ICYMI: Woke Disney, Clarence Thomas and more
It's Saturday, which means it's time for the round-up of this week's top premium columns.
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1. DeSantis is right. Thanks to ‘Woke’ Disney, my son won’t wear his Dalmatian-fur coat.
By Rex Huppke
Wake up, fellow Americans, and join me in fearing the greatest existential threat of our lifetimes: The Walt Disney Co.
That’s right, the same company that for decades has tried to normalize pants-less ducks is now – according to Fox News, my go-to source for things to feel irrationally angry about – attempting to use unabashed, colorfully animated wokeness to destroy American morality.
2. Progressives are wrong about Clarence Thomas. And they have been for decades.
By Paris Dennard
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is an honorable man, impeccable jurist and great legal mind. Calls for him to be impeached, recuse himself on certain cases, or resign from the U.S. Supreme Court are preposterous and without merit.
The news media and Democrats in Congress have a problem with Thomas because he is a conservative judge who does not subscribe to the progressive box they want him to be in.
3. Religion and politics are a dangerous mix – whether it's Putin or Trump
By Jim Wallis
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has framed his country’s brutal invasion of Ukraine as part of a “metaphysical” battle against Western values that bless so-called sins like gay pride parades.
But the patriarch’s concern for sexual morality hasn’t stopped him from jumping into bed with Russian President Vladimir Putin, politically. And that really is a sin.
4. Retired federal judge: In child porn cases, I did exactly what Ketanji Brown Jackson did
By Lawrence Stengel
During her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson gave a clinic on sentencing in the federal district courts.
As a retired federal judge, I watched with admiration as she earnestly and honestly talked about her record. Despite the tone and dubious purpose of questions posed by some members on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jackson's testimony was consistent with my own experience over 14 years of service as a district judge.
Sentencing is the hardest thing judges do.
5. The key to undermining Putin is dividing his regime. Start by easing sanctions – with conditions.
By Paul Brandus
Russia launched a brutal, unprovoked and senseless aggression against Ukraine in February. The resulting Western response has been resolute, swift and expansive: More than a thousand people and organizations have been sanctioned, and wide trade and financial sanctions have been put in place.
The war is now in an acute phase, but a ceasefire may be possible, as well as a resolution that results in an end to open hostilities.
6. A 'gay' dog got dumped at a shelter. I wish that were the most troubling LGBTQ news.
By Steven Petrow
My heart broke recently when I read about a sweet dog named Fezco who had been unceremoniously ditched at a shelter here in North Carolina. His offense? According to shelter officials, the adorable brown and black mix was abandoned after his owners saw him "humping another male pooch and feared he might be gay.”
Seriously, a gay dog? I know my own pup humps males and females alike and he’s never made national headlines, as Fezco did. As veterinarian Michelle Droke told me, humping is not an indication of sexual orientation. "Some dogs will do it as a show of dominance," she said. "Someone who returns a dog to a shelter for being 'gay' is just misinformed and terribly homophobic."