While many of us are heartened by the sight of young people becoming politically engaged following the recent spate of shootings, Rachel M. Cohen writes that the sight of students rising up against gun violence has alarmed right-wingers who see this a signs that public education is a breeding ground for dangerous ideas that are taking hold in the minds of young people.
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The Secular Social Justice 2018 conference last weekend was interesting, in that it highlighted the work of secular activists around the country who were working on various issues of importance. After a fiery opening address by Sikivu Hutchinson, we had an array of speakers who spoke on local community organizing, elimination racial inequality in the criminal justice system, disability rights, immigration issues, the war on drugs, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the role of direct action. The presenters were entirely people of color directly involved in this work, not academic types, and thus spoke from personal experience.
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While attention has largely been focused on other issues, there has been a major escalation in the conflict in Gaza where the Israeli military has used excessive force, including live ammunition, on unarmed demonstrators, killing many. For those who are unaware, Gaza is sometimes referred to as the world’s largest open air prison, a small piece of land blockaded on one side by Israel and the other by Egypt and with the Israeli government intent on punishing the people who live there for the ‘crime’ of electing Hamas as their representatives. This article describes the history of Gaza and how it came to be.
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This report from the BBC:
For the first time in at least 100 years, the US Cabinet has a bible study group. What do they learn? What does Donald Trump make of it? And why aren’t women allowed to teach?
Every Wednesday, some of the world’s most powerful people meet in a conference room in Washington DC to learn about God.
The location can’t be revealed – the Secret Service won’t allow it – but the members can.
Vice-President Mike Pence. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The list goes on.
In total, 10 cabinet members are “sponsors” of the group. Not everyone attends every meeting – they are busy people – but they go if they can.
Meetings last between 60 and 90 minutes, and members are free to contact the teacher after-hours. So who is the man leading the United States’ most-influential bible study?
Step forward Ralph Drollinger, a seven-foot tall basketball pro turned pastor. Or, as the 63-year-old describes himself: “Just a jock with some bad knees.”
I will be traveling tomorrow to attend the Secular Social Justice conference and during my spare time over the weekend will be visiting some friends in the Washington DC area so blogging will be sporadic to non-existent until Tuesday after my return.
I was never a fan of ice-skating, an event whose appeal eludes me and whose inclusion as a sport in the Olympics mystifies me. But it is hugely popular, though perhaps less so now than about two-decades ago. But like everyone else, I heard about the infamous event in which Nancy Kerrigan was attacked during the US trials to select the team in 1994 when an assailant came and hit her on the legs with a baton. She recovered enough to make the team and win a silver medal. A rival skater Tonya Harding was accused of being behind the attack and she came eighth after a mishap with her laces. This film is Harding’s story though, as with all biopics, one has to be wary of its accuracy.
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The Atlantic magazine last month hired Kevin Williamson, formerly of the conservative National Review, as a columnist. I have long been aware of Williamson’s horrible views and was shocked that a supposedly liberal magazine would hire him but Goldberg has pretty conservative views too. For example, he was an enthusiastic cheerleader for the Iraq war.
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The sense of entitlement to special treatment that the highly religious have is a worldwide phenomenon. In Israel, ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men are used to being given preferential treatment is many areas of life and have demanded that they should never have to sit next to women on planes because, well … who the hell knows, it is apparently somewhere in the 2,000-year old religious texts they study all the time and we know what a stickler their god is for following all the rules.
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