A rendering of a millirobot that can break up blood clots. (University of Twente)

Dear Commons Community,

Blood clots are a serious health problem that can cause strokes, heart attacks and even death.

Some blood clots can be removed by doctors using a flexible tool that goes inside the affected vein or artery, but others are too hard to reach.

What if there was a way to break up those clots without surgery or drugs?

A Blood Clot

That’s the idea behind a new invention by scientists in the Netherlands.  As reported by Fox News.

Scientists have created tiny robots that can swim through your blood vessels and drill into the clots. These robots are called millirobots, and they are about the size of a grain of rice. They have a corkscrew-shaped body that contains a small magnet. The magnet helps them move and steer through the blood.

The millirobots are inserted into the blood vessel through a small tube called a cannula. Then, an external magnet that rotates is used to control them. The external magnet makes the millirobots spin along their axis, which allows them to swim through the blood. They can swim against the direction of the blood flow to reach the clot.

Once they get to the clot, they start drilling into it. This breaks up the clot into smaller pieces that can be carried away by the blood. Then, the external magnet changes the direction of rotation, which makes the millirobots swim back to the cannula. They can then be taken out of the blood vessel.

At the Technical Medical Centre of the University of Twente, the researchers set up their experiment with a real aorta and kidneys. The scientists were able to guide multiple millirobots through the vessels and break up clots. They think the millirobots could work even better with a stronger external magnet.

The millirobots could offer a new way to treat blood clots that are hard to reach or dissolve. They could reduce the need for surgery or drugs, which can have side effects or complications. They could also deliver drugs to specific places in the body where they are needed the most, such as tumors or infections.

The lead scientist, Asst. Prof. Islam Khalil from the University of Twente, said in an interview, “The robots can deliver drugs to very specific places in the body where the drug is needed the most. That way we have minimal side effects in the rest of the body.”

The technology is being developed further by a partnership between Radboud University Medical Center and Triticum Medical. They hope to make the millirobots more efficient and safe for human use. They also want to explore other applications of the millirobots, such as cleaning arteries or removing plaque.

The millirobots could be a game-changer for treating blood clots and other diseases. They could save lives and improve health outcomes for millions of people. They are an example of how tiny robots can have a big impact.

Bring on the tiny robots!

Tony

Justice Neil Gorsuch

Dear Commons Community,

As the legal battles over whether Donald Trump is eligible to appear on 2024 ballots moves toward the Supreme Court, one justice in particular is being singled out by the former president’s critics: his first nominee, Neil Gorsuch.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, cited Gorsuch in her decision Thursday that Trump is ineligible to appear on that state’s ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. When the Colorado Supreme Court made a similar decision earlier this month, the Colorado justices also quoted Gorsuch. As reported by USA Today.

Trump’s opponents have zeroed in on an  opinion Gorsuch wrote in 2012 when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit – nearly five years before Trump named him to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. The case dealt with a presidential candidate who was struck from Colorado’s ballot because he was not, as the Constitution requires, a “natural born citizen.”

“As then-Judge Gorsuch recognized,” the majority in the Colorado Supreme Court decision wrote, citing a line from the 2012 opinion. In Maine, “as now Justice Gorsuch observed,” Shenna Bellows wrote in her decision, before quoting the same line.

Why Trump’s critics are citing Gorsuch

Many experts predict the U.S. Supreme Court will resolve the ballot cases on limited grounds, avoiding central questions about whether Trump took part in an insurrection. Even if that’s true, quoting from one of the nine justices on the high court is a well-established tactic for advocates trying to build a five-vote majority.

Writing for a three-judge panel in 2012, Gorsuch dismissed the idea that Colorado was required to place Abdul Karim Hassan’s name on the presidential ballot even if he was ineligible to assume the presidency. A state’s “legitimate interest in protecting the integrity and practical functioning of the political process,” Gorsuch wrote, “permits it to exclude from the ballot candidates who are constitutionally prohibited from assuming office.”

