Google News directory, news items, July 7, 2025, 11:08 a.m (CST). A week after President Trump was re-elected, Psychology Today posted an article to its website noting that the outcome "reflects a moral injury for many -- a psychological wound caused by betrayal of deeply held values." Explained Mary Ann McDonald of Holy Cross College in … Continue reading Moral injury and Trump 2.0: Are you on the bus? Off the bus? Or thrown under the bus with Black and brown people?
Timothy Snyder sees antisemitic, fascist parallels in Trump’s tactics against Ukranian president, Palestinian student
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t39_pRTAni4 Washington Post, Feb. 28, 2025 (YouTube). Editor's (admin's) note. This post started out journaling about Timothy Snyder's warning about the Trump regime's flirtation with antisemitic and Russian fascist tropes. As Snyder commented on similar tropes in Trump's attempt to deport a Palestinian activist at Columbia, it morphed into my thoughts on what I believe … Continue reading Timothy Snyder sees antisemitic, fascist parallels in Trump’s tactics against Ukranian president, Palestinian student
‘Up against a shark, what can a herring do? Be wise, compromise?’ But with Trump’s wannabe Russian empire? Nyet! (1 of 2)
Classes in Oslo after Nazis closed the schools, 1943 (Nasjonalarkivet CC BY). Editor's (admin's) note. I began this post a couple of weeks ago when President Trump made it clear he was backing fascist Russia against Ukraine and our (former?) NATO allies. I was reminded of a whimsical line from the Broadway production of Sound … Continue reading ‘Up against a shark, what can a herring do? Be wise, compromise?’ But with Trump’s wannabe Russian empire? Nyet! (1 of 2)
Spiritual journal, Dec. 2024 (with a footnote on why I still find Pete Hegseth’s ‘crusader’ tattoos so embarrassing)
Muslim women visit St. Saviour's Church, Jerusalem, 2023 (Custodia Terræ Sanctæ).1 Lightly edited copy of an email I sent to my spiritual director today in advance of our session for December, archived here so I can go back later and see what I was thinking about when I posted it. Plus a bonus footnote in … Continue reading Spiritual journal, Dec. 2024 (with a footnote on why I still find Pete Hegseth’s ‘crusader’ tattoos so embarrassing)
How a Swedish Lutheran theologian’s response to the Holocaust guides my attitude to performative ‘anti-antisemitism’ in an election year
'[...] Christians have a responsbility.' - Krister Stendahl (Wikimedia Commons). Yahoo! News, or its algorithms, served up a twofer on antisemitism this morning. No, make that a three-fer! As I was scrolling through ithe Yahoo! directory Tueday morning, I came across this headline, "How Weaponizing Antisemitism Puts Jews at Risk," over an op ed piece … Continue reading How a Swedish Lutheran theologian’s response to the Holocaust guides my attitude to performative ‘anti-antisemitism’ in an election year
A reminder, without mentioning Trump’s name, that Hitler won Germany’s last free election with 37.4 percent of the vote
David Lee Preston, Twitter (now "X"), Dec. 7, 2015 Comes now Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker and gives powerful evidence it's time to start taking the comparisons of ex-President Donald Trump and Hitler more seriously, Godwin's Law notwithstanding. Godwin's Law, similar to a logical fallacy known as the Reductio ad Hitlerum, holds that sooner … Continue reading A reminder, without mentioning Trump’s name, that Hitler won Germany’s last free election with 37.4 percent of the vote
Turkish-American scholar: ‘What I find most hurtful in this whole (Gaza) situation is the reduction of complexity’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7BjYNMEcgg&t=326s Analysis by FRANCE 24's international affairs editor [4:40-5:37], Dec. 11, 2023 When I was growing up in small-town East Tennessee, people who weren't familiar with my Norwegian surname would sometimes call me Ellerstein, substituting the common suffix in Jewish names for the -t-s-e-n that doesn't roll trippingly off an English speaker's tongue. I thought … Continue reading Turkish-American scholar: ‘What I find most hurtful in this whole (Gaza) situation is the reduction of complexity’
Why New Yorkers’ reaction to an Islamophobic rant on the Upper East Side gives me hope for the future
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJBzamR9Ak4 Brooklynite of Egyptian heritage supports halal street vendor (Loudlabs News NYC). I'm a generation and a half removed from New York City -- my father left Brooklyn in 1932 to go off to college and never moved back -- but I couldn't be prouder of the way New Yorkers reacted Thanksgiving week to an … Continue reading Why New Yorkers’ reaction to an Islamophobic rant on the Upper East Side gives me hope for the future
Ordinary Time 