Ramblin' with Roger

Hope from the Pope

Mike Nellis and Terry Moran

As a Christian who has occasionally railed against so-called Christian nationalism, I have developed hope from the Pope. And I’m not even Roman Catholic.

Mike Nellis wrote in Endless Urgency, Pope Leo Terrifies T**** & the Christian Nationalist Right: What happens when faith starts questioning power?

“There’s a deeper conversation here—not just about T****, but about what he represents, how his movement operates, and why Catholicism, at this moment, poses a real threat to the version of Christianity that many in MAGA are trying to promote…

“My [Catholic] faith matters to me. It shapes how I see the world, how I try to show up for my family, and why I believe in the kind of politics I do.

“I can trace most of my values back to that foundation [of faith]—even during the periods when I drifted from it. And that’s what makes this moment feel so stark.

“Because when you compare that to [FOTUS], there’s no real evidence of any grounding in faith beyond himself. There’s no consistency, no humility, no sense of moral framework that extends beyond loyalty and power. That’s not a partisan critique—it’s an observation about how he moves through the world.”

The deal is fraying

Church folks who supported him engaged in a transactional alliance. And now it’s starting to show its limits.

“Because T**** doesn’t recognize any authority higher than himself. Not institutions, not traditions, and certainly not religious leadership challenge him.

“That’s where Pope Leo comes in—and why this moment matters.

“For the first time, we have an American pope. Someone who speaks in our cultural language, who understands this country not as an outsider looking in, but as someone who comes from it…

“And now, that same pope—and other Catholic leaders—are speaking clearly about issues like war, economic inequality, and immigration. Not as politicians, but as moral voices. As people calling for restraint, dignity, and care for others.

“That creates a direct contrast.

“Not just between two individuals, but between two visions of what faith in public life looks like.

“One is rooted in power—using religion as a tool to justify dominance, exclusion, and control.”

Audience of many, and of one

In God and Caesar, Terry Moran noted: “On Easter Sunday, Pope Leo XIV stood before tens of thousands of the faithful in St. Peter’s Square and called on humanity to ‘abandon every desire for conflict, domination and power.’

“He was speaking to the world. But he was also speaking, unmistakably, to one man.

“That man heard him.

That’s why FOTUS called the Pope Leo “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” as though it was going to hurt the pontiff’s feelings.

“Leo has been careful not to name him directly. He doesn’t need to. When the pope warns against the ‘delusion of omnipotence’ fueling wars of choice, when he says that Jesus ‘does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them,’ when he calls threats to annihilate Iranian civilization ‘truly unacceptable’—he is doing what authentic spiritual and moral leaders have always done: naming the sin without excusing the sinner. He is following a tradition that runs from St. Ambrose confronting the Roman Emperor Theodosius, to St. Thomas More facing Henry VIII, to Archbishop St. Oscar Romero of El Salvador preaching against the country’s death squads right up to the moment they killed him—at the altar.”

A doctor?

In response, FOTUS posted that infamous “AI‑generated image depicting himself as a Jesus‑like figure on Sunday, drawing widespread criticism — including from some religious conservatives who typically support him — before removing the post on Monday.“

He told reporters that the image, which he acknowledged posting, was meant to depict himself as a doctor. Suggestions that it portrayed him as Jesus, he dismissed as a fabrication by “fake news.” This suggests he has no cultural understanding of how Christ has been portrayed for centuries. (Or that he’s a liar, which one cannot dismiss out of hand.)

Moran: “The one thing [his] political project cannot survive is a credible, courageous, non-partisan call to basic human decency. Partisans can be mocked. Critics can be dismissed as enemies. But a soft-spoken priest from Chicago who asks only that the words of Jesus be taken seriously—that is a harder enemy to fight.

“The Pope is not a politician. The pope must not be a politician. Pope Leo has said so himself, and he’s right.

“But T**** has changed politics. His politics forces a moral choice on each of us. When politics has become this nakedly immoral—when it has swallowed up the language of faith itself, weaponized it, turned prayers into war cries—then the Gospel itself becomes, whether anyone likes it or not, a political act.”

The regime engages in what this New York Times opinion piece calls Pete Hegseth’s Gospel of Carnage. I would add: “For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-14)

Preaching the gospel

Guess what Jon Stewart talked about last night?

FOTUS is suffering from Pope Derangement Syndrome.

Check out the 60 Minutes interview that aired on April 12. Three American cardinals gave props to the former Father Bob Prevost.

Norah O’Donnell: What do you say to people in the pews who say, “I don’t want to hear politics from my priest”?

Cardinal Blase Cupich: I say fine. I want to preach the gospel. God wants us to promote peace in the world– because his desire is that we be one human family.

