National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare

Members of Congress are back in their home districts for summer recess. And during this highly contentious election season your elected officials are more eager than ever to hear directly and personally from constituents about their greatest concerns, including their views on Social Security.
With proposals to cut earned benefits remaining at the top of lawmakers’ “to do lists,” your National Committee encourages you to take this opportunity to contact your members of Congress in their local office or attend townhall meetings and ensure your voice is heard on issues that matter the most to you and your family.

Make sure your elected officials know that any cuts to earned benefits, including reducing the Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) or raising the Social Security retirement age, will have a devastating impact on millions of current and future beneficiaries.

With growing momentum in Washington for cutting benefits, now is the time to remind lawmakers about the enormous economic benefits of Social Security in states like yours

and urge them to support proposals that will protect and strengthen the Social Security benefits millions of Americans have earned and are counting on in their retirement!
To contact your U.S. Senator, click here.
To contact your U.S. Representative, click here.

Source: National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare

Building Empathy For Syrians Through Virtual Reality. And Pokémon. | from Sojourners

Images trigger empathy; to perceive tragedy, we need to see the victim.

Photographs trigger empathy; to perceive tragedy, we need to see the victim. The effect is curiously more profound when we see the image of a single victim: While one death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic.

The photo that emerged overnight of a bloodied 5-year-old boy, wounded in an air strike in Aleppo and rescued by the White Helmets, feels hauntingly familiar.

It seems to be having the same effect as the first picture to break the heart of the world: that of Aylan Kurdi, a drowned 3-year-old boy lying face-down with his soaked red shirt and blue bottoms.

With the image Kurdi, the world saw the war as real people risking their lives in faint hopes of one day reaching safe land.

Now, designers/activists are hoping to tap into an international craze to reach masses with striking messages from kids in war-torn Syria — using Pokémon characters.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Source: Building Empathy For Syrians Through Virtual Reality. And Pokémon. | Sojourners

God Has A Wonderful Sense Of Humor | kavips

God Has A Wonderful Sense Of Humor
Posted by kavips
The head of the anti gay marriage Family Research Council, Tony Perkins , has long maintained that God dishes out natural disasters to show his disapproval of certain political causes….

God dumped 32 inches of rain upon his house……

Source: God Has A Wonderful Sense Of Humor | kavips

Microbial Me: A Look Inside Microbiome, Research – Science and Technology from the Utne Reader

Scientists performing microbiome research are discovering how microbes not only make us sick, but also keep our bodies working.

The cities we build, the buildings we work in, the food we eat, the homes we keep, the environments where we live our lives and raise our children—all these factors affect the microbes living inside us, which in turn, scientists are discovering, can influence everything from obesity to Alzheimer’s to asthma.

Fascinating essay here: Microbial Me: A Look Inside Microbiome Research – Science and Technology – Utne Reader