April 22, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

Marching for Mother Earth

March for Science: Rallies worldwide to protest against political interference

Scientists and supporters participate in a March for Science in Washington DC, 22 April 2017 — People marched in Washington DC against President Trump, who is cutting funding for scientific research

Thousands of scientists have taken part in demonstrations around the world in protest against what they see as a global political assault on facts.

The first-ever March for Science, which was timed to coincide with Earth Day, was aimed at promoting action to protect the environment.

Organisers said it was a celebration of science and a call to support and safeguard the scientific community.

The main event was held in Washington DC.

The event’s promoters said the march in the US capital was not aimed against President Donald Trump, while adding that his administration had “catalysed” the movement.

Protesters carried placards that read “Science belongs to everyone” and “Science, not silence”

At the demonstration in Washington DC, Dr Jonathan Foley, the executive director of the California Academy of Sciences, said that research was being irrationally questioned, adding that attacks from politicians “amounted to oppression”.

“They’re specifically targeting science that protects our health, our safety and the environment. Science that protects the most vulnerable among us,” he said.

“Some people will suffer, some could even die,” Dr Foley added.

From climate change and pollution to medicine, men and women who support science were motivated on Saturday by the coverage of the recent Women’s March and are mobilising to make their concerns heard.

Supporters of science and research gather for the March for Science protest in Sydney, 22 April 2017

Protesters hold placards and banners as they participate in the March for Science rally on Earth Day, in Sydney, Australia, 22 April 2017 — Demonstrators are rallying against what they see as a global political assault on facts

Demonstrators hold banners before the March for Science in front of the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, 22 April 2017 — Protesters in Berlin, Germany, held placards in support of the scientific community

People gather in front of the Brandenburg Gate in support of scientific research during the March for Science in Berlin, Germany, 22 April 2017 — Thousands of protesters around the world have taken part in the first-ever March for Science

Organisers of the March for Science Vienna, in Austria, earlier said on the group’s Facebook page that it was encouraging people to turn out to join a movement that began shortly after Mr Trump entered the White House.

Mr Trump has previously called climate change a hoax and his views have raised concerns among the scientific community that the public are beginning to doubt the facts provided as scientific evidence.

A woman holds a sign as she participates in the March for Science in Vienna, Austria, 22 April 2017 — Large crowds in the Austrian capital Vienna joined the worldwide protest

People holding placards during the March for Science day at the Jardin Anglais in Geneva, Switzerland, 22 April 2017 — Marchers turned out in Geneva, Switzerland

In London, scientists and science enthusiasts marched from the Science Museum to Parliament Square.

Many were protesting against what they consider to be an “alarming trend” among politicians for discrediting their research.

Scientists and science enthusiasts gather for the March for Science outside the Science Museum in central London, 22 April 2017 — A large crowd of enthusiasts turned up at the Science Museum in central London

Scientists and science enthusiasts participate in the March for Science in central London, 22 April 2017 — Thousands marched in London, from the Science Museum to Parliament Square

The aim of the March for Science was to bring scientists and their research closer to the general public.

Organisers are of the view that it can be challenging for scientists to communicate with the public and are even actively encouraging scientists to become politicians so that their voices can be effectively heard.

It’s Earth Day and I always try to celebrate. I support the importance of Science, especially in a world where the EPA is being defunded and “Alternate Facts” (i.e. LIES) are in vogue.

As Neil DeGrasse Tyson says: “The good thing about Science is that it’s true whether you believe it or not.”

I couldn’t agree more. We must all encourage the next generation to not only embrace the truth in science, but to go into the sciences and study STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math). Science will lead us to a safe, prosperous future; lies will destroy us all.

Namaste,

Barbara

April 20, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

Women don’t need Protection from Trans Women in bathrooms — they need protection from their Partners

Protecting Women Starts at Home—Not in Public Bathrooms

April 19, 2017 by Cindy Elmore

With North Carolina’s HB2 “bathroom bill” now behind us, it’s worth remembering that the state’s House Speaker and other male members of the legislature routinely promoted the law as a way of “protecting” North Carolina women like me and my teenage daughter. The truth is that it didn’t—and legislation like it never will.

Among other things, HB2 required transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates in many public buildings—effectively banning trans women, who already face disproportionate risks to their lives and dignity in public and especially in public restrooms, from using women’s rooms. The Associated Press tallied billions of dollars lost by the state from pulled and cancelled conventions, sporting events, concerts and business expansions in protest of the law, which was rescinded in part early this month after more than a year on the books, but HB2 supporters—and those supporting yet a new bathroom bill, HB562—believed their law would heroically save my daughter and me from a bad guy in the stall next door.

