Patrick Stewart’s incredibly personal and powerful story about growing up with an abusive father.
An incredibly evocative, eloquent and moving story. Most definitely worth watching if you have a sturdy heart and a free fifteen minutes.
54% of the Senate voted for background checks, and they together represented roughly 63% of America’s population. But because the Senate is not a democratic body, majority support wasn’t enough to win that vote. The world’s greatest deliberative body, ladies and gentlemen.
Finally, Congress will reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act: The legislation, dreamed up and championed in 1994 by then-Senator Joe Biden, died in the House last year when the Republican leadership refused to put it to a vote (it had already passed the Senate). The problem, if you want to put it that way, was that Senate Democrats had modified the legislation to add protections for LGBT women, Native Americans and undocumented immigrants. John Boehner and company objected to these additions so strongly that they refused to let the House vote on it, despite indications that it would pass if they did. Today, Boehner relented, and will allow the House to vote on the bill. It’s expected to pass and will likely land on the President’s desk at the end of the week. (Photo: Getty images) source
Nation set to observe moment of silence for Newtown victims
At 9:30 a.m. EST, many people in the United States are joining Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy’s call for a moment of silence to remember the victims of last week’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
NBC News reports thousands of churches are set to ring their bells 26 times at 9:30 a.m.
Photo: A police officer puts his hands together and bows his head before the funeral for 6-year-old shooting victim Catherine Hubbard at Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 20, 2012. (Joshua Lott / Reuters)
Start your moment of silence as soon as you read this. We plan to start ours as soon as we hit the reblog button.
Adam Lanza, who sources tell @cbsnews was the shooter, was 20 years old.His brother, Ryan, is 24 and is being questioned in New Jersey
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 14, 2012
So it looks like Adam Lanza is the suspect, not his brother, Ryan, as was earlier reported.
One was his mother, who was a teacher at the school. The other was his brother, who was found dead in his home today in Hoboken, NJ.
UPDATE: The shooter’s brother is alive.
No words can console the parents of the children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School or describe the pain and shock of such an unspeakable tragedy. No words can comfort the loved ones of those brutally taken from us today. All Americans share our prayers and our grief over these horrifying events.Nancy Pelosi, in a statement released today.
(Source: livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com)
Photo of the day: Lebanese soldiers inspect damaged buildings at the scene of an explosion in the mostly Christian neighborhood of Achrafieh, Beirut. A car bomb ripped through the area on Friday, shearing the balconies off of apartment buildings, reportedly killing eight and wounding dozens more.
PHOTO: AP Photo/Bilal Hussein
“I told him he needs to be careful and he told me I need to be careful. We just laughed at each other.” That’s what one Lebanese leader said about Wissam al-Hassan, who died in a bombing attack on Friday.
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
The suspect, 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, is a Bangladeshi national who came to the U.S. on a student visa in January for the specific purpose of launching a terror attack here, authorities said. He allegedly told an undercover agent last month that he hoped the attack would disrupt the presidential election, saying “You know what, this election might even stop,” according to the criminal complaint against him.
Authorities say Nafis bought what he thought were explosives from who he thought was “an al-Qaida facilitator.” It was actually an FBI agent, and Nafis was arrested by the bureau after parking a truck full of the “explosives” next to the New York City Federal Reserve building and attempting to detonate it with a cell phone. A statement praising “our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden” and claiming responsibility for attack was found on a thumb drive on his body. source
» Not for the faint of heart: There’s video of the aftermath of this horrendous violence available, showing what looks to be a mass burial of the victims of an artillery attack on the town of Houla, We simply weren’t comfortable posting the video on here — it’s extremely brutal, visceral and depressing, moreso than we’re willing to spring on people without a warning first. That disclaimer made, you can see it here if you want. The surge of violence in Houla, a central province of the famously besieged city of Homs, caused French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to denounce the “massacre,” and suggest he wants an international meeting in Paris to discuss a forcible end to the rule of Bashar al-Assad.
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Here’s why their story is in the paper today. We cannot allow such callousness to continue unremarked, from the irrational, senseless teenagers who attacked two people just trying to go home, from the police officer whose conduct may have been typical but certainly seems cold, from the tweeting nitwits who think beating a man in Norfolk will change the death of Trayvon Martin. How can we change it if we don’t know about it? How can we make it better if we look away? Are we really no better than this?Virginian-Pilot columnist Michelle Washington • Writing on the attack of two of her co-workers, reporters Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami, on the streets of Norfolk a few weeks ago. A large crowd swarmed around the duo, who were in their car, with Forster getting out after someone threw a rock at the vehicle, which led to the attacks. Both suffered injuries severe enough that they were out of work for a week. But the kicker was a series of tweets about the incident which Forster discovered. “I feel for the white man who got beat up at the light,” a person wrote. “I don’t,” another responded. “(do it for trayvon martin).” The police were unresponsive to concerns about the incident, saying teenagers in nearby public housing commonly look for trouble on the weekends. Read this story — it’s full of small truths and big questions.
An Israeli soldier has been suspended after video of his violent reaction to bicycle-riding pro-Palestinian activists surfaced on Youtube over the weekend. Lieutenant Col. Shalom Eisner can be seen hitting a protester in the face, with the butt of his rifle, seemingly without provocation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying, “such behavior is not characteristic of the soldiers and commanders of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces). It has no place in the IDF and the State of Israel.” source
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