Pope to Cardinals on why he chose the name Leo XIV: “There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.”
— Rich Raho (@richraho.bsky.social) May 10, 2025 at 7:44 AM
How Pope Leo XIV became the conclave’s stealth candidate – The Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0…
— Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd.bsky.social) May 10, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Basically, he’s a networker. Per the Washington Post, “How Pope Leo XIV became the conclave’s stealth candidate” [gift link]
… Cardinal Robert Walter McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, said Prevost’s breakthrough occurred Thursday, the day of his selection: “There was a great movement on the second day, a great movement.”
Yet as early as the initial vote Wednesday, Prevost was already over-performing, according to one senior Vatican official — in part because the prelate had always been a stronger candidate than many outside the Vatican generally understood. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a secret vote.
An American who had become a naturalized citizen of Peru while serving the church on the country’s northwest coast, Leo emerged as an early favorite among an influential group that included a cluster of Latin American cardinals, particularly those who sought a continuation of Francis’s legacy.
“Prevost, unknown to the many, was favored by a majority of the cardinals that came from abroad — he wasn’t unknown to them,” the official said.
Even before the conclave began, Prevost was viewed by many in the Vatican as a logical successor to Francis despite being from the United States — a nation the Holy See had long seen as having outsize global power and influence. Francis had plucked him from his distant outpost in Peru in 2023 to run the influential dicastery, or ministry, of bishops. In no time, he’d become indispensable to the pope’s bid to change the church by elevating clerics seen as more in line with Francis’s pastoral approach, emphasis on the poor and open door.
In the important congregations — assemblies of cardinals ahead of the vote — Prevost had not necessarily overwhelmed the cardinals with inspiring words, the way Francis had in 2013 when he spoke stirringly of ministry to the world’s “peripheries.” Rather, he had a gentle, engaging manner and, as Francis liked to say, “the smell of the sheep” on him from serving the church for decades in the proverbial trenches.
“I don’t remember any particular intervention Prevost offered to the general congregation. But he did engage quite effectively in smaller group conversations,” Cardinal Wilton Daniel Gregory, another Chicago native and the retired cardinal of Washington, said at a news conference in Rome on Friday. “I did talk to Prevost and we talked about Chicago of course. It wasn’t that he stood up and made this speech that wowed that body,” he said.
Perhaps most shockingly, the taboo of electing an American appeared to be more myth than reality. It simply wasn’t a major topic of discussion, several cardinals said…
There was another big reason for the conclave to lean toward Prevost.
The Vatican is in financial crisis, suffering from a drop in global donations and a gaping deficit in its pension fund. The shortfalls had led Francis to clash with the heads of Holy See dicasteries over budget cuts shortly before his February hospitalization with double pneumonia, according to two Vatican officials familiar with the situation.
Two cardinals who spoke with The Post on Friday said that Leo, when he served as head of the bishop’s dicastery, and earlier, as the head of his Augustinian order, was seen as a sharp manager — the kind of detail man the Vatican needs…
I bet Len Leo really hates the new Pope and I enjoy this fact.
— Clean Observer (@hammbear2024.bsky.social) May 10, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Pope Leo XIV is descended from Creole people of color from New Orleans. Take a look at historical records that trace the story of his mother’s family.
— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) May 10, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Leo XIV, An American Pope. Please share #laloalcaraz cartoons and catch them also at GoComics.com/laloalcaraz
— Lalo Alcaraz (@laloalcaraz.bsky.social) May 10, 2025 at 8:06 PM
chemiclord
While I doubt it was a primary factor, I can only imagine that selecting a Pope from the United States that was as close to the antithesis of Trump as a high ranking member of the Vatican could be was considered an extra special bonus.
lowtechcyclist
I love that cartoon!
bbleh
@lowtechcyclist: seconded!
Also (again, because I am a bad person) not at all upset by the frothing and foaming of the MAGAts in reaction to his election.
prostratedragon
A math major!
trollhattan
Pay to Play, Chapter the Infinity.
Baud
@prostratedragon:
Three cheers for hyperbolic sin!
MagdaInBlack
@trollhattan: And which will contain more surveillance bugs than one can even imagine.
prostratedragon
@trollhattan:
To the what, they say?
Cleanser, for Mother’s Day:
Librettist
@MagdaInBlack:
There is a whole manufacturing procedure to build a clean plane, which explains the time & cost factors.
Everyone is already up in his business, so I guess it doesn’t matter much. He just wants something painted up in that model paint scheme of his – it’s fucking pathetic.
Spanky
That’s usually not a compliment.
bbleh
@MagdaInBlack: I often wonder about the internal debates in the “intelligence community,” like how do you balance your duty to your political superiors with your duty to safeguard sensitive information? To withhold information, or worse to take action against your superiors, is effectively the stuff of a coup, but what do you do when SO many people above you in the hierarchy either don’t care much about information security or are evidently actually compromised (or, like the fkin President, both)?
prostratedragon
@Baud: Hyperbolic sin — isn’t that what we have in DC much of the time lately?
