Obama: John Lewis spent his life fighting the attacks on democracy circulating now

By Rebecca Shabad

NBC NEWS
Former President Barack Obama delivered sharp criticism of his successor Thursday as he eulogized the late Rep. John Lewis, slamming the actions of President Donald Trump without naming him.

At Lewis' funeral at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Obama said Americans must be “vigilant against the darker currents of this country’s history.”

“Today, we witness with our own eyes police officers kneeling on the necks of Black Americans,” he said.

“George Wallace may be gone, but we can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators,” he said, prompting a standing ovation.

Trump ordered federal agents and military troops in June to disperse a group of peaceful protesters outside the White House, and tear gas and flash bangs were used. More recently in Portland, Oregon, protesters who have been demonstrating for weeks have accused federal agents deployed to the city by Trump of using tear gas on them.

And in a clear reference to Trump and Republican efforts to discourage mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic, Obama said, "We may no longer have to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar in order to cast a ballot, but even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting."

Obama said that this is being done “by closing polling locations, and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision — even undermining the Postal Service in the run-up to an election that's got to be dependent on mail-in ballots so that people don't get sick.”

The former president called on Congress to revitalize the Voting Rights Act in Lewis’ honor, “the law that he was willing to die for." But Obama said that while that’s a fine tribute to the congressman, politicians should “keep marching to make it even better.”

Lawmakers can make this progress, Obama said, by making sure every American is automatically registered to vote, including former inmates, by adding polling places and expanding early voting and by making Election Day a national holiday to ensure that people don’t have to worry about taking time off from work to go to the polls.

Obama then endorsed the idea of eliminating the 60-vote filibuster in the Senate that’s required for most pieces of legislation to advance if that’s the only way to make these priorities a reality.

“And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that's what we should do,” he said.

Finally, Obama emphasized that Lewis, an early hero of the civil rights movement, said that things will remain the same if individuals don’t do everything they can to change things.

“As long as young people are protesting in the streets, hoping real change takes hold, I'm hopeful,” Obama said. “But we can't casually abandon them at the ballot box, not when few elections have been as urgent on so many l

INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,

Trump floats idea of delaying the November election, a power granted to Congress, as he ramps up attacks on voting by mail

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to evolve, several states have begun preparations for vote-by-mail options in the 2020 election. (Blair Guild/The Washington Post)
By
John Wagner and
Amy Gardner

(TWP)

President Trump on Thursday floated the prospect of delaying the November election, as he ramped up his attacks on mail-in voting, claiming without evidence that its widespread use would be a “catastrophic disaster” that could lead to fraudulent results.

“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” Trump tweeted. “It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

The U.S. Constitution gives the power to regulate the “time, place and manner” of elections to the U.S. House and Senate, with Congress also empowered to alter the rules. Nowhere is the president granted such power.

In addition, the Constitution spells out a hard end to a president’s term on Jan. 20 in the year following a presidential election.

President Trump stops to talk to reporters as he walks to board Marine One and depart from the South Lawn at the White House on Wednesday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Trump’s tweet came shortly after a report was released showing the U.S. economy shrank 9.5 percent from April through June, the largest quarterly decline since the government began publishing data 70 years ago, and the latest, sobering reflection of the pandemic’s economic devastation.

It was not clear from Trump’s tweets whether he intends to ask Congress to move the date of the election or if he believes he can act on his own.

As more states have turned to mail-in voting in response the pandemic, Trump has repeatedly sought to undermine the method, often with unsubstantiated claims. He has attacked mail voting nearly 70 times since late March in interviews, remarks and tweets, including at least 17 times this month, according to a tally by The Washington Post.

Trump has also argued that mail-in voting tends to hurt Republicans at the ballot box.

Democrats quickly suggested that Trump’s suggestion reflected a realization that he could lose to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who has been leading in national and many battleground state polls.

“Donald Trump is terrified,” tweeted Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who is among those being considered as a running mate for Biden. “He knows he’s going to lose to @JoeBiden. It will require every single one of us to make that happen.We will see you at the ballot box on November 3rd, @realDonaldTrump.”

Amy Gardner and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report.

Donald Trump è: “Domina o sottomettiti”

Alberto Pasolini Zanelli

Da un paio di giorni è l’ultimo scandalo politico di questa campagna elettorale. È improbabile che duri e ancor meno che decida l’esito. Riguarda un presidente e il suo papà. Donald Trump stava leggendo un articolo sul New York Times sugli ultimi sviluppi di Trump Place, ma anche la sua preoccupazione per l’economia. Parlando di se stesso e di suo padre, evitando di menzionare le vittime del virus e le vie per far riprendere l’economia e i posti di lavoro.

