As Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator; The New York Times, October 22, 2024

Michael S. Schmidt, The New York Times; As Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator

"Few top officials spent more time behind closed doors in the White House with President Donald J. Trump than John F. Kelly, the former Marine general who was his longest-serving chief of staff.

With Election Day looming, Mr. Kelly — deeply bothered by Mr. Trump’s recent comments about employing the military against his domestic opponents — agreed to three on-the-record, recorded discussions with a reporter for The New York Times about the former president, providing some of his most wide-ranging comments yet about Mr. Trump’s fitness and character...

Here are excerpts from, and audio of, Mr. Kelly’s comments...

Trump told him that “Hitler did some good things.”

Mr. Kelly confirmed previous reports that on more than one occasion Mr. Trump spoke positively of Hitler.

“He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too,’” Mr. Kelly said Mr. Trump told him...

Kelly said Trump looked down on those who were disabled on the battlefield.

In response to a question about previous stories about Mr. Trump having disdain for disabled veterans, Mr. Kelly said Mr. Trump did not want to be seen in public with those who had lost limbs on the battlefield.

“Certainly his not wanting to be seen with amputees — amputees that lost their limbs in defense of this country fighting for every American, him included, to protect them, but didn’t want to be seen with them. That’s an interesting perspective for the commander in chief to have.”

“He would just say: ‘Look, it just doesn’t look good for me.’”

He said Trump called service members who were injured or killed “losers and suckers,” despite denials from Trump and some aides.

Confirming a statement he gave to CNN last year, Mr. Kelly said that on multiple occasions Mr. Trump told him that those Americans wounded, captured or killed in action were “losers and suckers.”

“The time in Paris was not the only time that he ever said it,” Mr. Kelly said, referring to reports that Mr. Trump told him that he did not want to visit a cemetery where American service members killed during World War I were buried...

Mr. Kelly had nothing good to say about Mr. Trump

Mr. Kelly was asked whether Mr. Trump had any empathy

“No,” Mr. Kelly said.""

Computer scientist speaks of effects of AI on humanity; Allied News, October 15, 2024

HAILEY ROGENSKI , Allied News; Computer scientist speaks of effects of AI on humanity

"What role will we let artificial intelligence play in our lives, and what effect will AI have on religion and the world? Can it replace human roles that require empathy?

Dr. Derek Schuurman, a Christian computer scientist from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich., delved into those issues Oct. 7 at Grove City College in the college’s Albert A. Hopeman Jr. Memorial Lecture in Faith & Technology.

Schuurman, is a member of the American Scientific Affiliation and adviser for AI and faith, a contributor to the Christian Scholars Review blog, a columnist for the Christian Courier and an author of Shaping the Digital World: Faith, Culture and Computer Technology and a co-author of A Christian Field Guide to Technology for Engineers and Designers...

“I think at that point we have to get back to that question and say, ‘what does it mean to be human?’” Schuurman said. “What does it mean to be made in the image of God? What does that imply for certain types of relationships and work about having a human doing that, because we choose to have someone who can actually have empathy for us, someone who’s words can be influenced and shaped by the holy spirit speaking into our lives. There’s certain roles that require empathy, care (and) wisdom.”

Schuurman said he thinks some roles that require this kind of empathy, such as being a pastor or teacher, will remain untouched by AI.

He said the best way to use AI is to maintain a “hybrid approach” where “people do what people do well and machines do what machines do well.”"

The Most Important Writing Exercise I’ve Ever Assigned; The New York Times, February 18, 202

 Rachel Kadish, The New York Times; The Most Important Writing Exercise I’ve Ever Assigned

"Unflinching empathy, which is the muscle the lesson is designed to exercise, is a prerequisite for literature strong enough to wrestle with the real world. On the page it allows us to spot signs of humanity; off the page it can teach us to start a conversation with the strangest of strangers, to thrive alongside difference. It can even affect those life or death choices we make instinctively in a crisis. This kind of empathy has nothing to do with being nice — and it’s not for the faint of heart."

Roland Pattillo helped keep Henrietta Lacks' story alive. It's key to his legacy; NPR, November 14, 2023

 Walter Ray Watson, NPR; Roland Pattillo helped keep Henrietta Lacks' story alive. It's key to his legacy

"Dr. Roland Pattillo and his wife Pat O'Flynn Pattillo paid for Henrietta Lacks' permanent headstone, a smooth, substantial block of pink granite. It sits in the shape of a hardcover book...

Pattillo, an African American oncologist, stem cell researcher and professor, died in May at age 89. His death went largely unreported. The New York Times ran an obituary last month. The Nation published the news in September...

