Hits and Misses
In the fourth season of “Seinfeld,” when the beloved sitcom was at the height of its powers, there’s an episode where Jerry Seinfeld takes a call from a telemarketer for a long-distance provider. Seinfeld tells the telemarketer that he can’t talk, but asks for their phone number so he can call back. When told by the telemarketer that he can’t give out his number, Seinfeld replies, “Oh, I guess you don’t want people calling you at home?” The telemarketer says no, he does not. This leads Seinfeld to respond, “Well, now you know how I feel.” A state senator in New Jersey is tipping his hat to that “Seinfeld” moment by introducing legislation in his state that’s been nicknamed the “Seinfeld bill.” It would mandate telemarketers say what they are selling within 30 seconds of the start of the call, the business they are representing and a phone number where they can be reached. Telemarketers would also be obliged to put their mailing addresses on their website. This is an idea other states should also explore. Jon Bramnick, the Republican who introduced the bill, explained his legislation “requires more transparency from telemarketers and punishes those who lie and misrepresent information on sales calls.”
When the news broke Monday night that there had been a mass shooting at Michigan State University, it all seemed numbingly familiar to most Americans – students having to run and take cover, reports of injuries and deaths and a gunman on the loose. Fortunately, most of us will never be in a situation where a mass shooting is unfolding around us. However, there was at least one student at Michigan State who was experiencing a mass shooting for the second time. The Washington Post reported that 18-year-old Emma Riddle, a freshman at Michigan State, was a student at Oxford High School outside Detroit when a sophomore opened fire on her classmates and left four dead. Riddle has had to go through therapy in the months since the shooting at her high school, and on Monday night she tweeted, “14 months ago, I had to evacuate from Oxford High School when a 15-year-old opened fire and killed four of my classmates and injured seven more. Tonight, I am sitting under my desk at Michigan State University, once again texting everyone, ‘I love you.’ When will this end?” That’s a good question.
Many churches perform acts of charity for members or within the wider community. Good works done by Episcopal churches in the area are particularly noteworthy. According to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon raised more than $30,000 in a partnership with RIP Medical Debt, a New York-based nonprofit that purchases large quantities of debt and erases it, greatly benefiting the individuals who had been carrying that debt burden. The diocese estimates that more than 8,000 people across Pennsylvania were able to have their debt forgiven as a result of the efforts of St. Paul’s congregation. The diocese also noted that, in 2022, two Episcopal churches in Washington County – St. Thomas in Canonsburg and St. David’s in Peters Township – teamed up with RIP and were able to eliminate $1.6 million in debt for a little more than 1,600 recipients. The Rev. Noah H. Evans, rector of St. Paul’s, explained, “Our campaign with RIP Medical Debt flows out of our church’s commitment to helping to serve those in need in our community. We also hope that it is one step in creating a more just society with greater equity in health care.”