This graph, presents a poem, which been shared plenty of times in the blogosphere. Please, allow me the opportunity to present it again.
I want to apply it to our present time.
I’ve seen it many times.
Every time it makes me think.
More so now, in view of the ugly turn in the road where American politics seem to be headed.
To me, the bottom line is that if you don’t speak up for others who are somehow persecuted, eventually your turn will come and there will be no one to stand up for your when you are persecuted.
It’s time to stand up and hold your ground.
~MARTIN NIEMOLLER~
Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.
The quotation stems from Niemöller’s lectures during the early postwar period. Different versions of the quotation exist. These can be attributed to the fact that Niemöller spoke extemporaneously and in a number of settings.
Much controversy surrounds the content of the poem as it has been printed in varying forms, referring to diverse groups such as Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Trade Unionists, or Communists depending upon the version. Nonetheless his point was that Germans – in particular, he believed, the leaders of the Protestant churches – had been complicit through their silence in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution, and murder of millions of people.
First he came for the Mexicans, then he came for the war heroes, then he came for African Americans, then he came for the immigrants, then he came for the Jews, then he came for the “gays” …. now he’s coming for the Muslims. Maybe you can add someone else or he will continue adding groups.
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP11 is being held in Le Bourget, Paris, from November 30 to December 11.
It is the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The conference objective is to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world.
2498 academics from 75 countries signed this Open Letter calling for world leaders meeting in Paris to do what is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change.
Prominent signatories include Noam Chomsky, Naomi Oreskes, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Michael E. Mann, Ursula Oswald Spring, Bill McKibben, David Suzuki, and Peter Singer.
Open Letter from Academics to World Leaders ahead of the Paris Climate Conference 2015
Some issues are of such ethical magnitude that being on the correct side of history becomes a signifier of moral character for generations to come. Global warming is such an issue.
Indigenous peoples and the developing world are least responsible for climate change, least able to adapt to it, and most vulnerable to its impacts. As the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris approaches, the leaders of the industrialized world shoulder a grave responsibility for the consequences of our current and past carbon emissions.
Yet it looks unlikely that the international community will mandate even the greenhouse gas reductions necessary to give us a two thirds chance of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. At the moment, even if countries meet their current non-binding pledges to reduce carbon emissions, we will still be on course to reach 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.
This is profoundly shocking, given that any sacrifice involved in making those reductions is far overshadowed by the catastrophes we are likely to face if we do not: more extinctions of species and loss of ecosystems; increasing vulnerability to storm surges; more heatwaves; more intense precipitation; more climate related deaths and disease; more climate refugees; slower poverty reduction; less food security; and more conflicts worsened by these factors.
Given such high stakes, our leaders ought to be mustering planet-wide mobilization, at all societal levels, to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~
Google Images
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We undersigned concerned academics, researchers and scientists from around the world recognize the seriousness of our environmental situation and the special responsibility we owe our communities, future generations, and our fellow species.
We will strive to meet that responsibility in our educational and communicative endeavors.
We call upon our leaders to do what is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change. With just as much urgency, we call upon our fellow citizens to hold their leaders responsible for vigorously addressing global warming.
For the full list of signatories please see below.
Around the world, people from all walks of life are standing together to demand a strong climate agreement in Paris and a healthy future for the planet. When the world speaks with one voice, our leaders have to listen.
So we’ve put together this Open Letter with one very clear message: DEAR WORLD LEADERS: TAKE CLIMATE ACTION NOW.
People from around the world are affected by climate change today – right now. And they’re calling out to world leaders to demand real action this year at the UN climate talks in Paris.
Jorge Ramos, the Univision anchor and journalist, extensively squabbled with Donald Trump twice in testy exchanges at a news conference before his rally here in Dubuque, with a security officer at one point ejecting Ramos from the event.
This one is coming from the heart.
I was watching TV last night, keeping my cell phone close, when I saw feeds coming through Twitter about this incident in Iowa involving Jorge Ramos and the “donald”.
I can not hide my contempt for the “donald” and it’s not simply because of this incident. Even prior to his candidacy announcement. I never watched any of his shows.
His mere looks were a definite “turn off” for me (and I don’t mean his hair). There’s something about the man which exudes vibes that are totally and completely negative.
His past history with women, his altercations with Rosie O’Donnell, his mere presence.
Then came the announcement for his presidency bid and the insults started.
He managed to alienate, in one single moment, a huge portion of a voting base: Latinos.
I was flabbergasted when he started his comments about the Mexican people!
Then the debate came along. His mannerisms, his arrogance, his body language, his derogatory comment about Rosie. Followed by his relentless campaign against Megyn Kelly.
In my personal opinion, this man is very dangerous.
He’s so full of himself that it’s a wonder doors don’t need to altered to accommodate the passing through of his huge ego. He’s extremely arrogant, bombastic, narcissistic, crass, slimy, hard, sleazy. He seems to have no compassion. He’s a person with no heart and prides himself on begin a ruthless businessman who knows the “art of the deal“.
Seems to me, he thinks he’s the center figure in
“You’re Fired“.
Last night, he openly showed his contempt for those he feels are beneath him.
He’s the epitome of the “Ugly American“.
I really pity this country …. if the majority votes for him to be president. You always have to be careful what you wish for.
Ugly American is a pejorative term used to refer to perceptions of loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless, ignorant, and ethnocentric behavior of American citizens mainly abroad, but also at home. Although the term is usually associated with or applied to travelers and tourists, it also applies to U.S. corporate businesses in the international arena.
