I think we need a category for “Resources.” Anyway, our friend and fellow blogger Annie Asks You gave a couple of resources for us to pass along and use to help our neighbors, earlier in a comment on another blog. I put together a Substack about it, so here it is. It’s short.
These sites have information people need so they are prepared in case authorities believe they have reason to question or detain you. The sites are run by experts, with clear advice for preparation and dealing with authorities. -A.
ICE and CBP might not respect our rights, but they cannot take away our POWER. Use these resources to learn about your rights and express them in case you have an encounter with an immigration official. (snip)
Jan 15, 2025 This Know Your Rights resource provides general information on what to do if you are stopped, arrested, or detained by immigration or other law enforcement. Originally published in December 2015. (snip)
Rare because I rarely post such. Pastor Bolz-Weber says all this so well, and it is what I learned when I was young and growing up; what I work to apply in my own (and in no one else’s) life. I’m not proselytizing or trying to “draw anyone in.” This helps to explain why and how I feel as I do about justice and peace, and love and understanding and all that, including hope and light. Enjoy with a mind that can absorb without feeling there’s gonna be a “come forward” moment, because there’s not one. (Other than to Christians who feel as we do, but wonder about Zionism and Nationalism being as bad as they are.)
This morning I had a quick breakfast with another Lutheran pastor. This of course is not terribly remarkable in the scheme of things, except for the fact that the breakfast took place in the Kingdom of Jordan, a few feet away from the Dead Sea and my colleague had to cut the breakfast short so he could return home to his family, but he was anxious about all the military check point between here and there.
“How far of a drive is it” I asked.
“If I had a car and could drive straight there, about an hour. But my hope is that it will only take 8 hours.” He accepted that he may in fact not even make it home at all tonight.
Munther Isaac is a Palestinian Lutheran Pastor who lives and serves a church in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. Christians have been here since the day the Spirit blew through them on the day of Pentecost, so Munther and my other Palestinian Christian friends can get slightly annoyed when well meaning Christians from the West ask “when did your family convert?”.
Um, over 2,000 years ago?
Munther and I are in Jordan right now for a conference – 60 academics and church leaders from 17 countries gathered over the last several days for a consultation on Christian Zionism (belief that Jewish people have a “divine right” to the land here – using a few verses in a 4,000 year old text to have authority over foreign policy and global political realities of today), and the impact of that on Christians in the Middle East; a few days together in a majority Muslim country, across the Dead Sea from the State of Israel to talk about Christian folks’ business: how do the theological beliefs of one group of Christians impact the lives of another group of Christians halfway across the planet?
Many of us grew up with some form of Christian Zionism, I know I did. Perhaps it stemmed from a desire to be faithful to what we have been told, or a desire to help usher in the second coming of Christ (ala The Late Great Planet Earth) so he can come back and destroy the world and take us up to heaven (described this week as science fiction theology), or a desire to assuage the guilt left over from the unspeakable atrocities and genocide of the holocaust.
It will take me time to metabolize what I heard over the last few days. Christian Zionism is widespread, and far reaching in it’s impact, and I am committed to try and maintain the humility it takes as a US citizen and a Christian to consider people like Munther and my friend Mitri Raheb as reliable narrators of the impact on the ground in Palestine.
Palestinian Christians should be listened to by us, their siblings in Christ.
Munther Isaac appeared in ‘Til Kingdom Come (2020), an Israeli documentary about American Christian support for Israel.[20] In the film he explains his view to pastor William Bingham that Christian Zionism contributes to the oppression of Palestinians. After their conversation, Bingham calls Isaac an anti-semite and says that Palestinians do not exist. – Wikipedia
This morning before Munther left to make his way home, he told me a story of a family in his church. For over 150 years they have rightfully owned and inhabited their land outside Bethlehem – a beautiful parcel dotted with olive trees, often hundreds of years old themselves.
Israeli settlers (whose actions are deemed illegal by the UN Security Council) who for years have been attempting to take this family’s land, confronted them at their gate recently, demanding the family leave. The family showed them their ownership documents – dating back from Ottoman rule, then Jordanian rule through to Israeli rule. The settlers angrily lifted up their Bible and said “We have documents too. God gave us this land!”
As I mentioned, I am overwhelmed by all I heard this week and will try and write more later for those who are interested, but for now I wanted to report how one word stood out for me in a particular way during the conference, and that word is: heresy.
19th century theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher defined heresy as, “that which preserves the appearance of Christianity, and yet contradicts its essence“
So perhaps that is the correct word for when, with all the trappings of Christianity behind us, we who seek to justify or maintain our dominance over another group of people use the Bible to prove that our domination`is not actually an abuse of power at the expense of others, but is, indeed, part of “God’s plan”. Because there you have the appearance of Christianity (Bible verses and God-talk) contradicting its essence (love God, and love your neighbor, blessed are the meek, etc…).
