Politics Plus

Kids Have Rights Too
President Obama Announces Executive Actions To Reduce Gun Violence

http://thinkprogress.org/progress-report/stop-gun-violence/

Grief at the Heart of a Moral Movement (hanky warning)
A personal meditation for 2016.
By Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

“In a violent and fragmented society, sometimes the grief is so deep that I cannot help responding as a father as well as a Christian pastor and a political leader. All of the children are our children, whether it is a baby shot amid a senseless crime in Chapel Hill or a child shot in two seconds by a trigger-happy cop in Cleveland.”

http://www.thenation.com/article/grief-at-the-heart-of-a-moral-movement/

These stunning photos will remind you why trees are dope
Trees are no joke.
http://www.upworthy.com/these-stunning-photos-will-remind-you-why-trees-are-dope?c=upw1&u=6ffb12f2d750fff1c628f4ed4366938bb526f1d5

Cherry blossoms. Photo by Cjbvii/Wikimedia Commons.

The Blueprint For Our Corporate Constitution (8 min. video from longer video-blue language warning)
“Ever heard of Lewis Powell? The Powell memo? The activist Chamber of Commerce and corporate America? Well, strap yourselves in – we’re gonna dig through low life scum to find an early blueprint of our current corporate constitution.”

http://therealnews.com/t2/component/hwdvideoshare/viewvideo/80095/best-of-the-web/the-blueprint-for-our-corporate-constitution

UN chief calls on Iran, Saudi Arabia to avoid further exacerbating tensions after executions
“United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has phoned the Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran to urge both countries to avoid actions that could further exacerbate tensions after the recent Saudi executions, the attack on the Saudi embassy in Iran, and the rupture in diplomatic ties.”

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52936

New Year’s Resolutions: Actually Make America Great in 2016 (3 min. video)
"Donald Trump says we should make America great again … so let's actually do it in the New Year."

http://therealnews.com/t2/component/hwdvideoshare/viewvideo/80085/political-humor/new-years-resolutions-actually-make-america-great-in-2016

In politics it is said, that when not fueled by hope there is a vacuum for fear to fill. Since artists turn to the muses, Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia, Ourania and Calliope we are exploring what they can offer us for inspiration to have the hope fueling politics.

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” Robert Kennedy

Today we’ll start with Terpsichore (dance):
http://www.upworthy.com/a-dancing-guy-caught-on-camera-picking-up-litter-reminds-us-that-we-can-do-more-too?c=upw1&u=6ffb12f2d750fff1c628f4ed4366938bb526f1d5

Does he embody the spirit Kennedy guided us towards?

An example of rhetorical analysis Calliope might claim:
http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/12/election-and-the-death-of-white-male-power.html

After that, do you welcome a dose of comedy from Thalia (video)?
http://therealnews.com/t2/component/hwdvideoshare/viewvideo/80034

Did that inspire new hope as the name suggested?

And let us end with Polymnia (mimicry):
http://www.dumage.com/10-examples-of-animal-mimicry/

Do such examples of adaptation for survival engender hope?

And thank you dear reader for joining me on this journey of discovery and quest for hope!

Once upon a midnight weary
Congress let their eyes get bleary
As they kept working though tired
To reauthorize important acts before they expired…

Here is an excellent analysis of one long past due (8 years) from Marian Wright Edelman:

The Education Inequality Struggle

http://cdf.childrensdefense.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=45707&em_id=45008.0

clipboard with school check list

So often stories of significance that will leave long shadows are virtually ignored in the press when quotable quotes of overreaction to other events are taking place.  We are in that kind of time and thus here are some tidbits impacting mostly marginalized people for your perusal and comments.

To break the silence about Gitmo:
“We have come to stand with you”
Human Rights Activists Travel to Guantánamo, Cuba
http://ccrjustice.org/home/blog/2015/11/26/we-have-come-stand-you

Who else is standing with them? 
 

Staying focused on the sphere of US influence and Latin America:
Opposition Landslide in Venezuela – Maduro Accepts Results
President Maduro accepts results, says counter-revolution has won; Opposition parties might win super-majority in National Assembly that could lead to removal of Maduro
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=15237

Does this sound like history repeating itself?
 

Moving closer to home: These Maps Show Where Rents Are Going Up and Incomes Are Going Down
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/12/census-data-rents-incomes-recession

Is anyone proposing a solution to both parts of this problem?
 

Switching to people without a home: The Palestinians Fleeing Syria Are Among the Most Vulnerable Refugees
Their special legal status leaves them stateless, even after decades of exile, and without the same rights as other refugees.
http://www.thenation.com/article/the-palestinians-fleeing-syria-are-among-the-most-vulnerable-refugees/
 

What can be done to help?
 

Switching to some very vulnerable folks back here in the US: Dollar General Takes Its Case Against Indigenous Sovereignty to the Supreme Court
Will Indian nations lose one of the remaining paths for bringing justice to those who commit wrongs on their land?

http://www.thenation.com/article/dollar-general-takes-its-case-against-indigenous-sovereignty-to-the-supreme-court/

Will this be collateral damage from the war on women or was it always intended?