay representatives. The branding epitomizes the corruptions of late modern Catholicism. It highlights one of the Francis pontificate's favorite words: synodality, an ersatz theological term invented to serve as a placeholder for the secular trinity of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In this way, German progressives position themselves as servants of the pope while endeavoring to radically revise Catholic doctrine and practice.

Last year, those journeying on the Way endorsed blessings for same-sex marriages, as well as for unmarried couples. More recently, the pious legislators of the German Churchs future called for the ordination of married men. They also voted to endorse the ordination of women to the diaconate.

The Way in Germany is not driven by lay activists, but by those at the top of the hierarchy. Cardinal Reinhard Marx in Munich recently told reporters that It would be better for everyone to create the possibility of celibate and married priests.

First Things founder Fr. Richard John Neuhaus often observed that where orthodoxy becomes optional, orthodoxy will soon be prohibited. Patrons of inclusion quickly become policemen of the new political correctness.

Cardinal Hollerich has a different argument for proscription. He deems the current teaching on homosexual acts false because the sociological-scientific foundation of this teaching is no longer correct. We know so much more today, and the Church must keep up, Otherwise, we lose contact and can no more be understood. Under such circumstances, recalcitrant Catholics who are not willing to update their moral teaching and follow the science are dead weights. They impair the Churchs ability to relate to modern maner, modern persons.

Whether the officious denunciation of those who deny history, or the more direct censure of those who hate, we can be sure that Cardinal Hollerich and his allies will be ruthless in suppressing dissent. The future is a jealous god. And recent events suggest that Hollerich is maneuvering to use the clerical abuse scandal to destroy Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne, the highest-ranking and most powerful advocate for the apostolic tradition in the German Catholic Church.

Count me unsurprised. Christianity in the modern West has always been tempted by alliances with bourgeois culture, with the sensibilities and attitudes of well-to-do and respectable people rather than the truths of the gospel. Karl Barth was horrified when at the outset of World War I, his teachers, the Great and Good of German Protestantism, lined up in support of the nationalism considered the direction of history in those years.

In my years as an Episcopalian, I watched as church leaders adjusted to elite opinion, always careful to stay on the right side of history. In those years, that meant affirming the sexual revolution, especially homosexuality. Doctrine changes, but the Episcopal Churchs social role remained constant: to be the chaplaincy for white upper-middle-class culture.

Today, the German Catholic Church is doing something similar, serving as a chaplaincy for the Rainbow Reichthe empire of diversity, equity, and inclusion that flies the rainbow flag. Sociologically, this probably makes sense. German churches are emptying, and without a flock, what other role can the vast apparatus of German Catholicism play?

Meanwhile, in Rome, the present pope fiddles.

R. R. Reno is editor ofFirst Things.

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Catholic Chaplaincy for the Rainbow Reich | R. R. Reno - First Things

Occasionally you see a movie that just satisfies on all fronts the performances, the direction, the whole package.

Even less occasionally you see one that does all that and moves you, too. The Worst Person in the World is one of those.

What a triumph.

That description also fits Renate Reinsves performance, which stands out as brilliant even in a cast that perfectly captures what co-writer and director Joachim Trier is going for. Reinsve plays Julie, a young woman in Oslo (the film takes place before and after her 30th birthday).

She never sticks with anything, Julie says at one point. I go from one thing to another.

Indeed, as does the film its told in 12 chapters, along with a prologue and an epilogue which are announced through the voiceover Trier employs.

As for Julie, she goes from being a medical student to studying psychology. Then she decides she wants to be a photographer. Fine, her mother says, as long as you take it seriously.

Taking it seriously isnt really the problem. Signing on for the long term, as Julie suggests, is.

That goes for her relationships as well. She dumps one guy unceremoniously before things meaning movie things, not Julie things really get started. Other affairs lead her to Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie, also outstanding). Hes older, in his 40s, somewhat famous for having created a graphic novel thats being made into a movie, though times have changed; its political correctness, or lack of, will have to be smoothed over, angering Aksel.

Hes worried their age difference will cause problems between him and Julie and wants to break things off; this makes Julie fall in love.

They move in together, but Julie, being Julie, grows restless. She meets Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), a nice, low-maintenance fellow who works in a coffee shop, at a party she crashes.

The entire scene plays out as romantic comedy without any of the disparaging trappings that description has come to signal. Its what the genre could be but isnt much anymore. Its funny and hopelessly romantic as they explore the possibilities of what counts as cheating, the title of the chapter.

A later set piece is magical. Time stops, as does the rest of the world, while Julie runs through the city, enraptured, couples frozen in place (not literally; its warm out), racing toward Eivind. Its a fitting encapsulation of the heady rush of love. Nothing else matters. The rest of the world is just a jumble of stagnant distractions as you rush headlong into your feelings.

Someone uses the title as a self-description, but it doesnt really fit. What Trier has done, with the help of magnificent performances, is make the ordinary extraordinary, which is a mark of a great film.

