The January issue is here! Inside: - George Scialabba on the end of verbal literacy - Anne M. Carpenter on Balthasar and the Catholic right - Sharon Mesmer on Patti Smith - M. Anthony Mills on a MAGA attack on science And more! www.commonwealmagazine.org/issues/2025-...

PBS Frontline put out a short doc on CECOT a coupla weeks ago.

Trump feels entitled not only to his own “facts” but to a docile press corps that will repeat them uncritically. The Editors on a MAGA assault on independent media: www.commonwealmagazine.org/press-freedo...

Feels vaguely heretical!

A letter from Providence by Max Foley-Keene, now at @commonweal.bsky.social www.commonwealmagazine.org/brown-shooti...

“Conversion narratives seem truest to me when they recognize that our lives are rarely defined by a single and decisive turn.” —an interview with @tonydomestico.bsky.social

Congestion pricing is working so well it has helped clear the air in all parts of NYC, according to a new study. And other links to start your day! hellgatenyc.com/new-yorkers-...

All this phony piety surrounding the Eucharist in detention centers—give me a break. Where were these people during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics?

Friends, I so appreciate that the leader of the Free World is a statesman who conducts himself with dignity. President Trump is so peaceful this Advent season, so prayerful, that half the time you might mistake him for being asleep.

Great piece in NYRB by @tonydomestico.bsky.social

Latest article, with Tim Healy. Thanks to DocumentedNY for publishing it.

Advent is not a 12-day season of buying yourself more stuff. My rant--I mean, column: www.commonwealmagazine.org/advent-calen...

"Cheever may well owe his daughter a belated apology. But admitting that doesn’t do much for those of us coming to this book hoping for new insights." Anthony Giardina on Susan Cheever's latest book for @commonweal.bsky.social www.commonwealmagazine.org/susan-john-c...

Brooklyn man acknowledges

Trump: anything else pal? Zohran: I dunno you want to sink the GOP nominee for governor? Trump: no problem!

Extrajudicial executions, extortionate tariffs, multibillion-dollar bailouts: the editors of @commonweal.bsky.social on Trump's thuggish, self-aggrandizing, know-nothing actions in Latin America

Graham Greene to Salman Rushdie after the publication of The Satanic Verses: "Rush-die! Come and sit here and tell me how you managed to make so much trouble! I never made nearly as much trouble as that!'"

My piece on the late flowering of Amy Clampitt’s poetry for @nybooks.com www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Good reporting and analysis here from @heidischlumpf.bsky.social. What still feels lacking to me is an emphasis on Catholic doctrine, not just emotions. The Church's teaching has a LOT to say about what justice requires when it comes to respecting immigrants' human rights. I want them to teach it.

Utterly delightful piece by Dan Barry about catching up with a sharply dressed William Kennedy, now a spry 97 years old, at a fundraising event in Albany! He remembers his mother's excitement when FDR won the presidential election in '36. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/a...

@paulbmoses.bsky.social on Paul Elie's latest for @commonweal.bsky.social

Phenomenal article that advances a great perspective.

It's @commonweal.bsky.social 101! What better way to help celebrate our 101st year than by making a gift or signing up for a subscription on this Commonweal Tuesday? Your support is what keeps us going! And tell your friends too... subscribe.commonwealmagazine.org/CMW/?f=donat...

My new employer is doing a fundraising pitch today, on its 101st anniversary. If you're grateful they hired me, maybe throw in a few bucks. Thanks!! @commonweal.bsky.social subscribe.commonwealmagazine.org/CMW/?f=donat...

I am shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

I did not criticize the administration. Please don’t put in the newspaper that I criticized the administration.

“Integralists for Joe Biden” was a good joke; “Integralists for Andrew Cuomo” is a better one.

Friendly reminder that we never know who’s sitting in our classrooms out here www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...

Cuomo Backers Burned $65 Per Vote, Including $13.3 Million From Bloomberg www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/06/c...

Attendance has dropped at Chicago schools in communities with increased immigration enforcement. Chalkbeat reports: blockclubchi.co/43hlTBr

I wrote about the decline of inner life in the latest issue of @commonweal.bsky.social www.commonwealmagazine.org/inner-life-t...

Lead with beauty!

Cuomo, ever so gracious

Cuomo still mispronounces the name of the guy who beat him twice

Why did the attacks on Mamdani’s socialism fail? A key reason: He made clear he was a “sewer socialist,” a forgotten American tradition created by left-wing mayors who asked to be judged not by theories but by whether they deliver public services effectively & fairly. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/o...

The last month of the anti-Mamdani campaign was an absolutely shameful undertaking, an attempt to rip the city and Democratic coalition apart and I'm very happy to see it failed.

AOC should absolutely primary Schumer in ‘28.

i hope to see enterprising democrats announce their intent to retire schumer and gillibrand over the next two years.

Mollie, Susan, Rita, Heidi? DREAM TEAM of writers (to say nothing of Claudia, part of the dream team of editors). Catholic lay-led journalism that values women's voices and analysis is exactly what the church/world needs.

Some professional news! I have so much respect for their leadership and team and look forward to contributing to their excellent content.

This is such incredibly welcome news. @heidischlumpf.bsky.social is one of the most experienced Catholic journalists in the US with a deep perspective. Commonweal is the oldest and most thoughtful lay Catholic journal we have. Great things are coming. Ad multos annos.

Very happy to share the news that @heidischlumpf.bsky.social joins @commonweal.bsky.social today as senior correspondent. Welcome Heidi! We're thrilled to have her as a colleague. Read all about it here. www.commonwealmagazine.org/news/heidi-s...

Dancers at Trump’s Halloween party as people begin losing food stamps under his administration

Zohran Mamdani spent last night with the late-night workers he said are often forgotten — can drivers at LGA and hospital workers on a 7-7 shift at Elmhurst Hospital, before walking to Kebab King and then having a midnight press conference in Jackson Heights

Back in 2020, I profiled a random Long Island dad named Bill DeBlasio, who constantly received vicious hate mail intended for Bill de Blasio. This is the same guy who just pranked The Times of London into publishing anti-Zohran quotes from Mayor de Blasio. God, I miss MEL Magazine.

A conversation with Brandon Taylor about his new novel, "Minor Black Figures," and lots of Catholic stuff for @commonweal.bsky.social www.commonwealmagazine.org/learning-zola

Great stuff from the writers you love in the Nov issue of @commonweal.bsky.social - @mollieoreilly.bsky.social on the perils of praising a senator's humane approach to immigration, @tonydomestico.bsky.social w/ an interview of Brandon Taylor & @alexwstern.bsky.social on our endangered inner life