These girls belong to a program called GET LIT. Its mission is to increase literacy with the use of poetry. These young girls are just some of the students inspired and encouraged about the power of the word.
As they perform their poetry at public venues such as on the Queen Latifah show, they have the ability to say what they feel safely and to know that they are touching other people with their words. I believe this is a great program for our schools and a wonderful addition to school curriculum. See if it is in your schools. It is a wonderful way for teens to learn to express their feelings in non-violent ways.
“Poetry comes from the heart, it’s the soul-talk of a culture. Get Lit makes this happen in so many wonderful ways. When young people own both a classic poem, and then endeavor to create their own poetic responses, this is the bridge between generations, of the old and the new, of the traditional and the yet-to-be-traditional. Get Lit makes this happen – and we as a city, a country, and a world are better off for it. ”
Violence and fear are the way some people try to control others. Woman are often the victims of male hatred. Rape has no connection to sex. It is a political weapon in times of war. In the everyday, it is all about power and control. It is also part of the global war against women. Middle Eastern countries often want complete control of women and that is what they are trying to accomplish.
When a woman is raped she feels violated, humiliated and shamed. Some are angry and some feel that they are dirty. Some will report a rape and some are too ashamed. Some don’t want to be near even a husband or a boyfriend.
All are victims and not to be blamed. None of them should have to hear “you shouldn’t have been there” or “your skirt was too short” or “a group of women out like that, in the night, are just asking for it”. She shouldn’t be shamed, must not be blamed for the power hungry cowardly acts of the men who treat women like possessions and do not recognize that women are people to be treated with respect. The women raped in this story will need time and support to heal from this trauma.
Police clash with protesters angry about Cologne sex attacks
By Don Melvin and Greg Botelho, CNN
Updated 6:55 PM ET, Sat January 9, 2016
Berlin (CNN)German protesters angry about the New Year’s Eve mob sex attacks and muggings in Cologne, Germany, clashed with police on Saturday.
Cologne police responded with tear gas and water cannons after right-wing groups threw beer bottles, firecrackers and stones at officers in riot gear. Several officers and a freelance journalist were injured, police said, though the extent of their injuries were not known.
About 500 of the approximately 1,700 demonstrators supported Pegida, an organization that opposes immigration of Muslims from the Middle East, police said. A counter protest against Pegida was also held.
Fifteen people were arrested but that number may grow as videos are viewed, police said.
Many of the protesters were angry at police response to the attacks as well as the influx of migrants and refugees into Europe.
“Where were you on New Year’s Eve?” one protester yelled at police “Why didn’t you protect those women?”
Thirty-one people, most of them North African or Middle Eastern countries, have been charged in the attacks. Of those, 18 have been identified as asylum-seekers.
Cologne police said they received a total of 379 complaints about New Year’s Eve in Cologne, with about 40% being investigated as sex crimes. Other European cities reported similar rashes of sex crime reports.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned the attacks in Germany as “disgusting, criminal acts” deserving of a decisive response. But she did not back down on her commitment to welcome refugees who obey German laws and pledge to integrate into German society.
In Cologne, where many of the attacks took place, a police spokesman confirmed that Chief Wolfgang Albers was fired Friday. Albers’ dismissal came amid criticism of his department’s handling of the violence.
One victim of the Cologne violence told CNN there were too few police on the streets to prevent attacks.
“We ran to the police. But we saw the police were so understaffed,” the victim said. “They couldn’t take care of us and we as women suffered the price.”
Spiegel Online reported that groups of men prevented officers from reaching those crying out for help.
“The events of New Year’s Eve like a spotlight once more highlighted the challenge we face in a new aspect that we had not really looked at before,” Merkel said Saturday in Mainz, at a meeting of her conservative CDU Party.
Merkel garnered international acclaim for her decision to welcome many of the hundreds of thousands of Middle Easterners who have made the journey to Europe this year in search of safety, food, work and a better life.
But Merkel stressed Saturday that Germany’s welcome was not unconditional.
