Link round-up for 24 February 2019
o o o o o
Bluebird of Bitterness presents cat mathematics.
Debra She Who Seeks presents farting.
Tengrain finds a headline; Calvin finds a couple more.
These cats must have been Portland drivers in their previous lives.
How did Jesus rise from the grave?
This is how America should be.
Explore seventies fashion (found via Mendip).
See if you can guess who this person voted for (found via Calvin).
You may be a prisoner.
Pascal's wager isn't so straightforward.
There are many vampire stories left to tell.
This website provides computer-generated faces of people who don't really exist -- refresh the page to change the picture (found via I Am Mental, who finds it a bit creepy).
Remember that you don't know what burdens that person is already carrying.
The list of books banned from some schools is very revealing.
I don't know enough math to really understand this, but it looks cool.
See the slap heard round the world.
This is what happens when an art form self-destructs due to aesthetic homogenization.
Schools need a better approach to preventing bullying.
Embracing one crank belief makes you more susceptible to others.
I guess this is what passes for conservative humor (found via Mock Paper Scissors).
There's always room for one more church.
Cryptocurrencies are hackable.
Who is really the evil one?
A judge rejects the Trump State Department's effort to break up a gay family.
Various groups are tracking people and spying on them (but note that this only works if you participate in the whole tiresome subculture of "smartphones" and "apps" and whatnot).
Read observations on the Jussie Smollett case from Vixen Strangely, Burr Deming, and John McWhorter.
The US is, in certain areas, backsliding toward Third World status.
Falling birth rates result from a toxic economic and work culture.
Whether it "exists" or not, New Atheism is winning.
Sixpence Notthewiser looks at the odd phenomenon of right-wing gays.
The Supreme Court unanimously rules to rein in the practice of police looting the citizenry.
She pwns religio-bullies with a sprinkler.
The Catholic hierarchy is still fatuously useless about sexual abuse.
"Puberty blockers" are neither safe nor easily reversible.
Even in pre-Columbian Peru, religion was religion.
Not surprisingly, Michael Behe's new "intelligent design" book shows basic misunderstandings of evolution.
Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci figured out that the Earth is far older than the Church claimed.
No one knows what's causing these dark streaks on mountainsides.
There are strict rules for naming Jupiter's numerous moons.
This bee is excessive in size (found via Scottie).
Why do zebras have stripes? Now we know.
GMOs will play a critical role in coping with global warming.
Hayabusa 2 has successfully sampled an asteroid.
Israel seeks to become the fourth country to get a lander to the Moon.
Europe is as sick of Trump's bullshit as the majority of Americans are.
If the Beijing gangster-state gets away with bullying Taiwan, other democracies should worry as well.
As the next election approaches, be wary of manipulation.
Trump's biggest enemy in 2020 is demographics.
What Republicans really need to do is support Obamacare (fat chance).
Support is growing for Northam to stay on as Governor.
Trump's "emergency" will either fail or set a precedent (maybe both).
The 1% need a replacement for the Republican party, but it's too late.
"Speaking of What the Fuck Will it Take to Get This Motherfucker Impeached news....."
If you want more political links, click here.
[766 days down, 696 to go until the inauguration of a real President!]
posted by Infidel753 at 5:39 AM
15 Comments:
I grew up in the 70's a remember some of the awful clothes I had to wear that my mom picked out for me. I had a bright yellow dress that was just terrible. It was so bright.
Vampire teachers would be so cool. I guess they would have to teach night classes. lol
Hahahahaha, love the unironic reference to Brokeback Mountain! Lots of good, entertaining links here this morning, thanks! And thanks as well for helping to spread the Joy of Farting around the blogosphere.
Wait what. You mentioned me?
I’m fanboying so hard I may pass out.
XoXo
P.S. I’m loving this feature!
