Just A Few Updates On Catholic Church, Puerto Rico, Trump, etc.

Catholic Church Issues
I recently posted a piece about the Catholic Church and its miserable failure of accountability related to sexual abuse, highlighted by the report from the Pennsylvania Attorney General. There has been a lot of coverage since I first wrote about this, including the Pope's recent visit to Ireland to address sexual abuse in that country and the internal battle within the church over conservative vs liberal approaches to teachings as well as a power struggle as old as the church itself.

Sadly there are those within the Catholic Church among clerical leadership and the laity who want to use this scandal to place blame on homosexuality and some fairly feeble attempts at inclusiveness within the church. I want to be clear that, in my opinion, the sexual orientation of priests has nothing to do with the the issue of sexual abuse in the church.  In addition, the LBGTQ community that has had to struggle for acceptance in the church should not be used as a scapegoat in any of these discussions.

Sexual abuse is sexual abuse and it occurs within and across all forms of sexual orientation. The church has failed in its own understanding of power, authority, accountability, abstinence and the lack of including women in positions of authority. There has been a culture of acceptance and coverup related to all of this and that's what the church needs to deal with if it has any chance of surviving this latest episode.

The conservative vs liberal battle taking place in the church is a different discussion but is taking place in the environment of these abuses and is in fact using these abuses to make arguments for and against a power shift. But lets be clear, this is all about power in the clerical leadership of the church. The clerics opposed to Pope Francis and his messages of social justice, peace, and inclusion but most importantly his views on clerical reform want him gone. This power struggle has gone on for centuries and again, is part of the church's struggle for any real relevance in today's society. Who gets the power, the fancy vestments and hats, the best real estate, is what we see happening before our eyes and its pretty unseemly to say the least.

The Shame of Puerto Rico
We should all remember that deaths in Hurricane Katrina numbered somewhere around 1000 people. At the time our country was horrified at what was witnessed in that natural disaster. President George W. Bush and FEMA were held to account in both public opinion and the world of politics. But here we are, a year after Hurricane Maria and new reports indicate that 2975 people died in Puerto Rico as a direct result of not only the storm itself but as a direct result of the US government's poor response. What a shameful thing this is and it goes on. We have become numb to the reality of people dying and suffering. The other example is of course Flint, Michigan and the lack of clean water for children and families that still continues. There is something wrong with us and our government that all of this is accepted while billions are being spent for weapons of war.

And Speaking of Weapons of War
Not many discuss whats happening in this area. The most we hear about it is from D. Trump who reminds us and the world that US weapons are the best. Missiles and Jets are the best in the world he says and we're selling them to everyone. Yes, these missiles are showing up in Yemen where school buses of children are bombed by Saudi Arabia. US drones continue to do their damage too and are either being sold or duplicated throughout the world. I'm afraid there will be a day when we will see the results of our own technology and weaponry flying near or within our shores and we will be startled and wonder how this could happen. On another weapons front, cybersecurity and cyberattacks seem to be on a back page. We will see how that plays out I'm sure.

Donald Trump Unhappy With Google Search and Internet News
More humor from the President as he gets upset about the negative stories that show up about him and his administration in search engines and in internet news. Perhaps he should think about the things he does like separating families, putting children in cells, attacking people at rallies and on Twitter, making white nationalist statements, and so on. Yes, Mr. Trump, these things will show up as news stories and in search engines. Wait till he reads the history books.