Thousands of protesters armed with placards filled most of Whitehall outside Downing Street. They were rallying to demand that prime minister Theresa May repudiate Donald Trump's shameful blanket entry ban on all Syrian, Iraqi, Somali, Yemeni, Iranian, Sudanese and Libyan nationals for the next 90 days as well as the indefinite ban on all Syrian refugees.

Some also demanded that his planned state visit as a guest of the queen be revoked and that the British government also take decisive action to help desparate refugees and ease the conditions within the UK for asylum seekers.

An estimated ten thousand gathered outside Downing Street including human rights activist Peter Tatchel, former England striker Gary Lineker and singer Lily Allen.

Among the most frequent chants heard were "May shame on you", "dump Trump", "build bridges not walls" and "refugees are welcome here". Protesters pointed out that all the countries effected were Muslim majority nations and yet none of the countries targeted had any nationals implicated in any recent terrorist attack within the United States.

Ironically it is US foreign policy in the Middle East, including years of bombing and support for regional dictators that is one of the main causes of the current refugee crisis.

Lo que quedó en el tintero...

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Well, "pretty" can be so very subjective and relative to each owner ... however, I think they are pretty :)

'cause they are mine :)

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A little DAY IN THE PARK outing ...

Enjoying the warm Spring sunshine ...

And trying not to fall in the mud ;)

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March for our Lives, Boston.

The Boston event began at 9AM in Roxbury at the Madison Park Technical & Vocational High School, from where students and supporters marched down Columbus Ave through Boston's South End to Park Square, ending on Boston Common for a massive rally. While police estimated that 50,000 people marched, that doesn't include the many thousands who lined the march route, held signs, and cheered on the marchers, or the many people who attended the rally on Boston Common but did not march. Organizers estimated that more than 100,000 people marched and rallied on Boston Common, which is easy to believe seeing photos of the event.

Students at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines join countless peers across the country in staging a school walkout to protest gun violence. The event featured a student gospel choir, a spoken word poet, and a call to action for students to contact their elected officials.

Sadly stays together

November 13th, 2015, never again.

Thousands of protesters armed with placards filled most of Grosvenor Square outside the American Embassy in London. They were rallying to demand that prime minister Theresa May repudiate Donald Trump's shameful blanket entry ban on all Syrian, Iraqi, Somali, Yemeni, Iranian, Sudanese and Libyan nationals for the next 90 days as well as the indefinite ban on all Syrian refugees.

Some also demanded that his planned state visit as a guest of the queen be revoked and that the British government also take decisive action to help desparate refugees and ease the conditions within the UK for asylum seekers.

An estimated ten thousand gathered outside the US Embassy in London's Grovesnor Square for a march on Downing Street organized by the Stop the War Coalition, Stand Up to Racism and the Muslim Association of Britain

Among the most frequent chants heard were "May shame on you", "dump Trump", "build bridges not walls" and "refugees are welcome here". Protesters pointed out that all the countries effected were Muslim majority nations and yet none of the countries targeted had any nationals implicated in any recent terrorist attack within the United States.

Ironically it is US foreign policy in the Middle East, including years of bombing and support for regional dictators that is one of the main causes of the current refugee crisis.

March for our Lives, Boston.

The Boston event began at 9AM in Roxbury at the Madison Park Technical & Vocational High School, from where students and supporters marched down Columbus Ave through Boston's South End to Park Square, ending on Boston Common for a massive rally. While police estimated that 50,000 people marched, that doesn't include the many thousands who lined the march route, held signs, and cheered on the marchers, or the many people who attended the rally on Boston Common but did not march. Organizers estimated that more than 100,000 people marched and rallied on Boston Common, which is easy to believe seeing photos of the event.

#marchforourlives #marchforourlivesboston

On 24 March 2018 In DC and other cities, hundreds of thousands of students and others marched to demand common sense gun control in the wake of deadly school shootings in the U.S.

Captured as they flew over weston super mare as part of their farewell flypast before decommissioning, escorted by a Merlin.

November 13th, 2015, never again.

November 13th, 2015, never again.

November 13th, 2015, never again.

The Beach where the Canadians landed

Dieppe

My neighbor’s sign.

Not sure what group this was, but it’s pretty cool.

SF Pride 2025

On 24 March 2018 In DC and other cities, hundreds of thousands of students and others marched to demand common sense gun control in the wake of deadly school shootings in the U.S.

Ntarama Church, a killing field where 5,000 lost their lives during the 1994 genocide. This cross was erected years ago, as if to stand as sentinel of this bone field.

Ntarama Church

Ntarama, Rwanda. Afrika.

August 24, 2006.

For more information about Ntarama Church:

www.hrw.org/about/california/rwanda.html

216.185.134.103/archives/april/wed07042004/special_report...

www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20000924rwandaone9.asp

kenyananalyst.wordpress.com/2006/04/20/

www.earthaction.org/en/archive/98-07-pk/alert.html

Mother with Child Portraits from Rwanda By Kresta K.C. Venning Book Preview

This is 6th St., not the main area on Pennsylvania Avenue, but the crowds were so immense that the police cars were enveloped.