Is it not heresy when slavery is established as “God’s will”; when the subordination of women is established as “God’s will”; when discrimination against queer folks is established as “God’s will”, when the taking of one people’s land by another people is established as “God’s will” (hello, manifest destiny), when the executive VP of the National Rifle Association claims that the right to buy an assault rifle is “not bestowed by man, but granted by God”? When a self-justifying message is heretically delivered in God’s name it brings with it a poison that infects the deepest parts of us and when the poison spreads, so does the violence.
When you can say that God Almighty is co-signing on your dominance over another group of God’s children, then every means is justified, right to the end. Every inch of land stolen, every suicide bombing enacted, every act of violence committed, every weapon used, every checkpoint and illegal detention, every child who dies, every tower that falls to the ground – all of it covered under some sort of bullshit spiritual umbrella policy. There are no means that need justifying if we claim God as our patron and guide.
And I imagine God is just about sick to death of it.
As I claimed in my book about sexual shame and religion, we should never be more loyal to a doctrine or an interpretation of a Bible verse than we are to people. If the teachings of the church are harming people we re-think those teachings. Amen?
Speaking up for Palestinians often comes at a cost. Those of you who have done it know. I also know, but am frankly too tired to care right now. So, if based on my recounting of the stories of my friends and colleagues, anyone is moved to called me anti-semitic, please open up the notes app on your phone and feel free to write it there but I will delete your unfounded accusations if you leave them here.
My apologies for the edge in my writing voice. We are all exhausted and as my friend Jodi just texted me, “this month has been two years long already.”
Thank you for reading. I am genuinely sending my love. Please pray this ceasefire holds. And for those waiting on the side of a road right now to return to the rubble of their homes. And for the hostages and prisoners who were released yesterday. I cannot imagine the trauma.
I was out buying eggs when I saw a video of Elon Musk giving a Hitler salute at the inauguration.
In the movies, this stuff is highlighted and separated: punctuation in itself instead of an event that you see in the background of your everyday life. Hannah Arendt talked about “the banality of evil” in the context of Eichmann, one of the core organizers of the Holocaust, telling prosecutors that he was just doing his job. But banality pervades. Sometimes, you need to buy eggs. And sometimes, when you get back in the car and pick up your phone, you get a notification about the richest man in the world signaling his intentions on the world stage.
There has subsequently been much discussion about whether it really was a Nazi salute. It’s insultingly stupid. Even if he truly didn’t intend to throw three successive Sieg Heils, he certainly knows what one is, and most of us have enough self awareness not to accidentally look like a Nazi on national television. He had to know what he was doing. It was a deliberate Nazi salute. The act itself, and the subsequent denials, serve to normalize fascism; just another banal event for you to scroll past on your phone.
Still, these conversations serve a purpose. It’s worth noticing who wants to downplay the Nazism, which, after all, is not “just” manifested in the world’s richest man doing a Hitler salute on national TV. Make no mistake, Musk’s salute was a clear signal, but it’s far from the only one. It’s part of a broader pattern of normalization, visible in policies and actions designed to dismantle rights and embolden oppression.
“Optimistic and celebrating,” Mark Zuckerberg said, on the same night that Musk Sieg Heiled the room three times. “I’m not going to agree with him on everything, but I think he will be incredible for the country in many ways,” Sam Altman said. Microsoft put out a statement saying that “the country has a unique opportunity to pursue […] the foundational ideas set for AI policy during President Trump’s first term”.
And those are public figures in technology. My Facebook feed, and likely yours, is loaded with acquaintances and extended family members who welcome the change; one on mine welcomed “the return to logic and reason”. My LinkedIn feed is worse, with many business leaders echoing Zuckerberg’s “optimistic” language, and some calling the Nazi salute into question.
We’ve tumbled into a deep, dark hole, and, as it turns out, many of us are glad to be there.
It’s just not always clear who.
Though dated in some ways, this 1941 Harper’s Magazine article still resonates. The question then was, “Who goes Nazi?” Who is going to be a sympathizer or even a collaborator with a regime that seeks to subjugate, deport, and, as it turned out in the 1940s, kill so many people?
And to be clear, collaboration doesn’t require slapping on an armband and goose-stepping behind a demagogue. Nice people made the best Nazis, as Naomi Shulman wrote eight years ago:
My mother was born in Munich in 1934, and spent her childhood in Nazi Germany surrounded by nice people who refused to make waves. When things got ugly, the people my mother lived alongside chose not to focus on “politics,” instead busying themselves with happier things. They were lovely, kind people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away.
