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  • Emily’s List Statement On Voting Rights Vs Senator Sinema’s Lack of Support for Legislation on Voting Rights

    For Immediate ReleaseKyrsten Sinema

    January 18, 2022

    EMILY’s List Statement on Voting Rights

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, as the Senate debates vital legislation on voting rights, EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:

    “EMILY’s List was founded to elect Democratic pro-choice women. We know that representation matters, as does the critical work those women do to protect abortion rights everywhere from state houses to city halls to the halls of Congress. Our mission can only be realized when everyone has the freedom to have their voice heard safely and freely at the ballot box. Ongoing Republican efforts at voter suppression don’t just undermine our mission, but the very democratic ideals that should be at the center of our government. Protecting the right to vote is fundamental to our work and to our electoral system. We are grateful for all of our endorsed candidates who continue to fight hard to protect these rights.

    “EMILY’s List is laser-focused on the 2022 elections – holding the House and Senate, electing governors and state legislators. Understanding that access to the ballot box and confidence in election results are critical to our work and our country, we have joined with many others to impress upon Sen. Sinema the importance of the pending voting rights legislation in the Senate. So far those concerns have not been addressed.

    Above: Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Wikipedia

    “We have not endorsed or contributed to Sen. Sinema since her election in 2018. Right now, Sen. Sinema’s decision to reject the voices of allies, partners and constituents who believe the importance of voting rights outweighs that of an arcane process means she will find herself standing alone in the next election. 
     
    “Electing Democratic pro-choice women is not possible without free and fair elections. Protecting the right to choose is not possible without access to the ballot box. So, we want to make it clear: if Sen. Sinema can not support a path forward for the passage of this legislation, we believe she undermines the foundations of our democracy, her own path to victory and also the mission of EMILY’s List, and we will be unable to endorse her moving forward.
     
    “We are at an inflection point in the fight for voting rights and reproductive freedom, and Democrats must stand together to protect those critical rights. EMILY’s List is proud to stand with Democratic pro-choice women doing that work, today and every day.”

    EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY’s List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILY’s List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY’s List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.

  • GAO Reports – Disaster Recovery: School Districts in Socially Vulnerable Communities Faced Heightened Challenges After Recent Natural Disasters

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    3.  Disaster Recovery: School Districts in Socially Vulnerable Communities Faced Heightened Challenges after Recent Natural Disasters
     GAO-22-104606Published: Jan 18, 2022. Publicly Released: Jan 18, 2022.
    • Jump To
     
    Fast Facts

    Natural disasters can be devastating for K-12 schools — especially in areas where people were already vulnerable.

    Most school districts that received key federal recovery grants in the wake of 2017-2019 disasters had higher than average proportions of students from socially vulnerable groups (e.g., low-income families, kids with disabilities).

    We looked at 5 school districts in socially vulnerable communities. District officials said that students who faced problems like housing instability or food insecurity had significant emotional trauma after disasters. They also said it was hard to access mental health care for these students.

    School Districts that Received Key Federal Recovery Grants for 2017-19 Presidentially Declared Major Disasters

    U.S. map of school districts that received federal recovery grants for major disasters

    Highlights

    What GAO Found

    Most school districts that received key federal disaster recovery grants following 2017-2019 presidentially-declared major disasters had elevated proportions of students from certain socially vulnerable groups, according to GAO’s analysis of federal data. Research shows that socially vulnerable groups—including children who are low income, minorities, English learners, or living with disabilities —are particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of disasters. School districts serving high proportions of children in these groups may need more recovery assistance compared to districts with less vulnerable student populations. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Public Assistance program and the Department of Education’s Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations (Restart) program may provide such assistance. GAO found that 57 percent of school districts receiving these key grants for 2017-2019 disasters served a higher than average proportion of students in two or more of these socially vulnerable groups, compared to 38 percent of all school districts nationwide.

