Under the radar State murder in Russia. Lawmakers decry ‘torture’ of Navalny

By many Press accounts Russian disident Alexei Navalny is being slowly tortured to death in a Penal Camp.

Navalny returned to Russia several months ago from Berlin, having recovered from a poisoning instigated by Vladimir Putin. The world renowned dissident was immediately taken into custody, tried in a sham trial and sentenced to prison.

Alexei Navalny is now engaged in a hunger strike and it is beyond dispute the Russian authorities are responsible for his deteriorating health.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 4.10.2021

As Alexei Navalny’s health deteriorates, German lawmakers have called on the Council of Europe to look into the conditions of his imprisonment in Russia.

He was arrested in January after returning from Germany, where he had been recovering from the assassination attempt with the nerve agent Novichok, which he blames on the Kremlin.

The treatment of the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in a Russian penal colony amounts to “targeted torture,” members of the foreign affairs committee in the German parliament said on Saturday.

Bundestag members pledged “full solidarity” in a letter to Navalny, who is currently engaged in a hunger strike and is reportedly suffering from back pain and numbness in both legs. He has also complained of a heavy cough and fever.

The initiator of the letter, Greens politician Manuel Sarrazin, told the newsmagazine Der Spiegel that reports on the hunger strike were “depressing” and that “we mustn’t look the other way when the Putin system is putting Navalny in danger again.”

Navalny’s supporters say he is not receiving adequate medical treatment in the IK-2 penal colony east of Moscow, where he is serving a 2 1/2-year sentence for violating the probation terms of a previous fraud sentence.

The deputies decried the conditions of Navalny’s imprisonment, saying it violated the UN Convention Against Torture. They also called for Navalny’s case to be investigated by the Council of Europe.

Even before his current imprisonment and a 2020 Novichok poisoning attack, Navalny fell ill in a Moscow jail cell in 2019 and needed to be hospitalized. He believes he was poisoned.

Navalny is being held in the prison colony IK-2 in the town of Pokrov

His trial in February aroused widespread outrage in Russia and abroad. Critics say all charges against him are politically motivated, with Navalny being seen as the most prominent rival to longtime President Vladimir Putin.

Both Brussels and Washington have called for Navalny’s release and have imposed sanctions on Moscow for the nerve agent poisoning.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-lawmakers-decry-torture-of-navalny/a-57155903

Companies say cheaper to pay for IVF than have workers do it on their own

I was fascinated by the following Wall Street Journal piece which digs into Company policies regarding benefits for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Adoption.

It’s clear for reasons I can’t comprehend that couples who choose to go the IVF route rather than Adoption get a lot more love and support in their compensation package.

Why? Good question.

The WSJ piece doesn’t touch another issue of family planning and companies supporting a woman’s right to choose. Translation. Paying for Abortions.

Excerpted from Wall Street Journal 4.3.2021

Few companies offer to help employees who want to adopt, and they’re often less generous when they do

Some companies have decided it’s cheaper to pay for employees’ fertility treatments than to let employees pursue them on their own, since employers can end up covering many of the related costs anyway. If an employer is footing the bill for IVF, it can specify, for example, that doctors implant only one embryo at a time.

That cuts down on the odds of twins or triplets, where pregnancy and delivery is often complicated—and expensive. A 2013 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found that the delivery and care of a singleton baby costs about $20,000 for insurers and patients. Twins cost $100,000; triplets, $400,000.

Sarah Mahalchick and her future husband talked on one of their first dates about wanting to adopt. There were lots of children out there who needed parents, they told each other from the start.

But when they were ready to expand their family, they opted for fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization. It seemed to make sense: Ms. Mahalchick’s employer would pay for a large chunk of the treatments through her health insurance; it offered almost no help on adoption.

Fertility benefits are becoming almost trendy at blue-chip companies, with more firms offering to help with the costs of IVF and egg freezing. But in many cases, companies that offer fertility benefits give no financial assistance to employees who want to adopt, and when they do their adoption benefits are often much less generous.

Estimates on how many companies offer fertility or adoption benefits are fuzzy. Most employers give neither. But the gap is clear.

The Society for Human Resource Management estimates that as of 2018, 27% of employers offered some form of infertility coverage and 11% offered adoption assistance. FertilityIQ, a website that offers courses and other information on family building, regularly scours benefit disclosures from thousands of employers. In a report released Saturday, it calculates that only one in five companies that offer fertility coverage also offer adoption assistance.

Employers that provide fertility assistance offer benefits worth an average of about $36,000, according to FertilityIQ. Jake Anderson-Bialis, FertilityIQ’s co-founder, said adoption benefits rarely exceed $10,000, and they’re usually far less.

The disparity hurts people who can’t or prefer not to undergo fertility treatments, including women disheartened by too many miscarriages and those who feel drawn to adopting a child who has no home. For gay men, fertility benefits are essentially useless without a surrogate, and using one can easily cost $100,000 or more.

For Ms. Mahalchick, the two years she spent on fertility treatments were miserable. The IVF hormones made her sick. She suffered multiple miscarriages. She and her husband spent some $10,000 on their portion of the treatments. In January 2020, they called it quits.

They’re now pursuing adoption and wish they had started sooner. “It’s already stressful enough when you’re becoming a parent,” said Ms. Mahalchick, who lives in the Northeast. “But adoption is treated as if it’s a luxury.”

Adoption and fertility treatments alike are out of reach for many families. Adopting a child can easily cost $50,000 or more. (The exception is adopting from foster care, where financial costs are usually minimal.) A single round of IVF can cost $20,000 or more, and many women need multiple rounds.

Lauren Serianni of Tampa, Fla., said she was disheartened that her husband’s employer was willing to foot the bill for three cycles of IVF, a benefit easily worth $60,000, but would pay only $3,000 toward an adoption. She and her husband spent more than 10 times that to adopt their daughter, who is now a year old.

“Any way you’re going to grow a family is beautiful,” Ms. Serianni said. “It shouldn’t be, ‘If it’s not genetically yours then we won’t pay for it.’ ”

In 2018, about 80,000 children were born in the U.S. using IVF and other fertility treatments, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That same year, Americans adopted about 85,000 children they weren’t related to, according to the National Council For Adoption, an advocacy group.

Companies that have introduced generous fertility benefits often say they’re responding to employee demand. IVF and egg freezing have become part of white-collar zeitgeist in a way that adoption hasn’t.

Employers can also have logistical and financial reasons to offer fertility assistance that don’t apply to adoption.

Fertility coverage, when offered, is usually provided under a health insurance plan, which means the coverage can be subject to regulation. At least 17 states have passed laws requiring some insurers to cover or at least offer coverage for some infertility treatments.

Anita Jennison, herself an adoptee, had long wanted to adopt. In 2019, she joined lifestyle brand Goop in California and discovered that the company would reimburse employees for up to $60,000 in adoption expenses through Carrot Fertility, a benefits provider.

Ms. Jennison calculates she spent nearly $80,000 to adopt her daughter, who is now a year old. She would have much preferred to save up for her daughter’s education. She has since left Goop but is grateful for its financial support. She knows half a dozen families, at least, who are desperate to adopt but can’t afford it.

Before joining Goop, Ms. Jennison had thought her path to motherhood was closed. “I never expected this to happen,” she said. “This is a godsend, because no one offers this.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/starting-a-family-company-benefits-favor-ivf-over-adoption-11617454800?mod=searchresults_pos1&page=1

It’s time to make permanent a car free JFK Drive in beautiful Golden Gate Park

Lee Heidhues – Letter to the San Francisco Chronicle Editor re Car Free JFK 4.8.2021

It is regrettable that the Chronicle is advocating to open JFK Drive to cars once again.

Publication of two recent letters by car advocates is sending a distressing signal. The Chronicle is ignoring the fact that during the past years thousands of people of all ages have utilized JFK Drive as a sanctuary removed from the automobile.

What is most insidious is the Chronicle’s using the elderly and disabled as political props. I am a senior citizen, 73 years old. I can easily access the venues adjacent to JFK Drive. There are options to use shuttles for those who need it.

Were the Chronicle to provide the real reason it advocates JFK reopening its argument would collapse. The wealthy donors to the Fine Arts Museum are concerned about revenue. Car free JFK does not impact their revenue. There is the parking garage. It is total sophistry to argue otherwise.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Every Picture Tells a Story – Ongoing Series

It is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Following are several photos taken by Liz Heidhues during our trips to Berlin in 2017 and 2018.