Reinsves performance has been universally praised, deservingly so. Julie is at times closed-minded, selfish and self-centered. Who isnt? A life based on whimsy is probably a life in need or some repair, but her mistakes are honest ones. Shes not attempting to hurt anyone, though of course she does, as much as she is searching for that most elusive of things: herself.

Reinsve modulates all of the competing emotions and desires perfectly. At times we grow frustrated with Julie. But we never lose interest in her.

Lie has an equally tricky role, his Aksel facing challenges that reveal deeper layers to his character. Lie plumbs those depths with grace and skill. Its Reinsves movie, but it wouldnt be the film it is without Lie.

(Nordrum is plenty good, too good among a couple of greats.)

The various chapters give us some insight into what makes Juile tick her father is a piece of work but she is her own woman. What that means exactly is what shes trying to figure out, and its a joy to watch.

Great Good

Fair Bad Bomb

Director: Joachim Trier.

Cast: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum.

Rating:Rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and some language.

Note: In theaters Feb. 11.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.

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Why Joachim Trier's 'The Worst Person in the World' is one of the best movies of the year - The Arizona Republic

OPINION Depending on their deals with Spotify, their record companies and publishers, hippy rockers from the 1960s and 70s have the right to deny Spotify listeners the opportunity to listen to their music on that platform for whatever reasons they choose. Likewise, Spotify, depending upon their deals with the artists have the right to remove hippy music from the 60s and 70s from their menu for whatever reasons they choose.

Beginning with Neil Young, several artists have removed their music, podcasts and other audio content from Spotify until the platform agrees to remove The Joe Rogan Experience podcast from their offerings. Young and others say Rogan has advanced misinformation about COVID-19, vaccinations, masking, lockdowns and other aspects of the pandemic. Spotify has, at these artists requests, removed their offerings and have given no indication they will end their relationship with Rogan, who has far more listeners than all the protesters combined.

Rogan, for his part, has provided a bit of an apology, not for the content, but rather for upsetting the artists in the first place. He has said he will try in the future to do more research and have more balance on his podcast regarding controversial subjects. Of course he will. He knows his controversial imbalance is what makes his podcast the most popular on the planet.

Rogan represents a $100 million Spotify investment. Spotify made this investment because Rogan is controversial and popular. The Rogan podcast is the cornerstone of Spotifys business plan to offer a complete audio experience, to include music, podcasts, audio books and more. The plan is highly dependent upon Rogans continued success. So, regardless of what Joni Mitchell, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young want, it was clear last week that Rogans podcast wasnt going anywhere.

Then there was the word. Fellow Spotify R&B artist India.Arie last week asked that her music be removed from the platform because she said Rogan is a racist, who has used that word (you know the one) in numerous podcasts. In the current world of political correctness, that word is radioactive. Anyone who is not black may not use that word, even if one is using it to explain why it is unacceptable. It may only be referred to as the N word. It is so toxic that the late politically incorrect comic George Carlin did not include it in his seven words bit about words that cannot be uttered on broadcast television. He even added three more in a later bit. But not that word.

It turns out that Rogan used that word with relative frequency so frequently that Spotify has removed dozens of Rogan podcasts from the platform not podcasts containing misinformation about COVID-19 or vaccines or masks or mandates podcasts containing Rogan using that word.

Now, Rogan has said he was sorry that the hippy rockers were upset with him for including in his podcasts information the hippies believe to be everything from dangerously misleading information to outright lies that lead his listeners down the dangerous path of illness, hospitalization and even death.

Hes sorry theyre upset. But, hes really, really sorry for the more than 70 podcasts that Spotify saw fit to remove from the platform after India.Arie pointed out to the world that Rogan says racist things on his podcast. And Spotify apparently had no idea that more than 70 Rogan podcasts contained the most hated word in the American vernacular. And Rogan remains employed, continuing to collect his $100 million.

Moral outrage isnt what it used to be. The hippies, 52 years ago, sang of four unarmed Kent State (Ohio) students who were killed by National Guardsmen during a peace rally after then President Richard Nixon announced a U.S. incursion into Cambodia. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Youngs song about the students, Ohio was likely a catalyst to the beginning of the end of the United States involvement in Vietnam and Cambodia.

But their protest about Rogan fell on Spotifys deaf ears. Their lack of response had nothing to do with moral outrage and everything to do with money. It took one word to get even a partial Spotify response, not because of moral outrage, but because they fear significant subscription cancellations. The hook of Ohio is familiar to everyone my age: Tin soldiers and Nixon comingfour dead in O-HI-O. Welcome to 2022 900,000 dead so far.

Michael Sanborn writes from Rapid City.

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Moral outrage isn't what it used to be - Black Hills Pioneer

Published: 2/7/2022 11:22:36 AM

Modified: 2/7/2022 11:20:57 AM

Joe Bidens commitment to nominating a Black woman to replace Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court is drawing heavy criticism from the right and left.

Readers may recall that he made this commitment initially just before the 2020 Democratic primary in South Carolina. Representative James Clyburn (D-SC), a man of great influence in South Carolina politics, urged Biden to do so and the rest, as they say, is history. Biden won the primary and the presidency in some or large part because of the Black vote.

