
Send us a text Are you interested in why the new pope took the name of an old pope? Is he sending us a message? Leo XIII was a modernizing pope whose most famous encyclical (1891) was called Rerum Novarum (New Things). This is a class lecture that I delivered on that encyclical. I discussed key passages and why it was so important.
May 8, 2025
1 hr 11 min

Send us a text Back in 2013, when Pope Benedict stepped down, I was concerned for the future of the Church and threw my hat into the ring. I am not sure how many votes I got but the vigorous insistence of the Vatican that they had never heard of me convinced me that my impact was real. There were even rumors that my candidacy had been received better than some had expected. At that point I thought my religious career was over but when I heard that President Trump had declare...
May 2, 2025
9 min

Send us a text This is interview three on this remarkable project. The frist interview was with Amine Zreikh who made me familiar with this historical cache of documents -- deeds, maps, contracts, etc. Adel Bsesio is the posessor of his family archive. It is now in an archive in Columbia University, universally accessible to anyone who wants to use it for research or educational purposes. This interview focuses upon the archive itself, and the rich store of materials t...
Apr 17, 2025
52 min

Send us a text Just after being released from the hospital, where he nearly died, the Pope issues a pastoral letter to the American Bishops. He urged them to focus upon Christian principles, and to support immigrants as they face the actions of the Trump administration (which they did not identify by name). He said that a policy not rooted in proper values will start badly and end badly. This is a short letter, just 2 and 1/2 pages long. I offer some explanatory commen...
Apr 10, 2025
16 min

Send us a text There is a new book on the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983. 241 people were killed as they slept. It was the greatest single-day death toll for the Marines since Iwo Jima. The decision to put these Marines in Lebanon in the middle of a civil war was veery controversial. The Joint Chiefs and the National Security Council were on opposite sides. Jane and I attended a talk on this incident by the author of the book. I was...
Apr 2, 2025
13 min

Send us a text This is an IDF assessment of what happened on October 7, 2023, what went wrong, and why. It is a military report, not a political assessment, but it is very interesting.
Mar 13, 2025
21 min

Send us a text My colleagues and I held a Faculty Forum when the Ukraine War started. It was done soon after Russia grabbed some provinces and the Crimean peninsula in 2014. This is my contribution. I listened to it when the current war started and found it still worth the time. With the current confrontation, and the Trump shift towards Russia, it may be of interest to see some of the long-term issues. This was reposted once before, about a year or so ago,...
Mar 1, 2025
25 min

Send us a text President Trump has proposed annexing Gaza, clearing it of Palestinians, and turning it into a resort area. He seems to be deadly serious. This is a discussion of what would be involved in such a development. Note: There was a slight disconnect with the sound. After the introductory music, you may have to turn up your volume. Also a Glitch: When I was discussing a public opinion poll 15 or 20 minutes into the podcast, I said 46 to 31 w...
Feb 21, 2025
24 min

Send us a text After struggling for three months to try to figure out why Kamala lost to Trump, I finally figured it out. Is this explanation too simple, or is it exactly on target? If you are willing to devote 20 some minutes of you life, you can judge for yourself.
Feb 6, 2025
22 min

Send us a text The Mara-Lago Classified Documents Case seemed to me to be the strongest of all the cases against Trump. Those were highly sensitive documents. Some were so sensitive that even their classifications were classified. As a private citizen Trump had no right to any of those. Moreover, he had tried to hide them, had urged others to deny they were there, and and had lied to the FBI when they came to collect them. In late January, 2025, the new Trump ad...
Jan 30, 2025
43 min
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