    Officials from five selected school districts in socially vulnerable communities described heightened challenges recovering from recent natural disasters. These challenges generally fell into four areas of recovery: emotional, academic, financial, and physical (see figure). For instance, officials said the disasters caused significant emotional trauma to students due to stressors including extended housing instability, food insecurity, parental job loss, and social disconnection. To address these needs, districts worked to obtain additional mental health and support services. But officials cited frequent challenges in doing so. For instance, officials in two rural districts said their communities lacked sufficient qualified mental health providers.

    Key Aspects of School Recovery from a Natural Disaster or Emergency

    Key Aspects of School Recovery from a Natural Disaster or Emergency

    Through its Restart grant program, Education helped support a range of school recovery efforts after 2017-2019 natural disasters, awarding nearly $940 million in six states and three U.S. territories. School districts used funds to make physical repairs, acquire portable classrooms, and provide mental health and academic services to students, among other things. Education also worked proactively to help applicants with urgent recovery needs, such as by advancing a portion of anticipated grant funding early to help jumpstart recovery projects. Through such efforts, the Restart program played a key role in helping schools resume operations and meet students’ needs following disasters.

    Why GAO Did This Study

    Since 2017, over 300 presidentially-declared major disasters have occurred across all 50 states and all U.S. territories. Many of these disasters have had devastating effects on K-12 schools, including those in socially vulnerable communities for whom disaster recovery is more challenging.

    The Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 included provisions for GAO to audit issues related to certain recent disasters. This report reviews (1) the extent to which school districts that received key federal disaster recovery grants served students from selected socially vulnerable groups, (2) the recovery experiences of selected K-12 school districts in socially vulnerable communities, and (3) the extent to which Education’s Restart program supports school disaster recovery.

    GAO analyzed disaster-related data from FEMA and Education including data on Restart grants and program documentation, and reviewed relevant federal laws and agency guidance. GAO also collected information from five school districts in three states, selected for demographic diversity, elevated rates of social vulnerability in their community, and receipt of Restart grants. In addition, GAO interviewed officials from FEMA and Education.

    For more information, contact Jacqueline M. Nowicki at (617) 788-0580 or nowickij@gao.gov.

    Full Report

    Highlights Page (1 page)

     

    Full Report (37 pages)

     

    Accessible PDF (38 pages)
     

  • Update: COVIDTests.gov Fact Sheet: The Biden Administration Has Begun Distributing At-Home, Rapid COVID-⁠19 Tests to Americans for Free

    STATEMENTS AND RELEASESWhite house image

    Find A Vaccine Near You: https://www.vaccines.gov/search/?medications=25f1389c-5597-47cc-9a9d-3925d60d9c21

     The Biden Administration is Buying One Billion Tests to Give to Americans for Free; Online Ordering of a Half-Billion Tests Begins on January 18th; Builds on Significant Actions to Expand Testing Capacity and Increase Access to Free Testing

    Testing is an important tool to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Public health experts and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that Americans use at-home tests if they begin to have symptoms, at least five days after coming in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, or are gathering indoors with a group of people who are at risk of severe disease or unvaccinated.

    To help ensure Americans have tests on hand if a need arises, the Biden Administration is purchasing one billion at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests to give to Americans for free. A half-billion tests will be available for order on January 18th and will be mailed directly to American households.

    There will be free tests available for every household, and to promote broad access, the initial program will allow four free tests to be requested per residential address. Starting January 18th,*Americans will be able to order their tests online at COVIDTests.gov, and tests will typically ship within 7-12 days of ordering.

    To ensure equity and access for all Americans, the Administration will also launch a call line to help those unable to access the website to place orders, and work with national and local community-based organizations to support the nation’s hardest-hit and highest-risk communities in requesting tests.

