“Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect.”
Margaret Mitchell
“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.”
“IOTD” is image of the day, a concept I came up with. I teach visual meditative therapy – or in easy terms – a mini mental holiday. For some people it is very difficult for them to get their image right. I post an image a day for people to use in their mini mental vacay. Some are serious, some are silly, and some are just beautiful!”
The US has far more gun-related killings than any other developed country
Why are there so many shootings?
One piece of this puzzle is the national rate of firearm-related murders, which is noted above. The United States has by far the highest per capita rate of all developed countries. According to data compiled by the United Nations, the United States has four times as many gun-related homicides per capita as do Turkey and Switzerland, which are tied for third. The US gun murder rate is about 20 times the average for all other countries on this chart.
That means that Americans are 20 times as likely to be killed by a gun than is someone from another developed country.
“IOTD” is image of the day, a concept I came up with. I teach visual meditative therapy – or in easy terms – a mini mental holiday. For some people it is very difficult for them to get their image right. I post an image a day for people to use in their mini mental vacay. Some are serious, some are silly, and some are just beautiful!”’
“Unforgotten” Exhibit Brings Faceless Victims of Chicago Gun Violence to Life
The traveling art exhibit was commissioned by the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.
Blair Holt, a 16-year-old honor student, was killed by a teenage gunman in 2007 when Holt was riding to his grandparents’ store after school.
Now in 2015, a life-like sculpture of Holt — without a face — stands in a plaza at the corner of Huron and Rush Streets as a reminder of the toll gun violence has taken on the Chicago area.
The sculpture is part of a public art exhibit called “Unforgotten” headed by the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. Holt is one of eight victims of gun violence memorialized in the exhibit.
Among the others represented are 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, an honor student killed while sitting in a park after school days after attending President Obama’s second inauguration; 19-year-old Ryanne Mace, who was killed by a suicidal gunman in a classroom at Northern Illinois University; and 18-year-old Terrell Bosley, who was killed in a church parking lot before the start of choir practice.
Sculptures of Jitka Vesell, Hadiya Pendleton and Blair Holt stand in the plaza at the intersection Rush and Huron Streets as part of the public art exhibit “Unforgotten.”
~~GALLERY~~
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The sculptures, which are made out of plaster and wire mesh, are dressed in the victims’ real clothes, and the dimensions of the sculptures mirror their actual height and weight.
From behind, it appears they are real people. A view from the front, however, shows a faceless person with a hood partially concealing the empty space where his or her face would be.
The purpose of the art exhibit is to raise awareness of gun violence in Chicago as well as throughout the state of Illinois. The sculptures currently reside in the plaza at Huron and Rush, but they will travel across the state in the coming weeks.
Unforgotten is a traveling exhibit that features arresting memorial statues that represent actual victims of gun violence. Working with victim families, we created lifelike statues of the victims in their actual clothing.
Shocking? Yes.
But each statue is an emotional and powerful reminder of the senseless loss of life due to gun violence. This documentary video shares the personal stories behind the victims and the emotional reactions of those who experienced this first exhibit.
A media group in Italy recruited a few young boys for a video project, but the real purpose of the video was not explained to them beforehand.
Watch as they take direction up to a point. When the director asks them to slap a girl, all bets are off.
The result is a thought-provoking PSA about domestic violence.
GOOD TIME TO START
~~GALLERY~~
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Domestic violence (also domestic abuse, spousal abuse, intimate partner violence, battering or family violence) is a pattern of behavior which involves violence or other abuse by one person in a domestic context against another, such as in marriage or cohabitation. Intimate partner violence is violence by a spouse or partner in an intimate relationship against the other spouse or partner.
Domestic violence can take place in heterosexual or same-sex relationships. Domestic violence can take a number of forms including physical, emotional, verbal, economic and sexual abuse, which can range from subtle, coercive forms to marital rape and to violent physical abuse that results in disfigurement or death.
Domestic violence often occurs because the abuser believes that abuse is justified and acceptable, and may produce inter-generational cycles of abuse that condone violence. Victims of domestic violence may be trapped in domestic violent situations through isolation, power and control, insufficient financial resources, fear, shame or to protect children. As a result of abuse, victims may experience physical disabilities, chronic health problems, mental illness, limited finances, and poor ability to create healthy relationships. Victims may experience post-traumatic stress disorder.
Children who live in a household with violence show dysregulated aggression from an early age that may later contribute to continuing the legacy of abuse when they reach adulthood.
~Published on Jan 4, 2015~
What happens when you put a boy in front of a girl and ask him to slap her? Here is how children react to the subject of violence against women.
Speaking out for the first time since she went viral for slapping her son for participating in the Baltimore riots, Toya Graham told CBS News she wanted to prevent her son from becoming another Freddie Gray.
“He gave me eye contact.
And at that point, you know, not even thinking about cameras or anything like that,” the Baltimore mom said in the CBS interview.
“That’s my only son, and at the end of the day I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray.”
Hailed by many as “Mom of the Year,” Graham was praised for her actions by Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts.
