Tag archive: Sappho

CGB summer 25 cover

Cosmic Grab Bag:  Summer 2025 Edition

Stories frequently cross the digital transom that catch my eye, but don’t necessarily merit a full article on their own.  But the celestial correspondences are worthy of notice, so from time to time I compile these unrelated stories into an asteroid omnibus bill, if you will. In this edition, we’ll tackle a challenge to same-sex marriage, a disturbing melding of government with the private sector, a Senate grilling for a Cabinet Secretary, and a record-making Royal visit.

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Minneapolis Church School Shooting

Shortly before 8:30 AM CDT on 27 August 2025, a black-clad individual approached the Annunciation Catholic Church school, while elementary students were celebrating a school-wide mass to commemorate the start of the academic year.  Robin Westman, 23, began shooting through the stained-glass windows of the church, firing dozens of rounds before committing suicide.  Two children, aged 8 and 10, were killed, and 17 others injured, including 14 children and 3 octogenarians.

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Aster-Obit:  Richard Chamberlain

Veteran actor and ‘60s teen idol heartthrob Richard Chamberlain passed away on 29 March 2025, just two days shy of his 91st birthday.  Dubbed “King of the Mini-Series” in the 1980s, Chamberlain made a big splash on TV and film as a dashing leading man, but experienced internal conflict in having to conceal his homosexuality to preserve his swashbuckling image.  Chamberlain first made his mark in the 1961 TV series “Dr. Kildare,” garnering legions of female fans, and went on to a successful movie career, starring in the 1970s “The Three Musketeers” franchise, among other action films.

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Asteroid Sleuth: The Case of the Potty-Mouthed Pope

On May 20, 2024, Pope Francis was speaking in camera to a meeting of Italian bishops, following the creation of a new document outlining training for Italian seminarians, not yet released pending review by the Holy See.  The document is reported to include an attempt to soften the current ban on openly gay men entering the Catholic priesthood, by focusing instead on the need for celibacy by priests, whatever their private sexual inclinations.

But the Pontiff was having none of this, despite garnering a reputation for promoting openness and inclusivity for the gays in his flock, and, in what has been describe as a “joking” tone, His Holiness averred that “there is already an air of faggotness” in seminaries.  The Pope, speaking in Italian, used the term “frociaggine,” a slur against gay people that roughly equates to “faggot.”

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AAA Profile: Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn is among the most-honored and best-loved American actresses of all time, with 12 Academy Award nominations and 4 wins as Best Actress.  Hepburn’s tally of Oscar gold has yet to be surpassed, and is only equaled by Meryl Streep (though one of her four was for Best Supporting Actress, she far eclipses Hepburn in nominations, with 21 to date).  Her sixty-plus year career spanned the Great Depression to the edge of the new millennium, with 44 feature films to her credit; she also acted extensively on the stage, in no less than 33 productions (garnering two Tony Award nominations, but no wins).  Hepburn didn’t work often in television, but managed six Emmy nominations and one win regardless.

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SCOTUS Cockblocks Gay Wedding Sites

On June 30th, 2023, the last day of the term, the US Supreme Court issued a bizarre ruling regarding free speech and the ongoing culture wars over gay marriage, siding with a Colorado website designer who balked at having to design wedding websites for same-sex couples.  But here’s the thing – in 2016, when the suit was filed, Lorie Smith wasn’t designing wedding webizes at all, for couples of any sexual persuasion; she claimed to have been approached by a gay couple whom she refused the services she wasn’t offering to anyone, based on her religious objections to same-sex unions.  So, Lorie Smith’s suit against Colorado’s antidiscrimination law was hypothetical or, shall we say, prophylactic?

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