More Than Politics

31/10/2021

04/04/2021

Would you believe that none of my fell asleep during the Easter Vigil? (I can hardly believe it.) Happy Easter, friends!

24/03/2021

Maryland friends! Yesterday I saw the following article, which said that MD announced on Monday that it was expanding medical eligibility (next week) to include those who meet the CDC's criteria for being at severe risk of COVID.

If you've been assuming you won't be eligible for a while, please go check out the new criteria! It includes a BMI of 30. And smoking. And cancer. And the list under it (not sure whether MD is using one or both) includes asthma.

In the comments I'll include links to the CDC's list of underlying conditions putting you at risk and a BMI calculator. (You might be surprised to find that you qualify!)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/coronavirus-dc-maryland-virginia/2021/03/22/bf8d72ee-8b4c-11eb-a730-1b4ed9656258_story.html

17/03/2021

"Talk about ideas. Pray for people. And resist the urge to reduce people to players in a game, even if that’s what they themselves are begging for."

Simcha Fisher, Writer gets it right. Don't miss this one.

https://www.catholicweekly.com.au/simcha-fisher-milo-and-other-real-humans/

Celebrities may be fascinating, but we can’t objectify them Against my better judgement, I read the LifeSiteNews interview with Milo Yiannopoulos, the professionally degenerate political and pop culture provocateur who’s spent the last few decades marketing his transgressiveness to the highest b...

05/03/2021

In this week’s episode of More Than Politics (the second of a two-part conversation) I talk with David Hancharik, an electrical engineer who has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 36 years. David and I discuss the controversy regarding free speech and “Big Tech” – the technology companies that make our internet and social media usage possible.

In the wake of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, social media companies suspended accounts (President Trump’s most notable among them) and hosting companies took websites offline. To many, these actions felt like attacks on Americans’ freedom of speech.

But were they? It’s not such a simple question. Do private companies infringe on individuals’ freedom of speech when they don’t permit them to use the companies’ platforms? In a world where most political speech has moved online, have those platforms come to be our newest, and most important, public square? And which is more important: companies’ rights to their private property or individuals’ rights to use that property for public speech?

David and I spoke at such length on these questions (and more) that we split the conversation into two episodes. This episode covers: the Fairness Doctrine; the differences between bias, accuracy, and fairness; the question of whether office-holders should always be allowed access to social media platforms; how social media companies cooperate with the government when it comes to threats to public officials; the unintended consequences that might result from efforts to restrict social media companies’ ability to censor content on their sites; and the importance of considering matters of conscience when it comes to those who work in “Big Tech.”

I hope you'll come listen.
https://morethanpolitics.buzzsprout.com/1210460/8079887

27/02/2021

Free speech. "Big Tech." They sure are hot-button topics these days, aren't they? So how about we explore them? How about we talk them through, engage in a little so as to try to understand this big, important debate and come to some well-informed opinions?

In this week’s episode of More Than Politics I talk with David Hancharik, an electrical engineer who has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 36 years. David and I discuss the controversy regarding free speech and “Big Tech” – the technology companies that make our internet and social media usage possible.

In the wake of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, social media companies suspended accounts (President Trump’s most notable among them) and hosting companies took websites offline. To many, these actions felt like attacks on Americans’ freedom of speech.

But were they? It’s not such a simple question. Do private companies infringe on individuals’ freedom of speech when they don’t permit them to use the companies’ platforms? In a world where most political speech has moved online, have those platforms come to be our newest, and most important, public square? And which is more important: companies’ rights to their private property or individuals’ rights to use that property for public speech?

David and I spoke at such length on these questions (and more) that we’re splitting the conversation into two episodes. This first episode covers: the often-discussed (but perhaps seldom understood) “Section 230” of the Communications Decency Act; how the right to free speech interacts with the right to private property; the concept of the public square; what “Big Tech” currently protects its users from; the enormity of the current moment; and the fact that “Big Tech” is made up of real, individual people, each with their own consciences.

I hope you'll come listen:
https://morethanpolitics.buzzsprout.com/1210460/8034321

12/02/2021

Hello, friends! It's time for a new podcast episode -- the second in our series on Reconstruction with historian Dede Miller.

While Reconstruction (the period of history immediately following the Civil War) is perhaps less well-known to most Americans than slavery, or Jim Crow, or the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's, its impact has nevertheless continued to be felt in our politics and society, especially when it comes to racial inequality.

In this second installment of our series, we'll be talking about criminal justice -- the legacy that Reconstruction-era "black codes" and policies of imprisonment and forced labor have left in American society, right down to the modern day.

Dede Miller (.journey on Instagram) is a wife, a mother of two, a historian and a former teacher. She holds an M.A. in History and specializes in 18th and 19th century trans-Atlantic slavery and slave revolutions, African-American history, and black political identity.

Dede is a black woman and convert to Catholicism who has a deep love for her community and her faith. She is a founding member and President of Catholics United for Black Lives () and is deeply invested in using the principles of Catholic Social Teaching to address the racial divide in America.

I hope you'll check out this important episode of More Than Politics on your favorite podcast app or right here: https://morethanpolitics.buzzsprout.com/1210460/7822291

28/01/2021

Hi friends! I've a new podcast episode up (my 20th!) This one is a conversation with my friend Dr. Michael Towle, a professor of Political Science at Mount Saint Mary's University.

In it, we discuss this moment of transition from one presidential administration to the next: the end of the Trump administration, including the Capitol insurrection and the president's second impeachment, and the beginning of the Biden administration, including where our parties, our politics, and our country might be heading next.

If you're in the mood for ruminations on such stuff, I hope you'll check it out.

https://morethanpolitics.buzzsprout.com/1210460/7539265

20/01/2021

Friends, it is long past time for me to tell you about some fascinating conversations I have been having with this lovely woman, Dede Miller.

Dede joins me for my latest podcast episode, the first of several we'll be doing together as a small series on Reconstruction.

Reconstruction was the period immediately following the Civil War, in which the Confederate south was brought back into the fold and millions of formerly enslaved people began to make their way in a new America.

While Reconstruction is perhaps less well-known to most Americans than slavery, Jim Crow, or the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s, its impact has nevertheless continued to be felt in our politics and society – especially when it comes to racial inequality.

In this episode, Julie and Dede discuss the topic of voting. They talk about black Americans’ political engagement in the years following the Civil War, the mounting violence that resulted in black disenfranchisement, and the vestiges of disenfranchisement that we continue to see today.

And lastly, in an addendum to the originally-recorded conversation, Dede explains the Wilmington coup of 1898, which, as the only known coup in the history of the United States, has attracted much attention in the wake of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Dede Miller is a wife, a mother of two, a historian, and a former teacher. She holds an M.A. in History and specializes in 18th and 19th century trans-Atlantic slavery and slave revolutions, African-American history, and black political identity.

Dede is a black woman and convert to Catholicism who has a deep love for her community and her faith. She is a founding member and President of Catholics United for Black Lives () and is deeply invested in using the principles of Catholic Social Teaching to address the racial divide in America.

https://morethanpolitics.buzzsprout.com/1210460/7383013

19/01/2021

"On the evidence of the past several months, the appropriate metaphor for democracy may be a bright flame that depends, moment by moment, on new fuel of legitimacy and public purpose.

In his book “Orthodoxy,” G.K. Chesterton made the point that you can’t paint a fence post white once and think the job is done. “If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again.” No great human institution can simply endure. It must be continually re-founded through the reassertion of its core ideals. And why is this? Because, Chesterton argued, human beings are “naturally backsliders” and human virtue, if left alone, will “rust or rot.”"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-fresh-start-for-republicans-can-come-only-if-they-abandon-authoritarian-populism/2021/01/18/ff4fb9e8-59bd-11eb-8bcf-3877871c819d_story.html

They must renew a commitment to democratic ideals.

10/01/2021

This is so heart-wrenching and horrible and stressful. Lord, have mercy.

Two Black officers told BuzzFeed News that their chief and other upper management left them totally unprepared and were nowhere to be found on the day.

09/01/2021

They were chanting "Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!" And doing so much more than chanting.

This wasn't some innocent opportunity to fool around in costume. It shouldn't be used as an occasion for funny memes. This was an attack on the rule of law, on our constitution, on the mechanism of our democracy, and on the men and women (legislator, police, staff, journalist -- all) who work in that building.

Don't make excuses for it. Don't diminish its importance.

Chris Hayes: “It is entirely possible that there were people in that crowd, looking to apprehend, possibly harm, and possibly murder the leaders of the political class that the President, and people like Mo Brooks, and even to a certain extent Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, have told them have betrayed...

08/01/2021

This is really beautiful.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.today.com/today/amp/tdna205331

“When you see something you love that’s broken you want to fix it," New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim said.

07/01/2021

Simcha gets it right.

This has been a discouraging year. And yes, I mean 2021. There was a short spell toward the end of 2020 where I kept thinking how wonderful it was that, despite the president’s years of open i…

07/01/2021

I stayed up most of last night recording a podcast episode on the storming of the U.S. Capitol, as well as the 2020 election and its aftermath.

It begins with my (Washington, DC) experience on September 11, 2001. (How sad that less than 20 years after that horrible day, we have another date to stop us in our tracks?)

But it ends, I think, with a little hope.

If you want to chew on what happened yesterday but you need something a little slower, a little more deliberate, a little less frantic to chew with, I hope you'll check out this episode.

More Than Politics episode 18 - Unreal: Insurrection at the Capitol and an Unconceded Election. Find it on all major podcast apps and at the following link:

https://morethanpolitics.buzzsprout.com/1210460/7178818-mtp-18-unreal-insurrection-at-the-capitol-and-an-unconceded-election

06/01/2021

Unreal. This should not be real. This should not be happening in the United States of America.

Goodness, people have a lot to answer for. We didn't get here in the stretch of a few hours. We got here over a stretch of years of people feeding this frenzy. Years of people winking and nodding, of people profitting off of whipping people up into this. This.

Unreal. God help us.

19/11/2020

On today’s episode I’m talking with singer/songwriter Kevin Heider. Kevin, who lives with his wife and four children in Dayton, Ohio, writes hymns, drinking songs, and everything in between. He has recently released an EP called Make An Honest Stand.

A collection of six beautiful songs, Make An Honest Stand is, I think, perfect for this moment of political discord and cultural upheaval.

With lyrics that wrestle with our nation’s history and with the concepts of freedom, patriotism, and justice – and which deal, too, with anger, cynicism, and the pitfalls of social media – Make An Honest Stand offers a powerful, yet loving, criticism of our country, our politics, and our own, flawed selves.

I view these songs as protest songs of a sort – they are protests, perhaps, against antipathy. Honest and peaceful, challenging and probing, Make An Honest Stand is an invitation to reckoning. Or as Kevin calls it in our conversation, “An examination of our collective conscience.”

I hope you'll listen. To find the episode, search for "More Than Politics" in your favorite podcast app or click the link below.

https://morethanpolitics.buzzsprout.com/1210460/6458584-mtp-17-make-an-honest-stand-with-kevin-heider

11/11/2020

On today’s episode I’m talking with Meg Hunter-Kilmer on a topic that is more explicitly Catholic than the others I’ve covered – but which will, I think, also have something to offer listeners of different faiths, or no faith at all.

In this conversation, Meg will be telling us about saints who lived in politically troubled times.

Given the divisiveness of the 2020 presidential election and how existentially threatening both sides seem to consider it, I wanted to take something of a longer view. The sad fact is, people have long lived under unjust political systems – systems that are as bad as, if not worse than, our current fears.

I thought it would be helpful to hear stories of people who lived through such times, who faced them with courage and conviction, who took them as opportunities to grow in faith, to work toward justice, to do God’s will, and to draw others closer to Him.

In a conversation that was far funnier than I expected and which spanned four continents and several centuries, Meg speaks to us about what these holy men and women have to teach us about living through turmoil, about facing oppression, about resisting unjust systems, about speaking truth to power.

She reminds us that there are different roles for each of us in fighting the injustices of the world and she encourages us to think outside the box, to consider things we never thought possible in discerning the roles that are right for us.

Meg and her stories encourage us, too, to prepare for extraordinary circumstances by living our ordinary lives well. “It’s in that consent to ordinary holiness,” Meg says, “that the Lord is able to move and to do really remarkable things.”

I hope you’ll find these stories interesting and inspiring, whether or not you share the Catholic faith.

Meg Hunter-Kilmer considers herself a “hobo missionary.” After two theology degrees from Notre Dame and five years as a high school religion teacher, Meg quit her job in 2012 to live out of her car and preach the Gospel to anyone who would listen. 50 states and 25 countries later, this seems to have a been a less ridiculous decision than she initially thought. Meg blogs at Pierced Hands and Aleteia and is a prolific poster on Instagram and Facebook – especially about the saints.

https://morethanpolitics.buzzsprout.com/1210460/6312469-mtp-16-stories-of-saints-in-politically-troubled-times-with-meg-hunter-kilmer

09/11/2020

It sure will be interesting to see how the new president interacts with an even more narrowly divided Congress. This piece makes some good points about where that division has brought us, and what Congressional pragmatists might do to temper it.

"For the past 20 years, this country has been driven to the brink of a political nervous breakdown by strategies that aim for total victory over the other side, no matter the effect on the long-term health of the economy or our political institutions. We are now at an inflection point. On one side lies restoring trust in each other and our institutions. On the other side lies permanent dysfunction, authoritarian rule and permanent economic decline."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/09/congress-mcconnell-pelosi-biden/

Party leaders and caucuses are deeply invested in maintaining unity and will not compromise. But with support from a new president, individual senators and representatives might be interested in making deals.

