News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
There really is such a thing called Blue Christmas. It is an Advent season church service held on Dec. 21 as it is more often than not the Winter Solstice which is the longest night of the year. It honors people who have lost loved ones in that year.
Using GAB, Where Twitter Refugees Go — Twitter permanently banned accounts, Dec. 18, of those it deemed to be practicing hate speech. Nobody likes bigots but Twitter’s action looked suspiciously like a purge of those dissenting from the politics and aesthetics of those of the Twitter bosses.
While our account as of this writing is in good standing we have been spending our time on GAB, a website dedicated to open discourse and free speech.
Powerful forces are calling GAB a hate site because of this principle.
Oh yes, there is hate on that site. We have found full-blown Nazis, and misogynists. We have found Christian-hating atheists and other assorted bigots.
On the other hand, we have also found out-spoken Zionists and Muslims. We have found fans of notorious homosexual Milo Yiannopoulos’ Dangerous.com; along with just generally nice people posting Bible verses and wishing all a Merry Christmas.
The only prohibitions on GAB concern posting private information, threats including terrorism, and illegal pornography.
Free-speech sites don’t have a great track record. They invariably seem to fall to trolling and devolve to petty bickering. GAB has wrinkles, though, that give us hope for its success. It is very easy to “mute” posters — i.e. personally ban them — along with words one might find offensive. It is ad free and hopes to make a profit by charging those wishing options like identity verification or access to the looming service of GABTV, a $5.99 monthly subscription.
We wish it well and encourage all to check it out. It can be found here.
Winter 2017 Starts Now — Today, Dec. 21, is 2016’s winter solstice which is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight during the whole year.
If this website’s clock is properly synched it is 11:28 a.m.. EST. and that means winter has started.
The word solstice comes from the Latin words for “sun” and “to stand still.” As per the Old Farmer’s Almanac: In the Northern Hemisphere, as summer advances to winter, the points on the horizon where the Sun rises and sets advance southward each day; the high point in the Sun’s daily path across the sky, which occurs at local noon, also moves southward each day.
At the winter solstice, the Sun’s path has reached its southernmost position. The next day, the path will advance northward. However, a few days before and after the winter solstice, the change is so slight that the Sun’s path seems to stay the same, or stand still. The Sun is directly overhead at “high-noon” on Winter Solstice at the latitude called the Tropic of Capricorn.
Paycheck Protection Vote Advanced Cause
By Jennifer Stefano
Last week’s paycheck protection vote was not disappointing or a defeat. It was a victory! And a significant one at that!
Let me explain, lest you think a government union leader hijacked Commonwealth Foundation’s email.
The government unions paid 82 lobbyists to live in the Capitol for the last three weeks—and the vote on paycheck protection not only got out of committee but got to a full floor vote AND came within 12 (12!!!!) votes of ending this immoral, unethical and unfair privilege.
Another thing: House Leadership lived up to its name. It is no easy feat to bring up a vote when your party is in power and you could lose. It takes a strong leader to have the willingness to advance a reform as significant as paycheck protection. Good for them!
Paycheck protection is ON THE AGENDA. The House is not a “safe space” for the unions. It’s territory we can advance essential policies and it’s thanks to your work.
We must always remember who and what we fight for—the people who need our voices the most—we cannot spend a moment feeling bad!
To paraphrase one of my greatest heroes, General George S. Patton: It’s not about how high we climb, it’s about how high we bounce back.
#BOOM
P.S. Want to hear something else exciting that happened this month? CF President & CEO Charles Mitchell was named as one of City & State PA’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars. You can read his profile here. What an honor! We are so happy that readers around the state can see what we already know to be true about our fearless leader. Congratulations, Charles!
Ms. Stefano is vice president of Commonwealth Foundation.
