Inside Syria’s Most Fearsome Prison Tens of thousands of Syrians were thrown into Sednaya during the Assad regime. The New York Times created a 3-D model of the prison.; The New York Times, August 29, 2025

 Christina Goldbaum, Charlie Smart, Helmuth Rosales, Anjali Singhvi and Reham Mourshed, The New York Times; Inside Syria’s Most Fearsome Prison: Tens of thousands of Syrians were thrown into Sednaya during the Assad regime. The New York Times created a 3-D model of the prison. 

[Kip Currier: This story about Syria's brutal Sednaya prison is a difficult one to read and view. It's shocking to see how monstrously the people -- activists, artists, politicians, writers, citizens of all kinds -- warehoused to languish and die in this savage place were mistreated, tortured, and murdered.

But it's also an important one to digest and contemplate and not look away from. To think about all of the human beings who were impacted by this horrific prison. And to reflect on the human beings -- the leaders with power and privilege -- who sanctioned the existence of such a barbaric place and system for so long.

The sermon of an Episcopal priest I was fortunate to hear yesterday encouraged the parishioners to pray for individuals who are in prisons, as well as for humane treatment of the imprisoned by those who are charged with looking after them during their incarceration. We were reminded by the priest that some people are also imprisoned unjustly. Just as the 1st century Apostle Paul was imprisoned by the Roman Empire, merely for speaking and evangelizing.

Specifically, too, we were asked to pray for detainees in an ICE facility in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania.

We mustn't become indifferent to the injustices and suffering that people in this world experience. Or to the dignity, respect, due process, and rule of law to which every person is entitled, no matter their economic circumstances or legal status.]

[Excerpt]

"NO PLACE IN SYRIA was more feared than Sednaya prison during the Assad family’s decades-long, iron-fisted rule.

Situated on a barren hilltop on the outskirts of Damascus, the capital, Sednaya was at the heart of the Assads’ extensive system of torture prisons and arbitrary arrests used to crush all dissent.

By the end of the nearly 14-year civil war that culminated in December with the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, it had become a haunting symbol of the dictator’s ruthlessness.

Over the years, the regime’s security apparatus swallowed up hundreds of thousands of activists, journalists, students and dissidents from all over Syria — many never to be heard from again.

Most prisoners did not expect to make it out of Sednaya alive. They watched as men detained with them withered away or simply lost the will to live. Tens of thousands of others were executed, according to rights groups."

A new documentary shows the impact of book bans in Florida public schools on the kids; NPR, November 25, 2023

 Scott Simon, NPR; A new documentary shows the impact of book bans in Florida public schools on the kids

"In her directorial debut, Sheila Nevins' chronicles the impact of book bans in Florida public schools. She tells NPR's Scott Simon what inspired her to profile those most affected — the students...

GRACE LINN: My husband, Robert Nichol (ph), was killed in action in World War II, defending our democracy, constitution and freedoms. One of the freedoms that the Nazis crushed was the freedom to read the books that they banned.

NEVINS: And I thought, holy [expletive], this woman is out there doing something, and I'm doing nothing. And I know I'm only in my 80s, for heaven's sake. And here's this woman fighting for young people to be able to read the books that she read and I read and possibly you read, Scott, that in many ways change our lives and make us know about the world we live in. And I thought, I've got to grab her. I've got to get her. And I've got to get some of these kids who've lost the books or who have been deprived of the books to read them and to see how they feel about what they're missing.

SIMON: Some of the books that are mentioned in the course of the film that have been banned include "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Maus," "The Kite Runner," "The Life Of Rosa Parks," "The Handmaid's Tale." I can't come up with a better question than why?

NEVINS: Interesting, isn't it? Why would you deprive children of this information? If you want them to grow up to be like yourself, and yourself has a limited worldview - or at least the worldview that you believe is the worldview they should have - then you take out anything that you would find as questionable - Planned Parenthood, race, religious problems, difficulties. You know, you would simply want to make your child not aware of all these things that make the world a sort of wondrous, difficult, complex and often painful world that we all live in. I'm sort of quoting the kids, which is really odd. How can you deprive me - I'm 12 or 14 or 15 - of information?"

D.C. activists once wrote letters to name MLK Library. They did it again to push out Jeff Bezos.; The Washington Post, February 11, 2022

Ellie Silverman, The Washington Post; D.C. activists once wrote letters to name MLK Library. They did it again to push out Jeff Bezos.

"“It’s a special thing to have a public bridge or a library or street named after you,” said Ann Bartow, a professor at the University of New Hampshire’s law school, who has researched the intersection of trademark law and naming rights. “Are we going to celebrate the people who made the most money? Are we going to celebrate people who gave their lives in the military? Are we going to celebrate teachers who worked hard and were underpaid for 30 years? That’s an expression of values.”...

“It’s more than just a library,” said Kaplan of American University, who remembers getting her start as a researcher in high school in MLK Library’s archives. “For many of us, it’s a place for safety, a place of pride, a place of promise for the future, a place where our history has always been celebrated, documented and displayed. And that raises the stakes.”...

The backlash, Reyes-Gavilan said, showed that the naming process “is flawed.” He said that the library system sent the Morrison family a letter about the naming and that it was unclear what their wishes are at this time.

Apologizing for “the aggravation the naming process has caused,” Reyes-Gavilan said during the meeting that “whatever happens next will be taking place in a much more public way.”"

Ethics in the swamp: the rot of corruption; Huffington Post, 12/9/16

Katherine Marshall, Huffington Post; Ethics in the swamp: the rot of corruption:

"Corruption is a live topic today. Since 2005, international anti-corruption day has been “celebrated” on December 9, in hopes that a visible day marking the topic can raise awareness about corruption and bolster a sense that something can be done to combat and prevent it. The large biannual International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC17) in Panama City ended on December 4, where some 1300 very diverse participants addressed a multitude of issues, from green eyeshade detail, lawyerly discourse, to lofty principles such as trust. The meeting concluded with a commitment that: “Together we will strengthen our web of anti-corruption activists. Together, the public sector, business and civil society will hold the corrupt to account. It is Time for Justice, Equity, Security, and Trust.” The activists, many part of Transparency International, come from all over the world, widely different in ideology and approach, but they share a gutsy determination to hold leaders to account.

More tellingly, corruption is a leading topic in political discourse, from Washington to Manila to Kabul to Nairobi to Abuja. The belief that corruption is pervasive drives much of the anger that we see reflected in extremist movements, secular and religious. It fuels the populist surge and the sense of rot that discredits governments and politicians in widely different countries and cultures. America’s political campaign featured narratives about a Washington swamp with bloated, rotten bureaucracies wasting or diverting public resources. The narratives can be misleading, undermining courageous political leaders and public servants, but many see little beyond stories about corrupt practices...

The next International Anti-Corruption Conference will be in Denmark in 2018. It’s time to mix the oil and water. Fighting corruption is about more than exhortation: declaiming against those who steal and fail to honor their public responsibilities. Anti-corruption strategies and practices can work. But only when the passion of activists and moral leaders comes together with different parts of society, religious institutions included, to translate anger and a desire for good governance into reality. The fight against corruption, for decent governance and strong public service depends on public morality and a common commitment to ethical standards and priorities. Draining the swamp depends on linking the best of religious and civic teachings to the realities of political leadership and governance. That’s what it will take to achieve “Justice, Equity, Security, and Trust”."