I just cannot understand why they hate so. They refuse to understand or accept that some kids are born LGBTQ+ just as some kids are born cis and straight. They seem to think that children see LGBTQ+ people in society, in public, and in books / TV / movies then become LGBTQ+. It doesn’t work that way. They reallyhope all LGBTQ+ stay hidden either in fake loveless opposite gender marriages or stay single and celibate for life. They are not happy or content to live their lives as they wish, they demand the right to force everyone else must live as they do or by their church doctrines. Hugs
The video below shows a tRump administration nominee spews white supremacy crap, claiming the white people suffer the most discrimination in the US. Claims the white culture is being erased. But he can’t explain what white culture is except to claim that white Christians worship differently than black christians. Food and music are different and white churches and white food are being erased. Hugs
A handsome bird of open landscapes, the Chocolate-vented Tyrant is an unusual species to be included among the so-called “flycatchers.” Inhabiting flat grassland and scrub, this bird is primarily a ground-dweller, rarely seen higher than a fencepost or tussock. Furthermore, this flycatcher is not one to catch insects on the wing (to “fly-catch” in ornithology lingo), preferring instead to hunt its prey on the ground. In keeping with this terrestrial lifestyle, the Chocolate-vented Tyrant has notably long legs and is more likely to run or walk than to hop or fly. In combination with its large size and rusty belly, the tyrant’s appearance and behavior are reminiscent of birds in the thrush family, such as the American Robin.
The Chocolate-vented Tyrant breeds in the cold, dry, and infamously windy Patagonian Steppe, also known as the Patagonian Desert. In an environment largely devoid of trees, this bird takes advantage of the open sky to perform an expansive aerial display, similar to other birds like the Red Knot and American Woodcock that use flat, open habitat in the breeding season. The Chocolate-vented Tyrant is also known to forage alongside wintering shorebirds — yet another habit unusual for its family, but typical of others, like the groups of sandpipers and plovers it sometimes joins.
Threats
Birds around the world are declining, and many of them, including the Chocolate-vented Tyrant, are facing urgent threats. Throughout the tyrant’s range in South America, livestock grazing, agricultural expansion, and invasive species all hinder this bird’s ability to thrive. Furthermore, sparse protected areas may be insufficient to support the species, particularly on its nonbreeding grounds in the Pampas, the vast grasslands region east of the Andes.
Habitat Loss
The Chocolate-vented Tyrant is losing habitat in both its breeding and nonbreeding ranges. On the Patagonian Steppe, where this species breeds, overgrazing by sheep disrupts the limited vegetation afforded by a dry climate, resulting in erosion and eventually desertification. The Pampas faces similar threats from overgrazing by cattle, as well as the clearing of native habitat in favor of agriculture.
The Chocolate-vented Tyrant is a habitat specialist, making it particularly vulnerable to threats like habitat loss and degradation. In addition to protecting habitat through our network of reserves, ABC also works to reduce the threat of invasive species and restore habitat. At ABC, we’re inspired by the wonder of birds and driven by our responsibility to find solutions to meet their greatest challenges. With science as our foundation, and with inclusion and partnership at the heart of all we do, we take bold action for birds across the Americas.
Creating & Maintaining Reserves
Habitat is the foundation for birds’ survival. Working with dozens of partners and local communities throughout Latin America, ABC supports a growing network of protected areas in more than a dozen countries. Totaling more than 1.3 million acres, nearly one-third of the world’s birdlife (more than 3,000 species) is protected by an ABC-supported reserve.