The objections from the political right were predictable. GOP leaders and their conservative media friends would have a hissy fit no matter the eventual nominee. Slightly more surprising and far more discouraging is the response from so-called liberals and progressives.

This week, the progressive, Black New York Times columnist Charles Blow wrote a characteristically powerful column celebrating Bidens commitment. The Blow-back in readers comments was overwhelming. As a comment junkie myself, I find the sentiments expressed in the comment section to be a reliable gauge of Democratic-leaning voter reaction. Most objections followed the identity politics will be the ruination of the Democratic Party theme. Many included just appoint the most qualified person advice. Only a select few applauded the commitment. Even many of those who think nomination of a Black women is a good idea, worry that announcing it looks like affirmative action and that a successful nominee will be forever tainted by that appearance.

The growing animus toward identity politics is baffling and infuriating. The most vehement objections seem to come from those who have benefitted from their identity for all of American history white men like me. Women only gained the right to vote with passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, 72 years after the womens rights movement began with the Seneca Falls Convention. Even thereafter, Native women and Asian women were denied the franchise in many states based on identity politics. Voting rights were consistently withheld from Black men and women until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Massive voter suppression is a cancerous feature of Republican politics today.

For decades, school and college admission was denied or limited based on applicants identity. Same sex marriages were illegal for most of our history, everywhere in the fictional exceptional America. For millions of women, Black, gay, native and minority groups , American Exceptionalism has meant EXCEPT YOU!

In the 231 year history of the Supreme Court, 5.3% of justices have been women or minorities. 51% of Americans are women, yet 24% and 27% of Senators and Representatives, respectively, are women. I published these statistics a few months ago:

Black households have median family wealth of $24,100, according to the Federal Reserve. For white households the figure is $188,200.

Black incarceration rates are nearly six times that of whites, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.

The Urban Institute finds 71.9% of white families own homes compared with 41.8% of Black families.

CBS News reported that Black executives hold only 3.2% of senior corporate leadership positions and only 0.8% of Fortune 500 CEO positions.

Black people are 12% of the population and comprise 5% of doctors, the Association of American Medical Colleges finds.

The Economic Policy Institute notes that 30.8% of Black children live in poverty compared with 10.8% of white children.

In every dimension of our society, white identity predicts advantage. Male identity gives even more privilege. And now, when the president promises a nomination based partially on identity, we scream NOT FAIR! I guess to many so-called liberals and progressives (and nearly all Republicans), its only consideration of someone elses identity thats a problem. White men never have to reflect that it was often their identity that provided opportunity and experience, because it was never spoken out loud. The privilege of a white male identity is something so deeply embedded in our culture and history that we dont even recognize it.

The nomination of a Black woman will not be tokenism or political correctness. It will be long, long overdue inclusion of an identity that has disadvantaged generations of women and girls. It will bring a set of values, perspectives and experiences to bear on American justice that no white man or woman can fully understand. And it will give Black women and girls a powerful example to identify with.

Identity politics? Damn right, and its about time.

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Column: Inclusion is the correct course for high court - Valley News

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ZIP IT TRUDEAUSo, in the past few days Parliaments own Wiarton Willie, aka Justin Trudeau, poked out his head from his hiding hole to lecture us on how disgusted Canadians are with the truckers convoy that is paralyzing downtown Ottawa. If anyone should understand how disgusted Canadians are it would be our intrepid PM, whose track record includes Blackface, the Kokanee Grope, the SNC-Lavalin affair, etc. In another display of nation-building, the PM has refused to meet with the convoy protesters and prefers to label many of them as misogynistic and racist. It also seems that the PM and his leftists are suddenly the new arbiters of proper etiquette when it comes to protests. While some in Ottawa desecrated a statue by placing a baseball cap and hanging a flag and a sign on it, it would appear they have much to learn from the leftists/progressives who much prefer to pour paint over statues or pull them to the ground and remove the head (e.g. Sir John A. Macdonald). Or, better still, how about burning down churches in various parts of the country? When it comes to anything involving ethics or morals, I just wish the most divisive and most destructive PM this country has ever had would just be quiet!

Martin LennonMarkham(He never misses an opportunity to inflame further divisions between Canadians)

CHURCH OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESSIts time our country reimagined its separation of church and state. Political correctness has become the new religion with its own commandments, one of which is critical race theory. This dogma is being imposed in our supposedly public, secular schools at the expense of the Three Rs. Why not establish a Church of Political Correctness where you and your family would be free to attend or not. You could then drill down as deep as you want and even evangelize for converts. This would free up our public schools and teachers to fulfill their original purpose, that of actually educating our kids.

