U.S. bishops should feel shame. I’m guessing that, some how, some way, they won’t.

benfell

LinkedIn has done it again, this time without even a profanity in the headline, censoring one of my posts. I don’t even want to hear their excuses. I don’t care about their explanations. I want them to close the account and have told them so. I am now treating all emails from LinkedIn as spam.

Abortion

Roman Catholic Church

So, do you suppose that Pope Francis meant it when he admonished bishops to be pastors rather than politicians[1] and a Vatican cardinal echoed his remarks more pointedly[2] about an effort to stop Joe Biden from receiving communion because of his stance on abortion rights?[3] Put it this way: If you don’t like Joe Biden on abortion, you sure as hell ain’t gonna like Nancy Pelosi on abortion. But guess who the Pope met?[4]

My suggestion to those bishops would be that if they don’t like it, they should consider following the example of Martin Luther. Oh, but that would undermine their own authority. Oops.

Philip Pullella, “Pope meets Pelosi as abortion debate rages back home,” Reuters, October 9, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pope-meets-pelosi-abortion-debate-rages-back-home-2021-10-09/

Courts

Ann E. Marimow, “Appeals court reinstates Texas’s six-week abortion ban, two days after it was lifted,” Washington Post, October 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/texas-appeals-abortion-ruling/2021/10/08/56b9fe9e-2774-11ec-8831-a31e7b3de188_story.html

Pandemic

Pennsylvania and environs

Jason Laughlin, “Vaccines continue to protect against COVID-19, but latest Pa. data show signs of waning effectiveness,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 8, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/vaccine-breakthrough-covid-pennsylvania-hospitalization-infection-20211008.html

(Inter)national

Alex Horton, “Hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops have not yet complied with vaccine mandate as deadlines near,” Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/10/10/military-vaccine-mandate/

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

David Smith, “The silence of Donald Trump: how Twitter’s ban is cramping his style,” Guardian, October 9, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/09/the-silence-of-donald-trump-how-twitters-ban-is-cramping-his-style

Environment

Pennsylvania region

Joe Napsha, “Report: Drilling spills ruined wells and polluted streams in Westmoreland, across Pennsylvania,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 9, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/report-drilling-spills-ruined-wells-and-polluted-streams-in-westmoreland-across-pennsylvania/

Christopher Columbus

It’s been a while since I’d checked in on the controversy over the Christopher Columbus statue in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park, of which I have previously written,

I guess it’s really weird to me that Italian-Amerikkkans can apparently find no other symbol to take pride in other than Christopher Columbus, who was a bit more than, as Bill Peduto phrases a perspective I share, “a progenitor of slavery and racism.”[5] Columbus was one who initiated genocide.[6] It’s disturbing even that people find this something to be proud of.[7]

As near as I can tell, a court battle over the potential removal rages on[8] and now—here’s what inspired me to check up on the Schenley Park statue—I learn of a similar controversy, featuring at least one of the same actors, in Philadelphia.[9]

If anything, my earlier comment[10] is entirely too mild.

Jason Laughlin and Allison Steele, “After a day of wrangling, South Philly Columbus statue to stay covered — for now, court rules,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 9, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/news/columbus-statue-marconi-plaza-judge-remove-box-20211009.html

Laura McCrystal and Sean Collins Walsh, “A judge ordered Philadelphia to remove the plywood box covering the Christopher Columbus statue in Marconi Plaza,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 9, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/news/columbus-statue-south-philly-marconi-plaza-20211008.html

Race

Annabelle Tometich, “What pretending to be a White guy taught me about privilege,” Washington Post, October 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/08/white-male-privilege-pretending-restaurant-critic-filipina-writer/

Afghanistan

It’s worth remembering, with regard to accusations of Pakistani double-dealing repeated in this article,[11] that Pervez Musharaff, Pakistan’s president at the time of the 9/11 attacks, accused the U.S. of “threaten[ing] to bomb Pakistan ‘back to the stone age’ unless it joined the fight against al-Qaeda.” Apparently the U.S. government refused to comment on the allegation.[12]

This alleged conduct is simply asinine, so had the George W. Bush administration confirmed Musharaff’s allegation, they would have been admitting they were asses. Denying it, on the other hand, might have led Musharaff to supply proof—you know everybody has transcripts and recordings of all these conversations—which would have exposed them as asses and liars. Suffice it to say, the Bush administration’s non-denial strikes me very strongly as very near confirmation.

