Another mass shooting in California yesterday. Two in three days. Today is the 24th day of the year 2023 and we have had 38 mass shootings in the United States already this year. There have been 2,790 gun deaths thus far (as of 12:30 a.m. on January 24th), 21 of them children under the age […]
What James Madison Would Think Today … — Filosofa’s Word
Please take a few moments to read Keith’s information regarding the debt ceiling. As Americans, it is our duty to be sure that our government is doing and acting in the best interest of the people. If you are not active in democracy, you really are part of the problems that we are facing. EVERY vote counts, and public participation in the democratic process is necessary. You can read the full article by clicking on the hyperlink below.
In Community,
Amy
From the desk of Maya MacGuineas of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. I will offer no additional comment as it speaks for itself. “Today, the Treasury Department announced that it has begun engaging in a set of accounting tools known as “extraordinary measures” to avoid breaching the nation’s $31.38 trillion statutory debt […]
A nonpartisan and knowledgeable voice on US debt and deficit concerns — musingsofanoldfart
If you look inside my personal dictionary, you would see “A life worth celebrating” as the definition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He will always be one of my influencers, and I do idolize him. Even though James Earl Ray took him from the world far too soon, his voice lives in the souls of those that loved and respected him. His voice sings into the ears of the people who are just now learning his name, and his memory sits with the fallen heroes that fell in the fight for social justice.
Thank you, Dr. King for making me a better person.
Please take some time to read what Jill has shared below. Click the link to read the entire article.
Today is Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday in the United States to honour one of the greatest men who ever lived in this country. I first wrote this tribute to Dr. King in 2017, and each year I reprise it, with slight changes or minor additions, for I find that it still says […]
Honouring Dr. Martin Luther King … — Filosofa’s Word
This is a great post from On The Fence Voters regarding the current situation with the document war. That’s what it is to me…
Let the better person win!
If President Joe Biden did something illegal regarding the current classified document matter, I want him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Unlike the MAGA cult, which will never accept such a fate for their dear leader, we progressives should and must accept such an outcome. Doing otherwise only puts us in the […]
An Inconvenient Truth Regarding the Biden Classified Documents Ordeal — On The Fence Voters
This is a great post shared by my dearest friend and sister, Jill, where she comments on the current issue of the Biden documents, and she also shares Robert Reich’s article on the topic. The title of Reich’s post is spot on when it says “false equivalence”, which is something that needs to be said about the comparison of the two situations regarding the classified documents and how they were discovered.
There is a huge difference between the Trump documents and the Biden documents, and Reich’s article points out these differences (truths) about the two situations.
Click the hyperlink below to read the full post from Jill.
I refuse to waste either my time or energy on the game of false equivalencies, on Republicans’ efforts to play the ‘whaddabout’ game, and thus I have little to say about the handful of documents found by President Biden’s own lawyers that were promptly returned to the National Archives. The fact is that it wouldn’t […]
More Important Things To Worry About — Filosofa’s Word
I recently signed up to receive CNN’s 5 Things, which is a newsletter that comes to your email with the top 5 things happening around the world.
This was the collection today:
1: January 6
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to return to Washington, DC, today for the first time since leaving office. He is set to make a speech at a policy summit for former aides and officials from his administration. Trump’s appearance comes in the wake of fresh evidence from the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot and new testimony released by the committee that revealed the then-President crossed out lines in a speech condemning lawbreakers. President Joe Biden also fired off his harshest criticism yet of his predecessor, saying law enforcement officers on January 6 were subject to a “medieval hell” for three hours while Trump watched the violence unfold.
2: Abortion
Indiana lawmakers reconvened on Monday to consider more restrictions on abortion, the first state to hold a special session with the goal of potentially curtailing abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Indiana’s Senate Republicans, who have control of the state’s legislature, said they hope to have a final vote on the abortion ban by Friday. If passed, the bill would go into effect on September 1. Although many states nationwide are examining their laws after Roe v. Wade’s reversal, particular attention has been paid to Indiana after a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio crossed state lines to get an abortion. Separately, medical students at the University of Michigan are receiving attention on social media for walking out of their induction ceremony to protest a keynote speaker with anti-abortion views.
3: Covid-19
Since testing positive for Covid-19 last week, President Joe Biden said he is “feeling great” as his symptoms begin to wane. On Monday, Biden’s physician said his symptoms had “almost completely resolved” after five days with the illness. “So far, everything’s good,” Biden said, adding that he’s been participating in various tests every evening, checking “everything, from the temperature to the oxygen in my blood, to my pulse.” The White House has sought to underscore that Biden’s symptoms have been mild because he is vaccinated and boosted, and he began a course of the antiviral Paxlovid as soon as he tested positive. Separately, two key moderate senators — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — said they have tested positive for Covid-19.
4: Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is waging an “overt gas war” against Europe, after announcing it would further reduce gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline — a vital artery linking Russia’s vast gas reserves to Europe. European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson called the move a “politically motivated step” with “no technical reason” behind it. On the ground, Russian forces have made small advances in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine amid intense shelling along the front line. And in Russia, WNBA star Brittney Griner made a brief court appearance in Moscow today as her defense team presented evidence. Griner, who was arrested at a Russian airport in February for carrying cannabis oil in her luggage, will be cross-examined as part of her drug trial on Wednesday, her lawyers said.
