Michael Kruse's Politico Analysis of Trump Voters in Light of Tuesday Elections: "A Story of People Who Are Addicted to White Supremacy"

A Sikh, an atheist and a trans woman walk into a bar. They all had a drink together to celebrate their election victories.

— God (@TheGoodGodAbove) November 8, 2017

On Facebook and Twitter, I'm finding that the most lively conversations now taking place after Tuesday's election focus on Michael Kruse's article published yesterday in Politico, about diehard Trump supporters in the economically depressed mining community of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Kruse is not directly commenting on Tuesday's election results, but his piece appeared at a fortuitous moment in that regard. It might as well be analysis of one side of the American political landscape — and why the other side of the political landscape so resoundingly repudiated that side in the elections held on Tuesday. 

Why Do Many of Us Feel "Impotent Helplessness" in Face of Cultural Violence? A Reflection (Implicating the Churches)

In both of the postings I've made this morning in response to the Texas mass shooting yesterday (God, how glibly that ugly phrase begins to flow from our mouths now, week after endless week), I've spoken about the feeling of helplessness many of us bring to this situation. To be specific, in my first posting this morning, I wrote very specifically about my own feeling of helplessness, my own feeling that my voice simply does not count: I stated, 

A Twitter Thread in Response to Franklin Foer on What's Wrong with the Democrats

No mention at all of the significant role played by gerrymandering and voter suppression to lock in GOP control, as a minority. 1) https://t.co/PYX2jepDyW

— Bill Lindsey (@wdlindsy) June 21, 2017

This is a Twitter thread in response to Franklin Foer's "What's Wrong with the Democrats?" in the latest issue of The Atlantic. 

A Reader Writes: "Taking Someone's Job Away Is An Aggressive Attack on the Individual" (So Why Does Pope Francis Say God Never Throws Anyone Away?)

Joshua McElwee reports that in his weekly audience today, Pope Francis told those gathered in St. Peter's Square that God never throws away or discards anyone:

Commonweal Editorial Slams "Illiberalism" That Would Shut Down Free Speech of Trump Fans: Implications for Commonweal's Discussions of LGBTQ Lives?

As I noted yesterday, the leading "liberal" Catholic journal in the U.S., Commonweal, has just published an editorial statement which maintains that "illiberal" forces in American democracy are seeking to shut down the free speech of anyone who is not a member of a minority group. The editorial (which, unfortunately, came out only a day after a 15-year-old girl was pepper sprayed in the face by protesters at a rally in Paul Ryan's hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin, as Trump supporters screamed "Nigger lover!" and "Bitch!" at her) points to the actions of anti-Trump protesters to combat racism and misogyny as evidence that "illiberal" groups are now working to suppress the free speech of those with whom they disagree.

Stephanie Krehbiel on Ruth Krall's Importance in Understanding Yoder Story: "Without Her Steadfast Work of Decades, I Don't Want to Imagine Where We'd Be"

Several days ago, I published an essay here by the distinguished Mennonite scholar and abuse survivors' advocate Ruth Krall, responding to her erasure from the record of Mennonite scholarship and activism regarding the legacy of John Howard Yoder in a recent National Catholic Reporter article about these matters. Today, I'm delighted to add to this discussion an excellent essay written by a young Mennonite scholar, Stephanie Krehbiel, who strongly defends Ruth and her contribution to the discussion of Yoder's legacy, noting,

bell hooks on Worship of Death As Central Component of Patriarchal Thinking: Reflections on the Legacy of Antonin Scalia

The Constitution is a dead document, Scalia said.

• You can know that a society or a church is dead or well on the way to death when it proclaims that its foundational documents (a Constitution, a Bible) are dead.

Remembering John McNeill, As Doors Slam Shut on Thousands at World Meeting of Families

As several of you have noted in comments here in the past few days, on the day on which Pope Francis arrived in the U.S., noted theologian and former Jesuit priest John McNeill died at the age of 90, with his partner of 46 years, Charles Chiarelli, at his side. Many of you will know quite a bit about John McNeill, so I don't think it's necessary for me to say more about his life than to remind readers that he was expelled from the Jesuits in 1987 when he refused to stop his ministry to LGBT people, and to cease his theological work in the area of sexual ethics. He attracted the animosity of Pope John Paul II and that pope's theological watchdog Cardinal Ratzinger, later Benedict XVI, and was ordered by Ratzinger to choose between his ministry to LGBT persons and his Jesuit vocation.

