Bill Donohue

It’s time the medical profession in the U.S. caught up with the U.K., and most European nations, by pulling back its support for gender ideology. It’s madness and every sane person knows this to be true.

The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Federation of Pediatric Organizations, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association are still promoting transgenderism, the insane idea that the sexes are interchangeable. They are not—nature is not a social construct.

The Brits have figured it out. They decided on December 11 to make permanent an earlier decision by the country’s National Health Service to ban the use of puberty blockers for young people suffering from gender dysphoria.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said, “We need to act with caution and care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people, and follow the expert advice.” One of the experts he listened to was Hilary Cass. She noted that puberty blockers “are powerful drugs with unproven benefits and significant risks.”

Why is the U.S. on the wrong side of history on this issue? As I pointed out in Cultural Meltdown: The Secular Roots of Our Moral Crisis, what’s driving transgenderism is money and ideology. That’s a wicked stew.

The transgender industry is a multibillion dollar enterprise. Lots of medical professionals are making a quick buck exploiting sexually confused young people. They are prescribing puberty blockers and performing sex-reassignment surgery—including chemical castration and genital mutilation—on troubled youth.

Then there is the role of ideology. Transgenderism is based on the unscientific notion that the sexes are interchangeable. It holds that all it takes for a male to become a female, and vice versa, is to make public declarations of this sort. But we cannot change what nature has ordained. Nature is not like a piece of putty that can be twisted and reconfigured. God made sure of that.

Dr. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard is a Nobel Prize-winning biologist. She calls the transgender movement’s claims “unscientific” and “nonsense,” and says that allowing teenagers to determine their own sex is “madness.” Furthermore, she says, “All mammals have two sexes, and man is a mammal. There’s the one sex that produces the eggs, has two X chromosomes. That’s called female. And there’s the other one that makes the sperm, has an X and a Y chromosome. That’s called male.”

This is Biology 101. But it needs to be relearned, and no segment of the population needs to relearn it more than the medical profession. They need to put the money and ideology aside and start acting responsibly again.

Bill Donohue

Elton John used to be a crackhead, and now he regrets it. What got him started, he says, was marijuana. “I maintain that it’s addictive. It leads to other drugs.”

Of course, many people never take the next step. That doesn’t mean the Rocket Man is wrong: some people, for all kinds of reasons, find that it is an easy slide from weed to cocaine. That should concern all of us, not just drug users. It should also concern us that today’s marijuana is so much more potent than in years past, leading to a spike in ER visits.

“And when you’re stoned—and I’ve been stoned—you don’t think normally.” The scientific literature on this subject, which is voluminous, backs him up 100 percent. So why are Americans so high on legalizing marijuana? That’s what all the polls say.

Beware of polls. A better index of public opinion is the ballot box. Last month, marijuana legalization was on the ballot in three states: Florida,  North Dakota and South Dakota. It failed in all three. Meanwhile, Nebraska voters chose to legalize medical marijuana.

Voters in the uber-liberal state of Massachusetts rejected a proposal to legalize natural psychedelics. Oregon voters, who effectively legalized all drugs in 2020, realized what was happening to their quality of life and voted to reinstate penalties on marijuana and other drugs.

Conservatives have common sense; liberals not so much. That’s why liberals had to learn from a crisis what conservatives intuitively knew all along—they didn’t need to witness crazed people walking around cities, lying face down in the street, to know that drugs kill psychologically and physically.

If anyone thinks this is an exaggeration, just walk the streets of New York City. The stench of pot is everywhere and the zombie-like posture of people walking the streets and sidewalks is commonplace. Moreover, ask the cops who give a summons to dangerous drivers if they can be sure it is alcohol abuse that is in play. Unlike booze, there is no test for drivers high on weed.

“Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.” Take it from Sir Elton—he’s been there, done that. And he is telling the truth.

Bill Donohue

The populist surge needs to go further: the elites who claim to represent minorities are too often working against their needs. Take the issues of school choice and affirmative action. African Americans, Asians and Hispanics favor the former but oppose application of the latter; in general, their leaders oppose the former and favor the latter.

