Pope Leo lauds journalism in comments about Catholic church abuse; The Hill, June 21, 2025

AMALIA HUOT-MARCHAND , The Hill; Pope Leo lauds journalism in comments about Catholic church abuse

"“Your fight for justice is also the Church’s fight. A faith that does not touch the wounds of the human body and soul has not yet understood the Gospel,” he added.

He also stressed the importance of independent journalism for society.

“In this time of deep institutional and social tensions, defending free and ethical journalism is not only an act of justice, but a duty for all who aspire to a strong and participatory democracy,” he wrote.

Sexual abuse continues to plague the Catholic Church. Although Pope Francis began to take away the taboo of abuse within church walls, victims are seeking more recognition and action from Pope Leo such as a zero-tolerance policy.

Leo has already made the free press a cause for which he is willing to fight.

On May 12, Pope Leo called for the release of unlawfully detained journalists all over the world and defended the importance of free speech and press."

It’s not a genuine apology’: Spanish women reject Catholic attempt to redress Franco incarceration; The Guardian, June 15, 2025

Ashifa Kassam , The Guardian; It’s not a genuine apology’: Spanish women reject Catholic attempt to redress Franco incarceration

"As the members of the Catholic organisation wrapped up their speech with an appeal for forgiveness, the auditorium in Madrid exploded in rage. For decades, many in the audience had grappled with the scars left by their time in Catholic-run institutions; now they were on their feet chanting: “Truth, justice and reparations” and – laying bare their rejection of any apology – “Neither forget, nor forgive”.

It was an unprecedented response to an unprecedented moment in Spain, hinting at the deep fissures that linger over one of the longest-running and least-known institutions of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship: the Catholic-run centres that incarcerated thousands of women and girls as young as eight, subjecting them to barbaric punishments, forced labour and religious indoctrination.

The centres operated under the direction of the Women’s Protection Board, a state-run institution revived in 1941 and helmed by Franco’s wife, Carmen Polo. They aimed to rehabilitate “fallen women”, aged 15 to 25, as well as others deemed to be at risk of deviating from the narrow path marked out for women during the dictatorship.

Survivors, however, describe a reality that was far more brutal. “It was the greatest atrocity Spain has committed against women,” said Consuelo García del Cid, who was drugged by a doctor at her home in Barcelona and taken to a centre in Madrid at the age of 16."

Two men jailed for life for supplying car bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia; The Guardian, June 10, 2025

Juliette Garside, The Guardian ; Two men jailed for life for supplying car bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia

[Kip Currier: It's encouraging to see that justice can occur, even in places and situations where corruption is deeply entangled and seemingly intractable. I vividly remember learning from The Guardian's reporting about the horrific car bomb murder of courageous investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta in October 2017:

The journalist who led the Panama Papers investigation into corruption in Malta was killed on Monday in a car bomb near her home.

Daphne Caruana Galizia died on Monday afternoon when her car, a Peugeot 108, was destroyed by a powerful explosive device which blew the vehicle into several pieces and threw the debris into a nearby field.

A blogger whose posts often attracted more readers than the combined circulation of the country’s newspapers, Caruana Galizia was recently described by the Politico website as a “one-woman WikiLeaks”. Her blogs were a thorn in the side of both the establishment and underworld figures that hold sway in Europe’s smallest member state.

Her most recent revelations pointed the finger at Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, and two of his closest aides, connecting offshore companies linked to the three men with the sale of Maltese passports and payments from the government of Azerbaijan.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/16/malta-car-bomb-kills-panama-papers-journalist

As mentioned in the 2017 article, Galizia was reporting about corruption that involved the Maltese government at the time. Journalists like Galizia risk -- and all too often lose -- their lives to expose corruption and promote public awareness and accountability for wrongdoing.

These intrepid reporters also shed important light on the ways that the wealthy, powerful, and famous are frequently able to circumvent laws and ethical standards that apply to everyone else, as was revealed by the Panama Papers investigation.

Non-profit groups like Transparency International are committed to exposing corruption and promoting democracy and accountability:

We are Transparency International U.S. (TI US), part of the world’s largest coalition against corruption. We give voices to victims and witnesses of corruption, and work with governments, businesses, and citizens to stop the abuse of entrusted power.