MazeDancer
Of course, the plane will be bugged up the wahzoo. Except Trump never receives any important briefings, so it probably won’t matter.
And Qatar is so rich they probably won’t be accepting bribes for bugs.
But this is a thought from Helen Kennedy on BlueSky:
eclare
@prostratedragon:
The Trump library according to Colbert: a kids’ menu and a couple of Juggs magazines
trollhattan
Can’t not read an article with this headline: “Three men held over suitcases stuffed with hermit crabs”
In conclusion, tourists can be jerks.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Hyperbola, hyperbole, potato, potahto :-)
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all.
Beautiful day outside but still kinda soggy from the drenching we got Friday that BettyC should have gotten Saturday.
Sitting on the back porch, drinking coffee, listening to a mockingbird and a bluejay yell at each other.
trollhattan
@MazeDancer:
Good point about the bugs, recalling the Moscow embassy the US never occupied because it was so compromised, having been built by the generous Soviets.
OTOH after the many, many compromised Signal chats we can conclude the Trump admin will find it all “Just fine, they’re good friends of America and also members of several of my golf clubs.”
Ohio Mom
Now I will ask an ignorant question, do the men who end up pope spend their entire careers aiming for the position?
As an outsider, am I to believe the guy picked by the conclave is all “Me? Wow!” It’s not a snake pit of men elbowing their way to the top?
It seems a contradiction, you are supposed to be humble and take a vow of poverty on the way to being a world famous head honcho of a fabulously wealthy institution.
Like I said, an ignorant question from a complete outsider.
eclare
Another outage at Newark:
https://bsky.app/profile/ivanthek.bsky.social/post/3lovntjs7xu2u
JFC. I am glad I don’t need to fly anytime soon.
eclare
Another great doggie photo today, WaterGirl.
NotMax
@MazeDancer
The jolly candy-like button?
:)
Hoodie
@trollhattan: The thing is probably so larded up with gewgaws that refitting it with all the required AF security features will basically require rebuilding it, so likely it will never be operational before his term ends. Thus, it will become a retirement gift for Trump, who undoubtedly will expect US taxpayers to maintain after he leaves office.
rk
The Pope has creole roots? How long before they start calling him the DEI Pope?
trollhattan
@Hoodie: That TRUMP-emblazoned 757 just doesn’t have the gravitas of a 747.
Finally, we will all learn just how gold a plane can be while still able to leave the runway.
lowtechcyclist
@eclare:
Would matter a bit less if this country had high-speed rail like the rest of the developed world does.
Fuck all those GOP governors 15 years ago who said to Obama’s plan for HSR, “not in my state, you don’t.”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@trollhattan: Totally irrelevant, but at a recent library event, I sat next to a wrote a YA story called Hermit Crabs Need Love Too. I bought it and enjoyed it.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: I believe that’s Tim F.’s dog Max. Not sure whether Max is still with us, but I like to think that he is. I think of Tim F. often.
lowtechcyclist
@Hoodie:
Simple solution: the rebuilding will require its being dismantled. Have this process take place in a less-than-secure area where parts can disappear from. After Trump’s term ends, dump the remaining parts on the lawn at Mar-A-Lago.
Raoul Paste
That airplane may end up BEING the Trump presidential library. Good for a quick getaway, avoiding angry mobs, etc.
Also, fantastic cartoon, AL
schrodingers_cat
OT: I am using fountain pens with colored ink and watercolor markers together the results have awesome!
The Parker I revived is writing like a dream. I am in fountain pen heaven with Parker, Shaeffer, Lamy and my new Jinhao Swans.
JML
@Ohio Mom: I think it’s one of those jobs where if you act like you want it too much and show too much ambition towards it, it will always get further out of reach (in this day and age). You have to show some ambition in order to make bishop, and know how to play politics to become an archbishop or cardinal.
But think it does become a bit of a crapshoot once you become a cardinal, You have have a position that shows capability, but then also have an opportunity when you’re both young and enough and seen as experienced enough, which can be a narrow window.
trollhattan
@lowtechcyclist: They hate the idea of trains hauling humans and not freight. Will never understand.
bbleh
@eclare: obviously something something DEI something Woke something transgender something. And also (((globalism))).
Gretchen
@lowtechcyclist: Yes, my daughter lives outside Newark. I’m not sure when I’ll feel safe visiting her again. I researched train travel there, and it’s absurd. It’s so weird that we’ve decided that we can’t have the same nice things everyone else has.
They Call Me Noni
Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms! And also to all the women who aren’t Moms but someone’s favorite Auntie or mentor. I look at today as a day to celebrate us. Strong, caring, engaged, hard working and intelligent women who set a good example to the people who look up to us.
Now I’m going to go get ready for my lunch date with a tall, dark and handsome young man who calls me Noni. I think I’ll start with an eye mask!!
Make it a good day!
prostratedragon
Speaking of mothers, path-dependence certainly is one🧵:
That’s just economics. There’s an equivalent across the board.
