The power of investigative journalism.
June 30, 2016
FILE – In this Dec. 10, 2014 file photo, prison artwork created by Adnan Syed sits near family photos in the home of his mother, Shamim Syed, in Baltimore. Adnan Syed, a convicted killer at the center of the first season of the podcast “Serial,” is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016 as his attorneys argue for a new trial. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
The Atlantic
‘A judge in Baltimore has ordered a new trial for Adnan Syed, the murder convict who was the subject of the Serial, the popular podcast from Chicago Public Radio. Syed’s attorney tweeted the news, ‘We won a new trial for Adnan Syed!!!’
This is a developing story and we’ll update it when we learn more.’
http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/06/adnan-syed-new-trial/489671/?utm_source=atltw
Heartbreak.
David Whyte.
Heartbreak is something we feel happens only when things have gone wrong: an unrequited love, a shattered dream, a child lost before their time. Heartbreak is to be avoided; something to guard against, a chasm to watch for and then walk carefully around; the hope is to live without it and to have as little as possible, but all evidence is to the contrary of these child-like hopes; heartbreak is as inescapable and in- evitable as breathing, a part and parcel of every path, asking for its due in every sincere course an individual takes. It may be that there is no real life without the raw revelation of heartbreak; no single path we can take within a life that will allow us to escape without having that imaginative organ we call the heart broken by what it holds and then has to let go.
In a sobering physical sense, every heart does eventually break, as the precipitating reason for death or because the rest of the body has given up before it, but hearts also break in an imaginative and psycho-logical sense: there is almost no path a human being can follow that does not lead to heartbreak. A marriage, a committed vow to another – even the most settled, loving relationship will break our hearts at one time another; parenthood, no matter the sincerity of our love for a child, will always break the mold of our motherly or fatherly hopes; a good work, if taken seriously, will often take everything we have and still leave us wanting; finally even the most self compassionate, self examination should, if we are sincere, lead eventually to existential disappointment.
Realizing its inescapable nature, we can see heartbreak not as the end of the road or the cessation of hope but as the close embrace of the essence of what we have wanted or are about to lose. It is the hidden DNA of our relationship with life, outlining outer forms by the intimate physical experience generated by its absence; it can ground us truly in whatever grief we are experiencing, set us to planting a seed with what we have left or appreciate what we have even as we stand in its ruins. If heartbreak is inevitable and inescapable, it asks us to look for it, to see it as our constant and instructive companion, and perhaps, in the depth of its impact as well as in its hindsight, see it as its own reward. Heartbreak asks us not to look for an alternative path, because there is no alternative path. It is an introduction to what we love and have loved, an inescapable question, something and someone that has been with us all along, asking us to be ready for the ultimate letting go.’
Love.
‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’
-Lord Alfred Tennyson
Overused and trite? Perhaps. But oh, dear friend, so true.
US slips in social progress index.
June 29, 2016
‘The Social Progress Index for 2016 ranks the United States No. 19 among 133 countries in the world, behind Ireland, France, Canada and New Zealand, and just ahead of Slovenia and Portugal. Full details of the rankings and analysis can be found here.
The Index is produced by the U.S.-based nonprofit Social Progress Imperative, and is based on the work of leading economists, which include Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz. It measures how well countries perform delivering social goods to their people, including education, health and wellness, housing, opportunity, personal rights, personal safety and tolerance.
“Sad to say, the United States has the dubious distinction of being the one major industrial nation that is significantly underperforming on its social progress, relative to its GDP,” said Michael Green, executive director of the Social Progress Imperative.’
By, Mitchell Hartman
http://www.marketplace.org/2016/06/29/world/us-slips-2016-social-progress-index
http://www.socialprogressimperative.org
Two important reads.
June 28, 2016The Atlantic.
‘It’s 2020, four years from now. The campaign is under way to succeed the president, who is retiring after a single wretched term. Voters are angrier than ever—at politicians, at compromisers, at the establishment. Congress and the White House seem incapable of working together on anything, even when their interests align.’
It goes from here. The author is Jonathan Rauch.
‘I could continue, but you get the gist. Yes, the political future I’ve described is unreal. But it is also a linear extrapolation of several trends on vivid display right now.’