What Gorsuch was saying, in other words, is states are empowered to assess a candidate’s eligibility for an office and strike them from the ballot if they don’t meet the criteria for holding office. The question raised in the Hassan case is just one part of the legal fight over Trump’s eligibility playing out in courts across the country today.

Colorado’s top court and Maine’s secretary of state both found Trump ineligible to serve under a Reconstruction-era provision of the 14th Amendment. That provision bars people who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and then took part in an insurrection from serving again.

Both paused the practical impact of their decisions until courts have a chance to review them. In Colorado, for instance, the state court said election officials should proceed as if Trump’s name will appear on the ballot until the U.S. Supreme Court resolves the matter.

Who decides what’s an insurrection?

The 4-3 majority of Colorado justices also noted a decision from a federal court that upheld California denying a place on the ballot for a 27-year-old presidential candidate because he was several years shy of meeting the Constitution’s 35-years-old age requirement. And they pointed to a decision by a federal court in Illinois that barred a 31-year-old from the presidential ballot.

Trump’s supporters counter that deciding whether a candidate took part in an insurrection is far more complicated – more of a judgement call – than determining whether they are natural-born citizen or meet the Constitution’s age requirement. That is a decision that ultimately should be left to Congress, they said, not election officials or even state courts.

The Colorado Republican Party has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and has asked for expedited review. Trump is expected to do so next week. If the nation’s top court agrees to hear the case, it could wind up resolving more than a dozen similar pending lawsuits across the country.

Justice Gorsuch and the U.S. Supreme Court’s deliberations in this case will be followed closely!

Tony

GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley at town hall meeting. Copyright – The Associated Press

Dear Commons Community,

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was asked at a New Hampshire town hall about the reason for the Civil War, and she didn’t mention slavery in her response. She walked back her comments hours later.

Asked during Wednesday night’s town hall what she believed had caused the war, Haley talked about the role of government, replying that it involved “the freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do.”

She then turned the question back to the man who had asked it. He replied that he was not the one running for president and wished instead to know her answer.

After Haley went into a lengthier explanation about the role of government, individual freedom and capitalism, the questioner seemed to admonish Haley, saying, “In the year 2023, it’s astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning the word ‘slavery.’”

“What do you want me to say about slavery?” Haley retorted before abruptly moving on to the next question.  As reported by The Associated Press.

Haley, the former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor, has been working to become the leading alternative to Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. It’s unclear whether her comments will have a long-term political impact, particularly among the independent voters who are crucial to her campaign.

She backpedaled on her Civil War comments 12 hours later, with her campaign disseminating a Thursday morning radio interview in which she said, “Of course the Civil War was about slavery,” something she called “a stain on America.” She went on to reiterate that “freedom matters. And individual rights and liberties matter for all people.”

Her GOP rivals quickly jumped on her original comments, even though most of them have been accused of downplaying the effects of slavery themselves.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign recirculated video of the original exchange on social media, adding the comment, “Yikes.” Campaigning in Iowa on Thursday, DeSantis said that Haley “has had some problems with some basic American history” and that it’s “not that difficult to identify and acknowledge the role slavery played in the Civil War.”

DeSantis faced criticism over slavery earlier in the year when Florida enacted new education standards requiring teachers to instruct middle school students that slaves developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit.” U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate and DeSantis’ then-rival for the GOP presidential nomination, rejected that characterization, saying instead that slavery was about “separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives.”

Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump’s campaign, sent out a release saying Haley’s response shows she “is clearly not ready for primetime.” The group also included an X post from Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, a Black Republican who supports Trump, reading “1. Psst Nikki… the answer is slavery PERIOD. 2. This really doesn’t matter because Trump is going to be the nominee. Trump 2024!”

Trump did not mention the two centuries of slavery in America at a 2020 event marking the 223rd anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. He instead focused on America’s founding having “set in motion the unstoppable chain of events that abolished slavery, secured civil rights, defeated communism and fascism and built the most fair, equal and prosperous nation in human history.”

