Former First Lady Nancy Reagan says her final goodbye to former President Ronald Reagan during internment services held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The observance concluded the weeklong state funeral services for Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States who passed away on June 5, 2004. US Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Jon D. Gesch
Actors Robson Green and James Norton, as Keating and Chambers filming Season Two of Grantchester on Clare College Bridge, Cambridge, England
Editor’s Note: Now that the curtain is being drawn on the Downton Abbey saga we have to quickly turn to the resumption of Grantchester, Season Two, and the handsome priest, Sidney Chambers. We found ourselves disarmed by actor James Norton as Sidney and admit we were previously drawn to Robson Green, playing Inspector Geordie Keating. Green was seen in the series, Wire in the Blood, so the combination of the two actors makes Grantchester even more appealing. There is a dark note to the first episode, but a second season must, by all accounts, startle on some level.
Behind the scenes of Grantchester, Season Two: View “undefined” on Storify
James Norton (War and Peace) dons his priestly collar and Robson Green (Reckless) his rumpled raincoat for a new season of Grantchester as the improbable crime-fighting team, Reverend Sidney Chambers and Inspector Geordie Keating, bring justice and spiritual nourishment to early 1950s England.
Based on the popular Sidney Chambers mystery novels by James Runcie, Grantchester was praised by critics far and wide during its premiere season. The Wall Street Journal judged it “glorious;” The Orlando Sentinel, “compelling;” USA Today, “charming;” The Los Angeles Times, “guilelessly entertaining;” and The New York Daily News, “visually engaging … romantic.”
James Runcie is an award-winning film-maker and the author of seven novels. Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death, the first in ‘The Grantchester Mysteries’ series, was published in 2012, soon followed by Sidney Chambers and The Perils of the Night, and Sidney Chambers and The Problem of Evil. See more about the series at the author’s website, Bloomsbury Publishing.
Still unresolved from last season is Sidney’s love life. Handsome, worldly-wise, and virtuous, he should be an ideal catch. And at least one very promising female companion turns up in the new series. But will Sidney scare her away with his unconventional taste for jazz, blood-splattered crime scenes, and a married woman?
The new season’s cases include a shocking charge of sexual assault that turns into a homicide investigation implicating a pillar of the community; an apparent suicide from the college spire that takes on Cold War overtones: a confession to murder in which the alleged victim is still very much alive; a haunted stable with links to the Holocaust and more.
Grantchester Season 2 starring James Norton and Robson Green will air Sunday, March 27 — May 1, 2016 at 9pm ET, Masterpiece on PBS.
By Teresa Wiltz, Stateline, Pew Charitable Trusts*
They’re poor, more likely to be sexually abused, end up in foster care, drop out of school, become homeless. They’re often the prey of traffickers.
American Indian and Native Alaskan girls are a small fraction of the population, but they are over-represented in the juvenile justice system, whether they are living on or off the reservation.
Native American girls have the highest rates of incarceration of any ethnic group. They are nearly five times more likely than white girls to be confined to a juvenile detention facility, according to the US Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
There are programs on tribal lands that work with Native girls who have been caught up in the system, using federal funds. But American Indian girls often find themselves without state or local social service programs tailored to their cultural backgrounds and experiences, which are distinct from other girls living in or on the edge of poverty.
“As Indian people, our greatest hope is our children. And our kids are really at risk,” said Carla Fredericks, director of the American Indian Law Clinic at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder. “The only way we can help these girls is if we do it cooperatively, with the states, federal government and within our own communities.”
A rare example of that kind of collaboration is the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center in Minneapolis. In Minnesota, American Indian girls have 18 times the incarceration rates of white girls. They are often disconnected from family who themselves may be battling addiction and mental health problems. Native girls who are extremely poor and lack stable housing often get involved with gangs and drug and sex trafficking, said Patina Park, the center’s executive director.
The center’s programming seeks to combat those trends using a combination of state, federal and private funds to create culturally specific programs, including case management, support groups, housing and mental health services for American Indian women and girls and their families. The center also has youth-specific programming for girls ages 11 to 21, many of whom have been sexually assaulted, involved in sex trafficking or are at high risk.