The National Urban League, the NAACP and the National Action Network are all opposed to school choice and charter schools. Marc Morial, president of the Urban League, says school vouchers “would be devastating to black kids.” The NAACP called for a moratorium on new charter schools in 2016. And the Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, claims charter schools have a racist history.

The black elite badly misrepresent their people. No demographic group is more gung-ho for school choice than African Americans. Fully 73 percent want the right to send their child to the school of their choice. They are also demanding that their public officials provide more money for charter schools.

These same three black civil rights organizations are also pro-affirmative action. When asked a generic question about affirmative action—“Is it a good thing?”—61 percent of blacks agree that it is, but when it is applied to a specific subject, the results are different. For example, 71 percent of blacks say colleges should not consider race or ethnicity when deciding which students to accept.

The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) is a coalition of 38 national organizations. It has plenty to say about education, but it is noticeably silent on school choice and charter schools, owing, no doubt, to the fact that Asians favor both. Indeed, 70 percent of Asians want school choice, and in big metropolitan areas, they are in the forefront of the pro-charter school movement. NCAPA strongly supports affirmative action, and while 53 percent of Asians say that it is a good thing in general, 76 percent say it should not be a deciding factor in school admissions criteria.

There are two Hispanic civil rights organizations that claim to speak for their people, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and UnidosUS (formerly National Center of La Raza).

Not too long ago they wanted to drop the terms Latino and Latina in referring to Hispanic men and women, respectively, favoring instead the sex-neutral term, Latinx. But due to the backlash from their own people, LULAC dropped the term from its communications in 2021 and UnidosUS only sparingly invokes its, such as when referring to LGBTQ Latinx.

There is a reason for this: only 2 percent of Hispanics like Latinx—they are quite comfortable being identified as a man or a woman.

LULAC is opposed to school choice but favors charter schools. UnidosUS is agnostic on school choice but is also supportive of charter schools. By contrast, 71 percent of Hispanics want school choice (they also favor charter schools). LULAC and UnidosUS support affirmative action, but only 36 percent of Hispanics say it is a good thing in general; 81 percent are opposed to it being a factor in deciding which students to admit.

It is striking how much influence the big donor class has on these civil rights groups. Black, Asian and Hispanic organizations had better bow to their left-wing demands or they will be cut off lickety split. So even if it means selling out their own people, the leading spokesmen are prepared to do so.

It is not white supremacists who are working against the educational interests of minorities—it is the leaders in their own community. They are a national disgrace.

Bill Donohue

Surveys show that the majority of Americans want illegal immigrants deported, especially those who have been convicted of crime. If they were asked exclusively about those convicted of sex crimes, that number would surely be greater. But many in Congress disagree—they want to keep them right here in America.

In the last year, a total of 158 Congressmen voted not to deport migrants convicted of sex crimes, and 140 of them were reelected in November. Everyone of them were Democrats.

Here are the names of those who were reelected and voted to keep illegal migrants convicted of sex crimes in the United States.

