Posts filed under ‘Bravery’
This. Takes. Guts.
(Image via CQRollCall.com)
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-CT., wore her Sunday Best to the Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi-sponsored photo opportunity with the Democratic women of the House to highlight the historic diversity of the House Democratic Caucus in the 113th Congress and celebrate the increased number of women joining the Democratic Caucus on January 3, 2013.
I’m not sure if this is high fashion or low fashion but whatever it is, I think it’s wonderful that DeLauro has the guts to step out in what I presume she thinks is a fabulous outfit, no matter what anyone thinks. Bravo to her for her guts. And look at that hair!
She bucks the stereotype of what a woman who is almost 70 “should” wear.
The more I think about it the more I love it.
The Uncropped Tiananmen Square Photo is Terrifying
We’ve all seen this photo of a lone man standing in front of a tank during the June, 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square:
Now, all of a sudden, an uncropped version of the photo is making the rounds and it is terrifying:
The new version, showing the man standing in front of that long, long line of tanks, all alone, puts his bravery and determination into a new light.
Incredible.
Larger version here.
Booker’s Place — a Must-See Documentary
This morning on DemocracyNow! I listened to a spellbinding segment about a brave and proud African-American named Booker Wright:
In 1965, Booker Wright, an African-American waiter in Greenwood, Mississippi, dared to be interviewed by NBC about racism in America, a decision that forever changed his and his family’s lives. Wright said during the interview, “I always learned to smile. The meaner the man be, the more you smile. Do all your crying on the inside.” He would later lose his job, be beaten by police, and ultimately be murdered. Wright’s story is told in the new documentary film, “Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story,” a collaboration between our two guests: co-producer, Yvette Johnson, Wright’s grand-daughter; and director Raymond DeFelitta, whose father, Frank DeFelitta, originally filmed the interview with Wright and later said he regretted it.
I’m making a note to see “Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story.” It sounds wonderful. (The DemocracyNow! interview about Booker Wright is pretty wonderful too. It’s unconscionable that Wright isn’t a household name. Watch/listen at the link above.)
FYI, here’s the trailer:
(Via.)
FYI – “Journalists Security Guide”
I’m putting this “Journalists Security Guide” up in part to save it for myself because I haven’t had a chance to look at it in detail yet but also to help throw it out onto the Internets.
The world isn’t safe for journalists anymore. Countries across the globe — the United States included — are instituting measures to restrict the freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
The international Committee to Protect Journalists issued these new, detailed (and frightening) guidelines this month as to how journalists can protect themselves in areas it never occurred to me they needed protecting:
Go to the original version here. There’s more.
It’s incredible what real journalists do to bring us news. Imagine being so passionate about what’s going on somewhere that you’re willing to do this:
(Image via CPJ.org)
Ugh. Bravo to real journalists everywhere. Jeremy Scahill, Sharif Kouddous and Tim Pool are among the best of the best. Fingers crossed for them.
Constitutional Lawyer Obama Hates Whistleblowers
A quickie post:
The law-breaking telecoms who received retroactive immunity from Congress, the interrogators who tortured prisoners, the officials who gave the orders, the attorneys who authored the torture memos, and the CIA agents who destroyed the interrogation tapes have not been held professionally accountable, much less been charged with crimes. National security and intelligence whistleblowers have become the glaring exception to the Obama administration’s mantra of “looking forward, not backward.” If you committed crimes under the guise of national security and the war on terrorism, you will not be held criminally liable, but if you blow the whistle on crimes, you risk criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act.
Learn more here about what Obama’s doing. He’s worse than Bush when it comes to prosecuting people who expose corruption.
I thought he would encourage that, because he said he would:
I didn’t add an “Obama — Don’t Count on my Vote” category to this blog on a whim.
The Miami Heat Wear Hoodies in Support of Trayvon Martin
A tweet and a photo from LeBron James of the Miami Heat. Notice the hashtags in the tweet:
This is what you get when you follow the link in the tweet:
Photo via LeBron James
TAKE THAT GERALDO and bravo to the Miami Heat and LeBron James.
The Cop Who Stopped LA Arsonist Is a Volunteer, From Iran (Yikes!)
So, all those “illegals” are killing people, raping our women and wrecking our country huh?
Get a load of this:
The reserve sheriff’s deputy who captured a man suspected of being the city’s most dangerous arsonist is a volunteer who earns $1 a year and only recently qualified to patrol alone, authorities said Tuesday.
Shervin Lalezary,
a 30-year-old Beverly Hills real estate attorney, was patrolling at 3 a.m. Monday — three hours after the official end of his 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift — when he pulled over a Dodge van in Hollywood.
[...]
“He believes in the community service aspects of the reserve deputy,” Whitmore said. “This is part of the job for him and he doesn’t want to talk about himself because he believes he’s part and parcel of a larger effort.”
Lalezary was born in Tehran and moved with his family to America about 25 years ago.
[...]
“This is one of the most significant arrests anyone can make — regular or reserve,” the sheriff said Monday. “And this will follow him for the rest of his life.”
So, “they” say we should bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran but woohah, they have real people there.
Now what?
Scott Olsen Releases First Statement
Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old Iraq war veteran who was rushed to the hospital on October 25 after being hit by an Oakland Police Department “projectile” at the Occupy Oakland encampment and who suffered a fractured skull and had trouble speaking, has issued his first statement since that incident:
I’m feeling a lot better, with a long road in front of me. After my freedom of speech was quite literally taken from me, my speech is coming back but I’ve got a lot of work to do with rehab. Thank you for all your support, it has meant the world to me. You’ll be hearing more from me in the near future and soon enough we’ll see you in our streets!
Joe Paterno Was in Line for the Presidential Metal of Freedom?
Do they vet people who are in line for the Presidential Metal of Freedom, or not?