“We, of course, expect from the refugees who come to us, those seeking protection, that they have the will to integrate, that they strive for integration,” she said.
Her response showed a determination to avoid repeating what are broadly viewed within Germany as the mistakes officials made with regard to Turkish “guest workers” after World War II. Because it was assumed that arrangement was temporary, virtually no attempt was made to learn (or teach) the language, customs and mores of the new home country.
The mistakes of that era echo through Germany to this day. Generations later, some families of Turkish origin living in Germany do not speak German, and forests of satellite dishes are all aligned to receive Turkish TV broadcasts. Many young third- or fourth-generation Turks lack a sense of belonging, a sense of being German, even though their grandparents were born in the country.
Cologne mayor criticized for advice to avoid men
And Merkel continued to say the newcomers were welcome.
Tough prosecution of wrongdoing, she said, “is in the interest of citizens of Germany, but it is just as much in the interest of the large majority of refugees who are here with us and, therefore, it is absolutely right.”
Those who break German laws may forfeit their right to residency and to asylum, she said.
Germany is going through experiencing recriminations over who should have prevented the attacks and whether someone was asleep at the wheel.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has criticized the response of Cologne police, and German Justice Minister Heiko Maas was among many who expressed disapproval of Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker for advising women to keep “more than an arm’s length” away from unknown men.
Reker later said the comments had been taken out of context.
Cologne police spokeswoman Christoph Gilles told reporters Friday that 170 criminal complaints had been filed related to the apparently coordinated attacks, “at least 120 of which have a sexual angle.”
An 80-person investigative team is looking at 250 videos with about 350 hours of footage, Gilles said.
The 31 suspects charged include nine Algerian nationals, eight people from Morocco, five from Iran and four from Syria, German interior ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said. Two are German citizens, while one each comes from Iraq, Serbia and the United States.
Other German cities experienced similar attacks the same night, including the northern city of Hamburg, where more than 50 incidents were reported.
(CNN)President Barack Obama grew emotional Tuesday as he made a passionate call for a national “sense of urgency” to limit gun violence.
He was introduced by Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was killed in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Obama circled back to that shooting in the final moments of his speech.
“Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad,” Obama said, pausing to wipe away tears.
He added: “And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day,” referring to his hometown where he began his political career.
Guns must not be allowed on our streets. The streets have enough blood on them already.
The White House is seeking to expand background checks for buyers. The measure clarifies that individuals “in the business of selling firearms” register as licensed gun dealers, effectively narrowing the so-called “gun show loophole,” which exempts most small sellers from keeping formal sales records.
Former Congresswoman and gun control advocate Gabby Giffords, who was seriously injured in a 2011 mass shooting, was also in attendance at Tuesday’s event and was greeted with a standing ovation from the White House audience.
Obama hammered congressional Republicans for opposing measures like expanded background checks as he called on Americans to punish them at the polls. He defended his actions to strengthen background checks for purchasing guns, answering critics who say the measure would not make it harder for criminals to obtain firearms.
“Each time this comes up, we are fed the excuse that common-sense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, or the one before that, so why bother trying,” Obama said. “I reject that thinking.”
“We know we can’t stop every act of violence, every act of evil in the world. But maybe we could try to stop one act of evil, one act of violence,” he added.
The President blasted the gun lobby, particularly the National Rifle Association, and insisted that his actions are “not a plot to take away everybody’s guns.”
He compared his push for gun control to steps the United States and businesses have taken to limit traffic fatalities, require fingerprints to unlock iPads and keep children from opening bottles of aspirin.
“I believe in the Second Amendment, there written on paper, that guarantees the right to bear arms,” Obama said. “No matter how many times people try to twist my words around, I taught constitutional law. I know a little bit about this. But I also believe that we can find ways to reduce gun violence consistent with the Second Amendment.”
Obama said Congress, which blocked a tougher gun bill in 2013, still needs to impose new gun control measures. He noted that many of the actions he’s calling for can only be imposed through legislative action.