There’s no evidence this much-professed threat really existed. But what did happen in North Carolina in the year of HB2? Mary Stoll of Jacksonville was allegedly beaten to death by her boyfriend. Sheryl Dianne Marshall of Raeford was allegedly shot to death by her husband. Rebecca Ann Jones of Wilmington, was allegedly strangled to death by her estranged fiancé. Elizabeth Contrivo of Candler was allegedly shot to death by her husband. Lacey West of Cherryville was allegedly shot to death by her boyfriend. Iris Armstrong of Fort Bragg was allegedly stabbed and beaten to death by her husband. Charlene Ellen Norris of Charlotte was allegedly shot to death by her husband. Garlette Rosette Howard of Greenville was allegedly beaten to death with what was believed to be a hammer by her boyfriend—who also allegedly did the same to Howard’s 11-year-old daughter, Bryana Nicole Carr.

These were just a few of the more than 40 women and children whom the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence catalogued as having been shot, beaten, strangled, stabbed or run over allegedly by a husband, boyfriend, fiancé, father or stepfather during the year that North Carolina legislators began “protecting” women and children from transgender people (or from the many fakers whom we were told would materialize) in our public bathrooms. They ranged in age from just 2 up to 84.

In the future, North Carolina lawmakers should stop pretending their goal is to “protect women” when they attack other women with legislation like HB2—and do nothing to address the real threats in women’s lives. They should stop saying they’re “protecting” my daughter or me or any other women in North Carolina from imagined, made-up threats when, by far, most of us really aren’t afraid of the trans woman in the stall next to us—whom I promise wants privacy just as much as I do and who would suffer more from being banned from her rightful restroom. They should stop patronizingly pretending that legislating who gets to use which bathroom will “protect” women and children from while dozens and dozens of them will die not at the hands of a stranger in the next stall but at the hands of the men they share dates and homes and often some sort of love with.

Before lawmakers act in the name of North Carolina women again, they might think about conducting a reliable, random, anonymous survey that asks women how often they worry about the “threat” that HB2 allegedly addressed. Then they should ask how many of us have been afraid of a man who supposedly cared for us. And they should think about Mary, Sheryl, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Lacey, Iris, Charlene, Garlette and Bryana when asking that question. Then, perhaps, they can act in our name.

To some this post might seem lightweight, however, it is not. To the transgender men and women it is serious and represents a basic human right. From my point of view, how does one check? How do the conservatives plan on enforcing this law? No public official that I contacted last year had a clear direct answer. Of course not. They would have to do a physical examination on every man and/or women who walked into a public restroom.

The bill passed this year by our new Democratic governor, is a compromise bill and it does not completely erase the HB bill or as we call it the bathroom bill. There are a lot of good, honest, hard-working people who are still being discriminated against or face the prospect of future discrimination.

While this legislative issue is not my only concern for men and women and it is very important, there is another issue near and dear to my heart. It is of Domestic Violence. Yes DV. The crime that didn’t used to be a crime. It used to be a right of a husband. He could hit a woman with anything as long as it was no thicker than his thumb. Check out the male thumbs around you.

That is all changed in 2017. It took a lot of hart work by concerned women, community leaders, religious institutions, and feminists to work together to say, NO. No you can’t beat a woman

If you care about women, then pitch in and speak up for transgender women and abused women. If you really care, when a bill is proposed, read it carefully and vote your compassion heart. A woman is beaten, in America, every 11 seconds. Every 11 seconds a woman or girl feels a hand, fist, slap, push, kick, pinch, twist on their bodies. This is not love. This has never been love and it never will be love.

Legislation is being proposed to cut funding for DV programs across the country. Please vote against cuts. Woman’s and girl’s lives are at stake. If Bathroom bills are brought up for vote in your state or country, please vote against them. These people can not hurt you. They will not hurt you. However transgender women are beaten and/or killed simply because they exist. Let’s us stop all violence against women everywhere.

Namaste

Barbara

April 17, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

Women’s Equality in Literal Motion

First Woman to Run in Boston Marathon Did It Again — 50 Years Later

A Boston Marathon official tried to hustle Kathrine Switzer, No. 261, off the course during the race in 1967. PAUL CONNELL / THE BOSTON GLOBE, VIA GETTY IMAGES

By VICTOR MATHER

APRIL 17, 2017

Fifty years ago, a runner officially entered as K.V. Switzer participated in the Boston Marathon. On Monday, she did it again at age 70.

