A train carries coal near Ravenna, Ky., in this 2014 file photo. (CNS/Jim Urquhart, Reuters)
If you do not read anything else this week, read this: Matthew Continetti at the Washington Free Beacon, on what is wrong with the Democrats. Pay special attention to the paragraph about the decisive voter.
At Reuters, a deeply disturbing report on coal miners in western Pennsylvania declining to go through job training because they believe Trump's promise that the coal industry is coming back.
At Politico, a report on Gov. Jerry Brown's trip to the Vatican where he took on Trump's environmental policy very strongly. Not sure the headline about a "holy war" isn't a bit over the top, but kudos to Brown, the former Jesuit novice, for not ducking the controversy.
Advertisement
Also at Politico, confirmation of something I have been saying for months: Don't be surprised if Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross figures prominently in the ongoing Russiagate fiasco. Indeed, the release of the so-called "Paradise Papers" betrays the kind of endemic tax avoidance by the uber-rich that should be a focus of the GOP's tax overhaul agenda, but isn't.
[Michael Sean Winters covers the nexus of religion and politics for NCR.]
Editor's note: Don't miss out on Michael Sean Winters' latest! Sign up to receive free newsletters, and we will notify you when he publishes new Distinctly Catholic columns.