Tim ConwayToronto(But why narrow yourself to one place of worship when there are multiple institutions to spread the message no matter how misguided)

TOUGHEN UPOnce again Jerry Agar hits the nail right on the head! (Close calls on the road thanks to bad drivers, Jan. 18) It is was too easy to get a drivers licence. Pretty much all you need to be able to do is breathe and thats just barely a requirement. The number of really bad drivers is probably close to triple the number of adequate drivers. And whats up with this driving all the way to the end on the on-ramp before merging into traffic? The lane is down to three-feet wide and now you think people should let you in? You had your chance and you blew it! As far as Im concerned, driving is a privilege, not a right. Some people just dont have what it takes to drive well and I think they just shouldnt be allowed to. Either that, or once a month they should just have a no-rules free-for-all on the highways. Let the morons fight it out to the death. Its a Darwin thing. Cmon, government, do the right thing just this once. Make it much more difficult to get a licence. Make it so that you actually have to know the rules and be able to drive very well before youre let loose on the streets. Just think, the next fatality just might be your own and you could have prevented it.

Jeremy ThorntonScarborough(Driving is a privilege, not a right, and in order to exercise this, you need to be competent)

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Letters to the Editor, Jan. 6, 2022 - Toronto Sun

In the introduction to his 16th book, George Will quotes Peter De Vries, who proclaimed, I write when Im inspired, and I see to it that I am inspired at nine oclock every morning.

Will then adds a codicil: he goes to work before 8 a.m., as he has done for half a century.

These thousands of hours have led to the aforementioned books, a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1977, and a reputation as arguably Americas foremost journalist. American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent, 2008-2020 shows that Will remains, at 80, at the height of his powers.

In declarative but rarely simple sentences and columns roughly 750 words long, Will opines on major subjects that the book helpfully organizes by topics: Politics and Policies, Skirmishes in the Culture Wars, even Games, and so on. Over the decades, Will has felt liberal, conservative and now libertarian-conservative sensibilities and has published them in The Washington Post and in syndication. While being brief, he seeks to opine without being superficial.

A dive into this 2021 collection confirms Wills self-assessment. Without stooping to the name-calling so common in what often passes as journalistic commentary today, Will offers his curmudgeonly, contrarian take on one matter after another. He derides populism, defends monopolies and deplores political correctness. In a cautiously pessimistic way, Will offers something to offend almost anyone. His words, however, serve as catalysts rather than cudgels. He makes his readers think.

I find it impossible to read American Happiness and Discontents without pausing every few minutes to exclaim, I never knew that! and Where on earth did he find that?! For example, in his column A Year in U.S. History as Disruptive as 2020, Will flecks (a verb he enjoys using) his discourse about 1942 with such tidbits as the first successful use of penicillin, a ban on cuffs and pleats on mens trousers, and a bizarre quotation from Georgias Eugene Talmadge about putting our debutantes to hoeing potatoes. These items, it seems, came from the Tracy Campbell book (The Year of Peril: America in 1942) recommended in the column.

Will frequently calls readers attention to books that drew his. Subjects vary. One book I have already ordered based on Wills recommendation is John Tamnys Popular Economics: What the Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James Can Teach You about Economics. This is the book that comes down in favor of monopolies as friendly to consumers. I am not persuaded, but the discussion and the title are alluring.

The books Will recommends about education alone could make for a fascinating course reading list. So do the articles referenced from the Chronicle of Higher Education and blogs. All the while, Will (a Princeton PhD himself) cautions readers against the babble coming from the professoriate. Only the highly educated, Will declaims, write so badly.

So encyclopedic is Wills knowledge that he appears to have a staff and a working knowledge of every major writer or event in history. The latter or something approximating it emerges from a lifetime of reading, studying, and thinking. Will acknowledges the former in detail, with those he singles out including five research assistants and Sarah Walton, for her many years of indispensable assistance. Will includes a poignant personal tribute to Walton, the widow of a soldier killed in Afghanistan in 2008.

Shakespeare, Camus, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Philip Larkin are among the many authors Will quotes with fluency. The same goes for events and individuals ranging from (in the first column) the signing of the Magna Carta to (in the penultimate, The Last Doughboy) Frank Buckles, who served in World War I and survived and thrived into the Obama administration. Buckles extraordinary life, in more than one way, calls to mind Wills remarkable career.

I would have liked to see a more thorough index for American Happiness and Discontents. Too few of the writers and publications Will discusses appear in the index. Eugene Talmadge appears more than once in the text but not at all in the index. Talmadges comments on debutantes and, elsewhere, his heinous remarks after Americas Last Mass Lynching call out for indexing, if only as examples of a how not to govern variety.

This is a minor complaint, however. Will offers more insights and fascinating tidbits than I can hope to do justice in approximately 750 words. I highly recommend a few or all the columns in American Happiness and Discontents to anyone who cares about our past, or especially how we shape our future.

Dr. Lee Brewer Jones is a Newnan native and professor of English at Georgia State University.

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American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent - Newnan Times-Herald

QAnon's Featured Ghosts

We all witnessed the witless waves of QAnoners gathered in Dallas's Dealey Plaza last November, eagerly awaiting the return of John F. Kennedyand/or his equally deceased son, JFK Jr. It was daunting to watch their devotion. Many remained on the sidewalks waiting for a Kennedy Moment days after the promised resurrection date had passed. (Granted, a few true believers bailed and decamped to a Rolling Stone concert that evening, buoyed by rumors that the Stone's Keith Richards was actually JFK Jr. in disguise.)

