Barbara☮️

Social worker/counselor/UVA grad and BIG UVA fan/resister

[The Gun Violence Archive @GunDeaths]

American gun violence data in 2023, as of July 6th:

–9,729 deaths
–19,187 injuries
–360 mass shootings
-27 mass murders
–143 children killed | 353 children injured
–780 teenagers killed | 2,122 teenagers injured
–585 defensive use incidents
–845 unintentional shootings

[Barbara☮️ @bhorton55]

@GunDeaths @Cruellaisdevine Horrifying

[Christian D. Menefee @CDMenefee]

NEW: We sued Texas officials over the new law that abolishes the elections administrator office in only Harris County and no other county.

We can’t allow legislators to target one of the most diverse counties in our state to disrupt our elections & undermine local officials.

[Robert Reich @RBReich]

If someone tells you there's nothing we can do about gun violence beyond thoughts and prayers, remind them:

— Gun laws in other countries have stopped mass shootings

— More guns don't make us safer

— A majority of Americans want gun reform

We don't have to live like this.

[Tish @tish________]

Ibram X. Kendi: This Is the Black Renaissance | TIME

⁦@DrIbram⁩ 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 this was an amazing piece. So sorry I’m so late reading it. I was journaling about the Black renaissance experience & started researching for more inspiration https://t.co/hs1zqpsSwr

[Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ @tribelaw]

Worth watching this Buttigieg response to a typical DeSantis distraction ⬇️👍🏽

[Fred Guttenberg @fred_guttenberg]

Just listened to a great interview with @MayorBMScott on @Morning_Joe. Thank you Mayor for everything you are doing following the gun violence this weekend, and thank you for speaking truth about why this violence exists and how to reduce it. I hope everyone listens to you.

[Angry Staffer @Angry_Staffer]

In light of SCOTUS’ recent bullshit, a reminder:

We have a choice in all this, and we get to make our voices heard next year. Stay pissed. Take the House back. Keep the Senate. Put Biden back in the White House, and we can fix this abhorrently broken institution.

[Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock @SenatorWarnock]

On the last day of Pride month, when we celebrate our progress towards creating a world where we *all* feel safe to be our authentic selves, SCOTUS took our country backwards.

To our LGBTQ+ neighbors: you belong, & we won't stop fighting against hate, discrimination & bigotry.

[Harry Sisson @harryjsisson]

Amazing. The Education Secretary just called out Republicans by name for their PPP loans, “Marjorie Taylor Greene had more than $180,000 forgiven. She represents 91,800 eligible borrowers who were turned down today”

This is EXACTLY how to call them out.

[Really American 🇺🇸 @ReallyAmerican1]

NEVER FORGET that Marjorie Taylor Greene had almost $200,000 in PPP loans forgiven.

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

Hey Brett Kavanaugh.

Want to talk about affirmative action and student loans?

Let’s examine how you got into Yale, shall we?

During your Senate testimony, you said “I got into Yale Law School. That’s the No. 1 law school in the country. I had no connections there. I got there by busting my tail in college.”

But, like much of your testimony, this wasn’t exactly true. 👇

You see, we found a copy of a 1928 Yale yearbook and it turns out your grandfather Everett Edward Kavanaugh also attended Yale as an undergraduate student.

So that makes you a legacy student a liar.

So to recap, you got into your grandfather’s alma mater, then went to the Law School.

That matters — because admission to an undergraduate institution can more than double a student’s chance of getting into that institution’s graduate schools.

In 2011, Yale said that up to 25 percent of its students could classified as legacy students.

Turns out, getting into college, especially Ivy League schools, is traditionally as much a matter of who you know as it is what you know.

AOC said it best, “If SCOTUS was serious about their ludicrous “colorblindness” claims, they would have abolished legacy admissions, aka affirmative action for the privileged.”

But of course you wouldn’t do that. It would mean you’d might have never gotten to the Supreme Court. It would have impacted the 70% of Harvard legacy students who are white - and harmed Harvard’s ability to rely on them as patrons.

So how about we also ban legacy admissions and see how people like you fare without the privilege, shall we?

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

Read Michelle Obama's full statement on the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision:

"Back in college, I was one of the few Black students on my campus, and I was proud of getting into such a respected school. I knew I'd worked hard for it. But still, I sometimes wondered if people thought I got there because of affirmative action. It was a shadow that students like me couldn’t shake, whether those doubts came from the outside or inside our own minds.

"But the fact is this: I belonged. And semester after semester, decade after decade, for more than half a century, countless students like me showed they belonged, too. It wasn't just the kids of color who benefitted, either. Every student who heard a perspective they might not have encountered, who had an assumption challenged, who had their minds and their hearts opened gained a lot as well. It wasn't perfect, but there's no doubt that it helped offer new ladders of opportunity for those who, throughout our history, have too often been denied a chance to show how fast they can climb.

"Of course, students on my campus and countless others across the country were — and continue to be — granted special consideration for admissions. Some have parents who graduated from the same school. Others have families who can afford coaches to help them run faster or hit a ball harder. Others go to high schools with lavish resources for tutors and extensive standardized test prep that help them score higher on college entrance exams. We don't usually question if those students belong. So often, we just accept that money, power, and privilege are perfectly justifiable forms of affirmative action, while kids growing up like I did are expected to compete when the ground is anything but level.

"So today, my heart breaks for any young person out there who's wondering what their future holds — and what kinds of chances will be open to them. And while I know the strength and grit that lies inside kids who have always had to sweat a little more to climb the same ladders, I hope and I pray that the rest of us are willing to sweat a little, too.

"Today is a reminder that we've got to do the work not just to enact policies that reflect our values of equity and fairness, but to truly make those values real in all of our schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods."

[The American Postal Workers Union - APWU @APWUnational]

The Postal Service is re-administering the Postal Pulse survey through July 27. The APWU urges you not to take it! Historically, management has attempted to use past survey results to limit and lower wages for postal workers. Read more: https://t.co/s9SAuJQJLJ

[Barbara☮️ @bhorton55]

@travisakers Sonny Jurgensen!

[Ibram X. Kendi @ibramxk]

This #PrideMonth, it is important to recognize non-binary and gender nonconforming people have been here from the beginning of the U.S. Here is a thread on one of the most influential such persons in early America. An abolitionist minister known as The Public Universal Friend. 1/

[Advocates for Trans Equality @TransEquality]

There’s a small group of extremists who are traveling around the country spreading lies and misinformation about trans people and our healthcare - and the courts are noticing.

Trans people deserve healthcare. 👇

[Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ @tribelaw]

This is a stress test that only Donald Trump and those who will follow him no matter what could possibly flunk:

Are you OK with stealing America’s most closely guarded military secrets, refusing to return them, and sharing them at will for personal gain or gratification?