    In addition to this new program, there are many other options for Americans to get tested. There are now over 20,000 free testing sites across the nation, including four times as many pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy free testing program as there were in January 2021, as well as federal surge free testing sites, with more free testing sites opening each week. Millions of free, at-home COVID-19 tests have been delivered to thousands of community health centers and rural health clinics to distribute to their patients, with more delivered each week. In addition, the Administration provided schools $10 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to get tests to K-12 school districts. And, the Administration invested nearly $6 billion in ARP funding to cover free testing for uninsured individuals, and support testing in correctional facilities, shelters for people experiencing homelessness, and mental health facilities.

    Just this week, the Administration also announced that starting January 15th, private health insurance companies will be required to cover at-home COVID-19 tests for free — and made an additional 10 million COVID-19 tests available to schools nationwide, each month.

    Since January 2021, the Administration has taken significant action to dramatically increase the nation’s overall COVID-19 testing supply, the number of tests authorized for use in the U.S., and the number of places where Americans can get a test, while lowering costs for consumers and increasing access to free tests.

    This comprehensive approach has produced important results: Today, there are nine at-home, rapid tests on the market in the U.S. — up from zero when the President took office. In December, there were more than 300 million at-home, rapid tests available in the U.S. market, up from 24 million in August — a more than 10-fold rise. This month, the number of at-home, rapid tests available to the U.S. market will rise to 375 million — in addition to the free tests available through COVIDTests.gov.

  • Diane Girard Writes: To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

    By Diane Girard Halston Pjs

    It’s winter here in the southwestern part of Ontario, Canada.  However; the word south is misleading. It does get cold and we do get snow but not in June — though that can happen in the prairie Provinces.  The evenings are long and dark, and I want to hibernate like the bears and the other smart wild creatures do.  I want to sleep in more often and enjoy the ‘sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care’.*1  If only that was easy.

    There’s lots of advice on how to get a better night’s sleep.  I know what works for me, but not always. Once upon a time (actually when I was in my fifties), I would have a milky cup of coffee and an aspirin before bed and then I’d sleep until the alarm woke me. Now, I ban caffeine after 4 p.m.  A little wine for thy stomach’s sake perhaps? Well, no, or I’ll regret it. How boring! Never mind. There are chores to do before I’m ready to snooze the night away. And, the preparations do help, at least some of the time.

    Photo, right: Saint Laurent Rive Gauche + Halston pajama sets; Photograph by Eileen Costa © The Museum at FIT

    I try, emphasis on try, not to snack after my six-p.m. supper. Yes, I admit it, I dine at an unfashionably early hour and I will continue to do so. 

    I let my bedclothes air out during the day and make the bed after dinner. That’s when I fluff up the pillows and open the window a smidgeon, if it isn’t frozen shut. If I’m feeling brave, I turn the heat down to 72- or 71-degrees Fahrenheit at about 7 p.m. My windows face north so the real temperature is always at least 2 degrees lower than the inner-wall thermostat says.

    Coffee is a morning essential, so I set up the coffee maker at night. It’s safer to do it then because I might not be able to complete all the required steps in the morning. A pot with only hot water in it does not have the same effect as a pot of coffee.

    Like many folks, I spend a lot of time in the internet universe but I don’t allow it in my bedroom. I do have a clock radio there. The radio doesn’t work properly but the clock shows the time in large red numbers which look huge when it is three a.m.  Perhaps I’ll turn the clock to the wall. 

     I wear plain Jane pajamas (no animals on them … see my previous essay: Note 2). The temperature of my feet varies from frozen to merely colder than the rest of me and I have no partner to warm them, so I wear socks to bed.  It may be only a matter of time until I’m wearing gloves while reading in bed.

    About 20 minutes before I climb into bed, I put my heating pad on the spot where my feet will be and turn it on. That way, I have at least a 50-50 chance that my feet will get as warm as the rest of me.

    Once I’m settled and my reading light is on, I open whichever book I’ve chosen and enter the world within it. When my eyes can’t stay open, I close the book, turn out the light and hug my extra pillow. Then, if I’m fortunate, I have a deep sleep. I wish you sweet dreams.

    ©2022 Diane Girard for SeniorWomen.com

    Editor’s Note: Waves, my short story collection, is available from Words Worth Books in Waterloo and from Volumes Printing company.