Clouds of Witnesses: More Testimony About How Obergefell Affects Real Human Beings and Real Human Lives — The Challenge for Catholics

Some more testimony for you today: two days ago, I offered you some testimony from my own spot about what Obergefell and its extension of rights to LGBT citizens meant to me as an openly gay, married Catholic theologian who has been shut out of employment, my vocation, health insurance coverage, and the manifold benefits that come from being part of a community. Shut out, quite specifically, by Catholic institutions and by the men running the Catholic show, who love to talk endlessly about human rights and love as they continue doing this to LGBT folks . . . .

Quote for Day: Wendell Griffen — "'Unrest' Is What Oppressed, Wounded, and Outraged People Do in Their Quest for Justice"

Wendell Griffen at his Justice Is a Verb! blog on how "civil unrest" takes on an entirely new complexion depending on who's discussing the term:

Controversy Over Choice of Wealthy Gay NYC Businessmen to Host Benefit for Ted Cruz: Miles to Go Before We Sleep in Movement for Human Rights

No matter what happens with the deliberations about marriage equality at the Supreme Court today (and in the weeks following), we who are LGBT in the U.S. and those supporting our rights have miles to go before we sleep. This is one of the lessons I draw from the choice of wealthy gay businessmen Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass to host a benefit recently for Ted Cruz. Two pieces of commentary (among many I've read) that leap out for me, as descriptions of the miles we still have to go in this human rights journey:

Henry Giroux on Politics of Disposability and Violence: Implications for the Orchestrated Attack Now Underway on Gay Citizens of U.S. after 2014 Elections

Henry A. Giroux writes, regarding the wild success of "American Sniper," the latest shoot-'em-up movie glorifying macho American exceptionalism and holy-war violence visited on our perceived enemies,

Footnote to Previous Posting about "Furious Religion": Portland, Oregon, Evangelical Church Excluded for Welcoming LGBT Christians

Mark 1:41, Describing Jesus's Healing of a Leper

Earlier today, I wrote with regard to the pastoral letter issued today by the bishops of the Church of England and Pope Francis's homily to a consistory of cardinals last Sunday, 

Bishops of Church of England on "Furious Religion" and Scapegoating of the Other, Pope Francis on Jesus and Lepers: Where Is There Good News for Gay People Today?

Luke 5:13, Jesus's Healing of a Leper

It's interesting to read the pastoral letter that the House of Bishops of the Church of England published today side by side with Pope Francis's homily this past Sunday to the consistory of cardinals gathered in Rome as the pope made twenty new cardinals. In significant ways, what the bishops of the Church of England are saying overlaps with what Francis says in his recent homily to cardinals.

Power of "Complaining on the Internet": The Case of Beth Malarkey, Tyndale House, and The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven

Here's another reason I want to keep holding out hope that online tools of communication and networking are reshaping some significant conversations that have been tightly controlled by power elites in the academy, media, publishing world, and political sector for a long time now:

Odds and Ends of News: Cologne Cathedral to Go Dark to Protest Muslim Bashing, Continuing Need for Wake-Up Call about Racism for U.S. White Catholics

Here are some odds and ends of news in the past few days that seem noteworthy to me, and which I haven't quite known how to fit into any other posting than this grab-bag one:

Quote for Day: Chris Hedges on the "Sacrifice Zones" Required by Unfettered Capitalism (with Application to Ferguson)

Commentary on Ferguson Verdict: "The Message That the Missouri Grand Jury Has Now Sent to Young African Americans . . . Is That Black Lives Do Not Matter"

Syreeta McFadden, The Guardian: 

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: "Catholics Have Difficulty Understanding One Another Because There Are not Many Places Left Where They Can Listen to One Another"

Father Joseph Komonchak at Commonweal:

End-of-Week News Snippets: Matters of Gender, Race, Moral Analysis of Economic Priorities of Government, Etc.

End-of-week news snippets about matters ranging from gender to race to moral analysis of the economic priorities of the American (and global) economies: