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# A Friendly Letter

Chuck Fager -- Writer, Editor

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## Posts

- [Reconnaissance: The Kink in Hegseth’s Crusade Scheme](https://afriendlyletter.com/reconnaissance-the-kink-in-hegseths-crusade-scheme/) - by Chuck Fager So, 47’s Iran war may not really be over yet, but the scoring for the current round is well underway. And here’s my pick for one of the conflict’s unexpected, and so far overlooked big winners. [This article is forwarded from Substack. To receive new posts and support the work of Quaker
- ["Dilemma for Dr. King" - A 60th Anniversary Review](https://afriendlyletter.com/dilemma-for-dr-king-a-51st-anniversary-review/) - This is why as the Johnson administration talks of escalating the war beyond 450,000 men, of bombing Hanoi-Haiphong and even of confronting China on the Asian mainland the virtual silence of the unchallenged spokesman of American conscience becomes ever louder and more painful to those who have followed [Dr. King] thus far. The war in Vietnam is perhaps the gravest challenge of Dr. King's career and conceivably its culmination. Who among us today could blame him if, faced with this dilemma, he agonizes over his course of action? No one, surely; but Martin Luther King, Jr., is not only answerable to us of today: he must walk with history as well. And if in his agony he should fail to act, it must be asked: can history forgive him?
- [Pete Hegseth The Crusader Reveals the Two Truly-Madly-Deeply Lethal Loves of His Life](https://afriendlyletter.com/pete-hegseth-the-crusader-reveals-the-two-truly-madly-deeply-lethal-loves-of-his-life/) - In official statements, Pete Hegseth calls the first one, “Lethality.” Usually it’s a dry, abstract word. A term that’s launched a thousand PowerPoint slide shows. It’s ideal for air-conditioned classrooms, lit by rows of long tubular fluorescent bulbs. Under the lights, as it is repeated, rows of men in uniform listen, many taking notes, or
- [A Hidden Piece of (Quaker) Women’s History: Leadership in The Ku Klux Klan](https://afriendlyletter.com/quakers-the-klan-the-real-thing-not-the-rumor/) - Historian Leonard Moore's analysis of the 1920s KKK membership list for Wayne County, Indiana -- home of the city of Richmond, numerous Quakers, and the Quaker Earlham College -- offers a startling (to modern Friends) disclosure: The religious affiliations . . . also closely approximated the city's Protestant spectrum . . . . The large, traditionally evangelical de­nominations (Methodist, Baptist, Disciples of Christ, and Presbyte­rian) were strongly represented, but so too were the equally con­sequential German (Lutheran and United Brethren) and Quaker churches. That is, Indiana Quakers were just as likely to join the 1920s Indiana Klan as any other churches; and many did. And Daisy Douglass Barr was their star. She served as pastor in at least two prominent Friends churches, and preached in many more, over many years. Daisy Douglass Barr in a 1922 newsclip (her maiden name was spelled Douglass, not Douglas, as here.) She also used her notoriety and her Klan office to make money. The profit came mainly from selling Klan women's robes and other paraphernalia. When the Indiana Klan could boast several hundred thousand members, and draw tens of thousands to its (white) family-friendly mass rallies, the paraphernalia business was good; nay, it was a goldmine.
- [Looking Back at a Unique Woman Author -- "Go Set a Watchman": My Review](https://afriendlyletter.com/go-set-a-watchman-my-review/) - Surrounded by her former peers, the painfully uncomfortable Jean Louise is peppered with questions about her life in New York City, which to many of them might as well be on Mars: how can she stand it? All those people, including “Negroes,” on the loose. The noise, the constant hubbub, the rudeness and ugly accents. Not to mention the fact that she’s (still, at 26!) single there, and working. Jean Louise speaks up tepidly for her urban existence, but thinks to herself more candidly about its pluses and minuses. In truth, she often resents the patronizing attitudes of many New Yorkers toward other, benighted regions, especially the South. She bridles at how so many of them, with the smug assurance of big-city liberals that hasn’t changed much since Lee wrote in the 1950s, feel they know all the answers for problems there, even if their nostrums are no more than bien-pensant slogans, based on little or no knowledge or experience. Yet she puts up with this annoyance because New York offers her a compensation she has to have, and can’t hope to find in her hometown: anonymity, and the space created by the indifference of the mass, in which to continue seeking her identity and destiny. If that sounds pompous, the clumsiness of expression is mine, not Lee’s; but that’s what it was. Later, after the shattering confrontations with Atticus and ex-beau Henry, there seems no way forward for Jean Louise but to climb on the train and head back up north, alone. This reader was relieved that she had somewhere to go for refuge, someplace where she could at least breathe, and be herself, even as a stranger in a sea of strangers. In Manhattan she could bask in being ignored, free of family and community expectations, no longer carry the stigma as the renegade runaway daughter who abandoned a “good family,” and get on with the long work of becoming a writer.
- [Women’s Stories: New Harriet Tubman Memorial in Newark NJ! (Repost from 2023)](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-harriet-tubman-memorial-in-newark-nj/) - Harriet Tubman monument unveiled, replacing Columbus statue in Newark, New Jersey By Liam Reilly and Kia Fatahi, CNN (CNN) — A monument honoring famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman was unveiled in Newark, New Jersey, this week, replacing a statue of Christopher Columbus removed in 2020 amid social injustice protests, officials said. The 25-foot-tall monument, titled “Shadow
- [Excerpt #7, Tell It Slant: "Life Falls on You Like a Ton of Bricks"](https://afriendlyletter.com/excerpt-7-tell-it-slant-life-falls-on-you-like-a-ton-of-bricks/) - The latest "review" of Tell It Slant comes from Olympia, Washington Friends Meeting: 24-08-08 Library Committee -- Ramona Hinkle shared a book report: Tell It Slant - Chuck Fager, A Prophetic Life of Adventure & Writing on Religion, War and Justice, Love and Laughter by Emma Lapsansky-Werner and Chuck I considered reviewing this book with
- [For March 17-18: The Best Friend & The Last Big Surprise](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-biographical-excerpt-the-best-friend-the-last-big-surprise/) - For March 18th This post is adapted from: Tell It Slant, a Biography/autobiography by Emma Lapsansky-Werner, with Chuck Fager: Chuck's first grandchild was born in September 1994, and named Amber Dawn. She and her mother, Chuck's daughter Annika, lived in Martinsburg West Virginia. One early milestone on Amber's road lay almost five hundred miles northeast,
- [Remembering Friend Martha Schofield & Her Courageous Leading](https://afriendlyletter.com/martha-schofield-a-great-quaker-escape/) - SPECIAL FOR WOMEN’s HISTORY MONTH — NOW BANNED BY PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ORDER It was a great day for an “overground railroad” escape. Maybe not such a great day to die, but for some there was no escaping that. Imagine we were in Aiken, South Carolina: a pretty town, near Augusta and the Georgia border, with
- [Women’s History: Angelina Grimké, Breaking Taboos, & Gaining Religious Liberty](https://afriendlyletter.com/angelina-grimke-religious-liberty/) - Maintaining religious liberty within the Religious Society of Friends has not always been easy. For instance, contrary to popular Quaker legend, work in the abolitionist movement was very unpopular among Friends, and especially repugnant to the entrenched power structure of recorded ministers and elder. They thought it was "creaturely," needlessly dangerous -- and many highly-placed Friends, while not own slaves, yet had extensive business interests connected to the slave economy. These were threatened by connections with abolition "agitation. The result was what I have called "The Great Purge"; many Friends were forced out of the Society, and others resigned, to uphold their antislavery principles. Even some meetings were laid down by "executive action" for being tainted by the reforming virus. Some Friends did not wait for the Overseers and elders to show up to apply this "discipline."
- [The Island of Two Stories: Part Four of Four](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-island-of-two-stories-part-four-of-four/) - FOUR: Bringing Them, Home, and Bringing It Back Part One is here. Part Two is here. Part Three is here. While on Nantucket, I managed to draft about sixty pages of my Quaker novel, and several episodes of the quilt story, before cash ran too low for more room rent. Than I had reluctantly taken
- [The Island of Two Stories: Part Three of Four](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-island-of-two-stories-part-three-of-four/) - THREE -- Across the Universe: Getting Home Is Hard To Do Part One is here. Part Two is here. I had moved to San Francisco from Boston in late 1975, following my daughters, who were there with my soon-to-be ex-wife. Starting over as a writer/reporter there kept me on a tight budget. That made the
- [The Island of Two Stories: A Four-Part Mini-Saga](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-island-of-two-stories-a-four-part-mini-saga/) - Part ONE Once long ago, in late 1976, I set out to write the great American Quaker novel. Or at least, a page-turning historical potboiler. It was to be be about Quakers on the island of Nantucket, during the American Revolution. Two of them in particular: the gruff but pious William Rotch, — who was
- [An Indomitable Woman Friend: Five Dead Babies, Spiritualism & Reform](https://afriendlyletter.com/254/) - While she was the wife of a prosperous textile manufacturer, all her affluence and “privilege” did not save her first child, born in 1829, from an early death -- or the next four after him: all five died, one after another, in infancy or shortly afterward. As the fifth one faded, Chace penned a rhymed plea “Oh! no, it cannot, cannot be; My darling babe will live. He must not go away from me, He is the last of five. . . . And, much and often have I prayed, That so it might not be; That in a little coffin laid This one I ne’er might see. “Oh! Father, spare him longer yet, Our lonely home to cheer. We’ve often said it was for this That Thou hast sent him here.” But it was not to be.
- [For Women’s History Month: Lucretia Mott's Secret Recipe for “Good-Trouble” & Hell-Raising](https://afriendlyletter.com/lucretia-motts-secret-no-woman-is-an-island/) - Nantucket is a fascinating pilgrimage spot for Quakers; it's best to visit off-season, when it's easier to look past the opulence, and see how thick the small town is with stirring Quaker history. Among its numerous distinctive features, the one we want to home in on here was the fact that while the harbor was populated with Quaker ships, the town was populated by many Quaker women. And these women, even the most prosperous ones, were kept plenty busy; not just with children, but also with business. I mean both Meeting business, and business business. Many Quaker men were away from the island for years on end (Lucretia's father was gone for three years), sailing halfway around the world (or farther) on trips that were always dangerous, and not rarely fatal -- and during which communication with home was rare or nonexistent. Meantime, Quaker women, while still heavily encased in what we would now think of as stereotyped women's roles, were more educated than many other females of their day; they also had official status in the Meetings; and they -- well, let's hear how Lucretia describes it:
- [Black History: What Do the FBI & J. Edgar Hoover have to Do With It? (A Whole Lot: Check It Out)](https://afriendlyletter.com/j-edgar-hoover-a-pillar-of-white-christian-nationalism/) - From - Religion News Service: For FBI legend J. Edgar Hoover, Christian nationalism was the gospel truth, argues new book In The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover, Stanford professor Lerone Martin details how the longtime FBI director shaped the belief in America as a Christian nation. March 10, 2023 -- By Bob Smietana (RNS) —
- [More Un-Banned Black History: Tom Ricks on The Civil Rights Movement as a “Good War”](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-un-banned-black-history-tom-ricks-on-the-civil-rights-movement-as-a-good-war/) - The Guardian — Interview ‘It’s good to think strategically’: Thomas E. Ricks on civil rights and January 6 Martin Pengelly in Washington — Published 8 October 2022 In his book, the journalist- historian considers the work of Martin Luther King and others through the lens of military thought. “There is a direct connection from Freedom
- [U. S. Black History: 1619, 1776, or What? How About 1962?](https://afriendlyletter.com/1619-1776-or-what/) - Let’s see: Racism & U. S. History. 1776 or 1619? The New York Times, or Trump’s “Patriotic Education” commission? The truth is rising, or the sky is falling? Pick your side, get in line, join the Culture War’s latest rehearsal for Armageddon. Really? As some once-legendary movie mogul once said of another sketchy deal, “Include
- [Erasing Black Military History: Pete Hegseth’s “American Crusade” Has Bagged Its First High-Ranking Victims: A General, an Admiral, — and Black History Month](https://afriendlyletter.com/shot-down-sunk-pete-hegseth-american-crusade-bags-its-first-high-ranking-victims-a-general-an-admiral-and-black-history-month/) - If Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should fall off the wagon and be dragged off the public stage to rehab, his Pentagon tenure, however much longer it lasts, will surely be remembered for one thing; or maybe two. The second would be turning into the answer to a question of the sort that haunts a generation,
- [About Puerto Rico: Hurricane Betsy and the Twenty-Five Dollar House](https://afriendlyletter.com/__trashed/) - August, 1956 --The night before the hurricane, I listened to the bugle calls before I went to sleep, as usual. The calls weren't played on a real bugle, of course, but from a record, blasting out of big loudspeakers somewhere in the barracks on the other side of the base, where the airmen lived. They played one call at nine o-clock, another long one, called “Tattoo,” at nine-thirty, and the last one, Taps, at ten. Unless there were a lot of planes taking off or landing, the bugle calls carried on the still night air over the tall palm trees and all the way to the family housing, where they echoed down our curving streets, which ran along the edge of the base facing the ocean. That ocean, the Caribbean, was only two blocks from our house at 131 C Street. That is, it was two blocks to the edge of the land; from there to the water was another two hundred feet or so, down a cliff. The side street by our house ran right up to the cliff, and there was no fence. But even though lots of kids lived in our neighborhood, we didn't worry about falling over the cliff. It didn't drop straight down, and it was covered with thick bushes and vines, which would catch and hold anything as small as a person. We had other things to worry about at Ramey Air Force Base, though, things like mosquitoes and huge roaches two or three inches long, and the fact in 1956 there wasn't any TV station with programs in English to watch. And since I was thirteen, I also worried about whether any of the pretty girls at school would ever like me, and whether I could stand up to the tough boys if someday I had to. But none of that was worrying me on this particular night. All that was small-time compared to Hurricane Betsy. Betsy was big and dark and full of dangerous high winds and driving rain. After wandering aimlessly around out in the ocean for several days, the storm was now bearing down on the island of Puerto Rico, and on Ramey Air Force Base, due to hit us any time.
- [A Hidden piece of Black History: "White Lies," Selma, Two Murders, & A Cameo](https://afriendlyletter.com/white-lies-selma-two-murders-my-tour/) - Below is a news photo from late February, 1965. It turned up several years back (hat tip to the sharp-eyed Lewis Lewis): it was taken on the steps of Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, when John Lewis (center-left, with a tie) announced the plan to march from Selma to Montgomery. The goal of the
- [A Black History Month Special-- My Neighbor Hazeline Umstead](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-special-july-4-memorial-my-neighbor-hazeline-umstead/) - A Special Black History Month Memory-- Ms Hazel: Her Style, Her Flags & The Prayer Line I lived next door to Ms. Hazeline Umstead for twelve years. She was remarkable in many ways: she had grown up in this neighborhood; had returned to it after several years in New York City. Once back home,
- [ZZZZ](https://afriendlyletter.com/xxx/) - Well, DJT needed to get some new kicks, So off to DC he rode, all the problems there to fix. Like, way too much talking about the Epstein case: His diversions kept blowing back in his face. So let’s see — will a cosplay “invasion” be a sideshow that now sticks?? So
- [Black History Month Lives Here: Zora Neale Hurston: Pioneering Anthropologist & Author](https://afriendlyletter.com/zora-neale-hurston-pioneering-anthropologist-author/) - How novelist Zora Neale Hurston transformed American anthropology A 2025 documentary, “Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming Space,” focuses on Hurston’s work as one of the country’s first Black woman ethnographers and filmmakers From The Washington Post By DeNeen L. Brown — January 17, 2023 In the late 1920s, Zora Neale Hurston, who would become one of
- [A Free Book Download on Quaker Bible Study: "A Respondent Spark"](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-free-book-download-on-quaker-bible-study-a-respondent-spark/) - Is This the Book For You? This brief handbook is for certain kinds of people: First, people who don't know much about the bible, but think they would like to. Second, it is for people who are independent-minded, and prefer to form their own judgments rather than simply accept the pronouncements of a traditional authority, no matter how venerable. Third, it is for those who have a high tolerance for ambiguity because, as we shall see, one thing the Bible doesn't offer is easy, automatic, simple answers. This book is also for people who want a practical approach. There is, of course, much more to this subject than could possibly fit into these few pages; but it is my hope that when you have finished it, and become familiar with the tools it describes, you will be able to pick up the Bible, begin to make sense of what you read, know where to get more information about it, and not be afraid of following your leadings about its meaning wherever they may lead. Beyond the personal benefits it offers, the ability to find your way around in the Bible is of particular value these days, when groups who claim to have the exclusive, true understanding of Scripture are running around attempting to impose their understanding on everyone else, or else. I happen to think that these groups are mostly wrong, especially about what the Bible means. But I don't think their efforts can be effectively blunted except by people prepared to meet them on their own ground, that is on the basis of knowing something about what the Bible says and how to figure out what the text means.
- [My Recurring Quaker Nightmare -- Every January 27th](https://afriendlyletter.com/why-i-wake-up-screaming-on-jan-27-my-recurring-quaker-nightmare/) - Yes, January 27 is Mozart’s birthday. He would have been (and IS, in a real way) 250-plus years old today, give or take. And the nightmare scenario just recounted haunts me because it brings home how drastically poorer my own life would be, had the musician by some miscarriage undergone the kind of conversion it imagines. How much difference has it made? There was an underground comic strip back in the Sixties about several disreputable characters called the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. These fellows had a saying, that “Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope.” For me, tho I enjoyed the Brothers in their time, a truer motto would be, MOZART will get you through times of no money better than MONEY will get you through times of no Mozart!” And let the church say, “AMEN!”
- [For Alex Pretti On A Very Cold Monday](https://afriendlyletter.com/for-alex-pretti-on-a-very-cold-monday/)
- [It's Almost Here: My Recurring Quaker Nightmare-Jan. 27](https://afriendlyletter.com/almost-recurring-quaker-nightmare-jan-27/) - Chamomile tea? St. John's Wort? Staying up all night? Nothing seems to work! I'd even try Kale . . . . (But I did that last year; no luck.) Watch This Space. The Clock is Ticking . . .
- [Transitional Quaker humor: Some New Queries](https://afriendlyletter.com/transitional-quaker-humor-some-new-queries/) - One of the advantages of age is finding old jokes one has forgotten about, so they’re new again. Like these Quaker gems that just turned up: The Clerk had just worked through an extended monthly business meeting, where unified decisions were hard to come by. After a long silent pause, she glanced down at the
- [For God’s Sake: Why Did Hegseth Ban The Army’s “Spiritual Fitness Guide”?? I Think I Know.](https://afriendlyletter.com/hegseth-versus-army-spiritual-fitness-guide/) - Onward Only Christian Soldiers? Hegseth Bans The Army’s “Spiritual Fitness Guide” — But Why? RECONNAISSANCE - QUAKER HOUSE JAN 01, 2026 By Chuck Fager What was the recent kerfuffle over military chaplains about? What does it mean? The answers may not be what you think. [Reconnaissance is adapted & restacked from the Quaker House Substack.
- [Novelist Jessamyn West, Her Friendly Un-Persuasion, Christmas & “Returning Thanks”](https://afriendlyletter.com/jessamyn-west-her-friendly-un-persuasion-christmas-thanks/) - Author and novelist Jessamyn West (1902-1984), was raised and shaped by a long line of Quakers. Rooted in Indiana, they wound up evangelical and Holiness-centered, as well as cousins to Richard Nixon, in southern California. West is best remembered for her classic The Friendly Persuasion (book and movie). Her family left their southern Indiana Quaker
- [Exclusive Quaker News: ESR Dean To Retire. The Future of ESR -- Up In The Air?](https://afriendlyletter.com/exclusive-quaker-news-esr-dean-to-retire-the-future-of-esr-up-in-the-air/) - [Richmond Indiana, December 19, 2025] This is an Inside Quaker report; non-Quakers might be missing some background.] Gretchen Castle, Dean of the Earlham School of Religion (the main U. S. Quaker seminary), is leaving. She'll retire officially on June 30, 2026. This change has not been made public by ESR, but Castle confirmed it to
- [A Haunting Quaker Story about U.S. Concentration Camps for Japanese Americans in World War Two](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-story-remembrance-day/) - “You been hitch-hiking all the way?” “Oh no,” he said. “Only here and there. Out to the camp in Manzanar, where there wasn’t any bus or taxi. And a stretch in Mississippi, after we got bumped from a train by some war shipments or other. He shook his head. "Same thing happened in Cleveland. The army wants a train, they get it. Then you either wait for the next train, or find some other way. I couldn’t wait anymore, so here I am. That happened to you? Getting bumped from a train, I mean.” “Um,” I stumbled, “not recently.” I was sure now that I was carrying some kind of mental case. Probably harmless, but not operating in the same dimension. A blast of static from the radio caught his attention. “That a ball game?” he asked. “Yeah,” I said. Pirates and the Cubs.” “Is that so?” He seemed puzzled. “They in spring training?” “No,” I began, but then stopped. I had a feeling it wouldn’t do any good to explain that the season was half over. His time sense was clearly out of whack. “Cubs are ahead,” I said lamely. “Don’t have a radio in my truck,” he said. “Too bad. It’d be good to listen to on some of my runs to the camps.” He rubbed his hands together. “I’d a driven it out here if I could, but o’ course, you can’t get gas, what with the rationing and all.” While I was trying to remember when there had been gas rationing, he looked around the interior of my Toyota. “Real nice car you got here, friend. You maybe working in the war effort?” The question caught me off guard. “I-I guess you could say that,” I answered. After all, I thought, what else is designing parts for missiles? My hesitation seemed to embarrass him. “Gosh, Mr. Nelson, I don’t mean to be asking sensitive questions,” he said hurriedly. “I’m not digging for military secrets or anything. It’s just hard to get away from the war, you know?” missile-launch A home run? “Yeah,” I said, “I know.”
- [A Birthday Card for YOU! December 2025](https://afriendlyletter.com/birthday-card-december-11-2025/) - I had a birthday recently, and a lot of people posted greetings on my Facebook page. I appreciated the good vibes, but replying to all of them felt overwhelming. Also, I was sick, with a tough cold (still recovering) and low energy. So I wanted to do something different. But what? (My answer was to
- [Hey, Big Political Media — You MISSED Tuesday’s NC Political Earthquake!](https://afriendlyletter.com/hey-big-political-media-you-missed-tuesdays-north-carolina-political-earthquake/) - So 2025 is a municipal election year in North Carolina, with seemingly little to catch wider public attention. A crowd of candidates with only local name recognition was running for council and mayoral seats in scores of small and medium-size towns — not the ones on those annoying clickbait lists of 20-best-places-to-retire-as-a-left-handed-nearsighted-single-cat-person pickle baller; such
- [A Sign of The Times In My Neighborhood](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-sign-of-the-times-in-my-neighborhood/) - I won’t say its name. It’s one of several in the area. I go there often, particularly on Tuesdays with my daughter, when she's off work and can drive. A Hispanic restaurant. The menu is a mix of specialties from back home en mi país, and mainstream (i. e., gringo-friendly)—taco salad, guacamole, beans & rice,
- [Sex, Jesus, Woodbrooke, & Finland: Memories & Epiphanies . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/woodbrooke-finland-sex-jesus-memories-epiphanies/) - The collapse of the Woodbrooke Quaker center (err, “centre”) in October 2023 was a big deal, but a shock cushioned for most American Friends by the Atlantic. .Recently there was a notice online that someone is compiling entries for a projected book of memories by staff, students, and other participants . I wish the
- [Ten Funny/Defiant Music Videos to Keep Your "NO KINGS" Spirits Humming](https://afriendlyletter.com/ten-funny-defiant-music-videos-to-keep-your-no-kings-spirits-humming/) - On October 18, I helped host a ZOOM No Kings virtual rally, meant to include & encourage resisters who couldn’t attend in-person events. We didn’t want droning speeches, and had no canned list of answers to the question of “What Comes Next??” —except for recalling Dr. King’s concisely profound quote from an elderly civil rights
- [Adding Other Voices to the Memorial in Phoenix on Sunday](https://afriendlyletter.com/adding-other-voices-to-the-memorial-in-phoenix-on-sunday/) - Hear & Watch Black pastors Speak on Idolizing Charlie Kirk: Excerpts from clips compiled by Roland S. Martin on YouTube Martin: Black pastors from across the country certainly were not holding back from the pulpit on Sunday. Here's a few of what some of them had to say. We're going to start with Pastor Jamal
- [Is Arthur Waskow Now Done With “Godwrestling”? I doubt it.](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-arthur-waskow-now-done-with-godwrestling-i-doubt-it/) - . This, I now realized, In 1978, a Jewish writer-activist named Arthur Waskow published a book called Godwrestling. I read the book a year or two later, and have never forgotten it. Waskow died this week, just after his 92nd birthday. In the book he described a Jewish way of Bible reading and interpretation that was drastically different from the
- [New Quaker Art Journal Now Online](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-quaker-art-journal-now-online/) - In these tough times, the arts can support resistance, endurance, and vitality. Yet Friends were firmly opposed to the arts for 200 years. That era is over, but in many Quaker spaces, the arts are still the object of what has been called “uneasy tolerance.” For more than thirty years, the Fellowship of Quakers in
- [A Non-Mystic Report on The Trip I Didn’t Take to Ghent](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-non-mystic-report-on-the-trip-i-didnt-take-to-ghent/) - From The Guardian: “One of the world’s greatest masterpieces, and surely the most stolen piece of art of all time, Hubert and Jan van Eyck’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, also known as the Ghent Altarpiece, has a new €30m (£26m) glass-case home. While remaining within St Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, for which it
- [Grace In Your Face: Remembering Bill Kreidler](https://afriendlyletter.com/6507-2/) - My first memory of Bill Kreidler is from St. Lawrence University, at the FGC Gathering of 1984. I was leading a workshop, my first for FGC, on the Basics of Bible Study, and he was in it. Well, partway in it anyhow. As I recall, he spent most of those weekday mornings perched on the sill of an open window, there on the second or third floor of our old classroom building. I didn’t think he was going to jump out; it was brutally hot, the building was not air-conditioned, and he was trying to breathe. But at the same time, he did seem to be keeping a safe distance, a space between him and the dangerous book I was waving around, and maybe the bearded breeder who was waving it as well. During the workshop we spent a lot of time reading aloud the story of David, Jonathan, Saul, and Jonathan’s crippled son, Mephibosheth, as I had culled it from the First and Second books of Samuel. This is a gripping, mournful story, which I called “The Bible as Soap Opera,” and perhaps it went on too long, especially given the weather. But all through it, there is a clear image of Bill, still on the windowsill, head cocked to one side, paying close attention as we plowed through this saga of love, betrayal, death, and loyalty beyond death. Glancing over at Bill from time to time, I wondered if something about it was sinking in. I now think that it was.
- [Does Quakerism Have Any Value In The World?](https://afriendlyletter.com/does-quakerism-have-any-value-in-the-world/) - I first wrote this post as a form of procrastination. What was being put off here was resuming the labor of writing down an explanation of Quakerism for a teenaged Quaker – let’s call her Lucretia. She feels strongly identified with the liberal wing of the Religious Society of Friends (RSOF), but has been having
- [Homeland Invasion Update: 09-26-2025](https://afriendlyletter.com/homeland-invasion-update-09-26-2025/) - Homeland Invasion: Update 09-24-2025 – Chuck Fager Recent scenes from the front: — A combat vet protesting Chicago ICE raids, emerging from a thick cloud of their tear gas, unmasked & unruffled, bearing a large American flag. — A fullsized, full-color roadside billboard near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home of the famed 82nd Airborne Division,
- [A Different September: Helping End "Don't Ask Don't Tell"](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-house-50-helping-end-dont-ask-dont-tell/) - In 2010, after eight years at Quaker House, I couldn’t recall ever seeing an article in our local paper, the Fayetteville Observer, that was affirmative of GLBT issues, or in particular, supported the repeal of the military’s repressive “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, which since 1994 had pushed gay troops into the closet or out of the services.. This doesn’t mean the paper was a font of homophobic verbiage; but when anti-gay articles did appear, they usually went unanswered. That silence was consistent with the general atmosphere of the community. Racial integration has been the policy of the military for sixty years, and federal law for almost fifty; racism still exists here, but it skulks in corners and speaks publicly in code. Mixed families in mixed neighborhoods are everyday. Homophobia was another matter. I was acquainted with a number of gays and lesbians there, some who were quite active in the community. But there was no visible gay presence in the city. No “Gay Pride Day,” no vocal organizations, and the gay bars kept a very low profile. It was the most closeted city I had lived in.
- [A Happy/Sad Anniversary: Occupy Wall Street Began 14 years ago on Sept. 17, 2011](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-happy-sad-anniversary-occupy-wall-street-began-14-years-ago-on-sept-17/) - [This post shamelessly shared from history.com] On September 17, 2011, hundreds of activists gather around Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan for the first day of the Occupy Wall Street Movement—a weeks-long sit-in in New York City’s Financial District protesting income inequality and corporate corruption. While the movement failed to see any of its goals or
- [It’s “War”??  Trump’s “Chipocalypse Now” — Day One](https://afriendlyletter.com/its-war-trumps-chipocalypse-now-day-one/) - The opening: “You Think You’ve Seen ‘Shock & Awe’”?? (Trump posted this AI fantasy on Truth Social early Saturday) “The president offered no details beyond the label “Chipocalypse Now,” a play on the title of Francis Ford Coppola’s dystopian 1979 film set in the Vietnam war, in which a character says: “I love the smell
- [This One Weird Trick Will guarantee to Fully Empty Your Brain Before Labor Day Brunch — Try It NOW!](https://afriendlyletter.com/this-one-weird-trick-will-guarantee-to-fully-empty-your-brain-before-labor-day-brunch-try-it-now/) - Labor Day Secrets: How I Found the Right Job In honor of Labor Day, here's a first person report of someone who was not quite as successful as he had hoped to be in the job market: As a young man My first job was in an orange juice factory, but I couldn't concentrate on the
- [Pritzker Throws Down: “I say, Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here.”](https://afriendlyletter.com/pritzker-throws-down-i-say-mr-president-do-not-come-to-chicago-you-are-neither-wanted-here-nor-needed-here/) - Illinois Governor JB Pritzker spoke at a news conference Monday afternoon, August 25, addressing reports President Trump is planning to send the military to Chicago. Here are excerpts from his remarks, edited for length, followed by a link to the full text: I want to speak plainly about the moment that we are in and
- [How MAGA Out-Trolled Me (I Couldn't Make This Stuff Up!)](https://afriendlyletter.com/how-maga-out-trolled-me-i-couldnt-make-this-stuff-up/) - Ghislane Maxwell's perjurious and empty DOJ "testimony" about St. Donald, cried out, it seemed to me, for a parody pushback. So this morning I cranked up my snark machine and began striking the keys: EXCLUSIVE: A Leaked Addendum to Maxwell's DOJ "Interview" A source-mole in DOJ has sent out a page of Maxwell's "testimony" that
- [Who?? Happy Birthday to One of the Most Important Quaker Writers Most of Us Never Heard of](https://afriendlyletter.com/who-happy-birthday-to-one-of-the-most-important-quaker-writers-most-of-us-never-heard-of/) - Milton Mayer was born on August 24, 1908. He was a journalist, scholar, moral philosopher, terrific writer — and a Quaker. A Jewish Quaker. A southerner Jewish Quaker. He wrote some of the most potent, challenging, memorable Quaker essays and books of the past century. He was also funny. He and his work deserve to
- [Dog Days: George & The Cottonmouth](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-story-george-the-cottonmouth/) - This outhouse looked like the ones I used to see in magazine cartoons sometimes, built like a big phone booth of wide wooden boards, with a slanted roof and three small holes at the top to let the smell out. Inside was a flat bench seat with a hole in it. The boards were sunburned a dark grey and sanded by the Kansas wind until the looping wood grain stood out in wavy ridges that looked like a giant’s faded fingerprints. I stepped in, pulled the door closed, and sat carefully down on the bench — yes, with a bare bottom. Of course, my grandparents had a bathroom inside, now. But the outhouse had been used by them and most of their children, summer and winter, for a long time before. To my parents, of course, this was just an old leftover, something to ignore. But I had never been this close to one before. The bench felt warm and ridged, but worn smooth, and much more comfortable than the prickly couch in the front room. Resting there, it felt like I was traveling back in time. I looked around and listened. The air was dim except for slivers of light coming through cracks between the boards. The outhouse smell was not as strong as it must have been once. Beside me on the bench a thick old Montgomery Ward catalog leaned against the wall. The curling pages were yellow and brown, and about half were gone, used long ago for toilet paper. It was warm and stuffy in the outhouse, but the sense of mystery deepened as I sat there, as if I was listening to it, hearing something I couldn’t quite make out. I sat there until a big horse fly started buzzed loudly around my head. The buzzing mademe think of wasps, and I wondered whether there were wasps nests under the bench. Wasps, you know, can sting and sting, and I suddenly thought there was probably nothing they’d like better than a fresh bare bottom. That thought brought me abruptly back to the present. So I tore a crinkly page, finished and pulled up my pants, and watched the horsefly warily. When it lit for a moment on a dim rafter above me, I jumped and ran, banging the door behind me as I hurried past the edge of the field toward the barn.
- [Resistance Vacation Reading #5: I Hate Dill Pickles:  But There’s More to the Story](https://afriendlyletter.com/resistance-vacation-reading-5-i-hate-dill-pickles-but-theres-more-to-the-story/) - I Hate Dill Pickles: But There’s More to the Story A Nearby City, Spring 2007 Sara Rahman was my best friend that year. And some of the best times we had were while walking home from school. We joked and laughed about everything stuff in school, books she was reading, her dorky big
- [Resistance Vacation Reading #4 — Lucy In The Sky, No Diamonds - A Quaker Ghost Story](https://afriendlyletter.com/lucy-in-the-sky-no-diamonds-a-quaker-ghost-story/) - Part One: Trying to Catch the Bus San Francisco - 2006 Kate was racing the Muni bus toward the stop at the corner. She was wet and out of breath. It was bad enough, she thought as the bus slowed, that the skinheads had ripped up her peace poster. But why did they have to
- [The Gospel According to YAFS: Are Friends "Tired"?? Plus: Fix It With "The Seven UPs"](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-gospel-according-to-yafs-are-friends-tired-plus-fix-it-with-the-seven-ups/) - I’m going to take up the invitation offered by young Friend Paul Christiansen, in a comment to his article in the Western Friend, “Younger Blood, Older Eyes.” The article opens well: Western Quakers seem tired to me. Those of us on committees feel it most clearly, I think, especially people on Nominating like me: a
- [”All God’s Critters Got a Place In the Choir”--But Sometimes They have to Make (or Change) It](https://afriendlyletter.com/all-gods-critters-got-a-place-in-the-choir-but-sometimes-they-have-to-make-or-change-it/) - ”All God’s Critters Got a Place In the Choir.” And being in the choir is work. I’m not much for singing gospel songs; but Bill Staines, who wrote this one, was more of a folkie, and his tune, “All God’s Critters” is more folk than (Lord help us) “praise” music. But whatever the genre, I’m
- [Resistance Vacation Reading #3 — Revelation On Rose Street — And the Fate of Religious Radicals](https://afriendlyletter.com/resistance-vacation-reading-3-revelation-on-rose-street-and-the-fate-of-religious-radicals/) - Revelation on Rose Street New York City – A Fine Autumn Day in 1843 I was still feeling a bit weak that first Day morning, after several days in bed with a bilious fever. But I was now better, and the weather in New York was fair. My good wife agreed that a walk to
- [More Resistance Vacation Reading: Comfort Food - A Story](https://afriendlyletter.com/comfort-food-a-story/) - Comfort Food Eastern North Carolina - 2007 ​The large sign in the lawn in front of the old red brick building read: “U.S. MARINE CORPS, CAMP ELIZABETH BRIG. NO PHOTOGRAPHS ALLOWED.” ​I stopped the car right in front of it, rolled down the window, slipped the digital camera from my pocket and took a couple
- ["Tell It Slant": Excerpt #3: “… A Whippersnapper and His  Elders …”](https://afriendlyletter.com/tell-it-slant-excerpt-3-a-whippersnapper-and-his-elders/) - “… A Whippersnapper and His Elders …” Adapted from Tell It Slant. This new book recounts Chuck Fager’s prophetic life of adventure & writing on religion, war, justice, love and laughter. By Emma Lapsansky-Werner, with Chuck Fager. Tell It Slant is available now, in paperback and Kindle, here. After two years of attending Friends meetings,
- [Another Midsummer Night’s Dream -- A Story](https://afriendlyletter.com/another-midsummer-nights-dream-a-story/) - A Story by Chuck Fager Copyright (c) All rights reserved PART ONE: Four Days Into Lockdown It was hot. The summer of 1970 was burning scorched-looking brown spots in the green Pennsylvania hills, and made the wide cornfields around us crackle, as if their just-forming ears were going to swell up and start popping any
- [Dread: Confronting a key tool of Authoritarian Rule](https://afriendlyletter.com/dread/) - It was just a suitcase. Well-used, medium size, dun-colored, nondescript. Sitting upright on the porch, not far from the low railing, out of sight of the sidewalk. Why was it so unnerving? And what’s it got to do with America 2025? We’ll get to 2025 presently. First, consider the location: 1315 Lapsley Street on
- [I Now Know What Happens After We Die. (And Even How Hot Hell Is.)](https://afriendlyletter.com/i-now-know-what-happens-after-we-die-and-even-how-hot-hell-is/) - Okay, this initial bit is a scenario: I’m at the keyboard, just finished what feels like a pretty good blog post. Pressing Return to upload it, I hear a strange noise on my left. That’s my foggy side, a fuzzy mist since the 2019 stroke. So I wheel around, to face the bookshelves against the wall
- [Oh — NOW I Remember Why We Had A Revolution: Royals Demand Censorship of videos from Queen’s Funeral](https://afriendlyletter.com/oh-now-i-remembet-why-we-had-a-revolution-royals-demand-censorship-of-videos-from-queens-funeral/) - [NOTE: Sure, I know that UK’s royals refer to their family as “The Firm,” with reason as it’s worth multibillions; and that’s okay for the Brits; different strokes, etc. Also, I get that this Firm is mainly an image and brand-management operation. And that any brand/image operation this big and this self-important pays meticulous, not
- [Two More Quaker Pre-Holiday Stories!](https://afriendlyletter.com/two-more-quaker-pre-holiday-stories/) - Want to hear the Christmas story told from a non-supernatural, anti-colonial perspective? Here it is, by Friend Helena Cobban, from Charlottesville VA, and her justworld educational site. Then to follow up is another one, from me. It happened in Brooklyn New York, in 1967. I call it, How I Got So Lucky. Previous pre-holiday stories:
- [For The Resistance That’s On Vacation — Read Some Classic Tales: Like About How Henry Kissinger Almost thwarted a touching, suppressed love story](https://afriendlyletter.com/two-plus-stories-on-kissinger-one-includes-a-touching-suppressed-love-story/) - America #1 - The antiwar activists who were accused of plotting to kidnap Kissinger, but fell in love instead James T. Keane — December 04, 2023 [NOTE: This blogger was a cub reporter when Phil and Dan Berrigan were both in jail after burning military draft files in Catonsville, Maryland in 1968. During the time
- [Un-Happy Anniversary, Friends](https://afriendlyletter.com/un-happy-anniversary-friends/) - Eight years ago today, Eighth Month 5, 2017, some Friends in North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM) got their wish: They got rid of the "liberals" in the body. Out went New Garden Meeting in Greensboro; Jamestown just south of there; Greensboro First Friends; and even tiny Spring Meeting, in the pastures and woods of south
- [An NPR Post-Federal Money Conversation: Is There A Silver Lining??](https://afriendlyletter.com/an-npr-post-federal-money-conversation-is-there-a-silver-lining/) - NOTE: Jim Cavener, of Asheville NC and the world, has been a friend, reader & correspondent for — yikes! — almost 50 years. And he’s been an NPR instigator/fan for even longer. So when he saw my post about the network’s prospects after the fed money cuts, he soon weighed in with his usual panache.
- [Is the Next ICE City Invasion About to Break Out?](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-the-next-ice-city-invasion-about-to-break-out/) - The headline in The New Republic (TNR) on August 2 was dire: “Trump’s Domestic Use of Military Set to Get Worse, Leaked Memo Shows,” it blared. Well, maybe. TNR said it had been leaked a confidential memo from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The memo listed talking points for top DHS staff to parrot
- [Why I Think NPR Will Survive, But Why I Don’t Really Care](https://afriendlyletter.com/why-i-think-npr-will-survive-but-why-i-dont-really-care/) - When I was working with liberal Quakers, I led many workshops, gave many talks. As a highlight, once a group was warmed up and in good spirits, I often evoked loud (but nervous) laughs by taking a quick three-question, raise-your-hand survey. It’s apropos to my subject, so here it is, complete: “First question: how many
- [A Durham Double-Take & Berlin Wants You! (Who -- Me?? No — YOU!)](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-durham-double-take-berlin-wants-you-who-me-no-you/) - So yesterday I’m scrolling through the New York Times, and then up pops this big ad: If I was writing copy for that ad, the statue would be pointing at the reader and the bold bright headline would thunder “BERLIN WANTS YOU!” But that message still got through, especially if one clicked a link to
- [A Concentration Camp in California: The Past Haunts the present — And sketches the future?](https://afriendlyletter.com/lets-salute-flag-stand-anthem-oh-wait/) - Ten thousand of them were packed into a camp called Manzanar, in the remote Owens Valley of California. Owens Valley could be a good definition of the "middle of nowhere." It's almost 120 miles north of Death Valley in California, and 100-plus from the eastern entrance to Yosemite. This is the Owens Valley. It’s home to bands of Paiute-Shoshone Indians, some hardy fruit farmers, cattle ranchers, and not much else on two legs. From here it’s 336 miles to San Francisco, 226 to LA, and almost 250 to either Reno or Vegas. "Manzanar" is Spanish for apple orchard." This is high desert, nearly 4000 feet, so it’s hot in the summer, freezing and snowy in winter, and whipped by strong winds at any season. Twenty miles or so west are the Sierra Nevada mountains, usually capped by snow and fantastic slow-swirling cloud formations. Conditions were tough in the camps. Legal challenges to the internment were turned aside, even by the Supreme Court. Most Japanese-Americans were kept in the camps until late 1945, when the war ended.
- [William Penn Died This Week; Just When We Needed Him Most](https://afriendlyletter.com/william-penn-died-this-week-just-when-we-needed-him-most/) - Three hundred and seven years ago, on July 30, 1718, William Penn died, in England. Aged 73, he had been in very poor health for almost six years, after a massive stroke in 1712. This is not exactly news. And in recent years, Penn has been out of fashion in many Quaker quarters -- disowned
- [When Good Trouble Got Serious: John Lewis- at the Pettus Bridge, 1965 -- And TODAY](https://afriendlyletter.com/when-good-trouble-got-serious-john-lewis-at-the-pettus-bridge-1965-and-today/) - In early February, 1965, I was jailed for 10 days in Selma, Alabama after being arrested in a peaceful march in support of voting rights for black citizens. Along with several dozen others, I slept on a concrete floor in a near-freezing prison camp, and subsisted on two daily servings of blackeye peas or beans
- [PRIDE Wrapup: “Prophetic & Scary” — A Quaker Mystery from 1993 That “Foretold” the Course of U.S. History Til Today](https://afriendlyletter.com/prophetic-scary-a-quaker-mystery-from-1993-that-foretold-the-course-of-u-s-history-til-today/) - I In 1992, I spent much of my free time planning a murder. I mapped it out it out to the last detail: victim, weapon, motive, opportunity, covering the tracks, the whole meticulous homicidal mess. In the end, it went almost exactly according to plan, and was a complete success. Almost. Fortunately for all concerned,
- [Pride: Learning to Endure with Bill Kreidler & "Tending The Fire"](https://afriendlyletter.com/learning-to-endure-with-bill-kreidler-tending-the-fire/) - To everything there is a season . . . and in the small field of Quaker publishing, this seems to be the season for books to help Friends, and friends of Friends, get through hard times. I won’t rehash the reasons for this spurt; they’re as near as the morning’s headlines. It will suffice to
- [Can a “Hail Mary” Plan Save Guilford College? A Guest Perspective](https://afriendlyletter.com/can-a-hail-mary-plan-save-guilford-college-a-guest-perspective/) - [Editor/Blogger’s introduction: As Guilford College approaches decisions that are reliably reported to be “do or die” for the school, we were approached by Jonathon Podolsky, a self-described “save college” consultant. He has been following Guilford’s recent difficulties. His personal assessment here is long, likely controversial, and has been doggedly pursued in the face of Guilford
- ["Quaking Over Gay Rights" -- Kicked in The Head in Wichita](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaking-over-gay-rights-kicked-in-the-head-in-wichita/) - There have been a lot of distractions during Pride Month 2025: a coup, a war, shocking Supreme Court rulings, a flop of a tank march, the soaring success of its No Kings rival — I won’t even try to list all the major ones. In June’s waning days, this blog will play some catchup: a
- [NEWS: White House Ignores Juneteenth. It Happens Anyway.](https://afriendlyletter.com/news-white-house-ignores-juneteenth-it-happens-anyway/) - BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE Updated 05:42 PM EDT, June 19, 2025 AP Newsroom ASSOCIATED PRESS: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump honored Juneteenth in each of his first four years as president, even before it became a federal holiday. He
- [More Juneteenth: A Remarkable, Neglected Black Carolina Poet](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-juneteenth-a-remarkable-neglected-black-carolina-poet/) - George Moses Horton: A Biographical Sketch & several poems; from local sources George Moses Horton George Moses Horton (1797-1893) could rightly be called North Carolina’s first professional poet. Born enslaved by Chatham County yeoman farmer William Horton, young George Moses Horton loved the rhyming sounds of hymns, and yearned to be able to
- [Juneteenth Is Alive Here — 2025](https://afriendlyletter.com/juneteenth-is-alive-here-2025/) - “In 2025 . . . celebrations of Juneteenth are being cut back or even canceled. Corporate sponsors and local governments, as well as the national government, are pulling back their support for festivals and Juneteenth events.” [Not here. Juneteenth-related posting all day.] Background, by Heather Cox Richardson: “Juneteenth [is] the celebration of the announcement in
- [Juneteenth Feature: Rep. Bennie Thompson, “An Avid Hunter,” Closes In On The Biggest Target of All](https://afriendlyletter.com/rep-bennie-thompson-an-avid-hunter-closes-in-on-the-biggest-target-of-all/) - NOTE: the Jan. 6 committee has announced two more dates and times for hearings: > Tuesday, June 21: 10 a.m. Pacific > Thursday, June 23: noon Pacific Now York Times: ‘He Took Jan. 6 Personally’ Representative Bennie G. Thompson, chairman of the committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, has spent his career fighting to
- [WGYF - A Contemporary  Perspective from “A Friendly Letter” (in print)](https://afriendlyletter.com/wgyf-a-contemporary-perspective-from-a-friendly-letter-in-print/) - Your faithful blogger was old (42) to be a delegate to the 1985 World Gathering of Young Friends, but did attend as a journalist. As many of the official alumni come together this week for its 40th anniversary (admitting thereby, that many are also no longer “Young Friends”), some might find this report of my
- [Breaking: Trump’s Coming To Fort Bragg: The Signs I’d Carry In Protest](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-trumps-coming-to-fort-bragg-the-signs-id-carry-in-protest/) - Monday - June 9: Just heard that Trump is coming to preen & prattle on my old stamping ground— Fort Bragg-Liberty-Bragg tomorrow, the 10th. It’s part of the hoopla buildup to his totally unnecessary and utterly narcissistic Mussolini-wannabe parade in Washington on June 14. I helped with protests aimed at several Bragg visits by two
- [Dog Days Tale: Honesty Is the Best Policy - Mostly: A Memorial to Sly Stone](https://afriendlyletter.com/dog-days-tale-honesty-is-the-best-policy-mostly/) - Mike snapped me out of one of my dreams. ”Hey,” he said. “Phone’s for you.” To my inquiring stare he whispered, “Judy Drake. The Phoenix.” My stomach went cold. “Err, hi Judy,” I croaked. “Chuck,” she said. “Interesting review. But I’ve got a few questions.” “Interesting”? I knew that “interesting” was Judy’s word for copy that didn’t qualify for her usual adjective of “great.” A few questions? My throat went dry. “Okay,” I croaked again. “I mean, Fine! Shoot.” “Well,” she said, “here’s three: First, what is it you didn’t like about the bass player?” “Ummm, sure,” I said. “And, uh, the second one?” “What was it,” she asked, “about Sly’s singing that you said was ‘off-center’?” “Right. Uh, yeah. Got it. And third?” “The new song,” she said, “the one they did in the encore. What was the name of it?” New song? What new song?? “Okay,” I said again. Then cleared my throat. And coughed. I thought maybe I had forgotten how to breathe. “Chuck? You still there?” Oh, I was there. And I was so, so busted. ”Um, Judy,” I said slowly, “there’s something I need to explain.”
- [Guilford College: On the Brink](https://afriendlyletter.com/guilford-college-on-the-brink/) - 2025 has been a tough year for small colleges in the Carolinas. Two have closed, a third is in what looks like death throes, and then there’s a fourth on the brink, which we’ll get to in a minute. Down and out are St. Andrews, in Laurinburg, a hundred miles southwest of Raleigh in Scotland
- [Trump's June 14 Military "Parade" Will Be "Burning Man On the Potomac"](https://afriendlyletter.com/trumps-june-14-military-parade-will-be-burning-man-on-the-potomac/) - The forecast for Washington DC on Saturday June 14 is typical: hot, muggy, and with maybe a passing thunderstorm. The expected “realfeel” is pegged at 97 degrees, Fahrenheit, with high humidity. Sweltering, in sum. I lived near D. C. For a long time, before global warming was a thing. Late spring and summer were the
- [For June 14: Don't Miss This Big Chance to Find Allies Among the Troops (We Need Them.)](https://afriendlyletter.com/for-june-14-dont-miss-this-big-chance-to-find-allies-among-the-troops-we-need-them/) - This “billboard” is meant to be the first of a series in the runup to the June 14 “NO KINGS” protests. The strategy of the series is to widen the gap between Trump-Hegseth (TH) and many troops, and remind them (and others watching) that their oath is to defund the Constitution (not a wannabe monarch).
- [My Best Interview Ever: With I. F. Stone](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-best-interview-ever-with-i-f-stone/) - With Atheists Like Him, Who Needs Believers? A Remarkably Contemporary Interview (from 1970) with I. F. Stone OF ALL the idols in my personal pantheon, Isidore Feinstein Stone (1907-1989), proprietor of I. F. Stone's Weekly, is one of the most durable. Rock musicians, novelists, even theo­logians who once had a place in my shrine have
- [Did a West Point General Troll Trump Before His Weird Commencement Address??  (My Answer: Yes!)](https://afriendlyletter.com/did-a-west-point-general-troll-trump-before-his-weird-commencement-address-my-answer-yes/) - There were many snarky media cracks made about president Trump’s very weird West Point commencement address on May 24th. It was definitely up there on the crowded DJT Weirdness scale: a long shaggy dog story about an unhappy real estate developer and his unhappy trophy wife, a plop of freshly made up steaming malarkey about
- [Liberal Quakers Need More "Theological Diversity." What could possibly go wrong?](https://afriendlyletter.com/liberal-quakers-need-more-theological-diversity-what-could-possibly-go-wrong/) - The First Month 2019 issue of Friends Journal includes an article by Friend Adria Gulizia, "Greater Racial Diversity Requires Greater Theological Diversity." At one level, I very much empathize with Adria Gulizia’s concern for what I would call “theological inclusiveness.” The widespread ignorance, apathy & avoidance of theology/Bible in “liberal” meetings I have known have
- [Hegseth-Trump’s Shameful Crusade to Purge Trans Troops Continues](https://afriendlyletter.com/hegseth-trumps-shameful-crusade-to-purge-trans-troops-continues/) - Report, May 6, 2026: Next? Stay Tuned — Speak Up & Support Our Troops . . .
- [AFSC: When the Slides Went Awry, And The Key Questions Weren't  Asked . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/afsc-when-the-slides-went-awry-and-the-key-questions-werent-asked/) - Last month I attended two presentations by the new AFSC Director of Quaker Engagement, Brian Blackmore, at Durham and Chapel Hill Meetings here in North Carolina. Blackmore, just a year in the job, is the successor to Lucy Duncan, a longtime AFSC staffer who was unceremoniously fired in early 2022 when she tried to start
- [AFSC-DEI Tuesday Update: Someone Didn’t Get The Memo](https://afriendlyletter.com/afsc-dei-tuesday-update-someone-didnt-get-the-memo/) - Friends, Like so many institutions, AFSC and its managers don't seem to cotton to outside media examination. Plaudits, bouquets, puff pieces for their pet programs? Yes. They especially like mentions that AFSC won the Nobel Peace Prize. But questions, challenges, notes that the Nobel came in 1947, which was three generations ago, and everybody connected
- [Finding Love (& Living In Sin) In the Library](https://afriendlyletter.com/finding-love-living-in-sin-in-the-library/) - I never fell in love in a library. But several times I fell in love with a library, and the experience repeatedly changed my life. The first time came flooding back yesterday, when I saw this news report from AP: “Army and Air Force libraries have been told to go through their stacks to find
- [Hegseth Headed For the Door??  I’ll Believe It When I See It](https://afriendlyletter.com/hegseth-headed-for-the-door-ill-believe-it-when-i-see-it/) - Well, rest in peace, Pope F, but the crazy merry-go-round of news moves so fast you could have slipped away a month or two ago. But after all, you were 88. For that matter, by mid-afternoon the stock market was down again — but only by another 900+ points; I, mean, Ho-hum, right? 401k panic
- [My Secret Post-Election Plan: Celebration?? Or Consolation??](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-secret-post-election-plan-celebration-or-consolation/) - I’m still not making predictions about the election’s outcome. And I’m so over searching for the hidden meanings in polls. My record of not answering the non-Hurricane flood of robocalls remains unbroken. Not least, I voted two weeks — seems like two months — ago. So now there’s only one big question hanging over the
- [For Quakers (& Justice Seekers), September Should Be "Willie Frye" Month; Here's Why . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/__trashed-7/) - The Top Ten Things Quakers & Seekers Need to Know About Willie Frye Jr.: A Preamble: Why should September be Willie Frye month? Two main reasons: One, because he was both born (on the 26th) and passed away (on the 9th) in September. And-- Two, because of the remarkable but little-known legacy he left us
- [An Easter Message For Liberal Quakers](https://afriendlyletter.com/an-easter-message-for-liberal-quakers/) - An "Easter" Message – 4th Month (April) 9, 2023 I’ve been to Easter morning worship at a good many Friends meetings, mostly liberal & unprogrammed. And the most visible special character noted at many on the occasion was someone, usually female, in an adult-sized cartoon rabbit costume. It brings to mind a cartoon I turned
- [A Breaking (Bad) Quaker News Flash . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-breaking-bad-quaker-news-flash/) - Friends in the DC Beltway area may already know. But as they say in the news biz, this is a developing story . . . . The short official explanation (no money) is accurate enough, but patently incomplete. Any reader who is ready and able to lift the curtain, use Messenger to get in touch.