    1. Royal Shakespeare Company; *https://www.rsc.org.uk/macbeth/about-the-play/famous-quotes:

    Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more!
    Macbeth does murder sleep:  the innocent sleep,
    Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care,
    The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,
    Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
    Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
    (Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 2)

    2. A Diane Girard Reprise: Keep Those Paws Off My Pajamas; Editor’s Note: We decided to fancy up the author’s description of her pajamas with an illustration of luxury pajamas.

  • Ask KHN (Kaiser Health News) – PolitiFact: Is My Cloth Mask Good Enough? The 2022 Edition

    By Victoria Knight, Kaiser Health Newsthree masks
     January 12, 2022

    The highly transmissible omicron variant is sweeping the U.S., causing a huge spike in covid-19 cases and overwhelming many hospital systems. Besides urging Americans to get vaccinated and boosted, public health officials are recommending that people upgrade from their cloth masks to higher-quality medical-grade masks.

    (Eric Harkleroad/KHN Illustration; Getty Images; Unsplash)

    But what does this even mean?

    At a recent Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, top public health officials displayed different types of masking. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wore what appeared to be a surgical mask layered under a cloth mask, while Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the president, wore what looked like a KN95 respirator.

    Some local governments and other organizations are offering their own policies. Los Angeles County, for instance, will require as of Jan. 17 that employers provide N95 or KN95 masks to employees. In late December, the Mayo Clinic began requiring all visitors and patients to wear surgical masks instead of cloth versions. The University of Arizona has banned cloth masks and asked everyone on campus to wear higher-quality masks.

    Questions about the level of protection against covid that masks provide — whether cloth, surgical or higher-end medical grade — have been a subject of debate and discussion since the earliest days of the pandemic. We looked into the question last summer. And as science changes and variants emerge with higher transmissibility, so do opinions.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not updated its mask guidance since October, before the omicron variant emerged. That guidance doesn’t recommend the use of an N95 respirator but states only that masks should be at least two layers, well-fitting and contain a nose wire.

    Multiple experts we consulted said that the current CDC guidance does not go far enough. They also agreed on another point: Wearing a cloth mask is better than not wearing a mask at all, but if you can upgrade — or layer cloth with surgical — now is the time.

    Although cloth masks may appear to be more substantial than the paper surgical mask option, surgical masks as well as KN95 and N95 masks are infused with an electrostatic charge that helps filter out particles.

    “From the perspective of knowing how covid is transmitted, and what we know about omicron, wearing a higher-quality mask is really critical to stopping the spread of omicron,” said Dr. Megan Ranney, academic dean for the School of Public Health at Brown University.

    A large-scale real-world study conducted in Bangladesh and published in December showed that surgical masks are more effective at preventing covid transmission than cloth masks.

    So, one easy strategy to improve protection is to layer a surgical mask underneath cloth. Surgical masks can be bought relatively cheaply online and reused for about a week.

    Ranney said she advises people who opt for layering to put the better-quality mask, such as the surgical mask, closest to your face, and put the lesser-quality mask on the outside.

    If you’re really pressed for resources, Dr. Stephen Luby, a professor specializing in infectious diseases at Stanford University and one of the authors of the Bangladesh mask study, said surgical masks can be washed and reused, if finances are an issue. Nearly two years into the pandemic, such masks are cheap and plentiful in the U.S. and many retailers make them available free of charge to customers as they enter businesses.

  • Jerome Powell’s Testimony at His Nomination Hearing for a Second Term as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; A Link to The Beige Book

    Jerome Powell

    Powell speaks with the Federal Open Market Committee via videotelephony in June 2020/ Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

    January 12, 2022: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/BeigeBook_20220112.pdf*

    January 11, 2022

    Nomination hearing

    Chair Jerome H. Powell

    Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.

