A little birdie told me that Maxwell Edison is celebrating his birthday today and is six years old. I would say something to him but he is outside panthering because he discovered that there is a ginormous bunny rabbit in the back yard. For years there has been a rabbit warren in the back yard underneath the shed. That whole time, though, Thurston and Rosie were on the prowl (not Lily, of course, she would see a rabbit and think “Friend???”) in the backyard, so they only entered through a hole on the alley side of the fence, not into the backyard. It used to make Thurston absolutely mental because he could hear them and he would stand at the shed barking until I dragged him inside.
That’s absolutely what I like the most about being back. I really like all the greenery, the lushness, the wildlife, and the birds. I have nests everywhere. Does anyone know anything about mourning doves? Are they territorial? Because I honestly think there are four nests in the willow tree and two of them I think are doves. At any rate, all the birds are so loud in the morning and I love it.
New pope seems like a decent enough chap to be pope. Plus the right hates him, which is, unfortunately, a real selling point for me right now. This made me laugh out loud:
Cassocks are red
Conclaves are dope
Wake up babe we got a— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) May 8, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Looked into the Augustinian Order and they seemed interesting. As you all know I’m not into all that religion stuff in the slightest degree, but this Pope seems to understand boundaries and I can live with him. I mean, they are all going to be anti-abortion and for some things I disagree with, but the social justice aspect is appealing and honest to fucking god what I would expect from a religion.
Regardless, I am tired and going to wrap this up.
War for Ukraine Day 1,169: So Much for Putin’s Victory Day Truce
satby
More social justice focus will be good. Plus, a hometown guy.
Hunter Gathers
Leo’s first visit to Chicago is gonna be wild.
YY_Sima Qian
When I read that the new Pope is American, my heart sank for a bit, given how reactionary American Catholic Cardinals tend to be. However, it seems Leo the XIV is very much simpatico w/ Francis, & Peruvians are calling him the 1st “Andean Pope”, given the decades he had spent there. He also holds Peruvian citizenship.
Overall, I am encouraged by the result of the election. The Vatican did not take a reactionary turn, I am counting my blessings.
SpaceUnit
I’m writing a poem to commemorate this extremely profound occasion. So far I’ve got:
Pope, pope, pope of Rome. Hat like a cone.
Something, something, something, trombone.
Sure, doesn’t sound like much yet, but it’s a work in progress.
geg6
We get tons of mourning doves. We had them at our old house and, after downsizing and moving several blocks away, we still have them. Don’t know if it’s new ones that live here or the others followed us because we are (well, John is) the most generous purveyors of bird seed around.
Trivia Man
From earlier thread, we have our first scandal! Wrigley posted a brag that Leo is a Cubs fan. His brother disputes that – “MOM is a Cubs fan, HE is a Sox fan.”
Sister Golden Bear
Vatican announces that deep dish pizza and Malört will now be used as the body and the blood of Christ for Communion.
seefleur
Mourning doves are seed eaters mostly. And they are very entertaining – I have them as regulars in my yard. They get along with everyone – even the jays, and grey squirrels. Very entertaining, and when they flock together in the winter under the birdfeeders, they remind me of wind-up toys, the way they waddle around…
SiubhanDuinne
@SpaceUnit:
You’re very welcome.
Gin & Tonic
@Sister Golden Bear: Tomato casserole and rancid mouthwash.
SpaceUnit
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’ll go down alongside poets like Virgil and Milton, T.S. Eliot.
Okay who am I kidding. T.S. Eliot will mostly be remembered for Cats.
Suzanne
The Chicago Pope memes are already pretty good.
I hope JD Vance is pissed off.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne:
There’s a lot I hate about this particular timeline we’re in, but I must admit I’m really glad to be alive during the Golden Age of Internet Memes. There have been some fine ones today, especially for a Chicago girl.
Sister Golden Bear
@YY_Sima Qian:
Conclave leader: Pope Francis desired a successor who would champion the downtrodden.
Cardinal in back: I know this guy, he’s a White Sox fan….
