Drum roll for our women Democrats- let them be "them"

Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris should not ‘simmer down’ one iota

We don’t need anyone ‘mansplaining’ on the types of Democrats who should run for office- opinion echo published in the Oakland California newspaper the East Bay Times. 

Senator from California, Kamala Harris, addressed the media January, 21 2019, at Howard University in Washington, DC, after announcing earlier in the day that she is seeking to become the first African American woman to hold the office of US president, joining an already-crowded field of Democrats lining up to take on (and get rid of....) Donald Trump. 

Kamala Harris joins Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and former housing secretary Julian Castro, among others, either in the race or exploring a run for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Nearly 22 months before the 2020 election, the battle for the White House is already firming up, as Americans begin to assess who might be the opposition party nominee to challenge Trump for control of the White House. 

Harris made the announcement on the national holiday honoring civil rights movement icon Martin Luther King Jr., whom she said her mother met. 

Letter writer references: Re: “Howard Schultz should be recruited to run as a Dem,” “Perhaps Schultz can show Democrats the way back,” “Wealthy need more say in allocating their tax dollars” (Letters to the editor, Feb 5):

Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen recently “mansplained” on the kind of people the Democrats should run for office and the kind of policies we should endorse (“Dems mad at Schultz for more than risking Trump’s reelection,” Eastbaytimes.com, Feb. 3). He advised Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren to “simmer down a bit,” and why taxing wealthy people is wrong.

Sorry, Marc, you are a Republican apologist, and you have no right to opine on the direction the Democratic Party should take.

We don’t need oligarchs to determine how much philanthropy they want to give us, we need just taxation to reverse the growing inequity caused by decreasing tax rates over the last 40 years, and a democratic decision-making process on how to spend our national wealth.

I don’t expect Marc Thiessen or Howard Schultz or any other billionaire to like it, and I don’t want Warren or Harris to simmer down one iota.    — Deborah Bayer, Richmond

Roman Catholic priests and the Bishops who covered up

An echo opinion by Marc A. Thiessen, published in the Texas newspaper the Abilene Reporter

Pope Francis in Ireland expected to respond to priest abuse scandals

WASHINGTON, DC – Pope Francis’s letter to Roman Catholics was remarkable in that the Holy Father apologized not only for the sexual abuses carried out by many Roman Catholic priests, but also for the coverup of that abuse carried out by the (irresponsible) Roman Catholic bishops.

“The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced,” Francis wrote.

“To acknowledge the truth of what has happened, in itself this is not enough” he added, promising to make “all those who perpetrate or cover up these crimes accountable” and expressing deep regret that “we have delayed in applying these actions and sanctions that are so necessary.”

Of course, these long overdue words are welcome. 

But, unless the words are backed up by action, they will be meaningless. The episcopacy as an institution has been corrupted. A culture of silence allowed a culture of abuse to flourish. Bishops consumed with what the pope called “the thirst for power” have through both action and inaction allowed evil to spread through the church. That evil must be rooted out.

It is time for the Catholic Church to experience its own #MeToo moment. And it should start here in Washington – the modern symbol of earthly power.

Theodore McCarrick, the disgraced former archbishop of Washington, faces credible allegations that he abused not only a 16-year-old altar boy and an 11-year-old boy whose family McCarrick knew but also countless seminarians and young priests who were under his authority. (He has denied abusing the boys and refused to comment on the other allegations.)

McCarrick is the Harvey Weinstein of the Catholic Church. Who knew these allegations against him and failed to act? San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy, for one. A few years ago, McElroy was approached by Richard Sipe, an expert on clergy abuse, who said McCarrick and nearly a dozen other priests and bishops abused children and seminarians.

Sipe was so disturbed by what he perceived as McElroy’s lack of interest during their meetings that in 2016 he sent a 13-page letter – delivered by a process server - in which he told McElroy that “Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been reported by numerous seminarians and priests of sexual advances and activity. … I have interviewed twelve seminarians and priests who attest to propositions, harassment, or sex with McCarrick, who has stated, ‘I do not like to sleep alone.’ One priest incardinated in McCarrick’s Archdiocese of Newark was taken to bed for sex and was told, ‘this is how priests do it in the U.S.’”

A spokesman for McElroy says he asked Sipe for more information and that he “was given essentially gossip, not evidence.” But Sipe explained to McElroy that the victims were afraid to come forward. “None so far has found the ability to speak openly at the risk of reputation and retaliation” he wrote, adding, “One priest was told by the chancery office, ‘if you speak with the press we will crush you.’” McElroy did nothing.

Sipe shared his letter with the papal nuncio and the pontifical commission for the protection of minors, led by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who also failed to act. A New York priest, Father Boniface Ramsey, says he wrote a similar letter in June 2015 to O’Malley, who says he never saw it but should have. Who buried that letter? And who else failed to act?

According to a Pennsylvania grand jury report, the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, moved predator priests around the Diocese of Pittsburgh when he was the bishop there and silenced victims with settlements that included confidentiality agreements. His resignation letter is on Francis’s desk, as all bishops must submit their resignations at 75. The Holy Father simply needs to accept it.

The same day Francis issued his letter, Wuerl’s successor in Pittsburgh, Bishop David Zubik, appeared on Fox News’ “Special Report,” where he told Brett Baier, “There was no coverup.” Did Zubik not read the pope’s letter, which refers to “cover[ing] up,” “silenc[ing],” “ignor[ing]” and “deception” by bishops a total of eight times? Even if he somehow failed to, Zubik knows there was a coverup because he was at the epicenter of it as director of clergy personnel under Wuerl.

The bishops were responsible for protecting priests and parishioners but were more concerned with protecting their own positions and power. The bishops should have trembled Wednesday when they heard the first reading for that day’s Mass in every Catholic Church throughout the world: “Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! … My sheep have been given over to pillage, and … have become food for every wild beast … because my shepherds did not look after my sheep. … I swear I am coming against these shepherds. I will claim my sheep from them and put a stop to their shepherding. … I will save my sheep.”

Holy Father, put a stop to their shepherding. Save your sheep.

Marc A. Thiessen is a member of The Washington Post Writers Group.