- [The Naval Academy Library's Magical Minstrel Show for Massa Hegseth](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-naval-academy-librarys-magical-minstrel-show-for-massa-hegseth/) - I hate to admit it, but my authorial ego was bruised by wading through the list of 381 books pulled from the Nimitz Library of the U. S. Naval Academy last week. It tallied the volumes expelled by order of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, for committing the grave sins of advocating and documenting aspects of
- [Gwynne Dyer: How Trump’s Tariffs Could Change the World](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-how-trumps-tariffs-could-change-the-world/) - GWYNNE DYER, April 7, 2025 Trump's tariffs have ricocheted around the world. Here's how it will change the system He may have overestimated the role the US plays in trade In 10 whirlwind weeks, Donald Trump had already smashed the international system of rules and alliances that more or less kept the peace for the
- [Tariff-Free Toons](https://afriendlyletter.com/tariff-free-toons/) - STOP The (USIP Building) STEAL! - - - -
- [Dyer: On Philippines Ex-President Duterte’s Arrest for Mass Murders](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-on-philippines-ex-president-dutertes-arrest-for-mass-murders/) - Dyer: Philippines drama first step in long journey Gwynne Dyer — Mar 23, 2025 Everybody has heard the saying: "The mills of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceeding fine". The saying is a promise that all crimes will eventually be punished - but it is a lie. Most crimes everywhere always have gone
- [EXCLUSIVE: A Leaked View of the “Afterlife” of the U. S. Institute of Peace](https://afriendlyletter.com/exclusive-a-leaked-view-of-the-afterlife-of-the-u-s-institute-of-peace/) - March 22, 2025 From confidential Washington sources, the following excerpt is drawn from an account of the aftermath of the March 17 seizure and closing of the U. S. Institute of Peace, by armed agents of the DOGE administration. The account has been condensed and edited for clarity. Brief Encounter at 2301 Mid-March, 2025, on
- [Exclusive: Chatbot Names Top Quaker Issues; Makes Blog Obsolete?](https://afriendlyletter.com/exclusive-chatbot-names-top-quaker-issues-makes-blog-obsolete/) - March 14, 2023 It had to happen, right? Someone was sure to try to find out if/when Chatbot will make Quaker blogs, journals, and all other pre-AI communication as outmoded and unnecessary as, you know, Wiliam Penn, or Philadelphia. And now it's happened. The results are here, in full, and unexpurgated. Well, not quite in
- [AI Quakerism, Part Two: ChatBot Delivers Solutions for Our Five Biggest Problems. (Or Does It?)](https://afriendlyletter.com/ai-quakerism-part-two-chatbot-delivers-solutions-for-our-five-biggest-problems-or-does-it/) - Yesterday, we asked ChatBot to identify the five biggest issues facing Quakers today, and posted the query and the full text of its reply. Then, as promised, we followed up by asking ChatBot (CB for short) to sketch out practical solutions to these problems, again based on its familiarity with the presumably vast resources of
- [ChatBot Quakerism, Part 3 (of 3): Not Ready To Be the Super-Clerk Just Yet](https://afriendlyletter.com/chatbot-quakerism-part-3-of-3-not-ready-to-be-the-super-clerk-just-yet/) - This past week, this blog held two conversations with a ChatBot, the vanguard of supposedly all-knowing software which some believe is destined to soon take over our world and make many crucial functions (including blogging) unnecessary antiques. Aiming to make the interchange as illuminating as possible, I first asked the bot (called "CB" for short
- [Germany voted to rearm—Did the Earth Move? Gwynne Dyer Says Yes](https://afriendlyletter.com/germany-voted-to-rearm-did-the-earth-move-gwynne-dyer-says-yes/) - Keeping the ‘Rule of Law’ Alive / Politics / By Gwynne Dyer 19 March 2025 Last Tuesday [March 18 2025)] there was a vote in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, that may have changed the course of history. When the vote came out ‘Yes’, you could feel the tectonic plates shift.
- [Do Ukraine’s Ceasefire Hopes Hang on Trump’s Nobel Fever Dreams?](https://afriendlyletter.com/do-ukraines-ceasefire-hopes-hang-on-trumps-nobel-fever-dreams/) - Ukraine: Maybe a short cease-fire, maybe not By Gwynne Dyer - Mar 14, 2025 What’s hard to keep in mind, with all the hype that’s flying around, is that there’s no particular reason for either side in the Ukraine war to want a cease-fire right now, let alone a full peace settlement. The only
- [Three Reflections on Wisdom](https://afriendlyletter.com/three-reflections-on-wisdom/) - So the Book of Proverbs and the other Wisdom texts are not just about good advice; but they embody a mode of “revelation” not reserved only to prophets or priests or ancient texts, but potentially available right now to anyone who is ready to observe keenly and reflect deeply. Now, while my own observation & reflection has confirmed much of what I find in Proverbs, I have also seen much that doesn’t fit with its model of guaranteed riches & honor for the righteous. In fact I’m sorry to say that I’ve often seen the exact opposite happening. So if I could talk to the editors of Proverbs, I’d want to ask – what about these people, righteous enough, innocent enough, who didn’t get rich and live happily ever after? Are they in your Wisdom texts somewhere? Well yes, they are. Not so much in the Book of Proverbs, but very much in the Wisdom texts. And we’ll explore that next time.
- [Tom Fox - Quaker Peaceworker Murdered in Iraq March 10, 2006](https://afriendlyletter.com/tom-fox-quaker-peaceworker-murdered-in-iraq-march-10-2006/) - March 10: Remember Tom Fox March 10 — how could I forget? How dare I fail to remember? Nineteen years and four months ago, John Stephens and I began a blog site called freethecaptivesnow.org , as both a personal vigil and a community service, compiling and posting nightly updates of reports — or mostly
- [A Carolina Lynching, But No Carolina Justice: John Jeffress Remembrance Day, August 25, 1920](https://afriendlyletter.com/john-jeffress-remembrance-day-august-25-1920/) - In the version of this report published in the Charlotte NC News, additional details were included: Sheriff Story [sic] and his six assistants started with Jeffress to the courthouse one block away. Arriving at the spot where Ray was killed, a mob formed around the Officers and their prisoner. There was a sudden surge forward and in the twinkling of an eye, according to the sheriff, the prisoner had been taken from the officers and was placed in an automobile and rushed away. There was not a shot fired: not even a gun drawn during the minute scuffle between the mob and officers. Sheriff Storey said tonight that resistance would have been folly as the mob was made up of between 25 and 50 determined men. There were at least 150 additional men nearby whose sympathies were with the- mob, he stated tonight. Answering a. direct question, Sheriff Story declared that he did not know anyone in the mob. The man who led the mob and took the prisoner away, the sheriff said, must have just moved into the county and was not known to him.
- [Tom Fox Memorial Book Is Available Again](https://afriendlyletter.com/tom-fox-memorial-book-available-again/) - On November 25, 2005, Tom Fox was kidnaped in Baghdad, Iraq, along with three comrades. All four were members of a Christian Peacemakers Team, working to exhibit a spirit of peace and reconciliation in a land riven by war and terror. His three colleagues were freed by British and U.S. troops on March 23, 2006. But almost two weeks earlier, on March 10, Tom’s body was found in a garbage dump in the city; he had been murdered.
- [Trans & The Bible: Is God On Their Side? I Say —](https://afriendlyletter.com/trans-the-bible-an-update/) - Transphobia: The Bible Is Better Than That 2025 is becoming a crucible year for trans people and those who would be their allies: the Pete Hegseth-Trump Defense Department is after them; Iowa’s legislature just deleted them from its anti-discrimination statutes; other states may follow. And don't even get me started on the Supreme Court.
- [“Bloody Sunday” in Selma plus 60: Victory Undone, Battle Renewed](https://afriendlyletter.com/bloody-sunday-in-selma-plus-60-victory-undone-battle-renewed/) - Below is a black & white news photo from late February, 1965. It turned up a few years back (hat tip to the sharp-eyed Lewis Lewis): it was taken on the steps of Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama when John Lewis (center-left, with a tie) announced the plan to march from Selma
- [Wrestling With A Roomful Of Elephants:](https://afriendlyletter.com/room-full-of-elephants/) - FUM [Friends United Meeting] After Kenya (First posted on June 1, 2007) [See the response linked below from Patrick Nugent, former head of the Friends Bible College, Kenya.] Current Quote on Quaker dealings with Kenya Friends groups: "While somewhat less colonial, the [Friends United Meeting] work in East Africa is still structured around economic disparities
- [Spilling The Two Secrets I Know About Garrison Keillor](https://afriendlyletter.com/spilling-two-secrets-know-garrison-keillor/) - In Washington DC, after a book party in The big Florida Avenue Friends Meetinghouse there. The book was a collection of stories by Russian and American writers, put together by a joint committee, and supposed to be a contribution to ending the Cold War. This Was just before Gorbachev came in and turned all that upside down. Garrison had contributed a story, and showed up at the party. After I shook his hand, we both leaned over the refreshment table, and I Saw that it was just the two of us there for the moment; everyone else was in Scattered clusters, many of them murmuring in Russian. I Figured I only had a couple minutes, so I pounced, and asked the question that had stayed with me all the years I had been listening tomthe show android eading his stuff. It was the question that he & all U.S. Males of his generation had to answer. Including me. (If you're of that generation, or think you're familiar with it (us), think for a minute and see if you can guess what it was . . . .
- [Washington Post: More In Sorrow, But With PLENTY of Anger](https://afriendlyletter.com/washington-post-more-in-sorrow-but-with-plenty-of-anger/) - - NOTE: “Corruptio optimi pessima” = Corruption of the best is the worst of all. I can’t remember when I started reading the Washington Post. I was following it through the Watergate years, but was a mostly broke rookie trying to find my footing as a writer to afford a subscription. By
- [A Segue from Un-Banned Black History Month to Un-Banned Women’s History Month](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-segue-from-un-banned-black-history-month-to-un-banned-womens-history-month/) - A Landmark & An Example: Recalling Michelle & Larycia: When Two Remarkable Women Spoke Truth to Power ONE The New York Times Magazine in October 2016 ran a very striking & powerful profile of Larycia Hawkins, the onetime (only female of color) tenured professor at evangelical Wheaton College in Illinois. She was abruptly fired early
- [Welcome to a Showdown Week: Musk vs Fed workers + AFGE (But What About CONGRESS??)](https://afriendlyletter.com/welcome-to-a-showdown-week-musk-vs-fed-workers-afge-but-what-about-congress/) - I’m A free Bonus from the gang at “What Goes Around Comes Around” Media: this first cartoon is from 2017, when Trump tried to KILL Obamacare, but was stopped by nationwide constituent pushback. Can Congress WAKE UP again?? PS. To Constituents: KEEP UP the pressure! Now some blasts from the cartoon past … Below:
- [“Peace” In Our Time? A Look Into Our Future](https://afriendlyletter.com/peace-in-our-time-a-look-into-our-future/) - As a retired antiwar activist, I have long called for big cuts in the war budget — and I long ago got used to being ignored, while war spending kept growing. But today I looked up from the email inbox and glimpsed one of those “I-Never-Thought-I’d see this” sights — Namely that in this anti-arms
- [King- A Night March; A Killer Klan Squad; And a Long Read for the Right Day](https://afriendlyletter.com/king-a-night-march-a-killer-klan-squad-and-a-long-read-for-the-right-day/) - Selma, Alabama — February 1965 I In the decades since Dr. King's murder, I have been bemusedly tolerant of the plethora of conspiracy theories offered in explanation, tending to believe and disbelieve them all, in equal measure: The CIA? The Klan? The Mafia? A redneck hit squad? A lone bigot? All are plausible. Yet I'm
- [Military Schoolkids: Kiss These Books Goodbye! - Hegseth /Trump Censorship Starts](https://afriendlyletter.com/military-schoolkids-kids-kiss-these-books-goodbye-hegseth-trump-censorship-starts/) - The DOD “guidance” memo was blunt: ”Identity Months Dead at DOD.” Besides banning Black History Month observances in the military, Hegseth/Trump is now pressing their anti-DEI extermination mission by purging the shelves of Defense Department schools, which 67, 000 elementary & secondary students attend at 160 locations worldwide. (One of them was me, a long
- [Charlotte Lewis: A Fine African American Artist](https://afriendlyletter.com/charlotte-lewis-a-fine-african-american-artist/) - Charlotte Lewis (1934-1999) An artist, activist, teacher and tireless community worker, Charlotte LaVerne Graves Lewis was born on May 1, 1934 in Prescott, Arizona to Lillian and Charles Graves. In 1937, the family moved to Portland, where Charlotte grew up, showing artistic and academic precocity at an early age. After graduating from the Portland Art Museum School in 1955, she pursued a career as a graphic designer, then lived in San Francisco and Philadelphia for several years before returning permanently to Portland. [It was while she was living on a communal far west of Philadelphia that I (Chuck Fager) met Charlotte, in 1977. Her art work immediately impressed me, and it was then mostly in a style very different, almost pointillist. Later, when I was able to (i.e., working fulltime), I commissioned Charlotte to do a number of illustrations for me and for some of my writings. Her work was always striking and distinctive. Three examples are below.]
- [More on “Un-Banned” Black History Month: Henry Louis Gates Jr. On the Return of the "Lost Cause" Censorship, and the Need for Real Debate on Black Issues in America](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-great-substantive-read-henry-louis-gates-jr-on-the-return-of-the-lost-cause-censorship-nd-the-need-for-real-debate-on-black-issues-in-america/) - [NOTE: Henry Louis Gates could well be the best professor I never had. I was first knocked over by his intellect and insight when I found his 1993 article that challenged the use of what was then newly-called "Critical Race Theory" as justification for repression of free speech by essentially private, often mob action, now
- [Guest Post: Our “Friend” Il Papa Joins The Pushback  & Kicks Authoritarian Anti-Immigration Butts](https://afriendlyletter.com/guest-post-our-friend-il-papa-joins-the-pushback-kicks-authoritarian-anti-immigration-butts/) - I’m not sure Pope Francis would endorse my headline. But I didn’t ask his permission. He ostensibly wrote this letter to the (all-male) U. S. Catholic bishops, not to Quakers (or Quaker adjacents, who make up the bulk of this blog’s audience). But instead he released it to via the official Vatican website, in English
- [Not-Banned Black History Month: Critical Race Theory & Me — It Could be Verse](https://afriendlyletter.com/critical-race-theory-me-it-could-be-verse/) - Doggone it, the 2022 Texas law banning the teaching of critical race theory came too late to help me. I was particularly sorry to miss the mandate that educators avoid anything that might end up making anyone "feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual’s race or
- [New Issue of "Types & Shadows" - Quaker Arts Journal-Online NOW (Free)](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-issue-of-types-shadows-quaker-arts-journal-online-now/) - You can read and browse it here free: Types & Shadows is the quarterly journal of the Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts. (FQA) It first appeared in 1996, and has been produced ever since by dedicated and creative volunteers. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) were strongly against the arts for their first
- [The Poet Laureate of a Banned Black History Month! Langston Hughes--Sing us a bit of your famous Blues!](https://afriendlyletter.com/happy-birthday-langston-hughes-sing-us-a-bit-of-your-famous-blues/) - It's Langston Hughes's birthday (1902-1967). Known primarily as a poet, Hughes was a versatile writer: by his mid-twenties he had published challenging essays in national periodicals, and two books of poetry. I'm reading his first novel, Not Without Laughter, published in 1930, when he was 28. This passage evokes a domestic scene in a small Kansas city, modeled on Lawrence, where Hughes spent several boyhood years. Hughes was proud of his humble roots, and the creativity it wrung from hardship, like the largely homemade blues songs by the itinerant laborer Jimboy. Here he has returned after a long absence seeking work. In Hughes's prose, we can hear the poetry woven through it.
- [Monday Quick Relief Option](https://afriendlyletter.com/monday/) - On Monday, January 20, if you need some FAST Relief from Inaugu-rama overload, you can get some at, not one but TWO podcasts, featuring thine truly. I'll put the links below; they're free, and won't try to sell you anything (well, maybe a book of mine will be hyped). Together they're that one weird trick
- [Pete Hegseth Wants to “Bleach the Barracks,” Starting By Firing the Top Black General](https://afriendlyletter.com/pete-hegseth-wants-to-bleach-the-barracks-starting-by-firing-the-top-black-general/) - Just wrote a blog post on the nomination of Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. It's posted on the blog of my former employer, Quaker House of Fayetteville NC, near Fort Liberty (neé Fort Bragg). The post deals with aspects of Hegseth's program that were hardly mentioned in his Senate hearing on January 14: his
- [Guilford College in Crisis (Again? Yes.)](https://afriendlyletter.com/guilford-college-in-crisis-again-yes/) - This weekend I was thinking about trouble at Guilford College, when a memory popped up: during my college years, a B- was not a bad grade. Okay, it wasn’t great, especially if you were aiming at the honor roll or grad school. But it was above a C; over the line (if just barely) into
- [Gwynne Dyer: Happy(??) Climate New Year](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-happy-climate-new-year/) - Welcome to ‘Uncharted Territory’ Gwynne Dyer, January 2, 2025 New Year is when we do the accounts for the year, and the bad news always gets top billing: how many wars are going on, how big were the natural disasters, etc.? Climate change now has its own slot in this annual accounting, and here is
- [How I Got So Lucky: A True Quaker Christmas Story](https://afriendlyletter.com/how-i-got-so-lucky-a-true-christmas-story/) - One: Brooklyn, December 1967 I knew it was going to be a long day when I saw the woman having an epileptic seizure in the Intake room. She was on her back, eyes rolling, jerking and thrashing, head thumping on the cement floor. A Welfare Department security guard ran over and straddled her, trying to
- [A Quaker Christmas Story: Candles In The Window](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-quaker-christmas-story/) - Christmas Eve, so called by the world’s people, was always a frantically busy time at the Woodhouse bakery. While the Woodhouse family, being Quakers, did not observe Christmas as a special day, almost all their customers did. That meant orders for dozens more pies than usual, plus hundreds of tarts and ginger cakes, and scores of extra loaves of their rich, thick bread. So all the week before, the whole Woodhouse family were in the shop almost round the clock, mixing dough, sprinkling sugar and cinnamon, spooning out the cherry preserves, and tending the fire under the big brick ovens. Abram did all of this, and more: he was often sent out with a basket full of pies or tarts for delivery to the better customers: beef and mincemeat pies to old Tilbury at the Golden Lion Pub beyond the square; or down the cobbles of South Street, through the narrow passage of the Ginnett and past the sturdy old Meetinghouse, with scones for the Blackburns and buns for the widow Kilburn. Sometimes he crossed the river Ribble to Giggleswick, where the vicar doted on Mother’s ginger cakes. This evening he had been sent to the pub, where Tilbury wanted three more pies for his last round of customers, and it was from there that he had turned to climb the hill Castleberg. Abram wouldn’t have thought of climbing Castleberg, especially in the cold, except for the candles–two in a window in every house and shop. “What are they for, this time?” he had asked Father that morning. “It’s a double illumination,” Father said, “for victories past and victories prayed for. George Cockburn’s troops burning Washington, DC is the victory past, and Wellington beating Napoleon before the end of 1815 is what they’re praying for.” “That’s a fine thing to pray for, in what’s supposed to be a Christian country” his grandmother had snorted. Laying down her rolling pin, Gran had wiped sweat from her brow. “All it means is more dead soldiers, penniless widows and hungry orphans, from Paris to New York. Love thine enemies, indeed. A terrible, sinful waste.” She sighed and picked up her rolling pin. With swift, expert strokes she flattened a thick lump of dough into delicate pie crusts. . . .
- [A Quaker Holiday Story: A "Carpet of Light" (Again) for (Another) Shadowed New Year](https://afriendlyletter.com/lights-for-a-new-year/) - Out of the silence, as moved, Friends came to the table in ones or twos or family groups, and each lit another candle, which they placed on the table; they spoke if moved, then sat down again in the silence. From the first time I experienced, the way that the whole room was progressively illuminated, seemed in fact to glow, as the number of flickering flames increased, was very moving to me. In a way it was a visible, wordless, yet eloquent evocation of Quakerism at its best: a motley, seemingly haphazard collection of candles of witness, more diverse than we outwardly seem, mainly anonymous and individual, somehow joining together to become more than the sum of the parts. This time, at the end of 2017, a year which for me has been very heavily shadowed, often deeply gloomy, and yes, dark, the full array became something of an encouraging signal for the year ahead.
- [Holiday Story #2 - How I Got so Lucky](https://afriendlyletter.com/got-lucky-true-christmas-story/) - At five o-clock, I was grateful to escape into the icy December darkness, and turned away from the subway toward the department stores a few blocks away. I was behind on Christmas shopping, and there were only a few days left. I went into E.J. Korvette’s, a big discount place that was the Wal-Mart of those days. Not sure what I was looking for, I wandered from one department to another, and soon was passing the pipe tobacco section. I hate smoking, always have; but something drew me to the counter. There were large brightly colored round canisters of pipe tobacco on shelves behind it. “Do you have Bugler?” I asked. The clerk smirked. Most tobacco fans think of Bugler as little more than shredded cardboard. But what did I care? He stooped down behind the counter and came up with the blue labeled canister. The price was ridiculously cheap. “I’ll take it,” I said. “Oh– and a couple packets of cigarette papers.” From there, it was just a few steps to the electronics department, and a compact-sized AM radio. It took a little longer to settle on a small kid’s record player, with an arm you moved by hand. The real find was in the 99 cent record bin: an album of hymns by Tennessee Ernie Ford. The whole haul didn’t cost much over twenty dollars. After that, the rest of my shopping came easily. Christmas morning was still bitter cold, and subway trains were few and far between. It took a long time to get from home to that street, and I stood shivering for what seemed like an hour, pounding on Mrs. Lee’s door.
- [Live! From New York! It’s Saturday Night, With Special Guest Host — Pope Francis!!](https://afriendlyletter.com/live-from-new-york-its-saturday-night-with-special-guest-host-pope-francis/) - NYTimes Opinion: Guest Essay Pope Francis: There Is Faith in Humor By Pope Francis - Dec. 17, 2024 Excerpt: [Here’s] the one about Pope Francis in America. It goes something like this: As soon as he arrives at the airport in New York for his apostolic journey in the United States, Pope Francis finds
- [A Sparkling New Podcast on “Tell It Slant” - The Biography of Chuck Fager](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-sparkling-new-podcast-on-tell-it-slant-the-biography-of-chuck-fager/) - Announcing A Brand-New, free podcast, now online at the link below: A Review of Tell It Slant By Dan Whitley (Chuck, here is my review. I don’t think I did the book any justice, mainly because I was never very good at book reports in school. I really loved the book. And it gave me
- [Saving Obama With Santa, In Selma 2015;](https://afriendlyletter.com/saving-obama-in-selma-2015-for-reading-when-youre-not-thinking-about-milwaukee/) - Durham, North Carolina, and Selma, Alabama In the autumn of 2014, still settling into retirement in Durham, a question began nagging at me: was Barack Obama going to get shot in Selma Alabama the following March? Now stay with me: was I just being more than normally paranoid? The short answer is No. But what’s
- [A Year of #45. My Year of Resistance.](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-resistance-scrapbook-year-one/) - Many other resisters were organizing to descend upon the public meetings of regime-supporting Congressmen & women, a great many of whom did not want to face or hear from their constituents. That was true of many Members from Carolina, and still is of some. But one exception, in early May, was Republican Rep. Mark Walker from the Sixth district, has been drastically gerrymandered to make Walker's reelection seemingly safe. So on a May morning he decided to hold a public meeting, and since I had business out that way, I decided to drop in on it -- not to speak, since I'm not a resident, but to observe. A staffer shoved a ticket into my hand when I entered. As I sat down, it was announced that tickets would be drawn from a box to choose questioners. And the first ticket drawn was -- mine?? What? It was true. So I stumbled up to the microphone, trying to think quickly of a question that might get past his well-practiced talking points. Somehow I succeeded. Walker had previously been a preacher, and so I asked him if he believed in the Ninth of the Ten commandments, the one against "bearing false witness" (i.e., telling lies.) A bit puzzled, he said he did. So then I asked what he thought about the tally the Washington Post had been publishing each week since inauguration, tracking and documenting #45's lies, which were running at about 5 per day. Was he okay with that? Now Walker was really befuddled. As he stuttered, it appeared he might not be exactly sure what the Washington Post was, and he certainly didn't know anything about this tally. But after much backing and filling, and under my prodding, he did finally manage to come out more or less foursquare against telling lies, without being more specific. Not his best performance. Other questions were mostly about health care, aka Obamacare, which he was against. As an accidental resister, I felt afterward that I had done okay that morning.
- [The Long Read: lynching Prevented, Lynchings Abetted; North Carolina 1920](https://afriendlyletter.com/lynching/) - On Thursday August 25, 2022, we noted the anniversary of the lynching of John Jeffress in Alamance County NC in 1920. It turns out, there was more to this story, which further digging has at least partially exposed. I want to share that here. This episode could be said to have begun a month earlier, in
- [Henry Taylor: A Quaker Poet Departs — A Holiday Read](https://afriendlyletter.com/henry-taylor-a-quaker-poet-departs-a-holiday-read/) - Late one spring morning in 1986, I was creeping along the edge of Ox Road, Virginia route 123, driving with one hand, and shoving mail into the boxes on posts with the other. I was a substitute rural mail carrier, working a route just south of the seemingly nonexistent town of Fairfax Station. Beyond the
- [A Sign of The Times, Our Times](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-sign-of-the-times-our-times/)
- [Maybe There's Hope: Simon & Garfunkel Are Friends Again . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/maybe-theres-hope-simon-garfunkel-are-friends-again/) - Maybe— This wasn't written on the subway walls, or some tenement halls; It isn't a mashup of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme; Or the boxer, humming ly-la-lye while homeward bound. But maybe . . . it could turn out to be a Bridge Over Troubled Waters . . . The Guardian: ‘I was a fool’:
- [New Issue of a Quaker Arts Journal -- Now Online](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-issue-of-a-quaker-arts-journal-now-online/) - Can art help us get through (and bear witness in) hard times? The Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts (aka FQA) thinks so. A new example is the just-published issue of FQA’s journal, Types & Shadows, (aka T&S) online right now, right here. T&S was launched in 1996, the new issue is #101, for Autumn
- [How Pizza, Porn & Public Executions Made Good Politics in North Carolina](https://afriendlyletter.com/how-pizza-porn-public-executions-made-good-politics-in-north-carolina/) - Every Democrat who won a state-level race in North Carolina this week ought to be tossing at least a fiver into a common hat. Then that wad of bills should be plunked down at Greensboro’s greasiest pizza parlor, to have at several dozen steamy pies delivered to the front porch of Chez Mark Robinson, topped
- [Quote of the Month: “It’s the First Amendment, stupid”](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-month-its-the-first-amendment-stupid/) - [NOTE: the CNN Business report cited below deals with an abortion rights vote coming in Florida. But this blog post, while not discounting the importance of that issue, is focused on a judge in a related lawsuit. More specifically, on a ruling he issued last week. Even more, on a five-word summary of the basis
- [Campaign Notes Tuesday Oct. 22, 2024](https://afriendlyletter.com/campaign-notes-tuesday-oct-22-2024/) - Boston Herald Biden lays into Trump during New Hampshire stop By MATTHEW MEDSGER mmedsger@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: October 22, 2024 President Joe Biden was in New Hampshire on Tuesday to spread the word about his administration’s work to lower the price of prescription drugs, but he also used the visit as a
- [Early Voting Tally- North Carolina - Monday Oct. 21, 2024](https://afriendlyletter.com/early-voting-tally-north-carolina-monday-oct-21-2024/) - Figures below are through Sunday October 20th, from the NC State Board of Elections (NCSBE) Late Monday, officials in Wake County, home of the capital city of Raleigh, the state’s second-largest, told reporters that “more than 96,000 residents cast ballots (in Wake/Raleigh) through Sunday. Breaking it down, registered Democrats had a nearly 2-to-1 edge
- [News of The (Voting) Day from (One of the) Front Lines](https://afriendlyletter.com/news-of-the-voting-day-from-one-of-the-front-lines/) - A friend messaged to ask how it’s going? A brief update in North Carolina, as of Friday evening 10-18-2024: I hear it was a record first day yesterday (Opening Day of early voting). At our polling place nearby, they told us 800 had voted there yesterday ), a record. A later statewide report came from
- [October 16 Was William Penn's Birthday. I'll still celebrate it, even if others won't.](https://afriendlyletter.com/its-william-penns-birthday-ill-celebrate-it-even-if-others-wont/) - I don’t hear or read much about William Penn among Friends these days. It appears he has been canceled and erased, wiped away in the Great Dismantling. (Indeed, Penn seems to get the most attention today from ultra-right wing activists, who are busy trying to turn him into an avatar of their drive to turn
- [The Shadow at the Pride Festival](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-shadow-at-the-pride-festival/) - A year ago last Saturday, the Friends Meeting I'm part of took a big step, for us: we rented a booth at the Alamance Pride Festival, held in a large park in downtown Burlington NC. Outwardly, our booth was not particularly eye-catching. Amid the fluttering of a thousand floating rainbows, the yellow table banner we
- [A Quaker Doing His Incognito Bit in North Carolina Politics](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-quaker-doing-his-incognito-bit-in-north-carolina-politics/) - Burlington is in North Carolina’s Alamance County, once notorious as a hotbed of the Ku Klux Klan back in the day, Neo-Confederates now. A 35-foot statue of a rebel soldier still guards the county courthouse, and the monument itself is surrounded by a thick wrought iron fence and plenty of Don't-Tread-On-Me attitude. The county
- [Quakers Quitting on QUIT: Torture Wins, this time. And maybe next time, too.](https://afriendlyletter.com/quakers-quitting-on-quit-torture-wins-this-time-and-maybe-next-time-too/) - I wish it wasn’t time to write this post. But it is: Quakers are quitting on QUIT. QUIT is — or rather was — the Quaker Initiative to end Torture. It began in the spring of 2005, with a call by Friend John Calvi, just as the international scope, the vast evil plus the flagrant
- [“Nazi, Schmazi. . .” Mark Robinson Retains Some Church Backers](https://afriendlyletter.com/mark-robinson-retains-some-church-backers/) - New York Times — On Politics September 23, 2024 POSTCARD FROM RALEIGH A church where Mark Robinson still has defenders By Jess Bidgood — September 23, 2024 The latest, with 43 days to go It was about an hour into the 11 a.m. service on Sunday, and Bishop Patrick Wooden Sr. of the Upper Room
- [“Tell It Slant”: Author Emma Lapsansky-Werner Speaks](https://afriendlyletter.com/excerpt-4-tell-it-slant-author-emma-lapsansky-werner-speaks/) - This excerpt is adapted from the new book, Tell It Slant, which charts Chuck Fager's prophetic life of adventure & writing on religion, war, and justice, love and laughter. Tell It Slant is available now, in paperback & Kindle versions. Details here. By Emma Lapsansky-Werner A short bio: Emma Jones Lapsansky-Werner is emeritus Professor of
- [To Promote Racial Justice, It's Time to Move On from "Anti-Racism"](https://afriendlyletter.com/to-promote-racial-justice-its-time-to-move-on-from-anti-racism/) - Not to ban the slogan. But to close it like a book, and put it on the shelf with others that have been read, which delivered value, and have become part of a reference collection. In the almost sixty years since I was drawn into racial justice work, many such slogans have come and gone:
- [Another Sad Season for SAYMA](https://afriendlyletter.com/another-sad-season-for-sayma/) - One plague this year wasn't enough: Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting, gathering this week by Zoom, is facing another one: a fever of panic and hysteria over charges of -- wait for it -- racism. First, though, the vector of SAYMA’s resurgent malady isn't a lab or wet market in China. Rather, it's a familiar figure, Sharon
- [Part Four (Conclusion): Why September Should Be “Willie Frye Month”](https://afriendlyletter.com/part-four-conclusion-why-september-should-be-willie-frye-month/) - Why September Should Be "Willie Frye" Month -- Part Four- Conclusion [Part One is here.] [Part Two is here.] [Part Three is here.] 21. 1994-1995 — In a 1994 statement to the NC Yearly Meeting Ministry and Counsel Committee, Willie wrote, "It seems somehow odd to be on trial for heresy within the Society of
- [Part Three: Why September Should Be "Willie Frye" Month (For Quakers & Justice Seekers)](https://afriendlyletter.com/part-three-why-september-should-be-willie-frye-month-for-quakers-justice-seekers/) - Why September Should Be "Willie Frye" Month -- Part Three [Part One is here.] [Part Two is here.] [Part Four is here.] Part Three: In the first two installments, we followed Willie Frye Jr. from his origin in a fundamentalist, staunchly segregationist southern culture, into the Friends pastoral ministry in North Carolina, through a religious
- [Part Two: Why September Should Be "Willie Frye" Month (For Quakers & Justice Seekers)](https://afriendlyletter.com/part-two-why-september-should-be-willie-frye-month-for-quakers-justice-seekers/) - Why September Should Be "Willie Frye" Month -- Part Two [Part One is here.] [Part Three is Here.] [Part Four is here.] [In 1966, Willie Frye Jr., a Quaker pastor in Goldsboro, North Carolina, had not been active in the civil rights struggles that were convulsing much of the South in those years. But his
- [Quaker Alert! Thunder In Carolina](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-alert-thunder-in-carolina/) - Quaker Alert! There’s big trouble brewing in North Carolina Yearly Meeting-FUM: talk (and MORE than talk) about purges and schism. I’ve now uploaded an exclusive hot-off-the-digital-presses report, a Preview from the journal Quaker Theology. The full report is here:
- [Will the DNC Repeat Chicago 1968? Or — Charlotte 2012??](https://afriendlyletter.com/will-the-dnc-repeat-chicago-1968-or-charlotte-2012/) - I wasn’t in Chicago for the 1968 DNC disaster. Instead, I was glued to a radio, at a small conference in upstate New York. Yet at moments it felt like I was there, right next to Grant Park, and that rocks or tear gas canisters could crash through a window at any second. The large
- [A Hump Day Threefer: Catching Up With Spring, Before It’s Gone](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-hump-day-threefer-catching-up-with-spring-before-its-gone/) - Mormon Leaders Demonstrate “Continuing Revelation” on LGBT issues Flunking Sainthood Just over three years ago, Mormon leaders touted a controversial LGBT policy as revelation. Now its reversal is also being presented as revelation. April 4, 2019 By Jana Riess — Religion News Service (RNS) — In a stunning reversal, The Church of Jesus Christ of
- [Exclusive! Now Revealed-The Secret Struggle to Create National Guacamole Day](https://afriendlyletter.com/exclusive-now-revealed-the-secret-struggle-to-create-national-guacamole-day/) - Happy Monday! It's true: for decades (well, at least since 2013), Guacamole only gained national recognition indirectly, via National Avocado Day, which was set for July 31 by the self-anointed authority of the National Day Calendar. The Calendar's tireless band of curators hovers above the rest of the nation from their headquarters in the cultural
- [Another Day to remember: September 16: Torture Migration Day](https://afriendlyletter.com/another-day-to-remember-september-16-torture-migration-day/) - Keeping Up the Pressure for Torture Accountability If I seem preoccupied with torture, that's due to two factors above all: First, Fayetteville-Fort Liberty (neé Bragg) is surrounded by major components of what I call the "Torture Industrial Complex." So it's been hard for me to ignore. And second, in my study of this gruesome subject,
- [Urgent - Act to Stop Torturer Gina Haspel](https://afriendlyletter.com/urgent-act-to-stop-torturer-gina-haspel/) - Yes, torture IS already a crime. A federal felony. We don't need Congress to pass new laws about that. Just enforce the laws already on the books. And one big step toward such accountability would be to stop the Haspel nomination. Time is short for action to stop Haspel's ascent. A hearing on her nomination is slated for early May.
- [Hey, Charlie Brown: Will You Ever Kick That Football??](https://afriendlyletter.com/hey-charlie-brown-will-you-ever-kick-that-football/) - AP News: “A Good Man”: Exhibits honor 'Peanuts' creator Schulz on 100th BY ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS AND PATRICK ORSAGOS May 27, 2022 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — In a series of “Peanuts” comic strips that ran in mid-April of 1956, Charlie Brown grasps the string of his kite, which was stuck in what came to be known in
- [The One I’ve Been Waiting For . . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-one-ive-been-waiting-for/)
- [Update: Shooting Holes In Justice — Emmett Till & Jimmie Lee Jackson Memorials](https://afriendlyletter.com/update-shooting-holes-in-justice-emmett-till-jimmie-lee-jackson-memorials/) - Jackson was buried in a small cemetery near Alabama Highway 14 on the outskirts of Marion. His headstone is impressively carved with a figure of Jesus keeping vigil. It too has been hit by numerous bullets, from the one that knocked a chunk off the top, to seven or eight that close examination here reveals. Emmett Till's killers walked completely free. The Alabama trooper who shot Jimmie Lee Jackson, James Fowler, shot and killed a second unarmed young black man in 1966. But forty-five years later, Fowler was convicted of manslaughter, and served several months in jail, before being released due to ill health.
- [20 Years of "Quaker Theology" -- An Overview & Review](https://afriendlyletter.com/20-years-of-quaker-theology-an-overview-review/) - A related category of personal theology has come from what I call the Divergent Friends: Quakers who have thought deeply about theological issues, and acted on their convictions, but are not academics or members of conventional theological guilds. Many are not remembered as theologians at all, but a closer look discloses new depths and resources. One of my abiding favorites here is Lucretia Mott. Known rightly for her activism for women’s rights and against slavery (plus several other social reforms), we showed in QT #10 that she was also a seminal figure in challenging evangelical orthodoxy & structures among Friends, and gave voice and shape to the liberal stream in ways that have endured for 140 years since her death, and are still evident. Others we profiled included Milton Mayer, a mid-20th century maverick (QT #8 & #30-
- [Rebuilding After the Earthquake, and A Birthday Rainbow](https://afriendlyletter.com/birthday-rainbow/) - This post was delivered as a message in Spring Friends Meeting on Eighth Month (August 11, 2024). Today after meeting, Wendy and I are going to a small family birthday party, for a great-granddaughter who has turned seven. That quiet gathering will be a very modest landmark in what has been a very
- [Wednesday Night at the DNC: Having Some Church & a Quaker/Interfaith Vigil](https://afriendlyletter.com/wednesday-night-at-the-dnc-having-some-church-a-quaker-interfaith-vigil/) - A 2019 (pre-Covid) survey of U.S. protestant pastors showed that nine out of ten held some kind of services on Wednesday evenings. The pandemic likely reduced that number, but for many churches, it’s still a thing. And if you kept up with the extra-long speakers list for DNC Day 3 (my copy listed 37 names,
- [Two DNC Truth-Tellers: Michelle & Bernie](https://afriendlyletter.com/two-dnc-truth-tellers-michelle-bernie/) - NOTE: There were many fine speeches on Tuesday night, the second day of the DNC. Watching the full evening video would be a good investment of spare time. Below I will excerpt only two, which stood out for me: that of Senator Bernie Sanders, here almost in full, and some especially pertinent points by Michelle
- [DNC: Monday, Monday-- Can't Stop That Day . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/dnc-monday-monday-cant-stop-that-day/) - Here are a few of what I felt were highlights of the first day and night at the DNC (seen from my recliner at home, but a marathon even so). As I predicted, the Chicago cops were out on their bikes for the DNC, big time. Inside, the speeches went on and
- [“You DO Need a Weatherman” — DNC Protest Forecast (& Cartoons)](https://afriendlyletter.com/you-do-need-a-weatherman-dnc-protest-forecast-cartoons/) - Note: The weather forecast below is real, though I’ve jiggered the format. And reposting it is a bit whimsical, but not a joke. Among the most effective and non-brutal “crowd control” techniques for events like the coming DNC are: rain (especially with thunder & lightning); and sweltering heat (especially with lakeside humidity). Either one holds
- [A (Faked Crowd) Picture Is Worth a Thousand (Lies)](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-faked-crowd-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-lies/) - At his August 8 press conference, Donald Trump insisted the size of his crowds broke all records: “Nobody has spoken to crowds bigger than me,” Trump told the audience at a press conference in Mar-a-Lago . . . . “If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech, and
- [Nagasaki Atom Bombing: 79th Anniversary: Anybody Listening?](https://afriendlyletter.com/nagasaki/) - 79th anniversary of Nagasaki bombing August 9, 2024 The event commemorates those killed when the US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city. This year's event was boycotted by the US and UK after organizers decided not to invite the Israeli ambassador. Japan on Friday marked the 79th anniversary of the US atomic bombing
- [OMG! Nixon Resigned 50 Years Ago! A Great American/Quaker Nostalgia Read](https://afriendlyletter.com/omg-nixon-resigned-50-years-ago-a-great-american-nostalgia-read/) - Richard Nixon resigned 50 years ago. The political world has never been the same. David Jackson USA TODAY August 8, 2024 WASHINGTON – Exactly 50 years ago, a beleaguered President Richard M. Nixon entered the Oval Office, stared into a television camera and performed an act that still echoes in today's very different political
- [Debby - Durham Update: The Eye’s Wide Open](https://afriendlyletter.com/debby-durham-update-the-eyes-wide-open/) - 3:10 PM - August 8, 2024 We’re still here, the rain has paused, the wind is light, and sunlight feels close to breaking through. But . . . . The radar says Debby, or this end of it/her, is west of us, swirling lazily counterclockwise, and could come around and do another dump on us
- [Debby’s Done Dithering — Durham is Getting Dumped On](https://afriendlyletter.com/debbys-done-dithering-durham-is-getting-dumped-on/) - 6:00AM EDT August 8, 2024 The sun is not up, but the rain is pouring down. Outside, in the pre-dawn murk, the trees are moving, but winds are not yet strong. Emergency alerts have been beeping nonstop on the phone & Ipad, urging us to get the hell away from here. But we’re going to
- [A Poll Update, August 7 '24: Harris/Walz Inch Ahead for the First Time](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-poll-update-august-7-24-harris-walz-inch-ahead-for-the-first-time/) - Two summaries from highly-regarded sources. Reminder: polls re snapshots; not predictions. Also, they change. (But you knew that.) Note: "538" is a much-respected pollster and aggregator. From the New York Times summary of the most highly-regarded polls
- [Hiroshima, El Paso, Dayton & Us](https://afriendlyletter.com/hiroshima-el-paso-dayton-us/) - “. . .[F]or a party that associates itself with Christianity to say that it is ok, to suggest that God would smile on the division of families at the hands of federal agents, that God would condone putting children in cages has lost all claim to ever use religious language again.” Of course, that shot hit the target not only because of its truth, but also because Buttigieg actually takes religion seriously. Yet it's also a useful example. If progressives are going to take on those who are whipping up the dark psychic forces, I'm one who thinks it will take more than position papers, polls and platitudes.
- [Dyer: Global Heating: Breaking Records, Beating Forecasts; Now What?](https://afriendlyletter.com/global-heating-breaking-records-beating-forecasts-now-what/) - Climate Change: The August Deadline By Gwynne Dyer — 31 July 2024 When you spend four years writing a book on climate change, you get to know most of the leading players. I have never seen them so dismayed. “By August, if we’re still looking at record-breaking temperatures, then we really have moved into uncharted
- [Dyer:  Gaza Civilian Deaths: Who Really Cares?](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-gaza-civilian-deaths-who-really-cares/) - Gaza death toll nears 40,000 — who cares? Gwynne Dyer — 29 Jul, 2024 Many people around the world are calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war and its huge toll of civilian casualties. But Gwynne Dyer argues that this chorus does not include the handful of key actors in the bloody drama. The
- [Election Update — July 26 ‘24: An End to Voting?](https://afriendlyletter.com/election-update-july-26-24-an-end-to-voting/)
- [Meme Alert: This Just Fell Out of My Coconut Tree . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/meme-alert-this-just-fell-out-of-my-coconut-tree/) - The Economist: United States | The “brat” vote Is Kamala Harris “brat”? America’s TikTok election just became more interesting Jul 25th 2024|new york “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”, begins a viral clip of Kamala Harris. It resurfaced in the days after Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, but this video
- [I Have Seen the Future, And It Includes . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/i-have-seen-the-future-and-it-includes/) - . . . A new Campaign . . . And Renewed Visions of the American Future: Have a Great, Busy New Week . . .
- [Seeing Our Future in the Past? Flashbacks from the 1850s](https://afriendlyletter.com/seeing-our-future-in-the-past-flashbacks-from-the-1850s/) - I don’t believe in reincarnation. But if I did, I’d be pretty sure that in a previous life, I shambled through the American 1850s. That might help explain why lately I’ve been having vivid dreamlike flashbacks about them. A few acquaintances would nod knowingly at this admission, and murmur something about “past lives.” What I
- [Bernie! Still All In (Critically) for Joe Biden](https://afriendlyletter.com/bernie-still-all-in-critically-for-joe-biden/) - New York Times Bernie Sanders: Joe Biden for President By Bernie Sanders Mr. Sanders is the senior senator from Vermont. July 13, 2024 I will do all that I can to see that President Biden is re-elected. Why? Despite my disagreements with him on particular issues, he has been the most effective president in the
- [Spirit Rising – A Review In Installments – Part 2: Convergent Friends, Unequal Yokes & All That Jazz](https://afriendlyletter.com/spirit-rising-a-review-in-installments-part-2-convergent-friends-unequal-yokes-all-that-jazz/) - [Note: Part I of this review is here.] Two pieces in “Spirit Rising deal with the phenomenon known as “Convergent Friends,” a loose network of people, mostly younger than fifty, talking across various traditional divisional lines: “Convergent Friends as New Jazz Traditionalists,” by Chad Stephenson of San Francisco Meeting; and “Convergent Friendship and Playing with
- [Biden and God](https://afriendlyletter.com/biden-and-god/) - In Joe Biden’s July 5 interview with George Stephanopoulos, the president brusquely rebuffed all the reporter’s promptings about quitting his race for re-election: bad poll numbers, calls from a few elected Democrats, the panicked appeals from the pundit chorus. . . . A defiant Delaware “Meh” to them all. Then Biden made one concession: “Look.
- [Tell It Slant -- With Lemonade: A Book Launch at Haverford](https://afriendlyletter.com/tell-it-slant-with-lemonade-a-book-launch-at-haverford/) - Adapted from Tell It Slant, by Emma Lapsansky-Werner, with Chuck Fager: For most of the three-plus centuries since the founding of Quakerism, Quakers had viewed the arts as snares and “distractions” from listening to the Word-of-the-Divine within. George Fox threw down the marker as early as 1678: All ye Poets, Jesters, rhimers, makers of Verses
- [Biden In Crisis: What Did Jim Clyburn Say? (And What about Bernie?)](https://afriendlyletter.com/biden-in-crisis-what-did-jim-clyburn-say-what-about-bernie/) - AP News: Clyburn's discussion of a 'mini-primary' fuels more talk of whether Biden should end his campaign. [NOTE: My first post on the great debate fallout freakout (After the Debate: Keep Calm. Chill the [Bleep] Out. Head Down, Beat Trump.) was posted on June 29. That was less than a week ago, but it seems
- [A Short Memo to Alito: But We Already Have a King; and . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-short-memo-to-alito-but-we-already-have-a-king-and/)
- [After the Debate: Keep Calm. Chill the [Bleep] Out. Head Down, Beat Trump.](https://afriendlyletter.com/after-the-debate-keep-calm-chill-the-bleep-out-head-down-beat-trump/) - Don’t panic. Today, I’m remembering the Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses on February 22, 2020. I attended, with my daughter Molly, who lives in Vegas. She was a delegate. I didn’t vote of course, but cheered on my favorite, Bernie Sanders, and was thrilled when he won the day. I was even more pleased when the
- [Tell It Slant, Excerpt #6: Going Postal on EEO & Vietnam at USPS](https://afriendlyletter.com/tell-it-slant-excerpt-6-going-postal-on-eeo-vietnam-at-usps/) - Tell It Slant, Excerpt #6 [Chuck worked for the Postal Service from late 1985 to mid-1994. He first delivered mail on a rural route, then moved inside to work as a Mailhandler at a huge mail processing facility in Merrifield VA, an outer D.C. suburb. After four years of moving mail, there was a change]:
- [“Tell It Slant” Excerpt #5: San Francisco & “Going Naked for a Sign “ — or at least a job](https://afriendlyletter.com/tell-it-slant-excerpt-5-san-francisco-going-naked-for-a-sign-or-at-least-a-job/) - Tell It Slant: Baring It All about The Elusive Nude Beach Gig; Plus, an Epiphany & After [In July, 1974, Chuck Fager’s first marriage failed. About a year later, his two young daughters were moved to the San Francisco area by their mother. Soon Chuck followed, to stay in close contact with them. ]
- [From “Tell It Slant”: Fighting for A Future](https://afriendlyletter.com/from-tell-it-slant-fighting-for-a-future/) - Adapted from Tell It Slant, a biography of Chuck Fager, by Emma Lapsansky-Werner. St. Paul, Kansas, 1939 "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." -- Yogi Berra This story begins with a young man coming to a fork,
- [“Tell It Slant”: The New Quaker Biography’s First Review Is Out!](https://afriendlyletter.com/tell-it-slant-the-new-quaker-biographys-first-review-is-out/) - The Western Friend is continuing evidence (tho it’s still news to some) that there is lively Quaker periodical publishing outside Philadelphia. When the editor learned about Tell It Slant, she didn’t hesitate: Friend Mitchell Santine Gould’s review, the first, was included in its current online newsletter edition. Mitch is a distinguished independent historian with a
- [Quakerism by The book: A Tribute to Tom Hamm And A Call To His Successor Quaker Historians](https://afriendlyletter.com/quakerism-by-the-book-a-tribute-to-tom-hamm-and-a-call-to-his-successor-quaker-historians/) - Thomas Hamm was the subject of many tributes and high praise at Earlham College this month, as he retired from more than three decades as a professor of Quaker history and director of the school’s noted archives, built around an extensive Quaker collection. I was among those who gathered during the weekend of May
- [Donald Sutherland! Donald Sutherland!](https://afriendlyletter.com/donald-sutherland-donald-sutherland/) - Two Hundred plus movies! How can I pick a favorite? Breaking from the New York Times: By Clyde Haberman June 20, 2024Updated 3:23 p.m. ET Donald Sutherland, whose ability to both charm and unsettle, both reassure and repulse, was amply displayed in scores of film roles as diverse as a laid-back battlefield surgeon in “M*A*S*H,”
- [Coming June 19, “Tell It Slant”: The Author Speaks](https://afriendlyletter.com/coming-june-19-tell-it-slant-the-author-speaks/) - A Preview “A life generously served on wry with plenty of mustard and no cheese, Emma Lapsansky-Werner's compilation with Chuck Fager on his eighty years captures his unique synthesis of investigative journalism with religious concern, activist engagement with theological reflection, Quaker identity with wide-ranging, empathetic identifications. Chuck's story traces an engaging trajectory through our era,
- [From “Tell It Slant,” Excerpt #2: Encouraging Rejections](https://afriendlyletter.com/from-tell-it-slant-excerpt-2-an-encouraging-rejection/) - (Excerpt #1 is here.) In the spring of 1956 — Chuck was in eighth grade — orders came for the family to leave an Air Force base in California. His father, now a major, was aircraft commander of one of the largest bombers ever, the B-36. Click was assigned to join a squadron of these
- [Coming June 14 from "Tell It Slant": Encouraging Rejections](https://afriendlyletter.com/coming-june-14-from-tell-it-slant-encouraging-rejections/) - Check back tomorrow for the second in a series of excerpts from Tell It Slant, the new biography of Chuck Fager by Emma Lapsansky-Werner. “Fearless, fabulous, flawed (and funny), Chuck Fager holds Quakers' feet to the fire mostly so that we might see the Light again and become better Friends. Whether you love him or
- [Coming Tomorrow from "Tell It Slant": Fighting for a Future](https://afriendlyletter.com/coming-tomorrow-from-tell-it-slant-xxxx/) - Wednesday June 12, I'll post the first in a series of excerpts from Tell It Slant, the new biography of Chuck Fager by Emma Lapsansky-Werner. It's a story of life in "interesting times," and begins with two of its main motifs -- religion and war -- shaping lives and events. Watch for it on this
- [The Road to Columbine - A True Story (Some names are changed)](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-road-to-columbine-a-true-story-2/) - We headed down the hall and out the door, going as far as we were allowed, to the plowed field, toward the creek. As we walked, watching out for muddy spots, a couple of things became clear to me: one was that Justin wasn’t kidding. He would want his revenge on Eddie, and it would be a bloody one. Another was that when the time came, I had to stand with him, just as he had stood with me in my face-off with Father Vince. But how could I do that so it made a difference? Justin could flatten Eddie with one fist and me with the other; and where would that leave either of us? Still feeling shaky, I spotted something in the grass by the creek. It was a length of two by four lumber, about two and a half feet long. It was damp from laying out there in the dew and rain, and that made it heavy. A notch had been cut out of one end, giving my hand a good grip on it, and it swung with a real heft to it. I whacked it against a tree a few times. The blows were solid, tearing big gashes in the tree’s bark, and making my palm and fingers hurt. But I didn’t drop it. In fact, with each blow I felt stronger and swung harder, and harder at the tree. And like an electric shock, an idea came to me. This two by four was not just a piece of wood. It was an equalizer. Looking down at it, I stopped shaking. It could solve our problem with Justin: In my mind’s eye I could see how it would go down, as clearly as if it was actually happening:
- [Announcing: A Very Special Quaker Publishing Award](https://afriendlyletter.com/announcing-a-very-special-award/) - For years, I’ve been loudly protesting the sky-high, exclusionary prices on “academic” or “scholarly” books and monographs. The particular focus of my ire has been publications by or about Quakers and Quakerism, though the price-gouging has infected many other fields of study. Today I want to recognize and celebrate a successful challenge to this uber-inflationary
- [How I Became a Successful Writer & An Independent Publisher (The short version) - Part 2 of 3](https://afriendlyletter.com/how-i-became-a-successful-writer-an-independent-publisher-the-short-version-part-2-of-3/) - Part 2 Part 1 is here My writing niche was a doubly-disadvantaged one: first, it was religous. I was raised old-time Catholic. There are lots of Catholic readers, and a fair number of writers. But I left all that, then wound up as an enthusiastic Quaker. And ex-Catholic authors who are “fallen away” — souls
- [Yikes!! AI Is Coming for My JOB -- Even Though I'm Already Retired!](https://afriendlyletter.com/yikes-ai-is-coming-for-my-job-even-though-im-already-retired/) - Tom Edsall writes a very valuable weekly column in the New York Times, and he's paid a lot of attention to the rise of Artificial Intelligence. Like other observers, he's particularly concerned about AI's developing impact on jobs and society, present and future. In his June 5 column, Edsall picks the brains of several scholars
- [Tiananmen Square, China: Remember](https://afriendlyletter.com/tiananmen-square-china-remember/) - CNN: Tiananmen Square timeline April 15, 1989 - Hu Yaobang, a former Communist Party leader, dies. Hu had worked to move China toward a more open political system and had become a symbol of democratic reform. April 18, 1989 - Thousands of mourning students march through the capital to Tiananmen Square, calling for a more
- [First Trump Post-Conviction Poll](https://afriendlyletter.com/first-trump-post-conviction-poll/) - Reuters: United States Exclusive: One in 10 Republicans less likely to vote for Trump after guilty verdict, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds https://www.reuters.com/world/us/one-10-republicans-less-likely-vote-trump-after-guilty-verdict-reutersipsos-poll-2024-05-31/ By Jason Lange May 31, 2024 WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - Ten percent of Republican registered voters say they are less likely to vote for Donald Trump following his felony conviction for falsifying business
- [Conviction Toons](https://afriendlyletter.com/conviction-toons/) - Looking Ahead . . . With a Hilarious (?) Flashback . . .
- [We Interrupt Your Jury Vigil for An Urgent Bulletin on — Canadian Tulips!](https://afriendlyletter.com/we-interrupt-your-jury-vigil-for-an-urgent-bulletin-on-canadian-tulips/) - Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has reported that the end is near — —for the annual crop of tulips in this small but historic province: “For full bloom and perfect photos, visit around May 25th or later. Tulip season typically lasts about 21 days and is projected to end by June
- [Memorial Day for Those Who Said No](https://afriendlyletter.com/19531-2/) - In the May 30, 2021 New York Times, there was an Op-Ed on military conscientious objectors, or COs. It was gratifying to see it on the brink of Memorial Day. It showed no disrespect for those who agreed to fight and died in war to recognize that a persistent minority has declined to take the
- [For Memorial Day: A Book From The Other "Front Line" Of Our Wars](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-book-from-the-other-front-line-of-our-wars/) - For several years I frequently visited Camp Lejeune, the large Marine base on the North Carolina coast, about three hours east of where I lived. I went because they had a brig — a jail — and several of the troops I had worked with as resisters to war served time in it. I went
- [Religious Liberty Day: for Friends & Others](https://afriendlyletter.com/religious-liberty-day-for-friends-others/) - If I was the Quaker Pope, Fifth Month (May) 24 would be one of the biggest Quaker holidays/festivals on our [non]liturgical calendar. That’s because it is (or should be), “Religious Liberty Day.” It was on the 24th of Fifth Month, in 1689, that the Toleration Act, in official jargon, “received the Royal Assent,” and thus became law in England and its dominions. Why is this important to Quakers? Because that’s the day when Quakers & Quakerism became legal. It marked the successful conclusion to almost thirty years of suffering, organizing and lobbying.
- [Breaking!! Monarch Spotted in Durham NC!!](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-monarch-spotted-in-durham-nc/) - Yes! Outside the main bedroom there’s a stand of milkweed stalks. They seem to be flourishing this spring, a currently have clusters of tiny tight blossoms. I glanced out the window late Monday morning, May 20, and there it was: a monarch, perched on one of the blossom clusters, wings folded, probably slurping milkweed nectar.
- [The Original Quaker On (Authentic) Religious Liberty Day!](https://afriendlyletter.com/original-quaker-religious-liberty/) - Today, though, there are voices that claim that “religious liberty” should compel the state to preserve public space or approval for such dubious ventures as: -- demeaning treatment of persons or groups who are marginalized and stigmatized; -- propagating false and injurious slurs to create fear and panic, especially for political purposes; -- propping up systems of unearned advantage and power; -- denying access to justice for those who have been mistreated -- even to deprive them of the ability to earn more for their honest labor. Is that what Quakers in England suffered and lobbied for, through almost thirty years of perfection in England?
- [“You May Say, They Are Dreamers - But They’re Not the Only Ones” — Israeli-Palestinian Peace Movement Reviving, Expects a Long Haul](https://afriendlyletter.com/you-may-say-they-are-dreamers-but-theyre-not-the-only-ones-israeli-palestinian-peace-movement-reviving-expects-a-long-haul/) - ‘We all share the same pain’: can the Israeli-Arab peace movement rebuild after 7 October? As the conflict in Gaza continues, reconciliation may seem a distant dream, but on both sides there are those working for peace Caitlin Kelly — Tue 21 May 2024 Supported by theguardian.org On the morning of 7 October, as news
- [Rushdie on "Free Palestine," Speaking in Germany](https://afriendlyletter.com/rushdie-on-free-palestine-speaking-in-germany/) - Writer Salman Rushdie: “Free Palestine would be a Taliban state” No writer in the world is as threatened as Salman Rushdie (76) – and has been for more than three and a half decades! In 1988, Iran's leader Ayatollah Khomeini (1902-1989) imposed a death fatwa based on Sharia against the British-Indish author because he
- [An Active Shooter in Friends Meeting. Now what?](https://afriendlyletter.com/an-active-shooter-in-friends-meeting-now-what/) - [NOTE: This post first appeared in 2019. Unfortunately, only the increasing list of mass shooting sites, and the ever-growing roll of victims’ names have changed since.] If you blog about Quakers long enough, you get asked a lot of questions -- including some surprises. Like the one that came in a few days ago, from
- [Ukraine Update: Zelensky's Term Ends on May 20. What Then??](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukraine/) - The Economist — Time’s up— Volodymyr Zelensky’s five-year term ends on May 20th But he has no plans to step down or call an election during wartime Five years ago, on May 20th, 2019, a fresh-faced Volodymyr Zelensky began his presidency with the offer of a contract to his people. “Each of us is the
- [An Urgent talk With A Great Prophet . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/an-urgent-talk-with-a-great-prophet/) - Excuse me, sir, do you think there will be a conviction soon?? But what do you think are the odds?? Do you have any key observations on all these cases?? So, do you have a theory about these ninety-plus charges?? Another question: what should the folks in charge do now?? Are you looking ahead to
- [Pete Seeger Was In Selma](https://afriendlyletter.com/pete-seeger-selma/) - Pete Seeger Was In Selma (And Just About Everywhere Else Activism & Music Were Happening) From "Talking Points Memo":
- [Rant: Complaining About Fancy-Schmancy Quaker Schools](https://afriendlyletter.com/rant-complaining-about-fancy-schmancy-quaker-schools/) - So here it comes again: on another list, a complaint about expensive Quaker schools. Are they really “Quaker”? Don’t they sow division in meetings? Don’t they perpetuate all kinds of bad class stuff?? For the record, I never worked at one of the fancy Quaker schools; but I was briefly on the “faculty” of the
- [Dog Days True Quaker Stories: The Party That Went On Too Long](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-party-that-went-on-too-long/) - Much of my initial “information” about the Communist Party came from watching a TV show, “I Led Three Lives,” after we got a TV in mid-1952. The show started the next year and ran for more than a hundred episodes. It was inspired by the true-life career of Herbert Philbrick of Boston. For years, Philbrick was a seemingly ordinary white collar office worker. But he was also a secret member of the Communist Party, spying and planning to overthrow the American government -- and even more secretly, a double agent helping the FBI foil the Communist schemes. In 1952, he published a best-selling book about all this; and Hollywood jumped on the story line. (In an episode I sadly missed, one such --fictional-- plot was about how the party was going to turn vacuum cleaners into handheld missile launchers. Sound, um, far-fetched? But J. Edgar Hoover approved that episode, as he did all of them, so it must have been thrilling.) Now I know much better how, in the late 1940s and into the 1960s, “the Communists” were a very big deal for Americans. Hiss’s two trials marked a major turning point in U.S. public opinion, toward a hard anti-communism, of the sort I grew up absorbing like milk on cornflakes.
- [Religious Liberty? Or Dogmatic Transphobia?](https://afriendlyletter.com/religious-liberty-or-dogmatic-transphobia/) - And what will the exodus of the Nones turn into? Passive resistance like what filled the speakeasies under Prohibition, undermining it with every jug of moonshine and bathtub gin? More open, organized pushback? Who knows: but I have an actual example of what could happen in mind: For 300-plus years, the Catholic Church was the dominant institution in Quebec Canada, with immense political as well as social power. Then around 1960, for reasons historians still debate, Québécois just had enough, and quit showing up. It wasn't "organized," but it was unstoppable. The mass departure sparked what is now called "The Quiet Revolution," and included the collapse of clerical hegemony.
- [Authentic Religious Liberty Day, May 24: More Testimony](https://afriendlyletter.com/religious-liberty-day-may-24-testimony/) - "I have seen periods of progress followed by reaction. I have seen the hopes and aspirations of Negroes rise during World War II, only to be smashed during the Eisenhower years. I am seeing the victories of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations destroyed by Richard Nixon." Bayard, there have been ups and down since then. But I think it's been increasingly tough in recent years, and this year is really awful. Maybe it's better that you're not here to see it. But I'd sure appreciate your counsel. "I think the movement contributed to this nation a sense of universal freedom. Precisely because women saw our movement in the sixties, stimulated them to want their rights. The fact that students saw the movement of the sixties created a student movement in this country."
- [Religious Freedom, the Supreme Court, & the Catholic Hegemonic Impulse](https://afriendlyletter.com/religious-freedom-the-supreme-court-the-catholic-hegemonic-impulse/) - The Catholic Church is not a democratic institution. Even in my lifetime, it called for and accepted government favor and authority when it could; and such struggles continue in places like Poland. In the USA this call for official preference has been somewhat muted due to our First Amendment and (increasingly beleaguered) heritage of religious
- [Banksy in Ukraine: Art Amid the Rubble of War](https://afriendlyletter.com/banksy-in-ukraine-art-amid-the-rubble-of-war/) - Graffiti artist appears to confirm presence in war-torn country after unveiling latest work on Instagram From The Guardian, November 12, 2022 Banksy appears to have confirmed he is in Ukraine after revealing his latest artwork on Instagram. Speculation had been mounting that the anonymous graffiti artist was in the war-torn country after a series of murals appeared
- [Considering My Marian Pilgrimages, on Guadalupe Pilgrimage Day in Mexico](https://afriendlyletter.com/considering-my-marian-pilgrimages-on-guadalupe-pilgrimage-day-in-mexico/) - Even after all these years, I find it a somehow appealing story: 491 years ago, in December 1531 near Mexico City, a humble peasant named Juan Diego told the archbishop of Mexico City he had been visited while climbing a hill by a heavenly woman, now known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. The lady told
- [After the Sudden Storm: Minding the Light Again!](https://afriendlyletter.com/after-the-sudden-storm-minding-the-light-again/) - About 10:30 Wednesday night, I was ready to pack it in: tired and frazzled from a day spent largely looking for chargers to recharge chargers for phone & Ipad, and then charging the devices while circling in the Fair Wendy’s air-conditioned EV, and buying drippy bags of ice from a darkened but open vape shop
- [Jimmy Carter: “Coming to the End”](https://afriendlyletter.com/jimmy-carter-coming-to-the-end/) - Grandson says Carter is 'coming to the end' in brief update about former president's health Michelle Shen, CNN — May 14, 2024 Jimmy Carter’s grandson said Tuesday that the former president is “coming to the end” in a brief update about the 39th president’s health. “(My grandfather) is doing OK,” Jason Carter said at a
- [Exclusive-With Updates: Did the Spirit of George Santos Infiltrate AFSC? Did They Hire an Impostor for the Top DEI Job?](https://afriendlyletter.com/exclusive-has-the-spirit-of-george-santos-infiltrated-afsc-did-they-hire-an-impostor-for-its-top-dei-job/) - With New Updates as of May 12, 2024 [Scroll down for updates] I talked with Hector Cortez on Wednesday [February 15, 2023]. He's the Associate General Secretary of AFSC, Number Two in their top leadership. He was upset. And he told me nothing. Well, almost nothing. It was the Can't-confirm-or-deny kind of nothing. More precisely,
- [My True Confession, from 1968: All Downhill from There](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-true-confession-from-1968-all-downhill-from-there/) - Here it is: I didn't vote for Hubert Humphrey for president in 1968. Humphrey lost to Richard Nixon, by less than one percent. And as Andy Young had warned me, it's been (almost) all downhill from there. Not that I voted for Nixon instead. Or for George Wallace, the fiery segregationist Alabama governor, who carried
- [Communist Champagne for Christmas, and Congressman Pete MCloskey — A Tribute to My Former Boss on Capitol Hill](https://afriendlyletter.com/communist-champagne-for-christmas-and-congressman-pete-mcloskey-a-tribute-to-my-former-boss-on-capitol-hill/) - A Weekend Read: Pete McCloskey, GOP congressman who once challenged Nixon, just died at 96. [NOTE]: Pete made a lot of impact, against the Vietnam war, for the (then-new) environmental movement, and in other ways helped save and enrich the lives of many people, both far away and in the USA. One American he changed
- [Charlotte Perkins Gilman & Progressive Friends](https://afriendlyletter.com/charlotte-perkins-gilman-progressive-friends/) - Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an early feminist writer and artist. She’s remembered today mainly as the author of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” a short story about . . . well, about a woman being driven mad by the restrictions of her environment and relationships. Some have called it a feminist classic. You can read “The Yellow
- [Gwynne Dyer: Cease-fire?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-cease-fire/) - Israel, Hamas and the elusive cease fire GWYNNE DYER — PUBLISHED: 7 MAY 2024 Hamas did not need a ceasefire. It had already demonstrated that Israel could not eradicate it. It had achieved its primary goal of wrecking the anti-Iran alliance that was brewing between Israel and the major Arab Gulf states. And it doesn't
- [Kent State - May 4, 1970: Part One](https://afriendlyletter.com/kent-state-may-4-1970-part-one/) - May 4, 2024 is the 54th anniversary of the Kent State killings of four students by National Guard troops during an anti-Vietnam war protest. Only a few years ago, on a balmy spring Sunday, was I able to visit & pay respects at Kent State, not far from Cleveland, with my good friend Henry Bloom,
- [It Took a Split to Rainbow The Methodist Church. Is Rome Next??](https://afriendlyletter.com/__trashed-8/) - AP News: United Methodists repeal longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy BY PETER SMITH May 1, 2024 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers. Delegates voted 692-51 at their
- [Annie Dillard’s Birthday: Renegade Writer & Creekside Theologian](https://afriendlyletter.com/annie-dillards-birthday/) - Today, April 30, 2024, is Annie Dillard’s birthday. Among the many eminent authors who interest me, she might be the one I would most like to be email & text message-buddies with, so I could have a chance to keep up with her laser sharp thoughts and squibs on, whatever. Though she reportedly now lives
- [William Penn Is Making a comeback — And Quakers Aren’t Going to Like It](https://afriendlyletter.com/william-penn-is-making-a-comeback-and-quakers-arent-going-to-like-it/) - [Note: the headline above needs some clarification: actually it’s liberal Quakers who aren’t likely to welcome Penn’s comeback; many others may cheer. More on that below.] May I have your attention, liberal Quakers? The effort among some of you to expunge William Penn from our Friendly pantheon because he owned slaves has in many ways
- [Flash: Uri Berliner Quits NPR (Cabbage Wins)](https://afriendlyletter.com/flash-uri-berliner-quits-npr-cabbage-wins/) - Just heard (3:57 PM EDT 04-17-2024 Uri Berliner, a dissident 25-year employee at NPR, quit today, publishing on Twitter/X a short, angry statement. The full text of his posted letter is: As reported here (and in many other media outlets, Berliner published a Substack article on April 9, calling out what he said was an
- [In Baltimore, It’s Not Only a Bridge That Collapsed: The Catholic Church Has Too](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-baltimore-its-not-only-a-bridge-that-collapsed-the-catholic-church-has-too/) - How have the mighty fallen! When I was a kid being raised Catholic, the handbook for my "spiritual formation" (aka indoctrination) was arranged as a series of questions and answers. In early editions, there were as many as 1400 questions. I didn't actually read much of it, but listened to and repeated more, and still
- [NPR Suspends Internal Critic](https://afriendlyletter.com/npr-suspends-internal-critic/) - AP News: NPR suspends editor who criticized his employer for what he calls an unquestioned liberal worldview NEW YORK (AP) — National Public Radio has suspended a veteran editor who wrote an outside essay criticizing his employer for, in his view, journalism that reflects a liberal viewpoint with little tolerance for contrary opinions. Uri
- [They’re Making an (Anti-Woke) Example of Quakers in their “Christian” School:](https://afriendlyletter.com/theyre-making-an-anti-woke-example-of-quakers-in-their-christian-school/) - [NOTE: This prominent article mentions Quakers 12 times, 11 times favorably. What do Friends think of that?]] Washington Post They quit liberal public schools. Now they teach kids to be anti-‘woke.’ By Hannah Natanson — April 15, 2024 Kali Fontanilla used to teach public school in California. Now she leads her own online Christian
- [Lucretia Mott’s Quaker Easter Message, Still Good the Day After](https://afriendlyletter.com/lucretia-motts-quaker-easter-message-still-good-the-day-after/) - Lucretia Mott completely rejected this whole [traditional Easter] scenario, decrying the “harm done” by it. Yet she seemed devoted to Jesus. She quoted his words incessantly, affirmed his “messianic status,” and thought she was preaching his “gospel” message during her sixty controversial years as a Quaker preacher. But if Jesus' "gospel" was not about depravity and vicarious blood atonement, what did Lucretia say it was? Scholar Priscilla Eppinger has put it in a nutshell: Salvation for humans would come through the faith of Christ, not faith in Christ. By this, Mott meant a faith like that of Jesus. She quoted from Paul’s letter to the Galatians (2:20): "Faith of Jesus Christ is faith in the truth, faith in God and in man. The life that I now live in the flesh, said the Apostle, I live by the faith of the son of God. . . . Well [Mott added] what is this other than a faith similar to that which Jesus held, the faith of the son of God." (Greene 124) The faith of Christ, not faith in Christ. Neither Eppinger nor Lucretia originated this alternate motto. And what was this “faith”?
- [Will NPR's Internal Dissenter Outlast My Cabbage??](https://afriendlyletter.com/will-nprs-internal-dissenter-outlast-my-cabbage/) - There's a purple cabbage in my fridge. Cabbages will last pretty long if they are kept cold. But I plan to take it out one day soon, chop it up, then cook it with onions in a simple but delectable recipe I learned from my late lamented next door neighbor, Ms. Hazel. It's good. But
- [Solar Eclipse? Meh. Wake Me When It's Over.](https://afriendlyletter.com/solar-eclipse-meh-wake-me-when-its-over/) - The best part for me about the total solar eclipse I actually saw (on July 10, 1972), came several months later, in Carly Simon's wonderfully bitter tune "You're So Vain," and the line about the cad she was sticking it to went to Saratoga New York for a horse race, and then: "You flew your
- [Durham: Will Another Big Bruising Bathroom Bill Battle Bust Up Bull Durham’s Burgeoning Business Boom?](https://afriendlyletter.com/durham-will-another-big-bruising-bathroom-bill-battle-bust-up-bull-durhams-burgeoning-business-boom/) - I Woke up this morning to find my (adopted) home town & state made the big-time news AGAIN over our 2024 state election campaign. Anybody who recalls the NC political scene in 2016 — especially business people and boosters — likely still feels twinges of trauma when the phrase “Bathroom bill” is mentioned. NC lost
- [Flashbacks! I’m Having 1967 Anti-Draft Flashbacks! From Vietnam to Jerusalem](https://afriendlyletter.com/flashbacks-im-having-1967-anti-draft-flashbacks-from-vietnam-to-jerusalem/) - Sheesh! Did somebody slip one (or two) of those “new” cure-all psychedelic pills into my low-sodium tomato juice?? Must have, because I’m having wild and weird hallucinations from —I don’t know— 1967? They’re full of long-haired young men shouting slogans against the draft. I can tell they're hallucinations because other than the hair, the protesters
- [AFSC Restructure Update: Staff Uprising? What Happened?](https://afriendlyletter.com/afsc-restructure-update-staff-uprising-what-happened/) - If I was a "consultant" and needed work, I'd get in line at AFSC. By my count, the group is hosting its third round of outside consultants, laboring earnestly (and raking in the billable hours) trying to help it square the circles of what is called at 1501 Cherry Street, Philly "Restructuring." The Restructuring plan
- [Could Drafting Ultra-OrthodoxYouth Bring Down Israel’s Government?](https://afriendlyletter.com/could-drafting-ultra-orthodoxyouth-bring-down-israels-government/) - It’s a venerable Jewish joke: a Jew falls off a ship, in mid-ocean, and swims to an uninhabited island. Years later, his SOS signal is spotted. When rescuers arrive, they find he has managed to construct three small buildings from flotsam and jetsam: a small cabin, and two identical synagogues. “Why two?” He was asked.
- [Three Timely Reports from Gwynne Dyer, from Ireland, Sudan, Gaza, Haiti & England](https://afriendlyletter.com/three-timely-reports-from-gwynne-dyer-from-ireland-sudan-gaza-haiti-england/) - Gwynne Dyer remains one of my go-to reporter/analysts on the international scene. Here he brings three recent, revealing and concise snapshots. Three famines: Gaza, Sudan, and Haiti Gwynne Dyer There are three incipient famines in the world today, and politics is at the root of all of them. That’s not unusual, actually: Famines are almost
- [The Island of Two Tales — Part Two](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-island-of-two-tales-part-two/) - TWO: Twists & Gimmicks, but No Nude Beaches [Part One is here.] When I landed on Nantucket in the fall of 1976, I had a head full of the [American] Revolution, enough cash for a cramped bedroom in an unfashionable boardinghouse, but no nanny. So my two daughters, Annika (self-nicknamed “Kiki,”) age 7 and Molly,
- [David vs. Goliath, The “Friendly” Version: Orange County Quakers Face Off in Court](https://afriendlyletter.com/david-vs-goliath-the-friendly-version-orange-county-quakers-face-off-in-court/) - A bulletin from southern California: The biggest Quaker church in the world wants to shut down one of the smallest. The small church sued in late 2018 to stop the shutdown. But a hearing in Orange County Superior Court on January 31 could lock their doors & make the small church members and its pastors
- [Preparing for Life - A Quaker Story](https://afriendlyletter.com/preparing-for-life-a-quaker-story/) - Matthew was examining a sheet of paper in an open folder. His jacket was off, but his tie was a solid navy blue and his demeanor entirely businesslike. He let them stand there in uncomfortable silence for a long moment. Then he dropped the paper, glanced up and said, "Teacher Ellen?" "It's just as you see there," Ellen said. "I went into the drama building last night, to get a book I'd left in a classroom, and on the way out I heard noises from the auditorium. I went in quietly, and, um, found Kevin and Connie on the mattress behind the stage. They were, um, unclothed, and apparently having sex." Matthew shifted a stony gaze to the students. "You knew this was completely against the behavior code?" He said. Connie stared at the floor and nodded. Kevin's response was something between a nod and a shrug. "And you also understand," Matthew went on, "this infraction is eligible for immediate expulsion?" More nods, but from the corner of her eye, Ellen caught the hint of a curl to Kevin's lip, which she took to mean, "You wouldn't dare."
- [A Call for a New “Quaker World” [In "scholarly" publishing, and a sample thereof . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-call-for-a-new-quaker-world-and-a-sample-thereof/) - [NOTE: the essay below is one of 61 chapters in a new book, The Quaker World, published in November 2022 by Routledge. I am posting it here as a witness to the conviction that such Quaker scholarly and historical work should be widely and conveniently available. Unfortunately, in its present form, it is not. That’s because
- [The first Time, this was a Spoof. This Second Time, It Could Be a Preview . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/exclusive-a-leak-from-the-fbi-mar-a-lago-raid/) - My sources are tireless . . . . Imagine the Feds this past Monday morning, search warrant in a back pocket, sweating in their suits and ties, but with rubber gloves up to the elbows, hands thrust deep in each of the Mar’s 477 (gold-plated?) toilets, searching fearlessly, searching relentlessly, thanking god no selfies were
- [More Stories --Wait Til Next Month!](https://afriendlyletter.com/wait-til-next-month/) - Thanks for the positive feedback on the Quaker Christmas story, "Candles In The Window." There's more to come. Next month, we'll have another story, one that's semi-autobiographical. Watch for it after the New Year holiday . . . . (If you missed "Candles," the story starts here.)
- [Is There Life after Death in Quaker North Carolina?](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-there-life-after-death-in-quaker-north-carolina/) - So will there be a rush among the meetings which had quit the old North Carolina Yearly Meeting to join (“rejoin”?) FCNC? Wait and see. Greene did not sound sanguine about the prospects. But never mind: some of the longtime pastors said they had a remedy: outreach & evangelism. They asked that endowment funds in the budget targeted for church extension be allowed to accumulate for about three years, to finance a big church planting project. And to start the process, they proposed to bring in a “church multiplication” expert from Barclay College in Kansas to do an intensive “kickoff weekend” next spring. Clerk Greene was for it: “If we don’t grow, we die,” he said. The outreach work may be the FCNC’s most important mission: everything should support it. He asked for approval for the plan. He got it, but it was another subdued murmur. Indeed, the mood that morning deserves specific mention: if the doors had burst open then, or at any point in the three-hour session, and a SWAT team had rushed in, determined to arrest anyone showing signs of enthusiasm, they would have gone away empty-handed. If there was any excitement and exhilaration among this group, they left it at home.
- [Yes - January 27. Why I Always Wake Up Screaming On This Date . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/yes-january-27-always-wake-screaming-date/) - It's My Recurring Quaker Nightmare . . . . All the gory details are here, now:
- [American War Christianity & Quaker Ecumenism](https://afriendlyletter.com/american-war-christianity-quaker-ecumenism/) - So I’m walking through the Wal-Mart parking lot the other day – (Yeah, I shop there. Whadda ya think — I live in one of your university-hugging, professional middle class greeny suburbs? This is army town, no time for that fluff. We had two Supercenters when I got here; now there’s five. Whole Foods &
- [Redbud in Review (A walk with Emily)](https://afriendlyletter.com/redbud-in-review-a-walk-with-emily/) - Dear March—Come in—(1320) Emily Dickinson -- 1830 –1886 Dear March—Come in— How glad I am— I hoped for you before— Put down your Hat— You must have walked— How out of Breath you are— Dear March, how are you, and the Rest— Did you leave Nature well— Oh March, Come right upstairs with me— I
- [Mark Robinson Update: Saggy Pants Worse Than KKK (& More)](https://afriendlyletter.com/mark-robinson-update-saggy-pants-worse-than-kkk-more/) - The Washington Post By Hannah Knowles — March 20, 2024 [Excerpt] Planned Parenthood. Men with saggy pants. People who tore down Confederate flags and monuments. The Rev. Al Sharpton. Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee in one of this year’s most competitive governor’s races, has declared them all comparable to or worse than the Ku Klux
- [Is QAnon the Future of North Carolina Education?? It’s On The Ballot!](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-qanon-the-future-of-north-carolina-education-its-on-the-ballot/) - Enforcing school discipline can sometimes mean imposing tough penalties. — Writing something 50 times on the board? — Time-outs? — Detention after school? Naaah. Wishy-washy liberal mush. Michele Morrow, who hopes to be elected state superintendent of public instruction, says it’s time to get serious about public schooling in North Carolina: — How so? Maybe
- [Filling in a Big Hole in Quaker History Writing, But not very accessible - UPDATE!](https://afriendlyletter.com/filling-in-a-big-hole-in-quaker-history-writing-but-not-very-accessible/) - [UPDATED] The Quaker decades after the big Separation in 1827 are not well recorded and explained by Quaker historians. The silence is especially loud on the “liberal” and Hicksite side. This new book takes an important step toward opening up that “closed” history. While its price is typically exorbitant ($50 for paperback; $118 hardcover, no
- [What A Great Way To Go!](https://afriendlyletter.com/what-a-great-way-to-go/) - NYTimes What Deathbed Visions Teach Us About Living Researchers are documenting a phenomenon that seems to help the dying, as well as those they leave behind. By Phoebe Zerwick — March 12, 2024 Chris Kerr was 12 when he first observed a deathbed vision. His memory of that summer in 1974 is blurred, but not
- [What am I Missing? Some Burning Questions](https://afriendlyletter.com/what-am-i-missing-some-burning-questions/) - [Note: These days, I don’t get out as much as I used to: age, ailments, etc. That means I don’t keep up well as I once did. So I may be missing some stuff, and I hope somebody will catch me up. This anti-LGBTQ news from Ghana and Burundi (and Kenya & Uganda) is
- [Not exactly a shining moment for U.S. in Gaza](https://afriendlyletter.com/not-exactly-a-shining-moment-for-u-s-in-gaza/) - Gaza sealift all about saving face in Washington There is no need for piers, ships or aircraft to get food into the Gaza Strip. There are lots of roads available. ByGwynne Dyer March 12, 2024 Good news! The U.S. logistical support ship General Frank S. Besson Junior has just sailed from Norfolk, Va., carrying the
- [Hello, World: Meet Mark “The Mobilizer” Robinson-Instant GOP superstar!](https://afriendlyletter.com/hello-world-meet-mark-the-mobilizer-robinson-instant-gop-superstar/) - A week in North Carolina politics is like a year anywhere else. (At least sometimes.) This past week produced a bunch of memorable events. Topping the list was the overnight political superstar status that’s been conferred on the state by lieutenant governor Mark Robinson, who won the GOP primary to succeed term-limited Democratic governor Roy
- [Selma Alabama “Bloody Sunday” 59th Anniversary: La Lutta Continua](https://afriendlyletter.com/selma-alabama-bloody-sunday-59th-anniversary-la-lutta-continua/) - Garrison Keillor: “It's the anniversary of the first March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama (1965), known as "Bloody Sunday." Six hundred civil rights activists left Selma to march the 54 miles to the state capitol, demonstrating for African-American voting rights. They got six blocks before state and local lawmen attacked them with billy clubs and tear
- [South Korea’s Population is Collapsing; Government Is Panicking](https://afriendlyletter.com/south-koreas-population-is-collapsing-government-is-panicking/) - South Korea: Hyper-Competitive and Childless By Gwynne DyerMarch 6, 2024 There are enough people to go around: eight billion now, compared to two billion less than a hundred years ago. Fifty-one million in South Korea, compared to only twelve million a hundred years ago. So why are South Koreans obsessed about their low birth rate?
- [NC Governor’s Race: It’s a Black & White Choice](https://afriendlyletter.com/nc-governors-race-its-a-black-white-choice/) - AP: AP News: Attorney General Josh Stein, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will run against each other for NC governor BY GARY D. ROBERTSON March 5 2024 RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Democratic attorney general and the Republican lieutenant governor won North Carolina’s primaries for governor on Tuesday, setting the stage for what will be an
- [Trump to Mark Robinson: You’re MLK Times Two — MLK on Steroids](https://afriendlyletter.com/trump-to-mark-robinson-youre-mlk-times-two-mlk-on-steroids/) - AP News: Trump endorses Mark Robinson for North Carolina governor and compares him to Martin Luther King Jr. BY GARY D. ROBERTSON RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - March 03, 2024 — Former president Donald Trump endorsed North Carolina Lt. Gov Mark Robinson for governor on Saturday, several months after the former president pledged to do so.
- [Ghana Anti-Gay Bill almost Enacted](https://afriendlyletter.com/ghana-anti-gay-bill-almost-enacted/) - AP News: Ghana's anti-LGBTQ+ bill draws international condemnation after it is passed by parliament BY FRANCIS KOKUTSE — Feb. 29, 2024 ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — A bill which criminalizes LGBTQ+ people in Ghana and their supporters drew international condemnation Thursday after it was passed by parliament, with the United Nations calling it “profoundly disturbing” and urging
- [A pilgrimage to Hopewell](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-pilgrimage-to-hopewell/) - On First Day, 11th Month 29 (Sunday November 29 in worldspeak), I had the pleasure of attending meeting at Hopewell-Centre Meeting, at the Hopewell Meetinghouse north of Winchester Virginia. It was a pleasure to revisit this historic spot, at the mouth of the Shenandoah Valley. This meeting goes back to before the American Revolution, and
- [Messages for The Day After](https://afriendlyletter.com/messages-for-the-day-after/) - #1 Paid a call on Ms. Hazel next door. She grew up here when it was segregated, She and her people couldn't vote, and the Klan had a huge Durham chapter. Today her driveway had medium-sized U.S. flags along both sides. She gave me a hug, a blessing, and when I admired these, snipped them
- [Bernie, Garrison, LittleHands & the Rainbow Toilet: My Top Blog Posts for 2016](https://afriendlyletter.com/bernie-garrison-littlehands-the-rainbow-toilet-my-top-blog-posts-for-2016/) - It's Top Ten List season, and how can I refuse? Yet out of more than 130 blog posts, how can I choose? One way is to do it by the numbers: And the clear #1 on that score went up on February 12. It called out the slighting comments made by Congressman & civil rights legend John Lewis about Sen. Bernie Sanders, in the thick of a hard-fought primary struggle with Hillary Clinton. I revere John Lewis; but the post also stood up for Sanders' activist record as a college student -- not as a movement hero or leader, but as one of many who did his bit, took his lumps, and had been a loyal ally for fifty-plus years since. The post must have touched a nerve. Within about 36 hours it had more than 12000 views and had been forwarded too many times to count. And maybe its message made a difference; anyway, Lewis soon "clarified" and softened his statement, in the interest of "unity." Further, this spike in readership pushed the total blog views over the 100,000 mark, a landmark important to me. If the post hadn't quite gone "viral," it had at least become contagious. The #2 post in hits also dealt with a public figure, radio host Garrison Keillor, who retired in July from his "Prairie Home Companion" after more than forty years of weekly broadcasts. The piece disclosed what I regard as two "secrets" about him that I had discovered in almost as many years as a fan.
- [Gwynne Dyer On the Navalny Murder](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-the-navalny-murder/) - By Gwynne Dyer Feb. 19, 2024 Vladimir Putin’s regime had been assassinating Chechen warlords, defectors from the Russian intelligence services and sundry wayward oligarchs for years, but its first political murder was the hit on high-profile journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in her Moscow apartment in 2006 -- and so it has been
- [But Why Stop with Pennsylvania??](https://afriendlyletter.com/but-why-stop-with-pennsylvania/) - Bulletin: Trump Said Dems Will Rename Pennsylvania—and Even Weirder Things Donald Trump’s ramblings this weekend were truly deranged. Win McNamee/Getty Images Donald Trump’s gaffes are becoming more frequent and more indecipherable by the day. At a National Rifle Association gathering in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Friday, Trump made plenty of strange blunders in front of his
- [Ukraine’s New War Commander & the East Asian Population Bust](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukraines-new-war-commander-the-east-asian-population-bust/) - Ukraine: The Generals Are Not The Problem ‘God is usually on the side of the big battalions’, Voltaire allegedly said. Not always, but ‘usually’. So how much do you want to bet? By Gwynne Dyer, in Opinion · February 12, 2024 Coming up to the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (24
- [Norman Morrison's Transcendent Language of Self-Immolation](https://afriendlyletter.com/normans-triumph-the-transcendent-language-of-self-immolation/) - On a chilly November day in 1965, a thirty-one year old Quaker pacifist named Norman Morrison, a father of three, left his home in Baltimore with his infant daughter Emily and drove forty miles to Washington, DC. Once there, as dusk settled over the capitol city, he drove to the Pentagon where he drenched himself in kerosene and struck a match on his shoe. It is not clear if he had handed Emily to someone standing nearby or had sat her down out of harms way. As Norman burned alive, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, looking out of his office window only yards away, was horrified. He watched as Pentagon attaches rushed to try to put out the flames, scorching themselves in the process.
- [To All Romantic Friends: Coming Wednesday - A Quaker Valentine Story](https://afriendlyletter.com/coming-friday-quaker-valentine-story/) - Yes! It’s okay to think about Valentine’s Day again. And so . . . Coming Wednesday: A Quaker Valentine Story Watch This Space . . . . Meanwhile, some items of research data on Quakers and love: In the mid 1820s, President Andrew Jackson rewarded a Philadelphia supporter by appointing his son Richard a secretary
- [Catching Up With The Saga of TigerSwan, Standing Rock & My Blog](https://afriendlyletter.com/catching-up-with-the-saga-of-tigerswan-standing-rock-my-blog/) - One of the points of the blog post, which I hope will not be lost in the euphoria after the Standing Rock victory, is that TigerSwan exemplifies a state-of-the-art approach to technological control and suppression of organized dissent which has been taking form and growing under the radar over the past fifteen years. (Some details are in the disappeared post.) It is one I believe we will see more of. And one which will get, I strongly expect, much more support from the new occupant of the White House than the current one.
- [Brazil’s Slave History: Recognition & Talk of Reparations](https://afriendlyletter.com/brazils-slave-history-recognition-talk-of-reparations/) - BY ELÉONORE HUGHES January 30, 2024 RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The executive manager for institutional relations at a Brazilian state bank took the microphone before roughly 150 people at a forum on slavery’s legacy in his country, which kidnapped more Africans for forced labor than any other nation.“Today’s Bank of Brazil asks Black people
- [Happy 20th Anniversary to Me (And Us)](https://afriendlyletter.com/happy-20th-anniversary-to-me-and-us/) - There's more to it than hair; but . . . . In 2003, Wendy Michener, a mid-life architecture student from Raleigh, joined the Board of Quaker House in Fayetteville NC. Soon she was Clerk of the House & Grounds Committee (there were no other volunteers). As Director since early 2002, I had seen from early
- [Oh No! My Quaker Nightmare is Coming Again!](https://afriendlyletter.com/oh-no-my-quaker-nightmare-is-coming-again/) - Yes. I can feel it. I've tried everything. but it keeps coming: January 27. Watch this space.
- [Is it “Woke” To Want to Avoid Getting Killed in War?](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-it-woke-to-want-to-avoid-getting-killed-in-war/) - [NOTE: Some politicians are crusading against U. S. military programs to overcome residual racism and make space for LGBT persons in the ranks (& even a few who do drag in their out-of-uniform hours). Not only is their crusade silly (folks of color & LGBTs can shoot as straight as any), it also ignores the fact
- [Quaker Theology and Today's "Separation Generation"](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-theology-and-todays-separation-generation/) - The journal Quaker Theology was started to promote & participate in informed theological discussion & engagement. The need for such engagement was made clear, at least to this editor, by what turned out to be a major, but unexpected theme of the two decades of publication, the rise of what is called in the 20th
- [A Light For Life On Death Row? A Unique Story in Graphics](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-light-for-life-on-death-row-a-unique-story-in-graphics/) - The Marshall Project: In 2022, I [Maurice Chammah, Staff Writer at The Marshall Project ] spent several weeks shadowing investigator Sara Baldwin as she tried to save a man from execution. Bernard Belcher had killed a young woman named Jennifer Embry; despite deep remorse for his actions, he couldn’t explain why he did it. Baldwin’s
- [A Quaker In Conflict, Outer and Inner: Damned if He Speaks, Damned If He Doesn’t. Meanwhile, There’s Work To Do.](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-quaker-in-conflict-outer-and-inner-damned-if-he-speaks-damned-if-he-doesnt-meanwhile-theres-work-to-do/) - New York Times — December 31, 2023 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/31/us/israel-gaza-war-integrated-refugee-immigrant-services.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Can He Condemn the Killings Without Causing More Pain? Chris George has lived in Israel and Gaza, where he was once held hostage. As his employees ask him to speak out on the latest war, he is torn. He had spent his entire career attending to the
- [Wake Up! New Political Ad Heralds a Year of Urgent Political Action](https://afriendlyletter.com/wake-up-new-political-ad-heralds-a-year-of-urgent-political-action/) - My favorite political campaign strategist & tactician is Sarah Longwell, who runs The Bulwark, and the Republican Accountability Project. She’s a former Republican campaign operative turned resolute & relentless Nevermore Tr*mper. More about Longwell here. But enough about her. Longwell’s goal for 2024 is not self-promotion, but mounting a guerrilla media campaign that can keep
- [Cartoons & The Latest Bad/Good Southern Baptist News](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-the-latest-bad-good-southern-baptist-news/) - News Update: Debt ceiling “negotiations” continue . . . And Rep. George Santos Keeps Working With His Mentor . . . . A preview of the campaign strategy . . . Speaking of George Santos, he was carefully accessorized when he arrived at his office on Tuesday. But when arrested shortly after, the AR-15
- [Bible Study: Two Subversive Parables](https://afriendlyletter.com/bible-study-two-subversive-parables/) - [NOTE: This is the substance of a message offered at Spring Friends Meeting this morning, March 5 2023.] "[T ]he one thing about Jesus that can be known with certainty," wrote the late New Testament scholar William Herzog II, "was that he was executed as an enemy of the state and the Temple." Yes. We're
- [From France & Texas, Two Striking Takes on Racism, Identity Politics & Cultural Turmoil](https://afriendlyletter.com/from-france-texas-two-striking-takes-on-racism-identity-politics-cultural-turmoil/) - #1-France vs. “Le wokisme”: THE FRENCH ARE IN A PANIC OVER LE WOKISME The nation’s vehement rejection of identity politics made me recalibrate my own views about woke ideology. By Thomas Chatterton Williams Excerpts from The Atlantic, February 4, 2023 [NOTE: Williams] took part in "a two-day “taboo-free discussion” among public intellectuals about the
- [More On Limiting What Authors Can Write About](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-on-limiting-what-authors-can-write-about/) - Limiting what novelists can write about won’t help readers [Blogger's Comments In Red.] Washington Post — Opinion by Kathleen Parker — May 12, 2023 “Fiction is where I go to tell the truth,” the late, great Pat Conroy once said. In his acclaimed novels, Conroy cut close to the bone, exposing human truths that
- [Don’t Miss This Classic Radio Christmas Story from Canada!](https://afriendlyletter.com/dont-miss-this-classic-radio-christmas-story-from-canada/) - War clouds were gathering as winter arrived in 1990. President George H. W. Bush was mobilizing a huge military strike to roll back Saddam Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait. War fever was being ginned up on every side, ignoring huge protests and objections even from Pope John Paul II. I was working at a large post office
- [Touchy Toons For A Haunted Holiday Weekend](https://afriendlyletter.com/touchy-toons-for-a-haunted-holiday-weekend/)
- [Gwynne Dyer: Wars in Gaza & Burma—Will They Ever End?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-wars-in-gaza-burma-will-they-ever-end/) - By Gwynne Dyer, December 21, 2023 #1 - Gaza: The Bombed, the Bombers, The Limits? Today (or yesterday, or tomorrow), the known death toll of Palestinians in Gaza since October 7th will reach 20,000. The deaths of Hamas fighters are included in the numbers that the Hamas-run health ministry releases, and in past clashes with
- [An Israeli-Palestinian Family Faces The War, Clings Together](https://afriendlyletter.com/an-israeli-palestinian-family-faces-the-war-clings-together/) - The Guardian — Dec. 20, 2023 I’m Israeli, my ex-husband is Palestinian – and our union has never been stronger At this moment, no one understands our pain better than one another. My ex-husband and I are both clinging to what’s most familiar: the two of us, our kids, our family It’s a Monday afternoon
- [Hump Day Bulletin: Cheney Raids Fox—Preaches to the (Ex)Choir: “Some Things Have to Matter”](https://afriendlyletter.com/hump-day-bulletin-cheney-raids-fox-preaches-to-the-exchoir-some-things-have-to-matter/) - Mediaite — Dec. 19th, 2023: Something remarkable happened on Fox News’ Special Report Monday evening: long-time conservative darling and former Fox contributor Liz Cheney urged Fox News viewers to ditch former President Donald Trump, arguing that other candidates won’t “torch the constitution” or try to “seize power.” Cheney was a conservative darling and frequent partisan
- [Gwynne Dyer: Two Long-Range Weather Reports](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-two-long-range-weather-reports/) - Gwynne Dyer — July 12, 2023 Boing! Just like that! The Anthropocene officially started on July 11, we’re not in the Holocene anymore. That golden age of warm, stable climate in which humans started farming, grew their population a thousandfold, and created high-energy, hi-tech civilizations is at an end. “I was there when the Anthropocene
- [Toons for A Troubled Yuletide Tuesday](https://afriendlyletter.com/__trashed-9/)
- [Early Abortion & The Priest With Two Stethoscopes](https://afriendlyletter.com/early-abortion-the-priest-with-two-stethoscopes/) - Kansas & Wyoming, 1958-1960 In those old days of the (pre-Vatican Two) Catholic Church, they used to say of people like me that we had “lost our faith.” In my case, it wasn’t quite true. That year, 1958, as I turned sixteen,I didn't lose my faith. Instead, I discovered I just didn’t have any. I
- [Poland Enters Political Rehab; & the U. S. Military (Mostly) Repels An Assault By the Anti-Woke Brigades](https://afriendlyletter.com/poland-enters-political-rehab-the-u-s-military-mostly-repels-an-assault-by-the-anti-woke-brigades/) - Restoring democracy in Poland Donald Tusk, prime minister of Poland again after eight years, has a hard job ahead, Gwynne Dyer writes. Gwynne Dyer — December 15, 2023 It didn’t take the United States long to restore the normal constitutional order after four years of Donald Trump. He is a ruthless and lawless man, but
- [Another Look: My Campus Crusade for Free Speech, 1963](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-campus-crusade-for-free-speech-1963/) - While we worked on finding another suitably notorious Communist, we also set out to get a right-wing spokesman. This one was easier. What was the most right-wing organization in the country? The Nazi Party, of course. And George Lincoln Rockwell, its flamboyant leader, was only too happy to talk to anyone who would listen. One telegram and he was set to go. When Rockwell came, we moved to a smaller theater space in the student center, where it was still standing room only. Rockwell’s speech was a bombastic stream of bizarre sociological and anthropological “facts” that added up to, “they’re bad and we’re good.” I remember him saying that there were “breeds of people, just like breeds of dogs.” Dennis and I did not sit on a platform with him, as we had the others; the front row was close enough. Several people walked out during his presentation advocating racism, anti-semitism & national socialism. Rockwell caused lots of talk. A few days after his speech, some sociology professors held an open discussion they titled, “Is George Lincoln Rockwell a Closet Homosexual?” While many dismissed Rockwell as a kind of evil clown, and he was murdered by own of his own in 1967, he remains a cult figure for sectors of the rightwing which are still around.
- [September 3, 1998 Harmon Case Update](https://afriendlyletter.com/harmon-case-update/) - More Charges to Come, Prosecutors Say On September 3, Terrill D. “Terry” Beebe, signed a plea agreement in a Seattle Federal Court, admitting to “Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, Wire Fraud and Embezzlement from a Health Care Benefit Program, in violation of Title 18, U Code, Section 371,” according to the prosecutor’s information filed with
- [Quaker Church Fraud Sentencing Update:  May 22, 1998](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-church-fraud-update/) - By Chuck Fager Wichita, KS — Although Priscilla Deters insisted that, “I consider myself innocent of these charges,” adding that “I have a heart of grief, because I have been a victim too,” federal judge Monti Belot insisted on Friday, May 22 that she start serving her eleven-plus year sentence for wire and mail fraud
- [Early Week Toons](https://afriendlyletter.com/early-week-toons/)
- [A Friendly Letter: Intro to the Blog](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-friendly-letter/) - Dear Friend, Welcome to the online edition of A Friendly Letter. In addition to back issues, there are some new reports as well. The major new report is about two multi-million dollar financial frauds, perpetrated on Quakers and other churches. Another new addition is a personal tribute to Bill Kriedler, a very fine Quaker minister
- [Two by Dyer: A Just War In Gaza? And China: Is A Slow Future of Fizzle Underway?](https://afriendlyletter.com/two-by-dyer-a-just-war-in-gaza-and-china-is-a-slow-future-of-fizzle-underway/) - Gwynne Dyer — #1- Just War and the Gaza Strip December 5, 2023 “If you (Americans) were OK with us killing 5,000 children, you are OK with killing 10,000 children,” said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli diplomat who helped negotiate the Oslo peace accords in the 1990s. That’s what Israeli diplomats really think of US
- ["Fleecing The Faithful": Court and Trial Updates](https://afriendlyletter.com/fleecing-the-faithful-court-and-trial-updates/) - Fleecing The Faithful- Updates (To read the full text of the report, click here.) [Note: Some links in these reports from 1998-99 have expired.] January 1998: A Friendly Letter Returns, With an Exclusive In-Depth Investigative Report: A Tale of Two Scams: Scam #1: The Productions Plus Scandal Stranger than Fiction: The Weird Cast of Productions
- [Fleecing The Faithful: An Exclusive In-Depth Investigative Report](https://afriendlyletter.com/fleecing-the-faithful-2/) - A Friendly Letter Since 1981: Quaker stuff, civil rights and other issues, hopeless causes, jokes, photos, stories Our Motto: "And it's all right, even if you're old and gray, 'Cuz it's all right, you still got something to say . . ." --Traveling Wilburys Chuck Fager — Writer, Editor Fleecing The Faithful: An Exclusive
- [Rogues and Heroes -- Photos from the 1998 Quaker Fraud Scandals](https://afriendlyletter.com/rogues-and-heroes-photos-from-the-quaker-fraud-scandals/) - Photos from Wichita and the Trial click on an image to see a larger picture Exclusive: the first photo of church fraud defendant Priscilla Deters Deters on trial Productions Plus nerve centre: when searched on December 14, 1994, this house revealed papers stacked in all corners of a bedroom, and ringing answering machines, with callers
- [Phil Harmon's Victims Speak](https://afriendlyletter.com/phil-harmons-victims-speak/) - I Courtroom theatrics is not what the Harmon case is about. Its “bottom line” is the theft from 230 people, mostly elderly, of their life savings, and of health coverage from several hundred more. That’s what it’s all about.Nevertheless, when Harmon comes back to court on May 4 of this year, there ought to be
- [Deters Trial - Feb. 26: Cherokee Quaker Church Fraud](https://afriendlyletter.com/cherokee-quaker-fraud/) - Church Money Used for "Ponzi" Fraud Scheme--Kansas Investigator Update by Chuck Fager Wichita, Kansas – Maurice Roberts, the former Superintendent of Mid-America Yearly Meeting, testified for several hours Thursday [February 26, 1998] as a key witness in a major church fraud trial here. Priscilla Deters, 63, of Walnut, California is being tried on 13 charges
- [CNN: “It’s Complicated”— Why Israel's peace activists are reevaluating their position on the war](https://afriendlyletter.com/cnn-its-complicated-why-israels-peace-activists-are-reevaluating-their-position-on-the-war/) - CNN: Why Israel's peace activists are reevaluating their position on the war By Tara John and Lottie Beilin Sun Dec 3 2023 Tel Aviv (CNN) — When human rights activist Ziv Stahl was awakened to the booms of rocket fire on October 7, while staying at her sister's home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, she did
- [Stranger than Fiction: The Cast of Productions Plus](https://afriendlyletter.com/stranger-than-fiction-the-cast-of-productions-plus/) - Dear Friends, In the Productions Plus/Priscilla Deters case, the cast of characters covers a range that would strain a novelist’s imagination. Consider these few: The President’s Chaplain. If anyone deserves the melancholy credit for turning Priscilla Deters loose on Friends, it is unmistakably T. Eugene Coffin. Coffin was once pastor of the East Whittier Friends
- [Justice and "Justice?" in Prisoner/Hostage Swap: More Gaza Bible Study](https://afriendlyletter.com/justice-and-justice-in-prisoner-hostage-swap-more-gaza-bible-study/) - [NOTE: It is a delicate matter to complain about the Israeli justice system. Was there any justice in the Hamas attacks? (Not a rhetorical question: I say NO.) Any "due process"? Right to an attorney, etc.? Of course not. And that's not the only reason for being measured here. As the New York Times reported
- [Jesus’ First Prophetic Proclamation: “Release To The Captives” —](https://afriendlyletter.com/jesus-first-prophetic-proclamation-release-to-the-captives/) - Luke 4:16-21 King James Version 16 Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is
- [Carolina Headache for Number 45](https://afriendlyletter.com/carolina-headache-for-number-45/) - From The State, Charleston South Carolina POLITICS & GOVERNMENT As Trump visits Carolina-Clemson game, billboards taunting him await. Here’s what they say BY ANNA WILDER UPDATED NOVEMBER 25, 2023 One of eight electronic billboards broadcasting an anti-Trump message Saturday Nov. 25 as Trump makes his way into Columbia for the USC-Clemson game. PAUL OSMUNDSON
- [Dyer on the “Pause”; West Bank Eruption? A Left-Wing Jew & the War](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-on-the-pause-west-bank-eruption-a-left-wing-jew-the-war/) - #1 - Israel-Hamas Ceasefire 22 November 2023 Israel-Hamas Ceasefire By Gwynne Dyer - Author, Historian & Independent Journalist There are really three parties to the ‘pause’ – nobody is officially using the word ‘Author, Historian & Independent Journalistceasefire’ – that brings at least a temporary end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip. Two of
- [Giving Thanks for Those Defying Hell & Sowing Hope — “From the River To The Sea”](https://afriendlyletter.com/to-those-defying-hell-sowing-hope-from-the-river-to-the-sea/) - New York Times OPINION - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN #1 - The Rescuers Rahat, Israel, a Bedouin town in the Negev Desert.Credit...CreditPhotographs by Ofir Berman for The New York Times By Thomas L. Friedman Opinion Columnist, reporting from Rahat, Israel Nov. 22, 2023 I confess that as a longtime observer of the Arab-Israeli conflict, I aggressively
- [Dog Days True Tales: Vietnam & the Secret Life of Pizza](https://afriendlyletter.com/dog-days-true-tales-vietnam-the-secret-life-of-pizza/) - Still Boston-based, she was coming to Washington to work on a book. It was to be about abortion, now legal everywhere -- or rather, the book was about the right-to-life movement, which was determined to make abortion illegal again. She'd be there in a few days, and wanted to catch up. Which was great, but left me wondering. I was the Washington reporter of the two of us: Washington, the nation's premier center of media, power and glamour. I wanted to show her something of that, but the truth was I was still a rookie there: I didn't know any powerful people. I wasn't invited to the parties the local glitterati kept throwing for the powerful and glamorous, plus some media hangers-on. So I'd have to find something else to show her, something offbeat. What could it be? The Star, which was on its last legs when I saw the story about General Loan. The Washington Star came to my rescue. It had recently run a story about area Vietnamese refugees, one of whom was a former general, who had come to America after his army (and ours) lost the war to their Communist enemies. He was, it said, now running a restaurant in northern Virginia called the Three Continents. The man's name seemed familiar. So I did some checking-- and yes, it was General Ngoc Loan, the one from the world-famous front page execution photo. I got the exact address in the phone book, and drove past it to be sure I knew the way.
- [A Conservative’s Startling Wisdom on Abortion Post-Roe](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-conservatives-startling-wisdom-on-abortion-post-roe/) - [NOTE: David French is a conservative; I would differ with him on many issues, including Roe. But what he writes here about who is the most "pro-life" president (prepare for a surprise) and the crucial place of hope regarding abortion (and life generally!) is dead-on and relevant every day.] The Importance of Hope in the
- [A Twofer from Gwynne Dyer: Bibi & Hamas - “Objective Allies”? And Argentina’s Vicious Circle Election](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-twofer-from-gwynne-dyer-bibi-hamas-objective-allies-and-argentinas-vicious-circle-election/) - The frog, the scorpion and Hamas Gwynne Dyer - Nov 16, 2023 Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. Or rather, don’t, because it’s relevant to the current situation, and we have to bring the people who don’t know the story up to speed first. It’s about a frog, doing whatever it is that
- [More Melancholy Wisdom on Israeli-Hamas War Myths](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-melancholy-wisdom-on-the-israeli-hamas-war/) - [NOTE: I agree with just about all that Nick Kristof says here. But his roster of myths is incomplete. He overlooks a fourth “myth” that gets in the way of his humane insight and hope like the piles of rubble that mark this war on every front. More on that below.] New York Times: What
- [On Israel/Hamas: Many Conflicting "Truths", Or Convictions](https://afriendlyletter.com/an-epistle-on-israel-hamas-many-conflicting-truths-or-convictions/) - Friends, Kudos this week to the Christian Century (CC) magazine, for its statement on the Hamas/Israeli war. They were not quick to run to the pundit barricades; when Hamas attacked, despite their shock, they grabbed their knees and kept them from jerking. They thought and struggled about it; their struggle likely continues. And their considered
- [AFSC After "The Day The Movement Died"](https://afriendlyletter.com/afsc-after-the-day-the-movement-died/) - Having read and pondered the lengthy memo from General Secretary Joyce Aljouny laying out the plans for the latest AFSC Restructure, I think I’ve figured out what’s going on there. It has little to do with the current effort to stoke a staff rebellion, so we’ll deal with that only in passing. Its roots, I
- [A Cautionary Tale and an Inspiration? The "Life of Quaker Service" of Annice carter](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-cautionary-tale-and-an-inspiration-the-life-of-quaker-service-of-annice-carter/) - Finishing the new book Annice Carter’s Life of Quaker Service, my first query was: What if Annice Carter had ever learned to make bagels? Could that have changed history in the Middle East? She had the training and experience. With her college degree in Home Economics, cooking, including for large groups, was one of her
- [The Mounting Math of Massacres](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-mounting-math-of-massacres/) - Israel-Gaza: A Question of Numbers Gwynne Dyer Being the Heritage Minister is not the summit of achievement in Israeli politics, but it is a cabinet position, and Amihai Eliyahu, the current occupant, really should watch what he says. When Radio Kol Berama asked him whether an atomic bomb should be dropped on Gaza, he should
- [Gwynne Dyer: Three Wars — Any Victories?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-three-wars-any-victories/) - Wars have stolen our attention from a looming climate catastrophe We’re still in the game, with a slim chance of holding global warming below a catastrophic level through the rest of the century, Gwynne Dyer writes. By Gwynne Dyer - Tuesday, October 31, 2023 You would think that all human energies would be focused on
- [Re-Re-Re-Inventing The Wheel: 170 Years of “Convergent” Quakerism](https://afriendlyletter.com/re-re-re-inventing-the-wheel-170-years-of-convergent-quakerism/) - As Robin Mohr, the younger Friend who coined the “Convergent” label put it, the idea appeals to “Friends from the politically liberal end of the evangelical branch, the Christian end of the unprogrammed branch, and the more outgoing end of the Conservative branch.” But what has happened repeatedly is that the “politically (and theologically) liberal end of the evangelical branch" gets lopped off, and those involved either hunker down, or join an exodus.
- [Making Sense of "The Separation Generation" Among Quakers](https://afriendlyletter.com/making-sense-of-the-separation-generation-among-quakers/) - How can we understand the recent wave of schisms and breakups described in The Separation Generation three-volume set? How did it come about? Where will it lead? Looking back, we could say it all started with Phil Gulley, the pastor of Fairfield Friends near Indianapolis. In 2003, he published a book, If Grace Is True,
- [Guest Post & Warning: The Johnson Agenda Is In The House](https://afriendlyletter.com/guest-post-warning-the-johnson-agenda-is-in-the-house/) - Friends, My treasured buddy and wise F/friend John Calvi is just leaving Vermont with husband Marshall, for winter quarters in the Great (& Warm) Southwest. Before leaving, he sent out an urgent letter. It was meant initially for LGBTQ folk, but has lots of implications for many more people who may be only weird or
- [Banning & Suppressing Books: Part of Our (Not Very) Brave New World](https://afriendlyletter.com/banning-suppressing-books-part-of-our-not-very-brave-new-world/) - New York Times: There's More Than One Way To Ban a Book [COMMENT: I read Lolita some years ago. Creepy. Unsettling. Perverse, but hardly prurient. Not for kids; but ban it? Nope. I never read Darwin, but if anyone still doubts the nub of his argument, then don't worry about the latest COVID variants; God
- [For Quakers, Friends & Others - A Welcome & Colorful Break From The Weekend Madness](https://afriendlyletter.com/for-quakers-friends-others-a-welcome-colorful-break-from-the-weekend-madness/) - Amid the upheavals, wars & rumors of war of the first weekend in October, 2023, there was a burst of light and fun and even joy, in one seemingly unlikely place — Alamance County, North Carolina. Let’s go visit it: The occasion was as unlikely as the locale, by the historic railroad station in the
- [How North Carolina YM-FUM Did Itself In: A Blog Review](https://afriendlyletter.com/north-carolina-ym-fum-blog-review/) - Our blog poss about the end of NCYM-FUM have been read widely. And a question has recurred in comments across Facebook and in other media. It is: How did this happen?? It's a legitimate question; and it's one we've been grappling with for three years. It's also one this blogger is feeling a bit overwhelmed
- [Two views: Recalling the Yom Kippur/Ramadan War- Half a Century Later](https://afriendlyletter.com/two-views-recalling-the-yom-kippur-ramadan-war-half-a-century-later/) - GWYNNE DYER: A short war 50 years ago in Israel Gwynne Dyer -- October 5, 2023 In 1973, 50 years ago today, Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, coincided with Ramadan, the Islamic lunar month of fasting. But nobody raised an alarm in Israel when it was reported, two days before the
- [A Blockbuster Billboard Bonanza & Its New Roadside Theology](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-blockbuster-billboard-bonanza-new-roadside-theology/) - I’m a longtime fan of message billboards and other roadside rhetoric. Nowadays I don’t get out to see them as much. But this week, the net brought a batch of striking new ones to me, from exotic Nebraska, mystic New Mexico,, And I couldn’t wait to share them. After all, they cover some of my
- [Gray Alert for U. S. Quakers: Help Find The Missing White House Meditation Room!](https://afriendlyletter.com/gray-alert-for-u-s-quakers-help-find-the-missing-white-house-meditation-room/) - [NOTE: No wonder D. C. is in such a terrible mess! This is clearly a job for the spotlight-shunning Friendly Homeland Security Emergency Rescue Team. Sound the Silent Alarms!] {UPDATE: The following article is not a spoof; as far as we know.] Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook , your guide to the people and
- [Two Reports On The End of Nagorno-Karabakh](https://afriendlyletter.com/two-reports-on-the-end-of-nagorno-karabakh/) - #1- Gwynne Dyer-Armenia: Not a Genocide It is a tragedy, but it is not a genocide. In a single week, almost all of the 120,000 Armenians who lived in the enclave in western Azerbaijan called Nagorno-Karabakh have fled across the border into Armenia. Most say they don’t expect ever to go home again. By Gwynne
- [FUM, John Muhanji, Uganda & “KILL The GAYS Laws: A Few Questions](https://afriendlyletter.com/fum-john-muhanji-uganda-kill-the-gays-laws-a-few-questions/) - October is Visitation & Board meeting month for Friends United Meeting (FUM). Besides board members from FUM’s shrinking but scattered territories, notable Friends will be gathering in and around its home turf of Richmond Indiana. Among the most notable of these visitors is Kenyan Friend John Muhanji, who heads FUM’s African ministries. Besides official sessions,
- [Cartoons For The Week After The Shutdown/Impeachment That Weren’t — YET.](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-for-the-week-after-the-shutdown-impeachment-that-werent-yet/) - What do you think? Will Commander the Mutt Flip on the Commander-in-Chief? Look down--the Supreme Court is in there somewhere . . .
- [Big Anti-Abortion Squabble Dogs Campaign in Ohio](https://afriendlyletter.com/big-anti-abortion-squabble-dogs-campaign-in-ohio/) - AP News: Anti-abortion groups are at odds on strategies ahead of Ohio vote. It could be a preview for 2024 By JULIE CARR SMYTH — Sept. 30, 2023 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Abortion opponents in Ohio are at odds not only over how to frame their opposition to a reproductive rights initiative on the state’s
- [Two Unforgettable Recollections of Senator Dianne Feinstein](https://afriendlyletter.com/two-unforgettable-recollections-of-senator-dianne-feinstein/) - Fate played a cruel, unwanted hand in Diane Feinstein's political rise: On Nov. 27, 1978, at the end of her tether, Ms. Feinstein [then a member of the San Francisco city Board of Supervisors] told City Hall reporters that she intended to quit political life. Two hours later, shots exploded down the hall from her
- [The Fall Floral Festival is Afoot In The Yard](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-fall-floral-festival-is-afoot-in-the-yard/) - Lyon Park in autumn is no match for Flaming Vermont. But In The Yard, we’ve still got lots of seasonal Carolina color. Pause for a moment and breathe it in . . . . First Up — This is Old Fashioned Weigela, which has been blooming off and on since spring. On it is one
- [Gwynne Dyer: Ukraine: A Breakthrough In Slow Motion](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-ukrainian-breakthrough/) - Gwynne Dyer: Ukrainian Breakthrough? It’s a Slog. It’s nothing like the great breakthroughs of the mid-twentieth century wars, when combined air and ground forces would tear a hole in the enemy line, the tanks would pour through, and the front would roll back several hundred kilometres before it stabilised again. By Gwynne Dyer, in Opinion
- [Freedom Schools Are Back! (Starting In Florida)](https://afriendlyletter.com/freedom-schools-are-back-starting-in-florida/) - [NOTE: Freedom schools were a key element of 1960s civil rights activism in the deep South. Their important legacy is no longer only history, but is now being revived and reinvented, starting in Florida, as resistance to resurgent racism in education. What a great idea.] Washington Post After Florida restricts Black history, churches step up
- [FBI Ignored Internal Warnings, Screwed Up Bigtime on Jan. 6 Insurrection Threat. Why??](https://afriendlyletter.com/fbi-ignored-internal-warnings-screwed-up-bigtime-on-jan-6-insurrection-threat-why/) - NBC NEWS EXCLUSIVE — CAPITOL RIOT Before Jan. 6, the FBI predicted extremists would be 'very willing to take action' over a 2020 election dispute. An FBI "red cell" report predicted that law enforcement action and a "lack of coordination" between groups would prevent widespread violence in response to a disputed election. Sept. 25, 2023 By
- [Two Views: Canada, India & An “Inconvenient” Assassination?](https://afriendlyletter.com/two-views-canada-india-an-inconvenient-assassination/) - 1. A Murder, a Diplomatic Dust-Up and the Risk of Impunity New York Times — Sept. 22, 2023 By Nicholas Kristof Father's Day this year, two heavyset men were loitering near a Sikh temple in British Columbia. Then the president of the temple, a Canadian citizen and an activist named Hardeep Singh Nijjar, stepped out
- [FGC: Can This Quaker Gathering Be Saved?](https://afriendlyletter.com/fgc-can-this-quaker-gathering-be-saved/) - In case any liberal U. S. Friends haven’t yet noticed, FGC (aka Friends General Conference) is flailing. Its crowning event, the annual Gathering, is on life support; the prognosis is grave. As at Balmoral Castle a week or so ago, key “family” members are gathered: some keeping vigil at the bedside, as others huddle over
- [A Long Read to Ponder: Biden in Vietnam & at the UN: Who Could Have Imagined?](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-long-read-to-ponder-biden-in-vietnam-at-the-un-who-could-have-imagined/) - NOTE: Friends, this material just blows my mind. Yes, that’s an outdated 1960s expression, but it fits here: this material is about the Vietnam War. And for me (plus, I figure, most of the remaining survivors of that era of national agony), having our minds blown was a thing. Maybe initially it was fun, or
- [Thursday Grand Slam 'Toons](https://afriendlyletter.com/thursday-grand-slam-toons/) - Elsewhere on The Hill . . . - - - - - - - - - And -- Why Don't We Do It in The -- Seats?? Last but not least: All the Cool Scribes want this shirt . . . Oh wait -- All Joking Aside, Don't Forget! Stay Strong, UAW!!
- [For King Day: Selma, Alabama -- Protecting King, Protecting Obama](https://afriendlyletter.com/selma-alabama-protecting-king-protecting-obama/) - The Secret Service has to secure similar events every week, sometimes every day. So maybe this was a piece of cake for them. Compared to their skill, our mornings walks near Dr. King now seem utterly, almost comically amateurish. But even so, somehow we came through it. Dr. King wasn’t called on to preach at our funerals. Instead, we lasted long enough to hear others preaching at his.
- [Is the Petroleum Profit Party Really About to End? Two Oil Countries Are Making Their Bets -- And an Extra about The Other Washington](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-the-petroleum-profit-party-really-about-to-end-two-oil-countries-are-making-their-bets/) - I. Guyana: Oil, Time & Money Gwynne Dyer — Sept. 18, 2023 Guyana is not a ‘hellhole country’ of the sort Donald Trump complained about when he said he wanted immigrants to come to the US from white places like Norway instead, but it did used to be poor, tropical and largely populated by people
- [A Mourning Meditation On Miserable Melancholic Multi-Millionaire Mitt](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-mourning-meditation-on-miserable-melancholic-multi-millionaire-mitt/) - As a Mormon, Mitt Romney presumably does not believe in Karma. But maybe, more informally, he could nod glumly at the non-theological adage that what goes around comes around. Or, more biblically, does he acknowledge that the scripture says we reap what we sow? I have a feeling he does, now. Or he should,
- [Sunday Cartoons With Minimal Side Effects](https://afriendlyletter.com/sunday-cartoons-with-minimal-side-effects/)
- [A fresh wave of hard-right populism is stalking Europe](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-fresh-wave-of-hard-right-populism-is-stalking-europe/) - In Germany, the AfD are weaponising climate change Make no mistake, Europe is not about to be overrun by fascists, in a repeat of the 1930s. But the new right-wing wave presents a big challenge. Handled badly, it could toxify politics, disenfranchise a large share of voters and prevent crucial reforms of the European Union
- [Is This for Real? Life in space discovered?? Gwynne Dyer Says, “Maybe Yes.”](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-this-for-real-life-in-space-discovered-gwynne-dyer-says-maybe-yes/) - Life discovered on planet 120 light years from Earth Gwynne Dyer — Sep 16 2023 - Gwynne Dyer is a UK-based Canadian journalist and historian who writes about international affairs This week’s real news is the discovery of life on another planet. As Cambridge University’s Nikku Madhusudhan said in the first sentence of his report:
- [Kim Davis, Antigay Kentucky Clerk, Must Pay $100K  for Refusing  Same Sex Marriage License](https://afriendlyletter.com/kim-davis-antigay-kentucky-clerk-must-pay-100k-for-refusing-same-sex-marriage-license/) - Kim Davis, Kentucky County Clerk who denied gay couple marriage license, must pay them $100,000 Cybele Mayes-Osterman — USA TODAY—Sept. 14, 2023 U.S. District Judge David Bunning ruled last year that Davis had violated both couples' constitutional rights under the 14th Amendment and the Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage in
- [Aliens in the Mexican Congress?? Sworn Witnesses Said “Yes.” But is “Seeing” Believing??](https://afriendlyletter.com/aliens-in-the-mexican-congress-sworn-witnesses-said-yes-but-is-seeing-believing/) - AP News: Scientists call fraud on supposed extraterrestrials presented to Mexican Congress BY MEGAN JANETSKY Sept. 13, 2023 MEXICO CITY (AP) — Supposed aliens landed in Mexico’s Congress but there were no saucer-shaped UFOs hovering over the historic building or bright green invaders like those seen in Hollywood films. The specter of little green men
- [When Hanging Wasn’t Brutal Enough for Black Prisoners: Southern Whites Brought In “Old Sparky”](https://afriendlyletter.com/when-hanging-wasnt-brutal-enough-for-black-prisoners-southern-whites-brought-in-old-sparky/) - From Reading Religion: The End of Public Execution Race, Religion, and Punishment in the American South By: Michael Ayers Trotti 266 Pages — $32.95 Published By: University of North Carolina Press Michael Ayers Trotti’s The End of Public Execution: Race, Religion, and Punishment in the American South opens with a short transcription of a newspaper
- [Gwynne Dyer: Armenia in Trouble— USA to the Rescue??](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-armenia-in-trouble-usa-to-the-rescue/) - Why it’s unlikely the US will help Armenia by Gwynne Dyer, — Sept. 11, 2023 The Armenians are a people of great antiquity — the first Armenian kingdom was in the 8th century B.C. — but they grew up in a tough neighborhood, and they have been in retreat for a very long time. They lost their
- [Quaker History Roundtable -- With Webcast!](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-history-roundtable/) - It's Here! The Quaker History Roundtable opens Thursday evening, June 8. Its focus is 20th Century American Quakerism, and it will continue through Sunday morning, June 11. If you can't join us in person, you can watch it online. It will be webcast online here.
- [A Quaker Reconsiders His Peace Testimony](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-quaker-reconsiders-his-peace-testimony/) - My fate was heavily shaped by a small card that came in the mail in late September 1965. That card, and fate, are back on my mind now, 57 years later. I was in Selma, Alabama when the card arrived, still working with the civil rights movement. A few weeks earlier the endurance, courage and
- [The "Great Dechurching": Can it be stopped? Should It?](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-great-dechurching/) - Religious News Service ‘The Great Dechurching’ explores America’s religious exodus A new study looks at why millions of Americans left church — and what might bring them back. September 7, 2023 By Bob Smietana (RNS) — Jim Davis and Michael Graham knew something was up in their hometown of Orlando, Florida. But they couldn’t put
- [Child labor Still Widespread in the U.S., and It’s Mainly “Spanish”](https://afriendlyletter.com/child-labor-is-back-in-the-u-s-and-its-mainly-spanish/) - For Jacqueline Aguilar, whose father came from Mexico as a teenager and worked his whole life in the fields until his death last year, the work is, in a sense, traditional. From the age of 12, she worked alongside him. Now 21, she recently returned from an internship in Washington with the Child Labor Coalition,
- [U. S. & China are new Competitors in an old, obscure, but important island dispute](https://afriendlyletter.com/u-s-china-are-new-competitors-in-an-old-obscure-but-important-island-dispute/) - A tug of war between China and America in the Indian Ocean Saltwire: Atlantic Canada News Service -- Sept. 6, 2023 Most of the international community regards the Chagos Islands as belonging to Mauritius, from which they were detached in 1965. Henry Srebrnik, a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island,
- [The Invasion of the Invasives Is Here (Right In My Back Yard)](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-invasion-of-the-invasives-is-here-right-in-my-back-yard/) - Washington Post Scientists warn invasive pests are taking a staggering toll on society The authors of a major new U.N.-backed report say invasive species are costing the world more than $423 billion a year By Dino Grandoni — September 4, 2023 Invasive pests are wreaking havoc across the planet, destroying crops, disseminating pathogens, depleting fish
- [A Dyer Twofer: Thailand’s Struggles & Pope Francis’ s Mixed History](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-dyer-twofer-thailands-struggles-pope-francis-s-mixed-history/) - Thailand: The Last Rigged Election? Lèse-majesté is the ‘crime’ of offending the dignity of the king, and these days it has gone out of fashion. In Britain, you can say anything you like about King Charles the Turd (as an Irish friend calls him), and no one turns a hair. But if you insult King
- [A History of NOW and its Women who Made History](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-history-of-now-and-its-women-who-made-history/) - The Women of NOW review: superb history of feminist growth and groundswell Katherine Turk has produced a must-read on the group which did so much for American women in the 1960s and 70s Clara BinghamSat 2 Sept 2023 Follow Clara Bingham What do a bestselling author, a segregationist congressman and a Black legal scholar have
- [Another Quaker Breakup: Indiana YM "Quits" FUM (Sort of)- Wants to Take Africa Missions With It](https://afriendlyletter.com/another-quaker-breakup-indiana-ym-quits-fum-sort-of-wants-to-take-africa-missions-with-it/) - The total number of splits in American Quakerdom since 2000 has just gone from five to six. And signs of more trouble are on the horizon. Indiana Yearly Meeting (IYM), which saw eighteen of its meetings expelled or withdraw in 2013, has now pushed its separatism further by leaving Friends United Meeting. But IYM
- [Gwynne Dyer: The Secret Life of BRICS](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-the-secret-life-of-brics/) - What’s BRICs? Does it Amount to Anything? Gwynne Dyer, August 31, 2023 What’s BRICs? Does it Amount to Anything? YOU can expand the curious organisation called the BRICS, but you can’t define it. In fact, it’s hardly even an organisation: no headquarters, no secretariat. Even the (British) Commonwealth and la Francophonie have more substance: at
- [Move Over, Ron de Book Banner —Leftie Censors Are Even Worse](https://afriendlyletter.com/move-over-ron-de-book-banner-leftie-censors-are-even-worse/) - [NOTE: There’s unfortunately too much truth in this report to ignore. One implication is left unaddressed: it points to the increasing importance of independent publishing (typified but not limited to Amazon), OUTSIDE the increasingly hidebound and oppressive “legacy” publishing industry. PS. This report, alas, applies as well to much of Quaker publishing.] From The Bulwark.com
- [From the Onion (Satire): (Soon-To-Be) Peers Advise 45](https://afriendlyletter.com/from-the-onion-satire-soon-to-be-peers-advise-45/) - Not The News: Listen Up, Donny!
- [In (& Out of) The Yard - Dog Days Update, With Some Smiles](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-out-of-the-yard-dog-days-update-with-some-smiles/) - Storms Are Around, So the Flowers Are Making the Most of It
- [Iran Marks Anniversary of 1953 CIA-Backed Coup](https://afriendlyletter.com/iran-marks-anniversary-of-1953-cia-backed-coup/) - AP News: A CIA-backed 1953 coup in Iran haunts the country with people still trying to make sense of it BY NASSER KARIMI AND JON GAMBRELL August 25, 2023 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Seventy years after a CIA-orchestrated coup toppled Iran’s prime minister, its legacy remains both contentious and complicated for the Islamic Republic as
- [Dyer: Zimbabwe Election (With Updates)](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-zimbabwe-election-with-update/) - Late Update, August 26, 2023: HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa was re-elected for a second and final five-year term late Saturday in results announced much earlier than expected following another troubled vote in the southern African country with a history of violent and disputed elections. An opposition party spokesperson said within minutes
- [A  Weekend Read: The Atlanta Trials & Race](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-weekend-read-the-atlanta-trials-race/) - You Can't Talk About Trump's Georgia Case Without Talking About Racism TIME Magazine — IDEAS BY JANELL ROSS — AUGUST 24, 2023 Janell Ross is the senior correspondent on race and identities for TIME. As the final bars of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” filled the room, former President Donald Trump took the stage
- [Garrison Keillor: Out with the old, in with the young](https://afriendlyletter.com/garrison-keillor-out-with-the-old-in-with-the-young/) - Out with the old, in with the young The Column: 08.25.23 I am delighted by the court ruling in Montana that the state, by encouraging the use of fossil fuels, violated the constitutional right of young people to “a clean and healthful environment,” something no court has ever proclaimed before. “Clean and healthful environment” is
- [Rogues’ Gallery? Nine More Atlanta Mugshots — Now Out on (Blog) Bond](https://afriendlyletter.com/rogues-gallery-atlanta-mugshots-now-out-on-blog-bond/) - Mark Meadows Not a complete list . . . .
- [Two Pieces of Good News:  AI Bringing Speech for the Paralyzed Closer, And Dawn at the Grand Canyon](https://afriendlyletter.com/good-news-ai-bringing-speech-for-the-paralyzed-closer/) - The Guardian - August 23, 2023 Paralysed woman able to ‘speak’ through digital avatar in world first By Hannah Devlin Latest technology uses tiny electrodes on brain surface and is faster than synthesisers which rely on eye tracking A severely paralysed woman has been able to speak through an avatar using technology that translated her
- [Quaker Book Giveaway: Turning the Page on Florida Censorship](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-book-giveaway-turning-the-page-on-florida-censorship/) - Florida Quakers give away hundreds of Black-history books By Special to the Beacon August 8, 2023 BY KATHY HERSH DeLand Quakers gave away almost 500 books at the rescheduled Juneteenth event July 29 at the Wayne G. Sanborn Activity Center in Earl Brown Park in DeLand. Throughout the day, hundreds of men, women and children
- [Kristalina Georgieva: Can She Stop A New Cold War??](https://afriendlyletter.com/kristalina-georgieva-can-she-stop-a-new-cold-war/) - IMF chief cites her life behind Iron Curtain in warning Against a new Cold War The Washington Post By David J. Lynch — August 20, 2023 Kristalina Georgieva is head of the International Monetary Fund and is trying to keep the global economy from a costly splintering Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary
- [A  Response to a Comment: Who Is this Quaker named "Wlliam Leddra"?](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-response-to-a-comment-who-is-this-quaker-named-wlliam-leddra/) - In a June blog post here about virulent persecution of LGBTQ folk in Uganda based on a draconian new "kill the gays" law, a correspondent known to us as "William Leddra" issued a call to Quakers, who have two yearly meetings in Uganda, and affiliations with Friends United Meeting [aka FUM] based in Richmond, Indiana,
- [OMG! Hurricane Hilary Is Coming; and She'll Soon Have Company](https://afriendlyletter.com/omg-hurricane-hilary-is-coming-and-shell-soon-have-company/) - It's late Saturday night and I'm feeling lots of solidarity & concern for friends & family in the far southwest. Just days ago we faced a severe thunderstorm that produced flooding and widespread power outages in just an hour of fierce wind, flooding rain, and explosive lightning. That was then. Since Tuesday, there's been
- [This Israeli Journalist Long Rejected “Apartheid” Claims About Israel. Not Anymore.](https://afriendlyletter.com/this-israeli-journalist-long-rejected-apartheid-claims-about-israel-not-anymore/) - Israel 2023, South Africa 1948. I’ve lived through it before: power grabbing, fascism and racism – the destruction of democracy. Israel is going where South Africa was 75 years ago. It’s like watching the replay of a horror movie. In 1948, as a teenager in Cape Town, I followed the results of the 26 May
- [Speaking of Coups, Two Reports, Bloomberg on central Africa, and Dyer on the U.S.](https://afriendlyletter.com/speaking-of-coups-two-reports-bloomberg-on-central-africa-and-dyer-on-the-u-s/) - By Andreas Kluth -- August 8, 2023 Bloomberg Opinion-You can think of the unfolding disaster in Niger in four ways, from embarrassing to ominous, catastrophic and apocalyptic. Embarrassing, because the country’s coup on July 26 is blowback for a clueless West: Neither the hapless former colonial power, France, nor the waning superpower, the US, saw
- [Hard-Boiled Scrambled Cartoon Egg Salad . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/hard-boiled-scrambled-cartoon-egg-salad/)
- [World Bank Supports Uganda LGBT Rights: Dictator Miffed](https://afriendlyletter.com/world-bank-supports-uganda-lgbt-rights-dictator-miffed/) - Two reports: AP News: Uganda's leader slams World Bank for holding up new loans after his country enacted an anti-gay law BY RODNEY MUHUMUZ August 17, 2023 KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s president on Thursday slammed the World Bank, calling the global lender “insufferable” for holding up new loans after the East African country enacted
- [U. S. Suicides Hit All-Time High in 2022](https://afriendlyletter.com/u-s-suicides-hit-all-time-high-in-2022/) - MIKE STOBBE — Associated Press August 10, 2023 If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741. It is a free 24/7 service that can provide suicidal persons or those around them with support, information and
- [In The Yard: Daisy In Peril—An August Thriller](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-the-yard-daisy-in-peril-an-august-thriller/) - Outside our kitchen door, a single daisy has appeared. Daisies are generally pretty good at standing up for themselves. But our Daisy faces a very serious challenge; she appeared in the middle of a larger patch of very pushy, one might even say aggressive and imperialistic morning glories. Morning glories, as our surveillance technology has
- [Nagasaki: AP News: Nagasaki marks 78th anniversary of atomic bombing with mayor urging world to abolish nuclear weapons](https://afriendlyletter.com/nagasaki-ap-news-nagasaki-marks-78th-anniversary-of-atomic-bombing-with-mayor-urging-world-to-abolish-nuclear-weapons/) - [Almost no one is paying attention. Voices crying in the wilderness. Luke 19: 39 Then some of the Pharisees in the crowd spoke to Jesus. “Teacher,” they said, “command your disciples to be quiet!” 40 Jesus answered, “I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting.”] BY MARI YAMAGUCHI AP —August 9,
- [An Overdue Blow at the Roots of White Minority Rule in The Deep, Deep South](https://afriendlyletter.com/an-overdue-blow-at-the-roots-of-white-minority-rule-in-the-deep-deep-south/) - The Guardian — Fri 4 Aug 2023 The fight for democracy Kira Lerner Mississippi’s Jim Crow-era voting law struck down by federal appeals court 2-1 ruling on policy that revoked voting rights for certain people with felony convictions is surprise victory from conservative court A federal appeals court on August 4 struck down Mississippi’s Jim
- [Sun Ray Kelley: Elfin Eco-Architect](https://afriendlyletter.com/sun-ray-kelley-elfin-eco-architect/) - The forested lower slopes of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State are dense and not much inhabited. But, venturing there in recent decades, walkers might well believe they had discovered an Old Man of the Woods. He wore a brown peaked cap, like an elf’s, on white dreadlocked hair that fell to his shoulders. His
- [Let’s Eat! Fat, Chocolate, Eggs, Dairy, Meat, Butter: Everything You Thought You Knew Is (Possibly) Wrong; Or At Least More Complicated](https://afriendlyletter.com/lets-eat-fat-chocolate-eggs-dairy-meat-butter-everything-you-thought-you-knew-is-possibly-wrong-or-at-least-more-complicated/) - [NOTE: I've followed the Graedons and their People's Pharmacy articles for some years. I've also cited them to various doctors, who mostly scoffed; The Graedons are not "members of the club." But they know the fields, cite sources for everything, and while they support home remedies with track records, are not antivaxxers or suchlike. This
- [A Limerick for This Week](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-limerick-for-this-week/)
- [Gwynne Dyer: The End of Israeli Democracy?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-the-end-of-israeli-democracy/) - [NOTE: Gwynne Dyer make an important, and unnerving point in the column below: the changes in Israel’s judicial structure & policy voted in the Israeli Knesset last week were supported by a rightwing coalition that does numerically represent the current majority of the Israeli voting public. Public opinion in Israel was once much more supportive
- [Gwynne Dyer: Why Are So Many Coups Happening in Africa?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-why-are-so-many-coups-happening-in-africa/) - Gwynne Dyer: Why Are So Many Coups Happening in Africa? July 31, 2023 If you are a democratically elected leader in one of Africa’s Sahel countries — let’s say, Niger — and you suspect that the army is plotting to overthrow you, what’s the best countermeasure? Should you: A) appoint all the army’s senior officers
- [Chatbot fantasies](https://afriendlyletter.com/chatbot-fantasies/) - AP News: Chatbots sometimes make things up. Not everyone thinks AI's hallucination problem is fixable BY MATT O'BRIEN — August 1, 2033 Spend enough time with ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots and it doesn’t take long for them to spout falsehoods. Described as hallucination, confabulation or just plain making things up, it’s now a
- [Goodbye, July Cartoons: BarbenHeimer, Twitter-Titters & More -- Xtra-Large--On Ice](https://afriendlyletter.com/goodbye-july-cartoons-barbenheimer-twitter-titters-more-xtra-large-on-ice/)
- [Florida is in HOT Water: Boiling Its Corals](https://afriendlyletter.com/florida-is-in-hot-water-boiling-its-corals/) - AP News: Water at tip of Florida hits hot tub level, may have set world record for warmest seawater BY SETH BORENSTEIN — July 26. 2023 The water temperature on the tip of Florida hit hot tub levels, exceeding 100 degrees (37.8 degrees Celsius) two days in a row. And meteorologists say that could potentially
- [Would Putin Be Arrested in Johannesburg?? We May Never Know](https://afriendlyletter.com/would-putin-be-arrested-in-johannesburg-we-may-never-know/) - Gwynne Dyer — July 24, 2023 An International Criminal Court member, South Africa is obligated to execute ICC arrest warrants Vladimir Putin will not attend an economic summit in Johannesburg in August, choosing instead to participate by video link Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he won’t be going to South Africa for
- [Solving the Mystery of “Murder at Quaker Lake”](https://afriendlyletter.com/solving-the-mystery-of-murder-at-quaker-lake/) - In mid-2014, a blast of church schism fever blew into the three-century old North Carolina Quaker community like a line of summer tornadoes. At its annual conference, a purge was suddenly demanded to “purify” their ranks of meetings deemed theologically “liberal” or friendly to LGBTQ persons. The same wave had already shattered Quaker groups in
- [Air-Conditioned Cartoons](https://afriendlyletter.com/air-conditioned-cartoons/) - Too many indulgences for the carburetor?? More of the Texas Gospel According to Greg & Ron . . . Just papering over our differences?? I hear the streaming version is a bomb . . . I kept telling Grandpa to stay away from that recycling bin . . .
- [Indictments, Schmindictments: Trump’s Still a Hero to “Christian” Supporters](https://afriendlyletter.com/indictments-schmindictments-trumps-still-a-hero-to-christian-supporters/) - AP News: Some critics see Trump's behavior as un-Christian. His conservative Christian backers see a hero BY DAVID CRARY — July 22, 2023 For eight years, Donald Trump has managed to secure the support of many evangelical and conservative Christians despite behavior that often seemed at odds with teachings espoused by Christ in the Gospels.
- [Dyer-Spain, the far Right, The burning sun, the future . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-spain-the-far-right-the-burning-sun-the-future/) - GWYNNE DYER: Spanish election — Franco's ghost? July 20, 2023 Spain has been a democracy since 1975, but right-wing Vox leader may dream of filling former dictator's shoes Spain's far right Vox party leader Santiago Abascal says he is open to forming national and regional governing coalitions with the mainstream conservative People's Party after the
- [Progressive Friends & That Haunting Face In The Mirror: Hoping History Won't Repeat -- Or Rhyme Too Much](https://afriendlyletter.com/progressive-friends-that-haunting-face-in-the-mirror-hoping-history-wont-repeat-or-rhyme-too-much/) - While reading about and “living with” Progressive Friends, I was inspired by several of the memorable personalities I walked with. I admired and learned from all of them, as well as others who interacted with them. But there’s one Friend I identified with especially: Samuel M. Janney. This was something of a surprise. Janney
- [Can Tik-Tok Cottage Cheese Save the Dairy Industry? (What -- Cottage Cheese Is Cool??)?](https://afriendlyletter.com/can-tik-tok-cottage-cheese-save-the-dairy-industry-what-cottage-cheese-is-cool/) - Bloomberg Opinion Can Cottage Cheese on TikTok Save the Dairy Industry? Dairy companies are riding a nice wave thanks to the #cottagecheese trend, but cows don't operate on social media's timing. By Amanda Little -- July 18, 2023 TikTok influencers performed a kind of alchemy in recent weeks when they created ice creams, dips, cookie
- [Dyer- Climate Tipping Points Are In Sight & Near](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-climate-tipping-points-are-in-sight-near/) - Gwynne Dyer — Climate Crisis Speeding Up “What we’re seeing is climate impacts that scientists thought would accompany certain temperatures happening far more rapidly, with far more devastating effects than had been forecast,” said Dr. Simon Nicholson of the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment at American University. “We didn’t think that the Arctic would crash
- [Cutting Ike Some Slack](https://afriendlyletter.com/cutting-ike-some-slack/) - It’s easy to think of reasons to trash Dwight Eisenhower. For one thing, he was a segregationist; he enforced it in the Army, and disliked the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown decision. For another, he approved several nasty covert CIA wars and coups (Iran, Guatemala, the beginnings of Vietnam, etc.) We’re still dealing with the fallout
- [Cancel Cops, Cancel ALL Cop Shows, NO Exceptions. And Cancel Quakers Too?](https://afriendlyletter.com/cancel-cops-cancel-all-cop-shows-no-exceptions-and-cancel-quakers-too/) - Just read a very striking piece by E. J. Dickson in Rolling Stone. It says the “Cancel Cops Crusade,” in order to root out systemic police racism, killings & impunity, also has to take down the media images of the police. Even -- especially-- those of the “good cop.” Why? because the problem isn’t “bad
- [Dog Days Diversions: Alone Together: Living With & Writing About Progressive Friends](https://afriendlyletter.com/alone-together-living-with-writing-about-progressive-friends/) - Researching and writing about Progressive Friends took up most of my time from the autumn of 2013 through the spring of 2014. Often this was a paradoxical experience: from one angle, it was a very solitary effort: from another, very crowded. I did this research at Pendle Hill in Pennsylvania, as the Cadbury research scholar
- [A**holes & Rabble Rousers: Comments for Jon Watts](https://afriendlyletter.com/240/) - Some thoughts on Quaker musician Jon Watts and his interview in the Fifth Month issue of Friends Journal . . . . John Watts & FJ quotes marked as JW; Chuck Fager’s comments marked CF . . . . JW: I went through Baltimore Yearly Meeting’s camping program and Young Friends program, and I also
- [Thoughts on the Quaker "Testimony of Equality"](https://afriendlyletter.com/thoughts-on-the-quaker-testimony-of-equality/) - arly Friends lacked a Testimony on Equality with the outside world because, to speak plainly, they (the Friends) were quite sure that those outside were NOT their equals. A striking example of this is found deep in the famous 1660 Letter to King Charles II, from Fox and a dozen or so other leading Quakers — the one which announced what we now call the “Peace Testimony.” In a part of the letter which does not get quoted on meeting house wall posters, Fox & Co. explain to the king, “for your soul’s good,” why he should avoid persecuting the Quakers. It was not merely because they were peaceable folk, innocent of plotting his overthrow; but more important, because to do so would mean he was fooling with “the babes of Christ, which he [Christ] hath in his hand, which he [Christ] cares for as the apple of his eye; neither seek to destroy the heritage of God . . . .” And here we have early Quaker theology in a nutshell: Friends were God’s chosen people, “the apple of his eye.” In the Bible, the counterpart is referred to as a “royal seed.” Maybe the Friends were not destined to rule the world outwardly, sitting on actual thrones; but surely they were commissioned to show it the true way to what the Lord had in mind, and they needed to be able to do the Lord’s work unhampered. So were Quakers “equal” to other humans, even the king? Not hardly; none of this lot came anywhere near their level as “the heritage of God.”
- [BYM-FUM Minute Revision: A Little Better, Not Much -- Part-2](https://afriendlyletter.com/bym-fum-minute-revision-a-little-better-not-much/) - [NOTE: Part 1 of this blog series is here.] Late this morning, BYM sent out a revised version of the Proposed Minute on money to FUM. The text has been tweaked and reshuffled, and a bit of the offensive text has been edited out. But not enough. Here’s how the key paragraphs look now (as
- [BYM-FUM & Money Update: Dodged A Bullet](https://afriendlyletter.com/bym-fum-update-dodged-a-bullet/) - (Dear reader, this post will not likely make much sense if you’re unfamiliar with a series of posts from last week.Part I of the series is here; then Part II is here; and Part III is here. Part IV is here, and a last-minute postscript is here . Anyway, the BYM Interim Meeting convened at
- [More: Big Change for Small Change: Baltimore Yearly Meeting & FUM-- Part 4 (Grand Finale)](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-big-change-for-small-change-baltimore-yearly-meeting-fum-part-4-grand-finale/) - Part IV (Dear reader, this last post will not likely make much sense if you’re unfamiliar with those that came before. Part I is here; then Part II is here; and Part III is here. ) So, once more into the breach. On the Proposed Minute that’s coming before Baltimore YM this weekend on BYM
- [Grand Finale: Big Change for Small Change: Baltimore Yearly Meeting & FUM -- Part 4](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-big-change-for-small-change-baltimore-yearly-meeting-fum-part-2/) - Part IV (Dear reader, this last post will not likely make much sense if you’re unfamiliar with those that came before. Part i is here; then Part II is here; and Part III is here. ) So, once more into the breach. On the Proposed Minute that’s coming before Baltimore YM this weekend on BYM
- [Quote of the Week: What to Think About When We’re Not Thinking About the Weather](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-week-what-to-think-about-when-were-not-thinking-about-the-weather/) - From: A Federal Judge Asks: Does the Supreme Court Realize How Bad It Smells? New York Times — July 14, 2023 By Michael Ponsor I joined the federal bench in 1984, some years before any of the justices currently on the Supreme Court. Throughout my career, I have been bound and guided by a written
- [Thoughts On Quakers & Class -- Part II](https://afriendlyletter.com/thoughts-on-quakers-class-part-ii/) - One could almost set one’s clock by it. Mention Quakers and class, and one will shortly be eldered, either by N. Jeanne Burns, or in my case, by her partner, Liz Oppenheimer. This time it was Liz, who commented thus: You [chuck Fager] write, in part: So my recommendation to those who wanna moan and
- [Bill Kreidler: A Personal Tribute](https://afriendlyletter.com/bill-kreidler-a-personal-tribute/) - By Chuck Fager Dear Friends, One of the finest, most eloquent ministers of this generation of liberal Quakers has left us. William J. “Bill” Kreidler, of Beacon Hill Meeting in Boston, died on June 10, 2000. This is a time to mourn, and also a time to remember, and to pay tribute, which is what
- [Supreme Book Sales & Megadonors: What Some Justices Do On Their Summer Vacations](https://afriendlyletter.com/supreme-book-sales-megadonors-what-some-justices-do-on-their-summer-vacations/) - AP News: Book sales, a lure for money and more takeaways from the AP investigation into Supreme Court ethics By ERIC TUCKER — July 11, 2023 WASHINGTON (AP) — In a monthslong inquiry, which included reviewing tens of thousands of pages of documents from more than 100 public records requests, The Associated Press has examined
- [Hump Day Cartoon Helpers . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/hump-day-cartoon-helpers/)
- [NATO from “Brain-Dead” to Bigger & Back On A Roll?](https://afriendlyletter.com/nato-from-brain-dead-to-bigger-back-on-a-roll/) - Gwynne Dyer — July 10, 2023 When NATO held its annual summit in Brussels two years ago, all 31 presidents and prime ministers of the alliance’s member states dutifully showed up, but their hearts weren’t really in it. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, had publicly declared NATO “brain dead” in 2019, and nobody could find a
- [Surveying the Damage: Counting the Cost of a Corrupted Court](https://afriendlyletter.com/surveying-the-damage-counting-the-cost-of-a-corrupted-court/)
- [Cluster Bombs to Ukraine? They Say No.](https://afriendlyletter.com/cluster-bombs-to-ukraine-they-say-no/) - Here’s why supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions would be a terrible mistake Opinion by Patrick Leahy and Jeff Merkley Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, is a former U.S. senator from Vermont. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from Oregon who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. A few weeks after the Kremlin launched its
- [Gwynne Dyer: The West Bank. Again.](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-the-west-bank-again/) - Israel: "Mowing the Lawn" Again, but with Malice Aforethought Gwynne Dyer -- Jul 08 2023 Gwynne Dyer is a UK-based Canadian journalist and historian who writes about international affairs. OPINION: The two-day Israeli military incursion into the Palestinian city of Jenin in the northern West Bank (12 Palestinians killed, one Israeli dead) seems at first
- [Nerding Out: Did Trump’s July 1 Rally Actually Draw 50-75K People??](https://afriendlyletter.com/nerding-out-did-trumps-july-1-rally-actually-draw-50-75k-people/) - [NOTE: Anybody remember that #45 began his administration by lying about the size of his sparse inaugural crowd, and doctoring the photographs? Here we go again. In the past two weeks I received half a dozen texts and email pleas to show up at his monster 2024 campaign rally in tiny Pickens, South Carolina on
- [Dyer: Police Killings & Trouble In France](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-police-killings-trouble-in-france/) - Violence in France On Saturday, the fifth day of violent protests all over France against the police killing of an unarmed teenager,, the daily arrests dropped below 1,000 for the first time – but the violence became even more extreme. By Gwynne Dyer, in Opinion — July 4 2023 In L'Haÿ-les-Roses, a southern suburb of
- [Lucky Seven: Post-Holiday Cartoons](https://afriendlyletter.com/lucky-seven-post-holiday-cartoons/)
- [Dog Days Diversions — Nursery Rhymes: A Scholarly Sampler](https://afriendlyletter.com/dog-days-diversions-nursery-rhymes-a-scholarly-sampler/) - Washington Post — archive THE REALITIES (& Speculations) BEHIND THE RHYMES By Jennifer Howard — June 11, 1997 Humpty Dumpty. Jack Horner. Miss Muffet. You knew them as a child, and if you have youngsters of your own, chances are they know them, too. Mother Goose and her nursery rhymes are old friends. Seems as
- [James Risen](https://afriendlyletter.com/james-risen/) - The Intercept: PRIGOZHIN TOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT PUTIN’S WAR IN UKRAINE Yevgeny Prigozhin is a disinformation artist whose failed rebellion was marked by a burst of radical honesty. James Risen -- July 1 2023 ONE OF THE most subversive things that Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin did during his brief rebellion last weekend was to tell
- [Fifty Years Without a Military Draft: Could That Change?](https://afriendlyletter.com/fifty-years-without-a-military-draft-could-that-change/) - Friday June 30 was a major anniversary. Did you see the parade past the Capitol? Catch the huge fireworks display? Watch the big superstar concert? No? Me neither. But I’m kidding about the hoopla: June 30, 2023 will rightly be remembered for bad Supreme Court decisions, with anger and resistance, not any big national celebrations.
- [Deaths in War, After a Long Decline,  Are Spiking Upward](https://afriendlyletter.com/deaths-in-war-after-a-long-decline-are-spiking-upward/) - Washington Post -- Today's WorldView A historic rise in global conflict deaths suggests a violent new era Analysis by Adam Taylor, Reporter — June 29, 2023 More than 238,000 people died in global conflict last year, according to a new study released Tuesday, marking a massive 96 percent increase year over year in deaths
- [Weekend Cartoons-1](https://afriendlyletter.com/weekend-cartoons-1/) - The critics were (almost) satisfied. . . . PS.
- [Sweden, Turkey & NATO: No, Yes, Or Still MAYBE](https://afriendlyletter.com/sweden-turkey-nato-no-yes-or-still-maybe/) - Turkey Continues To Challenge Sweden’s NATO Membership By RFE/RL staff— Posted on June 28, 2023 Sweden’s NATO accession has been delayed due to Turkey’s demands concerning fighting terrorism, lifting an arms embargo on Ankara, and fulfilling extradition requests; these issues still remain a year later. Finland, which initially applied for NATO membership alongside Sweden, decided
- [Garrison Keillor: Won’t Play Oman](https://afriendlyletter.com/garrison-keillor-wont-play-oman/) - Garrison Keillor I had blurry vision for a couple years and found it hard to read the newspaper and then an ophthalmologist at Mayo did a three-minute painless laser procedure and a few days later I could read the paper, no problem, clear as day, and also watch a ball game on TV and keep
- [Bambi Revisited: Much More than Disney](https://afriendlyletter.com/bambi-revisited/) - The Guardian Lucy Knight — March 21, 2023 Gunned down and burned by the Nazis: the shocking true story of Bambi Walt Disney made Bambi a cutesy schmaltzfest for kids. But the original story was a brutal allegory by a Jewish writer who later fled the Nazis. As the character hits 100, we look at
- [What Just Happened In Russia? Gwynne Dyer’s Analysis](https://afriendlyletter.com/what-just-happened-in-russia-gwynne-dyers-analysis/) - Russia: what just happened? By: Gwynne Dyer — Jun. 27, 2023 OPINION Up until late afternoon Moscow time on Saturday, Russia was in a state of acute crisis, with Yevgeny Prigozhin pulling his Wagner army of mercenary soldiers out of Ukraine and sending some of them racing up the highway towards Moscow instead. Their task
- [Money Where His Mouth Is: Alexei Navalny’s Vision of a Better, Peaceful Russia](https://afriendlyletter.com/money-where-his-mouth-is-alexei-navalnys-vision-of-a-better-peaceful-russia/) - Washington Post, September 30, 2022 This is what a post-Putin Russia should look like Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence in a maximum-security penal colony. This essay was conveyed to The Post by his legal team. What does a desirable and realistic end to the criminal war unleashed by Vladimir Putin
- [Cartoons: The Philly Light Fantastic & Other Weekend Wonders](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-the-philly-light-fantastic-other-weekend-wonders/)
- [Reparations, Housing & Class: an intriguing Idea](https://afriendlyletter.com/reparations-housing-class-an-intriguing-idea/) - The New York Times By John McWhorter -- June 22, 2023 Reparations Should Be an End, Not a Beginning For a long while, reparations for Black Americans has been more a debate topic than a reality. But of late, the reality may be catching up with the debate. Since last year, Evanston, Ill., has been
- [Defense As Offense? University of Arkansas Dissolves its DEI Program](https://afriendlyletter.com/defense-as-offense-university-of-arkansas-dissolves-its-dei-program/) - Inside Higher Education -- June 21, 2023 Dissolving a DEI Office to Save DEI The University of Arkansas is reallocating all DEI staff and resources to other campus offices. Is it a capitulation to right-wing demands or a savvy defense tactic? By Liam Knox University of Arkansas chancellor Charles Robinson is eliminating the campus’s
- [A Midweek Twofer: Ireland In NATO? India Dumping Democracy?? Shakeups In the “I” Countries](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-midweek-twofer-ireland-in-nato-india-dumping-democracy-shakeups-in-the-i-countries/) - The Guardian #1- Ireland ‘playing with fire’ for opening debate on military neutrality, says president Michael D Higgins says government risks burying country in other people’s agendas amid ‘drift’ towards Nato Rory Carroll — Ireland correspondent — 19 Jun 2023 Ireland’s president has rebuked the government for launching a debate about the country’s longstanding military
- [A Carolina Poet for Juneteenth: George Moses Horton](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-carolina-poet-for-juneteenth-george-moses-horton/) - George Moses Horton: A Biographical Sketch & several poems; from local sources George Moses Horton George Moses Horton (1797-1893) could rightly be called North Carolina’s first professional poet. Born enslaved by Chatham County yeoman farmer William Horton, young George Moses Horton loved the rhyming sounds of hymns, and yearned to be able to read. As
- [Gwynne Dyer: Is Populist Politics Past Its Peak? (Or Jumping The Shark?)](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-is-populist-politics-past-its-peak-or-jumping-the-shark/) - Gwynne Dyer — Jun 17 2023 Gwynne Dyer is a UK-based Canadian journalist and historian who writes about international affairs. OPINION: We’re going to miss them, the populist ‘big beasts’ now they’re gone. Who will now tell us that “Voting Conservative will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning
- [Cartoons-Mostly Theological Scenes On The Edge of Summer](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-mostly-theological-scenes-on-the-edge-of-summer/)
- [Asa Hutchinson's Big (But Forgotten) Good Deed; How It Failed, And Might Be Revived.](https://afriendlyletter.com/asa-hutchinsons-big-but-forgotten-good-deed-how-it-failed-and-might-be-revived/) - Donald Trump is not the first president Asa Hutchinson wanted, and tried, to take down. Nor, I will contend, is he even the second. Will the third (or fourth?) time be the charm for the man we could dub the Arkansas Charger? His first presidential target was — who else but fellow Arkansan, Bill Clinton.
- [Gwynne Dyer: Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Begins: How Will It Turn Out?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-ukraines-counteroffensive-begins-how-will-it-turn-out/) - Ukraine: The counteroffensive begins By Gwynne DyerJune 14, 2023 The furious speculation on whether the Ukrainian counteroffensive will succeed has been ongoing for several months already, so the first thing I must tell you is that I don’t know. Nobody knows, not even the Ukrainians. They know that the big prize is a southward offensive
- [Jamelle Bouie Nails the GOP’s Criminality & Contempt for Law & the Constitution](https://afriendlyletter.com/jamelle-bouie-nails-the-gops-criminality-contempt-for-law-the-constitution/) - New York Times, June 13, 2023 50 Years of Republican history in a convincing, chilling thumbnail Why have only a few elected Republican officials rejected Trump? Columnist Jamelle Bouie highlights scholarly views that “strong loyalty to an institution like a political party might lead a dissenting or disapproving individual to hold on to his
- [Forsaken Felines: Homeless Cats In the Big City](https://afriendlyletter.com/cats/) - The Issue: How to Clear 500,000 Feral Cats From New York’s Streets After the pandemic boom in pet adoption gave way to pet abandonment, locals in Brooklyn are trying a controversial approach to population control. By Richard Schiffman Photographs by Erin Schaff All was hushed just before dawn when Debbie Gabriel double-parked at her usual
- [Gwynne Dyer: Could insurance companies help with the climate crisis?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-could-insurance-companies-help-with-the-climate-crisis/) - Insurance firms to the rescue? By: Gwynne Dyer — Jun. 9, 2023 OPINION California’s fall from grace has been steep and swift, and now even the insurance companies are pulling out. The two biggest American home insurance companies, State Farm and Allstate, announced last week that they will stop selling insurance policies to Californians. Why?
- [The Embarrassed ChatGPT Attorney](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-embarrassed-chatgpt-attorney/) - New York Times, June 9, 2023: The ChatGPT Lawyer Explains Himself (Sort of) [Excerpts; blogger Comments in bold red italics] By Benjamin Weiser and Nate Schweber In a cringe-inducing court hearing, a [New York City] lawyer who relied on A.I. to craft a motion full of made-up case law said he “did not comprehend”
- [Thursday Night Delight](https://afriendlyletter.com/thursday-night-delight/)
- [Andrew Young: The Last of Dr. King’s Key Companions; Plus a Personal Postscript & Updates](https://afriendlyletter.com/andrew-young-the-last-of-dr-kings-key-companions-and-a-personal-postscript/) - Associated Press BY GARY FIELDS — June 7, 2023 -- With UPDATES ATLANTA (AP) — Andrew Young’s first thought when he heard the Voting Rights Act had been signed into law was not celebratory. It was strategic. “Where are we going to get the money to get the country mobilized to register these voters?” he
- [Triple-Double-Bogey: PGA is now a Saudi Apologist](https://afriendlyletter.com/pga/) - [NOTE: Probably the only post on golf here . . . Unless the merger is squashed.] Jessica Karl — Bloomberg Opinion Saudi Sweat Equity I am going to be honest with you: I am not a golf girlie. I wish I was! The outfits? So chic. The greens? Impeccable. The clubhouse quesadillas? Divine. But the
- [Australia: war crimes and justice](https://afriendlyletter.com/australia-war-crimes-and-justice/) - By Gwynne Dyer — Jun 07 2023 Opinion An inquiry led by Justice Paul Brereton delivered a damning report in 2020. It found credible evidence for the murder of 39 Afghans — prisoners of war, farmers and other civilians — by 25 named Australian SAS soldiers in 2007-2013. The Australian Defence Force accepted all
- [Bad Air from Canada Fires Now In Carolina: Breathe With Care!](https://afriendlyletter.com/bad-air-from-canada-fires-now-in-carolina-breathe-with-care/) - A thousand miles north of me, wildfires are roaring in eastern Canada. In Quebec, the horizons are blanketed with an all-day hazy twilight. Forecasters say more is coming. The wildfire smoke has been blown south by north Atlantic winds. Today (June 7) it’s raising alarms in our part of North Carolina. On the map of
- [Photo of the Week (Tiger-Get Out While You Can!)](https://afriendlyletter.com/photo-of-the-week-tiger-get-out-while-you-can/)
- [Quotes of [Early In] the Week](https://afriendlyletter.com/quotes-of-early-in-the-week/) - Borrowed from a note to Garrison Keillor: Rows and flows of loosened hair And vomit on the second stair And catnip mousies everywhere I’ve looked at cats that way But then they lie and soak the sun They purr and mew at everyone They snuggle when the day is done But cats get in
- [Gwynne Dyer: Is Artificial General Intelligence “Coming Alive”?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-is-artificial-general-intelligence-coming-alive/) - Yet another article on AI, part 2 By: Gwynne Dyer OPINION — June 3, 2023 I’m looking at a headline this morning that screams “AI Creators Fear the Extinction of Humanity,” and I suppose they could turn out to be right. But it’s still a bit early to declare a global emergency and turn
- [Quakers & Ugandan Catholics Called to Take Up Concern for LGBTQ Justice & Safety In Uganda--Plus a Postscript on Visitation](https://afriendlyletter.com/quakers-ugandan-catholics-called-to-take-up-concern-for-lgbtq-justice-safety-in-uganda-plus-a-postscript-on-visitation/) - Version #1 - The Original, from the National Catholic Reporter JUAN CARLOS CRUZ CHELLEW — June 2, 2023 The world is watching in disbelief as Uganda, a country known for its vibrant diversity and rich culture, continues to regress on human rights issues, particularly concerning the LGBTQ+ community. The country on May 29 enacted
- [Gwynne Dyer on AI: An Emergency?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-ai-an-emergency/) - Ah, but those few months, I’m now told, were an eternity, or at least several generations ago in AI evolution. NOW it seems we’re on the very cusp of a Matrix-Red Pill/Blue Pill dystopia, with the capsules of delusion being mixed unobtrusively into our kale salad or avocado toast, And it seems nobody knows what
- [You Could See It Coming — CNN: Army ABANDONS anti-extremism effort](https://afriendlyletter.com/you-could-see-it-coming-cnn-army-abandons-anti-extremism-effort/) - Anybody remember this story? RELEASE IMMEDIATE RELEASE DOD Stand-Down to Address Extremism in the Ranks Feb. 5, 2021 Today, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III signed a memo directing commanding officers and supervisors at all levels to select a date within the next 60 days to conduct a one-day "stand-down" to discuss extremism in
- [From Politico: Under the Radar, Many DC cops are Coup-sympathizers, or Worse —Politico](https://afriendlyletter.com/from-politico-under-the-radar-many-dc-cops-are-coup-sympathizers-or-worse-politico/) - The Lamond indictment comes during a season of high-profile scrutiny of local law enforcement in Washington. In House Oversight Committee hearings, legislators have taken turns lambasting city officials and the U.S. attorney for allegedly soft-on-crime policies. For the first time in three decades, Congress also used its prerogative to overturn a duly enacted city
- ["Re-Closeting," Life & Death: A Reading for Another Kind of Memorial Day](https://afriendlyletter.com/re-closeting-life-death-a-reading-for-the-wichita-yaf-conference-and-other-friends/) - A headline in this Memorial Day’s paper sent me reeling down the shadowed halls of memory. The news was from Uganda, where the president has signed a new law which increases the legal penalties against homosexuality to life imprisonment, and in some cases death. Merely “promoting” homosexuality can get twenty years. Passage of this law,
- [“Is it good?” An Asian-American Writer Stands Up for Imaginative Freedom](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-it-good-an-asian-american-writer-stands-up-for-imaginative-freedom/) - From: “Rebecca F Kuang: ‘Who has the right to tell a story? It’s the wrong question to ask’” The Guardian, May 20, 2023 “If I were a debut writer, I wouldn’t have dared to write this book,” Rebecca F Kuang says from her home in Boston. Then again, she wouldn’t have been able to. Her
- [Covid Diary: Karma is a Beech](https://afriendlyletter.com/covid-diary/) - The plane ticket said “Dayton, Ohio,” on American Airlines flight # 5321, after a stop in Charlotte. But I now realize that mentally it was really Florida airlines, the stop was in Orlando, or better, Pensacola, the plane was full of Floridians, and I was one of them: Florida: The land of Pandemic, schmandemic.
- [Russia and Alternatives to Putin?](https://afriendlyletter.com/russia-and-alternatives-to-putin/) - Opinion: Let us suppose that the current Russian regime collapses, with or without a Ukrainian military victory to give it a final shove. Who would be the least objectionable candidate to take over in Moscow? What we should look for, in this exercise, is not necessarily the kindest individual, but the one with the
- [PSSSST! The “Baby Bonus” Won’t Cure the big “Baby Bust.” What Will —?](https://afriendlyletter.com/psssst-the-baby-bonus-wont-cure-the-big-baby-bust-what-will/) - Gwynne Dyer — Posted: May 21, 2023 I was one of five children — not seen as a particularly big family in Newfoundland and Labrador at the time — and there was one year when we allegedly beat Guatemala to have the highest birth rate in the world. (That’s probably not true, but people
- [Gwynne Dyer: Two More Unpleasant Climate Surprises](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-two-more-unpleasant-climate-surprises/) - Freddy and the Ice: Messages From the Future GWYNNE DYER INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST Bangkok Post — 19 MAR 2023. Two new things on the climate front this week, both bad news. Typhoons used to be like drive-by shootings: one pass, one hit and then gone. Now they're starting to come back for a second hit. And
- [Foul Ball -- Dodgers drop, then Re-Invite Drag “nuns” to their Pride Night: Two Views](https://afriendlyletter.com/foul-ball-dodgers-drop-then-re-invite-drag-nuns-to-their-pride-night-two-views/) - Baseball team apologizes to Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence after removing group from event amid conservative opposition The Guardian staff and agencies — 23 May 2023 The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a well-known San Francisco order of queer and trans “nuns” that has existed since the 1970s, are once
- [To The Young Dude In His Dancing Duds - May 16, 2023](https://afriendlyletter.com/to-the-young-dude-in-his-dancing-duds-may-16-2023/) - Cue The Byrds: (And the rest of you, open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 3): To everything, (Turn, turn, turn), There is a season, (Turn, turn, turn), And a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to build up, a time to break downA time to dance, a time to mourn . . . To
- [Syria’s Butcher is Welcomed Back by the Arab League](https://afriendlyletter.com/syrias-butcher-is-welcomed-back-by-the-arab-league/) - Syria’s Bashar Assad is being rehabilitated by Gwynne Dyer, Opinion columnist - May 15, 2023 "There is no such word as 'auto-genocide,' but that would describe what Assad has done to his own country over the past 12 years." There is no justice. Bashar al-Assad, the murderous Syrian dictator whose membership even the Arab League
- [News Flash: DEI Is Now DEI-B](https://afriendlyletter.com/news-flash-dei-is-now-dei-b/) - For those who are keeping up with the continuing labor for racial justice, the wheel has turned again; at least on the long and winding road of au courant vocabulary and jargon. The announcement came in The New York Times, which means it must be so. The headline was, "Why Some Companies Are Saying ‘Diversity
- [Democracy In Peril: Progressive Billionaires to the Rescue?? (Well, Maybe . . .)](https://afriendlyletter.com/democracy-in-peril-progressive-billionaires-to-the-rescue-well-maybe/) - "Money," truthfully spake the legendary California pol Jesse Unruh, "is the mother's milk of politics." And if money, rather than love, is All You Need (as spake, or crooned, the legendary Beatles), Democrats & their worried ("terrified" is more accurate) and beleaguered progressives ought to be breathing easier today, despite the fate of Roe. The
- [A Story. Could I get it published in Florida this year? Probably not. Maybe Not New York Either?](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-story-could-i-get-it-published-in-florida-this-year-probably-not-maybe-not-new-york-either/) - According to some of what I read and hear these days, I definitely should not have written this story, about a young slave girl and the Quaker saint John Woolman. Why not? Mostly because of what I wasn’t: I wasn’t a girl (& never had been); wasn’t a slave (or even an enslaver, for that
- [Maybe The Best Column I Never Read; Plus Many of the Best Typos](https://afriendlyletter.com/maybe-the-best-column-i-never-read-plus-many-of-the-best-typos/) - Washington Post From, “Behind a pseudonym, literary provocation” James Campbell’s ‘NB by J.C.’ brings together the columns of an incendiary cultural critic. . . . By Michael Dirda - May 12, 2023 Even before catching up with the latest scholarly kerfuffle in the Letters column, readers of Britain’s Times Literary Supplement turn first to its
- [Gwynne Dyer on Turkey’s Election & Its Mediterranean MAGA](https://afriendlyletter.com/30636-2/) - Turkey: A hundred years of culture war Gwynne Dyer — May 13 2023 OPINION: Turkey’s elections are fairly free, and there is going to be one this Sunday (14 May). President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been in power for two decades, and he should really lose by a landslide. Imagine what the United States would
- [Fanone Blasts CNN Over Trump Show; CNN’s Boss Stands Back & Stands By](https://afriendlyletter.com/fanone-blasts-cnn-over-trump-show-cnns-boss-stands-back-stands-by/) - GRAIG GRAZIOSI Michael Fanone, one of the police officers assaulted during the Capitol riot, has slammed CNN for hosting a town hall event featuring Donald Trump — the man he says "tried to get me killed." The retired DC Metropolitan Police officer and now regular CNN contributor penned an essay in Rolling Stone explaining the
- [Pope Francis and his “Secret” Ukraine Peace Mission](https://afriendlyletter.com/pope-francis-and-his-secret-ukraine-peace-mission/) - [NOTE: For very orthodox Catholics, the Church is at the center of history, and the Vatican is at the center of the Church. Hence if there is some major disturbance, such as war, the Church “naturally” should have a role in ending it and repairing the damage. But on the battlefield, it is fighting that
- [Jury to Trump: “You’re A Star?? That’ll Be $5 Million!”](https://afriendlyletter.com/jury-to-trump-youre-a-star-thatll-be-5-million/) - Schadenfreude Alert! Jury: Three hours (including lunch): The Latest Message: Will It Stick? Well, he still reigns in Mar a Lago . . .
