A Dozen Things that Caught My Eye Today (Nov. 30, 2015)

1. God bless them! : 

World, meet Garnet J. Brewer! At 7 lbs., 13 oz. & 21 in., she made her appearance after 5.5 hours of… https://t.co/lYNl7MYbJo

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) November 29, 2015

2. The National Review Institute and the Heritage Foundation are co-sponsoring an event on Friday on persecuted Christians. It will be at Heritage in D.C. and will be livestreamed. Details here.

3. A poet in Saudi Arabia is sentenced to death for apostasy.

4. The Coptic Pope Goes to Jerusalem.

5. About the shooting in Colorado Springs, Charles Camosy from Fordham writes:

pro-life activists believe abortion is mass-killing of the vulnerable and represents the social justice issue of our time. But such activists are also totally committed to rejecting the violence inherent in the very practice they are trying to resist. Principle trumps raw attempts to impose justice through violence.

For many, that principle means a commitment to defending the vulnerable from violence in whatever circumstances we find them – whether inside an abortion clinic or in an abortion clinic parking lot.

Don’t believe such people exist? Just ask the family of Officer Swasey.

Grieve, don’t demagogue, NR’s editorial today says. More thoughts here. 

Keep an eye out for Melissa Nussbaum’s upcoming NRO piece, too.

6. The pope had an at times stunning visit to Africa over Thanksgiving weekend.

It’s striking to see no one with cell phones or cameras – just joy! #PopeInCar#PopeinAfrica@Pontifexpic.twitter.com/LeOkHNPhce

— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) November 29, 2015

At one stop, he said:

“Remember. Don’t forgot.” #PopeFrancis speaks of importance of memory, esp memory of Ugandan Martyrs pic.twitter.com/q7n9uu8xXx

— Cindy Wooden (@Cindy_Wooden) November 28, 2015

Honor your martyrs by putting faith into action, pope tells Ugandans https://t.co/6ksaGKua6Upic.twitter.com/nuco8ubgrB

— Catholic News Svc (@CatholicNewsSvc) November 28, 2015

In Kenya, he told youth:

Pope asked for prayers against recruitment of extremist groups: God is much stronger than any recruitment campaign! https://t.co/uDuF9Ag9US

— Ines San Martin (@inesanma) November 27, 2015

There’s much more. The news.va website is a great way to keep up on what he is actually saying on travels and at the Vatican.

7. About the Ugandan martyrs, Terry Mattingly asks an excellent question of the New York Times.

8. A new report from Ryan Anderson: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Laws Threaten Freedom.

9. A beautiful and important piece from George Weigel:  Mission abandoned: did we betray John XXIII’s vision for Vatican II?

10.

Those who ban mentioning (the opprobrious despicable lexicon of) the past condemn us all to repeat it. https://t.co/mh390enMCq

— Amity Shlaes (@AmityShlaes) November 30, 2015

11.

Journalism is written to be forgotten—even by the people who write it. That includes me: https://t.co/PAsVH4QCOS

— Terry Teachout (@terryteachout) November 30, 2015

12. Advent has begun and I rather appreciated this tweet:

Patience is hope’s favorite hiding place. #advent#Catholichttps://t.co/eXGGyUxeUr

— Msgr B Bransfield (@BrianBransfield) November 30, 2015

ALSO:

I recently spent a day with 500 “nuns” and wrote about it here.

(More here if you didn’t have a chance read my write-up of the closing speech and are interested.)

Today is St. Andrew’s Day – some things here.

Please send anything anytime that should be catching my eye – and therefore on the radar of NRO readers, to klopez@nationalreview.com.