Noah Smith/ Bloomberg piece, reminded me of an old buddy, (late 70's, early 80's). We were doing fairly well back then, I thought how great we had it. Until my buddy said, that the rich are trying to change the world, to where all people will earn the same wages worldwide, and elimination of middle classes. This guy was with a movement, I believe it was called the Socialists Workers Party (similar), he tried recruiting me, I was a straight voting Republican back then. No doubt, it was an interesting view at the time, because this was a time, where even we got more bang for our buck, and things were better in some areas than today (not everything) ... but you sure don't want to be poor in America ... of course, people will argue, that we're better for the poor, than Haiti, Yemen, or some other economically similar country ... but it's also interesting how many today, have to compare ourselves with some third world country, to say how better off we are, we have no doubt lowered our standards.
Yes, I followed the SCOTUS asset forfeiture ruling, it is a step in the right direction, and needed because it was getting way too out of hand ... but I expect it to have challenges too, but good step/ start.
Dread Queen on falling birth rates was good read ... people are thinking, because the economy is an updated version of neoliberalism, lots of reasons though, something I been following.
As far as what it would take to impeach Trump ... unbelievable with all the investigations, and even the amount this President is costing us, that he is not already impeached (and criminally indicted, as far as my views) ... just imagine, we spent a fortune on Clinton, just because he had a love affair. All the years I known you or been reading your stuff, at least 20- 25 years now, I never seen you use words like "mother f*cker", I even still have a pile of your old writings, along with many other folks that were writing before the internet, I even have letters and art still from the CoS days, Ramirez, Manson, etc. But, I assume you're upset with Trump, like many Americans. The right still sayz that Trump is unfairly targeted by medias and the left, but the way I see it, is Trump created himself, it was his choice to be the way he is, which is NOT Presidential, there is no one to blame but himself, at least that was my response to Republicans here in Texas, because they sob over how he is treated.
The "So This Is Me" piece about the catholic Church ... I been following that too, since this has been big news about the Pope cracking down or whatever, I see nothing that the Pope said or done, that is doing what should be done, I would have hoped that is proceed with criminal action support. These people molesting these children should be criminally tried, like every other person in America. I know they are taking action here in Dallas County on indictments. If found guilty, they should do prison time like the rest of us ... bottom line ... I believe it is also illegal (at least for most of us), that these bishops, priests, Pope etc ... that do not refer this to law enforcement, and cover up, is also a crime in this country ... because these crimes being committed are felonies. I'm sure all these legal experts will eventually act on it ... at least they would on any other person.
University California on GMO's and global warming ... I believe all the rich folks already know and are banking on things like GMO's, technology, science, AI, etc ... to save us from global warming, at least those with money. And they'll keep enough poor around, until they don't need them no more, and let nature take it's course on the poorest, whether famine or whatever.
I was looking at my stats and suddenly they went from my usual three readers to about two hundred, huh... what the heck!?! Now I know lol, thank you.
Fine bunch of links! I remember that Sidney Poitier slap.
Re: the Catholic Church and its meeting this past weekend ... a lot has been said about it and obviously nothing was done other than the Pope condemning abusive priests (which isn't much). A few reports have alluded to this, but not enough has been said about the complete lack of even mentioning this scandal as a problem involving the hierarchs (i.e. the bishops and the heads of religious orders).
There's a reason for this, though, and it comes down to the Church's very structure. Most people envision the Church as a huge, top-down organization, a modern-day monarchy run by a Pope who governs the whole thing directly out of the Vatican. In a way, that's how it seems, mostly because that's how it presents itself to the world. But in a lot of ways (most of them, actually) rather than being a unitary monarchy run by a "king," it is, instead, a collection of hierarchs who're effectively "princes" of their own demesnes. The Pope is the principal among them, and does have some important duties. But each diocese and order runs itself in most ways.
In the case of this particular scandal, the problem is that each hierarch is, for the most part, the "chief of police" as well as judge and jury within his own order or diocese. Above him is only the Pope and his Curia in the Vatican. The occasions on which the Vatican folks resorted to, are few and far between. Most matters within a diocese or order begin and end with its hierarch.
