Clearly if Stanford uses a pass-fail system then everybody that passes is equal and everybody is at the top of the class. Though expecting Trump to know that and knowing he said something true when he thought he was just doing real-estate salesman puffery (lying) is giving him too much credit.
Is anyone noticing that almost every declarative question posed to Trump about his or his administration's policies is deferred to someone else? Doesn't believe the Constitution and his Oath of Office includes him? Ask his lawyers. Lowering the China tariff to 80%? Ask Scott Bessent, it's his call. Crazy pick for Surgeon General? That's Bobby's fault. When will the buck stop with this MFer?
The “plant medicine” Casey Means experienced is probably ayahuasca. This is the cool thing that people into “spirit” do these days. It’s active ingredient DMT is a controlled substance and its use is illegal in the US. But it’s popular.
I know it's hard to ignore the candy Orange dangles out there in order to take our minds off other things, but are we done with Ukraine and the Warsaw ghetto called Gaza?
"Trump didn’t quite know the can of worms he was opening by picking Means. And what a can it is!" Worst is yet to come. Donald "The Beast" Trump is building a wall once again. Colossal tariff wall that is the beginning of the end for the system of down. At first the beast will pull the plug out of the global economy. The worst financial crisis of human history will pull a swarm of the banks underwater and the bank run begins. Then the beast will collapse a mountain of debt shattering the backbone of the monetary system causing a systemic risk to realize. Finally the beast will cast American citizens into a system slavery under the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan, just to "honor his legacy" count the number. After the destruction a new world order will be established in the US. And the Golden Age begins from the ruins of the world wide collapse. All of the system slaves will love it. No more cash - just digital transactions. No more traditional criminal activity. No more tax evasion. No more transactions without the "all seeing eye". Outcasts will hate the world without freedom, hope and privacy. To cover up the mess and distract the public by smoke and mirrors, the beast will engage in a war with Iran. Lies and deceit, corruption and decay, dancing on the graves will continue. Until; Black hole sun, won't you come, won't you come... I want to play a game. Time has come to opt out of the empire of filth. Live or die...
It's amazing how Trump claims that the tariffs on China are up to Scott Bessent, who sacrificed his integrity and knowledge of economics for the glory of being Treasury Secretary. Anyone notice how Trump claims all his heinous decisions are made by others. For instance, he doesn't know if he has to follow the Constitution, i.e. the law - It's up to his lawyers.
I seem to recall an occasion when he said, with stunning candor, that if something good happened, it was his doing, but if something bad happened, he was not to blame. It was one of those times when I thought "I already knew he thought that way - but it's still astonishing that he sees nothing wrong with saying it openly."
Can i please ask something from all of you healthy individuals?
Please help stand up for those of us with chronic illnesses. Rendering Medicaid useless means so many vulnerable, poor folks and kids will end up dying, or incurring so much medical debt that they lose everything.
As a chronically ill person (genetic disease, collagen disorder), I got involved in politics because of Obama and healthcare. My father was disabled- growing up, we never got to go on vacations or anything unless it was to a hospital system - my brother and i managed to make Rochester MN and the Mayo Clinic pretty fun. Mostly by riding 20 some odd floor elevators up and down for hours - but I digress.
I had a moment when I was around 8 or so when we were visiting our Canadian relatives, and I realized that if we had lived there, my family wouldn’t have struggled for money constantly. My father had both Medicare and my mother’s private insurance, and every year, we hit catastrophic. Hitting it was like 10k out of pocket then.
It is something else to be that young and understand that your country is absolutely fine with punishing those people who are unlucky enough to get sick, to the point of poverty. To say nothing of the absurd rules and hilarious pittance one gets if they actually can get disability.
The ACA isn’t the best, but it’s better than how things were before. I have looked at plans there - and for someone with my health issues, the mid level plan requires me paying $7k out of pocket before catastrophic. When looking for work, I have to factor that into salary if healthcare is dismal. Tell me how many people can afford that?
Prior to the ACA, I had the unfortunate luck to get into a car accident and I came out with a brain injury. As a walking pre-existing condition, I didn’t have healthcare. I was 20, and was kicked off my mother’s insurance at 18, while I was still in high school. I needed health insurance, and so I went to figure it out. The plan that was the cheapest required that I pay $2k every month for 6 months, and i wouldn’t have coverage until after those 6 months. So $12k for the privilege of paying another $12k to get some coverage.
Anyone with a brain can see how wrong that is. So i decided to try to meet with my Congress critter, to see what could be done. Medicaid was a nonstarter, because before the ACA, I could only get it if I got pregnant. So ruining my life at 20 where I would have been a very bad mother, was rewarded with healthcare, but going to college, working and doing everything right? Nothing.
