Corden
Trump and Cruz are turning into the real-life version of “Batman v Superman”: It’s taking too long and it sucks.… Read the rest
Month: March 2016
Fallon
New York and New Jersey officials have agreed to reconstruct the Port Authority Bus Terminal here in New York, and the project will cost an estimated $10 to $15 billion. And that’s just to clean the bathrooms.… Read the rest
Fallon
A cat in England actually survived for eight days after it climbed into a box and its owner accidentally mailed it. The cat is doing fine, while the person who opened that box no longer has a face.
The Times Square Spider-Man actually wore his costume to court over the weekend to plead not guilty to assault charges. Whereas I wear my Spider-Man costume to court just to get out of jury duty.… Read the rest
Thursday
Amen. And it pertains to every governmental welfare program:
When A annoys or injures B on the pretense of saving or improving X, A is a scoundrel.
— HL Mencken (@HLMenckenBot) March 30, 2016
Kinda tough but accurate:
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
– C.S. Lewis— Catholic Thinker (@ThinkerCatholic) March 30, 2016
Conan
Over the weekend, the Rolling Stones performed in Cuba. Cuban fans said, “We’re excited to see a rock band that’s even older than our cars.”
A conservative radio host told Donald Trump he reminds him of a 12-year-old playground bully. Trump responded by shoving the host and calling him a “gaywad.”
Portland is planning to offer homeless people a free bus ticket out of town. Of course, the problem in Portland is figuring out who’s homeless and who’s just in a band.
Nabisco, the maker of Oreos and Chips Ahoy, is planning to announce hundreds of layoffs. So apparently, we legalized marijuana for nothing.
It’s been reported that a contributor to CNN has been having an affair with Ted Cruz. All I can say is, way to go, Wolf Blitzer!… Read the rest
Wednesday
“I had a friend named Henry Clune who lived to the age of 105. He was a well-known novelist and newspaperman. Until he was in his late nineties, Henry ran wind sprints on his front lawn every day. Even at 105 he still wrote in his diary every morning, read a favorite book every afternoon, drained a martini every day at five p.m. People would ask him, “What’s the secret to living so long and so well?” It wasn’t the martini. No, he answered, it was ‘curiosity.’” Bill Kauffman, Poetry Night at the Ballpark and Other Scenes from an Alternative America: Writings, 1986-2014
Far out. I do wind sprints. I read a lot of books. I don’t drain a martini every day, but I batch cocktails into the weekend. And I am curious. Too curious, I sometimes think.
Tuesday
Fr. Schall, discussing a topic I have long found confusing, soothing, and potentially sinister, all at the same time: social justice.
Is Social Justice a Right? https://t.co/K0yuPxZNAl
— The Daily Eudemon (@TheDailyEudemon) March 26, 2016
Excerpt:
… Read the restThe principal agent for dealing with poverty is not some foreign aid or rearrangement of laws or state structure; it is a recognition of the capacity of individuals, if given a chance, to deal with problems themselves in free concert with others.
There is an almost diabolical temptation in the souls of many politicians, clerics, and academics to want to solve someone else’s problems. Instead of thinking what people themselves can do to solve their own problems, the temptation is to think of ways to do it for them. This latter approach almost always ends up in emptying society of that individual and personal vitality that alone is able to vivify a society. Neither individualism nor socialism, or their variants, can show the record that a personalist-based approach to social justice as a virtue can achieve.
Monday
Miscellaneous Rambling
R.I.P., Mother Angelica. Died on Easter Sunday. With a $50 million annual revenue nonprofit as a legacy. Surely you heard the words from Matthew 25:23 yesterday.
Happy Easter Monday. * * * * * * * And welcome to some pretty good weather, until this weekend, when a nasty cold front is moving through. I’m going to plant some cold-hardy Asian greens and lettuce this week anyway.
Slow blogging winds blowing ahead. Something will be posted every day, but it might be short. Or should I say “pithy.” That sounds so much more artistic.
“Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.” H.L. Mencken. An exaggeration, but I agree with the sentiment.
Daniel McCarthy of The American Conservative breaks down the rise of Trump. Excerpts: “He attracts some support from everyone who thinks that Conservatism, Inc. and the GOP establishment are self-serving frauds—everyone who feels betrayed by the party and its ideological publicists. . . . It’s not even clear that most GOP voters agree with Trump’s rhetorical hard-line on immigration—they just like it better than the two-faced talk of the average Republican politician.”
“It’s basic justice to leave the Little Sisters of the Poor and like-minded institutions alone.” Daniel McInerny. Any jurist who upholds the mandate does so for one reason only: They don’t fully believe that the Catholic Church truly believes contraception is a moral evil that cannot be directly or indirectly supported. Even though the briefs on both sides of the argument concede that point, there’s no way a justice who upholds the mandate really believes it or they would strike down the mandate without hesitation. … Read the rest