Month: November 2022

Running on Empty

As I get older, there is a growing list of things that I can longer do or have lost interest in doing them…

Image by publicdomainpictures from pixabay
  • Playing basketball
  • Sex
  • Jogging or running
  • Ability to focus on a televised sporting event or show
  • Enjoy dining out
  • Patiently waiting in lines
  • Doctor appointments
  • Driving at night
  • Driving long distances
  • Children parties
  • Commercials, advertisements, public address notifications
  • Traffic
  • Politicians
  • Talking politics
  • Elections
  • Donald Trump
  • Eating apples
  • Religion or talking religion
  • Feigning interest in conversations or with people where I have little compatibility

Takeaways from the Results of the Midterm Elections

  • While Democrats did not win (they lost the House), in betting parlance, they easily covered the spread and earned a draw.
  • The Democrats backed into a decent result as opposed to earning it.
  • Democrats’ best friend = Donald Trump. Trump handpicked, endorsed and campaigned for many of the GOP candidates who were generally mediocre, unqualified and sometimes uncivilized.
  • Trump also selected the Supreme Court members who put over the repeal of Roe vs. Wade that spurred angry young single women to the polls.
  • Possibly voters took notice of the January 6, 2021 Congressional Hearings and decided to mete out their punishment of a party that supported a takeover of the nation’s Capitol and electoral process.
  • Election results have encouraged Joe Biden to run in 2024. Election results did not discourage Donald Trump to run in 2024. Both are delusional old men who should leave the game for younger players.

Thoughts after Reading The Pope at War by David Kertzer

  • Excellent book. Reads like a novel. Highly recommended for students, scholars and readers interested in World War II and specifically the Catholic Church’s role dealing with the leaders of Italy (Mussolini) and Germany (Hitler).
  • While understanding that the Pope needed to proceed cautiously on the diplomatic front to protect the Church and Catholics who lived in Italy and Germany, Pius XII generally caved to the demands of the Fascists and Nazis.
  • In pre-war Germany, there was evidence of abuse committed by Catholic priests. This was used as a negotiation card by the Nazis to get Pius XII to agree to their terms.
  • Pius XII’s reluctance to speak out against the atrocities committed against the Jews was an act of moral cowardice.
  • Pius XII did not address the Nazi bombings of London, Rotterdam and Warsaw as they occurred. However he lobbied the Americans and British not to bomb Rome and the Vatican.
  • Kertzer provided stories where priests and nuns refused to aid Jews seeking to hide or flee from Nazi pursuers.
  • Pius XII did lobby Nazi authorities to protect Jews who did convert to Catholicism. He did very little to protest the poor treatment and murder of Jews.
  • Pius XII was fully aware of what atrocities were occurring.
  • Many of the atrocities against Jews were committed by Nazi officers and soldiers who were Catholic.
  • Pius XII does not merit any consideration for canonization. He certainly was no saint.