Excerpted from Jerusalem Post 4.7.2021

Israel will once again commemorate the greatest calamity to befall the Jewish people in 2,000 years on Wednesday night and Thursday as the country marks Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The official state opening ceremony for Holocaust Remembrance Day will take place at 8:00 p.m. in Yad Vashem’s Warsaw Ghetto Square on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, and will be attended by President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, chief rabbis Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau and other dignitaries.

This year’s theme has been entitled “Until the Very Last Jew: Eighty Years Since the Onset of Mass Annihilation,” by Yad Vashem, marking the eightieth anniversary of Operation Barbarossa in which Nazi Germany staged a surprise attack against the Soviet Union in 1941 and occupied vast swathes of land in eastern Europe where millions of Jews lived.

It was following this invasion that the mass shootings committed by the Einsatzgruppen, other German soldiers and police forces, along with local collaborators began across Eastern Europe. This continued into 1943, and some 1.5 million Jews were murdered.

Jews were also murdered in similar operations in German-occupied Yugoslavian territory and by the Antonescu regime on Romanian-occupied land.

A new online exhibition by Yad Vashem commemorating this stage of the Holocaust entitled The Onset of Mass Murder – The Fate of Jewish Families in 1941 highlights the stories of 12 Jewish families who were caught up in the Nazi invasion of Eastern Europe.

During the state opening ceremony at Yad Vashem, six Holocaust survivors will each light a torch in memory of the more than six million victims of the Nazi genocide.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/holocaust-remembrance-day-israel-commemorates-victims-of-nazi-genocide-664316

“Instead of protecting life, defendant Hall murdered …with malice aforethought.”

Black people can never expect Justice. That is why the family of Tyrell Wilson who was murdered in cold blood by a Danville cop have wasted no time. The family filed a lawsuit in Federal court today.

The saddest part is that that the courts will never bring Tyrell Wilson back to life.

Instead, the killer cop walks the streets a free man.

Diane Wilson, Tyrell Wilson’s mother grieves her son’s murder by Danville cop

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 4.6.2021

The family of Tyrell Wilson, a 33-year-old Black man shot by a Danville police officer last month, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.

“Instead of protecting life, defendant Hall murdered Mr. Wilson, with malice aforethought,” the lawsuit by civil rights attorney John Burris states.

People express sadness and outrage over murder of black man by Danville cop

It comes a day after a bystander’s cellphone video surfaced, showing Wilson and Danville police Officer Andrew Hall standing feet apart in the intersection of Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon, shortly before noon on March 11.

Wilson family attorney Burris displayed large still frames from the video that showed the position of the two men before and after Hall fired his gun while addressing reporters at the Sycamore Park and Ride parking lot near the site of the shooting.

Burris emphasized that he seldom labels a shooting as murder, even if he disagrees with the officer’s actions. “I don’t make that argument very often, but I do make it here,” the attorney said. “This is a situation which was clearly avoidable.”

Wilson’s mother, Diane Wilson, stood behind Burris in the parking lot, along with other family members, advocates and a pastor from the nearby city of Antioch. Through tears, she characterized her son as a kindhearted person with no history of aggression.

“I do not want to see the video,” Diane Wilson said. “I want my last thought and pictures of my son to be the beautiful man he is — or was.”

In addition to demanding unspecified damages, Burris seeks Hall’s termination, which would be up to the sheriff’s office — not the court.

The complaint alleges a series of missteps by the officer — such as not attempting to create space between himself and Wilson, and not taking cover after Wilson allegedly drew a folding knife. It contends that Hall “never made any effort to use reasonable de-escalation tactics, instead shooting Mr. Wilson in the face.”

In the wobbly recording, Hall appears to step toward Wilson as Wilson backs away. For a moment, the cellphone camera dips behind the door frame. When it gets both men back in sight, Hall fires once and Wilson collapses on his back.

Doctors pronounced Wilson dead six days after the shooting, on March 17.

Hall had driven to the area that morning to respond to several calls at 11:48 a.m. reporting a person throwing rocks from the Sycamore Valley Road freeway overpass onto Interstate 680. When he arrived, Hall found Wilson standing in the street.

While police have released no evidence so far linking Wilson to the alleged rock throwing, the department published still photographs on its Facebook page of the unhoused man identified as Wilson clutching a knife in his right hand and gripping a shopping bag in his left.

Police said that Hall yelled commands for Wilson to drop the weapon, and that Wilson began advancing toward him.

