Pawprints From Space

In February I wrote about gun violence.  It's August. In the last seven days there have been four more mass shootings. Not to mention various outbreaks of gun violence in cities where not enough people were killed/wounded at once to earn the adjective "mass" to the event in question. When will enough truly be... enough? In February the US House passed legislation for background checks ( HB 8 The Bipartisan Background Check Act ). The bill passed 240-190 and had 232 co-sponsors. There are 3 related bills in play. Including the Senate version of HB 8, SR 42.  SR 42 the Background Check Expansion Act has been read twice and placed on the calendar for consideration ... in March. Where it has languished. Mitch McConnell the majority leader has refused to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.  The summary (which is identical to that of HB 8) states that the bill establishes new background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties (that is u...

It's been a year of change and upheaval since my last post. A year of uncertainty. A year of pain. With the decline and passing of my mother the world flipped inside out. The job I took in order to be able to care for her was not a good fit to begin with - it was a return to a place I had left over a decade before and it hadn't changed in that time. But it was a godsend and necessary at the time. It is no longer necessary. And so I will be returning to retail. To a Fortune 500 company that treated me well and appreciated my work ethic and skills. There is a stigma with working retail though. The assumption that people who work in retail are somehow unskilled, or even stupid. Considering the financial possibilities, the opportunities for advancement, and that assumption is ridiculous. I have two masters degrees. I have over 10 years experience in human resources and even more in communications. This company appreciates those credentials. When I was there (under unfortuna...