In collaboration with national chapters in more than 100 countries, we are leading the fight to turn our vision of a world free from corruption into reality. Our U.S. office focuses on stemming the harms caused by illicit finance, strengthening political integrity, and promoting a positive U.S. role in global anti-corruption initiatives. Through a combination of research, advocacy, and policy, we engage with stakeholders to increase public understanding of corruption and hold institutions and individuals accountable.

https://us.transparency.org/who-we-are/]

My forthcoming Bloomsbury book Ethics, Information, and Technology (January 2026) examines the corrosive impacts of corruption. It also explores organizations like Transparency International that report on and educate about corrupt practices, as well as efforts to root out public trust-damaging activities and positively influence and change organizational cultures where corruption exists.

Corruption is often intertwined, too, with other ethical issues like conflicts of interest, censorship, research misconduct, misinformation and disinformation, counterfeit goods and deficits of transparency, accountability, data integrity, freedom of expression, and free and independent presses, which are critically assessed and considered in the book.]

[Excerpt]

"Two men have been sentenced to life in prison for supplying the car bomb that killed the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta eight years ago.

The sentencing on Tuesday of Robert Agius and Jamie Vella, reported to be members of the island’s criminal underworld, marked a significant step in the long campaign to bring those charged with Caruana Galizia’s murder to justice.

Her death in October 2017 sparked outrage across Europe and embroiled Malta’s governing party in accusations of a coverup, ultimately leading to the resignation of the then prime minister, Joseph Muscat.

Prosecutors have brought charges against seven people, including a millionaire businessman who is still awaiting trial."

Meloni pledges ethical AI alliance with Pope Leo XIV; Decode39, May 15, 2025

Decode39; Meloni pledges ethical AI alliance with Pope Leo XIV

"During a call with Pope Leo XIV, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reaffirmed Italy’s collaboration with the Holy See on ethical, human-centred AI, building on initiatives from the 2024 G7 and Pope Francis’s “Rome Call for AI Ethics”

AI ethics dialogue. In a call on Thursday with Pope Leo XIV, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni renewed Italy’s commitment to collaborate with the Holy See on ethical, human-centred artificial intelligence...

Defending human dignity. Meloni also noted the new pontiff’s recent address to the College of Cardinals stressed the defence of human dignity, justice, and work in AI’s development.

Thus, Italy and the Vatican are committed to shaping AI governance to protect vulnerable communities and workers."

IST announces new information technology ethics and compliance major; Penn State, May 5, 2025

Mary Fetzer , Penn State; IST announces new information technology ethics and compliance major

"The Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) has announced a new undergraduate degree to guide the creation and use of technology toward fair, just and ethical outcomes. The Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Ethics and Compliance (IEC) program is about maximizing technology’s positive effects on society. New and current students can now enroll for the fall 2025 semester. 

“As technology becomes embedded into everyday aspects of life, the need for ethical, thoughtful and socially responsible leadership in information technology has never been greater,” said Andrea Tapia, dean of the College of IST. “From artificial intelligence and data analytics to digital surveillance and cybersecurity, today’s most urgent challenges are as much about people and power as they are about code.” 

Meeting those challenges will require professionals who can navigate complex sociotechnical systems and advocate for justice, equity and the public good, ensuring that design systems support fairness and accountability."

The Mercy Pulpit & The Sermon Heard Around the World; Religion News Service (RNS), Complexified, January 27, 2025

Jonathan Woodward, Religion News Service (RNS), Complexified Podcast; The Mercy Pulpit & The Sermon Heard Around the World

"God and Trump collide

In a week of political and religious tension, sparks flare at the National Cathedral. Host Amanda Henderson and RNS Executive Editor Roxanne Stone delve into how this sermon—calling for mercy and justice—reshaped the national discourse and exposed the fractures between competing Christianities. From Trump’s invocation of divine authority to the shifting influence of evangelical power, they explore how faith and politics are shaping America’s identity and future."