My congress critter refused to meet with me, and his staffers walked me out of the office for daring to come in there and ask him for help, which btw was his job.
After that, I threw my life into organizing for healthcare. I didn’t and do not, ever, ever want another young person to have their life ruined. The brain injury meant I went to the ER a fair amount because I had unrelenting migraines. Those trips cost me $4k a pop. I was lucky to have a good GP who worked with me financially, and I was able to get some of my meds for free from the drug companies, but my antidepressant alone was $400 a month. Each month, my meds ran from $600 on up. I only survived because my parents sacrificed so that I could get treatment.
I tell this long story to you all because people who don’t have major health issues don’t understand how much our society loathes the sick. They don’t have a clue how much it costs to dare to be ill. They don’t understand that disability is next to nothing. They don’t know that if you use Medicaid and say, you inherit money- that money goes to the government, to pay off your being on Medicaid.
This administration is blatant about their eugenics. America has always made it clear to those of us with health issues that we are burdens no one wants. This administration is absolutely fine with throwing vulnerable, sick people to the wolves. I suspect if they could watch people suffer and die, they would, because they are soulless evil black holes in the shape of human beings.
We need to fight against them taking away healthcare. If you can’t do it for the vulnerable, do it because millions of people are going to lose their jobs. Nurses, doctors, therapists, hospital workers - when you toss over 30 million people off of insurance, what do you think happens to healthcare?
And for those of you who have depression (who doesn’t) and take meds - RFK isn’t just trying to create an autism registry. He’s trying to create one for anyone who has a mental health issue. His whole “wellness farms” thing isn’t a joke. We have an absolute idiot, who parades around with dead bears and whales, deciding that all of us who have depression/anxiety/bipolar/schizophrenia, ect ect all need to be forcefully taken off of our meds at glorified labor camps where we get to “farm” our food, and nothing bad could ever happen, right? He should have kept the brain worm. I suspect when it left, common sense left his brain.
Again apologies for this long essay, but I feel very strongly about these issues.
Thank you for telling us your story. Many people really have no idea of the cruel Catch-22's of our healthcare system. It's profoundly shameful and unnecessary.
1) I assume that at some point, Pope Leo and Trump will cross figurative swords. But we’ve seen what happens when they do. The Trumplicants will just complain about a religious figure (and a quasi-Marxist one to boot) intruding into political affairs. They will say that Leo needs to worry about saving souls rather than commenting on Trump’s immigration policy. Because to them, religion is only useful when it furthers Trump’s goals.
Comparison to the Evangelical support for Trump is inexact because there’s no “Pope-equivalent” in the Evangelical movement. But there are similarities. Just look what has happened to those Evangelicals who have said bad things about Trump. They are cast into the wilderness and told they need to get with the program. Yet it’s OK for people like Franklin Graham and Robert Jefress to support the most blatantly unchristian President in our history with the most outrageous claims of Trump being “God’s anointed” or a “modern-day King David”.
So Trump will use religious figures (be they Catholic or Protestant – but not Muslim) as props as long as they say nice things about him.
The religious part? Trump doesn’t know anything about that. And he doesn’t care.
And that’s why I’m not optimistic that Pope Leo will have much affect no matter what he says. Catholics that voted for Trump have already made their peace with his behavior. And if you claim to be religious and can justify voting for someone like Trump, you’re not the type that will listen to someone else who points out Trump’s manifest moral shortcomings. You’re in the cult.
2) No doubt that RFK, Jr. and Means have some good ideas about trying to get Americans to live a more healthy lifestyle. But I’d really like to understand what they are proposing. For example, I don’t see eliminating seed oils or ultra-processed foods as being the final nails in the obesity-epidemic coffin. People will still eat junk food – just maybe different kinds. And who doesn’t already know that exercising is good for you? Too many people just don’t do it.
Still, anything that they could do to help folks live healthier lives would be good. So I’m happy with that part of their message.
Of course, they both come with a load of baggage. And on balance, that baggage outweighs the good that they might do.
3) If Trump does actually endorse the increased tax rates on wealthy folks, I’ll just admit that I was wrong. But I’d also be interested in whether Trump would really be affected. Or would there be some loophole that he’d be able to use to avoid the increase? Remember that this is the guy who reportedly hasn’t actually had to pay taxes in years. And who won’t release his tax returns. The devil’s in the details.
There is one person who doesn't believe that exercise is good for you and he is currently the president. He has publicly stated that exercise shortens lifespan bc a person only has so much energy and working out uses it all up
Good on you Andrew for your question in the briefing room. She’s not used to being asked hard questions. Won’t be surprised if you’re not invited back too quick.
