OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian missiles hit industrial facilities in the strategic southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv yesterday as Moscow continues efforts to expand its gains in the country’s east. Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said that the Russian missiles struck an industrial and infrastructure facility, a key shipbuilding center in the estuary of the Southern Bug river. There was no immediate information about casualties. AP reports. 

Ukrainian officials say a steady flow of Russian military equipment continues to move westward from Mariupol toward other parts of southern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces are on the offensive. We continue to record the movement of military equipment through Mariupol," Petro Andriushenko, an adviser to the mayor of occupied Mariupol, said yesterday. The assertion is supported by a recently geolocated video of Russian armor moving through parts of southern Ukraine. Tim Lister, Julia Kesaieva and Julia Presniakova report for CNN. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to travel to Tehran tomorrow, where he will meet Turkish President Recap Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The visit, which is only his second trip outside Russia since the country invaded Ukraine, is intended to signal that the costly war hasn’t diminished Moscow’s place on the world stage. The three leaders are set to discuss Syria, where Russia and Iran back the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey supports opposing rebel groups. Evan Gershkovich, Benoit Faucon and Jared Malsin report for the Wall Street Journal. "

lousubcap

Here's a lengthy read about the mixed economic signals of today.
If you want the extremely shot version just grab the last couple of paragraphs.  

"https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/07/us-economy-inflation-recession-employment/670543/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email"

littlerascal56

A good article Frank.  I personally think we are in a recession right now.  But I see the young families around us still spending like crazy…new campers, boats, SUV’s, 4x4’s, at lake every weekend.  Got a feeling a lot of their fun money spending is going on the credit cards.  And that interest won’t be dropping anytime soon.

lousubcap

I am mildly amused by the forum "dislikeowit(s).  I have refrained from acknowledgment as that likely reenforces blood-flow.  But to consistently dislike nothing but reported information must hit a lifeline artery.  Nothing more until the moderators remove the curtain from the anonymous dislikes and expose them hiding behind the rain coat shield.  FWIW-

HeavyG

The peeps engaging in the "dislike-athon" seem to be prime candidates for the new 988 hotline service.

OTOH, if that's what makes them happy then I am glad they have found their bliss.

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russia’s invading forces are having some trouble with Ukraine’s long-range artillery. So on day 145 of Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion, his defense chief officially prioritized the destruction of Western-supplied weapons, according to Moscow’s state-run media TASS. 

Why now? Ukraine officials claim to have destroyed 30 Russian logistics and ammunition hubs with those partner-supplied systems, Reuters reported Monday from Kyiv. And that has “likely degraded Russian forces’ ability to sustain high volumes of artillery fire along front lines,” analysts at the Institute for the Study of War wrote over the weekend, citing heat anomalies inside Ukraine observed by NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System. 

Also: Russia’s military chief recently ordered offensives “in all directions” across Ukraine. That’s according to state-run media on Saturday, which still maintains that the Russian-backed forces are “de-Nazifying” Ukraine. And that new order from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu means Russia’s “operational pause” is officially over. 

But don’t expect “a massive increase in ground attacks across Ukraine,” ISW predicts. Instead, we’re likely to see “limited ground assaults focused on the Slovyansk-Siversk-Bakhmut salient” to the east, and possibly even an offensive “to take control of the entirety of Kharkiv Oblast [to the northeast], despite the extraordinary low likelihood” of success there. Russia has, however, been hitting the Kharkiv region with airstrikes over the past 24 hours, including “near Verkhnyi Saltiv and Rubizhne,” Kyiv’s military said Monday in its latest battlefield update. Russia has also allegedly tried and failed to push offensives in several places around the Donetsk oblast—including Spirne, Serebryanka, Novoluhanske, and Semihirya—since Sunday. "

lousubcap

More Russia-Ukraine info:

https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/165826843697685823ec8f656/raw?utm_term=165826843697685823ec8f656&utm_source=cnn_Fareed's+Global+Briefing,+July+19,+2022&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=tk1KZh2wM14Oshdc7cFzF8Dv8kWNPRGl8M7cSus0q/ed0e9Fbic7/5hdhMtiQzI7&bt_ts=1658268436978  
 Going the above route in hopes that the links work, Focused on the Russia-Ukraine war but with the article link you get much more.  Key points below-

Is Putin Winning?

