Dinner time argument about a TV show came down to this:
My wish for entertainment was an affront to the show’s right to exist; its being morally good superseded any imperative for it to be creatively better.
What would Aristotle say? “Right to exist” vs. entertainment? Here possible ticket to empty theater seats and (dare we say it?) unsold newspapers. Wagging finger or hands clapping.
more more more at The New York Times
Capitol Fax has this revealing exchange, Rauner, Pritzker, Dem spokesmen. Good, clear argument by Rauner, Nonsense from Pritzker.
For instance, Rauner:
Reporter: Governor can we clarify what you said about illegal immigrants? It sounded like you were saying that illegal immigrants are the cause of crime in Chicago. What proof do you have of that and why would you say that?
Proof? This reporter a lawyer? A professor? “Why would you say that?” by itself would do the trick.
Rauner: Unemployment, unemployment and low wages are part of contributing to crime in Chicago. There’s a lack of economic opportunity. How does illegal immigration relate to that? Illegal immigration, large scale illegal immigration, holds down wages and takes jobs that would otherwise be available for American citizens, Chicago citizens, takes them for illegal immigrants. That’s the connection. It’s about lack of economic opportunity.
The heavy under construction 40th Ward has crews all over the place, and not just Spanish-speaking. No, it’s either that or Polish-speaking.
And then the old chestnut, plucked straight from the open-borders promoters:
Reporter: How many Chicagoans want the types of jobs that illegal immigrants are doing, though? Whether it’s a landscaping job or something else that’s being paid cash on the side. How many Chicagoans really want those jobs?
Rauner: Chicagoans want to work. You ask someone in Lawndale, Austin, Englewood whether they want to work. They do. They’re looking for jobs. Those jobs in too many cases are being filled by illegal immigrants. That’s wrong. I support legal immigration. Legal immigration is good and America is built by legal immigrants. But illegal immigration, we have immigration laws for a reason, and Mr. Pritzker has been very clear he says there’s no one here illegally. There’s no such thing as an ‘illegal person.’ That’s just not true. And he said specifically that he supports sanctuary cities and making Illinois a sanctuary state. I do not. We have immigration laws. They should be enforced. And the lack of economic opportunity on the South Side and West Side is a major driver of the violence there and we’ve got to fix that.
Reporter writes off unemployed blacks and Hispanics? Rauner does not.
And there’s more more more at Capitol Fax.com.
Very interesting operation. Newbies in such matters, maybe stay out of it, you might end up unduly frustrated. But quite a professional, come-one-come-all effort to get the pew-sitters rolling.
To be or not to be, an investigation of accusations by Archbishop Vigano. Do not expect Cardinal Cupich of Chicago to go down this “rabbit hole.”
via Google Sheets
One month after making his first damaging charges against Pope Francis, Archbishop Vigano has now ramped up the pressure on the Pontiff with a 2nd blast. Perhaps equally important, he is now also applying public pressure to other prelates, notably Cardinals Marc Ouellet and Daniel DiNardo.
Why DiNardo?
To Cardinal DiNardo, the president of the US bishops’ conference, the archbishop’s challenge is simple and straightforward. He wants the American prelates to announce to the world what insiders already know: that Pope Francis refused to authorize an apostolic visitation, thereby making it practically impossible to unearth all the facts surrounding the McCarrick scandal.
Sounds like clericalism!
Why Oullet?
To Cardinal Ouellet, the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Archbishop Vigano issues a different sort of challenge. He praises the Canadian cardinal for having “maintained his dignity” at the start of the current pontificate, but then says that Cardinal Ouellet “gave up” when he saw his work being undermined by members of the Vatican’s lavender mafia. So he is directly questioning Cardinal Ouellet’s integrity. But he offers the cardinal a simple means of proving his good faith:
[As head of the Bishops Congregation,] You have at your complete disposal key documents incriminating McCarrick and many in the Curia for their cover-ups. Your Eminence, I urge you to bear witness to the truth.
It’s the “sort of moral pressure [that] may prove difficult for honest prelates to resist.”
And there’s no reason to doubt that Archbishop Vigano will continue turning up the heat.
All in all, informed analysis from:
Phil Lawler . . . a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
via Catholic Culture
Typically engaging front-pager on WSJ.
With usually marvelous hard-copy head “Office coffee/ Once a perk/ Now a grind.”
The story is good, about squabbles over “strength, refills, Folgers.” Folgers?
Lots of offices have fancy coffee these days. That just means lots of office workers are grumbling about it. What some managers thought would help keep workers at their desks instead of going out for coffee, has actually led to employees wasting time bickering or waging campaigns for their preferred brews.
Oh my, people.
But the head? How do you beat it?
As news ledes go, this went beautifully.
When Christine Blasey Ford accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempted rape, she, her Leftist lawyers and her crackpot supporters demanded that the typical procedures for getting at the truth be turned upside down. This has shocked normal Americans. But it just means that Campus Rape-Culture Hysteria has escaped the asylum and is now invading America.
Congrats to my friend Nicholas Stix.
via VDARE.com
This in Chicago’s Newspaper pains me even more than its all-in editorial ringing the oft-sounded alarm about the end of the world coming because of climate change.
Today’s stop: Pullman. Located 12 miles south of downtown, Pullman may be the most unique neighborhood in the city.
Why? Because something, even a neighborhood, is either unique (one of a kind) or not. There are not degrees of uniqueness.
Common dreadful error, but being common is no excuse. At least the Sun-Times is not unique in this error.
Staffers objected, bishop canceled.
Catholics who were upset about the workshop being given to CCD, RCIA and confirmation instructors contacted Church Militant asking for help investigating and exposing the serious problems with this workshop. Investigations revealed the following:
John Prandini, the one providing the workshop in question, “established the first diocesan LGBTQ Catholic Ministry in 2015 at St. Paul Catholic Newman Center.” Prandini was to represent the St. Paul Center at the workshop.
Prandini represented the St. Paul Catholic Newman Center in the Fresno Rainbow Pride Parade in 2017 and again in 2018.
The St. Paul Catholic Newman Center claims that its LGBT ministry has the full support of Bp. Armando Ochoa. The center states that its vision for the LGBT ministry is to make openly homosexual identities acceptable and welcome in Catholic settings.
The former pastor of the St. Paul Catholic Newman Center was Fr. Geoff Farrow, who revealed his own homosexuality in 2008 and is now acting as a same-sex “marriage” activist, performing sodomitical “marriages.”
Love the sinner, hate the sin? I think I’ve got that right.
Verdict will change law enforcement?
“We don’t believe that the evidence supported the conviction. But at the end of the day, with the Cook County jury and with the pressure that we had with this case we started this case 50 yards behind the starting line.”
Herbert also suggested that the verdict marked “a sad day for law enforcement” and would alter the way police officers approach their job.
“We’ve all heard about the Ferguson effect,” said Herbert. “If police officers think that they can never fire against someone that is acting the way Laquan McDonald did 12 feet away from him I think that what we are going to have is that police officers are going to become security guards. There will not be a police officer getting out of a car to confront somebody. Maybe that’s what everyone wants. I don’t know. We’ll have to see how it plays out.”
Unfortunately.
via WTTW
Gregorian chant has charms, in this case for prisoners. Would work for the rest of us if pastors would give it a chance.
Blithe Spirit 