Definì gli autori degli incidenti nelle piazze “neofascisti di estrema sinistra”. La sola cosa di cui si occupa è la ripresa economica. Conseguenza del Covid e di altri errori e debolezze, di cui anche i repubblicani sono responsabili perché non riescono a mettersi nei panni degli altri e condividere il loro sconforto. Perché non vogliono oppure non sanno confortare l’ansia che ha investito molti critici, sbalordito altri e aggravato il compito dello staff della Casa Bianca.

Fred Trump aveva messo i suoi figli sulla strada giusta, tenendo conto della forza della frase “troppo e mai abbastanza”, soffrendo di una pericolosa incertezza che investe sia la signora Trump, moglie di Donald e anche sua nipote, autrice di un libro appena uscito in cui si raccolgono elementi critici. Una posizione fatta sua da uno dei più intimi amici di Trump, Roy Cohn, che porta questo titolo Troppo e mai abbastanza: come la mia famiglia ha creato l’uomo pericoloso del mondo. Dubbi espressi anche da Mary Anne Mac Leod Trump, originariamente la figlia di un pescatore da un villaggio scozzese nelle Ebridi, sbarcata a New York nel 1930 a 18 anni. Mary Anne trovò un posto di lavoro come cameriera nella casa di Andrew Carnegie, vedova, secondo i documenti del censo che la giornalista Nina Burleigh ha rilevato nel suo libro Golden Handcuffs: la storia segreta delle donne di Trump. La signora Burleigh scrisse che “quelle di Mary sono le antitesi delle tendenze germaniche di suo marito”.

Ma era Fred Trump a dirigere lo show. E i bambini imparavano ad essere stoici di fronte alla faccia, anche quando la loro mamma si ammalò di peritonite e dovette tornare all’ospedale per il suo quinto e ultimo bambino. “Mio padre rincasò e mi disse che prevedeva che non sarebbe sopravvissuta, ma io dovevo andare a scuola e di chiamarmi se fosse successo qualcosa”. Mary Anne Trump Barry, una delle sue figlie, disse in un’intervista con la signora Blair: “Giusto, vai a scuola come al solito”. Già allora la massima che anche oggi regola le scelte politiche di Donald Trump è: “Domina o sottomettiti”. La sfida che hanno finora affrontato contro la Casa Bianca i probabili e presunti candidati del Partito democratico. E che sembra diventare sempre più ardua.

Pasolini.zanelli@gmail.com

 

Eterna corruzione messicana

A high-profile corruption case could be a major victory for Mexico. Politics must not derail it.

Emilio Lozoya, the former head of Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex, in Mexico City in 2017. (Gustavo Martinez Contreras/AP)

León Krauze

(TWP)

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected in Mexico in 2018 on a wave of outrage over the scandalous corruption of his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto.

In 2014, a landmark journalistic investigation discovered that the then-president and his wife owned a $7 million mansion built by Grupo Higa, an infrastructure firm that had received contracts during Peña Nieto’s tenure as governor of Mexico state. Faced with unprecedented scrutiny, Peña Nieto failed to convincingly defend the infamous “white house” where he had lived before his presidency. It would be just the tip of the iceberg in Peña Nieto’s history of dishonesty. Now Mexicans might be about to see just how much lies beneath the surface.

In February, Emilio Lozoya, one of Peña Nieto’s closest associates and a former head of the state-owned oil company, was arrested in a wealthy area of southern Spain. On July 16, after nine months on the lam, Lozoya was extradited to Mexico City, where he will face charges over his role in a multimillion-dollar graft operation built around the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

Lozoya, a former senior director of the World Economic Forum for Latin America, had a stellar career before joining Peña Nieto’s presidential campaign in 2012, where he oversaw international cooperation. He would become a familiar face within the president’s inner circle. He was a frequent advocate for the Peña Nieto administration’s plans for the energy sector and Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company, which Lozoya managed from 2012 to 2016. It was there that he seems to have spearheaded an appalling system of bribery.

According to Lozoya’s own version of events and the ongoing investigation that led to his capture and extradition, Odebrecht is suspected of illegally financing Peña Nieto’s presidential campaign with Lozoya’s help, ostensibly in exchange for future favors. Lozoya also claims that the Pemex scheme allowed the Peña Nieto administration to buy the votes of several legislators from the opposition as part of its push to reform Mexico’s energy sector. As head of Pemex, Lozoya also oversaw the controversial purchase of two troubled fertilizer companies for over half a billion dollars in what would turn out to be another notch in a complex corruption scheme. The various Odebrecht triangulations seem to have netted Lozoya himself at least $10 million in payoff money and other illicit assets.

