Daniel Rober
@profdanrober.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Catholic Studies at Sacred Heart University. Theology, Film, Music, Urbanism, Culture.
Reposted by Daniel Rober
the thing about this is that a) small states do not have any interests that are inherent to their size (no less than james madison understood this) b) the senate is organized along party lines which makes the small/big distinction almost irrelevant and c) the filibuster has never been used this way
Underrated aspect of killing the filibuster is making pundit hacks at Cook Political p-p-p-piss their pants
November 8, 2025 at 10:13 PM
the thing about this is that a) small states do not have any interests that are inherent to their size (no less than james madison understood this) b) the senate is organized along party lines which makes the small/big distinction almost irrelevant and c) the filibuster has never been used this way
Reposted by Daniel Rober
"Leo’s style might be noticeably different from that of Francis, but as the substance of his remarks over the last month has made clear, the direction of travel remains the same."
gorebuildmyhouse.substack.com/p/the-month-...
gorebuildmyhouse.substack.com/p/the-month-...
The Month Pope Leo Found His Voice
By Christopher White
gorebuildmyhouse.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:57 PM
"Leo’s style might be noticeably different from that of Francis, but as the substance of his remarks over the last month has made clear, the direction of travel remains the same."
gorebuildmyhouse.substack.com/p/the-month-...
gorebuildmyhouse.substack.com/p/the-month-...
It ties into nostalgia for parts of the U.S. that are themselves economic backwaters and not wanting them to be influenced by places where people actually want to live.
incredible that these guys have a massive hard on for a country that, if it were a state, would rank behind kansas in terms of wealth and which would be a total backwater if it weren’t economically integrated with more functional countries
November 8, 2025 at 6:54 PM
It ties into nostalgia for parts of the U.S. that are themselves economic backwaters and not wanting them to be influenced by places where people actually want to live.
I still think the original Star Wars is the best of these movies, but quite ironic that IMO the worst part of Empire (the Darth/Luke plot twist) is George’s biggest contribution to the most critically regarded of them.
Also we all know that those movies are how George Lucas wishes he could have done the OG three. Like he watches Empire Strikes Back and sighs in disappointment
November 8, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I still think the original Star Wars is the best of these movies, but quite ironic that IMO the worst part of Empire (the Darth/Luke plot twist) is George’s biggest contribution to the most critically regarded of them.
Reposted by Daniel Rober
It’s hard to believe threatening to move the scuzziest grocery stores on the planet didn’t scare voters
Big Apple billionaire John Catsimatidis planned to move his business to New Jersey if Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor. Now he’s reconsidering.
Supermarket Billionaire Reacts To Mamdani’s Win
Big Apple billionaire John Catsimatidis planned to move his business to New Jersey if Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor. Now he’s reconsidering.
www.forbes.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:19 PM
It’s hard to believe threatening to move the scuzziest grocery stores on the planet didn’t scare voters
Reposted by Daniel Rober
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN
A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.
www.cnn.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
Remember when Pope Leo invoked Matthew 25 about immigration? Rather clearly applies here too.
HE'S APPEALING TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES THAT HE BE ALLOWED TO STARVE AMERICANS
November 8, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Remember when Pope Leo invoked Matthew 25 about immigration? Rather clearly applies here too.
Reposted by Daniel Rober
they can't let the priests in because then they will come back out and say what they saw
Access to the sacraments is the tip of the iceberg. They won't allow clergy access bc they aren't running a proper detention facility. The scandal that religious protests are highlighting is not that the detainees' religious rights are being violated, but that ALL their rights are being violated.
He said that the agents would throw food at them to eat. The agents threatened to withhold food for a week and to beat him up if he didn't sign deportation papers. He said he saw others refuse and get beaten/receive no food. He signed because he was afraid.
November 7, 2025 at 8:02 PM
they can't let the priests in because then they will come back out and say what they saw
Reposted by Daniel Rober
Proud to publish this piece which resonates with my own interpretation of Leo from the start and especially in the period covered.
open.substack.com/pub/gorebuil...
open.substack.com/pub/gorebuil...
