Light A Candle

The United States of America is failing to protect its children. Politicians love to go on TV and talk about all sort of threats to children, real and imagined, but when it comes to addressing the REAL danger, they hide in their office for fear of upsetting a powerful lobby that represents a small part of the population.

I am not anti-firearm. Countries that ban firearms are not always safer than the USA. Japan is safer. Mexico is not.

But something has to be done. Some changes must be made, because the system we have now is GETTING KIDS KILLED.

It’s time to stop pretending. It’s time to stop blaming mental health. There are mentally ill people all over the world. Only the US has rampant mass shootings in schools.

It’s time to stop pretending that we are safer when anyone can buy as many guns as they want. I understand that some people are really attached to their guns and that the vast majority of gun owners don’t commit violent crimes.

But we have to face the fact that within our society live a significant number of people who dream of committing mass murder. That is an inescapable fact. And as long as we cannot determine in advance who those people are, although there are often clues, we need to come up with a system that slows them down when they attempt to arm themselves in preparation for a mass casualty event.

I don’t claim to have the answers, but I know, and you know, that if nothing is done, more children will die.

The Trouble With Tariffs

Imagine that you’re in the market for a new car.

You’ve narrowed it down to two models, a Ford that costs $35,000 and a BMW that costs $40,000. You’re weighing whether it’s better to save $5k by going with the Ford, or to spend a bit more to get the extra features and prestige of the BMW.

Donald Trump wins re-election and immediately puts a 20 percent tariff on all foreign-made goods. The BMW now costs $48,000 due to an $8,000 dollar tariff.

That may be a deal breaker. If the BMW is now out of your price range, you’ll buy the Ford.

On the other hand, if you really want a BMW, you might be willing to pay more to get it, even after the price hike.

But here’s the important point. BMW is not going to pay the extra $8,000. The German government is not going to pay the extra $8,000. The European Union is not going to pay the extra 8k.

YOU are you going to pay it! That 8 grand comes out of YOUR wallet.

It’s not magic money that suddenly appears to help our country. It’s a tax that the government has imposed on YOU, the American consumer.

Consider also retaliation. Europe may fight back by putting a 20 percent tariff on American goods. That means fewer sales, which could lead to layoffs and economic hardship in the US.

Tariffs are a bad idea, a terrible idea, a horrible idea. Tariffs punish consumers and harm the economy.

Vote wisely.

Electoral Choices

If you, or anyone that you know and love, would like to use birth control or IVF now or anytime in the future, PLEASE register to vote and vote for Democrats. Republicans are working hard every day to take away women’s rights, and they have a well-established track record.

Dobbs was only the beginning. Republicans will ban birth control nationwide. They will ban IVF nationwide. They will ban abortion nationwide, even for people whose lives are in peril due to medical complications. Even for victims of rape. They are determined to relegate women to second class citizenship, and they simply do not care how much suffering results from their callous and misinformed policies.

Thumb On The Scale

The supreme court didn’t put their thumb on the scale for Trump. They threw out the scale and replaced it with a Trump 2024 poster.

Birth Control and IVF

Immigrants aren’t trying to ban access to birth control and fertility treatments. Republicans are doing that. Immigrant families had their children taken away by force … by Republicans.

Health Insurance Availability

Immigrants didn’t make it difficult to get health insurance. Republicans did. Immigrants cleaned your insurance company’s office building.

Reproductive Freedom

Immigrants didn’t take away your reproductive freedom. Republicans did that. Immigrants harvested your lunch.

American Tragedy

First, they attacked Voting Rights. Governors in southern states then removed millions of people from voter rolls tipping elections in their favor.

Next, they attacked Reproductive Freedom. Now, women in states with restrictive laws are being killed or sterilized when doctors and hospitals refuse to treat their miscarriages.

Next, they led a massive campaign of discrimination against the LGBTQ community. Now, children are being bullied not only by their classmates but also by their state governments.

Next, they attacked IVF. Ask women in Alabama who are trying to start families how that’s working out.

They’re not finished. They have told us what they are going to do next.

- Ban contraception.

- Ban recreational sex.

- End marriage equality.

- Ban the shipment of reproductive medicines across state lines.

- Ban travel across state lines to receive healthcare.

Believe it or not, it will get worse from there. They won’t stop until we are living in a country that looks more like 1789 than 2024.

Be clear. This is the danger that the Republican party represents. It has been taken over by anti-democratic freedom-hating zealots who are determined to enforce their will on the American public.

Put an end to the madness. Vote for Democrats up and down that ballot in every election.