THE 100 BEST PROTEST SONGS OF ALL TIME; Rolling Stone, January 27, 2025

Rolling Stone; THE 100 BEST PROTEST SONGS OF ALL TIME

"When Chuck D of Public Enemy famously called hip-hop “the Black CNN,” he was touching on a universal truth that goes beyond genre: Music and protest have always been inextricably linked. For some marginalized groups, the simple act of creating music at all can be a form of speaking out against an unjust world. Our list of the 100 Best Protest Songs spans nearly a century and includes everything from pre-World War II jazz and Sixties folk to Eighties house music, 2000s R&B, and 2020s Cuban hip-hop. 

Some of these songs decry oppression and demand justice, others are prayers for positive change; some grab you by the shoulders and shout in your face, others are personal, private attempts to subtly embody the contradictory nature of political struggle and change from the inside. Many of our selections are specific products of leftist political traditions (like Pete Seeger’s version of “We Shall Overcome”), but just as many are hits that slipped urgent messages into the pop marketplace (like Nena’s anti-nuclear war New Wave bop “99 Luftballons”)."

Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones' Infowars at auction with Sandy Hook families' backing; AP, November 14, 2024

Dave Collins | AP; Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones' Infowars at auction with Sandy Hook families' backing

"The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax.

“The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement Thursday provided by his lawyers.

The Onion acquired the conspiracy theory platform’s website; social media accounts; studio in Austin, Texas; trademarks; and video archive for an undisclosed sales price. The purchase gives a satirical outlet — which carries the banner of “America’s Finest News Source” on its masthead — control over a brand that has long peddled misinformation and conspiracy."

It’s Time to Admit America Has Changed; The New York Times, November 6, 2024

Patrick Healy and David French, The New York Times; It’s Time to Admit America Has Changed

"Donald Trump’s enduring hold over the Republican Party will send him back to the White House. On this episode of “The Opinions,” the columnist David French joins the deputy Opinion editor Patrick Healy to discuss the future of the G.O.P. and what a second Trump term might mean for America...

Patrick Healy: I’m Patrick Healy, deputy editor of Opinion, and I’ve covered American politics for decades as a reporter, editor and running our New York Times focus groups.

David French: I’m David French, a columnist for Opinion...

Healy: David, America has never been here before. It looks like a felon is about to take the presidency. Someone who incited an insurrection at the Capitol, who tried to overturn the 2020 election. Whose view and belief in the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power and the Constitution is just a really open question. I know it’s left a lot of Americans with a lot of frankly terrified feelings and they don’t know what the next four years are going to be like or how they’re going to get through it. And I find myself wondering when you look ahead, what’s weighing on your mind as we head into Wednesday and in the next few days?

French: You know, I was speaking at a college a few days ago and someone asked, “What will be your mindset if Donald Trump wins?” And I think of it as having two real components: Protect the vulnerable and speak the truth.

When you think about Trump’s declaration of vengeance, he wants to pursue his political enemies. He wants to pursue deportations at a scale that would be terrifying. So you can already see that there are vulnerable populations that will need protection. That includes political dissidents, political opponents that might be vulnerable to a vengeful Department of Justice. That includes immigrants and others who — you know, think about it this way, you’re talking about people who have said, “Hey, look, if there’s a person who is an illegal immigrant, but they have children who are citizens, well, so what? So what? Just sweep them out.” Right?

So there’s going to be this real need to protect vulnerable populations, protect vulnerable people. And then the other thing is, if there’s one thing that we’ve learned, it is very, very difficult to combat large-scale lying and defamation from people who have an immense amount of power and privilege. That is just very difficult because people who come into politics sort of more casually don’t know much about it — they don’t know if someone says yes and another person says no, if one person says up and another person says down — they don’t know how to adjudicate these disputes. And so I think about it in these two ways: protect the vulnerable, speak the truth, and I think of it in this moment as this is a real clarion call moment. At some point we’re going to have to sort of continue to put aside many of the differences that have divided sort of the different elements of the anti-Trump coalition.

I think it’s totally fine to grieve this. It’s totally fine to lament that this has occurred and to grieve that this is where we are as a country. But that’s got to be short, because if we care about justice in this country, there’s going to be a lot of work to do. I don’t think anyone should feel like the American experiment is over, but we should understand and gain knowledge from history that America can regress.

You know, Martin Luther King Jr. said the arc of history is long, but “it bends toward justice.” I remain relatively optimistic in that direction. But we’ve had long periods of backsliding, and we might be walking into one of those periods right now. And I just think when I look back at American history, you know, who stands out in those periods as having resisted the drift of the times, as having said no when so many other people were saying yes to injustice and hatred, and so that’s why I really think of it in these two frames. Defend the vulnerable, speak the truth."

