WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Millions of liberals were traumatized on Tuesday when they found themselves in agreement with Mitch McConnell, liberals are reporting.
From Santa Monica, California, to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, liberals sought emergency counselling, complaining of a range of symptoms after realizing that they were on the same side as the senator from Kentucky.
Carol Foyler, a liberal from Austin, Texas, said that she experienced lightheadedness and nausea after liking a Facebook post that detailed McConnell’s remarks in the Senate. “The room started spinning,” she said.
Dr. Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota Medical School said that liberals who are traumatized by agreeing with McConnell should “not be concerned” and should recognize that it is a temporary condition.
“They’re not going to wake up tomorrow and start agreeing with Devin Nunes,” he said.
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Skyline resident Al MacRae is delighted to finally see highly qualified scientists being elevated to positions of importance in the Biden administration. Click here to see these distinguished persons. Al, we are so pleased, along with you, to see your fellow National Academy members in key positions.
While MacRae has celebrated his ancestry through music (bagpipes), he is equally at home in the laboratory. The former pipe major is renowned in the fields of electronics and communications equipment. Upon earning degrees, including a Ph.D. in physics from the College of Arts and Sciences, he embarked on a 35-year career at Bell Telephone Labs in New Jersey. MacRae started out in the Basic Physics area, studying the location of atoms on surfaces; in time, he pioneered the development of silicon integrated circuits and satellite communications technology. He is the holder of 18 patents and is a member of numerous trade organizations, including the National Academy of Engineering, home to more than 2,000 peer-elected luminaries in business, government and academia.
From Jim S: For those of you who missed or chose not to watch the Inaugural Proceedings this morning I Invite you to view Amanda Gorman’s reading Inaugural Ceremony poem “The Hill We Climb”.
Experts detail vaccine unknowns, need to continue masking, distancing
BY Alvin Powell Harvard Staff Writer – from the Harvard Gazette
The nation’s top infectious disease doctor offered a timeline for ending the COVID-19 pandemic this week, saying that if the coming vaccination campaign goes well, we could approach herd immunity by summer’s end and “normality that is close to where we were before” by the end of 2021.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Wednesday that that estimate is dependent on significant numbers of Americans being willing to be inoculated with one of several vaccines in various stages of development. If 75 percent to 80 percent of Americans are vaccinated in broad-based campaigns likely to start in the second quarter of next year, then the U.S. should reach the herd immunity threshold months later. If vaccination levels are significantly lower, 40 percent to 50 percent, Fauci said, it could take a very long time to reach that level of protection.
“Let’s say we get 75 percent, 80 percent of the population vaccinated,” Fauci said. “If we do that, if we do it efficiently enough over the second quarter of 2021, by the time we get to the end of the summer, i.e., the third quarter, we may actually have enough herd immunity protecting our society that as we get to the end of 2021, we can approach very much some degree of normality that is close to where we were before.”
Fauci spoke at an online “When Public Health Means Business” event sponsored by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the New England Journal of Medicine. He addressed an array of topics from how he handles frustration over people who refuse basic, life-saving, public health measures, to why masks will continue to be needed even after vaccination starts (the vaccines haven’t yet been shown to stop transmission).
We celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this year at a time when our nation has come to a fork in the road and the fate of our democracy depends on the path we take. Just 12 days removed from the insurrectionists’ attack on the Capitol that left six dead, and two days prior to the inauguration of Joseph Biden as our 46th president, some are making the case that pursuing impeachment does greater harm to the nation. According to the Wall Street Journal, Biden should instead try to “establish his leadership by calling off the House impeachment in service of his vow that this is a ‘time to heal.’” It would be difficult to imagine a sentiment more antithetical to the meaning of Rev. Dr. King’s legacy. In response to a man who claimed that the Montgomery Bus Boycott was destroying peace and good race relations, King commented, “I agreed that it is more tension now. But peace is not merely the absence of this tension, but the presence of justice.” Fifty-three years after his assassination, by some perverse logic, people still think that protesting injustice is what creates division and not that division and unrest stems from injustice. We have not yet learned that there will be no healing without accountability. America has raised the practice of erasing our history into an art, but it is a poisonous gift we must finally learn to reject. The same white supremacy that killed Dr. King in 1968 stormed our capitol on January 6th. The whole world bore witness to President Trump’s incitement to violence that day, and yet some among us ask with a straight face that we simply move on? We moved on when he incited violence at his campaign rallies. We moved on when he threatened violence against allies and other nuclear powers. The desire to move on after calling on supporters to invade the People’s House must either be a terrible joke or a delusion. Dr. King reminds us that this is the sort of peace that “all men of goodwill hate. It is the type of peace that is obnoxious. It is the type of peace that stinks in the nostrils of the almighty God.” Dr. King left no room for confusion that the road to peace must travel through accountability, through justice and through truth. “If peace means keeping my mouth shut in the midst of injustice and evil, I don’t want it. If peace means being complacently adjusted to a deadening status quo, I don’t want peace. If peace means a willingness to be exploited economically, dominated politically, humiliated and segregated, I don’t want peace.” Doing the difficult work of determining the truth and demanding accountability for the president and the insurrectionists he incited is a small down payment on the truth required for democracy. Without that difficult work true healing and real peace can never occur. Dr. King — and all of us — deserve at least that much.
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Topic: WACCRA Educational Seminar – Facing Death: Finding Dignity, Hope and Healing at the End. Discussion about advance care planning and our choices at the end by the author. Book available here or contact Jim directly.
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, here’s a lovely two-minute immersion in amazing archival footage from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. No doubt Dr. King would want us to remember and celebrate all the people who made the march possible – inspiring us 57 years later to keep working, marching, and fighting for jobs, freedom, equal rights, liberation, inclusivity, and a world where Black lives truly matter.
We wanted to make this labor of love available for congregations and individuals everywhere, so download and share it far and wide: in worship, on social media, on your website, with your family and friends. Let freedom ring!
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The meeting was held via the Skyline Residents’ Chat Room on Zoom. Put Barber opened the meeting at a little after 4 pm.
PAST EVENTS
Sue Van Leuven reported on a recent meeting of the First Hill Improvement Association (FHIA) Urban Design and Public Space subcommittee. There are no developments in the neighborhood pending review by the city’s Design Commission – most unusual. FHIA’s outreach to homeless people continues with a new staff member in place. Planning for the Terry Avenue upgrades continues. The First Hill Park renovations are nearly complete; some neighbors have asked that the construction fences be left in place for a while to prevent the park from becoming a homeless encampment. The city has planted a dozen trees in the neighborhood to replace trees removed by developers. Renewal letters have been sent to current members; members’ dues are FHIA’s principal source of operating income – please renew. FHIA publishes an update newsletter every Friday which is free to anyone who signs up; for information about signing up, see the firsthill.org website or contact Sue Van Leuven (msuevanl@yahoo.com or 206-407-1923).
COMING EVENTS
The next meeting of the Washington State Senior Lobby will start at 10 AM on Tuesday, January 19, via ZOOM. The agenda includes a presentation by Bill Moss, head of the Aging and Long-Term Services Administration in the Department of Social and Health Services as well as updates from many other organizations – both nonprofits and government agencies – with an interest in the wellbeing and health of senior citizens. Rick Baugh remarked that WACCRA has found attending these meetings to be very useful for establishing connections with like-minded and helpful organizations. Put Barber said he had attended one meeting some time ago in Olympia which was very interesting; the opportunity to attend via Zoom is welcome because it means no trip on the freeway is necessary. The Senior Lobby normally meets on the third Monday of each month, but (Barb Williams pointed out) because the third Mondays in January and February are holidays, the meeting in those months will be on the following Tuesday. Anyone with an interest is welcome to attend. The Zoom link is https://zoom.us/j/95847496275?pwd=UTMxZTRvaWwvNXdZYlE3U29ZTmVaQT09.