- [Changing a System: A Police Chief Confronts a Neo-Nazi Cop](https://afriendlyletter.com/changing-a-system-a-police-chief-confronts-a-neo-nazi-cop/) - [NOTE: In the post featuring "TUD" (The Unforgettable Diagram) about racism and its roots, the "stick person" of individual attitudes and actions was surrounded (embedded?) by many systems, which showed the impact of racism, and in may ways preserved and reproduced it; and both were enclosed (imprisoned?) in the larger encompassing culture. These excerpts from
- [Gwynne Dyer on Mass Shootings](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-mass-shootings/) - Here’s how to sound wise when writing a story about mass killings and gun control. Last week saw two such massacres in Serbia (eight deaths and nine deaths respectively) and only one in the United States (eight killed in a mall in Allen, Texas). By Gwynne Dyer, in Opinion · May 8, 2023 There
- [“Fear Speech” vs “Hate Speech”: An Important Distinction](https://afriendlyletter.com/fear-speech-vs-hate-speech-an-important-distinction/) - From, The New York Times: [NOTE: I learned something valuable from this piece: “fear speech” is distinct from (but closely related to) “hate speech,” and its emergence in research further complicates such tangled issues as how to preserve free speech in the toxic media culture we seem stuck in. I didn’t find simple or easy
- [A Tough Two Days in Texas](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-tough-two-days-in-texas/) - AP News: Source: Investigators examine ideology of Texas gunman BY JAKE BLEIBERG AND REBECCA BOONE May 7, 2023 ALLEN, Texas (AP) — The assailant who killed eight people at a Texas outlet mall on Saturday was identified by authorities Sunday as a 33-year-old man who had been staying at a nearby motel. Three law
- [God Save the (Coronation) Quiche! (Part 2)](https://afriendlyletter.com/god-save-the-coronation-quiche-part-2/) - As initially described in yesterday’s post, I started in early Friday afternoon, working on our version of the King Chuck Coronation Quiche. It wasn’t til near 11PM that the first of two pies emerged from our small oven. Then the second one slid in. It was well after midnight before the pair was lined up
- [Extra! A Reviewer Says — Cancel the Coronation Quiche, Quick!](https://afriendlyletter.com/extra-a-reviewer-says-cancel-the-coronation-quiche-quick/) - The Economist is a venerable British “newspaper” (magazine, in modern argot, founded in 1843) which has ere long been casting a devoted but unsparing eye on British and international life, business, politics, culture & even cuisine. Its writers also tend to be quick on the draw, well-informed, mercilessly witty. And wide-ranging. Thus no surprise that
- [Five Cartoons & A Comment On The Warming Oceans](https://afriendlyletter.com/five-cartoons-a-comment-on-the-warming-oceans/) - No Monarchs In Texas: We Have a Republic(an) Government A Postcard from the Kremlin . . . . Harlan Crow welcomes two additions to his collection . . . Don’t Look Now, But That Band Is Coming Back for Another Encore . . . Remembering the Power of Example . . . Commentary: A spike
- [Coming Soon to Our Kitchen: The King Chuck "Coronation Quiche"](https://afriendlyletter.com/coming-soon-to-our-kitchen-the-king-chuck-coronation-quiche/) - How would I know that in hooking up with The Fair Wendy, I was entering into a monarchist alliance? It's true. We practically draped the whole place in black crepe when the Eternal Elizabeth passed on; and Wendy can still sort all the princes in order of their place in the Line of Succession,
- [Say Hello to The New “Antiwar” Movement: It’s Already Winning](https://afriendlyletter.com/say-hello-to-the-new-antiwar-movement-its-already-winning/) - Back in the day, the Vietnam years, resisters against the military draft could muster an occasional bit of whimsy. A favorite button was about beer. But if truth is the first casualty of war, for many of us whimsy and a sense of humor were soon missing in action too. Draft resistance became a mass
- [Gwynne Dyer: Thailand’s Struggle For Democracy](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-thailands-struggle-for-democracy/) - Another round in Thailand’s quest for genuine democracy By Gwynne Dyer — May 3, 2023 There have been occasional violent episodes in Thai politics and one recent massacre (2010), but the struggle for a genuine democracy has usually been relatively restrained. Maybe that is why it has lasted so long. In fact, the tug-of-war between
- [Alfred McCoy on the Rise of China](https://afriendlyletter.com/alfred-mccoy-on-the-rise-of-china/) - [NOTE: In 2008, Al McCoy was a main speaker at a conference on U. S. torture that I helped organize. Both his talk and his academic record marked him as a scholar to reckon with on matters of foreign policy and empire. This record drew me to this new analysis of the rapid shifts of
- [In The Yard: The Stump, the Wild Strawberry & the Pollinators’ Friend](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-the-yard-the-stump-the-wild-strawberry-the-pollinators-friend/) - The stump & the wild strawberry: Tuesday it was my difficult duty to explain to a great-granddaughter that wild strawberries look good, but don’t taste good. Later this year, or maybe next, I may have to address her definite suspicion that not long after Thanksgiving, her grandpa turns into Santa Claus . . . .
- [Aiming for the Roots: Anti-Racism and A Failed Attack on Racist Culture](https://afriendlyletter.com/aiming-for-the-roots-anti-racism-and-a-failed-attack-on-racist-culture/) - It was in the second session of our anti-racism class, if I remember right, that the teacher drew a diagram on the big flip chart. I’m going to call it TUD, for The Unforgettable Diagram. I’ve forgotten a lot about the class, but not that. Definitely not that. The class met in the library at
- [In The Yard: Our Flowery May Day Demonstration](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-the-yard-our-flowery-may-day-demonstration/) - In many parts of the world, May 1 is Labor Day, a holiday, and observances typically have a noticeably leftwing or socialist character. But the U. S. Doesn’t recognize such subversive notions, preferring its very tame beer-hotdogs-and-baseball version in September. (That's Labor -- excuse me, Labour Day -- in Canada also; I mistakenly thought that
- [Weekend Cartoon Break!](https://afriendlyletter.com/weekend-cartoon-break/) - This doesn’t pass the smell test . . . - - - - Let’s all bow our heads . . . And hold on tight to our wallets . . . - - - - Clearly a great artist was born . . . - - - - “My last typed sentence started with, ‘Thanks
- [Voices of The Week: Compelling Quotes](https://afriendlyletter.com/voices-of-the-week-compelling-quotes/) - David Brooks, New York Times From “Joe Biden and the Struggle for America’s Soul,” April 27, 2023 Joe Biden built his 2020 presidential campaign around the idea that “we’re in a battle for the soul of America.”. . . In the video he released this week launching his re-election bid, he doubled down on that
- [Gwynne Dyer: Ukraine — The West vs. The Rest](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-ukraine-the-west-vs-the-rest/) - Gwynne Dyer — April 27, 2033 There is a deep and growing rift between "the West" and "the Rest" about the need to resist and defeat the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is because it is really a war in defence of sovereignty, which ought to be something every sovereign country can buy into
- [Confederate Bogus “Saint” Begone! Welcome to Fort Gregg-Adams](https://afriendlyletter.com/confederate-bogus-saint-begone-welcome-to-fort-gregg-adams/) - New York Times Exorcising the Ghost of Robert E. Lee [Excerpts] April 27, 2023 By Brent Staples Mr. Staples is a member of the editorial board. It stands to reason that Woodrow Wilson would be the president to bring us Army bases named for traitors who waged war on this country with the goal
- [How I Became a Successful Writer & An Independent Publisher (The short version) - Part 3 of 3](https://afriendlyletter.com/how-i-became-a-successful-writer-an-independent-publisher-the-short-version-part-3-of-3/) - Part 3 Part 1 is here Part 2 is here Actually, the publishing revolution started nearby, in South Carolina. A company there originally called BookSurge, and later CreateSpace, began using a machine, not much larger than a good-sized office copier, that could print and bind paperback books one at a time, quickly, automatically, at a
- [How I became a successful Writer & an Independent Publisher (The short version) Part 1 of 3 Parts](https://afriendlyletter.com/how-i-became-a-successful-writer-an-independent-publisher-the-short-version-part-1-of-3-parts/) - In mid-1974, my third trade book [“trade” means produced by a traditional publisher], Selma 1965, came out from Charles Scribner’s Sons. Scribner’s had published Hemingway, Edith Wharton, Fitzgerald, Vonnegut, Stephen King, and lots more bigtime writers – and now, me. Scribner’s, I figured, had done & would diligently do “everything” even promotion — and had paid me
- [In The Yard: Spring 2023 - Week 4](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-the-yard-spring-2023-week-4/) - IN THE YARD There’s a pair of big irises that open late, as the others are fading and drooping. Honeysuckle has just started to appear among the roses. I’m not sure if it’s an invasive variety or not. We put in several Japonica bushes, which I like because their leaves are yellow & green all
- [Here’s One I Missed: “Why Do Russians Still Want to Fight?”](https://afriendlyletter.com/heres-one-i-missed-why-do-russians-still-want-to-fight/) - NOTE: I recognize a lot in this article, though I’m no Russian expert. What’s familiar are the parallels with my own generational experience, and one of its central traumas: the Vietnam war. Yes, I was an antiwar protester. There were lots of us; we repeatedly filled Washington’s main streets with our anger. I have friends
- [Two Clashing Religious Views: An Asian American Apostate Speaks; and Anglican & Catholic Internal Splits: Big Crashes Ahead? Two Perspectives](https://afriendlyletter.com/two-clashing-religious-views-an-asian-american-apostate-speaks-and-anglican-catholic-internal-splits-big-crashes-ahead-two-perspectives/) - [NOTE: Anybody, especially a church bureaucrat or official, who tells you that Big Christianity, Catholic & Protestant, is not cracking apart over LGBT and associated issues, is either terribly under-informed, or putting you on. Such happy-or “We (& Jesus)-can work-it-out” talk is red-flag stuff, a warning that either their competence or their candor, or
- [Gwynne Dyer: Cows that Blow Up, and Could Blast Our Future](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-cows-that-blow-up-and-could-blast-our-future/) - What Goes ‘Moo’ And Then Explodes? Gwynne Dyer — April 21, 2024 “When I do a puzzle with my daughters, there is usually an elephant next to a giraffe next to a rhino,” said Prof. Ron Milo of the Weizmann Institute of Science. “But if I was trying to give them a more realistic sense
- [Uganda Prez Blinks, Delays New, U.S. Evangelical-Backed "Kill Gays" Law: Debate Continues](https://afriendlyletter.com/uganda-prez-blinks-delays-new-u-s-evangelical-backed-kill-gays-law-debate-continues/) - [NOTE: Given the heavy U.S.-based support for this draconian law, it behooves allies of LGBTQ folks to speak out about this, and keep pressure on U.S. and Uganda officials to oppose it.] The Guardian Uganda’s president refuses to sign new hardline anti-gay bill Yoweri Museveni sends bill imposing death penalty for homosexuality back to
- [Exploring Why & How More Americans Are Losing Their Religion](https://afriendlyletter.com/exploring-why-how-more-americans-are-losing-their-religion/) - [NOTE: The data is, I think, irrefutable: measured by the “Three Bs” of religion — Belief, Behavior & Belonging — the USA is steadily “losing” its religion(s), and becoming a more secular, nonreligious place. I’m a good example of this, yet also a bad one. Good, in that I “lost” the religion I was raised
- [Is Ukraine Fighting a U. S. “Proxy War” With Russia? The Answer Is . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-ukraine-fighting-a-u-s-proxy-war-with-russia-the-answer-is/) - . . . Yes. No. Both. Maybe. Or —Or What?? Washington Post — April 18, 2023 An intellectual battle rages: Is the U.S. in a proxy war with Russia? Vladimir Putin says the West is trying to ‘finish’ Russia. The Biden administration denies the accusation. But leaked documents reveal the extent of U.S. involvement in
- [Spring in Ukraine: Time for An Offensive/Counter-offensive?](https://afriendlyletter.com/spring-in-ukraine-time-for-an-offensive-counter-offensive/) - [Note: Some said it would happen in winter; it didn’t. Some now say it will happen soon, in spring. Some say of it, wait & see. ”It” is a Ukrainian counter-offensive. Ukraine’s war goal is to get Russian forces out of all its claimed territory. To win, they’ll have to push them out. That would
- [Eugene Robinson on Clarence Thomas: Not Funny](https://afriendlyletter.com/eugene-robinson-on-clarence-thomas/) - Washington Post — April 18, 2023 Clarence Thomas’s explanations fail the laugh test . Eugene Robinson During his much-too-long tenure on the Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas has been totally, tragically wrong about almost everything. But for a long time, I tried to convince myself that he was at least sincere in his deplorable ideology. Silly
- [Gwynne Dyer on Sudan’s Dueling warlord generals](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-on-sudans-dueling-warlord-generals/) - Dyer: In Sudan, the thieves fall out The rival generals both want to strangle the democratic revolution that began in the streets of Khartoum four years ago Gwynne Dyer — April 16, 2023 It’s a pity that both sides can’t lose in the war that broke out between rival generals in Sudan on April 15,
- [Going Crazy In The Catbird Seat: Stuck in a House of Mirrors](https://afriendlyletter.com/going-crazy-in-the-catbird-seat-stuck-in-a-house-of-mirrors/) - Below is the front window in our living room. Last summer the Fair Wendy put a pole In The Yard, and added a circular bird feeding pan, up high enough to be out of squirrel reach. Now we have a pair of doves, some cardinals and other birds coming and going, particularly as Spring is
- [U. S. -Vietnam: Yesterday, Enemies: Today, Allies Against China??](https://afriendlyletter.com/u-s-vietnam-yesterday-enemies-today-allies-against-china/) - [NOTE: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” and “what goes around . . . .” Who in the U.S. remembers the ten years of bitter jungle and urban warfare (and the dozen years of “secret” fighting before that), besides a rapidly disappearing remnant of veterans, a cadre of geezer peaceniks, a scattering of
- [Supremes & Guns & Kids: Our Unholy Trinity](https://afriendlyletter.com/supremes-guns-kids-our-unholy-trinity/) - [NOTE: When it comes to religion, history—and in this case the now established American historical religion of guns — for my money, Garry Wills is one of the best writers of his generation . And when Wills draws a bead with a pen his aim is generally true. As it is here.] New York Review
- [Wikipedia vs Russia: The War comes Out in the Open on the Web](https://afriendlyletter.com/wikipedia-vs-russia-the-war-comes-out-in-the-open-on-the-web/) - [NOTE: In my view, Wikipedia is just about the best thing in the web. I consult it almost every day, donate when they ask, and respect what seems to be their increasing credibility and comprehensiveness as a source of reliable information. But “reliable information” is a hotly contested commodity, and in many places part of
- [Jamelle Bouie on Supreme Court Impunity & Corruption](https://afriendlyletter.com/supreme-court/) - Jamelle Bouie, New York Times: Excerpt: On Clarence Thomas & the Supreme Court’s Corrupt Impunity ”With his close ties to a powerful, property-owning billionaire, Thomas embodies the historic role of the Supreme Court in American politics, not as a liberator or defender of the rights of political and social minorities, but as a partner to
- [NPR Dumps Twitter. But the REAL News Is Twitter’s Response](https://afriendlyletter.com/npr-dumps-twitter-but-the-real-news-is-twitters-response/) - [NOTE: This post is in two parts. The first part, you may have seen or heard. The second part was news to me, and you can’t just make this sh*t up. Or you can, but I didn’t. Tho I did add some emojis.] Washington Post By Paul Farhi — April 12, 2023 [Excerpt #1 —
- [Gwynne Dyer: The Northern Irish “Troubles” Are Over. Will they Stay Over?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-the-northern-irish-troubles-are-over-will-they-stay-over/) - [NOTE: I once seriously considered retiring in Ireland. It was 2010 and, closing in on 70, I wondered if there were any peaceable options to the ongoing mess and mass shootings in the USA. Initially, Ireland seemed to be several positives: ancestral ties (O’Brien was my mother’s maiden name); a similar language; a reported friendliness
- [Exclusive: A Quaker Was Noticed By the Florida Klan in 1951. It Didn’t Go Well. (But It Could Have Been Much Worse.)](https://afriendlyletter.com/exclusive-a-quaker-was-noticed-by-the-florida-klan-in-1951-it-didnt-go-well-but-it-could-have-been-much-worse/) - Florida, 1949: Where Woke Went And Didn't Die By Stephen W. Angell We don't know the exact date, or the place, when Richard Bradshaw (“Brad”) Angell (1918-2010) had his encounter with the Klan. All the participants are dead, and the story has been passed on orally. But we know the time and season: 1951, likely
- [Powerful Quote of The Week: the American Future Is In the South](https://afriendlyletter.com/powerful-quote-of-the-week-the-american-future-is-in-the-south/) - [Sectarian NOTE: The author here does not mention (and why should she?) that the South, especially North Carolina, has been very important in the history of my own small tribe, the Quakers. I didn’t know or expect this when I came here 21 years ago, so far from the self-identified and self-important “centers” of the
- [Pakistan’s Troubles are Deep & Chronic — Gwynne Dyer](https://afriendlyletter.com/pakistans-troubles-are-deep-chronic-gwynne-dyer/) - Endless turmoil plagues Pakistanis The country has spent half its history under military rule, and it was no more and no less dysfunctional in those periods than it has been the rest of the time, Gwynne Dyer writes. By Gwynne Dyer—Contributing Columnist — April 4, 2023 Last year, U.S. President Joe Biden called Pakistan “one of
- [FAQs for Friends-- Part #9 (The Last Part): Jesus & The Golden Gate Bridge](https://afriendlyletter.com/faqs-friends-part-9-last-part/) - FAQs for Friends-- Part #9 (The Last Part): Jesus & The Golden Gate Bridge Since it's been a few weeks since Part #8 was posted, we'll repeat the last Query from #8, as a way of catching up. (To read earlier posts in this series, click here.) Q. Did Anybody Else Besides These Early Friends
- [Some Quaker FAQs -- Part 8](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-faqs-part-8/) - Remember the earlier question about Quakers as a gathered or called people? Robert Barclay presents one of the early expressions of that idea. Barclay then makes a subtle pun on a hoary Catholic Latin dictum; “extra ecclesiam, nullas salus,” which meant, “outside the [Roman Catholic] church, there is no salvation”: “Aside from this Church there can be no salvation, because this Church and its denomination comprehend all, regardless of what nation, kindred, tongue or people they may be, who have become obedient to the holy light and testimony of God in their hearts.” The extent to which Barclay is turning this exclusivist notion on its head quickly becomes clear, in the truly radical passage which follows: “Although they may be outwardly unknown to and distant from those who profess Christ and Christianity in words and have the benefit of the scriptures, yet they have become sanctified by their obedience and cleansed from the evil of their ways. For this is the universal or catholic spirit....” In a sense, all Barclay has done is change the first letter of the term “catholic church”, from a capital “C”, designating a specific church (such as the Roman Catholic) to lower case, referring to something generic, something beyond or before specific denominational churches; but in this simple typographical change there is a world of difference. To get a sense of the magnitude of this shift, simply compare Barclay’s conclusion with more exclusive views of the church.
- [Cartoons If You missed Sunrise Service; Or Didn’t . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-if-you-missed-sunrise-service-or-didnt/)
- [Ritual Crucifixions resume for Easter in Philippines](https://afriendlyletter.com/ritual-crucifixions-resume-for-easter-in-philippines/) - BY JIM GOMEZ — April 7, 2023 SAN PEDRO CUTUD, Philippines (AP) — Eight Filipinos were nailed to crosses to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a bloody Good Friday tradition, including a carpenter, who was crucified for the 34th time with a prayer for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to end because it has made poor
- [Holy, Weekend! Interfaith Cartoon Blast](https://afriendlyletter.com/holy-weekend-interfaith-cartoon-blast/) - Ecumenical Archipelago . . . Wait, there’s more . . . . Watch this space.
- [Embracing the New Resegregationist Gospel in a Chapel Hill NC Church](https://afriendlyletter.com/embracing-the-new-resegregationist-gospel-in-a-chapel-hill-nc-church/) - Washington Post — April 8, 2023 Michael Emerson, professor of sociology at the University of Illinois, said that church racial inclusion efforts suffered under President Donald Trump, who often made incendiary comments about immigrants and Blacks. Many church leaders faced a dilemma, Emerson said: “Do I repudiate it and risk losing many of my White
- [Gwynne Dyer On Ukraine Peace Prospects](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-2/) - Ukraine: Peace — Not So Soon By Gwynne Dyer — April 6, 2023 MONDAY’S stunt, where Yevgeny Prigozhin held a Russian flag in his hands and declared that his ‘Wagner’ mercenary soldiers have finally conquered the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, probably marks the end of Russian winter offensive. It was just a charade, of course.
- [Defector Escapes from the Elite Russian Unit that Guards Putin](https://afriendlyletter.com/defector-escapes-from-the-elite-russian-unit-that-guards-putin/) - [NOTE: I’m unable to verify this story. But it comes from Associated Press, a long-established and generally top-quality news organization. Here it sets out a real-life Russian intelligence thriller, worthy of LeCarré or the other spy-novel masters, and the last chapter is not written yet . . .] AP: ‘He’s a war criminal’: Elite Putin
- [Arraignment Limericks: Doggerel as Payback](https://afriendlyletter.com/arraignment-limericks-doggerel-as-payback/)
- [Selma, the Day before Memphis & MLK's Murder; A Look at my last visit](https://afriendlyletter.com/selma-the-day-before-memphis/) - On April 4, many eyes will be on Memphis, Tennessee, remembering what happened there 50 years ago, I’ll be among those. But I’ll be doing it from Alabama, just down the street from the still blindingly all-white state capital in Montgomery. That’s where the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church still stands. There in 1955 Dr. King
- [To Be Sure We Remember Dr. King’s Murder, DeSantis Secretly Signs New No Permit Guns-For-All Bill](https://afriendlyletter.com/to-be-sure-we-remember-dr-kings-murder-desantis-secretly-signs-new-no-permit-guns-for-all-bill/) - April 4 is the 55th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1968 assassination in Memphis. To mark this melancholy occasion, Florida governor Ron DeSantis reportedly wanted to do something very special. So . . . . DeSantis signs Florida gun bill in secret as activists demand more guns for all (Only NRA invited to secret
- [Dyer: Israel and its Democracy Hang in the Balance](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-israel/) - [NOTE: In Israel, there’s a brief timeout. Can the resistance maintain its readiness and its remarkable, unlikely coalition to mount another general strike if needed? Or will Netanyahu outlast them, as he has his other opponents for so long?] Gwynne Dyer. — Apr 01 2023 Gwynne Dyer is a UK-based Canadian journalist and historian who writes
- [This Is How Some “Good News” Arrives These Days](https://afriendlyletter.com/this-is-how-some-good-news-arrives-these-days/) - How we’re getting free survival insurance ‘Precision fermentation’ is food that can be mass-produced without land or even sunshine, Gwynne Dyer writes. By Gwynne Dyer — Contributing Columnist Thu., March 30, 2023 On Saturday, March 25, Asteroid 2023 DZ2 flew by our planet at 27,000 kilometres per hour, closer to us than it was to
- [Klan Rising: Are The Media  (& the Law) Finally Going to Pay Attention? (And, How About Quakers?)](https://afriendlyletter.com/klan-rising-are-the-media-the-law-finally-going-to-pay-attention-and-how-about-quakers/) - [NOTE: Kudos to the Post & Timothy Egan. The good news here is that when the Klan faced the Law for real, the law won. But in its bloody heyday, in the 1920s & after, it was repeatedly abetted by the connivance, corruption or cowardice of those charged with upholding it. The bad news also
- [This is NOT a Day for Schadenfreude!](https://afriendlyletter.com/this-is-not-a-day-for-schadenfreude/) - Who am I kidding? There’s an old Zen koan, that goes like this: ”Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” Substitute “indictment” for “enlightenment”, and it might be the most proper motto for today: As I write, the sun is coming up, just as it always has. A neighbor is
- [Disney & The Mouse Fool the Guvnor: DeSantis's "Control Board" Has Lost Control](https://afriendlyletter.com/disney-the-mouse-fool-the-guvnor-desantiss-control-board-haas-lost-control/) - A Bulletin from the land where "woke" goes to, um, awaken again . . . ? DeSantis’ board says Disney stripped them of power Published Thu, Mar 30 2023 Board members picked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee the governance of Walt Disney World said Wednesday that their Disney-controlled predecessors pulled a fast one
- [So, There’s War Crimes — and Then, There’s “War Crimes”](https://afriendlyletter.com/so-theres-war-crimes-and-then-theres-war-crimes/) - Dyer: Putin can't be charged with all his crimes while Bush goes free Gwynne Dyer — Mar 27, 2023 Although the arrest warrant issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin by the International Criminal Court last week was welcome, there is come puzzlement about the crime with which he is being charged. This is a man who
- [Stunning Brief Video: The Deadly Swarms of Stronger Storms](https://afriendlyletter.com/stunning-brief-video-the-deadly-swarms-of-stronger-storms/) - [NOTE: The Associated Press just issued a short video centered on amazing images of recent “supercell” storms, which have spawned many extremely destructive tornadoes in the southern midsection of the U. S. The video argues that these supercell storms are fed by global warming, and are likely to increase in number and expand their paths and
- [A Gay Quaker's Unexpected Encounter With A Catholic Mystic Saint](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-gay-quakers-unexpected-encounter-with-a-catholic-mystic-saint/) - [NOTE: For those, like this blogger, who is taking a spring break from indictment chatter until indictments really happen (if they do), this passage from a talk given in 1998 by the late Friend Bill Kreidler, is meant to help us cope with our withdrawal symptoms via distraction.] Bill Kreidler: It was about eight years
- [1966-Explaining The Year of "Black Power"](https://afriendlyletter.com/1966-explaining-the-year-of-black-power/) - [NOTE: John McWhorter is an often provocative columnist for the New York Times. He's a frequent dissenter from the evolving "woke-DEI consensus," but also an advocate for his version of Black advancement (e.g., pressing for teaching reading to all students via Phonics, a crusade I completely agree with), and has called for ending the
- [Fed Up.](https://afriendlyletter.com/fed-up/) - Monday March 27, 2023 I just turned off my favorite, most-respected news network, because it was all about what-would-it-be-like-to-indict 45, again, and I couldn’t stand anymore of this filler crap. When (if??) 45 actually, really, truly, authentically, genuinely, no fooling, no-sh*t, IRFL gets indicted, friends, I will be ALL EARS! But until then, find SOMETHING
- [Nicholas Kristof: how a “Barefoot College” is Empowering Some of the Least Powerful in India](https://afriendlyletter.com/nicholas-kristof-how-a-barefoot-college-is-empowering-some-of-the-least-powerful-in-india/) - [NOTE: Nick Kristof was one of the New York Times’s most intrepid foreign correspondents, reporting from one far distant, demanding locale after another for 37 years, as often writing from obscure, out-of-the-spotlight places as from front-page hotspots. He was also notoriously upbeat and public-spirited, always digging for signs of hope and even tiny green shoots of
- [Yikes! The Next President could be A Gitmo Torture-Meister & Human Rights Shredder](https://afriendlyletter.com/yikes-the-next-president-could-be-a-gitmo-torture-meister-human-rights-shredder/) - [NOTES: I protested Gitmo and the U. S. torture program for years during the Iraqi-stan wars. There were a number of names from that horrible and still unaddressed period: Rumsfeld, Cheney (Dick, tho Liz agrees) W and more. Now there’s another one: a newbie Navy lawyer, aggressive, all-in, ambitious. Also unknown. But not unknown anymore:
- [Idaho hospital will stop delivering babies as doctors flee state due to abortion ban](https://afriendlyletter.com/idaho-hospital-will-stop-delivering-babies-as-doctors-flee-state-due-to-abortion-ban/) - Near-total ban on abortions is driving doctors away, hospital says, leading to lack of nearby labor and delivery care for thousands The Guardian Gloria Oladipo — Mon 20 Mar 2023An Idaho hospital has planned to stop delivering babies, with the medical center’s managers citing increasing criminalization of physicians and the inability to retain pediatricians as
- [Elias Hicks: It's All His Fault (Until ChatBot Came Along)](https://afriendlyletter.com/elias-hicks-its-all-his-fault-until-chatbot-came-along/) - There's a story about an earnest young Quaker grad student and a wise and wizened elder scholar. One day they were working in one of the best Friends archives, and -- “I’m having trouble making sense of this old Quaker journal,” said the graduate student to the venerable Quaker historian. “The Friend who wrote it
- [Redbud Riot - 2023](https://afriendlyletter.com/redbud-riot-2023/) - …? Friday the Fair Wendy & I went out on a search for good redbuds. It’s been a tough year for my favorite spring blooms, with warm days encouraging opening, then sunsets sinking into subfreezing shriveling nights; some sleet, strong winds, etc. But we found some. None were fully out, yet some already looked past
- [Garrison Keillor: in Search of Lutheran Diversity](https://afriendlyletter.com/garrison-keillor-in-search-of-lutheran-diversity/) - Garrison Keillor: I talked to a friend last week whose Lutheran church in Minneapolis is trying to attract people of color. Lutherans have been white for centuries, coming as they did from Scandinavia and Germany, countries that were never great colonial powers and didn’t grab big chunks of Africa and Lutheranize the indigenous people. Some
- [Two Trans Fights: One-Woman Nebraska Filibuster Against Anti-Trans Bill Is In Its 3rd Week — While Arkansas Guv Signs Similar Bill](https://afriendlyletter.com/two-trans-fights-one-woman-nebraska-filibuster-against-anti-trans-bill-is-in-its-3rd-week-while-arkansas-guv-signs-similar-bill/) - AP News: Nebraska lawmaker 3 weeks into filibuster to stop anti-trans bill BY MARGERY A. BECK — March 14, 2023 LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — It was a mundane, unanimously supported bill on liquor taxation that saw state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh take to the mic on the Nebraska Legislature floor last week. She offered her support, then
- [Sweden, Finland, NATO, Neutrals & Nukes: A Concise Analysis](https://afriendlyletter.com/sweden-finland-nato-neutrals-nukes-a-concise-analysis/) - [NOTE: These two short columns offer an admirable review of two key moments in the impact of Putin’s Ukraine invasion on my own thinking. When I imagined these countries as actual places (which, I admit, wasn’t often), my speculation was that they held to a “plague-on-both-your-houses” stance vis-a-vis the USSR/Russia on one side, and the West,
- [Ezra Klein on AI](https://afriendlyletter.com/ezra-klein-on-ai/) - [NOTE: The New York Times has a stable of columnists who include some of the most disturbingly smart writers I see regularly. Ezra Klein is one of them, and while his curiosity wanders widely, he is homing in on AI and its repeatedly mind-boggling character and possibilities. Which he does again here.] New York Times
- [LGBTs & Western Evangelical Quakers: A Reflection](https://afriendlyletter.com/lgbts-western-evangelical-quakers-a-reflection/) - CEF: I was really struck by what has been called the faculty gag rule at George Fox University. It also sounds as if there’s double-talk (or for the Orwellian-minded, Doublespeak) about it -- administration officials say there is NOT a gag rule, but faculty members say there is -- or at least they say that in private, not for attribution (as people would do if there really was a gag rule intact, regardless of what was "said" about it). What’s your sense? And is this kind of censorship spreading on college campuses generally, or is GFU something “special”? ANGELL: The president of GFU, Robin Baker, who I quote in the article, says there is no “gag rule.” He says academic freedom is guaranteed for GFU professors. On some issues that are controversial in some evangelical Christian circles, e.g., climate change, it is clear to me that GFU employees are free to speak their minds. See, for example, this interesting work by George Fox Evangelical Seminary [GFES} professors: Daniel Brunner, Jennifer L. Butler, and A. J. Swoboda, Introducing Evangelical Ecotheology, intro. by Bill McKibben (Baker Publishing Group, 2014). It is also clear to me, however, that academic freedom at GFU does not extend to discussion of matters concerning human sexuality. And that it cannot, as long as the current lifestyle standards of the University are in place (and, as I state in my article, there are no plans to change or even to reconsider them at this point). This is an increasing problem for GFU professors and staff; in this most unchurched of states (Oregon) where same-sex marriage is legal and increasingly mainstream, GFES and GFU professors are in danger of finding their relevance circumscribed because of an inability to candidly express their views on matters of human sexuality. This specific issue is most severe at the so-called Christian colleges, although faculty at other seminaries and universities could do much more to engage matters of human sexuality in a constructive manner, especially in print.
- [Ukraine: Winter’s Ending; No Catastrophe](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukraine-winters-ending-no-catastrophe/) - Europe defies Russian predictions The winter is almost over, and there has been no energy crisis at all, Gwynne Dyer writes. By Gwynne Dyer — Wed., March 8, 2023 ”The cold is coming soon,” gloated former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev last June. He predicted that the citizens of the European Union, deprived of the Russian gas
- [Sierra Cascades YM: “Our New Thing” versus the “Same Old Thing”?](https://afriendlyletter.com/sierra-cascades-ym-our-new-thing-versus-the-same-old-thing/) - Promising to reform this traditional system, even while coping with being purged by it, is not a new response. When the group that became “Hicksites” were pushed out of Philadelphia Yearly meeting in 1827, their initial leadership insisted that they would preserve the recorded ministerial elite system -- only they would run it better, less oppressively, than had the rival Orthodox junta. And maybe they did, for a short while. But before long, internal agitation surfaced among Hicksites about rising issues like women’s rights, and abolitionism, with the specter of civil war on the horizon. And it was shortly clear that the Hicksite recorded establishment did not like such reforming notions one whit more than did their Orthodox rivals. Soon enough there began among Hicksite meetings what I have called the Great Purge: hundreds of Friends deemed to be, in Kershner’s words, “divisive voices” or “only troublemakers,” who were silenced, marginalized or disowned. But this time many victims stayed and, pardon the expression, fought back.
- [Hugging the Extremes: Carolina Quakers & the 2020 Election](https://afriendlyletter.com/hugging-the-extremes-carolina-quakers-the-2020-election/) - [Trigger Warning: Quaker jargon ahead] I'm just finishing a book about the demise of North Carolina Yearly Meeting, which came about in 2017 after the group's 320 years of existence. [Watch for a book announcement soon.] That long, unQuakerly process was covered in detail in this blog as it unfolded, and the story will not
- [NCYM's Future: Conversation With A Younger Friend](https://afriendlyletter.com/ncyms-future-conversation-with-a-younger-friend/) - > So tell them. Has anybody busted into your church while you were preaching and made you shut up? Didn’t think so. But if “preaching the full gospel” means getting rid of or silencing everybody whose views about that are different from yours, or those of your favorite preacher, well, then that’s a problem. Because it isn’t going to happen. (That's also not the "full" gospel.)
- [Army Sends Top Brass Recruiters Up Against Gen Z Resistance: “Hell, No— We Don’ Wanna Go!”](https://afriendlyletter.com/army-sends-top-brass-recruiters-up-against-gen-z-resistance-hell-no-we-don-wanna-go/) - [NOTE: O.M.F.G. — I can NOT believe the Army is bringing back an Eighties recruiting slogan; but by god they are. And recruiting has fallen so below target they’re sending out the Army Secretary herself to do recruiting blitz weekends, like this one in Chicago. It was a very tough gig, as this report details.
- [Tomorrow! The "Separation Generation" Discussion - March 7 at 6 PM EST](https://afriendlyletter.com/tomorrow-the-separation-generation-discussion-march-7-at-6-pm-est/) - March 7, 2023 - in person at Earlham School of Religion & on ZOOM, 6-8 PM EST. To register FREE Today, Click here. The Separation Generation: Discussion - March 7 at ESR & on Zoom, 6-8PM EST To register FREE Today, Click here. From 2007 to 2018, five U. S. Yearly Meetings split apart —one
- [Cartoons for an “Unfunny” Time](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-for-an-unfunny-time/) - It doesn’t seem there’s any way around it: so far, 2023 is a Big Bust as far as editorial cartoons go. We now have proof of that, at least in the form that counts for the educated classes, a statement by an elite college professor, in the New York Times, they reinforce a sense of camaraderie,”
- [For The  Weekend:  Daniel  Ellsberg -- Another American Hero](https://afriendlyletter.com/for-the-weekend-daniel-ellsberg-another-american-hero/) - [ NOTE: Dan Ellsberg, born in April 1931, started out as a laser-bright Harvard grad, a Marine, and was a Pentagon whiz kid under Defense Secretary Robert MacNamara, when the Vietnam War heated up. He rose to fame when his conscience moved him to copy and release a secret report, called the Pentagon Papers, which
- [Next Tuesday: The "Separation Generation" Discussion on March 7](https://afriendlyletter.com/dont-miss-the-separation-generation-discussion-on-march-7/) - The Separation Generation: Discussion - March 7 at ESR & on Zoom 6-8PM EST To register FREE Today, Click here. From 2007 to 2018, five U. S. Yearly Meetings split apart —one disappeared completely, after 320 years. This was the broadest, most disruptive wave of separations since 1827. Five years later, several much larger denominations
- [“Inner Light”? Or Just an ”Anomaly”??](https://afriendlyletter.com/29075-2/) - [Have you had “anomalous experiences” like this skeptic did? I have; but those are other stories. Here’s one that was recounted in Scientific American, where skepticism is (appropriately) an article of faith. “Anomalous experiences” (aka synchronicity, serendipity, coincidence, fate, luck, destiny, Providence, etc.) are by definition non-scientific, as they can’t be replicated like all successful
- [Gwynne Dyer: Designing New Molecules of Death](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-designing-new-molecules-of-death/) - [NOTE: The burgeoning AI saga gets more unnerving every week. Here’s a concise report on how it’s now “imagining” new killer molecules, not yet actually made, but which (probably soon) can be. How will they be stopped or controlled —?] Making Unbelievably Lethal Designer Molecules Gwynne Dyer — Feb 27, 2023 “We are but one
- [Shrinking China: A Desperate Wave of Nonviolent “Civil Disobedience”](https://afriendlyletter.com/shrinking-china-a-desperate-wave-of-nonviolent-civil-disobedience/) - Washington Post China’s collapsing birth and marriage rates reflect a people’s deep pessimism Opinion by Nicholas Eberstadt [Excerpts] — February 28, 2023 China is in the midst of a quiet but stunning nationwide collapse of birthrates. This is the deeper, still largely overlooked, significance of the country’s 2022 population decline, announced by Chinese authorities last
- [Our Turn Almost Came. Twice.](https://afriendlyletter.com/our-turn-almost-came-twice/) - A question: are you among the Americans who wonder often, maybe every morning: Will It Be My Turn Today? Our Turn? ”Our Turn” for -- ? You know: Our Turn for — what else? For a mass shooting, or some other act of violence. I’m one of them. Or rather, us. Further, like an ever-increasing
- [AFSC Impostor Scandal Going National & Viral](https://afriendlyletter.com/afsc-impostor-scandal-going-national-viral/) - Brief: More AFSC Fallout from Philly: USAToday & the New York Post have stories & videos up about the AFSC Fake DEI [Diversity, Equity & Invlusion] kerfuffle. They may only be online, but The NYPost has run 2 or 3 stories, and both “papers” have broad social media readership. There’s no news in these reports,
- [Quote of the Day: Tom Friedman on the Top Two Crises](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-day-tom-friedman-on-the-top-two-crises/) - [NOTE: Tom Friedman interrupts his New York Times column today, which is about Ukraine & Israel, to quote a jibe he’s hearing often these days]: Hey, Friedman, all you seem to write about these days is Ukraine and Israel. Don’t you have anything else to say? His reply: It’s not an accident. I believe that
- [Garrison Keillor, 1999: God & Bill Gates on the Far Side](https://afriendlyletter.com/garrison-keillor-1999-god-bill-gates-on-the-far-side/) - [NOTE: On Garrison Keillor’s Substack, there’s a feature called the Back Room, on which he posts odds and ends from his decades of work. Yesterday the following popped up.] From TIME Magazine ESSAY — June 14, 1999 Faith at the Speed of Light BY GARRISON KEILLOR “Just In terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not
- [Ukraine, Year Two: A Pair of Particularly Pointed Perspectives — Liz Sly & Gwynne Dyer: Escalation](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukraine-year-two-a-pair-of-particularly-pointed-perspectives-liz-sly-gwynne-dyer-escalation/) - Washington Post — February 22, 2023 By Liz Sly Year of war : A global divide on the Ukraine war is deepening Russia capitalizes on disillusionment with the United States to win sympathy in the Global South. JOHANNESBURG — Clement Manyathela, who hosts a popular and influential talk show on South Africa’s Radio 702, remembers the outrage he
- [An Ode to Jimmy](https://afriendlyletter.com/an-ode-to-jimmy/) - I didn’t vote for Jimmy Carter in 1976. In fact, I didn’t vote at all that year. I’m not proud of that, but there it is. It happened mostly because I was away from home on election day, and because I wasn’t scared. That autumn I was trying to write a novel about Quakers
- [Gwynne Dyer on Nigeria’s (possibly historic) Election](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-nigerias-possibly-historic-election/) - GWYNNE DYER: Dark horse presidential candidate could help corrupt Nigeria put its best foot forward onto the world stage 'Ten million new voters have registered since last time and that may shift the average age of the electorate down far enough to produce a different outcome' Gwynne Dyer · Columnist | Feb. 24, 2023 There
- [Spying on China: My Dad Did It. Not With Balloons, But In Secret Flights . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/spying-on-china-my-dad-did-it-not-with-balloons-but-in-secret-flights/) - China? Spying from the air? Shootdowns? I can relate to that. Or at least, my father could. But for hm, the tables were turned: no balloons, and China wasn't doing the spying: he was. . . .My father, who died in 1997 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery, didn't talk much about his time
- [Joe Biden's Nantucket, And Mine](https://afriendlyletter.com/joe-bidens-nantucket-and-mine/) - I’m So. Joe Biden loves Nantucket for Thanksgiving. Been going there for decades. He's staying at some billionaire's place. How do I know? Why, Politico tells me so. Doesn't surprise me. I've stayed there a few times. Not in the billionaires' section, of course; or with a security detail. But I loved it too, like
- [Flip-Flop at AFSC: Saraswati In? No, Today she's Out. Who's Next?](https://afriendlyletter.com/flip-flop-at-afsc-saraswati-in-no-today-shes-out-whos-next/) - The Bronzer Saga Continues? On February 17th, the AFSC “Leadership Team” (LT) asserted that Raquel Saraswati’s job as DEI Director was safe, that they “firmly believe” in her “Loyalty to AFSC’s mission,” despite accusations about her being an impostor and fake. But only 5 days later, it announced that Saraswati was out. The word came
- [Bernie On The Moon! From His New Book](https://afriendlyletter.com/bernie-on-the-moon-from-his-new-book/) - From The Guardian Bernie Sanders on going viral: ‘There I was with my mittens on the moon, at the Last Supper, on the Titanic’ In an extract from his new book It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, the US senator talks about the Capitol attack, Biden’s inauguration, and his sensible attire becoming a global
- [AFSC and DEI: A Monday Update With Some Answers — and More Questions](https://afriendlyletter.com/afsc-and-dei-a-monday-update-with-some-answers-and-more-questions/) - For those following the unrest in AFSC headquarters about the identity & status of its DEI Director Raquel Saraswati (previously blogged about here ), a clarifying email came in late Friday from AFSC staffer Layne Mullett. In it, Mullett answered the two big questions: One: was Saraswati still in her position at AFSC? Answer: Yes. Two:
- [Now Revealed: the REAL Reason for the Chinese Balloon Shootdown](https://afriendlyletter.com/now-revealed-the-real-reason-for-the-chinese-balloon-shootdown/) - Okay, I was told that a file folder was blown out of a dumpster near Joe Biden’s beach place in Delaware, and somehow it made its way into my inbox. I figured it was a gag, but opened it anyway. Across the top of the single page inside it said: ”Supremely Confidential— Eyes Only February
- [Conflict and Deception in AFSC: Updates](https://afriendlyletter.com/conflict-and-deception-in-afsc-updates/) - The conflict in AFSC over disclosures about their Director of DEI continues. A Friday update to the blog post that broke this story is here: https://wp.m/p5FGIu-7t0
- [A Columnist Meets An AI Chatbot Stalker: A True Story (I Think)](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-ai-chatbot-stalker-a-true-story-i-think/) - [NOTE: These are the key excerpts from the chat that almost everybody is talking about. Kevin Roose is a tech columnist, and the full chat is in the New York Times.] Bing (a talky new AI-powered search engine) Loves Kevin Roose: And that’s VERY Creepy Kevin Roose: I pride myself on being a rational, grounded
- [Late Night on Nikki Haley & 45’s Empty(Classified) File Folders](https://afriendlyletter.com/late-night-on-nikki-haley-45s-emptyclassified-file-folders/) - Compiled by the New York Times: ‘Nicky Fail-y’ Former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina announced she’s running for president early Tuesday morning. “Of course, any campaign veteran will tell you there is no better time to drop the biggest political news of your life than on Valentine’s Day at 6:48 a.m.” Stephen Colbert said.
- [How Erdogan’s Towering Corruption Turned Turkey’s Terrible Earthquake Into a Political Atrocity](https://afriendlyletter.com/how-erdogans-towering-corruption-turned-turkeys-terrible-earthquake-into-a-political-atrocity/) - Erdogan’s Epic Earthquake Fail. Will He Pay The Price? by Gwynne Dyer, Opinion columnist — Feb. 12, 2023. Six days after earthquakes killed tens of thousands in Syria and Turkey, sorrow and disbelief are turning to anger and tension. Many in Turkey have a sense that there has been an ineffective, unfair and disproportionate response
- [Lightning Strikes Three Times: Japan, Taiwan & The Emerging Big Power Arms Races](https://afriendlyletter.com/lightning-strikes-three-times-japan-taiwan-the-emerging-big-power-arms-races/) - Introduction: For me, the sudden abandonment of neutrality by Sweden and Finland after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine were like separate lightning bolts striking the same tree. How likely was that? Sweden had been a neutral country for 200+ years. Finland for 75, since 1948. I haven’t visited either nation, and am no Scandinavian expert. Yet
- [Esther & The Heathens: A Quaker Valentine Romance](https://afriendlyletter.com/esther-the-heathens-a-quaker-valentine-romance-2/) - The night was cold now, and her breath billowed faintly over her shoulders as she hurried after the dark figure walking ahead up the quiet street. “Will!” she called again. “Wait for me!” He stopped and turned. “Esther?” he called. “Is it thee?” He clasped her hands in his as she came up to him. “Esther, I–” he began. “Thee is shivering,” he interrupted himself. “It is cold. Thee has no coat.” Esther shook her head. “I am not cold, Will. Let’s walk.” She took his arm now, firmly. They went on in silence for a few moments. Then Esther heard singing. They were approaching the Unitarian Church again. The service was concluding with another hymn. Esther stopped a few houses away, and motioned for Will to listen with her. She couldn’t make out the words, but the rise and fall of the melody was enough. They stood there, breathing out vague cones of mist, for only a few minutes, through no more than two verses of the hymn. But in that brief span of time, clarity came to Esther. In her careful schoolteacher’s way, she observed the process with a certain professional detachment, making mental note of how to describe it to her brother Jonah, in answer to his last question of the evening before, as well as for recording in her Journal. It was nothing spectacular or miraculous, she realized: more like seeing a glass full of muddy water become transparent as the sediment settled to the bottom, or watching a distant ship change suddenly from a hazy blur to a sharply-defined image as she refocussed her father’s old spyglass. There was no new thought or impulse in her mind; rather, she was now able to pull what was already there together in a new way, a way that made new and compelling sense. “Esther, what is it?” Will perceived that something was happening; she had stopped trembling and was standing quite still, staring into the night. At his question she seemed to return from far away, but then she looked at him intently and tightened her grip on his arm.
- [Exclusive-Coming Tomorrow: A Quaker Valentine Story](https://afriendlyletter.com/exclusive-coming-tomorrow-a-quaker-valentine-story/) - Attention, Quaker (and other Friendly Romantics)—Yes! It’s okay to think about Valentine’s Day again. And so . . . Coming Tomorrow, February (Err, Second Month) 14: this blog will feature a Quaker Valentine Story Watch This Space . . . . Meantime, here are a few more data from related research Immediate Revelation, Immediate Mediation
- [Dyer & Friedman on Netanyahu’s Impending Victory & Israel’s Loss of Democracy](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-friedman/) - [NOTE: I recall a year ago when Gwynne Dyer confidently predicted that Vladimir Putin would not be so irrational and foolish as to launch a war against Ukraine. Dyer was right about the war’s folly, but not alone in badly misjudging Putin’s state of mind and resolve. Still, I respect Dyer’s experience, breadth of strategic/historic
- [A Superbowl Alternative (or Prequel): Something Fishy. (Two things, Actually.)](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-superbowl-alternative-or-prequel-something-fishy-two-things-actually/) - [NOTE: I hardly eat fish anymore, though in my old-style Catholic boyhood Fish-on-Friday was a rule. I particularly liked tuna. But tuna (along with a lot of Catholic dogmas) turned out to be toxic, along with a lot of other finned favorites. So I mostly let it pass. But of course that doesn’t absolve me
- [Good News/Other News/Bad News](https://afriendlyletter.com/good-news-other-news-bad-news/) - GOOD NEWS Washington Post There were few Black historic landmarks. Two brothers changed that. By Nick Tabor — February 11, 2023 In 1970, there were only two National Historic Landmarks focused exclusively on Black history. By 1976, that number had risen beyond 70. Behind this change was a large coalition of Black scholars, policymakers and
- [Threefer Thursday: Briefs About Everything (Well, Almost)](https://afriendlyletter.com/threefer-thursday-briefs-about-everything-well-almost/) - [Midday wrap-up: Three short but trenchant items (with an extra about the boreal Forest), covering wars (present and maybe future); climate change tipping points; and not least, why confronting Gov. Ron DeSantis's racist war on "woke" head-on is a big progressive mistake. Check them all out!] # 1-Wars & Rumors of War: Looking to the
- [Spiritual Companions Now Attend Executions; It’s a Tough Gig, but Righteous](https://afriendlyletter.com/spiritual-companions-now-attend-executions-its-a-tough-gig-but-righteous/) - AP News: Spiritual advisers offering final comfort in execution rooms BY JIM SALTER — February 6, 2023 ST. LOUIS (AP) — For decades, Missouri executions played out in similar fashion: An inmate was strapped to a gurney in a drab room, alone except for the eyes of witnesses staring through thick, soundproof glass as unidentified
- [Meanwhile,Two Glimpses of Domestic Tranquillity . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/meanwhiletwo-glimpses-of-domestic-tranquillity/) - It's a busy, scary world today: horrible earthquakes; war in Ukraine, warming here, freezing there, the resurgence of orange hair, etc. . . . But here in my hideaway, busy following much of this, there are glimpses of something else. One is the last holdout of the lilies I got the Fair Wendy for our
- [Let the controversies Resume: Francis & Two Other Church Leaders Denounce Antigay Laws; South Sudan Government Affirms their Ban](https://afriendlyletter.com/let-the-controversies-resume-francis-south-sudan-government-affirms-their-ban/) - [NOTE: The following reports deal with Catholic, Anglican & Presbyterian internal divisions over homosexuality & same sex marriage, with particular reference to antigay laws in many African countries. While Quakers are not mentioned, these issues have been flash points for Friends in the region and in the USA. There are more Friends in central Africa
- [Pearl Harbor, Pope Benedict  & the Contested Catholic Discovery of Religious Liberty](https://afriendlyletter.com/pearl-harbor-pope-benedict-the-contested-catholic-discovery-of-religious-liberty/) - I missed a significant anniversary last month, on December 7. No, not Pearl Harbor Day, December 7 1941, when a deadly Japanese surprise attack on American bases in Hawaii pulled the U. S. into World War II. Nor was it December 7, 1973, my son’s birthday. It goes back to 1965; I was then in
- [Breaking: Could the 13th Amendment Revive Abortion Rights?](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-could-the-13th-amendment-revive-abortion-rights/) - Judge suggests abortion might be protected by 13th Amendment despite Supreme Court ruling By Dan Mangan A federal judge in Washington, D.C., suggested in a court order in a criminal case against a group of anti-abortion activists that the federal right to abortion might still be protected by the Constitution’s 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.
- [Tennessee Debates: John Lewis Way vs “Trump Boulevard”](https://afriendlyletter.com/tennessee-debates-john-lewis-way-vs-trump-boulevard/) - [NOTE: Not making this up. And it isn’t from The Onion or the Borowitz Report.] Republicans Push To Rename Part Of John Lewis Way In Nashville To 'Honor' Trump HuffPost— February 3, 2023 By BEN BLANCHET A Republican-backed bill seeks to rename part of a Tennessee street dedicated to Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the late
- [The Pills & The Post Office](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-pills-the-post-office/) - [NOTE: My former employer, the USPS, is close to being the least glamorous government agency. I learned there a basic lesson of working-class life: the better we did our jobs, the more invisible & taken for granted we were by the public. I’m not complaining. But as I watched and waded in the mail stream
- [Pope Francis: Wanted Dead, Or If Alive, Then Retired & Silent](https://afriendlyletter.com/pope-francis-wanted-dead-or-if-alive-then-retired-silent/) - I wonder: what’s it like to be Pope Francis, waking up each morning in the Vatican knowing he’s surrounded by people praying fervently, and that many of them are begging God to make him die before noon? Not everyone around him wants him dead, of course. Francis has fans and supporters too. And even
- [Dems Put So. Carolina Primary first for 2024](https://afriendlyletter.com/dems-put-so-carolina-primary-first-for-2024/) - Breaking: AP News: Dems reshuffle primaries to stress diversity over tradition BY WILL WEISSERT Feb. 4, 2023 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Democratic Party on Saturday approved reordering its 2024 presidential primary, replacing Iowa with South Carolina in the leadoff spot as part of a major shake-up meant to empower Black and other minority voters critical
- [Quote of The Week: Rep. Ilhan Omar vs. the House GOP](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-week-rep-ilhan-omar-in-the-house/) - Rep. Omar's Speech on Republicans' Partisan Efforts to Remove her from Foreign Affairs Committee February 2, 2023 — Press Release WASHINGTON--Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) spoke on the House Floor today on Republicans' partisan efforts to remove her from her committees and silence her. You can view video of her remarks here. Below are her remarks as
- [2800 Kids Separated from Families At Border Are Reunited](https://afriendlyletter.com/2800-kids-separated-from-families-are-reunited-with-families/) - [NOTE: Good Work, but a thousand kids still not reunited with family is a thousand too many.] AP News: US reunites nearly 2800 kids Separated from parents at the Border under Trump BY REBECCA SANTANA — Feb. 2, 2023 WASHINGTON (AP) — A Biden administration task force designed to reunite children separated from their families
- [A Week of Sunsets With Tyre Nichols](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-week-of-sunsets-with-tyre-nichols/)
- [Another “Rapture” Movie Is Here; But The End Is Not Really Near](https://afriendlyletter.com/rapture/) - [NOTE: Luckily, I didn’t grow up evangelical, but old-style Catholic, which had its own hallways of horror. But that’s another story, or stories. The theology underlying the Rapture genre goes back to about 1830, and the work of a British preacher/teacher, John Nelson Darby. It’s commonly called Dispensationalism, and has spawned innumerable sects, rivalries, splits,
- [Attention, Friends!](https://afriendlyletter.com/attention-friends/)
- [New Book Marks the Coming of Ex-Christian America](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-book-marks-the-coming-of-ex-christian-america/) - [NOTE: While this interview is with a Catholic theologian/sociologist, and his new book about “nonverts” has a chapter devoted to Catholic church dropouts, that’s not what the book is mainly about, or why it interests me. Quakers interest me, especially U. S. Quakers. I don’t know if the author mention Quakers, but it’s clear enough
- [My Recurring Day of Gratitude #19. . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-recurring-day-of-gratitude-19/) - January 28, 2004 is when Wendy extended hand and I took it. Nineteen years ago today; and counting. This photo is from 2014.
- [Quotes of the Day: Chickens, Boomers & the Python, and an Astronomer  who Sees the End of Our Universe](https://afriendlyletter.com/quotes-of-the-day-chickens-boomers-the-python-and-an-astronomer-who-sees-the-end-of-our-universe/) - Quotes (Today, all from The Washington Post) On Backyard chickens: “Which reminds me: Everything imaginable will try to eat your chickens. Depending on where you live, you’ll have to protect your flock from hawks, raccoons, weasels, coyotes, wolves, dogs, foxes and even hungry bears. . . . And don’t even get me started on the
- [DECLASSIFIED: Late Night on Classified Docs & Trump vs. Diamond & Silk](https://afriendlyletter.com/declassified-late-night-on-classified-docs-trump-vs-diamond-silk/) - By Trish Bendix (& other sources) Jan. 24, 2023 ‘Tone-Def Comedy Jam’ [Famed comedian] Wanda Sykes started her weeklong stint as host of “The Daily Show” with a look at former President Donald Trump’s awkward eulogy during a memorial for an unwavering supporter who died recently. The service was for Lynnette “Diamond” Hardaway, one
- [A Jaw-Dropping NC Governor’s Race Has Begun!](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-jaw-dropping-nc-governors-race-has-begun/) - Anti-Gay? Anti-Science? Antisemitic? Run for Governor of North Carolina! New York Times — Jan. 26, 2023 Frank Bruni Reflections on the mess (and magic) of politics and life. Mr. Bruni is a contributing Opinion writer who was on the staff of The Times for more than 25 years. The 2024 governor’s race in North Carolina
- [Gwynne Dyer & Tom Ricks: Two Outside Experts on Ukraine’s New Tanks and Modern Warmaking](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-tom-ricks-two-outside-experts-on-ukraines-new-tanks-and-modern-warmaking/) - Ukraine: Will Western tanks bring victory? Gwynne Dyer — Jan 27 2023 Gwynne Dyer is a UK-based Canadian journalist and historian who writes about international affairs. OPINION: On Tuesday they reset the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds before midnight. How did they know that Germany would agree to give Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine on Wednesday?
- [Breaking from Evangelical Quakerism/Christian Nationalism: Two Survivors’ Stories](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-from-evangelical-quakerism-christian-nationalism-two-survivors-stories/) - How Southern California helped birth white Christian nationalism Part memoir, part history of Southern California’s formative role in the rise of the religious right, Bradley Onishi's new book traces his growing estrangement from the faith he once zealously championed. “Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next" and
- [Quaker David & Goliath, Cont.: Now David Makes his Case](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-david-goliath-cont-now-david-makes-his-case/) - In late January, a post here described the struggle between the Evangelical Friends Church Southwest (EFCSW) and the small Friends Community Church of Midway City, in Orange County near Los Angeles. EFCSW's Board of Elders decided to close the Midway City church, and fire its pastor, Joe Pfeiffer. The Elders acted after several homeless people
- [Good News: Guinea Worm Disease Is Almost Eradicated](https://afriendlyletter.com/good-news-guinea-worm-disease-is-almost-eradicated/) - [Note: Forty three years after leaving the White House, Jimmy Carter & the Carter Center are still achieving mostly unheralded landmarks of positive change.] The Guardian — Wed 25 Jan 2023 Guinea worm disease could be second ever human illness to be eradicated As cases fall, the condition that once affected millions of people in
- [Justice Triumphs! I Sued Apple — I Won! (Sort of)](https://afriendlyletter.com/justice-triumphs-i-sued-apple-i-won-sort-of/) - It’s true. I joined in a 2019 class action lawsuit against Apple. The suit alleged that Apple charged me and a few (thousand?) others for file storage on its iCloud servers. But Apple didn’t actually store my stuff on their iCloud servers, because it didn’t have enough of them. So it jobbed out the storage
- [Gwynne Dyer: Burnout in New Zealand](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-burnout-in-new-zealand/) - GWYNNE DYER: The stubborn persistence of some heads of state and the political mindset of New Zealand’s Ardern Bangor Daily News — Jan. 23, 2023 “All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs,” wrote
- [Danger! Buying Abortion Pills Online Is NOT Yet Secure or Safe!](https://afriendlyletter.com/danger-buying-abortion-pills-online-is-not-yet-secure-or-safe/) - ProPublica: Danger! Websites Selling Abortion Pills Are Sharing Sensitive Data With Google — Which Can Share It With Anti-Abortion Prosecutors ProPublica — January 18, 2023 Online pharmacies that sell abortion pills are sharing sensitive data with Google and other third parties, which may allow law enforcement to prosecute those who use the medications to end
- [Lab-Grown Bacon? I’m Interested, But Cautious](https://afriendlyletter.com/lab-grown-bacon-im-interested-but-cautious/) - [NOTE: “Impossible “ burgers are now quite possible. But after a few tries, they’re not quite palatable enough to divert me from the occasional Mickey Dee’s. It appears that most other consumers feel much the same; after the novelty wore off, plant-based “meat” sales have fizzled. Yet a change just has to come: for all
- [Coming: The Invasion of the AI Body [Brain?] Snatchers?](https://afriendlyletter.com/coming-the-invasion-of-the-ai-body-brain-snatchers/) - [NOTE: Ads with cutesy robots, named “Jasper,” for AI software that reputedly will write my blog posts ten times faster, are popping up on my Facebook page practically every day. I’m hardly a techie; but I’m no enemy of technology. It was 39 years ago — George Orwell’s 1984 — when I happily traded
- [Time to Close Gitmo, Says Its First Commander](https://afriendlyletter.com/time-to-close-gitmo-says-its-first-commander/) - [NOTE: First, a reflection: Quakers are known, in part, for a devotion to losing causes. This penchant was deftly satirized by Doug Gwyn, a renowned scholar/songwriter, in his ditty, “Yonder Stands the Quaker”: “Yonder stands the Quaker, Looking quaint as a box of Quaker Oats . . . Yonder stand the Quakers, On the far
- [Dyer: Alliances and The Big Wars Nobody Wanted, But Stumbled Into](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-alliances-and-the-big-wars-nobody-wanted-but-stumbled-into/) - [NOTE: This column is a followup to the post of early last week: Lightning Strikes Three Times: Japan, Taiwan & The Emerging Big Power Arms Races. It’s an improvement, in two ways: First, Gwynne Dyer knows what he’s talking about. He has a doctorate in war history and strategy; he served with the militaries of
- [Quote of the Day. Nancy Pelosi, One Word: Class](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-day-nancy-pelosi-one-word-class/) - Nancy Pelosi, Liberated and Loving It The New York Times By Maureen Dowd — Opinion Columnist WASHINGTON — It’s not a pretty sight when pols lose power. They wilt, they crumple, they cling to the vestiges, they mourn their vanished entourage and perks. How can their day in the sun be over? One minute they’re running
- [Garrison Keillor Returns: Still Good-Looking & Above Average](https://afriendlyletter.com/garrison-keillor-returns/) - Hey, Garrison, ‘bout time you sent us a postcard. Where are you and what are you up to? Why I am in Minnesota, if you wish to know The Column: 01.20.23 — GARRISON KEILLOR We came back to Minneapolis to see snow on the ground, there being none in Manhattan yet, and to drive around the
- [Annie Dillard: The Writer Closest to God?](https://afriendlyletter.com/annie-dillard-the-writer-closest-to-god/) - This blog post is a mistake, or reflects one: In my phone calendar, January 20 is listed as writer Annie Dillard’s birthday. But that’s a mistake. Dillard will turn 78, deo volente, on April 30. Today is, well, just today. But in many of the theologies Dillard does not believe in, there are no mistakes.
- [BREAKING: David Crosby — And Another (Great) One Bites The Dust](https://afriendlyletter.com/david-crosby-and-another-great-one-bites-the-dust/) - AP News: David Crosby, rock star and CSNY co-founder, dies BY ROBERT JABLON — January 19, 2023 David Crosby, the brash rock musician who evolved from a baby-faced harmony singer with the Byrds to a mustachioed hippie superstar and an ongoing troubadour in Crosby, Stills, Nash & (sometimes) Young, has died at 81, several media outlets
- [Weird Thursday/Friday](https://afriendlyletter.com/weird-thursday/) - Real headline, major paper: Okay — I can believe Santos didn’t perform “45 minutes ago.” But on his way to Congress, it was one long costume performance, and a total drag. I can’t wait to see his version of the Orange Jump Suit Perp Walk Two-Step. (Now, how do you say that in Portugese?) Need
- [The “Ambiguous South” Honors Robert E. Lee alongside MLK Today](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-ambiguous-south-honors-robert-e-lee-alongside-mlk-today/) - Washington Post: Two states still observe King-Lee Day, honoring Robert E. Lee with MLK Alabama and Mississippi jointly celebrate the civil rights hero and the Confederate general Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (left) and Confederate general Robert E. Lee are still celebrated jointly in Alabama and Mississippi. (AFP/Getty Images (King); Matthew B. Brady/AP
- [Another for Dr. King: The Night March & The Killers](https://afriendlyletter.com/another-for-dr-king-the-night-march-the-killers/) - Selma, Alabama, February 1965 I I was arrested again on February third, marching outside the Dallas County courthouse in downtown Selma. I spent the following ten days in jail. Half that time I was back in the county jail’s dayroom, where I had been crammed in with Dr. King and 200-plus other marchers on February
- [Gwynne Dyer on Two Stupid Attempted Coups & a Warning](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-two-stupid-attempted-coups-a-warning/) - Gwynne Dyer — Saltwire Pundits are making much of the similarities between the attempted coup in Washington by Donald Trump supporters two years ago and the one by Jair Bolsonaro supporters in Brasilia last Sunday, but they are missing the biggest one. These debacles were the most incompetent and half-hearted attempts to seize power illegally
- [Likely the Only Post Here About Prince Harry’s Book “Spare” - by Gwynne Dyer](https://afriendlyletter.com/likely-the-only-post-here-about-prince-harrys-book-spare-by-gwynne-dyer/) - [NOTE: I have no strong opinions about Harry & his book & the surrounding soap opera. I wish him & Meghan and their kids a happily ever after, which I expect to ignore. If they shake up the UK monarchy along the way, so much the better. But as usual, I find the reactions of
- [Quotes of the Day: Historians Haggle, But Lincoln Lingers, & Kelly Ann Conway Pontificates](https://afriendlyletter.com/quotes-of-the-day-historians-haggle-but-lincoln-lingers-kelly-ann-conway-pontificates/) - Quotes of the Day: Today’s New York Times yielded a rich trove . . . One was about historian Jon Meacham’s new book, And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (Random House) A New York Times interviewer asked, “So, having delved into the legacies of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt and
- [Liberal Quaker History and The Present Crisis](https://afriendlyletter.com/liberal-quaker-history-and-the-present-crisis-a-presentation-to-green-pastures-midwinter-quarterly-meeting-ann-arbor-michigan-third-month-15-2013/) - One additional major loss from this cultural amnesia is that there are many great examples in previous Quaker generations, and even in our own, of creative witness and resistance in situations not so different from the one we face today. We have a very rich — and potentially useful– heritage to draw on. But overall we do very little with it, I’m afraid, and the liberal Quaker ethos, which is tilted toward “Progress” and puts its faith in the future, abets that. Moreover, the loss of independent memory is one of the most insidious of the effects of our current cultural pathology. It is one of the key tools of oppression, to make alternative traditions and stories and ways of life disappear. For us in the U.S. today, this doesn’t usually require overt repression (although in situations like Occupy Wall Street, the authorities will make exceptions); usually though, alternatives just get drowned out amid the general noise and distraction. And overall, I see much of liberal Quakerism playing right along. But what do we do when the “Progress” that’s been our group’s polestar turns against us, putting drones above and plunging our graduates into a a peonage of debt? When the future is more ominous than promising? Quakers have been in this situation before; but if we can’t or won’t remember what earlier Quakers did, we’re crippling ourselves in figuring out how to cope.
- [Extinction - Closing In on unique Madagascar Wildlife](https://afriendlyletter.com/extinction-closing-in-on-unique-madagascar-wildlife/) - The Guardian — The age of extinction Madagascar’s unique wildlife faces imminent wave of extinction, say scientists Study suggests 23 million years of evolutionary history could be wiped out if the island’s endangered mammals go extinct Phoebe Weston — Tue 10 Jan 2023 From the ring-tailed lemur to the aye-aye, a nocturnal primate, more than
- [Surveying the Republican Ruins: Eavesdropping on Conservative Pundits](https://afriendlyletter.com/surveying-the-republican-ruins-eavesdropping-on-conservative-pundits/) - White-Guy Pundits at Twilight: Two formerly leading conservative columnists ponder the prospects for their former political home, and the cloudy “trajectories” of their careers . . . Quotes of the Week, from: Conservative Columnists David Brooks & Bret Stephens “The Party’s Over for Us. Where Do We Go Now?” (Excerpts) New York Times — 01/12/2023 David
- [Hunter Biden’s Laptop](https://afriendlyletter.com/hunter-bidens-laptop/) - From New York Magazine — Sept. 12, 2022 The Sordid Saga of Hunter Biden’s Laptop The most invasive data breach imaginable is a political scandal Democrats can’t just wish away. By Andrew Rice and Olivia Nuzzi — Imagine the entirety of your digital existence plotted out before you: your accounts and passwords; your avatars; your
- [Harvard, Affirmative Action, “Reparations,” & Me](https://afriendlyletter.com/harvard-affirmative-action-reparations-me/) - One of the most shopworn and least shocking of discoveries about USA higher education Is that of Ivy League “affirmative action” (aka preferential admissions) for the non-genius children of wealthy donors or powerful alumni (mainly WASPS). This “exposé” (which, to be fair, is also found at many other non-ivy schools) has been around about a
- [The Dominion Voting Machine Lawsuit Goes to Trial soon: Here’s a Good Summary](https://afriendlyletter.com/__trashed-3/) - [NOTE: Columnist George Will sets aside his usual reactionary sentiments here, to produce instead a concise and clear breakdown of the case Dominion will attempt to make in pursuit of its $1.5 billion defamation action against Fox News. Will usefully points out the challenges Dominion faces in proving that the Fox “News” promotion of
- [“Diamond” of “Diamond & Silk” - Black Super-Trump Stars, Passes Away](https://afriendlyletter.com/diamond-of-diamond-silk-black-pro-trump-stars-passes-away/) - [NOTE: At the end of this set of excerpts, Silk closes with a declaration that goes well past enthusiasm, and surpasses loyalty, to become an effusion of sheer devotion that sounds more religious than political. The clinical phrase “personality cult” hardly does justice to it. For outsiders, it should be food for thought: they are facing
- [Fani Willis vs Trump: Will the “Pit Bull” take on the “Big Dog”?](https://afriendlyletter.com/fani-willis-vs-trump-will-the-pit-bull-take-on-the-big-dog/) - [NOTE: Quakers aren’t supposed to gamble. But if I was going to break the rule, I’d lay money on the proposition that among all the various agencies and investigators digging into Donald Trump’s efforts to overthrow the 2020 election, the first actual indictments will come from Atlanta and DA Fani Willis. Why? The answers are in
- [The Pollinators are Dying — And That’s Killing People](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-pollinators-are-dying-and-thats-killing-people/) - The Guardian: Global pollinator losses causing 500,000 early deaths a year – study Insect declines mean reduced yields of healthy foods like fruit and vegetables and increased disease in people Damian Carrington Environment editor — Mon 9 Jan 2023 The global loss of pollinators is already causing about 500,000 early deaths a year by reducing
- [Football, Forgetting, and the All-American Death Cult](https://afriendlyletter.com/football-forgetting-and-the-all-american-death-cult/) - Football is back, with the American public's talent for fast forgetting on full display. The live broadcast of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin's near-death experience is rapidly receding into the background as the players scrimmage, fall, roll and rise back and forth. The crowds scream, the advertisers and owners rake in more big bucks, the
- [Academic Tenure Will Soon Be Gone — Unless . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/academic-tenure-will-soon-be-gone-unless/) - [NOTE: one scholar cited here says that the number of tenured professors ballooned after World War II, when more Amerians, especially veterans, went to college, got advanced degrees and stayed on to teach. Today, student body numbers are falling, but grad schools keep churning out new PhDs. So there’s a glut, too many carrying
- [The Pope Scrambles; The War Exacerbates Orthodox Church Troubles](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-pope-scrambles-the-war-exacerbates-orthodox-church-troubles/) - But First, the New Moby Dick Hunt has snagged another big [Russian] white whale: NYTimes-March 16 2022-MADRID — Spain, which has pledged to seize the suspected superyachts of Russian oligarchs targeted for sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on Wednesday impounded the third such vessel, one of the world’s biggest superyachts, in Spanish territorial
- [Recalling The Five Who Died in the Capitol Invasion](https://afriendlyletter.com/updates-on-the-five-who-died-in-the-capitol-invasion/) - [NOTE: January 6, 2023: It was moving to hear the president speaking and awarding medals to citizens for their heroic responses to the crisis of the January 6 insurrection. This was a welcome interruption of the chaos and craziness that has filled the House chamber most of this week. That spectacle brought back to mind
- [The Big Read: Supreme Beings -- Taking on the Architects of Our Emerging Judicially-Spawned Authoritarian Order](https://afriendlyletter.com/supreme-beings/) - [NOTE: i’m somewhat slow on the uptake, but numerous shocks of 2022 have pounded home the sense that the principal architect of our increasingly dominant regime of minority rule is the Supreme Court. To get more up to speed on this process, I’m reading Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s fine new book, The Scheme. Whitehouse has been
- [The Supreme Court's Five-Alarm Fire--"The Scheme": Conclusion](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-supreme-courts-five-alarm-fire-the-scheme-conclusion/) - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: In World Wars I and Il, it was common for naval vessels to burn oil and create thick clouds of smoke they could hide behind. The smoke threw off the gunnery of their adversaries. Those gunners may not have been able to target the smoke-screened ships with precision, but they sure as
- [Gwynne Dyer: Ukraine Is Moving Toward A Winter Offensive](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-ukraine-is-moving-toward-a-winter-offensive/) - The hard freeze is imminent and the next Ukrainian offensive will follow not long after Gwynne Dyer · Columnist — Jan. 3, 2023 It’s still unseasonably warm in Ukraine, but there’s a chance of a hard freeze next weekend. By mid-month, it should be reliably below zero almost all the time: the ground will be
- [Breaking: Is Nothing Sacred? Saudis Jail Two Wikipedia Editors](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-nothing-sacred-saudis-jail-two-wikipedia-editors/) - [NOTE: I use Wikipedia almost every day. It’s perhaps the finest flower of the rapidly-disappearing era of the free (as in built for honest public service rather than profit or propaganda) internet. But the Saudi rulers know how to deal with such unwelcome ideas & their advocates: if bribery doesn’t suffice (as in golf), jail,
- [“Happy Anniversary”—Jan. 6 is Now Groundhog Day](https://afriendlyletter.com/happy-anniversary/) - What, Me — Helping the FBI??? Oh, hellyes: Finding the Jan. 6 pipe bomber (s)?? My bit may not be much, but . . . (This is NOT a cartoon or spoof.) More info here. A few more Week One images . . . Kev is still in it; next come arms & legs
- [Peering Into the Heart of Darkness -- And Its End](https://afriendlyletter.com/meetings-looking-heart-darkness/) - I had (& have) fond feelings for libraries, and at first glance, the one at Regis seemed a fine specimen: well-lighted, relatively new, with many long open shelves. Open shelves of books to me embodied freedom of thought and learning, and its liberating possibilities. But something didn’t jibe with my sentimental notion. Behind the reference desk, my eye was caught by a large area enclosed by heavy mesh metal partitions, and with a locked gate. Inside were more books; I could see the shelves through the mesh. Were these antiquities? Precious manuscripts of historic value? They didn’t look like that. No. My question to a cheerful librarian got a straightforward answer: this enclosure was for books on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum: the Catholic Index of Forbidden Books. I stared at it in fascinated horror: of course I had heard of the Index. It was hundreds of years old. Where the Church was part of or protected by governments, it went hand in hand with censorship. My first, adolescent thought was that it must include the books about sex. True enough, authors such as Gide and Balzac, thought to be peddlers of lasciviousness, were on it. But The Index was much more concerned about the mind than the loins, with stamping out heresy more than lust.
- [Tying up the New Year’s Loose Ends . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/tying-up-the-new-years-loose-ends/) - Hey, I watched two rising impresarios and their traveling animal show . . . Then I never really got the hang of Twitter; not sorry now. And here’s one for Nostalgia Buffs: When Liz Truss became the UK prime minister, a media bloke bought a head of lettuce & bet it would outlast Truss’s time in
- [Kevin-Toons for a Not-So-Productive Opening Day](https://afriendlyletter.com/kevin-toons-for-a-not-so-productive-opening-day/) - Two Ballots, And Counting! The Winner Is — ??? Round #1 – Nobody! Round #2 — Nobody! Round #3 — Stand By . . . — Any Comment, Kev?? To Be Continued — Indefinitely??
- [Taking Down “Stonewall” Jackson & Robert E. Lee: A Saga of Now 4e&](https://afriendlyletter.com/taking-down-stonewall-jackson-robert-e-lee-a-saga-of-now/) - [NOTE: Making, Un-making, and Re-making history: this piece has it all; plus two kinds of revolutionary art, personal achievement, bulletproof vests, and religion in action.] The Washington Post — January 2, 2023 White contractors wouldn’t remove Confederate statues. So a Black man did it. Story by Gregory S. Schneider RICHMOND — Workers in bright yellow vests
- [Straight Talk in Arizona About stopping “MAGA Fascism”](https://afriendlyletter.com/straight-talk-in-arizona-about-stopping-maga-fascism/) - “Defend Them Fiercely”: Adrian Fontes plans to protect Arizona’s elections from ‘Maga fascists’ The Democrat who defeated a hard-right extremist in the midterms to be the next secretary of state doesn’t mince words. The Guardian — Ed Pilkington — Mon 2 Jan 2023 On 5 January, when Adrian Fontes will be inaugurated as
- [New Years Ukraine Combat Update](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-years-ukraine-combat-update/) - Anger in Russia as scores of troops killed in one of war's deadliest strikes Reuters — January 1, 2023 Summary • Third straight night of attacks signals new Russian tactic • Kyiv says Russian strikes are failing • Scores of Russian troops reported dead in barracks blast • Stern Putin New Year speech signals
- [A Breakout Political Performance Held Over By [UN]Popular Demand: “George Santos”](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-breakout-political-performance-held-over-by-unpopular-demand-george-santos/) - In yesterday’s New York Times, columnist Michelle Cottle picked “George Santos”, said by some to be a Congressman-elect, as political con man of 2022: As always, Cottle wrote, at every step [in 2022] there were political players and events that stood out from the general chaos in ways good, bad and bizarre. It is once
- [More of My 2022 trip](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-of-my-2022-trip/) - This first question below has not yet been asked aloud. But it still rankles: why should I have to even think about this before she is much older? Why do I keep wondering what I’d say if her mother turned to me and said, “Let’s ask Grandpa . . . .” Not to mention if
- [My 2022 Rollercoaster: Photos & Cartoons, Part 1](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-2022-photos-cartoons-part-1/) - January 2022: was it sunrise for Democracy, or sunset? We weren’t the only worried ones . . . . . . In Washington, the Supremes were busy working up their new minority rule act, with a special interest in the coming midterm elections, and protecting their withering reputations from the “stench” of their “ethics free
- [Eavesdropping on a Conservative Trial by Conscience & Fire](https://afriendlyletter.com/eavesdropping-on-a-conservative-trial-by-conscience-fire/) - [NOTE: Henry Olsen is a very conservative columnist; I would typically not look to him for political counsel. Even so,there’s one politician Olsen likely understands much better than I could ever hope to, namely: Mike Pence. And in this piece, Olsen offers the former Veep what seems like very sage counsel: if Pence wants to
- [Oh, No! Ian Tyson, Canadian folk legend, is gone (“So Much For Dreaming”)](https://afriendlyletter.com/oh-no-ian-tyson-canadian-folk-legend-is-gone-so-much-for-dreaming/) - AP News: Ian Tyson, half of Ian & Sylvia folk duo, dies at age 89 December 29, 2022 TORONTO (AP) — Ian Tyson, the Canadian folk singer who wrote the modern standard “Four Strong Winds” as one half of Ian & Sylvia and helped influence such future superstars as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, died
- [The Scheme: The "Captured” Supreme Court Is Stealing Our Right to Jury Trials](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-scheme-the-captured-supreme-court-is-stealing-our-right-to-jury-trials/) - Sheldon Whitehouse, in The Scheme: Beyond protecting polluters, the [Supreme Court’s] Roberts Five have weakened antitrust protections, shielded corporate executives from shareholder suits, protected drug manufacturers from state tort laws, taken away fair pay protections from entire categories of workers, restricted class actions that redress low-dollar mass frauds (like adding a small wrongful charge
- [Rep. Jamie Raskin Diagnosed with Cancer](https://afriendlyletter.com/rep-jamie-raskin-diagnosed-with-cancer/) - [NOTE: The Bible quote on my mind today— Ecclesiastes 8:11-14, in the Today’s English Version: "Why do people commit crimes so readily? Because crime is not punished quickly enough. A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and still live. Oh yes, I know what they say: `If you obey God, everything will be all right, but it will
- [It's Law! Dred Scott’s (In)Justice Taney is headed Outta the Capitol](https://afriendlyletter.com/its-law-dred-scotts-injustice-taney-is-headed-outta-the-capitol/) - Washington Post: Biden signs bill to remove bust of Dred Scott decision author from Capitol A bust of Chief Justice Roger Taney at the U.S. Capitol in March 2020. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) By Amy B Wang and Marianna Sotomayor December 27, 2022 President Biden on Tuesday signed a bill that would remove a bust at
- [A Between-the-Holidays Quaker  Holiday Story: Beethoven in the Basement](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-quaker-holiday-story-extra-beethoven-in-the-basement/) - Cambridge, Massachusetts, late 1970s “Heads up!” called the voice from the basement. “Here come the bags!” When they heard the cry a hundred men and women straightened up, like ragtag soldiers jerking to attention. Spaced about three feet apart, they stood in a line that ran from the open end of a big tractor-trailer truck
- ["Shotgun" Scalia: A study in Supreme Corruption & Impunity; More from "The Scheme"](https://afriendlyletter.com/shotgun-scalia-a-study-in-supreme-corruption-more-from-the-scheme/) - [NOTE: This series of posts about the corporate capture & corruption of the U.S. Supreme Court reflects my sense that: this "scheme" is extremely dangerous to what remains of our democracy; that it is far advanced; it preceded the era of 45 and the "Big Lie," and it will continue after that ordeal reaches its
- [More on "The Scheme" -- Part 1](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-scheme-part-1/) - I haven't met Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island. And I don't know much about him, beyond a skim of Wikipedia and some other articles. (The gist: Northeast liberal, some family money, Yale; he's 67, doesn't look it; married only once. As U.S. attorney he put some Rhode island hoods and crooked pols in the
- [Cartoons: “And to All A Good Night . . . And Inner Light“](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-and-to-all-a-good-night-and-inner-light/) - At the last stop in our neighborhood . . . More than “Thoughts & Prayers” . . . Street scene, 2022 Yeah, tough reading after a long trip, my man . . . Wherever you find your light, let it shine . . .
- [“New Normal” Notice: Bloggus Interruptus: Power Outage](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-normal-notice-bloggus-interruptus-power-outage/) - Friends, Most of the time, our all-electric house setup works fine: heating, cooling, cooking, lights, internet, etc. we’re not all-electronic, and the bills are tolerable. But as of 9:19 PM Friday, in a blink we entered one of those other times. “Dangerously low” temperatures in our darkened corner of Durham (there are lights on up
- [Big Deal: Omnibus Bill Reforms Electoral Count Act](https://afriendlyletter.com/big-deal-omnibus-bill-reforms-electoral-count-act/) - [NOTE: The ominous — oops, I mean Omnibus, heh-heh— bill passed by Congress Friday was 4100-plus pages. Mostly it was about money, which of course is important but I won’t focus on that here. What I searched for, amid the chatter about cash, was whether the completed bill included reforms to the Electoral Count Act
- [Quotes for the Day](https://afriendlyletter.com/quotes-for-the-day/) - It was tempting to open with a passage from Volodimir Zelensky’s memorable address to Congress. But that is everywhere today. Instead, here’s a bit from a tribute by columnist David Ignatius: Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, likes to quote a comment attributed to Napoleon: “In war, the moral is
- [Skimming the January 6 Report: Read the Contents & the Recommendations](https://afriendlyletter.com/skimming-the-january-6-report-read-the-contents-the-recommendations/) - [NOTE: So who has the time over this crazy holiday weekend to read an 850-page Washington political thriller? Maybe more of us than we now realize, as a huge storm is freezing big swaths the continent into an icy, windy immobile weekend. And I don't mean "thriller" entirely as a jest. Even though most
- [Gwynne Dyer on the Decline of the ANC](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-the-decline-of-the-anc/) - Gwynne Dyer: A Couch Stuffed With Cash? December 22, 2022 Gwynne Dyer is a UK-based Canadian journalist and historian who writes about international affairs. “Don’t have a couch stuffed with cash? Don’t worry, you can keep reading for free,” read the ad on the website of the ‘Daily Maverick’, a tough and sometimes very funny
- [Zelenskyy Toons](https://afriendlyletter.com/zelenskyy-toons/)
- [Another Quaker Holiday Story: Playing the Lottery](https://afriendlyletter.com/another-holiday-story-playing-the-lottery/) - Playing the Lottery Winter 1969, Boston. I was driving a cab at night, while attending Harvard Divinity School. I had run through some scholarship and loan money, and needed cash; Christmas and all that. But I also thought it would be a “good experience” for a wannabe writer. When I turned my cab onto St.
- [New for Christmas: Pocket-Sized Killer Drones](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-for-christmas-pocket-sized-killer-drones/) - The micro-suicide drone, just in time for Christmas Gwynne Dyer — Dec 20 2022 Some lucky boys and girls are going to find micro-suicide drones in their stockings this Christmas! Get your orders in now! I was idly scanning the website of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, as one does, and I came across a story
- [Follow-up: Apology for Slavery in Suriname Delivered by Dutch PM](https://afriendlyletter.com/follow-up-apology-for-slavery-in-suriname-delivered-by-dutch-pm/) - The Guardian — Mon 19 Dec 2022 Dutch Prime Minister apologises for Netherlands’ role in slave trade PM Mark Rutte says Dutch state ‘enabled, encouraged and profited from slavery’ for centuries Jon Henley Europe correspondent Mark Rutte has offered a formal apology on behalf of the Dutch state for the Netherlands’ historical role in the
- [A Hospice for Hope: Another Quaker Holiday Story](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-hospice-for-hope-a-quaker-war-peace-story/) - "This place always gives me the creeps, " she told her sister. Allyson was sitting safe at home in Cincinnati, more than a thousand miles away. "Why?" Asked Allyson. "Because it's full of dying people?" "Maybe partly," Lexie said, "but I think it's more the way they kinda package the whole thing here, like everybody's getting ready for a birthday party. I mean-- A woman's voice interrupted. "Can you help me?" It sounded weak, but piercing. "Can you help me?" Again. Lexie slowed and glanced to her right. In a lounge doorway a woman sat in a wheelchair. Her hair was tousled, her hands outstretched, reaching toward Lexie. "I, uh -- I" Lexie started, then noticed that the woman's gaze was fixed somewhere behind her, and her eyes seemed unfocused. The image came to Lexie of someone caught in a swirling river at floodtide, about to be swept away. Lexie swayed uncertainly. Both her hands were full. She heard Allyson saying, distantly, "Are you there?" as if the call had dropped, which it often did. And looking closer, she saw the woman was strapped into the chair, with what looked like a seat belt. Lexie thought, I bet she's from the Memory Unit at the other end, and she was parked here while the attendant is outside smoking. She probably doesn't remember how to unbuckle the belt. The woman repeated her call, "Can you help me?" and Lexie snapped back to her own reality. "Sorry," she told the woman, and started walking again. "I'm here," she said into the phone. "Just got derailed for a minute." Lexie was headed for the second last room in the long hallway. Each door she passed had someone's last name in block black letters on a card in a slot, and she knew most of them by now: Callahan, Bradley, Washington-- -- No. Washington's slot was now empty. Washington -- Lexie didn't know if it was he or she -- was dead. "Looks like another one bit the dust," she told Allyson.
- [The next Big Question: Who Will Be First to Bend the Arc and Hit It Out of the Park???](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-next-big-question-who-will-be-first-to-bend-the-arc-and-hit-it-out-of-the-park/) - Enough babble about the World Cup. Spare me the hype surrounding the Super Bowl. I’m not even thinking of MLB Spring Training. There’s a spot in the Big American History Record Book waiting to be filled, and I’m fed up & full to the eyebrows with waiting. Indict, for petes sake. Make history, dammit. In
- [Santa Went to Lunch in Durham . . .Not Making This Up](https://afriendlyletter.com/santa-went-to-lunch-on-durham-not-making-this-up/) - A Flashback to December 2021: The other day I went to lunch with my buddy Micah at my favorite diner, Elmo’s. It was busy & we talked & ate for a couple hours. At a nearby table, several Middle-aged folks were sitting with a much older woman. I didn’t “pay them any mind” until a
- [Dutch To Apologize for Caribbean Slavery. Reparations?](https://afriendlyletter.com/dutch-slavery/) - AP News: Caribbean divided as Netherlands mulls slavery apology BY GEROLD ROZENBLAD AND DÁNICA COTO December 17, 2022 PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) — Dutch colonizers kidnapped men, women and children and enslaved them on plantations growing sugar, coffee and other goods that built wealth at the price of misery. On Monday, the Netherlands is
- [Global Warming? Coal Usage Sets New Record Anyway](https://afriendlyletter.com/global-warming-coal-usage-sets-new-record-anyway/) - AP News: Report: World's coal use creeps to new high in 2022 BY FRANK JORDANS December 16, 2022 BERLIN (AP) — Coal use across the world is set to reach a new record this year amid persistently high demand for the heavily polluting fossil fuel, the International Energy Agency said Friday. The Paris-based agency said
- [Once Huge Evangelical Mission Conference Faces Major Shrinkage](https://afriendlyletter.com/once-huge-evangelical-mission-conference-faces-major-shrinkage/) - [NOTE: Despite the sponsor’s upbeat words, attendance at this onetime mega-conference will be down 70% from its peak in 2000. For Quakers, the slide is quite similar to the 80% drop (from almost 2000 in 2000 to 440) in registrations for the 2022 FGC summer Gathering. For FGC, the decline for ed a shift from an
- [Breaking: Amazon & Starbucks Workers To Strike in the U. K. & U. S.](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-amazon-starbucks-workers-to-strike-in-the-u-k-u-s/) - Labor action on both sides of the Atlantic CNBC — DEC 16 2022 Amazon workers will go on formal strike for the first time in the UK Ryan Browne KEY POINTS Employees at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse in central England voted Friday to go on strike. It will be the first legally mandated strike to take
- [A Trove of Crypto-NFT Cartoons! Funny — or Double Your Money Back!](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-trove-of-crypto-nft-cartoons-funny-or-double-your-money-back/) - The Pandemic isn’t over yet . .. But there are Monsters in the Mirror! NFT = No Future (for) T- - - - “It’s Biden— he’s got Some GOOD News, and Some . . . But, Dear, Santa’s thinking about it; SOMEbody has to . . . You’re right, Marge — no sense of humor
- [Is Organic Food Better? Skepticism Is Growing](https://afriendlyletter.com/is-organic-food-better-skepticism-is-growing/) - Praise the Lord & Pass the Tater-Tots . . . The Guardian The big idea: has organic food passed its sell-by date? Touted as a cure for environmental and physical ills, the organic movement is falling short of high expectations Julian Baggini — 12 December 2022 After 10 years of slow but steady growth, sales of
- [Gwynne Dyer: Nuclear Fusion Can Save Us— If it Arrives In Time](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-nuclear-fusion-can-save-us-if-it-arrives-in-time/) - 'What’s not to like about nuclear fusion? Only the delivery date' Gwynne Dyer · Columnist - December 15, 2022 Nuclear fusion, the holy grail that would finally end all the world’s energy problems, has been receding into the future at the rate of about one year per year all my adult life — it was
- [After Buying the Supreme Court for Rightwing Catholicism -- Why not Add a Few Universities? Deal!](https://afriendlyletter.com/after-buying-the-supreme-court-for-rightwing-catholicism-why-not-add-a-few-universities-deal/) - [NOTE: Some readers might wonder: why does this Quaker blogger post so often about Catholic church issues & development? Is it just because I was raised RC? No doubt that upbringing left its marks. [If you're interested, this background is explored in my memoir, Meetings.] But there are broader reasons. Here are a few: --
- [Gun Violence: Has the Political/Cultural Tide Begun to Turn?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gun-violence-has-the-political-cultural-tide-begun-to-turn/) - [NOTE: I admit, that after all the years of defeat for serious gun safety and gun violence protection efforts, it’s hard for me to shake those Rotten Old Gun-Violence-Is-Inevitable Blues. Even Joe Biden’s striking success last summer seems more like a blip than an actual inflection point. But maybe, hopefully I’m wrong about that.
- [Gun Safety: Has the Political/Cultural Tide Begun to Turn?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gun-safety-has-the-political-cultural-tide-begun-to-turn/) - [NOTE: I admit, that after all the years of defeat for serious gun safety and gun violence protection efforts, it’s hard for me to shake those Rotten Old Gun-Violence-Is-Inevitable Blues. Even Joe Biden’s striking success last summer seems more like a blip than an actual inflection point. But maybe, hopefully I’m wrong about that. Maybe
- [Leonard Pitts Retires from writing columns; will write books](https://afriendlyletter.com/leonard-pitts-retires-from-writing-columns-will-write-books/) - Pulitzer Prize-winning national columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. is retiring and wrote his final column Tuesday. “Time flew, didn’t it? Now, it’s time for me to fly off, too.”
- [Biden Signs “Respect for Marriage” Law](https://afriendlyletter.com/biden-signs-respect-for-marriage-law/)
- [Gwynne Dyer: Cracking Two Cuckoo Coup Attempts??](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-cracking-two-cuckoo-coup-attempts/) - https://www.bangordailynews.com/2022/12/12/opinion/opinion-contributor/democracy-big-lies-coups/ by Gwynne Dyer, Opinion columnist December 12, 2022 Could there be anything more ridiculous than last week’s failed coup attempt in Peru? Last Wednesday morning, President Pedro Castillo made an unscheduled broadcast announcing that he was dissolving Congress, suspending the constitution and would rule the country by decree. But within minutes he was
- [A Tuesday Toons Tune-Up](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-tuesday-toons-tune-up/) - About Dam time hospitals got better music! A tough job, but hey keep brushing it off . . . A real space-saver . . . They’re around here somewhere . . . Does anything rhyme with Guacamole??? Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- [A Belated Birthday Ditty to Me; From Tunemaster Doug Gwyn](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-belated-birthday-ditty-to-me-from-tunemaster-doug-gwyn/) - You Don't Have to Be Eighty, Friend . . . . A Song by Doug Gwyn. (Hear Doug sing it, and lots of others, free here.) The Society of Friends, Also known as the Quakers, Question authority of every sort. They've even been known to second-guess their Maker. And protests and sit-ins, Are considered a
- [Emily Dickinson: 192 Years Young; and Just as Mysterious](https://afriendlyletter.com/emily-dickinson-an-epitaph-for-today/) - Biographers note that Emily Dickinson, who was born on December 10 in 1830, was most productive in the first half of the 1860s. Secluded within the family home in Amherst, Massachusetts (except when tending the flower garden), she turned out hundreds of poems, mostly short, striking, often astonishing -- but unnoticed by the outside world; her fame came after her death, which was likely okay with her. Biographers speculate about what spurred this massive outburst (she left 1700 poems behind, almost none with titles, given numbers instead). Some extended personal crisis? Missives to a secret love? (She did seem to have some "affairs of the heart," but most were entirely epistolary, and the few signals are mixed enough to suggest some may have been same sex.) I haven't read all the biographies, but want to dip my amateur oar into this rippling reflecting pool, to mention a possibility not dwelt upon in those I've seen: could the flood of verse have been her way of coping with the Civil War?
- [[No Longer] Waiting To Exhale? Upbeat Toons After The Midterms?](https://afriendlyletter.com/no-longer-waiting-to-exhale-upbeat-toons-after-the-midterms/) - God Rest YE — Oh, Wait — Who are you referring to, Mr. Chair— err, Santa?? It’s a Barrel of Trouble Now . . . Too Much Truth in This One . . .
- [Indiana Judge vs. State Abortion Ban: Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged](https://afriendlyletter.com/indiana-judge-vs-state-abortion-ban-judge-not-that-ye-be-not-judged/) - [NOTE: I’m no lawyer, but this opinion seems to come under the heading of “sauce for the goose . . .” and the part of the Constitution about the government is not to officially favor any specific religion, which its recent Dobbs decision obviously does. I’ll be watching for updates on the decision’s fate. Religious
- [LGBTQ persons live in fear and often at great risk in many Muslim societies](https://afriendlyletter.com/lgbtq-persons-live-in-fear-and-often-at-great-risk-in-many-muslim-societies/) - [NOTE: A few safe places, amid many areas of official persecution and grave risk; that's the sum of this sketch of legal, social and religious issues facing LGBTQ persons in most Muslim societies. This Associated Press report is unsettling and may for some be traumatic; readers are advised.] AP News: Across vast Muslim world, LGBTQ
- [Ukraine: Don’t Count on a “Winter Lull” in the Fighting](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukraine-dont-count-on-a-winter-lull-in-the-fighting/) - A Winter Hibernation in Ukraine’s War? Gwynne Dyer, Independent Columnist Bangkok Post — December 6, 2022 When the two most senior military and intelligence officials in Washington make the same obvious error in public three times in three weeks, you have to wonder what they are really up to. Can it just be simple ignorance,
- [Breaking. Broken.](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-broken/) - GUILTY—
- [Quote of the Week: A Nationwide Warning from North Carolina](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-week-a-nationwide-warning-from-north-carolina/) - In the recent midterm elections, the North Carolina vote suppression party fell only one seat short of reclaiming the veto-proof majority, which they had deployed like a sledgehammer on human rights until governor Roy Cooper’s political skills broke through it. Now, as he explains here, they are looking to the rightwing bloc on the U.
- [Three Short Items to be Distracted by BEFORE flood of punditry about the Georgia Senate race](https://afriendlyletter.com/three-short-items-to-be-distracted-by-before-flood-of-punditry-about-the-georgia-senate-race/) - #1 - Question: What would be some implications for NC same sex couples if the Obergefell decision is dumped by the Supreme Court? Answer: not certain, but by future court rulings they could be profound: Background: the NC constitution still includes a ban. On May 8, 2012, North Carolina voters approved what was called ”Amendment
- [The Ukraine War’s Other Front: Libraries & their Warrior Librarians](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-ukraine-wars-other-front-libraries-their-warrior-librarians/) - [NOTE: This report is one of the most clarifying pieces I have read on the Ukraine. In one sentence it gets beyond and beneath all the horrible physical death and destruction, and sets it in context: “The wars of this century are wars over meaning. The Guardian, December 4, 2022 ‘Our mission is crucial’: meet
- [Washington Post: A Quaker Takes Charge of His Dying](https://afriendlyletter.com/washington-post-a-quaker-takes-charge-of-his-dying/) - [Note: We’re obliged to start with another, “Happy Holidays, you’re fired!” report, in that industry where they are a near-daily occurrence: The Washington Post announced last week that it will kill its sixty year old Sunday magazine. Its ten staffers have their pink slips, and the final issue will hit the streets on Sunday December
- [Star of the Week: Gladys Knight And her Storied Career](https://afriendlyletter.com/star-of-the-week-gladys-knight-and-her-story/) - [NOTE: i saw Gladys Knight perform with The Pips in the early ‘70s. It was in a seedy, low-light club in Boston. I wasn’t a clubber; the tickets came from a stash of freebies collected by a local music editor I wrote some reviews for. The passes were also the paper’s substitute for decent paychecks
- [Gwynne Dyer: China & Covid](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-china-covid/) - GWYNNE DYER: Xi must play his hand carefully to avoid political disaster with China’s zero-COVID trap 'He is caught in a trap, but he built it himself' Saltwire News, Canada Gwynne Dyer · Columnist | Dec. 2, 2022 “Our COVID-19 policy is the most scientifically effective, the most economical and yields the best result,”
- [Cartoons: “It’s Been A[n Un]Quiet Week in Lake [Trouble] Wo[n’t] Begone . . .”](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-its-been-an-unquiet-week-in-lake-trouble-wont-begone/) - An epidemic of the eloquent unsaid . . . A “Werewolf” will hopefully soon head home . . . Which one will the wee lad get busted for?? Unthinkable, but Undeniable . . . Congratulations, and ”Meow” . . …
- [Quote for the weekend: World War III](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-for-the-weekend-world-war-iii/) - World War III Begins With Forgetting [Excerpts] New York Times — December 3, 2022 By Stelhen Wertheim “[H]ow many Americans can truly envision what a third world war would mean? Just as great power conflict looms again, those who witnessed the last one are disappearing. Around 1 percent of U.S. veterans of World War II
- [Updates: Ex-Neutral Finland Ready for War if Russia invades, Premier Says](https://afriendlyletter.com/updates-ex-neutral-finland-ready-for-war-if-russia-invades-premier-says/) - [Note: the sudden about face of Finland & Sweden away from their longtime neutral stance to seek Nato membership was for me like a double lightning strike: I’ve never visited either one, but could see they knew Russia up close, and through hard experience. For that matter, it was clear neither nation was a shrinking
- [Getting Progressive With Sojourner Truth & Friends](https://afriendlyletter.com/getting-progressive-with-sojourner-truth-friends/) - Among the attenders was Sojourner Truth, the rough-hewn but singularly eloquent advocate for abolition. She is what moved me to cobble together this post. Here’s what the minutes say: Sojourner Truth, an emancipated slave mother, after uttering few impressive sentences, expressed herself as being deeply moved to sing, and she accordingly sung the following lines: “I pity the slave mother, careworn and weary, Who sighs as she presses her babe to her breast; I lament her sad fate, all so hopeless and dreary, I lament for her woes, and her wrongs unredressed. O who can imagine her heart’s deep emotion, As she thinks of her children about to be sold ; You may picture the bounds of the rock-girdled ocean, But the grief of that mother can never be told. The mildew of slavery has blighted each blossom, That ever has bloomed in her pathway below; It has froze every fountain that gushed in her bosom, And chilled her heart’s verdure with pitiless woe: Her parents, her kindred, all crushed by oppression, her husband still doomed in his desert to gay; No arm to protect from the tyrant’s aggression. She must weep as she treads on her desolate way. O, slave-mother, hope! see — the nation is shaking! The arm of the Lord is awake to thy wrong! The slaveholder’s heart now with terror is quaking, Salvation and Mercy to Heaven belong! Rejoice, O rejoice! for the child thou art rearing May one day lift up its unmanacled form, While hope, to thy heart, like the rainbow so cheering, Is born, like the rainbow, ‘mid tempest and storm.’”
- [Breaking: Appeals Court Backs Justice Dept., Drop-Kicks Trump’s Florida Lawsuit](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-appeals-court-backs-justice-dept-drop-kicks-trumps-florida-lawsuit/) - AP News: Trump probe: Court halts Mar-a-Lago special master review BY ERIC TUCKER — December 1, 2022 WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous federal appeals court on Thursday ended an independent review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, removing a hurdle the Justice Department said had delayed its criminal investigation into the retention
- [Indiana AG Targets Doctor who helped 10 year-old rape victim](https://afriendlyletter.com/indiana-ag-targets-doctor-who-helped-10-year-old-rape-victim/) - Indiana’s Republican attorney general on Wednesday asked the state medical licensing board to discipline an Indianapolis doctor who has spoken publicly about providing an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled from Ohio after its more-restrictive abortion law took effect.
- [O.M.G. - What Goes Around Really DOES . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/o-m-g-what-goes-around-really-does/) - More Republicans Died Than Democrats after COVID-19 Vaccines Came Out By YALE UNIVERSITY Futurity — NOVEMBER 30, 2022 The sharp divergence in excess death rates that emerged in the post-vaccine period "is pretty striking… and the magnitudes are quite large." CORONAVIRUS PUBLIC HEALTH A new study looks at excess deaths by partisan affiliation in two
- [Quaker Book Review: “The Living Remnant” Rides Again](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-book-review-the-living-remnant-rides-again/) - The Living Remnant & Other Quaker Tales. By “KKK,” (Edith Florence O’Brien.) Published by Headley Brothers in UK, 1900. A Friend came across this book and passed along a link. It’s a series of four related stories about a tightly-knit (i. e., very insular) British Quaker meeting community, in about 1875. The “tales” portray,
- [Gwynne Dyer: Malaysia Has a Chance for Real Progress — Or Does It?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-malaysia-has-a-chance-for-real-progress-or-does-it/) - Is it too late for Malaysia’s new leader? From the start, Anwar Ibrahim promised to fight corruption and ‘rid this country of racism and religious bigotry,’ he finally has his chance, Gwynne Dyer writes. By Gwynne Dyer - Contributing Columnist — Mon., Nov. 28, 2022 If Anwar Ibrahim had become prime minister of Malaysia in
- [John  Calvi: Boon Companion for Spiritual Travel](https://afriendlyletter.com/john-calvi-boon-companion-for-spiritual-travel/) - English-speaking Quakers today are in dire need of some new “spiritual” books, and I have a top candidate to recommend here. It is John Calvi’s How far Have You Traveled? Amid all the wonderful stuff that’s in it, some of what makes Calvi’s book so excellent is what’s not in it. For example -- and
- [German Catholic Bishops vs. Pope Francis: The “Liberal” Opposition](https://afriendlyletter.com/german-catholic-bishops-vs-pope-francis-the-liberal-opposition/) - [NOTE: Last weekend we posted a report on the deeply conservative Polish Catholic church, which is locked in a mutually vampiric embrace with the very rightwing Polish government, and losing young Poles as one result. In the country next door, Germany has another large cohort of bishops, but of a very different stripe: in Catholic
- [Quotes of The Day: A Double Serving of Irony](https://afriendlyletter.com/quotes-of-the-day-a-double-serving-of-irony/) - [NOTE: The Wall St. Journal is paywalled to the eyelids, so this first clip is a quote of a quote from a week ago without a link, but I’m confident it’s accurate. It was written as speculation about the fragility of the narrow incoming Republican majority (about half a dozen) that will occupy the House of
- [God Wants Mike Pence to Be President . . . Are We Ready?](https://afriendlyletter.com/god-wants-mike-pence-to-be-president-are-we-ready/) - Axios — Oct. 31, 2022 First look: Mike Pence's new book reveals key moment before Jan. 6 Mike Allen, Axios An excerpt obtained by Axios: "What began as a briefing that Thursday afternoon quickly turned into a contentious back-and-forth between the campaign lawyers and a growing group of outside attorneys led by Rudy Giuliani and
- [Quote of the Weekend: Jamelle Bouie Does It Again](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-weekend-jamelle-bouie-does-it-again/) - Jamelle Bouie is increasingly a voice crying in the wilderness, and increasingly important to read and remember, as in these excerpts: Minority Rule Is Steadily Undermining Our Democracy — Again Jamelle Bouie, New York Times - Oct. 21, 2022: “Americans take for granted the idea that our counter-majoritarian Constitution — deliberately written to constrain majorities
- [Renegade Quaker Theology: My Breaking Point - Summer 2011](https://afriendlyletter.com/renegade-quaker-theology-my-breaking-point-summer-2011/) - In my last paid job, at a Quaker peace project next to an enormous military base during the height (or better, the depths) of the Iraq-Afghan wars, I spent a lot of time looking for spiritual resources for that work, and the life that went with the job. For a long time it seemed pretty hard to find any.
- [Call for Justice Barrett to Recuse from LGBTQ Case](https://afriendlyletter.com/call-for-justice-barrett-to-recuse-from-lgbtq-case/) - Former members of Amy Coney Barrett’s secretive faith group, the People of Praise, are calling on the US supreme court justice to recuse herself from an upcoming case involving gay rights, saying Barrett’s continued affiliation with the Christian group means she has participated in discriminatory policies against LGBTQ+ people.
- [Quotes of the Week: Not Many Words; It's Only Wednesday . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/quotes-of-the-week-not-many-words/) - a shooter opened fire in a Walmart in Virginia late Tuesday,leaving six people dead.
- [Gwynne Dyer on The Climate Summit-Maybe A Bit of Hope?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-the-climate-summit-maybe-a-bit-of-hope/) - As after every climate summit, the air is filled with shouts of rage and despair. What was agreed was unclear and inadequate and what was left undecided or simply ignored was vast and terrifying. For example, they still haven’t managed to agree that the world needs to stop burning fossil fuels.
- [Toons for a Thankful Thursday](https://afriendlyletter.com/toons-for-a-thankful-thursday/) - To everything there is a season . . .
- [Gwynne Dyer on A Great Unknown (To most of us) Norse Saga](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-a-great-unknown-to-most-of-us-norse-saga/) - “If the 20th century AD were dated at the same resolution as the 20th century BC, the two World Wars would be indistinguishable in time; and the Montgomery Bus Boycott might post-date the release of Mandela.”
- [An Ecumenical Cartoon Thankfulness Postscript](https://afriendlyletter.com/an-ecumenical-cartoon-thankfulness-postscript/) - The National Catholic Reporter runs a cartoon strip about pope Francis. I hope the winsome character the strip portrays reflects the real character behind it. And here was their contribution for the holiday, which just popped up:
- [The War On Thanksgiving??](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-war-on-thanksgiving/) - Families are gathering around the table together and travel is forecast to be at its highest level in decades. Even the anticipated turkey shortage didn’t materialize, according to the USDA. After three long years of socially distanced holidays, we’re back to merely worrying about who might . . . ruin the feast by shouting at each other about politics. . .
- [Txsgiving Turkey was a BIG Honking TURKEY for NC Furniture Workers](https://afriendlyletter.com/txsgiving-turkey-was-a-big-honking-turkey-for-nc-furniture-workers/) - United Furniture abruptly shuts down Triad operations. Hundreds of workers affected.
- [Timothy Snyder on Strategic Fundraising for Ukraine](https://afriendlyletter.com/timothy-snyder-on-strategic-fundraising-for-ukraine/) - Historian says Russia needs to lose its war in order to become a ‘normal’ European country – and stopping destruction of Ukraine’s power grid is essential.
- [The Polish Catholic Church: Clinging to its rigid homophobia, pedophile priest protection & rightwing government ties, but losing young Poles is the price it's paying](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-polish-catholic-church-clinging-to-its-rigid-homophobia-pedophile-priest-protection-rightwing-government-ties-but-losing-young-poles-is-the-price-its-paying/) - The Polish church is in a deep crisis, as its authority is sapped by cascading sexual abuse scandals and as more people grow wary of its perceived alliance with the country’s right-wing government.
- [Minority Rule Watch: Vote suppression is burgeoning at the state level, especially in Red states](https://afriendlyletter.com/minority-rule-watch-vote-suppression-is-burgeoning-at-the-state-level-especially-in-red-states/) - Minorities make up a majority or near majority in fewer new state legislative districts despite accounting for nearly all of the population growth over the past decade.
