Civil Commotion

There are $4-billion worth of lawsuits alleging sexual abuses and cover-ups about to be filed against the Catholic Church.

Across the country, attorneys like Slater are scrambling to file a new wave of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy, thanks to rules enacted in 15 states that extend or suspend the statute of limitations to allow claims stretching back decades. Associated Press reporting found the deluge of suits could surpass anything the nation’s clergy sexual abuse crisis has seen before, with potentially more than 5,000 new cases and payouts topping $4 billion.

It’s a financial reckoning playing out in such populous Catholic strongholds as New York, California and New Jersey, among the eight states that go the furthest with “lookback windows” that allow sex abuse claims no matter how old. Never before have so many states acted in near-unison to lift the restrictions that once shut people out if they didn’t bring claims of childhood sex abuse by a certain age, often their early 20s.

There is doubtless some cynical opportunism going on here. I am sure that some of the lawyers, and the complainants they represent, are just looking for fast paydays. Even so, I’m glad to see a day of reckoning bearing-down on the church. The Abrahamic faiths have been a sickness in society for millennia, and I’m all for whatever weakens them and undermines their spread.

I have to admit to deeply mixed feelings about this story from Fort Worth, Texas.

A high school English teacher in Texas who was fired after she sent tweets to President Trump asking him to rid her school of undocumented immigrants should be reinstated or be paid a year’s salary, a state agency ruled this week.

But the ruling is probably not the last turn in the story, as the Fort Worth Independent School District said that it believed her firing was appropriate and that it would appeal the state’s ruling.

“We stand by our decision because we firmly believe this is in the best interests of all students,” Kent P. Scribner, the superintendent of the school district, said in a statement this week.”

This reminds me of the old truism that “hard cases make bad law.”

The argument on behalf of the teacher seems too plain and straightforward to need much discussion: A tweet to the president about a matter of public interest is protected speech and neither the federal government nor any other of our myriad political subdivisions may punish her for it — and that’s that, right?

Not so fast. Federal regulations prohibit schools from asking about immigration status, so it’s likely that the teacher doesn’t actually know what proportion of the students in her school or classroom are illegal. Her complaint, in combination with the remark that the schools have been “taken over by them,” may in fact bespeak anti-Hispanic hostility, which would justify dismissal. Further, since the Hispanic families associated with her school doubtless know of her remarks, it’s likely that Hispanic students feel uncomfortable with the teacher and question her fairness.

Even if her tweets are protected speech, her effectiveness is gone.

So … what to do? Were I an administrator in that school district, I think I would have looked for a way to move her to a non-teaching position, or at least a position where she taught less impressionable students. Perhaps there is a night school program teaching English as a second language? Or perhaps she could assume some sort of roving position mentoring new teachers?

As I said, I have mixed feelings. I share the school district’s view that her (traditional) classroom effectiveness is gone, and she shouldn’t be leading one. I am just as squeamish about the idea of firing a teacher for public comments on a public issue in connection with an environment where she probably has a perspective more informed than most of us could possibly have.

What do you know? The Wake Forest, North Carolina, Christmas Parade will include the Sons & Daughters of the Confederacy.

Just hours after the town of Garner announced it was cancelling its Christmas parade, the town of Wake Forest released a statement noting its parade is still on, and will include the Sons & Daughters of the Confederacy.

Dawn and I lived in Wake Forest when we first moved to North Carolina, and now live in a smaller town about 5-miles away. We do nearly all of our shopping in Wake Forest, and usually tell people that’s where we’re from because nobody has ever heard of the town we actually live in.

The defenders of the Confederate flag usually nod toward some vague notion of southern heritage to defend its display. That’s always been dubious, and became indefensible when Dylann Roof shot-up a black church in South Carolina.

Dylann Roof, famous Racist Asshole

There is only one reason anybody displays a Confederate flag today, and that reason is because they’re proud of being a Racist Asshole; there are no exceptions. Repeat: Confederate flag = Racist Asshole. Case closed. Such people should not be welcome in decent society. If your church pastor is there, find a new church; if your doctor is there, find a new doctor; if your pharmacist is there, find a new drugstore; if your auto mechanic is there, find a new service station; if your veterinarian is there, find a new vet — on and on.

I went to parades and such when John was young, but dislike crowds and probably wouldn’t watch the Christmas Parade if it were held in the street in front of my home, never mind fighting traffic to find a parking spot to walk a crowded-mile in order to view a pack of preening jerks. But if you are into that sort of thing, do take care to point and laugh when the town racists strut past.

A (mostly) true story, and maybe the best, if loopiest, anti-war song of all time.

I guess the storm has forced the Pulpit and Pen guys inside and made ’em cranky.

This is a direct and predictable consequence of the New Testament’s cultlike ethics, and people like me, Jeri Massi, Bruce Gerencser, Tom Rich, the Wartburg Ladies, and many others, have been condemning it for years. It deserves a sneer, for sure, but Pulpit & Pen is w-a-a-a-y behind the curve.

And a repeat of a tweet he’s really proud of:

This High Plains lunacy reminds me of a guy named Tom Valentine who used to host a radio show named Radio Free America on the shortwave bands. Once, he called-up this grandma in some little snow-buried town out in the barren west, and she and her elderly lady friends were right then having a craft bee where they were sitting around gossiping, sipping liquor, and making gas masks out of plastic trash bags. Because you never know when the feds are gonna come for you.

There are a lot of nuts here in the Good Ol’ U.S. of A. Have a good Thanksgiving!