As employers scramble to find scarce workers, they’re bidding up wages, and that’s helping to push inflation even further above the Fed’s target of 2%.

Inflation hits another 40-year high. It’s bad, but older folks say they’ve seen worse
As a result, economist Matthew Luzzetti believes the Federal Reserve will have no choice but to crack down hard, with significantly higher interest rates.

Luzzetti predicts that those aggressive rate hikes will push the economy into a mild recession by late next year.

“It’s probably surprising to be talking about recessions at this point, given the momentum that we’ve seen, particularly in the labor market,” says Luzzetti, chief U.S. economist for Deutsche Bank.

“The ultimate conclusion is that we are having very strong growth, but it is inflationary growth,” he adds.

Read it all.

With inflation at a four-decade high, a growing number of forecasters worry the U.S. economy may be headed to a recession as the Fed gears up to raise interest rates aggressively.https://t.co/AMmNR3uYaD

— NPR (@NPR) April 14, 2022

O Lord Jesus Christ, who on this day didst wash thy disciples’ feet, leaving us an example of humble service: Grant that our souls may be washed from all defilement, and that we fail not to serve thee in the least of thy brethren; who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles
by Meister des Hausbuches 1475
/Gamaldegalerie, Berlin/ pic.twitter.com/hb52kzAXr2

— Kalina Boulter (@KalinaBoulter) March 24, 2016

The elders of the daughter of Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have cast dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth;
the maidens of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.

My eyes are spent with weeping;
my soul is in tumult;
my heart is poured out in grief
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because infants and babes faint
in the streets of the city.

They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like wounded men
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For vast as the sea is your ruin;
who can restore you?

Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes,
but have seen for you oracles
false and misleading.

All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
they hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem;
“Is this the city which was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of all the earth?”

All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We have destroyed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; we see it!”

The Lord has done what he purposed,
has carried out his threat;
as he ordained long ago,
he has demolished without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you,
and exalted the might of your foes.

Cry aloud to the Lord!
O daughter of Zion!
Let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!

–Lamentations 2:10-18

Today's art: The Last Supper (1) – Leonardo da Vinci https://t.co/nLCSoC5URs pic.twitter.com/gqKQebrRKj

— Art and the Bible (@artbible) April 14, 2022

As we begin Holy Week, I continue to be moved to prayer by the stories I am hearing from around the world. Some of these stories are front-page news, coming out of the war in Ukraine, while other stories come from quieter conflicts in places like Myanmar, Northern Nigeria, and South Sudan. In these moments, when it is sometimes hard to put into words what our hearts are feeling, I am thankful for the richness of our tradition which provides proven pathways for prayer – because God uses prayer to change things!….

Read it all.

9pm in Jeremy Taylor country, 35 minutes after sunset. A beautifully quiet, gentle dusk in the midst of Holy Week. pic.twitter.com/xfoII2iRuv

— laudablePractice🇺🇦 (@cath_cov) April 13, 2022

Palm Sunday pic.twitter.com/VXYqfDXJqf

— Katherine Augustine 🍐 (@kebayf) April 10, 2022

Palm Sunday procession, Moscow, with Tsar Alexei Michaelovich (painting by Vyacheslav Schwarz, 1865) pic.twitter.com/4xG79CY4xp

— Pictures of Churches (@ChurchPictures8) April 9, 2017

O God our heavenly Father, who to redeem the world didst deliver up thine only Son to be betrayed by one of his disciples and sold to his enemies: Take from us, we beseech thee, all covetousness and hypocrisy; and so strengthen us, that, loving thee above all things, we may remain steadfast in our faith unto the end; through him who gave his life for us, our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Even my closest friend, someone I trusted,
one who shared my bread, has turned against me -Psalm 41#SpyWednesday pic.twitter.com/xICOR1VeSe

— Elizabeth Westhoff (@ESWesthoff) April 13, 2022

The relatively brief but bloody war in Ukraine is entering its fourth phase. In the first, Russia tried to depose Volodymyr Zelensky’s government and sweep the country into its embrace in a three-day campaign; in the second, it attempted to conquer Ukraine—or at least its eastern half, including the capital, Kyiv—with armored assaults; in the third, defeated in the north, Russia withdrew its battered forces, massing instead in the southeastern and southern areas for the conquest of those parts of Ukraine. Now the fourth, and possibly decisive, phase is about to begin.