He protected and elevated Lacks' memory for decades. A Louisiana native, Dr. Pattillo is often described as a quiet, determined man, and a major reason why millions know Henrietta Lacks' story.

He befriended the Lacks family and protected them from reporters and other people. He was aware of the HeLa cell line story, the medical discovery that Henrietta Lacks' cancer cells successfully grew outside her body, but he learned more about the donor when he worked with biologist George Gey, his mentor at Johns Hopkins. Gey was responsible for harvesting her biopsied cancer cells and successfully growing them in culture, the first human cells to do so. They were put to use for medical research in labs around the world...

Henrietta Lacks left behind five young children in 1951.

She was treated at Johns Hopkins, a Baltimore charity hospital that cared for Black patients during the Jim Crow era. Her tumor cells were taken without her knowledge. Her cells became the first successful "immortal" cell line, grown outside her body and used for medical research. They have been instrumental in breakthroughs ever since.

Patients rights and the rules governing them were not like today.

HeLa cells were used to understand how the polio virus infected human beings. A vaccine was developed as a result. More recently, they played a significant role in COVID-19 vaccines.

Pat Pattillo says her husband wanted to share how Lacks' gift benefitted humanity since her death at age 31. But he also hoped to extend empathy for the family she left behind...

Skloot says she and Pattillo first had a mentor and mentee relationship, but it blossomed into a collegial one, especially when they formed the Henrietta Lacks Foundation.

"So, it provides financial support for people who made important contributions to science without their knowledge or consent," she says. "And their descendants, specifically people who were used in historic research studies like the Tuskegee syphilis studies, the Holmes Burke prison studies, and Henrietta Lacks family.""

VR transports users to notorious Venezuelan prison: ‘The world needs to know’; The Washington Post, September 22, 2023

María Luisa Paúl, The Washington Post ; VR transports users to notorious Venezuelan prison: ‘The world needs to know’

"The simulation was created by Voces de la Memoria — voices of memory — a nonprofit that uses technology to advocate for human rights and whose founder, Victor Navarro, was arbitrarily detained in El Helicoide, where he said he was tortured...

Then Navarro went through a virtual reality experience about Anne Frank’s time in the Secret Annex: “I felt like in any moment, the Nazis were going to take me to a concentration camp,” he said. “If I was able to empathize with Anne Frank, someone I don’t know and who lived in another time, maybe others would be able to empathize with what happened in El Helicoide.”.

Shortly after, Voces de la Memoria was born. By combining interviews with former detainees and input from psychologists, the organization put together “a virtual museum of terror designed to generate action,” said Francisco Marquez Lara, a senior adviser to the nonprofit who was detained in El Helicoide in 2016.

“Memory museums and experiences of this kind are usually done after the atrocities are over,” he said. “But we know that time makes people lose a bit of interest and sensitivity, and we don’t want this to keep happening. This tool is an innovation in the fight for human rights that has the potential to reach people wherever they are and immerse them into something that isn’t talked about enough.”"

Artificial intelligence can support architects but lacks empathy and ethics; The Conversation, June 18, 2023

Farzam Sepanta PhD Candidate, Building Engineering, Carleton University , The Conversation; , Artificial intelligence can support architects but lacks empathy and ethics

"Beyond architecture schools, understanding the importance of the shared values, heritage and cultural qualities of a community, or even a person, is essential for architects in coming up with design solutions. 

While AI is capable of analyzing such information, it cannot truly empathize with and understand these different considerations.

At the same time, decisions made by architects carry responsibilities and liabilities. Students learn about sustainability issues, long-term impacts of designs, ecological footprints and other similar topics.

Although AI can be provided with decision-making capabilities, it cannot replace architects’ roles in ethical decision-making process."

'Andor' soared — it was about the force, not The Force, of the Star Wars universe; NPR, November 23, 2022

Glen Weldon, NPR; 'Andor' soared — it was about the force, not The Force, of the Star Wars universe

"Force with a lowercase "f"

Karn and his colleagues are dedicated to the cause of fascist oppression (which they're careful to refer to only as "order") with a zeal that isn't remotely macro. It isn't mythic, religious or even passionate. Instead, they're driven by institutional imperatives that scour their souls free of empathy, compassion and understanding, and reward them for ruthlessness, cruelty and — above all — efficiency. 

Who's the showrunner here, Hannah Arendt? Because as we watched season one of Andor play out in a series of mini-arcs across its 12 episodes, we saw the inner workings of the Empire. It's The Banality of Evil: The Series."

