Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

GO CUBS GO! ! !

SCHWARBS hit a grand slam in the 2nd 

              a three run homer in the 4th

   Let’s be done with the slides, guys, hang onto this one --

Cubs’  7-0  lead is shrinking -

Time to break the streak of homestand sweeps by Cubs and Brewers.

Yes! Caratini pinch hit a 3 run homer!  

GO CUBS GO! ! !    

Cubs win  11 - 4

Cubs will be in St Louis Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday this week -

then on the weekend Cubs welcome Brewers to Wrigley.

GO CUBS GO! ! !

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Arms are for hugging.

Breaking News: ATF is responding to scene of mass shooting reported at Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California.  

“Long time passing... When will (we) ever learn?”

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

I was back in DuPage County today for the memorial service of a retired EPA director.  There were about 20 EPA employees in the congregation.  At lunch following the service I hunted down EPA attendees - I wanted to greet Bill's EPA colleagues, and also to find a connection with our classmate, Steve Rothblatt.  I found three men who had ventured on to commune with family and friends.  They (and their colleagues not at the lunch) had attended because of their connection to and to pay their respects to Bill, AND they remembered and honored Steve Rothblatt.  We talked at length... to tell you there is depression in the ranks of the EPA is putting it mildly - and to be reminded that these public servants care about clean air and clean water and are more acutely aware than we about the serious breach of responsibility and the irreversible impact of neglect on our environment is understatement.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

George Washington: "I cannot tell a lie."

Donald Trump: "I cannot tell the truth."

Trump Supporters: "I cannot tell the difference."

Shame on us.

Stewart Myrent

Janis, I really enjoyed the George Washington/Donald Trump counterpoint.  I was laughing my ass off.  A few days ago, I picked up a a biography of Lizzie Borden.  It's a new release.  But then I remembered I had read another Lizzie Borden biography - 20 or 30 years ago.  It's not that I have an obsession with Lizzie Borden, but it's a fascinating story, that was very reflective of the time in which it took place.  I am over halfway through the book & will fill you in later.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Three alerts from CNN’s 2-night debate:

Rather than bicker about what happened 50 years ago, Michael Bennet challenged his competitors and voters to wrestle with the inequality in our educational system today.  

Andrew Yang challenges us to recognize the impact of artificial intelligence and robotics and the necessary changes in our societal structures to adapt to the technological revolution we are in the midst of.  

Marianne Williamson alerts us to the reality that we need more than policy changes in America, the soul of our country is sick: we need to return to the idea of who we are as a people.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

I was sitting on a bench on Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Michigan - a 50 something man asked if he could sit with me.  “Sure,” I said.  

“Where are you from?” he asked.  

“Chicago,” I answered, “though I now live in Oshkosh.”  

“Where in Chicago?” and when he pushed for more specificity than a western suburb, I answered, “Lombard.”  

“I live in Wheaton,” he said proudly... (DuPage County seat 

small world...

We agreed the water is beautiful - though I was in more awe than he... (the water in and around Oshkosh is nothing like Lake Michigan, though Herrick Lake near Wheaton is way murkier than either Lake Butte des Morts or Lake Winnebago).  Feeling his eagerness to talk and understanding his pride about owning a home on Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Michigan I wondered how conservative a Wheatie he is...

I recalled the memorial service I had attended earlier in the week and shared the despair of public servants devoted to the EPA about the irreversible damage to clean air and clean water due to Trump (and Pruitt and whoever else) blighting their work.  

By now his 40 something wife (and their very young children) were around us on the bench.  “Look at this water,” I repeated as I stood to give them my place on the bench.  “I was a Republican leaning independent ‘til I became a Democratic leaning independent.”

The man reminded me the EPA began during Nixon’s presidency.  “I know that,” I said, “That’s what’s so sad - in today’s Republican Party he would not be accepted as a Republican.”

The man sat in disbelief, his wife and I stood nodding in agreement.

Stewart Myrent

Just finished "The Trial of Lizzie Borden: A True Story", by Cara Robertson.  From the book, "The 150 prospective jurors, all men, were solid New England characters...(Women did not have the right to serve, and would not become jurors until 1951 in Massachusetts.)"  "There was at least one African American among the prospective jurors - African American jurors had served on Massachusetts juries since 1860."  Imagine that, women could not be jurors in MA for another 30+ years, after getting suffrage in 1920.  The most interesting thing in the book to me is that local people were apoplectic & downright pissed-off that a WOMAN was being charge with such a heinous & dastardly crime, as a double murder.  In case you're not aware, Lizzie was found innocent of the double murder, and was a life-long member of a local church & donated much time to charities that helped the less fortunate in society.  After her acquittal, her fellow church members kind of froze her out & were not very welcoming.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Lizzie Borden's story reminds me of a bizarre (for me) (though maybe not in the US) experience here on Lake Michigan.