For those of us born after World War II, this is the most consequential war of our lifetime. Upon its outcome rests the future of European stability and prosperity. If Ukraine succeeds in preserving its freedom and territorial integrity, a diminished Russia will be contained; if it fails, the chances of war between NATO and Russia go up, as does the prospect of Russian intervention in other areas on its western and southern peripheries. A Russian win would encourage a China coolly observing and assessing Western mettle and military capacity; a Russian defeat would induce a salutary caution in Beijing. Russia’s sheer brutality and utterly unwarranted aggression, compounded by lies at once sinister and ludicrous, have endangered what remains of the global order and the norms of interstate conduct. If such behavior leads to humiliation on the battlefield and economic chaos at home, those norms may be rebuilt to some degree; if Vladimir Putin’s government gets away with it, restoring them will take a generation or longer….

Upon what the United States and its allies do in the next few weeks hangs more than the American people realize. The evidence suggests that Russia’s armies can, if met by a well-equipped Ukrainian force, be thoroughly wrecked and defeated. While Russia itself will likely remain a paranoid and isolated dictatorship after this war, it can be defanged, even as its own folly reduces it to the ranks of a third-rate power. But war is war, and the future is always uncertain. All that is clear right now is that a failure to adequately support Ukraine will have terrible consequences, and not just for that heroic and suffering nation.

Read it all.

A breathtakingly brilliant yet devastating essay on Russia's war on Ukraine, by Eliot Cohen, one of America's best thinkers and writers on foreign and security matters.

Head and shoulders above almost everything written on the West's response to the war.https://t.co/zfKi56lnNc

— toomas hendrik ilves (@IlvesToomas) April 12, 2022

And God held in his hand
A small globe. Look he said.
The son looked. Far off,
As through water, he saw
A scorched land of fierce
Colour. The light burned
There; crusted buildings
Cast their shadows: a bright
Serpent, A river
Uncoiled itself, radiant
With slime.

Read it all.

Morning sunshine in the south transept on the Wednesday of #HolyWeek pic.twitter.com/oyRuKmcxXz

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) April 13, 2022

O Lord, who didst spend this day in quiet retreat at Bethany, in preparation for thy coming passion: Help us ever to live mindful of our end; that when thou shalt call us to pass through the valley of the shadow of death, we may fear no evil, for thou art with us, who didst die that we might live with thee for ever.

Albrecht Dürer woodcut of Christ's Entry into Jerusalem (1511). #PalmSunday pic.twitter.com/SPunDsL1cs

— Linda Briggs (@DrLindaBriggs) March 29, 2015

And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture:

‘The very stone which the builders rejected
has become the head of the corner;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

–Mark 12:1-11

Frederick Etchells' The Entry into Jerusalem (1912) held @CharlestonTrust. Such astonishing physicality. #PalmSunday pic.twitter.com/Y7e0tzIEse

— Linda Briggs (@DrLindaBriggs) March 29, 2015

Humanitarian organisations have warned that the huge response to the war in Ukraine is overshadowing other crises around the world that are in need of urgent attention.

Charities and NGOs have begun urging governments and individuals not to forget the millions who are suffering in other countries.

The United Nations has warned that the situation in Somalia, where 4.5 million people are at risk of starvation owing to the worst drought in a decade, is deteriorating rapidly. The focus of the international community on Ukraine was sucking all the oxygen out of the room, Adam Abdelmoula, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said last week.

The UN has said that $1.46 billion (£1.1 billion) is required to meet the immediate needs of Somalis. Only three per cent of that has been secured.

“The outlook was already grim prior to the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis,” Mr Abdelmoula said. “We have been overshadowed by the crisis in Tigray, Yemen, Afghanistan — and now Ukraine seems to suck all the oxygen that is in the room. . .

Read it all.

UN on Somalia – "If nothing is done, it is projected that, by the summer of this year, 350,000 of the 1.4 million severely malnourished children in the country, will perish." https://t.co/ExlOWiuCtY

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) April 11, 2022

Before Russia’s invasion, Kyiv had a small but thriving community of Anglicans. Today, members of Christ Church, which used to meet in the German Lutheran church Kyiv’s centre, come together to pray for peace online.

“We try to keep in touch via [the messaging apps] Viber or WhatsApp,” explained church warden Christina Laschenko-Stafiychuk.

“We also try to join Zoom vigil services on Wednesday evenings held by the Diocese in Europe during Lent to pray for Ukraine.”

Since the Russian invasion which began on February 24th, the once vibrant community has been scattered across Europe.

Christina said: “My daughter and I left Kyiv on March 4th. We left on an evacuation train going towards Lviv.

“We then took a train to Chełm in Poland, then on to Warsaw, and finally to Zurich

Read it all.