The question now is not a million miles away. Who will support? Who will collaborate? Who will decide that they are “not political” and look away as millions of people are harmed? Who will make excuses for it all? Who secretly welcomes the push for theocracy, for in-groups and out-groups, for “traditional” values that prioritize rigid gender roles, segregation, and oligarchy? Who, in other words, is safe?
Are you “optimistic” about the new regime? Will you be complicit?
When someone needs help — when ICE comes after them, or worse — will you look away, or worse, cheer them on? Or will you be a point of safety for someone who needs it?
And what about when it gets worse? Because, left unchecked, it will.
In the face of rising fascism, what kind of person are you? What kind of person do you want to be?
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I like this person and his teachings. Clearly. In truth had he been the one to save me as a 17 yr old beaten boy hiding in his barn I think he may have still sent me to a church school to protect me but he wouldn’t have then expected me to go on and become a priest in their religion. I couldn’t tell my savior who wanted that from me why I rejected his strong demand / offer and instead went into the military was that I was gay. I had accepted it to myself. I was well versed enough in the acts of it due to my abuse to know that along with my internal emotions about guys vs women that the acts themselves did not repulse me. Just the way they were forced on me. Remember I had been forced to please females as well as males since I was 3 years old and I understood my attractions were to males. I was very gay. Instead I think he would have asked me my goals and I would have had to tell him the mystical parts of the religion I had issues with … but the reason I need to withdraw was I was gay. If he responded as he did in my comment to him, then I would have stayed in his congregation. Not believing the magic parts of the religion but the community and acceptance that their god has for those different. Rev. Ed Trevors admits he doesn’t preach facts, he preaches faith, and much of what he stresses is things as a humanest I can fully endorse.
I do wonder with his … more violent past if he had found a badly beaten very thin small 17 year old boy who told him he was being abuse if he would have done more than force the parents … well in their mind’s owner of the boy to let him leave. But again maybe that is my hopes / emotions talking over my understanding of reality. Hugs
I read the free Democracy Docket; it’s good, but not complete. However, on items like this, everyone can see it. The more of this sort of thing we have, the better.
We will fight for people, freedom, and our democracy against any odds
Democracy 2025 is the strategic hub to protect people and their rights should the Trump-Vance administration seek to unlawfully strip away freedoms and prosperity.
We know the playbook, and we’re ready to fight back
The threats are no longer hypothetical. The effort to turn Project 2025 and other dangerous plans into action has begun.
We’ve planned for this moment. In courtrooms and communities across the country, we will use all the tools our Constitution provides to defend our rights and achieve a democracy that works for all people. (snip-Go Visit! Bookmark it, use it, and do what you can.)
January 22, 1953 The Arthur Miller drama, ”The Crucible,” opened on Broadway. It was a parable that reflected the climate of fear that pervaded American society and the politics of its time, witchcraft in the late 17th century, communism in the mid-20th. In both times there existed also the fear of false accusation. From the New York Times review of the Broadway revival in November 2001: “Today, the play is a cautionary tale of astounding immediacy. Its themes include the pathology of rumor, the arrogance of the religiously righteous, the dangers of private panic in the face of public terror, and the individual’s difficulty in acting rationally in the face of mob hysteria.” scene from the original production Read the playwright’s reasons for writing it:
January 22, 1973 Women won control of their reproductive rights when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that Americans have a constitutional right to privacy, and thus women may terminate a pregnancy before the last 10 weeks. Only during the last trimester, when a fetus can survive outside the womb, would states be permitted to regulate abortion of a healthy pregnancy. Prior to the Court’s ruling that the decision was private and belonged to the pregnant woman, abortion was essentially illegal in all states except New York (as of 1970). About the decision History of New York’s law
January 22, 2001 President George W. Bush signed a memorandum the day after his inauguration reinstating full restrictions on U.S. overseas aid that might go to any program that provided abortions or considered them an option for women. Known as the Mexico City policy, or global gag rule, first signed by President Ronald Reagan, it had been withdrawn by President Bill Clinton as soon as he took office.
Either way, I thought I’d paste it in here, and whoever needs it, wants it, or knows something about it can do their thing. The title leans in one particular direction, but there is more info within, and I pasted it all here.
If you are actively hiring for positions in a company that is friendly to transgender people, in a country that is safe for transgender people, and you are willing to sponsor visas for people seeking to emigrate for these positions, I would like to hear from you.
If you’re unsure which countries are considered to be safe for transgender people, and if your country is one, Rainbow Relocation has a reasonable list, and others are available.