     

    Chairman Brown, Ranking Member Toomey, and other members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I would like to thank President Biden for nominating me to serve a second term as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. I would also like to thank my colleagues throughout the Federal Reserve System for their dedication, perseverance, and tireless work on behalf of the American people. Their commitment and expertise were essential to the Fed’s response to the COVID-19 crisis and remain vital to the implementation of monetary policy as our economy continues to progress. Particular thanks go to my wife, Elissa Leonard, and our three children, Susie, Lucy, and Sam. Their love and support make possible everything I do. My five siblings are all watching, and we are thinking of each other and of our parents today with love and gratitude.

    Four years ago, when I sat before this Committee, few could have predicted the great challenges that would soon become ours to meet.

    On the eve of the pandemic, the U.S. economy was enjoying its 11th year of expansion, the longest on record. Unemployment was at 50-year lows, and the economic benefits were reaching those most on the margins. No obvious financial or economic imbalances threatened the ongoing expansion. But this attractive picture turned virtually overnight as the virus swept across the globe.

    The initial contraction was the fastest and deepest on record, but the pain could have been much worse. As the pandemic arrived, our immediate challenge was to stave off a full-scale depression, which would require swift and strong policy actions from across government.

    Congress provided by far the fastest and largest response to any postwar economic downturn. At the Federal Reserve, we used the full range of policy tools at our disposal. We moved quickly to restore vital flows of credit to households, communities, and businesses and to stabilize the financial system.

    These collective policy actions, the development and availability of vaccines, and American resilience worked in concert, first to cushion the pandemic’s economic blows and then to spark a historically strong recovery.

    Today the economy is expanding at its fastest pace in many years, and the labor market is strong.

  • A Tisket, A Tusket: A New Study and Fossil Dental Exams Reveal How Tusks First Evolved

    Marlene Hill Connelly

    A wide variety of animals have tusks, from elephants and walruses to five-pound, guinea pig-looking critters called hyraxes. But one thing tusked animals have in common is that they’re all mammals — there are no known fish, reptiles, or birds with tusks. In a new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, paleontologists traced the first tusks back to ancient mammal relatives that lived before the dinosaurs, and to do so, they had to define what makes a tusk a tusk in the first place.

    Artwork by Marlene Hill Donnelly, illustrator for the Field Museum

    “Tusks are this very famous anatomy, but until I started working on this study, I never really thought about how tusks are restricted to mammals,” says Megan Whitney, a researcher at Harvard University and the lead author of the study. 

    “We were able to show that the first tusks belonged to animals that came before modern mammals, called dicynodonts,” says Ken Angielczyk, a curator at Chicago’s Field Museum and an author of the paper. “They’re very weird animals.” 

    The dicynodonts mostly lived before the time of the dinosaurs, from about 270 to 201 million years ago, and they ranged from rat-sized to elephant-sized. Modern mammals are their closest living relatives, but they looked more reptilian, with turtle-like beaks. And since their discovery 176 years ago, one of their defining features has been the pair of protruding tusks in their upper jaws. The name dicynodont even means “two canine teeth.”

    The researchers got the idea to study the origin of tusks while taking a lunch break on a paleontological dig. “We were sitting in the field in Zambia, and there were dicynodont teeth everywhere,” recalls Whitney. “I remember Ken picking them up and asking how come they were called tusks, because they had features that tusks don’t have.”

    Angielczyk had hit upon a crucial distinction: not all protruding teeth are technically tusks, and the teeth’s makeup and growth patterns tell us whether they count. “For this paper, we had to define a tusk, because it’s a surprisingly ambiguous term,” says Whitney. The researchers decided that for a tooth to be a tusk, it has to extend out past the mouth, it has to keep growing throughout the animal’s life, and unlike most mammals’ teeth (including ours), tusks’ surfaces are made of dentine rather than hard enamel.

    Under these parameters, elephants, walruses, warthogs, and hyraxes all have tusks. Other big teeth in the animal kingdom don’t make the cut, though. For instance, rodent teeth, even though they sometimes stick out and are ever-growing, have an enamel band on the front of the tooth, so they don’t count. 