So when Vice President JD Vance, the highest-ranking Catholic in the federal government, said in an interview on Fox News on Monday that the pope should stay out of American affairs, he must have missed a few lessons during his recent conversion.

Movie review: Project Hail Mary

based on an Andy Weir book

My wife and I had not seen a movie at a cinema in TWELVE weeks. So we went to an Easter Monday matinee of Project Hail Mary at the Spectrum 8 Theatre in Albany.

I should note that the Artemis II crew was still in space at the time. Did that influence my enjoyment of the film? I dunno. But I liked it a lot. And so did a lot of folks.

From Slate: “Project Hail Mary is now Amazon MGM’s highest-grossing movie ever and the highest-grossing movie of 2026 so far. And the new movie, from Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, isn’t going away anytime soon: Audiences are clearly falling for Ryan Gosling’s teacher turned astronaut and the crablike alien he makes his friend, ensuring that the movie earns not just good reviews but the kind of word of mouth that will keep it in theaters for weeks to come. (The movie received a near-perfect A grade from the audience-polling firm CinemaScore.) At a time when it can feel as if only franchise films ever rake in hundreds of millions at the box office, Project Hail Mary really might have seemed like a long shot, but it’s found a way to connect.”

Yeah. I saw trailers for the new Mandalorian film and some other franchise that day, and I thought, “Meh.”

Teacher

The story starts in a junior high classroom, with Ryland Grace’s (Ryan Gosling) students concerned about the Earth’s sun dying. He answers honestly but not without hope. Then he discovers, to his disbelief, that the powers that be believe that HE is a large part of the solution.

Despite his jousting with the project director, Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), he finds himself in space, just trying to figure things out, doing sciency stuff to try to save his world.

But then he meets an unlikely companion, Rocky, “played” by James Ortiz, who was born in Albany, NY, in 1984. The interaction between Grace and Rocky, as well as the flashbacks between Grace and Stratt, propel the joy and the seriousness of the situation.

I never read the book by Andy Weir on which the movie was based. Here are the Top 10 Differences Between the Project Hail Mary Book and Film. Based on viewing a number of videos, even the science geeks, such as Hank Green, weren’t taken out of the film by a few science mistakes, most notably the centrifuge thing.

I loved the Sandra Hüller character. I’d only seen her in heavier fare, such as The Zone Of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall. She’s serious here but with a twist. Ryan Gosling is just right as the VERY reluctant hero. Lionel Boyce, as Carl, Grace’s security handler, was fun.

The movie brought me joy and hope, and that ain’t nothin’.

Sunday Stealing – What Don’t We Know?

Boys In The Band

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week’s meme was stolen from Ken and Dot’s All Sorts. This blogging duo was asked to share things about themselves that their readers may not already know. Their answers have been used as the basis for this week’s questions.

Tell Us Something – What Don’t We Know?

1. Can you touch your nose with your tongue?

No, but I have never mourned that fact.

2. What foreign language did you study in school? How much of it do you still remember?

I took three years of high school French. The first year, I was pretty good, but I got worse and worse in the succeeding years.

Yet when my wife and I went to France in May 2023, I remembered enough basic phrases for the locals to think I was at least trying. And reading French was even easier.

In our Paris hotel, the television stations were some from France but also the UK. But as we traveled farther west, almost all of the TV was in French, some of it dubs of American programs.

3. What recipe did you most recently prepare? Where did you get the recipe, and how did it turn out?

Lasagna, described here. It’s really difficult to screw up Betty Crocker.

34th state

4. What song have you listened to over and over and over again?

As seen above, my church has had the theme “Tell Me Something Good” from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. And every time I see the bulletin, I think of the song Tell Me Something Good by Rufus, featuring Chaka Khan, whose birthday and year are the same month as mine. It was written by Stevie Wonder. I love that song.

But if you mean songs on repeat ever? That is a WAY too long list. And there’s usually a story behind it, such as “Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas.

5. Are there currently any pets in your household? Are you considering adding another?

Stormy the cat is it. No, she’ll be the last one.

6. As an adult, have you ever performed with a drama group? (Student productions don’t count.)

Boys In The Band in Binghamton in 1975

Godspell in New Paltz in 1976

Plus roles in some plays at church, including Our Town (1984), Once On This Island (2020), and a couple of others.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

The 1992 Mainstream #1 Rock Tracks

an influential 1835 hymnal

The 1992 Mainstream #1 Rock Tracks were the songs that were getting airplay on mainstream rock stations, regardless of format (singles, album cuts, etc.).

Remedy – the Black Crowes, eleven weeks at #1M, #48 pop

How About That – Bad Company, 6 weeks at #1 M, #38 pop

Hotel Illness – the Black Crowes, 6 weeks at #1 M; did not chart on the pop charts, but it was released as a single. Probably unrelated, Hotel illness family ‘too traumatised to holiday again.’

