SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

A land of miracles

Oct 26, 2018, 12:28 PM

My kid brother Harry recently unearthed an old photograph showing me as a baby, held proudly by my great-grandfather, Samuel Idstein. He was close to 90 at the time, having left Germany with his family just before World War II. Neither he nor his six children ever attended college but all of his grandchildren did, becoming educators, research scientists, doctors and rabbis.

America made the difference, and this story is typical, not exceptional. Countless immigrant families have built lives their ancestors could have scarcely imagined.

Here, a great-great granddaughter of a slave can win a Nobel Prize, or the grandson of an illiterate railroad worker can become a CEO.

Rather than despairing over recent history, we should review family history that reminds us we live in a land of miracles that deserves our protection through exercising our precious right to vote.

FILE - The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone in front of an image generated by ChatGPT's Dal...

Associated Press

OpenAI pauses training of latest models after agents probed US government sites in unexpected ways

NEW YORK (AP) — OpenAI said it has paused training of its latest artificial intelligence models as reports of AI agents going rogue mount. The decision to halt development came just hours after the company disclosed Friday that it was reviewing several incidents from the summer in which OpenAI agents searching federal government websites acted […]

59 minutes ago

Associated Press

Texas city council candidate who protested ICE shooting faces ‘riot participation’ charge

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas city council candidate was arrested Saturday morning on a misdemeanor charge for “riot participation,” a week after he was part of a protest against the shooting of a Venezuelan man by a federal immigration officer. Public jail records do not specify the date of Misael Ramos’ alleged rioting, but […]

3 hours ago

Foreign Minister Abdul Mateen of Brunei speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations Genera...

Associated Press

They said it: Leaders at the UN, in their own words

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Many leaders saying many things about many topics that matter to them, to their regions, to the world: That’s what the U.N. General Assembly invariably produces each year. And each year, certain voices dominate. Here, The Associated Press takes the opposite approach and spotlights some thoughts from leaders who might have […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Hurricane Nolo expected to unleash powerful winds, flash flooding on Hawaii

HILO, Hawaii (AP) — Heavy rain and powerful winds are expected to bring flash floods and extreme surf to the Hawaiian Islands over the weekend as Hurricane Nolo bears down on areas still recovering from previous storms. Nolo was churning slowly south of Hawaii’s Big Island on Saturday with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph […]

6 hours ago

A "Do Not Enter" sign is pictured on the fence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Art...

Associated Press

Kennedy Center put off planned repairs despite known structural issues, former employees allege

Kennedy Center officials were long aware of serious structural issues that they cited as new problems after the abrupt decision to close the performing arts venue this month, a group of former employees allege in a letter to Congress. The center’s executive director and chief operating officer, Matt Floca, did not treat the roofing issues […]

7 hours ago

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations Gener...

Associated Press

German, Russian foreign ministers have rare meeting at UN

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The German and Russian foreign ministers met Saturday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, holding what’s believed to be the first such tête-à-tête since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meeting came as tensions between the European Union and Russia rose — and just before Russian Foreign […]

7 hours ago

A land of miracles