Issues surrounding the origins of the Civil War and its heritage are still much of the fabric of Haley’s home state, and she has been pressed on the war’s origins before. As she ran for governor in 2010, Haley, in an interview with a now-defunct activist group then known as The Palmetto Patriots, described the war as between two disparate sides fighting for “tradition” and “change” and said the Confederate flag was “not something that is racist.”

During that same campaign, she dismissed the need for the flag to come down from the Statehouse grounds, portraying her Democratic rival’s push for its removal as a desperate political stunt.

Five years later, Haley urged lawmakers to remove the flag from its perch near a Confederate soldier monument following a mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in which a white gunman killed nine Black church members who were attending Bible study. At the time, Haley said the flag had been “hijacked” by the shooter from those who saw the flag as symbolizing “sacrifice and heritage.”

South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession — the 1860 proclamation by the state government outlining its reasons for seceding from the Union — mentions slavery in its opening sentence and points to the “increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery” as a reason for the state removing itself from the Union.

On Wednesday night, Christale Spain — elected this year as the first Black woman to chair South Carolina’s Democratic Party — said Haley’s response was “vile, but unsurprising.”

“The same person who refused to take down the Confederate Flag until the tragedy in Charleston, and tried to justify a Confederate History Month,” Spain said in a post on X, of Haley. “She’s just as MAGA as Trump,” Spain added, referring to Trump’s ”Make America Great Again” slogan.

Jaime Harrison, current chairman of the Democratic National Committee and South Carolina’s party chairman during part of Haley’s tenure as governor, said her response was “not stunning if you were a Black resident in SC when she was Governor.”

“Same person who said the confederate flag was about tradition & heritage and as a minority woman she was the right person to defend keeping it on state house grounds,” Harrison posted Wednesday night on X. “Some may have forgotten but I haven’t. Time to take off the rose colored Nikki Haley glasses folks.”

Haley is the only possible threat to Trump being the Republican nominee for president!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

If you are at all interested in television viewership, Variety has provided the 2023 rankings of television networks by number of viewers as determined by Nielsen.  Overall, NBC led the year in total viewers followed by CBS and ABC.   Below are the top 20 networks

Tony

Copyright:  Zoe McDonald

Dear Commons Community,

Birmingham-Southern College, a private liberal arts school in Birmingham, Ala., has been plagued by financial instability for years, with the 2009 recession and the coronavirus pandemic exacerbating the consequences of poor investments and continuing  debts.

Closure seemed imminent earlier this year, until Alabama lawmakers appeared to offer a lifeline: a law tailored toward saving the 167-year-old school with a program that could loan millions of dollars. But in October, the state treasurer denied the school’s loan application, sending administrators scrambling once again to save the school.

For many outside the school, its fate is simply about whether a private school that has mismanaged its finances deserves any kind of taxpayer support, especially in a state that has chronically underfunded its public education system. But for alumni and the school’s supporters, it is also a question of whether a classical liberal arts education is still valued at a moment when colleges and universities are facing intense scrutiny over their curricula, admissions and cultures.

Caught in the middle are hundreds of students and professors, drawn to the school’s promise and now forced to reckon with its mistakes.  As reported by The New York Times.

“There was a while where I didn’t even want to do my homework or my work or go to class because what’s the purpose now?” said Jadynn Hunter, 21, who is one semester away from graduating with a media studies degree. She, like many on campus, had been rattled by fears of the school’s possible closure a year ago, before the Legislature acted.

Should Birmingham-Southern close, it would be the end of one of the most prominent liberal arts colleges in a state that has very few. Its allies also argue that the city of Birmingham would be deprived of a respected institution that has funneled millions of dollars into the local economy and kept the state’s youth from leaving for opportunities elsewhere.