Tyrell Wilson – murdered by a cop.

Hall remains on administrative leave.

His attorney, Michael Rains, said the officer has requested a new assignment with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, which has a contract to provide police services in Danville.

Hall is awaiting a charging decision from District Attorney Diana Becton for a separate killing in 2018 when he fired 10 rounds through the windshield and passenger side window of fleeing motorist Laudemer Arboleda.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/Family-of-Tyrell-Wilson-sues-Danville-over-fatal-16081816.php#photo-20835273

Top photo – During a march to Danville Police Department headquarters, Veronica Benjamin points to where Tyrell Wilson was fatally shot by the same police officer who shot and killed Laudemer Arboleda in November 2018.

Sick, warped and disgusting twice killer cop should be jailed right now.

Where is the Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton? She needs to do her job and indict this killer cop. It is beyond the pale that a subhuman like this cop, Andrew Hall, is allowed to walk the streets. He should be in jail.

It is a stinging indictment of the American law enforcement system that such a horrid man is walking the streets and responsible for protecting the public.

It’s a disgusting outrage. I can’t even bring myself to watch this video of this murder.

The comments by the killer cop’s lawyer, Michael Rains, a proverbial go to hired gun for out of control cops, is equally appalling. He is excusing the murderous behavior of his client.

Top Photo – A video captured by a motorist who declines to be identified depicts the shooting of homeless man Tyrell Wilson, who was shot at point blank range by Danville police officer Andrew Hall on March 11, 2021 in the intersection of Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon. Wilson died six days later in a local hospital. The officer contended that Wilson was armed with a folding knife he had refused to relinquish and that he had advanced toward Hall, giving him cause to shoot.

San Francisco Chronicle 4.5.2021

A video obtained Monday by The Chronicle shows the fatal shooting by a Danville police officer of 32-year-old Tyrell Wilson, a homeless Black man who had been staying near a public parking lot used by carpoolers.

Wilson died on March 17 at a local hospital. Civil rights attorney John Burris, who represents Wilson’s family, said that after seeing the body, he concluded that Hall had shot Wilson in the face.

“It’s startling,” Burris said of the video. “It’s hard to watch what took place… The video confirmed to me that Wilson was not an aggressive person.”

The video, taken by a witness to the shooting, does not appear to capture Wilson advance toward Officer Andrew Hall, as Danville police said he did before he was shot on March 11. It shows the two men facing one another, standing feet apart shortly before noon that day at Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon.

Danville police said Hall had responded to the scene after dispatchers received reports of a person throwing rocks from the overpass at Sycamore Valley Road onto Highway 680. When Hall arrived he saw Wilson standing in the street, police said. The police released still photographs that show Wilson holding the bag in his left hand and a folding knife in his right.

They said that Hall gave commands for Wilson to drop the knife and that Wilson had advanced at Hall, prompting Hall to shoot.

In the video, Wilson can be seen clutching a bag in his left hand. For four seconds, Hall appeared to move toward Wilson, as Wilson appeared to step backward. Hall was pointing his gun at Wilson, who was facing him, then Hall shot once, the video shows. Wilson collapses on his back and Hall stands over him.

The video does not show Wilson make any sudden moves toward the officer.

During a march to Danville Police headquarters, Veronica Benjamin leads the family of homeless man, Tyrell Wilson, was shot and killed by the same Danville Police officer who shot and killed Laudemer Arboleda in November 2018. Photographed on Sunday, March 28, 2021, in Danville, Calif.

The Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, which contracts to provide police services in Danville, is working with District Attorney Diana Becton to investigate the incident. Hall remains on paid administrative leave and has requested a new assignment outside Danville, which is pending, his attorney Michael Rains said.

Rains said the video “tells nothing about what occurred there,” because it is shaky and shot from an odd angle, and because a road sign obscures the critical movements that precede the shooting.

The bystander’s vantage point also makes it impossible to see whether Wilson is holding a knife, Rains noted, or to hear the verbal exchange between Hall and Wilson, and assess how Wilson responds to Hall’s orders.

“How can you possibly use that as evidence as anything, when you can’t compare the movement you see to the commands that you know were given?” Rains asked. He said he has viewed another video of the incident, captured from a camera on a Tesla, which he argued is more “illuminating.”