Hmm. With regard to Casey Means and her methodology for finding love at 35: I have no problem with her format, and will confess to having used an equally ritualistic strategy when addressing a similar need at age 50, but I am not seeking a top job in mainstream public health, nor should I be considered for same. Surgeon General…that’s a science job, not a religio-spiritual job. A recommendation from RFK Jr. is 1000 red flags, plus some red confetti, raining from a crop duster.
Same here. I'm currently looking forward to a yoga/meditation retreat weekend that will include forest bathing and a sound bath, so yeah, kinda woo-woo, but guess what? I've had all my vaccines and boosters because I'm old enough to remember how grateful parents and grandparents were for vaccines against polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and smallpox. And I worked at the health department for five years back in the '90s. So I suspect I might be less unqualified for the position than Ms. Means. Good grief.
Yep. I'm in Washington state. the company I'm looking at puts the excess compost (that relatives don't take) on a local mountain as part of an eco-restoration project.
Nice. You're doing your family a very great service by making your arrangements now.
I can't get my Dad to discuss end of life issues. It's frustrating, I'd happily accommodate any of his wishes (within reason 😀), but I need to know what those wishes are.
maybe he's too embarrassed to say he wants to be buried sitting up in the driver's seat of a corvette? :) it's not easy for parents to talk about them with their kids....no matter how old. But it's important. We haven't done enough, but are trying to get things in order.
I had a friend - she was in the insurance business - but she never got life insurance on herself because she was never going to die. Would have been useful for her wife if she had gotten insurance (She died in her 70s, so not young, but still - we all gotta go).
It's like watching a really bad performance review. As someone who's conducted those kinds of reviews, I recognize what Murray is doing. "You were required to complete this goal. Where is the work product?"
"I don't have it."
"You know that you were required to have it, right?"
"I understand."
"You understand, but and..."
"I can't just make things up."
This is how these clowns should be dealt with. These are real jobs they hold. They have real, statutory requirements. These are actually laws with which they must comply. They are not Fox News talking heads. They are not podcasters.
Instead of going off on these people about their moral failings -- as obvious as they are and as tempting as that is -- it's better to treat them as the bureaucrats and government functionaries that they actually are. There is a budget process. Their jobs require them to participate in it by providing certain documents with certain types of information by certain dates.
Murray's question is exactly right. "How are we supposed to do our work if you don't turn this stuff in?" Patel, of course, doesn't have an answer.
Fox News can't spin that exchange. It's factual. It's based in law. It's Patel's job and he's not doing it. What IS the Congress supposed to do? Zero out the funding for the FBI because Kash Patel can't administer his department competently?
Let Jared Moskowitz do his stand up routine in whatever committees he's on. Let him make fun of James Comer and Jim Jordan. It doesn't do any good and Fox News can spin it. I'd rather see people like Patty Murray take guys like Kash Patel apart like she did there. He's a mid-level government functionary who's not doing his job. The American people need to see that.
His oath was devised by congress, is not in the constitution, unlike the oath by the Pres.. Congress can penalize him, just as they did in the Civil War when secessionists violated their oaths. They can change the structure of any agency under the pres given all appointees take that same Congress-devised oath.
They have to count their votes, have their ducks in a row, before acting however.
49-49 in the Senate on tariffs a week or so ago made clear T. has no mandate. More Repubs will be jumping ship as they see more ridiculous and awful things.
Just this past week, more jumped. Three new Repubs joined with the anti-tariff people to oppose the Gulf of Mexico nonsense that T. used as an excuse to deny APnews.com admission to journalist briefings. (The AP has state-by-state maps of electoral results so you can pick out the areas where jumps will be easiest. How dare they do that! act like they understand geography? )
Florida voted for T, but, But, BUT, the big circles for two Tampa-area districts on the AP map were barely red. They were, thus, barely for T, his majority in those two not huge, so they will be swingable?
Of those deeply red in FL last election, might they switch, if too many are denied insurance money, denied FEMA money for Florida's risk of repeated hurricane damage? Why doesn't T stand up for them.
He's like the incompetent guy at the casino in the movie Casino, who only gets hired and kept on because he is a political patronage hire. He knows they can't fire him, so he just answers politely, with no intention of responding to the criticism. Just get through the hearing and then ignore everything they said. The obvious disdain these characters have for any authority that isn't Donald Trump is palpable. They believe they can do anything they want, and as long as Trump isn't mad at them, they can get away with it.
(1) They THINK that they're safe. However, they wrapped a rope around their necks, saved on tape, so of record, as they violate oaths to resist DOMESTIC risks to the constitution, not just foreign. (2) We promised ourselves life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness In the Constitution [CORRECTION: In the Declaration of Independence]. Is happiness increased when relatives are deported without the promised trial, trial owed as even noncitizens have some rights? (3) It was not that long ago when spouses would automatically became citizens, upon marriage, to a citizen. If anybody fears sham marriages, the fearful could have forbidden just that subset. But they didn't, did they? They over-reached. (That a child with cancer was deported with his mother? even though the father was a citizen? A very poor excuse: it was legal as the mother was not a citizen. Who changed the law? Why not automatically a citizen, clearly not in a sham marriage, given she gave birth to the citizen's child?)
