These say everything there is to say about a Trump Presidency. The illustrations are elegant in their approach.
Namaste
Barbara
In his 1963 abecederian picture book The Gashlycrumb Tinies, Edward Gorey recounted the increasingly gruesome deaths of 26 children. In this parody the US game designer Mike Selinker outlines an A to Z of similarly gruesome eventualities he expects will befall a world in which Trump is president – with each one illustrated by a favourite comic or fantasy artist.
‘Whilst listing all of the things that we would lose if Mr Trump ascended to Pennsylvania Avenue, I thought, “Why don’t people remember these things?”’ Selinker writes in the introduction. ‘And then I thought perhaps it was because they didn’t have a mnemonic to remember it by. Something catchy. Something horrifying. And so this book.’
8 in 10 Seek ‘Major’ Focus on Race as Most Say Relations Are Worsening (POLL)
By CHAD KIEWIET DE JONGE
A vast 83 percent of Americans say the next president should place an “especially major” focus on trying to improve race relations – which, following the Dallas police killings and high-profile shootings of blacks by police, majorities see as bad and getting worse.
Sixty-three percent in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll say race relations generally are bad and 55 percent say they’re worsening, sharply more negative views than just two months ago. Only a third say relations are good and just one in 10 say they’re getting better.
This translates into a broad desire for progress. Not only do 83 percent say the next president should put an especially major focus on trying to improve race relations, nearly half in this group also say it’s “extremely” important. Just 12 percent don’t want a major focus on the issue, and few of them feel strongly about it.
To the extent race relations influence the presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton may benefit: the public trusts her more than Donald Trump to handle the issue by 58 to 26 percent, with Clinton preferred by 89 percent of Democrats, 55 percent of independents and a quarter of Republicans. She also leads Trump by 66-21 percent on the issue among those who think the next president should focus heavily on race relations.
Racial Groups
Clinton-Trump gaps on race relations span racial groups in this poll, produced for ABC byLanger Research Associates. Though her advantage expands to 74-12 percent among nonwhites (a broadly Democratic group), Clinton also leads Trump on the issue by 15 points among whites, 50-35 percent. Among whites who think relations are deteriorating, though, Trump’s trust deficit with Clinton disappears.
Seventy-two percent of blacks, 65 percent of Hispanics and 63 percent of whites say race relations currently are bad. Half of blacks, and 55 and 56 percent of whites and Hispanics, respectively, also say they’re getting worse.
Blacks and Hispanics are 11 points more apt than whites to say the next president should put a major focus on the issue. But the big difference is in how many call this extremely important: Just 40 percent of whites who favor a major focus on race relations, vs. 67 and 64 percent of blacks and Hispanics, respectively.
Other Groups
Pessimism about race relations is higher among young adults, 73 percent, compared with 61 percent of those older than 29. Americans without a college degree are 10 points more likely than those with a college degree to think relations are poor and 14 points more likely to think the situation is getting worse. Both groups contain higher shares of minorities.
City dwellers are 10 points more likely than rural residents to view relations as generally poor, but the latter are 9 points more apt to think things are getting worse. And women are 8 points more likely than men to think relations are worsening.
Democrats and liberals both split on whether race relations are getting worse or merely staying the same. By contrast, majorities of independents and moderates – as well as about two in three Republicans, conservatives and evangelical white Protestants – think relations are declining.
In the largest political difference, four in 10 liberal Democrats think race relations are worsening (a plurality says they’re staying the same), compared with two-thirds of conservative Republicans.
That said, improving race relations is a bigger priority for Democrats and liberals; more than nine in 10 say the next president should be someone who puts a major focus on the issue, and among them, six in 10 say it’s extremely important. While three-quarters of Republicans also favor a major focus on race relations, only 35 percent say it’s extremely important.
Peace is what most of us want. Peace is what we need. One of the things we need to bring about peace is to end all racism. I didn’t used to think racism remained a real problem. I worked with people of color, volunteered with them and envied their ready-made tans. But as time has gone on I have realized that other Caucasian people felt differently. With the election of Obama and the re-election, I realized that I was different from most Caucasians that I knew. Now I am speaking up about race relations and I am sorry for all the innocent lives of color that have been lost. Black people have a right to worry about their children. So do Muslim parents, Asian parents and indigenous parents.