So now: an update on Trump's Reincarnation Nation.

A Trumpster recently interviewed on national TV assured reporters that The Donald would not only win reelection in 2024, but that the entertainment for his victory celebration would feature an appearance by Michael Jackson!

What is it with the Far Right's fetish for wanting to bring-back-the-dead? Is this a faith-based fixationthe belief in the coming of an A-List Neo-Jesus (minus The Rapture)?

But here's the really odd part about these Second Comings of pop-culture icons: why are these "featured ghosts" all celebrities of a "liberal" persuasion? Why are there no forecasts that Trump's Triumph will be visited by the ghastly likes of a ghostly Rush Limbaugh? A not-yet-deceased David Koch? A wide-awake Herman Cain?

Russia Defuses Ireland's Ire

The Russian military, which had announced naval drills off the coast of Ireland, subsequently agreed to move them further away after the local fisherfolk threatened to disrupt the sea-going exercises. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan interviewed two of the fishermen who were involved in "making waves" and netting a win for diplomacy. Thank you, Ireland! Thank you, Russia!

PS: I can't imagine a scenario in which our pugnacious Pentagon would order the US Navy to stand down from a war game because of complaints from a foreign fishing fleet.

Trump Keeps On Lyin' On Line

D. Trump continues to be a terrifying and malignant force in US politics. According to his self-aggrandizing DonaldTrump.com website, "the Former Guy" appears to believe he's still an in-charge nation-builder. The home page blandly boasts: "Together, we are rebuilding our nation. Help fulfill our promise to Make America Great Again!"

The options at the top right of Trump's "Save America" screen offer seven selectionsAbout, Events, News, Alerts, Contact, Shop, and Contribute. Let's take a look.

You would think that an "About" page by-and-about a recognized hyper-narcissist would be filled with large blocks of type, celebrity photos, lots of ego-crowing, and bales of boastful blather. But Trump's "About" page is pretty bare-bones.

A 96-word overview claims: "my administration delivered for Americans of all backgrounds like never before" and "we respect our great American Flag." A dozen short sentences salute a familiar roster of conservative touchstones: "Judeo-Christian values," human rights that "come from God" including "the right to Keep and Bear Arms," "rebuilding our previously depleted military," opposing the "oppressive dictates of political correctness," believing "that the Constitution means exactly what it says AS WRITTEN," that police "deserve our absolute support," "that America must always have the most powerful military on the face of the Earth," and that leaders should be chosen by "secure elections going forward where every LEGAL VOTE counts."

Trump's Webpage Presence: One Dead-end After Another

Two of the seven selections receive special treatment. "Shop" is highlighted in a box. "Contribute" appears as a MAGA-red button. Clicking on the "Events" option brings forth a blank screen. Similarly, the "News" option has no news to offer, just a page with a sign-up sheet for "exclusive updates from Donald J. Trump" and the "Alerts" page contains nothing but the same, empty sign-up sheet.

The "Contact" link leads to a small gallery of photos, mainly depicting Trump in front of large crowds. Unlike the previous pages, there is a hunk of text on this screen that reads: "The Office of Donald J. Trump is committed to preserving the magnificent legacy of the Trump Administration, while at the same time advancing the America First agenda. Through civic engagement and public activism, the Office of Donald J. Trump will strive to inform, educate, and inspire Americans from all walks of life as we seek to build a truly great American Future. Through this office, President Trump will remain a tireless champion for the hardworking men and women of our great countryand for their right to live in safety, dignity, prosperity, and peace."

For Trump, The Press is So Depressing

In a special slot designed to handle "Press Inquiries," there is just a single photo of Trump posed in front of a mob of reporters. But there's really no reason to visit this page since (as the only verbiage on display explains): "Donald J. Trump and Melania Trump enjoy hearing from the American people. Due to the volume of media requests President and Mrs. Trump receive, we will not provide status updates. Thank you for your understanding."

Understood. The Trumps are clearly too busy with affairs-of-state (the state being Florida) to attend to the needs of curious reporters (and too cheap to hire an intern to handle the "flood" of press queries). At least the page doesn't invoke the phrase, "enemy of the people."

Trump.com's Only Working Pages: Buy and Give

The only two functioning links on the Trump webpage are "Contribute" and "Shop." The page for contributions offers the following news: "Having enough cash on hand is essential to SAVING AMERICA from Joe Biden and his liberal cronies. Step up now! Were about to surpass 1 MILLION online donors - an absolutely historic achievement! As soon as we hit 1 MILLION, were sending President Trump a PRINTED donor list IMMEDIATELY. Will your name be in the 1 millionth spot?

"Shop," the final webpage (and the only one to feature actual content) is both shameless and sad. It displays an array of cheesy collectibles, all sporting Trump's brand name and/or his smirking image. The opening page displays a dozen featured items ranging from Special Edition MAGA Caps ($40), to Save America beer glasses ($22) and Trump Signature Photo Mugs ($30).

