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Tennessee is home to more gun makers than almost any other state in the union. And gun manufacturers and the gun lobby have just expelled two elected state representatives from the State House in Tennessee because they had the nerve to participate in a protest against gun violence. Oh, they will pontificate about how all they’re doing is trying to protect the Second Amendment for Tennessee’s law-abiding citizens, who need to be heavily armed. But you know and I know that every vote to expel these two was bought and paid for by the gun interests, and they are willing to keep paying whatever it takes to silence their critics, even if it means that tens of thousands of Tennesseans are no longer represented in the state’s legislature.
Valparaiso high school kids took a stand and protested against gun violence at schools. Tennessee students protested at their Capitol and at Washington D.C. High school students and college students are our future, and they have had enough of the inaction of the Republican Party concerning the gun shootings. It is going to be up to them to make the necessary changes by voting out all of these defiant Republicans who refuse to even acknowledge that killing schoolchildren is a huge problem.
Republicans have used abortion as a cudgel against Democrats for decades. Now that is gone and they are struggling to find a new issue that they can use to rile up their base and get the vote out. It seems that now that women’s rights have been curtailed they have turned their sights on trans youth and the overall LGBTQ community.
The Gary mayoral race is heating up. Debates have revealed that both candidates are dreamers and are still focusing on the big picture when the citizens want them to place their priorities on the ‘little picture’ or what I call the basics. The Gary populace along with those that travel through and those that come back to visit on a regular basis would love to see the following done first: crime reduced, clean-up and paint-up pushed, potholes repaired, streets paved, street lights and signs fixed or replaced, abandoned homes removed, activities for youngsters beyond the school day and on weekends increased, and improved working relationships with community stakeholders. This is not to say other things are not important. Yes, we believe a strong mayor can walk and chew gum at the same time. However, if ‘walking’ will get the things done listed above, we will not criticize you if place the gum chewing on the back burner.
I suggest everyone send a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts and tell him to force Clarence Thomas to step down. Now, not only does he have a conflict of interest with any case related to the Trump administration, but he has been traveling and vacationing for free, paid for by a big Republican donor. Don’t tell me there is nothing wrong with this. Thomas needs to be forced off the Supreme Court.
No one wants to take your guns. No one is forcing you to like a person’s pronoun choices, or same sex marriage. No one is forcing you to get an abortion. But your individual beliefs aren’t how the rest of the world has to function. Let’s talk about respect for the individual freedoms we are allowed in our country. Let’s talk about the religious freedoms that were central to finding our nation so those fleeing persecution could practice as they desired. (That’s why we don’t have a national religion — so we are free to choose how we practice or don’t practice our spirituality.) If you want to “control the nation,” let’s have gun owners determine safer gun practices and registry to curb our out of control violence. Let’s have religious leaders work together to create a nation of acceptance and tolerance for all. Let us all work together to condemn hate and work to eradicate this and the ignorance behind it. Let’s work together to make our world safer, calmer, and peaceful. Respect your neighbors. It doesn’t mean you have to like them, but stop hating them.
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