+
eclare
@They Call Me Noni:
Sounds like it will be!
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: How is this *not* a violation of the Emoluments Clause? Oh, right, I forgot…none of that Presidential Ethics jazz applies to Trump.
schrodingers_cat
@prostratedragon: Smoot Hawley tariffs caused the Great Depression, we know what happens with tariffs.
TONYG
I am a proud ex-Catholic (I haven’t set foot in a church for anything other a family wedding or funeral since I was 17 years old) — but I remain “Catholic-adjacent” (with several cousins who are “cafeteria Catholics”). One thing that I’ve noticed over the past few decades is that … the American Catholic Church is not a healthy institution. When I do go to a mass (for a wedding or funeral) I notice that the priest is always an immigrant (usually from Latin America). There’s nothing wrong with that — but it indicates that (not surprisingly) very few American men want to be priests. There might be a similar phenomenon with nuns. The thing is that the church could correct this problem by allowing priests to be women and by allowing priests to be married — but those possibilities are not even being discussed. The Church is a victim of its own ossified conservatism. Thoughts and prayers.
frosty
@Gretchen: What’s absurd about train travel to Newark? It’s on the NE Corridor, should be the best in the country.
Frequency? Price? Station location?
Too far away so you have to fly? How about fly to Philly and train to Newark?
Another Scott
@trollhattan:
170 kg x 2.2 lb/kg = 374 pounds
103 GBP * 1/1.33 $/GBP = $137.
$0.37 / per pound??
Are they really that cheap? If so, why would someone go to the trouble of stealing them??
It’s too hard to make sense of the news these days… :-/
Best wishes,
Scott.
Jackie
@Librettist:
If IRC, the reason FFOTUS’s AF1 plans with his precious paint design was a WEIGHT issue – that along with all the weight issues of so much gold decor… I truly hope all Dem officials invited to fly with him, decline and fly independently on a different jet. Including reporters.
That fancy jet is a possible death trap.
NotMax
@schrodingers_cat
The Depression had begun before Smoot-Hawley. That bill exacerbated it but did not cause it. It was the incredibly wrong :”soluition” at the wrong time.
Honus
@schrodingers_cat: you need to get a Pelikan for true joy.
trollhattan
@Another Scott: Each crab. You know, pets.
Anyway
puke! Arab monarchies have always known how to bribe Americans —goes all the way back to Standard Oil, CIA and extends now to all the retired generals who get cushy posts . they know our weak points and are always ready to take advantage. That’s why they hate Dem administrations who are a little less amenable to their corruption.
lowtechcyclist
@Miss Bianca:
Also, didn’t SCOTUS decide during his first term that the Emoluments Clause didn’t mean jack shit because Congress hadn’t passed any specific statutes to enforce it?
M31
lol it’s already happened:
https://bsky.app/profile/donmoyn.bsky.social/post/3lookqrtnrs2y
if you dont’ want to click through, someone screenshotted Laura Loomer’s tweet of “WOKE MARXIST POPE” and preceded it with
Cassocks are red
Conclaves are dope
Wake up babe we got a
hahahahaha brilliant
Gvg
It’s a bribe by any rational understanding of the law. Problem is the Supreme Court and probably Congress is also guilty so they are insisting on a nonsense version of the law. We need to start with correcting who is elected congressmen, and pick some who will investigate and impeach justices of the Supreme Court and then get the law rationalized, then we can fix Trump for that crime. And prevent other politicians from getting out of hand too.
In the short term of course the plane will be totally bugged, probably beyond correcting so I don’t think we want to keep it in service beyond Trump. He has always been so bad at security that it’s hard to say this makes it much worse. Would probably make it easier for some enemies and harder for others. What a fucking idiot he is, and so are his voters. I am not even remotely an expert and I know better than so much he and his staff do. I also can ask for expert advice and respect it, plus follow directions.
JoyceH
@Jackie: As I recall, the problem with Trump’s color scheme (to make AF1 match his own plane) was heat. The darker navy blue, as opposed to the cool JFK baby blue, absorbed heat and would overheat the engine. They were actually working on redesigning the engine in order to allow His High Mightiness his preferred colors! I suspect this new Bugmobile will have the same issue, so whether he will get his new ride before the end of his term is problematic.
NotMax
@frosty
Easy and affordable (if a bit long) travel from Newark airport to Manhattan’s Penn Station via th Newark version of the airtrain shuttle to the PATH train.
Hint if going that way – DO NOT get off at the (other) Penn Station stop in New Jersey, Stay on until the last stop in NYC.
(There’s also a bus which goes from Newark airport directly to Port Authority bus station in New York. Time for that trip entirely at the mercy of road traffic delays.)
satby
@frosty: can’t answer for Gretchen, but most people don’t want to spend more than a few hours traveling cross country, while train travel is slower. More comfortable, more scenic, more fun and far less hassle (IMO) but lots, sometimes lots and lots, more hours.
narya
@satby: In reference to your list in the last thread: one of Pritzker’s cousins–Jennifer’s sister, I believe–is a buddhist lama, IIUC.
schrodingers_cat
@frosty: Got your emails. I replied. Thanks!