This is why holding them accountable is a problem. It can't be done, at least under this organizational scheme, since the man who would hold a hierarch accountable, is that hierarc himself! Theoretically he reports to the Pope, yes ... but only by referral. That is, the Pope only deals with matters that are sent to him and his Curia. (Among those is the defrocking ... er, "laicization" ... of a priest. The hierarch may determine it should be done but it must be referred up.) Who, within a diocese which is run by clerics who've taken vows of obedience to their hierarch, is going to go over his head to the Vatican to hold him accountable? In fact, how would that even be done, since those referrals are supposed to come from the hierarchs and no one else?
The only way to impose accountability on hierarchs is to change this structure or create some mechanism or agency outside of it (such as establishing an office of "inspector general") to handle such matters. But who within the R.C. Church is going to tolerate that? The hierarchs have long been used to being princes with a great deal of power in their own right ... why would they concede that to an outside agent such as an IG's office?
Making all this worse is that even an IG's office (should one be established) would have to be comprised of non-clerics, since anyone who's taken vows of obedience would immediately be subject to having his/her activities proscribed by a superior of any sort (even if that superior is the Pope himself). Assuming it's possible the hierarchs could handle ceding some of their power to someone else, how would they feel about that person not even being a priest?
In short ... it ain't gonna happen. Not willingly, anyway. The Church would have to be coerced into accepting such an arrangement, but beyond enough lay Catholics applying a long stint of steady pressure (via the power of the collection plate), I can't see anything that would force the hierarchs' collective hands.
As usual, you really put a lot of thought and work into this post, it’s really interesting and informative. Thank you for sharing this and for keeping us in the know. I always learn so much from your posts.
Mary: It's really unbelievable what peo0ple have had to wear at some times.
I wonder how they'd pay a vampire teacher? Direct deposit to his account at the blood bank, probably.
Debra: Wingnuts can be pretty clueless about stuff like that. And I can't think of anyplace more in need of farting than the blogosphere.
Sixpence: Thanks for the post! I'm glad you commented here and led me to discover your blog.
Ranch: Yes, we're the greatest country in the world because we're better off than Haïti! This is just getting embarrassing.
Trump won't be impeached and removed until things get bad enough that large number of Trumpanzees turn against him. The Republicans in Congress are too cowardly to challenge him and risk those people's wrath.
The poor can't be written off so easily any more. Some of them have nukes (India). If the US simply keeps on churning out unlimited greenhouse gases and super-powered heat waves start to kill tens of millions of people in tropical countries, they'd be justified in considering it an act of war. At least, I doubt they'll all just die quietly without making a fuss.
Sooo: Thanks for the post -- glad to be of some help.
Jono: That slap was a very long time coming.
PsiCop: Interesting, thanks. It sounds like the system is practically un-reformable unless the Pope cracks down and asserts his authority in ways that would violate tradition, according to what you say. The Catholic Church will have to be dealt with by the FBI and equivalents in various other countries, prosecuting the molesters and their protectors ruthlessly. After all, we never counted on the Mafia to reform itself. People just need to get it through their heads that the Catholic institution is a mafia.
Dellgirl: Thanks! That's high praise.
Oh, and Ranch, I was quoting Shower Cap with the MF thing. His command of epithets is more exquisite than mine will ever be.
Interesting comment from PsiCop as far as the Catholic Church
Infidel,
You are correct in that any meaningful reform the Pope makes would, in some way, necessarily violate ancient tradition. And by "ancient," I mean just that ... the autonomy of bishops is a notion that goes back to the creation of that office. There wasn't even a "Catholic Church" then. The way it all worked is a bit closer to how the Orthodox Churches operate now.
Given the resistance that bishops and heads of orders would have toward being policed by laypersons (what I've called an "IG's office," even if it doesn't go by that name), I expect one of the "Congregations" would have to play a role in this. At the moment, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the so-called "doctrinal police" of the Church) handle actions taken against wayward priests, including defrocking, if it comes to that. It's possible an arm of this Congregation could be created, which is that "IG's office" and which reports to the Congregation's head, but which is otherwise outside of the Church structure.