Enrollment at the school, which has a $21,500 annual tuition, has faltered to about 731 students this fall.  

Some professors, who have warily watched the conservative overhaul of public colleges like New College of Florida, also said that working at a private institution gave them more freedom to challenge their students on sensitive subjects.

“We are a liberal arts college — that doesn’t get translated very well in the state of Alabama,” said Jim Neel, who graduated from the college in 1971 and now teaches sculpture there. “Liberal arts education is the foundation of all higher education. It’s not something new, and it has nothing to do with party politics, but it seems to read that way.”

Though top Republicans balked at handing the school a grant, the Legislature ultimately negotiated a loan program tailored to Birmingham-Southern’s circumstances.

“People really try to beat down this school and we keep rising above,” said Anna Withers Wellingham, a 22-year-old senior and the student body president.

“This is a school that teaches you a lot more than a liberal arts education,” she added, “and it’s worth fighting for.”

Indeed! Good luck to Birmingham-Southern!

Tony

Reuters.

Dear Commons Communjty,

The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement yesterday, opening a new front in the legal battle over the unauthorized use of published work to train artificial intelligence technologies.  The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, contends that millions of articles published by The Times were used to train automated chatbots that now compete with the news outlet as a source of reliable information.

The Times is the first major American media organization to sue the companies, the creators of ChatGPT and other popular A.I. platforms, over copyright issues associated with its written works. As reported by the Times.

The suit does not include an exact monetary demand. But it says the defendants should be held responsible for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” related to the “unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.” It also calls for the companies to destroy any chatbot models and training data that use copyrighted material from The Times.

In its complaint, The Times said it approached Microsoft and OpenAI in April to raise concerns about the use of its intellectual property and explore “an amicable resolution,” possibly involving a commercial agreement and “technological guardrails” around generative A.I. products. But it said the talks had not produced a resolution.

An OpenAI spokeswoman, Lindsey Held, said in a statement that the company had been “moving forward constructively” in conversations with The Times and that it was “surprised and disappointed” by the lawsuit.

“We respect the rights of content creators and owners and are committed to working with them to ensure they benefit from A.I. technology and new revenue models,” Ms. Held said. “We’re hopeful that we will find a mutually beneficial way to work together, as we are doing with many other publishers.”

Microsoft declined to comment on the case.

The lawsuit could test the emerging legal contours of generative A.I. technologies — so called for the text, images and other content they can create after learning from large data sets — and could carry major implications for the news industry.

This lawsuit can have enormous repercussions for the AI industry.  Generative AI programs such as ChatGPT and Bard cannot build the databases that drive their searches without using the content provided by news and other media outlets.  And if they have to pay the providers for the content, it would severely impact their profitability.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Faculty, administrators and other key employees at SUNY Rockland Community College are facing nine days of furloughs — days off without pay — during the first half of 2024 as a way to plug a $3.4 million deficit. A retrenchment is also planned.

The college this fall revealed what was categorized as a “structural deficit,” which implies the imbalance could be expected to recur if budgeting practices remain the same.  As reported by Rockland/Westchester Journal News.

“Furloughs will remain in place until June 30, 2024, at which time decisions will be made as to what if any further actions may be taken based on fiscal projections,” according to a “Personnel Savings Plan (Resolution 33-2023)” passed by the college’s Board of Trustees, 7-0, on Nov. 27.

The 2024 furloughs are expected to save $695,155, according to an amended document signed Nov. 28 by RCC President Lester Edgardo Sandres Rápalo,.

‘Retrenchment plan’

The board also voted last month to ax nine administrator positions.

A college spokesperson confirmed Saturday that layoffs will be needed, but did not provide exactly how many of these positions are currently filled.

“In addition to the furloughs, we regrettably confirm that layoffs will be necessary,” Risa Hoag said on behalf of the college in an email. “These will affect fewer than 10 individuals. We are committed to providing support to those impacted and ensuring a respectful and fair process throughout.”