Secretary of State Kim Wyman will talk to residents using Zoom at 10:30 AM on January 26th. Jim Sanders will be sending her a list of questions and topics suggested by Skyline residents early next week and invited suggestions from CEG attendees. The audience for Wyman’s talk may be larger than usual because invitations have been issued to residents of Fred Lind Manor and Parkshore. Put Barber noted that Sec. Wyman has been in the news a good deal recently as a defender of Washington’s universal mail-in voting while various forms of mail-in voting have been questioned in other states. He added that she is entering her third term as Secretary of State and is now the only state-wide elected Republican in the three westernmost states.
DISCUSSIONS
Rick Baugh gave an update on the work of the Washington Continuing Care Residents Association (WACCRA). The highest priority for the immediate future is working alongside LeadingAge to facilitate implementation of the recently negotiated “Commitment to CCRC Practices” which has now been signed by the executive directors of 22 out of 23 CCRCs in Washington state. (LeadingAge is the association of operators of senior living facilities – and other services for seniors – in Washington state.) This agreement covers three issues that have been challenges from residents: access to information about actuarial studies that assess the financial health of CCRCs; timely refunds of entry deposits; and notification by management of pending decisions that would affect the “residents’ health, welfare, and financial security in material ways” in order to permit residents’ associations to provide input to the decision and to receive an explanation of how their input has been considered. WACCRA is also studying a couple of other topics of residents’ concern and will be considering further negotiations with Leading- Age in the future. WACCRA has moved its Annual Meeting to the Fall and the hope is that Professor Katherine Pearson, a leading expert on the legal issues that affect senior living facilities, can come to the state to give the keynote and meet with CCRC leaders. Put Barber asked about the status of the paper her student is writing on the Commitment to CCRC Practices; Rick said he had seen one draft but the writing may have been overcome by the many challenges facing facilities for seniors in the past year. He mentioned one thought-provoking idea from the draft he’s seen: The author compared CCRCs to the now-discredited idea of a company town with a company store where the workers have little or no choices in housing and shopping.
One benefit of the plan to make presentations at all the other CCRCs in Washington is that WACCRA will be able to connect with the leadership of the residents’ associations in the CCRCs where contact has not been possible in the past. Mary Jane Francis asked why it has been difficult to make those connections; Rick Baugh answered that management often resists opening communications on the ground of preserving residents’ privacy. It was suggested that WACCRA’s website should list contact information for residents’ associations in other CCRCs; Put Barber (who is working on a redesign of the website) said he would add a page with such a list to the specifications for the new version. Rick added that WACCRA’s membership year ends in February and renewal notices will be sent to members in the near future. The size of WACCRA’s membership is an important part of the way it is viewed by others – for example, members of the legislature – and it’s important that the large number of members at Skyline renew. He mentioned the new class of members that WACCRA has recently added – one that allows family members, accountants, lawyers, and others who may be interested in the topics WACCRA addresses – to join and receive regular newsletters describing its work for the “princely sum” of $5 per year.
Barb Williams has been a member of the city of Seattle’s Aging and Disability Services Advisory Committee for more than a year. This committee, along with other similar groups in King County, connects through the King County Area Agency on Aging with W4A – the Washington Association of Area Agencies on Aging. She remarked that the many organizations – federal, state, local, and nonprofit – that are concerned with addressing the needs of senior citizens involve a good deal of alphabet soup that it has taken her some time to comprehend. The 655 AAAs ( including 13 in Washington State) in the US were created in response to a 1973 amendment to the Older Americans Act. The thirteen Area Agencies on Aging in Washington constitute the membership of W4A. That organization has developed a list of five priorities for the current Washington state legislative session: increase funding for vital human services; protect the medical case-management system; invest in digital equity; expand affordable housing and protections; and lower cost of lifesaving prescription drugs. Digital access is a particularly urgent problem with the increase in reliance on tele-medicine and the loss of everyday sociability for many seniors; the state Department of Commerce has just added a staff person who will be working to improve digital access throughout the state.
