Rose Berger

One Republican just texted me that if there’s a discharge vote on Epstein they expect a “jail break” of over 100 members. Trump will go nuts!

It’s coming to an end guys. I’ve spoken to a lot of House Republicans this week and they’ve confided that Trump’s movement/support is fading. As one told me, “this Epstein bomb is about to drop and no want wants to defend a pedo-protector. It’s just a matter of time.”

This evening, 56 years after the Apollo 11 moon landing, I spoke with the astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Together we shared the memory of a historic feat, a testimony to human ingenuity, and we reflected on the mystery and greatness of Creation.

@RepBethVanDuyne @WaysandMeansGOP I really hate what you've done with that Reconciliation Bill. It cuts all my access to cost-saving electric energy and will deny our church the ability to afford solar panels so that we can provide services when the power goes out. Reinstate services that Americans need and want.

👊🏻 Thanks to Chairman Smith for leading the way to save Americans from the largest tax hike in American history, and for leading @WaysandMeansGOP through the 18-hour markup!

I just signed up for an email from @Sojourners & @SojoAction with reliable information and opportunities for action in the post-election period. Sign up today! act.sojo.net/page/74900/sub…

Add your name to the @inequalityorg petition: Co-sign Senator Warren's letter calling out corporations who pay more to execs than they pay in taxes action.ips-dc.org/a/inequality-s…

@TimothyDSnyder Thank you @TimothyDSnyder for defending democracy.

Trump’s Project 2025 is an element of a fascist regime change. And Heritage is flouting the Internal Revenue Code.

This is projection, it is silly and self-indulging but it also shields and enables their own destructive behavior. Let Tony Spence’s passing be an occasion to make another choice. RIP

Conservative whining about a “dictator pope” Francis is part of the distraction from the truth, to claim that they are the victims, they are being canceled, they are brave truth-tellers who need to hide behind medieval avatars on social media...

Indeed, Pope Francis--like Tony Spence--would be fired if he worked for the USCCB for what he has said in welcoming gay people and others. This is so damaging to the unity and spirit of communion, the damage is almost incalculable...

This climate of fear or reprisal started in earnest early in the pontificate of JP2 (early 1980s) and continued for decades. While Pope Francis has tried to change the dynamic and has called for open and honest discussion, his message has not penetrated the American church...

Look at the conservative maneuvers at the USCCB recently. What Tony’s career shows is how long the Catholic Church has lived in a climate of fear, where anything perceived as outside the rightwing orthodoxy will get you fired, or canceled, or de-platformed, or de-funded...

And a good roundup of it all at New Ways Ministry: newwaysministry.org/2016/04/26/bis… The point is that these stories were written in 2016 and they could be written again today. The examples are legion, too numerous to begin to post.

Tony Spence remained faithful as a Catholic and a journalist and I believe would want the full story to be told. I would point to stories like Bob Mickens in Commonweal: commonwealmagazine.org/letter-rome-75 Michael Sean Winters in NCR: ncronline.org/blogs/distinct… NPR: npr.org/sections/thetw…

The USCCB issued only a Soviet-style statement that Tony was “stepping down” and offered no explanation though everyone knew the real reason. Tony later confided that he was “shattered” by the experience and we regularly corresponded over the years...

The Catholic hierarchy (the USCCB) which ran CNS (until they shuttered it in 2022 in yet another act of ecclesial vandalism) complied and Tony was escorted from the USCCB offices w/o a chance to speak to his staff...

His sin was tweeting about anti-LGBTQ laws and policies and the weaponizing of religious liberty laws to discriminate. For that he became the target of an angry rightwing effort that demanded he be fired and excommunicated...

Spence’s obit says simply that Tony, a veteran Catholic journalist, “was named the director and editor-in-chief at Catholic News Service, based in Washington, in February 2004, where he served until 2016.” Actually he was summarily fired in 2016...

@GibsonWrites @OSV @CatholicReview Thank you, David. Truth-telling is how we move forward. And this is all true.

This @OSV obit for Tony Spence is beautiful and deserved. Of the dead it says nothing but good. But it is not the whole story. A 🧵 Tony Spence, Catholic journalism veteran, dies at 71; called his work ‘a vocation I truly love’ catholicreview.org/tony-spence-ca… via @CatholicReview

sojo.net/articles/how-p… via @Sojourners