Chetan Murthy
@SpaceUnit: I remember him most for The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. We never studied Cats in high school. But we studied the Love Song.
Anne Laurie
Augustians are known for clever networking — they had the reputation the Jesuits now claim.
Martin Luthor, IIRC, was an Augustinian, and it was rumored he started his breakaway sect when he realized the Italians had an unbreajable lock on the papacy..
West of the Rockies
Anyone know what sort of bird seed I should have on hand for a pair of quails that hang out in the yard?
CaseyL
“Pope Bob” seems like the best we could hope for, given the Church’s theological and institutional constraints. That the RW is furious is definitely a point in his favor.
danielx
Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine….
SpaceUnit
@Chetan Murthy:
Prufrock was actually pretty good. Eliot had a gift but fell under the unfortunate mentorship of Ezra Pound who encouraged him to indulge his many pretensions.
And the two of them spent most of their time chasing their dicks among the parlors of Europe.
SiubhanDuinne
@SpaceUnit:
I sing of trombones and the man.
They also serve who only sit around and play trombones.
I have heard the trombones playing, each to each. I do not think that they will play to me.
SiubhanDuinne
@Sister Golden Bear:
Lawl
SpaceUnit
@SiubhanDuinne:
Very nice.
danielx
@SiubhanDuinne:
Still a sore subject, trombone was my junior high band instrument. I liked it and was starting to get good, and then I ran both arms through a plate glass door pane chasing a girl at some church function. Nine stitches and my trombone playing days were over.
Still haven’t forgotten those lidocaine shots to get the stitches, boy howdy.
Aussie sheila
@YY_Sima Qian:
The fact that Francis chose the current Pope to
Stackselect Bishops for him, tells me Francis was both tactician and strategist. He has remade the CoCs the way he wanted and reached down into the Bishoprics.Excellent work.
Spanky
@danielx:
Now, the other night I took my wife down to a Music Hall.
And ever since that blooming night it has been her downfall.
She sat beside the bandsman, and he filled her with delight,
The fellow that played the trombone, he stole my wife that night.
With his rum-she-ra-ra, rum-she-ra-ra, rum-she-ra-ra-day,
The fellow that played the trombone, he stole my wife away,
He pulled that long thing in and out, he made her feel so gay,
He really tickled her fancy with his rum-she-ra-ra-day.
Now she said she liked his music, she’d go there every week,
I said it would be her downfall if she didn’t stop her cheek,
She took no notice what I said, and when from time to time,
I stayed home and nursed the kids while him and her did shine.
Now the other night I woke and found she’d gone with all her clothes,
She’d gone with that bandsman, to a land where no-one knows,
But if ever I should find ’em, I’d spoil their honeymoon,
I’d smash his bloody instrument if I catched him playing a tune.
With his rum-she-ra-ra, rum-she-ra-ra, rum-she-ra-ra-day,
The fellow that played the trombone, he stole my wife away,
He pulled that long thing in and out, he made her feel so gay,
He really tickled her fancy with his rum-she-ra-ra-day.
NotMax
@danielx
Stitches? Real men use duct tape.
//
CaseyL
Defector magazine (self-billed as “the last good website”) ran an article about the new Pope being from Chicago, which led to a discussion about Chicago’s various sports teams, which in turn led to this gem from the comments:
narya
Personally, I wear my trousers rolled AND dare to eat peaches.
YY_Sima Qian
@Aussie sheila: Agree. I have always been impressed by Francis on multiple levels, especially after the decades of JP II & Benedict promoting conservative & reactionary theologies. (At least Benedict had the good sense recognize the increasingly untenable position the Church had found itself in, to resign & allow for the possibility of a shift.)
Never understood Francis’ blind spot wrt the Russian re-invasion of Ukraine. I supposed one should not expect (or want) that the Pope be a martial figure advocating for Just War, but Francis could have put the onus on Putin to the end the invasion.
CaseyL
@YY_Sima Qian:
Could he have, though? Russia is Eastern Orthodox, not Catholic; I don’t think Putin gives a rip what the Pope says.