We meet online to pray for Ukraine: Kyiv's Anglicans spread across Europe continue to meethttps://t.co/gJSkcLc5Ah@churchofengland #Kyiv pic.twitter.com/O1Khs5Miap

— Diocese in Europe (@DioceseinEurope) April 12, 2022

reaking fast at sundown during Ramadan, which started on April 2nd, will not be the usual joyful family occasion for many Sudanese this year. The communal iftar will be blighted by the shortage, and spiralling cost, of wheat and other basics. Some expect this year’s Ramadan to explode into a confrontation between a frustrated, immiserated people and the country’s brutal military regime.

Few Sudanese can remember a time when their country was in such a bleak state. The currency is in free fall, having plunged by more than a quarter since October. Inflation is officially 260%, but probably even higher. Some 9m people (out of a population of about 44m) face “acute hunger”, says the un’s World Food Programme, and this number could double by September. Khartoum, the capital, is rocked by daily anti-regime protests and the often-violent response of the security forces, who have killed about 90 people over the past five months (see chart).

Blame this mess on a military coup led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in October, which reversed Sudan’s fragile transition to democracy. This had started three years ago after protesters took to the streets to eject Omar al-Bashir, a ruthless Islamist despot who had ruled the country for 30 years.

Read it all.

"Few Sudanese can remember a time when their country was in such a bleak state. The currency is in free fall, having plunged by more than a quarter since October. Inflation is officially 260%, but probably even higher. Some 9m people face acute hunger." https://t.co/M4r9sCXsCC

— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) April 12, 2022

How has cancer and this encounter with your own mortality changed how you see your life and how you see death?

On an emotional level, we really do deny the fact that we’re mortal and our time is limited. The day after my diagnosis, one of the words I put down in my journal was “focus.” What are the most important things for you to be spending your time doing? I had not been focused.

The second change was you realize that there’s one sense in which if you believe in God, it’s a mental abstraction. You believe with your head. I came to realize that the experiential side of my faith really needed to strengthen or I wasn’t going to be able to handle this.

It’s one thing to believe God loves you, another thing to actually feel his love. It’s one thing to believe he’s present with you. It’s another to actually experience his presence. So the two things I wrote down in my journal: one was focus and the other one was “Know the Lord.” My experience of his presence and his love was going to have to double, triple, quintuple or I wouldn’t make it.

Read it all.

I'm thankful to @Tish_H_Warren who interviewed me for this article. It was a joy to discuss the impact the resurrection has on our lives (and my cancer).

How a Cancer Diagnosis Makes Jesus’ Death and Resurrection Mean More https://t.co/dIQn4VMmU4

— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) April 11, 2022

Lord God, whose blessed Son, our Saviour, gave his back to the smiters, and hid not his face from shame: Grant us grace to take joyfully the sufferings of the present time, in full assurance of the glory that shall be revealed; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Morning pic.twitter.com/g05qq9cIGT

— Veritatis Cupitor (@English1Maiden) April 12, 2022

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead; he delivered us from so deadly a peril, and he will deliver us; on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers.

For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have behaved in the world, and still more toward you, with holiness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God. For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand; I hope you will understand fully, as you have understood in part, that you can be proud of us as we can be of you, on the day of the Lord Jesus.

Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double pleasure; I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans like a worldly man, ready to say Yes and No at once? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silva”²nus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God. But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

–2 Corinthians 1:8-22

Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Russian icon (Cathedral of the Annunciation, Moscow). pic.twitter.com/SJm4x4gtmS

— Diana☀️ (@dianadep1) March 28, 2021

The World Council of Churches is under pressure to oust the Russian Orthodox Church from its ranks, with detractors arguing the church’s leader, Patriarch Kirill, invalidated its membership by backing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and involving the church in the global political machinations of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The debate garnered a response on Monday (April 11) from the Rev. Ioan Sauca, acting general secretary of the WCC, which claims 352 member churches representing roughly 580 million Christians around the world.

Sauca, a priest in the Romanian Orthodox Church who has visited Ukrainian refugees and publicly criticized Kirill’s response to the invasion, pushed back on the suggestion of expelling the ROC, arguing doing so would deviate from the WCC’s historic mission to enhance ecumenical dialogue.

Read it all.

NEW from me: The World Council of Church is facing pressure to expel the Russian Orthodox Church from membership over Patriarch Kirill’s support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The WCC head pushed back on the notion today, but it’s a *whole thing.* https://t.co/G56Jvu6fCc

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) April 11, 2022

There is also still more there.

