text:
Emma Gonzalez, center, and the other student activists from Parkland cheer on stage at the end of the March for Our Lives rally in Washington. The attacks on the teenage survivors of the shooting have been fierce from the beginning, and have only continued since the students helped spearhead hundreds of protests last month. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)

It’s been a month and half since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 students and school personnel dead at the hands of 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz.

RELATED: Depression is setting in, concerned Parkland students say at town hall

Thanks to the outspokenness and energy of surviving students like David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez, the tragic shooting has sparked a movement against gun violence and for common-sense gun control laws. The constant rhetoric, rallies and TV appearances of Parkland shooting survivors moved a previously immovable Florida Legislature to enact in three weeks what it had refused to do in nearly three decades: stricter gun controls.

Though state lawmakers still have more work to do, long-time Tallahassee political observers marveled at what these well-spoken, impatient teens have already been able to accomplish.

RELATED: POINT OF VIEW: Politicians, put yourselves in Parkland survivors’ shoes

But those efforts, and the teens’ further demands for more stricter gun controls, have put them squarely in the sights of the powerful gun lobby led by the influential National Rifle Association.

As a result, they’ve been attacked repeatedly by regular folks, politicians, celebrities and even law-enforcement officers on radio, TV and in social media.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham apologized under pressure last week for taunting a survivor of the school shooting in Parkland as several companies confirmed they would pull advertising from her show. (Laura Segall/The New York Times)

Most recently:

  • Fox News host and conservative firebrand Laura Ingraham was forced to take a week off from her show after she was pilloried for criticizing Hogg on Twitter after he talked about his difficulties getting into the University of California.
  • Artist and musician Frank Stallone  was forced to apologize after a profanity-laced criticism of the Parkland survivors over the weekend.
Ted Nugent (Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP, File)

But rocker and NRA board member Ted Nugent has been unapologetic. Nugent, who began his attack of the Parkland teens over the weekend, doubled down on WABC’s Curtis + Cosby show on Monday.

“(David Hogg) has been brainwashed, it’s tragic,” Nugent said. “I don’t think the guy can be fixed. … This guy is a lost cause. He is consumed with hate. He is part of the problem, not the solution.”

Nugent also said Hogg and the Douglas High School students are “not very educated” and “wouldn’t know an AR-15 from a pterodactyl.”

Pro-gun supporters and others argue that the teens stepped into a serious grown-up issue and thus relinquished the right to be treated with kid gloves. If you dance to the music, you’ve got to pay the piper, they say.

Sign up for The Palm Beach Post weekly Opinion newsletter:

But what do you think?

Do you agree with the criticisms being leveled against the student survivors of the Douglas High School shooting by right wing and NRA supporters? Or should there be a hands-off approach to these outspoken teens who suffered an unimaginable tragedy?

Take poll here:

Goodman: Rubio destroyed his own argument against gun control (Does he realize it?)

Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Cameron Kasky asks Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), right, if he will continue to accept money from the NRA during a CNN town hall meeting on Wednesday at the BB&T Center. (Michael Laughlin/Sun Sentinel/TNS)

Marco Rubio provided much of the drama at Wednesday night’s remarkable town hall on gun violence.

First, simply by showing up in blue Broward County, and to face hundreds of grieving teenage survivors of the Parkland school shooting and their traumatized friends and parents.

There was the moment when Fred Guttenberg, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Jaime in the slaughter, told him: “Your comments this week, and those of our president, have been pathetically weak.”

The moment when student Cameron Kasky asked Rubio to refuse accepting any more money from the National Rifle Association (NRA) — and, perhaps mentally flashing on the $3.3 million he got from NRA in 2016, Rubio said no. “The answer to the question is that people buy into my agenda.”

But to me, the most important moment came when Chris Grady, a Douglas High senior, asked Rubio, “Would you agree that there is no place in our society for large capacity magazines capable of firing off — over — from 15 to 30 rounds and if not more?”

And Rubio said that “after this and some of the details I learned about it, I’m reconsidering that position, and I’ll tell you why… Because while it may not prevent an attack, it may save lives in an attack.”

With fewer bullets for the killer to fire, “three or four people might be alive today.”

“It wouldn’t have prevented the attack but it made it less lethal,” Rubio said.

Bingo! That’s exactly what people who urge banning semiautomatic weapons are saying.

Nothing is going to eliminate all gun deaths in America. And nothing is going to completely keep demented people from getting hold of firearms. But we can at least limit those guns’ lethality.

Guns like the AR-15, which fire with such force that they left victims of the Parkland school shooting “with only shreds of the organ that had been hit by a bullet,” an emergency room radiologist tells us, via The Atlantic. “There was nothing left to repair.”

If you see the logic of making gun cartridges less lethal, then you must see the logic of  making guns themselves less lethal.

Rubio, possibly without knowing it, destroyed his own longstanding argument. The day after the Parkland shooting, Rubio took to the Senate floor to say gun-control measures don’t work. “Whether it is a political assassination of one person or the mass killing of many, if one person decides to do it and they are committed to that task, it is a very difficult thing to stop,” he said, before adding, “that does not mean we should not try to prevent as many of them as we can.”

Yes, stopping a determined killer is a hard thing to do. But once you’ve allowed that the lethality of the instrument is the determining factor in whether something should or shouldn’t be lawful, then why not be consistent? Why not concede that we should be making it much harder for would-be killers to get their hands on armaments that are essentially weapons of war?

Rubio should be applauded for changing his mind on high-capacity ammo magazines. It should be a short step to changing his mind on assault weapons, period.

Take it, Senator.

Christie: Should people be allowed to bring guns into the Tax Collector’s office?

A line of people waiting to get into the county Tax Collector’s office snakes through lobby of the Palm Beach County Governmental Center. (Lannis Waters / The Palm Beach Post)

What is going on? That’s the question a lot of folks had after reading the below op-ed from Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon earlier this month.

“Just last month, our agency experienced two incidents in our service centers when customers brought guns into our workplace. Sadly, these incidents frighten employees,” Gannon wrote.

Once again, Florida’s struggles with its image as “the Gunshine State” — and state lawmakers’ efforts to allow guns everywhere — has an unexpected consequence.

The tax collector is not exactly on everyone Christmas card list. And it just so happens that the holiday season coincides with the office’s busy property tax collection season.

RELATED: Christie commentary: Guns, shopping malls are a bad retail mix

Palm Beach County Tax Collector has asked state Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach, to sponsor legislation outlawing guns from tax collector’s offices.

With all of that stress, Gannon felt that this not the place for folks to bring firearms — even those with concealed carry permits. She wants there to be a law.

These days, where folks can legally carry or purchase firearms is becoming a dicey issue. Attitudes depend on where you live in the state. For example, I heard that the Dick’s Sporting Goods in the Seminole Town Center in Sanford sells guns.

Is Gannon’s request infringing on Second Amendment rights?

POINT OF VIEW: Protect employees, public from workplace violence

Collecting taxes and fees from the public is not an easy job. The 300 dedicated employees of the Palm Beach County Tax Collector’s Office do their best to make the experience as pleasant and efficient as possible. Unfortunately, they must also serve angry and upset clients, some of whom threaten violence.

Just last month, our agency experienced two incidents in our service centers when customers brought guns into our workplace. Sadly, these incidents frighten employees.

Last month also marked the beginning of property tax collection, our busiest season, with agency employees serving nearly 7,000 clients in person at seven service centers across Palm Beach County. I am upset to think of the tragic consequences these two incidents could have had on our agency’s employees and the public we serve.

Workplace violence must be stopped; which is why I asked state Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach, to introduce an amendment to Senate Bill 134 that would have helped protect Tax Collector office employees as well as the public.

The amendment would add all Tax Collector offices to the list of places where concealed weapon permit-holders are restricted from carrying guns. Examples of places already on this list include courthouses, polling places, schools and any meeting of the governing body of a county, public school district, municipality or special district. When you consider the amount of money our agency handles, the contentious nature of taxation and fees and the sheer number of clients we serve in person, it only makes sense to add Tax Collector offices to this list.

Unfortunately, Sen. Powell’s amendment did not even make it out of the Dec. 5 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. SB 134 sought to allow Floridians with concealed weapons licenses to carry firearms up to the entrance of courthouses. Fortunately, it was opposed 6-4.

The 2018 legislative session begins on Jan. 9. I urge you to contact your local representatives now to make your voice heard. We must continue to take action to protect employees and the public from workplace violence.

Editor’s note: Anne M. Gannon is the Palm Beach County tax collector.

Goodman: Alexandria shooting shows ‘there’s too much hate’ in our politics, GOP congressman says

We don’t yet know the motives of the gunman who opened fire on Republican congressmen and staffers who were practicing at a peaceful park in Alexandria, Va., for a charity baseball game.