YY_Sima Qian
@CaseyL: No one has that kind of influence/leverage over Putin, not the Pope, not Biden, not Xi, not Macron/Shultz, not Modi/Lula. However, Francis sullied his own reputation here.
Aussie sheila
@YY_Sima Qian:
I suspect the long term aim of healing the Orthodox v Catholic schism lies behind the very bad quietism on that conflict he exhibited.
sentient ai from the future
okay, maybe he was a marxist. maybe he still is. but you gotta understand, he is the right age for that radio adult contemporary shit, and ol richard was also a chicago boy.
so maybe he’s still got a cd kicking around there. he might be afraid to acknowledge it. but i will be right here waiting for you, pope. *flicks lighter
danielx
@Spanky:
If I’d known of that song back then, I’d have healed and gone back to it. I was thirteen or fourteen at the time and a walking gland.
Gin & Tonic
@YY_Sima Qian: He also offended the Catholics in Ukraine, a significant minority there. Particularly weird since Francis and the leader of Ukraine’s Catholics know each other well from the time both served in Buenos Aires.
SiubhanDuinne
@danielx:
Yikes yikes yikes. I’m cringing at the very thought! And I’m genuinely sorry that it put an end to your trombone-playing days.
danielx
@NotMax:
Um, no. This was in the days before safety glass and I can testify that I could look into my arm for half an inch at least in about (inspecting scar) three inches.
Although I have heard of people using duct tape that way just to slow blood loss.
JCJ
@SiubhanDuinne: Once again I think it should be made official that Subaru Diane is the Poet Laureate of Balloon Juice
Aussie Sheila
@Gin & Tonic:
The eastern Catholics by definition are loyal to Rome. The Orthodox need to be coaxed. I’m not defending his stance, tbc, simply trying to get inside the global politics of a globalist! //
JetsamPool
@SiubhanDuinne, @SpaceUnit:
If you all want to commemorate the occasion in song, Pa-Pa-Pa from Die Zauberflöte springs to mind:
Baritone: Pope pope pope
Soprano: Pope pope pope
Baritone: Pope pope pope pope
Soprano: Pope pope pope pope
Etc.
The YouTube link isn’t the German version but I like it because of the clearer diction.
Chetan Murthy
It’s an open thread, so I just have to post a link to this video (that Scott Lemieux dug up and posted at LG &M): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEbtOSXmY0c
Who says women can’t be funny!?!?! I swear, she shoulda got an Emmy for this! Just -amazing-!
Quaker in a Basement
I’m just shocked that he’s officially been Pope for nearly a whole day and I haven’t yet had to hear Trump make his selection all about himself.
MobiusKlein
In my old age, I’ve come more to the view that folks are easier to work with when they have values, and are true to them. I may have some different values, but two people working both honest and true to their values can reach a compromise, or otherwise work together.
The folks who shift their purported values like the wind, or only value their own self interest – there is nothing to do but block them.
SiubhanDuinne
@JetsamPool:
I sing that duet with myself all the time! Love the idea of popin’ it up a bit.
SiubhanDuinne
@Quaker in a Basement:
He came close. He sniffed around the edges. Something to the effect that when he and Pope Leo meet, it will be a “memorable day.”
Jackie
@Chetan Murthy: Had to repost! Oh lordy, the FOX Administration is gonna be velly interestling:
Chetan Murthy
@Jackie: They used to say Li’l Donnie watched his speeches (and others’ speeches) with the sound turned off. He’s a very visual person, they say. And of course, the priority for him is how his underlings look on teevee. Gotta be from central casting.
Matt McIrvin
@sentient ai from the future: Je suis marxiste, tendance Big Wheel
Grumpy Old Railroader
Yes. No. Asked and answered.
Longer answer. Mourning Doves are monogamous forming a strong pair bond. Female builds a flimsy looking nest out of small sticks, pine needles and whatever else the male brings in. The way to locate nests is to note a bunch of rejected male offered building material and dove poop littering a spot of ground underneath a limb or human built overhead object. Easier to notice when the sticks are on my freaking deck underneath my awning cover. It is funny , however, to watch the male fly in and offer a twig to the lady builder who then often rejects it to fall to the ground (wrong color? Too big around? Who knows?). If you do find the nest, you will quickly wonder how in the hell they can hatch a couple of eggs on top of such a weak ass pile of twigs.
There are two really cool phone apps that are a must for birders. iBird Pro ($15 when last I bought it a few years back) and Merlin Bird ID (free from Cornell U). They each have their strong points and I use both but usually open iBird Pro first.
Jackie
@Chetan Murthy: Yup.
I just hear the entrance music to Rowen and Martin’s Laugh In.
SiubhanDuinne
@JetsamPool:
Not only clear diction, but the best tempo I think I’ve ever heard. It’s a great duet, but most conductors and singers seem to think it’s a speed trial and rush through it as though they were running to catch a departing train. Very glad to know of this recording, thanks.
YY_Sima Qian
WRT to the “trade agreement” w/ the UK:
YY_Sima Qian
LOL:
& this gem (click through the link for the “fact sheet” released by the US):
cain
@YY_Sima Qian:
It has a hint of a deal, like a whiff of shit or cat pee.
prostratedragon
@cain: The elusive subdeal.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Sign Here.
:)
prostratedragon
President Trump fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden
How Libraries Keep Serving as a Hub of The Community [2021 interview with Carla Hayden]
Carla Hayden on institutional knowledge at the Library of Congress [2016]
prostratedragon
@NotMax: The Lucille Ball story? (Bob Dishy! Whom I knew mainly from Columbo.)
Darkrose
@Sister Golden Bear: Instead of “The peace of the Lord be always with you/And also with you” it’ll be, “Da Bears!/Da Bulls!”
Darkrose
@prostratedragon: I am absolutely furious about that, not least because of the fucking disrespect. Her name is not Carla to you Trumpist fuck—it’s Dr. Hayden.
Sen. Padilla did post about it on Bluesky. I asked him yet again to deny unanimous consent and refuse to confirm any Trump nominees until Dr. Hayden is reinstated. I’m going to call his office tomorrow with the same request. I doubt it’ll go anywhere, but…I need to do something.
Baud
So both Leo and Obama are White Sox fans. Interesting.
Betty Cracker
@Chetan Murthy: Yep, all the Emmys! I love how the guys at the fake news desk couldn’t stop laughing.
Betty Cracker
@prostratedragon: I realize it’s kind of passe to ask, but is that even legal? Is the Library of Congress part of the executive branch? Its name suggests it’s not…
Booger
@narya: But did you eat the plums in the icebox??
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@danielx: I went through a plate glass door in the late 1970s. I was pretend boxing with a friend from the neighborhood and my corner was by our front door. When round 1 started instead of coming out and sparring he just ran straight at me and plowed into me like an offensive lineman going at a down field linebacker.
Amazingly I emerged unscratched. The window was covered by a gauzy translucent curtain and that, my clothes and sheer luck combined to save me from serious laceration.
Central Planning
@Quaker in a Basement: They haven’t told him yet.
Baud
@Quaker in a Basement:
He’s got a conflict. He wants to take credit, but the right wing doesn’t like the new pope.
Princess
@Quaker in a Basement: oh, he did. He talked about what a huge honour it was to have an American pope, as if they picked an American to honour himself, Trump. I’m sure he sees it that way — nothing exists that isn’t refracted by his ego.
Geminid
@Princess: Tom Bonior:
Someone here may have put this one up already.
Bostondreams
@Betty Cracker: position is appointed by the president though
prostratedragon
@Betty Cracker: My understanding is that the President does make that appointment. It’s for a term, like FBI and the Fed. Also like those positions, even when parties have changed in the White House, they are usually left to finish their terms. In fact Dr. Hayden was appointed by Obama. 45 left her in place, unlike Comer and Yellen.
Betty Cracker
@Bostondreams: & @prostratedragon: Thanks. Still, what a disgrace.
