Critical Race Theory or “CRT is a graduate-level framework examining how the legacy of slavery & segregation in America is embedded in its legal systems & policies; it has become the source of a political flashpoint across the country. The debate over its potential role in school-curricula has roiled school districts & state legislatures nationwide”, reported Amna Nawaz from PBS, “Why Americans are so divided over teaching CRT”. It’s a legal-construct, taught in law school, NOT high school! Diversity-training is NOT teaching CRT! That said, progressives want to learn & explore our nation’s real history, and desire that factual history be taught to our offspring, which has me pondering history lessons I learned: Christopher Columbus, the daring Italian explorer, who discovered the Americas, (funded by Spain’s royalty to find new lands to plunder & colonize) was NOT was the first to discover the Americas. Then we were taught feel-good stories of how the Native Americans helped pilgrims survive starving during their first few winters; we were mainly spared the harsh realities of learning the full-truth about the Indian-holocaust (even in high school). ‘How the West was Won’, the varnished-version was excused by the ‘necessity’ of Manifest Destiny. “Remember the Alamo”, those ‘brave-fighters’ were presented as heroes, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, etc, when in reality they were essentially duped into fighting/dying for monied-interests, pushing the expansion of slavery into the ‘free’ Texas territory, which belonged to Mexico.

We were taught in the North who the real heroes of the Civil War were, but decades after that war, the South erected statues of Confederate icons & even slavers, and enacted laws, structures, systems to keep Blacks oppressed, poor & at the mercy of Whites’ legislation & ‘compassion’. Fast-forward to 2021. None are alive today that were responsible for the horrors of slavery. Let’s face it, everyone had to be somewhere, and our ancestors were influenced by the people & events that surrounded them. Washington & Jefferson were born into wealthy, slave-owning families; that’s the realities they were raised in, yet they sought to create a better America. They evolved, for the good, in their lifetime. How much are we willing to evolve on racial-issues?

Progressive proponents seek justice, equity & truth in America & want our youth taught these values; opponents say, “Don’t teach our kids guilt” over their ancestors’ actions! Our children learn about the Jewish-Holocaust in middle-school, and some of those children are of German-descent. We must face many hard truths on our life-journeys.

Trish Forsyth Voss

The Sun moves through Cancer, and Jupiter enters at the beginning of Pisces, accentuating the emotions attributable to the water signs, as the ongoing square between Saturn & Uranus holds certain tensions. These energies can churn up discordant & anxious feelings on an inner level and a general sense of chaos surrounding us. The sign of Cancer is all about home, childhood and nurturing; we can connect with those urgings by nurturing ourselves & others around us. A new moon on July 10, brings up childhood memories, the good & not so good, and gives us the opportunity to release the negative & emphasize the positive. Now is the time to let go of all emotional baggage, forgive those who harmed us, and strengthen our abilities to nurture ourselves & our loved ones. Jupiter in Pisces expands our spiritual sense of home, and “brings us the opportunity to focus on what enables us to feel spiritually at peace”. We can reassess our spiritual growth, faith, beliefs & commitment to Life. Give yourself the gift of recreating some features of your happiest memories; have that favorite treat, listen to that music that takes you back to a pleasant time, revisit a familiar place that gives you a sense of belonging.

“The conjunction of Venus & Mars in Leo this month will remind us of the importance of love.” Those who are in troubled relationships at this time might feel quite frustrated, as these cosmic energies seek to remind us that “this is about how much love we have in our hearts and how much love we give out to the world through our daily interactions with others as well as our work or creativity. Love is the highest vibrational frequency, and it determines where we end up; so as long as there is love in our hearts, we will be carried through to a better place.” Jupiter in Pisces reminds us that “we are all one and that kindness & compassion will see us through the most difficult times”. We can hold that message as Jupiter heads back into Aquarius (the sign of detachment) on July 29. “Ultimately we need to remember that the ascension process is in full sway, and that while things appear to be in the throes of chaos, people are actually deciding (often unconsciously or at a higher level) where, what and with whom they belong. Whatever is happening is a necessary part of the process; it is all leading us to where we need to be. Destruction also plays its part in the process of re-creation. We should trust that there is a divine plan at work.” And we can help ourselves best by being vigilant in “keeping our vibrations high” through taking good care of our ourselves, being kind & helpful, positive & patient, and asking our angels to assist us, everyday, in all ways.

