Social Justice – Page 5 – 2 GALS 4 PEACE

Oil and Water

There is so much in the news today that we are forced to filter out how much we can read and hear. The earth is spinning faster, parts of the moon may be habitable for human life, and rainwater is not safe to drink. Today, science and politics are like oil and water. One cannot seem to aid the other or come together on issues. In Florida, the Governor fired a twice elected Tampa Democratic State Attorney, Andrew Warren, because DeSantis does not like how he thinks. Stay tuned for Warren’s lawsuit! In Pensacola, a teacher was told to take down pictures in his classroom of his “inspirational American heroes.” Teaching in a Black community, the list included Martin Luther…

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August 13, 2022

Social Justice

Straightaway in the News

There is some good news coming our way and a few glimmers of hope. Now, we are hearing a number of Republicans think that the party has gone too far with restrictions on abortion and gay rights and that those two positions are out of step with public opinion. Says, Christine Matthews, a moderate Virginian Republican, “Republicans have taken things too far.” Has the party moved too far right and become out of sync by projecting hostility and alienating groups, including women? Indeed, it has! In addition, there is a group of Republicans who believe that the election of 2020 was “Lost not Stolen.” The group, comprised of three prominent retired Federal Judges, former Senators, a former Solicitor General, Congressional…

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August 13, 2022

Social Justice

Looking for an Oasis

A mirage is what you think you see. It is something that appears real or possible but is in fact not so. The word mirage comes from the Latin word “to wonder at” and the French word “to look at.” In science, a mirage has to do with the refraction of light on hot and cooler surfaces. A mirage is a deceptive appearance of a distant object and is an optical phenomenon consisting mainly of false images. Mirage sightings, as you know, are most common in deserts and we frequently see them on sweltering summer highways. Remember the old western movies or one set in the Sahara where characters struggle though the heat and sand and suddenly see a mirage,…

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July 31, 2022

Social Justice

Guns and Gods and Everything In Between

It is a recurring theme that people are in trouble these days. We keep hearing stories of woe from the person who repairs our car, our landscaper, or our hairdresser. The headlines read like we are in a cold war in our country. We are a nation divided, one nation under many gods, spearheaded by the new ultra-right-wing evangelicals. Yes, we are living during the time of an Institutional Crisis that has weaponized hate. It is an attack on our Democracy, the press, politicians, liberal judges, women, and the truth. Truth is now seen by some as an old-fashioned value belonging to our grandparents’ generation and, in some arenas, it no longer exists. It has been displaced by lies, extremism,…

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July 2, 2022

Social Justice

Guns Over Gals

The question is…what do we do next? What more can this country take away from women? Who has the right to do this to us, to do this to young people and all women in this country? How do we move forward? How do we continue to respect this country, to live in this country? How do we live in a country that does not have our backs! Five conservative Judges of the Supreme Court and those like thinkers can take pride in ushering us straight into a fascist government. Now 50 years later, they can arrest our doctors and our friends and neighbors for providing and having an abortion. How dare they! What is next on their agenda? Is…

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June 27, 2022

Social Justice

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

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

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

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