“Congress still needs to act,” Obama said. “The folks in this room will not rest until Congress does. Because once Congress gets on board with common-sense gun safety measures, we can reduce gun violence a whole lot.”
“But we also can’t wait,” Obama added. “Until we have the Congress that’s in line with the majority of Americans, there are actions within my legal authority that we can take to help reduce gun violence and save more lives.”
In addition to expanding and bolstering the background check system to cover sales that take place online and at gun shows, Obama said the administration will provide more funding for mental health treatment, FBI staff and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives agents.
On Capitol Hill, the reaction from Republicans was just as Obama had predicted.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said Obama’s actions “will no doubt be challenged in the courts” and “can be overturned by a Republican President.”
“From day one, the President has never respected the right to safe and legal gun ownership that our nation has valued since its founding,” Ryan said in a statement. “He knows full well that the law already says that people who make their living selling firearms must be licensed, regardless of venue. Still, rather than focus on criminals and terrorists, he goes after the most law-abiding of citizens. His words and actions amount to a form of intimidation that undermines liberty.”
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, vowed in New Hampshire on Tuesday that she will “take on that fight” and continue Obama’s gun control push if she’s elected.
On Twitter, in a tweet signed “-H” to indicate it was written by Clinton, rather than her staff, the former secretary of state thanked Obama “for taking a crucial step forward on gun violence. Our next President has to build on that progress—not rip it away.”
And her campaign highlighted Republican candidates’ criticism of Obama’s comments on its website, warning that a GOP president would undo Obama’s actions.
Many polls have found broad support for expanded background checks — the most recent being a Quinnipiac University poll in December. In that survey, 89% overall support it, 84% in gun-owning households, 87% of Republicans, 86% of independent, 95% of Democrats.
In a December CNN/ORC poll, 48% of Americans said they were in favor of stricter gun control laws, 51% were opposed.
Support for stricter laws has been less than half since 2013. There’s a sharp partisan divide on the question, with 74% of Democrats in favor of stricter laws, while just 23% of Republicans feel the same way.
Among those who live in a gun-owning household, 29% favor stricter laws, that rises to 65% among those who live in households where no one owns a gun.
Just 35% approve of Obama’s handling of gun policy, including 56% of Democrats and 55% of liberals. That’s well below his approval rating among Democrats/liberals for other top issue.
We can not continue to let all of these mass murders happen here in The United States of America. We are a nation the world looks up to despite slavery, racism and misogyny. These are terrible demerits for a nation and now we are killing each other off…over and over again. The NRA has bought out Congress. They have more power than everyone except for the Executive branch.
We the people are allowing this to happen. If you want stricter gun laws,write, call, tweet, fax, facebook your Congress people and let them know how you feel. You elected them and you can unelected them. Our society is deteriorating at a terrible rate. It must be stopped or else the gun holders will commit more crimes than the mob ever has.
Think about your children’s children’s children. Do we want them to grow up in a bloody hate filled, thoughtless, mean spirited world? I sure don’t. I want the America which our Founding Fathers formed. The country where people were supposed to live in equality, compassion and kindness. Think about this before you vote and vote for the coming generations and not just for today.
Military child rape and sexualabuse—what the Pentagon does not want you to know
By Leslie Salzillo from dailykos.com
Wednesday Jan 06, 20164:56 PM EST
This is a tough one to write. In a recent report, a incredibly disturbing statistic has been revealed involving the military and child rape and sexual abuse.
There were at least 1,584 substantiated cases of military dependents being sexually abused between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, according to the data. Enlisted service members sexually abused children in 840 cases. Family members of the victims accounted for the second largest category with 332 cases.
Most of the enlisted offenders were males whose ranks ranged between E-4 and E-6. In the Marine Corps and Army, for example, those troops are corporals, sergeants and staff sergeants. Officers were involved in 49 of the cases. The victims were overwhelmingly female.