- [Pre-Holiday Thankful Toons - No Politics (Well, Almost . . .)](https://afriendlyletter.com/pre-holiday-thankful-toons-no-politics-well-almost/) - Next?? Sure, Kevin — come take a swing . . . Meanwhile, Mired in Mar-a-Lago . … And your special stuffing too, Uncle Elon?? This fairy tale has a very Grimm ending . . . Wait — The Red Wave turned into a glass half full?? This story to be continued (sigh)
- [Heads Up: Willian Penn Followup Coming Soon](https://afriendlyletter.com/heads-up-willian-penn-followup-coming-soon/) - Was William Penn Punished Enough? (Partial List) Jailed: Cork Ireland, Sept. 1668, for attending meeting. Tower of London, Nov or Dec-1668 - 8 months; accused (but not tried) of blasphemy, wrote No Cross, No Crown. Again in August 1670, for preaching, tried with Quaker William Mead in Mead-Bushell case: established the right of juries to
- [NC 7-7 Congressional Voting Map May Soon Be Gone With The Wind](https://afriendlyletter.com/nc-7-7-congressional-voting-map-may-soon-be-gone-with-the-wind/) - A federal appeals court, when it threw out one earlier version, spoke truly when it said the Republican maps "new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision." [NOTE: Gerrymandering was not invented in North Carolina. But it's almost as old as barbecue here, and since the Republicans' 2010 takeover of the legislature, it's been
- [Scrabble Dictionary Adds New Words](https://afriendlyletter.com/scrabble-dictionary-adds-new-words/) - Board game stans rejoice, for the adorbs Scrabble dictionary has embiggened the number of playable terms. This week, the Merriam-Webster dictionary released the seventh edition of its Scrabble Players Dictionary, the official referee on what words are eligible in the popular game, with 500 new words.
- [In The Yard: An Inflection Point](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-the-yard-an-inflection-point/) - This was the scene In The Yard last weekend. Soon the temperature began to drop, and by Thursday . . .And In The Yard, after the frost . . . Where did the flowers go?
- [Staughton Lynd, Remarkable Independent Quaker Radical, Historian and Quaker Activist Turned Labor Lawyer, Dies at 92](https://afriendlyletter.com/staughton-lynd-a-remarkable-independent-quaker-radical/) - Staughton Lynd, a historian and lawyer who over a long and varied career organized schools for Black children in Mississippi, led antiwar protests in Washington and fought for labor rights in the industrial Midwest, died on Thursday in the town of Warren, in northeast Ohio. He was 92.
- [Foie Gras: Begone! And Aroint thee! from the Royal menu!](https://afriendlyletter.com/foie-gras-begone-and-aroint-thee-from-the-royal-menu/) - King Charles: Foie gras banned at royal residences BBC — November 18, 2022 Sean Coughlan, Royal Correspondent There will be no foie gras served in royal residences, a letter from Buckingham Palace to animal rights campaigners has confirmed. King Charles is understood to have been a longstanding opponent of the food, made from the liver
- [Noted Quaker Atheist Dies in New York; Also Kept Diary, & Was A Composer](https://afriendlyletter.com/noted-quaker-atheist-dies-in-new-york-also-kept-diary-was-a-composer/) - Ned Rorem, Pulitzer-winning composer and noted diarist, dies at 99 Washington Post — (AP) By Tim Page — November 18, 2022 He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his orchestral suite ‘Air Music.’ His diaries offered a ‘worldly, intelligent, licentious, highly indiscreet’ entree into elite gay and artistic circles. Composer and author Ned Rorem won the
- [Chuck Berry: An American Original](https://afriendlyletter.com/chuck-berry-an-american-original/) - Chuck Berry was playing a concert in Paris once when the audience started to get out of hand. But instead of engaging the rowdy fans, security did nothing. Things went from bad to worse, and tear gas was fired into the venue. Everybody ran for the exits — everybody except one.
- [Cartoons - A Monday Mix](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-a-monday-mix/) - Does any of the stuff in the cart float?? And looking ahead . . .
- [Roberta Flack: Sad News](https://afriendlyletter.com/roberta-flack-sad-news/) - Roberta Flack, the highly decorated vocalist whose smash hits like “Killing Me Softly With His Song” made her among the most recognizable voices of the 1970s, has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and can no longer sing, according to a statement released by her publicist on Monday.
- [National Review: Trump is finished & will be indicted](https://afriendlyletter.com/national-review-trump-is-finished-will-be-indicted/) - If the former president is no longer a viable candidate for the 2024 GOP nomination, then the Biden DOJ has no incentive not to charge him.
- [Quote of the Midweek/Midterms](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-midweek-midterms/) - Nearly everywhere in competitive races last week, Mr. Trump’s endorsed candidates went down in pyrotechnics. But the flameout of an awkward eccentric, such as Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania or Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, only says so much.
- [Another Religious Culture War Battle Begins: The U. S. Catholic Bishops vs. Pope Francis](https://afriendlyletter.com/another-religious-culture-war-battle-begins-the-u-s-catholic-bishops-vs-pope-francis/) - I’m no expert on Catholic church politics, but I do know a few things: one, that the internal scheming and maneuvering never stops. Francis is aged and visibly in physical decline; the church vultures are circling ever closer around his head, claws out to snatch at the papal mitre when he falters.
- [Progress Against Sedition In the Military? Not Yet . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/progress-against-sedition-in-the-military-not-yet/) - “Burying the lead” (or “lede”) is a form of journalistic malpractice that stuffs the most important information or disclosures in an article under a layer of mostly irrelevant or unoriginal text, likely to deflect readers from noticing them. This article is a prime
- [Troll of the Year: The New York Post vs. “Florida Man”](https://afriendlyletter.com/troll-of-the-year-the-new-york-post-vs-florida-man/) - When Rupert Murdoch turns on a politician, his tabloid pens can be sharper than many swords. Donald Trump is now learning that.
- [Religious Groups Face Off For & Against Senate Same Sex Marriage Bill](https://afriendlyletter.com/religious-groups-face-off-for-against-senate-same-sex-marriage-bill/) - The news here is not so much the Senate’s passage of the same sex marriage bill, but the big shift in its denominational support: the switch of the Mormon church (aka LDS) to supporting it, after decades of being a pillar of opposition.
- [TV News facing big cuts](https://afriendlyletter.com/tv-news-facing-big-cuts/) - The afternoon email hit some inside CNN like a ton of bricks. The cable news channel, now under Warner Bros. Discovery (its second owner in just a few years) was going to face budget cuts and layoffs. “There is widespread concern over the global economic outlook, and we must factor that risk into our long-term planning,” CNN CEO Chris Licht wrote in a late-October memo
- [Gwynne Dyer: What’s Next for Ukraine?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-whats-next-for-ukraine/) - The recovery of the city of Kherson is the third big victory for the Ukrainian armed forces in three months: First, the reconquest of all of Kharkiv Oblast (province) in September, then the partial destruction of the Kerch Strait bridge linking Crimea with Russia in October, and now the liberation of Kherson. So where next?
- [Water is Life. When Their Wells Dry Up, Bottled Water Is Life. Then . . .?](https://afriendlyletter.com/water-is-life-when-their-wells-dry-up-bottled-water-is-life-then/) - Wells are running dry in California at a record pace. Amid a hotter, drier climate and the third consecutive year of severe drought, the state has already tallied a record 1,351 dry wells this year — nearly 40 percent over last year’s rate and the most since the state created its voluntary reporting system in 2014.
- [Stick to Nonviolence: A Followup](https://afriendlyletter.com/stick-to-nonviolence-a-followup/) - A quick followup to the July 28th post, "Why nonviolent protests are smarter, even/especially today". The point, to reiterate, was that lots of academic & private polling research, plus my own movement experience, confirms the idea that nonviolent protests move public opinion in a progressive direction, while violent demonstrations nudge it toward the reactionary right,
- [Let’s Go Goatwalking, Friends](https://afriendlyletter.com/lets-go-goatwalking-friends/) - Jim Corbett was a fascinating guy, but like all of us he had his faults. In his amazing first book, he way overdid the self-deprecation: ”Goatwalking is a book for saddlebag or backpack —to live with a while, casually. It is compact and multifaceted, but for unhurried reflection rather than study. It is woven from
- [Midweek Book Review](https://afriendlyletter.com/midweek-book-review/) - From the Washington Post - Barbara Kingsolver’s ‘Demon Copperhead’ may be the best novel of 2022 By Ron Charles — October 25, 2022 at 2:08 p.m. ET It’s barely Halloween. The ball won’t drop in Times Square for another two full months, and more good books will surely appear before the year ends. But I
- [The U. S. Higher Ed Crisis: How it Happened, How to Fix It](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-u-s-higher-ed-crisis-how-it-happened-how-to-fix-it/) - CNBC- PERSONAL FINANCE How college became so expensive, and how we can turn it around, according to a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist PUBLISHED THU, OCT 27 2022 Annie Nova@ANNIEREPORTER KEY POINTS How college became so expensive, and its consequences on families and U.S. society, are the issues explored in Will Bunch’s new book, After the Ivory
- [Aftermath #3: Crumbling Pillars? The Dawning of a Long Dark Night?](https://afriendlyletter.com/aftermath-3-crumbling-pillarsthe-dawning-of-a-long-dark-night/) - Particularly when it comes to politics, I seem to be a perennial pessimist, even a catastrophist, expecting every election to yield defeat and disaster. The last time this blanket prediction went wrong was in 2012, a decade which feels like an eon ago. (The 2020 election initially seemed better; but that November was followed by
- [Rep. Cori Bush: An Interview](https://afriendlyletter.com/rep-cori-bush-an-interview/) - The Guardian — Sat 29 Oct 2022 ‘I’m changing Congress’: how Cori Bush brought her lived experience to Capitol Hill David Smith in Washington Member of ‘the Squad’ on how her abortion experience, sexual assault and front-line fight in Ferguson, Missouri, affected her politics Her new memoir is bracingly, sometimes painfully honest, but there is
- [Ukraine updates: Kherson Wthdrawal & the War’s Environmental Toll](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukraine-updates-kherson-wthdrawal-the-wars-environmental-toll/) - #1–AP News: EXPLAINER: How important is a Russian retreat from Kherson? BY SAM MEDNICK — November 11, 2022 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials said Friday that Ukrainian flags were appearing “en masse and all over the place,” in the wake of Russia’s retreat from the southern region of Kherson, one of the four regions
- [Cartoons: Is It Just Me, Or Are These Cartoons Actually Kinda Funny??](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-is-it-just-me-or-are-these-cartoons-actually-kinda-funny/) - Too much cartoon commentary this year has had a grim, often gallows humor aspect. It seemed justified (or at least inescapable) in the moment, but was wearying to deal with week after week. Perhaps we’re now just having a brief break in the gloom. If so, we better flex those stiff muscles and enjoy it.
- [Wendy, The Fair Daredevil](https://afriendlyletter.com/wendy-the-fair-daredevil/) - A long time ago, before we crossed paths, the Fair Wendy rode a motorcycle from Ohio to Pittsburgh and back, then later to Chicago. She loved the independence, the adventure, and the wind. She still has the motorcycle, under a tarp behind the house. Fortunately (from my perspective) it’s too rusted to be cranked up.
- [Dyer: Humans Inherited War](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-humans-inherited-war/) - Thursday, 10 November 2022 | Gwynne Dyer Anthropologists have found that warfare was chronic and almost universal among hunter-gatherers We appear to be witnessing a dramatic and childlike scenario,” said Pope Francis in Bahrain on Friday. “In the garden of humanity, instead of cultivating our surroundings, we are playing instead with fire, missiles and bombs,
- [What’s Beyond “Beyond Meat”? Imagine Whirled Peas .. .](https://afriendlyletter.com/whats-beyond-beyond-meat-imagine-whirled-peas/) - Falling sales suggest plant-based meat may be all hat, no cattle Washington Post Opinion by Helaine Olen — November 7, 2022 The future of plant-based meat was supposed to be cooked to perfection. In recent years, corporate and venture capital funds poured into the space. Fast-food giants such as KFC and Burger King raced to roll
- [Reuters: Twitter Losing Core Tweeters, Internal Docs Show](https://afriendlyletter.com/reuters-twitter-losing-core-tweeters-internal-docs-show/) - Can’t deny it, but I failed at figuring out how to make TWTR work, as a way of communication or discussion, so never became involved or enamored. In addition, I think crypto is at bottom a scam, so I never was drawn toTWTR by that. If this Reuters report is correct about a gathering exodus
- [Thoughts for the Morning After (Not) the Apocalypse](https://afriendlyletter.com/thoughts-for-the-morning-after-not-the-apocalypse/) - GARRISON KEILLOR —11/9/22 I’m thinking I should get to work on a museum of the era before the internet and cellphones and streaming music so that people under 40 know what it was like to talk on a phone with a cord on the kitchen wall and gossip without your mother understanding what it was
- [Jessica Valenti With an Important Reminder](https://afriendlyletter.com/jessica-valenti-with-an-important-reminder/) - I’m searching the campaign coverage, but I can’t find, um — help me out: did the Supreme Court get re-elected?? Oh wait. Right, they weren’t on the ballot. Life tenure, all that. That helps explain this nightmare I had: We were getting ready to march again, from Selma to Montgomery, to get voting rights and
- [Quotes of The Day (Actually Yesterday, But Whatever)](https://afriendlyletter.com/quotes-of-the-day-actually-yesterday-but-whatever/) - Quotes of the Day: The New York Times hosted a conversation among two pundits (Times columnist Frank Bruni; Jonathan V. Last, editor of the Bulwark; Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan state senator). Here are several excerpts: A “red wave”? Frank Bruni: There was more like an itty-bitty, pale red undulation. McMorrow: It changed everything —
- [Falling Off the Surfboard: Five Post-election Images](https://afriendlyletter.com/falling-off-the-surfboard-five-post-election-images/) - Oh wait! What’s Next . . .? Who You Calling a Loser?? What - YOU!?!? Look Who’s Got Egg On His Face . . . Have a great walk home . . . .
- [So, How’s Your Friday Morning Going?](https://afriendlyletter.com/so-hows-your-morning-going/) - The remnants of Ex-Hurricane (now Tropical Depression) Nicole are passing by. How do we know this? Here are clues: 1. 9:45 AM, the radio squeals its alarming BEEP!” And do we have a basement? No. 2. 10:15 AM: Sunshine, and our Cosmos blooms have cutesy raindrops on the stems. 11:00 AM: The grey clouds
- [Exclusive - This NEVER Happens! The New York Times --](https://afriendlyletter.com/exclusive-this-never-happens-the-new-york-times/) - Durham NC--Yes: This never happens, except today it did: The New York Times actually mentioned North Carolina politics in a major article. Actually TWO articles. And they did so not just once, not twice, but THREE times. (And without bringing up barbecue, basketball. Krispy Kreme or Cheerwine, not even a single time.) Let me explain
- [An Election Day Refuge From Campaign News & Punditry](https://afriendlyletter.com/your-election-day-refuge-from-campaign-news-punditry/) - Don't get me wrong, Friends: of course I'm following the voting day news. But so is everybody else. And my oft-repeated opinions sound too much like those of the other pundits who are sagacious enough to agree with me. So I'll give them a rest for now. Not to mention that the Fair Wendy left
- [Climate Focus: Can Hi-Tech Save The Potato? (Is That A Real Question?? Yes.)](https://afriendlyletter.com/climate-focus-can-hi-tech-save-the-potato-is-that-a-real-question-yes/) - The Guardian — 5 November 2022 Our unequal earth Star Trek for potatoes: can a hi-tech farm save french fries from the climate crisis? Researchers flock to New Brunswick, Canada, to test both cutting-edge and bygone methods of spud cultivation to meet a challenging future by Dominic Rushe in Florenceville, Canada, with photographs by Adetona
- [Dyer-Lula: One Rare Sign of  Hope for the Climate](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-lula-one-rare-sign-of-hope-for-the-climate/) - Dyer: Brazil's change of presidents best news for climate change conference This year’s United Nation’s Climate Change Conference (COP27) opens in Cairo Sunday and continues for two weeks, but all that hot air is less important than the single fact that Luiz Inácio (Lula) da Silva narrowly won the Brazilian presidency last Sunday. By Gwynne
- [Aftermath — Part 2: A Constant Struggle](https://afriendlyletter.com/aftermath-part-2-a-constant-struggle/) - Aftermath — Part 2 Amelia Boynton was my landlady in Selma, Alabama. She was also a prominent local civil fights activist, one of the handful of Black Selmians who had managed to badger her way onto the voting rolls despite segregation. When she was knocked out cold on Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge during the “Bloody
- [Amish & The Vote: Their buggies are cute; their clothes & dialect are quaint; their food is good (& fattening). Their politics? Well . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/amish-politics-their-buggies-are-cute-their-clothes-their-food-is-good-fattening-their-politics-well/) - New York Times - Opinion: Guest Essay Doug Mastriano and the Potential of Amish Voters in Pennsylvania By Bonnie Kristian -- Nov. 4, 2022 Ms. Kristian is a journalist and a fellow at Defense Priorities, a foreign policy think tank. Former President Donald Trump lost Pennsylvania in 2020 by just around 80,000 votes out of
- [2022: The Aftermath - Part 1](https://afriendlyletter.com/2022-the-aftermath-part-1/) - Imagine that these dreaded midterms are over. What happens next? As to the electoral results “que sera sera,” what will be, will be. No predictions will be offered here, except this one: Whatever the outcome, I am dead-sure it will not be the end of our national time of trial. Win lose or draw, the
- [Gwynne Dyer on Elon Musk & His Twitter Mess](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-elon-musk-his-twitter-mess/) - Gwynne Dyer: Elon Musk — the benign sociopath who may have thrown a monkey wrench into his great plans for the world Saltwire — Nov. 1, 2022 Elon Musk is that rarest of things — a benign sociopath — and, therefore, a person of considerable value to the world. He has just made a mistake
- [Quote of the Week: What (& Who) Makes a Chair a “Chair”?](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-week-what-who-makes-a-chair-a-chair/) - Tom Edsall writes data- and research-driven columns in the New York Times that frequently make my head spin and my heart sink. Today he did both by talking about a chair . . . . Edsall: David Autor is an economist at M.I.T. who has written on the role of the trade shocks that have
- [Only ONE More Week of Pre-Election Cartoons!](https://afriendlyletter.com/only-one-more-week-of-pre-election-cartoons/)
- [Roll Over, Beethoven: Jerry Lee Lewis Is Here & There’s A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On Upstairs!](https://afriendlyletter.com/roll-over-beethoven-jerry-lee-lewis-is-here-theres-a-whole-lotta-shakin-goin-on-upstairs/) - Jerry Lee Lewis, Rock Pioneer and ‘Great Balls of Fire’ Singer, Dies at 87 Variety — Oct 28, 2022 By Chris Morris Singer-pianist Jerry Lee Lewis, the hell-raising, larger-than-life rock ‘n’ roll pioneer and latter-day country star, has died, according to a rep, Zach Farnum. He was 87. His death had erroneously been reported by
- [My Drag Confession, And An “Explainer”](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-drag-confession-and-an-explainer/) - NOTE/Confession: Halfway through reading the “Explainer” piece below, a suppressed memory broke through the mind fog: that of my own drag experience; and yes, bowing to the current fashion, I’m going to spill the sordid details right here. It was around 1990, on or about what the world calls Halloween, at a Friends meeting near
- [New Climate Change Impact Forecast: Massive, Drastic, Inescapable — But (Not Necessarily) Apocalyptic](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-climate-change-impact-forecast-massive-drastic-inescapable-but-not-necessarily-apocalyptic/) - The New World: Envisioning Life After Climate Change [Excerpts] By David Wallace-Wells New York Times — 10/28/2022 Climate change has led to roughly 1.2 degrees Celsius of warming so far, making the earth hotter now than it has ever been in the long history of civilization. . . . We know what put us in
- [Climate: Looking for Good News. Not Finding Much.](https://afriendlyletter.com/climate-looking-for-good-news-not-finding-much/) - Climate Pledges Are Falling Short, and a Chaotic Future Looks More Like Reality New York Times — By Max Bearak — Oct. 26, 2022 (Excerpts) With an annual summit next month, the United Nations assessed progress on countries’ past emissions commitments. Severe disruption would be hard to avoid on the current trajectory. - - -
- [Cartoon Therapy for the next-to-last pre-election weekend](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoon-therapy-for-the-next-to-last-pre-election-weekend/)
- [Good Advice For the Day & The Season](https://afriendlyletter.com/good-advice-for-the-day-theseason/) - [NOTE: I have no secluded cabin for refuge, but have long hunkered down at home in a manner close to what’s described below. Had two vaxx and three boosters. The beast has missed me so far, but with several near misses; it has hit many friends, and my close family more than once, including just
- [Breaking! In The Yard — Monarch Sighting Confirmed!](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-in-the-yard-monarch-sighting-confirmed/) - BREAKING! In The Yard: Confirmed Monarch Butterfly Sighting! Friday Oct. 28, 2022
- [Why No Plural “You” in English? Blame It On Quakers?? John McWhorter Says No, Y’all . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/why-no-plural-you-in-english-blame-it-on-quakers-john-mcwhorter-says-no-yall/) - NOTE: Besides being a columnist for the New York Times, John McWhorter is also a professor of linguistics, and a survivor of some years in a Friends school. He also publishes an online “newsletter,” in which these observations appeared for thy edification. Why doesn’t English have a plural ‘you’? By John McWhorter Fish don’t know
- [Gwynne Dyer on Possible Bibi Comeback & What’s Next](https://afriendlyletter.com/bibi-comeback/) - Gwynne Dyer: Israel: Yet Another Election From The Portugal News By Gwynne Dyer, in Opinion · Oct. 27, 2022 Israeli voters are indefatigable. The election on November 1st will be the fifth in just three-and-a-half years, and yet the turnout is still likely to be around 70%. That’s especially remarkable because all five elections
- [Get In Line: Job One (& 2, 3, 4, Etc.) if There's a new GOP House Majority -- Impeach Biden (Et al)](https://afriendlyletter.com/job-one-2-3-4-etc-if-theres-a-new-gop-house-majority-impeach-biden-et-al/) - THE IMPEACHMENT OF JOE BIDEN And possibly Kamala Harris, and Merrick Garland, and Alejandro Mayorkas, and Antony Blinken The Atlantic -- By Barton Gellman -- OCTOBER 26, 2022 Sometime next year, after an interval of performative investigations, Republicans in the House are going to impeach Joe Biden. This may not be their present plan, but
- [CNN: In Trouble](https://afriendlyletter.com/cnn-in-trouble/) - CNN is facing unsettling news in uncertain times Pointer Institute, Tom Jones. Oct. 27. 2022 (AP Photo/Ron Harris) Looks like major changes are coming to CNN. And not in a good way. Chris Licht, chairman of CNN, sent a memo to staff Wednesday, writing that a “noticeable change” is on the way. The memo came
- [Garrison Keillor ‘Fesses Up](https://afriendlyletter.com/garrison-keillor-fesses-up/) - My grandpa Denham grew up in the tenements of Glasgow back when the residents leaned out the window and shouted, “Comin’ oot!” and threw the contents of the chamber pot into the street. Grandpa got sick of being dumped on and brought his brood to Minneapolis and he never looked back. He wasn’t nostalgic
- [Ignoring Africa’s (not very many) Wars. Is It (anything but) Racism?](https://afriendlyletter.com/ignoring-africas-not-very-many-wars-is-it-anything-but-racism/) - GWYNNE DYER: Tigray is being brutally decimated at the hands of Ethiopia, but the world is mostly looking the other way 'There is only one special thing about Africa’s wars: how little attention everybody else pays to them' By: Gwynne Dyer — Friday, Oct. 21, 2022 When writing about the Tigray-Ethiopia struggle or any other war
- [Russian Draft Resisters/Refugees in Alaska: Update](https://afriendlyletter.com/russian-draft-resisters-refugees-in-alaska-update/) - [NOTE: After risking their lives cross cold ocean watersin a tiny boat, have they traded one of Putin’s gulags for “detention” (aka jail) in the “free” world?Given the crappy conditions in which many refugees/asylum seekers are held, I wish there was some better way to monitor their situation.] AP News: Alaska asylum seekers are
- [Ohio’s Large Ukrainian Community: A Key to Its Senate Race?](https://afriendlyletter.com/ohios-large-ukrainian-community-a-key-to-its-senate-race/) - NOTE: The Ukraine War is A Close, Family Matter Here. Will it affect the outcome of the midterm Senate contest? Washington Post — Politics In Ohio, J. D. Vance faces backlash in Ukrainian community over war stance Many said they would not vote for Vance. In a tight contest, such sentiments could have far-reaching implications.
- [The Story I Missed: Many FBI Agents Favored the Capitol Invaders on Jan. 6](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-story-i-missed-many-fbi-agents-favored-the-capitol-invaders-on-jan-6/) - [NOTE: Overall, the Feds are doing a good, even remarkable job pursuing and prosecuting Jan. 6 Capitol insurgents. But there are enough exceptions, notably in the FBI, that the fact needs to be reported on & assertively followed up. This report by NBC News is a needed example. To those who remember the civil rights
- [Chelsea Manning: A Searching, Thought-Provoking Profile](https://afriendlyletter.com/chelsea-manning-a-searching-thought-provoking-profile/) - A Compelling Read . . . The Guardian Chelsea Manning: ‘I struggle with the so-called free world compared with life in prison’ Nihilist, anarchist, idealist, troubled young transperson crying out for help: when a 22-year-old US military analyst leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents, everyone thought they knew why. They were wrong, she says.
- [Cartoons: Counting Down to the Midterms Maelstrom](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-counting-down-to-the-midterms-maelstrom/)
- [CNN Shocker: Mississippi Drying Up, Fast; River Traffic Slowwws . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/cnn-shocker-mississippi-drying-up-fast-river-traffic-slowwws/) - CNN Before and after: See how the Mississippi River and its tributaries have dropped to record lows Angela Fritz & Brian Miller — Oct. 22, 202( (CNN) - Photos and satellite imagery from the central United States show how the region's worst drought in at least a decade has pushed the Mississippi River and
- [Update: U. S. Military orders Help for Servicemembers Abortions: GOP Vows Fight](https://afriendlyletter.com/update-u-s-military-orders-help-for-servicemembers-abortions-gop-vows-fight/) - [NOTE: These related reports include an update on Defense Department efforts to support reproductive rights of pregnant servicemembers, and a background Op-Ed that helped shape the latest pronouncement. The comments from Congress indicate that this issue will continue to be controversial.] New Pentagon abortion policy draws ire of GOP, praise from Democrats By Leo Shane
- [Front Line Thursday Morning Bulletin](https://afriendlyletter.com/front-line-thursday-morning-bulletin/)
- [Ukrainian Women POWS released in Prisoner Swap](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukrainian-women-pows-released-in-prisoner-swap/) - One Ukrainian prisoner Swap: Two accounts Sky News UK — Oct. 18, 2022 More than 100 Ukrainian women have been released from Russian captivity as part of what is thought to be one of the biggest prisoner swaps in the war so far. Some 218 detainees were exchanged on Monday - 108 Ukrainian woman and
- [Dems on the Offense! A Compelling TV ad for reproductive rights](https://afriendlyletter.com/dems-on-the-offense-a-compelling-tv-ad-for-reproductive-rights/) - California Dem. Congressman Eric Swalwell is throwing down hard in his competitive re-election campaign. His new TV ad is a shocker: It’s titled “Lock Her Up!” (Hint : it’s NOT about Hillary) Look it over. It’s 90 seconds you won’t forget. You may want to pass it on. And you may want to pass it
- [Quote of the Day: America’s Fatefully Conjoined Twins — Democracy & Autocracy](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-day-americas-fatefully-conjoined-twins-democracy-autocracy/) - NOTE: It took me awhile to realize it, but my joining the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama in 1965 was like walking into a theater showing an action movie/thriller just in time for the climactic car chase and shootout: high excitement and historic triumph for the good guys. Within six months, it seemed to
- [God Help Us -- St. Francis Has Come to THIS??](https://afriendlyletter.com/god-help-us-st-francis-has-come-to-this/) - NOTE: When many of us think, read or talk about the authoritarian religious right today, we reflexively refer to Protestant evangelicals. Yes, most such fit that category; but they are by no means all Protestants or evangelicals. The Catholic church was was spawning and nurturing authoritarian cultures and polities long before Protestants or modern evangelicals
- [Mid-October Update: In The Yard](https://afriendlyletter.com/mid-october-update-in-the-yard/)
- [Cartoons: NOT including Jan. 6](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-not-including-jan-6/) - Ooops — Couldn’t pass this one by . . . A New Plan for Abortion . . . Don’t follow the sign for “Tactical Nukes Drive” . . . Whodunnit?? The guy from the FED . . . The “Great” Evil Oil Price Pumpkin Counting Down . . . .
- [Gwynne Dyer on China Making Xi The Ruler-For-Life](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-china-making-xi-the-ruler-for-life/) - In the Chinese Communist Party's 20th National Congress, which begins in Beijing on Sunday, President Xi Jinping is expected to be confirmed as president-for-life. If that actually happens, China's ascent to genuine superpower status will be at least delayed. At worst (from the Chinese perspective), it may not happen at all. The CCP has now
- [War Is Still Hell: Father vs. Son In Ukraine](https://afriendlyletter.com/war-is-still-hell-father-vs-son-in-ukraine/) - The Guardian: ‘He joined the enemy’: a Ukraine soldier on fighting his father on Russian side Artur is in touch by text with his father, Oleg, a colonel in pro-Moscow forces, and is trying hard not to let hate consume him Pjotr SauerFri 14 Oct 2022 In the early hours of 24 February, when Russian
- [The January 6 Committee’s Thursday Hearing in Ten Quick Screen Shots](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-january-6-committees-thursday-hearing-in-ten-quick-screen-shots/) - The Last Hearing? Maybe. Or maybe not. "If [Trump]
- [Afghan Fighter pilot Now Hunts Down U.S. Wildfires from the Air](https://afriendlyletter.com/afghan-fighter-pilot-now-hunts-down-u-s-wildfires-from-the-air/) - Afghan Pilot Who Bombed the Taliban Now Flying Recon to Combat US Wildfires 5 Oct 2022 — Military.com|By Richard Sisk Former Afghan Air Force (AAF) Maj. Samimullah Samim, one of the thousands of Afghans who ran the gantlet of Taliban checkpoints and the deadly chaos at the Kabul airport gates to escape to the U.S.
- [F.B.I. Monitored Aretha Franklin for Years, File Shows](https://afriendlyletter.com/f-b-i-monitored-aretha-franklin-for-years-file-shows/) - Four days after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Atlanta field office of the F.B.I. directed a memo to a trusted adviser of J. Edgar Hoover, describing plans for a “huge memorial concert” at the Atlanta Braves’ stadium with Aretha Franklin, Sammy Davis Jr., Marlon Brando, Mahalia Jackson and
- [Jan. 6 Committee Hearing (Final??) Cartoon Preview](https://afriendlyletter.com/jan-6-committee-hearing-final-cartoon-preview/) - “Oh, no!” He cried. “They’re back!!!” . . . And they’re doing it AGAIN!! . . . And Americans are paying attention . . . . . . And somewhere, even Lincoln is listening . . . . . . But there’s hope, Abe!
- [Bad News: Top Newspaper Chain Sinking Fast](https://afriendlyletter.com/top-newspaper-chain-sinking-fast/) - Gannett announces new cuts including mandatory unpaid leave and buyouts poynter.org — October 12, 2022 By: Angela Fu Gannett Newspapers will be requiring employees to take one week of unpaid leave in December and is seeking volunteers for buyouts, CEO Mike Reed announced in a staff-wide email Wednesday. The company also has paused overall hiring
- [Quote of The Week: Guns & “Religious Fervor”](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-week-guns-religious-fervor/) - I did a great deal of reporting over the last year and a half on the turmoil in the white evangelical church in America. And . . . I can’t underscore this one enough, because I’ve spent a lot of time talking with leading religious figures, scholars, academics, people who know this world inside
- [KA-POW! Kicking A*s Amid the Asteroids: NASA Knocks The Rock’s Socks Off!](https://afriendlyletter.com/ka-pow-kicking-as-amid-the-asteroids-nasa-knocked-the-rocks-socks-off/) - AP News: Smashing success: NASA asteroid strike results in big nudge AP News: Smashing success: NASA asteroid strike results in big nudge Associated Press — Oct. 11, 2023 BY MARCIA DUNN CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away succeeded in shifting its orbit, NASA
- [Ukraine & Corruption: A Major, Mostly Unmentioned Issue](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukraine-corruption-a-major-mostly-unmentioned-issue/) - New York Times: Ukraine Is Weakened by Corruption, So How Is It Stymying the Russians? Oct. 10, 2022 By Peter Coy, Opinion Writer Corruption undermines society as surely as termites undermine houses. Ukraine suffers from corruption. So how has Ukrainian society nonetheless managed to stymie a Russian invasion, and even turn the tables on
- [College Closures: Are the Wolves Coming? The British?](https://afriendlyletter.com/college-closures/) - In recent years, I’ve seen a number of articles about an imminent “crisis” in U. S. Higher education: enrollment is declining, they say, while costs keep going up; small colleges are on the brink; student loan debt is crushing a generation; it’s worse for poor and minority students . . . It can’t go on
- [Breaking! Texas Pete Hot Sauce Drenched by False Advertising Lawsuit](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-texas-pete-hot-sauce-drenched-by-false-advertising-lawsuit/) - [NOTE: No! This post was not taken from The Onion. Again NO! It was not written by the New Yorker’s brilliant Andy Borowitz. And honest, I can’t make this stuff up! It’s from today’s issue of the very staid & sober, thrice Pulitzer Prize-winning daily, the Raleigh News & Observer. That doesn’t make the subject any
- [More Weekend Cartoons: Half Political/Half Not](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-weekend-cartoons-half-political-half-not/) - The Fair Wendy and I on date night. . . Down here we Don’t Say “Pay” for hurricane cleanup . . . 33333 But we’ll keep the Bible, including the story about Noah and his daughters, and Solomon’s 700 (or so) wives and 300 (more or less) concubines . . . And
- [Chelsea Manning Is an American Hero. Full Stop.](https://afriendlyletter.com/chelsea-manning-is-an-american-hero-full-stop/) - . . . And both an inspiration & challenge to Quakers & other people of faith. Thank you to the Times for implicitly acknowledging this. And to Obama for commuting her prison sentence. Chelsea Manning: ‘I’m Still Bound to Secrecy’ New York Times — Oct. 8, 2022 By Chelsea Manning Ms. Manning is an American
- [Gwynne Dyer On The International Populist Wave](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-the-international-populist-wave/) - Gwynne Dyer · Columnist | Oct. 7, 2022 The reports about Luiz Inácio (Lula) da Silva’s impending comeback as Brazilian president verged on the ecstatic in the week before last Sunday’s vote. He was, after all, 14 points ahead of his populist rival, incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro, in the last opinion poll before the vote.
- [Quote of the Weekend: Iran Women’s Resistance](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-weekend-iran-womens-resistance/) - The gap between the freedoms and opportunities enjoyed by the system’s affiliated elite and those of ordinary Iranians has never been so wide — and never have so many people expressed so much anger about it. This fundamental repudiation of the system is what makes these protests so different from other restive moments in Iran’s
- [Alaska: Russian War Resisters Update](https://afriendlyletter.com/alaska-russian-war-resisters-update/) - Alaska Daily News: Gambell is about 200 miles southwest of the Western Alaska hub city of Nome and about 50 miles from the tip of the Chukotka Peninsula in Siberia. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday, as initial details of the situation were emerging, said he did not expect a continual stream or “flotilla” of
- [Ian’s Unnoticed Aftermath: A Meditation](https://afriendlyletter.com/ians-unnoticed-aftermath-a-meditation/) - Night and Morning in Orlando [SIDEBAR:(CNN) - After Hurricane Ian obliterated communities in Florida, rescue crews going door to door in search of survivors are reporting more deaths, and residents grappling with loss are facing a long, daunting recovery. As of Tuesday, October 4, at least 109 people have been reported killed by the hurricane
- [Weekend Cartoons (Early Edition)](https://afriendlyletter.com/weekend-cartoons-early-edition/) - [NOTE: I thought I was finished with apocalyptic cartoons about the Supreme Court, which just started open season — err, opened its annual season of judicial work. But editorial cartoonists had other ideas, many of them. I’ll hold off; though fear not, Friend reader, there were plenty of other apocalyptic cartoons on offer. . .
- [From Siberia to Alaska: More on the Two Russian Draft Refusers](https://afriendlyletter.com/from-siberia-to-alaska-more-on-the-two-russian-draft-refusers/) - Update: Two Russians flee Ukraine draft by crossing Bering Sea by boat to Alaska Individuals landed at beach on remote island to avoid compulsory military service and have appealed for asylum, reports saying julian Borger in Washington — Thursday, 06 October 2022 Two Russians have crossed the Bering Strait by boat in order to avoid
- [BREAKING: Two Russian Draft Dodgers Land In Alaska, Seek Asylum](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-two-russian-draft-dodgers-land-in-alaska-seek-asylum/) - Associated Press BY BECKY BOHRER 2:40 PM Oct. 6, 2022 — Developing Story JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Two Russians who said they fled the country to avoid compulsory military service have requested asylum in the U.S. after landing on a remote Alaskan island in the Bering Sea, Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office said Thursday.
- [Rachel Maddow’s Successor At MSNBC Struggles to Gain Audience](https://afriendlyletter.com/msnbc/) - NOTE: I don’t “watch” MSNBC, but I often listen to its prime time shows thru my phone. Those programs are 99% talking heads, so I don’t miss much, except maybe Steve Kornacki’s “big board” on election nights. And like many others, I’m a big Rachel Maddow fan, and was very sorry to see her move
- [Ukraine, a “New Europe,” and Strange Bedfellows Like Us](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukraine-a-new-europe-and-us/) - [NOTE: This opinion piece is an artifact of a senior Establishment pundit, who has jetted off to Poland to hang with his people and schmooze various bigwigs at a high-level international conference. Such junkets are a perk of his gig and class. I find it interesting and worth sharing because, to my continuing surprise, his
- [Gwynne Dyer: Chasing The Escaping Glaciers](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-chasing-the-escaping-glaciers/) - GWYNNE DYER: Is the human speed limit too slow to adequately address climate change? I’m writing this on a plane to Greenland — well, actually, on a plane to Denmark because there’s no way to get to Greenland by a civilian airline without going through Copenhagen first — and it has occurred to me (not
- [Ukraine War: Edging Toward The Nuclear Precipice](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukraine-war-edging-toward-the-nuclear-precipice/) - Goodbye again, Gorby; Hello, Mr. Brinkman . . . . No, it’s NOT good to have you back. Washington Post: Russia’s annexation puts world ‘two or three steps away’ from nuclear war By Liz Sly — October 1, 2022 LONDON — President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of the annexation of four regions in eastern and southern
- [“The Onion” Files Supreme Court Brief. This Is Not a Joke. (But It Should Be.)](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-onion-files-supreme-court-brief-this-is-not-a-joke-but-it-should-be/) - Area Man Is Arrested for Parody. The Onion Files a Supreme Court Brief. “Americans can be put in jail for poking fun at the government?” the satirical website asked in a friend-of-the-court brief filed Monday. “This was a surprise to America’s Finest News Source. By Eduardo Medina A man who was arrested over a Facebook
- [Gwynne Dyer on the New UK Government Disaster](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-the-new-uk-government-disaster/) - Britannia Unhinged: UK's Return to Trickle Down Economy is Suicide The value of the British pound is already collapsing. And the strikes and protests proliferate. Gwynne Dyer -- October 2, 2022 “The Queen’s final act of service to the nation was to selflessly buy the economy one last fortnight,” said one tweet when all four
- [When In Doubt: More Leonard Cohen](https://afriendlyletter.com/when-in-doubt-more-leonard-cohen/) - [NOTE: I’m a latecomer to Leonard Cohen fandom. His early songs seemed gloomy, slight and self-indulgent, his young voice nasal and whiny. I much preferred Bob Dylan then. But when a good friend gave me his album “Democracy” thirty or so years later the title song and several others bowled me over: his voice had
- [Images for the First Monday of October: Are Your Rights Safe? (Hint: Not At The Supreme Court)](https://afriendlyletter.com/images-for-the-first-monday-of-october-are-your-rights-safe-hint-not-at-the-supreme-court/) - “Religious Liberty” for THEM, But Not forThe Rest of Us . . . Then They Won’t Even Need to Bother With Voters Anymore . . . Hey, Lincoln Will Be Re-Elected Anyway — What Could Go Wrong?? “Besides, Lady, my friend Ginni says you’ll be outta there soon — once you see the true light
- [250,000 Hits Later: Taking Stock of a Quaker Blog](https://afriendlyletter.com/250000-hits-later-taking-stock-of-a-quaker-blog/) - Yesterday I spent a few hours hunched over my laptop screen, waiting for a number to arrive: the 250,000th hit on this blog. 250,000: A quarter of a million. Imagine. The hit counter said that number was near, and it felt like a major milestone for me. Sure, I realize that big time blogs can
- [In The Yard . . . And Beyond (A Little Way)](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-the-yard-and-beyond-a-little-way/) - In The Yard: Only the toughest Zinnias survive the Morning Glories . . . There are still a scattering of roses among the yellow-green Japonica . . . And feeling adventurous, we went to a rare lunch out . . . At the favorite Hispanic/Salvadoran place, where prices are up, alas, but comfort food is
- [OMG!! MAD Magazine is Seventy!](https://afriendlyletter.com/omg-mad-magazine-is-seventy/) - While a restless teenager the somnolent late 1950s, I discovered MAD by accident, and it became a rare but longed-for survival tool. In and after the Sixties, it wasn't so cool, but still. And today it yet survives, in a now-and-then form, and has reached a landmark that maybe you have to be of a
- [Monday, Monday — Can’t Trust That Day! The Supreme Court Will Be Back](https://afriendlyletter.com/monday-monday-cant-trust-that-day-the-supreme-court-will-be-back/) - In a recent speech at Independence Hall, President Biden called on Americans to stand against an assault on democracy — the ongoing assault waged by insurrectionists and would-be patriots, by election deniers and other extremists. “We are not powerless in the face of these threats,” he insisted. “We are not bystanders.” Yet that role —
- [Quote of The Day: Ukraine Should Never Have Happened?](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-day-ukraine-should-never-have-happened/) - Maureen Dowd: The Ukrainians are making successful military offensives in the northeast of the country, and Russian men are fleeing Putin’s Russia in droves; by some estimates more men have left Russia to avoid service in Ukraine than have served there. Donald Trump posted on his social media site, “The Russia/Ukraine catastrophe should NEVER have
- [What’s Prison For? A Review](https://afriendlyletter.com/whats-prison-for-a-review/) - What’s Prison For? Punishment and Rehabilitation in the Age of Mass Incarceration is published in the US by Columbia Global Reports The Guardian — October 1, 2022 Charles Kaiser The statistics are familiar but remain startling: America’s incarceration rate per 100,000 is “roughly twice that of Russia’s and Iran’s, four times that of Mexico’s, five
- [Quote of the Week: The Pandemic Is not — repeat NOT — over](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-week-the-pandemic-is-not-repeat-not-over/) - In the past month, two near family members were sick with COVID, despite shots, boosters & masks. Both are recovering, but one — a working single mother ineligible for sick leave — lost two weeks pay as well. Other relatives suffered mild cases and bounced back; yet another relative had it last winter, and is
- [Cartoons — No Politics](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-no-politics/) - Very Sound advice, even if he wasn’t packing heat . . . But Grandpa had his suspicions even then .. . i’m strapped for cash, but I can trade you a stash of plastic straws . . .
- [The Supremes Are Back: Nothing But Heartaches!](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-supremes-are-back-nothing-but-heartaches/) - They Were a SMASH in their 2022 Season . . . One more thing they agree on: Susan Collins was an epic Pushover Sen. Susan Collins is recognized for her diligence & “moderation.”
- [We Can Safely Release Many Prisoners](https://afriendlyletter.com/we-can-safely-release-many-prisoners/) - Thousands were released from prison during covid. The results are shocking. Washington Post — Opinion by Molly Gill — September 29, 2022 Molly Gill is vice president of policy for Families Against Mandatory Minimums. We are keeping many people in prison even though they are no danger to the public, a jaw-dropping new statistic shows.
- [Ian Coming: Thursday afternoon Update](https://afriendlyletter.com/ian-coming-thursday-afternoon-update/) - Waiting for Hurricane Ian to arrive: How bad will it be? A closeup of our home county In The Yard: Will There Be Anything Left? How many of these big trees will be standing in a few
- [MAGA & Neo-Confederate Racism, By the Numbers](https://afriendlyletter.com/maga-neo-confederate-racism-by-the-numbers/) - [The most revealing analysis of the mythic underpinning of the authoritarian upsurge I’ve seen points straight to the “restoration” of a zombie version of white Jim Crow Dixie culture, circa 1920-1950. This survey bolsters that impression. Progressives who want to push back effectively against this drive need to get over the tendency to ignore this
- [Gwynne Dyer on Putin’s Nuclear “Bluff” (“Bluff”???)](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-putins-nuclear-bluff-bluff/) - Gwynne Dyer — Sept. 28, 2022 [NOTE: How can we even be thinking and talking about this? How can we not?] Vladimir Putin’s desperation was plain in the emergency measures he declared last week: immediate mobilisation of at least 300,000 more troops, the sudden decision to use fake referendums to turn all the occupied parts
- [Meanwhile, In the State of North Car-oblivious . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/meanwhile-in-the-state-of-north-car-oblivious/) - We’re In The Yard, ignoring the slowly gathering overcast Just Kitty & the Zinnias & the cactus fruit & me . . . On the edges, two or three patches of Oxalis, one of my abiding favorites, is showing off. But they also know how to fold up & keep
- [What We Did Last Summer: They Made A Rainbow Over Montana](https://afriendlyletter.com/what-we-did-last-summer-they-made-a-rainbow-over-montana/) - Our new US-style culture war battlefield? Drag Queen Story Hour The Guardian — Sept. 28, 2023 Click to see figure caption Retired police officer and army veteran Jim Thomas drove to downtown Helena, Montana, the state’s capital, to provide what he considered a community service. On a Saturday in mid-July, he joined a vocal crowd
- [I So Thought I was Done With This, But I’m Such a Sucker . . . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/i-so-thought-i-was-done-with-this-but-im-such-a-sucker/) - The Guardian Friends, actually: the truth about the couple who hit it off queueing to see the Queen’s coffin Zoe and Jack met in the 5-mile line for the Queen’s lying in state, then spent 13 hours bonding over crisps and chat. Before long, their so-called ‘love affair’ had gone viral … 19 September 2022
- [Recovered Memories, Forgotten Lessons, and Cloudy Skies](https://afriendlyletter.com/recovered-memories-forgotten-lessons-and-cloudy-skies/) - If you’re a certain age, and a New York Times reader, this piece may (or ought to have) caught your attention: New York Times — September 27, 2022 The Forgotten Lessons of the Recovered Memory Movement By Ethan Watters Mr. Watters is a journalist and author whose work focuses on psychiatry and social psychology Most students in psychology
- [Breaking! Cuba Votes YES On Same Sex Marriage](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-cuba-votes-yes-on-same-sex-marriage/) - Cubans approve gay marriage by large margin in referendum Mon, September 26, 2022 By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - Cubans approved gay marriage and adoption overwhelmingly in a Sunday referendum backed by the government that also boosted rights for women, the national election commission said on Monday. More than 3.9 million voters voted to
- [Trial by Winter: The Ukraine War Is Coming to Western Europe](https://afriendlyletter.com/trial-by-winter-the-ukraine-war-is-coming-to-western-europe/) - AP News: Lights out, ovens off: Europe preps for winter energy crisis BY DAVID MCHUGH, JUSTIN SPIKE, KAREL JANICEK AND VESELIN TOSHKOV — Sept. 26, 2022 FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — As Europe heads into winter in the throes of an energy crisis, offices are getting chillier. Statues and historic buildings are going dark. Bakers who
- [Quaker Chuckles - This Week We’re Going to Need Them . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-chuckles-this-week-were-going-to-need-them/) - On the Road to Perdition? A Friend who had joined Quakers after leaving a Calvinist church was driving to work when a truck ran a stop sign by a gas station, hit his car broadside and he was knocked out cold. Passersby pulled him from the wreck, laid him on the sidewalk, and revived him.
- [Cartoons to Open A New Week](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-to-open-a-new-week/) - So, other than that big London funeral, last week, not much really happened in the news, right? Things seemed all teed up in Florida — — But then the 11th Circuit barged in . . . Then Cannon was abruptly
- [Senate Race in N. Carolina: All-In-MAGA vs. Black Pioneer](https://afriendlyletter.com/senate-race-in-n-carolina-all-in-maga-vs-black-pioneer/) - BY GARY D. ROBERTSON AND STEVE PEOPLES Sep 23, 2022 RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — In competitive races across the U.S., Republican candidates are distancing themselves from their party’s most controversial policies and people — namely, abortion and former President Donald Trump — as Election Day approaches. Not Ted Budd. The North Carolina GOP Senate nominee
- [Today Cubans Vote on Same Sex Marriage - & They May Say, “Si!”](https://afriendlyletter.com/today-cubans-vote-on-same-sex-marriage-they-may-say-si/) - Washington Post Cuba sent gay men to work camps. Now it’s voting on same-sex marriage. By Mary Beth Sheridan September 24, 2022 After 79,000 neighborhood meetings, months of discussion and an outpouring of more than 300,000 suggestions from citizens, Cubans will vote in a referendum Sunday that could redefine family rights — including legalizing same-sex
- [In The Yard: Have I created a New Modern Art Form?](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-the-yard-have-i-created-a-new-modern-art-form/) - Last night, returning from an initial autumn shopping foray with the Fair Wendy, it was dark when she parked her white Bolt in the driveway. I got out, and opened the back seat door for a bag. When it shut— Voilá! There before me was a new art form. At least, new to me: EV car
- [How the Queen Rained on My Parade](https://afriendlyletter.com/how-the-queen-rained-on-my-parade/) - Like a lot of people you haven’t heard of, I had other plans for September 8. In fact, I was going to have a parade. For me. Okay, it was going to be an imaginary parade, down the Main Street of my mind; such fetes have many advantages: cheaper; much easier to clean up after
- [Deja Vu All Over Again! Draft Exiles Streaming Out of Russia](https://afriendlyletter.com/deja-vu-all-over-again-draft-exiles-streaming-out-of-russia/) - [NOTE: the article below opens the doors of memory. The draft resistance exodus from Russia is the third such episode I’ve witnessed. The first two I played a bit part in: during the 1960s Vietnam War, many U. S. Quakers “aided and abetted” (technically a federal crime) many young men who left the country to
- [Money for College: A Quaker War Resistance Story](https://afriendlyletter.com/money-for-college-a-quaker-war-resistance-story/) - [NOTE: This story is fiction. But it echoes & rhymes with many true events from the soldier resistance during the U. S. invasion of Iraq that began in March 2003. It also unofficially reflects my experience as Director at Quaker House in wartime conditions.] Money for College Fayetteville/Fort Bragg North Carolina, late December 2003 -
- [A Vietnam Era Underground Railroad Conductor “Takes It To Jesus”](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-vietnam-era-underground-railroad-conductor-takes-it-to-jesus/) - In the late 1960s, I underwent what might be described as a born-again experience. At meeting for worship every First Day and at many other times during the week, I found myself thinking such remarkable sentiments as “Jesus saves” and “Jesus is the answer” and “Give it to Jesus.” I didn't often verbalize these thoughts, because Jesus was my little secret. Another member of the Buffalo New York Meeting had given me Jesus as a gift. He told me that, in case I happened to know anyone involved in the new Underground Railroad, we might want to call this serendipitous, fly-by-night network of Quaker meeting houses and other more or less subversive waystations by the acronym JESUS. That is, "Just Escape from Servitude in the United States.” During the Vietnam War, the meeting house in Buffalo served as headquarters for the Western New York Draft Counseling Center, which operated probably 50-80 hours a week during the height of the war.
- [Quote of the Day — Lincoln & Emancipation: The First Version](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-day-lincoln-emancipation-the-first-version/) - On this day [Sept. 22] in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a document that put the Confederacy on notice of his intention to free their slaves. They had until January 1, he said, to lay down their arms; after that, any slave within a rebelling state would be "then, thenceforward, and
- [The Hidden Quaker Role in a Famous Catholic Monastery Cookbook “Empire”](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-hidden-quaker-role-in-a-famous-catholic-monastery-cookbook-empire/) - How a solitary monk, known for his soup, united a community [And how a Quaker helped him start] Washington Post — September 20, 2022 By Kristen Hartke As dusk began to fall on Jan. 10, 2001, Ray Patchey just wanted to get home to his family for his birthday dinner. A lineman with Verizon, Patchey had
- [Putin’s Mobilization: Preparing for a bigger, more desperate war on Ukraine](https://afriendlyletter.com/putins-mobilization-preparing-for-a-bigger-more-desperate-war-on-ukraine/) - Overview: Russia begins massive Ukraine war call-up, spurring some men to flee Reuters: KYIV/NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Russia pushed ahead on Thursday with its biggest conscription drive since World War Two, prompting some men to rush abroad, while Ukraine demanded "just punishment" for a seven-month-old invasion that has shaken the world. President Vladimir
- [David Corn on the Origins of the Trump Disorder](https://afriendlyletter.com/david-corn-on-the-origins-of-the-trump-disorder/) - NBC News, Sept. 18, 2022 - The GOP's American psychosis didn't start with Trump. It won't end with him, either. A line runs from the 1964 Republican National Convention to Trump’s Jan. 6 riot. It has zigged and zagged over the years. But there is a path. By David Corn, Washington, D.C., bureau chief for
- [Gwynne Dyer: Putin’s Fans May be Italy’s Next Rulers](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-putins-fans-may-be-italys-next-rulers/) - Power close at hand for hard-right populist party as Italy’s snap election draws near Gwynne Dyer - Sept. 20, 2022 There’s an election in Italy next Sunday, almost exactly 100 years after Benito Mussolini’s ‘blackshirts’ marched on Rome and brought the first fascist dictator to power. Giorgia Meloni, the hard-right populist politician who is likely
- [Gavin Newsom takes Pro-Choice fight to Anti-Abortion States](https://afriendlyletter.com/gavin-newsom-takes-pro-choice-fight-to-anti-abortion-states/) - On September 15, California governor Gavin Newsom announced that billboards with the assertive pro-choice messages below were going up in several states. Very striking. How many more to follow? South Carolina? Way too close for my comfort. North Carolina could join his target list if the midterm elections go badly.
- [Quaker Chuckle - 09/20/2022](https://afriendlyletter.com/quaker-chuckle-09-20-2022/) - One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the rascally behavior that was going on. She decided to send an angel down to Earth to check it out. So She called one of Her angels and sent the angel to Earth for a closer look. When he returned, he told God,
- [On the Brink of Autumn: Quote of the Season](https://afriendlyletter.com/on-the-brink-of-autumn-quote-of-the-season/) - Joe Biden, 09/15/2022, United We Stand Summit, at the White House: “Too much hate that’s fueled extremist violence [has] been allowed to fester and grow. You know, as a result, our very own intelligence agencies — our own intelligence agencies in the United States of America, have determined that domestic terrorism rooted in white
- [Elizabeth at rest . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/elizabeth-at-rest/) - The pipes, the pipes are calling . . . Double Rainbow
- [Russia’s top Pop Singer Denounces Ukraine War](https://afriendlyletter.com/russias-top-pop-singer-denounces-ukraine-war/) - [NOTE: two hundred and fifty million pop records, 500+ songs, in a dozen or more languages, over a 50-year career and I never heard one of them. A reminder that I’ve led a very sheltered western life. Now, it sounds like she may be the loudest public voice in Russia against Putin’s war. Will it
- [Quote of the Day: Two Contemporary Funerals](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-day-two-contemporary-funerals/) - “On one side in Britain you see the Queen’s dignified burial and on the other this mass grave [just discovered in Ukraine] stemming from mass violence,” said Anjli Parrin, the Kenyan deputy director of the Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. “They are two extremes that remind us that the idea of someone missing,
- [Elizabeth, the Princess as Girl & Young Woman](https://afriendlyletter.com/elizabeth-the-princess-as-girl-young-woman/) - [NOTE: what did the Queen look like, before? Elizabeth was born a princess, and was always in the British public’s eye, but was not always Queen. Here’s a sampling of photos of her, pre-coronation.] Sisters . . . Portrait of the princess as maiden A Royal Family, on the eve of ascension
- [Hope Fatigue? Is there a remedy here?](https://afriendlyletter.com/hope-fatigue/) - [NOTE: I’m usually dubious about self-help lists. But maybe some readers will find this one helpful.] 8 ways to feel less anxious about things beyond your control Washington Post — Sept. 13, 2022 Hope fatigue is the latest mental health challenge therapists are seeing By Lesley Alderman, LCSW Lesley Alderman, LCSW, is a psychotherapist based
- [Gwynne Dyer - longterm thinking](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-longterm-thinking/) - GWYNNE DYER: Thinking in long-termism How some people are planning for the planet Gwynne Dyer · Sept. 16, 2022 Which would be worse: a global nuclear war with all buttons pressed, or real, self-conscious artificial intelligence that goes rogue? You know, the central theme of the "Terminator" movies. An AI called Skynet wakes up and
- [Garrison Keillor - Autumn is Coming: Prepare to Be Bold](https://afriendlyletter.com/garrison-keillor-autumn-is-coming-prepare-to-be-bold/) - She told me out of the blue that she adores me. I was there, in a chair, listening; she was standing by the grandfather clock. She didn’t sing it but she said it clearly. This should answer any remaining questions. But Mister Malaise and Madam Miasma are ever on our trail, skulking in woodlands
- [Cartoons — No Royalty, No overt politics . . .](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-no-royalty-no-overt-politics/) - [NOTE: It’s been a dry summer for cartoons in the New Yorker. The current issue is better. But it’s a very tough time for humorists.] Next it will be kale . . . What balance?