The investigation into Lozoya’s dealings with Odebrecht threatens to expose a network of corruption that could reach congressmen and governors, several members of the former president’s cabinet — including Luis Videgaray, the powerful former finance minister — and perhaps even Peña Nieto himself. According to Mexican authorities, Lozoya has offered to hand over around 15 hours of video and audio recordings as evidence. If carried out properly, Lozoya’s reckoning with the law could indeed become a landmark case in Mexico’s long battle with endemic corruption.

Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. Mexico has a long history of confusing due process with political gain. Corrupt union leaders, for example, have been blatantly protected by one government only to be jailed by the next and freed when convenient. High-profile cases are prosecuted in the court of public opinion first and the bench later. Lozoya’s case has been no different. As soon as his capture was announced, officials in the López Obrador administration began releasing material on the case. Convenient leaks with names soon followed. López Obrador himself has not resisted jumping into the fray. “He is willing to reveal what happened. Just imagine,” López Obrador said recently in a morning news conference. “Even Congress was involved!”

The reference to the legislative branch is not a coincidence. Lozoya’s revelations come at a time of political need for López Obrador. Next year, Mexico’s midterm elections will determine the fate of the president’s so-called fourth transformation, his lofty plan for the country that has so far offered poor results. With an economy in free fall, a dismal response to the coronavirus pandemic and lagging approval numbers, López Obrador could use a distraction. Lozoya’s shocking history of graft fits the bill, even more so because it could bring into question the process behind Mexico’s historic energy reform, which López Obrador has always scorned.

Still, Lozoya’s blockbuster statements are far from enough evidence. The case has only just begun. Lozoya just recently made his first appearance in court. No one has yet seen or heard any of the videos that, according to Lozoya, so clearly incriminate former top officials. In this context, Mexico’s president should show restraint. López Obrador has the unique opportunity to let Mexican justice run its course unimpeded by political expediency.

If corruption at such a massive scale did indeed happen, let Mexico’s judicial system expose it. Let the law sentence those responsible, without exceptions. Politics, and the president’s voice, should have no place in the matter.

Colpa delle donne che fanno sesso col demonio

Americans are suffering. Trump offers them a doctor who warns of sex with demons.

 by 

David Von Drehle (TWP)

According to the Mayo Clinic, endometriosis is “an often painful disorder in which tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of [the] uterus — the endometrium — grows outside [the] uterus.”

Not so, says Stella Immanuel, a Houston pediatrician and spiritual leader of Fire Power Ministries, a pronouncedly non-orthodox church. Endometriosis and other potentially dangerous gynecological conditions are the residue of sexual intercourse with demons, Immanuel teaches. These demons, known as “spirit husbands” and “spirit wives” (you might prefer their pet names: Incubus and Succubus) once walked the Earth in physical form. After they drowned in Noah’s flood, however, they carried on only in non-corporeal form. They visit humans in sexy dreams, which aren’t dreams after all but spirit spouses making a booty call. The demons are responsible not only for diseases of the female reproductive system but also for male impotence, most financial troubles, marital discord and spiritual malaise.

This is not Immanuel’s only diversion from the medical mainstream. She also maintains that alien DNA is a component of some therapeutic drugs and that government scientists are developing a vaccine to prevent religious faith. You can find these and other teachings of hers on YouTube.

Or you can find Immanuel on President Trump’s Twitter feed, where she testifies to the power of hydroxychloroquine (yep! we’re back to that one) to cure covid-19 and assures the public that masks are not important to fighting the pandemic. More than 10 million Americans heard her advice, thanks in part to the president’s amplifying effect, before Facebook took down her page. In response, Immanuel threatened to have Jesus unplug Facebook’s servers.

I guess there is no point in expressing my strong view that the president of the United States should not, in the midst of a deadly pandemic, pass along medical advice that undermines public health officials without good reason to believe that it comes from a qualified authority. The president doesn’t care.

And I suppose it’s pointless to say to my Christian brothers and sisters in Trump’s dwindling camp that a man who raises the profile of a heretical preacher is not a friend of the faith. Many so-called evangelicals who stick with Trump gave up on evangelism — that is, winning people over through selfless acts of love and charity — long ago.