Last night I went out drinking on an empty stomach... but at least it gave me the idea for today's #100dayproject

Emma González, is a high school senior. She survived the February 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida and co-founded the gun-control advocacy group Never Again MSD.

This caricature of Emma González is an original Photoshop painting.

well...they got the "monster" part right!!!

i'd like to thank (NOT) my friend james for giving me this to try. although i must say it sure was yummy, i was pretty much like an ADD 12yr old who just inhaled 475 candy bars and also smoked some crack.

i must say i always thought that these "energy drinks" were a load of crap....well, i'm here to say that they are most certainly NOT.

stupidly i drank it at 4pm. thought it was pretty groovy as it's definitely usually my sleepy time of the day and all of a sudden i felt like i could join the marines and go to battle w/well...anyone.

i decided to take advantage and do some cleaning. before i knew it i'd vacuumed the house in a fraction of a second, put away a bunch of piles of laundry (although i don't really remember doing it and am sure i'll find some things in strange places like the fridge and or stove....), used those funny smelling old english wipes on various strange pieces of furniture around the house....oh and also all of the spindles on the stairs (who does that?!?!), let the dogs out to pee...forgot about them and let them in about 40 minutes later...after they ate every blade of grass in the backyard, changed the oil in my car (kidding on that one...i think) and did a whole bunch of other random weird shit.

i could not come down and i felt like i sucked down a million packets of soy sauce as i was totally parched. i ran to wawa (almost litterally) and bought one huge bucket of lemonade and one of ice tea. came home mixed them together and was throwing it down my throat like i'd just eaten fire.

there are other things that i did that were out of character as well .....but i think that's been enough of a story for now.

soooo.....

the moral here is this:

energy drinks work....

i mean really work.

Here is another artwork, this one by Ava Kessler, which is a memorial for the victims of the Parkland school shooting, and also shows support for the NeverAgain movement. The poster was made for the March For Our Lives Rally, planned March 24 in Washington D.C. To me it's not just a rally poster, but an amazing work of art. Ava posted it on Facebook, and has given me permission to show it here with the license shown. (note: I adjusted the image slightly, showing the angel closer to center. It was posted March 14, but I revised the date to get all related photos bunched together).

-Para Tinta China, para 'anivelar' la dureza de mi foto anterior...-

En invierno,

al llegar el tiempo de las plantaciones,

me gusta contemplar

ese desfile de jardineros desarmados

cruzando la ciudad,

llevando sobre sus hombros

en lugar de fusiles

árboles dormidos.

Esa imagen es para mí

tan hermosa

que vence toda la sinrazón

de la barbarie en la que estamos,

algo así

como asistir a la poderosa fragilidad

de las raíces de la menta

levantando las piedras.

Julia Otxoa, "El tiempo de la plantaciones"

Please attribute to Lorie Shaull if used elsewhere.

70 years ago today, British troops liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany, where around 70,000 people died during the Holocaust.

The scenes that greeted British troops were described by the BBC's Richard Dimbleby, who accompanied them:

“Here, over an acre of ground lay dead and dying people. You could not see which was which. The living lay with their heads against the corpses and around them moved the awful, ghostly procession of emaciated, aimless people, with nothing to do and with no hope of life, unable to move out of your way, unable to look at the terrible sights around them. Babies had been born here, tiny wizened things that could not live. A mother, driven mad, screamed at a British sentry to give her milk for her child, and thrust the tiny mite into his arms, then ran off, crying terribly. He opened the bundle and found the baby had been dead for days. This day at Belsen was the most horrible of my life."

The 15-year-old Anne Frank was among the thousands to die there from typhus, just a few months before the camp was liberated.

40 years ago I too visited the site, whilst working in nearby Hannover. I will never forget!

Dallas, Texas

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Okay, we have no intention of insulting your intelligence any further ... We here at Blythe Fifth Avenue realize it is blatently obvious who is wearing the Madame Ze Cat antic [sic] castle dress :) :)

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fyi: editors' proofreading symbol: Sic in square brackets is an editing term used with excerpts. It means "that's really how it appears in the original." listing

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All my girls out for a little Spring sunshine ...

Left to right:

RUBY RAPUNZEL: Prima Dolly Adorable Aubrey (PDAA), Custom #3 by Phillaine; with UC (Urban Cowgirl) scalp (adopted from kitty); Licca body

YARDLEY YOPLAIT: My Mrs. Sally Rice (matte when I adopted her); with SAFFY scalp; MSR Takara body

PRUDENCE PEACH: My Mademoiselle Rosebud, with custom dyed scalp by Minklet ~ of Blythe Rescue Mission fame ~ Adopted from Gina Garan. She now has a new RBL face-up by BFA, and a Licca body.

FRENCHIE FAITH: One of the Blythe Fifth Avenue TWINS; She is a Sunshine Holiday with a Sleeping Elf scalp in white mohair; Takara body (for now, until maybe Veronica can help me out later ... ;)

GODIVA GRACE: One of the Blythe Fifth Avenue TWINS: She has an RBL faceplate and a pale pale factory body (again, for now ... ) and a Sleeping Elf scalp in rich black mohair.