Another Scott
@Hoodie: It’s not his, of course.
EveryCRSReport.com (from 2012):
Oh, I forgot. That was in the Before Times.
Still, the Congress would have to say that he can have it, and it would need 60 votes in the Senate, so it’s probably not happening. A sensible congressional investigation about it would probably reveal an explicit quid pro quo that the SCOTUS would have trouble waving away, yielding yet another item for the High Crimes and Misdemeanors list.
But, that too is from the Before Times…
And as you say, even if it were instantly legal and funding were in place and ready to go, it would probably take a decade to make it even a temporary AF-1. And nobody is going to spend a decade and a few $B making that happen.
Either way, anyway, it’s yet another distraction.
Meanwhile, … WARNING – TheHill.com:
The monsters know this is their last, best chance to destroy everything, so they’re probably going to push some broken down buggy of a poker hand out of the House. And at least 51 of the 53 monsters in the Senate will probably pass something horrible too, for the same reasons. But we still have to keep pushing to reduce the damage as much as we can, educate the population since the press won’t do it, and use the monsters’ votes to throw them out of office.
Eyes on the prizes.
Best wishes,
Scott.
kindness
Too bad we can’t make Trump foot the fuel bill for his new golden 747. I preferred flying 747s, but they’ve gone the way of the Dodo because those 4 engines burn through fuel like it’s free. Modern jets are much more efficient. I’m hoping when the plane is transferred to Trump’s ‘Presidential Library foundation’, the US stops paying for that jet fuel. Cheapskate Trump would go back to flying 757’s.
Matt McIrvin
@frosty: Passing through Trenton on the way there you get a great view of that bridge with the passive-aggressive TRENTON MAKES / THE WORLD TAKES sign.
NotMax
@narya
Things Shakespeare never said:
“Get thee to a lamasery.”
;)
schrodingers_cat
@Honus: I have their black ink. Is it spendy?
@NotMax: A recession became the Great Depression because of Smoot-Hawley
lowtechcyclist
@satby:
This.
One of my closest friends lives in Pittsburgh, so I was looking into train travel there from DC or Baltimore, since Pittsburgh is close enough that getting to the airport, parking, going through security, and waiting at the gate winds up taking a lot more time than the actual flight; and OTOH it’s far enough away that it’s an exhausting drive.
Let’s just say getting there by train is so complicated and time-consuming that it comes in a distant third among the alternatives.
Matt McIrvin
@trollhattan: Cold War propaganda. The massive expansion of highways after WWII was sold with the idea that car culture was the epitome of individualistic American freedom. Passenger trains became Communist by implication.
stinger
@schrodingers_cat: Got my swan pens a couple of days ago, and my Parker 51 yesterday. Using them for writing, rather than art, and they write like a dream! Thank you again for putting me on to the swan pens!
NotMax
@kindness
On the planes of his defunct Trump Air he insisted on deep pile plush carpeting in the cabin, making it next to impossible for the flight attendants to push to drinks/eats carts in the aisle.
narya
@lowtechcyclist: the Capitol Limited is probably your best option.
Baud
Maybe Trump’s first trip on the new plane will be to Newark.
Captain C
@trollhattan: I’m sure that plane won’t be riddled with bugs, bugs that FFOTUS’ people won’t even bother to look for.
eta: I see MagdaInBlack beat me to it.
NotMax
@,https://balloon-juice.com/2025/05/11/sunday-morning-open-thread-the-new-pope/#comment-9609130
The crash of Black Tuesday and its aftermath in 1929 weren’t no recession.
NotMax
Oh fudge. Fix.
schrodingers_cat
The crash of Black Tuesday and its aftermath in 1929 weren’t no recession.
H.E.Wolf
@prostratedragon:
Thank you!
“Mother to Son” was in our 7th-grade poetry textbook. The poem flashed up in my memory the instant I saw the title. Very moving, then and (more so) now.
H.E.Wolf
I have a couple of Parker Vacumatics, which are high-maintenance because of their age, but a pleasure to write with.
@Honus: you need to get a Pelikan for true joy.
My friend (aka the Fountain Pen Evangelist) started me out with a plastic Pelikano Jr. from Germany. :) I still use it!
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: While Newark is on the Northeast Corridor, that doesn’t help much if YOU are not on the NEC, and off of it, passenger train service gets dramatically worse (not that the NEC is great by world standards). Passenger trains have to give way to freight (even though this is contrary to law) and many routes have been single-tracked so that trains going both directions are sharing a track. It’s all optimized for freight.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
schrodingers_cat
@H.E.Wolf: I replaced the ancient filling mechanism with a converter, cleaned it and now it writes like a dream.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
rikyrah
Happy Mother’s Day ❤️ 💐 🌹🏵️💝
Sister Golden Bear
Extremely long, but extremely interesting analysis.
tl:dr Pope Leo definitely fired shots across the bow of American Catholic reactionaries who adopted the “exact strain of right-wing Christofascist dispensational premillennialist apocalyptic evangelical supersessionist covenentalist Biblical-inerrantist evangelicalism that’s merged almost fully with right-wing cultural issues and the US civil religion” that the author dubs the “American heresy.” Which she also has an interesting analysis of, as well as its appeal.