    Some of the dicynodont tusks that the team observed in Zambia didn’t seem to fit the definition of a tusk either– they were coated in enamel instead of dentine.

    The different makeup of teeth versus tusks also gives scientists insights into an animal’s life. “Enamel-coated teeth are a different evolutionary strategy than dentine-coated tusks, it’s a trade-off,” says Whitney. Enamel teeth are tougher than dentine, but because of the geometry of how teeth grow in the jaw, if you want teeth that keep growing throughout your life, you can’t have a complete enamel covering. 

  • Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks on the First Anniversary of the Attack on the Capitol Washington, DC ~ Wednesday, January 5, 2022

    Sentor Duckworth Returning to Capitol
    US Senator (Illinois) Tammy Duckworth heading into the Senate Chamber for the 2020 United States presidential election Electoral College count after the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021   https://twitter.com/SenDuckworth/status/1347214642972651520/photo/1


    Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks on the First Anniversary of the Attack on the Capitol
    Washington, DC

     ~ 

    Wednesday, January 5, 2022

    Good afternoon.

    It’s nice to see some of you here in the Great Hall. And to be able to connect with all of you virtually today.

    On my first day as Attorney General, I spoke with all of you — the more than 115,000 employees of the Department of Justice — for the first time.

    Today, I have brought us all together again, for two reasons.

    First and foremost, to thank you. Thank you for the work you have done, not just over the last 10 months, but over the past several years. Work that you have done in the face of unprecedented challenges — ranging from an unprecedented deadly pandemic to an unprecedented attack on our democracy.

    Thank you for your service, for your sacrifice, and for your dedication. I am honored to serve alongside you.

    And second, as we begin a new year — and as we prepare to mark a solemn anniversary tomorrow – it is a fitting time to reaffirm that we at the Department of Justice will do everything in our power to defend the American people and American democracy.

    We will defend our democratic institutions from attack.

    We will protect those who serve the public from violence and threats of violence.

    We will protect the cornerstone of our democracy: the right to every eligible citizen to cast a vote that counts.

    And we will do all of this in a manner that adheres to the rule of law and honors our obligation to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of everyone in this country.

    Tomorrow will mark the first anniversary of January 6th, 2021 — the day the United States Capitol was attacked while lawmakers met to affirm the results of a presidential election.

    In the early afternoon of January 6th — as the United States Senate and House of Representatives were meeting to certify the vote count of the Electoral College — a large crowd gathered outside the Capitol building. 

    Shortly after 2 p.m., individuals in the crowd began to force entry into the Capitol, by smashing windows and assaulting U.S. Capitol police, who were stationed there to protect the members of Congress as they took part in one of the most solemn proceedings of our democracy. Others in the crowd encouraged and assisted those who attacked the police.

    Over the course of several hours, outnumbered law enforcement officers sustained a barrage of repeated, violent attacks. About 80 Capitol Police and 60 D.C. Metropolitan Police were assaulted.

  • Rose Madeline Mula Writes: I’ve Got A Secret – NOT!

     

    by Rose Madeline MulaMona Lisa

    No, I will not tell you my Social Security number or my banking ID, but almost anything else you want to know about me is yours simply for the asking.

    Not so with most of my friends.  They guard their privacy ferociously.  They will never divulge their weight … the fact that they might occasionally enjoy watching a mindless sitcom versus the latest history channel offering … the shameful revelation that if it weren’t for the price tag they couldn’t tell the difference between fine wine and an $8 bottle of pinot noir … the unforgivable sin of relying on Lean Cuisine frozen foods way more often than cooking from scratch — all offenses to which I freely admit guilt.  

    Also, many people I know are so protective of their privacy they even shred those ubiquitous return address labels that inundate our mailboxes before trashing them. They fear an unscrupulous someone could get hold of them  — and do what exactly??? 

