Author Archives: James J Heaney

Fly the Unfriendly Skies!

by James J Heaney Posted on 11 April 2017

In response to the United fiasco of this weekend (read up here if you’ve been living under a rock, or are an Internet archaeologist reading this post from the 23rd century), I’ve seen more than one person call for the … Continue reading →

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Re-Up: Just War Theory Tested in Syria

by James J Heaney Posted on 6 April 2017

Four years ago, I wrote a piece for this blog analyzing proposed military strikes against Syria. Back in 2013, ISIS didn’t really exist in Syria yet; the major rebel group was the al-Nusra Front, affiliated with al-Qaeda. The President was still … Continue reading →

Posted in Mere Opinion | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

How Anyone Could Do Such a Thing

by James J Heaney Posted on 29 March 2017

A lotta people think that there are certain crimes that are really hard to commit. Even if you manage to commit one of these extra-terrible crimes, they are (supposedly) even harder to live with. Guilt, people think, eventually consumes the … Continue reading →

Posted in Abolitionism, Culture | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Justice Gorsuch and Net Neutrality

by James J Heaney Posted on 22 March 2017

Nobody seems to have pointed this out yet, so I guess I might as well put something up quick. President Trump is not a big fan of net neutrality, and his new FCC commissioner, Ajit Pai, is, uh… really not … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Bishop’s Lament: Apb. Chaput’s New Book

by James J Heaney Posted on 3 March 2017

My review of Archbishop Charles Chaput’s new book, Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Faith in a Post-Christian World, is up at The Federalist today.  Here is the link, and here is an excerpt: Chaput repeatedly refers to the Supreme Court’s lawless … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Betsy DeVos is Not the Schoolpocalypse

by James J Heaney Posted on 7 February 2017

The past few weeks, I’ve been forced to spend a lot of time playing the game “Not That Bad.” The rules of this game are simple: President Trump implements a bad policy, makes a bad decision, or says a bad thing, which is … Continue reading →

Posted in Mere Opinion | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Is Trump’s Immigration Order Legal?

by James J Heaney Posted on 1 February 2017

I am not a fan of President Trump’s controversial Executive Order on immigration. I think it contains good provisions, such as prioritizing the resettlement of religious-minority refugees who are at the greatest risk of being killed in their homelands, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Size of the March for Life

by James J Heaney Posted on 26 January 2017

People’ve been arguing a lot about crowd size lately, and these arguments have now spilled over into debates about the size of the annual March for Life compared to the (truly enormous) size of the Women’s March on Washington. March … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

It’s Okay To Feel Okay

by James J Heaney Posted on 21 January 2017

Alternate Title: “3,000 Self-Indulgent Words About My Feelings” My wife and I learned different things about feelings when we were growing up. My wife was taught that, “Whatever feelings you’re feeling are okay.” (It was how you acted on your … Continue reading →

Posted in Mere Opinion, Politics | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Will President Trump Get a Chance to Swing the Supreme Court?

by James J Heaney Posted on 10 December 2016

For many of us, the most important issue at stake in last month’s election was the Supreme Court, where judges who primarily attempt to follow the Constitution’s text are currently outnumbered, 5-3, by judges who make other concerns the primary basis … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis | Tagged , | 4 Comments