In one instance, Marine Capt. Aaron C. Masa sexually abused a fellow Marine buddy’s three-year-old stepdaughter. He also took sexually explicit photos of the toddler and her infant sister. The three-year-old began having nightmares and sleeping by the door. She said she “hurt down there.” When her mother took her to the hospital the child was happy and the hospital staff diagnosed her with a urinary track infection and treated her with antibiotics. It wasn’t until the child told a neighbor she didn’t like Masa and he touched her—and “made it hurt.” Military authorities stepped in and Masa, 24, admitted to five instances of sexually assaulting the toddler. He is currently serving 30 years in prison.
Clair Burnish with AntiMedia writes that the data accounts “only for cases involving military dependents” which are the only child victims.
In other words, children outside military families who are sexually assaulted by troops simply aren’t accounted for. This fact, in itself, creates enormous lingering doubts about the reasons for lack of tracking — and for the actuality of the victim count.
On international levels, ColumbiaReports.com cites historian Renan Vega of the Pedagogic University in Bogotá whose research reveals a 2004 case in Melgar where 53 underage girls were allegedly sexually abused by military contractors “who moreover filmed [the abuse] and sold the films as pornographic material.” Vega explained:
There exists abundant information about the sexual violence absolute impunity thanks to the bilateral agreements and diplomatic immunity of United States officials.
Burnish with AntiMedia adds that according to the Colombian report, “no disciplinary or legal action was ever undertaken, so tracking the perpetrators is next to impossible.”
But of those cases that do reach trial, the numbers are no less than shocking. According to a previous study by the AP from November 2015, this apparent rampant child sexual assault issue among the troops is clearly evidenced; of the 61% confined in the military’s prison network for sex crimes, over half the cases involved children as victims.
The question: What is the U.S. military doing to help end this military plague?
There are reportedly three Democratic senators who are urging Defense Secretary Ash Carter to lift what they called the military justice system’s “cloak of secrecy” and make records from sex-crimes investigations and trials more accessible. You can privately message or post on Defense Secretary Carter’s Facebook Page. As for addressing the thousands of alleged military sexual assault crimes in Columbian, by U.S. military, U.S. President Barack Obama sent Special Envoy Bernie Aronson to Colombia to assist in the process. Sadly, Columbia is only one country—out of how many?
As well as addressing these atrocious crimes, causes and solutions must be explored so they don’t continue to occur. After helping and protecting victims/potential victims, extensive mental health evaluations and treatment for U.S. troops would do well to also top the list.
There is nothing worse than hurting a child in any way. These children have been traumatized and will carry the scars for ever. I spent a bit of time of counseling adults who had been molested as children. That it would happen in our military, makes me cry. We trust them to save people from war. Not to torture children with sexual abuse. I realize not all military personnel are guilty, but it is like the Catholic Church. How do you know who is a danger to children and who is not.
We hear you fellow creatures. We know we are wrecking the world and we are afraid.What we have unleashed has such a momentum now, we don’t know how to turn it around. Don’t leave us alone, we need your help.You need us too for your own survival. Are there powers there you can share with us?
“I lichen, work slowly,very slowly. Time is my friend. This is what I give you: patience for the long haul and perseverance.”
“It is a dark time. As deep diving trout I offer you my fearless of the dark.”
“I lion, give your my roar, the voice to speak out and be heard.”
I am caterpillar. The leaves I eat taste better now. But dimly I sense a great change coming. What I offer you, humans, is my willingness to dissolve and transform. I do that without knowing what the end result will be; so I share with you my courage too.
—Joanna Macy
“The foundations of morality was rising above the merely personal. The most important endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance can give beauty and dignity to life.”
I love fireworks for the New Year, so I decided to share a video of Fireworks I took several years ago at Blossom Music Center in Cleveland, OH. They were for Labor Day, but a good celebration is a good celebration!
As the old year ends and the new one begins, I want to thank my WordPress family for all of your wisdom, inspiration, support and friendship. I wish you all the best of years and I wish for peace in the world. Be of good cheer and enjoy your family and friends.