A man drove up to the beach on his Harley and parked behind me as I was gathering gear from the car - he was not wearing a helmet but considering the temp took off an unseasonably warm leather jacket... I love t-shirts, noticed lots of words on his - he was eager for me to read them...

I was surprised to see it was a verse from the New Testament: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 

Ironic (to me) that this man - out on a bike without a helmet to protect his own life - certain I would not recognize a biblical passage, clarified he'd lay down his life, but not his gun...

(he’d lay down his life, but not his AR-15 to curtail mass carnage in America.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"...he'd lay down his life, but not his gun /

"...lay down his life, but not his AK-47

"to curtail mass carnage in America..."

Today during a sales tax holiday in Texas -

a mass shooting at Walmart in El Paso.  

Texas has both conceal and open carry -

more guns increase death by gun violence

and it's being fueled by a culture of hatred and racism.

Beto flew home to be with his family and neighbors to stand with his community.

Thoughts and prayers are NOT sufficient to eradicate gun violence -

We would not be satisfied with thoughts and prayers if this were international terrorism -

or if members of our family had been massacred;

we are suffering domestic terrorism at the hands of white males - it’s white terrorism -

with the assistance of weak gun laws and corrupted politicians. 

The FBI does not have legal authority to deal with domestic terrorism like it has to deal with international terrorism.

"Prayer Without Works is Dead: We are using prayer as a way of ignoring the need for action."  

 -- Clint Jackson

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Within hours of mass shooting in El Paso - a “long gun” with multiple rounds was fired outside at 1:05 a.m. in historic night life neighborhood in downtown Dayton, Ohio. The incident could have been more deadly (estimates in the hundreds) than it was were officers not already patrolling in the vicinity when the gunshots broke out.  

“Prayer Without Works is Dead”  -- Clint Jackson

“Let us not use prayer as a way of ignoring the need for action.”

We have hate and gun epidemics in America

and no leadership from the White House or Mitch McConnell.

Marvin Irving Blusteln

Where is the Clergy.  Silent.  Where are the repubs.  Silent.  Where is Mitch the weasel.  Silent.  Shame on them.

Shame on all who are silent.

They are not patriots.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Shame on all who are silent.  

They are not patriots; they do not put country before party.

“Moscow Mitch” (McConnell) is worse than a weasel.

Repubs who have not drunk the Kool-Aid, who have not sold their soul are either not in office or are retiring from office - many of them are speaking out with urgency.

Clergy selected by the media for air time are a very small percentage of the total number of religious leaders and overall those selected are not representative of the vast majority of clergy.  By and large, clergy of the three Abrahamic faith traditions strongly oppose Trump administration’s policies.  (I’m less aware of other faith traditions, but believe Trump administration’s policies are antithetical to most faith leaders’ values.)

Trump has a transactional relationship with white evangelicals: he supports opposition to abortion, homosexuality, and recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel - which is all about the second coming.  The rest of the world, including world peace, racism and gun violence, clean air and clean water, ...  be damned.

David Steinberg (Noel)

SLOTHUS SPEAKETH SOOTH

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

If easy access to guns was a means of protection we’d be the safest country in the world.  

No way would our founders condone carnage in our streets to protect the 2nd Amendment

or be pleased with our gun fetish. 

Our myth of what makes America great is destroying our country -

we seem unable to acknowledge the great pain and suffering we inflicted on whole populations of people to fulfill what we were convicted was manifest destiny.

We are a nation in crisis - living in a "Trump environment"...

We are in a downward spiral that puts each of us and all of us at risk for who we are.

Democrats should get back to D.C. and demand that McConnell bring forward House passed bills in emergency session -

a preponderance of the American public (as does the rest of the first world) supports gun reform - determined to “protect kids, not guns”.

The mass carnage will not stop until assault weapons / high capacity magazines are recognized for what they are -

weapons of war which have no place in a civilian market for use in civil society. 

It is time for us to reckon with our history - much of our country’s success is based on the genocide of Native Americans, and enslavement of Africans.  

We never were a white nation -

there were many more Native Americans in the U.S. until well into the 1800s when the white community through slaughter and land grabbing so diminished their numbers it was no longer true.  

Many areas of our country have been primarily African-American or Hispanic in population for centuries.

We use our greatness as an excuse for the inhumanity manifested in our country on multiple fronts (including dismantling health care coverage). 

Today we have a President who normalizes white supremacy for the people for whom he speaks, and for those others who remain silent, who see white supremacy as their only political hope.  

Would that we let this spate of senseless killing in this time of racial and ethnic hatred be the death knell for the sickness that festers in our nation’s soul that we might like a phoenix rise from the ashes (carnage) and create the "more perfect union" our mortal founders envisioned, E pluribus unum.