Thorn In My Pride – the Black Crowes 4 weeks at #1 M, #80 pop

Human Touch – Bruce Springsteen, 3 weeks at #1 M. #16 pop

Even Better Than The Real Thing – U2, 2 weeks at #1 M, #32 pop

Again Tonight – John Mellencamp, 2 weeks at #1

One – U2, 2 weeks at #1 M, #10 pop

Sting Me – the Black Crowes, 2 weeks at #1 M, did not chart pop

Rest In Peace – Extreme, two at #1 M #96 pop

The rest were #1 for 1 week, Mainstream

Let’s Get Rocked – Def Leppard, #15 pop

Digging In The Dirt – Peter Gabriel, #52 pop

Keep The Faith – Bon Jovi, #29 pop

The Robinson brothers

From Wikipedia: “The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion is the second studio album by American rock band the Black Crowes, released on May 12, 1992… The album’s name derives from the full name of the Southern Harmony, an influential 1835 hymnal compiled by William Walker…

“It was a record for an album to feature four album rock number-one hits (previously set by Tom Petty in 1989, with three). The album itself reached the top spot of the Billboard 200 album chart, propelled by the success of these singles.”

I never owned the album, though someone had given me their previous collection, Shake Your Money Maker. The only albums I own from the songs represented above were Us (Gabriel), Human Touch (Springsteen), and Achtung Baby (U2).

Incidentally, I’m fond of One by Johnny Cash from the 2000 album American III: Solitary Man.

Binghamton-adjacent

Rev. Alphonso Whitfield

These are random Binghamton-adjacent pieces.

ITEM: An old friend from high school sent me a clipping from the Broome County Office for Aging’s Senior News. Specifically, on page 15 of the February 2026 issue was a story titled LOCAL HISTORY. “In observance of Black History Month this February, we are privileged to dedicate this issue to celebrating the profound and essential contributions of Black individuals in shaping Broome County.”

Four people were highlighted. “Gentleman” Joe Taylor (1923-1995), I might have met but did not know. My father, though, absolutely knew him. The well-regarded boxer, after retirement, opened Gentle Joe’s restaurant on Susquehanna Street.

Dr. Beverly Housten Dorsey (1925-2023) was married to Beverly R. Dorsey, MD (1922-2011) for about 60 years. One black doctor provided a sense of community pride, but two? Wow! Beverly Housten’s resume is astonishing. My great aunt Deana Yates, my maternal grandmother’s sister, did some cooking, cleaning, or sewing for them.

Midgett S. Parker (1925-1999). His first name was pronounced Meh-JET. I didn’t know he was a chemist. But he was a leader at Trinity AME Zion, which I attended for many years.

Alphonso Whitfield (1903-1999) became “a charter member of the Interracial Association,” where my father worked in the 1960s.
He was a preacher at the AME Zion Church. He and his wife, Constance, were my godparents. My parents became the godparents of his grandson, Walter Jones. Alphonso and Constance’s daughter, Marcheta Hamlin, I wrote about at length HERE. I remember annual car trips to Utica to visit my godparents, when Rev. Whitfield was serving there.

13 Gaines Street?

ITEM: One of my friends from grade school sent me this Zillow listing, purportedly for 13 Gaines Street, and wondered if it was the house I grew up in. No, I lived at 5 Gaines Street.

But Gaines Street was only a block long, between Oak and Front Streets, so I knew the houses. That did NOT look like 13. I went there quite often because Lawrence and Dorothy Greene lived at 13, and we would get each other’s mail. Per the Binghamton City Directory of 1960, which I accessed on Ancestry, one or both of them worked at Ansco. And their son, Danny, would play in our yard periodically. But 13 was smooth and green and white.

Finally, I called the listing agent. The address SHOULD be 1 AND 3, not 13. THAT makes sense. It’s the house next to 5 Gaines that a tree crashed into. The red corner convenience store his gone in favor of a parking space, and the yellow house to the left represents newish construction on Front Street that wasn’t there 30 years ago.

Remarkable

ITEM: I came across online on International Women’s Day, Remarkable Women From Binghamton Who Made History. One of them I’ve known all my life. “Born in Binghamton in 1940, Frances M. Beal, better known as Fran Beal, is a feminist and peace and justice political activist. Beal was a founding member of the SNCC Black Women’s Liberation Committee, later called the Third World Women’s Alliance. Fran Beal is most well known for the book she wrote, which is called ‘Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.'”

She’s my mother’s first cousin, daughter of Ernie Yates (my maternal grandmother’s brother) and Charlotte Berman Yates. I wrote about her HERE. Even though she’s been living in California, she’s still famous in her hometown, as I discovered HERE