<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-c4a28a19-7fff-5ecb-b251-1d88851e5d79"><font size="4"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-indent:18pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Today's Issues group meets at 9:30 on Sunday mornings in person in the parlor of the Religious Education buildings next to the church and on Zoom  at:  </span><a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8583258484?pwd=RFdJUGZOZkU4THArWFpnVkllZzh1dz09" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://us0</span></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">  </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-indent:18pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Georgia;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">For Sunday, March 26, 2023, we will focus on the situation in France with pension reform and social movements, with comparisons to the United States.  </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:6pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(32,33,36);background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We have several short readings on the situation in France</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:6pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(32,33,36);background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">   </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(32,33,36);background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ross’s friend from France,</span><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fXjEYlaqn9u01CgX6_W6btQPU4I_UPH7vMu8pf1Ns_k/edit?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Michel Villette, has sent a short comment</span></a><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(32,33,36);background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> relating recent events to his view of French political culture.            </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;padding:6pt 0pt 0pt"><span style="font-family:Georgia;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There is this story from the New Yorker website which puts it in a historical context:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/15uJZAuCcoeWqiei9PRkRxcQ6P5BoJRdezwvnxIT8xEs/edit?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Strikes and Protests in France Look to the Future and the Past</span><span style="font-family:Georgia;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">: </span><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Emmanuel Macron challenges the welfare state, and Charles de Gaulle makes a surprise return.</span></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">  by Adam Gropnik</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Georgia;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="gmail-Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span></span><span style="font-family:Georgia;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">And from the current Economist magazine,</span><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WY_3Gkb5k38tCAsG9Ra5YTppcqQrKhel/view?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-family:Georgia;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Emanuel Macron’s Government Survives but more Trouble Lies Ahead.</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></p><span style="font-family:Georgia;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">For a second topic we can discuss </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yIPaB84vBYDltaD7PQ5ae9fC9r3o4wbaXLnsrckpjqI/edit?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-family:Georgia;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Self-Destructive Effects of Progressive Sadness</span></a><span style="font-family:Georgia;background-color:rgb(248,249,250);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> by David Brooks, which refers to American Progressives but could also be applied to the French.</span></font></span><br></div></div>