Is Russia succeeding in its war on Ukraine?   Analysts have answered that question differently. Militarily, The Economist wrote last week, US-supplied precision rockets are helping Kyiv’s forces. In a Foreign Policy interview, former US-presidential Russia adviser Fiona Hill argued President Vladimir Putin is running out of time, as the cost of war mounts in Russia. At Foreign Affairs, Barry R. Posen made the case for negotiation, arguing Ukraine won’t be able to recapture lost territory.   Either way, Putin thinks he’s winning, Tatiana Stanovaya writes in a New York Times Opinion essay.   Suggesting Putin’s true strategy “goes far beyond Ukraine yet centers on it,” Stanovaya surmises Putin likely is pursuing three goals of escalating scale: to capture eastern Ukraine, to force the “‘de-Ukrainianization’ and ‘Russification’” of Ukraine, and to build “a new world order” in which Western political elites lose out to constituencies friendlier to Russia.   As long as Putin believes Russia is on course to achieve those goals, he’s less likely to use nuclear weapons, Stanovaya writes. “But the bad news is that sooner or later, Mr. Putin will face reality. It is in that moment, when his plans are stymied and his disappointment high, that he is likely to be most dangerous.”

Botch

lousubcap said:

...to build “a new world order” in which Western political elites lose out to constituencies friendlier to Russia.

That CPAC held their latest meeting in Hungary this year, speaks volumes.  

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian shelling has badly damaged the crucial Antonivskyi bridge in the Russia-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, Moscow-installed regional authorities have said. The bridge - one of only two crossing points for Russian forces to territory they have occupied on the western bank of the vast Dnipro river in southern Ukraine - has been a key target for Ukrainian forces in recent days, with Kyiv using high-precision U.S.-supplied rockets to try to destroy it. Reuters reports. 

The geographical objectives of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine are no longer limited to the eastern Donbas region but include a number of other territories, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. Russia's objectives will expand still further if the West delivers long-range weapons to Kyiv, he added. Reuters reports. 

The White House has warned that Russia is beginning to roll out its plans to annex large parts of southern Ukraine by installing proxy officials and preparing to hold sham referendums. John Kirby, head of strategic communications at the U.S. National Security Council, told reporters: “Russia is beginning to roll out a version of what you could call an annexation playbook — very similar to the one we saw in 2014,” referring to when the Kremlin sent special forces into Crimea to capture territory before holding a carefully controlled referendum on sovereignty. “Already Russia is installing illegitimate proxy officials in the areas of Ukraine that are under its control, and we know their next moves,” he added. “First, these proxy officials will arrange sham referenda on joining Russia, then Russia will use those sham referendums as a basis to try to claim annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory.” The Kremlin had detailed plans in place to annex the cities of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, as well as the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Kiran Stacey reports for the Financial Times. "

lousubcap

Pending EU gas rationing:
"The European Union is moving closer to gas rationing in anticipation of Russia cutting off supplies across the bloc in the coming winter. "EU countries should do their best now to save 15% of annual gas consumption," Ursula von der Leyen, EU Commission president, advised Wednesday in remarks from Brussels. "Right now the goal is aspirational," she said. But, "In case of a European alert, the 15% are binding."

"Russia is using gas as a weapon," Von der Leyen warned. "We learnt from the pandemic that if we act in unity, we can address any crisis. So let's act together to reduce gas use and provide a safety net for all EU countries." 

Context: "Russian President Vladimir Putin said late Tuesday that his country would fulfill its commitments to supply natural gas to Europe but also warned of possible new capacity shortfalls because of Western sanctions," the Wall Street Journal reports. 

"I think we should be very clear: Gazprom has proven to be a completely unreliable supplier," Von der Leyen said Wednesday. "And behind Gazprom is, as we know, Putin. So it is not predictable what is going to happen." Already, EU-wide "Gas storage is at 64%," she said; and "Gas supply from other sources has increased by 75% compared to last year." But more related moves could be coming. "The quicker we act, the more we save, the safer we are," said Von der Leyen."

lousubcap

No obvious landing place other than here:
When flying, put your face in airplane mode-a different approach to masking on flights.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/covid-omicron-ba5-wave-airplane-masks/670565/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap said:

No obvious landing place other than here:
When flying, put your face in airplane mode-a different approach to masking on flights.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/covid-omicron-ba5-wave-airplane-masks/670565/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

I suspect I will always wear a decent mask when flying from now on.  Independent of covid, it just makes a lot of sense.

fishlessman

JohnInCarolina said:

lousubcap said:

No obvious landing place other than here:
When flying, put your face in airplane mode-a different approach to masking on flights.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/covid-omicron-ba5-wave-airplane-masks/670565/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

I suspect I will always wear a decent mask when flying from now on.  Independent of covid, it just makes a lot of sense.