Kathrine Switzer’s marathon in 1967 became historic because she was the first woman to complete the all-male race as an official entrant — her registration as “K.V. Switzer” hid her gender. The race resonated far beyond a footnote in the record books when an official tried to force her from the course after a few miles.

“The marathon was a man’s race in those days; women were considered too fragile to run it,” she wrote in an essay for The New York Times 10 years ago. “But I had trained hard and was confident of my strength. Still, it took a body block from my boyfriend to knock the official off the course.” Switzer recovered to finish in 4 hours 20 minutes.

Switzer completed this year’s race only a little slower, in 4:44:31.

Women were finally officially allowed to enter the Boston Marathon in 1972.

Women’s marathoning has come a long way, joining the Olympics in 1984 and gaining popularity through runners like Grete Waitz and Tegla Loroupe. More than half of marathon runners in the United States are women.

“In 1967, few would have believed that marathon running would someday attract millions of women, become a glamour event in the Olympics and on the streets of major cities, help transform views of women’s physical ability and help redefine their economic roles in traditional cultures,” Switzer wrote.

Over the years, Switzer has competed in more than 30 marathons, winning New York in 1974 in 3:07:29, and has worked as a television commentator. She is the founder of 261 Fearless, a running club for women. The name comes from the number she wore in 1967.

Switzer started this year’s marathon on Monday morning wearing the same number. It will be retired after the race. Before her start, she was given the honor of firing the gun for the women’s elite runners.

She has said she hopes to run New York this year as well.

Of her legacy as a pioneer, she wrote in The Times: “We learned that women are not deficient in endurance and stamina, and that running requires no fancy facilities or equipment. Women’s marathoning has created a global legacy.”

Correction: April 17, 2017

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to one of Switzer’s split times. She ran 10 kilometers, not 5, in 1:05:06.

April 14, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

What gives White Men to the right to take away a woman’s right to basic health care?

Make no mistake, this is not about abortion, no matter how many times Republicans say so. It’s about health screenings, for breast cancer and cervical cancer; for prenatal care; for child care and immunizations; mammograms; screening for sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDs; proper use of contraceptives; for the right of Americans who do not have paid healthcare to still be well and safe.

And it’s about time the Rich White American Men realize that when they take something from the Women of America — the Women of America will fight back.

Namaste,

Barbara

PHOTO: REX/SHUTTERSTOCK.

When Republican Senator Jeff Flake held a town hall meeting in his Arizona district Thursday night, he was hounded about his stance on Planned Parenthood funding. In fact, a 16-year-old girl schooled Flake on women’s health care, and it was just beautiful.

Flake (like all but two Republican senators) voted in favor of a law President Trump signed Thursday allowing states to block health clinicsthat perform abortions from receiving federal Title X family-planning money. The law reverses a previous rule put in place by the Obama administration and could make it even more difficult for low-income people in conservative states to access birth control, well-woman exams, cancer screenings, and other services.

Deja Foxx was well aware of Flake’s support for keeping money from specific health clinics, and she spoke up accordingly at his town hall. She began by laying out a few key differences between Flake and herself.

“I just want to state some facts,” she said to the senator. “I’m a young woman; you’re a middle-aged man. I’m a person of color, and you’re white. I come from a background of poverty, and I didn’t always have parents to guide me through life; you come from privilege.”

She then asked, “I’m wondering, as a Planned Parenthood patient and someone who relies on Title X, who you are clearly not, why is it your right to take away my right…?” Cheers from the crowd were too loud to hear the rest of her question, but you get the gist.

“Well thank you. I’m glad to hear of my privileged childhood,” Senator Flake responded, pointing out that he’s one of 11 kids and paid for college on his own.

“Privilege comes in many forms,” Deja retorted without skipping a beat, garnering more cheers from the crowd.

Deciding to stop blatantly denying his white male privilege, Flake said, “You bet it does, and I’ve had a lot of advantages that others haven’t. What I want is to make sure that everyone can realize the American Dream that all of us have been successful in.” Not buying it, Deja asked: If Planned Parenthood is helping her reach the American Dream, why would he deny her its services?

Watch the full video below to hear all the 16-year-old’s passionate words.

