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Anyone watching the news the last few days has to marvel about the wonders of highly achieving people hitting that once shocking age of 80.

Theres the new heroine astronaut Wally Funk, who at 82 years old on Tuesday morning, July 20, became the oldest person ever to fly in space the fulfillment of a lifelong dream in her long career as a pilot and four times NASA astronaut nominee.

And then there is Georgetowner Nancy Pelosi, who at 81 is the only woman to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives and a feisty one at that, who continually challenges long traditions of Congress.

But Pelosi is not the oldest member of Congress. In fact, there are five senators and 11 Congressional representatives over the age of 80 in the 117th Congress; three are 87: Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Dan Young (R-Alaska), Dean of the House.

Another longtime Georgetown resident Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is 82.

Reaching 80 years old is both a humbling and awesome as the kids say life event. I know. I dont usually write about myself, but please allow an exception this time to share my experience in early July celebrating this milestone 80th birthday with my identical twin in our hometown of Santa Barbara California, whereI lived for 55 years and she still lives. It was a day filled with unexpected joy, wonder and utter gratitude.

My twin and I had been planning our pending birthday for almost a year via email with some trepidation and disbelief! HOW could we be 80 years old? Should we host a garden tea party with 20 or so of our oldest gal friends, many of whom were just beginning to emerge from isolated homes, masks and fears of COVID? Would they come with canes and wheelchairs, gray and aged and sad from all the struggles and losses of the past year? Would they even eat the luscious cakes (chocolate for me, vanilla for my twin; that was our tradition) and sandwiches that we were preparing for the tea? My sister, a graphic artist, designed beautiful invitations on paper! These we sent by mail for the few friends who didnt do email well.

Now, I am still glowing from the party.The ladies came in hats and dresses, looking good with some fancy walking sticks. All arrived with big smiles, hugs, kisses and utter joy to be there.

Isnt it incredible! they all said. Here we are!We made it! To 80! Still recognizable, full of lessons learned, blocks gone round many times, interested in life and love and eager to see what is next.Arent we lucky! Isnt it amazing to be together again.To remember our long lives still going on.Looking ahead to what life brings next whatever it may be. To be joyful in our friendships and long connections.

And they happily gobbled up all the cakes and sandwiches.

The overall attitude was gratitude!Our mantra for troubled times:This too shall pass.Everything changes. Be flexible in mind and as much as possible in body.

Its no wonder that we 80-somethings fully understand the exuberance and also criticism of Wally Funk after she landed from her 11-minute flight into space this week.

I loved every minute of it, Funk said.I just wish it could have been longer in zero gravity to do a lot more rolls and twists and so forth.I want to go again.Fast!

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The Wonder of an 80th Birthday - Georgetowner

The next high-profile elections arent until next year. And when the first few fellows from a brand-new voting group called the New Pennsylvania Project started knocking on doors in places like Norristown or lower Bucks County this summer, they werent pushing a candidate merely asking unregistered or infrequent voters whats on their mind. No wonder executive director Kadida Kenner says the main reaction so far has been surprise.

We can talk about [federal COVID-19] funding not being used [by Pennsylvania], or economic justice and raising the minimum wage, or education justice and the large spending gaps between schools, Kenner said of the groups early door-knocking efforts. These are the ideas and issues that engage low-participation voters, or those who have not registered to engage in the political process. We have to overcome all these barriers to entice certain folks to go out and register.

Only in existence since early May, the for-now Harrisburg-based New Pennsylvania Project if the name sounds familiar, its a riff on the wildly successful New Georgia Project launched by Stacey Abrams in the 2010s is on the cutting edge of whats emerging as the Democrats main strategy for 2022 and beyond to fight GOP intransigence on voting rights and outright suppression laws enacted in some Republican-controlled states.

The Republican plan for the next batch of elections hinges heavily on a blueprint of making it more difficult for people, but especially young voters and Black and brown folks, to cast ballots rolling back mail-in voting that flourished in the 2020 pandemic or making it harder, eliminating drop boxes, or curtailing early voting hours. The Democratic response inspired by the Georgia success of Abrams and other voting advocates behind shock victories there for President Biden and two Democratic Senate candidates is to get more Black and brown and young voters jacked up about elections, then get them to the polls despite these obstacles.

Youre not asking them for a vote thats really important, Kenner said of the method. What she means is that the New Pennsylvania Project aims to have door-knockers working in underserved communities year round, with a more issues-oriented approach, as opposed to traditional method of a politician showing up a few weeks before Election Day.

Kenner, whod been director of campaigns for the left-leaning Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, said the new effort came together amid the frustration of among top Democrats about the 2020 election results, when statewide success for Biden didnt translate into gains in legislative races, and the party endured surprising defeats for state treasurer and auditor general. Not surprisingly, Kenner and the ideas chief backers including the former auditor general, Eugene DePasquale, as well as Bucks County donor and defeated 2018 congressional candidate Scott Wallace and Karl Hausker, husband of failed 2016 Senate hopeful Katie McGinty looked south to the Peach State for inspiration.

After Republicans gained total power over Georgia politics in the Tea Party era and enacted some of the nations most regressive voting restrictions, amid large-scale purges of voter rolls, Abrams then a Democratic legislative leader hatched a plan for fighting back. Founded in 2013, her New Georgia Project went door-to-door talking about that states failure to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The idea was that many people dont need to be sold on the Democratic Party or a specific candidate, but the more fundamental case that voting even makes a difference.

Progress from the New Georgia Project, a second group later founded by Abrams, called Fair Fight Georgia, and a wave of related efforts mostly led by Black women was slow at first, but the drives signed up 200,000 new voters in 2018 (when Abrams ran for governor and fell just short) and a whopping 800,000 in 2020-21, when Biden became the first Democrat to win the states electoral votes since 1992 and January run-off wins by Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock gave the party control of the U.S. Senate. One of Kenners first acts in leading the New Pennsylvania Project was to travel to Atlanta and meet with Abrams lieutenants, to learn what she called the secret sauce.

In Pennsylvania, Democrats have held a registration edge, but in 2020 Republicans closed their deficit from 800,000 to just 600,000 voters partly because of Donald Trumps ability to woo working-class former Democrats, and partly because the GOP didnt suspend its door-to-door efforts as Democrats did in the worst of the pandemic. Kenner believes the key to reversing the statewide trends can be found in some key urban and suburb areas greater Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, northeastern Pennsylvania, parts of Bucks County and urbanized Philadelphia suburbs like Norristown or Chester and among under-40 voters, especially non-whites.

Kenner said one of her first challenges is selling some big-ticket donors on the New Pennsylvania Projects unconventional mission. Were asking that you give it to a group thats not going to knock on your door with a D or an R on its chest, she said. Theyre going to knock on the door and talk about issues there people care about, and organically these folks will understand and vote their values, and realize they need to come out in every election, twice a year here in the commonwealth, and become super voters.

READ MORE: How Georgias women of color beat voter suppression and saved democracy | Will Bunch

Earlier this month, Vice President Kamala Harris announced from the White House a similar, $25 million voter registration effort backed by the Democratic National Committee.. Veteran Democratic strategist Ed Kilgore described in a New York magazine piece as part of a fallback strategy for voting rights because two major pieces of federal legislation to thwart Republican voter-suppression efforts are blocked by a GOP Senate filibuster.

The situation is paralleled in Harrisburg, where hopes of building on 2020s pandemic changes that led to a modern record for Pennsylvania turnout have been thwarted by gridlock between Republican lawmakers who want new restrictions and the veto power of Democratic Gov. Wolf. Without new voting rights laws, turnout-boosting schemes like the New Pennsylvania Project might not only be the Democrats best shot, but its only path.

