A TALE OF TWO CITIES

    The Corporate Media is busily fanning outrage this weekend over some decade-old comments from The Donald; and the Republican Establishment is deeply shocked by the revelations that Trump is a cad. We obviously never would have known that Trump held women in low esteem until these revelations came out.

    This is an extremely trying time in the Prozac Nation. The thought that we might elect a president who has heterosexual thoughts about females is almost as chilling as the fear gripping the nation of seeing people in clown suits. Two teenaged girls were actually arrested in Michigan yesterday for scaring some their classmates with such costumes. The no-nonsense Roseville Police Chief, James Berlin, issued a statement to the press calling the young female pranksters 'morons' and 'idiots.' Berlin hasn't faced the same outrage as Trump for disparaging women.  

     All of this national trauma no doubt has the Ameroboobs running for their safe spaces and overdosing on happy pills. This outrage coming from a populace which has the world's highest per capita spending on pornography; and fears clowns while shrugging at Jihadist atrocities as Islamophobia.

      But elsewhere on the planet, good men are doing good things.

      The Vatican announced today that, following some religious freedom reforms in Vietnam, the first Catholic university in 41 opened for operation this week. The first class is a small one---about 23 students studying Theology, but the opening is a milestone for Christianity's return in Indochina.

      "The institute aims to enhance theological knowledge and competence among priests and laymen." stated Bishop Joseph Dao, the institute's rector, adding that he was proud that the classes commenced during a Jubilee Year. "It is a work of God, with His strengths we made it happen."

      Vietnam has gradually been lifting restrictions on religious freedom since normalizing ties with the Vatican in the 1990s. A few years ago, they began allowing private schools run by convents at the elementary level. The petition to inaugurate a university was initiated in 2011 by Vietnamese bishops and granted accreditation last year by the Vietnamese government.

      Bishop Dao believes that enrollment will swell after this year and plans are being made in coordination with the Vatican to offer more subjects and a comprehensive degree program. About 7% of Vietnam's population are Catholics.

      This is seen by many in the Vatican as a positive sign that China will soon implement religious reforms as well. China and the Vatican have been in negotiations for the past year to relations and promote religious freedom in China. Russia and Vietnam support the Vatican's position, as does a growing segment of the Chinese ruling party.

       Meanwhile, in America---the country which established religious freedom as a legal principle---there is a concerted nationwide effort to defund and disestablish religious schools; simply for defending things like traditional marriage and upholding Christian values. It's somewhat sobering to think that even Communist countries of East Asia are coming to recognize the value of the Christian faith, while we---who formerly sent missionaries to those countries---are abandoning it.

       But maybe that's part of the reason why Vietnam and China don't have serial adulterers for national heroes and even find clowns amusing instead of threatening.