At a patient roundtable earlier on Thursday, Deja shared why Planned Parenthood is so important to her. “I am a ‘youth on their own’ — meaning I don’t live with my parents or have a permanent home,” she said in a transcript provided by Planned Parenthood. “So when I needed birth control and reproductive health care, I didn’t have anyone to help me navigate the health care system.” Because she didn’t have access to her state insurance card, her care was completely covered by Title X funds, she said.

Deja also explained why she attended the patient roundtable in the first place: “I’m here today because I want to make sure that every person — no matter where they come from, whether they have a family, or money, or great health insurance, or any health insurance at all — can still get the care and information they need.”

Deja plans to study political science in college and eventually run for office, “because someone has got to stop these political attacks on our reproductive rights.”

April 13, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

Female Genital Mutilation – In Detroit, Michigan

Just when you think the War on Women couldn’t get any worse, and that you have heard of everything, now there have been Federal charges brought against a doctor in Detroit, Michigan, USA, who works in an emergency room. She has been arrested and charged with performing Female Genital Mutilation on two 7-year-old little girls.

We have been fighting to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation from the world since the early 1990’s. It is a terrible practice, done to control women and girls. It is what makes women marriageable in many cultures in Africa, some parts of Asia, and parts of the Middle East.

It is terribly painful, can lead to infection which can then lead to death, and the mother who has had it performed on herself takes the child, as if she was a sacrifice, to the village “wise man/woman” who performs this. In some cases, they cut out the clitoris, or the tissue around the clitoris. The idea is prevent the child/woman from feeling sexual arousal or satisfaction. In some cultures, when a woman is married and man must leave the village for business, he actually has his wife sewn closed except for a small opening so she can urinate through her meatus. In this way, he can be certain she is faithful while he is gone.

As people immigrate to America, they bring a lot of pieces of their culture with them. America has always been enriched by the cultures of other nations, but this is not a piece of culture that is enriching. It is a method of subjugating girls and women. It is against Federal and State laws. The doctor in this article is a practicing emergency room doctor in Detroit, who has been suspended from her job due to the allegations. If found guilty, she will probably lose her license to practice medicine, and face prison because these charges are felony charges. They are also trying to decide if she should receive bail.

For more information about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), I have written about the subject several times; go into my archives and search to read more about this terrible, terrible crime against women and girls.

Namaste,

Barbara

Detroit physician charged with mutilating girls’ genitalia

Robert Snell , The Detroit NewsPublished 11:54 a.m. ET April 13, 2017

Photo from Henry Ford

Detroit — A Detroit emergency room physician was charged Wednesday with mutilating the genitalia of two 7-year-old girls in what is believed to be the first case of its kind brought under federal law.

Jumana Nagarwala of Livonia was charged with female genital mutilation, a five-year felony, and transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, a 10-year felony, according to a complaint unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court.

“According to the complaint, despite her oath to care for her patients, Dr. Nagarwala is alleged to have performed horrifying acts of brutality on the most vulnerable victims,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco said in a statement. “The Department of Justice is committed to stopping female genital mutilation in this country, and will use the full power of the law to ensure that no girls suffer such physical and emotional abuse.”

Nagarwala was arrested Wednesday night and arraigned in federal court Thursday.

She was dressed in a light-colored, matching dress and khimar, or veil that covered her head, neck and shoulders.

Magistrate Judge Anthony Patti scheduled a detention hearing in the case for 1 p.m. Monday. Her attorney and the government will argue over whether or not Nagarwala should be held in prison while she awaits trial.

In the meantime, Nagarwala will be held in jail until Monday’s hearing.

Her attorney, Shannon Smith, who has offices in Bloomfield Hills, declined to comment on the case Thursday.

Nagarwala’s employer is not identified in court records. But a 44-year-old emergency room physician with the same name is listed on Henry Ford Health System’s website with hospital privileges in Detroit and West Bloomfield Township.

A Henry Ford spokesman confirmed that Nagarwala works for the hospital system and said she has been put on administrative leave.

“The alleged criminal activity did not occur at any Henry Ford facility,” health system spokesman David Olejarz said Thursday. “We would never support or condone anything related to this practice.”

The FBI investigation alleges Nagarwala removed clitoral skin from two girls who were brought to Detroit earlier this year, activity that violates both federal and state law regarding female genital mutilation.

Female genital mutilation is an internationally recognized violation of human rights and is popular among certain religious and cultural communities, according to the FBI. The procedure is believed to initiate girls into adulthood and ensure their marriageability, according to Human Rights Watch, a New York nonprofit human rights organization.

The practice is most common in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, along with migrants from those regions, according to the World Health Organization.