In the Keystone State, this effort is led by an activist, in Kenner, with the zeal of a late-life convert. A Pittsburgh native who was raised in suburban West Chester and after a successful career as a retail manager went back to Temple for a mid-life degree in journalism and a new life in Charlotte producing sports telecasts, Kenner was thrown a curveball in 2016. Struggling to find work as college sports boycotted North Carolina over its anti-transgender bathroom bill, she took a job with Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. But Clintons defeat and the arrival of Trump convinced her that political change was now her calling.

Kenner, 46, also feels the quest for equity is in her blood. Her great-grandfather, M.L. Clay, was freed from slavery to become one of most prominent African-American businessmen in Memphis at the turn of the 20th century a bank vice president and industrialist who associated with the likes of Ida B. Wells and Booker T. Washington only to be gunned down on Beale Street over his wealth. Her modern hero is Bayard Rustin, who was also raised in West Chester and went on to organize the massive 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Kenner has a large poster with Rustins image and his words, The proof that one truly believes is in action that she carries around Pennsylvania. He literally travels with me, she said. Hes currently in the back seat of my car so wherever I go he can go with me.

She marvels that Rustin organized the 1963 march where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech without email, without Facebook, without social media, and he got 500,000 people to the Mall, and to know he had to do that behind the scenes because they kept him literally in the closet as a gay man. Fifty-eight years later, Kenner will have to combine those modern tools with old-school organizing to put up similar numbers in the voting booth, in an era when increasingly its the fate of democracy itself thats on the ballot.

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Is the Stacey Abrams method the only hope for saving democracy in Pa.? | Will Bunch - The Philadelphia Inquirer

The star-studded cast of Imitation has shared their closing comments on the drama!

Based on a hit webtoon, Imitation was about the livesof idols in the cutthroat entertainment industry.

Jung Ji So, who played the girl group member Ma Ha, said, Filming for six months under the name Ma Ha, Im very proud and happy to have experienced the life of an idol character for the first time. I think that it will definitely be a project Ill never forget. It was a tough preparation process, but thanks to my co-stars, Ma Ha was able to be born, so Im very grateful to them. Thank you to all the viewers who watched Imitation.'

U-KISSs Lee Jun Young, who played the top idol Kwon Ryoc, said, From our first preparation stage to these final comments, I was happy thanks to Imitation. Thanks to such amazing co-stars, staff, and directors, I was able to have fun while filming. I want to thank once again those who loved our drama. I hope that it made them feel various things, as well as a sense of warmth and humanity. Please be careful of COVID-19 and be happy!

T-aras Jiyeon, who played the successful solo artist LA LIMA, said, We started filming at the end of last year, and I feela bit regretfulnow that its the end. I was playing a top solo artist, so there were a lot of scenes where I stood on stage, and it made me think of past memories a lot. Thank you for loving Imitation so much.

ATEEZs Yunho, who took on his first acting role in the character of boy group member Yoo Jin, said, First, I want to thank the viewers who loved Imitation. It was my first time, so I was lacking in a lot of things, but the writer and all those on set helped me a lot and I was able to finish well. I learned a lot and gained many new experiences as well as precious memories,so it was an unforgettable time for me. Thank you to the TokToks who cheered on Sparklings Yoo Jin. I will return as ATEEZs Yunho and work as hard as Yoo Jin toward my dreams.

SF9s Hwiyoung, who played SHAX member Lee Hyun, said, Its a regretful ending full of thoughts that I should have done better. Im grateful to all the actors I worked with, along with the directors and production staff. I think that I was lucky just to be able to domy first public broadcast drama with such great people. Thank you to the viewers who had fun watching the drama.I would like it if youlooked forward to my future activities. Please be careful of your health.