The video from the scene showed that the ICE gang thugs lied and made false claims about the shooting of the woman. However the woman still had hospital bills and a damaged car she had to pay. These gang thugs wanted to kill a Hispanic person, wanted to remove a brown person from society. They faked a story, clearly they narrated a story that was not happening at the time so they would have an excuse to attack a person. Hugs
I have to ask why the republicans are against counting every vote of people entitled to vote by law. Why do they work so hard to restrict voter options and confine voting to a time and place where only their majority supporters tend to vote? Because they are not interested in representing the will of the people, they demand the right to rule over the public. The country better wake up because think of the right wing head explosions if the left was trying to restrict right wing voting areas. The right wants a single party rule like in China onely with them in charge. Hugs
If this goes through I will not be able to vote. I was adopted and my birth certificate has my adoptive parents names on it. In 2015 when the state of Florida allowed same sex marriages to become law Ron and I were the first ones in our county to get married. It was a wonderful event. But then I went to the Social Security office and had my last name legally changed to Ron’s, I am proudly Scottie Miller. I think everyone here can understand why I hated the last name I had which was the name of my abusers. So I was so happy to be able to change that and the forms that I was handed showing that came with a handwritten note of support and a heart emoji. Hugs
Understand none of these kids in that car did anything wrong… Other than being black. This is blatant racism being allowed to terrorize the nonwhite communities / people in the hopes of racially purifying and cementing the white people as the dominitate race while everyone else is a less than. This is an attempt by white supremacists in the US government / employed by the US government to create and inforce an US Apartide system. Horrific. Hugs
So yesterday I posted about being disconnected from reality. I am sorry I did not get to any comments today I will do it tomorrow I promise. Last night I tossed and turned and got up and simply walked the house. I did not have a plan nor go online. I simply paced every room in the house mindlessly. Let me explain it is worse than that.
I went to bed feeling exhausted, too tired to stay up, after making sure the cat got his medications and food, and then after an hour I was awake. I tried every mind trick to keep my emotions at bay but nothing was working and I couldn’t sleep. But then something strange happened, not normal to me.
I got up and went to the computers … and couldn’t focus on them. I did not put ear buds in to listen to anything. It was like my mind shut down and my body was on autopilot. For hours I walked the house, room to room to room. At 2:30 am my time Ron texted me a bit worried I had not responded to his texts, but I did not respond, I just paced around the house. It would have been normal for me if I had had my ear buds in and sounds in my head, but I did not. I simply walked the house and every room in it over and over and over again for several hours. Then I sat at the computer, tried to do something, gave up and went to bed. As close as I can figure I got two or maybe three hours of sleep.
But the lack of sleep is not the point. What was happening in my mind that caused me to walk like that? I normally cannot go 20 seconds or more without exsternal imput into my mind. But last night I had none of that and I don’t know why. Looking back it was like I was possessed. When I got up I knew I did it, but not why. My mind was blank.
Ron has often in the last decade forced me awake because I was crying out or struggling in my sleep. Some of those he said sounded so strangled like I was trying to cry out while my throat was being closed off. Ron was not here last night. I was alone. My queston is did my mind force me out of the bed and walk because there was no other way to help me from what I was remembering in my sleep?
All day today I have been off trying to get my normal posts done. I have failed. No other way to put it, I am failing at my posting job. But I would love to hear what you guys think happened to me last night. Because it is terrifying if I am just going to mind shut down and walk around. What else might I do? Hugs
The conditions are on purpose to make people so miserable they give up their rights to asylum or any cases they have going. The ICE people / US government are already violating the rights of the people they kidnap off the streets. These are as bad as any concentration camp and the US government denies it all. When Democrats take power / authority back we need to investigate and punish all involved. The government flat out lies and gaslights the public as if they think nothing will ever be found out. Hugs
This morning I had an MRI on my lower back. It all went well and was quick. The reason for it is my right leg feels as if it is being tased and it makes it difficult and challenging to stand on the leg. I took an extra dose of instant morphine and a muscle relaxer before the MRI, as those tend to be very painful for me to lie on the table in one position for that length of time.
Since I got home I have felt more and more disconnected from reality My pain levels in my back have increased so I struggle to sit in my desk chair and have had to take even more more pain relievers of all kinds. But I still struggle, I am feeling lost like debrie in the wind of a storm. Ron has contacted me three times to forcefully tell me he loves me. But I feel lost, ungrounded, I find myself relieaziing I am simply staring into space or have not heard a word of what is playing on the video computer.
