Irony Much?

Hypocrisy much?

Photo of a protester, wanting a "stay-at-home" order be taken off.

That's about as delicious as the ice cream they serve in the store just behind her.

Be well out there, y'all. Stay safe. Stay at home.

So Proud of You, Kansas City

Yes sir, so proud of my now hometown.

That's you, Kansas City.

There was a rather hastily put-together protest and march today at the Country Club Plaza. It began at Mill Creek Park, went for a protest march around the Plaza and then back to the park for some speeches.

It was to protest for women's and abortion rights, rightly, after the nightmare week in Jefferson City on the part of yet more Right Wing, mostly all white, Republican men who voted to limit even the possibility of an abortion after 8 weeks of pregnancy.

Forget all the medical facts like how difficult it is to know a woman is actually pregnant in the first few weeks after conception and all the other facts. Yeah, forget all that. Forget that theirs is supposed to be a "small government" political party. Forget all that. They want to have that government come between the patient, the female patient and her doctor.

It's not quite as bad as Alabama's draconian law they passed this week but it's right up there.

So a protest was planned and executed today and it was a beauty. I knew I had to be there. It's estimated 4,000 people showed. And they were boisterous. Herewith, some photos from the day. It was wondrous.

Some of the posters were a bit more, uh, frank, shall we say?

As I said, it was a very good sized crowd. I think we were all very, very pleased with the turnout and energy.

Some people wrote on the sidewalks, too, for a protest that would last a bit longer than just the time we were there.

One of the biggest ironies of all these, again, Right Wing, Republican government representatives is this article on a study of abortions and nations with and without them.

Abortion rates go down when countries make it legal: report

But again, facts and data and scientific studies mean little to these people. It's the same on this topic, abortion, as it is with guns and gun laws. Facts just don't matter.

January 20, 2017: Wear Black Day

Well, there we have it.

It's final.

Donald J. Trump will be sworn into the Presidency, January 20, 2107, about a month from now. The ugliness is now staring us squarely in the face.

So what do we do?

Anything?

Here's an idea. Let's make this a thing.

January 20, 2017, Inauguration Day in Washington, DC. Since it's going to take place and Donald J. Trump is to be sworn in as our 45th President, let's do this.

Let's all wear black.

We can't all go to Washington. We can't all be there and protest, much as we'd like and much as he, Trump, deserves.

So let's do the next best thing.

Let's all of us, coast to coast, wear black.

Head to foot.

Let's show our quiet, even silent protest at this misogynist, sexist, racist, emotional man-child being foisted into the highest and most powerful government position in the nation and the most powerful position in the world. Since the Electoral College goes through with this and does vote him in, let's show our cohesion.

Let's "put it out there", to the nation and to our fellow Americans and to the world that we're concerned and that we in no way supported, then, nor support now this petulant, unthinking man in the White House.

Yes, we support him, as far as it goes, as President, but only because we must. We only support him out of acknowledgement of this reality, this ugly, sad, even dangerous reality that the Electoral College got him into the presidency.

But that's as far as it goes.

January 20, 2017.  Wear black.

Entertainment Overnight -- Of A Sort

46 years ago today.



Links:  Kent State shootings

46 years later: Remembering the Kent State shootings

Kent State May 4 prepare-to-shoot controversy needs to be resolved by National Academy of Sciences

On Malcolm X birthday

"I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being, first and foremost, and as such, I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole."

--Malcolm X


Malcolm X was far brighter and far more right, more correct than most of the establishment wanted to give him credit at the time--at least publicly--without doubt.

Most white people then and even far too many to this day have no idea what black people in this nation have gone through nor still go through to this day.

And they don't care to know, either, most of them.

Links:

Malcolm X - Wikipedia

Malcolm X Quotes

Israeli military: above the law, decency, humanity and international law

An Israeli judge ruled today that their nation's military was in no way responsible for the death of a protester he bulldozed because the Israeli government wanted to destroy homes in the Gaza Strip. The news and headline today:

Israel judge rules Rachel Corrie responsible for her own death

Parents of American activist Rachel Corrie fail in their attempt to place blame on Israel after their daughter was killed by a bulldozer in Gaza at a protest

JERUSALEM — Nine years after their daughter was crushed by an Israeli military bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, the parents of American activist Rachel Corrie lost their legal bid Tuesday to hold Israel responsible for her death and force authorities to reopen the investigation.