This “Retrenchment Plan” was described as a way for RCC to “streamline, refocus, optimize resources, and pave the way for renewed financial stability and growth.”

The administrator cuts are expected to save $914,663.

Union president: How did RCC reach ‘fiscal ruin’?

Rockland Community College Federation of Teachers Local 1871 President Kristopher Baker said during the Nov. 27 meeting that the uncertainties around RCC’s fiscal condition threaten to “rip the fabric of our institution apart.”

Baker also warned against the trustees violating various unions’ collective bargaining agreements with such actions as implementing furloughs.

“Removing negotiated salaries from loyal, hard working employees, while we’re hiring at salaries that are now greater than ever due to inflation to be competitive, is wrong,” said Baker, a biology professor who leads the unit that represents 115 full-time faculty.

Elizabeth Troutner, president of the Rockland Community College Federation of Administrators, told the trustees that her members had been told furloughs were on hold, and only knew the plan was moving ahead when reviewing the Nov. 27 meeting agenda.

Baker questioned why the college’s degrading fiscal issues weren’t apparent earlier. “We were at a place of balance on June 30, and on July 1, the college was in fiscal ruin,” Baker told the trustees. “How does that happen and no one notices?”

How furloughs will work

Furlough days will have to be taken once a month from January through March and then twice a month from April through June.

The unpaid days off are to be scheduled on a day an instructor is not teaching.

If a teaching position is partially funded by a grant, the instructor would receive the grant-funded portion of the salary.

Those who are part of the Civil Service Employees Association and Rockland Association of Management are not impacted. CSEA and RAM represent the largest portion of the county workforce.

Changes in leadership, COVID drain

Rápalo took over as president of the college this summer, shortly after the departure of Michael Baston, who led RCC since 2017. Baston left, mid-contract, to take over an Ohio community college.

Rápalo had been a provost at CUNY Bronx Community College.

When RCC confirmed the deficit in October, a spokesperson confirmed that furloughs were possible but said that none were planned at that time.

While the college has touted a 6% increase in student enrollment this fall, the student body had dwindled over the past several years, a situation exacerbated during COVID.

RCC’s operating costs for 2023-2024 were $67,158,655, according to State University of New York documents; 36.2% was covered by student tuition and fees; 23.3% by state aid; 34.3% by Rockland County (and other counties); and 6.2% through various other fees.

Tough times for community colleges on limited budgets!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Members of Harvard’s faculty and the university’s top governing body held a meeting last week to address the unprecedented problems at America’s oldest institution of higher learning.

Harvard faces many problems: rising antisemitism on campus and the university’s controversial response to it; President Claudine Gay’s ongoing plagiarism scandal; plunging applications and an Affirmative Action ruling from the Supreme Court have the markings of a wounded institution..  As reported by several news media.

The meeting, first reported by the New York Times, included Jeff Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School, and Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, among two other faculty. They had a “very cordial and frank” discussion with nonprofit founder Tracy Palandjian and private-equity executive Paul Finnegan – both members of the Harvard Corporation – Flier told CNN. Finnegan also confirmed to CNN that the discussion over dinner took place last week.

“We were asked to discuss our views of the problems, and what might be done over time to address them,” Flier said. “We did that – they asked many questions and we tried to answer them.”

Flier said he urged the members of the university’s top governance board to address the copious problems facing Harvard in a more direct manner. The Harvard Corporation has put out few statements – either in support of Gay, regarding antisemitism on campus, or about Gay’s plagiarism.

“If people are saying the university is making mistakes — they are talking about you!” Flier said he told the Corporation members. He first provided the quote to the New York Times.

Flier said the Corporation responded to the faculty’s candid comments with interest and followed up with questions. They said they’d share the feedback with colleagues and get back to the staff.

Gay’s plagiarism scandal has captured much of the public conversation about Harvard in recent days. The drip, drip, drip of plagiarism allegations has spilled out gradually, keeping the story in the headlines despite the Harvard Corporation’s continued backing of its president. The governing board has called her mistakes “regrettable” but said the incomplete citations do not constitute research misconduct.