The Month Pope Leo Found His Voice
By Christopher White
open.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Proud to publish this piece which resonates with my own interpretation of Leo from the start and especially in the period covered.
open.substack.com/pub/gorebuil...
open.substack.com/pub/gorebuil...
Reposted by Daniel Rober
Lotta good back and forth in the various strains of this thread about Jay Jacobs, but I really just want to focus on Brian's last line here. Nassau County Dems - Suozzi, Gillen, Jacobs - all spent more time melting down over Mamdani than boosting their own candidates. It's a huge failure.
Nassau Dem. I knew there was an election for County Executive. I knew I wanted Blakeman out.
I had no idea who was running against him until I searched it
Only AFTER that did I start to see any ads for Koslow.
My congressman Suozzi spent more time denouncing Mamdani than supporting Koslow.
I had no idea who was running against him until I searched it
Only AFTER that did I start to see any ads for Koslow.
My congressman Suozzi spent more time denouncing Mamdani than supporting Koslow.
November 7, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Lotta good back and forth in the various strains of this thread about Jay Jacobs, but I really just want to focus on Brian's last line here. Nassau County Dems - Suozzi, Gillen, Jacobs - all spent more time melting down over Mamdani than boosting their own candidates. It's a huge failure.
Proud to publish this piece which resonates with my own interpretation of Leo from the start and especially in the period covered.
open.substack.com/pub/gorebuil...
open.substack.com/pub/gorebuil...
The Month Pope Leo Found His Voice
By Christopher White
open.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Proud to publish this piece which resonates with my own interpretation of Leo from the start and especially in the period covered.
open.substack.com/pub/gorebuil...
open.substack.com/pub/gorebuil...
Jacobs needs to go clearly but I also think Nassau has re-reddened in part due to Covid-era migration from NYC. Will take a while to digest and revert to inner-suburb directionalities.
Literally the one place in the country where Democrats got their clock cleaned was in the home county of state chair who refused to endorse Mamdani and has generally overseen a string very poor democratic performances.
Has New York Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs resigned over Mamdani yet? I hope he hasn't, so that he can instead resign over *improving Republican margins over Trump 2024 in an anti-Republican wave election*. Trump won Nassau by just 4%—now look at this bloodbath
November 7, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Jacobs needs to go clearly but I also think Nassau has re-reddened in part due to Covid-era migration from NYC. Will take a while to digest and revert to inner-suburb directionalities.
Reposted by Daniel Rober
Access to the sacraments is the tip of the iceberg. They won't allow clergy access bc they aren't running a proper detention facility. The scandal that religious protests are highlighting is not that the detainees' religious rights are being violated, but that ALL their rights are being violated.
He said that the agents would throw food at them to eat. The agents threatened to withhold food for a week and to beat him up if he didn't sign deportation papers. He said he saw others refuse and get beaten/receive no food. He signed because he was afraid.
November 7, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Access to the sacraments is the tip of the iceberg. They won't allow clergy access bc they aren't running a proper detention facility. The scandal that religious protests are highlighting is not that the detainees' religious rights are being violated, but that ALL their rights are being violated.
Reposted by Daniel Rober
It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points
November 7, 2025 at 12:02 PM
It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points
To be fair, it took a long time (I think until Francis) for the *papacy* to internalize the idea that you can’t treat right and left authoritarians by different standards because one is ostensibly friendlier to the Church.
In 1920s, Pius XI explained how he had approached negotiations with Mussolini: "When it comes to saving souls, we feel the courage to negotiate even with the devil." In later years, Pius XI understood the cost of those negotiations. Some US bishops seems to have learned nothing.
November 7, 2025 at 12:09 PM
To be fair, it took a long time (I think until Francis) for the *papacy* to internalize the idea that you can’t treat right and left authoritarians by different standards because one is ostensibly friendlier to the Church.
I don’t usually comment on Crisis articles but this howler from Janet Smith deserves attention.
November 6, 2025 at 8:33 PM
I don’t usually comment on Crisis articles but this howler from Janet Smith deserves attention.
Fascinating insight into Barron’s incentive structure here.
As you've probably already seen, Barron rejected any notion of having "criticized" the administration - perish the thought!
November 6, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Fascinating insight into Barron’s incentive structure here.