NENETL NENETL: My first Blythe ... she is an ADG Aztec Arrival; so many transformations along the way, but presently wearing her RIT dyed Sunshine Holiday scalp in Brave Hot Red. (Licca body)

INGRID INGENUE: My little translucent factory girl with the "human-like-hair" ... She also has a Licca body now :)

ZABRINA ZADORA: She is a PD2Se, SAFFY GIRL ... with a NEON scalp, and Licca body.

- That is 8 of the "Nouveau Nine" Modeling Troupe at Blythe Fifth Avenue ;

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ALL girls are wearing Floral headpieces by Blythe Fifth Avenue;

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I normally am not a fan of "barefoot Blythe", however, today I made an exception ;)

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Students marching to the Capitol

D.C., March 14th

Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial

Nettuno, Rome.

View On Black

Rally at the Capitol against gun violence

by abrilliant_ ift.tt/23xPZ0n

Parkland, Florida shooting survivor and high school senior Emma Gonzalez said in a public speech a few days after the massacre, "If the President wants to ... tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy ... I'm going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association. Thirty million dollars. And divided by the number of gunshot victims in the United States in the one and one-half months in 2018 alone, that comes out to being $5,800. Is that how much these people are worth to you, Trump?"

Furthermore, an angry Ms Gonzalez stated, "The people in the government who are voted into power are lying to us ... And us kids seem to be the only ones who notice and are prepared to call B.S." She knows what is going on and is not afraid to tell it like it is and put CORRUPT politicians on the spot.

p(Resident) Trump tweeted that the FBI failed to detect the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter in Parkland, FL because they "are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign." What a crook of shit to cover his own sorry ass! The State of New York is investigating Trump’s money laundering connection with Russian organized crime syndicates, and the FBI is on the verge of proving Trump and his closest political operatives colluded with Russian intelligence agents in undermining the 2016 election. And school shootings appear to be Business As Usual because the gun lobby and the politicians they buy allow it to be so, week after week, year after year.

For reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, the Florida school murders two weeks ago anger me more than all the others. I have no particular connection with the place or the people who live there, but ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Columbine or Sandy Hook should have been enough, but maybe the angry words of Emma Gonzalez will build a fire that will get things moving in the right direction and burn down the entire reich wing legacy of the last 40 years.

Please read this petition and please sign: action.momsrising.org/sign/RejectNRApledge/?t=4&akid=... Moms Rising.org is one of the feminist groups I support. I am hoping that the anger from this latest school shooting and other bullshit perpetrated by the "conservatives" will grow in momentum and wreck their entire evil agenda, but progressives must be ready and willing to clearly state our objectives and work to achieve them.

I did not draw this political cartoon, but since I will not profit from it, my posting here constitutes FAIR USE. Addendum: I just learned that Pia Guerra is the artist.

The blonde facial hair and jacket say it all.

The water trickles

Over my head

Leaving me warm,

Feeling un-dead

I look down

And it beats my neck

I don’t feel like

Such a wreck

Facing up, toward the water

Pounding upon my face

Stress-free for a moment

Not even a trace

Turning the knobs

I step on out

Ahhh, that shower felt so good

Without a doubt

Texture greyday by Kim Klassen

www.flickr.com/photos/kimklassen/5572489306/in/contacts/

On 24 March 2018 In DC and other cities, hundreds of thousands of students and others marched to demand common sense gun control in the wake of deadly school shootings in the U.S.

Well, this most certainly took me well and truly outside of my comfort zone!! BIG BAD self portrait - I think this is my second only!! Incidentally, my first and (then) only self portrait hit Front Page Explore!! This will get thrown out the back door of Explore! Once again, Garth pushes us to do something very different - great challenge but unfortunately most of his examples I had already done but not the scary man face - my wife will kill me (!!) I haven't even shaved!!

Our Daily Challenge - TAKE A RISK ....

#neveragain

Eugene, Oregon edition

52 weeks of 2014

Get Pushed Week

And of course for Sliders Sunday, because this was processing to the max.

I paired up with Michael, and he pushed me to create a 'Pano-stitching ...aka "Brenizer Method"

A what?!?

It calls for stitching lots of images together (around 10 minimum and up to 40 is going pretty good), each image taken at the shallowest depth of field you can manage. When you stitch them together, the result looks like it was taken using a medium format or large format camera.

So I started to Google, and found the explanation of Mr. Brenizer himself, ánd couldn't wait to start, this sounded like a lot of fun!

At the end I had to take photos for 4 days in a row ... each time coming home with at least 3 sets of ideas ... +500 photos in total ... tried 2 different lenses... and no success ...

Incorrect camera settings, to many details, not enough overlap, etc, etc. Today I promised hubby a cappuccino in town, if he wanted to model for me. And yep, finally an acceptable result, created with 14 photos, ánd a lot of extra manual adjustments! Pfffff, this was a challenge I'll never forget ...

Thanks Michael ;-)

Hereunder 2 very helpful links:

www.flickr.com/groups/brenizermethod/discuss/721576280687...

ryanbrenizer.com/2011/05/brenizer-method-instructions/

HSS!

Young ladies in stereotypical 1980s fashion.