Even as the number of U.S. coronavirus cases passes 3 million, President Trump has repeatedly played down covid-19’s toll on the country. (Video: Joy Sharon Yi, Danielle Kunitz/Photo: Jonathan Newton / Washington Post/The Washington Post)

I’m not sure there is much use in patiently explaining that fighting the novel coronavirus while doing as little damage as possible to the economy is a very significant challenge, requiring the best efforts and maximal good faith of every American — starting at the top. No bridge is long enough to span the abyss between “best efforts” and “spreading dangerous bull hockey from a woman who believes in disease-spreading orgiastic dream demons.”

So, let me speak to those Republicans cowering in closets and hiding under stairs in Washington and the state capitals, muttering prayers that Trump might somehow calm the flames that threaten to consume them.

Run away. Close your eyes and duck your heads and sprint as fast as you can away from Trump. Claim amnesia. Say you’ve been hiking the Appalachian Trail. Blame your spirit spouse — whatever. A fury is building in Middle America that has nothing to do with Russia or impeachment or “Access Hollywood.” It’s rising among people who managed to look past all of that to find something they liked about the president. And now he’s repaying them with a stubby middle finger in their faces.

These folks don’t get daily covid-19 tests with results in 15 minutes. Their every contact is not screened and scanned. They live in the real world, a place Trump looks down on from his jets. They understand that covid-19 is not a joke.

We are interested in hearing about how the struggle to reopen amid the pandemic is affecting people's lives

They have children whose teachers are afraid to be in school with them. They have teenagers reeling from the mental health impacts of isolation and anxiety. They’ve lost their jobs, their businesses, their sense of safety. They’re worried about losing their homes.

They’ve lost the Final Four and the Olympic Games, and now it’s dawning on them that the NFL and college football may be next. They can’t go to a movie theater or enjoy a concert. In many places, they can’t schedule a surgery or visit an elderly relative.

And they see what the president thinks of them and their concerns. Here, you dupes and dopes, Trump says — here’s a video from a woman who believes in demon dream sex. Or here’s one from a washed-up game-show host who says covid-19 is an election ploy. Or how about this idea: Drink some bleach.

They’re worried and suffering, and their president might as well be saying: I don’t care if you live or die. And it’s coming through loud and clear. The political center is slow to anger. It’s also slow to forget.

L’età per la pensione deve essere flessibile

Lavori flessibili: Il nodo dell’età quando la pensione è più vicina

Articolo di Romano Prodi su Il Messaggero del 26 luglio 2020

Il calo delle nascite è uno dei più gravi problemi per la maggior parte dei paesi sviluppati, con tutte le conseguenze che comporta in termini sociali ed economici. Le politiche di sostegno alle famiglie sono in molti casi deboli o quasi inesistenti e necessitano certamente di un rafforzamento. Bisogna tuttavia ammettere che anche le migliori politiche familiari faticano a invertire questa tendenza. Il problema della bassa natalità e del conseguente invecchiamento della popolazione, anche se in Italia si presenta con una particolare drammaticità, è ormai caratteristica comune a tutti i paesi industrializzati e, probabilmente, si estenderà in modo graduale a tutto il pianeta, seppure con sfasamenti che produrranno effetti drammatici.

È come se l’umanità, vissuta per un infinito numero di generazioni in un equilibrio di alte nascite e alte morti e dopo un’esplosione di una decina di generazioni caratterizzate da alte nascite e basse morti, stia faticosamente ricercando un suo nuovo equilibrio, con nascite sempre più limitate ed un progressivo prolungamento della vita media.

L’adattamento a questa realtà, che ci accompagnerà a lungo nel tempo, costituisce uno dei problemi più difficili da risolvere. Le sue conseguenze vengono inoltre aggravate dal fatto che le istituzioni e le regole che guidano la vita economica e sociale non vogliono adeguarsi a questa nuova realtà. Nessuno sembra essere in grado di gestire il problema del progressivo invecchiamento della popolazione.

Nella maggior parte dei casi (anche se con scarso successo in Italia) lo si affronta adeguando l’età del pensionamento all’aumento della vita media della popolazione. Questo avviene però adottando regole rigide e uguali per tutti, in risposta a un fenomeno, come l’invecchiamento, che invece non ha regole e si esprime con caratteristiche diverse da persona a persona. Adottando regole rigide non si riuscirà mai a mettere a frutto le energie vitali che l’uomo può esprimere al proprio servizio e al servizio della società.