Do not trust the air lines. I have a story where an airline was trying to get a pilot to fly a full passenger plane with an engine with a cracked block to get it where it could be fixed. The pilot was saying no way

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update: (slow inputs so far)-

"Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has warned U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that if he doesn’t designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism then Congress will. The message was conveyed during a call between the two earlier this week, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. Whilst Congress gave the power to label another country as a state sponsor of terrorism to the secretary of state, some in Congress believe that it is in lawmakers' gift to pass a law to make the designation without the State Department. Alexander Ward and Betsy Woodruff Swan report for POLITICO. 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said today that there had been no contact with the U.S. over peace talks with Ukraine. "The American administration forbids its wards in Kyiv to even think about talks with us, and evidently forces them to fight to the last Ukrainian," Zakharova told reporters. Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have been frozen since early April when ceasefire talks brokered by Turkey in Istanbul collapsed. Reutersreports.

There is no intelligence that Russian President Vladimir Putin is unstable or in bad health, the director of the CIA has said, following increasing media speculation on the issue. "There are lots of rumors about President Putin's health and as far as we can tell he's entirely too healthy,"  CIA Director Williams Burns said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. The Kremlin has also dismissed the rumors. Gordon Corera and George Wright report for BBC News. "

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap

More Thursday Russia-Ukraine:

"Russian leader Vladimir Putin is counting on Americans to forget about Ukraine so that his invading forces may soon afterward "wear down the Ukrainian military" and seize more territory than they have so far. That's according to William Burns, director of America's Central Intelligence Agency, speaking Thursday at the annual Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. 

"Putin's view of Americans is we always suffer from attention deficit disorder and get distracted by something else," Burns said, and added, "I think he's wrong." The autocratic Putin, according to Burns, "is relentlessly suspicious, always attuned to vulnerabilities that he can take advantage of…He is not a big believer in our better angels," he said Thursday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is pushing an offensive in the south, and wants to attack Russian military targets inside Crimea by the early fall, a senior commander told the Wall Street Journal's Vivian Salama, reporting from southern Ukraine on Thursday. That is if Kyiv's troops can retake the nearby towns of Nova Kakhovka and Arkhanhel's'ke, with the help of Western-supplied weapons like the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS.

The U.S. is sending another four HIMARS to Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Wednesday. That would bring the known total HIMARS in Ukraine's hands to 16, up from the current dozen known to be in use. (Britain has also sent similar M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems to Ukraine.) "

lousubcap

Friday Russia Ukraine update:

"Russia and Ukraine will sign a deal on Friday to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, Turkish officials said. While Russia and Ukraine did not immediately confirm the Turkish presidency office’s announcement, Zelenskyy’s late-night video address suggested that Ukraine’s Black Sea ports could soon be unblocked. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Russian defense minister, and Ukraine’s infrastructure minister are heading to Istanbul for the signing. Ezgi Erkoyun and Max Hunder report for Reuters. 

The Ukrainian military says Russian assaults in three areas (Kharkiv, Sloviansk, and in the south along the border of the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions) failed to gain ground. “The Ukrainian military has reported another day of heavy artillery and rocket fire by Russian forces in both the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, accompanied by airstrikes.” In the direction of Sloviansk, Russia launched artillery fire in areas to the north of the city. The shelling has continued for the past 20 days, and water and electricity are in short supply. Tim Lister reports for CNN.

Russia claims to have killed “up to 300” Ukrainian service personnel in a strike on a schoolin Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. The claims could not be independently verified. The Russian Ministry of Defense also claimed that, from July 5 to July 20, its military destroyed four launchers and a transport-loading vehicle for U.S.-supplied Himars missiles, and shot down 12 Ukrainian drones. Martin Belam reports for The Guardian. "

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian forces have destroyed 50 Russian ammunition depots using U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov. Reznikov said in televised comments that “this cuts [Russian’s] logistical chains and takes away their ability to conduct active fighting and cover our armed forces with heavy shelling.” Reuters could not independently verify the use of HIMARS. Max Hunder reports for Reuters.