A Haifa judge rejected the parent's negligence lawsuit, calling Corrie's death an accident that she brought upon herself by refusing to leave what had been declared a closed military zone. "It was a very regrettable accident and not a deliberate act," said Judge Oded Gershon.

And sure, people will take sides--the driver did see her, he didn't, whatever.

As you can tell here--and as you would guess if you know me--I'm on the side of the protester and her family. I find it at least extremely difficult to believe that the driver of the bulldozer didn't see her or know she was there. She "was wearing a fluorescent orange jacket and standing just a few feet away" from the bulldozer and driver at the time.

In fact, I'll go one step further on this. I feel sure the official order from the Israeli government was to go forward with the destruction of the homes no matter what. It may well have been only spoken but I feel strongly that was their position.
This flies in the face of decency and of humanity, as I said in the title, above, but it also goes against international law. A nation and its government isn't supposed to tear down anyone's home, regardless.

Was the young lady--Rachel Cory, 23--pushing her luck?

Apparently the answer to that is yes.

Did the right thing happen? Should she have been killed so a nation's government could tear down homes they didn't want?

Absolutely not.

Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-corrie-verdict-20120829,0,4476903.story

On free speech, reduced violence and our new police state

Two articles were brought to my attention, purely by chance, on Facebook today. The first points to statistics showing that the world is less violent today than we were in the past: ‘The Better Angels of Our Nature’ Believe it or not — and I know that most people do not — violence has declined over long stretches of time, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species’ existence. The decline, to be sure, has not been smooth; it has not brought violence down to zero; and it is not guaranteed to continue. But it is an unmistakable development, visible on scales from millennia to years, from the waging of wars to the spanking of children. (Links to aticle and book, below). But at the same time as all this less violence and improvements in societies around the world are happening, the US is choosing to more and more militarize our police--and heavily so. Check out what happened just yesterday in Virginia at a women's protest for reproductive rights. Added to this, look at how the police were equipped to respond to these citizens of the state.

I ask you, does that not seem like a tremendous over-reach, on the part of the police and government? That's the first question. Then, secondly, whatever happened to the "people's right to protest" and the First Amendment and First Amendment Rights and First Amendment guarantee of Free Speech? Added to all this is the fact that the US House of Representatives has created HR 347 and it has passed through Congress. It states that the American people will no longer be allowed to peaceably assemble to petition the government when certain government officials are nearby, whether they know it or not. This is yet another abbreviation of our First Amendment Rights of Free Speech. Finally, there are two more bills proposed in Congress right now, HR 3166 and S. 1698 also known as the Enemy Expatriation Act, sponsored by Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Charles Dent (R-PA). This bill would give the US government the power to strip Americans of their citizenship without being convicted of being 'hostile' against the United States. In other words, you can be stripped of your nationality for 'engaging in, or purposefully and materially supporting, hostilities against the United States.' Legally, the term 'hostilities' means any conflict subject to the laws of war but considering the fact that the War on Terror is a little ambiguous and encompassing, any action could be labeled as supporting terrorism. Since the Occupy movement began, conservatives have been trying to paint the protesters as terrorists." Has our own US government become paranoid about its citizens having and keeping our First Amendment Rights of Free Speech? It seems like Congress and this administration, too, at times, is flipping out. My only point is to ask today and hopefully make people think and demand more--restraint in this case--of our government. Links: http://www.truth-out.org/propaganda-windfall-imperial-state-steven-pinker-decline-violence/1330875517; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/books/review/the-better-angels-of-our-nature.html?pagewanted=all; http://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0670022950; http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/01/06/new-bill-known-as-enemy-expatriation-act-would-allow-government-to-strip-citizenship-without-conviction/

They αre αɴoɴyмoυѕ.

