DOTS DAY TO DAY

Threats seem to be everywhere nowadays, so I want to talk about threats in the political world, and some of their immediate and more lasting consequences. DJT's rhetoric, reflected both in his campaign rallies and his social media posts, seems to be becoming darker by the day, the closer we get to November 5th, 2024. I don't think that is an accident. I believe much of it is a planned strategic response. DJT has always been an attention seeker, hasn't he? He used to act out in class, and was finally sent off to military school by his father. Maybe Daddy wanted to avoid all that conflict? Maybe it was too scary for Mommy? Maybe Daddy wanted to help DJT evolve into a more likable and less volatile person? Less of a rule breaker and attention seeker? Sadly, I don't think any of this has worked. We're seeing aggression on the campaign trail and in social media posts, just as we saw, almost daily, during DJT's time in the White House. I call it threats. Victims of th

Not sure why I woke up with this on my mind today, but I probably shouldn't be too surprised. A woman's right to reproductive healthcare, including abortion care, is something extremely important to me, because it means a woman's right to decide what does or doesn't happen to her body, bodily autonomy--something, lets not forget, men have always had. I don't believe anyone has tried to control a man and prohibit a man from having a vasectomy, if he chooses to have one. Conversely, women, throughout the centuries, have often been prohibited from choosing and accessing safe reproductive healthcare, including abortion care, and often necessary abortion care in order to save their lives. This is nothing new. In the US, we've recently had at least two women die because the right to abortion care has been severely restricted or banned, outright, in several red states. Here's how the US took a huge backward lurch in protecting the rights of women, just in case any

On October 2, 2024, a redacted version of Special Counsel Jack Smith's brief in the Donald Trump election subversion case was partially unsealed, possibly breathing new life into the DOJ's case. A ruling by the US Supreme Court, earlier, determined that, now former President Donald Trump, could not be prosecuted for official actions taken by him while in office, giving him immunity from prosecution for those actions. As a result, the Special Counsel had to reconstruct the case, in light of the SCOTUS decision, and the brief mentioned here was filed. Without getting into the appellate process or evidence specifics, I want to comment on what I have learned about certain aspects of this brief and Jack Smith's arguments set forth therein. What follows is my own take on the subject and events, as I understand them, based on what I have read, and not on any personal connection or personal knowledge beyond that. I'm a concerned US citizen, and I am concerned about maintaining

Yesterday, I posted, on social media, about how I am reluctant to share with a friend of nearly five decades that I no longer identify as an evangelical Christian and have embraced Quakerism. The comments I received, in response to this, were mostly along the lines of ... if it were a true friendship, it wouldn't matter. On the surface, I agree with that statement, but it's a simplistic response, in my view. So, I wanted to delve more into this in a forum where I wasn't limited to a few sentences, and decided to address it here. I think I can illustrate this best in a life experience I had several years ago. A mother and her daughter and I worked in the same place. I liked them both, immediately, and as the years went by, we shared more of our personal lives, as one does when you get to know and trust one another. These women were also very nice to my life partner, and sought him out quite often when he came to pick me up from work, or joined me there on my lunch break. He

I finished reading "Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life" by Joshua Leifer. The author traces the decline of Jewish culture in America. I wanted to read this book to learn more about this and, perhaps, gain greater understanding of the Israeli occupation and continual killing and destruction in Gaza. If the subject interests you, I highly recommend reading this book. As I've read, I realized what I consider to be some distinct parallels between what is happening to the Palestinian people in the West Bank, and what is happening in the United States. Here are my thoughts. And, before reading any further, I don't claim to be a historian or a philosopher. I'm just someone concerned about ongoing political instability in the Middle East, especially concerning the treatment of Palestinians by Israel, and the rise of anti-democratic governing principles in the United States, all in the name of so-called morality, which, I

I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior forty-eight years ago. Since then, I have followed Jesus and have tried to live by the principles he set forth in Scripture and to do as he would have me do. Of course, I have been far from perfect at this, but each new day has given me an opportunity to renew my commitment to Christ. Through the years, I have been blessed to have people of several faiths    and spiritual viewpoints in my life, and I have people in my life with no belief in God, as well. I have never limited friendships to like-minded individuals because I love diversity of faith, thought, action and lifestyle. Like most of us, I've had some definite ups and downs in my spiritual walk, but thankfully, I've never experienced a major faith crisis or a period of time when I doubted the existence of God or Christ; and even though I didn't always agree completely with positions taken by some of my Christian brothers and sisters, I always prayed about issues and event