"Our Gay Pope Seems to be for it"
If the Pope says it, they gotta listen, right? That's how it works. | #TC84
Welcome to Third Cultured, an international politics and LGBTQ+ culture newsletter, written by yours truly, Kyle Borland. Reach out with feedback, suggestions, tips, and/or ideas at kgborland23@gmail.com.
My goal is to inform curious folks about the messy politics of our planet and the unique role Queer people play in the US and the world-at-large. I hope that’s you!
If you find you like what I write, please heart this post and subscribe to make sure you never miss the next one. Third Cultured is a labor of love but is time-intensive, so if you’re able, please support me by becoming a paid subscriber!
This edition:
Commentary on this week
Hot Spots
On Monday, Judge Amy Coney Barrett will be confirmed to the US Supreme Court.
There is nothing centrists, let alone progressives, can do to stop it. After her hearings, a slim majority of the country now supports her appointment to the Court. This was guaranteed before the process even started, but Barrett handled the confirmation inquiry well enough (by average American standards) to quell any worries conservative Democrats (*cough* Dianne Feinstein *cough*) may have had.
However, her track record indicates that anyone who doesn’t consider themselves an evangelical Christian, should feel anything but comfortable.
Lucky for us or not, Barrett will receive an immediate test to distance herself from being viewed as anything but a Scalia acolyte. On November 4, SCOTUS will hear oral arguments for Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, where Catholic Social Services is suing the city of Philadelphia for terminating their contract to provide foster care services after the organization engaged in anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination which the signed contract explicitly prohibited. In retaliation, CSS sued on the basis of “religious freedom.”
Historically, precedent is on the city’s and LGBTQ+ people’s side in this case, but with Trump’s restructuring of the Court, there’s no telling which way they’ll go. If CSS and the Trump administration are successful, they’ll have successfully built in a religious exemption to the employment discrimination rights Queer people won in the Bostock case earlier this year.
In an interestingly weird twist today, Pope Francis made it known that he supports civil unions for gay people and they should be “legally covered.” With five of the current justices – and six once Barrett is confirmed – identifying as Catholics, it will be interesting to see if the Holy Father’s words have any bearing when it doesn’t align with their personal morality. Given the internal turmoil between Pope Francis and American cardinals – and the Right’s desperation to connect gay adoption to the bake shop case – I am not optimistic.
We got a glimpse this week of the immediate change we will see once Barrett is on the Court with the 4-4 denial of the Pennsylvania's Republican Party attempt to shorten the deadlines for mail-in ballots. Once Barrett is confirmed, decisions like these will go the Republican’s way. (Hence why Trump is rushing her onto the Court, so she can rule in his favor should the election in two weeks be close.)
We won’t know for sure until it happens. I know I’ve done what little I can do at the moment by voting #BidenHarris2020, and now all I can do is hope for the best. I don’t do it enthusiastically, I expect a Biden administration to be hostile to the Left (to say the least), but there is no question which of these men should run this country. I’m thankful to live in a state where I successfully received, filled out, sent back, and had my ballot counted between October 3–October 15. Say whatever conspiracy theory you want about mail-in voting, but that’s a service that should be available to every American, no matter where they live.
Stay safe and healthy, beautiful people. And, thanks for reading.
xoxo,
Kyle (@kgborland)
PS – Here are some great reads worth your time.
10 things you need to know to stop a coup (Waging Nonviolence)
A Rogue Superpower (Foreign Affairs)
A Short Etymology of Forever War (Wars of Future Past)
All The President’s Men: Looking back at four years of MAGA terror (HuffPo)
America Has No Duty to Rule the World (The New Republic)
Animals Keep Evolving Into Crabs, Which Is Somewhat Disturbing (Popular Mechanics)
Fraternity that Reveres Robert E. Lee Faces Revolt over Racism (NYT)
No other democracy gives life tenure to judges on its version of the Supreme Court (Vox)
Only Class War Can Stop Climate Change (Jacobin)
Pope Francis Says the Pandemic Has Proven the 'Magic Theories' of Market Capitalism Have Failed (TIME)
Queer enchantments: Finding fairy tales to suit a rainbow of desires (Xtra)
Where are the Gay Ladies of Cambodia? (Longreads)
“They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it.”
– Pope Francis in the new documentary, “Francesco,” speaking on the need to “legally cover” LGBTQ+ people and voicing support for same-sex civil unions.
Hot Spots
1,100,000+: More than one million people have died from COVID globally.
Anti-Trust: The Justice Department filed suit against Google on Tuesday for illegal monopolization of the search and ad markets, beginning the largest anti-trust battle since Microsoft’s battle in 1998. Don’t count Alphabet out just yet, it’s sitting on $120 billion in cash reserves. | Earlier this month, the House published a scathing review of Big Tech’s anti-trust actions, calling them “monopolistic.” (Graphic: Axios)
“Countless advertisers must pay a toll to Google’s search advertising and general search text advertising monopolies,” the complaint reads, “American consumers are forced to accept Google’s policies, privacy practices, and use of personal data; and new companies with innovative business models cannot emerge from Google’s long shadow.”
