Including this if not breathless then blithely half-informed, supposedly neutral observers’ account of Francis and his menu for protecting victims of clerical sexual abuse:

[David] Gibson [go-to comment source for this piece] agrees with Francis the only way to eliminate sex abuse is to wipe out the sense of entitlement and unaccountability enshrined in that culture so dear to Roman Catholic conservatives — clericalism.

“He needs to change this culture of the ‘old boys’ network’ of secrecy, and of self-protection,” Gibson says. “That’s really the ultimate answer here”

But, Gibson adds, that sort of change will likely be a long time coming.

Especially under Francis, who uses the old boys by preference, creating a regular boys’ town of supporters and apparatchiks.

That is the burning question of the day.

The mainstream media for days has been claiming, “without evidence,”* that a clip of CNN’s Jim Acosta tangling with a 98-pound White House intern was somehow “doctored.” The clip was initially shared by InfoWars’ Paul Joseph Watson and then picked up by the White House. It showed a closeup of Acosta’s arm making contact with the intern’s.

If the idea was to discredit the White House’s condemnation of Acosta’s atrocious behavior at Trump’s press conference and its decision to yank his press pass, a “doctored tape” conspiracy theory would be a good way to do that.

As John Sexton Hot Air points out, the virtually indecipherable difference seen in a side by side comparison of the so-called “doctored” tape and the original video is likely “the result of frame rate adjustment that happens whenever a video is converted from one format to another.”

In other words, there’s no there there . . .

Tangled web here, if I ever saw one. Finally, however, (again) discrediting the would-be discrediters. Next? . . .

About time.

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik told Breitbart News Tonight Thursday evening that the FBI should classify Antifa as a “domestic terror group.” He offered his remarks in an interview with SiriusXM hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak.

Kerik’s comments were made during a discussion of left-wing activists threatening and intimidating Tucker Carlson’s family on Wednesday night outside of the Carlson family’s home in Washington, D.C.

Kerik said, “In the most minimal definition of terrorism, it’s the unlawful use of violence and intimidation — especially against civilians — in pursuit of political aims. Antifa is a domestic terror group. I strongly believe that the FBI and the Department of Justice should classify them as such.

Has gone without saying for some time.

Oh my, how often have I wanted someone to say that in such a situation.

Did so two days ago, maybe:

Vatican City, Nov 7, 2018 / 04:47 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis spoke of the need for creative entrepreneurship in the face of “scandalous poverty” Wednesday, stressing the importance of generosity with one’s possessions.

“If there is hunger on earth, it is not because food is missing!” Pope Francis said in St. Peter’s Square Nov. 7.

“What is lacking is a free and far-sighted entrepreneurship, which ensures adequate production, and a solidarity approach, which ensures fair distribution,” he continued.

Free? From what?

Ensures adequate production? Well, nothing ensures anything. He should know that. But it does a lot towards that goal, more than any un-free system on the face of God’s green earth.

Ensures fair distribution? No it doesn’t (as above). Nothing does. What’s this fair distribution business anyway? Ensured by whom or what?

Fuzzy-wuzzy talk. This pontiff is good at it.

Making the grand statement last summer about “failure of leadership” by bishops in the matter of sexual abuse:

“We firmly resolve,” Cardinal DiNardo wrote, “with the help of God’s grace, never to repeat it.”

Why always the grand statement? Gets you in trouble every time, sacrificing honesty for the sake of consoling people or calming them down.

Another made that mistake in 2002, telling the faithful that “we all look to end this, for the sake of the victims, for the sake of the church, the sake of our people.”

Who said that? Cardinal McCarrick.

Trump won for the party . . . 

No liberal will want to admit it, but Trump is an asset to the Republican Party, while President Barack Obama was a disaster for the Democratic Party.

. . . Not so his predecessor, Cocky-locky, for whom it was ever all about him.

In his willingness to give and take with reporters. From the White House:

During today’s press conference, President Trump took 68 questions—from 35 different reporters. By contrast, former President Obama took 22 questions from 10 reporters during his press conference following the 2010 midterm elections.

CBS’ Major Garrett put it crisply: “There is more access to this president than Obama . . . We see him and interact with him and punch in questions with far more frequency.”

ABC News Political Director Rick Klein agrees, saying President Trump is “above and beyond, far and away more accessible” than our previous two presidents.

It’s something I have found obvious and striking for some time. For someone who beats up on them, he is sure good to reporters, better than others, including especially Obama, and not just in this mid-term presser business.