The Home Front

Show Notes: On the Biodetector: Phil on the elections: Beyond tariffs: Trump’s Beef Import Plan Delivers Little Relief for Consumers as Ranchers Take a Hit Film: Now and at the Hour of Our Death - The Story of Tom Vander Woude Tom and Mary Vander Woude were blessed with a joyful marriage and a family of seven sons. As a Knight of Columbus, Tom was always a man of sacrifice and service, considering...

Show Notes: The Children Saved by Flock (City Journal) The Odds of Your Kid Getting Kidnapped by Lenore Skenazy Online grooming (the real danger). A Philosopher of War Changes His Mind (New Yorker) : Michael Walzer (access the archived version here ) Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations by Michael Walze r (affiliate link) Cardinal Fernández admits low interest in hi...

Show Notes: The Overton Window (Mackinac Center) An Introduction to the Overton Window of Political Possibilities (Mackinac Center) US ambassador to Holy See visits Taybeh day after settler attack on locals, European diplomats (Zeale) Justices leave lower court order in place preventing Trump administration from implementing transgender inmate policy (SCOTUSblog) Supreme Court Rules on Trump Admin...

Show Notes: Changes in the Catechism on capital punishment: Original wording 2266: Preserving the common good of society requires rendering the aggressor unable to inflict harm. For this reason, the traditional teaching of the Church has acknowledged as well-founded the right and duty of legitimate public authority to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the cr...

Show Notes: Religious Scholars Met with Anthropic. What They Heard Stunned Them (New York Times) (archived here ) A warning about ‘model welfare’ (Mustafa Suleyman, Substack) 10 Years After Amoris Laetitia, Bishops to Discuss Challenges of Families at the Vatican ‘Amoris Laetitia’ Is Consistent With Church Teaching, Sister Tells Pope and Bishops Pope on Amoris laetitia: What Church do people meet...

Show Notes: Pope Leo in France : highlights Pope Leo’s in-flight presser: “So, I would say, if that’s politics, I did that, but it was not to get involved in French politics. It was to teach what the Church really believes.” The insanity of the coverage of this story : Trans NYT exec charged with child abuse threatened to kill spouse before in-laws shot her to death in California: court docs . But...

State intrusion after baby is born: Governor Healey Announces New Actions to Strengthen Maternal Mental Health and Postpartum Care from the MA government website Maura Healey Wants Increased Maternal Mental Health Spending Following Lindsay Clancy Trial (New Boston Post) Maura Healey Wants to Investigate Parents of Every Newborn Baby (LifeNews) Massachusetts Considers Bill to Prioritize Treatment...

Show Notes: New Details About Holdout Juror in Lindsay Clancy Case Revealed Report of an interview with the holdout juror in the Clancy case Robert Kennedy’s speech at the Republican Midterm Convention Massachusetts kidnaps a teen to trans her against her parents’ will Our interview with Robert Royal on his book about the 21st century martyrs: Phil Lawler’s Substack Leila’s other Substack: The Sch...

Show Notes: * The German bishops’ outcry; the US bishops’ silence by Phil Lawler Why the AfD Wins by Christopher Caldwell Germany’s ‘Firewall’ Against the Far Right Is Being Tested as Never Before ~ News analysis, The New York Times (archive version here ) The AfD Rises on the German Right ~ Editorial on The Wall Street Journal (check this page to see if the article is archived yet) Mitt Brennende...

Update (from when we recorded): The second “unvaccinated person” measles-associated case is put in perspective by Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons. He makes five points about the information given to the public. A must-read on this developing situation. Democratic Socialists of America Measles Hysteria: A Timely Political Hit Job by Mary Talley Bowden The Pope and the Jesuits: John Paul...

Show Notes: How One Man Invented the Conservative Moment ~ Lee Edwards on Buckley’s “Fusionism” The Neoconservatives: An Endangered Species ~ Russell Kirk George Nash, The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 (affiliate link) The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics (Wall Street Journal) The U.S. Government Now Owns Stakes In 30 Companies. Intel Is...

Show Notes: Cambridge chancellor condemns media frenzy after Black professor’s death How can lay Catholics spur bishops into action? (Phil at CatholicCulture) Nathan Cofnas (who wrote about Jason Arday, exposing his plagiarism and lack of credentials) Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States, by Albert O. Hirschman (affiliate link) Bitten: The Secret Histo...

Show Notes: Governor Healey signs abortion bill (and here on the MA website ). John O’Sullivan reacts to Healey photo on X The Massachusetts bishops’ polite collapse by Phil Lawler Excommunication? Not gonna happen by Phil Lawler Statement by Archbishop Henning of Boston (released after the bill was signed) CatholicVote president urges Massachusetts bishops to consider excommunication of Gov. Heal...