Artificial Intelligence: The military wants a “Manhattan Project for Military AI.”
Belarus: The EU broke through its stalemate to approve sanctions on 40 officials involved in the fraudulent election, but does not include Lukashenko (for now).
Bolivia: The socialists won last weekend’s elections in a landslide, returning to power one year after a military coup forced former President Evo Morales to resign and flee. I am happy democracy had its day, but I’m slightly annoyed any of this had to happen when Evo could’ve chosen a successor when he termed out and avoided it all. Oh well.
Caucasus (Armenia vs Azerbaijan): The dispute is over the Nagorno–Karabakh region, a mountainous area of about 150,000 people currently within Azerbaijan but populated primarily by Armenians. The two nations have both claimed the country since the fall of the Soviet Union, and fought a previous war over it in 1992-1994, along with another skirmish in 2016. This time around, drones and other modern weapons have given a significant edge to Azerbaijan, solidifying the shift in warfare globally. This is the third conflict, after Libya and Syria, where Russia and Turkey find themselves on opposing sides. I guess in a time of neo-imperialism, it would make sense for the Russian Empire and Ottomans to pick up where they left off. While regional powers scuffle, Armenia and Azerbaijan are heading to DC on Friday for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in hopes of deescalating the conflict.
China: Views of China and Xi have become much more negative in 14 advanced economies. Even Germany, notoriously hesitant to criticize Beijing in fear of export retaliation, led 39 countries at the UN in condemning China for its operations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. | China continues to ramp up tensions with Taiwan, the lynchpin of the First Island Chain, by holding its second “four seas” drills in two months. | The CCP is even putting pressure on a museum in France attempting to showcase a Mongol empire exhibit, with Beijing claiming the museum can’t use the words “Genghis Khan,” “Mongol,” or “Empire.” LOL, Xi. | What’s working in China’s favor? It’s the only major economy that’s still growing. (Graphic: Pew Research Center)
#EndSARS: Nationwide protests erupted in Nigeria on October 8 after video emerged showing the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) killing a young man in the nation’s southern Delta State. On Tuesday, October 20, authorities opened fire at protesters gathered at the Lekki toll gate – you may have seen #LekkiMassacre trending for this reason – killing at least 38 people and bringing the death toll from the week’s of protest to at least 56. What started as an anti-police brutality protest has evolved into a full blown social revolution, with calls to end all corruption and improve quality of life.
F-35 Family: The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has grown into the military-industrial complex’s answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The “F-35 Family” now includes the US, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Belgium, Poland, Singapore and most recently the UAE. India is also in negotiations with the US, but their standing military relationship with Moscow poses similar issues that led to Turkey being banned from the F-35 program. Finland is in a similar boat. Oh, and Qatar wants them now, too.
Human Rights: China and Russia both won seats on the UN Human Rights Council…
Kyrgyzstan: Yet another former Soviet republic in turmoil, Kyrgyzstan’s prime minister resigned after facing unrest in the wake of recent elections were accused of corruption and vote-buying. Russia highlighted that it is obliged by a treaty to avoid a total breakdown in the country, but Moscow is not motivated to pick either side and is willing to let it work itself out.
Libya: There may be a light at the end of the tunnel! Both sides have agreed to meet for negotiations in Tunisia and the nation’s oil corporation has begun operating again.
Mali: ECOWAS, the regional bloc, lifted sanctions it imposed following August’s coup after the military government initiated key steps toward holding fair elections.
Tech Wars: US sanctions target China’s largest chipmaker, SMIC, complicating Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” goal to produce 70 percent of the nation’s chips internally by mid-decade, up from 17 percent today. | The WTO ruled the EU can impose up to $4 billion in tariffs on US goods annually in retaliation to subsidies the US provides to Boeing. | Remember Foxconn’s announced Wisconsin factory? Like everything else Trump touches, it was a lie and a lot of people are getting hurt.
The Quad: India agreed to allow all four members of the Quad – a security cooperative between the US, Japan, India, and Australia aimed at containing the CCP’s rising influence in the Indo-Pacific – to participate in its Indian Ocean naval exercises after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Tokyo for the second formal meeting of The Quad. Additionally, India and the US are set to sign the last of the four foundational military agreements that will allow for the greater sharing of security-related intelligence, called the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Intelligence (BECA). Pompeo highlighted that other countries could join in the future at “the approriate time,” which is leading many to believe The Quad is the beginning core of a future “Asian NATO.” Already, the group included potential future Quad+ nations of New Zealand, South Korea and Vietnam in their meetings on how to coordinate during the COVID pandemic. With the Quad, the Trump admin seems to have found the one alliance they like and, not a moment too soon, as the White House uses Taiwan to antagonize China. Tread carefully! There’s very few lengths Beijing won’t take to maintain its red line on Taiwan.