To be clear: I want trans people to feel safe here in the United States, and I want them to be here. But I also understand peoples’ need to feel safe in the current moment. I am not urging people to move, but I would like to make life easier for people who want to. I’m making this request in the spirit of assistance, because I’ve already been asked.
I am also probably not the right person to put this together! But I didn’t see anyone else doing it. If you are from a reputable organization that supports transgender safety in a professional way, and you would like to take ownership of this list or collaborate, or if you are already doing something like this and I missed it, please email me at ben@benwerd.com.
I’m writing about the intersection of the internet, media, and society. Sign up to my newsletter to receive every post and a weekly digest of the most important stories from around the web.
With Trump’s second presidential administration looming before us, Americans who care deeply about equality and social justice are asking ourselves: What now? How do we move forward in this dramatically changed political and legislative climate? What actions will have a fighting chance of getting traction? What is the most effective sphere of influence for individuals?
The truth is some diversity, equity and inclusion programs, like training, haven’t worked. Research shows that while DEI trainings increase attendees’ awareness and knowledge about bias, there’s little evidence of changes in attendees’ behavior, nor increased diversity in the types of people hired, promoted, retained or more inclusive climate in the organizations where such training is implemented. Sometimes DEI training backfires, creating resentment and resistance when people feel coerced.
Ashley Dorelus (R) and Tanya James (L) demonstrate outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis on Dec. 23, 2021, during jury deliberations in the trial of former police officer Kim Potter, charged with first degree manslaughter over the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, 20. (Kerem Yucel / AFP via Getty Images)
DEI training tries to change individuals’ beliefs, hoping it will change their future behavior. But individuals’ beliefs often don’t shift behavior because human behavior is buffeted by multiple situational forces. These include the social roles individuals occupy and their accompanying behavioral etiquette, what others around them are saying or doing, and norms and rules that constrain their actions, all of which guide people’s behavior no matter what their personal beliefs.
Another situational force is the physical design of places where people live and work, which influences whether casual interactions with others of diverse backgrounds are easy or not. Such interactions, when pleasant and repeated, morph into familiarity and friendliness that are an essential building block for trust.
Like wallpaper, these situational forces are in the background, barely noticed. Yet they subtly nudge people’s thoughts and actions in small ways, accumulating over time in one of two directions. They either pull us apart based on initial differences, increasing unfamiliarity, mistrust and polarization, or they push us together, increasing familiarity, trust and inclusion.
We need to notice the wallpaper that silently pulls and pushes our own behavior. To do that, we must step out of our bubble and mix with people different from ourselves.
Even if individuals’ behavior were to be changed by DEI training, they would be quickly overwhelmed by the wallpaper when they returned to their workplace, stepped into their old roles, surrounded by unchanged norms, rules and colleagues, and in buildings with limited physical arrangements for cross-group mixing and relationship building.
Here is an alternative roadmap to social justice backed by scientific research simplified in the form of five steps.
First, we need to notice the wallpaper that silently pulls and pushes our own behavior. To do that, we must step out of our bubble and mix with people different from ourselves. Have real conversations, be curious and learn about the material conditions of others’ lives that may not be visible from the outside. Repeated interactions start a virtuous cycle of growing familiarity, understanding, trust, cross-group relationships and a sense of belonging in a shared community. These interactions reveal stories about people’s material conditions, highlighting inequality or vulnerability in a personal way, and grow solidarity and momentum for change.
Know that inequalities often hide in the “3 Rs” where we live and work: rules, resources and recognition. Do the rules in the place where you live or organization where you work exclude some people’s voices from decision-making, especially people with less power? Are there transparent and reasonable processes to change these rules? Are resources distributed to individuals based on need, merit, effort, seniority, or a combination? Are the criteria and processes for resource distribution open and transparent? Are people recognized for their contribution fairly?
If you see inequalities in the 3 Rs where you live or work, don’t be silent. Talk to others, see what they think, and explore ways to act collectively for change.
Second, actions make more of a difference if they attempt to change the material conditions of people’s lives—access to high quality education, healthcare, housing and employment—than if they are mostly symbolic—mission statements, lawn signs or imagery of diverse people on websites and marketing materials.
Third, acting collectively with other people will get more traction rather than acting alone because individuals quickly get swept away by situational forces. In acting together, the goal is not to limit ourselves to gather with people who are all the same. Rather, when we are not afraid to mix with people different from ourselves, we are able to discover and develop new allies across the spectrum instead of being caught in old identity traps that haven’t served us well.
Because the wallpaper is old and sticky, collective action is needed over and over again in different ways. It’s not one and done. That’s the fourth step.