TheOtherHank
I live in the SF Bay Area. Several years ago I went to a conference in San Diego. I thought to myself, “Self, why don’t you take the train instead of flying? That sounds like it would be fun.” It is impossible to take a train from the San Jose Amtrak station to San Diego without at least one leg on a bus. There is a train that goes from SJ to LA, but it doesn’t continue on to SD. I ended up flying.
Fair Economist
@lowtechcyclist:
That’s a function of the bad US system and its lack of HSR. In Europe, HSR replaces air travel over such distances. In Italy, HSR drove Air Italia into bankruptcy and closure.
That said, HSR probably won’t replace flying for long trips. Over 800 miles – not an unusual trip in the US – daytrippers rarely choose the train. Europe is now setting up a HST night train system for longer distances, but even that wouldn’t do for a transcontinental flight – 12 hours at 150 mph is still only 1800 miles.
MagdaInBlack
@narya: His sister, Penny Pritzker , is the senior fellow on Harvard’s governing body, which no doubt plays into both trumps vendetta against Harvard, and their push-back.
NotMax
@rikyrah
Hello Hello.
;)
Sister Golden Bear
@eclare: The prior “90 second” ATC outage at Newark actually lasted considerably longer than that. While the full blackout did last that long, there was a far longer time when specific radars went out sporadically, same with various specific radio communications frequencies. Good YouTube analysis by a commercial pilot, who walks through the ATC audio recordings to explain what happened.
Fair Economist
@Sister Golden Bear: The bluesky posting tool apparently munged the link. This should work: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/g-s1-65311/read-pope-leo-xivs-first-homily-as-pope
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear:
Who’s the cafeteria Catholic now?
NotMax
@Fair Economist
Bold project: the hub in Poland.
NotMax
Screwed that link up. Again.
@Fair Economist
Bold project: the hub in Poland.
sab
@TheOtherHank: I think the problem with trains out West is topology( sic?) or geography. Trains don’t do well climbing up or going down. I believe braking going down is the main problem.
So very mountainous regions (Rockies) can’t blow big enough holes in the mountains for trains to work.
ETA California has mountains everywhere. And cars got dibs on the best passes.
H.E.Wolf
@Sister Golden Bear:
@Fair Economist:
Thank you to you both! Much appreciated. Not only is that thread informative and fascinating, it’s humorous as well.
Fair Economist
@NotMax: Yep, Europe is serious about getting trains to do as much as possible. Europe is physically smaller than the US, and has its highest pop densities toward the center (other than the UK), so that will be more for them than for us. I don’t think that HSR will *entirely* replace air, even in Europe, but every bit is good and I love their attitude (and their trains!)
Matt McIrvin
@Fair Economist: Many US routes that could perfectly well be fast by train, aren’t. Pittsburgh or Buffalo to points east are perfect examples.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
My understanding that other countries have an easier time with using eminent domain for the routes. Just one of many issues.
Darkrose
@Sister Golden Bear: Seconding this rec. I’ve known rahaeli online for a long time, and this analysis is thorough and incredibly informative, both about religion in the US and politics within the Vatican.
Another Scott
@sab: Bill and Melon could invest their billions in high-speed funiculars and cog railways.
;-)
Seriously, these are solvable problems. Too much of our leadership doesn’t want to solve them.
Grr…
Best wishes,
Scott.
—
(Who took Amtrak from Chicago to Cincinnati once. It worked, but was really weird backing into Cincinnati above the skyline for a mile or more, as I remember it.)
NotMax
@Fair Economist
Meanwhile Amtrak passes over the rail bridge on the Susquehanna River in Maryland, a structure with a central pivoting section (to allow for ship passage) so old it requires a crew of 30 to manually rotate it, just as when built shortly after the turn of the last century.
Fair Economist
@sab:
In CA you can do HSR, just not at the very top speeds. Brightline West is going to do it from LA to Vegas, at a fairly reasonable price, included a pass almost as nasty as the ones from LA to SF. They do it by running well below Shinkasen speeds (still much fast than standard trains), allowing steeper grades and curves. But the initiative for CA HSR mandates a faster transit time, and making that is going to drive the costs up quite a bit. Beyond that, there are efficiency issues – it should not be costing as much as it does, even with those added requirements.
NotMax
@Fair Economist
Except not from LA. proper Terminus is at Rancho Cucamonga.
Suzanne
@Sister Golden Bear: Thank you for sharing that, and thanks for the tip to read that poster. Clicked FOLLOW.
I read a really interesting chart the other day, and I need to see if I can find it….. basically, if you separate out white Evangelicals from white-everyone-else (Mainline, other religions, no religion)….. Harris won the white-everyone-else cohort pretty decisively.
