So, first of all, a big “yay” for CNN listening to protests and agreeing to revise its debate criteria, to include anyone in the top ten, based on poll averages from July 16 to September 10, or based on averages from August 7 to September 10th. (See the National Review’s article, here.) So from all appearances, it’ll be an 11-candidate debate, as Carly is the one candidate who has come from obscurity to, well, less obscurity. A couple days ago,... Read more
Fun fact: Catholicism and me go way back. True, I didn’t make an RCIA profession of faith until graduate school, but Dad was Catholic (Mom Lutheran), so they were married in a Catholic church (St. Louis’s Old Cathedral, in 1966, in that in-between time, when the Tridentine mass had been translated into English, but not revised into the Novus Ordo), my siblings and I were baptized in a Catholic church (the now-closed St. Bede’s in Southfield), and, growing up, we... Read more
Yemeni from Hamtramck? Iraqi from Dearborn? I don’t know but this was a family out on the riverwalk, on a 90 degree day, no less. Dad (in shorts) had taken their son to the bathroom, and mom was photographing her daughter while waiting. The picture’s blurry because we were eating a snack at a cafe and I was trying, as you can imagine, to be discreet. (The photobombing ice cream-eating girl is no relation.) We also saw groups of Muslims... Read more
Our Sunday afternoon: starting at the Campus Martius park, walking to and along the riverfront, then back and up to the Jazz Festival. Yes, this is the Nice Part of Detroit — no ruins here — but this is also a Say Nice Things About Detroit sort of post. Not sure what building this is . . . A stage at the Campus Martius Park. The Spirit of Detroit. The Renaissance Center, now world headquarters of General Motors.... Read more
Here’s the latest on the stream of refugee-migrants: as you may recall, upwards of 10,000 refugee-migrants from Syria as well as elsewhere, had made their way into Hungary and were determined to make their way to Germany, in order to register and seek asylum there, to benefit from Germany’s much-stronger economy; Hungary insisted instead that they register there, as the first EU country that these people had reached, following established rules, and prevented them from boarding trains to travel to Germany.... Read more
Dear Abby*, My elderly mother has been bedridden for the past several years. She has no savings, and for no reason except that it makes the analogy work, she is ineligible for any kind of government assistance, so she lives with our family. It is quite a burden, because we barely make ends meet ourselves, and our children have their own needs which are being neglected due to my mother’s need for 24-hour care, but it’s the only way I... Read more
First item: Lila Perry, the “transgirl” whose decision to begin changing for gym class in the girls’ locker room rather than the private room provided for him/her sparked a walkout of classmates, and ultimately ended in him/her dropping the gym class, but not before saying: “they are claiming that they’re uncomfortable. I don’t believe for a second that they are. I think this is pure and simple bigotry.” This is now being reported all over, but the first report I... Read more
Here’s a book which I started reading, then forgot about until it was due at the library and I pulled out the bookmark out, a slip of paper with notes scribbled on it . Hence, I can’t really properly summarize the book, except to share its key idea: that it’s unfair for universities, especially elite universities, to use SAT scores (and even academic achievement in general) to determine who they admit, rather then admitting students who are more “meritorious” in... Read more
This comes via the Washington Post’s Wonkblog, which tries to be data-heavy and, well, wonky, but sometimes leans much too far to the left for my taste. Today they featured a proposal released by the Center for American Progress, labelled a model for the Democratic candidates, which aims to fund child care via subsidies in much the same way as Obamacare funds healthcare, with parent contributions ranging from 2% of pay at 133% of poverty line to 12% at 250%... Read more
Every day, a new report. Today, the featured article link on Drudge: “Shocking moment desperate father throws himself, his wife and baby onto rail tracks in Hungary after realising their ‘train to Austria’ is actually taking them to a refugee camp,” a photo-heavy article in the Daily Mail on the situation in Hungary, as the country tries to cope with the hordes of refugees/migrants attempting to move through the country to seek asylum in (prosperous) Germany. The photographs (this is... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In