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/how-american-politics-went-insane/485570/
And this, by Evan Osnos in The New Yorker.
‘Making a Killing.’
‘The greatest legal and political questions around guns today are not what types of weapons people will be allowed to use in the future but who can use them and why. On June 9th, a federal appeals court in California sided with gun-control advocates, ruling that local governments can set conditions on the right to carry concealed weapons. “This is the beginning of a battle, not the end,” Adam Winkler, a specialist in gun law at the University of California, Los Angeles, said. The Supreme Court has ruled that Americans have a right to “self-defense within the home,” but it has said nothing regarding what Americans can carry in public “It’s the next great frontier for the Second Amendment,” Winkler said.’
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/27/after-orlando-examining-the-gun-business
~♥~
June 27, 2016“The plain fact is that the world does not need more successful people, but it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane.”
-David Orr
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
We make one.
Seth:
‘Shannon Weber decided that there wasn’t enough love, recognition or connection in her world, so she did something about it. When she finds an unsung (don’t say ‘ordinary’ hero) she makes them cape.
Caping people, catching them doing something right, shining a light on a familiar hero.
It turns out that this is way more difficult than being cynical, or ironic, or bitter. Being closed is a lot easier than being connected. It takes guts.
What kind of impact does one act of kindness make? It can last for years.
Go, cape someone.’
Messy is the way.
June 25, 2016
Thank you, Kerri Kelly.
‘I used to see a butterfly in my mind’s eye every time I heard the word transformation, but life has schooled me. Transformation isn’t a butterfly. It’s the thing before you get to be pretty bug flying away. It’s huddling in the dark cocoon and then pushing your way out. It’s the messy work of making sense of your fortunes and misfortunes, desires and doubts, hang-ups and sorrows, actions and accidents, mistakes and successes, so you can go on and become the person you must next become.’
Listen.
June 23, 2016
Taking notes vs. Taking belief
‘Is there anything easier than listening to a lecture or reading a book and taking notes?
And is there anything more difficult than setting aside our preconceptions and the resistance and acting ‘as if’, being open to belief, at least for a moment?
If taking notes is making it easier for you to postpone (or avoid) the possibility of belief, better to put down the pencil and focus.
Facts are easy to come by. Finding a new way to think and a new confidence in our choices is difficult indeed.’
-Seth Godin
Gratitude. ✿
June 20, 2016Wondering.
Is being abundantly intuitive a curse?
Or.
Incredibly enlightening?
I think it is the latter. ✿´¯`*•.¸¸✿
✿´¯`*•.¸¸✿
Enough.
June 19, 2016
Elected officials: Move beyond the 2nd amendment rhetoric and political dogma and ban these weapons of war in the United States. The creators of these weapons did not intend them for citizen use. Military personnel have spoken out against them for use by civilians. And while the Senate was involved in a filibuster to force a vote on gun protections last week, 48 people were shot in this country. We may never know the true motives behind tany of these massacres, but we do know the automatic weapons they chose to use kill many people very quickly. Children. Worshipers. LGBT. Theatre attendees. The only underlying motivation to keep these weapons in our country is the political maneuvering of the NRA, and profit seekers. Enough.
From The British online newspaper, The Independent:
A British citizen tweeting after this story was posted:
‘Unbelievable-they don’t seem to have much respect for life.’
During the filibuster, there was a shooting every 23 minutes
Earlier this week, we reported that on the same day of the Orlando massacre — the largest mass shooting in US history — there were 42 other shootings across the country.
June 17 marked the 1-uear anniversary of one of the worst acts of hate violence against African-Americans, in at least a generation.
The Orland massacre on June 12th, one of the worst acts against the LGBT community.
We have moved beyond the rhetoric of the 2nd Amendment – – the debate is weapons of war in the hands of civilians.
Contact your state senators today, Sunday, June 19th, and ask them to vote ‘YES’ tomorrow, Monday, June 20th, on the Feinstein and Murphy amendments. In Idaho:
Senator Jim Risch:
http://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email
Senator Mike Crapo:
http://www.crapo.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
US Mass Shootings, 1982-2016: Data from Mother Jones’ Investigation
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data
Wait. It makes sense.