- [Fifth Little Girl in ‘63 Birmingham Bombing Still Seeks Justice](https://afriendlyletter.com/fifth-little-girl-in-63-birmingham-bombing-seeks-justice/) - [NOTE: Many supporters of the 1960s civil rights struggles in Alabama long referred to Birmingham, its largest city, as "Bombingham," because of a long string (as many as fifty) of racist bombings and other attacks of homes and churches associated with the movement. Most remain unsolved. The most notorious of these attacks was the bombing
- [Confederate Monument Removal: Win Some, Lose Some](https://afriendlyletter.com/confederate-monument-removal-win-some-lose-some/) - Lawsuit over Confederate monument dismissed Isaac Groves — Sept. 15, 2022 Burlington Times-News USA TODAY NETWORK The Confederate monument in front of the Alamance County Historic Courthouse will stay where it is after a superior court judge, in that same courthouse, dismissed a lawsuit from the NAACP demanding its removal – at least for now.
- [Viola Davis Stars in new film, “The Woman King”](https://afriendlyletter.com/viola-davis-stars-in-new-film-the-woman-king/) - AP News: 'Woman King,' Viola Davis and the culmination of a struggle BY JAKE COYLE — Sept. 13, 2022 TORONTO (AP) — When Viola Davis, sculpted and hardened from months of training, first stood in the full garb of the Agojie warrior women, with her bare feet in the African sand, it was the culmination of
- [Alex Jones To Face Another Jury, In Connecticut](https://afriendlyletter.com/alex-jones-to-face-another-jury-in-connecticut/) - AP News: Trial set to begin for Alex Jones in Sandy Hook hoax case BY DAVE COLLINS — Sept. 12, 2022 HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A month after losing one nearly $50 million verdict, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is set to go on trial a second time for calling the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a
- [A Quaker Chuckle](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-quaker-chuckle/) - A woman in gray, wearing a bonnet, was pulled over by a state trooper after a high-speed chase. Woman: Is there a problem, Officer? Officer: Ma’am, you were speeding. Woman: Oh, I see. Officer: Can I see your license please? Woman: I’d give it to thee, but I don’t have one. Officer: Don’t have
- [Paul Krugman on Ukraine vs MAGA Machismo](https://afriendlyletter.com/paul-krugman-on-ukraine-vs-maga-machismo/) - [NOTE: Modern war, like politics, makes strange bedfellows. The Ukraine war shows this in the case of economics columnist Paul Krugman. He’s a wonk, not a warrior, but his career has some intriguing parallels to that of Army General Mark Milley, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No wait — consider: they both
- [Pentagon Budget “Needs” an Inflation Bonus: $42 Billion](https://afriendlyletter.com/pentagon-budget-needs-an-inflation-bonus-42-billion/) - [NOTE: Will the Pentagon get a “catch-up-with-inflation” bonus? It usually gets what it wants from Congress, and sometimes even more. With the coming of a new not-so-Cold War, the U. S. war budget seems primed for significant growth. An old story is “new” again. Stay tuned.] Reuters: Pentagon needs an extra $42 billion due to
- [Big Family wealth drop](https://afriendlyletter.com/big-family-wealth-drop/) - Can you tell? U.S. household wealth suffers record drop in second quarter Dan Burns Reuters — SEP 9, 2022 Sept 9 (Reuters) - U.S. household wealth fell by a record $6.1 trillion in the second quarter to its lowest in a year as a bear market in stocks far outweighed further gains in real estate
- [Breaking: Fergie to the Rescue — Corgis find shelter!](https://afriendlyletter.com/breaking-fergie-to-the-rescue-corgis-find-shelter/) - New York Times: Queen Elizabeth’s Corgis Will Stay in the Family By Yonette Joseph — Sept. 11, 2022 For the legions of dog lovers who have wondered what will happen to Queen Elizabeth’s two surviving corgis, there is clarity: One of the queen’s sons will keep the dogs in the family. The Duke of York,
- [War Update: Ukraine Forces on the Move, Russians Retreat](https://afriendlyletter.com/war-update-ukraine-forces-on-the-move-russians-retreat/) - BY ELENA BECATOROS AND HANNA ARHIROVA Sept. 12, 2022 KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine kept the counteroffensive momentum in its war against Russia going Monday, saying it liberated one village after another and claiming that in one region it pushed the invaders back right up to the border in a lightning military move that stunned
- [Dyer on Ukraine & Taiwan](https://afriendlyletter.com/dyer-on-ukraine-taiwan/) - Ukraine and Taiwan are now forced to play for time GWYNNE DYER CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL Sept. 10, 2022 Taiwan’s long-term survival prospects are much worse than Ukraine’s. Gwynne Dyer’s new book is The Shortest History of War. Last weekend, about 70,000 Czechs gathered in Wenceslas Square in central Prague for a
- [Quote of the Day: Garrison Keillor, Remembering 9/11](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-day-garrison-keillor-remembering-9-11/) - Remembering 9/11 — From the archives Sep 11 BEARING WITNESS By Garrison Keillor Sept. 3, 2006 New York Times Book Review It was a perfect late-summer day in New York, the sort of day when a person feels terribly lucky to be in the city. A man named Pavel Hlava was showing his brother Josef
- [More Queenly Images](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-queenly-images/)
- [One More Climate Tragedy: R. I. P. Leaf-Peeping](https://afriendlyletter.com/one-more-climate-tragedy-r-i-p-leaf-peeping/) - [NOTE — Different Strokes: If I were rich, I don’t think my lifestyle would change much during most of the year. But about now, in mid-September, I’d go wild. Or I would have, in the good old days. First, a plane ticket to Montreal, or maybe Quebec City. Then a rental car (I’d need a
- [Some Non-Elizabethan Weekend Images](https://afriendlyletter.com/some-non-elizabethan-weekend-images/)
- [Quotes of the Day](https://afriendlyletter.com/quotes-of-the-day/) - Patti Davis, recalling the passing of her father, Ronald Reagan: “My hope is that people remember this about the royal family: In the end, though they breathe rarefied air, they grapple as we all do with life and death, with the mystery of what it means to be human. When darkness falls, and they are
- [A Late Royal Update](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-late-royal-update/) - A few minutes ago . . .
- [Michigan Supreme Court Puts Abortion Vote Back on The Ballot](https://afriendlyletter.com/michigan-supreme-court-puts-abortion-vote-back-on-the-ballot/) - Esquire: Politics With Charles P. Pierce The Logic Behind Dobbs Was Always Crap, and Michigan Is a Case in Point "Leave it to the states," they said, disingenuously. By Charles P. Pierce — SEPT. 9, 2022 Friday’s entry in our new F*ck Around And Find Out archive comes to us from Michigan. It seems that over
- [Trump a “Whistleblower”? Gwynne Dyer on Those Secret Papers](https://afriendlyletter.com/trump-a-whistleblower-gwynne-dyer-on-those-secret-papers/) - [NOTE: Gwynne Dyer makes important points here, e. g.: too much is Classified; many “secrets” conceal mostly the spooks’ plentiful failures & evil deeds rather than actually dangerous stuff; and many others who took & disclosed secrets at heavy personal risk have served justice, truth, the nation & humanity. But if 45’s super-stash does any
- [Krugman on Europe’s Coming Winter of War](https://afriendlyletter.com/krugman-on-europes-coming-winter-of-war/) - Wartime Economics Comes to Europe New York Times Sept. 8, 2022 By Paul Krugman Opinion Columnist The West isn’t exactly at war with Russia. However, it isn’t exactly not at war, either. Western weapons have helped Ukraine to stall Russia’s invasion and even to counterattack, while Western economic sanctions have clearly created serious problems for
- [The Photo I’ve Been Waiting For](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-photo-ive-been-waiting-for/) - I admit it. I cannot tell a lie. (Well, of course I can, but won’t). NOTE to Self:
- [Queen Elizabeth Dies: Obituary Excerpts](https://afriendlyletter.com/queen-elizabeth-dies-obituary-excerpts/) - Washington Post, Excerpts: Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned over the U.K. for 70 years, dies at 96 September 8, 2022 The monarch was a constant and reassuring figure as she helped lead her country through a period of radical shifts in the latter half of the 20th century. By Adrian Higgins . . .The
- [Russell Moore on Current U. S. Church splits, and their wider implications](https://afriendlyletter.com/russell-moore-on-current-u-s-church-splits-and-their-wider-implications/) - An Excerpt From, “What Church Splits Can Teach Us About a Dividing America,” Russell Moore, in Christianity Today: “I asked a pastor of a large Methodist congregation what took the churches in the denomination so long to figure out that they must go in different directions. He responded, “You are looking at this wrong, and
- [Broken Churches, Broken Nation (Again?)](https://afriendlyletter.com/broken-churches-broken-nation-again/) - "History doesn't repeat," Mark Twain supposedly said, "but sometimes it rhymes." Are the conflicts within so many American churches over LGBTQ and associated issues part of some cruel karmic sonnet? The Separation Generation's three volumes approach this question in prose, by chronicling disruptions among five American Yearly Meetings extending roughly from 2011 to 2018 (along
- [Weird Al & Harry Potter: The Strangest Combo of the Year??](https://afriendlyletter.com/weird-al-harry-potter-the-strangest-combo-of-the-year/) - [NOTE: The “life story” depicted in the forthcoming parody biopic described below is a fake; or rather fiction. Or better to call it a parody of the life of its real-life protagonist, Alfred Matthew (Weird Al) Yankovic. The real Yankovic was born in October 1959 in Lynwood California, just south of LA & just north
- [Gwynne Dyer on Russia’s Reluctant Decolonization](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-russias-reluctant-decolonization/) - Gorbachev, Putin, and a collapsing empire Gwynne Dyer — Sept. 7, 2022 This is not another pipe-sucking reassessment of Mikhail Gorbachev’s failed attempt to democratize the Soviet Union 30 years ago. He wasn’t actually trying to do that anyway; he was attempting to save the Soviet Union and Communism by civilizing and softening the harsh
- [Quote of The Week](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-week/) - The Anti-Abortion vision of Post-Roe America in a terrifying summary by Canadian-born lawyer and writer Dahlia Lithwick: Efforts of those who have taken the position that forced birth is somehow pleasant and rewarding, even for America’s 10-year-old rape victims, have backfired spectacularly, as have their claims that abortion rights advocates are lying about new dangers
- [Cartoon/Comics Artist Lynda Barry: interview & Profile](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoon-comics-artist-lynda-barry-interview-profile/) - New York Times- Sept. 2, 2022 A Genius Cartoonist Believes Child’s Play Is Anything But Frivolous By David Marchese Photograph by Mamadi Doumbouya For nearly 30 years, the cartoonist Lynda Barry published her adored comic strip “Ernie Pook’s Comeek,” which told the whimsical, hardscrabble story of the young sisters Marlys and Maybonne, in alternative papers
- [In The Yard: Morning Glory Madness](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-the-yard-morning-glory-madness/) - It happens every year, about this time: the Morning Glories (aka MGs) show all their colors. There are at least four combinations: Deep cobalt blue A soft yet vivid pink; Light blue with white spokes and touches of gray; and A very light pink. I used to be entranced & mystified by them. Since we
- [Tom Ricks thinks we can avoid a civil war. That could be huge.](https://afriendlyletter.com/tom-ricks-thinks-we-can-avoid-a-civil-war-that-could-be-huge/) - [NOTE: I respect Tom Ricks. When it comes to war, he knows his stuff. His Wikipedia entry explains that he is an American journalist and author who specializes in the military and national security issues. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting as part of teams from the Wall Street
- [In The Yard: A Labor Day Update & Exhibit.](https://afriendlyletter.com/in-the-yard-a-labor-day-update-exhibit/) - The calendar may say it’s a holiday, but all around the house, In The Yard, there’s “work going on” today: steadily, indifferently, variously, in dead earnest. The summer is drying out: hot, very little rain, parched. Yet there must be underground currents here, because we don’t water much, still most stuff remains green. To the east,
- [U. S. Methodist Church Splitting Over LGBTQs & Gay Marriage](https://afriendlyletter.com/24741-2/) - Schisms over slavery, women and now, sexuality: A history of fractures among Methodists Raleigh NC News & Observer Un-united Methodists The church has long delayed an anticipated split over LGBTQ issues — until now. It’s not going to be easy. As some in North Carolina look to disaffiliate from UMC for more conservative theology, others
- [VA Will Perform Abortions In Special Cases](https://afriendlyletter.com/va-will-perform-abortions-in-special-cases/) - Big Change: U.S. veterans agency to offer abortions in cases of rape, incest & health risks Reuters — September 2, 2022 By Ismail Shakil The U.S. government will provide abortion services for the first time ever to veterans in cases of rape or incest, or when the pregnancy puts the life of the woman at
- [Gorbachev: An Elegy in Images](https://afriendlyletter.com/gorbachev-an-elegy-in-images/) - Too busy . . . Someone here fits that description . . . Heading for Kyiv . . . then where? Will all our most extravagant hopes end this way? Ghosts: Gorby & Reagan . . . What if Mikhail had borrowed Ronnie’s astrologer .. .?? In post-Gorbachev Russia, this now passes for freedom of
- [Self-Reinvention or Self-Erasure? An Abiding American Dilemma](https://afriendlyletter.com/self-reinvention-or-self-erasure-an-abiding-american-dilemma/) - Washington Post — September 2, 2022 How I ditched my poverty tells By Tracy Moore A study published in the journal Nature last month about something called “bridging social capital” elicited many no-duhs on social media. The study’s big takeaway was that when the poor get a chance to meet the wealthier among us, they
- [A Network of Good Deeds: Providing Asylum to Threatened Writers](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-network-of-good-deeds-providing-asylum-to-threatened-writers/) - New York Times — September 2, 2022 I Was Onstage With Salman Rushdie That Day, and What I Saw Was Remarkable Violence against writers was the topic I was about to interview the novelist Salman Rushdie about at the Chautauqua Institution on Aug. 12. We were being introduced onstage when out of nowhere, like a
- [To Depolarize the USA, We Gotta Bust the Cultural/Educational Binaries](https://afriendlyletter.com/to-depolarize-the-usa-we-gotta-bust-the-cultural-educational/) - We need to move beyond the binary thinking of ‘us and them’ politics By Jay Caspian Kang Opinion Writer New York Times — September 1, 2022 I am sad to announce that this will be the last edition of this newsletter. This decision was mine, and it was a difficult one to make because I’ve
- [Kick Back Cartoons for a Long Weekend #1](https://afriendlyletter.com/kick-back-cartoons-for-a-long-weekend-1/) - I thought everyone would have lost interest in this by now . . . Hey, wait — you forgot your Sunflowers, and Toto! My money’s on the one with the sword . . . Does this “Semi” label make my butt look fat??
- [Student loan debt cancellation: good or bad?](https://afriendlyletter.com/student-loan-debt-cancellation-good-or-bad/) - [Note: Here’s my two cents on the student loan cancellation plan: I’m all for it. Shoulda been more. But will it survive the imminent rightwing legal assaults? Some further thoughts below.] From Religion Dispatches: BY PETER LAARMAN SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 EVANGELICALS CLUTCH THEIR PEARLS OVER STUDENT DEBT RELIEF: LORD HAVE MERCY! What with Ukraine, Mar-a-Lago,
- [Loss of A Landmark: 200 Year-Old Arizona Cactus Collapses](https://afriendlyletter.com/loss-of-a-landmark-200-year-old-arizona-cactus-collapses/) - [NOTE: I guess there are no coincidences. Thursday Sept. 1 I took part in a final Zoom call with some friends in Arizona, who are part of an experimental community east of Tucson called Saguaro-Juniper, or S-J for short. S-J is named after the famous Saguaro cacti that grow around there. Then this morning, Friday,
- [Pumpkin Spice Is Back. Again.](https://afriendlyletter.com/pumpkin-spice-is-back-again/) - Pumpkin spice won. It’s time to accept it and move on. Washington Post By Emily Heil — September 1, 2022 This week, Starbucks began selling its seasonal pumpkin spice lattes, an annual event that has become the symbolic starting pistol of the crisp, floating-leaf, cable-knit autumn of our collective imagination. Never mind that, back in
- [More War Statues Coming Down— Different Wars, Different Targets](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-war-statues-coming-down-different-wars-different-targets/) - BY VANESSA GERA — August 31, 2022 WARSAW, Poland (AP) — In the Latvian capital of Riga, an obelisk that soared high above a park to commemorate the Soviet Army’s capture of that nation in 1944 was toppled last week. It crashed into a pond to the cheers of those watching. Days earlier in
- [Twofer Thursday Cartoons](https://afriendlyletter.com/twofer-thursday-cartoons/)
- [Budd & Hines Scrub NC Campaign Sites, Cover Up Anti-Abortion Rhetoric, Trump Ties](https://afriendlyletter.com/budd-hines-scrub-nc-campaign-sites-cover-up-anti-abortion-rhetoric-trump-ties/) - Midterm Scramble: NC GOP Candidates Ted Budd and Bo Hines Are Now Hiding Trump Ties & Anti-Abortion Planks NYTimes, August 31, 2023; excerpts At least 10 Republican candidates in competitive races have updated their websites to downplay their ties to Mr. Trump or to adjust uncompromising stances on abortion. Some have removed material from their websites
- [The Day I Didn't Help Bury Bobby Kennedy](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-day-i-didnt-bury-bobby-kennedy/) - When the others came back, hours later, I felt no regrets. The photographers, they said, were crammed onto a platform, where the scene was like an ongoing brawl. The veterans pushed, shoved & swore nonstop, wielding the huge long lenses of their Nikons like weapons, weaving this way & that to get better views as the family & dignitaries sweated in the heat and sleepwalked through their steps and genuflections a few dozen yards away. All my colleagues were disgusted by the whole scene, and repeated their stories for my tape recorder. Then we turned on the music, not quite as loud, and I was ready to hear the records all again.
- [The Washington Post Is In Trouble](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-washington-post-is-in-trouble/) - Frustrations Mount at Washington Post as Its Business Struggles New York Times -- August 30, 2022 In the years after Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013, business boomed. Droves of readers bought digital subscriptions, and the newsroom roughly doubled in size, adding hundreds more journalists. But The Post’s business has stalled in the
- [Cancel [At Least Some] Student Loan Debt: YES!](https://afriendlyletter.com/cancel-at-least-some-student-loan-debt-yes/) - [NOTE: In a better USA (a prospect rapidly receding on many fronts), canceling student loan debt would be part of a much larger, far-reaching higher ed reform program: tackling rampant tuition (& grade) inflation, restoring decent job security to the huddled masses of adjunct faculty yearning to breathe free, and make the rent (preferably led
- [Nighttime Drama: A Winged Quaker Home Invasion??](https://afriendlyletter.com/nighttime-drama-a-winged-quaker-home-invasion/) - We had been thinking that our cat, Her Excellency Katherine (informally “Kitty”), was slowing down in her work of capture and bringing in prey. She has snagged mice, rats, voles, various birds, and even baby snakes. Many of these captives have escaped alive, partly because Kitty is a good hunter but a clumsy killer, and
- [Gorbachev: More Proof No Good Deed Goes Unpunished](https://afriendlyletter.com/gorbachev-more-proof-no-good-deed-goes-unpunished/) - He ended The Cold War. Moved the world away from nuclear war. Permitted much truth to be told, opening up a totalitarian system. Allowed hundreds of millions to sleep easier. Helped us begin to rediscover hope. But lived to see almost all of it undermined, rolled back, and destroyed, and a new imperialist tyranny installed.
- [Borowitz Twofer: Trump’s Diet & an Attack on Gas Priced](https://afriendlyletter.com/borowitz-twofer/) - Satire from The Borowitz Report Dr. Oz Claims That Eating Classified Documents Was Essential to Trump’s Healthy Diet By Andy Borowitz — August 29, 2022 PITTSBURGH (The Borowitz Report)—Eating classified documents was “an essential part of President Donald Trump’s super-healthy diet,” Dr. Mehmet Oz has claimed. Oz, the longtime television host and, more recently, Pennsylvania’s G.O.P.
- [The Last Member of An “Uncontacted” Amazon Tribe Has Died](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-last-member-of-an-uncontacted-amazon-tribe-has-died/) - BBC News: 'Man of the Hole': Last of his tribe dies in Brazil Vanessa Buschschlütter — August 29, 2022 The last remaining member of an uncontacted indigenous group in Brazil has died, officials say. The man, whose name was not known, had lived in total isolation for the past 26 years. He was known as
- [A Salute to New Teachers, and Other Front-Line Troops](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-salute-to-new-teachers-and-other-front-line-troops/) - Conservatives think education is a threat. They’re right. Washington Post — Opinion by Paul Waldman — August 25, 2022 The conservative campaign against education is many things. As a political matter, it’s about intensifying the culture war so moral panic drives Republican votes. As a policy matter, its long-term goals include dismantling public education. As a
- [Here’s to new teachers, and other front-line troops](https://afriendlyletter.com/teacher/) - Conservatives think education is a threat. They’re right. Washington Post — Opinion by Paul Waldman — August 25, 2022 The conservative campaign against education is many things. As a political matter, it’s about intensifying the culture war so moral panic drives Republican votes. As a policy matter, its long-term goals include dismantling public education. As a
- [Newest U. S. Catholic Cardinal - A Surprisingly “Progressive” Pick](https://afriendlyletter.com/newest-u-s-catholic-cardinal-a-surprisingly-progressive-pick/) - BY DAVID CRARY — Aug 23, 2022 When San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy received his prestigious red hat at the Vatican on Saturday, he brought to the College of Cardinals a fervent loyalty to Pope Francis that has often put him at odds with the conservative majority in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. McElroy, 68,
- [DeSantis vs. Drag: Putting On An Act?](https://afriendlyletter.com/desantis-vs-drag-putting-on-an-act/) - NBC NEWS— In 1947, Florida shut down a popular drag club. The state has resurrected the case to do it again. Last month, Gov. Ron DeSantis filed a complaint against R House, citing a 1947 state Supreme Court decision that shut down a popular female impersonator club. A drag performer at the Drag Brunch at
- [Quaker Humor, Allegedly](https://afriendlyletter.com/chuckles/) - Come to the Sunny Side Daniel Trotter was a weighty Friend of his day, who often observed solemnly that “There is nothing but trouble this side of the grave.” One day at a Friend’s funeral, he stood to speak by the freshly dug mound, just as a curious sailor poked his head into the
- [More Cartoons: “Forgive Us Our (School Loan) Debts Edition](https://afriendlyletter.com/more-cartoons-forgive-us-our-school-loan-debts-edition/) - Their CVs all list "Trump U Law School" . . . . But at least the party still has some rock-solid beliefs . . . But give this guy a break-- he's running for Q-Anon shaman in Arizona, and has a tough race . . . File this next one under "Circular Firing Squad," Continued
- [Diet for a Warming Planet: Bye-Bye, Burgers!](https://afriendlyletter.com/diet-for-a-warming-planet-bye-bye-burgers/) - The Guardian — 26 August 2022 How US government diet guidelines ignore the climate crisis US government’s 2020-2025 guidance is meat- and dairy-heavy. Experts say that isn’t sustainable Marina Bolotnikova Supported by (opens in a new window)About this content To keep the climate habitable, most scientists agree that switching to renewable energy alone isn’t enough
- [Bernie in ‘24?? New Poll Says He’s Got Highest Favorability](https://afriendlyletter.com/bernie-in-24-new-poll-says-hes-got-highest-favorability/) - The Hill — August 26 2022 CAMPAIGN Sanders has highest favorability among possible 2024 contenders: poll BY ZACH SCHONFELD Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) clocked in with the highest favorability rating among a list of 23 potential 2024 presidential contenders, according to a new USA Today-Ipsos poll. Forty-six percent of respondents said they had at least
- [Dog Days Cartoons](https://afriendlyletter.com/dog-days-cartoons/) - Some cartoonist is reading my mind . . . Hey, Doc - Can I get that at Sheetz?? Can I pay for this in Confederate Bitcoin? Remember, Rude — The Fifth: you TAKE it, don’t Guzzle it . .. But Jack serves the freshest crudité . . . Watch for more . . .
- [Science Strikes Back: Is Mark Robinson Learning?](https://afriendlyletter.com/science-strikes-back/) - Who says blog posts don't have impact? Yesterday, August 24, we shared a post: "Our Work Cut Out For Us – A Preview of 2024 Governor’s Race in NC." It got close to 40 "hits," small stuff on the big web, but not bad for a "local" news item. The post concerned a new book
- [California Billboards Stoke CA-Texas Rivalry](https://afriendlyletter.com/billboards/) - SFGATE: California billboards seen in LA and SF warn against moving to Texas by invoking mass shooting Andrew Chamings — Aug. 24, 2022 A billboard located at the intersection of Folsom and 7th St. in San Francisco appears to warn Bay Area residents from moving to Texas, in light of the Uvalde shooting. A mysterious and
- [Ukraine War: Two Estimates of the Next Six Months](https://afriendlyletter.com/ukraine-war-two-estimates-of-the-next-six-months/) - The Guardian — Analysis Dan Sabbagh, defence & security editor Five predictions for the next six months in the war in Ukraine Six months to the day since the start of the Russian invasion, here is what to expect for the next six months Wed 24 Aug 2022 1. The war will probably run
- [Our Work Cut Out For Us - A Preview of 2024 Governor’s Race in NC](https://afriendlyletter.com/our-work-cut-out-for-us-a-preview-of-2024-governors-race-in-nc/) - WRAL TV News — State @NCCapitol Politifact In memoir, NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson mulls 2024 run, calls for taking science, history out of elementary schools Updated August 23, 2022 By Bryan Anderson, WRAL state government reporter RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is dropping more hints about a potential run for
- [Stunning New Artificial Intel Programs Are Here Now—Look!](https://afriendlyletter.com/stunning-new-artificial-intel-programs-are-here-now-look/) - Good grief! The two images below look like professional quality photographs, but no camera made them. No person or object posed for them. Nor did a human artist paint or draw them. Well, not exactly. Humans produced them. One set of humans, software developers, made the tool, called DALL-E2. One other, tech columnist Kevin Roose,
- [Confederate Statue Bulldozed in North Carolina](https://afriendlyletter.com/confederate/) - Raleigh NC News & Observer Confederate statue is bulldozed as mayor livestreams it, video shows. ‘Not in my town’ BY MOIRA RITTER — UPDATED AUGUST 23, 2022 A North Carolina town watched live online as a bulldozer pushed down its Confederate monument. Mondale Robinson, the mayor of Enfield, North Carolina, took to Facebook to share
- [One More Expert Analysis: What Putin “Really” Wants from the Ukraine Invasion](https://afriendlyletter.com/one-more-expert-analysis-what-putin-really-wants-from-the-ukraine-invasion/) - The Guardian — Mon 22 Aug 2022 After six months of bloody and terrible war, what exactly does Putin want from Ukraine? Philip Short Russia is trying to demonstrate that Nato is powerless to stop it. Whether it succeeds depends on the west’s political will as energy prices soar? Nearly six months after Russia’s invasion
- [Gwynne Dyer: Dugina Assassination in Moscow](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-dugina-assassination-in-moscow/) - Gwynne Dyer — Aug 22 2022 Was the killing of Darya Dugina an act of terrorism? Gwynne Dyer is a UK-based Canadian journalist and seasoned commentator on international affairs. “I am a political observer of the International Eurasianist Movement and an expert in international relations... In this capacity, I appear on Russian, Pakistani, Turkish, Chinese
- [New NBC Poll: Dems’ Midterm Odd Improve; Ex-CIA Boss: GOP BIGGEST DANGER TO U. S.](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-nbc-poll-dems-midterm-odd-improve-ex-cia-boss-gop-biggest-danger-to-u-s/) - NBC News poll: 57% of voters say investigations into Trump should continue Ahead of the midterm elections, the GOP leads in congressional preference, but Democrats catch up in enthusiasm. August 21, 2022 — By Mark Murray WASHINGTON — A clear majority of American voters believe that the various investigations into alleged wrongdoing by former President Donald
- [Memo to Florida Gov. DeSantis: DON’T You DARE Read This!](https://afriendlyletter.com/memo-to-florida-gov-desantis-dont-you-dare-read-this/) - NOTE: “Don’t Say ‘Gay’”? Smacking around Disney’s Mouse?? Bullying teachers??? Squashing Drag Storytime?? Hectoring trans folk??? Guv, you must have a secret stash of the more colorful works of William Prynne (1600-1669). Back in The Day, old Willie P. Knew how to put the Pew and the Pure back into Puritanism. Let's hear a bit
- [Arizona’s Unbroken Election Hero: Rusty Bowers Speaks](https://afriendlyletter.com/arizona-bowers/) - The Guardian — Sun 21 Aug 2022 Interview Ousted Republican reflects on Trump, democracy and America: ‘The place has lost its mind’ Ed Pilkington in Mesa, Arizona Rusty Bowers is headed for the exit. After 18 years as an Arizona lawmaker, the past four as speaker of the state’s house of representatives, he has been
- [An Icon of Occupy Wall Street Remembered](https://afriendlyletter.com/an-icon-of-occupy-wall-street-remembered/) - AP News: Dorli Rainey, symbol of Occupy movement, dies at 95 SEATTLE (AP) — Dorli Rainey, a self-described “old lady in combat boots” who became a symbol of the Occupy protest movement when she was photographed after being pepper-sprayed by Seattle police, has died. She was 95. The longtime political activist died on Aug. 12,
- [Afghanistan Plus A Year](https://afriendlyletter.com/afghanistan-plus-a-year/) - [NOTE: The term “moral injury” is used in this article, and may be unfamiliar to many readers. There is explanation about it at the end of the essay.] AFGHANISTAN — A Terrible Year It’s been one year since the fall of Afghanistan. Our Afghan allies—the ones lucky enough to be alive—are still suffering. by WILL
- [India, Pakistan & the Risk of Regional Nuclear War](https://afriendlyletter.com/india-pakistan-the-risk-of-regional-nuclear-war/) - Gwynne Dyer: India, Pakistan & the Impacts of a Regional Nuclear War OPINION: Last Tuesday, August 16, marking the 75th anniversary of Indian independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to turn India into a developed country within the next 25 years. If all goes well, that could actually come to pass, but it would have
- [Hello, Cowpeas — haven’t we met before — before the, you know, disaster?](https://afriendlyletter.com/hello-cowpeas-havent-we-met-before-before-the-you-know-disaster/) - The Guardian — August 20, 2022 Diet for a hotter climate: 5 plants that could help feed the world As the planet warms, these five drought-tolerant and highly nutritious crops offer hope for greater resiliency Cecilia Nowell Supported byAbout this content Over the course of human history, scientists believe that humans have cultivated more than
- [Cartoons for the Weekend](https://afriendlyletter.com/cartoons-for-the-weekend/) - Don’t Sweat Georgia, Rudy, You’re Not Gonna Dye . . .Oh, Wait! Look! He signed the the “Inflation (of Dark Brandon’s Reputation)” Act. What Do We Do Now??? Quick — Change the Subject! It’s all the fault of Hillary—err, I
- [Frederick Buechner: Religious Novelist](https://afriendlyletter.com/buechner/) - NOTE: I was not much of a fan of Frederick Buechner, a writer who died last week at 96. I tried his quartet of novels about a semi-charlatan-but-maybe-a-saint preacher in Florida, but Buechner lost me with his character’s name, Leo Bebb, which is bar none the most uneuphonious & off-putting monicker in my experience of
- [Damn. Garrison is Definitely Losing it. I’ll Let Him Break the Bad News](https://afriendlyletter.com/damn-garrison-is-definitely-losing-it-ill-let-him-break-the-bad-news/) - The Column: 08.19.22 Garrison Keillor Aug 19 It was a week of crazy change, a couple of big wallops, and here I am still standing, head bowed but marching forward. An ace ophthalmologist broke the news that my dimming eyesight is the result of glaucoma, which makes me grateful that I’m 80 because if I
- [Sri Lanka: What Goes Around Is Coming Around?](https://afriendlyletter.com/sri-lanka-what-goes-around-is-coming-around/) - Sri Lanka Collapsed First, but It Won’t Be the Last New York Times By Indrajit Samarajiva — Aug. 15, 2022, Mr. Samarajiva is a Sri Lankan writer who publishes at his blog Indi.ca. As a Sri Lankan, watching international news coverage of my country’s economic and political implosion is like showing up at your own
- [Gwynne Dyer: Who Blew Up the Russian Airplanes in Crimea?](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-who-blew-up-the-russian-airplanes-in-crimea/) - Russia and Ukraine step up propaganda war Gwynne Dyer10:50, Aug 15 2022 “This obviously does not happen because of a thrown butt,” said British Defense Minister Ben Wallace. But the Russian Ministry of Defence insisted that the explosions that destroyed at least eight warplanes at Saki Air Base in Russian-occupied Crimea on August 9 were
- [Abortion Updates: from Kansas to Kentucky, Florida & More](https://afriendlyletter.com/abortion-updates-from-kansas-to-kentucky-florida-more/) - Washington Post, 08/18/2022: Fresh off her Kansas victory, Rachel Sweet heads to Kentucky to fight an antiabortion ballot measure Kansas voters surprised everyone when they overwhelmingly rejected an antiabortion ballot measure earlier this month. Now Rachel Sweet, the campaign manager behind that abortion rights victory in Kansas, has been hired to lead a similar effort
- [Obits: Music & Theology: J. Deotis Roberts & Butch Thompson](https://afriendlyletter.com/obits-music-theology-j-deotis-roberts-butch-thompson/) - J. Deotis Roberts, a pioneer of Black theology, dies at 95 Washington Post — August 16, 2022 By Harrison Smith August 16, 2022 The night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968, the Rev. J. Deotis Roberts was attending a conference at Duke University, listening to German theologian Jürgen Moltmann present a paper on the
- [Let Prisoners Read More Books!](https://afriendlyletter.com/let-prisoners-read-more-books/) - Reading While Incarcerated Saved Me. So Why Are Prisons Banning Books? Aug. 17, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET By Christopher Blackwell Mr. Blackwell is an incarcerated writer. SHELTON, Wash. — During my first decade in prison, I busied myself with exercising and hanging out in the big yard. I hardly grew as a person, aside
- [Guest Post: Profile of A Renegade Quaker Artist - Edward Sorel](https://afriendlyletter.com/guest-post-profile-of-a-renegade-quaker-artist-edward-sorel/) - [NOTE: Friend Gary Sandman, of Roanoke Meeting in Virginia, has long been collecting and distributing short articles about artists and performers who are Quaker, or Quaker adjacent. His latest profile is of the longtime illustrator and artist, Edward Sorel. It was so appealing that with his permission, we are re-posting it here, with some addenda
- [Good Grief! Here Comes The Tomato Crisis!](https://afriendlyletter.com/good-grief-here-comes-the-tomato-crisis/) - Spaghetti Sauce Is Under Threat as Water Crisis Slams Tomatoes Kim Chipman — August 13, 2022 (Bloomberg) -- Tomatoes are getting squeezed. California leads the world in production of processing tomatoes — the variety that gets canned and used in commercial kitchens to make some of the most popular foods. The problem is the worst
- [Coming to (& For) a Job & Industry & House & Neighborhood Near YOU (Or already there): Private Equity Firms](https://afriendlyletter.com/coming-to-for-a-job-industry-house-neighborhood-near-you-or-already-there-private-equity-firms/) - [NOTE: When I bought a house in 2012, the market here was way down and I got a good price. Now it’s up, and I get a steady stream of phone calls, text messages and mailers urging me to sell it, for much more. The inquiries are often “personalized,” signed Ted or Sue, to make
- [Friends Music Camp Stories #4: Old Plain Peter - The Ghost of Elders Past](https://afriendlyletter.com/friends-music-camp-stories-4-old-plain-peter-the-ghost-of-elders-past/) - Prelude & Update Before this summer camp story, a bit of background. Until 2015, Friends Music Camp gathered at the Olney Friends School, in Barnesville in eastern Ohio. Barnesville is the Mecca, the (old) Jerusalem, the place of pilgrimage where all roads converged for the scattered survivors of the Conservative or Wilburite strain of quietist
- [Quakers & the End of Abortion Rights: A Very Mixed Bag](https://afriendlyletter.com/quakers-the-end-of-abortion-rights-a-very-mixed-bag/) - Some liberal pundits are predicting a tidal wave of backlash against the leaked SCOTUS decision to reverse Roe & Casey, the decisions that have made abortion a right since 1973, forty-nine years ago. (The full text of the draft decision is here.) I’ve written that, while a Roe supporter, I’m not at all sure any
- [A Catholic Reckoning? How about an Evangelical Quaker Reckoning?](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-catholic-reckoning-how-about-an-evangelical-quaker-reckoning/) - In a time of all-encompassing catastrophe, bad news comes at us from all directions. But insight can come from anywhere as well. There's much of this in an editorial in the April 17-30 issue of the liberal Catholic paper, the National Catholic Reporter, (NCR) entitled "Catholics and Trump, a reckoning." I believe it calls for
- [CNN's Top Experts Unpack the Secrets in Trump Boxes: "Stunning,""Egregious" & "Flagrant"](https://afriendlyletter.com/cnns-to-experts-unpack-the-secrets-in-boxes-stunningegregious-flagrant/) - CNN Rush Transcript [text may not be in its final corrected form] from August 12 on the content and the significance of the retrieved TOP SECRET documents (emphasis added): Erin Burnett (CNN-OutFront): In all, 11 sets of classified documents, four of them, according to this receipt, marked top secret. Four of them marked top secret,
- [Running for Senate in the Strange Galaxy Called Pennsylvania](https://afriendlyletter.com/running-for-senate-in-the-strange-galaxy-called-pennsylvania/) - Philadelphia Inquirer [John] Fetterman keeps attacking [Mehmet] Oz for being from New Jersey. That’s resonating in parochial PA's U. S. Senate race Oz was likely always going to face challenges appealing to everyday Pennsylvanians. But something about the Keystone state’s political DNA seems to be making it even harder. * by Julia Terruso Updated Aug 14,
- [Historians Take a Turn, Debating Putin’s “General Winter” vs. Ukraine’s Invincible Stories](https://afriendlyletter.com/historians-take-a-turn-debating-putins-general-winter-vs-ukraines-invincible-stories/) - Putin is banking on a failure of political will in the west before Russia runs out of firepower Timothy Garton Ash Democratic leaders need to prepare their citizens for a long struggle over Ukraine – and a hard winter The Guardian — Published: 05 August 2022 Is this what you hear when you turn
- [Update: Quotes of the Weekend: Two Glimpses of Afghanistan, A Year after Withdrawal](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-weekend-a-glimpse-of-afghanistan-a-year-after-withdrawal/) - [NOTE: Gwynne Dyer has been reporting on and analyzing wars for decades; he has a doctorate in military history & strategy. Adela Raz was the last Afghan ambassador to the U. S. Their perspectives a year later are distinct, succinct, valuable and illuminating.] Afghanistan: down the memory hole Gwynne Dyer Aug 10, 2022 It’s only
- [Dr. King & the FBI: Orgies & Commies & Wiretaps, Oh My!](https://afriendlyletter.com/dr-king-fbi-orgies-commies-wiretaps-oh/) - Suppose for a moment that the bullet at the Lorraine Motel had missed Dr. King that evening in April, 1968. Suppose he had continued with the campaign there in support of sanitation workers -- and then gone on to lead the Poor Peoples Campaign in Washington that summer. Besides these boiling issues (along with the continuing Vietnam War), there were others waiting to ambush him, and one of these was sex. The male chauvinism behind much of his and others' behavior was corrosive to the cohesion of the key cadre of the movement: marriages were broken up; colleagues parted ways; many rank and file supporters backed away. These patterns were not “victimless.”
- [The Long Read: Fox News and the Billion Dollar Lawsuit](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-long-read-fox-news-and-the-billion-dollar-lawsuit/) - New York Times: Defamation Suit About Election Falsehoods Puts Fox on Its Heels The suit, filed by Dominion Voting Systems, could be one of the most consequential First Amendment cases in a generation. By Jeremy W. Peters Aug. 13, 2022 In the weeks after President Donald J. Trump lost the 2020 election, the Fox Business
- [Weekend Cartoons: Plumbing the Depths With Don & the Feds](https://afriendlyletter.com/weekend-cartoons-plumbing-the-depths-with-don-the-feds/) - But first, a pit stop in my home state . . . Onward to Palm Beach . . . . . . And a diversion from politics . . .
- [Arizona: Joe Arpaio Not Elected Mayor, again](https://afriendlyletter.com/joe-arpaio-not-elected-mayor-again/) - AP News: Joe Arpaio loses 3rd comeback bid in town mayoral race BY JACQUES BILLEAUD — Aug 10, 2022 PHOENIX (AP) — Joe Arpaio, the 90-year-old former Arizona sheriff who was a once powerful figure in Republican politics but was ousted nearly six years ago amid frustration over his headline-grabbing tactics and legal troubles, was
- [Super-Secret Docs Found in Mar-a-Lago Stash: Reports](https://afriendlyletter.com/super-secret-docs-found-in-mar-a-lago-stash-cnn-wsj/) - Top-Level Classified Documents Found in FBI Seizure: CNN-WSJ-POLITICO (CNN) - The FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents from its search of Mar-a-Lago earlier this week, including some materials marked as "top secret/SCI," The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The newspaper reported that FBI agents removed about 20 boxes from former President Donald Trump's resort
- [Pundits Pontificate on the Ukraine War’s Future](https://afriendlyletter.com/24027-2/) - [NOTE: The Short Answer: Experts agree —“Maybe.” Or “Maybe not.” Long answer: Below.] New York Times — Aug. 10, 2022 Is There Any End to the Ukraine War in Sight? By Spencer Bokat-Lindell Mr. Bokat-Lindell is a staff editor. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, many observers expected that Russia’s military would make quick work
- [Charlottesville: Anniversary of An Atrocity](https://afriendlyletter.com/charlottesville-anniversary-of-an-atrocity/) - I Was Injured by a White Supremacist in Charlottesville. Strangers Lifted Me Up. New York Times — Aug. 11, 2022 By Constance Paige Young Ms. Paige Young is a racial justice activist and an advocate for survivors of sexual violence. She was among the counterprotesters injured in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017. In July 2017
- [War Notes: Russian Recruitment Woes](https://afriendlyletter.com/war-notes-russian-recruitment-woes/) - AP News: Russia struggles to replenish its troops in Ukraine BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS — August 11, 2022 The prisoners at the penal colony in St. Petersburg were expecting a visit by officials, thinking it would be some sort of inspection. Instead, men in uniform arrived and offered them amnesty — if they agreed to
- [The "Quaker Scout": Highlighting A Very Relevant Piece of Quaker History](https://afriendlyletter.com/the-quaker-scout-highlighting-a-very-relevant-piece-of-quaker-history/) - In 1848 Quaker farmer Jonathan Roberts moved his family south from New Jersey to a new farm in northern VA in 1848. He arrived with high hopes and even higher ideals. The new spread adjoined George Washington’s Mt. Vernon plantation, already a historic site for the still-young nation. Yet with its distinguished lineage, the property
- [Quote of The Day: A teacher Who Dreads Carrying A Gun to Class](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-day-a-teacher-who-dreads-carrying-a-gun-to-class/) - By Beth Ann Fennelly Ms. Fennelly, the former poet laureate of Mississippi, teaches at the University of Mississippi: Last year, one of my students turned 21, and her friends tied two giant Mylar balloons, a “2” and a “1,” to her chair to celebrate. Later, deep in our discussion of John Donne, we heard what sounded
- [A Motown Genius Is Now Immortal](https://afriendlyletter.com/a-motown-genius-is-now-immortal/) - The Guardian - Lamont Dozier: the Motown master craftsman who created miracles under pressure As one third of a legendary songwriting and production partnership, Dozier produced a slew of indelible hits that expressed the joy and frustration of a whole generation • Lamont Dozier, Motown songwriter, dies aged 81 Alexis Petridis Published: Tuesday, 09 August
- [Can’t Cut It: The French Mustard Crisis in France](https://afriendlyletter.com/cant-cut-it-the-french-mustard-crisis-in-france/) - Why there is a shortage of Dijon mustard in France First, find the seeds The Economist - August 9, 2022 For the past few months, France has been gripped by the mystery of the Dijon mustard shortage. The sharp pale-yellow condiment, a French household staple, has all but disappeared from the country’s supermarket shelves. When
- [YES — Swords (or rather, Guns) Into Plowshares. (Only a few million more to go!)](https://afriendlyletter.com/yes-swords-or-rather-guns-into-plowshares-only-a-few-million-more-to-go/) - Raleigh NC News & Observer BY ILANA AROUGHETI UPDATED AUGUST 07, 2022 DURHAM The line of cars stretched three blocks as Durham County’s second gun buyback in four months began Saturday morning. The event’s purpose was to encourage responsible gun ownership and get guns off the street, said Durham County Sheriff Clarence F. Birkhead. Durham’s
- [Getting a Start on Worldly Quaker Wisdom](https://afriendlyletter.com/getting-a-start-on-worldly-quaker-wisdom/) - In the early 1830s, a young man went to sea, hoping to make his fortune. A Presbyterian by birth, he read his Bible each night in his shipboard hammock, and was haunted by a verse in the fourth chapter of Proverbs: "Wisdom is the principal thing: Therefore, get wisdom: and with all thy getting, get
- [New Quaker Arts Journal Issue: "Types & Shadows"](https://afriendlyletter.com/new-quaker-arts-journal-issue-types-shadows/) - NOTE: I've been a member of the Fellowship of Quakers in the arts since the late '90s. It's a small, scattered and anarchic network [confirming its Quaker character], which has done a lot with a little, and should be better known. Here's an intro to its newest journal issue (online for free; but consider joining),
- [Kansas Kartoons & Updated Classics](https://afriendlyletter.com/kansas-kartoons-updated-classics/) - After Tuesday this week, I read about a political “earthquake” in Kansas. And a thunderbolt. Even a “tsunami.” Naaaah. What happened there was a real surprise, for sure. Maybe a game-changer? ? We’ll see. But the proper metaphor had to be what the hired man shouted to Dorothy and Auntie Em in the classic taught
- [AR-15s In All Schools? A Carolina County Says Yes](https://afriendlyletter.com/ar-15s-in-all-schools-a-carolina-county-says-yes/) - AR-15s put in all Madison County NC schools to enhance security in case of active shooter Johnny Casey — Asheville Citizen Times — August 5, 2022 MARSHALL, North Carolina - In response to the Texas school shooting that left 19 children dead May 24, the (Madison County] school system and Sheriff's Office are rolling out some
- [Quote of the Weekend: The Senate Saves the Billionaires (Again)](https://afriendlyletter.com/quote-of-the-weekend-the-senate-saves-the-billionaires-again/) - From, Farhad Manjoo, “Private Equity Doesn’t Want You to Read This” — New York Times — Aug. 4, 2022 One of private equity’s main plays is the leveraged buyout, which involves borrowing huge sums of money to gobble up companies in the hopes of restructuring them and one day selling them for a gain. But
- [Pelosi & Taiwan: Curtain Raiser On A New Nuclear Suspense Drama?](https://afriendlyletter.com/pelosi-taiwan-curtain-raiser-on-a-new-nuclear-suspense-drama/) - Taiwan – Nancy Pelosi’s Last Hurrah Gwynne Dyer — Aug 04 2022 People walk past a billboard welcoming U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, August 2, 2022. Pelosi . . . becomes the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China, which quickly announced that it
- [Getting Beyond, “Beyond Meat”](https://afriendlyletter.com/getting-beyond-beyond-meat/) - NOTE: By the accidents of love, family & history, there are four generations of my kinfolk now living near enough to crowd occasionally into our compact living room. Such assemblies always prompt reflections, from the cosmic to, well, the comestible. And one recent recurring internal query has been: how many of the younger tier will
- [Take THAT, Inflation! (COSTCO Keeps Its Cheapo Hot Dogs. And Pizza.](https://afriendlyletter.com/take-that-inflation-costco-keeps-its-cheapo-hot-dogs-and-pizza-and-pizza/) - My apologies in advance to those readers who are not COSTCO members, for whatever reason. Many folks I know live out of range of a store, and I comfort them when I can. But I also wax enthusiastic about the place. I was first drawn to it because of reports that COSTCO paid store workers
- [Gwynne Dyer on James Lovelock, father of “Gaia”](https://afriendlyletter.com/gwynne-dyer-on-james-lovelock-father-of-gaia/) - GWYNNE DYER, August 2, 2022: Gazing into the future of Gaia — Revolutionary thinker James Lovelock was truly Darwin’s heir. 'Jim Lovelock’s blunt predictions of global climate disaster were once seen as exaggerated, but he understood what was really happening.' He died on July 27, on his 103rd birthday. (Images via Reuters) Jim Lovelock
- [Primary Colors from Tuesday’s Voting](https://afriendlyletter.com/primary-colors-from-tuesdays-voting/)
- [Shining Light on the New Church of Rightwing Dark Money](https://afriendlyletter.com/shining-light-on-the-new-church-of-rightwing-dark-money/) - ProPublica: A Right-Wing Think Tank Claimed to Be a Church. Now, Members of Congress Want to Investigate Andrea Suizzo — August 2, 2022 Forty members of Congress on Monday asked the IRS and the Treasury to investigate what the lawmakers termed an “alarming pattern” of right-wing advocacy groups registering with the tax agency as churches, a

## Pages

- [Brief Bio of Chuck Fager](https://afriendlyletter.com/chuck-fager/) - Director of Quaker House, Fayetteville-Ft. Bragg, North Carolina 2001-2012. Since retirement, he has lived in Durham NC. Chuck Fager was born in Kansas in 1942. The oldest of eleven children, he was raised in a Catholic, military family on Air Force bases, principally in California, Puerto Rico and Wyoming. After nearly enrolling in the U.S.
- [Fleecing The Faithful: A Major Quaker Church Fraud Investigation](https://afriendlyletter.com/fleecing-the-faithful/) - How Religious Con Artists Stole $35 Million Dollars from Quakers, Nazarenes and Other Churches, And How They’ll Steal From YOU If You Let Them An Investigative Report by Chuck Fager INTRODUCTION--February, 1998 This report is about crime and churches. It is also about Mary Washburn. Mary Washburn was a widow when she moved from Tyler,
- [For Quakers & Friends - A Welcome & Colorful Break From The Weekend Madness](https://afriendlyletter.com/for-quakers-friends-a-welcome-colorful-break-from-the-weekend-madness/) - Amid the upheavals, wars & rumors of war of the first weekend in October, 2023, there was a burst of light and fun and even joy, in one seemingly unlikely place — Alamance County, North Carolina. Let’s go visit it: The occasion was as unlikely as the locale, by the historic railroad station in the
- [How to Set up a Post](https://afriendlyletter.com/how-to-set-up-a-post/) - When copying from another article, save all images onto your hard drive, then upload them to your blog. Save with recognizable names. If the "more" button won't work there are two options: Go into "Text" mode (top right of editing window). Look for code. If possible to easily delete the div's in the first
- [Talk Show Combat: Chuck Fager Faces Off With Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, 2005. (Yes, it really happened.)](https://afriendlyletter.com/chuck-fager-faces-off-with-fox-news-bill-oreilly-2005-yes-it-really-happened/) - Prelude: Does anyone remember Bill O'Reilly? For sixteen years he had the biggest show on Fox News & all cable TV. Hearing snippets of him badgering and baiting liberals, I often felt an urge to take him on. Be careful what you wish for. [Note: This account was written in 2009, while I was still
- [QT-26](https://afriendlyletter.com/qt-26/) - Quaker Theology A Progressive Journal and Forum For Discussion and Study ✥ Issue #26 ✥ Winter-Spring 2015 Volume Fourteen, Number One Editor: Chuck Fager Associate Editors: Stephen W. Angell & Ann K. Riggs ISSN 1526-7482 All the essays in this issue are copyright © by the respective authors, and all rights are
- [temp](https://afriendlyletter.com/temp/) - Recent Books by Chuck Fager . . .widely recognized as the most vivid and accurate account of the Selma movement . . . ~~~ . . . vivid, revealing first-person counterpart to the author's highly-praised historical account, Selma 1965 . . . ~~~ Examines the strategy & tactics, successes & failures, history & future of
- [Archive of Print Newsletters PDF’s, 1/90 through 1/93](https://afriendlyletter.com/archive-of-print-newsletters-pdfs-190-through-193/) - See Index 105-Facing Up To The Gray Nineties - 1/1990 113-The AFSC's Summer of Discontent -- And After - 9/1990 122-Quakers In The Movies - 6/1991 129-AFSC Chooses Reform; and a Critique of Books Defending the Gulf War -2/1992 106-FCNL's Quaker of the year; Quakers at Risk in Central America; More on the Gray '90s
- [Archive of Print Newsletters PDF's, 6/85 through 12/89](https://afriendlyletter.com/archive-of-print-newsletters-pdfs-685-through-1289/) - See Index 051-Canadian Quakers: Their Message to U.S. Friends-6/1985 065-Indiana YM In Crisis & Poems by Henry Taylor, Quaker Poet-8/1986 079-A Critique of Quaker Missions--And the Lack of Quaker Missions 092-Five Quaker Agenda Items for 1989 -12/1988 052-The World Gathering of Young Friends--Open Door Or Lost Opportunity?-7/1985 066-The AFSC & American Friends: At A Crossroads?
- [Archive of Print Newsletters PDF's, 3/81 -- 5/85](https://afriendlyletter.com/archive-of-print-newsletters-pdfs/) - See Index 000-Sample Issue-- No Date 013-Quakers and Our Forgotten Testimony on Alcohol-4/1982 026-Quaker Peace Priorities After The Freeze-5/1983 039-Kenyan Quakers and American Money--Time For An Accounting-6/1984 001-Law of the Sea Treaty as a Quaker Peace Priority - 3/1981 014-Dissent in Iowa YM Over FCNL: An Update-5/1982 027-Will here Be A New Era In Eastern
- [Abortion & Civil War](https://afriendlyletter.com/abortion-civil-war/) - In 1988 I wrote a substantial essay laying out my views about abortion, and describing how they had evolved over time. Twenty years later, much of the piece still seems relevant. By Charles Fager (Author's note from 1998: Many of the policy issues described in this essay, originally written in 1988, still seem timely more
- [Friends as a "Chosen People"](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-online-theological-essays-mainly-quaker-oriented/friends-as-a-chosen-people/) - By Chuck Fager [Adapted from presentations given at Canadian Yearly Meeting, Eighth Month (August), 1997] I. People and Peoplehood I want to explore the idea, the concept, the Quaker experience of being something called a "people." In this exploration, I’ll make extensive use of the Bible. A "People" – that’s a self-description you don’t hear
- [My Online Theological essays (Mainly Quaker-oriented)](https://afriendlyletter.com/my-online-theological-essays-mainly-quaker-oriented/) - My Online Theological essays (Mainly Quaker-oriented) Click here to go to a page with links to more than twenty online essays and reviews that I’ve published in various places over many years. some of the topics covered include: — Quakers as a “chosen people” — Re-examinations of the Quaker peace testimony — Lucretia Mott as
- [Contact Chuck](https://afriendlyletter.com/contact-chuck/) - [spamshieldcontact]
- [Flagship Articles](https://afriendlyletter.com/main/)

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- [Thailand](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/thailand/)
- [Immigration](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/immigration/)
- [Mass killings](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/mass-killings/)
- [Media](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/media/)
- [Propaganda](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/propaganda/)
- [Anti-semitism](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/anti-semitism/)
- [Serbia](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/serbia/)
- [Karma](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/karma/)
- [Syria](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/syria/)
- [Saudi Arabia](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/saudi-arabia/)
- [AGI - Artificial General Intelligence](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/agi-artificial-general-intelligence/)
- [Australia](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/australia/)
- [Pets](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/pets/)
- [Hindus & Hinduism](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/hindus-hinduism/)
- [NATO](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/nato/)
- [Neutrality](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/neutrality/)
- [Nazis/Nazism](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/nazis-nazism/)
- [Arts: For Kids](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/arts-for-kids/)
- [Revolution](https://afriendlyletter.com/category/revolution/)
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