How to best accommodate neurodiverse lawyers and neurodivergent clients; ABA Journal, May 19, 2022

Haley Moss, ABA Journal; How to best accommodate neurodiverse lawyers and neurodivergent clients

"Supporting and accommodating neurodivergent clients

Something that always is brought up to me when neurodivergent clients come up are ethical considerations—what to do with interpreters, diminished capacity concerns or competence. But a lot of those concerns are also our own biases showing with regard what we think neurodiversity is (or is not). Instead, as lawyers, it’s up to us to practice a little bit of empathy. People seek out lawyers for all sorts of reasons: Maybe they’re starting a business, or they were fired or getting divorced, or getting sued. There’s already a natural fear or surprise element to that initial interaction for clients, without our judgments based on a person’s cognitive abilities.

To lead with empathy, think about how to make those first interactions less terrifying in order to build trust. There’s a knowledge gap lawyers have about disability culture. Presume competence by treating us like any other client; it’s one of the easiest ways to show respect. It’s frustrating even to me when I get talked down to like a little kid because I’m autistic, and your adult neurodivergent clients probably have had similar experiences. To that effect, something we all can do better is clean up legal jargon and use plain language, explaining concepts in an easy-to-understand format.

I also like trying to meet folks where they are." 

He built a website showing open Covid-19 vaccine appointments across the US. Some call it a lifesaver; CNN, April 11, 2021

Christina Maxouris, CNN; He built a website showing open Covid-19 vaccine appointments across the US. Some call it a lifesaver

"For weeks, Nick Muerdter had been hearing about his coworkers' concerns and frustrations as they tried to navigate complicated and evolving Covid-19 vaccination systems to land an appointment for their parents...

In mid-February, Muerdter began creating a tool in his free time that scanned local pharmacies' vaccine appointment availability and gathered all that information in one place -- allowing users to view nearby available appointments just by plugging in their zip code and how far they were willing to drive.

Coworkers that had been searching for weeks found appointments for eligible family members in just days, he said, with the help of the new website. 

"This just really sort of tried to automate what you would have to do if you were to go the websites and enter every single zip code or ... check every single store in your area," he said. 

And soon, what started off as a small side project became an "all consuming" job, outside his full-time job. Muerdter's website now covers all 50 US states, plus Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

He calls it: Covid-19 Vaccine Spotter."...

"The feedback has really been sort of amazing and positive and so many people seem to have found this useful," he said. "That's just sort of what makes me happy."

And knowing he's helping is reward enough, Muerdter says. 

But flooded with offers of donations, Muerdter created an option to contribute to his efforts, money he says goes toward covering website costs. Whatever is leftover, he gives to charities like UNICEF and Direct Relief.

"I'm not trying to make money off of this," he says. "I'm just happy to help people.""

Zoom classes felt like teaching into a void — until I told my students why; The Washington Post; March 11, 2021

C. Thi Nguyen, The Washington Post; Zoom classes felt like teaching into a void — until I told my students why

"In the end, I see this as a question of informed choice. Given who I am, it’s very predicable that my teaching will get worse as more cameras go off. Students deserve to know that, and take that into account, in their own choices. I suspect that honesty is the best we can do right now.

This experience has also changed how I behave when I’m on the other side of the exchange — in the audience of an online lecture. In that situation, I would almost always prefer to turn my camera off. But now I go camera-on most of the time, because of my understanding of the impact of my decision on the speaker.

Right now, our knowledge of one another’s lives is slim, gathered as it is through impoverished channels like Zoom. When our connections are so tenuous, a little trust can go a long way."

Hundreds of helpless cold-stunned sea turtles rescued by Navy pilots and pickup trucks; The Washington Post, February 18, 2021

Alex Horton, The Washington Post; Hundreds of helpless cold-stunned sea turtles rescued by Navy pilots and pickup trucks

"“Most of these people didn’t have good conditions in their own homes,” he said. “But they came out to help.”

The hardships of the extreme weather, coupled with the pressure of the coronavirus pandemic, compelled the volunteers to do something tangible and positive amid the bleakness, Bellamy said.

“Things have been rough over the past year. It’s fun to see people come together focused on recovering these turtles. People just need it.”"

Warren Buffett Says These Often Ignored Traits Separate Successful Leaders From All Others; Inc., January 18, 2021

 Marcel Schwantes, Inc.; Warren Buffett Says These Often Ignored Traits Separate Successful Leaders From All Others

"2. Value your employees' whole being.

I have found that leaders of the best organizations value the whole person -- their emotional, mental, physical, and even spiritual well-being -- to achieve outstanding business outcomes. The evidence overwhelmingly asserts that a more humane and human-centered approach to leadership will produce great results.