But the sorriest sight is all the items apparently left over from what must have been a rather listless holiday sales season. The collection of unsold Christmas gifts include a Single Trump Merry Christmas Greeting Card ($10, postage not included), an ornamental Save America Cap to hang on your holiday tree ($68), a Trump Save America Christmas Stocking ($40), and six-feet of holiday wrapping paper featuring the face of the smiling ex-president wearing a "Trump Santa Hat" ($28).

There are six pages of not-so-goodies, in toto, including, on the very last page, a $20 yard sign reading "Let's Go Brandon"which, if you haven't heard, is a rightwing slur-chant aimed at the current president. It translates into: "F Joe Biden."

Kinda tacky, even for a disgraced ex-president. But just more proof that TrumpleThinSkin remains a living contagion capable of spreading lies faster and farther than the latest COVID-19 variant. He deserves to be quarantined and confinedideally in a federal prison (following a trial and conviction, of course).

Peace Constitutions

Wouldn't it be great if peace was enshrined as a right under national law? Well, the Action Network has come up with a campaign to petition "Governments of the World's Nations to Put Military Neutrality and a Ban on War in Every Nation's Constitution."

A group called the Veterans Global Peace Network has begun promoting a proposal to persuade countries to "enshrine positive military neutrality in their constitutions." VGPN notes that the Hague Convention on neutrality provides the legal foundation on which to build internationally recognized laws on military neutrality. If the prospect of enshrining peace (and proscribing war) appeals to you, you can learn more and take action by clicking here. In the meantime, here's an "instant bumper-sticker" you can enlarge and print out:Want Peace, Unconditional?Make War Unconstitutional!

And if you want to protest the fact that US "defense spending" (including veterans benefits and nuclear weapons costs hidden in the Department of Energy budget) claims nearly two-thirds of the $1.522 trillion FY 2022 federal budget, here's a slogan you might want to use for the annual April anti-war tax protests:

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SMITHEREENS: Reflections on Bits & Pieces. Category: Columns from The Berkeley Daily Planet - Berkeley Daily Planet

The NBA in the 1990s was like a different world.

Hard fouls were the norm, and brawls in the locker room or the hardwood were as expected as a hockey game skirmish.

However, one player virtually defined the rock em, sock em style of the era, and that man was Xavier McDaniel.

As he was known to Wichita State University Shocker fans, where he played college ball, X was the first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in scoring (27.2 points per game) and rebounding (14.8 rebounds per game) as a senior in 1985.

McDaniel finished his career as the schools all-time leading rebounder (1,359) and second in scoring (2,152). Playing for Wichita State from 1981-85, McDaniel was a first-team Associated Press and United States Basketball Writers Association All-American as a senior.

He was the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year in 1984 and 1985. He had nine career 20-point/20-rebound games most in school history and led the Shockers to two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Frankly put, he was destined for greatness; however, once he entered the NBA, he went on a quest to establish his dominance within the league and on his teams.

McDaniel is mainly known for his Seattle SuperSonics days. He was drafted fourth overall in the first round in 1985 by the former Pacific Northwest team.

McDaniel and Sonics teammate Dale Ellis once got into a fistfight early on during the 1990-91 season. Ellis, recovering from a foot injury, was readying his season debut and McDaniel felt he came to practice unprepared.

According to reports, McDaniels told him it was unacceptable, and Ellis threw a portable telephone at McDaniel. It resulted in police being called to report a fight in which five people attempted to intervene.

He also spent time with the Boston Celtics and had a memorable one season with the New York Knicks in 1991-1992.

He was part of the last golden era for the Knicks under the direction of then-coach Pat Riley; former Georgetown standout-turned-New York icon Patrick Ewing and the strong underdog crew of Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, and John Starks.

However, in addition to getting into a fight with Mason on the first day of practice, McDaniel had other more peculiar ways of showing the team he had arrived.

In his new book Blood in the Garden, author Chris Herring reveals some of McDaniels more interesting assertions of his manhood in the locker room.

McDaniel prioritized manhood. Specifically, his own manhood. According to McDanielss teammates in Seattle, he often walked around the Sonics locker room fully erect after games, hanging towels on his hardened member. Also, he fought people and he fought them constantly.

The former NBA All-Star averaged 20 and 8 for the first five years of his career. In the 1992 NBA playoffs against the Chicago Bulls, he will forever be known as the guy who abused Scottie Pippen horribly over the seven-game series.

It was so bad that Michael Jordan interceded before the Bulls won and eventually solidified their second NBA title.

In a world of political correctness and heavy referee scrutiny, Xavier McDaniel is a reminder of a long-gone era of competitors that took no prisoners.

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With the American political scene having clearly devolved into dysfunctionality, those of us seeking a constructive response are bound to reconsider first principles, examine alternative viewpoints, and delve into unexplored avenues of the American tradition.

For instance, it has been largely forgotten that although Thomas Jefferson was himself a man of wealth and privilege, his political theory cherished the small landholders, who were in Jeffersons view the most precious part of a state. According to Jefferson, the yeoman farmer enjoys a self-sufficiency and self-reliance quite alien to the hired laborer or for that matter even the shopkeeper, who is still somewhat dependent upon the goodwill of his customers. With a little fertile land and the skill to work it, a man might never want for bread or a roof over his head, and so might never be controlled by a boss, be that boss an actual manager, a group of investors, or the bureaucracy of a leviathan state.

