vlyons
vlyons's Journal60th Van Cliburn piano competition begins June 2 in Ft Worth
This is one of the premiere piano competitions in the world. It will b e livestreamed for free.
For more details, see
https://cliburn.org/2022-webcast/
on cultivating hope
This quote from HH the Karmapa struck a chord with me. It's easy to fall into hopelessness and then fall even further into indifference.
Finding our nobility of heart ~ HH the 17th Karmapa
https://justdharma.com/61u0z
"I have many hopes for the world, but I try not to have any expectations. Whether I can actually fulfill my aspirations or not, I wish to let them shape me and guide my actions in the world. Focusing on achieving results can make us too attached to our goals. Our dreams do not necessarily have to be fulfilled in order for us to be happy. Nurturing hopes is meaningful in and of itself. It is worth working toward them, regardless of the outcome. When we make this shift away from results, we will find greater courage to act on our aspirations for the world. We will find our nobility of heart."
– 17th Karmapa
from the book "The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out"
The real law enforcement disgrace
So the Uvalde LEOs were afraid to go against a guy armed with an AR15 assault rifle and a shitload of ammo. And rightfully so. They may have been cowardly, but they aren't stupid. None of them wanted to be first in the door to die.
LEOs for years have known how terribly lethal are these assault rifles. The real disgrace is that they haven't called for their complete ban for civilians. But that too is cowardly. Gosh to do so would make them -- ya know -- look bad. Which I guess to them is more intolerable than how they look now after all the carnage that's being laid at their feet.
It's all about selling guns
it's all about selling guns. Guns are durable products. They don't wear out or spoil like shoes and milk. Once you buy a gun; it doesn't rot or wear out, needing to be replaced. Ah, but gun manufacturers need to stay in business and increase sales. So after the market is saturated with hunting shot guns and rifles, and everyone already has a pistol on their nightstand, guN manufacturers still need to make sales. I know, lets create a market for civilians to buy assault rifles. And we'll create a need for them by scaring people that there's a menace coming their way. Better to take your assault weapon with you when you go to the 7-11 to get some beer. But you'll be protected in case one of those scarey Moslems or a couple of big black guys come in the store.
Let's be clear about this. The gun lobby exists to sell guns. So it bribes politicians to resist creating laws to restrict or regulate gun sales. Corrupt politicians take gun lobby money to buy advertising and run campaigns to stay in power. They are not there to serve the people. They are there to serve corporate interests -- be it guns, Exxon, big pharma, etc.
But DUers know all this.
They're changing the narrative to
how incompetent the cops were for not going in right away. It's all their fault. That way they don't have to talk about why it's legal for a teenager to buy an assault weapon.
and there will be more
Since 1998. And there will be more. It's just who we are now.
Thurston High School.
Columbine High School.
Heritage High School.
Deming Middle School.
Fort Gibson Middle School.
Buell Elementary School.
Lake Worth Middle School.
University of Arkansas.
Junipero Serra High School.
Santana High School.
Bishop Neumann High School.
Pacific Lutheran University.
Granite Hills High School.
Lew Wallace High School.
Martin Luther King, Jr. High School.
Appalachian School of Law.
Washington High School.
Conception Abbey.
Benjamin Tasker Middle School.
University of Arizona.
Lincoln High School.
John McDonogh High School.
Red Lion Area Junior High School.
Case Western Reserve University.
Rocori High School.
Ballou High School.
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Bowen High School.
Red Lake Senior High School.
Harlan Community Academy High School.
Campbell County High School.
Milwee Middle School.
Roseburg High School.
Pine Middle School.
Essex Elementary School.
Duquesne University.
Platte Canyon High School.
Weston High School.
West Nickel Mines School.
Joplin Memorial Middle School.
Henry Foss High School.
Compton Centennial High School.
Virginia Tech.
Success Tech Academy.
Miami Carol City Senior High School.
Hamilton High School.
Louisiana Technical College.
Mitchell High School.
E.O. Green Junior High School.
Northern Illinois University.
Lakota Middle School.
Knoxville Central High School.
Willoughby South High School.
Henry Ford High School.
University of Central Arkansas.
Dillard High School.
Dunbar High School.
Hampton University.
Harvard College.
Larose-Cut Off Middle School.
International Studies Academy.
Skyline College.
Discovery Middle School.
University of Alabama.
DeKalb School.
Deer Creek Middle School.
Ohio State University.
Mumford High School.
University of Texas.
Kelly Elementary School.
Marinette High School.
Aurora Central High School.
Millard South High School.
Martinsville West Middle School.
Worthing High School.
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Highlands Intermediate School.
Cape Fear High School.
Chardon High School.
Episcopal School of Jacksonville.
Oikos University.
Hamilton High School.
Perry Hall School.
Normal Community High School.
University of South Alabama.
Banner Academy South.
University of Southern California.
Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Apostolic Revival Center Christian School.
Taft Union High School.
Osborn High School.
Stevens Institute of Business and Arts.
Hazard Community and Technical College.
Chicago State University.
Lone Star College-North.
Cesar Chavez High School.
Price Middle School.
University of Central Florida.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School.
Ronald E. McNair Discovery Academy.