David A. Bantz

2019 Epistle of Alaska Friends Conference to Friends Everywhere

Alaska Friends met in our rustic Dickerson Friends Center in Wasilla, Alaska, located on land long occupied and cared for by Denai’a. We celebrated the strength of new Meeting House foundations that withstood a 7.1 earthquake the past winter with epicenter just 10 miles away.  We were joined by Friends Robert Rader from Sierra Cascades Yearly Meeting and Diane Randall, Executive Secretary of Friends Committee on National Legislation.

“Love, Joy, and Empowerment” was our theme, formulated with and in response to concerns of young Friends for more meaningful and effective integration of youth and young adult Friends into the life of our Meeting. We rejoiced in greater attendance of youth than in previous years. Diane Randall described many aspects of deliberate and successful integration of young Friends into the work of FCNL including Spring Lobby Weekend, Young Fellows program, and, crucially, establishing an endowment for ongoing financial support for young Friends’ work with FCNL. 

We were challenged to focus our work as a Yearly Meeting on inclusion, integration, and financial support of young Friends. We committed to this direction with a new intergenerational committee charged solely with engaging youth and making their concerns a focus of Yearly Meeting work; and we revised our budget to reflect this priority.

Alaska Friends are keenly aware of and concerned about visible and destructive consequences of climate disruption: delayed formation of sea ice resulting in dramatic winter storm damage to our coasts; salmon perishing in unprecedented warm river waters before they reach spawning ground; more and larger wildfires triggered by more frequent lightning and fanned by unseasonable winds. We noted ongoing constructive work of Alaska Friends to raise awareness of and counter climate disruption, including work within broader coalitions, lobbying members of Congress, creating local climate action plans, programs to address climate justice, a carbon offset program, and one young adult Friend’s role as a plaintiff in the Juliana vs US Government Federal lawsuit for a sustainable future. We urge Friends everywhere to join this vital spirit-led work to defend creation.

We renewed our commitment to act in accord with the sacred admonition to “love thy neighbor” with no exceptions. This admonition seems all too pertinent. Alaska Friends name the danger of increasingly violent abusive rhetoric in the public sphere including from the highest office in our nation – rhetoric of hatred that seeks to divide, pit neighbor against neighbor, and dehumanize entire groups of people. Alaska Friends ask all people of good will to join with us in countering racist and divisive words and actions. We have asked ourselves how our own Quaker history has contributed to divisions, intolerance, and white supremacy. We discern a need for healing work that confronts past actions including those of Friends that devalued and damaged indigenous cultures.

David A. Bantz

Joan Leguard and I celebrated our 50th anniversary at the annual gathering of Alaska Friends Conference at which I drafted the Epistle copied in the prior message.

Alan A. Alop

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A furious Donald J. Trump has demanded that Facebook investigate why a status update posted by former President Barack Obama on Monday has received so many likes.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, Trump said that the more than eight hundred and fifty thousand likes that Obama’s post had garnered as of Tuesday night were “phony,” and called the seeming popularity of the post a “rigged hoax.”

“There is absolutely no way that eight hundred and fifty thousand people liked Obama’s post,” he said. “I know a lot of people, and absolutely none of them like Obama.”

Trump said that, in addition to investigating Obama’s likes, he was demanding that Facebook remove several hundred thousand of Obama’s likes and “give them to me instead.”

Calling the former President’s Facebook post “as long and boring as a book,” Trump slammed Obama for being “terrible at social media, which is the most important part of a President’s job.”

“In that post he uses words like ‘motivations,’ ‘proliferate,’ and ‘unequivocally,’ ” Trump said. “How could over eight hundred thousand people like a post full of words that no one has ever heard of?”

Stewart Myrent

Janis, I really liked your post of 08/05.  I thought it was very cogently written & I really liked the tempo & the points you made.  All true!  David, I was fascinated by your stories of the Society of Friends (I presume).  Frankly, I was never aware that you were a Friend, and if anyone had asked me if I had gone to grade school, or high school, with any Quakers, I probably would have said no.  Alan, as usual, loved The Borowitz Report.  I recently picked up a new release at the library, called "First" - it's about Sandra Day O'Connor.  I've seen the book sitting there for about 2 months & finally decided to check it out a few days ago.  I'm enjoying it immensely & I'm almost halfway through it.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Stewart, you show sincere interest and respect for women in leadership -

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and TX Congresswoman Veronica Escobar are women you should know.  

Donald Henry Kuehn

Mass murders, ineptitude by 45, fear among Americans of color... what a downer. So, I figured what this page needs is a little golf news! I am in a motel on my way home from North Carolina after a marathon two weeks.

At the end of July I won the over 60 flight of the Kansas City Amateur with rounds of 78, 68, 72. I won by 8 shots! Then I drove to NC for the Golfweek National Senior Match Play at my favorite course: Tobacco Road. I played 5 matches in 3 days scoring wins by margins of 7 holes ahead with 6 to play, 3&2, 5&3, 4&2 and 5&4 in the finals. I only played 73 holes in the 5 matches and had 18 birdies and 1 eagle in my march to the title.