So the self-sufficient landholder would be a man in a position to think for himself, vote however he liked, and express his honest opinions on public affairs without fear or favor. Hence Jeffersonians have tended to regard the decline of the family farm not merely with melancholy but alarm, for they foresee in the collapse of traditional farming communities the decline of the republic itself. In 1930, concern for the American republic inspired a particular group of Jeffersonians to collectively issue their now-famous manifesto, Ill Take My Stand.

A number of specific issues provoked the aforementioned volumes twelve authors to rally together. Most pressing, perhaps, was their concern regarding the deteriorating effects of industrialism and mass culture upon their home states and communities. Moreover, several of the Vanderbilt cadre had traveled abroad and/or served in the army during the First World War, and when they returned home to the rural South they found themselves regarding it with fresh perspective and deeper appreciation. More than a few were put off by the negative press directed at Tennessee in particular and the Bible Belt in general during the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial.

Last but not least, their manifesto is in part a retort to the sarcastic and atheistic Baltimore journalist H.L. Mencken, who in a scathing essay dubbed the South the Sahara of the Bozarts. In effect, Mencken was insinuating that the only real American culture was to be found in Northern metropolises such as Boston, Philadelphia, or New York City.

So Ill Take My Stand is first and foremost a defense of Southern rural culture, set in opposition to an aggressively urbanizing New South, which the authors regarded as little more than an imitation of the industrialist North and a second-rate imitation, at that. That the Vanderbilt Agrarians did not oppose science, technology, or urban life as such is made clear in this excerpt from the Statement of Principles which serves as a preamble to the book:

An agrarian society is hardly one that has no use at all for industries, for professional vocations, for scholars and artists, and for the life of cities. Technically, perhaps, an agrarian society is one in which agriculture is the leading vocation, whether for wealth, for pleasure, or for prestige a form of labor that is pursued with intelligence and leisure, and that becomes the model to which the other forms approach as well as they may. [] The theory of agrarianism is that the culture of the soil is the best and most sensitive of vocations, and that therefore it should have the economic preference and enlist the maximum number of workers.

So rather than say that the Vanderbilt Agrarians were against cities and technology and so on, it would be more accurate to say instead that they were very much for farmers and rural communities. And that they believed that cities which failed to maintain a healthy, vibrant relationship with the surrounding countryside would soon degenerate into squalid wastelands of ugliness and despair. To set up Progress as a god, they contended, was the surest way to rob men of their political liberty, stifle economic independence, and erode traditional culture.

Nor would insatiable Progress spare religious devotion, they continued:

Religion can hardly expect to flourish in an industrial society. Religion is our submission to the general intention of a nature that is fairly inscrutable; it is the sense of our role as creatures within it. But nature industrialized, transformed into cities and artificial habitations, manufactured into commodities, is no longer nature but a highly simplified picture of nature. We receive the illusion of having power over nature, and lose the sense of nature as something mysterious and contingent. The God of nature under these conditions is merely an amiable expression, a superfluity, and the philosophical understanding ordinarily carried in the religious experience is not there for us to have.

While the Vanderbilt definition of religion might have its limits, anyone doubting the claim that an overemphasis upon applied technology will lead to godlessness is invited to pay a visit to Silicon Valley.

Speaking of religion, it so happens that the Agrarians came to the approving attention of G.K. Chesterton, who saw their work as addressing some of his own concerns about the abuses of early 20th-century industrial capitalism. Indeed, Chestertons renowned friend and colleague Hilaire Belloc would personally engage the Agrarian project, contributing the anthropological study The Modern Man to Who Owns America?, the 1936 sequel to Ill Take My Stand. Yet another contributor to Who Owns America? was Father John C. Rawe, S.J., an important advocate of the Roman Catholic rural life movement. Per Father Rawe, agricultural policy should be oriented toward the needs of family homesteads rather than the canons of investment and finance.

Later, two of the most prominent of the original Vanderbilt Agrarians would themselves became Catholic one formally, the other through baptism of desire. The widely celebrated poet Allen Tate entered the Church in 1950 partly because he saw it as the only remedy for an increasingly depersonalizing mass-society, but also in part because of the persuasive powers of his friends Jacques and Raissa Maritain. As one biographer notes, the philosopher Maritain not only served as Tates godfather but somewhat romantically compared Tate to the fifth-century Frankish king Clovis, whose conversion brought a nation into the church.

As for the other Catholic Agrarian, Donald Davidson, his longstanding view of the Bible as the consummate tradition is illumined by the fact that on the very night before he died he revealed to his wife his intention to receive instruction in the Catholic Faith. (Mrs. Davidson subsequently became Catholic.)

