An interfaith gathering of healing and solidarity

The Islamic Association of Greater Hartford (known more colloquially as the Berlin Mosque) at 2:30 p.m. this Friday. Faith leaders will join to oppose the hate and stereotyping of Muslims, immigrants, Hispanics, African Americans, and the LGBTQ community of the recent bruising election. The community will also collect non-perishable food items for the poor and …

Here’s what happens when you slash public services

You mostly end up targeting the people who can least afford it. That’s social services, but also infrastructure such as bus lines and the link. Read this from The Atlantic Monthly’s CityLab.

The middle class is not mentioned in the Bible

Read this thought-provoking piece by Ryan McAnnally-Linz and Miroslav Volf are the authors of “Public Faith in Action: How to Think Critically, Engage Wisely, and Vote with Integrity.” McAnnally-Linz and Volf explore politicians’ (all of them) focus on the middle class (which didn’t exist in Biblical times), at near complete exclusion of the poor (who did).

When was the last time a poor person created jobs?

Rich people have paid sick days. Poor people don’t.

So says my friend, Doug Hall, very eloquently, here. He writes: One significant reason to pass paid sick leave legislation is that failing to do so further exacerbates disparities based on income. The Economic Policy Institute shows in stark terms that “rich people have paid sick days [while] poor people do not.” While only one …

Credit where it’s due, the Paul Ryan version

The newly-shaven Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, told a group of Washington interns yesterday that earlier statements he’d made about the poor were “just wrong.” Does this mean, as posted here, that Ryan has shrugged off Ayn Rand? (You can watch the speech at that last link, but here, as far as I’m concerned, is …

Tax liens and the poor

I wrote this for WNPR. This is a really questionable way for cities to raise money.

In last week’s reading of the Hebrew scriptures…

It’s still a slog, and I’m in Deuteronomy, the Second Law Book, and things aren’t getting any happier as I trace the steps of the Israelites as they seek to follow Scary God into Canaan. (As a reminder, I, the fundamentalist with Mad Bible Skills, have started re-reading the Bible, from Gen. 1, using a guide …

Politicians poisoned the water in (mostly black and poor) Detroit

The toxic drinking water in Flint, Mich., is a result of a series of stupid decisions on the part of political leaders and others. This Ebony piece compares the situation to the fumbling and worse after Katrina. Bankole Thompson writes about water so nasty General Motors wouldn’t even use on their car parts: For 18 months, …

Being poor ain’t cheap

The Economist has an article (here) that explores how low-income people often pay more for money orders (which can’t be overdrawn from a volatile checking account), or because they can’t — and this is the case for 8 percent of Americans — afford a bank account. Life outside a bank account means you pay piece-meal …