Griffin Oleynick

This is very well done. Makes me wonder about how Catholic intellectual life in America, broadly conceived, can engage more intentionally in 'core theology.' Journalism has a role, as do the arts, criticism, etc.

You’ve heard me say it before: the only thing New Yorkers hate more than a politician they disagree with is one they can’t trust.

And you can’t trust a word Andrew Cuomo says.

Andrew Cuomo couldn’t allow his first, tepid recognition of reality — that the Israeli government, with the full support of the Trump administration, is starving the people of Gaza — last more than a few hours without walking it back.

This is someone who believes in nothing.

Somehow, I hadn’t realized you’d also written Safety Not Guaranteed until about midway through the show.

Saw that in Brooklyn last fall, equally amazing.

Thanks for sharing your gifts last night! It was the concert I didn’t know I needed.

Favorite band and favorite bridge in a single shot

@themountaingoats.bsky.social

Also, @guster.bsky.social were incredible

Submitting an op-ed pitch to the NYT demanding to know why Mamdani allowed this to happen

Opinion | This Is the Moment Democrats Have Been Talking About for Years

Amen to all this.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/o...

Liberal Catholicism, Dead Again? Every few months, some self-styled orthodox Catholic declares the exhaustion of liberal Catholicism. Rarely has a death notice been written so often for a corpse that stubbornly refuses to be interred...

Worth reading.

But I strongly disagree with Peter Steinfels' characterization of "left Catholicism" as too narrowly focused on priestly celibacy, women's ordination, and homosexuality.

www.commonwealmagazine.org/liberal-cath...

Thanks for considering! And of course it needn't be the "final word" on the subject—we hope such a piece could inspire other Catholic theologians / thinkers / religious to write up their responses to authoritarianism, too.

Feel free to DM or email!

Might you be interested in writing this up for @commonweal.bsky.social ? We editors—and we suspect many of our readers—would find it very nourishing

my hair and its highlights make their summer debut and, frankly, slay

Inordinately excited for this, first time seeing both @guster.bsky.social and @themountaingoats.bsky.social live!

Hopefully I can manage to 'keep it together' ; )

Gaza is starving. Where are the American Jewish leaders? A fear of being labelled antisemitic still deters American Jews and Jewish institutions from taking a position that is morally correct.

The mass starvation & killing of Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli gov’t is a chillul hashem, a desecration of God.

Jewish leaders who criticized Zohran Mamdani for three words he doesn’t use should raise their voices loudly here as well.
forward.com/opinion/7575...

The Counterweight: Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching As we confront the political, social, and spiritual challenges brought on by the second Trump administration, the moment seems right for a clear examination of Catholic social teaching.

I got a lot of consolation from this episode

www.commonwealmagazine.org/podcast/coun...

Trump ❤️ Cuomo

One silver lining:

If you’re wondering how “good Christians” square Jesus, the sermon on the mount, Matthew 25 etc with mass deportation, and foreign gulags, this is it.

Their prayer might reasonably be construed as “Thank you, Lord, for my white skin.”

I wish the host had pressed her on this.

But then again, the host is Ross Douthat.

Also, the argument that “empathy is neutral” makes no sense. Or at least it’s disingenuous to assert that “liberal empathy” is precisely that kind of amoral fellow-feeling.

Stuckey’s version amounts to “torturers should avoid asking themselves too many questions about their victims.”

Opinion | The YouTube Host Defining Conservative Christianity

Conservative idolatry and grotesque cruelty / self-assertion is not the same as ‘Christianity’

Nor is it ‘interesting’

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...

“The fight to save our city isn’t over.” Says Cuomo as he announces his bid to run as a third party spoiler -
Yeah to save our city from him.

JD kinda looks like AJ from the Sopranos

Canary in a Coal Mine What is happening in Los Angeles is not normal. Every American in every state needs to understand this. It may not stop here.

"What is happening in Los Angeles is not normal. Every American in every state needs to understand this. It may not stop here."

@claudiaavilac.bsky.social writes from LA:
www.commonwealmagazine.org/politics-imm...

Okay now that I think about it, go to AMNH. And then imagine those trade routes between Maya settlements like Caracol and Teotihuacan existing EVEN EARLIER than previously known 🤯

Also there is an “okay” Maya corner in the new Rockefeller wing in Met, and some good stuff in AMNH

Go to the Penn Museum in Philly! Largest Maya stele outside Mexico / Guatemala!

I went off the deep end with Maya stuff and *highly* recommend it

Maya Ruler’s Tomb Is Unearthed in Belize, With Clues to His Ancient World

Really into the trash talk among Mayanists:

“People who have money in this game at Tikal will try to argue that it’s not earlier than 378,” Dr. Joyce said, calling the argument “kind of a fool’s quest, because you can’t get down to that close of a date.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/w...

Canary in a Coal Mine What is happening in Los Angeles is not normal. Every American in every state needs to understand this. It may not stop here.

This is disturbing but important reading from @claudiaavilac.bsky.social

We need to face this egregious evil squarely and—especially for those of us living in big cities—begin preparing now for the abuses to come

www.commonwealmagazine.org/politics-imm...

Opinion | A Medievalist Hits the Gym

Excellent piece.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/o...

Freedom from kings.
Freedom from fascism.
Power to the people forever. ♥️

Happy Independence Day 🇺🇸