This is Hall’s second fatal shooting as a Danville police officer. He is awaiting a charging decision from the Contra Costa County District Attorney in the 2018 killing of Laudemer Arboleda.

As Wilson’s family searches for answers, activists have turned their attention to Danville, an affluent suburb in the San Ramon Valley that sees one homicide a year, at most, according to federal statistics. After two fatal shootings by the same police officer, it has become a flashpoint in a larger debate about policing.

“A lot of this can be solved by de-escalation, and they’re not doing it,” Wilson’s father, Marvin Wilson, told a crowd of demonstrators outside the Danville Police Station on March 28.

Wilson’s voice broke, describing his son as a good-hearted person with a family that cared. Although Tyrell Wilson did not have a home, his father was sending money to support him.

He celebrated his birthday on March 8, three days before the shooting.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/Exclusive-Video-shows-Danville-police-officer-16079082.php#photo-20831758

Nothing is easy. Stanford women hold off Arizona 54-53, win 3rd national title

Stanford knows how to excite its fans and drive them near exasperation.

Just like Friday’s win against South Carolina the women of Stanford had to fend off a last second shot by Arizona to claim its third national championship.

The radio announcer, after it was finished and done, said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer looked more relieved than overjoyed. That’s the truth. It’s her third national title since taking over the reins as coach in 1985.

San Francisco Chronicle 4.4.2021

San Antonio, TX. Nearly three decades after the program won its second national title, the Stanford women’s basketball team has earned its third.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – APRIL 04: Members of the Stanford Cardinal celebrate the team’s win against the Arizona Wildcats in the National Championship game of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on April 04, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Stanford’s Haley Jones celebrates her team’s victory over Arizona in the national title game Sunday.

Head coach Tara VanDerveer and the Cardinal withstood a strong defensive effort from Arizona to pull out a 54-53 decision in the championship game in San Antonio on Sunday.

Stanford’s Cameron Brink and Lexie Hull run past Arizona’s Aari McDonald after McDonald misfired on her last-second shot, allowing the Cardinal to hold on to win 54-53 in Sunday’s national championship game.

The Wildcats had a chance to win it at the end. After Stanford’s 21st turnover the game, Arizona inbounded the ball near midcourt with 6.1 seconds left. Pac-12 Player of the Year Aari McDonald got the ball and she got swarmed by Anna Wilson, Lexie Hull and Cameron Brink. McDonald lofted a 3-point attempt that was off the mark, and Stanford had escaped with its second straight one-point win.

Not only is this Stanford’s first national title since 1992, it’s the first for any West Coast team since then.

Stanford won both regular-season meetings with the Wildcats, 81-54 in Tucson on New Year’s Day and 62-48 at Maples Pavilion on Feb. 22.

Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer directs her team during the first half of the championship game against Arizona in the women’s Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 4, 2021, at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Top photo: Kiana Williams #23 of the Stanford Cardinas celebrates after cutting down the net following the team’s win against the Arizona Wildcats in the National Championship game of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on April 04, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/college/article/Stanford-women-hold-off-Arizona-54-53-win-3rd-16076565.php#photo-20827705

Stanford women’s NCAA nail biting finish. Doesn’t get any more exciting.

In San Antonio The Stanford women survived a potential last second disaster to defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks and moved onto the NCAA championship game on Sunday against Arizona.

Start watching the video at 12:00. It’s something to behold.

Top photo – Stanford players rejoice after sophomore forward Aliyah Boston missed a putback at the buzzer that would have given South Carolina the win. The Cardinal advance to Sunday’s championship to face Arizona.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 4.3.2021

Stanford’s quest for a national championship nearly slipped from its grip in the final nine seconds of Friday’s Final Four matchup with South Carolina in San Antonio.

The Cardinal, though, will play Arizona on Sunday for the third NCAA title in program history, courtesy of two missed point-blank shots by the Gamecocks in the final frantic moments.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – APRIL 02: Lexie Hull #12 of the Stanford Cardinal shoots the jump shot against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the second quarter in the Final Four semifinal game of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on April 02, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Stanford’s winning streak reached 19 by the slimmest of margins. The Cardinal escaped with a 66-65 victory.

Setting the stage … Destanni Henderson hit a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left to put South Carolina up 65-64.

Stanford (30-2) had not trailed since late in the first quarter and it would regain the lead seven seconds later. Lexie Hull missed on a drive, but on a scramble for the rebound, Haley Jones corralled the loose ball and dropped home a 15-foot jumper from the left side.