They αre αɴoɴyмoυѕ. They αre leɢιoɴ. They do ɴoт ғorɢιve. They do ɴoт ғorɢeт. But are they tedious? And tiresome? Are they effective? Are they achieving anything?

More of America's history on tonight

Watch Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune on PBS. See more from American Masters.

Links: http://kcpt.org/blog/2012/01/18/american-masters-phil-ochs/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Ochs

Occupy the courts this Friday

The Move to Amend organization (www.movetoamend.org) is organizing a day of peaceful occupation and protests nationwide at Federal Courts this Friday, January 20. This is the anniversary of the Supreme Court's monumental--and monumentally wrong--Citizens United decision which gave corporations the legal ability to pour unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns, among other things. Here's what you need to know: 11:30am to 1:30pm, Gather in Ilus Davis Park immediately across the street from the Charles Evans Whittaker Federal Courthouse at 401 E. 9th Street, KCMO. Plan to dress for cold weather! Contact: Mary Lindsay, MTA Kansas City, KCMoveToAmend@gmail.com; (816) 885-9996. See you there! Additional link--you can go here to register for the event: http://action.citizen.org/p/salsa/event/common/public/index.sjs?event_KEY=72556

Occupy the courts Jan. 20, 2012

The Move to Amend organization (www.movetoamend.org) is organizing a day of peaceful occupation and protests nationwide at Federal Courts Friday, January 20. This is the anniversary of the Supreme Court's monumental--and monumentally wrong--Citizens United decision which gave corporations the legal ability to pour unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns, among other things. Here's what you need to know (I'll post again later, closer to the date, too): 11:30am to 1:30pm, Gather in Ilus Davis Park immediately across the street from the Charles Evans Whittaker Federal Courthouse at 401 E. 9th Street, KCMO. Plan to dress for cold weather! Contact: Mary Lindsay, MTA Kansas City, KCMoveToAmend@gmail.com; (816) 885-9996. See you there! Additional link--you can go here to register for the event: http://action.citizen.org/p/salsa/event/common/public/index.sjs?event_KEY=72556

Bill Clinton on the Occupy movement

"Occupy Wall Street has done more in the short time they’ve been out there than I’ve been able to do in more than the last eleven years trying to draw attention to some of the same problems we have to address." --Former President Bill Clinton Link to original article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/shahgilani/2011/12/06/the-rumors-about-bill-clinton-are-true/

Proof of the power of non-violence

Following is a breif YouTube video shot at the University of California-Davis of President Linda Katehi as she walked to her car last week, after the University Police pepper-sprayed peaceful, protesting students on campus, apparently at least with her awareness, if not her explicit direction: I think it very powerful. We will overcome.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

Rather suddenly, a bit more British history has resonance for America and Americans: "Guy Fawkes was an Englishman who tried to blow up the House of Parliament in the early 17th century as part of a plot to give Catholics more power amid a Protestant monarchy. He failed, then killed himself to avoid execution, but became a British folk hero whose effigy is burned each Nov. 5, Guy Fawkes Day, a rough British counterpart to Halloween." Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/fashion/guy-fawkes-mask-is-big-on-wall-street-and-halloween.html?_r=1; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_fawkes

Reminder for tomorrow

Anonymous salutes the "99%"

Quote of the day

"Slavery is the legal fiction that a person is property. Corporate personhood is the legal fiction that property is a person." --From an "Occupy Wall Street" t-shirt.

To Fox "News"

Occupy KC: getting the word out

Campaign contributions: finally, it seems people are "getting it"

Out of the current "Day of Rage" that's going on as a protest to Washington, Wall Street and the corruption between the two of them--that doesn't seem to be getting enough coverage, I might add--finally, finally, an organization is pushing for campaign finance reform. And thank goodness. They're calling for: "One citizen. One dollar. One vote. 1.Only citizens should make campaign contributions. 1.Campaign contributions by citizens should not exceed $1 to any political candidate or party." Good for them. Good for us. Maybe, hopefully, this is the beginning of constructively, peacefully but powerfully taking our government and so, our country, back. Here's hoping. Link: http://www.usdayofrage.org