Qualsiasi sia il limite di età, decidere a priori il giorno della pensione è un passaggio innaturale. Lo è per chi sperava di terminare anni prima la fatica del lavoro e per chi, al contrario, ritiene di avere davanti a sé la prospettiva di essere ancora utile e produttivo per molto tempo: non vi è ragionevolezza nell’applicare regole uguali a situazioni diverse.

In una società che invecchia in modo così differente, come quella in cui stiamo vivendo, l’unico obiettivo degno di essere perseguito è cancellare dal calendario la data fissa del pensionamento, cercando di adattare la legge alla vita e non la vita alla legge.

Un obiettivo in teoria semplice ma tremendamente difficile: è tuttavia possibile e doveroso compiere i passi necessari per avvicinarsi ad esso.

Un primo avvicinamento, solo parziale, è naturalmente quello di costruire un’uscita dal mondo del lavoro in modo progressivo, adattandola quindi ai cambiamenti della natura ed evitando l’abituale dramma di un istantaneo passaggio dal tempo pieno allo zero assoluto, senza pensare alla possibilità di infinite modulazioni intermedie. Esiste il metà tempo ed esistono mille altre combinazioni: l’importante è rendere possibile l’uscita flessibile e progressiva dal mondo del lavoro.

Tutto questo implica cambiamenti organizzativi di enorme portata. Tuttavia la pandemia in corso ci ha almeno insegnato che, di fronte ad uno stato di necessità, si possono fare in brevissimo tempo progressi prima ritenuti impossibili, come è avvenuto riguardo al lavoro a distanza.

Se diverse sono le caratteristiche delle persone e diverse le mansioni, la flessibilità dell’orario di lavoro deve essere ovviamente accompagnata da uno sforzo per rendere il lavoro compatibile con il mutamento delle caratteristiche delle singole persone. Se un pur ottimo insegnante, arrivato in età matura, non è più in grado di gestire una classe di ragazzi scatenati, esso può utilmente svolgere mansioni amministrative, occuparsi di progetti o di cura individuale per gli studenti. Esempi di questo tipo possono essere estesi a tutte le funzioni, basta avere il desiderio e la possibilità di procedere alle necessarie sperimentazioni.

Sto naturalmente ipotizzando un mondo del tutto diverso da quello attuale, nel quale l’uniformità delle regole e dei comportamenti costituisce l’obiettivo primario del legislatore, dei sindacati e della maggioranza di coloro che si trovano in posizione di responsabilità.

L’uniformità è infatti la regola meno rischiosa per esercitare l’autorità, ma è anche il modo per allontanarsi dalle esigenze di una società che, anche e soprattutto in conseguenza della lunga durata della vita attiva, deve operare con protagonisti non solo diversi tra di loro, ma che cambiano nelle fasi della loro vita.

Almeno in teoria i nuovi strumenti tecnici di cui disponiamo dovrebbero molto facilitare questi processi di adattamento, ma nessuno strumento tecnico è in grado di produrre miglioramenti se il peso del passato impedisce di impiegarli per il beneficio dei singoli e della collettività. Proporre, come avviene oggi, quote fisse tra lavoro in presenza e lavoro a distanza è il tipico esempio dell’incapacità di interpretare il mondo che cambia.

Certamente una società uniforme pone meno problemi di una società che cerca di incontrare le esigenze delle persone reali perché sembra essere più facilmente governabile. Questo è l’errore che ha progressivamente indebolito la maggior parte dei sistemi democratici, che sono invece nati per venire incontro alle diversità della natura umana.

Deve essere infine chiaro che, come dimostra l’esperienza di tanti paesi, la disoccupazione giovanile non è correlata ai tassi di occupazione degli anziani: la difficoltà a generare nuovo lavoro deriva soprattutto dalla mancanza di idee su come organizzare il lavoro esistente.

Le 'Messe Nere' di Catemaco -- Black Messes in Catemaco

©Ilse Huesca

Catemaco, Mexico, nello stato di Veracruz e' famosa anche a livello internazionale perche' ospita il Dia de Brujos, la giornata delle streghe e una serie di 'Messe Nere'.

La data e' il primo venerdi' di marzo e non sappiamo se il Covid-19 abbia piallato anche questa manifestazione che vede confluire, in questa piccola citta' nascosta nella foresta e vicina ad un grande lago, migliaia di persone alla ricerca di pace interiore, di guarigione delle proprie malattie, di eccitazione negativa nel seguire le mistificazioni dei riti satanisti.

L'invocazione a Lucifero e' dventata per questa comunita' un modo di fare quattrini attivando una sorta di turismo iperspecializzato.