It’s been interesting, being in PGH….. there are very few megachurches relative to PHX. Phoenix had them everywhere.
This is another reason I’m thinking that white people aren’t one cohort anymore, at least not in terms of voting behavior. Live different places, go to different schools, different religious practice, different values.
kwAwk
My thoughts for today. The trans issue sure bring outs the weird in people. It makes people who’ve never really cared about sports in the least suddenly think that sports are the ultimate uninfringeable expression of self worth and value. It made the Christians adopt a maniacal philandering lying manipulative douchebag as the avatar of their religion in the 21st century. Screw the Pope.
I saw the other day Bill Maher ranting about how men can’t have babies, and I’m thinking isn’t this the guy who has spent his whole life portraying himself as the libertarian cool kid screw the squares guy? I mean Bill, you’re in the age bracket that there is a pretty high chance you’ll find yourself sometime in the next decades in a hospital bed with someone wiping your ass and scrubbing your balls. That will be someone else’s kid, and who cares how their mother or father identified. Just be thankful if they’re gentle.
Then he pivoted to the topic of ‘uppity’ women, which I get. Modern women can be a bit over the top. It’s good to have Me Too, and have society grow, yes women should be listened to and heard, (not automatically believed) but do we really need to go back decades to when folkways and mores were different and allow women to have their revenge?
I remember thinking during the Kavanaugh hearings that Miss Ford had a right to tell her tale and be listened to, but that it was an issue that was probably best handled by the parents at the time and not the US Congress 30 years later. But honestly I had a stronger feeling of, well that’s what you get for stealing Merrick Garland’s SCOTUS seat asshole. You could have said no thank you.
BTW men and women use the same bathroom all of the time in private homes and small businesses. Just maybe not at the same time. It’s obvious that men and women using the same bathroom isn’t the problem. The problem is doors. And privacy.
narya
@Sister Golden Bear: That was very interesting–though I did NOT appreciate the “we have to “upgrade to using AI and Starlink” in the second video . . .
columbusqueen
@Ohio Mom: i suspect there’s somewhat less plotting than there was during the Renaissance, when the papacy was at its apex of worldly power. The Borgias, anyone?
RevRick
@trollhattan: @lowtechcyclist: @Gretchen:
If you packed the entire US population along the East Coast, then we would have excellent train services. Comparing the United States to Europe or Japan or China does not take geography or population density into account. The old joke is that in the US, 100 years is a long time, but in Europe 100 miles is a far distance.
In the US, hauling freight by rail is quite profitable, but hauling passengers is a losing proposition. The last time railroads made any money moving passengers was in the 1940s, when they transported soldiers to training camps and to the ports they shipped out of and back home. US highways were two-lane affairs and automobiles were old and unreliable, since most dated from pre-Depression days.
If you look at maps of the European railways, you see that the density attenuates with population density fairly quickly.
NotMax
@RevRick
Yuppers. Hooterville to Pixley at the bottom of the list for high speed rail.
;)
surfk9
@NotMax:isn’t that what they are building right now?
Geminid
@RevRick: There’s a proposed high speed rail link between Charlotte and Atlanta that Id like to see built. At the Atlanta endt would terminate at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport which is an important node Atlanta’s extensive MARTA system.
That’s one key to efficient long distance passenger transport, air or rail: strong local public transportation. Thisincludes light rail and busses, and it requires reliability and security– people have feel safe and be safe.
That said, I don’t care much about replacing a lot air travel with high speed rail. I don’t think we will anyway, not for much of the population and certainly not most of the geographical area.
There’s concern over the carbon footprint of air travel, but it wouldn’t be that hard to transition all air passenger and freight planes on carbon neutral fuel if it were done over say, ten years. That would add cost, but it would be cheap compared to the cost of building out and running an extensive high speed rail system. And all that steel and concrete needed for high speed rail contruction has its own carbon footprint.
Now, outside the Accela system in the Northeast, Amtrak’s top speed is 150 mph. I want to see investment that upgrades more 120 mph routes to 150mph roughts, and more 80 mph routes to 120 mph routes. As for the freight train problem, that has a political solution, which basically is tighter laws and regulations, and bigger fines.
satby
@narya: I saw that too. Pretty cool family, it seems.
NotMax
@Geminid
There is such a thing a sustainable aviation fuel. Currently little demand as it’s more expensive than the regular variety.
(The aspirational Boom Overture supersonic passenger jet’s own parent company built engines in concert with smaller companies designed and tooled to use sustainable fuel. Scaled down version prototype performed more than two dozen test flights, the last of those in February. By all accounts they’ve managed to solve the vexing problem of the sonic boom being heard on the ground, a major drawback with previous supersonic passenger aircraft.)
satby
@lowtechcyclist: actually, it’s really not. Unless you looked before they reinstated the Amtrak Floridian route.