“I wish I had more parents who took charge of their kids tonight,” Batts told reporters last night. “Take control of your kids.”
~ORIGINAL~
Angry mother beats son for participating in Baltimore riots
~Published on Apr 27, 2015~
This mother didn’t take kindly to her son participating in the Baltimore protests and riots that happened in response to the death of Freddie Gray.
The angry Baltimore mom recognized her masked son throwing rocks at police on television. That didn’t sit well with her. The video shows the mother repeatedly striking her boy, chasing him as he tries to walk away.
~~GALLERY~~
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~~Baltimore mom who smacked son during riots~~
“I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray”
~~Published on Apr 28, 2015~~
Baltimore Mom Who Smacks Son During Riots Interview: ‘I Don’t Want Him to be a Freddie Gray’.
The Baltimore mother caught on video repeatedly smacking her son after catching him throwing things at police during rioting in Baltimore told CBS News that she was only concerned about protecting him.
Contributing Editor at BNR. His writing on LGBT and Latino issues has appeared in The Advocate and Huffington Post.
Find him on twitter.
Ever since Uganda, I thought this would be a matter of time.
HortyRex
Christian Lawyer Proposes Bill to Execute Gay People With Bullets to the Head
Following the theology of “What would ISIS do?” a Christian lawyer living in California has proposed that the state start executing all gay people with bullets to the head.
I can barely grasp my mind on this concept. This man calls himself a Christian and is advocating for the death of gays with bullets to the head.
Could someone help me with this?
Matt McLaughlin, 45, submitted the Sodomite Suppression Act to the justice department on the 24th of February 2015. The bill seeks to protect Californians from the destruction that befell Sodom and Gomorrah.
~~IN HIS OWN WORDS~~
“Seeing that it is better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God’s just wrath against us for the folly of tolerating-wickedness in our midst, the People of California wisely command, in the fear of God, that any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.”
The bill would also ban “sodomistic propaganda” and fine those in violation of the ban up to $1 million and sentence them to either banishment from California or up to 10 years in prison.
In addition, it would ban gay people from holding any kind of public office, from receiving public benefits, and would put the written act prominently in every public school classroom.
God’s love, dear readers. Can’t you feel it?
But wait, it gets worse.
The lawyer said that if the law is not enforced (once the bill is passed), citizens should be able to assassinate gay people outside of the law and not have to face charges from the state.
Lock this guy up! For the love of all that is holy, lock him up! Are you reading what I’m reading here? This guy wants to shoot gay people in the head with bullets. He wants to not be charged with a crime for shooting them like dogs in the street.
If I were a citizen of Huntington Beach where this psycho is from, I, as a gay man, would not feel safe. Are you going to wait around until he “extra-judicially” assassinates a gay man? Because, let me tell you, he sounds like the type to do it.
I get that this bill would never, ever pass in the United States. That’s not the point here. The point is that this Matt McLaughlin guy is sitting around thinking about killing gay people.
Jeanne Cordova & Rev. Troy Perry fight California’s sodomy law
~~Published on Sep 28, 2014~~
Jeanne Cordova and Rev. Troy Perry were two of the organizers responsible for getting California’s anti-sodomy law repealed, thus decriminalizing homosexuals. Promo for the upcoming documentary LA A Queer History.
Some may say “let it go”, “enough already”, “I’ve had enough”. Yet … I can’t let it go. There is something wrong here … this doesn’t seem “kosher” … this is plain “not right”.
If I let it go, this senseless loss of life would have been in vain.
According to the autopsy of Michael Brown, 18, and a shocking new reenactment video, the Ferguson teen was essentially executed by Officer Darren Wilson.
This video has begun making the rounds on social media just days after the announcement by the Missouri grand jury not to indict the killer cop in the shooting death of the unarmed teen.
Much of the entire nation knows that the city of Ferguson and entire nation is filled with racism, particularly concentrated in institutionalized police discrimination of so-called minorities. But now a reenactment of what went down between Officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown seems to make that case in a very strong, visual manner.
In the above link you will find another YouTube video showing the first televised interview by the police in question. I will not dignify that interview by showing it here.
The reason that I’m posting this is because I saw this graph/meme on the Facebook page of a “friend” … and the comments written blew my mind away.
I don’t profess to be any legal scholar. I don’t know all the details of this case. I will leave that to the professionals and those in the legal system who should be working on this. However, I have been following this case closely through the posts presented in the blogospshere.
I feel for the family, for the town, for the state and for the nation.
THERE HAS BEEN NO CHANGE SINCE THE CIVIL RIGHTS DEMONSTRATIONS
The problem seems to be “walking while black”.
Call for calm … but don’t expect it. This is a wound that hasn’t been healed in a long time and keeps getting “salt” spread unto it.
~~GALLERY~~
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~~How Ferguson showed us the truth about police~~
~~Published on Nov 18, 2014~~
On August 9th, Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot a black teenager named Mike Brown. Since then, the city has been protesting. The police did not react well.
It Is What It Is 