But the plagiarism discussion in many ways has distracted from a much bigger and more pervasive problem Harvard has been unable to solve: rising antisemitism on campus.

The Department of Education opened an investigation into Harvard “for discrimination involving shared ancestry,” an umbrella term that encompasses both antisemitism and Islamophobia. Harvard is one of scores of schools the federal government has been investigating since Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel.

Gay came under intense fire on December 5 for her disastrous testimony on Capitol Hill, in which she and other university presidents struggled to say explicitly that calls on campus for genocide of Jews would constitute a violation of school rules.

Former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned soon after her testimony, but Harvard backed Gay. The Harvard Corporation issued a joint statement on December 12 fully supporting Gay.

Two weeks ago, Harvard announced early applications at Harvard College declined by 17% to four-year lows. It’s unclear why; Penn and other universities facing similar issues as Harvard said enrollment applications rose from the previous year.

The Class of 2028 also marks the first admissions cycle after the US Supreme Court gutted affirmative action in college, ruling the Harvard and University of North Carolina admissions programs were unconstitutional.

Last week, megadonor Len Blavatnik became the latest donor to pause giving to Harvard, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN. He told Harvard he wants the university to solve the antisemitism problems on campus.

At last week’s dinner, according to the Times, the board members “faced a grilling” regarding the university’s president. But no one pressed for Gay’s removal, the Harvard Crimson reported Monday night.

Palandjian told the dinner group, according to the Times, replacing Gay might not be going far enough to get Harvard back on course. Harvard required “generational change,” she said, according to the Times. CNN has reached out to Palandjian for comment.

Harvard spokesperson Jonathan Swain told the Times the dinner was a “constructive and positive conversation about the importance of academic freedom, civil discourse and intellectual diversity,” adding the “discussion of ‘generational change’ occurred in that context; that addressing such a vital and complex societal issue would not happen overnight, but would take time. It was not related to any individual at Harvard.” Swain did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Flier said he did not remember Palandjian’s comment exactly as reported in the Times.

“I recall her saying that to accomplish the actions we recommended (which did not include removing the president) would take a generation … not a generational change, which has a different meaning,” he told CNN.

Gay held a virtual town hall with hundreds of faculty members on that same Tuesday, CNN previously reported, according to a source familiar with the matter. Gay held that meeting just before announcing plans to issue corrections to her dissertation.

The plagiarism controversy that has swirled around Gay did not come up during that Zoom town hall with members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the source said. About a dozen Harvard faculty members spoke during the event and all of them were supportive, according to the source.

Yet, according to the Times, “private conversations with donors, professors and others indicate that there are signs of tensions among board members.”

“Some members have conceded they need to address the billowing storms…” the paper reported.

Yes they do!

Tony

Maureen Dowd.  Alex Wong – Getty IMages

Dear Commons Community,

Maureen Dowd had a column on Sunday, reflecting on Christmas and the Catholic Church. Entitled, “The Church, Living in Christmas Past,” she reminisced about her own family celebrating Christmas and segued to the present and Pope Francis’s recent moves to open the Church more to others especially the LGBTQ community.  She laments that she no longer feels as strongly about her faith.  She also sees Pope Francis’s positions as small steps and that she would like to see him do more for gays and for women. 

I agree!

Below is her entire column.

Tony

———————————————————————–

The New York Times

The Church, Living in Christmas Past

Dec. 23, 2023

By Maureen Dowd

Opinion Columnist

My mom loved Christmas so much, she would sometimes leave the tree up until April.

She dyed a sheet blue for the sky behind the crèche and made a star of tin foil. The cradle would stay empty until Christmas morning; when we tumbled downstairs, the baby would be in his place, and the house would smell of roasting turkey.