"In the Constitution, we are promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Actually, we're not. That is in the Declaration of Independence, a document with zero legal weight, not the Constitution. The Constitution promises us nothing about life or happiness - only some level of fairness. Keep in mind that the American Revolution was at its heart, a tax revolt. All that high-mindedness in the Declaration was cover for our rich guys not wanting to send tax money to London, and it never made it into the Constitution. It was our justification for treason against our King. I wasn't there in 1776, but I guess that was a pretty big deal back then, requiring at least a noble explanation.
Funny how once we won our freedom, none of that "All men (women? black people?) are created equal..." stuff fully made it into our laws?
You are right "Declaration of Independence", it's my week to be corrected. Still, whether Declaration or Constitution, it's an important historic precedent
I didn't quite see it that way. Kash Patel, I think, fancies himself as one of the Masters of the Universe. He doesn't have to follow rules or laws. He's got a Presidential pardon waiting for him, no matter what he does. Screw you, Senator. You're not the boss of me.
But then he runs into Patty Murray who asks, "Do you think you can just not follow the law?"
And he says, "I'm following the law."
And then she points out that he isn't and asks when he's going to start and he says he's waiting on his underlings, whom he clearly isn't managing effectively. He really was, in this exchange, reduced to a minor government functionary tasked with specific administrative duties which he didn't perform. THAT'S what he is. A bureaucrat, subject to others and to the laws, not a Master of the Universe at all.
That's what I want to see. I want to see demonstrated that these people are incapable or unwilling to perform even the most basic functions of their jobs. They can go on Fox News and bray about the weaponization of government all they want. They still have to submit their budget recommendations on time.
Excellent points. Being head of the FBI means you're responsible for lots of mundane administrative tasks. It'sca shame that good ol' Kash thought it was just playing thugs and political rivals ( as opposed to cops and robbers.)
And they're all like that. Kristi Noem used to be an executive, Governor of North Dakota. She could call the shots and didn't really have to answer to anyone but the voters and the voters of North Dakota would vote for a box of cornflakes if it had an R stamped on it, so she could run around, shooting her dogs and whatever else she was doing and no one said boo.
Now she's just another government functionary. She's got a boss. She has to manage a budget. She gets hauled in front of committees and has to answer questions. Her staff lets her down. They make her look foolish in public, same as Kash Patel.
Congress needs to make those jobs a lot less fun for them. It's not all cosplay. It's not all getting all tarted up and posing in front of a bunch of prisoners. The job involves actual work. Congress needs to shine a light on the fact that she -- and the rest of them -- aren't doing it.
Great piece Bill Kristol! Though not a Roman Catholic myself, I attended graduate studies at the Loyola Rome Center during Pope John Paul’s time and received an audience with him along with fellow students. I found out he was quite a good skier. And he sometimes said Mass at a neighborhood cathedral in Rome for locals (not St Peter’s). “Is the Pope Polish?” came to the end of its usefulness during that time. Now we have Pope Leo XIV who has citizenship in Peru as well as US, likes Aurelio’s pizza on the south side of Chicago, speaks excellent Spanish, and corrects Vance on Facebook. I am so hopeful, considering that El Salvadoran and Venezuelan political leaders undoubtedly grew up Roman Catholics. And he’s a Sox fan! Play ball!
Thanks for this. Yesterday I was on a long drive while listening to reporting from The Vatican. I had tears streaming down my face. I was having a Stendhal moment. The broadcasters' description of the setting and the palpable emotions of the crowd was almost too much to bear. My great good fortune was to have lived 26 years in Rome. A fallen-away Catholic, I gave thanks every day for the church's commission of the artwork and architecture that graces the length and breadth of Italy. I also give thanks for Popes John Paul (I'm thinking of his prison visit to forgive the man who tried to assassinate him) and Francis, who embodied the compassionate teaching of the church. Pope Francis felt like an antidote to our treatment of fellow human beings, the creatures with whom we share the planet, and our happy-go-lucky destruction of the planet itself.
Clearly if Stanford uses a pass-fail system then everybody that passes is equal and everybody is at the top of the class. Though expecting Trump to know that and knowing he said something true when he thought he was just doing real-estate salesman puffery (lying) is giving him too much credit.
Then don't question what you are too lazy to refute.
Is anyone noticing that almost every declarative question posed to Trump about his or his administration's policies is deferred to someone else? Doesn't believe the Constitution and his Oath of Office includes him? Ask his lawyers. Lowering the China tariff to 80%? Ask Scott Bessent, it's his call. Crazy pick for Surgeon General? That's Bobby's fault. When will the buck stop with this MFer?