To say that the Southern agrarian movement is out of fashion in this age of Zoom education, populist politics, and political-correctness on steroids is an understatement. So, no doubt many readers would just as soon gloss over any Catholic connection to it. Before allowing an unimaginative spirit of fear to dictate our intellectual life, however, we might concede the Agrarian thesis at least addresses many of the problems bemoaned by Catholic natural lawyers today.

Among other things, Tate, Davidson, and the rest warned that an overemphasis on industry and applied science would alienate man from the natural order. Given the perversities now taken for granted and the spectacle of COVID hermits living life in self-imposed isolation, all in a context of trusting the Science, how can any serious Catholic entirely dismiss the Agrarians warning?

We might also mull over Tates specific contribution to the Agrarian manifesto, wherein he identifies the technocratic dream for what it is a surrogate religion:

We know that the cult of infallible working is a religion because it sets up an irrational value; it is irrational to believe in omnipotent human rationality. Nothing infallibly works, and the new half-religionists are simply worshipping a principle, and with true half-religious fanaticism they ignore what they do not want to see which is the breakdown of the principle in numerous instances of practice. It is a bad religion, for that very reason; it can predict only success.

Note that even before coming into the Church, Tate questioned the dogma of technocratic secularism more than do many clergy today. In any event, neither absurdly off-target election night predictions, nor decades of worthless military reports about Afghanistan, nor protean COVID decrees have done all that much to diminish the cult of infallible working. If anything, the Agrarian critique rings sharper than it did when it was first issued.

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Why the Agrarian critique of American culture rings true today - Catholic World Report

Joe Markowski thinks Bob Arum should speak for himself as it relates to his controversy-raising remarks on womens boxing.

Arum, the 90-year-old head of Top Rank Inc., caused a firestorm recently when he claimed that people dont particularly pay attention to the womens fights. The comments were made in light of the fact that Arum is promoting a lightweight unification bout between Shakur Stevenson and Oscar Valdez on the same night, April 30, as the womens undisputed lightweight title bout between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. Arum dug the knife even deeper by putting the onus on ESPN, his exclusive broadcast partner, claiming that the network had no interest in airing womens boxing.

The answer is ESPN made the schedule and they couldnt care less [about womens boxing], Arum said in an interview with IFL TV. I dont want to denigrate fights, I dont want to be accused of being anti-women in sports, but Im telling you, this is like the Premier League against womens football.

Markowski, an executive vice president at DAZN, the platform that will broadcast Taylor-Serrano, thinks Arums comments were a source of embarrassment for ESPN and will haunt him, and the network, moving forward.

I would imagine the executives at ESPN winced when they saw that, Markowski told BoxingScene.com Wednesday afternoon at a press conference in New York City to announce Taylor-Serrano. As the World Wide Leader in Sports, as they market themselves, they are going to be pretty embarrassed that one of their content suppliers is speaking about womens sport in that way.

Markowski was also at pains to point out that DAZN has made a concrete investment in womens boxing, not out of some superficial fealty to notions of political correctness, but because it makes good business sense.

More importantly its not the view of DAZN, clearly, Markowski said. As a group, before we were DAZN, our original parent company, Perform, landed the biggest ever womens sport deal with the WTA tennis, a 10-year media distribution deal thats halfway through right now. DAZN, since our inception since 2016, have always invested and sought out opportunities to invest in women's sport.

I think a lot of time we are challenged by that by [people] saying, Oh youre just doing it for the PR, youre doing it because it appears to be the right thing to do. Thats not the reason we do it. We do it because it makes good business sense. This fight (Taylor-Serrano) is a very good example of that. This fight has more of an opportunity to cut through the mainstream audience full stop than the vast majority of male boxing fights.

Markowski pointed to the media turnout for the US press conference for Taylor-Serrano, which was held at Madison Square Garden, as evidence of the bout's broad appeal.

The fact that the New York Times, Good Morning America are here, the fact that there are mainstream media outlets genuinely intrigued makes me very confident that it will be very valuable to us and will make for a good investment, Markowski said of Taylor-Serrano. I am very excited about that.

Irelands Taylor (20-0, 6 KOs), the WBO/WBA/WBC/IBF unified 135-pound champion, will take on seven-division titlist and New York native Serrano (42-1-1, 30 KOs) in a 10-round championship bout. It is the first female bout to headline Madison Square Garden and is being regarded as a historical milestone. Promoting the bout is Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and Jake Paul, the content creator/boxer, who doubles as Serranos chief business partner. Paul, who boasts a significant social media presence, was one of the more vocal critics of Arums comments, calling the nonagenarian a dinosaur out of step with the times.

Markowski believes, in the end, Arums comments will be something of a recurring motif as it relates to the promotion of Taylor-Serrano.

I will choose to ignore Bob Arums comments, Markowski said. Actually, they will blow up in his face to a certain extent because it will draw attention that will ultimately result in eyeballs watching this fight. So you can almost thank him on that basis. Were going to go after him. You saw Jake today, Jake went after him on it, and Jake should. Outdated views should be challenged on a platform as big as Jakes got, hes gonna do that.

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DAZN Exec on Arum's Womens Boxing Comments: 'They Will Blow Up in His Face' - BoxingScene.com