holliswein's blog

The Violence Against Women's Act (VAWA) was set to expire next week - the same week that Christine Blasey Ford may testify before the Senate's Judiciary Committee regarding her sexual assault complaint against SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Millions of Jews across the world will gather with family and friends to celebrate Rosh Hashanah this weekend. As we reflect upon the year that has passed, we also look forward with hope and promise to the start of the new year.

As a Jewish community, we faced many challenges this year including BDS and a rise in anti-Semitism. Many of the other issues we care about were under attack as well such as reproductive health care, religious freedom, gun violence prevention, and immigration reform.

Students across the country are beginning their new school year. This is usually a time of great excitement. But today, concern over school safety is at an all-time high. 

Roughly one-third of today's parents fear for their child's safety in school, according to a poll by an educators' association. That's the highest proportion since 1998 when that number was only 12%. A majority of teens fear a shooting at their school. Last year there were nearly one school shooting a week.

In just 100 days, we have the chance to put the breaks on Trump's and Congress' extreme agenda that is hurting women, families, immigrants, freedom of speech and our entire country. Election day, November 6, is quickly approaching. This will be our first opportunity since Trump took office that we can finally exercise our political muscle.

This week we celebrated July 4th and the 54th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act while we wait for President Trump to announce his next Supreme Court nominee. These two events, nearly 188 years apart, are linked by the "unalienable Rights" of life, liberty and happiness. It is the pursuit and the protection of those rights that brings us to this pivotal moment in our nation's life - the next Supreme Court Justice.

We knew this day - Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement -  was coming. We have been waiting in fear. We don't know who his replacement will be, but we do know the nominee will be an extreme conservative committed to Donald Trump's anti-woman, anti-family and anti-immigration agenda.

Innocent, helpless children are being used for political gain by Donald Trump and the Republican party.

More than 2,000 children, as young as two-years-old, have been ripped from their parents at the border and held in detention camps. By July, that number could rise to 30,000 despite the GOP immigration "compromise" plans and Trump's executive order. There are no plans to reunite these children with family members.

Last Monday, JAC held its annual Power of Women Luncheon in Chicago. Nearly 400 women (and a few men) attended the event. The theme, SEE SOMETHING. SAY SOMETHING. DO SOMETHING was a call to action to end gun violence by voting and supporting candidates who will stand up to the NRA.

Fred Guttenberg and Parkland students, Alex Wind and Sofie Whitney, joined us for an emotional and inspiring afternoon. Their courage and resiliency empowers all of us to take action. They cannot change this country alone. They need our help.

As we inch towards the midterm elections in November, we cannot let early Democratic primary victories lull us into complacency. We still have a long way to go and still need to encourage more people to vote.

Primaries generally bring out the base, those voters who are more engaged and who are extremely partisan. Since primaries are not a contest between two candidates of different parties, the results are a more direct proxy for partisanship preference.

By the time today ends, 96 more people will die from gun violence, while hundreds more will be injured. This is not a one-time occurrence. This happens every day in America.

More children have been killed by guns since the Sandy Hook school shooting than U.S. soldiers in combat following 9/11. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center shows that 57 percent of U.S. teenagers are worried that a shooting could take place at their own school - and one in four are "very worried" about the chance.