Worldwide, an estimated 140 million women and girls have undergone the procedure, according to the World Health Organization. More than 3 million girls in Africa undergo the procedure each year.

“Female genital mutilation constitutes a particularly brutal form of violence against women and girls,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Lemisch said in a statement. “It is also a serious federal felony in the United States. The practice has no place in modern society and those who perform FGM on minors will be held accountable under federal law.”

The case against Nagarwala dates to at least February. The FBI had launched an investigation after receiving a tip that Nagarwala performed female genital mutilation on 7-year-old girls at a Livonia medical clinic, according to the criminal complaint.

Nagarwala does not work at the clinic and there are no billing records indicating that she has performed medical procedures there, according to the complaint.

In February, FBI agents obtained a court order to review Nagarwala’s phone. The records showed several calls between Nagarwala’s phone and a Minnesota phone number, according to the FBI.

Agents learned the Minnesota phone number was linked to a family that included a 7-year-old girl.

Agents reviewed records for the Minnesota phone and learned from cell tower data that the phone was near motels in Farmington Hills on Feb. 3 before being returned to Minnesota the next day.

Hotel records helped show two families, each with a young girl, stayed at the hotel on Feb. 3. Surveillance video from the unnamed hotel show two adult women and two girls checking into the hotel.

Seven days later, an FBI child forensic interviewer talked to one of the girls, who said she was brought to Detroit with a second girl for a “special girls’ trip,” according to the FBI.

After arriving in Farmington Hills, the girls were taken to a doctor because “their tummies hurt.”

“While at the doctor’s office, a procedure ‘to get the germs out,’” was performed on the first girl, according to the criminal complaint. The girl was shown a photo of Nagarwala and said she was the doctor who performed the procedure, according to the FBI.

The girl told the FBI that Nagarwala “pinched” her on the “place (where) she goes pee,’” the government alleges.

“(The girl) said that she was told not to talk about the procedure,” FBI Special Agent Kevin Swanson wrote in the complaint.

A subsequent medical examination showed that the girl’s genitals did not appear normal and a section had been altered or removed, according to the court filing.

“Finally, the doctor observed some scar tissue and small healing lacerations,” the agent wrote.

The second girl said she underwent a procedure and identified Nagarwala as the doctor she visited in Detroit, according to the complaint.

“She said that she ‘got a shot,’ and that it hurt really badly and she screamed,” the FBI agent wrote. “Her parents told her that the procedure is a secret and that she is not supposed to talk about it.

“(The girl) said that after the procedure, she could barely walk, and that she felt pain all the way down to her ankle,” the agent continued.

A subsequent medical exam showed the girl’s genitalia had a small incision and a small tear.

On Monday, Minnesota Child Protective Services personnel and a federal agent interviewed the second girl’s parents. They confirmed the trip to Detroit, saying they took the girl to see Nagarwala for a “cleansing” of extra skin, according to the court filing.

Agents have identified other children who may have been victimized by the doctor between 2005 and 2007, including children in Michigan, according to the FBI agent.

“The allegations against the defendant in this investigation are made even more deplorable, given the defendant’s position as a trusted medical professional in the community,” Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Steve Francis said in a statement. “My sincere hope is that these charges will give support to those who have allegedly suffered both physically and emotionally.”

Federal officials said the case appears to be the first of its kind nationwide. Though a few cases in other jurisdictions involved plotting about performing female genital mutilation, it does not appear anyone was charged with allegedly carrying out a circumcision.

Last year, the FBI tried to raise awareness about the crime, saying an estimated 513,000 women and girls nationwide – most of whom live in metropolitan areas – were at risk of undergoing a procedure that has been a federal crime since 1996.

During a voluntary interview with investigators, Nagarwala denied performing female genital mutilation on minor children and said she was not involved in any such procedure, according to the complaint.

“The allegations detailed in today’s criminal complaint are disturbing, David Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit office said in a statement. “The FBI, along with its law enforcement partners, are committed to doing whatever necessary to bring an end to this barbaric practice and to ensure no additional children fall victim to this procedure.”

The FBI is asking anyone with information about the doctor and female genital mutilation to call 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5984).

April 5, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

A Quick Note

Hello, All

It’s Amy, The Sister, here to let you know that our Rebel is a bit under the weather. She is under a doctor’s care and on strong medication, and so will not be posting for a few days.

I am going out of town on business myself, but will update you when I get back.

In the meantime, we appreciate all prayers, kinds thoughts and general good vibes that come her way.