The “plant medicine” Casey Means experienced is probably ayahuasca. This is the cool thing that people into “spirit” do these days. It’s active ingredient DMT is a controlled substance and its use is illegal in the US. But it’s popular.
I know it's hard to ignore the candy Orange dangles out there in order to take our minds off other things, but are we done with Ukraine and the Warsaw ghetto called Gaza?
"Trump didn’t quite know the can of worms he was opening by picking Means. And what a can it is!" Worst is yet to come. Donald "The Beast" Trump is building a wall once again. Colossal tariff wall that is the beginning of the end for the system of down. At first the beast will pull the plug out of the global economy. The worst financial crisis of human history will pull a swarm of the banks underwater and the bank run begins. Then the beast will collapse a mountain of debt shattering the backbone of the monetary system causing a systemic risk to realize. Finally the beast will cast American citizens into a system slavery under the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan, just to "honor his legacy" count the number. After the destruction a new world order will be established in the US. And the Golden Age begins from the ruins of the world wide collapse. All of the system slaves will love it. No more cash - just digital transactions. No more traditional criminal activity. No more tax evasion. No more transactions without the "all seeing eye". Outcasts will hate the world without freedom, hope and privacy. To cover up the mess and distract the public by smoke and mirrors, the beast will engage in a war with Iran. Lies and deceit, corruption and decay, dancing on the graves will continue. Until; Black hole sun, won't you come, won't you come... I want to play a game. Time has come to opt out of the empire of filth. Live or die...
It's amazing how Trump claims that the tariffs on China are up to Scott Bessent, who sacrificed his integrity and knowledge of economics for the glory of being Treasury Secretary. Anyone notice how Trump claims all his heinous decisions are made by others. For instance, he doesn't know if he has to follow the Constitution, i.e. the law - It's up to his lawyers.
I seem to recall an occasion when he said, with stunning candor, that if something good happened, it was his doing, but if something bad happened, he was not to blame. It was one of those times when I thought "I already knew he thought that way - but it's still astonishing that he sees nothing wrong with saying it openly."
Cool so -
Can i please ask something from all of you healthy individuals?
Please help stand up for those of us with chronic illnesses. Rendering Medicaid useless means so many vulnerable, poor folks and kids will end up dying, or incurring so much medical debt that they lose everything.
As a chronically ill person (genetic disease, collagen disorder), I got involved in politics because of Obama and healthcare. My father was disabled- growing up, we never got to go on vacations or anything unless it was to a hospital system - my brother and i managed to make Rochester MN and the Mayo Clinic pretty fun. Mostly by riding 20 some odd floor elevators up and down for hours - but I digress.
I had a moment when I was around 8 or so when we were visiting our Canadian relatives, and I realized that if we had lived there, my family wouldn’t have struggled for money constantly. My father had both Medicare and my mother’s private insurance, and every year, we hit catastrophic. Hitting it was like 10k out of pocket then.
It is something else to be that young and understand that your country is absolutely fine with punishing those people who are unlucky enough to get sick, to the point of poverty. To say nothing of the absurd rules and hilarious pittance one gets if they actually can get disability.
The ACA isn’t the best, but it’s better than how things were before. I have looked at plans there - and for someone with my health issues, the mid level plan requires me paying $7k out of pocket before catastrophic. When looking for work, I have to factor that into salary if healthcare is dismal. Tell me how many people can afford that?
Prior to the ACA, I had the unfortunate luck to get into a car accident and I came out with a brain injury. As a walking pre-existing condition, I didn’t have healthcare. I was 20, and was kicked off my mother’s insurance at 18, while I was still in high school. I needed health insurance, and so I went to figure it out. The plan that was the cheapest required that I pay $2k every month for 6 months, and i wouldn’t have coverage until after those 6 months. So $12k for the privilege of paying another $12k to get some coverage.
Anyone with a brain can see how wrong that is. So i decided to try to meet with my Congress critter, to see what could be done. Medicaid was a nonstarter, because before the ACA, I could only get it if I got pregnant. So ruining my life at 20 where I would have been a very bad mother, was rewarded with healthcare, but going to college, working and doing everything right? Nothing.
My congress critter refused to meet with me, and his staffers walked me out of the office for daring to come in there and ask him for help, which btw was his job.
After that, I threw my life into organizing for healthcare. I didn’t and do not, ever, ever want another young person to have their life ruined. The brain injury meant I went to the ER a fair amount because I had unrelenting migraines. Those trips cost me $4k a pop. I was lucky to have a good GP who worked with me financially, and I was able to get some of my meds for free from the drug companies, but my antidepressant alone was $400 a month. Each month, my meds ran from $600 on up. I only survived because my parents sacrificed so that I could get treatment.