The idea is to keep girls in school, off drugs and alcohol and focused on a future with a career, rather than turning to crime to make ends meet. The program, which is run with the help of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, provides Native girls who’ve been cut off from their cultural heritage with a sense of community and purpose, Park said. Less than a quarter of American Indians live on tribal lands.
Since 1977, the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society on the Rosebud Reservation has been working with American Indian women and girls to address issues of sexual assault and domestic violence. Many Native juvenile girls are also victims of sexual abuse and family violence. But there are no such programs at the state and local level. Targeted programming coupled with more federal and state funding could make a huge difference in other cities and states with significant American Indian populations, Park said. “You could really change the disparity within the Native community fairly quickly and dramatically.”
Pro-choice protestors face the Supreme Court as the lawyers exit after oral argument; ©photo by Jo Freeman
By Jo Freeman
The chants could be heard three blocks from the Supreme Court. The speeches couldn’t be heard from 30 feet. Buttressed against the cold wind by purple knit caps and emboldened by enthusiasm well over a thousand people gathered on the sidewalk in front of the Court Wednesday morning to shout their support for the lawyers arguing the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.
This is one of many cases which tests the limits to which state legislators can go to shut down abortion clinics without running afoul of the Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. Legislatures have spent the last forty years putting up barriers to a woman’s right to choose, most of which have been challenged in the courts. Some of these laws survived the challenges; some did not.
In 2013 Texas passed Act HB2, requiring clinic doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. Most of these hospitals won’t allow abortion doctors to work on their premises. HB2 also requires clinics to meet the expensive building standards of ambulatory surgical centers, which far surpasses their actual needs. The number of operating clinics in the state dropped from 42 to 19.
The Center for Reproductive Rights filed suit two years ago. The federal trial court found these requirements to be an undue burden, contrary to Roe. The federal appeals court reversed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari. Because the appeals court upheld the restrictions, a 4-4 decision will leave that decision intact. It will take 5 Justices to find that HB2 is an undue burden on a woman’s right to have an abortion as prohibited by Roe.
Buses brought hundreds people from all over the east coast, including five from New York City that left at 4:00 a.m., to deposit their passengers at the Court by 8:00 a.m. Many more people came from the DC area for at least part of the 4-hour protest. Pro-choicers weren’t the only ones on that sidewalk. About 50 pro-lifers formed a small enclave, identifiable by their blue balloons and blue signs saying “Protect Women Protect Life.” Not all of the pro-choice signs were purple, but that was the dominant color.
CRR was one of many groups which mobilized their members and provided buses. NARAL, Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, STOP Patriarchy, NOW, the ACLU, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and others all pitched in. Purple was the color of the day, though pink is the usual color of pro-choice protests. However, pink is also identified with Planned Parenthood, which has been under attack in the last couple years. Some demonstrators put pink PP stickers on their purple caps to show their organizational loyalty.
Throughout the morning there was a non-violent battle between the Blue and the Purple, as each side tried to block the other’s signs with their own. Although Blue was vastly outnumbered, each group had one microphone, set up about 30 feet apart. Speakers tried to be heard over each other and the general roar of the crowd. The decibel level was raised even more by a man preaching ‘Jesus Saves’ through two hand-held megaphones as he wandered the edge of the crowd. Another Jesus preacher used his voice, which was as loud as the megaphone, and he had a shofar.
The US Capital police refused to allow anyone on the steps, and the DC police wouldn’t allow the crowd to flow into the street. All those people were crammed into about 20 feet between the bottom step and the street. Some people retreated across the street where at least there was more space on the sidewalk.
Although there were dozens of speakers, ranging from Members of Congress to abortion providers to women who had had abortions, there was no press kit or even a speakers list. If you didn’t recognize a face, or hear a name when introduced, those straining to hear didn’t know who said what. Hearing the “what” wasn’t very easy either. That didn’t stop anyone from yelling and chanting.
Sometime after 11:00 a.m. the plaintiffs and their lawyers exited the Court and descended the many steps to hold a press conference in an area the USCP had blocked off for the press on the plaza. Although there was a bank of microphones, each went to a specific media and there was no amplifier. What was said at the press conference was not audible to the unaided ear. The crowd lined the space below the last step with their signs pointing toward the courthouse.