Lim Nayoung, who played Tea Party member Hyun Ji, said, The entire time we spent filming was such a happy and healing time for me. Thank you to all the actors, staff, and Imitation viewers who gave me the chance to make unforgettable memories as Hyun Ji.

g.o.ds Danny Ahn, who played Tea Partys CEO Ji Hak, said, Its the same for the kids in the drama, but Ji Hak was a turning point for me. I had a lot of doubts about myself while preparing for the role, but those doubts turned into certainties while I was playing him. I want to keep trying diverse characters in future. I want to thank the directors, writer, and the production staff for giving me a chance like Ji Hak, who helped me grow. I think that the advice and comfort Ji Hak gave the kids in the drama werent just for them, but for all the young people of this generation who are going through growing pains as they fight for their dreams. I hope that Ji Hak was able to give all of those dream-seekers a bit of comfort.

Minseo, who played Tea Partys leader Ri Ah, said, I gained a lot of affection for the friends I worked with, and I worked really hard on the performances and my acting, so I feel only regret that its coming to an end. I remember the times that we filmed on stage the most. I practiced with the Tea Party members everyday, which makes the memories even more special. Tea Party, I love you. Thank you to the viewers who cheered us on. I also want to thank my co-stars, director, writer, and the production staff. Ill miss you all so much.

The last episode of Imitation aired on July 23. Check out the drama below!

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Imitation Cast Bids Farewell And Shares Final Thoughts On Their Drama - soompi

President Donald Trump with Sen. Ron Johnson. Photo by Saul Loeb /AFP via Getty Images

Sen. Ron Johnson issued an underwhelming endorsement of his own 11-year run in Congress.

Johnson said he didn't think his time in Congress had been "particularly successful."

He has pushed misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines and said he wouldn't get vaccinated.

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Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, issued an underwhelming endorsement of his own 11-year run in Congress, telling a conservative podcast host on Wednesday that he didn't think he'd been "particularly successful" in office.

The second-term senator, who said he was still undecided about running for reelection next year, told the conservative commentator Lisa Boothe that he ran for the Senate in 2010 because he wanted to get rid of Obamacare and lower the national debt. But his party hasn't managed to make progress on either issue, even under President Donald Trump.

"I feel really bad that I've been here now probably 11 years and we've doubled the debt," Johnson said. "Obamacare's still in place, and we've doubled the debt. I don't feel like my time here has been particularly successful."

Read more: The definitive oral history of how Trump took over the GOP, as told to us by Cruz, Rubio, and 20 more insiders

Trump, who has publicly urged Johnson to run for reelection, promised to repeal Obamacare, but Republican lawmakers abandoned their campaign to get rid of the popular healthcare law after repeated legislative failures. Trump also promised to pay down the national debt over eight years, but he instead presided over the third-largest increase in the national debt under any administration.

Johnson said "dysfunction" in Washington made his job frustrating and lamented that the media "rakes me over the coals, relentlessly" because of the "truths that I tell."

The senator, elected as part of the tea party's 2010 surge in Congress, has pushed misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines and has said he won't get vaccinated. He told Boothe on Wednesday that there were "serious, serious issues" with the COVID-19 vaccines and that there was no reason for Americans who aren't in high-risk categories for COVID-19 to get vaccinated.

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The Wisconsin lawmaker said the federal government was ignoring risks associated with the vaccines and attempting to assert control over the public by pushing Americans to get vaccinated. These assertions aren't backed by science, which shows that vaccines dramatically reduce the chance of serious illness and hospitalization from COVID-19, including sickness from the dominant Delta variant.

"It creeps me out that the government is wanting to push a vaccine in everybody's arm, even those people that don't need it," Johnson told Boothe. "Sorry Uncle Joe, I'm not signing up for that program. I don't trust them. It's creeping me out because it's not rational."

He added: "This push to mass-vaccinate everybody - even those who've had COVID or even those that really have very little risk of any kind of serious impact if they get COVID - it just doesn't make sense, particularly with a vaccine that is not fully approved."

The senator has repeatedly and wrongly claimed that natural immunity from a COVID-19 infection is stronger than immunity provided by a vaccine and pointed to misleading data to support his claims about the safety of the vaccines.

Johnson called this "a perilous moment for our nation" because Democrats who "don't like this country" have "devious plans" to "fundamentally transform" it. The senator said he wanted his Republican colleagues in Congress to focus more on "culture-war issues," including the debate over teaching critical race theory in schools.

