C’weal editors lay into the general . . .

It’s a Democratic duty, the head says, capping all the words as title-writing calls for. Otherwise, they would write small-d democratic. I wouldn’t, but would call it Democratic, as in party. Like the magazine, of course.

John Kelly’s dark view of American politics and society may be closer than anyone suspected to that of his boss

Now as for dark view, that sounds about right. There oughta be more of that, if you ask me.

Source: Sacred Things | Commonweal Magazine

Church in Germany “Tired” and Sterile, says African cardinal

Money isn’t everything, for one thing.

Instead of money the Church “should give Christ” to the people, Burkina Faso Cardinal Philippe Quédraogo told an audience during a Mass in Wertlingen, Germany, on October 22.

Quédraogo called the German Church “tired” and asked, “Does the Church here still reach the people?” He also pointed out that less and less young people show interest for the Church and less and less children are baptized.

Although the Church in Germany is deeply corrupt, it has a strong influence on Pope Francis and the Vatican.

It’s not what you call preaching to the choir.

Source: gloria.tv

Professor Claims Math Promotes Whiteness | The Daily Caller

They get some wonderful teachers for our children, do they not?

“On many levels, mathematics itself operates as Whiteness,” [U of IL Prof Rochelle Gutierrez] argues with complete sincerity, according to Campus Reform. “Who gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in mathematics, and who is seen as part of the mathematical community is generally viewed as White.”

She is a dear, no doubt.

Something Stirring in the West? – The Catholic Thing

​​
​Robert Royal about European elections of right-wing candidates:


We’re seeing a budding, if still disorganized, reaction in the developed world to the ways that what might be called “authoritarian liberalism” has come to dominate us. Trumpism, of course, is the most obvious example. But even in Europe, the place that seems to have gone the furthest down that illiberal path, something remarkable is underway.

​Take ​Brexit:



The Brits have only been half-hearted EU members and never entered the monetary union. There’s something in the pragmatic Anglo-American mind that doesn’t sit easy with the kind of irresponsible bureaucracy in Brussels. Lax immigration policies while London has been repeatedly hit by terrorist attacks were the last straw. In a way, Brexit is unfortunate because, as an Italian friend said to me recently, “Without the British we Europeans are mostly just ex-Fascists, ex-Nazis, ex-Communists.”

​The Anglosphere​
​argument comes to mind.​ There’s more, of course:.


Much of the resistance in several European countries stems both a potent mix of grievances against the EU and opposition to mass Muslim immigration (and fear of terr

ori

sm). But the deeper cause may just be the perceived slipping away of a common European way of life and a loss of national traditions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Pope Francis have pushed very hard for opening borders, promoting assimilation, calming fears. The mainstream European media, like the American MSM, have largely tried to help with that task

​So we have stand-off.​


The usual view from Brussels is that the new movements of nationalism/patriotism now in Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republ

ic, and some of the Balkan nations is retrograde and undemocratic. By contrast, many in those countries feel it’s Brussels that operates with a high hand against the interests and wishes of various European peoples

​So what? We turn away from the drastic.


But nature, wise men know, abhors a vacuum. And if we don’t stand up for what we are and have been, we may rightly wonder whether we will continue to stand at

all. Better if we can learn to do that in an intelligent and sober way – right now – than to put off decisions until only the most radical interventions will work

.


.

Exaggeration for effect, slipping in the outrageous, many find it funny: Trump’s tweets

Method in his madness, says Dilbert creator Douglas Adams.

If you think Mr. Trump’s tweets are nothing but thin-skinned reflex, you’re missing a great show. Historians and trained persuaders will be analyzing his extraordinary Twitter game for hundreds of years, wondering how much of it was based on training and how much was pure instinct.

He knows what he’s doing.