What they meant was clear: HEAR US ROAR
©2016 Jo Freeman for SeniorWomen.com
1 day ago – 4. Petitioners. : No. 15274. 5 v. : 6. JOHN HELLERSTEDT, COMMISSIONER, … this morning in Case 15274, Whole Woman’s Health v. 5.
They say with age comes wisdom. If that’s true, considering how long I’ve been on this planet, by now I should know everything. But I don’t. I still have lots of questions.
Why, for example, do TV talk show hosts sit behind a desk? It makes no sense.
The Chew with First Lady Michelle Obama; Wikipedia
Think about it. If you visit a friend, you both sit around the kitchen or dining room table … on couches in the living room … on recliners in the den … on the floor in front of the television set … If your friend sat behind a desk, wouldn’t you think it strange? So why does a TV host do that? It probably started decades ago — maybe with Johnny Carson, for some unfathomable reason; and all future hosts followed suit like sheep. (No, I’ve never seen a sheep sitting behind a desk, but you know what I mean.)
And why are we surprised that kids think that money grows on trees — or, if not on trees, in machines that Mom drives up to and inserts a plastic card, causing twenty-dollar bills to spew out like magic. And if no magic money machine is available, Mom can still buy anything she wants — from bananas to bling — with another plastic card.
Furthermore, why does anyone believe those pitches that start with “Congratulations! You have won …” or “You have been chosen …” Sure. You have been chosen to be our next sucker, or you have won a useless product we’re trying to dump; and all you have to pay is shipping and handling — which equal the price of said useless product.
I also wonder why everyone in the country doesn’t agree with my choice of political candidates. I mean it’s so obvious that I’m right! And why do I waste so much time on Facebook reading the completely erroneous, poisonous comments they post about my guy or gal? And then why do I wonder why my blood pressure readings are so high?
Listening to today’s so-called music certainly isn’t going to lower those readings. I know a lot of people must actually enjoy it, but why? The melodies aren’t melodic, and the lyrics are unintelligible — at least to me, which is a good thing. When some friends who are young enough to understand them recite snippets to me, I have to resist a strong urge to wash their mouths out with anti-bacterial soap. These are the same guys who wear their pants bagging below their butts and gals who wear jeans with ripped-out knees and frayed hems which they buy at tony, high-end boutiques, not at Goodwill. Again, why???
If computers are supposed to save us so much time, how come I spend hours on the phone with tech support instead of having a life?
Another thing: Why can’t we look on the outside, the way we feel on the inside?
Take me, for instance. In my head, I’m still seventeen; and I look like Angelina Jolie — only much younger. Unfortunately, my mirrors reflect a wrinkled crone I don’t recognize. Maybe that’s why every time I go grocery shopping little old ladies rush over and insist on helping me unload my bags into my car. And while they’re doing that, why does every runaway shopping cart in the parking lot always make a beeline for my car instead of the other ninety-nine in the immediate vicinity?
As for those grocery stores, why do they have 25 check-out lanes when no more than half a dozen are ever open at the same time? And why is the shortest line in any of those six lanes invariably the slowest?
Can anyone explain to me why coffee/wine/whatever were bad for us yesterday, but healthful today? And if geniuses were smart enough to put men on the moon, why can’t they figure out how to make broccoli, spinach, and kale taste as good as pizza, lasagna, and potato salad?
Why do I waste so much time watching The Chew chefs concoct recipes I’m never going to attempt because they always have more than four ingredients, and watching The Bachelor make silly women cry, and then wonder why I never seem to be able to cross anything off my to-do list?
Why do we still say “Don’t touch that dial!” or “Dial now for a free sample”? When was the last time a TV set or phone had a dial — or anything was “free,” for that matter.
And the biggest conundrum of all: January and July both have 31 days — and said days are much longer in July. So why does January seem to last at least twice as long as July?
©2016 Rose Madeline Mula for SeniorWomen.com
Editor’s Note: Read an article on Martha McSally, the first woman to fly as a combat pilot in the late David Westheimer’s article, More Martha. Read David’s other articles on Lt. Col McSally: Women in Blue; Women in Blue: Round Two as well as a reference in Killer Chick.
