Did you watch the Bush funeral yesterday? I didn’t in real time, but thanks to the magic of YouTube and Apple TV and a husband who has put in the effort to set everything up properly, did so after dinner. And I’ll admit, GHW Bush, in my mind, had always been a sort of mini-Reagan: Reagan set the collapse of the Soviet Union in motion, and GHW Bush was just there to stay the course. Prior to all the tributes... Read more
The above is not my photo; it’s just an image pulled from Wikimedia Commons but comes reasonably close to the meal that we had for dinner yesterday — a favorite of the kids that we brought back with us from Germany, though we didn’t so much make it, when we lived there, but enjoyed it at restaurants periodically, and, true to this description from Wikipedia, my kids remember it from a mountaintop restaurant in particular. Here’s the recipe, taken from... Read more
In the news yesterday, a Chinese researcher claimed to have produced the first genetically-engineered human beings, by using a gene-modifying technique called CRISPR, to modify a newly-formed embryo immediately after IVF fertilization, so as to remove a particular genetic segment with the outcome of providing the child with resistance to HIV. This was reported via AP and elsewhere but not via a peer-reviewed paper, and, when the experiment was announced, most scientists who commented condemned it as a major ethical violation,... Read more
Ann Althouse regularly observes that if a data item tends to show men better off or better at something in some area or another, it’s taken as a sure sign of sexism. If, on the other hand, women are revealed to be better at something, it’s a sign of women’s innate superiority. Witness a September article from the New York Times that I happened to stumble upon: “Where Boys Outperform Girls in Math: Rich, White and Suburban Districts“; the key... Read more
In (Catholic) news this week: “Cupich named to organizing group of Vatican’s February meeting on abuse crisis.” Are you asking yourself, as I am, “what the frick is this about?” Or even “this is a frickin’ joke”? Or saying to yourself, “there is no frickin’ way Cupich should be among the anti-abuse meeting organizers”? After all, Cupich has not shown himself to have any particular expertise in the subject. He has not set forth a track record of working with... Read more
Happy Thanksgiving! While the turkey is in the oven, here are links to my two Thanksgiving-themed articles elsewhere: “The Pilgrims Didn’t Invent Thanksgiving, So Stop Blaming Them And Be Grateful” at The Federalist and “Happy Thanksgiving! 5 Retirement Items For Your Gratitude List” at Forbes. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to make some pumpkin rolls. Image: “Thanksgiving-Brownscombe” by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe – Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal http://www.lakenhal.nl/persberichtendetail.php?id=144. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thanksgiving-Brownscombe.jpg#/media/File:Thanksgiving-Brownscombe.jpg Read more
At the National Review yesterday, “Autistic Children Pushed to Become Transgender?” which itself links to a report in the Daily Mail, “School has SEVENTEEN children changing gender as teacher says vulnerable pupils are being ‘tricked’ into believing they are the wrong sex.” Yes, it’s the Daily Mail. But I don’t have any reason to believe that they are misreporting the facts when they say this: An astonishing 17 pupils at a single British school are in the process of changing... Read more
You’ll understand if I’m a bit grumpy today, after several days of watching the latest developments with the latest bishops’ meeting, at which they profess to care about regaining the trust of American Catholics, even though the Pope forbade them from voting on measures designed to do just that, even though Cardinal Roger Mahoney — Mahoney! the cardinal from Los Angeles, censured in 2013 for covering up abuse — attended and gave remarks urging bishops to be more collegial (wasn’t... Read more
Yeah, this is just an open thread for regular readers. Catch me up on how things are going with you, if you would. Vent your frustrations, celebrate your successes. Haven’t checked in with you all in a while I’ve been venting about my own stuff, so have at it! https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Needle_and_red_thread.jpg; www.photos-public-domain.com [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons Read more
So, readers, I had intended to write up something on the Youth Synod, but there was so little meaningful information throughout the synod, and after it was over, the final document was so disappointing that I didn’t feel there was much to say about it. Near as I could tell, the document was full of mindless platitudes like “we should listen to the young people” with a bit of a head-scratcher, out-of-nowhere paragraphs on synodality, tossed in for good measure.... Read more
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