Alternatively, the Congregation for Bishops could be the agency from which an "IG's office" is branched, or maybe the Congregation for the Clergy. I'm not certain why sanctions, defrockings, and other measures aren't already handled by the latter body ... it might have something to do with the fact that it only oversees clergy who aren't members of religious orders. Those are considerations that'd have a lot more meaning to Vatican insiders than the rest of us.
Subordinating one or more "IG's offices" to one of the Congregations would be far from a perfect arrangement, but it would fit within the Church's overall structure. Anything else would require a Council to be convened. Given how controversial that would be (the last one, Vatican II, was hardly a "Kum Ba Ya" affair, and a lot of Catholics, inside and outside the clergy, were dismayed by it), I can't imagine anyone would be eager to go that route.
Any reform of this sort -- whether it's a change inside the current organizational scheme, or a fundamental change to that scheme orchestrated by a Council -- would have to start with Francis. The problem is, I'm not sure he's entirely cognizant of what needs to be done, or even that anything needs to be done. Yeah, he knows it's a public-relations nightmare in the industrialized-occidental world ... and yeah, he's tried to address it as such. But time and again he keeps veering back toward denial and minimization. Such as when he dissed Bishop Barros's accusers in Chile or when he called persistent critics of the Church "relatives of the devil."
This makes little sense, since in most ways he seems to be on top of things, and at times he's been willing to poke at tradition (e.g. in his promotion of environmentalism and washing the feet of women on Maundy Thursday). In short, I don't think he's stupid, and I also don't think he's fiercely hidebound. (By papal standards, anyway.) I have to wonder, then, why he keeps veering all over the place on this issue. I can only assume (based on next to no evidence) that he's responding to various forces working in the Vatican and different pressures being applied from sources around the world. (That would include Third World hierarchs who resent having to deal with this problem ... they're convinced "priestly pedophilia" doesn't happen in their own backyards and believe it's due to "western decadence" that they think must be reversed.)
I frankly wouldn't trust the Church to reform itself at all, and I don't think it ever will. Secular authorities are going to have to deal with this.
Third World hierarchs who resent having to deal with this problem ... they're convinced "priestly pedophilia" doesn't happen in their own backyards
Well, yeah, Catholic priests in Africa and India seem to be more into raping adult women. All part of the richness of cultural diversity, I guess.
Re: "Well, yeah, Catholic priests in Africa and India seem to be more into raping adult women."
Well, yeah. And it happens elsewhere, too. To be clear, I don't actually think the Church is materially different in the Third World than it is in industrialized-occidental countries. There are abusive clergy throughout the Church, to be sure. But, Third World hierarchs genuinely don't consider "priestly pedophilia" a problem. For instance, the New York Times reported, in advance of this conference:
"Some church leaders interviewed by The Times insisted that the problem did not exist in their part of the world and that elsewhere it was being drummed up or overstated by news media with an anti-church agenda.
"In many places, particularly in Africa, India and other parts of the developing world, fighting abuse is still not a priority.
"In the global South, many experts point out, clerical sexual abuse is often believed to be the product of homosexuality, a view held also by conservative critics of Pope Francis in the United States and the Vatican.
"Across the world, 'the situation is really different,' said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the moderator for the conference and the Vatican’s former spokesman, describing the range of cases and cultures the church must address."
Yes, those bishops are kidding themselves. No doubt! But they're convinced the scandal is either fictitious or a product of various forms of "western decadence." Francis needs them, though, as much as anyone else, if he wants to get anything done. Hence, he has to do a kind of dance.
That too is ridiculous, of course. The scandal is real and the Church needs to met it head-on. It'd be better if he just told his hierarchs to grow up, grow a pair, pull on their big-boy pants, start acting their ages for once, and do something about it already. But for whatever reason, either it's not in his makeup to do it, or he doesn't perceive that as a viable. I can't really say.
I finally got caught up here and I have to say that I just about fell off my chair laughing with the reference to Brokeback Mountain. Oh my flippin' gosh...HAHAHA
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