This is either a humorous little nothing story, or points to a real problem. As reported by the Chicago Fox affiliate, one Chicago block has, rather than rabbits or squirrels or feral cats, large numbers of snakes — and the assigned mail carrier has a snake phobia and refuses to step foot on their sidewalks. So they wait and wait for their mail. “For some, it’s only been delivered twice in the last two weeks,” the article says. This is Chicago.... Read more
AirBnB has been in the news in Chicago lately, with disputes about how to regulate residents who offer rooms, or homes, for rent via the site. And while I’m not going to dig into the details of proposed regulations, today the business columnist Phil Rosenthal added his two cents in “Tighter city rein on Airbnb needed to free neighborhoods from tourist trap,” where he writes: You move to a block because it’s quiet, near the hustle and bustle but apart from... Read more
From the National Catholic Reporter, “Kentucky archdiocese nixes Supreme Court design on gay couple’s gravestone“: Greg Bourke and Michael De Leon were among the plaintiffs in Obergefell v. Hodges, the historic 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled same-sex marriage is constitutional nationwide. As the two recently planned their funeral arrangements, they submitted in October a headstone design to Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Louisville that included a depiction of the U.S. Supreme Court Building, along with two linking... Read more
if the alternative is no wages? That’s the natural follow up to my comment on the Archdiocese of Chicago parental leave policy. One could substitute “provide poor or no employee benefits” for “pay low wages,” of course — which would encompass decisions about health insurance provision, or time off, or retirement benefits. And the lens of nonprofit employers is a helpful one for framing the issue, I think, because it bypasses accusations of employer “greed.” Case 1: the youth minister.... Read more
Here’s the article that’s been linked to by Mark Shea and others: “Archdiocese announces new parental leave policy; Staff will now receive 12 weeks of paid time off after the birth or adoption of a child.” The basics are exactly as stated in the headline; the policy was initiated by Cupich, and is estimated to cost $1 million per year as 200 employees make use of it. (These numbers imply a benefit of $5,000 per employee, which seems low for 12... Read more
Affordable healthcare . . . Affordable housing . . . Affordable tuition . . . And now, affordable child care. Ever notice how “affordable” now means “government subsidized”? Hillary Clinton has now proposed a new government program, the objective of which is to subsidize child care to according to the principle that no family should pay more than 10% of their income for child day care expenses. At the same time, this would be paired with a set of incentives... Read more
Or, at least, they shouldn’t be. But, apparently, at my local library, that’s changing. Books my 7th grader loved over the past several years, it seems, my younger son won’t be able to enjoy, because of the library’s extreme deaccessioning policy. And it’s tragic, it’s wasteful, and it’s emphasis on what’s new over what will be enjoyed in the long-term is a great loss. My younger son, earlier this year, finished reading the Harry Potter series. Happily, we had the... Read more
That’s not their headline, in the item they posted on Friday. They say, instead, “Gender gap in religious service attendance has narrowed in U.S.” which is correct, to be sure. Here’s the graph: and, indeed, men’s church attendance has dropped off to a lesser degree than women’s, lessening the gap. At the same time, a year ago, everyone (including me) was talking about the “rise of the nones” based on another Pew study which found dramatic changes in religious identification... Read more
Eh, probably not. Look, reports on basket-case Venezuela, such as this one on CNN, appear on a daily basis now. There are shortages of food, medicine, and, most famously, toilet paper. There are rolling blackouts because one dam provides 75% of the country’s electricity, and this dam is operating far below capacity due to both low water levels and mismanagement and corruption. Supermarkets are being looted, and crime is soaring. Inflation is predicted to reach 700% year-over-year. According to CNN,... Read more
Here’s an article, one of many, about the Obama administration’s decree on transgender students: “Obama Administration forces transgender bathroom rules on every school in America.” The key bit comes as a quote from the Washington Post: The directive comes from two top administration officials: Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, and Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. It will put state and local officials and higher-education institutions on notice that they... Read more
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