CURRENT ISSUES
Jim Sanders said that he has become increasingly concerned because of the assaults on democratic institutions. There is a state legislator from Granite Falls who has made threats of violence in response to the COVID-19 restrictions. One of the Seattle City Council members has been accused of abusing her office and will likely be the subject of a recall petition in the near future.
It feels to him like there we are on the cusp of or at the beginning of a second civil war. He doesn’t have any immediate ideas about what might or should be done. He wonders whether other Skyline residents are worried as well. Is there anything we might do? Is there interest in having a conversation about any of these threats and worries?
Al MacRea suggested that everyone should read “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr., which is widely available online (for example, here: Letter from Birmingham Jail (csuchico.edu)). Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Mike Caplow observed that the Peace and Justice Group has “gone dark” recently and suggested that it might be time to revive it. Karen Knudsen and Diana Caplow urged everyone to write to members of Congress and Senators to express shock and urge an appropriate response. Put Barber said that the next item on the agenda would have been a discussion of the future of CEG and that Jim’s topic suggested that there should be at least one more meeting – perhaps on the regular CEG meeting day – the second Friday of the month at 4 pm, which would be February 12. Diana Caplow responded that we shouldn’t wait that long, that the present situation calls for immediate action. A meeting this coming Friday at 4 was proposed. Barb Williams looked at a calendar and noted that that time would interfere with two scheduled arts events. The alternative of meeting at 2 pm, to avoid overlapping with the other events, was suggested. There was general agreement.
It was decided that there would be a special CEG meeting at 2 pm Friday the 22 nd in the Skyline Chat Room and that there would be at least one future CEG meeting at the regular 2nd Friday 4 pm time on the 12 th of February. Jim Sanders will ask Lifestyle for a room where people without easy internet access can join the meetings. There will be announcements using the CEG list and the Skyline725 Blog.
NEXT MEETINGS
Friday, January 22, 2 PM – Skyline Residents’ Chat Room on Zoom
Friday, February 12, 4 PM – Skyline Residents’ Chat Room on Zoom
Note on accessing the chat room: From the Caremerge left menu, choose Social Media for Residents and then Skyline Chat Room. Follow the prompts to join the chat room.
Thanks to Don Phillips and Val Lynch for taking helpful notes and to Rick Baugh, Barb Williams, and Jim Sanders for presentations.
Posted inCivic Engagement Group|Comments Off on Notes from Civic Engagement Group (CEG) Meeting — Friday, January 15th
After a week of Trumpist mayhem, white evangelicals wrestle with what they’ve become.
Trump supporters brought a cross to pray outside the U.S. Capitol as Congress met to ratify Joe Biden’s electoral victory last week.
“Over the last 72 hours, I have received multiple death threats and thousands upon thousands of emails from Christians saying the nastiest and most vulgar things I have ever heard toward my family and ministry. I have been labeled a coward, sellout, a traitor to the Holy Spirit, and cussed out at least 500 times.”
This is the beginning of a Facebook post from Sunday by the conservative preacher Jeremiah Johnson. On Jan. 7, the day after the storming of the Capitol, Johnson had issued a public apology, asserting that God removed Donald Trump from office because of his pride and arrogance, and to humble those, like Johnson, who had fervently supported him.
The response was swift and vicious. As he put it in that later Facebook post, “I have been flabbergasted at the barrage of continued conspiracy theories being sent every minute our way and the pure hatred being unleashed. To my great heartache, I’m convinced parts of the prophetic/charismatic movement are far SICKER than I could have ever dreamed of.”