But the vitriol in Washington, D.C., is so intense over our politics, the divisions in America so bitter, that it is easy to jump to the same conclusion as Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., who was at the practice and survived the barrage of gunfire that severely wounded a colleague, Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and wounded three others.

“This hatefulness that we see in this country today over policy differences, it’s got to stop,” Davis told CNN. This is his “breaking point,” he said. The political rhetoric of hate and division, including on social media and the 24-hour news cycle, has to end.

“I think Republicans and Democrats need to use this today, today, to stand together and say, ‘Stop! Let’s work together. Let’s get things done. We can have our differences but let’s not let it lead to such hate.'”

Even if it turns out that the shooter, identified as James Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Ill., had no political motive, it speaks volumes that the nation’s current animosities leap to mind when processing such unprovoked violence.

Can America ratchet down the animosities? Is this a warning of what may happen if we do not?

UPDATE 12:16 p.m.

Washington Post reports:

The man suspected of firing dozens of rounds into an Alexandria baseball field Wednesday morning has been identified by federal law enforcement officials as James T. Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Ill.

A Facebook page belonging to a person with the same name includes pictures of Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, and rhetoric against President Trump, including a post that reads: “Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.”

Hodgkinson was among those taken to a hospital Wednesday, and President Trump announced that he had died from “his injuries.”

Charles Orear, 50, a restaurant manager from St. Louis, said in an interview Wednesday that he became friendly with Hodgkinson during their work together in Iowa on Sanders’s presidential campaign. Orear said Hodgkinson was a passionate progressive and showed no signs of violence or malice toward others.

 “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Orear said when told by phone about the shooting.

Orear described Hodgkinson as a “quiet guy” who was “very mellow, very reserved” when they stayed overnight at the home of a Sanders’s supporter in Rock Island, Ill., after canvassing for the Vermont senator.

“He was this union tradesman, pretty stocky, and we stayed up talking politics,” he said. “He was more on the really progressive side of things.”

When informed that the suspect’s Facebook page prominently features Sanders’s image, the senator’s spokesman Michael Briggs said:

“Our prayers go out for a full recovery of Rep. Scalise, the congressional aides and police officers who were injured. We’ve got to stop the violence.”

Christie: Other child victims also deserve President Trump’s attention, Post reader says

In this April 4 photo, Abdel Hameed Alyousef, 29, holds his twin babies who were killed during a suspected chemical weapons attack, in Khan Sheikhoun in the northern province of Idlib, Syria. France’s foreign minister says chemical analysis of samples taken from a deadly sarin gas attack in Syria shows that the nerve agent used “bears the signature” of President Bashar Assad’s government and shows it was responsible. (Alaa Alyousef via AP, File)

A few weeks ago President Trump, quickly reacting to 22 children being gassed, ordered a missile attack on a Syrian airfield. Because the use of gas is universally unacceptable, the president generally received bipartisan support for his action. Although the attack was somewhat knee jerk in nature, most people gave him a pass because children were involved.

A week later, 40 children were among the scores of people who died in Beirut while trying to find something to eat. A bomb explosion may not have the same visceral effect as gas, the carnage described in graphic detail. Unless I missed the coverage, there was no reaction from the White House, although, obviously, dead children are dead children, regardless of the cause.

With so many children dying in a relatively short period of time, I wonder whether anyone thought back to the tragic killings of 20 first-grade pupils in Newtown, Conn. One life is certainly as important as another. Yet all that was asked of our Congress was to pass more comprehensive regulations  on the sale of guns. Congress, or at least the Republicans in Congress, either have no conscience or have sold them to the NRA.

According to a Huffington Post article, “There Have Been Over 200 School Shooting Incidents Since The Sandy Hook Massacre,” (Dec. 14) and Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization of more than 3 million mayors, moms, cops, teachers, survivors, gun owners and everyday Americans working to end gun violence, there have been more than 200 school shootings since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, averaging about one shooting per week.

These shootings resulted in approximately 94 gun-related deaths and 156 injuries.

I find it difficult to comprehend why President Trump who campaigned for “America First” chooses as his first aggressive action an attack in Syria, rather than addressing the obvious problems at home. This is only one example of poor judgment our president has exhibited during his first 100 days in office.

Goodman: Appeals court hits bull’s-eye with ‘Docs v Glocks’ takedown

Score one for good thinking. A federal appeals court Thursday struck down the inane Florida law that prohibited physicians from asking their patients whether there’s a gun in the house that’s stored safely.

The law, the only one like it in the United States, has helped mold our risible reputation as the “Gunshine State.” It was signed in 2011 by Gov. Rick Scott with strong backing from the National Rifle Association and the GOP-led Legislature, who said doctors were overstepping their bounds and pushing an anti-Second Amendment agenda.

Medical groups and others quickly challenged the law, and it’s been winding through state and federal courts ever since.

Now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta has ruled, in a 10-to-1 decision, that the law infringes upon doctors’ freedom of speech. Any patient who doesn’t like a doctor’s questions about gun ownership can find another doctor, the court said.

“The Second Amendment right to own and possess firearms does not preclude questions about, commentary on, or criticism for the exercise of that right,” wrote Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan in one of two majority opinions. “There is no actual conflict between the First Amendment rights of doctors and medical professionals and the Second Amendment rights of patients.”

The American Civil Liberties Union had fought hard against the law. “We are thrilled that the court has finally put to bed the nonsensical and dangerous idea that a doctor speaking with a patient about gun safety somehow threatens the right to own a gun,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.

The Associated Press reports:

The 11th Circuit noted that Florida lawmakers appeared to base the law on “six anecdotes” about physicians’ discussions of guns in their examination rooms and little other concrete evidence that there is an actual problem. And doctors who violated the law could face professional discipline, a fine or possibly loss of their medical licenses.

“There was no evidence whatsoever before the Florida Legislature that any doctors or medical professionals have taken away patients’ firearms or otherwise infringed on patients’ Second Amendment rights,” Jordan wrote for the court.

The Washington Post explains why doctors might want to ask patients about guns:

Several large professional medical groups have said it is within the bounds of ethical medical care for doctors to ask about gun safety at home, in the way a physician might ask parents of small children if they have a backyard pool. A May 2016 review, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, noted that the majority of physicians believe that “they have the right to counsel patients about firearms.”

“Firearm violence is an important health problem, and most physicians agree that they should help prevent that violence,” Garen J. Wintemute, a co-author of the paper and a public health expert at the University of California Davis, told The Washington Post in May…

Doctors are not wholly united on this front. Some groups, such as Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership, have voiced their dissent, believing that doctors should not discuss guns with their patients. (Medical groups had “declared a culture war on gun ownership,” the DRGO said on its website. It also warned that “your doctor may have a personal prejudice against gun ownership, shaped by her training in medical school or residency.”)

The appeals court, to its great credit, upheld the primacy of the First Amendment as a bedrock of American liberties. That reminder came from Circuit Judge William Pryor, who was a finalist in President Donald J. Trump’s search for a U.S. Supreme Court nominee.

In a separate concurring opinion, Pryor said that the First Amendment must protect all points of view.

“The promise of free speech is that even when one holds an unpopular point of view, the state cannot stifle it,” he wrote.

Pryor added:

The First Amendment is a counter-majoritarian bulwark against tyranny. “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech,” [as the Constitution states,] cannot mean “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech a majority likes.”…

If we upheld the Act, we could set a precedent for many other restrictions of potentially unpopular speech …

The First Amendment requires the protection of ideas that some people might find distasteful
because tomorrow the tables might be turned.

Well said.

Take our poll, and let us know whether you agree.

Christie: Tell us: How do we stop these mass shootings?

People take cover at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport after a gunman killed 5 people and injured many more on January 6, 2017. (Allen Eyestone / The Palm Beach Post)
People take cover at the Fort Lauderdale Airport after a gunman killed 5 people and injured many more on Jan. 6. (Allen Eyestone / The Palm Beach Post)

What do we do now?

What do we do after another mass shooting by an alleged mentally ill individual takes the lives of so many.

Even more disturbing is how the Friday afternoon bloodbath at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport further exposes how our airport terminals are big, tempting — some say, soft — targets for armed individuals who want to terrorize or just kill other people.

In March, three coordinated suicide bombings in Brussels, Belgium – two at Brussels Airport and one at a metro station – killed 32 civilians and injured more than 300. The airport explosions were in a departure hall.

In October, three gunmen with automatic weapons and suicide bombs staged an attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 45 people and injuring 230. Two of the attackers opened fire near a security checkpoint’s x-ray scanner, and detonated bombs when police returned fire. The third attacker set off a bomb in the parking lot across the street from the terminal.