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem is a 1617 oil painting by Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck, located in the Indianapolis Museum of Art. It depicts #Jesus entering Jerusalem as described in the Gospels, the event celebrated on Palm Sunday. pic.twitter.com/luB13CgNYl

— EUROPEAN ART 💙💛 (@EuropeanArtHIST) February 12, 2019

The Israeli military says it has carried out more than 400 airstrikes in Syria and other parts of the Middle East since 2017 as part of a wide-ranging campaign targeting Iran and its allies, offering its fullest picture yet of its undeclared war with Tehran.

Israeli leaders refer to the campaign as the “war between the wars,” which they say is aimed at deterring Iran and weakening Tehran’s ability to hit Israel in the event of an open war between the two regional adversaries.

Israel’s airstrike campaign in Syria has hampered Iran’s military ambitions, military analysts say, but it has also pushed the conflict into other arenas, with both countries now battling at sea, in Iran, and above Israel’s skies.

“It’s not 100% success,” said Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin, who retired last week as head of Israel’s air force, where he served as architect of the campaign. “But without our activity, the situation here might be much more negative.”

Among the targets hit by Israel: Russian-supplied air-defense systems, drone bases operated by Iranian military advisers, and precision-guided missile systems bound for Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.

Read it all.

Exclusive: “When I got this position, I never dreamed that we would act like this." The Israeli air force general who is the architect of the country's airstrike campaign against Iran offers the fullest picture yet of the unofficial war. https://t.co/JTJWCLDyrW

— Dion Nissenbaum (@DionNissenbaum) April 10, 2022

For centuries, they called the foreboding building on a hill above this capital city the Kissy Lunatic Asylum. It was built in the early 1800s by the British colonial administration, and behind the high walls, patients were kept in chains. People here say the stench seeped from the brick walls, and the screams of patients, whose psychosis and trauma were untreated by medication or therapy, echoed out the narrow, barred windows.

Today a small wooden sign hangs over the front desk in the outpatient department: “Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital: Chain-free since 2018.” The sunny corridors of the newly renovated facility flash with the fuchsia uniforms of psychiatric nursing students. The shelves of the pharmacy are lined with the latest antipsychotics and antidepressants. Children bounce on a trampoline at a cheerful clinic just for them. And six residents are on their way to being the first psychiatrists ever trained in this country.

The transformation at Kissy is part of an extraordinary effort to build a mental health care system from scratch in one of the poorest countries in the world. The residents work the wards and see patients in the packed outpatient clinic, under the supervision of three consulting psychiatrists. They are the only three in the country’s entire health system — a staggering ratio, but a threefold increase from decades when there was just one, who paid the patients at Kissy a weekly visit.

Read it all.

[Highlight] This Psychiatric Hospital Used to Chain Patients. Now It Treats Them. @ https://t.co/pSWBOBk3BB #MentalHealthAwareness #MentalHealthMatter #mentalhealth

— Mental Health Updates (@mental_updates) April 11, 2022

Russia’s reported appointment of Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, a man with a history of targeting civilians, to take over operations in Ukraine marks what some military analysts see as an indication that Russia intends to terrorize civilians as the war progresses.

Dvornikov, who most recently oversaw Russian troops in Syria, was chosen as the new ground commander in Ukraine, a U.S. official and a Western official confirmed.

The decision to bring in Dvornikov could be an acknowledgment of what U.S. intelligence officials have described as a failure to achieve the quick takeover Russian President Vladimir Putin envisioned, retired Adm. James Stavridis said Sunday on “NBC Nightly News.”

“The appointment of this new general indicates Vladimir Putin’s intent to continue this conflict for months, if not years,” Stavridis said.

Read it all.

Russia's reported appointment of Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, who has a history of targeting civilians, to take over operations in Ukraine marks what some military analysts see as an indication that Russia intends to terrorize civilians as the war progresses. https://t.co/jIFh7RVYat

— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 11, 2022

O God, our heavenly Father, whose blessed Son before his passion cast out from the temple those who desecrated the holy place: Cleanse our hearts and minds, we pray thee, from all evil thoughts and imaginations, from all unhallowed appetites and ambitions; that in lives made pure and strong by thy Holy Spirit we may glorify thy name and advance thy kingdom in the world, as disciples of the same thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Another day another sunrise 🌅 #Views #NagsHead #OuterBanks #OBX #NC #NorthCarolina #Beach #Vacation #SpringBreak #Travel #Sunrise #GoodMorning pic.twitter.com/gpohOIBzX1

— Dominique Petty (@takeoverCEOdp) April 11, 2022

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.