Plus, Sam Seder is talking to someone about the abuse of Palestinians in Gaza such as how their lands are being torn from them and they are being terrorized, yet I find I am not registering large parts of the video. I simply am missing large segments of the video and have to rewind to watch so much of it again. I am zoning out. I have seriously thought of going to bed. So much pain and abuse toward people who have no way to fight back or protect themselves. If I let my mind focus I am instantly thrown back to my own childhood situation as a child unable to fight back against all the abuse from much more powerful people who seemed to have all the authority behind them.
But it is more than the normal remember, be very upset, cry, sob, and try to find a way to deal. Currently I simply am lost like I am moving in slow motion as I struggle to focus on what I need to do. I feel like I am on go …
I just realized that for some time, I am not sure how long I have had my head down on my folded arms on my desk. I was not crying, I was not sleeping, I simply checked out. This seems much scarier than when I sob and cry out of control. For an unknown part of time I just checked out of reality. This is not normal. I am going to go lie down for a few minutes. Hugs
I went to lie down. I had texted Ron with my situation. I was just lying there not thinking, no intrusive thoughts which is strange enough, just checked out when he called all upset. He offered to start for home right away. I explained to him that was not needed. I am not feeling upset. Just lost. Just like I don’t comprehend what is happening within my eye sight and hearing. My mind was not registering what the inputs were. I admit it feels a bit like when I had my stroke, everything stopped making sense for a while. Anyway while I was laying down the medication started working and I feel a bit more connected to reality. I am not writing this to upset or concern anyone but to try to explain what is happening to me in my life. Thank you for letting me have a place to explain my feelings and for all of you who are willing to listen. I appreciate it, it means a lot to me. I can’t explain how important it is for me to have this space to exspress my feelings / life and know the people reading care about me. Hugs.
I strongly disagree with the jury finding here. She was shoved and jostled by ICE personnel in an attempt to have a reason to throw the congress woman out. Please notice the congress woman is black. Why go after her and not the other members of congress who were there? Why jostle and bump her and not the others? Clearly it is bigotry. There is a video at the link below that won’t embed here. Hugs
Democracy Now! speaks with Congressmember LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, who is facing up to 17 years in prison stemming from an incident last May when she and two other Democratic congressmembers sought to inspect Delaney Hall, a private prison run by the GEO Group under contract with ICE. The federal government claims McIver assaulted an immigration officer. “I’m not going to let them bully me out of doing my job. I’m just not,” says McIver, who describes conditions at the prison as dismal. “There was an entire riot at the same detention center because detainees were not getting food.”
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
We go now from New Jersey’s most famous musician to New Jersey Democratic Congresswoman LaMonica McIver. She’s facing up to 17 years in prison, stemming from an incident last May when she and two other Democratic congressmembers went to inspect Delaney Hall, the private immigration prison run by GEO Corporation under contract with ICE. The federal government claims McIver assaulted an immigration officer as federal agents were arresting Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who had accompanied the congressional delegation to Delaney Hall. Congressmember McIver has vehemently denied the charges. This is a brief clip of the scene outside the ICE jail that day.
AMY GOODMAN:Ten days later, then-acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba dropped the charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, but at the same time, she announced three felony charges against Congressmember McIver, including assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officers. Not since 1799 have such charges been brought against a House member. Alina Habba is the former personal attorney for Donald Trump. In December, she resigned after a panel of federal judges ruled she’s serving in her position unlawfully.
Members of Congress have the oversight authority to visit DHS facilities without prior notice, but the Trump administration has repeatedly attempted to restrict or thwart that access.
We go now to Newark, where we’re joined by the Democratic Congresswoman LaMonica McIver.
Welcome to Democracy Now!It’s great to have you with us. We have spoken with Mayor Ras Baraka several times. This is our first time talking to you. Explain the state of the case against you. I mean, the judges already ruled that the U.S. attorney, Alina Habba, the former private attorney of President Trump, was serving illegally. But you still have these charges against you that she brought?
REP. LAMONICA McIVER: Yes. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me, Amy. It’s great to be on with you.
Yes, you’re absolutely correct. These charges are still pushing forward. I’m still fighting it. I’m in the second stretch of that fight, as we filed an appeal to the 3rd Circuit Court to basically have these charges dismissed based off legislative immunity. As you so clearly laid out, you know, I was there to do my job, to conduct oversight, along with two of my other colleagues, when ICE and DHS created that whole fiasco that happened out there. And so, we’re looking forward to taking the case, you know, to getting these charges thrown out, and looking forward to being in front of a judge at the 3rd Circuit in a couple of months. And so, we’re just waiting on that process right now.