4:05 PM to 11:48 PM
Duration 7h 43m
Changes 0
Price $122
Trip overview
Train Amtrak Floridian 40
Departs 4:05 PM Washington Union Station Platform 5
Duration 7h 43m · 5 stops
Arrives 11:48 PM Pittsburgh Union Station
satby
@sab: I’ve taken Amtrak through the Rockies and the Grand Tetons (the California Zephyr and the Empire Builder routes). Some of those tunnels are very old.
Train travel is a different adventure than flying. I had to fly 80% of the year when I was in IT and a road warrior, and half of that was before 911 changed everything about air travel. Now that I’m retired and can take the time, embracing the journey, meeting other people, and really seeing the country are part of the perks of the train. And I go coach, I don’t do the private rooms thing. But I realize it’s not for everyone and not everyone has the time or the mindset.
Timill
@satby: ~8 hours for ~250 miles seems a trifle unambitious
Wonder if it’s NS, CSX or both that are the problem.
RevRick
@satby: I’ve probably traveled by train and public transit more than anyone here, save those who commuted. When I was a kid and my folks took me and my brother to NYC, we’d get on the train in Stamford and disembark in Grand Central. And when I went to college in Northern New Jersey, I’d hoof to the station in Madison, take the Erie Lackawanna to Bayonne, transfer to the PATH, pick up the subway to Times Square, take the Times Square shuttle to Grand Central, and then home, and reverse course to school. When I was dating the future MRSRevRick, I’d get on the LIRR in Penn Station and get off the couple blocks from her home on the South Shore. The tunnel from the PATH station to Penn Station was always such a delight of stale piss and puke.
I frequently used the bus getting around town in Stamford and I once took a Greyhound bus from NYC to Chicago to visit cousins.
satby
@Timill: yes, it takes longer. But I just googled and a flight on Southern Airways takes 3 hours, 49 minutes, then add in the time to get through security and board (optimistically about 1 hour, recommended 2 hours). Legroom 31 inches, 3 seats each side. Figure you’re confined to your seat most of the flight.
Compare to a train, 2 lounge seats on each side of the aisle, average seat is 23 inches wide with about 39 inches of legroom. And you can get up and move about the train, even go to a cafe/observation car for as long as you want and buy dinner. I’ll happily spend 2 extra hours for that.
Plus, lately, flying can be… adventurous in other ways. I’m flying tomorrow to Ireland on SAS. It leaves Chicago ORD and is over Canada pretty quickly, and beyond the mess our current admin has made of air traffic control.
Betty
@M31: Pope Leo responded.To be woke is not a threat. It is a calling.
Geminid
@NotMax: House Democrats considered adding a carbon-neutral aviation fuel mandate to an energy/environment package they passed in 2020. The mandate would have been phased in over 5 years (I think). They held off then, but this could be feasible in the future I think.
Betty
@Suzanne: That comment makes me wonder if there is a connection between megachurches and communities made up largely of transplanted people within the last generation or two. Pittsburgh is very much a neighborhood kind of place where people have various longstanding communities. Southern California is another place like Phoenix with lots of people looking for a community to belong to.
Gloria DryGarden
@lowtechcyclist: I don’t want the US budget to be able to even refit that 747 jet. Take that money away from billionaire personal projects and big fancy gifts, and instead use it for the people, folks making under 50k, and way less. IMO
Gloria DryGarden
@MazeDancer: it’s delicious to read the thoughts of others.
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: Turkiye’s President Erdogan is flown around in a Boeing 747. I saw it when Egyptian President al-Sisi greeted him at the Cairo airport. An impressive but outdated plane; it was like Erdogan showed up in a big, vintage Cadillac.
sab
@Betty: A
Also too Prosperity Gospel.
Every community has longstanding churches in many denominations.
Not many promise you that if you actively participate and especially if you donate God will reward your faith in this life with money.
But I agree, those grifters are very good at creating a sense of community to reel the marks in.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: thinking about the big carbon footprint.. and his gold curlicues, (his gaudy taste) his preferred color causing the plane to overheat..
running stream of consciousness to my outrage that the man is so addicted to blue, he insisted on wearing it to a funeral for a pope, where everyone else there showed respect by wearing black.
making most of us go to the back of the bus, reserving the front 80% of the bus for the wealthy. Economy/ bus metaphor attempt.
i get overheated, thinking about the way he has overheated so many aspects of the USA, blowing out our engines so we won’t be able to lift off the damn runway…
I need to read a weekly Usa budget page, and check in regularly on what our country spends money on. I’m pretty sure my snap, and leap, and everyone’s social security and Medicare is a very smal portion of the pie
then, I really want to have a look at trumps personal and business/ government spending, his loss and income and tax write offs. Except, it’ll piss me off.
sab
@Geminid: But his plane belongs to Turkey, not Erdogan?
How does Trump license a plane he shouldn’t even own? It doesn’t matter while he is a Republican President and thereby above the law ( S. Ct.) but someday he might not be.
There will be hell to pay if he ever falls out of office. Does Congress have standing under the emoluments clause?