Hours after signing an international agreement for grain exports to resume via the Black Sea, Russia launched a missile attack on Saturday on Ukraine’s key grain-exporting port of Odessa. At least two Russian Kalibr cruise missiles hit Odessa with another two missiles that were shot down by aerial defenses. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement that he “unequivocally” condemns the strikes as “all parties made clear commitments on the global stage to ensure the safe movement of Ukrainian grain and related products to global markets.” Matthew Luxmoore, Bojan Pancevski, and Jared Malsin report for the Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. Department of Defense “is making some preliminary explorations into the feasibility of providing fighter aircraft to the Ukrainians,” according to John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications. Kirby said in a briefing that the United States could provide training, maintenance, and spare parts prior to givingUkraine the jets. A former Pentagon official said the sale of F-15 and F-16 fighter jets were being discussed. Nancy A. Youssef and Yaroslav Trofimov report for the Wall Street Journal."

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Ukrainian forces are preparing for a high-stakes counteroffensive to retake Kherson, a critical Russian stronghold in southern Ukraine. The port city serves as Russia’s base to launch multiple attacks across a large part of Ukrainian territory and would be one of the most significant military efforts  of the war. Kherson was the first city to fall to Russian forces in the war. Michael Schwirtz and Daniel Berehulak report for the New York Times. 

Ukraine continues to push ahead with grain shipments, despite a Russian airstrike on the port of Odessa. Ukraine and Russia reached an agreement last week to export millions of tons of grain that had been stuck in the port of Odessa, however, the Russian missile attack over the weekend threatened the viability of the agreement. At a news conference yesterday, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said Ukraine remains determined to export the grain, helping to alleviate a global food crisis. “Ukraine, for its part, will do everything necessary to ensure the export of agricultural products from its Black Sea ports, and the issue of the safety of ships of various countries depends on the United Nations and Turkey, which negotiated with the Russian Federation in this regard,” Zelenskyy said. Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Eric Nagourney report for the New York Times. 

Russia’s state-owned gas company, Gazprom, announced yesterday that it would halve its gas flows to Germany. The news comes just a week after it resumed limited flows of gas. In announcing the reduction, Gazprom cited issues with one of the powerful turbines that are manufactured by the German company Siemens Energy. Germany’s economy ministry, however, rejected this explanation, saying that the reduction in gas has been another way for Russia to punish Europe for supporting Ukraine. Melissa Eddy reports for the New York Times. "

lousubcap

The frictionless conduit here.  This Washington Post article is behind a pay wall so here it is-likely another TLDR for most but...
BTW Since I am old I recall in grade school reciting a New York State Regents prayer just before the Pledge to the flag.  Yes, the  Supreme Court ruled against the state.  
"

After court ruling, activists push prayer into schools

They say church and state are already too separate

By Hannah Natanson

July 26, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Aurora Robertson, 12, in her bedroom in Yukon, Okla. Led to Christianity by a third-grade public-school teacher, she is the only one in her nuclear, atheist family to attend church. (Nick Oxford for The Washington Post)

A Michigan superintendent is pondering whether coaches should lead students in pre-game prayer. A school board member in Florida wants her district to teach students about prayer and offer religious studies. In Hawaii, the leader of a faith- and family-focused activism group sees a path to altering state policy that says public-school employees cannot initiate prayer on campus.

A month has passed since the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Washington state football coach who knelt at midfield to pray and was joined by student-athletes. The court wrote, in a 6-3 decision, that Bremerton High School assistant coach Joseph Kennedy’s prayers were protected by the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech and religious exercise, and that the district was wrong to discipline him for what the majority saw as a private act.

In response, families, teachers and activists are preparing to push religious worship into public schools nationwide — working to blur the line dividing prayer and pedagogy and promising emotional, spiritual and educational benefits for students. Some school officials are listening: In at least three states, Illinois, Alabama and Oregon, school personnel have said they are reviewing their policies on employee prayer.

“Our nation has lost its way in having lost a belief of a higher power,” said Christi Fraga, a Miami-Dade school board member who in May successfully proposed establishing an annual day of prayer in her district. “So in my community, there has been a cry for help — a cry to allow prayer in our schools.” Fraga added of the court’s ruling: “I hope it brings back our country to its foundation.”

Those who say faith should play a role in public schools are thrilled with their gains and eager to push for more next school year. They cite not only the court’s decision for Kennedy but also a June ruling in which the court declared that Maine cannot prevent religious schools from receiving public tuition grants permitted for other private schools.

In other places, though, educators say not much will change — largely because coach-led prayer at games and invocations before school board meetings were already happening.