US Representative Martha McSally has led House members to call on Acting Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy to reinstate inurnment rights of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) at Arlington National Cemetery. In a letter, the lawmakers write that the decision to rescind WASP inurnment eligibility at Arlington in March 2015 “perpetuates and validates” past gender discrimination in the military.
Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn leaving their plane, “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” at the four-engine school at Lockbourne AAF, Ohio, during WASP ferry training B-17 Flying Fortress; Wikimedia Commons
“As you are aware, the WASP stepped up to serve during a time of great need during World War II,” the lawmakers write. “It is clear the main reason the WASP were not commissioned at the time was cultural hang-ups on the role of women in the military.”
“The men who flew the same missions as the WASP before, alongside, and after these women would have been able to earn eligibility for Arlington National Cemetery.”
On January 6, Rep. McSally introduced legislation to restore the eligibility of WASPs to have their ashes inurned at Arlington National Cemetery. That legislation has garnered 118 House cosponsors and the endorsements of organizations such as the Military Officers Association of America, the Air Force Association, the Distinguished Flying Cross Society, and the Service Women’s Action Network. Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
“Today, there are only roughly 110 WASPs remaining, and space constraints do not justify denying these women their honors,” the lawmakers continued. “We believe you have every authority you need to resume allowing WASPs to be inurned in Arlington National Cemetery without delay.”
“We ask you to use your authority to allow the WASPs inurnment immediately.”
Today’s letter was co-signed by 55 House members. The full letter text follows.
View a PDF of the letter HERE.
February 3, 2016
The Honorable Patrick Murphy
Acting Secretary of the Army
101 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-0101
Dear Mr. Secretary:
We write urging you to immediately reinstate inurnment and full military honors eligibility for the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC). These women pioneered the way for all women to serve in uniform and deserve the honors they earned.
As you are aware, the WASP stepped up to serve during a time of great need during World War II, flying missions such as ferrying airplanes, training combat pilots, and towing airborne targets. The WASP trained in the military style: marching, living in barracks, participating in infantry drills, and taking oaths of allegiance. 38 of these volunteer pilots died serving their country.
Exercise by itself isn’t always enough to take off the weight. Now, evidence reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on January 28 helps to explain why that is: our bodies adapt to higher activity levels, so that people don’t necessarily burn extra calories even if they exercise more.
The results suggest it’s time to rethink the effect of physical activity on daily energy expenditure, the researchers say. They are also a reminder of the importance of diet and exercise in supporting weight loss goals.
“Exercise is really important for your health,” says Herman Pontzer of City University of New York. “That’s the first thing I mention to anyone asking about the implications of this work for exercise. There is tons of evidence that exercise is important for keeping our bodies and minds healthy, and this work does nothing to change that message. What our work adds is that we also need to focus on diet, particularly when it comes to managing our weight and preventing or reversing unhealthy weight gain.”
Hadzabae woman with her child in Tanzania; Wikimedia Commons
People who start exercise programs to lose weight often see a decline in weight loss (or even a reversal) after a few months. Large comparative studies have also shown that people with very active lifestyles have similar daily energy expenditure to people in more sedentary populations.
Pontzer says this really hit home for him when he was working among the Hadza, a population of traditional hunter-gatherers in northern Tanzania.
“The Hadza are incredibly active, walking long distances each day and doing a lot of hard physical work as part of their everyday life,” Pontzer says. “Despite these high activity levels, we found that they had similar daily energy expenditures to people living more sedentary, modernized lifestyles in the United States and Europe. That was a real surprise, and it got me thinking about the link between activity and energy expenditure.”
To explore this question further in the new study, Pontzer and his colleagues measured the daily energy expenditure and activity levels of more than 300 men and women over the course of a week.
In the data they collected, they saw a weak but measurable effect of physical activity on daily energy expenditure. But, further analysis showed that this pattern only held among subjects on the lower half of the physical activity spectrum. People with moderate activity levels had somewhat higher daily energy expenditures — about 200 calories higher — than the most sedentary people. But people who fell above moderate activity levels saw no effect of their extra work in terms of energy expenditure.
“The most physically active people expended the same amount of calories each day as people who were only moderately active,” Pontzer says.