Namaste,

The Sister

April 4, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

LIfe in the Lodz Ghetto

1940-1944

Inside the Lodz Ghetto

A record of atrocity and resistance, buried in a wooden box

by Alex Q. Arbuckle

1940

A man walking in winter in the ruins of the synagogue on Wolborska street (destroyed by Germans in 1939).

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

When Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, they created walled-off ghettos in the larger cities to concentrate and imprison the Jewish residents.

Henryk Ross worked as a news and sports photographer in the city of Lodz. Once in the city’s ghetto, he was employed by the Department of Statistics to shoot identification photos and propaganda images of the factories which used Jewish slave labor to produce supplies for the German Army.

When not on the job, he documented the horrific realities of the ghetto, at tremendous personal risk. Peeking his lens through holes in walls, cracked doorways, and the folds of his overcoat, he captured scenes of starvation, disease, and executions.

As tens of thousands of Jews were deported from the ghetto to the death camps at Chelmno nad Nerem and Auschwitz, he kept shooting.

He also captured tiny sparks of joy — plays, concerts, celebrations, weddings — each one an act of resistance against a dehumanizing regime.

c. 1940-1944

Sign for Jewish residential area (“Jews. Entry Forbidden”).

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

A boy walking in front of the bridge crossing Zigerska (the “Aryan”) street.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

Having an official camera, I was able to capture all the tragic period in the Lodz Ghetto. I did it knowing that if I were caught my family and I would be tortured and killed.

HENRYK ROSS

1940

Henryk Ross photographing for identification cards, Jewish Administration, Department of Statistics.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

A group of women with sacks and pails, walking past synagogue ruins heading for deportation.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

In late 1944, as the Soviets continued to push the Germans back and the Polish resistance rose up in Warsaw, it became clear that the Lodz Ghetto would soon be liquidated.

Believing that he could be deported to an extermination camp at any moment, Ross gathered 6,000 of his negatives, placed them in a tar-lined box, and buried them near his house in the hopes that someday they might be found.

The Soviet Army finally liberated what remained of the ghetto on Jan. 19, 1945. Of the more than 200,000 Jews who had passed through, just 877 remained.

Henryk Ross was one of them.

In March 1945, he returned to his house on Jagielonska Street and dug up his time capsule. Moisture had destroyed or damaged half of the negatives, but enough had survived to ensure that the stories of those who lived and died in the ghetto would not be forgotten.

His photos, now in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, are currently on exhibit in “Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross,” at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston through July 30.

1940

A man who saved the Torah from the rubble of the synagogue on Wolborska Street.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

I buried my negatives in the ground in order that there should be some record of our tragedy…. I was anticipating the total destruction of Polish Jewry. I wanted to leave a historical record of our martyrdom.

HENRYK ROSS

c. 1940-1944

Portrait of a couple.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

A nurse feeding children in an orphanage.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

A festive occassion.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

A performance of ‘Shoemaker of Marysin’ in the factory.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1942

Woman with her child (Ghetto policemen’s family).

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

A wedding in the ghetto.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

1942

Children being transported to Chelmno nad Nerem (renamed Kulmhof) death camp.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

A boy searching for food.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

Young girl.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

1942

Men hauling cart for bread distribution.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

“Soup for lunch” (Group of men alongside building eating from pails).

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS/COLLECTION OF ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

A sick man on the ground.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

A scarecrow with a yellow Star of David.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

1944

A boy walks among a crowd of people being deported in winter.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944.

Deportation in winter.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

1944

A mass deportation of ghetto residents.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

Residents sorting belongings left behind after deportation.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

1944

Food pails and dishes left behind by ghetto residents who had been deported to death camps.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

c. 1940-1944

A smiling child.

IMAGE: HENRYK ROSS, COLLECTION OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

April 3, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

Democratic Senators Act Like Democrats

Red-State Democratic Senators Don’t Seem Scared to Act Like Democrats

By Ed Kilgore

When it came to managing the U.S. Senate, the supposed ace in the hole for Republicans this year was supposed to be the political tremors experienced by the ten Democratic senators up for reelection in 2018 who were from states carried by Donald Trump last year. It’s not really working out that way.

So far the only controversial thing the Senate has been able to pass was the overturning of an Obama administration regulation that kept states from banning use of federal funds by Planned Parenthood. And that happened only because (a) it was under the aegis of the Congressional Review Act that prevents filibusters, (b) one ailing Republican, Johnny Isakson, arrived on the floor with a walker, and (c) Vice-President Mike Pence broke a tie vote. For all their occasional talk of bipartisanship and willingness to work with Donald Trump, Senate Democrats haven’t broken ranks yet.

