Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 116
November 24, 2016
Happy Dependence Day
July 4 is Independence Day. Thanksgiving is Dependence Day, a time to remember how dependent we are on God and on each other. And our appreciation of this dependence is gratitude. After the jump, a post by one of my ex-students quoting one of my ex-colleagues. From Gracy Olstead, Why Thanksgiving Is More Important Than Ever [Read More...]
November 23, 2016
Confession app
A Scottish diocese has released an app that will help someone in urgent need of confession to find forgiveness. Not that users can type in their sins and receive a text of absolution. The app shows the nearest Roman Catholic Church. Actually, the description in the press sounds rather sensationalized. I think what we have is a [Read More...]
Banning video of happy Downs children
France has banned the showing of this video on French television on the grounds that showing happy, smiling children with Down Syndrome might “disturb the conscience” of women who have had abortions. From Renate Lindeman, C_E_N_S_O_R_E_D: video “Dear Future Mom” | The Huffington Post: Last week another big step was taken towards the mass persecution of [Read More...]
Trump is changing some positions
Donald Trump seems to be backing off from some of what he said on the campaign He now says that he won’t prosecute Hillary Clinton, that the Wall with Mexico will mostly be more of a fence, that he may not use torture after all, that maybe climate change is real, that he won’t apply [Read More...]
November 22, 2016
The day JFK, Aldous Huxley, & C. S. Lewis died
On November 22, 1963, three icons of the 20th century died: John F. Kennedy, Aldous Huxley, and C. S. Lewis. People of my generation remember where they were when the news came of Kennedy’s assassination. (I was in 7th grade study hall.) Other traumatic public catastrophes would follow. Now we also remember where we were [Read More...]
What Trump will do on his very first day
Donald Trump announced a series of executive actions that he will put in place on his very first day in office. From Trump announces executive actions for Day One – POLITICO: President-elect Donald Trump released a recorded video message to the nation Monday evening, in which he outlined several executive actions he plans to take on his [Read More...]
Oldest Hebrew alphabet found in ancient Egypt?
A researcher has found ancient inscriptions in Egypt that he claims are Hebrew transliterations of Egyptian hieroglyphics. These would constitute the world’s oldest alphabet–representations of sounds, not ideas or words as in Egyptian writing–and the predecessor of later Hebrew letters. Moreover, this finding, if true, would prove that the ancient Hebrews were in Egypt around [Read More...]
November 21, 2016
Christ the King
Hispanic martyrs put before the firing squads by socialist dictators would call out as their last words “Viva el Cristo rey!” Long live Christ the King! Or, Christ the King lives! That’s a good phrase to keep in mind. Yesterday was the last Sunday of the Church Year, also known, among other names, as Christ the [Read More...]
The Chris Christie purge
There was more to the purge of Chris Christie and his allies from the Trump transition team than was apparent on the surface. And it wasn’t just because Christie put the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in jail. There were actually sound, presidential reasons for removing Christie, despite his early support for Trump. From [Read More...]
Clarifying the majority-minority America
We keep hearing that we will soon become a “majority-minority” country in which whites will no longer make up most of the population. But that does not mean what most people think it means. Historian and social scientist Philip Jenkins, who did much to popularize the fact, explains what this will actually look like. From [Read More...]