04/11/2020

A few thoughts to consider this morning:

(1) Yes, this race is closer than many of us thought it would be. But the fundamentals, timing-wise, are exactly what we were warned they would be: Initial returns would be Trump-heavy, then Biden's numbers would rise as mail-in ballots were counted.

(2) That's only the case because this year, Democrats encouraged mail-in voting while Republicans cast doubt on the practice. In previous election cycles mail-in votes were generally considered helpful to Republicans because they were widely used by military and elderly voters.

(3) It is completely unsurprising that Florida reported on election night while Pennsylvania (and Michigan) did not. It is up to the states to determine when they process and count their votes. Many states (like Florida) process/count mail-in ballots before Election Day. A few states (like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) do not start processing/counting until Election Day itself. Michigan allows ballots to be processed in advance of Election Day, but only by *10 hours.*

(4) Many states (nearly half of them) require mail-in ballots to be postmarked, not received, by election day. They set another deadline by which the ballots must be received. (That deadline's as soon as the 4th in Texas, the 6th in Pennsylvania and some other states, and the 23rd in Washington.) So in those states, ballots are still coming in. The election isn't, in a sense, over yet.

(5) It may be preferable, for the sake of the country, to require mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day and processed/counted in advance. I don't know. I'm sure there are good arguments to be made on each side. But I do know that it is wrong and unfair to change the rules *after people have already voted.* If I followed the instructions on my ballot, it should be counted.

So please don't advocate for states to stop counting ballots because you fear they've been cast for the candidate you don't like. If you feel strongly that the country would benefit from quicker or more streamlined results, advocate for changes to the next election, not this one. It is all sorts of wrong to change the rules of a game that has already been played.

31/10/2020

This week I recorded two podcast interviews! Here's the first, which is a little different from my usual format. Instead of inviting on a friend to ask them questions, this time I’m joined by a friend who’s asking me the questions.

Because we’re in the run-up to election day, my friend Rita Buettner and I thought it would be helpful to do a round-up of topics that might be of interest to listeners just before the election.

In our conversation, we cover modes of voting, write-in and third-party voting, how to make your final choices (if you haven’t yet), voting even when it feels like your vote can’t make a difference, and information to keep in mind about how mail-in ballots are counted.

We cover the electoral college, why politics in the United States is dominated by two political parties (rather than three or more), what to watch for on election night, and what may come in the months following the election.

A former journalist, Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review’s Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family, and faith. In her full-time job, Rita is director of university communications for Loyola University Maryland.

https://morethanpolitics.buzzsprout.com/1210460/6150904-mtp-15-election-day-run-up-round-up-with-rita-buettner

23/10/2020

I need to get caught up on episode links on this page!

But for now, let me tell you that I was so fortunate to get to talk with Laura Kelly Fanucci for this week's episode of More Than Politics. We had a great conversation about how to talk to children about politics and current events.

In it, we discuss the importance of forming children’s consciences regarding political matters. We talk about how to make big issues feel small and approachable, how to incorporate prayer into family discussions on politics and current events, and why politics isn’t as simple as “good guys vs. bad guys.”

And as we near the end of a highly contentious presidential election, we also discuss how to help children understand a politics that is so marked by bad behavior. (But we also talk about what is giving us hope for the future.)

Laura Kelly Fanucci is a writer and speaker who has spent over a decade working on theology of vocation. She earned her Master of Divinity from Saint John's School of Theology and her BA from the University of Notre Dame.

Laura is an award-winning columnist for Catholic News Service, and her nationally syndicated “Faith at Home” column runs monthly in Catholic newspapers across the U.S. Her writing has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, On Being, and the Christian Century, and in popular outlets including People Magazine and the Kelly Clarkson Show.

Laura has authored seven books, including Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting. She and her husband live in Minnesota with their children.

https://morethanpolitics.buzzsprout.com/1210460/6020305-mtp-14-talking-to-children-about-politics-and-current-events-with-laura-kelly-fanucci

22/10/2020

Hello there! Welcome to my new space! Before long I'll be filling it with news articles and opinion pieces relevant to the podcast. But first I had to introduce the podcast to current blog readers.

Here's that post, which includes the story of why I'm shifting gears from blog to pod, and how a book was vital in helping me recognize that I needed to make the switch.

https://thesewallsblog.com/2020/10/21/beginnings-and-ends-an-announcement/

I thought about calling this post “Ends and Beginnings,” but where’s the fun in that? Because really, I’m here to announce a beginning to you. It’s an overdue announcement, too – of a beginning tha…