Op-Ed

Good Morning, America! (Part 2)

Editor's Note: Be sure to check out Part 1 where Moses reacted to the news of open service for transgender people. Below is Part 2, Moses' direct response to my originating post, Facing Military Reality, which cited the evil of war as the the background to our noble support our troops and the new policy of transgender service in the military.

  I agree. Despite the fact that transgender folks have been given a green light to serve openly in the military, there will still be many obstacles hindering full integration, just like freeing slaves did not erase racism ...

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in Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Kushaba Moses Mworeko 0 comments

Good Morning, America! (Part 1)

Editor's note: I recently addressed the new policy allowing transgender people to serve in the military as a step back a bit to consider the military is a large, violent, and oppressive system in dire need of new direction, inclusive as it may be. My good friend, Moses, at the same time, offersed his take on the new policy, Good Mornight, America (Part 1), below. In Part 2 of his post, Moses responds directly to my initial post which attempted to separate love for our troops and the evil of war.

  On June 30, 2016 Defense Secretary Ashton B. ...

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in Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Kushaba Moses Mworeko 0 comments

Where Have All The Transgender People Gone?

The announcement of open service for transgender troops happens to coincide with the release of new Williams Institute report showing that the number of adults identifying as transgender in the US has doubled in the last 5 years to 0.6%. Since traveling the country over the last decade to interact and work with trans activists, I learned one important fact that indicates this new Williams Institute estimate is far, far too low. The transgender people that make themselves highly visible as a political act, in fact, represent a small handful. Consider how many lesbian, gay, and bisexual people there are ...

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in Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Facing Military Reality

It's official: Transgender people will serve openly in the US armed forces. While this can be considered a step forward toward full acceptance and protection of transgender people in our culture and human rights in general, we are still very, very far from that. On top of that, it's still important to remember that our armed services only "further the violence of one of the central institutions of global oppression." Yesterday's excellent Op-Ed at Truth-Out.org, "Transgender Troops" Should Be An Oxymoron, is required reading for every LGBT activist because it pinpoints the cause of the right-wing shift of our biggest ...

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in Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

#GagOnIt

The "Gays Against Guns" (GAG) campaign received a jumpstart at Sunday's NYC Pride Parade and elsewhere in the country. On command, these marchers stopped chanting, and laid down on the pavement in a "die-in," a dramatic exclamation driving home the point. The GAG campaign emerged following the Orlando massacre at a gay night club two weeks ago, and mirrors the sit-in for gun control by heroic democrats literally sitting down on the floor of the US House of Representatives, and many coordinated civil actions across the country for today's National Day of Action Against Gun Violence. Fifty years ago as ...

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in Campaigns / Events / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Let the Good News Flow

Flickr/creativecommons

Just yesterday, I noted a trifecta of good news, and today two more actions by the US Supreme Court immediately followed: The justices refused to entertain an appeal by pharmacists to use religious exemptions in their refusal to fill birth control prescriptions; and they finally ended the quest of county clerks like Kim Davis in Kentucky, all of whom are government employees, from refusing marriage licenses based on their religious beliefs. Sometimes, more and more frequently these days, we see more good news, more progress towards that better world we can envision. Our manifesto describes the mechanics ...

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in Campaigns / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

This Is How We Do It!

by Sean MacEntee Flickr/creativecommons

Progress is a creative act, the ability to transform our selves and our world by adapting to better ways of doing things. Progress is always active and is often upstepped under certain positive circumstances. (For more, see our Manifesto.)

It's nice to wake up on a day with a trifecta of good news, forward movement in bringing about the better world we can all envision.

The US Supreme Court struck down needless, christianist-driven, anti-abortion restrictions on women's reproductive rights in Texas, indicating that similar restrictions in other states are likewise unconstitutional. The high court also Read More›
in Campaigns / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Refugee Ed.

Photo by Oxfam International Mentao refugee camp in Burkina Faso Flickr/creativecommons

Having lived through the birth of the personal computer, the instant meme was that the world would soon be divided by those that are connected to the world wide web and those who were not. We didn't realize then how prescient that was, and we especially did not know that by 2016 we would be in the middle of world migration crisis of biblical portions driven by environmental catastrophes, religious wars, and socialization fails. Unless and until we sponsor the emergence of voluntary, and most important, humane, associations to permanently displace the coercive systems that enslave us, we will remain ...

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in Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Here Is How We Can Send Republican Obstructionists Home For Good

Flickr/creative commons

This post is adapted from one I wrote last year, Purge 70% of US House of Representatives Incumbents Just Like They Did In 1816, one in a 40-part series regarding a secret cult, bankrolled by anti-government special interests, that operates hidden in plain site, controlling every branch of our government. This is NOT The Onion. As far-fetched as this 70-year siege sounds it also presents the key to rid us of the worst of the worst in the GOP, disgrace and repudiate Koch, et al, and rescue our democracy from the jaws of christian sharia. Background The name of this cult is Read More›

in Campaigns / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

How are you celebrating Religious Freedom Day?

The idea of religious freedom was conceived as a shield protecting against government overreach when it comes to religious matters. All Americans, be they Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, and so on, should have the freedom to practice their faith or worldview free from burdensome government regulation or required participation; faith and other individual thoughts are private waters that government shall not wade in except in extreme circumstances. Religious freedom by its nature must include freedom FROM religion to maintain its integrity as a concept. We see efforts by Religious Right groups and the US Catholic bishops to take ...

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in Campaigns / Events / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments