Nick Freiling

"I am quite certain that neither love nor grief can ever be excessive; each is its own absolute measure, and knows its own proper proportions. And, as a rule, we generally fail to love or grieve nearly as much as we ought to do." ~David Bentley Hart

Yes, I think there's something to this. But insofar as people enjoy their phones because they are immediately useful and entertaining, it feels ... silly ... to suggest that the "solution" to the birth dearth is to deprive young people of this convenience. Is the drive to reproduce really *that* weak?

@DouthatNYT ...phones

Any theory of what's happening to human beings re: marriage and fertility has to explain why young Chinese people and young Americans both became deep marriage-and-family pessimists across the 2010s:

@biancoresearch Assuming kids go to the best under-budget school they can get into, it's probably just the worst schools that have anything to worry about, right?

Fertility peaked in 2007. 2026 is 18 years later, when this "baby bust" starts heading to college. Only the beginning, and ALL schools should prepare.

the future is a scam by big time to create more past

I mean, I think I see "can not" in books all the time? I think it's the older form. And isn't "can't" a contraction of two words "can" and "not"? I don't think any contractions are just a shortened forms of one word. But I hadn't thought about what you said. That's an interesting perspective, and I think I'll retire "can not" from my lexicon because of it.

Which do you use?

"To talk about the world as being made by God tomorrow, yesterday, would be talking nonsense. God makes the world and all things in this present now. Time gone a thousand years ago is now as present and as near to God as this very instant. The soul who is in this present now, in her the Father bears his one-begotten Son and in that same birth the soul is born back into God. It is one birth; as fast as she is reborn into God the Father is begetting his only Son in her." ~Meister Eckhart

@AzizSunderji Do you take data viz requests? I'd love to see a map of avg home appreciation by county (or even by ZIP code) across US since, say, 2000.

But the data suggests it’s far too early to anticipate Miami rivalling Wall Street. This map of job creation makes it clear: for banking and portfolio management, Miami isn't the fastest growing—and still ranks behind Manhattan, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles for finance employment.

In 2022, @GovKathyHochul had a message for those thinking of leaving NY due to high taxes: "Just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong". I wonder if she expected so many to heed her advice. In today's @FTAlphaville I write about Miami's growing threat to NYC.

@ThomasDHowes Ents vs Saruman - environmentalism! Sam holding Frodo - gay! You get the idea...

The whiners are hardly worth the time of day. If Christopher Nolan doesn't get the benefit of the doubt, nobody does and they aren't serious. I like to imagine what the outrage-bots would say about LOTR, if this app was around back then. Ian McKellen was arguably the UK's most prominent gay activist at the time (and gay activists were not common in 1999). Imagine the outrage. Matt Walsh might throw himself off a cliff.

For what it's worth, in response to the Odyssey discussion, I was told by conservative media that Indiana Jones 5 was woke and it turned out to be a good movie that had very little to do with politics.

It's just performative virtue signaling. If Christopher Nolan doesn't get the benefit of the doubt, nobody does.

And suddenly, everything else about the film would also be something RW hates. "I am no man" – feminism! Ents vs Saruman – environmentalism! You get the idea...

Regarding this performative outrage about The Odyssey... Imagine if Lord of the Rings came out today. Ian McKellen was one of the UK's biggest gay icons at the time, cast in the trilogy's most iconic role. RW media would skewer Peter Jackson. McK's performance would be derided. Matt Walsh would refuse to watch the films.

@Lauren_Southern @MattWalshBlog Don't forget: Ian McKellen was one of the UK's most prominent gay icons at the time, cast in the film's most iconic role. Imagine the RW outrage today, given their present outrage at a rumor that Elliot Page *might* play dead Achilles 😆

@MattWalshBlog Politicizing every piece of media killed that culture too. If LOTR came out today, RW outrage channels starving for content would spend six months calling it “woke slop” over Éowyn killing the Witch-king. substack.com/home/post/p-19…

Every decade in modern American history can be identified and defined by its own style, its own approach to music, film, fashion, its own aesthetic. That seems to have stopped right around 2010. The 2010s don't really have their own unique feel, even in retrospect. The 2020s certainly don't. We're more than halfway through the decade. What are the movies, music, style, and trends that this decade will be remembered for? It's like we fell into some kind of cultural blackhole 15 years ago.

I think about this quote often. Simone Weil on the worldly influence of the Church – its (potentially) unholy pull "as a social thing" 👇 "What scares me is the Church as a social thing. Not solely because of her stains, but by the very fact that it is, among other characteristics, a social thing. Not that I am by temperament very individualistic. I fear for the opposite reason. I have in myself a strongly gregarious spirit. I am by natural disposition extremely easily influenced in excess, and especially by collective things. I know that if in this moment I had before me twenty German youth singing Nazi songs in chorus, part of my soul would immediately become Nazi. It is a very great weakness of mine. ... I am afraid of the patriotism of the Church that exists in the Catholic culture. I mean 'patriotism' in the sense of sentiment analogous to an earthly homeland. I am afraid because I fear contracting its contagion. Not that the Church appears unworthy of inspiring such sentiment, but because I don't want any sentiment of this kind for myself. The word 'want' is not accurate. I know – I sense with certainty – that such sentiment of this type, whatever its object might be, would be disastrous in me. Some saints approved the Crusades and the Inquisition. I cannot help but think they were wrong. I cannot withdraw from the light of conscience. If I think I see more clearly than they do on this point – I who am so far below them – I must allow that on this point they must have been blinded by something very powerful. That something is the Church as a social thing. If this social thing did such evil to them, what evil might it not also do to me, one who is particularly vulnerable to social influences, and who is infinitely feebler than they?"

These numbers are wild when you consider how many Catholic immigrants have arrived in the US since 2005 (especially from Latin America). Without them, would the American Church be even 50% as large?

I've possibly never experienced more consumer surplus than the ~20/month LLM plans

It cost more than that to run "Alligator Alcatraz" for 11 months.

"No religious doctrine has ever changed the world unless there has been an event of faith, an encounter that re-orients life. And this does not only apply to Christianity, but can be seen in the history of religions. For example, in the crisis of Hinduism and its subsequent renewal, with hymns to Krishna and many other occasions. Without an experience of the living Christ who loves and saves, we cannot shape our 'being Christian', and concentrating on arguing, and debating with everyone, will not help mature this development in people. This statement by Benedict XVI [Deus caritas est] invites us to develop a solid and well-founded theology that is clearly oriented towards the service of this event." ~Tucho

@MissBehavin808 Tucho

QUESTION. If you could go to Mass held by either of these two men, which would you attend?

@KatiePMcGrady @shannon_last Indeed. It would have to be two films, really, if it was going to truly tell the whole story.

@shannon_last it is my favorite book of all time, and there's never been a film adaptation (or show) for a reason. fingers crossed they nailed it.

if they don't properly portray the clear distinction of good and evil in this, I will riot

@PhilipDBunn It's also my favorite book. Stunning from the very first page. Honestly, I don't even care if they "ruin" it – the book is just so good, the story is so good. Props to them for even trying. I hope it's good, I feel no desire to watch it.

This is my favorite book. I have very high standards. If Netflix ruins this, I will never speak of it again. If it's good, I will tell you.