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from The Archive
Ancient Rome is credited with major contributions to modern day language, religion, law, art, and government. Indeed, the Roman Empire was filled with breathtaking architecture and an intricate and fascinating socio-economic culture. But it was also full of drama. Most people know at least a few key facts about Julius Caesar and his infamous assassination on the Ides of March. But as the Roman Republic crumbled with him and the Roman Empire rose in its place, the rulers that came after him were no less controversial. Extravagance, executions, and extreme religious persecution stand at the forefront of many Roman emperor’s legacies. And that's not mentioning the sex scandals.
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from BBC News (UK)
Notre-Dame: Paris cathedral restoration work continues
Workers have been photographed scaling the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, nearly 11 months after a fire ravaged the French capital's 850-year-old landmark.
In Pictures: Hundreds of billions of locusts swarm in East Africa
Hundreds of billions of locusts are swarming through parts of East Africa and South Asia in the worst infestation for a quarter of a century, threatening crops and livelihoods.
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from CBS News (& affiliates)
First drive-thru coronavirus testing facility in the U.S. opens in Seattle
In South Korea, officials have been able to test hundreds of people every day for coronavirus using fast food-style drive-thrus. Now, the technique is coming to Washington, which has the second-highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. The University of Washington Medical Center in North Seattle can currently test 40 to 50 people per day using the method, CBS affiliate KIRO reports. The testing site is only available to employees and students, but UW Medical plans to expand the program to first responders, employees at long-term care facilities and UW patients showing symptoms later this week.
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from Earth & Altar
Drew Nathaniel Keane: Although the preface to the 1789 disclaims “intending to depart from the Church of England in any essential point of doctrine, discipline, or worship; or further than local circumstances require” (BCP 1979, p. 11 ), several of the revisions seem to exceed the necessities of local circumstance, including this modification to the Venite (retained in 1892, 1928, and 1979). At the 1886 Convention there was an unsuccessful proposal to restore Psalm 95 without modification with the option to omit the last four verses (a path taken in the 2019 BCP of the ACNA, though it requires them during Lent). The 1928 and 1979, while retaining the modified Venite, permit the use of Psalm 95 unmodified instead. In recent years, several have written in favor of the full Venite in Morning Prayer, including S. L. Bray, the Rev. Dr. S. C. Rice, the Rev. J. M. Lock; I add my voice to theirs. Particularly during this season of Lent, I urge you to read Morning Prayer with the Venite in its fullness.
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from Fortune Magazine
Gilead's experimental drug remdesivir has been touted by public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the most—if not the most—promising antivirals to fight the new coronavirus strain. CDC director Robert Redfield added to the buzz on Tuesday, stating that that Gilead's pathogen-fighting COVID-19 treatment is already being deployed in Washington state, where the virus had claimed nearly two dozen lives as of Monday. Redfield, during Congressional testimony before a House of Representatives committee regarding the CDC's budget and spending priorities in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, said that "remdesivir is available right now on compassionate use," in Washington. Preliminary results for the treatment's effectiveness will likely become clearer in mere months, according to Redfield. Compassionate use is an analogue of the Food and Drug Administration's expanded access program, which speeds up access to treatments that haven't received marketing approval to patients who may direly need them—especially in emergency situations.
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from Hoover Institution
Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California
A look back at the past few months of tumultuous domestic events in Iran and around the Middle East might lend favour to the view that Donald Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic is destabilising and weakening Iran alongside its grip on its regional networks. There is no doubt that the numerous, interconnected domestic and regional challenges ranging from the impact of economic sanctions, the November 2019 protests, the January downing of the Ukrainian airliner, low popular turnout in the February parliamentary elections, the killing of Qods force Commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) Commander Abu Mahdi al Muhandis together with the anti-Iranian protests in Iraq and Lebanon have placed significant pressure on Tehran. This pressure has most definitely weakened the Islamic Republic’s domestic legitimacy above all. At the same time though, this pressure has neither altered Tehran’s regional calculus and commitments nor has it returned Iran to the negotiating table. Most consequentially, these events are facilitating the empowerment of Iran’s hardliners who strongly support its regional resistance strategy. With their grip on power fortified, Iran’s well-honed regional playbook will continue to be put to use as both maximum pressure is maintained and the Islamic Republic soldiers on.