Under right-leaning Supreme Court, the church-state wall is crumbling

The fiercest advocates for church-state separation also concede they were fighting an uphill battle even before the court’s ruling. Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said many districts routinely ignore the string of 1960s and 1970s Supreme Court decisions establishing that public schools cannot require students to recite prayers, cannot allow teachers to lead students in prayer and generally cannot promote or inhibit religion at school.

Gaylor said her foundation, a nonprofit founded in the late 1970s, is constantly fighting back against coaches who lead prayers with students at school or school officials who schedule prayer into the school day. In an average year, school incidents make up 50 percent of the group’s caseload, she said.

“We were mopping up anyway; it was like whack-a-mole,” Gaylor said.

Some mothers and fathers also fear what the next school year may bring. Those who practice non-Christian religions warn that, in most of America, “prayer” will by default mean Christian prayer, leaving their children alienated and isolated — while those who do not practice any faith worry their children will be coerced into espousing values and beliefs their parents do not share.

Among them is Kristi Robertson, a 33-year-old atheist in Oklahoma whose daughter discovered God and Christianity when her third-grade public-school teacher led the class in daily prayer. Four years later, Aurora, alone in her family, still prays and goes to church.

“There is nothing I can do about that now; she has made her choices to be religious,” Robertson said. “And if she’s invited to pray at school, she’s going to. If I do hear about it, I would probably complain again — but for other students. It is too late for her.”

Bill DeFrance, superintendent of Eaton Rapids Public Schools in Michigan, has moonlighted for years as a high school soccer referee. When religious schools compete, he has listened as coaches intone team prayers before and after a game. Still, he has never seen a public-school coach lead a prayer.

A Bible that belongs to Aurora Robertson, 12, sits on a shelf in her home. (Nick Oxford for The Washington Post)

But in light of the Supreme Court ruling, and pending guidance from state officials, DeFrance said he is open to the idea of coach-led prayer.

If the Michigan Department of Education or the Michigan High School Athletic Association “said they’d like to work … about how you can incorporate prayer into sports events for kids, I’d certainly take it to the [school] board to say, ‘We could help pilot this; we could try this,’ ” DeFrance said. (A spokesman for the state athletic association emailed The Washington Post, saying: “This is strictly an individual school district issue in Michigan. We have no part in this decision-making process.” A spokesman for the Education Department wrote in an email that his agency “has not sent any guidance to local school districts on this issue at this time. We have made a request of our state attorney general’s office for a review of the decision.”)

If done well, DeFrance added, coach-led prayer could yield advantages for his district’s 2,000 students, serving as a way to learn about other cultures.

“I could see some real interesting things like, ‘Okay, Bill, you’re Hindu, you lead the prayer this week,’ and give some background about why Hindus pray,” he said. Plus, “I do think sometimes having a little bit of a spirit helps you to play.”

Former Bremerton High School assistant football coach Joe Kennedy in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

In Hawaii, Eva Andrade, president and chief executive of faith-based activist group the Hawaii Family Forum, is also eyeing ways to introduce prayer into schools and school competitions. People of faith feel unsafe at school, Andrade said, threatened by a 1947 Hawaii Board of Education policy that prohibits “prayer and other religious observances … organized or sponsored by schools.” The Supreme Court ruling, she said, offers the first chance in decades to change that policy — and her group is determined to take advantage of the opportunity.

“I would like them to allow people to bring their faith into their position without any fear,” Andrade said.

State-level advocacy is afoot in other places, too: In Ohio, an hour after the Supreme Court’s ruling was published, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted urged school districts to review and update their policies on school prayer. And a few months before the ruling, in Kentucky, a Republican lawmaker and a Lexington rabbi teamed up on a bill requiring public-school students to silently pray, meditate or reflect in class.

Florida passed a similar law in June 2021 that requires a moment of silence each day. Although the law drew strong criticism from advocates of church-state separation, it thrilled Fraga, who persuaded her colleagues to hold a National Day of Prayer every May for the district’s roughly 330,000 students.

Fraga’s original proposal suggested school employees facilitate prayer-related events and programs. In an interview, she said she envisioned teachers taking the day to instruct students about the history of prayer and how different faiths worship.

Board vice chair Steve Gallon III, fearing violation of the Constitution, offered an amendment watering down the proposal. The version that passed in mid-April, Gallon said in an interview, simply “provides an opportunity for students to freely assemble and express themselves in honor of the National Day of Prayer. … Staff also has the right to do that, during non-duty times.”

