Headlines from the New York Times for Friday, April 20, 2018

Hans Asperger Aided Nazi Child Euthanasia, Study Says

(Note: I have a beautiful and creative autistic grandson. The treatment of children with autism in the early years of psychology is a tragic story. I am profoundly thankful that there are healthy and progressive ways of caring for those on the autism spectrum today.)

A new study has shed more light on the revelations that Hans Asperger, the Austrian pediatrician for whom a form of autism is named, had collaborated with the Nazis and actively assisted in the killing of disabled children.

Published on Wednesday in the journal Molecular Autism by the medical historian Herwig Czech, the report relies on eight years of research that included the examination of previously unseen Nazi-era documents. Continue reading “Newspaper Prayers: Friday, April 20th” →

Headlines from the New York Times for Thursday, April 19, 2018

A Marriage Used to Prevent Deportation. Not Anymore.

They had shown the immigration officer their proof — the eight years of Facebook photos, their 5-year-old son’s birth certificate, the letters from relatives and friends affirming their commitment — and now they were so close, Karah de Oliveira thought, so nearly a normal couple.

Thirteen years after her husband was ordered deported back to his native Brazil, the official recognition of their marriage would bring him within a few signatures of being able to call himself an American. With legal papers, they could buy a house and get a bank loan. He could board a plane. They could take their son to Disney World. Continue reading “Newspaper Prayers: Thursday, April 19th” →

Headlines from the New York Times for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Mike Pompeo, C.I.A. Director, Is Said to Meet With Kim Jong-un in North Korea

President Trump dispatched the C.I.A. director Mike Pompeo to North Korea to meet with its leader, Kim Jong-un, in recent weeks to lay the groundwork for a summit meeting between Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump, two people briefed on the secret trip said on Tuesday.

Mr. Trump alluded to Mr. Pompeo’s mission when he said on Tuesday afternoon that the United States was in direct talks with North Korea at “extremely high levels,” and that the White House was looking at five sites for a potential meeting of the two leaders. Continue reading “Newspaper Prayers: Wednesday, April 18th” →

Headlines from Medium Daily Digest for Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Autistic Superpowers

Our existence is not an “epidemic”. It’s a blessing.

(This is an excerpt from an article written by Erica Price, a woman on the autism spectrum, who has a PhD and teaches on-line courses.)

Autism (and Down’s Syndrome!!!) are not malignancies. They are not tumors attached to otherwise “normal” people. Autism is a central part of us, inextricably linked with our being as humans, and there is nothing wrong with it. We don’t want to be cured. We don’t want to be subjected to therapies that force us to mask our Autistic symptoms. We don’t want fewer of us to be born, and we certainly don’t look to the increase in Autism diagnosis as a sign of societal blight. Continue reading “Newspaper Prayers: Tuesday, April 17th” →

Headlines from the New York Times for Monday, April 16, 2018

Going to Church With Jimmy Carter

I knew I was in trouble as soon as I pulled into the parking lot of the Quality Inn in Americus, Ga., last Saturday night. It was long past dark but I could see well enough to note the out-of-state license plates — New Mexico, Pennsylvania, California, Alaska — places far from this peanut-farming land.

We were all there for the same reason: to see Jimmy Carter teach Sunday school at the Maranatha Baptist Church in the nearby town of Plains. And if the crowded parking lot was any indication, finding a seat the next morning would be a challenge. Continue reading “Newspaper Prayers: Monday, April 16th” →

Headlines from the New York Times for Friday, April 13, 2018

The Missouri Governor, His Affair, and the Chaos That Followed. Here’s What It Means.

(This is a long article. The excerpts I present are statements from politicians and the clergy.)

“I am very worried as a family man about the effects that this has on his family,” Mike Kehoe, the Senate majority leader and a Republican, said. “The governor’s political career might have two-and-a-half years on it at best, but he’s going to have a family for life.” Continue reading “Newspaper Prayers: Friday, April 13th” →

Headlines from the New York Times for Thursday, April 12, 2018

In April 2014, more than 200 girls were kidnapped from a school in Nigeria. The world responded: #BringBackOurGirls.

Boko Haram dressed them in dark gowns and head coverings, broadcasting the images to the world the following month.

Four years later, more than a hundred of them have been freed. Kidnapped as Schoolgirls by Boko Haram: Here They Are Now

It took Nigerian officials agonizing weeks to publish the names of all the students Boko Haram kidnapped from a boarding school in the village of Chibok four years ago, on the night of April 14. Once they did, the numbers were staggering. Continue reading “Newspaper Prayers: Thursday, April 12th” →