And now, Fort Lauderdale. According to the latest reports, 26-year-old Esteban Santiago got off a Delta Airlines flight from Anchorage, Alaska, pulled his gun from his checked bag in the baggage area, loaded it in the bathroom and shot at least 13 people — killing five and sending eight people to nearby Broward Health Medical Center.

Santiago, who was discharged from the Army National Guard in August for “unsatisfactory performance,” served in Iraq for about a year starting in 2010. He was a combat engineer.

CNN reported that Santiago showed up at the Anchorage FBI office recently, and was checked into a mental facility after he said he heard voices telling him to join ISIS. And members of his family are now telling media outlets that Santiago “lost his mind in Iraq.”

Whatever his reason may be, our minds automatically go what we can do to prevent this from happening again on U.S. soil. A few ideas:

  1. Stop allowing passengers to carry guns and ammunition in their checked bags on airline flights.
  2. Beef up armed security at U.S. airports and ease restrictions on stop and frisk.
  3. Keep mentally ill people from owning and acquiring firearms in the first place.

But what freedoms would we be willing to give up as a result?

For example, American travelers are notorious for not wanting anything to slow down — read that, ruin — their vacations. We bristle, for example, every time we have to take off our shoes or belt at the airport security checkpoint.

What would you suggest? Tell us: How do we stop these mass shootings?

Dallas mayor’s warning after police deaths: ‘This cancer of separatism will kill this body’

DALLAS, TX - July 8, 2016: Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings (R) conducts a press conference at Dallas City Hall as Dallas Police Chief David Brown looks on following the fatal shootings of five police officers on July 8, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. At least one sniper killed five officers and wounded seven others in a coordinated ambush at a anti-police brutality demonstration in Dallas. The sniper was killed, and three other people are in custody, officials said. (Photo by Stewart F. House/Getty Images)
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings (R) conducts a press conference at Dallas City Hall as Dallas Police Chief David Brown looks on following the fatal shootings of five police officers on July 8, 2016 in Dallas, Texas.  (Photo by Stewart F. House/Getty Images)

His city jolted by its most traumatic event in half a century, Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas could have done the expected thing: Blast the bastards who opened fire on police officers, killing five and wounding seven. Call for law and order. Swear that the violence will be dealt with harshly.

But Rawlings, little known outside the Dallas region, a former CEO of Pizza Hut, has reacted to this tragedy with uncommon grace and stature.

It was Rawlings who, with Thursday night’s shocking news still fresh, called for the interfaith vigil that drew thousands at noon today to Dallas’ downtown Thanksgiving Square, just a few blocks from and a few hours after the sniper fire that rained terror on police who were protecting demonstrators who were marching peaceably in the streets over the intolerable killings of black men earlier this week in Louisiana and Minnesota.

And while offering prayers for the felled officers and those still on the job of protecting the city’s citizens, flanked by clergy of many faiths and city residents of every skin tone, Rawlings dared to drill to the core issue of this terrible week of violence in America.

“We are here to face our challenges head-on,” Rawlings said. “We will not shy away from the very real fact that we as s city, as a state, as a nation, are struggling with racial issues that continue to divide us.” And continued:

Yes, it’s that word, “race,” and we have got to attack it head-on. I will tell you, this is on my generation of leaders. It is on our watch that we have allowed this to continue to fester, that we have led the next generation down a vicious path of rhetoric and actions that pit one against the other.

We’ve gotta change. And I believe, in dealing with this issue, we must step up our game and approach complicated issues in a different way. And race is complicated. As F. Scott Fitzgerald said: The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time, and retain the ability to function. I think we can do that.

The question is, can we as citizens speak against the actions of a relatively few officers who blemish the reputation of their high calling, and at the same time, support and defend the 99 percent of officers who do their job professionally, honestly and bravely? These are the men and women who were shot last night. I think we can and I think we must.

Can we as a community, truly and deeply understand the pain that racial discrimination and the greatest sin in America – slavery – has created through history? Can we understand that?

Can we accept god’s grace of forgiveness and put yesterday’s battle aside to address and build a city and a country that Dr. King dreamt of? Can we do that?

Can we do it by being honest about today’s shortcomings and building a society that truly gives all citizens, whom we all love, the opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? I think we can.

Today it’s a prayer service, so I get to quote St Paul: “In the end three things remain. Faith, hope and love.” We need all three today.

We must have faith in each other and our institutions. We must have hope and believe that tomorrow will be better – and it will! And we must love one another. Because if we don’t, this cancer of separatism will kill this body.”

It was a great speech. (And if Democrats are smart, they will give this man a prime spot at their national convention.) Because Rawlings was describing the only real way out of this nation’s present course, which, if unchanged, could easily lead to the race war that extremists would love to spark, or to an ugly wave of suppression in the name of law and order.

Nobody can excuse — no government can permit — the killing of police officers. But neither can any of us deny that the rage that fueled the slaughter in Dallas stems from very real causes.

ST. PAUL, MN - JULY 08: Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton speaks at a media briefing on the Philando Castile police shooting on July 8, 2016 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dayton spoke about the killing of Philando Castile and of the shootings in Dallas last night. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton speaks at a media briefing on the Philando Castile police shooting on July 8, 2016 in St. Paul, Minn. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

No elected official has explained this better perhaps than the governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, who said frankly that racism played a role in the killing of Philando Castile, 32, by a police officer Wednesday evening in Falcon Heights, a suburb of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

“Nobody should be shot and killed in Minnesota for a taillight being out of function,” Dayton said in a Thursday afternoon news conference.

“Would this have happened if those passengers and the driver were white? I don’t think it would’ve.”

Dayton, a Democrat and great-grandson of the man who founded what is now the Target Corporation, said he had spoken with many prominent African-Americans since the shooting and that many had felt singled out by police.

“I’m shocked and deeply offended that this could happen in Minnesota,” he said.

We should all be shocked and offended that these events happen anywhere in America. Until the ubiquity of cell phone cameras, which now gives almost every citizen the ability to instantly broadcast a video to the entire world, white Americans could not be fully aware of the brutal treatment that black Americans have long said is routine when interacting with police.

Now we know. If we want this brutality to stop, we must do as Rawlings says: Attack the subject of race head-on.

House sit-in wakes up the longshot battle for gun safety

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 22: U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) speaks to gun control activists who gather outside the Capitol after House Republicans have forced votes as House Democrats stages a sit-in on the House floor June 22, 2016 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. House Democrats are staging a sit-in on the House floor to demand Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) not to recess the House without voting on legislation including the bipartisan "No Fly, No Buy" legislation and a universal background check bill. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) speaks to gun control activists who gather outside the Capitol after House Republicans have forced votes as House Democrats stages a sit-in on the House floor June 22, 2016, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Something has happened to the familiar inertia that has come to follow a mass shooting in America. The calls for gun control that normally fade by this time, muted by the refusal of Congress to move any legislation — this time they aren’t dying down.

Far from it. On Wednesday, House Democrats erupted into rebellion, triggered by a first-of-its kind sit-in led by Rep. John Lewis, the 76-year-old civil rights icon from Georgia. They chanted, they sang “We Shall Overcome,” they shouted over House Speaker Paul Ryan when he tried to do normal House business. They were raucous, rude and decidedly out of order, flouting House rules against photography by using cellphones to broadcast video of their revolt when the official TV cameras were turned off.

The GOP undoubtedly hated the disruption. Ryan belittled it as a “publicity stunt.” But after the 49 dead in Orlando –which follows the 27 dead in Newtown, the 14 dead in San Bernardino, the 13 dead at Columbine, and so many more — it was time to say “Enough.”

“We’re done,” Rep. Donna Edwards, of Maryland, said on MSNBC as the demonstration continued. “We’re just done. We always do the moment of silence, and then it’s back to business as usual; moment of silence, back to business as usual. And now we realize we can’t go back to business as usual.”

The Democrats were demanding a vote on two measures that the GOP-led Rules Committee wouldn’t allow to proceed. One would make background checks universal for all gun purchases. The other would block suspected terrorists from buying guns. Neither would solve America’s outlandish rate of gun violence by themselves. But both proposals have high support from the American people. And they would be a start.

It was a forceful demonstration of how powerless most Americans feel about their democracy these days. As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich noted in a TV interview, even elected members of the House of Representatives felt driven to use the tactics of outsiders to demand the attention of the heedless people in charge of the system: in this case, a Republican Party that takes the cash and toes the line of the National Rifle Association.

And it was a remarkable show of solidarity and energy from a Democratic Party that has avoided gun control as political poison for a very long time. It followed last week’s almost 15-hour filibuster in the Senate by Democrat Chris Murphy of New Hampshire, a remarkable disruption of procedure that prompted votes in the upper chamber on expanded background checks and banning people on no-fly lists from buying firearms. The votes failed, but perhaps a needle moved.

It was also a stark illustration of the extreme polarization between the two parties — a point underscored by a new Pew Research study showing that the partisan divide is the widest it’s been in 25 years, with 55 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of Republicans holding very unfavorable views of the other party. As Politico reports:

The negative feelings don’t stop there. A majority of Democrats say they are fearful of (55 percent) and frustrated by (58 percent) the GOP, and 47 percent say they are angered by the Republican Party.

The feelings, however, are largely mutual. Nearly 50 percent of Republicans say they are afraid of the Democratic Party, with 57 percent saying they are frustrated and 46 percent expressing anger.

Wednesday’s House sit-in began at 11:30 a.m. “Sitting on the floor, I felt I was reliving my life all over again,” Lewis, who was beaten, his skull fractured, in the 1965 march to Selma, said later. “During the ’60s, sit-ins started with three or four people and spread like wildfire.”

By evening, the uproar was being broadcast nonstop on cable news, the cellphone images conveying the spontaneity of a street action. Crowds had gathered outside the Capitol, shouting “Do your job!” to recalcitrant Republicans. A reported 100,000 phone calls of support poured into Congress.

Republicans adjourned the session around 3:30 a.m. until after July 4, two days earlier than planned. Democrats continued to occupy the House floor this morning, about two dozen having stayed through the night.

They didn’t force a vote, let alone win a vote. But by likening gun violence to the civil rights movement, they have added the element of a moral crusade and have sparked hopes that change may be coming to this long unyielding problem, as it did to African Americans’ legal rights, as it did to gay rights.

More fights are ahead and fighting won’t ensure victory. But that’s better than inertia.

Orlando shooting: How did Mateen get a gun?

This undated image shows Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. The gunman opened fire inside the crowded gay nightclub before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. (MySpace via AP)
This undated image shows Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. The gunman opened fire inside the crowded gay nightclub before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. (MySpace via AP)

Among the more exasperating questions being thrown out by readers is this: How was a guy, who had been interviewed three times by the FBI in recent years, able to purchase a gun?

The answer, though relatively simple, is still frustrating to hear. There was nothing in the law that circumvented Omar Mateen’s Second Amendment right to legally buy, and own a gun.

Yes, he was questioned by the FBI when inflammatory remarks he had made regarding radical jihadist sympathies came to their attention. But their investigations turned up nothing that would allow them to charge him, or even keep him on a terrorist watch list.

You see, in the Bill of Rights, the United States has this equally strong protection under freedom of speech. It is the same right that allows Anthony Senecal, the former Mar-A-Lago butler for Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, to make arguably treasonous statements about harming President Barack Obama.

Mateen, who had homes in Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce, worked at a global security firm that had federal contracts. He was an American citizen, born in New York. He had no run-ins, of consequence, with the law.

There is still information coming out, but even the owner of the shooting facility where Mateen purchased the AR-15 and two other guns sounded frustrated when answering reporters’ questions Monday afternoon.

Ed Henson, owner of the St. Lucie Shooting Center, addresses reported Monday.
Ed Henson, owner of the St. Lucie Shooting Center, addresses reported Monday.

“He’s a nobody,” said Ed Henson, owner of the St. Lucie Shooting Center and a retired NYPD officer, of Mateen. “He’s a customer. He came and purchased his guns and he left. We do a large business.”

Henson said the 29-year-old loner who massacred 49 innocent people — and wounded 53 others — at the Pulse Orlando nightclub “passed all the background checks. I’m sorry, I really don’t have any more answers for you.”

That’s what makes this all so frustrating — and scary for so many Americans now.

There could be more time bombs like Mateen out there. Political rhetoric and posturing won’t help.

Without commonsense compromise on issues like surveillance and gun control, there’s nothing stopping a similar unstable person from purchasing a military-style weapon to do innocent Americans harm.


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
A Sign of Divine Providence

On February 14th, in 1930 and 1943 respectively, St. Josemaria saw that both women and priests could form part of Opus Dei. Some texts and videos about these two foundational dates.

The Prelate in his February letter said: "On February 14th, we will commemorate in the Work the anniversary of the extension of the apostolic work to women, in 1930, and the foundation of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, in 1943. Our Father viewed that coinciding of dates, in different years, as a sign of Divine Providence, which wanted to strongly emphasize the unity of Opus Dei. Let us give thanks for this divine gift, which each and every one of us should foster and defend, first of all in our own lives, and also in our surroundings."

Andres Vasquez de Prada, in his biography of St. Josemaria, briefly recounts these two events:

February 14, 1930: Women in Opus Dei

Obviously, what Father Josemaría "saw" on October 2, 1928 was not events or historic details, but only the essential element of the divine message.

"A short time later, on February 14, 1930, I was celebrating Mass in the little chapel of the elderly Marchioness of Onteiro, Luz Casanova's mother, whom I took care of spiritually while I was chaplain of the Foundation. During the Mass, right after Communion: the whole women's branch of the Work! I cannot say that I saw it, but intellectually, in detail, I grasped what the women's branch of Opus Dei was to be... I gave thanks and, at the usual time, I went to the confessional of Father Sanchez. He listened to me and then said, 'This is just as much from God as the rest.'"

February 14, 1943: Priests in Opus Dei

On the morning of February 14, 1943, Father Josemaría left home early to say Mass for his daughters in the oratory of Jorge Manrique. As soon as Mass was over, he took out his notebook and wrote on the page for February 14, feast of Saint Valentine, "In the house of the women, during Holy Mass: 'Societas Sacerdotalis Sanctae Crucis' [the priestly society of the Holy Cross]." And then, on that same page, he made a little drawing of a circle with a cross inside it.

Next day Father Josemaría went to El Escorial, not far from Madrid, where Alvaro del Portillo, José María Hernández and José Luis Múzquiz were preparing for their theology exams. With a great sense of unworthiness, almost with shame, he told Alvaro of the grace he had received during Mass the day before. The necessary documents needed to be prepared quickly. Alvaro would be the one to go to Rome to seek approval for the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, which the Lord had shown him, in outline, on February 14, already a day of thanksgiving as the anniversary of that other memorable February 14 when the Lord had made him realize that he should extend Opus Dei's apostolate to women.

Both the inclusion of women and the incorporation of priests took him by surprise. Especially the founding of the women's branch, which happened when his mind had been lacking light and his will divided between wanting and not knowing how.

Speaking about the paradoxes of the founding, he would say one day: "The foundation of Opus Dei happened without me; the women's branch, against my personal opinion; and the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, when I was seeking it but unable to find it."

From The Founder of Opus Dei: the Life of Josemaría Escrivá , A. Vazquez de Prada, Scepter. Vol. I: "The Early Years" (2001), pages 217-229; Vol. II: "God and Daring" (2003), pages 419-448.

warcinfo:
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2020-05
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for January 2020
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-129.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.16 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.1-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/


text:
Author: Katie Kosko

Oral mucositis can be painful and, in some cases, require hospitalization of patients being treated for cancer with chemotherapy and other radiation therapies. However, along with your care team, you can take steps to prevent this uncomfortable side effect.

In an interview CURE®, Dr. Alessandro Villa, assistant professor in oral medicine and dentistry at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, spotlighted the number of patients with cancer who are affected by oral mucositis, explained the benefits of two agents approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for intervention and explored how patients can control the side effect from the comfort of their homes.

CURE®: Can you explain what types of cancer treatment cause oral mucositis?
Villa: Oral mucositis is an iconic toxicity of cancer therapy and remains one of the most painful and disrupting side effects of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. When I talk about radiation therapy, I talk about patients with head and neck cancer. In these patients, usually 100% receiving radiation therapy develop oral mucositis. We also see mucositis in approximately 60% to 80% of patients who undergo bone marrow transplants. And finally, we see it in 20% to 40% of patients who receive conventional chemotherapy for any cancer.

What are the consequences of oral mucositis?
Oral mucositis is one of the most painful toxicities in patients receiving radiation therapy to the head and neck. It’s the number one cause of hospitalization in these patients. It can sometimes be so severe and painful that patients can’t speak, swallow or eat. It’s a very debilitating toxicity. If they are not able to eat, they may end up receiving a feeding tube. The cost associated with oral mucositis is higher than $17,000 per patient. There is still a huge unmet need out there for patients.

What questions should patients and/or caregivers ask their health care team about oral mucositis?
The first question I would have them ask is, what can I expect? Because it can be different between radiation and chemotherapy. And as we have discussed, they can also ask: What can I do at home to minimize this risk? And what are the preventative measures?