I know I have shared a lot of music lately. I guess I am just in a mood. Please indulge me with this clip honoring Carole King. Sung by the amazing Aretha Franklin. I can think of no voice better to honor Carole or anyone. Ms. Franklin has a voice that puts the angels to shame. All of heaven listens when she sings because she grabs your soul and you know you are alive!
This is not the blog I planned for today. However, I lived in Cleveland, OH for twenty five years. My late husband was an engineer at Channel 8 TV where I got this breaking news.
Cleveland is a city that is trying hard to improve itself and it has in many ways. However, Cleveland is in Cuyahoga County and the FBI has unearthed corruption more than once. Elected officials are at this moment in time doing time for graft, corruption and a variety of other crimes.
I was still living there when Tamir Rice was shot to death. It was winter and there was snow on the ground. Tamir was a twelve year old child who was playing with a toy gun. As children have for generations, he was playing cops and robbers or cowboys or some scenario in his imagination that will we never know about.
A man saw Tamir and called 911. He saw a suspicious looking man. Then he gave the 911 operator a generic description, and mentioned that he thought that it might be a kid with a toy gun, he wasn’t sure. A cruiser was dispatched to the rec center, without being told the caller thought the gun might not be real. Tamir pulled out his play gun and within seconds he was dead. The cruiser pulled right up onto the sidewalk so they had to be able to see that he was a child. Even if he was tall for his age. Just as a side note, I have a thirteen year old grandson who is six foot two inches tall. But even a quick look at his face you can see he is a child. My grandson is white and Tamir was black.
The article and video tells us that Tamir’s mom is distressed. I guess so. I am distressed. I will never forget any of the black lives taken by police but Tamir will haunt me till I die. A cold day with some sun shining and a child goes out, not on the streets to cause trouble but to a recreation center to play. And before evening closes in on that playground, he is dead and his family will never be the same.
The media in Cleveland has hinted that this might be his own fault, now they are saying the cop was a rookie so it was unfortunate but he hadn’t had enough training yet. The 911 operator was a little at fault. So now, the decision has been made that no one is responsible for a black child out playing on a public playground and ending up dead.
This is my opinion, my take on what I heard and saw dozens of times on the media, I might be wrong but I don’t see that I am. What I see is a twelve year old child was murdered by the police for playing with a toy gun. Maybe they shouldn’t paint toy guns black. Maybe they should paint all toy guns yellow or orange or a neon color.
Maybe we should stop making toy guns. I think that is an excellent idea.
Maybe police should be taught to take more than 12 seconds before fatally shooting someone.
Maybe rookie officers need more training before going out into the streets.
Please give me your feedback as I am very interested in what the world thinks.
Namaste,
Barbara, the Idealisticrebel
CLEVELAND, Ohio (Fox8 News) — Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty announced Monday afternoon that a grand jury will not bring charges against the two officers involved in the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
Police were called to Cudell Recreation Center in Cleveland on Nov. 22, 2014 after a 911 caller reported a male in the area waving a gun.
“There’s a guy with a pistol,” the 911 caller told dispatch. “The guy keeps pulling it out. It’s probably fake.”
The officers were not told the gun may be fake before they arrived on scene.
Officer Frank Garmback was driving the police cruiser and stopped next to a gazebo, putting him and Officer Timothy Loehmann between Rice and the rec center. Police say they ordered Rice to drop the weapon before Loehmann fired twice.
Tamir Rice had an airsoft pistol that police say looked like a real gun.
McGinty said from the information that was given to them, the officers were prepared to face a possible active shooter at the park.
He added that Loehmann had reason to fear for his life as he got out of the cruiser and saw a male with what appeared to be a gun.
“It would be irresponsible or unreasonable if the officer was required to wait and see if the gun was real,” he said.
McGinty said both Tamir Rice and Loehmann were both “no doubt frightened.” He said Tamir Rice likely intended to hand the airsoft gun over to the officers or show them it wasn’t real.