June 18, 2016
‘I’m Sticking with Sanders – – and Voting for Clinton’
Bernie Sanders has the best policies. But Hillary Clinton has the chops to advance a progressive agenda—if we make her.
I see a possible scenario that can make a Clinton win a blessing. It is a long shot, but the logic is simple.
1. Few, if any, Americans have the broad insider experience that prepares Clinton to carry out the basic duties of the presidency—and to advance a progressive agenda if forced to do so by the persistent demands of a powerful progressive political movement.
2. Sanders has activated millennials and independents and energized a powerful progressive political movement with the potential to hold Clinton to a progressive agenda.
3. Trump is fracturing the Republican party and energizing his opposition. These two factors could flip control of Congress. Combined with a Democrat in the White House, that would assure a progressive shift in control of the Supreme Court.
4. These factors together create a moment of historic opportunity.
[…]
We also know, of course, the Clinton family’s history of aligning with Wall Street and the corporate establishment. To win against Trump, Clinton will surely continue to run against the corporate establishment. Once in office, however, she could easily slip into her old ways.
This is where the social movement that Sanders energized becomes so essential.
Join the movement.
June 17, 2016Brand New Congress
“Brand New Congress is a project launched by Bernie volunteers to heed Bernie’s call by running 400+ candidates all at once to replace Congress in 2018. Right now, we’re building the infrastructure for what will need to be the largest campaign in American history. If you have the rare combination of time to volunteer, patience to build something from the ground up for 2018, and a team-player personality, then please apply here to help lead a central BNC team (even if you’ve already signed up to volunteer with us before). But first, it’s important to understand exactly what you’re getting into:
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We want to give America a choice it’s never had before: Elect a Brand New Congress all at once — one that fights for working people because it will be made of working people.
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BNC candidates will run together in a unified campaign that will free them from talking to millionaires and billionaires all day or worrying about campaign management, enabling the best leaders in our communities to stand for election with 100% focus on their constituents.
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BNC candidates will not be career politicians, but teachers, nurses, principals, doctors, engineers, stay-at-home parents — working people who are good at what they do and stand up for those around them.
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We learned the importance of organization and execution on Bernie’s campaign. The BNC will open offices and provide campaign tools everywhere at the BEGINNING of the campaign, not the end.
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Our campaign will be led by dedicated grassroots leaders — with no artificial barriers between paid staff and volunteers. If you’re leading a BNC team, you’re an official leader.
It’s high time we had a Congress that responds to the will and the needs of Americans citizens, not the American oligarchy. Bernie’s movement has proven that together we can accomplish the impossible.”
| The Power Path: |
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‘…many who have “felt the Bern” have their eye on local politics.’
‘Hundreds, if not thousands, will be heeding the call of Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison, a Sanders endorser and convention delegate. “We need people running for school boards,” Ellison told The New York Times in May. “We need people running for city council. We need people running for state legislatures. We need people running for zoning boards, for park boards, to really take this sort of message that Bernie carried and carry it in their own local communities.’
http://billmoyers.com/story/seattles-lessons-bernie-sanders-activists-elections/
‘Recent waves of social activism like the Occupy movement and Black Lives Matter show that you can fight city hall–or any other powerful entity for that matter. Now comes the playbook for citizen activists wanting to improve the world around them from Nick Licata, admired Seattle city councilmember and one of the city’s most effective leaders of political and social change since the 1960s. In this smart and powerful book, Licata explains how to get organized, congregate power, and master the tactics for change. He is insightful in comparing effective communication with methods that just don’t work. Licata’s observations on the intricacies of power will empower any activist who wants to make a difference in today’s world.’
‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’
-Margaret Mead
‘Nationally, about 400 mayors, city councilors, county supervisors and school board members use Local Progress as a think tank and clearing house for alternative public policies. Assisted by the Center for Popular Democracy in New York, the group distributes a 60-page handbook for improving labor and environmental standards, housing and education programs, public safety and municipal election practices. At annual conferences — like its national meeting in Pittsburgh on July 8-9 — local victories of the sort Licata describes in his book are dissected and their lessons disseminated.’
