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Making it Up as They Go

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The Hollidaysburg, PA school district voted to appeal an arbitrator’s decision. They want to overturn a decision to discipline/fire a teacher who has not broken any rules. The initial process took over a year and over $10,000 and they want to do it again because the decision doesn’t make them happy. This board that was elected on fiscal transparency and responsibility is doing the very opposite. They say this isn’t political or about the teacher’s personal life, but it is very clearly political. How do they plan to cover these costs? If the meeting last night was any indication, board members seem happy to take away funding from the district’s mental health spending. They seem to want to cut funding even though there is a waiting list for students to be seen with a school counselor. Also, keep in mind that we like to blame everything on mental health, which I don’t disagree with, and then cut funding for mental health. My bigger issue is that there was no rule broken by Ms. Stouffer. S
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The Church

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It is easy to blame one denomination or group for all of the problems that have come from the church, but it is honestly all of them. The more reports and research that come out show that abuse in churches is a widespread epidemic. Between the churches that have actively harmed people and the churches that defend those who do, many people no longer feel like they are safe at any church. Churchgoers who post on social media or outright tell people that they just don't have the relationship with God that they should or they just haven't found the right church are causing even more harm. Church abuse and sexual abuse are treated much the same... blame the victim or not believe the victim because it hasn't ever happened to you personally. It is also similar in the respect that many victims do not report either because they know the ridicule they will be subjected to and the disbelief. Add to this the number of "Christians" that have sold themselves out to a person who
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Angry Mom

  I attended a tea party meeting Monday night to speak out against the real issues our kids are facing. I expected to be surrounded by many people with very different opinions and beliefs, but what I wasn’t expecting was to hear them talking about how masks and vaccines are still two of the challenges we’re facing. As a mom of two daughters in school, I’m tired of listening to groups claiming to care about children but doing nothing about the real problems our children are facing. The number one killer of our children is guns. Not books, not drag queens, but guns. Republicans are choosing to literally let our children die on this hill and continue watching them be murdered in schools across our country because you are more concerned with believing that your child will decide they are gay or trans and not do anything about the gun violence that is a real threat. Teachers are not indoctrinating your children. Teachers are trying to keep our children alive and hopefully help them learn an
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The Evangelical Church

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                 The evangelical church is the downfall of America. While Christianity itself is on the decline, we have adopted too many of the “values” and “standards” of the American evangelical church. We’ve allowed too many laws and court decisions to be based on what evangelicals want. So many people were scared of a country run under Sharia law, but evangelical law is not much better.             Evangelicals have always used the Bible to mistreat and hate women and marginalized communities. Women have long been viewed as the “weaker vessel” and not allowed positions of authority and in some cases, not even allowed to speak in churches. Girls are taught, from a very young age, that they must remain pure for their future spouses or they’ll be damaged goods that no man could want. The hatred and violence towards drag queens and the LGBTQ community also directly stems from teachings of many churches. In many states, a rapist has more rights than the person they rape and men often
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The Good Guys with Guns

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  POV: Concealed weapons license holder with multiple guns in my home. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. I am emotionally just spent and there are not words adequate for what is going on. We are still in the midst of a pandemic that some still refuse to believe is true. Some still refuse to get vaccinated and/or wear a mask. On top of that, we are still allowing our children to be murdered at school.      I am appalled, but not even a little surprised, by the “pro-life” and “pro-family” party blaming absolutely everything and anything except the weapon used. The only other weapon, besides a gun, that is effective in mass casualties would be a bomb. Arguments of “it’s not the gun, it’s the person” would be much more convincing and effective if they were actually followed by actions to address the person behind the gun. According to Statista.com, 86 of the 127 guns used in mass shootings between 1982 and 2022 were legally obtained. Another 24 were undetermined. There is a cl
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Abortion Story

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  Trigger Warnings: Abortion, child molestation, sexual assault, and rape I grew up in southern Baptist churches. I absolutely swore I would never be “that girl” that put myself in a position to have an abortion. The church taught that girls are supposed to be pure and remain a virgin until they are married. Women are also supposed to never deny their husband sex, under basically any circumstance, and that has led to many churches allowing husbands to rape their wives. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall boys being led to believe they would be damaged goods if they didn’t save themselves. To be honest though, this is how American society treats women. Serial killers have frequently targeted prostitutes because it’s well known that most people see them as “less than” and second-class citizens. We teach that girls have to dress a certain way or they’ll be viewed as sluts and possibly worse… entice a boy. We don’t teach boys that they have to respect girls. We don’t teach girls that
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Even at its best, life is hard

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     I think most people can say that 2020 was quite the year. I am hoping that everyone was able to find more good than bad, but honestly, it was a crap show that never stopped. 2021 was the promise of "normalcy" returning, right? 2021 has been just as insane for me personally, but also in general. We're still in the midst of a pandemic, though, thanks to science, we have an end in sight. We're still struggling with politics on all sides.       For me personally, I decided, after years of wanting to, to finally apply for grad school and start. It was "perfect timing" since both of my girls would be in school and we wouldn't be paying for daycare. My company offered tuition reimbursement, so I would be able to take 3-4 classes a year and only have to pay for one myself. Cut to my company now deciding that they're no longer going to offer tuition reimbursement... in the middle of my first class. You can now only potentially get reimbursed if a degree
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