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Trump ally Sen. Ron Johnson says he hasn't been 'particularly successful' in Congress because the debt soared and Obamacare survived under GOP...

Taking your family to Disneyland requires a lot of planning, from figuring out where youre going to stay, to planning dining reservations, and getting those all important boarding groups for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure. One thing you might be thinking about for your trip is does Disneyland have rides that even my littlest kids can ride where theres no height requirement. Well, the answer is yes, and theres a lot of them.

Were breaking down what rides the entire family can go on at both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, including the brand new attraction inside Avengers Campus. While a few of these rides might be a little intense for some kids, all of them are family-friendly.

Disneyland Park has the most family-friendly rides at the Disneyland Resort. While Disneyland technically includes things like The Disney Gallery, the indoor area near Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, as an attraction, were only talking about rides that move on our list.

Alice in Wonderland continues to be a family-favorite. While on this ride your family will sit inside a giant caterpillar and take a journey with Alice and the White Rabbit through Wonderland. The line for this ride can get long so try to get here first thing in the morning.

Disneylands version of the Astro Orbitor is a spoke-and-wheel attraction similar to Dumbo but with a space theme. We would choose the classic Dumbo attraction over this one if pressed for time, but this is a good one to do at night when the park is lit up.

Competitive kids and adults will love challenging themselves to a round of Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. On this ride you can help Buzz defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg. Rack up enough points and youll walk away a galactic hero.

Fantasyland is full of kid-friendly attractions, including the Casey Jr. Circus Train. You might remember this train from the Disney movie Dumbo. Climb aboard and take a ride around Fantasyland before stepping off for your next attraction.

Davy Crocketts Explorer Canoes is one of the most challenging attractions at Disneyland because youre actually the ones rowing the canoe to make it around the Rivers of America. Little kids will definitely struggle with this one, so unless your child can actually row a canoe for 10 minutes as a group we would suggest skipping.

The Disneyland Railroad is a must-do at least once on a trip to Disneyland Park. As part of your grand circle tour around the park youll see some of Walt Disneys original dioramas that were used in the Worlds Fair, and enjoy seeing other sights and sounds of the park.

Dumbo the Flying Elephant is a Disney classic. In fact, its often the first ride that kids are able to do when they go to Disneyland. The Fantasyland attraction takes you up and down in a giant elephant, with the help of a little magic and Timothy Mouse.

Over in Tomorrowland youll find the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. On this ride your family will go beneath the sea to see Nemo, Marlin, Dory and all of their friends from the reef. This ride may not be suitable for those with fear of tight spaces because the submarines are quite small.

A stately manor graces the walkways of New Orleans Square. The Haunted Mansion is another classic attraction that hasnt gone out of style. Step through the iconic Stretching Room before boarding your doom buggy for a tour of the mansion. This ride does get a fun holiday makeover themed to The Nightmare Before Christmas from September through December.

The boat ride through its a small world is relaxing and kids love singing along to the ear worm of a song as they spot adorable dolls that look like their favorite Disney characters.

The World Famous Jungle Cruise is filled with punny jokes and all new scenes thanks to a recent refurbishment. Kids will love seeing the backside of water and giggling at the antics of the skippers.

The King Arthur Carrousel is filled with pretty horses, where kids can pick their favorite as adults ride next to them. Be sure to look for Jingles, who is Julie Andrews favorite horse. You can tell youre at the right one because its the only horse with a set of bells around its neck.

Almost every Disney park around the world has a version of the Mad Tea Party. Kids will love spinning fast in a giant tea cup under the canopy of trees and dimly lit lanterns.

Ride through the Hundred Acre Wood with Pooh and his pals in a giant hunny pot on this attraction. Kids and adults will love seeing the larger than life characters. The line for this ride is rarely long, so head here after doing some of the bigger rides at the park.