The above information was quoted or paraphrased from: Donna Taylor, PREDICTIONS, magazine article, July 2021, Sedona Journal of Emergence, with added comments from Trish Forsyth Voss. ****** The information below was quoted or paraphrased from: Mary Elizabeth Hoffman, “Wisdom, Truth & Timing”, magazine article, July 2021, Sedona Journal of Emergence with added commentary from Trish Forsyth Voss.

“During July 2021, three of the four points of avatar aligning with wisdom, truth & timing are activated by one inner and two outer fast-moving planets. Saturn activating the Aquarian point of avatar, signaling the necessity of vibrational harmony with all life on Earth and throughout the cosmos, aligning self, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, actions, interrelationships with self, others & the environment; Mars & Venus activating the Leo point of avatar, activating the cosmic truth with loving passion, power & conviction in ways that are caring, healing & empowering for all beings in all times, dimensions, countries, and cultures; Uranus conjuncts the Taurus point of avatar, activating change by freewill choice for what is in the wisest & best interests of all beings & reaping the consequences of those freewill actions & choices.” It serves us this month to “look within and find where limitations are created and projected onto others that cause exclusion & generate dark fear energies of chaos outside cosmic balanced-reciprocity. Global visioning, cooperation, communication, and nurturing are required for rebuilding The New Earth as the true Garden of Eden.”

A new moon in Cancer, conjuncts Kronos, on July 9, “amplifying the call to face all inner demons instead of projecting them out to the world and causing others to suffer. With Mars & Venus, still conjunct in Leo, honesty & truth with the self about balances & imbalances of internal masculine & feminine energies that have been acted out or projected onto others with blame or drama/trauma now require owning, healing & forgiving.” In this new moon energy, we can go within, in gratitude, seeking clarity & opportunities for healing & greater harmony with self & others.

“On July 23, there is the first of two consecutive full moons in Aquarius, with the moon in wide conjunction to Saturn in Aquarius, and the Sun conjunct Vulcanus. This harmonizing full moon signals a time of discovering new ways to self-nurture, support, and bring about a sense of inner balanced reciprocity. With Uranus still conjunct the Taurus point of avatar, change by choice is done with ease, flow and wisdom. When resisted, change is sudden & disruptive and appears to be instigated by outside forces. In truth, the soul-heart unconsciously draws these changes. All is freewill choice; there are consequences to every action & choice. How one interacts with self and those around them will determine ease of flow or conflicts.” Now is the time to be mindful of our thinking, to reexamine our beliefs & how we act & react. We must be the change we seek in our world, for the collective, for the masses, as well as for us individually!

Former President Trump, after losing the 2020 election, attempted to subvert our democracy, by trying to use the power of our federal govt to overturn a free & fair election in America. Trump’s campaign & White House officials desperately tried to pressure DOJ officials to pursue Trump’s bogus election-fraud claims by sending DOJ a brief to file with Scotus, in the hopes of having Electoral College votes declared invalid in six states and forcing new elections in PA, GA, MI, WI, AZ & NV, hoping to overturn Biden’s victory. Some Justice Department officials acted on the brief, passing it to subordinates.

