“The Fairness Project”

I had never heard of this group until I was directed, via a newsletter I receive, to an article on the NPR.org website.

As I read about the group, I personally found that “The Fairness Project” is performing a very worthy service. Here’s why — from the article’s introductory comments:

[A] left-leaning advocacy group called the Fairness Project has created a playbook for using ballot initiatives to go around GOP-led state legislatures.

Since 2016, it has backed successful initiatives to raise the minimum wage and expand Medicaid in at least nine states run entirely or mostly by Republicans at the time of the vote. (It also works in Democratically led states.)

Now, it’s one of several groups gearing up to put abortion rights on the ballot in 2024. 

The project is the brainchild of a California-based health care workers union and was created with the idea of using ballot measures to address quality-of-life issues.

For every “citizen-initiated” measure, the group must gather thousands of signatures on petitions to put the initiative on the ballot.

If any such petition comes your way, please don’t hesitate to sign it.

I hope you will take time to read the entire article.

Think About This

Consider …

If belief in a supernatural being had never happened or developed … thus requiring humans to rely only on themselves … how different to you think the world of today might be? 

Try to give some thought to this before you answer. Take yourself out of the mix (as a believer or as a non-believer) and see if you can imagine how the human race (not just your friends and neighbors) might live without a god (or gods) to call upon. 

Would people be more –or less– inclined to assist others in time of need? Would they step in to physically help during major catastrophes and/or emergencies (rather than simply feel sympathy)? Would the need to protect themselves and others against aggression become more or less dominant? Would humans be able to accept that sickness can and often does lead to death? And would death itself be accepted or feared?

And finally … after centuries of depending only on themselves, do you think humans would eventually mythologize some type of supernatural being? And if they did, would it be because they didn’t like having to face a cruel world on their own? Or would it be because there is an intrinsic trait/desire of humans to believe in and lean upon some type of imaginary super-being? 

P.S. I realize it’s a natural urge to primarily focus on the closing of a post, but to make it interesting, I hope you will offer some thoughts/opinions on the various questions I presented. Thx. 😊

“This Needs To Stop”

3 Killed in Shootings at Michigan State University

“I have to tell my son about another shooting on campus”

I can’t not tell him, not anymore. He has a phone. He has a laptop, required for school. He has friends with phones and laptops and older siblings. I had to tell him about Oxford, in November of 2021; he listened, quietly — he is not, by nature, quiet — and asked: “Are you sending me to school tomorrow?”

…

“This needs to stop. Politicians need to stop choosing money over death. What soul do you have if you let kids die, and teachers, and as a matter of fact regular people, die, and choose money?”

“Politicians need to stop choosing money
over death!” 

(Excerpt from an article in the Detroit Free Press)

“They Looked At Everything”

I know many of you read Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter so what you’re about to read is “old news.” Nevertheless, for those who don’t read her (outstanding) newsletter, I felt that something she wrote in her latest issue needed additional attention.

While I feel confident that most of my readers agree that the 2020 election was legal and valid, the following is just one more arrow to place in our quiver.

Today, Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post reported that Trump’s campaign hired a consulting firm to try to prove that the election had been stolen. The Berkeley Research Group examined the election results in six swing states but could not find anything that would have changed the outcome. “They looked at everything,” a source told Dawsey: “change of addresses, illegal immigrants, ballot harvesting, people voting twice, machines being tampered with, ballots that were sent to vacant addresses that were returned and voted…. Literally anything you could think of. Voter turnout anomalies, date of birth anomalies, whether dead people voted. If there was anything under the sun that could be thought of, they looked at it.” 

The consultants briefed Trump, chief of staff Mark Meadows, and others on their evidence that Biden’s election was legitimate in December 2020—before the events of January 6—but the Trump camp continued to insist the election had been stolen. 

To read the rest of this edition of Heather’s newsletter, click here.

Please Mr. Biden

I touched on this subject in a previous post, but now I’m going to say it straight out … and directly to the individual involved.

PLEASE MR. BIDEN! DO NOT RUN FOR RE-ELECTION!

There are many reasons behind my request, but the number one reason is You Are Too Old! You seem to be in good physical condition for your age — and you have amply demonstrated that you are mentally capable of understanding and acting on important matters that come before you — but past performance does not always translate into future achievements.

I feel it’s important to point out that if you choose to continue in the office of POTUS and are re-elected, on the day that you will stand before the American people to be inaugurated for a second term as the 46th  President of the United States — you will be 83 years of age. By the end of your term, you will be 86 years of age.

I cannot help but believe that you are aware of the documentation related to the the natural loss of mental and physical capacities that occur through aging.

Certainly the individual who holds the office of POTUS is recognized the world over as a powerful individual … and no one would deny that this is an enviable portrayal. However, there is far more to the position than world recognition — and after nearly four years in the role, I feel certain you are well aware of this.

Before I close this plea, I wish to add that my remarks related to aging are not unfounded. I have been and am acquainted with individuals who are in your same age group. Many are healthy, alert, intelligent, and extremely cognizant of the world around them, yet all of them accept the limitations associated with aging. They know that multiple unforeseen age-related afflictions can, and often do, disrupt and change the course of one’s life without warning.

Please, Mr. President. I implore you to give careful thought to your decision.  The future of the United States is too important to allow personal pride and enviable power to rule your decision.