Fraga still does not understand why it’s okay for the district to recognize LGBTQ History Month, with school-hosted events and celebrations, but not do something similar about prayer. Although she is running for mayor of the city of Doral and plans to leave the school board in November, she intends to continue her education advocacy — bolstered by the Supreme Court ruling, she says it may be possible to introduce more religion classes into public schools.

“I would love to see there be the ability to implement more religious teachings,” Fraga said. “There’s lessons that are taught right now in school that maybe certain families do not believe in, [and] students have to sit there and listen to what history has brought us to.”

Why not, she asked, also offer lessons on the Christianity, the “religion that has formed our nation”? As well as “the different types of religion,” she added.

‘I thought it was required’

In other places, educators are struggling to understand the fuss about the Supreme Court ruling, because prayer has long been part of sports events and school board meetings.

Amy Kruppe took over as superintendent in Hazel Park Schools, Mich., seven years ago. When she arrived from Illinois, she was surprised to find that school board members opened meetings with prayer — sometimes inviting “a man of the cloth” to lead proceedings.

“I said, ‘Wait a minute, this is not constitutional,’ ” Kruppe said. “But their feeling was it was important to them as an organization” — so to this day, the board opens its meetings with Christian prayer, Kruppe said.

Over the years, Kruppe has come around to the idea. There have never been complaints, apart from hers. She said coaches in Hazel Park also lead prayers at games, “and no one says anything about it.” She noted that Hazel Park, a district of about 3,200 students, is about 50 percent White, 50 percent Black and, as far as she can tell, nearly 100 percent Christian.

“I really think it’s the environment, the community you’re in,” Kruppe said. The ruling “just gives some individuals that might have already been doing it anyway the freedom to say, ‘It’s okay.’ ”

Steven Fogg, who sits on the school board of Clovis Unified School District in California, said coaches in his district of 43,000 encourage prayer in a wink-wink-nod-nod sort of way. For example, the coach of his son’s high school football team allowed players five minutes of pre-game “team time,” widely understood as time for student-led prayer.

Fogg said his school board used to open its meetings with prayer — until 2019, when they received a cease-and-desist letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

“So we just moved our prayer to have it before the school board meeting, in a setting where there are no students,” Fogg said. He added that although the Supreme Court ruling will probably make religious employees less fearful to be themselves at school, it “changes nothing” policy-wise “because we already have a strong faith-based school board and administration and many of our coaches.”

Others, though, are appalled by what they see as an erosion of the boundary between church and state.

In Salt Lake City, 50-year-old Thayne Warner is remembering his son’s struggles in high school, when his football coach called on players to pray before every game and at team dinners. The family lived in Aurora, Colo., at the time, and Warner — a former Mormon, now an atheist — grew angry when he saw how the tradition was affecting his boy.

“He had been called on to pray and had to decline and felt terrible afterwards, because he didn’t really know how to pray in the way that everyone else was praying — Mormon praying is somewhat different,” Warner said. “He felt like everyone was looking at him and judging him for not participating.”

Things got so bad, he said, that his son considered quitting the team. Incensed, Warner filed a complaint in 2016 with the help of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The prayer ceased, and the coach was later fired.

Warner’s three older children are past school-age, and his two youngest do not play sports. But the Supreme Court’s ruling has him worried for other students. He says it will be difficult — maybe impossible — for other parents to act like he did.

“I just think students like my son are just going to be further put in an uncomfortable position,” Warner said.

And in Oklahoma, Kristi Robertson is concerned that more families will undergo what hers did.

A report card for Aurora Robertson compiled by her third-grade teacher, who Aurora says led the class in daily prayer. The teacher wrote, "I'm glad that God placed you in my class." (Kristi Robertson)

Robertson contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation soon after her daughter told her about the third-grade teacher’s prayers, in which she was taught to thank Jesus for things like sunny days and good classroom behavior. The foundation submitted a complaint to the Mid-Del School District in May of 2019.

The family has since switched school districts, and Robertson is unsure what happened to the teacher, if anything. Rick Cobb, superintendent of the Mid-Del district, wrote in an email that he spoke “with school staff about the situation” but declined to share any more information, writing, “We do not discuss disciplinary issues involving students or employees.”

But she knows how the experience changed her daughter. On a video call, sitting beside her mother, Aurora said she enjoys praying and going to church with her best friend, a girl named Maria. She said that she believes in God and that she began believing in God when her third-grade teacher talked about God in class.

