I will leave you today with the powerful words of Emma Gonzalez, who was in that Florida school the day a man came in with an AR-15 and massacred 17 of her schoolmates.

I know it is hard to hear, but I urge you to listen to it in its entirety.

The raw emotion coming from this young woman is exactly what we should never forget as we call out Senators and Congresspeople and demand that they do something so that these victims in Florida become the LAST victims of school gun violence, and not simply the most recent.

For those who cannot get through with breaking down, here is a transcript:

We haven't already had a moment of silence in the House of Representatives, so I would like to have another one. Thank you. 

Every single person up here today, all these people should be home grieving. But instead we are up here standing together because if all our government and President can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it's time for victims to be the change that we need to see. Since the time of the Founding Fathers and since they added the Second Amendment to the Constitution, our guns have developed at a rate that leaves me dizzy. The guns have changed but our laws have not. 

We certainly do not understand why it should be harder to make plans with friends on weekends than to buy an automatic or semi-automatic weapon. In Florida, to buy a gun you do not need a permit, you do not need a gun license, and once you buy it you do not need to register it. You do not need a permit to carry a concealed rifle or shotgun. You can buy as many guns as you want at one time. 

I read something very powerful to me today. It was from the point of view of a teacher. And I quote: When adults tell me I have the right to own a gun, all I can hear is my right to own a gun outweighs your student's right to live. All I hear is mine, mine, mine, mine. 

Instead of worrying about our AP Gov chapter 16 test, we have to be studying our notes to make sure that our arguments based on politics and political history are watertight. The students at this school have been having debates on guns for what feels like our entire lives. AP Gov had about three debates this year. Some discussions on the subject even occurred during the shooting while students were hiding in the closets. The people involved right now, those who were there, those posting, those tweeting, those doing interviews and talking to people, are being listened to for what feels like the very first time on this topic that has come up over 1,000 times in the past four years alone. 

I found out today there's a website shootingtracker.com. Nothing in the title suggests that it is exclusively tracking the USA's shootings and yet does it need to address that? Because Australia had one mass shooting in 1999 in Port Arthur (and after the) massacre introduced gun safety, and it hasn't had one since. Japan has never had a mass shooting. Canada has had three and the UK had one and they both introduced gun control and yet here we are, with websites dedicated to reporting these tragedies so that they can be formulated into statistics for your convenience. 

I watched an interview this morning and noticed that one of the questions was, do you think your children will have to go through other school shooter drills? And our response is that our neighbors will not have to go through other school shooter drills. When we've had our say with the government -- and maybe the adults have gotten used to saying 'it is what it is,' but if us students have learned anything, it's that if you don't study, you will fail. And in this case if you actively do nothing, people continually end up dead, so it's time to start doing something. 

Cyber security experts warned the FBI in 2015 that Russians were targeting thousands of powerful leaders, believes they may have been quite successful in compromising many of them.

Courtesy of Politico: 

The active measures are not targeting the military and political system in isolation, but as part of a broader effort to subvert Western institutions including the news media, financial markets and intelligence agencies. Because of its multidimensional nature and use of unconventional tactics the U.S. government has struggled to effectively combat the effort. “This is obviously a really difficult challenge and a lot of people are worried that our response to date hasn’t been effective,” said one expert on active measures who recently testified on the issue before Congress. 

And rather than abating after the presidential election, these campaigns have only continued to get more brazen, according to Strategic Cyber Ventures CEO Tom Kellermann, who has watched them closely. 

In May and June of 2015, Kellermann, who was then the chief cybersecurity officer at Trend Micro, said the firm warned the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that Kremlin hackers had drawn up a list of 2,300 people comprising the most powerful leaders in Washington and New York along with their spouses and lovers to target with a concerted hacking campaign. Kellerman said he does not know whether the government acted on the tip, which warned that the hackers had the ability to turn on microphones and cameras on the personal devices of their targets to obtain sensitive information about their personal lives. But he believes the campaign has successfully compromised American leaders, emboldening the Kremlin. “When you wonder why certain people act certain ways,” he said, “You have to remember these people have been warned that their dirty laundry could be aired.” (Spokespeople for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI declined to comment.)