I tell this long story to you all because people who don’t have major health issues don’t understand how much our society loathes the sick. They don’t have a clue how much it costs to dare to be ill. They don’t understand that disability is next to nothing. They don’t know that if you use Medicaid and say, you inherit money- that money goes to the government, to pay off your being on Medicaid.
This administration is blatant about their eugenics. America has always made it clear to those of us with health issues that we are burdens no one wants. This administration is absolutely fine with throwing vulnerable, sick people to the wolves. I suspect if they could watch people suffer and die, they would, because they are soulless evil black holes in the shape of human beings.
We need to fight against them taking away healthcare. If you can’t do it for the vulnerable, do it because millions of people are going to lose their jobs. Nurses, doctors, therapists, hospital workers - when you toss over 30 million people off of insurance, what do you think happens to healthcare?
And for those of you who have depression (who doesn’t) and take meds - RFK isn’t just trying to create an autism registry. He’s trying to create one for anyone who has a mental health issue. His whole “wellness farms” thing isn’t a joke. We have an absolute idiot, who parades around with dead bears and whales, deciding that all of us who have depression/anxiety/bipolar/schizophrenia, ect ect all need to be forcefully taken off of our meds at glorified labor camps where we get to “farm” our food, and nothing bad could ever happen, right? He should have kept the brain worm. I suspect when it left, common sense left his brain.
Again apologies for this long essay, but I feel very strongly about these issues.
Thank you for telling us your story. Many people really have no idea of the cruel Catch-22's of our healthcare system. It's profoundly shameful and unnecessary.
A few comments...
1) I assume that at some point, Pope Leo and Trump will cross figurative swords. But we’ve seen what happens when they do. The Trumplicants will just complain about a religious figure (and a quasi-Marxist one to boot) intruding into political affairs. They will say that Leo needs to worry about saving souls rather than commenting on Trump’s immigration policy. Because to them, religion is only useful when it furthers Trump’s goals.
Comparison to the Evangelical support for Trump is inexact because there’s no “Pope-equivalent” in the Evangelical movement. But there are similarities. Just look what has happened to those Evangelicals who have said bad things about Trump. They are cast into the wilderness and told they need to get with the program. Yet it’s OK for people like Franklin Graham and Robert Jefress to support the most blatantly unchristian President in our history with the most outrageous claims of Trump being “God’s anointed” or a “modern-day King David”.
So Trump will use religious figures (be they Catholic or Protestant – but not Muslim) as props as long as they say nice things about him.
The religious part? Trump doesn’t know anything about that. And he doesn’t care.
And that’s why I’m not optimistic that Pope Leo will have much affect no matter what he says. Catholics that voted for Trump have already made their peace with his behavior. And if you claim to be religious and can justify voting for someone like Trump, you’re not the type that will listen to someone else who points out Trump’s manifest moral shortcomings. You’re in the cult.
2) No doubt that RFK, Jr. and Means have some good ideas about trying to get Americans to live a more healthy lifestyle. But I’d really like to understand what they are proposing. For example, I don’t see eliminating seed oils or ultra-processed foods as being the final nails in the obesity-epidemic coffin. People will still eat junk food – just maybe different kinds. And who doesn’t already know that exercising is good for you? Too many people just don’t do it.
Still, anything that they could do to help folks live healthier lives would be good. So I’m happy with that part of their message.
Of course, they both come with a load of baggage. And on balance, that baggage outweighs the good that they might do.
3) If Trump does actually endorse the increased tax rates on wealthy folks, I’ll just admit that I was wrong. But I’d also be interested in whether Trump would really be affected. Or would there be some loophole that he’d be able to use to avoid the increase? Remember that this is the guy who reportedly hasn’t actually had to pay taxes in years. And who won’t release his tax returns. The devil’s in the details.
There is one person who doesn't believe that exercise is good for you and he is currently the president. He has publicly stated that exercise shortens lifespan bc a person only has so much energy and working out uses it all up
Touche
Good on you Andrew for your question in the briefing room. She’s not used to being asked hard questions. Won’t be surprised if you’re not invited back too quick.
Hmm. With regard to Casey Means and her methodology for finding love at 35: I have no problem with her format, and will confess to having used an equally ritualistic strategy when addressing a similar need at age 50, but I am not seeking a top job in mainstream public health, nor should I be considered for same. Surgeon General…that’s a science job, not a religio-spiritual job. A recommendation from RFK Jr. is 1000 red flags, plus some red confetti, raining from a crop duster.