After a South Carolina turnover, Stanford inbounded near midcourt with nine seconds left. The ball went to Cameron Brink. She lost it and the Gamecocks had a fast-break opportunity.

Brea Beal drove to the bucket but missed a layup try that Hull did a nice job contesting. All-America forward Aliyah Boston grabbed the rebound, but her short follow shot bounced off the back rim at the buzzer.

As South Carolina players seemed in disbelief that their season had ended, Stanford players seemed both exultant and relieved that their season will last one more game.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – APRIL 02: Head coach Tara VanDerveer of the Stanford Cardinal signals to players against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the fourth quarter in the Final Four semifinal game of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on April 02, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/college/article/Stanford-slips-past-South-Carolina-reaches-NCAA-16073745.php

How Christian is Germany? Six facts about Catholic and Protestant influence

Easter is this Sunday. Deutsche Welle takes a look at the current influence of the Catholic and Protestant churches in Germany.

How Christian is Germany? Judging by a sharp decline in church attendance, not very. But a look at tax revenue, board memberships and land holdings suggest that its two biggest churches still have a wealth of influence.

Photo above – Barbara Sukowa (left) and Heino Ferch (right) in the movie ‘Vision’

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 4.1.2021

The Holy Roman Empire, the birthplace of Protestantism, the battlefields of Christian theology. The lands that make up modern Germany once had front-row seats to some of the most significant developments both in the history of Europe and of Christianity.

Today, those Christian roots are hard to overlook. Public holidays based on Catholic and Protestant beliefs provide highly-anticipated vacation days that go beyond just Christmas and Easter. And while “Christian” political parties — Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and the Bavarian Christian Socialist Union, for example — are considered traditional rather than religious, the parties’ names make it clear they were conceived on the basis of Christian values.

Yet the ubiquity of steeples crosses, and saints is deceptive: Churches are largely empty. With more and more Christians rejecting core tenets of the faith, including the existence of God, is it accurate for Germany to be considered a Christian nation?

DW looks at six facts and figures that shed light on the make-up of Catholic and Protestant identity and influence in Germany today.

1. The majority of Germans identify as Christian

Roughly 45.7 million Germans identify as Christian, be they Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox or non-denominational. That’s nearly 55 percent of German society, according to figures from 2019.

2. Under 10 percent of Christians go to church regularly

The majority of Germany’s Christians are registered as either Catholic (22.6 million) or Protestant (20.7 million).

The Protestant Church has its roots in Lutheranism and other denominations that rose out of the 16th-century religious reform movement. Despite the Protestant Church’s official name — the “Evangelical Church of Germany” (EKD) — it is not to be mistaken with the Evangelical movement in the United States.

Catholic Germany III 4.1.2021.jpg

Between 2010 and 2019, church weddings declined by nearly 20 percent in Germany

In 2019 alone 272,000 Catholics and 270,000 Protestants officially left the church.

3. Churches make billions despite falling numbers

In 2019, the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church collected a record-breaking €6.76 billion ($7.94 billion) and €5.95 billion ($6.98 billion) in church tax, respectively.

The right for churches to collect a de-facto membership fee in the form of a tax dates back to 1919, when the Weimar Republic introduced the measure to counter the financial aftermath of the separation of church and state.

The rate is currently set at 9 percent of one’s income for members above a minimum income threshold. The money helps keep parishes, church employees, daycares and other properties afloat.

Germany once had front-row seats to some of the most significant developments in the history of Christianity

4. Land holdings also boost church wealth

Assessing the churches’ wealth is a tricky and tangled business due to their extensive land holdings and reparation payments they receive from the states.

The two churches own at least 830,000 hectares (8,300 square kilometers or 3,200 square miles) of land, according to an estimation by church critic Carsten Frerk, whose number is often cited by German media.

5. Church widely represented in public matters

Another reason Catholic and Protestant interests are so visible in German society is the seats church representatives are granted on supervisory boards across a wide variety of organizations. There, the churches sit alongside other interest groups such as conservationists, union leaders, and experts from a range of fields in the name of representing an important demographic.

6. Fewer Christians believe in the core tenets of their faith

When asked by German pollster INSA in 2017 if they believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, only 52 percent of Catholics and 48 percent of Protestants said yes. When asked if they believed in life after death, only 40 percent of Catholics and 32 percent of Protestants said they did.