“The teacher, she said, ‘He is always watching you and offering forgiveness and stuff,’ ” Aurora said. At first, she thought praying “was a little weird, but I went along with it because I thought it was required.”

HeavyG

As a bona fide Life Member of the FFRF I completely support the mission of Ms Gaylor. The mission is a constant struggle requiring time/money/effort that everyone can agree could be better spent elsewhere for the betterment of life on the planet. Unfortunately, a primary (and very simple) concept of concern of our founders continues to be ignored by far too many folks.

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update: (fairly thin so far today)

"Ukrainian officials have confirmed strikes on a major bridge in Kherson that was used to reinforce and resupply Russian forces in southern Ukraine. Several large detonations near the Antonivskyi Bridge were shown in multiple social media videos. Nataliya Humeniuk, spokeswoman for Operational Command South, confirmed the strikes on television. Humeniuk also stated that the counteroffensive in southern Ukraine continues and Andriyivka and Lozove villages have been liberated. Tim Lister and Josh Pennington report for CNN. 

Ukrainian officials say fighting continues around the eastern city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces are making incremental territorial gains. Social media videos show Russian forces in control of a power plant around the settlement of Novoluhanske, a battleground for the past several weeks. Ukraine military’s General Staff reported that another Russian assault in the area of Verkhniokamianske had failed. Tim Lister reports for CNN. "

Edit to add the following link about Russia's political goals in eastern Ukraine:

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-kyiv-black-sea-arab-league-b5c583e8d057897cfdef6b407e113339?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dfn-ebb&SToverlay=2002c2d9-c344-4bbb-8610-e5794efcfa7d 

lousubcap

Thursday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian forces have taken over Ukraine's second-largest power plant, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview posted on YouTube yesterday. "They have achieved a small tactical advantage by taking Vuhlehirsk," adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said. The coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant is in the eastern Donetsk region, close to the border with Russian-controlled Luhansk. Arestovych added that Russian forces were attempting to consolidate gains in the area. The Russians are now "moving to strategic defense on all conquered fronts," rather than taking over the Donetsk region "at this stage," he said. Mohammed Tawfeeq reports for CNN. 

Russian forces have made further incremental progress in the eastern Donetsk region, according to the Ukrainian military. In an operational update, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said Russian forces were trying to advance toward Bakhmut from the south and east. Russian forces had "partial success" in the direction of Vidrodzhennia-Vershyna and were entrenched southeast of the settlement of Vershyna, the update said. However, the General Staff said attacks from four different directions toward Bakhmut were repelled. Tim Lister reports for CNN. 

A Ukrainian counter-offensive has virtually cut off the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson and left thousands of Russian troops stationed near the Dnipro River "highly vulnerable," according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense’s intelligence update. Ukrainian forces have probably established a bridgehead south of the Ingulets River, and had used new, long-range artillery to damage at least three of the bridges crossing the Dnipro, the update said. The loss of Kherson “would severely undermine Russia’s attempts to paint the occupation as a success,” the update added. Reuters reports. "

Edit to add the below:

"Turkey’s defense chief unveiled a new control center where Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. officials are set to monitor exports of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea under an agreement reached last week. The grain export deal, which could free millions of tons of grain needed to alleviate a global food crisis, is clouded by uncertainty after Russia launched a missile attack on the port of Odesa, one of the key grain-exporting ports covered under the agreement. Many Ukrainian, including senior government officials, say they don’t trust Russia to uphold its end of the agreement and allow safe passage of grain shipments through the Black Sea. However, officials have said that they are pushing ahead with preparations for ships to begin sailing from Ukraine’s Black Sea. “This center has a meaning for the whole world, and this center will work for humanitarian purposes,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said at the facility yesterday. Elvan Kivilcim and Jared Malsin report for the Wall Street Journal. "

lousubcap

Here's a worthwhile read about China, US and Taiwan: All with the objective of enlightenment from several sources:
"

Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Chris Good   Seeing this newsletter as a forward? Subscribe here.   July 28, 2022