AMY GOODMAN: So, but explain what you were doing. It relates certainly today, as some judges have ruled that the Trump administration can delay congressmembers or legislators from inspecting these facilities. In May, talk exactly about what happened, about why you were at Delaney Hall, what it is, for a global audience, you and two other congressmembers, and then what happened to Ras Baraka and what happened to you.
REP. LAMONICA McIVER: So, of course. So, we went there for an oversight visit, which is something that Congress, you know, statutorily have the right to do. We can show up to any ICE facility and have an inspection, unannounced, announced. That’s, you know, in statute for us to do that. And so, me, two of my colleagues from New Jersey — which we have done in the past before. We’ve showed up to ICE, a ICE facility in New Jersey, other than Delaney Hall, and conducted an oversight visit. And just that day, we were going to Delaney Hall. We had gotten a lot of calls about Delaney Hall. We had no idea that this facility had opened up. The mayor of the city had said that this place was not cooperating with city guidelines. And so, we’re like, “Hey, we need to go here and check this place out.”
Mayor Baraka did not accompany us to the facility for the oversight visit. It was literally just members of Congress. Mayor Baraka showed up later, because he was coming there for the press conference that we were having after our tour. But he was not there to come with us on the visit. I mean, he had been showing up there at this facility every day prior to us coming, because, once again, this facility has, basically, you know, just refused to adhere to city guidelines as it relates to inspections and fire code inspections. They claim they are a federal facility, but they’re not. It’s a private prison that has a contract with the federal government. They’re not a federal facility.
And so, we showed up there to have our oversight visit, and we were met with an army of ICE agents, of folks from DHS. I mean, we had — I had never experienced anything like that, nor had we when we went to another facility to inspect that facility. And so, they created a whole fiasco, you know, unlawfully arrested the mayor for trespassing, after they let him into the gate. I mean, it was just a whole complete nightmare there that day, with them basically trying to restrict us from having oversight of this facility. Just days later, I mean, they put out this whole new protocol from DHS that said congressmembers had to give seven days’ notice for them to show up to have oversight, just constantly trying to stop Congress from having oversight and holding the administration accountable. And we continue to see this from last May and now continuing on each and every day with the different scenarios from this administration.
And so, I continue to show up to do oversight, continue to hold this agency, but also these facilities, accountable. I’ve been back to Delaney Hall since then. I had a detainee who died there. A 42-year-old Haitian immigrant who was completely healthy before going to this facility died within 24 hours of being at this facility. And so, I went back there to have an inspection. A couple of weeks after we went last May, there was an entire riot at this same detention center, because detainees were not getting food. They were starving. And detainees were upset about that, and they had a whole riot. And they had about four detainees who escaped through a makeshift wall there.
So, that just goes to show you why oversight is so important and why we have to continue to apply pressure and do our jobs as members of Congress and, you know, go to these facilities. You know, the government has said, hey, I went there, we were there to protest, we were there to do all of these things. But we didn’t go there for anything. I didn’t go there for a protest. We went there for one reason, and that one reason was to go there to protect the people who were there, to find out what was going on, to make sure that things were going — running OK inside this facility, which we have the right to, and that is our job to do so. And so, you know, we’re going — I’m not going to stop doing what I’m supposed to be doing and what the people of the 10th Congressional District here in New Jersey have elected me to do. And that is to protect them and hold this administration accountable.
AMY GOODMAN:You were there with New Jersey Congressmembers Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman. Now what is your legal situation? So often in these cases of political persecution, the process is the punishment. The New Yorkernotes, in December —
REP. LAMONICA McIVER: Correct.
AMY GOODMAN: — you had already racked up close to a million dollars in legal fees. What do you think this message sends to congressmembers, legislators all over the country: If they stand up for their constituents, as they say — as you say you were doing, you’ll be personally bankrupted?