“But there was no way the officers would know that,” he said, adding they were seeing the situation from a different point of view.
McGinty added that the entire incident was a “perfect storm of human error.”
“The death of Tamir Rice was an absolute tragedy,” he said. “But it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime.”
McGinty said he called Tamir Rice’s mother to tell her the grand jury’s decision. Tamir Rice’s family released a statement through their attorney, saying they were “saddened and disappointed, but not surprised” by the decision. They are also renewing their request that the Department of Justice step in to conduct a “real investigation into this tragic shooting of a 12-year-old child.” Read more here.
“It was a rough call,” said McGinty, who recommended to the grand jury that no charges be filed.
McGinty said that there have been lessons learned already since the shooting of Tamir Rice.
“It should never happen again, and steps have been taken to make sure it is not,” he said.
McGinty said the city has since bought body cameras. Dash cameras are on the way for city police and suburban departments, he said.
“Now it is time for the community and all of us to start to heal,” said McGinty.
After McGinty spoke, Assistant Prosecutor Matt Meyer, chief of the Public Corruption Unit, went through the entire chain of events from that day.
Meyer said Rice spent several hours at the rec center the day of the shooting with the airsoft pistol.
Meyer said Tamir Rice got the airsoft pistol from a friend, who told investigators he’d removed the orange tip from the gun. The same friend warned Tamir of the “dangerousness” of using the gun, Meyer said.
Meyer showed a real gun vs. a replica of the airsoft pistol Rice had that day to show how similar they are.
Meyer emphasized that Tamir Rice was seen several times pulling the gun in and out of his waistband and pointing it at people. He also emphasized that the man who called 911 initially reporting his concerns about Tamir told dispatchers that the gun may not be real.
That information was not passed on to the officers, Meyer said.
After the shooting, Meyer said Loehmann told another officer who arrived on scene that “(Tamir) gave me no choice…there was nothing I could do.”
Meyer added that Loehmann was seen kicking the airsoft pistol onto the grass nearly 41seconds after the shooting. (emphasis added) He said that indicates Loehmann thought he was dealing with a real firearm.( Really? Is it standard operating procedures to move a weapon at a crime scene?– Barbara)
“This case is a culmination of a tragic confluence of events,” said Loehmann, emphasizing that officers were dealing with a boy who appeared to be much older than 12.
McGinty said at the press conference that he wants to call on legislature and manufacturers to not make toy guns that look real.
He left the press conference without answering questions. McGinty did say he may answer questions later in the day.
Following the announcement, Cleveland Police Union President Steve Loomis responded and said, “Nobody’s celebrating” but the union believes grand jury made the correct call.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to the Rice family as well the officers that have been involved in this,” he said. “We have a ton of respect for the grand jury and not buying into the rhetoric and some of the nonsense that’s been going on out here. They made a thoughtful decision.”
Union lawyer Henry Hilow said, “We can’t look at this only through a two-second video.”
He believes the grand jury looked at the totality of the circumstances.
OFFICERS INVOLVED IN THE CASE:
Cleveland police hired Loehmann as an officer in March 2014. Previously, he was employed by the Independence Police Department, but resigned when he learned they had started the termination process.
His personnel file from Independence showed he was distracted and weepy during a state qualification course. It described Loehmann’s “dangerous loss of composure during live range training and his inability to manage personal stress.”
A deputy chief wrote Loehmann did not have the maturity to work in the department, and that “time, nor training” would correct his deficiencies.
Garmback, who was Loehmann’s training officer, started working for the city of Cleveland in 2008. He received a Medal of Heroism for an October 2011 incident involving a man with a gun.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office received the criminal investigation in June and released the following reports:
Mensen maken de samenleving en nemen daarin een positie in. Deze website geeft toegang tot een diversiteit aan artikelen die gaan over 'samenleven', belicht vanuit verschillende perspectieven. De artikelen hebben gemeen dat er gezocht wordt naar wat 'mensen bindt, in plaats van wat hen scheidt'.
idealisticrebel 