September 29, 2018 saintlist

     Saints Padre Pio, Martyrs of Chalcedon, Finbar, Cosmas & Damian, Vincent de Paul, Lorenzo Ruiz, and Michael the Archangel, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt. CIX: "Louie Louie" in Animal House

     Tonite we feature, in this era of Brett Kavanaugh's un-funky shameful shenanigans, "Louie Louie" in the film Animal House:

     Funk it up!

September 22, 2018 saintlist

     Saints Cornelius, Robert Bellarmine, Joseph of Cupertino, Januarius, Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, & Companions, Matthew, and Thomas of Villanueva, please pray for us.

Brett Kavanaugh as Roy Moore? or, What's the Difference? and What Can We Do?

         Back on August 29, this author wrote "Brett Kavanaugh as Michael Dukakis? or, Why BK’s Loophole for Presidential Harassment Makes a Second- or Third-Choice SCOTUS Nominee More Appetizing", including a section on Presidents raping or harassing White House interns and getting away with it, re Mr. Kavanaugh's colorful ideas about letting Presidents do as they want sans civil or criminal liability until out of office. However, in a flagrant example of life imitating (or being even worse than...) art, it now seems BK may himself have been an attempted gang-rapist (possibly along with another boy, Mark Judge) during high school, according to accuser Christine Blasey Ford. The present author may or may not be a prophet or clairvoyant, but he believes it sometimes pays to imagine some of the worst scenarios possible, since real life may turn out to be like that (or worse).
        This follow-up article urges readers and public to keep on the pressure to investigate BK, and to show solidarity with his accusers (and all sex abuse victims, such as Roy Moore's alleged victims); and also discusses the Trump Administration's options if BK is stopped in his march to fill Tony Kennedy's Court seat.

I. Roy Moore's Ugly Legacy Continues

         The most recent useful analogue to the BK attempted-rape debacle is the surfacing in November 2017 of multiple female accusers of Judge Roy Moore, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama; the accusers alleged that Moore had behaved inappropriately toward them, including sexual assault on underage girls. Some Republican figures asked Moore to withdraw from the race, but Donald Trump and others continued to endorse him. This did not work, as Democratic candidate Doug Jones beat Moore in the special election.
        Similarly, following BK's alleged rape attempt on a female minor in high school, various figures, e.g., activists, are now recommending BK withdraw from his effort to join the Supreme Court, though no noted Republicans may yet be among them. One wonders if Roy Moore's accusers, whether Leigh Corfman, Beverly Young Nelson, or others, will issue any statement of support for Blasey Ford against BK. (There is the hideous possibility that if BK gets on the Court he could end up ruling against Moore's accusers if any of the current lawsuits between Moore's accusers and Moore are appealed to the Supreme Court. This scenario should be forestalled if at all possible.)

II. Possible Disturbing Origins of BK's Absurd Executive-Privilege Ideas

         And BK should not be on the Court anyway, given his written statements in the past that support the ridiculous theory that the President couldn't be stopped from sexually harassing, even raping, his employees or interns, except by impeachment, since civil suits and criminal indictments would be forbidden while he was in office. But how did BK evolve these poisonous ideas anyway?
         At this point, one has a queasy feeling that if BK did try to rape Blasey Ford, and was the kind of brutal and irresponsible person who would do that (or be a gambling addict, say, or go into absurd debt for baseball tickets...), that BK's presidential-privilege fixation may be a form of projection, e.g., that if BK, a child of serious privilege, could and should get away with anything (such as attempted rape), then the President, especially one who might appoint him to the Court, should also have carte blanche to behave like a total cad, bounder, and thug. It is unpleasant to contemplate how BK's alleged rapist-experiences may have shaped his freakish ideas about the Chief Executive, but the present author would not be surprised if the former perverted experiences led to the later intellectual absurdities.

III. Trump Choices after Kavanaugh?

         This author's previous article on BK noted that Senate Democrats, independents, or Republicans of conscience might at best have the option of some other choice among Trump’s nominees, instead of having to accept Trump's first choice, BK. The polarity may be somewhat reversed now, since soon, BK may be a pariah, and Trump may be scrambling to get someone else, anyone else, confirmed, especially since Democrats could take over the Senate in early January.
         So, Trump might want to find someone squeaky clean, or close to that. Seventh Circuit judge Amy Coney Barrett is one person who comes to mind, since she has apparently never tried to rape anyone, and her main "fault" seems to be that she is too religious for some people's taste. There may be other viable candidates, although in any case Trump might want to put a woman on the Court, since his first choice, BK, is now seen as a possible abuser of women; and putting a woman on the Court could be seen as "atonement" for that. In any case, if BK is rejected or withdraws, Trump may want to proceed very fast, and with an innocuous choice, for his next Court nominee.

IV. Conclusion: Fighting Hurricanes and Harassment

         During Hurricane Florence, one notes that there is another real-life hurricane, that of sexual harassment, abuse, or rape, whether done by Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Catholic church officials, Roy Moore, or Brett Kavanaugh. Many people have helped fight against that hurricane, such as Roy Moore's victims. Christine Blasey Ford is also aiding that fight, and this author greatly appreciates her heroic, patriotic sacrifices in coming forward publicly, showing her face, to accuse Kavanaugh about the attempted rape or gang-rape in high school.
         After all, the Supreme Court of the United States is the "People's Court", in a Nation where government is to serve the people, not the other way around. When people like Blasey Ford, or Roy Moore's alleged victims, or anyone else, speak up against injustice, we get to know, support, and nurture one another; and we even get to influence who is on the Court, or not, just as is happening now. Without saying that "We get the Court that we deserve": if we do not speak up when we should, we may not get the Court we deserve. And that would be a tragedy: and an avoidable tragedy at that.

September 15, 2018 saintlist

     Saints Peter Claver, Salvius of Albi, Paphnutius, Ailbhe, John Chrysostom, Notburga, and Valerian, please pray for us.

September 8, 2018 saintlist

     Saints Ingrid of Sweden, Pope Gregory the Great, Rosalia, Teresa of Calcutta, Eleutherius, Cloud, and Adrian, please pray for us.

Funk nite at the BL pt: CVIII: The Queen's Guards pay "Respect" to Queen Aretha

     Tonite we feature, after a funkless Auguest (summer vacation?), on this lovely Labor Day, a lovely tribute to a royal lady, the Queen of England's Welsh Guards performing "Respect" (!!!) at Buckingham Palace for the departed Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin:

     Funk it up!

September 1, 2018 saintlist

     Saints Sabina, Rumon, Raymond Nonnatus, and Giles (Abbot), please pray for us.