Which certainly makes it seem like the Pakistani “alliance” was agreed to under duress. And that successive U.S. administrations, now including Joe Biden’s administration,[13] have expected the Pakistani government to grovel and to meekly comply. Do I really need to point out how foolish this is?

Shah Meer Baloch and Julian Borger, “Biden administration delivers brusque message to Pakistan,” Guardian, October 10, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/10/biden-administration-delivers-brusque-message-to-pakistan

  1. [1]Elisabetta Povoledo, Richard Pérez-Peña, and Ruth Graham, “Pope Weighs In on Calls to Deny Communion to Biden Over Abortion,” New York Times, September 15, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/world/europe/pope-francis-biden-abortion.html↩
  2. [2]Donna Cassata, “Top Vatican cardinal says Biden should not be denied Communion,” Washington Post, October 4, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-catholic-communion-abortion-rights/2021/10/04/4c4a7138-2525-11ec-8831-a31e7b3de188_story.html↩
  3. [3]Michelle Boorstein, “Catholic bishops vote on controversial Communion document,” Washington Post, June 18, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/06/18/biden-catholic-president-bishops-abortion-communion/; Matt Viser, “Biden, deeply Catholic president, finds himself at odds with many U.S. bishops,” Washington Post, June 18, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-catholic-bishops/2021/06/18/acf576c0-d04a-11eb-a7f1-52b8870bef7c_story.html↩
  4. [4]Philip Pullella, “Pope meets Pelosi as abortion debate rages back home,” Reuters, October 9, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pope-meets-pelosi-abortion-debate-rages-back-home-2021-10-09/↩
  5. [5]Megan Guza And Joanne Klimovich Harrop, “Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto recommends removal of Columbus statue from Schenley Park,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 9, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-mayor-peduto-recommends-removal-of-columbus-statue-from-schenley-park/↩
  6. [6]Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (New York: HarperPerennial, 2005).↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “Why do Italian-Amerikkkans take pride in genocide?” Irregular Bullshit, October 10, 2020, https://disunitedstates.com/2020/10/10/why-do-italian-amerikkkans-take-pride-in-genocide/↩
  8. [8]Nick Matoney, “Final vote held to remove Christopher Columbus statue from Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park,” WTAE, October 30, 2020, https://www.wtae.com/article/final-vote-held-to-remove-christopher-columbus-statue-from-pittsburghs-schenley-park/34529036; Bill O’Driscoll, “Pittsburgh’s Columbus Statue Remains Standing While Court Dispute Continues,” WESA, June 16, 2021, https://www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-culture/2021-06-16/pittsburghs-columbus-statue-remains-standing-while-court-dispute-continues↩
  9. [9]Jason Laughlin and Allison Steele, “After a day of wrangling, South Philly Columbus statue to stay covered — for now, court rules,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 9, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/news/columbus-statue-marconi-plaza-judge-remove-box-20211009.html; Laura McCrystal and Sean Collins Walsh, “A judge ordered Philadelphia to remove the plywood box covering the Christopher Columbus statue in Marconi Plaza,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 9, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/news/columbus-statue-south-philly-marconi-plaza-20211008.html↩
  10. [10]David Benfell, “Why do Italian-Amerikkkans take pride in genocide?” Irregular Bullshit, October 10, 2020, https://disunitedstates.com/2020/10/10/why-do-italian-amerikkkans-take-pride-in-genocide/↩
  11. [11]Shah Meer Baloch and Julian Borger, “Biden administration delivers brusque message to Pakistan,” Guardian, October 10, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/10/biden-administration-delivers-brusque-message-to-pakistan↩
  12. [12]British Broadcasting Corporation, “US ‘threatened to bomb’ Pakistan,” September 22, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5369198.stm↩
  13. [13]Shah Meer Baloch and Julian Borger, “Biden administration delivers brusque message to Pakistan,” Guardian, October 10, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/10/biden-administration-delivers-brusque-message-to-pakistan↩

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