Lucas Cranach the Elder’s “Lady Justice” (1537), oil on panel. Collection of Fridart Stichting, a foundation in Amsterdam.
It’s hard to know where to begin with the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade. The repercussions are that great.
For women who seek abortions, the 6-3 decision marks an eventual return to coat-hanger, knitting-needle days. If the pro-life crowd — which is generally pro-guns and pro-death penalty — thinks it has seen death, it’s hasn’t seen anything yet. Women have always sought abortions and will continue to do so, now less safely. But now death will come in other ways, too.
Read MoreArtemisia Gentileschi’s “Susanna and the Elders” (circa 1610), oil on canvas, Schönborn Collection, Pommersfelden, Germany. Gentileschi was raped by her artist father Orazio’s assistant, Agostino Tassi, who had been engaged to give her art leassons, then tortured to make sure she was telling the truth. She played out her survival in paintings in which biblical heroines triumphed over male assault. Whenever I think of men trying to control women, I think of works like this one.
Just in time for Mother’s Day, the United States Supreme Court has a gift that is “sure” to warm the hearts of moms and would-be moms everywhere — a leaked draft decision that would appear to repeal Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion legal in America. Chief Justice John Roberts — whose position as a swing vote on the court appears to have been nullified by the arrival of conservative Amy “the Handmaiden” Coney Barrett and whose legacy is in jeopardy — was shocked, shocked I tell you, that someone leaked the draft and has vowed an investigation. But the leak is hardly the point, which we’ll get to in a minute.
Read MoreChurches like St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, seen here, would argue that they should not be discriminated against when it comes to Covid restrictions. And they shouldn’t but for the fact that indoor services lend themselves more naturally to contagion than does a liquor-store run. Photograph by Peter K. Burian.
As a practicing Roman Catholic, i can’t tell you how upset I was with the dreadful United States Supreme Court decision to allow services in New York houses of worship to go on unrestricted.
The court ruled it was a violation of the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion when, after all, bike shops weren’t restricted. Here’s Justice Jimmy Stewart, uh, Neil M. Gorsuch in the concurring opinion:
“It is time — past time — to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues and mosques.”
Uh, Neil, I don’t think people who go into liquor stores are sitting in pews for an hour taking part in a service. I think the liquor store or bike shop is a 10-minute visit, tops.
Read MoreAmerican Vice President Joe Biden with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United States Embassy, then in Tel Aviv, in March 2016. In congratulating Biden on being elected president, Netanyahu reminded him of their warm relationship. Netanyahu had been one of President Donald J. Trump’s biggest boosters, but in the words of French President Emmanuel Macron when he first met Trump: “Nobody is forever.”
“This is one of the happiest days of my life,” a business manager told me yesterday. I couldn’t but concur. I , too, was happy, proud and content to be an American — something I haven’t been for four long, dark years.
In their victory speeches, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris struct the right notes about unity and hope. President Donald J. Trump’s “American carnage’ may have been fine for some when they were making oodles of money. But when everyone’s actually in American carnage, as we are with the coronavirus, systemic racism, a crashed economy and climate change denial, people want change. They want a leader who can create a vision for going forward together, communicate that vision and execute it. And that’s what Biden laid out Saturday night, while Harris in suffragist white gave women of color in particular a symbol of belief fulfilled.
Read MoreIn “The Egyptian Book of the Dead,” the heart of the deceased is weighed against the feather of truth.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation — which has thus far only been released in a redacted version by Attorney General William P. Barr — raises more questions than it answers.
Read MoreLestat, the rapturous protagonist of Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles,” has the right attitude toward (unending) life.
Three friends, the same reaction: They’re all in a tizzy — bewitched, bothered and bewildered — by Trump world.
One is appalled at the Trump Administration’s restrictive treatment of pregnant undocumented immigrants. Another is angry about President Donald J. Trumpet’s policies and tone in general. And speaking of which, the third is severely stressed by his threats to the American resistance, which preceded the massacre of 50 Muslims — and the injury of just as many — at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand by yet another young man with a disproportionate rage at life’s rejections, one who counted El Presidente as a white power inspiration.
Read MoreJohn Steell’s “Alexander & Bucephalus” (1882-84) in front of Edinburgh’s City Chambers. We could use some of Alexander’s leadership about now. Photograph by Stefan Schäfer, Lich.
Last week was another minefield in which we found ourselves treading carefully.
We begin with the state of Virginia, which seems to be collapsing like a house of cards with revelations of blackface and allegations of sexual assault against the governor and the lieutenant governor respectively. (The state attorney general and some Republicans have also admitted to having done blackface.) I have great respect for Mark Shields and David Brooks on “PBS NewsHour,” but I think they missed the point in saying that Gov. Ralph Northam’s blackface experience is mitigated by his good work. The Buddhist principle of karma holds that what you put out in the universe returns to you. This is different from the vengeful, biblical “What you sow you reap.” It’s merely cause and effect. You do it, you own it, because it will come full circle, regardless of what else you have done.
Read More