The Republican party in its current form cannot be trusted with authority. They have demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will use their power to do inflict harm and misery on the majority of US citizens.

A Dangerous Idea

Every illiberal movement and every authoritarian regime is built on the idea that some people are inferior, undesirable, or dangerous, and that those people are undeserving of rights, liberty, security, or self-determination.

Think about how this idea has been applied throughout history. Think about how it enabled societies to dominate, subjugate, and even eliminate large groups of people. Think about how it is being applied today and where that is likely to lead.

School Daze

Parents who demand control over school curricula and the books that students have access to in libraries are the same parents who complained loudly when they were called upon to teach their kids during the pandemic. Let that sink in.

When they were asked to fill in for teachers during an emergency, they couldn’t handle it. They demanded that the government, which they openly distrust, force their children back into classrooms as soon as possible. Yet these same people want to have the final word on how schools are run and how students are taught. It’s like addicted gamblers demanding control over how people manage their finances.

State Of Malaria

Florida’s stubborn, domineering leader appointed a science-denier as the state’s surgeon general. Now, Florida has a malaria outbreak. “Get ready for more plagues,” said Yahweh.

Late-Term Abortion

Late-term abortion is not an elective procedure to terminate a healthy pregnancy. Late-term abortion is an emergency procedure used to treat miscarriages and other catastrophic pregnancy events where the fetus is not viable and the health of the mother is in grave danger. Banning such procedures puts women’s lives at risk. People who do not understand those risks should not be involved in the decision making process.

Judgment

People who react negatively to abortion, gay marriage, drag queens, and transsexuals should stop worrying about what happens in other people’s bedrooms and figure out what’s not working in theirs.

Laws Discriminating Against The Transgender Community

Transgender children struggle for acceptance in ways that most people cannot imagine. Laws that target transgender children reinforce their pain by offering concrete evidence that they are officially unwelcome due to what makes them different.

What if legislators in some state introduced a bill to ban handicapped children from restaurants? Sponsors of the bill claim that restaurant owners feel that the presence of handicapped people is bad for business: the cost of access ramps and special bathroom facilities is too high, and some customers feel uncomfortable around them. The proposed “solution” is to pass a law that would exclude handicapped minors from all restaurants across the state. Do you see how such a law would be hurtful and discriminatory toward handicapped people and their families?

What if a law prevented autistic children from going to public parks? Proponents of the law argue that autistic kids might wander off, so this measure is simply for their own safety. Can you see how such a law would be hurtful and marginalizing?

What if a law banned children with intellectual disabilities from going into retail stores and shopping malls? Do you see how that would stigmatize them and place undue burdens on their families? At a minimum, parents would need to hire a caregiver every time they need to go to the grocery store.

Transgender children have become an easy target for hate groups, misguided citizens, and opportunistic politicians. According to NPR, at least 150 laws that would negatively impact the transgender community have been filed by state legislators. Interesting fact: every legislator who has introduced one of these laws is a Republican. The transgender community has become a political bogeyman for the Right.

Does this sound familiar, a political party trying to gain power by openly targeting a vulnerable minority? It should. And it should worry all of us, not just because it’s blatantly unfair to the rights of the citizens who have been so targeted, but because it signals the overreach of a rising authoritarian movement in the US and abroad.

Parents’ Bill Of Rights

Politicians in several states and at the federal level have been enacting “Parents’ Bill Of Rights” legislation. In most cases, these laws restrict the books and courses that are available to students, restrict what can be taught and even discussed in classrooms - in some cases, even menstruation cannot be mentioned even to high school students - and they make it easier to fire teachers and administrators.

This is unfortunate in too many ways to discuss, but it is also a missed opportunity. Here is an ideal for a Parents’ Bill Of Rights that could actually have a positive impact, and I would like to see if enacted at the national level.

“Every measure will be taken to keep students safe from gun violence in and around schools. To that end, universal background checks and waiting periods will be required for all firearm purchases. Red flag laws will facilitate identification of people with a history of violent or threatening behavior, including domestic abuse and violent social media posts. No person on a red flag list can purchase a firearm for a period of not less than seven years from the latest incident.

Insecure gun storage will be charged as a felony. Assault weapons will be reclassified and will require special permitting and insurance for purchase, including a minimum age requirement of 25 years.

Keeping students safe from violence is a solemn responsibility, and we commit to doing everything possible to achieve and maintain safe environments for learning.”