This is what is happening inside evangelical Christianity and within conservatism right now. As a conservative Christian friend of mine put it, there is strife within every family, within every congregation, and it may take generations to recover.
On the one hand, there are those who are doubling down on their Trump fanaticism and their delusion that a Biden presidency will destroy America.
“I rebuke the news in the name of Jesus. We ask that this false garbage come to an end,” the conservative pastor Tim Remington preached from the pulpit in Idaho on Sunday. “It’s the lies, communism, socialism.”
The violent Know-Nothingism, which has always coursed through American history, is once again a torrent, threatening more violence in the days ahead.
On the other hand, many Trump supporters have been shaken to the core by the sight of a sacrilegious mob blasting Christian pop music and chanting “Hang Mike Pence.” There have been defections and second thoughts. The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, who delivered a prayer at the Trump inaugural, told his congregation Sunday, “We must all repent, even the church needs to repent.”
The Trump-supporting Texas pastor John Hagee declared: “This was an assault on law. Attacking the Capitol was not patriotism, it was anarchy.”
After staying basically level for four years, Trump’s approval ratings dropped roughly 10 points across several polls in a week. The most popular piece on the Christianity Today website is headlined, “We Worship With the Magi, Not MAGA.” In the world of secular conservatism, The Wall Street Journal editorial page called on Trump to resign. Addressing Trump supporters, the conservative talk show host Erick Erickson wrote, “Everything — from the storming of the Capitol to people getting killed to social networks banning you to corporations not giving you money — everything is a logical consequence of you people lying relentlessly for two months and taking advantage of American patriots.”
One core feature of Trumpism is that it forces you to betray every other commitment you might have: to the truth, moral character, the Sermon on the Mount, conservative principles, the Constitution. In defeat, some people are finally not willing to sacrifice all else on Trump’s altar.
The split we are seeing is not theological or philosophical. It’s a division between those who have become detached from reality and those who, however right wing, are still in the real world.
Hence, it’s not an argument. You can’t argue with people who have their own separate made-up set of facts. You can’t have an argument with people who are deranged by the euphoric rage of what Erich Fromm called group narcissism — the thoughtless roar of those who believe their superior group is being polluted by alien groups.
It’s a pure power struggle. The weapons in this struggle are intimidation, verbal assault, death threats and violence, real and rhetorical. The fantasyland mobbists have an advantage because they relish using these weapons, while their fellow Christians just want to lead their lives.
The problem is, how do you go about reattaching people to reality?
David French, the conservative Christian writer who fought in the Iraq war, says the way to build a sane G.O.P. is to borrow a page from the counterinsurgency handbook: Separate the insurgents from the population.
That means prosecuting the rioters, impeaching the president and not tolerating cyberterrorism within a community or congregation.
Others have to be reminded of the basic rules for perceiving reality. They have to be reminded that all truth is God’s truth; that inquiry strengthens faith, that it is narcissistic self-idolatry to think you can create your own truth based on what you “feel.” There will probably have to be pastors and local leaders who model and admire evidence-based reasoning, wrestling with ideas.
On the left, leaders and organizations have arisen to champion open inquiry, to stand up to the cancel mobs. They have begun to shift the norms.
The problem on the right is vastly worse. But we have seen that unreason is a voracious beast. If it is not confronted, it devours not only your party, but also your nation and your church.
Posted inGovernment, Religion|Comments Off on Trump Ignites a War Within the Church
From Wikipedia: Wáng Yǔjiā;[1] born February 10, 1987)[2] is a Chinese classical pianist. She was born in Beijing, began studying piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.[3] By the age of 21, she was already an internationally recognized concert pianist, giving recitals around the world.[4] She has a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, she said: “For me, playing music is about transporting to another way of life, another way of being. An actress does that.”[5] Yuja Wang lives in New York City.[6]
Posted inMusic|Comments Off on Why Yuja Wang is Wonder Woman
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