The War On Women Is Real. Maybe It's Time For Men To Retreat.

     Let's just get into this. There has been a lot going on in the news lately, and I always try my best to keep politics out of this, but sometimes you just have to speak up when you see or hear something that is wrong.

     One of the biggest stories in the news the past week has been the sexual harassment claims made by women about Harvey Weinstein. I say claims because there is liability when you say something about someone without it being proven in a court of law, and although in some cases, it has been proven, not all of them are sorted out yet. Now that that is taken care of, I believe every one of those women that made the claim. One in particular is standing out, because she has been making the claims for years, and it clearly affected her career. That is Rose McGowan. She settled her lawsuit with Weinstein for the simple reason that it offered her some closure. In the eyes of many, myself included in that many, a settlement is an admission of guilt. It's taken years for her to get her point across about what he did to her, and no one would listen, because of the power he held. You may say, "She settled, why didn't she fight it all the way to the end if she knew she was right?" Here is the very simple reason. If she fought all the way to the bitter end, she would end up with nothing. It was either fight a powerful and wealthy company with it's team of lawyers, or settle and get that veiled admission of guilt. There really isn't a choice in the matter. The settlement was the best option that she was going to have.

     Even with that settlement, her career was damaged. She was blacklisted and considered a troublemaker. It kept her out of the mainstream high paying jobs that she was getting before all of this began. She has stated that she never did anything for money. She was an actress because it was what she loved to do. She still worked, but all those big name projects were gone.

     She is now standing up and being heard for the first time in a long time, and part of that is because of numbers. There are more women standing up and saying what had happened to them, With numbers comes power. In this case, it is the power to be heard. Harvey is the first to topple, and there will be more before this is all over.

     Those women standing up isn't everything though. That gets the ball rolling. It starts a dialogue that is long overdue, and that dialogue should include how we raise our male children. For far too long we have raised them to see women as the weaker sex. That just isn't the case. I know you can argue that "no woman is stronger than a man". I got news for you. There are many women that are stronger than men. There are many women that are smarter than men. We need to start teaching our boys at a young age that women are equals. This divide that is instilled in young boys and girls is pointless. There is no reason for it at all. We are different in a lot of ways: physically, emotionally, mentally, but ask yourself this. If you were standing next to someone of the same gender as you, would you be exactly like that person? The answer, no. You would be different: physically, emotionally, mentally. The same differences apply in any situation. It's time we stop focusing on those differences, and start looking at what we have in common. The most important thing we have in common, is that we are alive at this time, and we have a chance to do something that hasn't been done in a long time, and in some instances has never been done at all. We can look to the person next to us as a complete equal.

     Earlier today, Rose McGowan's twitter account was suspended. They are saying that it was because she revealed a person's phone number, but if you have been on twitter for any period of time, you would see that that particular thing runs rampant on there. This is all speculation on my part, but I think she was suspended for a more nefarious reason. She was calling out men of power. She has had her account restored, and I believe that was because of a tremendous uproar from people calling out twitters hypocrisy. They drew a proverbial line in the sand, and a whole lot of people crossed it.

     While all this was going on, our government has seen fit to take away a few rights from women. They have put a bill to a vote that will limit abortions and they are rolling back a mandate that had employers insurance pay for birth control. Can't have an abortion, nor can you have a pill to avoid having to have an abortion. That is pure genius there, and yes that is dripping with sarcasm. Women's rights are human rights, it's plain and simple. So simple in fact that the brilliant minds in D.C. seem to overlook that at every possible point.

     Speaking of the brilliant minds in D.C. There has been another big story for the past few weeks, and that is the whole kneeling during the anthem thing. Here is the bottom line on taking a knee during the anthem. It is not a disrespect to the; flag, veterans, military personnel, or the country. What it is, is a quiet protest of police violence towards black men, but it even goes deeper than that. It goes to the whole point of racism in this country. Yes, it is alive, and I hate to say it, well in this country. I don't want it to be well, I want it to be floundering and withering on the floor of history, but sadly it isn't. I support all the players that are protesting in whatever peaceful way that they are doing it. As a matter of fact, this all started when Colin Kaepernick sat down during the national anthem at a San Francisco 49'ers game a year ago. He later had a conversation with former Green Beret Nate Boyer,  who simply asked him to take a knee, rather than sit. Taking that knee was more respectful than just sitting. It showed that there was a reason you were not taking part in the anthem.

     Some pretty high powered figures have tried to turn these peaceful protests into an anti-American agenda, and that just isn't the case. It is what it is, and what it is, is a peaceful protest to spark a dialogue about what is going on with racism in this country. Since we are talking about political figures and respect for the flag, I want you to watch the two videos I'm going to post below. They show very similar situations, and the different reactions to those situations. One was yesterday, and the other was 10 years ago. After you watch them, I'm going to have a question for you, and I want you to think long and hard about the answer.






     Now that you have watched both of those, I'm going to give you a little bit of information about what was going on, and then I'll ask that question. In both videos, the events were both interrupted by the 5PM bugle call, which is known as "Retreat". It is then followed by "To The Colors". This signals the end of the daily duty, and the flag is lowered. When "Retreat" begins, all personnel are to stop what they are doing and turn towards the flag with their right hadn't over their heart, or in the direction that the music is coming from if a flag is not visible. Once "Retreat" is over, "To The Colors" begins, and all military personnel are to stand at attention and salute. It is asked that civilians in the presence of this, stand quietly and show respect for the flag. Now for that question. In which video did you see a display of respect for the flag? Was it the highest ranking official in the military as the Commander in Chief, or was it the comedian performing for the troops in Kandahar?

     I'm sorry I had to lay all this out there, but it felt important to do. I'll get back to the nonsense that is my life on Sunday. Peace in and goodnight.