‘The political revolution continues.’
‘It’s time to grow up and figure this out.”
June 14, 2016
Late night responds to the massacre in Orlando.
Conan O’Brien:
“I have a shred of common sense and I simply do not understand why anybody in this country is allowed to purchase and own a semiautomatic assault rifle. These are weapons of war and they have no place in civilian life. I have tried to understand this issue from every side and it all comes down to this: Nobody I know or have ever met in my entire life should have access to a weapon that can kill so many people so quickly. These mass shootings are happening so often now that lamenting them afterwards is becoming a national ritual. I do not know the answer. But I wanted to take just a moment here tonight to agree with the rapidly growing sentiment in America that it’s time to grow up and figure this out.”
Stephen Colbert:
“We each ask ourselves what can you possibly say in the face of this horror? But then sadly you realize, you know what to say, because it has been said too many times before. You have a pretty good idea of what most people are gonna say. You know what a president, whoever it is, will probably say. You know what both sides of the political aisle will say. You know what gun manufacturers will say. Even me, with a silly show like this, you have some idea what I will say because even I have talked about this when it has happened before. It’s as if there’s a national script that we have learned, and I think by accepting the script, we tacitly accept that the script will end the same way every time, with nothing changing. Except for the loved ones and the families of the victims, for whom nothing will ever be the same. These people in Orlando were apparently targeted because of who they love. And there have been outpourings of love throughout the country and around the world … love allows us to change the script. So love your country, love your family, love the families and the victims and the people of Orlando.”
Jimmy Fallon
“This country was built on the idea that we do not all agree on everything, that we are a tolerant free nation that encourages debate, free thinking, believing, or not, in what you choose. I as a new father am thinking, ‘What do I tell my kids?’ What do I — what do I tell them about this? What can we learn from this? What if my kids are gay? What do I tell them? Maybe there’s a lesson from all this. A lesson in tolerance. We need to support each other’s differences and worry less about our own opinions. Get back to debate and away from believing or supporting the idea that if someone doesn’t live the way you want them to live, you just buy a gun and kill them, just bomb them up. That is not okay. We need to get back to being brave enough to accept that we have different opinions and that’s okay. Because that’s what America is built on. The idea that we can stand up and speak our minds and live our lives and not be punished for that. Or mocked on the Internet. Or killed by someone you don’t know. This was just one bad guy here. Forty nine good people and one bad guy. And there will always be more good than evil.”
Samantha Bee
“Well, here we are. Now, after a massacre, the standard operating procedure is that you stand on stage and deliver some well-meaning words about how we will get through this together, how love wins, how love conquers hate. And that is great. That is beautiful. But you know what? F— it. I am too angry for that. Love does not win, unless we start loving each other enough to fix our f—ing problems.”
Seth Meyers
“This was an attack on LGBT people fueled by bigotry and hatred. And the shooter was apparently inspired by ISIS. But we’re gonna talk about guns. Because whether the shooter was a homophobe, mentally ill, a terrorist inspired by ISIS or all three, what allowed him to kill so many people on Sunday was his gun. And that means we’re likely about to enter yet another contentious national debate about gun control. Later, when given a chance, Congress consistently chooses nothing as a course of action. So while there were some who were busy callously exploiting the tragedy to spread bigotry and misinformation, let’s keep in our hearts the victims and applaud those acts of love and humanity that poured forth in Orlando and across the country. Because at the end of the day, that’s what will endure.”
Energy. Bring it.
‘Today the obligation is on us to make our own magic. To find two sticks and turn them into a game. To organize our own conversations, find our own connections… most of all, to bring generosity and energy to communities that don’t have enough of either one.
Freedom and leverage is great, but it comes with responsibility. We’re all curators/concierges/impresarios now.
If the association or the chat room or the street corner isn’t what you need it to be, why not make it into the thing we’re hoping for?’
-Seth Godin
Bernie.
June 13, 2016
‘But no matter what happens, the truth is that no president, not Bernie Sanders, not Hillary Clinton, not the greatest president you can possibly imagine can address the enormous problems facing the working families of our country by him or herself. That is the truth, and that is why we need a grassroots political movement in this country: a political revolution.’