Rep. Alma Adams, North Carolina
Rep. Pete Aguilar, California
Rep. Gabe Amo, Rhode Island
Rep. Jake Auchincloss, Massachusetts
Rep. Becca Balint, Vermont
Rep. Nanette Barragán, California
Rep. Joyce Beatty, Ohio
Rep. Ami Bera, California
Rep. Donald Beyer, Virginia
Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr., Georgia
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon
Rep. Shontel Brown, Ohio
Rep. Julia Brownley, California
Rep. Salud Carbajal, California
Rep. André Carson, Indiana
Rep. Troy Carter, Louisiana
Rep. Greg Casar, Texas
Rep. Ed Case, Hawaii
Rep. Sean Casten, Illinois
Rep. Kathy Castor, Florida
Rep. Joaquin Castro, Texas
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Florida
Rep. Judy Chu, California
Rep. Katherine Clark, Massachusetts
Rep. Yvette Clarke, New York
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri
Rep. James Clyburn, South Carolina
Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee
Rep. Gerald Connolly, Virginia
Rep. Luis Correa, California
Rep. Jim Costa, California
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Texas
Rep. Jason Crow, Colorado
Rep. Danny Davis, Illinois
Rep. Madeleine Dean, Pennsylvania
Rep. Diana DeGette, Colorado
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut
Rep. Suzan DelBene, Washington
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, California
Rep. Debbie Dingell, Michigan
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Texas
Rep. Veronica Escobar, Texas
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, New York
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, Texas
Rep. Bill Foster, Illinois
Rep. Valerie Foushee, North Carolina
Rep. Lois Frankel, Florida
Rep. Maxwell Frost, Florida
Rep. John Garamendi, California
Rep. Jesús “Chuy” Garcia, Illinois
Rep. Robert Garcia, California
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, Texas
Rep. Dan Goldman, New York
Rep. Jimmy Gomez, California
Rep. Al Green, Texas
Rep. James Himes, Connecticut
Rep. Steny Hoyer, Maryland
Rep. Valerie Hoyle, Oregon
Rep. Jared Huffman, California
Rep. Glenn Ivey, Maryland
Rep. Jonathan Jackson, Illinois
Rep. Sara Jacobs, California
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Washington
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, New York
Rep. Henry “Hank” Johnson, Georgia
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, California
Rep. Bill Keating, Massachusetts
Rep. Robin Kelly, Illinois
Rep. Ro Khanna, California
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois
Rep. Greg Landsman, Ohio
Rep. Rick Larsen, Washington
Rep. John Larson, Connecticut
Rep. Summer Lee, Pennsylvania
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, New Mexico
Rep. Ted Lieu, California
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, California
Rep. Doris Matsui, California
Rep. Lucy McBath, Georgia
Rep. Jennifer McClellan, Virginia
Rep. Betty McCollum, Minnesota
Rep. Morgan McGarvey, Kentucky
Rep. James McGovern, Massachusetts
Rep. Gregory Meeks, New York
Rep. Rob Menendez, New Jersey
Rep. Grace Meng, New York
Rep. Kweisi Mfume, Maryland
Rep. Gwen Moore, Wisconsin
Rep. Joseph Morelle, New York
Rep. Seth Moulton, Massachusetts
Rep. Kevin Mullin, California
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, New York
Rep. Richard Neal, Massachusetts
Rep. Joe Neguse, Colorado
Rep. Donald Norcross, New Jersey
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York
Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota
Rep. Frank Pallone, New Jersey
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, California
Rep. Scott Peters, California
Rep. Brittany Pettersen, Colorado
Rep. Chellie Pingree, Maine
Rep. Mark Pocan, Wisconsin
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts
Rep. Mike Quigley, Illinois
Rep. Delia Ramirez, Illinois
Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland
Rep. Deborah Ross, North Carolina
Rep. Raul Ruiz, California
Rep. Linda Sánchez, California
Rep. Mary Scanlon, Pennsylvania
Rep. Janice Schakowsky, Illinois
Rep. Bradley Schneider, Illinois
Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott, Virginia
Rep. David Scott, Georgia
Rep. Terri Sewell, Alabama
Rep. Brad Sherman, California
Rep. Darren Soto, Florida
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, New Mexico
Rep. Haley Stevens, Michigan
Rep. Marilyn Strickland, Washington
Rep. Mark Takano, California
Rep. Shri Thanedar, Michigan
Rep. Mike Thompson, California
Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Michigan
Rep. Jill Tokuda, Hawaii
Rep. Paul Tonko, New York
Rep. Norma Torres, California
Rep. Ritchie Torres, New York
Rep. Lori Trahan, Massachusetts
Rep. Lauren Underwood, Illinois
Rep. Juan Vargas, California
Rep. Marc Veasey, Texas
Rep. Nydia Velázquez, New York
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida
Rep. Maxine Waters, California
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey
Rep. Nikema Williams, Georgia
Rep. Frederica Wilson, Florida

Bill Donohue

The results of the presidential election show that well-educated, wealthy secularists are not like the rest of us. In virtually every demographic group, Donald Trump either won, or did better than he did in 2016, with the exception of this cadre of voters.