Natural Disaster Response

When tornados devastated Mississippi, President Biden immediately called the state’s Republican Governor and two Republican Senators and offered any and all help that the federal government could provide. Biden made a “major disaster” declaration and ordered Federal aid to the area.

When wildfires ripped through drought-stricken California, President Trump blamed it on untidy forests. “I see again the forest fires are starting. They’re starting again in California. I said, you gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests - there are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and they’re like, so flammable, you touch them and it goes up. Maybe we’re just going to have to make them pay for it because they don’t listen to us.”

Welfare State

East Palestine, Ohio - Who’s going to pay for the cleanup?

Jackson, Mississippi - Who’s going to pay to fix the water system?

Flint, Michigan - Who’s going to pay to replace the lead pipes?

Child Tax Credit - Too expensive. Don’t just give away free money.

SNAP Benefits - Too expensive. If they want food, they’ll have to work for it.

Silicon Valley Bank - Bail them out! We can’t let the financial system crash!

You Have The Power

Are you concerned about the train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio? Good. Do something about it. When a politician runs on the promise of “cutting regulations,” vote for the person running against them. When politicians who have a track record of deregulation come up for re-election, vote for the other guy. You have the power to prevent future tragedies.

Republican Crime

In 1968, Richard Nixon ran for president with a promise to “get tough on crime.” Since then, six Republican presidents have occupied the White House for 32 years, and four Democratic presidents have held the office for 22 years.

Republicans held the presidency for an entire decade more than Democrats. Here’s question: If Republicans are so good at stopping crime, why is there still crime? Republicans had a ten-year advantage in running the country. They should have fixed the problem.

What did Republicans do about crime? They built more prisons. They put more people in jail. The United States incarcerates more people than ANY OTHER COUNTRY. So, Republicans, why is there still crime?

Could it be that locking people up does not fix the underlying problems that encourage crime in the first place?

Could it be that taxing working families in order to reward billionaires creates financial imbalance and hardship?

Could it be that a lack of a fair and comprehensive healthcare system has led many families into financial ruin and has failed to address a growing mental health crisis?

Could it be that flooding the streets with semi-automatic weapons has led to more shootings rather than fewer?

Could it be that the lack of comprehensive immigration reform has led to chaos on the southern border?

Could it be that Republicans really don’t want to solve the crime problem at all? Think about it. It crime decreased dramatically, what would Republicans talk about during election cycles? How are they going to pound the table and whip up support if there’s no crime to speak of?

The Republican approach to crime has been a colossal failure for decades. Their policies don’t reduce crime; they encourage it at every level, from street gangs to school shootings, from corruption to tax cheats, from homelessness to domestic abuse, from political violence to the insurrection, Republican policies - or the lack thereof - and right-wing rhetoric have fanned the flames of instability and violence, and they have offered no effective solutions. None.

Student Loan Forgiveness

Most industrialized countries provide free healthcare and free education up to a four year degree. The expense is offset by the benefit having a healthy, well-trained, well-educated work force. In the Information Age, education is more critical than ever.

The US provides neither of these benefits.

Manufacturing jobs have systematically been sent offshore. The better paying jobs require an education.

The price of an education has increased more rapidly than median wages or the cost of living. Many working families cannot afford to pay for their children’s education, especially given that they also need to pay for healthcare out of pocket.

People need an education to get ahead, so they take out loans.

At the behest of lenders, Congress has enacted laws that force the repayment of those loans regardless of financial hardship.

Student loans are immune to bankruptcy. You still have to pay back the loan, even if you get sick and lose your job and have huge medical expenses.

Complicating the situations is the rise of for-profit businesses that offer educational services. At the primary and secondary level, these businesses are called Charter Schools. Charter Schools are businesses with a CEO. Profit, not education, is their primary objective.

There are for-profit companies providing education at the university level as well. Some use the word University in their name.

For profit companies fulfill their mission by attracting students and collecting tuition. Providing an education to the students is a secondary objective.

These companies do a lot of marketing to attract students. Enrolling paying students is their number one objective.

Some of these institutions were exposed as scams and shut down. The value of the education that students received was negligible, but their loan debt remains very real. Students have to pay back the loans whether or not their “education” resulted in them getting them a job.

These are some of the reasons why student loan forgiveness is an important issue.

I don’t relish having my tax dollars go to paying off someone else’s loans, but it’s necessary for the country to make a course correction.

When former students are no longer burdened with debt, they have more disposable income to contribute to the economy.

I would like to see the US provide more education and healthcare opportunities for all students without forcing people to run up crippling amounts of debt simply to compete in the job market. It’s better to set up a working program than to bail out a broken system.