    Above all, almost all my friends would submit to waterboarding before revealing their age, blissfully unaware that these days that statistic is available to anyone who makes a simple Google query or two.  They don’t realize that the mere fact that they don’t know that identifies them as ancient and that exactly how ancient is no longer a secret. They believe they can guard that number to the bitter end — and beyond.  No exaggeration.  One woman I knew made her son vow not to put her date of birth on her headstone when she died.  

    Another friend, whom I’ll call Ann Onymus, has become absolutely paranoid about the far-reaching tentacles of technology strangling any shred of privacy that used to exist.  She had a very brief relationship with Alexa which ended violently when Ann became convinced that Alexa had invaded her home and was present and listening at all times — not just when summoned by name. Since Ann, a widow, lives alone and doesn’t talk to herself, I wouldn’t think that there would be much, if anything, going on for Alexa to overhear. But maybe Ann isn’t the proper, upright woman I believed her to be.  Maybe she is conducting a secret illicit affair. Maybe even more than one. 

  • New Year’s Poems From Navy Deck Logs; “A happy new year to you all, and if you’re awake for the mid-watch, may it be uneventful!”

     

    https://www.archives.gov/college-park 

    December 30, 2021 By Jessie Kratz, Posted In Preservation

    Today’s post comes from Rachel Bartgis, conservator technician at the National Archives at College Park, MD. 

    In 2019 the National Archives entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)* to digitize U.S. Navy and Coast Guard deck logs from vessels with Vietnam-era service (1956–78). The more than 200 million images will be used to validate the claims for those who served in Vietnam* and establish service connection for disability benefits. The National Archives is making the digitized records available on Archives.gov, after images are transferred by the VA and screened for privacy concerns. 

    A port bow view of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-60), 8/13/1993. (National Archives Identifier 6484365)

    What is a deck log? According to the U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command: 

    “The deck log is kept by the Quartermaster of the Watch and prepared by the designated Officer of the Deck (OOD) for each commissioned ship in accordance with Navy regulations and specific instructions. In either handwritten, typed, or in electronic format, the deck log chronicles the daily locations and movements of the ship, and captures all significant and prescribed events taking place either aboard or otherwise in the immediate vicinity of the vessel. Deck log entries are reviewed daily by the ship’s navigator for clarity and final approval as they document particular circumstances for administrative and legal purposes. . . . As a permanent official record of the ship, the deck log is efficient and succinct in its purpose, professional in appearance, and certainly not a forum for creativity.“

    The sole exception to the tight regulations of the deck log takes place on the first night of the New Year during the mid-watch (midnight to 0400), when a ship may record the first entry of the New Year in verse. Navy regulations still apply, however, and however artistic the poet may be, they must still include the mandatory requirements of the current Navy Regulations: “the sources of electric power, steam and water; the state of the sea and weather; position of the ship; status of the engineering plant; courses and speed of the ship, bearings and distance of objects sighted; changes in status of ship’s personnel, disposition of the engineering plant, and even the strain upon anchor chain or cables when anchored and the placement of lines while moored.”

    The New Year’s log poem arose at some point in the 20th century and possibly reached its zenith during the Vietnam War, when the tradition was so widespread that the Navy Times promoted a “New Year’s Eve Log contest.” However, Navy culture is always evolving, and the current generation is less prone to poetry at the change of the year. The Sextant noted that “In 2016, fewer than 30 ships made a New Year’s Eve mid-watch verse; in 2017 that number dwindled to fewer than 20.”

    An aerial Starboard bow view of the aircraft carrier USS America (CV-66), 4/24/1983. (National Archives Identifier 6369198)

    Kitty Hawk–class supercarrier America (CVA-66) is an example of one vessel that kept the tradition of the New Year’s poem for many years. America was a New Year’s Day ship, laid down on January 1, 1961, at Newport News, Virginia. She was launched on February 1, 1964, and commissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on January 23, 1965.

    *My Air Force husband served in Viet Nam from October 1967 to October 1968; Tam Martinides Gray; Founder and Editor, SeniorWomen.com