Mom always took it personally if you didn’t wear red or green on Christmas, and she signed all the presents “Love, Baby Jesus,” “Love, Virgin Mary” or “Love, St. Joseph.”

(My brother Kevin was always upset that Joseph got short shrift, disappearing from the Bible; why wasn’t he around to boast about Jesus turning water into wine?)

We went to midnight Mass back then, and it was magical, despite some boys wearing Washington Redskins bathrobes as they carried presents down the aisle for Baby Jesus.

In 2005, when my mom was dying, I played Christmas music for her, even though it was July and the muted TV showed Lance Armstrong cycling in the Tour de France.

Christmas was never my favorite holiday; I thought it was materialistic and stressful. But I try to honor my mom’s feeling that it is the happiest time of the year.

Now that my Christmas is more secular — my bond with the Catholic Church faded over the years of cascading pedophilia scandals — I miss the rituals, choirs and incense.

I didn’t mean to, but I succumbed to the irresistible pull of the TCM holiday doubleheader of “Going My Way” and “The Bells of St. Mary’s.” It’s hard to beat Ingrid Bergman’s luminous nun coaching a bullied kid in “the manly art of self-defense” — i.e., boxing — as Bing Crosby’s bemused Father O’Malley looks on.

As bonding agents, religion and patriotism have been superseded by Facebook and TikTok. But somehow social media, which was touted as an engine of connectivity, has left us disconnected and often lonely, not to mention combative. We’re all in our corners. We understand one another less than ever and have less desire to try.

When we ran up against mean priests as children, my mother would say the church was not the men who ran it. The church was God, and He was all kind and all just. But it was increasingly hard for me to stay loyal to a church plagued with scandals and cover-ups and to an institution that seemed to delight in excluding so many.

At a time when the church is shrinking in the West, Pope Francis has been on a mission to make it more tolerant and inclusive.

On Monday the 87-year-old pope decreed that priests could bless same-sex couples. But the Catholic Church and Francis say that men with a “deep-seated tendency” for homosexuality should not be ordained as priests.

The pope did not change church doctrine that marriage is only between a man and a woman. The blessing is not a sacrament and cannot be connected through “clothing, gestures or words” to a wedding.

“Blessings instead are better imparted, the Vatican says, during a meeting with a priest, a visit to a shrine, during a pilgrimage or a prayer recited in a group,” The Times’s Jason Horowitz explained.

It’s better than nothing, and it’s certainly better than the 2021 Vatican ruling that inveighed against blessing gay unions, arguing that God “cannot bless sin” and that sexual unions outside marriage, like gay unions, did not conform with “God’s designs.”

But the declaration — “Fiducia Supplicans” — seems like a narrow gesture, designed to be delivered in a furtive way.

If the pope wants to move beyond the suffocating stranglehold and hypocrisy of the conservative cardinals so the church survives and grows, he must be bolder.

When he started, in a puff of white smoke, he seemed open to change. He does believe in a more pastoral, less rule-driven church, but he’s not ready to change the archaic rules.

That’s true not only with gay people but also with women. Allowing women to just give readings during Mass, serve as altar girls and distribute communion is not going to cut it. Jesus surrounded himself with strong women, even a soi-disant fallen woman, but his church has long been run by misogynists. Nothing major has changed for women since that 1945 classic “The Bells of St. Mary’s,” except that nuns have been muzzled by the Vatican. Ordaining women as priests is not on the table, any more than allowing priests to marry is.

It’s passing strange that a church with Mary at the center of its founding story could suffocate women’s voices for centuries. The cloistered club of men running the church grew warped. They were more concerned with shielding the church from scandal than ensuring the safety of boys and girls being preyed upon by criminal priests.

The church can’t succeed in a time warp, moving at the pace of a snail on Ambien. Even Saudi Arabia is modernizing faster.

It is simply immoral to treat women and gay people as unworthy of an equal role in their church. After all, isn’t the whole point of the church to teach us what is right? And it’s not right to treat people as partial humans.