Mark Piper

Will we get "I did that!" stickers with Trump's face on bare shelves, as I saw at every gas station pump with Biden's face a few years ago?

YouTube video by Luca Cozzi Were You There (Midnight Mass) - Piano Cover (with Chopin's Nocturne Op. 37 n.1)

Brandy in a snifter and scared music on a piano.

That's how I'm processing the defilement of the Oval Office, which happened today.

My prayers seems as effective as my constitutional rights in Trump's America. Sorry Kilmar; I hope one day you'll hug your kid's again.

youtu.be/2X7DUgqCyvk?...

"...I wanted to be a little different than Biden." Hoo-boy, he's a lot different on basically every policy & moral metric. Biden showed signs of age but not signs of psychosis, so there's that discernable difference as well. But I see when Trump uses the short stairs on AF1 it's not front page news.

I've pitched something similar to NCR. I await to hear back from them until after their editorial meeting tomorrow. I go so far as to replace 1 Corinthians "faith, hope, and love" with the three cardinal values of Maga.

They're on the side of history they want to be on... and since they believe they are infallible, they must, therefore, be on the right side history, for they can not be wrong.

On Croagh Patrick: Lessons from scaling and descending a holy mountain For Mark Piper, climbing — and descending — Ireland's holy mountain was a metaphor for the spiritual life.

Happy South Side Irish Parade to all who celebrate.

www.ncronline.org/spirituality...

Thinking of all those Trump signs that lined the farms along 151 between Madison and Green Bay last Nov.

Related, I just emailed my two Sens this AM: vote NO on cloture and NO on the CR. There's no constitutional obligation to provide even more unconstitutional power to Musk & the Exec Branch.

You know how third world dictatorships can "disappear" somebody just because they don't like what that somebody said?

...

Congrats, the United States under Trump is a third world dictatorship.

I'm still bitter that they - WFMT - fired Denis More.

“Transitioning” from 50 straight months of job growth, a 400% rise in manufacturing construction and the best back-to-back years for the stock market in a quarter century. 🤡

This final note — on democracy and this economy - Marketplace The transcript of a Final Note from Kai Ryssdal that aired at the end of Thursday night's episode of “Marketplace.”

He, @kairyssdal.bsky.social, is correct.

www.marketplace.org/2025/02/13/t...

Just got an email from a different staff member... a qr code will go in bulletin to the full letter.

I asked that the letter be included in parish communications (a parish we both know well) and was rebuffed.

As our new president and his favorite broligarch move to dismantle US foreign aid in the name of making America “great again,” consider this:

They should not have fired Denis More.

I'm in my least favorite part of the year: January 2 until the South Side Irish Parade (for me, it marks the end of the cold, gray, barren part of the year). This parade is on March 16, a mere 71 days away...

Anyway, speaking of gray and Irish, this photo I took in Cobh (10/2023) came to mind:

1943 "Chicken Little" by Disney bad, just unclear when.

Erosion of democracy isn't just for the Feds.

CTU asked for an elected school board b/c "democracy". 1 of their candidates loses, so the Mayor installs them anyway 2 help fire the CEO w/o cause; but really they'll fire him b/c he's responsible & won't take on more debt in contract negotiations.

You, too!

I mean... my outlook for the Church continues to be more bleak.

Higher #gasprices are coming, primarily for the Great Lakes states, Midwest and Rockies, if @realDonaldTrump does as he says he will and put tariffs on Canadian oil supplies coming into the U.S.

Page One in Chicago: “Data Centers and Artificial Intelligence Are to Blame for Rising Energy Prices ..”

$XLU
@chicago.suntimes.com

Maybe reach out to the CSJs at The Well in LaGrange... also, the Midwest Jesuits are HQ in Chicago. Are you looking for just sponsorship or accommodations?

I was in LA last week.

#familyvacation #bingcrosby

White Christmas gets all the glory, but Bing singing Adeste Fidelis, O Fir Tree Dark, or It's a Marshmallow World in the Winter are just as good.

#firstpost