The House Oversight Committee, 6/15/21, released hundreds of pages of emails that were sent between 12/14/20 through 1/4/21, and will spawn yet another investigation into Donald Trump’s vast corruption & his frantic attempts to push The Big Lie, his false claims of voter-fraud, over social-media, and through pressuring DOJ. Had his efforts succeeded, they would have been seen as an “extraordinary use of powers of the presidency to overturn the will of the people”. The 54-page brief was full of conspiracy theories and rambling talking-points, and called on SCOTUS to invalidate six states’ certifications. Trump had announced mid-December that DOJ Atty Gen William Barr was resigning & Jeffrey Rosen would be Acting AG, and the next day Trump began furiously tweeting, “BIG NEWS – Dominion voting machines are a disaster all over the country & changed the results of the election”.

The pressure-campaign peaked on 1/1/21, five days before the Capitol riot & Congress’ affirmation of certified electors. There’s a 1/4/21 email from Byung J. Pak, U.S Atty from Northern district of Georgia, who resigned shortly before his scheduled retirement date, but after Washington Post reported on the phone call in which Trump repeatedly pressured GA, Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to “find enough votes to flip the state’s election results” in his favor. Oversight Committee-chair, Congresswoman D-NY, Carolyn Maloney said, “Trump tried to corrupt our nation’s chief law-enforcement agency in a brazen attempt to overturn an election that he lost”. More evidence of The Donald’s failed coup d’etat. No doubt, this evidence will be turned over to the existing Grand Jury that is now determining if there is sufficient criminality to pursue a RICO case against Donald Trump & associates.

The Arizona republican audit-handlers have given the ballots to a QAnon group; will they declare the votes decertified? Social-media sites are looking to de-platform “Q”, which is now tagged by the FBI, as a domestic-terrorist-threat to U.S.

Trish Forsyth Voss

A Congressional Oversight Committee met on 6/15/21, with Pentagon officials & FBI Director Christopher Wray testifying; Wray spoke on the near 500 arrests of Jan 6, Trump-based, failed-coup Insurrectionists, and FBI is pursuing hundreds more suspects. Wray has declared that domestic-violent-extremists present the greatest concern to the American public stating, “this is one of the most far-reaching and extensive investigations in the bureau’s history”. Lawmakers pressed Director Wray & military commanders on why their defensive stance was not better equipped since “the system was blinking red, as the threats were everywhere on social media”. It was asserted the media site, Parler, directed more than 50 threats of violence to the FBI saying, “Don’t be surprised if we take the Capitol building”, and “Trump needs to cause chaos to enact the Insurrection Act”. Michael Flynn vehemently promoted that same idea.

Lawmakers questioned top security officials on allegations that “national guard stood down for 5 hours on Jan 6, despite 12 urgent requests as violence escalated”. Pentagon officials denied they advised against deploying D.C. national guard, contradicting what Major Gen Wm Walker testified to in March. Walker previously told lawmakers that Lt. Gen Walter Piatt & Gen Charles Flynn, (younger brother of former national security adviser Michael Flynn) said it would be “bad optics” to send troops to the Capitol. The Pentagon made false statements in January about the role of Charles Flynn, who was deputy chief of staff for Army operations, plans & training. Flynn claims he “assumed the order to deploy troops was imminent”. Flynn stated, “my duty that day was to facilitate the planning & execution of Army Secretary, Ryan McCarthy’s decisions & guidance”. Major Piatt said Ryan McCarthy was directing Walker on when to deploy from the D.C. Armory, based on receiving approval from then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller; the decision didn’t get relayed to Walker until after 5 pm, Jan 6. The Pentagon had submitted Flynn’s nomination for promotion to four star general to the U.S. Senate in November; he was confirmed in December 2020, after Trump lost the election. Charles Flynn has received another promotion; he’s now in command of U.S. Army Pacific, an important post “to take to the next level …. in the challenge of a rising China”.

Pardoned-criminal Michael Flynn, at a Memorial day political rally in Texas, endorsed a Myanmar-style coup here in America. Remember when Donald Trump fired some Pentagon officials and stacked others in place? That was in case he needed to execute a coup.

Trish Forsyth Voss

Cyberhackers are escalating their criminal-activities; U.S. companies and organizations have faced several within the past couple months. The Steamship Authority of Massachusetts, the largest ferry-service operator to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket was hit by a ransomware attack on 6/1/21, that hampered some operations. Colonial Pipeline, which supplies around 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel supply, suffered a ransomware attack, which crippled fuel delivery for several days in May. “Colonial transports roughly 2.5 million barrels per day of gasoline & other fuels from refineries in the Gulf Coast to consumers in the mid-Atlantic & southeastern U.S, including serving major U.S. airports”, affecting prices of air-travel. Media reported that Colonial Pipeline paid $5.5 million ransom to the hackers.

JSB USA plants, our nation’s largest beef supplier, as well as pork & poultry, was hit & forced to halt production after their May cyber-hack. “China hacked NYC’s MTA in April, but failed bid to get control of its subway trains”, per Daily-Mail. In December 2020, hackers breached several U.S. govt agencies & companies. In October 2020, hackers targeted multiple state & local govt networks, stealing data. And several hospitals were threatened by cyber-terrorists.

These cyberattacks cause disruptions for millions of people & cost millions of dollars for businesses, with higher prices passed on to consumers. These ransom-groups gain access to private networks, encrypt files using software, and often steal data; they demand & extort huge sums of money from corporations to NOT publish stolen content. U.S. intel ascribes most of these actions to Russian-based criminal groups; ransomware gangs flourishing throughout Europe, present a national security crisis for America, and a major foreign policy agenda. When President Biden has his summit with Vladimir Putin on June 16, he intends to take a hard line, relaying a stern & clear warning to Putin against providing shelter to the hackers.

Russia has been a safe-haven for these cyber-terrorists, as they assist Putin’s foreign policy objectives. We need to stop respecting Russia’s sovereignty; Putin needs strong consequences, tough push-back, not weak sanctions levied. Russia has tried to interfere with our electoral systems, our manufacturing, transportation, oil & other energy grids. What is our responsibility in Cybersecurity, to secure, protect & harden our online systems, our critical infrastructure? We need regulatory requirements or controls in place, possibly even taking digital currencies offline. Check out: CISA, “Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is the nation’s risk advisor, working with partners to defend against today’s threats and collaborating to build more secure & resilient infrastructure for the future.”

Trish Forsyth Voss

Trump won the 2016 presidential election, as his campaign-team colluded with Russian hackers & online bot-creators to influence low-info voters. Those facts were revealed in the Mueller Report, but DOJ Wm Barr swept those under the carpet & refused to allow Trump to be investigated further. Traitors & grifters were hired to manage Trump’s campaign. Trump ran his campaign & subsequent one-term administration like a mob-boss, just like he’s run his corrupt businesses. He appointed crooked, inept, unqualified people to his Cabinet & federal agencies. Many of his campaign staff, White House hires, agency-appointees ended up fired, disgraced, resigned in disgust; some received prison sentences, some were pardoned. Trump, who took on Nixon’s banner: ‘Law & Order President’, was anything but, (crooked & devious, just like “Tricky Dick Nixon”). All the president’s men fell short of any sense of dignity!

A Grand Jury has now convened in a Trump Organization, RICO probe, brought by Manhattan D.A, Cy Vance, looking into corroborated tax, insurance & bank fraud committed by Trump & his CFO Allen Weisselberg over years. Other criminal cases are pending. It’s going to be really interesting to see how many people get indicted, now that Trump is out of office, and William Barr is no longer heading DOJ.

So many parallels between the one-term, twice-impeached, disgraced Trump, and the only president who had resigned from office in disrepute, to avoid being impeached (in 1974). Richard M. Nixon, who used dirty tricks during his presidential campaigns, used the services of Roger Stone, a young operative, whom Nixon claimed was the “best dirty-trickster money could buy”. Nixon claimed to be a Law & Order president, of course he wasn’t; he also hated peaceful protesters & set his special-forces against them.

“All the President’s Men”, a movie about Nixon, as told by 1971 reporters, Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein, played by Robert Redford & Dustin Hoffman, is still a movie worth seeing. A grand jury was later impaneled to investigate a tax-fraud case & potential conviction against Nixon; which would have gone to trial, had Nixon not been pardoned by his Vice President, Gerald Ford. Nixon’s first-term VP, Spiro Agnew, was also a big crook! Rachel Maddow has a podcast called, “Bagman”, about Spiro Agnew. All the president’s horses & all the president’s men couldn’t put Nixon back together again. There were 69 people indicted and 48 people convicted, after Nixon left office, many top Nixon-administration officials. I well remember watching Nixon on television, hearing him stating emphatically, “I am NOT a crook!”

Trish Forsyth Voss

“June begins with Mercury retrograde”, a three-week phase, which will be stronger than most such retrogrades, as Mercury is at home in Gemini’s (& Virgo’s) sign. “Mercury is the trickster”, and we may see some of our plans being tripped-up or slowed-down; “we could experience glitches in communication or problems with travel, transport, technical items and machinery, such as computers, phones, cars, and so on, there might be a message hidden in the annoyance”. Our Higher Selves, our inner wisdom, is always trying to communicate to us the things we need to hear; remember to ‘tune-in’ and listen, especially when situations go awry. During Mercury retrogrades, we need to slow-down, connect on an inner level, and pay greater attention to soul-growth issues and soulful connection. We can use “the time to reconnect with our inner selves — the artist, the inner-child, the forgotten hermit, the budding chef, the sensual lover, the closet-adventurer, or another neglected archetype”.

“The Mercury retrograde transit is joined by a solar eclipse on June 10 — also in Gemini, so this is a big month for the Twins” and anyone with Gemini prominent in their charts. “Everyone can benefit from the eclipse by focusing on what needs to go and setting intentions for new beginnings”; an auspicious time for starting over. “Because Mercury closely conjuncts the eclipse and Neptune squares both, we need to be very careful before jumping to conclusions or making hasty decisions, because we might not be seeing the situation clearly. It’s better to do nothing under this eclipse, especially if you’re feeling confused or uncertain.” We can help ourselves by focusing on resolving existing issues & on what “needs our immediate attention”. Neptune’s influences incline us toward escapist or delusional thinking, which we might not discern in ourselves, but “Mercury is known to shine light on what needs to be truthfully expressed.” What needs to come to light, will come to light. “A square between Saturn and Uranus peaks around the time of the eclipse, and could create situations in which we feel the uncomfortable ‘tension of opposites’. Many of us will be dealing with internal or external conflicts, for which we might be inclined to blame on outside circumstances, but we need to remember that the outer mirrors the inner.” So, we must take responsibility for our own emotional states, and for changing whatever needs to be changed within us and in our lives. June is a good month for inspiration, “which could be a key to our progress”, and for allowing “inspiration to guide our actions and choices”. Identify what inspires you, trust the universe & follow that inspiration. “We will see a tension of opposites being played out in the world through further clashes between & among the authorities and the people. This is a rebellious combination of energies in which Uranus seeks to overthrow the oppressive structures of Saturn, so prepare for more turbulence out there, and remember that out of chaos comes opportunity. We could see the square between Uranus & Saturn as a time of awakening, a time when people rise up and demand not just their freedoms, but also a better way of living. Saturn-Uranus aspects always reveal where we need to experience change in our lives, where we have allowed things to become stagnant, yet we resist and fear making the necessary changes.” Now is the time for much needed change, for releasing those limited beliefs that have kept us in fear and bondage; a time for authenticity, for courage, for throwing off the shackles, for embracing a new way of living & being in the world, and for allowing others to be who who they are or who they want to become. “Something within us is waiting to be born, but to make it out into the new day, we must first be willing to let go of all that we have known. Change is now unavoidable.” Break free & be true to your authentic self. Trust the universe, and be in allowance for positive changes for us all, our world & our planet!

The above information was quoted or paraphrased from: Donna Taylor, “PREDICTIONS”, magazine article, June 2021, Sedona Journal of Emergence, with added comments by Trish Forsyth Voss. ***** The information below is quoted or paraphrased from: Mary Elizabeth Hoffman, “Evaluate Your Purpose”, magazine article, June 2021, Sedona Journal of Emergence, with added commentary by Trish Forsyth Voss.

The energies of the first three weeks of June, facilitate the “forward motion and resolution, healing of extreme responses to either/or, black/white, good/bad, dark/light, masculine/feminine, and right/wrong, which changes attitudes of polar perception to multitudes of possibilities more attuned to the cosmic truth of balanced reciprocity”. This is awe-inspiring news! June begins with Mercury retrograde in Gemini, the effects of which will be felt through July 8, 2021. “During this time, all will experience challenges with illusions, deceptions, flat-out lies, balancing the head with the heart, and making peace within the self. There will be conflicting attitudes, actions and beliefs about even the most common things compared to what is happening in the present moment. Saturn in Aquarius on the Aquarian point of avatar is a time for discovering what supports, nurtures & harmonizes our body, mind, spirit, and emotions, moment to moment in daily life. With Uranus on the Taurus point of avatar-portals, there are opportunities, miracles, and magic present between times, spaces and dimensions. Thus, all that fear empowers might be dismissed from this space-time continuum, and the energies of light, life, love, and harmony will be invited and invoked to take its place. More than any other time in history, humans are being given the opportunity to exercise their free will fully and freely in all aspects of life, love and being-ness.” What is our purpose for being on the planet at this time? We are being asked to ponder this riddle now, and to choose authentically. On June 20, “the Moon will be on the Scorpio point of avatar, asking each member of the human kingdom to dive deep within the psyche to ferret out all fear, separation and prejudice throughout all lifetimes and timelines. Mars conjuncts the Leo point of avatar on July 3 & 4, signaling huge destiny activations for all people in all times, spaces and dimensions.” A dynamic portal window between June 20 and July 4, “brings into alignment all individual, cultural, governmental, political, and corporate karma for resolution, release and transmutation. This is a time to purge fear. This fourteen-day, double-octave sound/vibration harmonization-activation will permeate everything from subatomic particles to the largest of galaxies throughout the cosmos. The potential for physical earth changes, seeming accidents, or devastating weather and other natural disasters is high in areas where the consciousness (peoples or planet) is harboring or perpetuating fear, anger, blame or resentment in large numbers. More than any other time on Earth, it is important to be aware of and in alignment with people of like mind, heart and spirit, whose joy of life and living is fed with unconditional love, truth, trust and generosity.”

“During June 2021, Pluto in Capricorn opposes Venus in Cancer, deepening the desire for choosing between the cosmic-balanced reciprocity of the soul-heart journey or the ego-head’s beliefs of lack, fear, lust, greed, privilege, and separation.” The heart of Venus in Cancer is about nurturing, empowering and encouraging good, simple joys of life. “There is a new moon eclipse in Gemini conjunct Mercury on June 10, 2021. This energy squares Neptune in Pisces trine Mars in Cancer, signaling potential mind/heart/actions of confusion. This creates challenges with communication, expression, and response to situations and circumstances in the present moment.”

“A full moon in early Capricorn on June 24, with a grand fire trine between Mars in Leo, Chiron in Aries, and the Moon’s south node in Sagittarius, denoting an opportunity to release and heal all present and prior lifetime and timeline power struggles, dishonesty, deception, delusion, and facilitates forgiveness of self and others. Uranus is exactly conjunct the Taurus point of avatar on June 27, opening huge interdimensional portals for the release, departure, invocation and invitation of that which facilitates the harmonious, balanced reciprocity with creation, individually & collectively.” This is an auspicious time for connecting with our Higher-selves, wisdom-teachers, guides, and guardian-angels, to seek clarity & purpose. This is a crucial time for choosing, releasing and healing, and answering for ourselves: WHY ARE WE are on planet Earth at this time & WHAT DO WE choose to do with our time here. This is such a time as the great statesman, Winston Churchill, once inspiringly urged, “Take up the mantle of CHANGE, for this is YOUR time!”

As the circus continues in Maricopa Co, AZ, another one starts in Fulton Co, GA. Small tents, big distractions, lots of ‘elephant-pucky’. Voting machines in Arizona & Pennsylvania, now compromised, must be junked, at huge expense to those taxpayers. The poison is spreading! Identical efforts to UNCOUNT ballots are cropping-up around the nation. Liz Cheney warned us, “Anyone spreading ‘The Big Lie’ is turning their back on the rule-of-law and poisoning our democratic system”. Creating doubt & promoting grift is their intention, some folks pocketing large profits while they target voting rights in different states. It’s a long clown-car of ludicrous characters, much like the “Children of the Corn”, Gaetz/Greene Road Show. Scary! “Dangerous people doing real damage to our democracy.”

Biden seeking to gain bipartisan approval for his American Jobs Plan/Infrastructure bill, lowered the price tag from $2.25 to $1.7 trillion, yet the obstructionists rejected it still; doesn’t appear there will soon be any civic-minded awakening among Republicans. Rep. Pramila Jayapal likened it to “Waiting for Godot”, farcical. Mitch McConnell already stated that he is “100 percent committed to blocking Biden’s agenda”. If it’s not about protecting corporate elites, ensuring right-winger’s continued donor-payoffs, count the them out! They don’t want to hear about crumbling bridges; they like walls, not bridges! “This is a once-in-a-generation, bold, ambitious plan to rebuild America”, also lowering child poverty, lowering cost of RX drugs, changing tax-rates for billionaires. “This is a moral & good economic vision.” We don’t need piecemeal; we need a 3rd Reconstruction, investing in America, and seeing there’s no political will on the right, Dems will need to go it alone, to implement any positive changes for our country, including reforming law-enforcement to be more aligned with humane-treatment of our own citizenry.

The House passed a bill to create an independent commission to investigate the Capitol, Jan 6, insurrection, with 35 GOP votes; next it goes to the Senate; we’ll see if we have 10 Republican patriots to back the bill. If not, that will be proof-positive, we need to eliminate the filibuster and get STUFF done! Believe it or not, Republicans recently voted against an Anti-Asian-American Hate bill, although attacks have increased over the last year against Asian-Americans, other minorities, including Jewish-Americans. Twenty reactionary States Attorneys General sent Biden a letter opposing ‘Critical Race Theory’ curriculum being taught in schools, says it distorts history. They’d like to rewrite slavery. Read: “Why Conservatives want to Cancel the 1619 Project”, The Atlantic.

Trish Forsyth Voss

Liz Cheney was ousted, by a ‘voice-vote’, from her leadership-position among House Republicans in the Grand Old Party of Greedy Obstructionist-Prevaricators, reflecting the slow-motion demise of the Republican party, whose small tent has no room for Truth, as they defend the Big Lie, that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald J. Trump through voter-fraud. They’re defending the necessity of the “Cyber-Ninjas firm”, recounting the twice-recounted ballots in Arizona; that firm diligently searching for evidence of bamboo on any ballots, which would prove (to the far-right cultists) that those ballots were shipped in from China. Liz Cheney voted to impeach Trump back in January 2021, in connection with his incitement of the deadly riot at the US Capitol. She is standing on principle, insisting the truth be told against the core of the current Republican-doctrine, that of Trump’s election-fantasy. It’s a low bar for heroism these days, coming out of the rightwing. She said, “We cant embrace the notion the election is stolen. It’s a poison in the bloodstream of our democracy. The GOP is at a turning point; History is watching us”. Kevin McCarthy said the Republicans were about policy, but what are their proposed policies? Obstruction is not a policy, it’s a procedure! Lies, deception, division are their only currencies & they’re spending them freely. Republicans seek to replace Cheney with Trump-backed, NY Rep. Elise Stefanik, though her conservative scorecards are far to the left of Cheney’s. Trump’s political operation is engaged in recruiting a primary-challenger for Cheney in Wyoming in 2022, as challengers line up for the opportunity. Cheney said, “We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin & protect our freedom & our democratic process”.

Republicans love to claim they are the ‘Party of Lincoln’, but they are really a Party of Turncoats, Liars, Thieves, Perverts, Clowns, Dissemblers, and Obstructionists. Abraham Lincoln was the first elected president of the newly-formed, fiercely-liberal Republican Party in 1860. The party began as an abolitionist party, fought a civil-war over it, proclaimed emancipation for the enslaved, and intended civil-rights be the basic platform of Reconstruction. Ulysses Grant, in 1861, said “there are only 2 parties: the Patriots & the Traitors”. Much like today! Today’s Republican party is about fomenting Insurrection, cancelling civil-rights, voting rights, Constitutionally-enshrined liberties, and obstructing all progress for America. If Abe Lincoln were alive today, he’d be a flaming-liberal, as he was in 1860, and he’d be extremely ashamed of the degenerated Republican Party!

Trish Forsyth Voss

“Major American cities saw a 33% increase in homicides in 2020, as a pandemic swept across the country”; and a Pew Research poll shows that fewer Americans believe crime is up in their own communities. Property crime is typically more common than violent crime, yet aggravated assaults, including racially-driven attacks, are up over the last couple years. Larceny/theft leads the property crimes, with burglary, and motor-vehicle theft numbers following; aggravated assaults & domestic-violence lead the violent crimes, above robbery, rape, murder/manslaughter. Crime rates in America had decreased between 1993 and 2019, but the rates have increased sharply for all forms of crime in the last two years. Experts cite possible reasons for the increases to: a “bad economy, greater distrust in police, leading to more unchecked violence, huge increases in gun purchases in the last year, boredom & social displacement, physical-distancing leading people to cause more trouble”. Though those could be factors in why crime rates are up, it doesn’t feel like it gets to the root of the problems. Substance-abuse reflects a soul-affliction that hurts the users and everyone around them. Depression, feelings of helplessness against the pandemic & other life-changing issues, anger, hostility, unemployment, poverty, trauma, heartbreak factor in. Being abused, experiencing physical & sexual-trauma & heartbreak at a tender age, sometimes sets us on alternate paths. Research finds that access to healthcare, physical, mental & emotional reduces crime, according to the Brookings Institute. Counseling, especially for younger offenders, coming out of troubled-home environments can be very helpful in reducing or deterring crime. Social Disorganization Theory, Anomie Theory, Labeling Theory & Social Process Theories might help explain some of these societal problems.

If you take the local paper, you can see for yourselves that in our small community, crime of all types have been on the rise. Gun- violence, domestic-violence, murders, assaults, thefts, drugs; we have it all. The pandemic & political differences seem to have brought out the worst in many folks. Assaults of all kinds have risen dramatically; it’s actually rather shocking and dismaying. Watching the news yesterday, I learned that “bad behavior on airplanes is now at a sky-high”, with passengers refusing to wear masks, assaulting crew-members and other passengers, breaking into verbal & physical fights, excessive-drinking; one passenger recently tried to open an emergency-door, during a flight! Airlines are fighting back, with arrests, $35,000 fines, and some unruly passengers may receive lifetime bans on flying their airlines. Our society is fraying, and American carnage has increased.

Trish Forsyth Voss