Joey Maloney
@CaseyL: To be fair, the Professionally Furious right wing would have been furious no matter what, unless the new pope came out in a MAGA hat throwing Tesla salutes and ordered everyone in St Peter Square deported.
Princess
Oy. Mattel says they won’t bring all their toy production to the US. That made Trump angry. He referred to Mattel as a country and said he was going to increase tariffs on them 100% so they wouldn’t sell a single toy in the US. Even aside from calling them a country, threatening to raise tariffs to target one single company sure gives the game away. He’s addled and corrupt in equal measure.
mrmoshpotato
Another Looney Loomer tweet.
prostratedragon
In fact, death is not conquered:
The article exposes the “math.”
MagdaInBlack
@Joey Maloney: They had their heart set on trump as Pope, so nothing less will do.
Baud
@Princess:
Time for an Orange Buffoon Barbie.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: So you noticed that, too?
Matt McIrvin
@Princess: I’ve seen people pointing out even in response to American liberals, who speculate that this was a thumb in the eye to Trump, that they’re exaggerating the extent to which this is about us, since they consider Prevost more Peruvian (examining the whole of his career and where he’s lived most of the time).
Don_K
@CaseyL:
It’s refreshing seeing two popes in succession who take all of the teachings in the Bible seriously, unlike the cafeteria Catholics of the right wing. I’m not a believer, and don’t look to the church for my own moral guidance after all of the scandals that have come to light, but it JD and the rest are outraged, I’m happy.
Matt McIrvin
@prostratedragon: The silliest thing about this is that when Biden was in office, the same people warned of Biden’s high rate of fentanyl seizures as a bad thing, evidence of a flood of drugs streaming in over an “unsecured” border.
Princess
@Matt McIrvin: They’re better at propaganda than we are. And they have a compliant press corps.
satby
@Professor Bigfoot: South Side rules!
Miss Bianca
@Spanky: Ah, the classics! :)
YY_Sima Qian
The Indo-Pakistani clash not looking good, unsurprisingly facilitating reactionaries on both sides:
The Lodger
@Trivia Man: Cubs or White Sox, he’ll be managing the Cardinals for many,many seasons.
azelie
I’m late to the thread but I have done some research that involved Augustinians in the Middle Ages. I’m pretty sure that the Augustinian order that Pope Bob belongs to is a mendicant order like the Franciscans and Dominicans. That means that at least in the beginning they wanted to de-emphasize property (though they quickly found loopholes, like “using” property instead of “owning” it). In many monastic orders, people were not supposed to own anything individually but the monastery owned property and had revenue sources. Part of the reform that the mendicant orders represented is that the monastery was not supposed to own land or have stable revenue sources, either. Francis was the most rigorous about this.
In the mid-thirteenth century, there were a lot of small groups that were dedicated to poverty, and the Augustinians were formed when a pope united a few of these small groups to give them more stability/definition. As such, this order has a strong tie to the papacy from the beginning. The order is sometimes called the Augustinian Hermits (or sometimes Augustinian Friars) to distinguish them from other groups that use the Rule of Saint Augustine, though they were never really hermits.
If people have heard of the Augustinian Hermits, it’s often because Martin Luther was in that order before his break with the Catholic Church.
I really don’t know much about how this group might see itself in comparison to other religious orders in the modern era. It makes me curious to look into the Augustinian Hermits beyond the 16th century. I’m guessing that the origins as a mendicant order might lead them to have a special embrace of poverty, which would resonate with Pope Francis’s orientation toward simplicity and humility.
Sasha
This is the kind of pope that is designed to make a certain class of conservatives cry.
Frank Wilhoit
@Sister Golden Bear:
Obligatory Kipling (ca. 1890): “I have now seen Chicago. Having seen it, I urgently desire to never see it again. It is inhabited by savages. Its air is dirt.” But I think he would have cut it half a break for Malört. A warrior’s drink, he might have said. All of which is very anachronistic.
Kayla Rudbek
@Baud: I swear that Fr. Andrew Greeley is writing this timeline now…
Sasha
@Anne Laurie: Hah. The ultimate vindication. :)