Salon: Pope Francis’ trans-rights fail: For progressive Catholics, the cycle of joy and grief continues

In his remarks, the pontiff said, “In Europe, America, Latin America, Africa, and in some countries of Asia, there are genuine forms of ideological colonization taking place. And one of these — I will call it clearly by its name — is [the ideology of] ‘gender.’ Today children – children! – are taught in school that everyone can choose his or her sex. Why are they teaching this? Because the books are provided by the persons and institutions that give you money. These forms of ideological colonization are also supported by influential countries. And this terrible!”

Just a quick reminder here: That’s not how gender works. No one is asking kids to “choose” a gender anywhere. That’s not a thing. In fact, progress means accepting that gender identity is not actually a checkbox item. Francis added that he been in conversation with his predecessor Pope Benedict, who agrees that “God created man and woman; God created the world in a certain way… and we are doing the exact opposite.” From the people who were wrong about the rotation of the earth!

Understandably, the pope’s remarks were, as The New York Times put mildly, “a disappointment.” Marianne Duddy-Burke of the LGBT Catholic organization Dignity condemned the pope’s “dangerous ignorance” and said, “It’s very troubling that the pope would say this. It also shows that the pope doesn’t understand the danger that his words can mean for gender-nonconforming people, particularly those who live in countries with laws or cultural pressures that put these people at risk for violence.” And of course, hateful commentators like Allen West were quick to applaud, saying, “Liberals seem to forget that the Pope is Catholic.” No, we remember. We just have some feedback here.

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Quartz: Being vegan isn’t as environmentally friendly as you think

Using biophysical simulation models to compare 10 eating patterns, researchers found that eating fewer animal products will increase the number of people that can be supported by existing farmland. But as it turns out, eliminating animal products altogether isn’t the best way to maximize sustainable land use. Their work was published in Elementa, a journal on the science of the anthropocene. [...]

The average US consumer today requires more than 2.5 acres (over two football fields) of land each year to sustain his or her current diet. That number decreases dramatically as you reduce meat consumption and add in more vegetables. Three of the vegetarian diets examined in the study would use less than 0.5 acres of land per person each yea, freeing up more land to feed more people. [...]

And then there’s the issue of philosophy. A lot of vegans aren’t in the business of avoiding animal products for sustainability reasons, some would prefer to just leave animal husbandry out of food altogether.

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The New York Times: All Politicians Lie. Some Lie More Than Others (DEC. 11, 2015)

I’ve been fact-checking since 2007, when The Tampa Bay Times founded PolitiFact as a new way to cover elections. We don’t check absolutely everything a candidate says, but focus on what catches our eye as significant, newsworthy or potentially influential. Our ratings are also not intended to be statistically representative but to show trends over time.

Donald J. Trump’s record on truth and accuracy is astonishingly poor. So far, we’ve fact-checked more than 70 Trump statements and rated fully three-quarters of them as Mostly False, False or “Pants on Fire” (we reserve this last designation for a claim that is not only inaccurate but also ridiculous). We haven’t checked the former neurosurgeon Ben Carson as often as Mr. Trump, but by the percentages Mr. Carson actually fares worse. [...]

In the Democratic race, Senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are evenly matched at 28 percent (based on 43 checks of Mr. Sanders and 140 checks of Mrs. Clinton). Outside of the primary campaign, we’ve continued checking the public statements of Bill Clinton since 2007; he comes out slightly ahead of President Obama in his truth-telling track record. [...]

Fact-checking’s methodology emphasizes the issue at hand and facts on the ground. Politicians can either make their case or they can’t. Candidates’ fans may complain about press bias, but my impression is that less partisan voters pay a lot of attention to these media moments, especially when elections are close and decided by a few percentage points. Trust and integrity are still crucial assets for a politician.

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Forbes: Post-Brexit, European Cities Battle For London's Crown As Supreme Financial Capital

As interesting is that 82% believed that among financial capitals, London has the most to lose while rivals including Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin and Frankfurt had been strengthened by the British decision – with Frankfurt and Dublin in the lead. [...]

That said, Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna told Bloomberg during a post-Brexit-vote London trip that while the country is not trying to “lure” banks, it’s the ”obvious choice” for those that must move employees to retain free access to the E.U. single market. “We have already many British players in our country,” he said. “We are a triple-a country…And we have a lot of political stability and hence a lot of predictability.”

Some companies are already making moves in the wake of the vote. Gibraltar-based Elite Insurance, for instance, is planning to set up an insurer in Luxembourg for its European, non-U.K. business. [...]

France has been among the most vocal E.U. members to urge a fast U.K. exit and has been open in its efforts to promote itself as an alternative. Meanwhile, Frankfurt – host to the European Central Bank and considered a leading contender, established a web site and hotline to encourage potential transplants, while Ireland has intensified its campaign, emphasizing its standing as the only English-speaking, E.U. and eurozone member.