All the exit polls show that Trump beat Kamala Harris among men, whites, middle-age voters, and seniors; she won with women, non-whites and young people. But Trump won the white women’s vote, and the married women’s vote. Harris won among women who were not married. Indeed, single women—those who never married or are widowed or divorced—always vote for the Democratic candidate. Security is clearly an issue with these voters.

Regarding education, Harris won the college graduate vote and did even better among those with a postgraduate degree. Trump did best with those who attended high school (or dropped out) and among those with some college or an associate’s degree. The effect that college has on one’s political views is a reflection of the liberal-left bias of the faculty; there are very few conservatives among the professoriate.

Religion is another important factor. Catholics and Protestants voted handily for Trump; Harris won the Jewish and the Muslim vote, also by wide margins. Orthodox Jews voted for Trump but secular Jews, who are the majority, voted for Harris. Muslims lean Democratic though in local elections, where gender ideology reigns in the schools, they turn to the Republicans.

Why, if Trump either won or did better than he did in 2016 with most segments of the population, did he fail with those who (a) have an income of $100,000 or more (b) possess a post-graduate degree and (c) are religiously unaffiliated?

Wealthy, well-educated persons do not have the same kinds of experiences that most Americans have. They live in comfort and in low-crime areas, which means it is easy for them to exercise their virtue-signaling muscles: they show how much they care for the poor by voting for those who support generous welfare policies. This allows them not to feel guilty about doing nothing for the poor themselves.

Having spent many more years in school than the rest of us, they are natural candidates for believing what their professors believe in—nothing. Too smart to believe in God, they are obsessed with their own godly abilities. While they do not believe in the mystery of faith, they are much more likely than the rest of us to believe that a man who says he is a woman is—bingo—a woman.

It’s time we stopped calling those with lots of degrees well-educated, even if many of them are. It would be more accurate to say they are well-schooled. Moreover, it seems plain that there is an inverse correlation between education and common sense: the more years spent in school, the less common sense one is bound to have.

It’s also time we started importing more working class people from around the world. We badly need more Americans with common sense.

Bill Donohue

The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) annually collects data on the state of religious liberty. Its latest report garnered media coverage on both sides of the Atlantic, but most of it was simply a tally of offenses committed against Christians; the motives of the perpetrators were given scant coverage. Had they probed more deeply, they would have reported on the oversized role played by militant secularists.

Given that most of the major media outlets in North America and Europe are left-of-center, this outcome is not surprising. It seems clear that this was less an oversight than a calculated decision.

In the nearly 15 years that OIDAC Europe has been documenting anti-Christian hate crimes, there has been a steady increase in the number of incidents; they range from vandalism to murder. The researchers found  there were 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes in 35 European countries last year, including 232 personal attacks on Christians. France, the United Kingdom and Germany posted the worst records.

Who’s mostly responsible? The 2024 Report says most of the attacks were done by (a) radical Islamists (b) those who were anti-religious and (c) those who identify with the radical left. The latter two categories combine for the large share of the offenses, and although the Report does not say so explicitly, those two demographic groups are representative of militant secularists.

A review of the types of offenses detailed by the Report validates this conclusion. Radical Muslims are not the biggest threat to religious liberty in Europe; it is left-wing radicals who harbor an animus against Christianity. It should be mentioned that much the same kind of persecution is taking place in Canada and in the United States.

For example, those who follow traditional Christian teachings were discriminated against by losing their jobs, being subjected to unfounded investigations, the closing of bank accounts, humiliation and bullying.

“Expressing religious convictions such as ‘marriage is a union between one man and one woman,’ or ‘human life begins at conception,’” were among the reasons Christians lost their jobs. Those are the kinds of beliefs that trigger militant secularists on the left to act, not radical Islamists (they are more prone to strike out against converts to Christianity).

The Report also found that “In the context of employment, Christians who expressed traditional views, were often reported by activists, subjected to disciplinary hearings—which some described as interrogations about their personal beliefs—and subsequently dismissed.” Left-wing activists fit the bill completely.

Here’s how discrimination on the basis of traditional moral beliefs works. “Any mention of faith in a CV precludes one from an interview. My yearly assessment was lowered because I spoke of Christ.” That is precisely the type of bullying that secular activists are very good at.