Then I went 20 miles south to Pinehurst for the North & South Senior. You’ve heard the old saying: You can’t win ‘em all (well, actually you can, but of course, no one does). The format for the tournament calls for playing one round on each of three courses. This year we played Pinehurst #5, #8 and #6. Each plays a little different because of the variety of grasses in the fairways, rough and on the greens. Bottom line: I putted poorly the first 2 days and finished 12th. But on my way home this evening, I took the opportunity to stop and have dinner with my soon-to-be 96 year-old uncle and my cousin who live near Ashville, NC (something I do each year on this trip). That visit made the middling performance in the tournament a little easier to take since, at 96, the number of times I will be able to see him are probably limited.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Wow! and more Wows! DK.

Good to know you can enjoy an evening with family after a middling performance and look forward to being back next year to see your uncle and family and play the tournament again.  You come from a good gene pool. 

How long are the courses you’re playing?

You’re right - this page needed a little golf news (and perspective too).  

Way to go on many counts.  Perspective is in short supply with the gun nuts in our country.

I’m glad you won the title on your favorite course.

The mass shootings are horrific -

a stabbing rampage in Southern California appears to have been motivated by need or greed... robbery - one of the oldest crimes...

the difference between a knife and an assault weapon: in 30 seconds 9 people were dead and 27 wounded by an assault weapon with a high capacity magazine.

Now after a weekend of mass shootings that left 31 dead in the U.S., Amnesty International has issued a warning urging travelers to the U.S. “to exercise extreme caution when traveling throughout the country due to rampant gun violence - so prevalent in the U.S. that it amounts to a human rights crisis.”

Yet, in spite of such a (deserved) warning that separates us from the rest of the world, the NRA is doubling down to protect guns over people / guns over kids.  Republicans seem not to be concerned about the impact of weapons of war being so easily available in our neighborhoods; they are happy for the NRA to be in Trump's ear - Mitch McConnell shows no sign he'll call the Senate into emergency session; he'll wait for marching orders from the NRA via Trump.

#GunSense Voters: our work is cut out for us, we must raise our voices to a deafening roar.

Theodore John Forsberg

For many months I have lurked and avoided being involved in the political arguments of the day. Most of the Chicago are alums know that I was a township committeeman and a member of the cook county central committee for twenty five years and an elected village president. I always considered all politics as local and felt that I should leave state and national politics to those in that arena. I am afraid that I was wrong. The actions of the occupant of the White House and the actions and I actions of the majority of the I unloyal opposition have caused me to urge our elected representatives to either impeach or invoke the constitution and have him mentally unfit. I fear for our republic , fear for our financial stability and fear that we will be led into more conflicts in the world. God help our country and help us to end this lunacy. I’m sorry to have brought this up on this site but my fear for my children and grandchildren is real.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Ted, I share your grave concern.  

Within two weeks, Trump has pushed out Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Deputy DNI Sue Gordon - a “devastating loss to the Intelligence Community, and the men and women who serve in it.  Sue Gordon brought decades of experience and encyclopedic knowledge of the agencies to bear, and her absence will leave a great void.  These losses of leadership, coupled with a president determined to weed out anyone who may dare disagree, represent one of the most challenging moments for the Intelligence Community.  It will be up to the Congress to ensure that the Intelligence Community continues to provide independent analysis and judgment to policy makers, and always speak truth to power.”  House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA).  

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) also called Sue Gordon’s departure a “real loss to our intelligence community.  In more than 30 years of service to our nation, Sue Gordon has demonstrated herself to be a patriot and a consummate professional, eventually becoming the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and someone who garnered tremendous respect from both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill.  In pushing out two dedicated public servants in as many weeks, once again the President has shown that he has no problem prioritizing his political ego even if it comes at the expense of our national security.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC), who was adamant that Sue Gordon take the reins when Dan Coats left, said, "Sue Gordon's retirement is a significant loss for our Intelligence Community.  In more than three decades of public service, Sue earned the respect and admiration of her colleagues with her patriotism and vision.  She has been a stalwart partner to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and I will miss her candor and deep knowledge of the issues."

Trump announced Joseph Maguire will be the acting director of national intelligence, effective August 15th.

***DNI Dan Coats retired in late July.  The Intelligence Community is disappointed to lose the expertise and leadership Deputy DNI Sue Gordon would have brought to the transition.

Marvin Irving Blusteln

After this last border patrol raid at packing plants,  I wondered why aren't these companies using undocumented workers held accountabe?  Owner's and management are law breakers, as they are most certainly aware of their workers status.  They are avoiding paying into social security and required irs applicable taxes.