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Agape Christian Academy.
Sparks Middle School.
North Carolina A&T State University.
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Hillhouse High School.
Berrendo Middle School.
Purdue University.
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Los Angeles Valley College.
Charles F. Brush High School.
University of Southern California.
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Academy of Knowledge Preschool.
Benjamin Banneker High School.
D. H. Conley High School.
East English Village Preparatory Academy.
Paine College.
Georgia Gwinnett College.
John F. Kennedy High School.
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Reynolds High School.
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Albemarle High School.
Fern Creek Traditional High School.
Langston Hughes High School.
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Florida State University.
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Frederick High School.
Tenaya Middle School.
Bethune-Cookman University.
Pershing Elementary School.
Wayne Community College.
J.B. Martin Middle School.
Southwestern Classical Academy.
Savannah State University.
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Umpqua Community College.
Northern Arizona University.
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Winston-Salem State University.
Mojave High School.
Lawrence Central High School.
Franklin High School.
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University of California-Los Angeles.
Jeremiah Burke High School.
Alpine High School.
Townville Elementary School.
Vigor High School.
Linden McKinley STEM Academy.
June Jordan High School for Equity.
Union Middle School.
Mueller Park Junior High School.
West Liberty-Salem High School.
University of Washington.
King City High School.
North Park Elementary School.
North Lake College.
Freeman High School.
Mattoon High School.
Rancho Tehama Elementary School.
Aztec High School.
Wake Forest University.
Italy High School.
NET Charter High School.
Marshall County High School.
Sal Castro Middle School.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
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Huffman High School
Frederick Douglass High School
Forest High School
Highland High School
Dixon High School
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Noblesville West Middle School
University of North Carolina Charlotte
STEM School Highlands Ranch
Edgewood High School
Palm Beach Central High School
Providence Career & Technical Academy
Fairley High School (school bus)
Canyon Springs High School
Dennis Intermediate School
Florida International University
Central Elementary School
Cascade Middle School
Davidson High School
Prairie View A & M University
Altascocita High School
Central Academy of Excellence
Cleveland High School
Robert E. Lee High School
Cheyenne South High School
Grambling State University
Blountsville Elementary School
Holmes County, Mississippi (school bus)
Prescott High School
College of the Mainland
Wynbrooke Elementary School
UNC Charlotte
Riverview Florida (school bus)
Second Chance High School
Carman-Ainsworth High School
Williwaw Elementary School
Monroe Clark Middle School
Central Catholic High School
Jeanette High School
Eastern Hills High School
DeAnza High School
Ridgway High School
Reginald F. Lewis High School
Saugus High School
Pleasantville High School
Waukesha South High School
Oshkosh High School
Catholic Academy of New Haven
Bellaire High School
North Crowley High School
McAuliffe Elementary School
South Oak Cliff High School
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Sonora High School
Western Illinois University
Oxford High School
Robb Elementary School
Why do we allow gun massacres?
Because gun manufacturers run the NRA, which BRIBES politicians with obscene amounts of "campaign donations." That is the primary reason. Those politicians, in turn, generate bullshit rationalizations about 2nd amendment "gun rights." Bullshit because the 2nd amendment is about well-regulated state militias bearing arms, not individuals. Regulated, as in states pass laws and regulations about who and when militias can bear and use arms.
Obviously the root of the problem is the greed of gun manufacturers. After that the problem is our inability to address campaign finance reform.
So if a human zygote is a person,
can it be insured like other children can be insured? And can parents take a child tax credit for it?
Religion in the Handmaid's Tale
As I wrote in a previous post, I'm wading thru the TV version of the Handmaid's Tale. Let me state up front that I am a long time student of Buddhism. There is no creator god in Buddhism.
I know that Handmaid's Tale is fiction, but good grief, it so parallels what we see in real life. Margaret Atwood has said that she combed thru pages and pages of newspapers and found examples in real life somewhere of everything she depicts in her book. So there's that.
But what strikes me as so horrendous in this people in Gilead quote the old testament at every turn. Old testament verses are used to justify every act of cruelty, slavery, and oppression of women. Men who are not the patrician elites are oppressed too.
There is never a quote or reference to the New Testament. No do unto others, no blessed are the peacemakers, no don't throw the first stone, no feed and care for the poor, no good samaritans. Just a never ending succession of vengefully cruel and barbaric punishments for infractions large and small.
Did today's RW Christo-Fascists read this book as a prescription and guide book?
This TV series has affected me deeply. Very difficult to watch, but I'm committed to seeing every bit of it. Make no mistake, the RW Christo-Fascists in our midst want to take over and impose their dystopian vision on us.
Oh lord! I'm watching the Handmaid's Tale TV series.
I read the book years ago. But good grief, this female dystopian view of what can happen when a Christo-Fascist cult takes over society is frightening! So many parallels to what we see today. An underlying theme is: we didn't pay attention. The RW nutjobs were there all along, saying women should give up careers and stay home to raise babies. Demonizing LGBT as gender traitors. Clitorectomies for lesbians to remove the "little problem." Organizing to overthrow the gov by a coup. It was there all along, and we just didn't pay attention. If you haven't done so already, read the book or watch the TV series.
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