Quando ci siamo imbattuti su Internet nella descrizione degli eventi che si tengono a Catemaco siamo rimasti un po' stupiti perche' presi in contropiede con l'immagine che credevamo vera di un Mexico, paese cattolico per eccellenza. Anche troppo.

Anni fa ci siamo recati alla Basilica della Madonna di Guadalupe e abbiamo visto decine di donne che salivano la scalinata in ginocchio arrivando sulla spianata della chiesa con le gambe distrutte e sanguinolenti, (come succede a Fatima).

Abbiamo provato un profondo disagio che metteva a rischio la nostra fede di cattolici praticanti.

Adesso aggiungiamo al nostro sconforto la scoperta digitale di questa realta' pagana di Catemaco che viene fatta risalire ai riti prehispanici che affondano le loro radici nella civilta' Atzeca e Maja.

Un paese complesso il Mexico, nel quale e' difficile trovare una chiesa nei nuovi agglomerati urbani  come le citta' satellite di Veracruz.

Il 5 febbraio si celebra la festa nazionale che fa riferimento alla promulgazione della nuova Costituzione repubblicana approvata nel 1917.

Un anno che definire tragico e' poco: rivoluzione sovietica, prima Grande Guerra Mondiale, sta per scoppiare la pandemia di 'Spagnola' che annientera' circa cento milioni di persone su una popolazione planetaria che veniva giudicata allora intorno al miliardo e ottocento milioni di individui. A questi devono essere aggiunti i morti della Grande Guerra stimati in 37 milioni.

La Costituzione messicana era pervasa da un esplicito anticlericalismo.

Nel 1926 il presidente Plutarco Elías Calles, dopo aver tentato di dar vita a una Chiesa nazionale separata da Roma, ordinò che si desse piena attuazione alle norme maggiormente repressive contenute nella Costituzione promulgata nel 1917 e mai davvero applicate prima di allora: tra esse vi erano la chiusura delle scuole cattoliche e dei seminari, l'esproprio delle chiese, lo scioglimento di tutti gli ordini religiosi, l'espulsione dei sacerdoti stranieri e l'imposizione di un "numero chiuso" per quelli messicani, che avevano l'obbligo di obbedire alle autorità civili, il divieto di utilizzare espressioni come:«Se Dio vuole», «a Dio piacendo», il divieto per i presbiteri di portare l'abito talare. In alcuni stati si tentò perfino di costringerli a prendere moglie. (wikipedia)

Nel periodo rivoluzionario vi fu anche una violenta persecuzione scatenata contro i cattolici: nel solo 1915 vennero assassinati 160 sacerdoti. 

Nel 1921 un attentatore tentò di distruggere il mantello con l'immagine della Madonna di Guadalupe, conservato nell'omonimo santuario. La bomba, nascosta in un mazzo di fiori deposto vicino all'altare, produsse gravi danni alla basilica, ma il mantello rimase intatto.

Il 28 gennaio 1992 questi articoli sono stati emendati. Nella Costituzione vigente rimangono però alcuni articoli che limitano l'attività delle confessioni religiose in nome del principio di laicità delle istituzioni:
con l'articolo 27 alle istituzioni religiose (e alle associazioni benefiche, pubbliche e private) è dato il permesso di possedere e amministrare solo i beni indispensabili ai propri fini, e secondo i termini di legge;
con l'articolo 130 i membri del clero possono esercitare il diritto di voto in quanto cittadini ma non possono candidarsi o partecipare alla vita politica.

Oggi i cattolici sono tollerati ed emarginati e nessun uomo politico si farebbe fotografare a baciare un crocifisso oppure un rosario per accattivarsi voti, come si fa in Italia.

Ed anche questo e' Mexico.

Oscar

_______________________________________________

Catemaco, Mexico, in the state of Veracruz is also internationally famous because it is home to the Dia de Brujos, witch day and a series of 'Black Messes'.

The date is the first Friday of March and we do not know if the Covid-19 has also ploughed into this event that sees, in this small town hidden in the forest and close to a large lake, thousands of people looking for inner peace, healing of their own diseases, of negative excitement in following the mystifications of Satanist rites.

The invocation to Lucifer has become a way of making money for this community by activating a kind of hyperspecialized tourism.

When we came across the Internet in the description of the events taking place in Catemaco we were a little surprised because I took it on the back of the image that we believed to be true of a Mexico, Catholic country par excellence. Too much.

Years ago we went to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and saw dozens of women climbing the steps on their knees arriving on the esplanade of the church with their legs destroyed and bloody, (as happens in Fatima).

