In The New York Times we are reading that “chaotic scene of sickness and filth is unfolding in an overcrowded border station in Clint, Tex., where hundreds of young people who have recently crossed the border are being held, according to lawyers who visited the facility this week. Some of the children have been there for nearly a month.” [1] The article goes on to describe the appalling conditions: “Children as young as 7 and 8, many of them wearing... Read more
Suppose you’re a government in the United States, and you want to censor someone. But there’s that meddlesome First Amendment, protecting freedom of speech and the press, and you just can’t find your way around the problem. Well, the Supreme Court has the answer for you. According to a recent decision, all you need do is delegate the job to a private company, and voila! Private companies aren’t subject to the First Amendment, and can restrict speech all they want.... Read more
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is going on the theory that the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed by Congress in 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attack provides all the authority needed for the President to attack Iran. The AUMF, for those who have forgotten, authorizes the President “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11,... Read more
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’s plan to establish worker ownership in United States corporations is still in the development stage, so it is premature to offer any critique of it at this point. But it is precisely the right time to make suggestions about what the plan should look like. Now the idea is, alas, going to be dubbed “socialist” by proponents and opponents alike, although it need not involve any public ownership of the means of production. Precision in language... Read more
There’s talk that the United States will be going to war in either Iran, Venezuela, or both, and so we’ll have to take a look at the prospect in light of Catholic teaching. It’s really not a close question, as might be suspected in advance, but it is worthwhile to set out fully why attacking either country would be a serious breach of the Fifth Commandment. Let us first set forth the just war doctrine as articulated in the Catechism... Read more
As the New York Times reports, “Alabama’s governor on Wednesday signed into law a measure to ban most abortions in the state. But the Legislature’s approval and the governor’s signature did not immediately outlaw the procedure, and it is far from clear when, or even if, the measure will ultimately take effect…. “The bill that the Republican-controlled Legislature overwhelmingly passed sought to prohibit abortions at every stage of pregnancy. It includes an exception for cases where a woman’s health is... Read more
Senate Democrats in Illinois have “approved legislation for a state graduated income tax, a top legislative priority for Gov. J.B. Pritzker.” The governor has proposed the “tax as a way to fix Illinois’ shaky finances. The proposal would increase taxes for the wealthy and lower taxes for the great majority (97 percent of state taxpayers) by applying different tax rates on different levels of income. Currently everyone” in the state “pays a flat income tax of 4.95 percent.” As of... Read more
On Good Friday we remember that God subjected himself to the evil of humanity, and what that evil looked like when it was placed upon him. We recall that somehow, in a way not fully understood by us, this voluntary self-sacrifice by the Creator and Sustainer of the universe made possible a reconciliation between him and the humanity that manifested its rejection of him by the torture and degradation it inflicted upon him. It is of the essence of the... Read more
Occasionally your humble servant makes reference to the fact that the United States is not a Catholic Country, and the Supreme Court has recently provided a stark reminder. The Church teaches this regarding capital punishment: “Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good. Today, however, there is an increasing awareness... Read more
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump berated “Detroit automakers for closing plants and sending jobs abroad.” [1] With the next election coming next year, he has stepped up the rhetorical attack once again, and has demanded that General Motors reopen its Lordstown, Ohio plant, urging “G.M. to close a factory in China or Mexico instead of idling the one in Lordstown.” G.M. responded that the fate of Lordstown and other North American factories “’will be resolved between G.M. and... Read more
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