Donald Trump Kicks Jorge Ramos Out Of Press Conference: ‘Go back to Univision’
“Sit down, Go back to Univision” …. the disdain and contempt for Jorge is dripping from his lips. Notice the way he “sics‘ the bodyguard on Jorge.
~~Published on Aug 25, 2015~~
Donald Trump KICKS Out Jorge Ramos Univision Reporter during Press Conference!
(FULL VIDEO)
~~Published on Aug 25, 2015~~
Donald Trump Confronted by Univision Jorge Ramos at Iowa Press Before Rally Speech – Univision anchor thrown out of Trump event,@realdonaldtrump yells “you weren’t called!”
Trump takes on Jorge Ramos of Univision Fusion. Jorge Ramos was forcibly removed from a Donald Trump press conference.
“Sit down, you weren’t called. Go back to Univision,” Republican front-runner Donald Trump scolded Univision anchor Jorge Ramos at a press briefing in Dubuque, Iowa, on Tuesday.
As Ramos continued to try and ask a question, Trump kept denying him the opportunity, and the well-known Mexican-American journalist was then escorted out of the room by security.
Trump-Fox feud boils over as CEO fires back “You can’t just stand up and scream. He’s obviously a very emotional person. So I have no problem with it,” Trump said later as another reporter asked about the incident.
The tense exchange with Ramos prompted another reporter to also ask about what happened only minutes prior.
“Certainly he was not chosen,” Trump responded. “He just stands up and starts screaming so maybe he’s at fault.”
~~GALLERY~~
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WHO IS JORGE RAMOS
Jorge Ramos (born March 16, 1958) is a Mexican-American journalist and author. He is currently based in Miami, Florida. He anchors the Univision news television program, Noticiero Univision; hosts the Univision Sunday-morning, political news program, Al Punto; and hosts the Fusion TV English-language program, America with Jorge Ramos.
Jorge Ramos has won eight Emmy Awards and the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for excellence in journalism.
In 2015, Ramos was one of five people selected for Time ’s feature “The World’s Most Influential People”.
No human being is illegal. – Jorge Ramos, news anchor at Univision
First, Trump booted Univision anchor Jorge Ramos out of his news conference.
Then things got interesting.
The “donald”
DUBUQUE, IOWA
Two minutes into Donald Trump’s news conference here Tuesday night came the question he tried to silence.
“Mr. Trump, I have a question,” said Jorge Ramos, the top news anchor at Univision and one of the country’s most recognizable Mexican-Americans, as he stood up in the front row of journalists.
“Excuse me,” the Republican presidential front-runner told Ramos. “Sit down. You weren’t called. Sit down.“
Ramos, holding a piece of paper, calmly tried to ask Trump about his plan to combat illegal immigration.
“I’m a reporter, an immigrant, a senior citizen,” he said. “I have the right to ask a question.”
Trump interrupted him. “Go back to Univision,” he said. Then the billionaire businessman motioned to one of his bodyguards, who walked across the room and physically removed Ramos from the room.
Trump’s dismissal of a major television news anchor lit up social media. Reporters asked Trump why he removed Ramos. At first, he accused Ramos of violating his news conference protocol. “He stood up and started screaming,” Trump said of Ramos. “He’s obviously a very emotional person,” said Trump.
But moments later, Ramos returned to his seat in the front row — and Trump called on him. For five minutes, they tangled over immigration policy, an issue on which both men have passionately different views. It was one of the more compelling moments of the 2016 campaign.
“Good to have you back,” Trump told Ramos, signaling to him to begin his questioning.
“Here’s the problem with your immigration plan,” Ramos said. “It’s full of empty promises.”
Ramos pointed out it would be unconstitutional to deny citizenship to what Trump calls “anchor babies,” children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants. Trump disagreed, saying it could be done as an act of Congress and that some legal scholars argue the 14th Amendment should be changed.
“A woman’s getting ready to have a baby,” Trump said. “She crosses the border for one day, has the baby, all of a sudden for the next 80 years — we have to take care of” the child.
The next question from Ramos: How do you build a 1,900-mile wall across the U.S. border with Mexico?
“It’s very easy,” Trump said. “I’m a builder…. What’s more complicated is building a building that’s 95 stories tall.”
The questioning continued. At one point, Trump said, “I can’t deal with this.” A Trump aide interrupted and told Ramos, “Is there one question — one question?”
Yet Trump let the questioning continue, seemingly determined to prove his case. “I have a bigger heart than you do,” he told Ramos. “We’re going to do deportations in a very humane fashion.”
Trump went on to assert that gang members in Baltimore, St. Louis, Ferguson and other cities are illegal immigrants.
“Listen, we have tremendous crime,” he told Ramos. “We have some very bad ones… Do you mind if I send them back to Mexico?”
Ramos replied, “No human being is illegal, Mr. Trump.”
The response: “Well, when they cross the border, from a legal standpoint, they’re illegal immigrants when they don’t have their papers.”
When Ramos pressed Trump on polls showing his unpopularity with Latinos, Trump would not accept the premise of the question. First, he interrupted Ramos and turned the question on him: “How much am I suing Univision for right now? Do you know the number? I know you’re part of the lawsuit.”
Trump filed suit against the network in June, alleging defamation and breach of contract, after Univision ended its relationship with him and canceled plans to broadcast the Miss Universe pageant he owns following his controversial comments about Mexican immigrants.
“I’m a reporter,” Ramos said.
“Five hundred million dollars,” Trump replied. “And they’re very concerned about it, by the way. I’m very good at this.”
It Is What It Is 