Photo: Time.com
I guess not:
Pennsylvania’s senators on Thursday announced they no longer support awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Joe Paterno, the former Pennsylvania State University football coach.
[...]
“In light of the recent events in State College, we are rescinding our support for the nomination of Joe Paterno for the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Sens. Bob Casey (D) and Pat Toomey (R) said in a joint statement.
WTF? Did they do their “do diligence” in nominating people or is it all about being star-struck?
I think I know the answer.
What. A. Racket.
What. A. Farce.
Police State America
This is the United States of America tonight (@10:41 pm ET):
Follow JoshuaHol here.
Will Democrats EVER Fight Back?
Republicans have no problem busting Democrats in the gut and why wouldn’t they? Democrats don’t know how to fight back.
Via Photobucket User eduarprmd
Senate Democrats should be walking out of the Capitol en masse tonight — holding a press conference on the steps — and making a huge deal out of this (I swear, they have Stockholm Syndrome):
Republicans blocked an effort Monday by Senate Democrats to quickly pass a $7 billion aid package for victims of recent natural disasters like Hurricane Irene, tornadoes in the Midwest and the South and floods along the Mississippi, Missouri and other rivers.
[...]
“They’re playing around the edges of what really needs to be done,” Reid complained, saying hundreds of millions of dollars is needed to rebuild places like Joplin, Mo., where a tornado in May destroyed more than 7,000 homes and 10 school buildings and killed 159 people.
I blogged like a maniac at the Newshounds during the run up to the 2004 presidential election when John Kerry was a passive, limp dolt in response to Republicans accusing him of being a fake Vietnam vet and a wimpy, Grey-Poupon, Brie-eating French guy. I thought Democrats would learn a thing or two about fighting back back then, but NO!
Aaaaaaaahhhhhh. It drives me crazy.
Tim DeChristopher Tried to Save the Planet — Now He’s Going to Prison
If you don’t know about Tim DeChristopher — and you probably don’t — please take the time to read this: The Courage to Stop Pretending: Tim DeChristopher Sentenced.
If our media was truly liberal, he’d be all over it and we’d all know about how he tried to save the planet.
Oh, and don’t forget: The banksters are still lying on the beach in the Hamptons.
Change Ain’t Easy But Here’s How To Do It
I was alive during the age of the Freedom Riders. I remember the four little girls who died in the bombing of the Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. I was their age. This would be me at 11-years-old:
I remember being afraid because my father took part in civil rights marches in those days. My 11-year-old self was scared someone would throw a bomb through our “picture window” in Bloomington, Indiana because of what he did. Or burn a cross on our front lawn.
Watch Freedom Riders tonight on PBS. It’s a lesson in how to make change, scary as it is:
BREAKING: Not All Republicans Have Ice in Their Veins
I’m guessing you heard about the mural depicting Maine’s labor history that Maine’s Republican Governor, Paul LePage removed from the state’s Department of Labor headquarters last month.
Fast forward to today, and we learn that some of his fellow Republicans are raising money to get it back and to put it back up:
Republicans in northern Maine have raised $2,300 in online contributions so the state can buy a disputed labor mural from the federal government.
The Aroostook County Republican Committee this month launched a website to raise $60,000 so the state can take ownership of the art work.
The U.S. Department of Labor says the state should return federal money used to create the mural because Gov. Paul LePage violated terms of the federal grant used to pay for it when he had it removed from the state Labor Department headquarters.
Yeah, I know, this is probably politically motivated but still, it isn’t often that Republicans break rank with their coldhearted leaders.
Is ABC’s Jake Trapper Drunk Tweeting?
Is Jake Trapper, ABC News’ “Senior White House Correspondent” drunk Tweeting tonight? I ask because one doesn’t see this kind of honesty coming out of journalists corporate media whores very often:
Don’t Drink Milk
Radiation has been found in milk in the United States:
Radioactive milk found on West Coast, but levels are ‘minuscule:”
Low levels of iodine-131 have been detected in radioactive milk samples from Spokane, Wash., and at a dairy in San Luis Obispo County, Calif. But the amounts are so low that they pose no health risk, report the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] and the US Food and Drug Administration.
Minuscule? The EPA can’t be trusted. The 9/11 rescuers know that: 9/11 Toxic Dust: Official Who Knowingly Lied Refuses to Testify:
In August 2003 it was revealed that the Government ordered the EPA to give the public misleading information , telling New Yorkers on September 12 it was safe to breathe when reliable information on air quality was not available and Asbestos levels were known to be three times higher than national standards.
Further documents were obtained by CBS news last September, revealing that Lower Manhattan was reopened a few weeks following the attack even though the air was not safe.
The two devastating memos, written by the U.S. and local governments, show they knew. They knew the toxic soup created at Ground Zero was a deadly health hazard. Yet they sent workers into the pit and people back into their homes.
“Not only did they know it was unsafe, they didn’t heed the words of more experienced people that worked for the city and E.P.A.,” said Joel Kupferman, with the group Environmental Justice Project.
An EPA wistleblower, Dr. Cate Jenkins then wrote a letter to Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and other members of the New York congressional delegation blasting the EPA for hiding dangerous toxins from Ground Zero workers in the aftermath of 9/11.
And there’s this: EPA Mislead Public on 9/11 Pollution.
Don’t. Drink. Milk.
Chances are — 10-or-so years from now — akin to 9/11 — we’ll find out that the EPA lied to us about this too.
Hey. When the corportocracy owns the government, that’s what happens.
Kudos to the Japanese for Their Strength
How the Japanese people are staying sane I’ll never know.
I don’t know if I could do it. I’d be so on edge.
Look at this “map” of the aftershocks they’ve experienced.
It’s exhausting.
And notice how strong the aftershocks are.
(Via.)
.
