If you are looking for explosions, capes, or fingernail-gnawing intensity, neither The Assistant nor A Hidden Life* are for you. Instead of action, you get detailed compositions; instead of snappy dialogue, you get characters at the moral crossroads. While different in topic, scope, and the particular Beelzebub’s lurking unseen, the two films share a deliberate […]
Archives
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Obama vs. Trump: Presidents Collide in Real Time
20 Aug 2020
Former President Barack Obama used his platform at the Democratic National Convention to assail sitting Republican President Donald Trump as a threat to “our democracy.” Trump responded, IN ALL CAPS, via Twitter. If you like history hot and in your face, like a pizza straight out of the oven, 2020 always delivers. Last night was […]
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2020: The Year the Senate Died?
03 Aug 2020
Pity the history teachers of the future who must deal with the calamities of 2020. But the year’s politics may not be defined by a pandemic or the potential end of a shambling presidency; instead, the United States Senate is leaping toward the gaping maw of democracy, and our government may never recover. Former President […]
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Bari Weiss Resigns From the New Journalism
15 Jul 2020
Bari Weiss resigned from The New York Times yesterday. This news will be greeted with yawns by most Americans, but it marks a critical moment. The American paper of record, perhaps the most famous newspaper in the world, will no longer pretend to value opposing points of view within its pages. Weiss stepped down with […]
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The Latest Temptation for Chief Justice Roberts
30 Jun 2020
The Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s law that required physicians who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges. The ruling, in June Medical Services v. Russo, fits seamlessly with the Court’s 2016 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which considered a nearly identical Texas law. The story here is not the ruling, or the […]
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Bostock May Not Be a Bombshell
16 Jun 2020
The United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County* continues a trend of victories for LGBTQ+ advocates. The Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prevents employers from discriminating against employees based on sexual orientation or gender status. The decision fits comfortably with recent precedent, but it is surprising given […]
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President Trump & the Limits of Legal Power
03 Jun 2020
President Trump has pledged to use military force if governors and mayors are unable to pacify cities across the country. As more stores, government buildings, and monuments are burned or razed, troop deployments to Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Los Angeles, or New York are still possible. President Trump has the legal power to use the armed […]
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American Cities Break and Burn: We Need a Creed
30 May 2020
I live in a village with three stop lights, one of which blinks when school is out of session. I am a white college professor on a mostly white campus within a white religious tradition. The smoke, shattered glass, and pepper spray now etched into too many urban landscapes are alien, but so is having […]
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President Obama flouted executive authority and too often politicized the law. These attitudes spilled into the transition of power, it seems, as federal agents targeted Michael Flynn, the incoming National Security Advisor of the Trump Administration. Obama and Flynn had a complicated past, and Flynn paid a heavy price. Retired Gen. Flynn, a Democrat, served […]
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Neighbor Love Matters More Than Your Rights
17 Apr 2020
Americans of all stripes and sides assert their rights. Religious Americans are no different. In some ways, this is glorious. We should be jealous of our rights. After all, we believe they are OUR rights. The Declaration claims government exists to secure those rights–not “grant” them or “recognize” them, but to secure them. Advocating for […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach