THE LISTENING SESSION + THE TOWN HALL

The Listening Session in the White House. The father of Meadow Pollack was at the Listening Session with his two sons. He looked into the camera and said " I am angry. I am pissed. I had to take an elevator to get up to this room. There was a security guard in the elevator ! Where is the protection for our kids ? You have to fix this!" I never saw anyone so angry on TV except for Stillman Douglas high school student Emma Gonzales, who yelled at the top of her lungs, "...our elected officials are not doing their job. We say B.S." Yes ! There were a lot of angry parents in that room and the poor students, many of them crying over the loss of their friends. Raw emotion on TV - with our fearless leader holding onto his notes. Sadly this was a photo-op for the reality television show that is our government and the whole world knows it.

#NEVER AGAIN - GUNS

17 teenagers killed in their high school. Yikes ! When I went to high school the worst thing to be afraid of was the teachers. In Boston they yelled at us. I vaguely remember fire drills at the Robert Treat Pain School in Dorchester. I did not have to worry I might get shot...

Watching the students from Margery Stoneham Douglas high school speaking confidently, angrily, emotionally and articulately looking directly into the camera is both inspiring and uncomfortable. They are speaking the truth as only teenagers can do without a hidden agenda as politicians have. Watching the Florida legislature NOT vote for common sense gun laws last night in Tallahassee shows the yawning chasm between the NRA-bought politicians and the idealism of youth.

I do take heart when I see people in the streets marching, hearkening back to my generation demonstrating on campus and in the streets against the Vietnam War. It's the only way change occurs.

I never realized the state of florida is a "gun-shaped" state - I read that today. Yes it is and controlled by republican-led, pro-gun, pro-NRA politicians. Wouldn't it be great if the students succeeded in voting them out of office ? I wonder if the depth of their commitment extends into getting a majority of red-state Floridians to vote those career politicians out of office. Sea change.......

MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL  2.21.18

"Well done, Florida legislators. You just turned those students against The Establishment. What a mistake. Do you think the kids will now go away quietly since you flexed your procedural muscle? Doubt it.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article201257179.html#storylink=cpy

So welcome to 1968 and the war between the Vietnam protestors and the government. We were sending young people to die then, too, and they rebelled. Kids are now dying in school mass shootings, and they are about to rebel. The example can extend to the early 1960s, when black youths grew sick and tired of being second class citizens and pushed back and led America in to the Civil Rights Movement."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article201257179.html#storylink=cpy