Opinion

In a shameful moment for U.S. history, an accused war criminal addressed Congress on July 24. 

This week's "Everybody Knows" show talks about our pervasive gun culture and songs that reflect it. 

Fridays at 11pm on WGRN 91.9FM and streaming at wgrn.org

Mondays at 2pm on WCRS 92.7 and 98.3FM and streaming at wcrsfm.og

Archived on the Free Press Network at https://youtu.be/ZhhkaUjFNpk

Andra grew up in a South Carolina fundamentalist community but somehow came away to give us a powerful ground-up view of the forces trying to make America Puritan again.

DR. NANCY NIPARKO, our resident neurologist, wonders about the psychology behind this increasingly powerful fascist movement.

ERIC LAZARUS, LYNN FEINERMAN, DR. RUTH STRAUSS, JOHN STEINER, DIANA ARTEMIS get into the nitty gritty of what the far right is really saying.

Voter Suppression in Ohio is explained by NANCY LARSON in deep detail, especially when it comes to Ohio’s disenfranchisement czar Frank LaRose.

Nancy is joined from the Buckeye State by STEVE CARUSO who explains the cyber-now rages over the right to vote.

WENDI LEDERMAN reports from Florida about how the DeSantis disenfranchisement campaign is destroying what’s left of democracy in the Sunshine State.

MARY STONEWALL-BUTLER volunteers her service to help anyone working to protect the vote.

We then hear from long-time pro-democracy organizer LORI GRACE warns us of the likelihood of violence in the upcoming election.

Targeting a school during a war could be justified or, at least, argued to have been a mistake. But striking over 120 schools, killing and wounding thousands of civilians sheltered inside, can only be intentional and horrific war crimes. 

 Between October 7 and July 18, Israel has done precisely that, targeting with total impunity, United Nations infrastructure in the besieged Gaza Strip. 

In the morning, thank you, thank you

In the evening, thank you, thank you

In the middle of the day, thank you, thank you

In the deep dark night, thank you, thank you

Yeah, I’ll second that. The words are from the Sara Thomsen song “Rhapsody of Rest,” but more specifically, they were sung by my sister a few days ago at – can you believe? – the third annual Bob’s Rhubarb Lounge event, a mélange of poetry and music, stained glass and vulnerability.

Let me prance and jump around like a four-year-old for a moment. This happens at my house. I participate in it – I read poetry and add to the mix. But so many people participate in making it happen that I feel myself pushed beyond my own ego, beyond my sense of singularity. As a writer, I am embedded in the belief that I work alone. And I do work alone; we all do, to some extent. And some people become the ones who get singled out as cultural bastions, as though that’s the primary point: to be celebrated, to become famous individuals.

Antonio Gramsci was not a professional philosopher. His intellect was refreshingly situated within an inherent bias towards the common people, the 'subaltern' classes, particularly the working class. 

 He argued that all people are essentially intellectuals, in the sense that all people possess the intellectual faculties for rational thinking and deduction, though “not all men have in society the function of intellectuals”.

 Thus, intellectualism should not exist for its own sake, but as a direct response to the collective needs of society. 

The Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, ending the right to abortion that had existed since 1973.

Nina Totenberg and Sarah McCammon review the new law for NPR (https://npr.org/2022/06/24/1102305878/supreme-court-abortion-roe-v-wade-decision-overturn). Here are excerpts and comments from their analysis.

“The decision, most of which was leaked in early May [2022], means that abortion rights will be rolled back in nearly half of the states immediately, with more restrictions likely to follow. For all practical purposes, abortion will not be available in large swaths of the country. The decision may well mean too that the court itself, as well as the abortion question, will become a focal point in the upcoming fall elections and in the fall and thereafter.”