Bob Marley was right. There is One Family, One Love, and One World. If we destroy it, we are all responsible; if we heal it and ourselves we all get credit. May peace be the word you wake up to in the morning and the last word you think of before you go to sleep.
Oh God of all, at this time of our gradual awakening to the dangers we are imposing on our beautiful Earth, open the hearts and minds of all your children, that we may learn to nurture rather than destroy our planet. Amen.
—Lorraine R. Schmitz
Trees become more beautiful with the years, wizened, bent but not broken.
“Let there be peace, welfare and righteousness
in every part of the world.
Let confidence and friendship prevail
for the good of east and west
for the good of the needy south
for the good of all humanity.
Let the people inspire their leaders
helping them to seek peace by peaceful means
helping them and urging them
to build a better world
a world with a home for everybody
a world with food and work for everybody
a world with spiritual freedom
for everybody.
Let those who have the power of money
be motivated by selfless compassion.
Let money become a tool
for the good of mankind.
Let those who have power
deal respectfully with the resources of the planet.
Let them respect and maintain
the purity of the air, water, land and subsoil.
Let them co-operate to restore
the ecological soundness of Mother Earth.
Let trees grow up by the billions
around the world.
Let green life invade the deserts.
Let industry serve humanity
and produce waste that serves nature.
Let technology respect
the holiness of Mother Earth.
Let those who control the mass media
contribute to create mutual understanding
contribute to create optimism and confidence.
Let ordinary people
Meet by the millions across the borders.
Let them create a universal network of love and friendship.
Let billions of human beings
co-0perate to create a good future
for their children and grandchildren.
Let us survive
In peace and harmony with Mother Earth.”
—Hagen Hasselbalch
Because we, Americans are in an election cycle, we must consider all the things that a President will have influence over or control over. War or peace. Jobs or homelessness. Green spaces around our cities breathing air we desperately need or going outside with masks over our noses and mouths. This person will have a do it my way or the highway attitude or will exhibit compassion and gentleness for the peoples who are refugees around the world. This person will enforce the precepts that our Founding Fathers formed this “great experiment” upon or they will trod all over the rights and acts which our nation was founded upon. We will have free speech or we will become a totalitarian government. We will do as we are told or we will have another Civil War.
Whomever is elected will be watched. Not just by “We the people” but by history. History will tell the truth. It may not be what is taught in our schools in the next couple of generations but the truth is what history will demonstrate in the long haul. Fellow Americans, I ask only two things during this election cycle. First, get out and vote. It is a right and it is a responsibility. If your candidate is not still in the running, vote for whomever is going to be the best or do the least damage to America. You still have choices. I, myself, have voted for the other party when the candidate my party put forth wasn’t the best choice. Second, don’t be afraid to vote for the candidate who beats their competitor. To be blunt, if you are for Sanders, and Hillary is the nominee, don’t vote for Trump in your anger. If the FBI really had all the evidence against Hillary they say they have, she would have been arrested by now. She has not been. If you think money has bought her freedom, then surely money bought Trump his victories. Which candidate will save our trees, water, stop fracking, clean up the air, stop dumping waste into our rivers and lakes and into our oceans and seas. Do you know we are about to lose our Great Barrier Reef? It is true.
A recently released report revealed a heart wrenching discovery about Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies found that at least 93 percent of the Great Barrier Reef suffers from coral bleaching.
The bleaching phenomenon occurs when corals are stressed by high water temperatures or other causes. Severe bleaching could lead to the death of corals.
The task force surveyed 911 coral reefs by air and the accuracy of the researchers initial aerial surveys have been confirmed by scientific divers who are continuing to measure the impact of the bleaching. Dive teams have already discovered about 50 percent coral death.
“We have now flown over 911 individual reefs in a helicopter and light plane, to map out the extent and severity of bleaching along the full 2300 km length of the Great Barrier Reef. Of all the reefs we surveyed, only 7% (68 reefs) have escaped bleaching entirely. At the other end of the spectrum, between 60 and 100% of corals are severely bleached on 316 reefs, nearly all in the northern half of the Reef,” Professor Terry Hughes, head of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University said in a statement.
Hughes tweeted a map showing the results of the bleaching that hit the northern parts of the reef hardest:
See image of the Great Barrier Reef below:
Namaste,
Barbara
Our trees have stood over us, protecting us for hundreds of generations.
To have peace we also have to have equality for all peoples, nations, religions and cultures. We do need to address the racism which remains here in America and all over the world. Women’s and girls’ rights are being denied many places across the world. They are an invisible minority. Women are being beaten, terrorized, even executed. Many females are treated with contempt and violence.
We find that the violence against women is perpetuated by fellow citizens. There are laws to protect women but they are not always enforced. Often authorities look the other way. It is a woman after all.
Women are often denied opportunities for education and work. Women wanting a better life can’t protect themselves from violence and harm. They also can’t protect their children.
Leadership, by definition, means being out in front of your people when it is called for. It means standing up for your dignity and the dignity of others. It also means encouraging others to do the same.
Human rights mean that all people are treated like human beings. It means being able to stand up as a woman, a radical, religious, tribal or ethnic minority and being treated the same way as everyone else. Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.
We need to recognize the gains we have made as women as well as the gaps where women and girls can fall through. We then need to focus on the gaps and filling them logically. Social media has improved things somewhat. But we have 200,000 million fewer women with access to the internet than men who are online in the developing world.
“I have loved and been loved; all the rest is background music.” —Hilary Clinton
To everyone who has worked as an advocate or feminist, you can’t rest on your laurels. Never quit. Never stop working to make the world a better place for all of us to live and thrive. We have unfinished business and we must go forward until all human beings enjoy human rights and full equality.
Since the time of our founding fathers, we have had to work on equality and human rights for all. The founding fathers began our country as a great experiment. They had a dream and they created America from that dream. There were many people who predicted our demise as a nation. George Washington, the father of our country was criticized as being a mediocre surveyor with a bad set of wooden teeth.
People who have bet against America have found themselves to be surprised and dumbfounded. The one issue which caused much debate and angry words was, as it is now, equality between the races. The founding fathers finally agreed to disagree. They crafted America and left future generations to come to terms with the question of equality. This job fell upon the shoulders of Abraham Lincoln. He was assassinated and therefore his plans were not implemented. After the Civil War, there was no slavery but there also was not any equality except for a very few.
These days women are not equal. Black citizens and white citizens are not equal. Middle Eastern people are not equal since 9-11. Poverty has increased here in America as well as around the world. The future brings opportunities to learn our lessons and heed the call of history. We need to make human rights a priority. America needs to stand together firmly and united in pursuit of a more just, free and peaceful world.
“It ‘s supposed to be hard…The hard is what makes it great.” —Excerpted from A League of Their Own.
We need leaders who will lead in a way that will unite us all and renew the American Dream.
It is difficult to think about ending the strife and war in the entire world. But it is possible for each of us to live in the present moment every day. There are countries building up munitions and creating super weapons. It is difficult to handle all of this and believe in the goodness and love of people.
What we can’t do is to live in the past, no matter what happened then, nothing can make it better. The events of the past must remain there or you will be living in the hurt and pain and perhaps even looking for revenge. We must let go. We must walk away from the past and then it looses its power over us. Then we can make our lives be what we wish them to be. The future is a siren who calls us, but it never arrives. Its song is enticing but futile. What we can do is live in the moment and help others to live in the moment.
The present is the beginning of peace. All around the world are people who have lived under oppression, have witnessed horrors, lost parents to violence, survived malnutrition or lived in refugee camps where they know they really aren’t wanted. They have watched friends killed in cold blood or seen a bomb destroy their home and all that they owned. The photos, their toys, their food and their hopes and dreams.
It is in the present that we can create our happiness. Each single moment, we have the opportunity to show by our actions that you love others. That what they are experiencing at that moment, matters to you. That they are not alone and someone cares that they are struggling in that moment.
We all have the right to be happy and peaceful. We have been created for this and happiness and peace only comes when we are in love with God. When you do an act which brings happiness to another, you create peace within yourself. Peace and joy pours into our hearts and we have more to give to the next person we come in contact with as we go about our lives.
We must all understand that happiness and joy come to us and so does suffering. Facing the suffering is not ever easy. It can make you feel as if you were being torn apart. Have we done something to deserve suffering. I don’t believe so. I believe that if we never suffer, we can’t understand another’s pain. We can’t appreciate the joy, love, peace and happiness that comes with the suffering. When someone has not ever suffered, they are only experiencing part of life. We are here to live life to its fullest.
If I suffer, then I can understand another’s pain, hunger or fear. If I love them with all the love I have and then love them some more, then I will be filled with more love. The qualification is that love is given without expecting anything in return.
“Knowledge of yourself produces humility, and knowledge of God produces love.” —-Mother Teresa
It isn’t how much we do to help others, it is how much love accompanies our acts of assistance that really counts. If you give to a charity because you need a tax deduction, it won’t have the energy of your love. It will help but not in the same way. Perform acts of kindness with love and they will lead us to peace.
Women, this is the opportunity to protect our lives and the lives of several generations of young women coming up behind us. There was a time, in the late 1990’s, we thought we had made our point. We had made a difference and we had worked and marched and pushed and made America a better place for women.
Well, having participated in that era of pushing for Women’s Rights, I feel so sad that we are back again;back at the place where women are demeaned, pushed to a side, ignored, and passed over. The conservatives feel a need to control us and to undermine our lives and the lives of women all over the world.
November 6 th, we have the “Ability to Move Beyond Words.” We have been working to speak our truth, speak up for the rights of women and children. We have been pushing back against those who have started the new “War on Women.” Well, it is time, ladies, to take off the gloves and to remember as we fight for ourselves, we are fighting for the young ones. Society will decompose unless we work hard to stop this war.
The truth is, as women we can’t ever stop fighting against those who have no respect for women. There are many men, and fundamental religions who feel women need-must be controlled and subjected. They have never loved a woman, and are intimidated by strong assertive women. We can’t let that stop us or future generations. We can’t ease off, become less diligent because we are strong, independent, capable women and we are important too.
So ladies, on November 6th, you need to vote like your life depends on it because It does. We are at a crossroads here in America. We have to preserve what we have gained and we have to ensure the future for other women. Your ballot is the key to freedom. Our ballots are the answer to the War on Women. We must win the fight for ourselves and for women all over the world who are being victimized even as I sit here at my computer typing my words to you.
The best part of summer is the ability to just be. To be in the present moment. The past is gone. For better or worse, you never can get it back and you must let it go. This is not always easy for people to do. Letting go can be frightening. Often we don’t want to let the good memories fade, or sometimes, the pain of some times in our life doesn’t heal. It takes effort on our part to let go and trust that it will be all right. You don’t lose the memories and they actually become more golden with the passing of the years. The pain will diminish and your heart will heal. Divinity is always with us and we never walk alone. Divinity is within our souls so what we experience, it experiences.
The future is an enticing siren. It sings its song to us and we want to know what is coming. We want answers about love, finances, travel or a job perhaps. The siren sings and we ache to know what is coming. The future is like Tinkerbell. She flits here and there but when you reach out for her she is gone between your fingers. The future or the fairy disappears because as soon as you come close to grasping it, the future turns into the present.
The present moment of time is where we exist in the now. The beauty you are experiencing at this exact second is the present. The fragrance you catch on the wind, the dragonfly that glides across your field of vision. Each moment is a priceless gift for us to use and enjoy. Some choose to spend some of these precious moments in hatred or violence. Some choose to use them to add beauty, acceptance and inclusiveness to the world.
If each of us took the moments we are given in a twenty-four hour period and used them to make someone smile, to laugh with a child, to reach out a hand, or to acknowledge the amazing blessings each moment brings with it, we could begin to have the energy to change the world. So, I am trying this summer to fill my present with escapades of joy and happiness. So pass it on and by autumn we will be able to harvest bushels of goodness in our lives.
Mensen maken de samenleving en nemen daarin een positie in. Deze website geeft toegang tot een diversiteit aan artikelen die gaan over 'samenleven', belicht vanuit verschillende perspectieven. De artikelen hebben gemeen dat er gezocht wordt naar wat 'mensen bindt, in plaats van wat hen scheidt'.
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