Michael Sean Winters

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Abortion ambivalence; empire parallels; the rise of China; fuel corruption in Puerto Rico; opera for cows.

Distinctly Catholic: Sen. Kamala Harris had a great night in the first round of primary debates. But she has problems: big money ties, anti-Catholic bigotry and failures as California attorney general.

Distinctly Catholic: As we prepare to celebrate the nation's birthday, the idea of America is being contested on terrain we thought was in our past, with the resurgence of a racially tinged understanding of the American nation.

Political news and commentary roundup: There's an opening for a Catholic columnist as good as Michael Gerson; capitalism took over pride; conservatives are sensitive about erasure; the wealth is all at the top, but there are two different white working classes

Distinctly Catholic: Two Supreme Court rulings warrant attention because they have to do with the state of our democracy. A case can be made that both were correctly decided, although one was regrettable and the other not from a political point of view. 

Distinctly Catholic: On Wednesday night, Elizabeth Warren solidified her standing, while Julian Castro and Cory Booker were the breakout candidates. On Thursday night, Kamala Harris walked away the clear winner.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Abuse at Chicago Public Schools; billionaires endorse wealth tax; beautiful essay takes us to Paris and El Paso.

Distinctly Catholic: The Democratic Party's presidential nominating contest takes a big turn tonight, and the candidates should take it under advisement to stick to labor issues in these early debates.

Political news and commentary: Bishop Robert Barron owes us a non-dismissive response; trying to shut down the Democratic field prematurely; property rights quietly advance in the conservative U.S. Supreme Court; money talks, even when it is speaking against logic, science, health

Distinctly Catholic: Whether the issue is reparations or the Bladensburg Cross, the desire to rummage around the past, with no sense of how culture has changed in the meantime, is ill-advised. Healthy political parties and cultural institutions seek converts, and unhealthy ones seek heretics.

Distinctly Catholic: Make the point unmistakably clear. These are not normal times, what is being done to these desperate people is the real crime, and the Catholic Church stands with them.

Political news and commentary: Jerry Falwell Jr.'s endorsement of Donald Trump has a strange backstory; AFL-CIO leaders decry the NAFTA; the partisan divide on abortion; let's give thanks for hotel maids and farmworkers

Distinctly Catholic: Pope Francis' comments in Romania demonstrate a different attitude towards evangelization than what we heard last week from Bishop Robert Barron at the U.S. bishops' conference meeting.

Political news and commentary roundup: There are voters who only vote for change; Puerto Rico's oversight board reached a deal; the public is not as extreme as the Democratic Party on abortion

We have a president who routinely, and almost daily, defines deviancy down, making normal or even acceptable what once did and still should provoke horror.

Political news and commentary roundup: What are Trump's true motives? People who "approve" of him might not vote for him, and he might win solely on the anti-abortion vote, if Democrats remain extreme on the issue

Distinctly Catholic: The U.S. bishops' conference, as predicted, passed the implementing documents, but perhaps at the next meeting, the bishops can consider how they can overcome the polarization within the flock that is fed by the media as well as by other sources.

Distinctly Catholic: Barron is a master at apologetics, but apologetics is not evangelization and, in fact, to the degree the Catholic Church highlights his brand of apologetics, I will predict our efforts at evangelization will be stillborn.

Distinctly Catholic: It is shocking that there was apparently no effort to build a consensus among the bishops before they got to Baltimore. It is past time for new leadership at the bishops' conference.

Political news and commentary roundup: Trump's approval rating tanks in key swing states; Warren carves out her own lane; Dems become intolerant to their own pro-lifers; O'Hanlon on polemic limits