Besides the workplace, traditional Christians are being targeted in the universities. “This perception seems to stem mainly from a hostile attitude towards Christianity among students from the political left and from negative preconceptions about Christians that are attributed to anyone who professes the Christian faith.” That says it all.

Some Christian haters in Europe have gone so far as to punish praying in public. They even attack those who pray silently. Christians are being interrogated by the police, fined and prosecuted if they pray outside an abortion clinic.

Adam Smith-Connor is an army veteran and father. He was found guilty in October 2024 by a British court after “praying silently in his own mind in a public area in a so-called ‘buffer zone,’ because at one point his head was seen slightly bowed and his hands were clasped.” That was it. In Northern Ireland a woman who was caught peacefully praying by the roadside now faces up to six months in prison if found guilty.

In May, another person who was simply standing on a public street corner in a “buffer zone” in Birmingham was asked by the police, “Are you here to pray for the lives of unborn children?” By the way, these “buffer zones” include private homes: it is against the law in Scotland for private home owners to display pro-life signs if they can be seen within 200 meters of the premises.

This is the kind of thing we would expect from the dictators in North Korea, not democratically elected officials in Europe.

Transgenderism is all the rage in Europe. They are now banning teachers in the U.K. for “misgendering” a transgender pupil, meaning they are punishing teachers for calling a boy a boy and a girl a girl even when the boys and girls falsely claim that they are of the opposite sex.

In Switzerland, the government took a couple’s 16-year-old daughter from her parents and placed her in a state home because the parents objected to her “gender transition.”

This is the mark of totalitarians, and it is not radical Islamists who are doing it. It is the work of militant left-wing secularists who hate Christianity.

They are locking up the wrong people in Europe.

Bill Donohue

Today, the Catholic League erected a life-size nativity scene in Central Park. It is located on 59th St. and 5th Avenue, at the Grand Army Plaza, not far from the Plaza Hotel. We received a permit from the New York City Parks Department, as we have for decades.

We display our manger scene to let New Yorkers, and tourists, know that the Christmas season begins with Jesus—all the other celebrations that accompany Christmas are important, but they mean nothing without acknowledging the historical truth of the birth of the Prince of Peace.

We hope that New Yorkers, and those visiting New York City this Christmas season, will stop by and see the Catholic League’s nativity scene in Central Park. It will be up until January 6, 2025.

Bill Donohue

The National Basketball Association touts its commitment to social justice, emphasizing its opposition to racial discrimination. It’s also opposed to anything that might upset the LGBTQ crowd. But when it comes to religious minorities being persecuted, tortured, and subjected to cultural genocide in China, it takes the side of the barbarians.

After the Charlotte Hornets recently defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, 115-114, Hornets star LaMelo Ball was asked how his team managed to contain Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. “We loaded up—no homo.” The NBA front office went ballistic and fined him $100,000. But their interest in social justice clearly does not extend to truly serious cases of injustice.

In fact, the NBA has an incestuous relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It will never do anything to cross these totalitarian thugs. That’s because China’s share of the NBA’s revenue is in the double digits, and may reach 20 percent by the end of this decade. Money talks, morality walks.

It has been well reported that the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority, are used as slave laborers in China, most prominently by Nike, the giant athletic company. What has received far less attention is the degree to which the CCP persecutes Christians, and not just laborers.

Dr. Bob Fu is president of ChinaAid. Last December he gave his assessment of conditions in China. “Without exaggeration, the persecution against the Christians and other religious minorities has really reached the worst level we have not seen in 40 years since the Cultural Revolution…. For the first time, we have seen the Communist Party is cracking down on the Church across the board; literally declared a war against Christianity.”

Aid to Church in Need agrees. “Churches are monitored and sometimes forcibly closed. Plus, it is illegal for anyone under 18 to attend Church services. Many Christians have been arrested and sentenced for unclear reasons.”

International Christian Concern specializes in tracking Christian persecution globally. One of the most despicable tactics used by the CCP is sinicization [Sino means China-related] which means that cultural institutions must put aside their norms and values and adopt the thinking of the Party. This is nothing less than cultural genocide, an attempt to wipe out allegiances to every person and institution unaffiliated with the CCP.