Reposted by Daniel Rober
we are changing the mario cuomo bridge back to the tappan zee
November 5, 2025 at 8:14 PM
we are changing the mario cuomo bridge back to the tappan zee
The real issue for these people is their credibility as speaking for the Church as an institution is further collapsing. Their main saving grace is right dominance (so far) of the influencer sphere.
"Oh the pope doesn't know what's really happening in Chicago" is much harder to pull off when he sounds like this! But normie Catholics have been selectively ignoring what the pope says for many generations now, so they can keep it up, with maybe just a little bit more cognitive dissonance
I have to imagine far-right Catholics are really struggling with the fact that they can now hear this stuff in English directly from the pope.
November 5, 2025 at 7:55 PM
The real issue for these people is their credibility as speaking for the Church as an institution is further collapsing. Their main saving grace is right dominance (so far) of the influencer sphere.
Reposted by Daniel Rober
Easy wins and fast to implement. The people who whine the loudest about open streets and bike lanes and bus lanes - and we all know who they - are very clearly not the majority. It would be wise of the mayor-elect to realize that.
bsky.app/profile/octo...
bsky.app/profile/octo...
Good demonstration that it will pay dividends for Mamdani to close more streets and force cars out of the city.
November 5, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Easy wins and fast to implement. The people who whine the loudest about open streets and bike lanes and bus lanes - and we all know who they - are very clearly not the majority. It would be wise of the mayor-elect to realize that.
bsky.app/profile/octo...
bsky.app/profile/octo...
Reposted by Daniel Rober
The buses are not the subways! The mayor controls the streets. He has a lot of tools at his disposal to make the buses faster. He can't do a single thing to make the subways go faster.
November 5, 2025 at 4:48 PM
The buses are not the subways! The mayor controls the streets. He has a lot of tools at his disposal to make the buses faster. He can't do a single thing to make the subways go faster.
Reposted by Daniel Rober
Cuomo’s vision of NYC was basically “this city sucks, and we can’t change anything about it.”
November 5, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Cuomo’s vision of NYC was basically “this city sucks, and we can’t change anything about it.”
Reposted by Daniel Rober
BdB was from the Brooklyn Dem machine which like all such patronage operations is fundamentally conservative in its day-to-day vision of how the city works. Base is drivers; his trips to gym in SUV emblematic here. Zohran is outsider to that cultivating forward-thinking voices on transit/streets.
November 5, 2025 at 4:01 PM
BdB was from the Brooklyn Dem machine which like all such patronage operations is fundamentally conservative in its day-to-day vision of how the city works. Base is drivers; his trips to gym in SUV emblematic here. Zohran is outsider to that cultivating forward-thinking voices on transit/streets.
All the Cuomo people nostalgic for the Bloomberg years (including Bloomberg himself) forget that problems of last two admins came in part because of empowering change-nothing reactionaries against things where forward-looking technocrats are good/needed like street design.
This is why Lander getting on board was important for him. Credible connection to competent/technocratic types without the dead centrist baggage.
November 5, 2025 at 3:51 PM
All the Cuomo people nostalgic for the Bloomberg years (including Bloomberg himself) forget that problems of last two admins came in part because of empowering change-nothing reactionaries against things where forward-looking technocrats are good/needed like street design.
My theory about Nassau County (where I grew up) is it re-reddened due to Covid/backlash exodus of conservative NYC residents in recent years.
"Running less moderate candidate runs up turnout in the opposition" confirmed again.
Wonder if this explains R's pretty good night in Nassau county vs their very bad night most everywhere else
Wonder if this explains R's pretty good night in Nassau county vs their very bad night most everywhere else
while the story in Virginia and New Jersey was heavily one of relative turnout, with far more votes than usual coming from liberal areas, this was not the case in New York
Republicans showed up in pretty clearly greater numbers than Democrats, motivated to beat Mamdani
but they didn't
Republicans showed up in pretty clearly greater numbers than Democrats, motivated to beat Mamdani
but they didn't
November 5, 2025 at 3:45 PM
My theory about Nassau County (where I grew up) is it re-reddened due to Covid/backlash exodus of conservative NYC residents in recent years.