Show Notes: Jeff Childers : “The Constitution’s essence prioritizes individual rights over collective ones, even in “pandemics.” A journalist who intellectually grasped the Constitutional rights hierarchy would at least have acknowledged that individual rights are the baseline, and then argued about how preparedness fits within those rights.” CNN Didn’t Interview Kamala Harris, It Swaddled Her In...

Show Notes: Contagious Faith: Why the Church Must Spread Hope, Not Fear, in a Pandemic by Phil Lawler (affiliate link) Doctor Anthony Fauci on why he left the US government | BBC News Covid Lockdowns Were an Elite-Made Tragedy - WSJ Imposed Mass Hypochondria by Leila Lawler Fauci’s net worth — and his wife’s contribution First on Fox: Trump DOJ reaches settlement with pro-life protester targeted b...

Show Notes: Modesty: Sports Networks Urged To Ban ‘Inappropriate’ Shots of Female Athletes Book Club on my blog Like Mother, Like Daughter: A reading of Wendy Shalit’s A Return to Modesty Organ harvesting: Can We Kill You for Your Organs, Please? (Wall Street Journal) Garnet Harper, a 35-year-old father of five beautiful children, was denied a life-saving kidney transplant in Ontario, solely becau...

Show Notes: Academic Scandal: Catholic Theological Society of America honors self-described queer theologian (CWN) Another scandal our bishops have failed to address Synod report includes testimonies from civilly ‘married’ homosexuals Leftist Violence and Justice Amy Coney Barrett: Supreme Court justices make rare Capitol Hill appearance to push $230M security budget Suspect in former U.K. ministe...

Show Notes: St. John Henry Newman, Sermon 5: Love of Relations and Friends Parochial and Plain Sermons by John Henry Newman (affiliate link) — Well worth the cost for the hardcover volume. Newman will challenge you, both syntactically and spiritually, but that’s a good thing. (This volume makes a wonderful ordination gift, by the way.) Letter from Pope Benedict to the world’s bishops, accompanying...

Show Notes: This week, Phil solos! If you have ever wondered what just listening to him would be like, now’s your chance! Is this a religious liberty issue? The 29-foot statue of Christ the King, dominating the horizon from its spot on the peak of Mount Cristo Rey, is certainly a powerful symbol of the faith. The border wall might be a similar height, but it would be a drab, functional structure,...

Show Notes: llinois Gov. JB Pritzker just signed a bill making it LEGAL to knowingly expose others to HIV — including through BLOOD DONATIONS. The Dangers of Compelled Speech by Jake Warner The Power of the Powerless , by Václav Havel Live Not by Lies , by Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn For when people renounce lies, lies simply cease to exist. Like parasites, they can only survive when attached to a pers...

Show Notes: We both wrote pieces, and in this episode, we discuss the topics (which are related) just the way we do at the dinner table (with a bit extra to fill in the blanks for you). Join us! Phil’s article: My article: From the archives: More on Amoris Laetitia: More on the inopportune document suppressing certain Marian titles: Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue ou...

Show Notes: Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love): apostolic letter of Pope Francis Michael Haynes on X: Debate about Amoris Laetitia has renewed The president of the Episcopal Conference reminds everyone that one cannot receive communion if the marriage breaks down and there is another relationship. God Has No Grandchildren: A guided reading of Pius XI’s encyclical Casti Connubii , On Chaste Marriage...

Note Bene : We read the entire encyclical and we didn’t use AI. And we don’t use AI to draft, write, or edit our own writing! Show Notes: Full text of the encyclical Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah’s remarks on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical “Magnifica humanitas” The importance of Pope Leo’s first encyclical (Phil’s preview of the encyclical— posted before it appeared) Pope Leo breaks new ground with e...

Show Notes: Abortion Drug Makers Admit They Care About Money, Not Women by Jordan Boyd On Application for Stay: GENBIOPRO, INC. v. LOUISIANA, ET AL. Why the Left lies about Amber Thurmon by Leila M. Lawler (survey of the black box warnings on the abortion pill ingredients) The importance of Pope Leo’s first encyclical by Phil Lawler Your paid subscription means a lot to us and helps us continue ou...

Show Notes: The SSPX, the German bishops, and the parable of the two sons by Phil Lawler How A Feminist Info Op Convinced Moms To Leave Their Babies With Strangers Every Da y by Leila M. Lawler (The Federalist) The government’s war on romance by Phil Lawler The American Book of Fables (affiliate link) — beautiful hardcover book, almost 400 pages, written by Matt Mehan and illustrated by John Folle...