Relax along the Rivers of America on the Mark Twain Riverboat. This is a great spot for kids and adults to rest and regroup as they take in the sights of Frontierland and New Orleans Square.

Mr. Toads Wild Ride doesnt have a height requirement, but it may be a little intense for children near the end. To make sure your kiddos love this ride as much as we do, consider showing them a YouTube video of the ride before heading to Disneyland.

Besides Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Peter Pans Flight is a ride that most adults remember riding as a kid, and now are taking their kids on. Youll board a whimsical pirate ship before setting off to London and using a bit of pixie dust to get to Neverland.

Pinocchios Daring Journey retells the story of the puppet turned boy. This Fantasyland attraction is best at night when the lines are low while people watch the fireworks. Younger kids may think portions of this ride are scary, so try to prepare them as best you can before boarding.

Everyone loves a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean. The iconic attraction starts in the waters just off Blue Bayou restaurant, then you float past a few pirates who have suffered a dreadful fate before being immersed in pirate lore and storytelling.

Located in Mickeys Toontown, Roger Rabbits Car Toon Spin is a silly dark ride that follows the lovable Roger Rabbit while hes doing his typical zany antics. If your kids are scared of the dark, you should skip this one, but otherwise its good family fun.

The Sailing Ship Columbia is a replica of the original Columbia that sailed around the world. The attraction takes the same path as the Mark Twain Riverboat and Davy Crocketts Explorer Canoes, so if youve already done those two rides you can probably skip this one.

The recently reimagined Snow Whites Enchanted Wish retells the story of Snow White, but with a much less frightening ending with the Wicked Witch falling to her demise. The new ending is much more kid-friendly, and its likely that if your kids have been on this before and have been scared they wont be now.

Take a tour around Fantasyland while checking out tiny replicas of enchanted Disney movie castles and homes. The Storybook Land Canal Boats are an original Disneyland attraction, so even if you only ride it for nostalgia and history, its worth it.

Disney California Adventure has fewer family-friendly attractions that dont have a height requirement, so its definitely easier to get all of these in over one day.

The newest attraction at Disney California Adventure is WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure. Kids will love virtually slinging webs at spider bots and helping Peter Parker. To get on this attraction you will need to secure a boarding group, which can be done through the Disneyland app.

One of the cutest attractions at Disney California Adventure is Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sully to the Rescue. The line for this ride can be long throughout the day, so check to see if they are using a buddy pass, which allows groups of one or two to skip the line and enter through the exit to ride with another group that waited in the stand-by line.

Paradise Gardens Park is where youll find the Golden Zephyr. While on this attraction you board into a chrome rocket before blasting off into circles around the pier.

The Little Mermaid Ariels Undersea Adventure is just steps away from the Golden Zephyr, so its easy to hit before moving on to something else. The ride is a retelling of the Disney movie, with familiar characters like Ariel, Prince Erik, Ursula and Sebastian.

The new-ish attraction, the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind takes you around the Inside Out Headquarters to see Rileys memories. As you spin around youll also get great views of Pixar Pier.

If youve already ridden the carousel at Disneyland you can likely skip this one if youre pressed for time. But if youve got a little extra time on your hands, jump on one of Jessies critters like a bunny or rattlesnake to take a ride around.

The Pixar Pal-a-Round is one of the most divisive attractions at the Disneyland Resort. People either love it or they hate it. If youre taking younger kids consider riding the stationary gondolas for a more relaxing ride. The swinging gondolas can be quite scary, even for adults.

Toy Story Midway Mania! can be found at a few of the Disney parks around the world. The attraction takes you through a set of interactive midway games like ring tosses and darts with balloons to see who can get the most points. This attraction also utilizes the buddy pass system so be sure to use it if its available.

Megan duBois is a travel and lifestyle journalist who has been venturing to the Disney Parks for over 25 years. Her favorite park is Disneys Hollywood Studios and her favorite park snack is a Mickey ice cream sandwich.

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The Best Family Rides at Disneyland - No Height Restrictions - Park Savers