REP. LAMONICA McIVER:Yeah, I mean, you’re absolutely right. The process is the punishment. This is what they’re doing. They’re doing this with your taxpayer dollars, prosecuting a member of Congress for doing their job. It doesn’t cost them anything, because they’re using taxpayer dollars to do so. But I think what it does is it inserts fear in other leaders to step up and hold the administration accountable. It’s intimidation. It’s bullying. And they’re just using me as a tool and a prop to do so. And that’s why I continue to stress how urgent, like, my case is, not because it’s about me, but it’s about the broader picture of how they are trying to stop congressmembers from doing their job, I mean, and it’s awful. But at the same time, that’s why I continue to push forward, continue to work for the people of the 10th Congressional District and protect them from this administration, specifically ICE, because I’m not going to let them bully me out of doing my job. I’m just not. They’re not going to bully me from stopping my work, and they’re not going to take away my joy while I do it.
AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember McIver, as we are broadcasting, the White House so-called border czar, Tom Homan, just finished speaking. He held a news conference around 7 a.m. Minnesota time. He said ICE and CBP are working to, quote, “draw down” the number of federal agents in Minneapolis. This is some of what he said.
TOM HOMAN: State and local law enforcement — again, I appreciate they all acknowledged that we do have federal immigration laws in this country that have been passed by Congress, and that ICE is in fact a legitimate law enforcement agency charged with enforcing those laws. We’re not making this up, folks. ICE is enforcing laws enacted by Congress. They’re in federal statute.
That said, I’m not here because the federal government has carried its mission out perfectly. First thing I said to senior staff when I walked in here is what I told you earlier. I didn’t come here looking for photo ops or headlines. I come here looking for solutions. I do not want to hear that everything that’s been done here has been perfect. Nothing’s ever perfect. Anything can be improved on. And what we’ve been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book. The mission is going to improve because of the changes we’re making.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that is the so-called border czar, who seems to have been sent to Minneapolis to replace Greg Bovino, the head of CBP. I’m used to saying CPB, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but President Trump ended that. So it’s all about CBP now, Customs and Border Patrol. And he’s been sent off to California. But there is Tom Homan, the man who was being investigated by the FBI, until a few weeks ago, for taking a Cava bag filled with $50,000 of cash from two undercover FBI agents. That investigation has been squelched, though some of your fellow congressmembers are calling for the video of him accepting that cash, people like Congressmember Raskin. But I’d like to ask — end by asking you about whether you think the government is going to be partially shut down this weekend, and to respond to — you were really the precursor to Minneapolis, but to respond to what the Senate is threatening to do, as they say they want to separate DHS funding from the rest of the budget, and if the Republicans don’t agree to, they won’t vote for the bill.
REP. LAMONICA McIVER: Yeah, well, I truly believe we’re heading to a shutdown, because at the end of the day, look, who can — who can even approve or give this agency, this rogue agency, that we’ve seen murder two people in broad daylight in the last couple of weeks — how can we give them more money? Like, why would the Senate give them more money to operate? Obviously, there are some big issues within this department, that is not operating, you know, effectively, and so they should not be given more money to cause more problems and more hurt and to terrorize American citizens. And so, I do truly believe we’re going to go to a shutdown. It’s shameful that Republicans in charge in the Senate won’t separate out the DHS funding and deal with the rest of the funding, but they want to continue to, you know, be scared of Donald Trump, and they’re, you know, keeping this package deal together, instead of separating it out, knowing that they have issues. So, I truly believe we’re definitely going to be heading to a shutdown.
AMY GOODMAN: Democratic Congressmember LaMonica McIver, speaking to us from Newark, New Jersey. Thank you so much for joining us.
Coming up, we look at how ICE is using facial recognition technology to track immigrants and protesters — or, as the government calls them, agitators — in Minnesota and across the country. But first, more Bruce Springsteen.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “Streets of Minneapolis,” just released by Bruce Springsteen, who definitely doesn’t need facial recognition technology to recognize him or his voice.
Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on more than 1,100 public television and radio stations worldwide. Time Magazine named Democracy Now! its “Pick of the Podcasts,” along with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Scottie's Playtime 