How can oral mucositis be prevented?
The FDA has approved two agents for mucositis intervention. One is called palifermin, which is approved for the prevention of severe oral mucositis in patients who receive certain treatment in preparation for bone marrow transplant. The second agent, which is for mitigation of mucositis in patients treated with radiation for head and neck cancer, is a rinse called benzydamine hydrochloride.

Cryotherapy is recommended by the American Society of Clinical Oncology in patients who receive a specific chemotherapy, 5-fluorouracil or more commonly 5FU. Patients can swish on ice chips for about 30 minutes starting about five minutes before the drug is administered. And to control mucositis pain, morphine may be used in patients who undergo stem cell transplantation.

What can patients do at home to help avoid the side effect or reduce its severity?
There are specific recommendations that patients should follow to minimize oral mucositis. One of them is maintaining good oral hygiene using a soft toothbrush. Patients can also use a saline solution 3-4 times a day, then rinse and spit. Cleansing of the mouth and good lubrication of the inside of the cheeks and lips can help with the pain and inflammation. The reason behind it is that, from a scientific standpoint, the microbiome (the bacteria and all the bugs that we have in the mouth) can contribute in the development and worsening of the mucositis. The cleaner the mouth, the better it is. Of course, patients may be sensitive to certain toothpastes, so it’s important to use mild-flavored fluoridated toothpaste when brushing. In some cases, patients should avoid spicy, acidic or hot foods because these may trigger symptoms for the patient.

How is the side effect monitored?
This depends on the type of treatment they are receiving. If they are receiving radiation, they come in the hospital Monday through Friday, so they are monitored daily.

For those with chemotherapy, most of these drugs are administered through IV in the hospital. However, there are some new chemotherapies given by mouth and patients take these at home, but they can give different side effects.

Is there anything else that you would like to add about oral mucositis?
Right now, this is a huge unmet clinical problem for patients and a devastating toxicity, but the development for oral mucositis is pretty robust with a wide range of new agents. This is promising, and there are some good results in current clinical trials with some of these new agents in progress. If I’m being optimistic, I think that there should be new options ready for approval in the next 5-10 years. There is a lot in the pipeline.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email


text:
The dream is over (A poem)

Contemplating things that have and have not changed… It’s been forty-five years half the Beatles are dead the Stones are old men What once was victory is now a bitter memory in the hearts of angry men Some confuse hate with heritage but hate has history, too The trouble spots are where they meet and [...]


text:
Contact 3D Modeling & Animation

Contact 3D Modeling & Animation

For questions about the 3D Modeling & Animation program or enrollment assistance, please contact Trudy Book at 918-293-5050 or email her at

Mailing address:
OSU Institute of Technology
3D Modeling & Animation
1801 E. 4th Street
Okmulgee, OK 74447

Trudy BookSr. Administrative Assistant

The faculty of the 3D Modeling & Animation program are highly experienced designers, creatives, artists, who have worked for and with a varied clientele locally, regionally and nationally. These are practicing professionals who continue to work and bring their expertise into the classroom every day. The depth of their skills, their dedication, and the extent of their experience, help to prepare our students to enter into the extremely competitive arena of graphic design, branding, advertising, 3D modeling and other creative endeavors. It is the goal of our faculty to instill the passion, desire and dedication it will take to be the next generation of outstanding, working creatives!

Tony Johnson

Tony Johnson has over 20 years in the creative field as a story boarder, motion graphics artist, designer and writer. Having graduated from OSUIT in 1997, he has produced national level work for clients like Remington Firearms, Twentieth Century Fox, Arvest Bank, as well as a host of local businesses, startups and regional clients. His time at agencies, including Fireant, XOR, Brothers & Co., and Ackerman McQueen, as well as operating his own boutique studio for nine years makes him a unique resource for students looking to gain insight into real world experience, as well as the technical aspects of the creative industry.

Jonathon Goswick

Johnathon Goswick graduated Tribeca Flashpoint Academy in 2013 with a degree in 3D for Game and Architectural Visualization. He has worked in the product design and store layout industry for six years with big name clientele such as Walmart, EA, Lowe's and Walgreens. His work includes store layouts, aisle walkthroughs and product visualization. He joined OSUIT as a full time employee in 2018 and teaches several courses to prepare students for working in the modern consumer market.


text:
Gender, Race, Power and The Beguiled

How do White women perpetuate gender and racial inequality in film? A new adaption of the 1966 novel and 1971 film, “The Beguiled,” is hitting the silver screen. The original story opens with a limping, dirtied White man, John (also nicknamed “Mr B”), played with relish by Clint Eastwood. The audience knows the violence and lies he’s capable of, as we see flashbacks that contradict his charm. He is an Unionist soldier injured in battle towards the end of the American Civil War. He staggers his way to a secluded boarding school for girls and young women, where he is nursed back to health by the older women, a mixed group of begrudging and bemused ladies who are stifled by their secret desires. The 2017 version has already built up high praise, with director Sofia Coppola being awarded Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. This is the first time the prestigious award has been given to a woman. Coppola explains why she chose to erase the character of Hallie, a slave woman who features prominently in the original. I emphasise Whiteness in her language below. Whiteness is a concept describing how White people don’t acknowledge how their race is central to their worldviews and contributes to racial oppression:

“I really thought it was interesting because it was a group of women all living together, all different ages with different stages of maturity, and how they interact. It’s a group of women kind of isolated in the world… I’m definitely attracted to stories about female characters, and characters that I can relate to. I’m interested in stories of groups of women together…  At the heart of the story, it’s really about the power dynamics between men and women that are universal, but that are sort of heightened in this kind of premise.”

Copolla makes two points in this interview:

  1. She loves women’s stories (read: White women’s stories).
  2. By saying she chooses stories that she relates to, and having omitted the only Black woman from her script, she is saying she only relates to White women.

This may seem “natural” to White people: why would a White woman relate to a Black woman character? This logic is how Whiteness works: by taking for granted the power dynamics of race.

Coppola did not grow up as a White woman on a Southern plantation during the Confederacy, and yet her interview begins with the journalist explaining: “It was precisely this interaction of desolation and Southern confederate femininity that drew Coppola to the project.” White women’s “isolation” on a Southern plantation draws Coppola in. It is beautiful; she characterises it as gender unity (”a group of women all living together”). The White women are characterised as “all different;” so, even though they are White, they are individuals. Their age and maturity are markers of their worthiness as distinct characters.

Hallie (Mae Mercer) faces John (Clint Eastwood) in the 1971 version of “The Beguiled”

Hallie (played by Mae Mercer, pictured right) is the sole Black woman character in the original story. Her presence alone would disrupt Coppola’s picturesque vision of gender unity. In the original film Hallie is a major character as the third co-star listed in the opening credits, and she is the third character to be introduced onscreen, working on the yard. Her existence as a slave is both a reminder of the violence that White women are capable of, and the violence that is to come.

Hallie’s otherness is emphasised as a contrast to John, who also disrupts the White women’s bonds and loyalties through sexual manipulation. Early in the story, John says to Hallie they should become friends, “We’re both kind of prisoners here, you and I.” They exchange quips about slavery, with John saying Hallie should be glad about the aims of the War. She remarks, “You White folk are all the same,” noting that White men on both sides were not really fighting for Black liberation from slavery but for their own interests.

Hallie shows signs of resistance. When the White women trade racist sneers about having to work on the garden (slave work), she reminds them that’s the only way they’ll be fed.  She’s wise to John’s manipulations, unlike the White women who either distrust him because he’s a Unionist or fawn over his good looks and illusions of romance. We’ve seen in a flashback that Hallie has been raped by the brother of the White woman who runs the school. Having previously sold off Hallie’s partner, who ultimately escaped and was never heard from again, Hallie scatters comments about the controlling and jealous nature of White men.

As the film descends into greater betrayal and escalating violence, John ultimately threatens Hallie with the possibility of rape using racist and sexist logic.  Hallie stands defiant and warns him he won’t get a chance. There is much to consider about Hallie’s character, and how she is clever in her pithy observations, even though she is at risk from both the White women and White men that surround her.

We won’t get a chance to ponder Hallie’s role further in the 2017 reimagining of the story, as Coppola elected to whitewash colonial violence from the plantation setting in which the story takes place.

People of colour relate to their own ethnic and racial groups as well as White people. Our survival depends on understanding White people’s culture alongside race, gender and other social dynamics. People of colour also find ways to partly empathise with deeply flawed White movies, books and other art, or salvage some enjoyment in spite of our critiques, because our own fiction is marginalised. In contrast, White people can move through the world exclusively consuming works by other White people and never notice how this shapes their racial identity and how their narrow perception feeds racism, whether or not they are conscious of their racial biases. This is what Peggy McIntosh terms White privilege: it is a special form of cultural power; it is the “permission to escape or to dominate.” Or to put it another way, it is both the benefits that go with being White, without noticing the protections and advantages this confers, as well as the ability to be oblivious to race (including unconscious bias), and the option to wield race to one’s advantage (discrimination).

For Coppola and other White women, it is taken-for-granted that “power dynamics” between (cis) men and women “are universal.” This is an illustration of Whiteness and heterosexism: White people are constructed as the default of humanity, and heterosexual people are the natural order. Whatever seems “normal” to them must be so for all people, even when people of colour, gender minorities, and those belonging to multiple marginalised groups are pushed out of narratives.

On why Hallie’s role was melted into another White woman character in her adaption, Coppola insists:

“I didn’t want to brush over such an important topic in a light way. Young girls watch my films and this was not the depiction of an African-American character I would want to show them.”

To put it another way: the inclusion of Black Americans is so important that they cannot be included at all.

This is not about being respectful of Black people; it is about the protection of White women. While White women are fond of characterising gender power as a struggle between a gender binary, between women and men, they fail to see that first, there are more than two genders, and these are hierarchical, with cisgender people elevated above all others. Second, White women have gender and race power over women of colour and femmes as well as having advantages over men of colour. Gender and race remain manifestations of power, especially over Black people, whose ancestors were enslaved, and Indigenous/ Black people who were both enslaved and dispossessed as is the case in Australia.

Erasing Black women slaves from a film set during a period of enslavement is an enaction of gender power available only to White people. Black people would never fathom making such a case. White women like Coppola ignore two crucial points. First, White women benefited from slavery. Second, White women today continue to benefit from slavery. For example, being in control of a story set in slave times and removing enslaved women is power. It is an example of White supremacy.

White supremacy is not just Nazis in Germany in the 1940s; it’s not simply the KKK in 1960s America; it’s not just One Nation’s rise in 1990s and beyond or Reclaim Australia in the present. White supremacy is a theoretical concept used to illustrate how White people are positioned as superior to other groups. Media, including the arts and film, have been central in establishing the dominance and acceptance of White supremacy. White people don’t find it strange that Black people are removed from stories or that they don’t appear at all. White people will protest the casting of people of colour in movies. White people defend Whitewashing of characters that are originally written as people of colour. Or, in the current depiction of Wonder Woman, White people will also pretend that a White Jewish woman “counts” as a woman of colour, even though she is actually White.

That the Whiteness of films and in other spheres of life is not peculiar to White people is White supremacy at its core. It is the outcome of deeming racial minorities so insignificant, so difficult to include, their stories so unworthy—so inferior—that people of colour are not given equal opportunity and equal representation.

When Coppola says she wants to protect “young girls” from depictions of the historical context of slavery, she means her White audience. Slavery would tarnish Coppola’s famous visual aesthetic of lavish beauty, already on show in the trailer. Yet The Beguiled is a story of sexual violence. In it, White women compete with one another over a White man and then gain revenge using violence. Next to this tale of White women’s vengence, slavery is positioned as “too political” to include, in Coppola’s words (“a lot of Trump signs” she says about the hindrance to production). The depiction of violence involving White women is emancipatory, interesting and alluring. The violence inflicted on Black women by White women is too ugly to consider in 2017, despite the ongoing racial, gender and class injustices in the USA, France, Australia and beyond.

Hallie is the White women’s slave in The Beguiled. To include this is to remind White women of their culpability in racial oppression. The original film sets up and reinforces the women’s fear of the Unionists. They are clearly, very obviously, anti-abolitionist. The fact that Coppola removed the only Black woman character shows she has latitude to envision the story in a new way. From what the trailer shows Coppola has made other changes, notably removing the grime of the original film. Erasure of a Black woman was not the only option.

Finally, Coppola argues that true gender equity, one that includes racial inclusion, is beyond her control, despite this being her sixth full-length feature:

“I would love to have a more racially diverse cast whenever I can. It didn’t work for this story, but of course I’m very open to stories about many different experiences and points of view.”

White women never seem to find a way to include women of colour.

The film was shot on the same plantation site as Beyoncé’s Lemonade album. The photo below is the embodiment White supremacy, as The Beguiled’s White women cast members recreate an image of Black women’s empowerment, while they shoot a film that erases Black women.

Black people are cool, but only as a pop culture reference point, away from the world where White women run around plantations, thinking they are exempt from racial and gender oppression.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Elle Fanning (@ellefanning) on

A version of this post was published on 18 June via my Twitter.

17 thoughts on “Gender, Race, Power and The Beguiled

  1. Thanks Michael Verona. It’s incredibly disappointing! She might have done something interesting with this character or she could have collaborated with a Black history expert or co-authored with a Black woman scriptwriter to update the character. A true shame. Hallie is an interesting and pivotal figure in the original film adaption.

  2. The contention that white artists can’t (or shouldn’t) explore issues of race, especially racism, doesn’t stand up to the slightest scrutiny. Coppola’s excuses seem little more than an admission of her own (self-imposed?) limitations as an artist.

  3. George Bratcher Again, complains on poverty, morality , race or immigration won’t help to life up Quality. We need positive strategies including recognizing all humans weakness. I used to act and think like you, as a world traveler for years, I see things from a different and a wider standpoint.

  4. I imagine that she also considered the risk of getting the character wrong and having to deal with all the Spike Lee et al. shaming; it’s a lot easier to disregard a bunch of white academics.

  5. I’ve linked to my commenting policy for a reason: I do not allow my threads to be derailed by hate speech or off-topic comments. This includes George Bratcher Caroline Wu who are in no way discussing anything related to my post, hence I’m removing your comments, which have absolutely nothing to do with the movie and my sociological discussion of representation of race in this film.

  6. KayJay White I’m afraid that DNA sequencing is not the answer to ending racism nor to enhanced representation of Black women in film. Race and racism is not about genes (

    What we do need is for structural patterns of racial inequality to be addressed. In the film industry, it means providing more funding and opportunities for people of colour. It also means White people need to take ownership of their contribution to racial inequality, which includes removing Black characters from stories, whitewashing roles intended for people of colour, and generally becoming better educated and more inclusive in their choices.

  7. Agreed Jason Smith. Coppola made other choices in changing dynamics of the story. She should have recognised her limitations as an artist and brought in writing partners or advisors to help her develop the character of Hallie. She had other options!

  8. Bryana I There’s no risk to being “shamed” if she had done her research, as all directors and scriptwriters must do. She could have worked with people more knowledgeable but instead chose to whitewash a story involving a slave, set in the era of slavery, with a principle character who fought in the Civil War! In the original, the male character and Hallie discuss slavery and she’s central to the plot, as discussed in my blog post.

  9. Jason Smith Do you mean White people when you say target audience? There are other very successful films about slavery and racism that have been watched by White people as well as people of colour. The Beguiled is about the confederacy: “It was precisely this interaction of desolation and Southern confederate femininity that drew Coppola to the project.” Coppola wanted to set a story about the confederacy without slavery. That decision whitewashes history and the original story. The White women in the original were strong supporters of slavery and say so throughout the film!

Comment below! (Please follow my commenting policy)

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s


text:
U.S. Army and Marines Turn Their Attention To Africa

Share Adjust Comment Print

From Defense News:

WASHINGTON — While headlines and congressional committees continue to focus on Washington’s strategic rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region, the US Army and Marine Corps remain busy elsewhere, although only the most dramatic bits and pieces of their mission have received much attention.

Part of the reason for that activity is the continuing fallout from the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where the US ambassador and three other Americans were killed.

As more forces become available to commanders now that deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have slowed to a relative trickle, Pentagon leadership and the White House are investing more in the security situation across several regions in Africa, where Islamic militants and ethnic violence threaten to destabilize friendly governments.

Africa is “certainly an area where we are busy” assisting regional partners with “build[ing] their own capabilities to deal with threats,” such as the challenge posed by a morphing al-Qaida and related Islamic extremists, said Lt. Gen. John Mulholland, deputy commander of US Special Operations Command.

“We see great cooperation” between US special operations forces based in Europe and those assigned to Africa, added Maj. Gen. Marshall Webb, commander of US special operations forces in Europe.

    This Week's Flyers

    Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.


text:
chrissy100   on 13/05/19 @ 20:08 said:

Let’s hope we get such good weather on the kentmere horseshoe Dave.
Thanks to everyone who came along for the best easy scrambling kinder has to offer. I was most pleased to see green hairstreak butterflies dancing in Crowden clough. Icing on the cake.
Hats off to Alfie. He’s a toughie and always welcome.