3. Lead with empathy.

An empathetic leader is important in keeping employees engaged. Empathetic leadership involves investing in the individual contributors on the team and listening and acting on employee needs. However, if managers are not trained to understand how to recognize and respond to these needs, it can negatively impact employee engagement."

IT’S ABOUT ETHICS IN COMIC BOOK JOURNALISM: THE POLITICS OF X-MEN: RED; Comic Watch, April 18, 2020

Bethany W Pope, Comic Watch; IT’S ABOUT ETHICS IN COMIC BOOK JOURNALISM: THE POLITICS OF X-MEN: RED

"It’s extremely rare for a run of a mainstream comic to result in a story with as much philosophical complexity and clarity of vision as Tom Taylor’s (shamefully abbreviated) X-Men: Red. Because the author set out to tell ‘the best X-Men story’ he could, and because he managed (somehow) to gain something close to free-reign from editorial (as well as having the good luck of being paired with some truly remarkable artists; most notably Mahmud Asrar) the end result was not only the best continuous X-Man story of the decade, but something which will (in time) surpass Whedon’s revolutionary run on Astonishing in terms of fan-regard. In this article, I am going to pick (a little) at the weave of the story in an effort to isolate and reveal a few of the integral threads which form the weft of the narrative.

The central thesis of these eleven issues is that the act of compassion is a more powerful tool than the most brutally cinematic superpower. Empathy is the thing which slaughters fear. Looking at your enemy and seeing a person, woven through with hopes and loves, fears, the usual mixture of frailties, transforms disparate (possibly violent) mobs into a functional community by revealing that there is no ‘us versus them’. There’s only ‘us’. The X-Men are the perfect superhero group to make this point, because their entire existence is predicated on the phrase ‘protecting a world which fears and hates them’. The X-Men have always represented the struggle that othered groups (racial minorities, religious minorities, women, members of the LGBTQIA community) have faced when trying to live in function in a world that is slanted, dramatically, in favor of straight, white (American) men. Such a group is a necessary force in the current, fractured, geo-political climate."

I used to hate Mister Rogers. Then I discovered how much I needed him.; The Washington Post, November 22, 2019

Martha Manning, The Washington Post; I used to hate Mister Rogers. Then I discovered how much I needed him.

"Mister Rogers gave comfort. He didn’t sell it. He didn’t knock us over the head with it. It wasn’t cool or sexy or easy. He considered the space between the television set and the viewer to be “sacred,” something millions of children understood — and that their parents forgot.

That’s a shame, because we were the ones who needed Mister Rogers’s wisdom most of all. The big words, long explanations and instructions about how to be and what to do that we favored often gave us little solace. Instead, we needed an honest voice who considered the darkness and met it with hope, who recognized self-hatred and met it with compassion.

As a child, Mister Rogers became extremely frightened by something on the news and wondered how he would ever be safe. His mother gave him simple but profound advice. “Always look for the helpers,” she told him, with the quiet certainty that they could always be found. Who are the helpers right here, right now, in our troubled lives?"

Manifesto Promotes ‘Ethics, Equity, and Empathy’; STREETSBLOGUSA,September 20, 2019

Aaron Short, STREETSBLOGUSA;

Manifesto Promotes ‘Ethics, Equity, and Empathy’

A design firm publishes a new credo for engineers, policymakers, and planners.

"Maryland-based design firm is seeking to revolutionize the century-old credo that shapes how policymakers and engineers plan communities — in order to force planners to prioritize human beings over automobiles and think deeply about how their decisions affect road safety. 

Toole Design, which has 17 offices in the United States and Canada, last week released a manifesto that seeks to substitute new concepts for the traditional “three Es” — education, enforcement, and engineering — that have guided transportation professionals as they have built the infrastructure of our towns and cities.

The new “three Es” that Toole proposes — “ethics, equity, and empathy”  — replace the object- and rule-centered approach that dominates the discipline with a moral one centered on people."

Medical students wanted: Only the ethical need apply; The Boston Globe, February 28, 2019

Inderveer Mahal, The Boston Globe; Medical students wanted: Only the ethical need apply

"Acceptance to medical school is notoriously difficult. You need to have an exceptional GPA and high Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores just to get an interview. Now, it’s getting even harder. Admissions officers have added a new kind of test to their screening arsenal, one that could change the face of medicine.

Since 2015, more than two dozen medical schools across the United States have embraced a test of interpersonal skills known as the CASPer (Computer Based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics) test. The exam determines students’ levels of compassion and ethics — two qualities that many believe are critical to a physician’s success.

“As a society,” says Dore, “we know that strong academic skills aren’t the only trait we value in our doctors. We want them to be excellent communicators, have a strong moral sense, and be able to be empathetic across a variety of situations.”"