Same here. I'm currently looking forward to a yoga/meditation retreat weekend that will include forest bathing and a sound bath, so yeah, kinda woo-woo, but guess what? I've had all my vaccines and boosters because I'm old enough to remember how grateful parents and grandparents were for vaccines against polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and smallpox. And I worked at the health department for five years back in the '90s. So I suspect I might be less unqualified for the position than Ms. Means. Good grief.
Casey Means' tweet is deranged. but I do want to be composted after death....
Same.
My state doesn’t do green funerals so I’m hoping I can go to the body farm and they can use me for forensics and what not.
It's legal in 12 states
Yep. I'm in Washington state. the company I'm looking at puts the excess compost (that relatives don't take) on a local mountain as part of an eco-restoration project.
Nice. You're doing your family a very great service by making your arrangements now.
I can't get my Dad to discuss end of life issues. It's frustrating, I'd happily accommodate any of his wishes (within reason 😀), but I need to know what those wishes are.
maybe he's too embarrassed to say he wants to be buried sitting up in the driver's seat of a corvette? :) it's not easy for parents to talk about them with their kids....no matter how old. But it's important. We haven't done enough, but are trying to get things in order.
I had a friend - she was in the insurance business - but she never got life insurance on herself because she was never going to die. Would have been useful for her wife if she had gotten insurance (She died in her 70s, so not young, but still - we all gotta go).
At least a natural burial
Apropos of nothing in Morning Shots this morning, I was heartened by this exchange between Senator Patty Murray and Kash Patel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8CBVTLAdoA
It's like watching a really bad performance review. As someone who's conducted those kinds of reviews, I recognize what Murray is doing. "You were required to complete this goal. Where is the work product?"
"I don't have it."
"You know that you were required to have it, right?"
"I understand."
"You understand, but and..."
"I can't just make things up."
This is how these clowns should be dealt with. These are real jobs they hold. They have real, statutory requirements. These are actually laws with which they must comply. They are not Fox News talking heads. They are not podcasters.
Instead of going off on these people about their moral failings -- as obvious as they are and as tempting as that is -- it's better to treat them as the bureaucrats and government functionaries that they actually are. There is a budget process. Their jobs require them to participate in it by providing certain documents with certain types of information by certain dates.
Murray's question is exactly right. "How are we supposed to do our work if you don't turn this stuff in?" Patel, of course, doesn't have an answer.
Fox News can't spin that exchange. It's factual. It's based in law. It's Patel's job and he's not doing it. What IS the Congress supposed to do? Zero out the funding for the FBI because Kash Patel can't administer his department competently?
Let Jared Moskowitz do his stand up routine in whatever committees he's on. Let him make fun of James Comer and Jim Jordan. It doesn't do any good and Fox News can spin it. I'd rather see people like Patty Murray take guys like Kash Patel apart like she did there. He's a mid-level government functionary who's not doing his job. The American people need to see that.
I mean, none of them are doing their jobs. Most won’t ever get questioned, let alone asked to show their work.
His oath was devised by congress, is not in the constitution, unlike the oath by the Pres.. Congress can penalize him, just as they did in the Civil War when secessionists violated their oaths. They can change the structure of any agency under the pres given all appointees take that same Congress-devised oath.
They have to count their votes, have their ducks in a row, before acting however.
49-49 in the Senate on tariffs a week or so ago made clear T. has no mandate. More Repubs will be jumping ship as they see more ridiculous and awful things.
Just this past week, more jumped. Three new Repubs joined with the anti-tariff people to oppose the Gulf of Mexico nonsense that T. used as an excuse to deny APnews.com admission to journalist briefings. (The AP has state-by-state maps of electoral results so you can pick out the areas where jumps will be easiest. How dare they do that! act like they understand geography? )
Florida voted for T, but, But, BUT, the big circles for two Tampa-area districts on the AP map were barely red. They were, thus, barely for T, his majority in those two not huge, so they will be swingable?
Of those deeply red in FL last election, might they switch, if too many are denied insurance money, denied FEMA money for Florida's risk of repeated hurricane damage? Why doesn't T stand up for them.
He's like the incompetent guy at the casino in the movie Casino, who only gets hired and kept on because he is a political patronage hire. He knows they can't fire him, so he just answers politely, with no intention of responding to the criticism. Just get through the hearing and then ignore everything they said. The obvious disdain these characters have for any authority that isn't Donald Trump is palpable. They believe they can do anything they want, and as long as Trump isn't mad at them, they can get away with it.