Flat cap (Mike)   on 14/05/19 @ 15:05 said:

I want to echo Dave and say a big thank you to Chrissy for the enchainment of good scrambles. Would be great to do some more.
I do disagree with the opinion about Alfie, though. I don't like dogs too much, but I don't like seeing them suffer either. Alfie was clearly very stressed on the scrambling parts, and as his responsible owner I would have stood up to my misjudgment and stopped after the first scramble.

Back to top

Please log in to add comments.


text:
Help Phosphene fund their Breaker EP

Phosphene Breaker

Oakland band Phosphene have launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund their next EP Breaker. Here at Overblown we feel duty bound to help them out because: A) We’re cool like that & B) We wanna hear the new record asap. Regular readers should be familiar with the charming dreamy indie-pop of Phosphene who’s music we’ve shared previously and who were kind enough to give us their time for an interview earlier this year.

So what’s in it for you? Well, there’s the music of course. Check out a couple of tracks from Phosphene on this very page. Then there’s the other benefits available depending on how many $$$s you can put towards the cause. Top of the list donations get you a limited edition Phosphene poster designed by singer / illustrator Rachel Frankel and that’ll be pretty special going by her other work which you can see at her website and underneath this article in this quite stunning bit of design for previous single ‘Be Mine’.

We’ve done our bit. Now over to the band. Head right on over to their INDIEGOGO page, watch their video where they explain what’s what and get your wallet out. It’ll make you feel good about yourself. Enjoy!

Please do like Phosphene on Facebook and follow them on Twitter

Follow Overblown on Facebook and Twitter.

Phosphene Be Mine


text:
Mind-Body Connection and MS

Positive thinking - how your outlook, thinking and mindset affect your MS recovery and health.

The patient’s influence on illness

What sets apart those people who recover from serious illness?

In general, they find the illness a challenge and an opportunity for personal growth. They tackle the illness actively, rather than being passive recipients of doctors’ treatments. They go to every source for information, are open-minded about unconventional therapies, and try everything. They feel empowered by the discoveries they make to take control of their illnesses, and indeed, their lives.

There is a movement in medicine away from the conventional paternalistic model wherein impersonal doctors treat passive patients who don’t argue or say what they want, and who are therefore not empowered to tackle the changes they must make to overcome disease.

Visionary physicians like Deepak Chopra and Bernie Siegel are leading this revolution. They understand the potential we have within us for modifying the course of disease if we choose to and are allowed to do so. And of course we can learn much from individuals, such as Ian Gawler, who have themselves recovered from 'terminal' cancer. The messages from all of these people are surprisingly similar.

Illness as a challenge

Serious illness is a challenge. Many patients come to regard it as a gift. From the kernel of the problem may come wonderful insights and answers that transform our lives.

For those of us with MS, cancer, and other serious diseases, it is worth remembering that the illness is part of us. We don’t like to think of tackling illness as a fight. It doesn’t make sense to fight yourself. It’s just that some of the cells of your body are not behaving in the way you want them to behave. We have extraordinary power over how our bodies’ cells behave.

If we get anxious and our blood pressure rises, we lower our heart rate to compensate. We don’t have to do it consciously; indeed, we can’t do it consciously. If we get too cold, our muscles start shivering to generate heat. If we get infected with a virus, we mobilize our immune system to fight the invader, and almost always win.

Built into the DNA in every cell in our bodies is the blueprint for fixing itself when things go wrong. Countless case reports exist of patients who were 'terminally ill' with cancer who went home and made a complete recovery.

The body has a tremendously effective ability to heal when it is in balance. The difficulty lies in quieting the mind long enough to allow the body to return to this natural state of balance. This is where meditation comes in.

toddler looking at stairs

Imagine there is some greater plan for everything in the universe. Imagine things aren’t happening by accident. Imagine there is an intelligent energy running through all things, guiding them. Faith doesn’t necessarily require you to believe this. Faith is about living life as if this were true. Belief isn’t necessary to have faith. Faith and belief form part of a continuum.

Our friend Siegfried Gutbrodt, formerly of the Gawler Foundation, specializes in laughter therapy. Siegfried always tells his audience about the positive effect of laughter on our bodies, about the good chemicals released during laughter. But importantly, he points out that it can be faked. That even if you are not feeling well but make the effort and have a big laugh, the same chemicals are released. It works. Try it yourself if you don’t believe it. It’s amazing how much better you feel after a good laugh, even if you fake it.

That analogy is useful for the concept of faith becoming belief. Faith is a little bit like faking it – living life as if something is true but not necessarily believing it to be true. But if you live that way long enough, you gradually start to believe it, and it gradually starts to work. Part of the trick with faith is to let go, and just trust that things will work out. In the words of Bill Harris, of Centerpoint Technology, “Let whatever’s happening be okay.”

One of the things people say when first diagnosed with a serious illness is that it’s important to be positive. That’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s no simple exercise to focus on the positives. The positives come when you take the illness as a challenge to change your life. If the illness becomes a means to grow, then the positives start to flow from the change that accompanies that growth. You can’t just will yourself to be positive.

It is now emerging that being positive and happy has a profound effect on the immune system. The term psychoneuroimmunology has been coined to reflect the study of the effect of mind and emotions on immune function. Allowing yourself to become depressed by the illness can literally make you sicker.

Fear vs. faith

One of the ways this important energy we need for healing can be wasted is when we are consumed with fear. In many respects, fear is the opposite of faith.

MS is a frightening disease, particularly when first diagnosed. Most of us want to live a long, healthy life. So often we hear people say, “I hope I drop dead with a heart attack” or “I hope I die in my sleep after a healthy life.” The fear of incapacity and a long, drawn-out demise is distressing for most people. Yet that is precisely what comes to mind with a diagnosis of MS: we have visions of wheelchairs, feeding tubes, catheters, and so on.

However, most people, when first diagnosed, are comparatively well. It makes no sense to spend the precious time we have now, when we’re well, worrying about the future. Worse, wasting energy on worrying robs us of the energy we need to heal ourselves. Dr. Ian Hislop captured it perfectly: “The principle is straightforward. You have to replace fear with faith: faith in yourself, your future, and perhaps in something which transcends both.”

Avoiding depression through diet, sunlight and exercise

Hope and positivity are important factors in avoiding depression, but there’s a lot of evidence that physical factors are important as well.

The omega-3 fatty acids have a key role here. It’s becoming clear that a diet rich in omega-3s prevents depression. This is probably also due to a membrane effect on the nerve cells in the brain. Both animal and human research has shown that fish oil supplementation improves learning. But there is also evidence that low eicosapentanoic acid levels correlate with depression. Data from large-population studies show that countries where fish forms a major part of the diet have much lower rates of depression than those where fish is not eaten much. Japan and Taiwan, for example, where fish consumption is the highest in the world, report rates of depression below 1% of the population. West Germany, Canada and New Zealand, where fish consumption is very low, report depression rates of 5% or higher. There is also evidence from small, uncontrolled studies that omega-3 supplements can improve depression.

So a lower likelihood of depression is another benefit of the diet we suggest. This is particularly important for people with MS, because the lifetime risk of becoming depressed after diagnosis is greater than 50%.

As previously discussed, there is also good evidence that regular exercise prevents depression. Given its other health benefits, exercise should form part of the health program of everybody who is able to do it.

Another important factor in preventing depression is getting adequate sunlight, or if that is not possible, supplementing with vitamin D.

Another way of avoiding depression is through counseling. I recommend everyone newly diagnosed with any major illness consider some psychological counseling. We need every bit of our energy to tackle the illness. Trained professionals can see if we are wasting any energy dealing with unnecessary things or tackling things in unproductive ways. It is worth shopping around to find someone who really suits you. An ongoing professional relationship with someone you know you can trust is enormously helpful.

woman in counseling

How we view ourselves and the illness

The way we feel about the illness and refer to it has a big bearing on our outcome. This is not a scientifically proven fact; it is our view, based on years of work in the field.

To quote author Carolyn Myss, “Biography becomes biology.” Like many others, she has seen that if people don’t express their grief, they end up radiating grief. They get depressed. If people can’t say what they want, repress their real wants and desires, and feel powerless, then something like cancer may literally start eating them away.

If people see themselves as “suffering” with MS, they probably will end up suffering and get more attacks. A lot of people with advanced MS are suffering. But we hope that people who take a positive, active approach to this illness and make the necessary lifestyle changes will do much better than if they allow it to dominate them.

We don’t talk about “fighting” MS. MS is a manifestation of an imbalance in your body. It is not some outside invader like malaria or a virus. All the cells involved in MS are your cells and part of you. It makes no sense to fight yourself. It’s not about fighting, it’s about healing.