I agree with Jeffro. Claw everything back.
Gloria DryGarden
@Betty: Pollyanna and I have begun searching for community churches in nw rural Georgia/ Summerville outside of Rome.
Chattanooga, or Marietta are the nearest Unitarian churches, both an hour or more drive time.
community matters
Geminid
@sab: Oh yeah, Erdogan’s jet is property of the Turkish Republic. It fits Erdogan well though; he’s kind of like a vintage Cadillac himself.
Laura Rozen posted a story that the Qataris are denying the 747 story; or rather, saying the gift is only “under consideration.”
I guess we’ll see, but my thinking is that this gift would be like the 10th most important news story generated by this trip and the days leading up to it.
One was the fourth negotiating session on Iran’s nuclear program between Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Arangchi, in Oman today. Those negotiations will likely be a topic of discussion between Trump and the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. They want a settlement between the U.S. and Iran, not a war.
Geminid
@sab: Laura Rosen posted another interesting story about the Qatatari plane. AG Pam Bondi, who “signed off” on the gift’s legality, used to make big money as a lobbyist for Qatar, as in over $100,000 per month.
ironcity
@lowtechcyclist: Reference Post 62 and other Railfans:
Train travel in this country on anything except some particular routes like Northeast Corridor, Southern California, and some others is impractical. You either must leave or arrive at insane times, scheduled trip times are long and inflexible, and the odds of making it on schedule are many times modest.
DC to Pittsburgh I can leave work in Arlington at 3:30pm and be in Pittsburgh for the 11 pm news. Thats with maybe one stop so call it 6 to 7 hours including Friday pm rush hour.
Trains are either via Philadelphia and then due west or some of the midwest services to Chicago and other points in flyover country. And getting to the Pittsburgh downtown Amtrak station at 11:45pm or whatever (if the train is on schedule) puts you down at the end of Grant Street across from the Federal building when there is nobody around anyway.
This is not Europe. Don’t try to be Europe. That’s why we invented airplanes.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: that’s an incredible salary.
1.2 m / year.
Geminid
@ironcity: Amtrak just upped the frequency of the Cardinal route from DC to Chicago, from 3 days a week to 5. That’s a trip I would take instead of driving. I might some day, because it stops at Charlottesville. I could see viditing Chicago just for the train ride.
But flying works for most travelers and people these days are in a hurry; some of them even need to be.
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: Qatar really spreads its money around. That includes in Israel; there is an unfolding scandal Israelis are calling “Qatargate” that has to do with payments to Israeli government officials. Investigators have traced the flow back to May, 2022. That was 6 months before the November, 2022 elections that brought this rotten government to power, and there is suspicion that Qatari money may have helped buy Netanyahu’s election.
RevRick
@NotMax: The recession probably began by September 1929, the Crash accelerated it, but Smoot-Hawley made it worldwide with its beggar-thy-neighbor approach. Initially, the Great Depression only affected major manufacturing cities, but it spread to rural areas by the Fall of 1930, and the collapse of Creditanstalt in Austria in 1931 led to the crisis of the banking system. It was a cascading set of systemic failure.
Kayla Rudbek
@lowtechcyclist: you might even be better off biking the C&O to Cumberland and then picking up the GAP trail to get to Pittsburgh, although you would be going uphill at least half of the way before you cross the Continental Divide.
Kayla Rudbek
@NotMax: and Amtrak also goes through a tunnel on the DC-Harpers Ferry route that I think is pre-Civil War. The railroad bridge and the pedestrian bridge across the Potomac share the same base and if you are on the C&O path, you have to walk up a metal staircase to get to the bridge. The only thing separating the pedestrian path and the railroad on the bridge is a chain link fence (although the chain link fence is considerably higher than head height) NPS link here: https://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/byron-bridge.htm
Kayla Rudbek
@Betty:
@Suzanne: yes, mega churches prey upon the rootless and vulnerable (my own cousin got mixed up with a non-denominational aka low-class Protestant church as a young woman and wound up in a shotgun marriage as a result of that; I didn’t have the vocabulary as a kid, but she was the family scapegoat, her younger brother was the golden child, and her youngest brother was mostly ignored).
I may be a lapsed Catholic, but I have generations of tradition behind me telling me that I have roots in Catholicism, I think that the New Englanders have their own traditions going back to the Puritans, so they have roots in the past as well, and the Lutherans in the upper Midwest are rooted as well. But the only Baptists who I got that sense of having deep roots in their religion are/were Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, Fred Clark over at Slacktivist, and every Black Baptist who I have ever read works by or about. It seems like it’s easy for most white Protestants to slip around freely from one denomination to another, and get taken advantage of by slick huckster preachers. (In Catholic tradition, slick huckster preachers were encouraged to join or found religious orders, selling indulgences for example, so this tended to cut down on their activities as the local bishop could run someone and/or the entire monastery out of the diocese altogether)
Kayla Rudbek
@ironcity: we had better rail service in the 1940s pre-interstate highway system than we have today.