(1) They THINK that they're safe. However, they wrapped a rope around their necks, saved on tape, so of record, as they violate oaths to resist DOMESTIC risks to the constitution, not just foreign. (2) We promised ourselves life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness In the Constitution [CORRECTION: In the Declaration of Independence]. Is happiness increased when relatives are deported without the promised trial, trial owed as even noncitizens have some rights? (3) It was not that long ago when spouses would automatically became citizens, upon marriage, to a citizen. If anybody fears sham marriages, the fearful could have forbidden just that subset. But they didn't, did they? They over-reached. (That a child with cancer was deported with his mother? even though the father was a citizen? A very poor excuse: it was legal as the mother was not a citizen. Who changed the law? Why not automatically a citizen, clearly not in a sham marriage, given she gave birth to the citizen's child?)
"In the Constitution, we are promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Actually, we're not. That is in the Declaration of Independence, a document with zero legal weight, not the Constitution. The Constitution promises us nothing about life or happiness - only some level of fairness. Keep in mind that the American Revolution was at its heart, a tax revolt. All that high-mindedness in the Declaration was cover for our rich guys not wanting to send tax money to London, and it never made it into the Constitution. It was our justification for treason against our King. I wasn't there in 1776, but I guess that was a pretty big deal back then, requiring at least a noble explanation.
Funny how once we won our freedom, none of that "All men (women? black people?) are created equal..." stuff fully made it into our laws?
You are right "Declaration of Independence", it's my week to be corrected. Still, whether Declaration or Constitution, it's an important historic precedent
I didn't quite see it that way. Kash Patel, I think, fancies himself as one of the Masters of the Universe. He doesn't have to follow rules or laws. He's got a Presidential pardon waiting for him, no matter what he does. Screw you, Senator. You're not the boss of me.
But then he runs into Patty Murray who asks, "Do you think you can just not follow the law?"
And he says, "I'm following the law."
And then she points out that he isn't and asks when he's going to start and he says he's waiting on his underlings, whom he clearly isn't managing effectively. He really was, in this exchange, reduced to a minor government functionary tasked with specific administrative duties which he didn't perform. THAT'S what he is. A bureaucrat, subject to others and to the laws, not a Master of the Universe at all.
That's what I want to see. I want to see demonstrated that these people are incapable or unwilling to perform even the most basic functions of their jobs. They can go on Fox News and bray about the weaponization of government all they want. They still have to submit their budget recommendations on time.
Excellent points. Being head of the FBI means you're responsible for lots of mundane administrative tasks. It'sca shame that good ol' Kash thought it was just playing thugs and political rivals ( as opposed to cops and robbers.)
Right!
And they're all like that. Kristi Noem used to be an executive, Governor of North Dakota. She could call the shots and didn't really have to answer to anyone but the voters and the voters of North Dakota would vote for a box of cornflakes if it had an R stamped on it, so she could run around, shooting her dogs and whatever else she was doing and no one said boo.
Now she's just another government functionary. She's got a boss. She has to manage a budget. She gets hauled in front of committees and has to answer questions. Her staff lets her down. They make her look foolish in public, same as Kash Patel.
Congress needs to make those jobs a lot less fun for them. It's not all cosplay. It's not all getting all tarted up and posing in front of a bunch of prisoners. The job involves actual work. Congress needs to shine a light on the fact that she -- and the rest of them -- aren't doing it.
Great piece Bill Kristol! Though not a Roman Catholic myself, I attended graduate studies at the Loyola Rome Center during Pope John Paul’s time and received an audience with him along with fellow students. I found out he was quite a good skier. And he sometimes said Mass at a neighborhood cathedral in Rome for locals (not St Peter’s). “Is the Pope Polish?” came to the end of its usefulness during that time. Now we have Pope Leo XIV who has citizenship in Peru as well as US, likes Aurelio’s pizza on the south side of Chicago, speaks excellent Spanish, and corrects Vance on Facebook. I am so hopeful, considering that El Salvadoran and Venezuelan political leaders undoubtedly grew up Roman Catholics. And he’s a Sox fan! Play ball!
Andrew is my nominee for 2025's Awesomest Dark Humor Tagline for Old Political Junkies with the Christine O'Donnell quip.
Honestly, she was NOT a witch! But she wasn't running for Surgeon General then, was she?
I was in Delaware's media market for that campaign. "I'm not a witch" was a weird flex for a senatorial campaign. 😀
It was a classic. 😆
Thanks for this. Yesterday I was on a long drive while listening to reporting from The Vatican. I had tears streaming down my face. I was having a Stendhal moment. The broadcasters' description of the setting and the palpable emotions of the crowd was almost too much to bear. My great good fortune was to have lived 26 years in Rome. A fallen-away Catholic, I gave thanks every day for the church's commission of the artwork and architecture that graces the length and breadth of Italy. I also give thanks for Popes John Paul (I'm thinking of his prison visit to forgive the man who tried to assassinate him) and Francis, who embodied the compassionate teaching of the church. Pope Francis felt like an antidote to our treatment of fellow human beings, the creatures with whom we share the planet, and our happy-go-lucky destruction of the planet itself.