In a special service today in Bangladesh, Pope Francis apologized to Rohingya refugees saying “The presence of God today is also called Rohingya. In the name of all of those who persecuted you & the indifference of the world. I ask for forgiveness.” Forgiveness for what, Pope Francis? Rendering legitimacy to the genocidaires in Burma? Allowing Burmese bishops to defend the junta & deny the genocide without a peep of protest? Ignoring the genocide while you were in Burma because you were there to set up diplomatic relations with the fascist junta? Refusing to stand with the Rohingya even though your support would have made a world of difference?
Before such monumental cynicism & dishonesty, the world should stand aghast. The pope needs to go back to the Vatican & hole up for a long while. But the question of his role in Argentina’s “dirty war” needs to be revisited.
Mary the Censorious, descendant of Cato the Censor, has to lower the boom again. Just as I don’t allow hateful comments about women, Muslims, Jews, Blacks, or any other ethnic or social group, I don’t allow people to go off on religion–especially in an era when Islam is targeted in war, occupation, persecution, & genocide. You don’t have to like religion. We don’t want to hear about it. You end up talking to your own belly button if you think that hating on others is acceptable discourse.
A lot of people don’t censor their walls in the interests of free-flowing discussion. That wouldn’t be me. This is a solidarity wall. Period.
They think former general Michael Flynn is singing like a canary about Trump & Russia & will thus avoid jail time for his own felonies. And to think thousands of Black & Latino kids are in jail for smoking a joint.
An 84-year-old ex-Catholic priest named John Feit went on trial this week for the 1960 rape, beating, & strangulation of 25-year-old Irene Garza in McAllen, Texas. He dumped her body like rubbish in a canal. She had apparently encountered him in the confessional of a local church. He was always considered the primary suspect but her murder became a cold case, most likely because in 1960 prosecuting a priest would have seemed unthinkable. Fifty-seven years for her to get justice.
Most media headlines report that Irene was once a beauty queen–as if that had any bearing on the case. She was a daughter, a cousin, a niece, a friend, & a second-grade school teacher.
I’m not a crime reporter but such horrific crimes against women are haunting & when they receive justice it is a victory for all women. May our sister Irene Rest In Peace.
Taxation in the US is already to the favor of corporations & billionaires. When I worked for a tax lawyer while in college in the 1960s, she told me the tax laws were so unfair that if the American people knew the extent of inequity, there would be a revolution. Working with her, I saw that the poorest pay disproportionately high taxes.
Of course this Trump bill is more gravy train for corporations & billionaires. The unions are so hog-tied to the Democratic Party & so at war with each other that they will not mobilize workers, who are already hit in the jugular with taxes, to oppose the Trump tax bill. The only good news is that even though American workers are slow learners, historically they’ve made up for it with a fury. But when?
Let’s hazard a guess about the political reform in Saudi Arabia which is really a palace coup, not a fundamental revolution heralding democracy. The ousted princes were “imprisoned” in a five-star hotel, not the Saudi gulag & they will not face execution by beheading. The Saudi monarchy works bomb to bomb with the US to maintain tyranny in the Middle East–as we see in its nearly 3-year bombing campaign in Yemen, intended to crush every remnant of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. It is involved in funding & arming terrorist militias in Syria, Afghanistan, & elsewhere. Trump’s visit was to solidify & extend that relationship not for purposes of peace in the Middle East but to destroy every movement for democracy.
We’re supposed to get excited because women can drive now? What about all the other rights Saudi women demand? What about allowing all Saudi citizens & immigrant workers democratic rights? What about the Yemeni women who played a leading role in the 2011 uprising who are now targets of Saudi bombs?
Every time the Saudi regime beheads dissidents there is an international chorus of outrage about its relationship with the US.
The so-called reforms are a cosmetic makeover to make US & European alliance with Saudi Arabia look good. Like putting lipstick on a serial killer.