We felt a deep discomfort that jeopardized our faith as a practicing Catholic.

Now let's add to our despondency the digital discovery of this pagan reality of Catemaco that is traced back to the prehispanic rites that have their roots in the Atzeca and Maja civilizations.

A complex country in Mexico, where it is difficult to find a church in new urban areas such as the satellite cities of Veracruz.

February 5 is celebrated the national holiday that refers to the promulgation of the new Republican Constitution passed in 1917.

A year that I define as tragic is little: Soviet revolution, first World War, the pandemic of 'Spanish' is about to break out, killing about a hundred million people on a planetary population that was then judged to be around one billion and eight hundred million individuals. To these must be added the dead of the Great War estimated at 37 million.

The Mexican Constitution was pervaded by an explicit anti-clericalism.

In 1926, President Plutarch Elias Calles, after trying to establish a national church separated from Rome, ordered that full implementation of the most repressive rules contained in the Constitution enacted in 1917 and never really applied before: among them were the closure of Catholic schools and seminaries, the expropriation of churches, the dissolution of all religious orders , the expulsion of foreign priests and the imposition of a "closed number" for Mexican priests, who had an obligation to obey civil authorities, the prohibition on the use of expressions such as: "If God willing", "God willing", the prohibition for priests to wear the cassock. In some states, they even tried to force them to take his wife. (wikipedia)

In the revolutionary period there was also a violent persecution unleashed against Catholics: in 1915 alone 160 priests were murdered. 

In 1921, a bomber attempted to destroy the cloak with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, preserved in the shrine of the same name. The bomb, hidden in a bouquet of flowers laid near the altar, caused serious damage to the basilica, but the cloak remained intact.

On 28 January 1992, these articles were amended. In the current Constitution, however, there are some articles that limit the activity of religious confessions in the name of the principle of secularism of the institutions:

Article 27 for religious institutions (and charities, public and private) are given permission to own and administer only the goods necessary for their own purposes, and according to the terms of the law;

Under Article 130, members of the clergy can exercise their right to vote as citizens but cannot run for office or participate in political life.

Today Catholics are tolerated and marginalized and no politician would be photographed kissing a crucifix or a rosary to attract votes, as is done in Italy.

And that's Mexico, too.

Oscar

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Bellissimo !
Bepi
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Caro Oscar,
quando insegnavo, come Visiting Professor di Preistoria europea, all'Università Politecnica di Tomar in Portogallo, dopo alcuni anni di mia resistenza ai colleghi portoghesi che volevano visitassi Fatima (che dista appena 30 km a Nord di Tomar), un pomeriggio partimmo in auto e raggiungemmo la celebre cittadina. Al mattino aveva fatto acquazzoni abbondanti e improvvisi, come succede nel paese lusitano per via del clima dominato dall'oceano Atlantico.
Fatima era stranamente deserta, i chioschi con le medagliette, i santini e le madonnine di plastica erano chiusi, il sole splendeva alto ed illuminava il vastissimo piazzale antistante il Santuario dell'Apparizione. Vi era solo una signora anziana, inginocchiata con, tra le braccia stretto al petto, un bambinello. Era accompagnata, passo passo, da una donna giovane che le faceva ombra sulla testa tenendo in mano un giornale.
Pensai potesse trattarsi di una nonna col nipotino e la madre del piccolo. Quell'unico gruppo di pellegrini sulla spianata arroventata dal sole era uno spettacolo insolito e commovente. Potenza della fede !
Con i colleghi del Politecnico di Tomar ci allontanammo in punta di piedi, tutti eravamo colpiti e silenziosi. Poi tornò la vena goliardica e laica e finimmo in una prosaica ma fresca cervecería. Prevalenza dello spirito sulla materia o viceversa ? Di messe nere o di altri colori, neppure l'ombra. E anche questo è Portogallo.
Dario Seglie, Italy