Finally, actions get more traction if they are local. That’s the Goldilocks space. That’s our call for action in the next four years and the hope for change.
Ms. Classroom wants to hear from educators and students being impacted by legislation attacking public education, higher education, gender, race and sexuality studies, activism and social justice in education, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs for our series, ‘Banned! Voices from the Classroom.’ Submit pitches and/or op-eds and reflections (between 500-800 words) to Ms. contributing editor Aviva Dove-Viebahn at adove-viebahn@msmagazine.com. Posts will be accepted on a rolling basis.
Members of the Kansas House of Representatives are sworn in on Jan. 13, 2025. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)
Watching senators and representatives traipse merrily into the Statehouse on Monday morning was like watching the beginning of a knockoff Harry Potter movie, one in which lawmakers returned to their majestic chambers full of excitement for the year to come.
Of course, Harry Potter movies feature fewer magical tax cuts for corporations, fantastical abortion messaging bills and terrifying anti-trans legislation.
I felt excitement in the air, as freshly elected supermajority Republicans licked at their lips at the prospect of enacting their agenda without having to pay pesky Democrats the slightest notice. House GOP members were heading out to a caucus meeting across the street — one closed to journalists — and hellos and backslaps echoed throughout the entrance.
It’s going to be a long three months. But don’t worry. I’ll be here writing this weekly roundup to collect bits and bobs that we didn’t get to over the week.
Think of me as Topeka’s own J.K. Rowling, only not transphobic.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins stands before his chamber on the opening day of session, Jan. 13, 2025. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)
Press restrictions
I’ll have more about this Monday, but despite embarrassed protestations from some Republican House members, leadership indeed banned reporters from the chamber’s floor. Either have the decency to own the fact (it’s spelled out on a document sent to journalists) or voice your opposition, but don’t lie.
In the meantime, word of the new restrictions spread across the state and nation.
Kansas lawmakers will see their base pay double during the 2025 session. Nice work if you can get it. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
Making money moves
Senators and representative have a good reason for the positive attitudes I saw Monday: They’re making a lot more money.
Thanks to a convoluted process involving an independent commission and its binding recommendations, rank-and-file lawmakers’ base pay more than doubled, from $21,000 to $43,000, for the session. If you include per diem reimbursements, that brings the average salary to $57,000. Leadership in both chambers saw their pay increase as well.
I’m on the record praising this idea. Given the aging demographics of our Legislature, these heftier salaries could attract younger talent. Hopefully, they will also cultivate a more professional attitude toward doing the people’s work. We shall see.
Americans for Prosperity lobbyists and enthusiasts pack a Statehouse hearing room on June 17, 2024 (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
AFP this week touted a new campaign calling on legislators in Washington, D.C., to renew former and future President Donald Trump’s signature tax cuts. The group claims in a news release that it will spend $20 million across 50 states to spread the word.
“If Congress fails to renew the TCJA, Kansans will be left paying $2,228 more in taxes,” claimed AFP-Kansas director Elizabeth Patton. “Along with increasing the burden of inflation on working families, the expiration of these tax cuts would cripple local businesses with a $988 tax increase and ultimately cost over 6,760 jobs.”
Meanwhile, the NFIB surveyed Kansas members and revealed the results, which mysteriously track with Topeka Republicans’ priorities.
The group writes in its own news release that more than 88% want state property taxes lowered. It also notes that 86% “believe Kansas should require the disclosure of third parties with financial interest in litigation,” and that 62% “support waiving fines and penalties for first-time regulatory errors.”
Robert Blaemire, author of a book about former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana, moderated a discussion with former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas in 2022. (Thad Allton for Kansas Reflector)
Kassebaum addendum
In my Monday column about former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum receiving the Presidential Citizens Medal, I noted that other state news organizations had only skimmed the surface in reporting on the honor.
Right on time, Marion County Record reporter Finn Hartnett popped up Wednesday with a lovely profile of Kassebaum at home. Read and enjoy.
The Kansas Reflector opinion section is always looking for fresh perspectives and new writers. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
Calling contributors
With a new year and new legislative session comes a new call from yours truly for contributors to the opinion section. We have a page of guidelines about what we’re looking for, but the short version is this: If you want to write about Kansas, and you live in Kansas, please drop me a line.
We don’t run traditional letters to the editor (he said politely, so please don’t send them), but I would love to see pieces in the 650-850 word range about the Sunflower State and its extraordinary residents. Take a look at our opinion section to see more.
Who knows, perhaps you can be the next non-transphobic J.K. Rowling along with me.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Scottie's Playtime 