‘Sorrow Is the Price You Pay for Love’; The Atlantic, February 5, 2019

Video by Erlend Eirik Mo, The Atlantic;

‘Sorrow Is the Price You Pay for Love’

[Kip Currier: A remarkable short video. Poignant, uplifting, inspiring. A reminder of what matters most, and what's worth striving for and toward.

Watch and share with others.]

"“So much in her story was compelling for me,” Mo told The Atlantic. “It is unique, about a girl doing a male macho dance, and universal, about love and sorrow.”"

It’s About Ethics in Comic Book Journalism: The Politics of X-Men: Red; Comic Watch, December 19, 2018

Bethany W. Pope, Comic Watch; It’s About Ethics in Comic Book Journalism: The Politics of X-Men: Red

"The central thesis of these eleven issues is that the act of compassion is a more powerful tool than the most brutally cinematic superpower. Empathy is the thing which slaughters fear. Looking at your enemy and seeing a person, woven through with hopes and loves, fears, the usual mixture of frailties, transforms disparate (possibly violent) mobs into a functional community by revealing that there is no ‘us versus them’. There’s only ‘us’. The X-Men are the perfect superhero group to make this point, because their entire existence is predicated on the phrase ‘protecting a world which fears and hates them’. The X-Men have always represented the struggle that othered groups (racial minorities, religious minorities, women, members of the LGBTQIA community) have faced when trying to live in function in a world that is slanted, dramatically, in favor of straight, white (American) men. Such a group is a necessary force in the current, fractured, geo-political climate.

The world needs a message of hope and unity in a time when real children (mostly brown) are being locked in cages at the border of America. And Western audiences, who are either complacent in their ignorance or else furious at their own seeming impotence, need to understand the ways in which their outlook, their opinions are being manipulated so that their complacency is undisturbed and their hatreds are intentionally focused against highly specified targets. Allegory has always been a gentle way to deliver a clear shot of truth, and the technique has functioned perfectly in this series...

In this run, Taylor assembled a team which was primarily composed of characters who are valued for their empathy and capacity for forgiveness."

Facebook and the Fires; The New York Times, November 15, 2018

Kara Swisher, The New York Times; Facebook and the Fires

"Don’t Be Afraid of Self-Reflection

That man in the mirror is typically a man, and a young, white, privileged one, whose capacity for self-reflection is about as big as Donald Trump’s ability to stop hate-tweeting. But self-reflection is the hallmark of maturity and good decision-making. Of all the interviews I have done in Silicon Valley, I keep coming back to the one I did with Mr. Zuckerberg this summer, in which I pressed him to reflect on how his invention had caused deaths in places like India and Myanmar.

After trying several times to get an answer from him, I got frustrated: “What kind of responsibility do you feel?” I said I would feel sick to my stomach to know that people died possibly “because of something I invented. What does that make you feel like? What do you do when you see that? What do you do yourself? What’s your emotion?”

Mr. Zuckerberg’s answer left me cold. And also more than a little worried for the future of his company. It’s bad enough not to be able to anticipate disaster; it’s worse, after disaster strikes, to not be able to reflect on how it happened.

“I mean, my emotion is feeling a deep sense of responsibility to try to fix the problem,” he said. “I don’t know, that’s a … that’s the most productive stance.”

But it’s not the most productive stance. As with those California fires, putting out the flames is important. But understanding how they got started in the first place, to stop it from happening again, is what actually keeps us from hurtling over the edge."

Nurse who treated Pittsburgh shooter: 'I'm sure he had no idea I was Jewish' ; The Guardian, November 4, 2018

Martin Pengelly, The Guardian; Nurse who treated Pittsburgh shooter: 'I'm sure he had no idea I was Jewish'

"Mahler said he would not go into great detail, because of privacy rules. But he wrote that the gunman “thanked me for saving him, for showing him kindness, and for treating him the same way I treat every other patient.

“This was the same Robert Bowers that just committed mass homicide. The Robert Bowers who instilled panic in my heart worrying my parents were two of his 11 victims less than an hour before his arrival.

“I’m sure he had no idea I was Jewish. Why thank a Jewish nurse, when 15 minutes beforehand, you’d shoot me in the head with no remorse?

“I didn’t say a word to him about my religion. I chose not to say anything to him the entire time. I wanted him to feel compassion. I chose to show him empathy. I felt that the best way to honour his victims was for a Jew to prove him wrong. Besides, if he finds out I’m Jewish, does it really matter? 

The better question is, what does it mean to you?”

In conclusion, Mahler wrote: “If my actions mean anything, love means everything.”"