Additionally, the research institute Emnid asked Christians whether they believed in God. Roughly 24 percent of Protestants and 11 percent of Catholics said no, according to the newspaper Tagesspiegel.

This is an updated version of an article first published in 2018.

https://www.dw.com/en/6-facts-about-catholic-and-protestant-influence-in-germany/a-43081215

SF school board member sues district, colleagues over response to her tweets

The San Francisco School Board member who has been the subject of heavy criticism for her Tweets is pushing back. HARD.

Alison Collins just dropped a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit on her fellow Board members along with the School District itself. This tempest pitting a Black woman against the San Francisco power structure has now become a national, if not international, news event.

In brief. Ms Collins is strenuously, to say the least, disputing the allegations that her Tweets were anti-Asian and racist

In her Federal lawsuit a quote by the famous German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöeller is affixed to the Complaint.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 3.31.2021

A San Francisco school board member accused her colleagues and the school district in a suit Wednesday of retaliation, saying they violated her free speech rights by stripping her of her position as vice president and removing her from committees over tweets she posted in 2016 about Asian Americans.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, Alison Collins seeks $72 million in general damages from the school district and the five board members who supported a no-confidence vote against her, plus $3 million in punitive damages from each of those same board members.

Collins, who declined comment about the lawsuit Wednesday, also seeks an injunction restoring her as vice president and to her committee positions.

The lawsuit alleges that the vote to strip her of her leadership roles was an illegal act that violated Collins’ due process and caused her to suffer losses in income, significant loss of reputation, severe mental and emotional distress, and humiliation.

“When Ms. Collins refused to resign her elected position as commissioner, defendants lit their torches, sprinting to judgment in twenty-four hours, with less due process than given to victims of Malleus Maleficarum,” Bonner, wrote in the suit, referring to a manual for witch hunters.

The lawsuit claims Collins’s tweets were related to her attempts to address bullying and anti-Black behavior at her daughter’s school.

Bonner claims the board and its members violated Collins’ freedom of speech by falsely labeling her a racist. The actual purpose of her tweets, he said in the suit, was protecting Black and brown children from racist bullying and harassment.

“The false narrative and assertion that Ms. Collins’ comments imploring Asian Americans to resist oppression as ‘racist’ has generated this ongoing and intensifying hostility, (causing) threats and damage to Ms. Collins reputation and threatening her and her family’s physical well-being,” Bonner wrote.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/SF-school-board-member-Alison-Collins-sues-16068075.php

Navalny is being held in the prison colony IK-2 in the town of Pokrov

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Few companies offer to help employees who want to adopt, and they’re often less generous when they do

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Top photo – During a march to Danville Police Department headquarters, Veronica Benjamin points to where Tyrell Wilson was fatally shot by the same police officer who shot and killed Laudemer Arboleda in November 2018.

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During a march to Danville Police headquarters, Veronica Benjamin leads the family of homeless man, Tyrell Wilson, was shot and killed by the same Danville Police officer who shot and killed Laudemer Arboleda in November 2018. Photographed on Sunday, March 28, 2021, in Danville, Calif.

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Stanford’s Haley Jones celebrates her team’s victory over Arizona in the national title game Sunday.

Stanford’s Cameron Brink and Lexie Hull run past Arizona’s Aari McDonald after McDonald misfired on her last-second shot, allowing the Cardinal to hold on to win 54-53 in Sunday’s national championship game.

Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer directs her team during the first half of the championship game against Arizona in the women’s Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 4, 2021, at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Top photo: Kiana Williams #23 of the Stanford Cardinas celebrates after cutting down the net following the team’s win against the Arizona Wildcats in the National Championship game of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on April 04, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas.

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Top photo – Stanford players rejoice after sophomore forward Aliyah Boston missed a putback at the buzzer that would have given South Carolina the win. The Cardinal advance to Sunday’s championship to face Arizona.

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1. The majority of Germans identify as Christian

2. Under 10 percent of Christians go to church regularly

Between 2010 and 2019, church weddings declined by nearly 20 percent in Germany

3. Churches make billions despite falling numbers

Germany once had front-row seats to some of the most significant developments in the history of Christianity

4. Land holdings also boost church wealth

5. Church widely represented in public matters

6. Fewer Christians believe in the core tenets of their faith

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