Pirro is blatantly partisan in a job that demands neutrality. Martin getting even more power is dismaying. Great reporting David. The new Pope makes up for all the bad news.
Yesterday I had to be at the hospital and the news about the new Pope had just broken. Everyone I interacted with was joyful about it. The receptionist, "He will stand up for poor people." The X-ray tech, "a sense that we all care for each other." Even the workers on the ferry ride home seemed easier and happier as they did their jobs. Hooray! I am not a Catholic, but I welcome caring for each other with a deep sense of kindness and respect.
The Times article on interim appointments of US Attorneys led to some interesting speculations, including just rotating nasty characters every 119 days from one jurisdiction to another on an "interim" basis, avoiding messy confirmation rows in the Senate. But unless "Judge" Pirro is advanced as a nominee on a permanent basis, her interim status replacing a previous interim appointment could well be challenged successfully under the Vacancy Reform Act, so more drama ahead.
And, yeah, Ed "Eagle" Martin just had his attack-dog remit greatly expanded, so it's yet another case of failing upwards in the tRump regime.
Back when I was teaching undergraduates, I used to tell them that there would never be an American Pope. The reason: the UN General Secretary and the Pope are two international leaders who serve as helpful, if light, counterweights to the most powerful world leader, the President of the United States.
So why was American Robert Francis Prevost elected pope? Three good reasons:
--He is not parochial. He has spent most of his life in Peru and became a citizen of that country.
--He spent the last few years as head of the Vatican office for vetting new bishops, meaning that the cardinals of the world had come to know and trust him. Typically, cardinals nominate candidates to fill empty bishop positions in their countries, the Vatican office vets the candidates and makes a recommendation to the pope, and the pope appoints the new bishop.
--Finally, and critically, our current international landscape demands an American Pope who will act as a SANE counterbalance to Mad King Donnie. Our world needs at least one sane American in a very high place.
I am looking forward to many good things from Leo XIV. Anyone who looks down and sees friends there is fine with me.
Your point about normalizing Pam Bondi because she’s not quite as bad as Matt Gratz and Jeanine Pirro (!) because she’s not as bad as Ed Martin is a very good one. It would sort of be like people breathing a sigh of relief if Satan was replaced as a candidate by Beelzebub. “Well, at least he’s not Satan!”
The key to Leo XIV isn't rooted in American politics/political issues. Look bigger - look global. Look at Latin American based Catholic Liberation Theology - that is the social/political tradition that informs Leo XIV and why he, as a Peruvian, was elected to succeed Francis - not US culture war issues.
But what IS beautiful about this is that Trump is no longer the only American voice on the world stage - and the other American, who's voice the world will also turn to, is diametrically morally fundamentally opposed to Trumpism.
Regardless of Trump's fuming and attempts to reign in coverage and attention of anything not supportive of him, the Pope has a global platform in his own right, against which Trump actually is powerless - wow. He can't command CBS not to cover the Pope or limit coverage via executive order or NDA. Trump doesn't get to solely define America to the world any more - who would have ever thought of that possible outcome??
Not everything he does is necessarily “wrong” or whatever you call it. His mistakes can definitely backfire and cause dangerous consequences for everyone involved. Nominating judge Pirro? THAT’s a good thing.
Even an extended adulthood of training/work as a "worst-caser", this time is [ unbearably ] exhausting. MM is indispensable.
Another shitty day in Trumpland, starting with Judge Box of Whine.
But the new Pope is a ray of sunshine
Pirro is blatantly partisan in a job that demands neutrality. Martin getting even more power is dismaying. Great reporting David. The new Pope makes up for all the bad news.
Yesterday I had to be at the hospital and the news about the new Pope had just broken. Everyone I interacted with was joyful about it. The receptionist, "He will stand up for poor people." The X-ray tech, "a sense that we all care for each other." Even the workers on the ferry ride home seemed easier and happier as they did their jobs. Hooray! I am not a Catholic, but I welcome caring for each other with a deep sense of kindness and respect.
The Times article on interim appointments of US Attorneys led to some interesting speculations, including just rotating nasty characters every 119 days from one jurisdiction to another on an "interim" basis, avoiding messy confirmation rows in the Senate. But unless "Judge" Pirro is advanced as a nominee on a permanent basis, her interim status replacing a previous interim appointment could well be challenged successfully under the Vacancy Reform Act, so more drama ahead.
And, yeah, Ed "Eagle" Martin just had his attack-dog remit greatly expanded, so it's yet another case of failing upwards in the tRump regime.
Back when I was teaching undergraduates, I used to tell them that there would never be an American Pope. The reason: the UN General Secretary and the Pope are two international leaders who serve as helpful, if light, counterweights to the most powerful world leader, the President of the United States.
So why was American Robert Francis Prevost elected pope? Three good reasons:
--He is not parochial. He has spent most of his life in Peru and became a citizen of that country.
--He spent the last few years as head of the Vatican office for vetting new bishops, meaning that the cardinals of the world had come to know and trust him. Typically, cardinals nominate candidates to fill empty bishop positions in their countries, the Vatican office vets the candidates and makes a recommendation to the pope, and the pope appoints the new bishop.
--Finally, and critically, our current international landscape demands an American Pope who will act as a SANE counterbalance to Mad King Donnie. Our world needs at least one sane American in a very high place.
I am looking forward to many good things from Leo XIV. Anyone who looks down and sees friends there is fine with me.
Your point about normalizing Pam Bondi because she’s not quite as bad as Matt Gratz and Jeanine Pirro (!) because she’s not as bad as Ed Martin is a very good one. It would sort of be like people breathing a sigh of relief if Satan was replaced as a candidate by Beelzebub. “Well, at least he’s not Satan!”
The key to Leo XIV isn't rooted in American politics/political issues. Look bigger - look global. Look at Latin American based Catholic Liberation Theology - that is the social/political tradition that informs Leo XIV and why he, as a Peruvian, was elected to succeed Francis - not US culture war issues.
But what IS beautiful about this is that Trump is no longer the only American voice on the world stage - and the other American, who's voice the world will also turn to, is diametrically morally fundamentally opposed to Trumpism.
Regardless of Trump's fuming and attempts to reign in coverage and attention of anything not supportive of him, the Pope has a global platform in his own right, against which Trump actually is powerless - wow. He can't command CBS not to cover the Pope or limit coverage via executive order or NDA. Trump doesn't get to solely define America to the world any more - who would have ever thought of that possible outcome??
this is 1978 stuff. This is genius.
Why doesn't Trump just
move FOX et al into all
the gov't jobs? Get it
over with. What a
cheesy admin we have;
Live at 5!
Pope Leo will be a very
fine addition to the
Papal lineage.
a "Black" Pope? Will trump try to get him fired?
Not everything he does is necessarily “wrong” or whatever you call it. His mistakes can definitely backfire and cause dangerous consequences for everyone involved. Nominating judge Pirro? THAT’s a good thing.
THAT is an Understatement!