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Independent: Why I'm not surprised by the Grindr gay sex scandal at a Catholic seminary

Happily, many people these days barely have to come out at all – but for me the process was ultimately unavoidable. Once I realised I was gay (or at least “experiencing gay feelings”, as the various pamphlets put it), I entered my most fundamentalist phase of religiosity: a desperate, final scrabbling for God, in the hope that he would solve my “problems”.

You might think this a curious reaction, but if you've been exposed to fundamentalist religion from a very early age, you’re used to being given all the answers you need to life, given to you in very straightforward, unambiguous terms. Things are either right or wrong. People are either saved or they are not. The idea of a world where one doesn't have all the answers, or where answers might change, ends up terrifying to the point of paralysis. 

Many commentators in our liberal echo chamber would suggest the Catholic Church rethink its policy on celibacy when it comes to priests, but having once existed in a very fundamental black-and-white world, I can understand why they would consider bowing to "worldly" demands as unthinkable. But if it’s true that a “gay culture” has sprung up in this particular seminary, and that Grindr is being used by the religious men within it, I have something to say to these would-be priests because I sympathise with them. I'd suggest they contemplate what it was that put them on the path they're now on, and how much they really know about the organisation to which they are considering. It might seem like a curative life of service, but realistically it’s a life of self-denial which I’m more than relieved I managed to sidestep.

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The Huffington Post: Europe Does Something Amazing With Food That Has Nothing To Do With Eating

The Italian government passed sweeping legislation this week that aims to drastically reduce the amount of food wasted in the country. The new laws make it easier for farms and supermarkets to donate unsold food and reward businesses that cut waste. The measures also encourage Italians to take restaurant leftovers home in doggy bags (something Italians, apparently, are loath to do).   [...]

The movement to cut food waste is growing across Europe. European Parliament members voted 600 to 48 in favor of introducing legislation that would stop grocery giants from using unfair trading practices that often lead to overproduction and food waste.

In France, the government has banned supermarkets from throwing away edible food. It imposed harsh penalties on businesses that fail to comply.

France and Italy still waste massive amounts of food, but their efforts to stop the problem put the U.S. to shame. Up to 40 percent of all food in the U.S. goes uneaten, even as one in seven American households lack regular access to good food. While the U.S. has adopted some legislation designed to reduce food waste ― like the Good Samaritan Act, which protects businesses that donate old food from legal liability ― these laws lack the scope and bite of the anti-waste measures in Italy and France.

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FiveThirtyEight: The Political Process Isn’t Rigged — It Has Much Bigger Problems

Here’s the truth: Washington is rigged, but not in a literal sense and not in any of the nefarious ways those loud voices are contending. Instead, the blame may lie more with voters than politicians: Our legislative process is not designed to withstand the current levels of partisan polarization in the electorate. [...]

Sure, many politicians on both the right and left fan the flames of partisan hysteria and feed off their base’s fire — and they tend to get disproportionate attention. But in my experience, most candidates and officeholders don’t see the world as red versus blue: They genuinely run for office to solve problems, not to please special-interest groups or for self-glorification. Unfortunately, they increasingly find themselves trapped in a voter-driven vicious cycle that shows no sign of abating. [...]

How do we escape this insidious cycle of polarization? I have no easy solutions. But it might be time for a national conversation about how we can structurally modernize our system of elections to incentivize bipartisanship instead of fringe behavior. I tend to think redistricting reform is a bit overrated and primary reform is underrated. Left untouched, our politics will reach a breaking point — maybe we’re already there. And ultimately, voters get the government they deserve.

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Jakub Marian: Best countries to live in Europe, 2016 map

It is becoming more and more clear that GDP (gross domestic product) alone is not a good indicator of a country’s performance. For example, when a country’s law system is very complex and requires lots of expensive lawyers, money spent on lawyers will count towards higher GDP, even though this is clearly not a good thing for the country and its citizens.

That is why The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) developed a better way to measure “sustainable well-being” of a country, based on 44 different indicators, and GDP per capita is only one of them. The indicators measure, among others, the rate of unemployment, inflation, prevalence of diseases, life expectancy, quality and accessibility of education, quality of infrastructure, state of the environment, control of corruption, press freedom, and much more.

The following map is based on BCG’s 2016 report. For comparison, here are the scores of other major nations: USA 83.7, Japan 81.3, Brazil 49.3, China 46.5, India 32.6. Note that Crimea is not coloured in the map because it is not clear where it belongs.

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BBC4 Thinking Allowed: The English Defence League; 'Real' immigrants

Listen in pop-out playerThe English Defence League: A study of the individuals who comprise this far right movement. Hilary Pilkington, Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester, provides fresh and timely insights into a politics built on English identity and opposition to 'Islamism'. They're joined by Nasar Meer, Professor of Comparative Citizenship and Social Policy at Strathclyde University.

Who's a 'real' immigrant and who's 'not really' an immigrant? Martina Byrne, Lecturer in the School of Social Policy, Social Policy and Social Justice at University College, Dublin, discusses her study into middle class attitudes to immigration. Why do white Irish professionals consider that white Eastern Europeans are immigrants but white French and Australians are not?

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