Mercy, hope, and Pope Francis [Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday 2025 following Pope Francis’s death]

One year ago I paid homage to Pope Francis in my homily on Divine Mercy Sunday a week his passing…

Welp. Bishop Barron has a TERRIBLE new take on just war theory.

I’m on it…

Sadly, or rather happily, Larson’s silly vignette isn’t terribly like the reality, most notably because the cruise ships had no passengers on board at the time. Still, the strip lands a little differently today!

haha no no I meant facts are facts about Doctor Doom—Russo’s untrustworthiness in the moment notwithstanding, Doom really is the best (most iconic, most versatile) Marvel villain—a fact ideally showcased by the 1980s Secret Wars storyline

that would be much funnier, but facts are facts

(and yes, I know I misspelled Barbera)

THIS HAS, OF COURSE, BEEN NOTED

based on my teaching experience, the overlap of students clever enough to be this funny and carefree enough to be this noncompliant is vanishingly slim, although if this student were in my class he would definitely be a favorite

‘The Far Side’ of the Strait of Hormuz [Gary Larson joins ‘The Simpsons’ in foretelling the future?!]

The Simpsons has gotten a lot of credit for foretelling the future. Now a story about cruise ships making their way through the embattled Strait of Hormuz has a lot of people of my generation remembering when we first heard of the Strait of Hormuz: in 1987, from The Far Side.

The best efforts of GOP officials to find evidence of undocumented immigrants registering to vote and other irregularities only verifies, over and over, that it’s a statistical non-issue. It simply does not affect elections. Our elections are secure.

If you see this, post something orange from your gallery.

If you see this, post something orange from your gallery.

If you see this, post something orange from your gallery.

If you see this, post something orange from your gallery.

bugs bunny and daffy duck are standing next to a sign that says duck rabbit on it ALT: bugs bunny and daffy duck are standing next to a sign that says duck rabbit on it

strait of hormuz update

Of the original founders of United Artists, Douglas Fairbanks was the only one at liberty to make movies when it launched in 1919, so Pickford's arrival provided much-needed support & allowed Fairbanks to follow his long-cherished and risky ambitions of costumed swashbuckling

Pollyanna begat Zorro

Francis was a teenager when Pius XII said it—the Big Bang is the ultimate “Let there be light”! But, again, Lemaître objected to this approach to science and religion (and I think he was right).

Very familiar with the Hawking quote. Quantum creation is fine—given a set of laws. Still needs a given!

(lots of people don’t know that the Big Bang theory was first proposed by a Catholic priest who was also a physicist and mathematician)

FWIW, Pope Pius XII all the way back in the mid-20th century was more than okay with the Big Bang—in fact, he was so enthusiastic about it that Fr. Georges Lemaître, who was the first to propose the theory, is said to have cautioned the pope on being too quick to embrace it in relation to Genesis 1.

Pope Leo chastises journos spinning Africa trip as rebuke of Trump The pontiff said his speech “was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented” on him or the message of peace the pontiff is promoting.

important: not everything is about the U.S. or Trump

The specific metric considered here is a blunt instrument, it really evaluates most improved

Firing and jailing RFK is the moderate position

Attacking Pope Leo is not working out well for Trump and Vance. Will they continue to double down? My thoughts:

WRATH OF KHAN is a better crafted movie, and THE VOYAGE HOME is a more successful crowd-pleaser, but I legit love THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK the best of all three.

Words with bad thoughts do get there, but there’s a separate system for dealing with them.

such a funny line, I laughed out loud for over a minute!

this is the correct take

I feel like I'm living in an invasion of the body snatchers movie

Pete Hegseth: fake Bible fan, but also fake Pulp Fiction fan

The explicit thing about the quotation is that Jackson’s character keeps saying it because he thinks it sounds badass, but hasn’t really thought about it. He says this in so many words. Hegseth absorbed the quote but not the point.

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