Boycott NRA, Never Again, Ban Assault Weapons

     My husband and I are 73 years young. We are enthusiastic gun owners, sporting clay shooters and hunters of deer, small game, pheasants, ducks and geese. Between sporting clays and hunting, we shoot for 8 months of the year. We own more than a dozen guns including rifles, shotguns and handguns. We only shoot what we like to eat and we eat everything we shoot (except the clay birds - too damn tough)! Three freezers are essential - and we share our bounty with kids and grandkids.
     While we have never been NRA members, we recognize that the organization does some good stuff - fire arm safety for kids, shooting ranges, etc. However, the recent high school mass shooting on February 14, 2018 in Parkland, Florida, was the last straw! Too many "thoughts and prayers," too many times and the NRA blocks all action on gun control! So I tweeted #BoycottNRA and in two days it went viral!
     No true sportsman or woman needs an AR 15, a bump stock or any other assault weapon or gun that uses high capacity magazines. They are weapons of war and have only one purpose - to kill and maim as many people as fast as possible! We need to get these weapons off our streets, out of our churches, theaters, night clubs, schools, concerts, shopping malls, etc. Folks who want to shoot these weapons should go to licensed shooting ranges or join the army!
     We support the boycott on the NRA until the organization is willing to compromise on limiting private access to assault weapons. The NRA has consistently blocked all efforts to pass sensible gun legislation that the majority of Americans support. It has used its resources to intimidate any who oppose their agenda. The organization's influence has been disproportionate to its membership because elected officials have allowed it to be so. That has to stop. The NRA kills compromise! Boycott the NRA!

The Good Cops Need to Speak Up!

What has happened recently to black men in Baltimore, New York City, Ferguson, ETC. has to stop! That kind of racist and immoral police behavior has been going on for far too long in poor neighborhoods, behind closed doors and inside locked vans.  I refuse to believe black teens and black men have to fear all cops.  I believe the majority of the police forces are good men and women doing a very difficult and dangerous job.

However, good cops are being demoralized by the media treatment following these incidents.  That will continue unless they speak up!  The only way to stop these horrific incidents and restore public trust in the police forces is if the good cops take a stand!  POLICE YOURSELVES! Drop the blue wall of silence, forget about omertà. What's right is not always popular and what's popular is not always right.  All is takes for the evil to prevail is for the good cops to say nothing!

Re-Segregated Schools - For Shame!

Recent national reports indicate that many schools across the country, most particularly in the south, are more segregated today than they were when Brown v. Board of Education was decided in 1954. How we forget our history! It's also due in large part to the school choice movement. Many of the choices, including charters, open enrollment, and various form of vouchers were creative ways to get around integration requirements. I warned about this in the book MYTHS OF EDUCATIONAL CHOICE in 1992 - but I forgot to warn about the consequences of forgetting our history. Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it - something like that!!

Government Shutdown - What Hypocrisy!

Republican Speaker Boehner announced tonight, just minutes before the deadline for a federal government shutdown, that a deal had been reached. He said that they (Republicans & Tea Partiers) had fought to cut government spending. Therein lies the total hypocrisy! The news all day long was about Planned Parenthood and abortion, not budget and spending. Senator Kyle said that abortion was 90% of the work of Planned Parenthood. That's not even close to accurate! FYI, Planned Parenthood does cancer screening, women's health, and birth control - which ironically reduces the number of abortions. The amount they wanted cut from Planned Parenthood - that held up the deal and threatened to keep pay from military families - is a tiny, insignificant part of the budget. The Republicans have been all about political and social issues, not the budget. Watch what they do, not what they say!

Wonder where their budget concerns were when we went into Iraq? And Bush pushed tax cuts with two wars ongoing?? Wonder what Iraq has cost us anyway? Wonder what the cost has been of taking the focus away from Afghanistan in 2003? Wonder why all the GOP noise about budget and spending ignores the costs of the wars started under GOP administrations?

Class Action Essential for Walmart

Most women - hell, most people of any protected class - cannot afford to challenge their employer individually. Even when they try, most drop out of the impossibly long, complicated, demeaning process long before any resolution for or against. We almost lost our house before winning the first federal lawsuit on job discrimination and then simply could not afford to appeal a bad summary judgment decision on the second lawsuit on discrimination and retaliation. There will be no justice for the 1.5 million Walmart women if there is not class action status. Any doubts, read the book PLAINTIFF BLUES, which describes just how difficult challenging can be for an individual.

Retaliation Rising!

The number of retaliation claims skyrocketed 55 percent between 2000 and 2009, from 21,613 to 33,613 claims, respectively, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 2010, for the first time ever, retaliation under all statutes (36,258) surpassed race (35,890) as the most frequently filed charge, according to the EEOC. Retaliation claims currently account for 36 percent of all EEOC charges--the highest percent yet. Simply put, the number of claims have risen because the amount of retaliation is rising.

Why is this? BECAUSE RETALIATION WORKS! The problem with the laws against job discrimination is that they all require that the victim stand up and file a complaint. That makes the victim vulnerable to retaliation. As the Supreme Court finally acknowledged in Burlington Northern v Costas in 2006, there are a myriad of ways an employer can intimidate and retaliate against employees. Once this happens to a complaining employee in the workplace, all other employees run for cover. It has a "chilling effect" on the willingness of others to complain or cooperate in any investigation.

WARNING - RETALIATION WORKS!