In the Middle East, as in Greek tragedy, justice must prevail over moral absolutism; The Observer via The Guardian, November 5, 2023

Kenan Malik, The Observer via The Guardian; In the Middle East, as in Greek tragedy, justice must prevail over moral absolutism

"The Oresteia is a complex work engaging in issues from patriarchy to democracy. The human condition, for Aeschylus, was tragic, with Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and Orestes all facing impossible choices. Part of the process by which humans civilise themselves and learn to live with the tragedy of their condition is, he suggests, in forging the distinction between vengeance and justice. Justice brings us into the sphere of politics and allows for the possibility of reasoned change and redemption."

Why the Trump trial should be televised; The Washington Post, August 3, 2023

 Neal Katyal , The Washington Post; Why the Trump trial should be televised

"The upcoming trial of United States v. Donald J. Trump will rank with Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Education and Dred Scott v. Sandford as a defining moment for our history and our values as a people. And yet, federal law will prevent all but a handful of Americans from actually seeing what is happening in the trial. We will be relegated to perusing cold transcripts and secondhand descriptions. The law must be changed...

Most important, live (or near-live) broadcasting lets Americans see for themselves what is happening in the courtroom and would go a long way toward reassuring them that justice is being done. They would be less vulnerable to the distortions and misrepresentations that will inevitably be part of the highly charged, politicized discussion flooding the country as the trial plays out. Justice Louis Brandeis’s observation that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants” is absolutely apt here."

Universities Are Making Ethics a Key Focus of Artificial Intelligence Research; Insight Into Diversity, August 16, 2022

Lisa O'Malley , Insight Into Diversity; Universities Are Making Ethics a Key Focus of Artificial Intelligence Research

"As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more commonplace in our lives, many activists and academics have raised concerns about the ethics of this technology, including issues with maintaining privacy and preventing bias and discrimination...

“The subject of ethics and justice in technology development is incredibly urgent — it’s on fire,” Sydney Skybetter, a senior lecturer in theater arts and performance studies at Brown, explained in a recent university news release. Skybetter is one of three faculty members leading an innovative new course titled Choreorobotics 0101 in the computer science department. The class allows students with experience in computer science, engineering, dance, and theater to merge their interests by learning how to choreograph a 30-second dance routine for a pair of robots provided by the company Boston Dynamics. The goal of the course is to give these students — most of whom will go on to careers in the tech industry — the opportunity to engage in discussions about the purpose of robotics and AI technology and how they can be used to “minimize harm and make a positive impact on society,” according to the release."

Microaggressions Are A Big Deal: How To Talk Them Out And When To Walk Away; NPR, June 9, 2020

Andrew Limbong, NPR; Microaggressions Are A Big Deal: How To Talk Them Out And When To Walk Away

"Kevin Nadal, a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has spent years researching and writing books on the effects of microaggressions. As these big structural issues play out, he says it's important to confront the small stuff...

So what would you say are three quick bits of advice on having these difficult dialogues?

Do your own work before you even get there. Read blogs and personal essays, understand the lived experiences of historically marginalized groups, watch documentaries and try to think outside of your own perspective.

Set realistic expectations of what you want from these conversations. Also think about, is this actually helping? Is this a conversation that I view as being helpful in any way, shape or form? It's important to acknowledge that no one is going to learn everything in one conversation overnight.

Always be aware of yourself and your mental health when having these conversations. In a world where we all fought for social justice all the time, we would be getting into productive arguments and fights and having protests every day and changing laws, but we don't and we can't because we're also human and we need to rest. 

But again, think about your role and your positionality, because if you're a person with privilege and you could fight a little bit longer, then do it. But if you're a person of a historically marginalized group, we want you to be alive and we want you to be healthy in order to continue this fight toward justice."

To Deal With Trump, Look to Voltaire: Advice from the Enlightenment: In the face of crude bullying and humorless lies, try wit and a passion for justice. ; The New York Times, December 27, 2018

Robert Darnton, The New York Times; To Deal With Trump, Look to Voltaire

Advice from the Enlightenment: In the face of crude bullying and humorless lies, try wit and a passion for justice

"We are living through a climate change in politics. Bigotry, bullying, mendacity, vulgarity — everything emitted by the tweets of President Trump and amplified by his followers has damaged the atmosphere of public life. The protective layer of civility, which makes political discourse possible, is disappearing like the ozone around Earth.

How can we restore a healthy climate? There is no easy answer, but some historic figures offer edifying examples. The one I propose may seem unlikely, but he transformed the climate of opinion in his era: Voltaire, the French philosopher who mobilized the power of Enlightenment principles in 18th-century Europe."

Why 'justice' prevailed in 2018, according to Merriam-Webster; CNN, December 17, 2018

Rob Picheta, CNN; Why 'justice' prevailed in 2018, according to Merriam-Webster

[Kip Currier: 3,000th post since I launched this blog in 2010.]

"Robert Mueller's investigation of US President Donald Trump; Brett Kavanaugh's tense hearings in Congress; the fight for social, racial and gender equality: the past year has seen an absorbing and tumultuous news cycle. 

And now, "justice" -- the crux of some of the most gripping stories of the past 12 months -- has been recognized for its central place in the public consciousness.

 

US publishing company Merriam-Webster has named the noun its Word of the Year for 2018, after it saw a 74% spike in look-ups compared with 2017.

 

"The concept of justice was at the center of many of our national debates in the past year: racial justice, social justice, criminal justice, economic justice," the company said when explaining its choice..

 

The move follows Oxford Dictionaries' decision to crown "toxic" its word of the year, and Dictionary.com's selection of "misinformation" as its winner."

The walls are closing in on Trump, says “Enemies: The President, Justice & the FBI” author Weiner; Salon, November 18, 2018

Melanie McFarland, Salon; The walls are closing in on Trump, says “Enemies: The President, Justice & the FBI” author Weiner


[Kip Currier: Good advice from author Tim Weiner in the Q & A exchange below, for anyone writing and creating:]

"You know, I've been a reporter on deadline most of my life. You gotta press the button. You gotta hit 'send.’"

[Salon's Melanie McFarland] "Why does the series end at the Comey firing and his testimony? I'm imagining that a number of people who view it may have questions as to why it halted there, given everything that's happened since.

[Tim Weiner] It's the fact of Mueller and Comey, the two men who ran the FBI from the fall of 2001 to the spring of 2017 — 15 and a half years — who are now, by turns, special counsel and star witness.

It’s reminding people about how they teamed up to stop President Bush's assault on the Constitution, and trying to drive home that when Trump fired Comey, the counter-intelligence investigation into the Russian attack on the 2016 election became a criminal investigation, led to the appointment of Mueller and lead to a charge for Mueller that he could investigate anything. He was not delimited to the question of Russia.

You can bet your bottom dollar that there is going to be a sequel. And we talked, the directors, producers and Alex and I, we talked more than once about, you know, when we get to that Sunday in November, what Mueller brings the hammer down on that Friday? The grand jury meets on Fridays.
And you know, we decided we'd just saddle up and start again.

You know, I've been a reporter on deadline most of my life. You gotta press the button. You gotta hit 'send.’

A book needs a back cover. So we've got to decide what is the strongest structure that we can present."

Here’s how Canada can be a global leader in ethical AI; The Conversation, February 22, 2018

Fenwick McKelvey, Abhishek Gupta, The Conversation;    Here’s how Canada can be a global leader in ethical AI

"Putting Canada in the lead

Canada has a clear choice. Either it embraces the potential of being a leader in responsible AI, or it risks legitimating a race to the bottom where ethics, equity and justice are absent.

Better guidance for researchers on how the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedomsrelates to AI research and development is a good first step. From there, Canada can create a just, equitable and stable foundation for a research agenda that situates the new technology within longstanding social institutions.

Canada also needs a more coordinated, inclusive national effort that prioritizes otherwise marginalized voices. These consultations will be key to positioning Canada as a beacon in this field.

Without these measures, Canada could lag behind. Europe is already drafting important new approaches to data protection. New York City launched a task force this fall to become a global leader on governing automated decision making. We hope this leads to active consultation with city agencies, academics across the sciences and the humanities as well as community groups, from Data for Black Lives to Picture the Homeless, and consideration of algorithmic impact assessments.