It was widely thought the question of confirming Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court might break the mold, partially because he did well in his confirmation hearings, and partially because the Democratic leadership has signaled it will pursue an unprecedented SCOTUS filibuster, which in turn is very likely to lead to the invocation of the “nuclear option” to eliminate future SCOTUS filibusters.

So far just two of the 11 red-state Senate Democrats have indicated that they will vote to confirm Gorsuch, and they do happen to be from two states Trump carried by massive landslides, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Five Democrats from states carried by Trump, however, have publicly announced they will join the filibuster: Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. All but Peters are up for reelection in 2018. Nelson was the real revelation: He’s a longtime centrist who had voted for cloture when fellow Democrats sought to filibuster Samuel Alito’s confirmation in 2006, and who faces a potentially crazy-expensive reelection challenge from Governor Rick Scott next year. Call it a matter of fearing “the base” more than the opposition, or call it revenge for the GOP’s treatment of Merrick Garland, or call it a recognition that the GOP won’t cut Democrats any slack for playing pretty: Any way you slice it, there’s a new calculation Democrats seem to be making on votes like this. It may well be they’re thinking the wind may blow in a very favorable direction in this particular midterm.

It’s unclear, however, what is going to happen in the end, since according to the Washington Post’s whip count, 12 Democrats — including four (Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, and Jon Tester of Montana) from states carried by Trump — are publicly undecided. Gorsuch needs six more votes to break the filibuster. It’s hard to imagine Brown voting to help Gorsuch get confirmed, and there is at least one blue-state senator (Pat Leahy) who has made noises about not favoring SCOTUS filibusters. So it will be close, but either way, there are few indications the GOP can regularly count on any Democratic senators, no matter where they are from and how tough a row they have to hoe in 2018. And that’s definitely a problem for a Republican Party that is having its own discipline issues of late.

April 2, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

Biltmore Blooms!

Living in Asheville, NC gives a unique opportunity to enjoy many wonders of nature. I have posted pictures previously of the vistas from the Blue Ridge Parkway and recently from the Asheville Orchid Show at the NC Arboretum.

We also live quite close to Biltmore House and Estate, the home of the Vanderbilt family. The house is a beautiful piece of architecture and the grounds were designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

One portion of the gardens is the famed Walled Garden, where my sister and I went yesterday to enjoy the annual Biltmore Blooms – an amazing display of color and growth as millions of bulbs — as many as 8 in a single hole — fill the air with color and fragrance.

I’m from the Great Lakes. It was April 1, and we’d be lucky to have the first daffodils in bloom this time of year, back home in the North. It was amazing to see tulips and daffodils in full bloom!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Namaste,

Barbara

View of Biltmore House from the Walled Garden
Photograph & Copyright Barbara Mattio 2017

April 1, 2017 by IdealisticRebel

Keystone Kops in the White House

THE KEYSTONE KOPS IN THE WHITE HOUSE

By John Cassidy

07:48 P.M.

“My fellow-Americans,” Donald Trump said in his weekly address on Friday, “It’s an exciting time for our country. Our new Administration has so much change under way— change that is going to strengthen our Union and improve so many people’s lives.”

It’s exciting, all right; in fact, it is hard to look away. Just when you think things can’t get worse for the Trump Administration, it drops another clanger on itself.

Three weeks ago, the White House unveiled its revised anti-Muslim travel ban, which the federal courts immediately froze, on constitutional grounds, just as they had blocked its predecessor. Last week, there was the ignominious failure of the G.O.P. health-care bill, which Trump had personally endorsed, although he seemed blissfully unaware of some of its contents. And this week there was the still-developing saga of Devin Nunes, the bumbling head of the House Intelligence Committee, who unwisely tried to do the President a favor and ended up being publicly humiliated.

It is now perfectly evident that Nunes, in claiming he had evidence that Trump and his aides had been caught up in “incidental surveillance” during the transition, was doing the White House’s bidding and trying to create a diversion from James Comey’s confirmation that the F.B.I. is investigating whether Trump’s campaign coördinated with Russia.

According to a Times report, Nunes obtained access to intelligence information from at least two Administration aides when he visited the White House on the night of March 21st, though he initially denied coördinating with anybody who works there. One of the White House staffers was reportedly a member of the National Security Council, and the other was a lawyer in the office of the White House counsel who used to work for Nunes’s committee on Capitol Hill.