To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Acha′ia:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

–2 Corinthians 1:1-7

Good Morning Cape Cod! Beautiful Monday sunrise over the salt marches. Fort Hill, Eastham. #capecod #StormHour #sunrise pic.twitter.com/raxJrifL0t

— Darius Aniunas (@dariusaniunas) April 11, 2022

Emmanuel Macron has won the first round of the French election and far-right rival Marine Le Pen will fight him for the presidency for a second time.

“Make no mistake, nothing is decided,” he told cheering supporters.

In the end, he won a convincing first-round victory, but opinion polls suggest the run-off could be much closer.

Ms Le Pen called on every non-Macron voter to join her and “put France back in order”.

With 97% of results counted, Emmanuel Macron had 27.6% of the vote, Marine Le Pen 23.41% and Jean-Luc Mélenchon 21.95%.

Read it all.

French elections: Macron and Le Pen to fight for presidency https://t.co/RVWhZZFTJP

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 10, 2022

The master of the asses asked them why they untied his asses, and in the same way the chief men of every people perversely opposed the preaching of God. But when they saw that the preachers, through God’s power, healed the lame and the blind, and gave speech to the dumb, and raised the dead to life, then they could not withstand those miracles, but all at last turned to God. Christ’s disciples said, “The Lord needs the asses, and sends for them.” They did not say ‘our Lord’, or ‘your Lord’, but simply, ‘the Lord’; for Christ is Lord of all lords, both of men and of all creatures. They said, “He sends for them.” We are exhorted and invited to God’s kingdom, but we are not forced. When we are invited, we are untied; and when we are left to our own choice, then is it as though we are sent for. It is God’s mercy that we are untied; but if we live rightly, that will be both God’s grace and our own zeal. We should constantly pray for the Lord’s help, since our own choices have no success unless they are supported by the Almighty.

Christ did not command them to lead to him a proud steed adorned with golden trappings; instead he chose a poor ass to bear him, because he always taught humility, and gave the example himself, saying “Learn from me, for I am meek and very humble, and you shall find rest for your souls.” This was prophesied of Christ, and so were all the things which he did before he was born as man…

Read it all.

'Nu sceole we healdan urne palm…': An Anglo-Saxon sermon for Palm Sunday https://t.co/h4hm9XNNOW pic.twitter.com/VO7BdNGcq1

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) April 10, 2022

As on this day we keep the special memory of our Redeemer’s entry into the city, so grant, O Lord, that now and ever he may triumph in our hearts. Let the King of grace and glory enter in, and let us lay ourselves and all we are in full and joyful homage before him; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Palm Sunday

In memory of our Saviour's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when the multitude strewed palm branches before Him, for which reason the Church, on this day, blesses palms, and carries them in procession. pic.twitter.com/mWsymt9xif

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) April 10, 2022

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on an ass,
on a colt the foal of an ass.
I will cut off the chariot from E′phraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your captives free from the waterless pit.
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.

–Zechariah 9:9-12

Christ riding on a young donkey, a 15c/16c piece used in the Palm Sunday procession, now in Musée de Cluny, Paris.

Today is Palm Sunday.#PalmSunday2022 pic.twitter.com/H9htNBYF1j

— Simon Knott (@last_of_england) April 10, 2022

Treatment for opioid use disorder (oud) is woefully inadequate across the country, but African-Americans often face extra barriers. Studies have found that medications for treating oud, as well as naloxone (a life-saving medication that reverses opioid overdoses), are doled out unevenly. A study of data from Medicaid, the government insurance programme for the poor, across several states with some of the highest opioid-overdose rates found that between 2014 and 2018 black people with oud were 28% less likely to use oud medications.

Studies in various cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, suggest that African-Americans have less access to naloxone, too. In Detroit between 2019 and 2020, white addicts received 28% of naloxone administrations, though they accounted for 17% of the city’s opioid overdoses; although 80% of overdoses were among black people, they received only 67% of naloxone administrations. This does not necessarily mean black addicts are being denied naloxone. Those who use opioids alone, are homeless or live in communities with little trust in first responders might be less likely to call for help.

Such disparities strengthen the case for local interventions that deal with the unique hurdles certain communities face. Other solutions are more sweeping, like expanding access to Medicaid and reducing red tape around oud medications. But underlying all these is a straightforward calculus that applies to all Americans, black or white: “It has to be easier to get treated than it is to continue using,” says Dr Kolodny. “You have to flip it.”

Read it all.

African-Americans used to be far less affected. But that has changed https://t.co/lyAbakVt5M

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) April 9, 2022