These initiatives should provide a helpful context as Canada develops its own governance strategy and works out how to include Indigenous knowledge within that.

If Canada develops a strong national strategy approach to AI governance that works across sectors and disciplines, it can lead at the global level.

Hundreds mourn for Heather Heyer, killed during Nazi protest in Charlottesville; Washington Post, August 16, 2017

Ellie Silverman, Arelis R. Hernández and Steve Hendrix, Washington Post; Hundreds mourn for Heather Heyer, killed during Nazi protest in Charlottesville

"“Thank you for making the word ‘hate’ more real,” said her law office coworker Feda Khateeb-Wilson. “But...thank you for making the word ‘love’ even stronger.”

In a packed old theater in the center of the quiet college town that has become a racial battleground, those who knew Heyer turned her memorial into a call for both understanding and action.

“They tried to kill my child to shut her up, but guess what, you just magnified her,” said her mother Susan Bro, sparking a cheering ovation from the packed auditorium, where Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va) were among the crowd.

“No father should ever have to do this,” said Mark Heyer, his voice breaking on a stage filled with flowers and images of the 32-year-old paralegal who was killed Saturday when a car plowed into a crowd of protestors gathered to oppose a white supremacist rally."

John McCain: Why We Must Support Human Rights; New York Times, May 8, 2017

John McCain, New York Times; 

John McCain: Why We Must Support Human Rights

"In a recent address to State Department employees, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said conditioning our foreign policy too heavily on values creates obstacles to advance our national interests. With those words, Secretary Tillerson sent a message to oppressed people everywhere: Don’t look to the United States for hope. Our values make us sympathetic to your plight, and, when it’s convenient, we might officially express that sympathy. But we make policy to serve our interests, which are not related to our values. So, if you happen to be in the way of our forging relationships with your oppressors that could serve our security and economic interests, good luck to you. You’re on your own...

In the real world, as lived and experienced by real people, the demand for human rights and dignity, the longing for liberty and justice and opportunity, the hatred of oppression and corruption and cruelty is reality. By denying this experience, we deny the aspirations of billions of people, and invite their enduring resentment...

We are a country with a conscience. We have long believed moral concerns must be an essential part of our foreign policy, not a departure from it. We are the chief architect and defender of an international order governed by rules derived from our political and economic values. We have grown vastly wealthier and more powerful under those rules. More of humanity than ever before lives in freedom and out of poverty because of those rules.

Our values are our strength and greatest treasure. We are distinguished from other countries because we are not made from a land or tribe or particular race or creed, but from an ideal that liberty is the inalienable right of mankind and in accord with nature and nature’s Creator."

Stay angry. That’s the only way to uphold principles in Trump’s America.; Washington Post, 11/11/16

Leon Wieseltier, Washington Post; Stay angry. That’s the only way to uphold principles in Trump’s America. :

"The demons that have haunted our society for decades and even centuries, the vile illiberalism that currently disgraces other governments in the West, will now inhabit the White House. Difficult times are giving way to dark times, and dark times require a special lucidity and a special vigilance and a special ferocity about principle. We must not lose our faith in moral progress and in social progress, but we must remember that moral progress and social progress are not linear and unimpeded and inevitable. There will always be reversals and setbacks, because change rattles the world that preceded it. If you demand justice, prepare for instability, and for the exploitation of instability by political reactionaries who weaken the wounded with nostalgia and fantasies of exclusiveness. The struggle for reform is often succeeded by the struggle to repeal reform. Trumpism, insofar as it is coherently anything, is a great promise of repeal. If Trump succeeds in his repeal, then the fight for the repeal of the repeal must begin. There is nothing Sisyphean or cynical about this. It is the abiding condition of a democracy comprising conflicting ideals. The fight is never over.

The prettification of Donald Trump has begun. When a crushed Hillary Clinton graciously asked that Trump be given “a chance to succeed,” I confess that I felt no such graciousness. This made me as small as Mitch McConnell, I know. But if Trump succeeds, America may fail; and it is America, its values and its interests, whose success matters most desperately to me. No cooling off, then. We must stay hot for America. The political liberty that we cherish in this precious republic is most purely and exhilaratingly experienced as the liberty to oppose."