At Politico, who knew the phrase "Twitter decided" could be so sinister. First they bar an admittedly edgy ad from a Republican Senate candidate, and then they reverse their decision. The implications for democracy are frightening. This oversized influence of social media networks is one of the things Franklin Foer focuses on in his new book World Without Mind.
In the Los Angeles Times, Charles Camosy writes on the 20-week abortion ban and the politics that surround it. Relatedly, the fact checkers at The Washington Post looked at the claim that the U.S. is one of only seven countries to have unrestricted, late-term abortions and, guess what: It's true.
Also at The Washington Post, Darla Cameron looks at the redistricting case in Wisconsin that the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about last week. There is not a clear-cut Catholic angle to this story except that the church has increasingly come to value democracy, which is imperiled by this gerrymandering-on-steroids.
At the Guardian, Thomas Frank takes on the way Steve Bannon is appropriating Frank's language and putting it to sinister ends.
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At Politico, the EU takes on supermarkets. Here is the kind of government intervention in the marketplace that is essential, if small, family-run businesses are to continue. There is more than efficiency that needs to be accounted for: The social fabric should not be destroyed willy-nilly by the invisible hand.
The situation in Puerto Rico is grim and, according to several sources, getting worse, not better. But, this piece in The Washington Post highlights a light amidst the darkness: A small Catholic Church in Utuado clears away the mud and starts having Mass again.
[Michael Sean Winters covers the nexus of religion and politics for NCR.]
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