international treaties that would handle war crimes are never signed by the US. never going to happen...great for everybody else, but not for their blood thirsty individuals.

I long maintained that Roe was a huge political gift to the Right. Candidates could fill out the Right to Life questionnaire and score 100%, knowing darn well that extreme stances like being opposed to the Plan B pill and no rape/incest exception had no chance of becoming law.

Now with the issue in the hands of state legislatures, the definition of being "pro life" has become allowing termination up to 12 weeks. I don't know of any successful candidate who has taken the hard line of no Plan B pill etc.

With Dobbs having thrown the issue back to the states, who the President is doesn't make much difference. The Left has had a heyday backing candidates from the Right into corners based on their past rhetoric.

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"It's our blood and bones and these whistles and phones against Miller's and Noem's dirty lies."

https://bsky.app/profile/thebulwark.com/post/3mitw2663d32b

Maybe it's just some sort of overheated bluster in a misguided attempt to bully Iran, but given the way we're bombing other civilian infrastructure (like the Pasteur Institute of Iran, last week) I'm not hopeful.

I hope they find themselves in front of the Hague very soon.

"I like people who weren't captured." Just a friendly reminder of the utter POS that is Trump.

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[Normal] Florida man

I'm experiencing, I don't know what you call it -- cognitive dissonance? but on steroids -- that in the middle of the triumphant recitation of rescuing the downed airman, going on for a couple hours now (and good on them for getting him out safely), and how precise and perfect the rescue mission for this one guy was, there's this throwaway line by Hegseth about how today & tomorrow will be the heaviest bombing of the campaign, to include civilian targets like power infrastructure and bridges, according to Trump.

He's already from the US and shouldn't be focused on US-specific problems. The US already suffers enough from main character syndrome. Better to address issues related to war and peace rather than specific leaders.

Plenty of precedent for the USCCB telling the flock how to vote, but it’s only ever because of one issue. No matter how awful and inhumane and frankly anti-life Trump is — on everything from poverty to healthcare to war to climate — they’ll never do the same to him.

he forced every priest to read from the altar a letter the Sunday before election day. His reasoning was basically the abortion issue; he thought McCain would've been better.

I can't prove it, but I'm virtually certain it was responsible for Obama carrying NE-2 and winning an Electoral Vote.

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"It's our blood and bones and these whistles and phones against Miller's and Noem's dirty lies."

but Leo is making a serious run. I fell out of my chair when they elected a Jesuit Pope. Then I fell out a second time when they elected an American Pope.

Trump's Easter "tweet" exceeded my expectations for awfulness. But hey, Laura Loomer thought it was awesome.

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"It's our blood and bones and these whistles and phones against Miller's and Noem's dirty lies."

they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.

For one thing, it would trigger a counterproductive anti-Catholic backlash. And the whole “mortal sin” thing just doesn’t cut it with people these days anyway. Mortal sins run the gamut from first degree murder to missing Sunday Mass.

There are all kinds of other reasons I could think of to not do it, but ultimately I don’t think it would have any positive practical effect.

Why doesn’t the Pope just come out a few weeks before the election and declare that voting for Trump is a mortal sin? I think his messages are on point, but he has the power to dramatically bend the arc of moral universe toward justice. Why doesn’t he use it? Slippery slope to the uber-political nature of papacy in the distant past?

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At night, the ice weasels come.

Not on the subtle side.

https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/messages/urbi/documents/20260405-urbi-et-orbi...

In the light of Easter, let us allow ourselves to be amazed by Christ! Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us! Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!

We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people. Indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow. Indifferent to the economic and social consequences they produce, which we all feel. There is an ever-increasing “globalization of indifference,” to borrow an expression dear to Pope Francis, who one year ago from this loggia addressed his final words to the world, reminding us: “What a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of the world!” (Urbi et Orbi Message, 20 April 2025).