What Taiwan Really Needs? As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly considers traveling to Taiwan next month, US–China tensions have spiked over the possibility of such a high-ranking visit.   Acknowledging pressure to “capitulat(e)” in the face of Chinese warnings and US-military qualms, the latter referenced publicly by US President Joe Biden, the conservative stalwart National Review urges Pelosi to go through with it. At The Atlantic, Michael Schuman writes that the episode has already reflected China’s bellicosity under President Xi Jinping.     Putting the controversy in context, Michael A. Hunzeker and Alexander Lanoszka write for War on the Rocks that the US Congress has been a staunch supporter of Taiwan for some time, but it’s not clear whether America would actually defend Taiwan militarily if Beijing sought to seize the island by force.   What Taiwan really needs, they write, are weapons—particularly smaller, cheaper ones like mines, cruise missiles and drones that could effect an “asymmetric” defense, analogous to what Ukraine successfully mounted against another large invading force—and “a healthy dose of tough love” in steering Taiwan’s military toward those weapons, and that defense strategy, rather than “high-profile ships, jets (and) tanks” that appeared more valuable when military realities were different.

The US and China, Stumbling Toward Confrontation? At the Financial Times, columnist Edward Luce warns that aside from the particularities of the current brouhaha, Washington and Beijing aren’t doing enough generally to calm tensions. At Foreign Affairs, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd writes that the US–China relationship needs “guardrails” like understood red lines and communication channels to “manag(e)” competition.    “Watching China and the United States engage in increasing levels of brinkmanship,” Rudd writes, “is like watching two neighbors welding away in a backyard workshop without rubber-soled shoes on, sparks flying everywhere and exposed, uninsulated cables running across a wet concrete floor. What could possibly go wrong?”

lousubcap

More of my offerings in an attempt to contribute professional insights that I have read but not vetted the veracity of the source,  However, I figure exposure is a worthwhile enterprise-
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/recession-definition-wrong-question-inflation-unemployment/670983/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email
Warming up as it is Friday eve!

lousubcap

About the only place where this fits and it is a strong indictment of those who control media content: Cutting to the chase in Louisville-

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/education/2022/07/26/louisville-jcps-school-district-criticizes-facebook-black-principals-posts/65383710007/

Why posting- The district posted up 11 new school principals on Facebook. 5 were removed-all five were black.  
Some info:
Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) enrolls more than 98,000 students; 55% of whom are minorities. JCPS operates 169 schools (134 regular schools, 20 specialized magnet schools and 15 academies). 

We will never turn the corner with this sort of corporate response and that is a sad indicator of how far we have to go.  
Off this soap-box but LEO is on the near-term horizon so there could be more.  

JohnInCarolina

Interesting piece in Forbes discussing how the former guy got out from under some of his pressing debt:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2022/07/29/donald-trumps-great-escape-how-the-former-president-solved-his-debt-crisis/

lousubcap

Here's the part of the above article about Cheeto and the money that summed it up best for me: "
“Every business in the world is completely morality-agnostic when it comes to moneymaking opportunities,” says Mike Offit, who started Deutsche Bank’s relationship with Trump in the 1990s after the future president came off a series of bankruptcies. “He’ll always have lenders. Yes, it may be expensive. But there will always be entities that will lend to him.”"

Buckwoody Egger

Great insight to who holds the leverage (who he really works for). 

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russia’s defense ministry has accused Ukrainian forces of killing 40 prisoners in a strike in separatist-held eastern Ukraine. "The pre-trial detention center in the area of ​​the settlement of Yelenovka (Olenivka), which contains Ukrainian military prisoners of war, including militants of the Azov formation, was hit by a missile attack from the American HIMARS multiple launch rocket system," the Russian defense ministry said in a statement. The ministry claimed that "40 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and 75 were wounded. In addition, eight employees of the isolation ward received injuries of varying severity." Tim Lister and Josh Pennington report for CNN. 

Missiles and rockets rained down on northern Ukraine yesterday, marking the first time in weeks that the Kyiv region has been hit. A Kalibr cruise missile struck a military base in the Vyshgorod area, north of Kyiv, early yesterday morning, according to military officials. At least 20 rockets were fired from Belarus into northern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. Nine hit the Chernihiv region, while air-defense systems took out others. Ian Lovett and Evan Gershkovich report for the Wall Street Journal.

Whilst the U.N. had been hoping for the first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine’s Odesa port yesterday, procedural details for safe passage are still being worked out, the organization’s chief aid coordinator has said. Martin Griffiths, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told reports, “getting the procedures is an essential precondition to safe movements of ships. So it's no surprise that we haven't seen a ship move yet." He noted that the parties need to get the exact location of safe passage corridors “absolutely nailed down,” adding “I think we'll see this very quickly.” Amy Cassidy reports for CNN. "