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daviddecosse.bsky.social
I'm Director of Religious and Catholic Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, the Jesuit university in Silicon Valley. Keen interests in the moral and theological dimensions of politics and policy.
18 posts 61 followers 83 following
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Posts 19 Comments 3

This is a shameful moment in US diplomatic history and, as an American, I reject it completely. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/w...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Trump's lawyers are absolutely flailing in the courts right now

submitted 5 days ago • 240 comments

Excellent piece by John Grosso on @ncronline.bsky.social about the selective silence of media big Bishop Robert Barron in response to Trump Admin's unlawful attempts to shut down USAID and other efforts to assist the poor and migrants around the world. www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

I appreciate this piece by @shadihamid.bsky.social - it goes too light on Trump nihilism and understates complexities faced by Biden in Gaza but rightly challenges Dems to develop a vision for the country in response to forces they hardly seem to understand. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

submitted 6 days ago • 6 comments

An important piece from @ncronline.bsky.social about an issue building for some time: At some point, Catholics adherence to Trump becomes a problem for what it means to be Catholic. Pope Francis is laying down some markers. www.ncronline.org/vatican/view...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Here's the text in English and Spanish of Pope Francis' brief letter released today in which he criticizes mass deportation and describes Christian love as the "love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception." press.vatican.va/content/sala...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

It's wrong to say that the executive branch exists to implement a president's "agenda" - as many misleading advocates of the unitary executive theory say. That describes at best a parliamentary system and at worst an authoritarian system. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

"The love Jesus speaks of is not about calculation or a choice between our families or neighbors. It is not a finite resource to ration out, but a river that flows, wild and without restraint." www.ncronline.org/opinion/gues...

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

Don't get why a big-time Dem hasn't gone on TV in a deliberate campaign to refer to the Reagan Airport crash as exactly what happens when you try to destroy government. Instead, Dems are reactive: Outraged by ridiculous DEI comments instead of offering a vision of a government that works for all.

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

A piece of mine on mass deportation as a test of religious voices in the public square in the time of Trump 2.0... www.scu.edu/ethics/all-a...

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

This is a remarkable clip. C-Span stuck with the angle facing the President. Trump glances down at his paper, JD Vance looking around trying to engage with Usha. She ignores him and watches the sermon intently. www.c-span.org/clip/white-h...

submitted 33 days ago • 44 comments

Finding it helpful to look back at the US presidential election of 1876 as an analogy for now: Then the election ended Reconstruction and led to the rise of Jim Crow; now the moment is similarly marked by a mass of pent-up grievances contemptuous of law and truth. millercenter.org/the-presiden...

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

An especially thoughtful quick take on the inauguraiton from @joycewhitevance.bsky.social -- it's a quick read and well worth it. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

submitted 34 days ago • 26 comments

Been reading Abraham Heschel's The Prophets and its evocation of a divine will and pathos at work in history and today these words from First Isaiah stand out: "For we have made lies our refuge / And in falsehood we have taken shelter."

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

Excellent piece by @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social on the Texas state government attack on the religious freedom of Annunciation House, the migrant shelter in El Paso inspired by a Catholic vision of hospitality. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/o...

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

Amen to this: The Catholic Church Must Challenge Trump on Deportations www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/o...

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

DEI Candidate Pete Hegseth... www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

I don’t think Donald Trump saw this movie, unfortunately. It is widely known that tariffs do not work, yet he is insisting that tariffs be imposed once he becomes president. It will be a disaster.

submitted 41 days ago • 20 comments

We'll learn much more but this WashPost piece ids land use (building in hills prone to fire), refusal to clear brush, limited water supply, and pervasive effects of climate change on all such things as key factors in the LA fires. Fwiw Musk gets all this wrong. www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025...

submitted 43 days ago • 0 comments