The researchers say it’s time to stop assuming that more physical activity always means more calories. There might be a “sweet spot” for physical activity — too little and we’re unhealthy, but too much and the body makes big adjustments in order to adapt.
Pontzer and his colleagues now plan to study how the body responds to changes in activity level. They’ll start by looking for other changes — for example, in immune function or the reproductive system — that might explain how the body adapts to greater physical demands without consuming extra calories.
(METS is funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.)
Current Biology, Pontzer et al.: “Constrained Total Energy Expenditure and Metabolic Adaptation to Physical Activity in Adult Humans” http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.046
Current Biology (@CurrentBiology), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that features papers across all areas of biology. Current Biology strives to foster communication across fields of biology, both by publishing important findings of general interest and through highly accessible front matter for non-specialists. For more information please visit http://www.cell.com/current-biology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.
Currently through May 16 2016, six galleries of the Philips Wing of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam will be dedicated to fashion of the Dutch from 1625 to 1960. Starting with garments worn by members of the Frisian branch of the house of Nassau in the Golden Age, the exhibits will feature vibrantly colored French silk gowns and luxurious velvet gentlemen’s suits of the eighteenth century, classically-inspired Empire dresses and bustles of the Fin de Siècle culminating in twentieth-century French haute couture by Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.
Rijksmuseum Curator of Costumes Bianca du Mortier explains,
“The garments presented in this exhibition reflect the stories of the people who wore them. In fashion, the choices of the wearer count – they make him or her a trendsetter or a follower. Even today the clothes of the very rich and powerful always convey a conscious or unconscious message. In that respect, nothing has changed over the last 330 years. These choices are restricted by such factors as budget, opportunity, age, social status, climate, personal likes and dislikes and so forth. And when presented in a museum, there is a final selection: the selection of the Rijksmuseum.”
The exhibition is being designed by world-renowned Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf.
According to Erwin Olaf,
“The challenge and honour of designing this exhibition, Catwalk, for the most extraordinary museum in the Netherlands came at exactly the right moment for me. For several years now I’ve been exploring alternative ways to present my photographic work and to integrate it in installations, sound, video and films as means to immerse viewers in a world that fires and challenges their personal imaginations and, ultimately, sparks a stimulating dialogue between the viewer and the work on view.”
A few highlights of Catwalk:
In 2011, almost 13% of high school students had been victimized with weapons. Weapon-related violence among adolescents can lead to injuries and long-term mental health problems. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers found that the risk and protective factors for carrying and using weapons vary by race and gender.
Dr. Rashmi Shetgiri, Los Angeles BioMed, right
Dr. Rashmi Shetgiri from Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute and researchers from University of Texas at Dallas, Southwestern Medical Center, and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center used longitudinal data from a national survey conducted during the mid-1990s, when rates of violent crime had been in decline. A subset of students in grades 7 — 12 were surveyed about weapon involvement in 2 waves, approximately 1 year apart. According to Dr. Shetgiri, “We used the data to identify risk and protective factors for involvement with weapons in the past year, which we defined as carrying a weapon, pulling a gun or knife on someone, or shooting or stabbing someone.”
The researchers found that 13% of African American, 10% of Latino, and 7% of white students were involved with weapons. Of those who carried weapons, 17% also had shot or stabbed someone in the previous 12 months. Compared with those who reported no weapon involvement, adolescents who initially reported involvement with weapons were 4 — 6 times more likely to be involved with weapons a year later. It also was found that boys were 2 — 4 times more likely than girls to be involved with weapons.
Although there are differences among racial/ethnic groups in specific risk and protective factors for weapon carrying and use, reducing emotional distress, exposure to violence, and alcohol and drug use may decrease the risk of weapon involvement for all adolescents. Notes Dr. Shetgiri, “It is important to also promote educational aspirations, minimize the influence of delinquent peer groups, and focus on family connectedness to appropriately tailor programs for different racial/ethnic groups.”
Predictors of Weapon-Related Behaviors Among African-American, Latino, and White Youth, by Rashmi Shetgiri, MD, Denise Paquette Boots, PhD, Hua Lin, PhD, and Tina L. Cheng, MD, MPH, appears in The Journal of Pediatrics (www.jpeds.com), DOI 10.1016/j.jpeds.2015.12.008, published by Elsevier.