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Carissimo,
Ti leggo sempre molto volentieri. Bellissimo articolo.
Grazie per ampliarci le nostre conoscenze.
Buonanotte.
Patrizia
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Grazie Oscar!
Catemaco è famosa per questo, ma in tutto il Messico si possono trovare brujos, brujas, curanderos, chamanes. Anche a Mexico City, nel famoso Mercado de Sonora in una sezione una volta “segreta”, ma ora conosciuta dai turisti, si può richiedere una consulenza di magia bianca o nera...
In passato, ho avuto modo di visitare posti in cui, volendo, si può richiedere l’aiuto di queste persone e ho alcuni amici e colleghi antropologi che lavorano da tanti anni su questo soggetto.
In Messico, così come in altri paesi con forti tradizioni, questo tipo di magia va più o meno in parallelo con i rituali cattolici, in un sincretismo religioso che è il frutto diretto del contatto (o spesso scontro) tra le culture locali e le culture che hanno colonizzato il Messico (e altri paesi) e dunque che hanno imposto la loro religione. Oggigiorno, molti rituali praticati dai curanderos includono l’invocazione a santi tipici della religione cattolica.
Se interessato ad approfondire l’argomento, posso suggerire articoli scientifici e libri.
Molti cari saluti da Los Angeles
Emanuela

Nonostante il gran vantaggio Biden non e' proprio tranquillo

By Aaron Blake

TWP

For weeks, Joe Biden’s lead in the 2020 presidential race has been growing, and there’s been little good news for the Trump campaign.

But a lot can happen in three and a half months. Here are a few things that could still shake up the race in significant ways.

1. An imminent Supreme Court vacancy
I started thinking of this after the news last week that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was being treated for a cancer recurrence, while saying her treatment was going well. That was days after she had been hospitalized for an infection. She said she’ll serve as long as she can “do the job in full," but her health scares are a source of anxiety — and deja vu — for liberals.

Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, and Senate Republicans made the unprecedented decision to block the confirmation of President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace him. Polls showed Americans disagreed with that gambit, but they also showed that the vacancy likely accrued to Trump’s benefit.

As The Washington Post’s Philip Bump has written, voters who emphasized the next Supreme Court pick tilted toward Trump. GOP strategists have credited Trump with releasing a list of possible Supreme Court nominees ahead of the election, which perhaps whetted the appetite of some conservative-leaning voters.

The upside for Trump would be rallying his base behind a common cause. Whether Ginsburg or anyone else appears to be on the way out, expect him to again play up the importance of a GOP president appointing the next justice.

2. The likely voter switch
Polls this far from an election generally focus on registered voters. But as the election approaches, pollsters will shift their models to emphasize likely voters, who are not just registered but actually primed to vote.

There’s some reason to believe that could benefit Trump.

A recent Monmouth poll of Pennsylvania, for instance, offered three matchups. In the head-to-head among registered voters, Biden led Trump by 13 points. In a model adjusting for high turnout, Biden’s lead dropped to 10. And in a model adjusting for low turnout, Biden’s lead shrank to seven.

The most recent Post-ABC poll shows something similar. The Post’s James Hohmann ran through those numbers, arguing that the race could indeed by tighter than it looks.

It’s generally assumed that likely-voter screens help Republicans, because their voters are slightly more likely to turn out. There is also more enthusiasm for Trump among his voters than for Biden among his — though that seems to be counterbalanced by Biden voters being enthusiastic about voting Trump out.

That said, there was little evidence Trump benefited from likely-voter polls in 2016. Some election post-mortems suggested likely-voter screens in some key states actually made Clinton’s lead look slightly bigger than it was.

3. Biden’s flubs
One thing that has followed Biden for just about as long as he’s been in politics is his tendency to commit gaffes. The former vice president often says, “No one ever doubts that I mean what I say. The problem is, I sometimes say all that I mean.”

Biden has mostly avoided one of these in the general election (but not totally). They also cropped up in the primaries, like when he said, “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids” and immediately tried to correct himself.

Biden has kept a low profile of late, but that will have to change at some point. There will ostensibly be debates. The pandemic might wane, allowing for more traditional and less-scripted campaign moments.

There’s an argument to be made that gaffes matter less and less in an election in which both candidates have such tendencies. Perhaps the real danger for Biden, though, is that an accumulation of them could undercut the idea that he’s a steadier leader than Trump.

4. The unprecedented coronavirus factor

Polls suggest the coronavirus outbreak is a clear and growing negative for Trump. Given his inability to adjust course, that seems likely to continue to be the case. Even as he clearly tried to right the ship on a number of fronts this week, his press secretary on Friday insisted he hasn’t changed his posture on masks.

But there’s another unpredictable way in which the virus could impact the election: by affecting turnout. Many states are moving toward mail-in balloting, for instance, but the GOP is fighting that. There are also arguments over which ballots will be counted; do they have to be mailed by Election Day or be received by then? What if too many people send in ballots too late or there are logjams in the Postal Service?

It doesn’t mean this will necessarily help one side or the other; it just means that we’ve never truly dealt with this kind of thing.