2gals4peace – Page 7 – 2 GALS 4 PEACE

A Struggle for Peace

Three minutes after the President’s address on Thursday night, another shooting took place in Ames, Iowa. Three people laid dead in a church parking lot, two women and the gunman who shot himself. Although this is not considered a “mass shooting,” it comes on the heels of Buffalo, Uvalde, and Tulsa. The FBI defines a “mass shooting” as 4 or more victims at one or more close locations involving multiple persons, a firearm. and homicide. Over Memorial Day weekend, there were several mass shootings in US rural and urban settings and, according to Gun Violence Archive (GVA,) there have been 20 mass shootings since Uvalde. There seems to be too many of these shootings to report. No wonder people in…

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June 5, 2022

Social Justice

Rock Bottom

If anger could leave our hearts and run down our hands into this writing, it would set this page on fire. Our rage towards Governor Abbott and Senator Cruz and those like them ignites like a flame. The people who refuse to support even the fundamentals of gun control, including background checks, enrage us because children lives and others would have been saved. The CDC has announced that firearm related deaths are now the leading cause of deaths of children in our country. The numbers are mounting and those kinds of events which kill children have become common place. Sadly, these events represent the normalization of violence starting with the Newtown 26 and the Parkland 17. The 27 school shootings…

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May 29, 2022

Peace

Just a Theory

Sometimes we get tired of writing about negative stuff. Lord knows there is enough negative material out there right now but there are also good things happening as well. The Bans Off Our Bodies march is an example of one. Last week, we joined a few hundred women and men in Sarasota to march for a woman’s right to choose as many did across this country. Imagine in America having to fight for the right to choose. On so many levels, this has become our reality! Throughout our lives, there are times when we elect to take a position. We form opinions and we choose sides whether it is for a sports team, a cause, or a political figure or…

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May 21, 2022

Equality / Social Justice

Coming for Us!

Tomorrow, May 17th, is a major Women’s March for reproductive rights in DC and in other US cities since the 1970’s when the Supreme Court heard Roe vs. Wade. A victory for Roe was called a landmark decision for women in 1973. Now, almost 50 years later, we are entering a retrogressive state in this country. By definition, a retrogressive state means returning to an earlier state, typically a worse one. This is a fitting term for where we sit and stand politically today. As the Senate voted this week to allow the banning of abortions and we await the Supreme Court’s decision, the fact that we need another “Bans Off Our Bodies” march is staggering. General Westmorland once said,…

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May 13, 2022

Social Justice

Beware the Waterfall

Are humans the only animals that can laugh and cry at the same time? Living in Florida, we have been doing a lot of this lately. Every day, we are confronted with political tomfoolery and misguided judgments, much of which is plain meanness. The latest attack on abortion by the MAGA Supreme Court is a prime example of this. The person who leaked that information should be given a Medal of Honor. Those of us living in Florida have a front seat to watching fascism attempt to roll into this country inch by inch. You may question why we would burden those readers who do not live in Florida with our woes? Well, because we are seated in the front…

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May 13, 2022

Peace

Invest in Our Planet 2022

Today is Earth Day and the theme for this year’s Earth Day is Invest in Our Planet. Earth Day was established in 1970 by Wisconsin Democrat Gaylord Nelson who was inspired by the Vietnam “teach-ins” and it became the largest grassroots environmental movement and large-scale fight for environmental causes. Earth Day led to the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, the establishment of the EPA, and more. Yes, today focuses on the earth that we walk, bike, and drive on every day. It is what we fly over, around, and send rockets and shuttles from. It is what we put things into and remove things from. And, so far, the earth has been generous to humans and…

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April 23, 2022

Peace

Tsunami

In our office, we have a bumper sticker that reads “One Human Family.” It was given to us by Maggie’s dear high school friend who lives in the Florida Keys. One Human Family is the “official philosophy” of Key West. The motto is simple and it means that all people are equal members of one human family. It underscores that despite differences in race, nationality, sexuality, and other differences, those differences are superficial and should not lead to cultural divisions. It is a noble cry for humanity to come together and recognize that we are One, we are Human, and we can be a Family if we choose to do so. One Human Family should not be such an arduous…

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April 15, 2022

Peace

As the World Turns

We have begun to understand that to be human is to be conflicted. The choice between doing and not doing can be a challenge. For example, the other night we went to a Chris Botti concert. We bought the tickets three years ago and the performance was cancelled due to COVID and finally rescheduled. It is the first time that we had ventured out into a crowded, inside venue in over two and a half years. We found ourselves conflicted on a number of levels. Was it going to be safe? Should we go at all? How would we feel once we got there? We decided to go knowing that the venue required all attendees to be masked and that…

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April 15, 2022

Social Justice

Old Rules, New Rules, No Rules

“There are no rules in war.” Is that Ginni Thomas speaking or Putin? It is hard to tell. Virginia (Ginni) Thomas is the wife of Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas. Yes, the Justice accused of sexually harassing Anita Hill in 1991. And, yes, he was the only Justice of the nine that dissented as the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s bid to block the release of his Presidential records. And, no, he provided no explanation for why he would have approved Trump’s request which is considered a standard omission. “There are no rules in war,” we can hear Ginni muttering. Clarence Thomas, appointed by George H. Bush, was touted as a “true conservative” and, although he is an African American, his…

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April 15, 2022

Equality / Social Justice

How Dare They

The assault continued as members of the Republican Party sat for hours taking swipes at the Democrat’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Why is it that, especially, women of color must work ten times harder for a position that they are ten times more qualified for? The Republican Party is proving in this process to be the dregs of the earth. It is already the party of Trump, Thomas, Kavanaugh, and Gaetz, all of whom have been accused of wrong doings with women. And now the party dares to take swipes at the more than capable Ketanji Brown Jackson. Not since the questioning of Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford, have we seen such a disgusting display of…

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March 23, 2022

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