5: Marriage equality
Democrats are reacting with immense scrutiny to Republicans’ opposition to codifying same-sex marriage, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg becoming the latest Democrat to chime in on the hot button issue. Buttigieg, who is gay, recently reacted to comments from Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who said it’s a “stupid waste of time” to vote on a bill that protects same-sex marriage. “If [Rubio’s] got time to fight against Disney, I don’t know why he wouldn’t have time to help safeguard marriages like mine.” While the Democrat-led House of Representatives last Tuesday voted to pass a bill that would enshrine protections for same-sex marriage into federal law, it still remains unclear whether the bill can pass the Senate. And in an interesting turn of events, Republican congressman Glenn Thompson attended his gay son’s wedding last week, three days after opposing the bill in the US House that would protect same-sex marriage.
CNN, Alexandra Meeks
That’s a lot of news to take in, but Alexandra Meeks did a great job of collecting the news to start my day and reflect upon. The first Thing she shares about Trump (Orange #45) made me nauseated. He does not belong anywhere in or near D.C. unless it is to be arrested by federal agents.
Did you ever think that the main news topics in 2022 would be about marriage equality, abortion for a 10-year-old, a madman inciting violence, a pandemic that is political, and a war overseas with another madman?
There are just so many biased decisions being made by the people we elect, and I feel a sense of urgency when I read these stories, as we all should feel this way. Our country is one that is unrecognizable, and I fear for my grandchild and my children who have to become adults into this detriment. We somehow managed to break the world back to the 1800s.
In Community,
Amy
As this country becomes more and more recognizable to me, I wanted to drop in and write about a few things that I will be watching.
That first question and answer…is us! It’s our power if something encroaches on our liberties and rights. Why? I am so glad you asked! It’s because every person sitting in Congress and POTUS are voted into office by the PEOPLE. So, each and every one of them work for us.
This means that it is also up to us to put on the pressure to get results. That is how Roe got overturned. The radical asshats were louder and more pushy than we were causing them to be heard over us. They pushed harder than the pro-choice people.
Do you want to know how to fix it all?
…drum roll…
Vote!
…drum roll…
Use Amendment X to our advantage by putting pressure on Congress to do our bidding.
To reiterate what the picture above asks and points out:
Does the regulation encroach upon civil liberties or rights of the people? If the answer is “Yes”, neither level of government can regulate the regulation (state or federal).
Let’s imagine a scenario for a moment where everyone who feels their civil liberties and/or rights have been trampled on by a piece of legislation or decision takes their case to court, writes to their congressmen and women, visits their state capitals, etc. The courts and the governmental officials are going to get really sick of hearing from us and from us making their dockets fill up with 10th Amendment afflictions.
Here is my olive branch. If you want to join me in finding folks that have been impacted by an encroachment of civil liberties and civil rights, contact me. Let’s see what we can get done together.
In community,
Amy
References:
Hall, D. E., Feldmeier, J. (20210104). Constitutional Law: Govermental Powers and Individual Freedoms, 4th Edition. [[VitalSource Bookshelf version]]. Retrieved from vbk://9780135772621.
The tragedies in Buffalo and Uvalde show us all how much hate there is in the world. I have written this post four different times and started over five times. That count could possibly go up immensely. I couldn’t make up my mind how political I wanted this post to be, and after two days of writing this post, here I am.
How do you put to words how a boy, who just turned into an adult, can go buy 2 guns in 2 days, take them home, kill his grandmother for being annoying, and then shoot up an elementary school?
How can privacy in this world be so bad that a maniac can find racially distinct demographic data on every human in the U.S, and worse, how do we explain how he uses that information to find a place to shoot people up based on their skin color?
Sickening. Madness. Disgraceful. Those are the only words I can find to describe domestic terrorism. I refuse to give these psychopaths a name on my site, as their names do not matter. They are terrorists of the worst kind. They prey on their own country men, women, and children.
I am tired of politicians justifying mass shootings with the mental condition of the psycho that steals people out of their lives. As someone who suffers from a mental illness, I know better than to go buy a gun and shoot people for no reason. I am tired of politicians hiding behind their little-minded worlds to protect their guns. I am all about protecting house and home, but assault rifles have no business on the streets or in the hands of regular citizens. The only people who should be using assault rifles is the Armed Forces.
Gun permits should always come with a waiting time before you can take home your weapon, and that waiting period should apply nationally. It should not matter who you are or what your pay grade is. It should not matter if you are the POTUS or just a girl sitting in her room writing about how gun laws need to change. NO ONE should be able to take home a weapon in a few minutes or a few hours, and you sure the hell should not be able to purchase guns several days in a row and build your arsenal to go and kill folks. NO ONE should be able to buy an assault rifle and automatic weapons.
The 2nd Amendment happened in a time when there were shoot outs in saloons and civil wars were happening. It was NEVER meant to be that any fool with a short fuse could go get a gun and shoot up anything they didn’t like or for no reason at all.
If you feel the same way I do, you must start using your voice. I will end this with a video from Stephen Kerr’s press conference yesterday. Listen to his words and emotion. He had a platform to use, and he used it. It’s time for me to use mine even more.
#IStandWithUvalde and #IStandWithBuffalo
For more cartoons, please visit TokyoSand’s “The Week’s Best Cartoons 5/21“
The Voice of the Voiceless 