President Obama's eulogy for John Lewis

It doesn't need any words from me.

A calm, measured look at what's going on in Portland

The Wall of Moms forms in Portland.

The following was posted by my friend Linda G Robinson on facebook tonight. It was not set to be shared, however the author at the end asks that it be shared and I agree and don't feel like i am violating any trust. 
This from a friend of Linda's: While I've been sort of following the ongoing events in Portland, I was floored by the information I recently received from my father-in-law, Alden Roberts. It is incredibly important that people know what is happening in Portland, because it is very scary and has very real implications for our entire country.
By way of context, Alden is a general surgeon, retired as the Chief Medical Officer of a hospital in Vancouver, Washington, and just finished his term as the Chairman of the Washington Medical Commission (the state agency that licenses and oversees all doctors in the state). I share this information to emphasize that he is a community leader, a very smart, educated, and informed person, and is not one to exaggerate or spread misinformation. 
Here’s what he has observed in Portland over the past few days:
"1. The protests are confined to a 2 block radius around the courthouse, and if you’re 4 blocks away, you can’t tell anything has been happening. There is nothing going on outside of that region, and Portland is functioning as normally as the Pandemic will allow. It is not burning, nor is it out of control.
2. The protesters are absolutely peaceful at the Protests that I have been part of, and with the exception of graffiti, are completely within their constitutional rights to protest. The protests involve singing, chanting, and have used “white walls” to block whites who are trying to disrupt or corrupt the protests. Yes, cursing is rather commonplace. More than ½ of the protesters are white. All are protesting for Black Lives Matter, although the entrance of the federal paramilitary force has brought out a lot of people, including myself, who are incensed at the use of unregulated federal force against law abiding citizen and against the will of the state and local governments. 
3. ALL of the protesters are wearing masks to minimize transmission of CoV-2. However, as at times there are 1000 or more of us, it is hard (though not impossible) to maintain social distancing. When the federal paramilitary force is deployed, it becomes impossible.
4. The Police responded unprovoked and were brutal, but nothing like the paramilitary force. There is a court order that forbids the police to use teargas. I was not there when it was just the police.
5. At the protests I have attended, I did not witness any unlawfulness on the part of the protesters. Each time, the federal paramilitary personnel launched an apparently unprovoked attack. There have been no “riots.” The federal paramilitary force has had no training in crowd control, has no oversight, was not invited to Portland by local leadership, does not have any form of identification do not wear name badges, and wears military camo. They are heavily armed with flash-bang grenades, less-lethal bullets, pepper bullets, pepper spray and tear gas. They will pull goggles off of protesters and spray pepper spray into their eyes. They used a baton to beat a US Navy vet, broke his hand and sprayed pepper spray in his eyes because he asked why they weren’t honoring their vow to protect the constitution. During the assault, he stood still and did not resist until blinded by the pepper spray, he turned around and walked away. The “line of mothers” on Sunday was gassed and shot with less-lethal bullets for chanting Black Lives Matter. At least one was pregnant. A protester holding a sign up with both hands was shot in the head with a “non-lethal” bullet and will likely have permanent brain damage. While I have not personally seen this, there are videos of people being kidnapped into unmarked vans by the federal paramilitaries as they left the protests, held for a couple of days, interrogated, then released without charges or explanation. At this time, re-read my first two points. The protests are no threat to Portland and only encompass a 2 block area. They have been peaceful, with graffiti as the only illegal activity. They are well controlled and supported by a cross section of Portlanders. There is no reason for the federal government to be involved, and the excessive force being used appears to be nothing more than a political show of force against US Citizens by the Trump administration. 
6. About 3000 protesters showed up last night (July 21); all with masks, very well behaved. Certainly no chaos, no violence on the part of the protesters. I left at 10:30, the paramilitary attacked at 12:30. I spent an hour talking to the medics. They say they are being targeted by the paramilitary personnel. They are often the first to be shot at and tear gassed. When they try to help an injured protester, the paramilitary personnel throw flash-bangs and tear gas at them (they carry gas masks). One of them was beaten, dragged away from the injured person they were treating and arrested. They are from OHSU as well as Portland Fire.
7. The Elk statue was taken down by the Police to “protect” it, but the Elk statue was a favorite of the protesters because it was uncontroversial; so they got a blow-up elk and put it where the real statue used to stand. It’s sort of a rallying point."
This should concern, if not terrify, all of us. This is an unidentified and unaccountable federal police presence attacking American citizens who are not violating any federal laws. This is literally how the "secret police" in other authoritarian regimes began. The comparison to the early stages of Nazi Germany is NOT AN EXAGGERATION anymore.
Silence is complacency. Please share this post. Please spread this information. Please get involved. Do not allow or condone this conduct by our federal government. I don't care which political party you support, this is an affront to the U.S. Constitution and the founding principals of our nation.

Let's start out with empty classrooms so we don't end up with them

Here's a thought. Anybody with half a brain can tell it's too soon to send kids back to school. Instead of wrestling with the "back-to-school" problem, let's put the collective intellect in motion to plan the best possible system to educate kids without sending them into crowded classrooms where there's no doubt Covid 19 will follow. THAT's thinking outside the box (almost literally).

NOW THAT'S WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT:
The following was posted on facebook today (8/29/2020) by a
 woman who crewed on the tour boat I ran years ago and now has been a teacher in Washington for several years. It is the first of any such advice I've seen posted by a professional on the front lines.
From Nikki Klinger: Parents... We see you, we hear you. We understand and share your anxiety. Remote school seems daunting and overwhelming but we are all in this together. If you would like to prevent some stress and frustration when school starts, take some time to prepare this weekend. It will help you and your children immensely if you familiarize yourselves with the technology tools. I highly recommend watching several YouTube tutorials and practicing some things.
🔹Get the zoom app, make sure you have an account, set up a family zoom, and use some of the features. Make sure your student knows/remembers how to turn camera on and off, turn microphone on and off, etc. Talk about online safety and etiquette. Teachers will do that too but information overload will be a challenge. 
🔹Watch tutorials on Google Classroom and Google Docs. Practice skills like drawing text boxes, using drawing tools, uploading and sharing documents, etc. 
🔹Get the app for Seesaw for elementary or Remind for secondary. These are the apps that will facilitate communication. Yep- watch more tutorials. 
🔹If you’ve already done all that, learn about Pear Deck and Flip Grid. 
🔹Most importantly, be positive. Find something good to focus on, model confidence and calmness. Use kind words when talking about others and to others. Reach out for help if you need it. Be assured that teachers are worrying about your kids as much as you are and want only the best for them. Believe and share this message-YOU CAN DO THIS! Have a plan for managing emotions when frustrated. Celebrate successes! 
It is absolutely amazing what we can do with technology and teachers have been working incredibly hard on learning, designing instruction, and making things the best they can possibly be. Let’s have a great start to the school year! 💻📗✏️📖💚

As if that weren't enough here is a program she and her fellow teacher developed to continue physical education in distance learning. All you need is a Google sign-on.

This is another  approach to what I was talking about:  An Indiana city outfitted dozens of school busses with Wi-Fi and positioned them around the city so as many students as possible could have Internet connection.