The “transnational”: this is how Qassem Soleimani, the former head of Iran’s Qods Force, who was killed in a January U.S. missile strike in Baghdad, is described in Hezbollah-run schools in Lebanon. Soleimani, who commanded the militias prosecuting Iran’s wars in the region and who managed the Islamic Republic’s realm from Iraq to Lebanon, met his end as the Iranian order in those two countries was under severe stress, adding to the Iranian regime’s domestic troubles as it reels under the weight of U.S. sanctions. Iraq and Lebanon have long suffered from endemic corruption and mismanagement, which have now resulted in failing economies. In fact, Lebanon is already in the stage of financial and economic collapse. Beyond economic grievances, however, the political orders both in Iraq and Lebanon are in a crisis of legitimacy. For months, popular demonstrations have been raging against the Baghdad and Beirut governments and the sectarian political actors who run them. This turmoil in Iran’s Arab holdings adds another layer of pressure on top of the two-year old widespread popular protests inside Iran. These popular protests have revealed the vulnerabilities of the Iranian regional project, of which Soleimani was the anchor. Likewise, they have exposed the incoherence of U.S. policy ideas about Iran and fractured states like Iraq and Lebanon over the course of almost two decades.
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from KXLY 4 News (ABC Spokane)
Spokane’s first cat cafe announces grand opening
Kitty Cantina, Spokane’s first cat cafe, has announced its grand opening. Cat lovers will be able to sip on “meowchas” or even a nice glass of “cat-bernet” while cuddling up with an adoptable buddy starting on April 11. Kitty Cantina has teamed up with SpokAnimal for the new business venture. The cafe’s owners hope to create more interactions for cats without homes, get more cats adopted and make room in shelters to bring in more animals.
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from Patheos
LEAST BIASED. MIXED, non-denominational, non-partisan online media companyWhat the 1918 Influenza Pandemic Meant for American Churches
Rather than write a typical blog post, I’m going to share a variety of news stories from those weeks in late 1918. You’ll find a variety of religious responses to the deadliest epidemic in American history, which coincided with the last days of the Great War and the last debates over the ratification of Prohibition. While most Christians made the best of church closures, many grumbled… and a few went to jail rather than stop worshiping.
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from The Roman Anglican (blog)
An Anglican review on art and history, based in Rome.
CORONAVIRUS STATEMENT FROM ALL SAINTS' ANGLICAN CHURCH ROME.
Many friends from abroad have been asking me how I was doing during these troubled times. This week, the entirety of the country has been effectively quarantined. We’re not allowed out, almost every business is closed, the city is effectively dead. My grandmother said she has never seen anything like this during her lifetime. As we all know, churches in Italy have been closed down for church services and activities through a joint statement by the Italian government and conference of bishops. The last time All Saints’ closed down was 80 years ago, on 3rd June 1940, for the beginning of the Second World War. Little did we know that last Sunday we received our last communion. This troubles me deeply. Last week our Young Adults group was halved when all of our American students had been sent home in vision of the regulations that came into force this week - this caused moments of sadness and resignation between all of us. It was only the beginning of the crisis.
CORONAVIRUS STATEMENT FROM ALL SAINTS' ANGLICAN CHURCH ROME.
Many friends from abroad have been asking me how I was doing during these troubled times. This week, the entirety of the country has been effectively quarantined. We’re not allowed out, almost every business is closed, the city is effectively dead. My grandmother said she has never seen anything like this during her lifetime. As we all know, churches in Italy have been closed down for church services and activities through a joint statement by the Italian government and conference of bishops. The last time All Saints’ closed down was 80 years ago, on 3rd June 1940, for the beginning of the Second World War. Little did we know that last Sunday we received our last communion. This troubles me deeply. Last week our Young Adults group was halved when all of our American students had been sent home in vision of the regulations that came into force this week - this caused moments of sadness and resignation between all of us. It was only the beginning of the crisis.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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