Applied to Christians, this means that all must bow to the CCP, not God. Thus, Christians are told to take down crosses and pictures of Jesus in their homes and replace them with communist symbols and pictures of Xi Jinping, the head of the CCP. If they don’t cooperate, they risk losing state benefits, if not more.

The NBA knows this to be true but doesn’t care. It’s all about the cash.

One brave soul who spoke out against this persecution is Daryl Morey. In 2019, when he was the general manager of the Houston Rockets, he issued a tweet that said, “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.” The freedom-loving people in Hong Kong, who are terrified of the CCP taking over altogether, loved it. Who was angry? The CCP, the Houston Rockets and the NBA.

Morey got the message—shut up and fall in line. He promptly apologized to Chinese basketball fans and sponsors, saying, “I would hope that those who are upset will know that offending or misunderstanding them was not my intention.”

He had no choice. The owner of the Rockets threw Morey overboard, and Rockets player James Harden said, “We apologize. We love China.” NBA superstar LeBron James was positively condescending, saying Morey “wasn’t educated on the situation.” But at least they didn’t play both sides of the street.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver did. He said that while Morey had a right to say what he did, he emphasized that the NBA was “apologetic” over what happened. Responding to the CCP backlash, he dutifully obliged his masters by saying that although the Party cancelled an event with the Brooklyn Nets, the NBA would still donate computers, as planned, to an education center in Shanghai.

The NBA under Silver is so corrupt that last year America First Legal petitioned the Department of Justice to require the NBA and Silver to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as agents of the CCP.

Today there is no bigger fan of the CCP in the NBA than Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai. Even though he was born in Taiwan—which the CCP plans to take over—he is determined to forge better relations with the tyrants in exchange for their goodwill, which is measured in dollars. He is chairman of Alibaba, a CCP-affiliated company.

Not surprisingly, Tsai wanted Morey fired. Worse, he defends the wholesale abuse of human rights in China, saying, “80%-90% of the population” are “very, very happy.” He doesn’t have the guts to talk to Catholics living under this nightmare regime.

The elites who run the NBA are in it for the money, and the money alone. They are infinitely more concerned about a gay slur than they are in wholesale violations of elementary human rights. Their venality is stunning.

Contact Adam Silver: adam@nba.com

Bill Donohue

In this post-election season, when half the country is celebrating and the other half is crying, we all need to chill out a bit. So enjoy reading this post. It’s our Thanksgiving treat.

In this postmodern world, where subjectivism rules, the line between art and junk has become increasingly blurred. The latest iteration was the conceptual artwork by Maurice Cattelan, “Comedian,” that sold for $6.2 million at an auction held at Sotheby’s in New York City on November 20. It consists of a banana, duct-taped to a wall.

Bidding started at $800,000 and quickly ballooned to $5.2 million; the buyer had to pay another $1 million in fees to Sotheby’s. The buyer, Chinese-born Justin Sun, said, “I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honoring its place in both art history and popular culture.” The banana was bought at a fruit stand earlier in the day for 35 cents.

Got to give it to Cattelan—he knows how to attract attention.

In 2001, at a Christie’s auction, Cattelan’s “The Ninth Hour” was sold. The installation depicted Pope John Paul II being crushed by a meteorite while clutching his crozier. At the time, I said, it “strikes us as being bizarre, but not necessarily anti-Catholic.” Cattelan was disappointed with the lack of reaction to his work, which he confessed was a “little” anti-Catholic.

Pope Francis likes Cattelan’s work. Last March Cattelan was invited to create a large outdoor installation for the Vatican’s Venice Biennale Pavilion; it was displayed at the Giudecca Women’s Prison. The pope attended the exhibition. There were no bananas in sight.

It’s a good thing Cattelan taped the banana to the wall; otherwise, it might have been thrown in the garbage.

Last month two beer cans were displayed in a Dutch museum. This masterpiece, which was created in 1988 by Alexandre Lavet, was titled, “All the Good Times We Spent Together.” What made it so special, the museum’s director said, is that the beer cans were displayed on top of a glass elevator. The elevator mechanic on duty mistakenly threw them in the garbage.