Healing is multi-faceted, and not just physical. It’s becoming clear that being sick spiritually impairs physical healing.

Feeling in control of the illness

There is considerable literature on the positive effects of people having a feeling of control over illness.

Dr. Bernie Siegel’s books are rich with anecdotes about people he has seen, who have transformed themselves and overcome serious illness by being active, positive participants in the process. He describes the survivors of serious illness as people who actively seek out information, look for people to talk to who have overcome such illness, question their doctors about alternatives, and generally become what doctors think of as 'difficult' patients.

This is one of the reasons we are interested in so-called 'complementary' or 'alternative' therapies – even though they’re really just healthy, healing lifestyle choices. These are things people actively do to change the course of an illness, such as dietary changes, exercise, meditation, getting adequate sunlight, and so on. Why should they be called complementary or alternative? How is improving nutrition and actively calming the mind alternative? Surely it’s more 'alternative' to develop a toxic chemical in a laboratory and then inject it into people, knowing that it will cause damage to their bone marrow, hair, gut and sense of well-being.

Fortunately, we are seeing a move in many Western countries back toward more holistic medicine. Our eastern neighbors have known about such therapies for centuries. Deepak Chopra has recently written about his rediscovery of ayurveda, the ancient Indian traditional healing method.

Many mainstream medical scientists are now using good scientific methods to prove the value of these centuries-old traditions.

Investigating how people with MS respond to alternative medicine practitioners versus conventional doctors, researchers have found that although MS patients got significant benefit from drug therapies and medical providers, alternative medicine practitioners were rated significantly higher in listening skills, care and concern, and patient empowerment. The authors concluded that more study should be done on the benefits of emotional support gained from medical and alternative practitioners.

Writing it out

In April 1999, Smyth and co-workers from the Department of Psychiatry at the State University of New York published the results of a simple study in the JAMA. They performed a well-constructed RCT using 112 patients with chronic asthma or rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Like MS, RA is an auto-immune disease, but the immune system targets the joints rather than the nervous system. Asthma is also a disease mediated by the immune system. The 'treatment' group was asked to write on just one occasion about the most stressful event of their lives. The 'control' group was asked to write about a neutral topic. With this simple intervention – getting people to express feelings that may not have been completely released before – the treated patients got better and the others did not. This should not surprise us, but to a skeptical medical community this scientific proof came as something of a shock. The p values were 0.001, so the result was unlikely to have occurred by chance. Further, the magnitude of the effect was stunning. The RA patients had a 28% reduction in disease severity (this is about the same benefit as derived from interferon and glatiramer in MS), and the asthma patients showed a 19% improvement in lung function. And this effect persisted for four months after the 'treatment.' Effects of this size and duration are difficult to achieve with drug therapies, without producing side-effects. Yet all this was achieved with only 1 session. Imagine if these people had regularly expressed their feelings. JAMA carried a powerful editorial commenting on the article, by David Spiegel, a psychiatrist from Stanford University. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the editorial is that he sounds surprised. Yet there is abundant scientific evidence of the effects the mind and spirit can have on illness. Most of us know these things to be so resonant with truth that they require no proof. But the medical community has become skeptical in these days of miraculous drug therapy. This is despite long-standing evidence that:

  • People are more likely to die after than before their birthdays and holidays, for example
  • Patients with psoriasis (a chronic skin condition) heal faster when meditation training tapes are played during treatment
  • Patients who express their negative feelings or develop a fighting spirit do better in recovery from cancer

Spiegel concludes with an interesting point: “Were the authors to have provided similar outcome evidence about a new drug, it is likely that it would be in widespread use within a short time. Why? We would think we understood the mechanism (whether we did or we did not) and there would be a mediating industry to promote its use. Manufacturers of paper and pencils are not likely to push journaling as a treatment addition for the management of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.” Bernie Siegel recommends, not only to people with serious disease, but to everyone, that they start keeping a journal or diary.

Meditation is another important daily ritual, and a key part of the overall package.

There are many types of meditation. It is important to choose one that suits you, and this may take a bit of trial and error.

There is a lot of scientific research around the beneficial physical effects and mental benefits of meditation – much of it in the mainstream medical literature. Regular meditators have lower blood pressure, less heart disease, and so on. There are now more than 1,500 papers in the medical literature on the health benefits of meditation.

We have become increasingly convinced that meditation should form a key part of healing from any disease. Our work with Ian and Ruth Gawler at the Gawler Foundation in Victoria has demonstrated the profound benefits of this simple technique. Ian teaches that the body is capable of healing any illness. In order to heal, it needs to be in a state of balance, to allow the natural healing mechanisms to operate. Meditation can help achieve that balance. His book Meditation Pure and Simple is a must for anybody wishing to deepen their meditation. We recommend it strongly.

Other alternatives to meditation may be just as effective. Researchers have shown, for instance, that music therapy reduces anxiety and depression in people with MS.

How illness affects a person is profoundly dependent on his/her reaction to it and emotional state. But we need resources to tackle illness. It is important to get a sense of control over the process. Conventional medicine, with its emphasis on patients being passive recipients of care, serves us poorly in this regard. It is important for patients to be 'difficult,' to be actively involved in their own care management, while committing to a healthy lifestyle that fosters positive change in the body.

1. Adams PB, Lawson S, Sanigorski A, et al. Arachidonic acid to eicosapentanoic acid ratio in blood correlates positively with clinical symptoms of depression. Lipids 1996; 31:S157-S161
2. Sadovnick AD, Remick RA, Allen J, et al. Depression and multiple sclerosis. Neurology 1996; 46:628-632
3. Shinto L, Yadav V, Morris C, et al. The perceived benefit and satisfaction from conventional and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in people with multiple sclerosis. Complement Ther Med 2005; 13:264-272
4. Smyth JM, Stone AA, Hurewitz A, et al. Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized trial. JAMA 1999; 281:1304-1309
5. Spiegel D. Healing words: emotional expression and disease outcome. JAMA 1999; 281:1328-1329
6. Phillips DP, Ruth TE, Wagner LM. Psychology and survival. Lancet 1993; 342:1142-1145
7. Kabat-Zinn J, Wheeler E, Light T, et al. Influence of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction intervention on rates of skin clearing in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis undergoing phototherapy (UVB) and photochemotherapy (PUVA). Psychosom Med 1998; 60:625-632
8. Derogatis LR, Abeloff MD, Melisaratos N. Psychological coping mechanisms and survival time in metastatic breast cancer. JAMA 1979; 242:1504-1508
9. Greer S. Psychological response to cancer and survival. Psychol Med 1991; 21:43-49 10. Ostermann T, Schmid W. Music therapy in the treatment of multiple sclerosis: a comprehensive literature review. Expert Rev Neurother 2006; 6:469-477


text:
/ Stories Of Hope

Imagine Overcoming MS

This short film features the personal stories of seven people, from their diagnosis of MS to their recovery through following the OMS Recovery Program. Please share and spread hope to anyone living with MS today.

Thank you to Lee Mamo, Andrew Lorrain-Smith, Sue Collis, Rachael Hunter, Alex Tsirigotis, Kellie Baron and Ian Black for featuring. A huge thank you also to JMA for filming and creating the film.

We hope to make subtitles available for this film in the near future.

Read Sue's story

Read Rachael's story

Read Kellie's story

Hide commentsShow comments

Serena Lindeman (not verified)

What a fine little film, I love seeing the vibrant energetic faces of the people in it, inspirational to me on my journey with OMS

Gina Barker (not verified)

What an amazing, inspirational video, thank you to all involved for telling your stories. I'm sure all those positive words would encourage anyone and lead them to looking into OMS, which is what we need, more people to understand and follow the OMS program.

Thank you so much for this uplifting video. I was in a deep, dark hole and receiving your email, today and watching the video has motivated me to get back on the OMS programme. Thank you, thank you.

I am so glad you found the film helpful. I really hope you can find a positive way forward and I'm sure that OMS will help you to do that! Be well :)

[~Anonymous] OMS is an evidence based programme, Prof Jelinek's book has over 940 references. If you are interested in finding out more about the science behind the OMS program this page is a great place to start https://overcomingms.org/for-professionals/science-behind-oms but there is a huge amount of information elsewhere on our website covering each of the individual elements of the program (Diet, exercise, meditation, vitamin D etc). The Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis book covers all of this in details and we operate a free book scheme in the UK and Australia - plus a free ebook scheme in the US. There are also some videos here which explain: https://overcomingms.org/overcoming-ms-information-videos

Denis (not verified)

I'm not sure why but this site is loading extremely slow
for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end?
I'll check back later and see if the problem still exists.

washingtonians (Alicia)