So far, Nunes has managed to cling to his committee post, but he has about as much credibility left as a thief caught inside a bank vault. At Friday’s White House press briefing, Glenn Thrush, of the Times, asked Sean Spicer, Trump’s spokesman, whether it was normal for the head of an investigatory committee to roam the White House complex at night and meet two mid-level staffers to see sensitive information. Spicer didn’t have much of an answer, of course. But the larger story here goes beyond Nunes and his nocturnal wanderings.

It concerns the White House’s competence—or lack thereof. Ten weeks ago, when Trump stormed into office attacking the media and promising a blitzkrieg of new policies and initiatives during his first hundred days, the dominant emotion among people who hadn’t voted for him was fear. Many commentators, myself included, warned about the dangers of democratic erosion, and sales of George Orwell’s “1984” soared.

Today, there are still plenty of reasons to be concerned about Trump and his illiberalism. The White House’s recent decision to dismantle President Obama’s clean-air regulations offers fresh testament to the malevolence of the Trump Administration’s agenda, and next week’s meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping, China’s President, will be a reminder of the enormous responsibilities that rest on a President’s shoulders. But, even among ardent Trumpophobes, fear and foreboding have been supplemented by wonderment at the White House’s string of gaffes. These days, instead of Big Brother, it often looks like the Keystone Kops are in charge.

In an interview with Tucker Carlson, of Fox News, a couple of weeks ago, Trump hinted that the White House had some information about possible surveillance by the Obama Administration that it would like the public to see. “We will be submitting certain things, and I will be perhaps speaking about this next week,” he said. The surprise wasn’t that the White House would subsequently use a political ally (Nunes) as a conduit. It was that the operation was handled so clumsily that it backfired almost immediately. “It’s hard to know who is dumber: the Trump White House for giving Nunes the info or Nunes for accepting it. Pure Amateur hour,” Dan Pfeiffer, a former director of communications in the Obama White House, tweeted on Thursday.

Pfeiffer isn’t a neutral player, of course. But the Nunes fiasco is hardly an isolated incident. Consider the fallout from the health-care debacle. Since the moment that Paul Ryan pulled his Obamacare-replacement bill from consideration in the House, Trump’s options for pursuing other elements of his domestic agenda, and perhaps even resuscitating health-care reform, have been clear. He can move even further to the right, to placate the members of the recalcitrant Freedom Caucus, or he can abandon them and try to win over some moderate Democrats.

Last weekend, Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, indicated that the White House would follow the second strategy, and other Administration officials floated the idea of reaching a deal with congressional Democrats on tax reform and infrastructure spending. But Trump himself didn’t appear to have been let in on the plan—he continued to bait and berate the opposition party.

“The Democrats will make a deal with me on healthcare as soon as ObamaCare folds – not long,” he tweeted on Monday. “Do not worry, we are in very good shape!” On the same day, in a pair of tweets, the President also went after his favorite Democratic target, Hillary Clinton. “Why isn’t the House Intelligence Committee looking into the Bill & Hillary deal that allowed big Uranium to go to Russia, Russian speech . . . money to Bill, the Hillary Russian ‘reset,’ praise of Russia by Hillary, or Podesta Russian Company. Trump Russia story is a hoax. #maga!”

On Thursday, Trump directed his fire at the Freedom Caucus. In a tweet, he said that they would “hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!” This lumping together of the Freedom Caucus and the Democrats came the morning after a group of conservative activists visited the White House for what was billed as friendly policy session. If Trump had decided to declare war on the right, he evidently hadn’t informed the members of his staff who arranged that session.

Mixed signals are nothing new from the Trump Administration. On Thursday, a reporter form Axios, the news site, sat in on a strategy session attended by Priebus, Steve Bannon, and Jared Kushner. The session was “on background,” which meant the reporter couldn’t identify who said what. But, on Friday morning, Mike Allen, Axios’s editor-in-chief, reported that one of the officials in the meeting “views the Trump White House in terms that could be applied to the iterative process of designing software. It’s a beta White House.”

Allen went on, “The senior official . . . said the White House was operating on similar principles to the Trump campaign: ‘We rode something until it didn’t work any more,’ the official said. ‘We recognized it didn’t work, we changed it, we adjusted it and then we kind of got better . . . [T]his was much more entrepreneurial.’ In the White House, he said, ‘we’re going to keep adjusting until we get it right.’ ”

No word on how long this adjustment process might take, or what role the man with the itchy Twitter finger might play in it.