It’s being reported that Ohio’s Haitian immigrant population, particularly the ones in Springfield, may be facing an ICE invasion as soon as next week. My readers know that I live in Ohio and have been following the smear campaign against the Haitian immigrants in Springfield. I want to remind you of what I said in 2024 about the Haitians and the people spreading lies about them. Everything I’m going to say in this post is documented with links in the... Read more
The bitter cold came back before January was over with. The snow from the weekend had thawed a bit by Wednesday. Now, on Friday, the puddles were turning to ice. The weather forecast warned of a severe cold spell, followed by a snow storm over the weekend. It had been in the 20s on Friday morning, and then it wasn’t anymore. When it got below ten degrees, I brought the cat’s cardboard box of blankets into the basement, and then... Read more
We are living in dangerous times, and it’s important that we as Christians know how to respond to that. If you are a Catholic like me, you’ve surely been catechized to know that you must never do evil so that good might come of it. You’re allowed to protect yourself with deadly force if you’re in a life-or-death situation- always with the goal of using the least violence possible, and always only after every peaceful means has been exhausted. But... Read more
Life goes on as it has: terrible and historic in the great big world, and fairly ordinary here in Northern Appalachia. My life is what it’s always been: unremarkable, except insofar as every human life is remarkable. I am not important, except insofar as every human being is important. I am not a saint, except insofar as everyone who comes to God for mercy will be made a saint. I am not strong or heroic, but I’m doing the best... Read more
Once in awhile, I see something that drives home for me how hateful our culture has become. I’m not on Twitter/X nearly as often as I used to be, things being what they are. If you want to see the 280-character-or-less snark I’ve become infamous for, you should join me on Bluesky. But I do check in to Xitter every day or so to see what’s going on. And what I saw this week made me ill. In a video... Read more
Life is ordinary here, and that terrifies me. The holidays ended happily, on Epiphany, which was the second day Adrienne was back at the middle school. I asked if she’d rather I cooked, or if she’d like Chinese or a pizza, and she chose Chinese. We sat in the twinkling light of the Christmas tree which we’d decided to keep up until Candlemas: her with her fried rice and me with a bowl of scrambled eggs, feeling happy and... Read more
I wonder what it would take, to convince people that they’re in the wrong. I have been thinking about this for so many years now, and I haven’t come up with an answer. What would it take to convince people they’re in the wrong? That enough is enough, and it’s okay to come out and admit they made a mistake? What would it take to convince people that, if they’re cheering on masked thugs who murder citizens, torture clergy, and... Read more
I watched another murder today. I was scrolling on my social media, when I saw the video from Minneapolis: a black SUV that looks rather like my neighbor’s old Dodge, turning sharply to drive away from ICE agents on a snow-covered street. You could tell they were ICE agents by the mask. One of them tried to get in front of the car, after the driver turned. Then he aimed his gun at her side window, and shot her... Read more
There comes a point at which, if you really don’t know that something is wrong, I can’t convince you. If you see nothing wrong with the current situation the United States has gotten itself into, I can’t just quote you a syllogism that will make you understand. If you don’t know why it’s a bad idea for one country to rush into a different country and kidnap their leader for a show trial because they decided they’d like to–... Read more
I took Jimmy’s boy to the library. I hadn’t planned to take him to the library that particular day. But we’d finished touring the city’s Christmas display and it was time for me to run errands, and Jimmy’s boy didn’t want to go home yet. He wanted to sit in the car and eat the candy he’d bought. I said that he could ride along for my errands with Adrienne and me, as long as he promised to brush... Read more
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