This is not unusual in the art world.

British artist Damien Hirst had his magnum opus—candy wrappers, newspapers, coffee cups, ashtrays and beer bottles—tossed in the garbage in a London gallery in 2001. Three years later at the Tate museum in Britain, the brilliant work of German artist Gustav Metzger, which consisted of a bag of rubbish, was given the heave-ho by janitors. In 2015, empty champagne bottles, confetti and cigarette butts—the work of two genius women artists—wound up in the trash after being displayed in an Italian museum.

None of these artists are in the same league with the banana man. But even if the pope is one of his fans, Cattelan still has his critics.

In 2011, the New York Times said, “It may be time for him to quit.” I courageously defended him, noting that “Last year he installed a solid-gold toilet in a Guggenheim restroom. If he has another one left over, maybe he’ll gift it the Catholic League.” But I felt obliged to note that “we have union labor in the building so unfortunately they won’t allow him to install it.”

“Yes, we have no bananas” at the Catholic League. However, reading about this junk clearly makes us go bananas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bill Donohue

Little kids think in terms of good guys and bad guys, and that is quite normal. But when adults think this way about history, it is sophomoric, if not dangerous.

Hardly a Thanksgiving goes by, especially in recent years, without some left-wing sage informing us how rotten the history of Thanksgiving is. They divide the world the way the kids do—good guys and bad guys—and, of course, the good guys are the Indians and the bad guys are the Europeans. Drunk with ideology, they are impervious to reason, so deep is their hatred of the West, and of the United States, in particular.

Here’s a sample of the headlines taken from Thanksgiving bashers in the last few years:

“Thanksgiving: Why Some Push Back Against the Holiday”

“The Truth About Thanksgiving: The Indigenous Fight Against Erasure”

“The History of Thanksgiving from the Native American Perspective”

“Everything You Learned About Thanksgiving Is Wrong”

“Rethinking Thanksgiving Celebrations: Native Perspectives”

“Thanksgiving: Why Do Some Americans Not Celebrate It?”

“The Real History of Thanksgiving Can Be Painful For Many”

“What is the History of Thanksgiving? Why is it Controversial?”

“Why the Thanksgiving Myth Persists, According to Science”

“The History and Controversy of Thanksgiving”

“Should America Keep Celebrating Thanksgiving?”

“Why Is Thanksgiving Controversial?”

“The Horrible History of Thanksgiving”

“What is the Real History of Thanksgiving?”

“The Real History of Thanksgiving in America”

Most of these articles bash Thanksgiving, offering a parade of alleged horribles committed by the white man against the red man. The former are demonic; the latter are angelic.

The authors set themselves up as the ultimate fact checkers, dispelling what they contend are myths. In reality, they are frauds—boilerplate ideologues who delight in thinking they are smarter than the rest of us. They see us as “garbage” or “deplorables,” the terms used by Biden and Hillary to describe their foes.

The good news is that most of these articles were published in left-wing media outlets, which means few read them, and only the last one was released this year. That’s a sign that the woke crowd knows they are on the defensive these days. The bad news is that the last one on the list, which was published this year, appeared in the pages of Reader’s Digest.

While “The Real History of Thanksgiving in America” does not condemn America, it has a lordly tone to it. Readers are told by the author, Charlotte Hilton Andersen, that what they learned in school about Thanksgiving was wrong, contending that “this rosy picture of modern celebrations leaves out the most of the real history of Thanksgiving (bold in the original).”

She informs us that “Yes, you can still settle down with family to give thanks.” That was so sweet of her. She hastens to add—you just knew it was coming—“But it’s important to know what you are celebrating and unlearn some long-held myths.” Her arrogance is stunning.

So who is this sage? Is Andersen an historian? No. Is she a social scientist? No. She is a journalist who writes mostly about etiquette. Oh, yes, she is also a fitness instructor.

We don’t need to get a tutorial by some discontented, and badly educated, savant to enjoy Thanksgiving. Nor do we need their permission to do so.

So have a family toast this Thanksgiving, being thankful to God that we live in such a free and prosperous country.