Perhaps this explains why certain Republicans and media types are so hesitant to admit publicly that the election was hacked by the Russians, and why they keep coming to Trump's defense in spite of all the damaging information that has come to light recently.

That sentence at the beginning of this post is referring to a strategy directed at military members and their families on social media to feed them disinformation and even compromised pro-military websites and turned them into propaganda outlets for the Kremlin:

Putin has made the creation of a pro-Russian “alternative media ecosystem” to, in his words, smash “the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on the information stream” a top priority of his foreign policy. A significant prong of those operations is aimed at the American military community, and the Russian activity has ramped up in recent years as tensions have increased over sanctions, the annexation of Crimea and the expansion of NATO. 

Veterans Today is a homegrown American site that was founded in 2003 in opposition to the invasion of Iraq and soon began publishing wild conspiracy theories. Before it partnered with Russia’s New Eastern Outlook in 2013, it had forged ties with Iran’s state-backed PressTV and counted among its editorial board of directors a former head of Pakistan’s intelligence services, publishing headlines like, “Israeli death squads involved in Sandy Hook bloodbath” and “Water Terrorism by India to Overawe Pakistan.” 

New Eastern Outlook “chose to work with VT after following us for a while and seeing us for the unique platform that we are,” Veterans Today managing editor Jim Dean explained in an article about the arrangement. He described it as a “marriage made in heaven.”

That "marriage made in heaven" allowed the Russian media to overwhelm the Veteran focused website and essentially turn it into a red, white, and blue version of Pravda.

In October 2013, at the same time that Veterans Today began publishing content from New Eastern Outlook, its sister site Veterans News Now began publishing content from the Strategic Culture Foundation, a Moscow think tank run by Yuri Profokiev, a former head of Moscow’s Communist Party and member of the Soviet Politburo. 

In October 2015, Veterans Today also partnered with a slickly designed, anonymously authored military affairs website called South Front that had been registered in Moscow that April just as Russia was ramping up its influence operations in response to Western sanctions. 

Since then, the site has consistently published articles that push the Kremlin party line, both from its Russian partner and its own contributors.

Also keep in mind that the Russians did not only target the military, conservatives, and powerful Americans, but also targeted those on the Left, especially the so-called Bernie Bros and those on the far left fringe who were already suspicious and critical of Hillary Clinton.

This was a concerted effort that reached deep into America's social media and shaped opinions all over the political spectrum, while also compromising those who may have had the resources to expose them.

To be clear this means that so many of the things that we all saw on our Facebook feed attacking Hillary Clinton, talking about third party candidates, or the failures of Democratic policies to meet the needs of progressives, may very well have come to us directly from Russian disinformation sites determined to undermine our faith in the Democratic candidate and the political system as a whole.

Songwriter gives voice to President Obama's inner dialogue.

Watch @leslieodomjr sing "Seriously," a song by @SaraBareilles imagining what @POTUS might be thinking about the current election and Trump. pic.twitter.com/j746HnkVAZ

— This American Life (@ThisAmerLife) October 28, 2016

Here are the lyrics: 

Seriously 

Lyrics Sara Bareilles, Songwriter 

Leslie Odom, Jr. Vocalist 

Let’s start with hope. 

I threw it in the middle 

Like a skipping stone, 

The ripples won, son of a gun – 

Some would not have thought so. 

But I stand here Commander-In-Chief, 

And I take that seriously. 

But along the way… 

A rogue tide turned tidal wave. 

In reaction to what I tried to do… 

A rebirth of a nation’s hatred. 

Red, White and Blue….Is Black in there too? 

Seriously? 

One man – 

Rewriting the book on bad behavior 

Maybe cheats the neighbors… 

Feels he gets what they pay for – 

WE CAN’T 

Pat him on the back and SEND HIM ON THROUGH 

No man’s ignorance 

Will ever be his virtue 

Is this the best we can be? 

SERIOUSLY? 

Let’s talk of fear, 

And why I don’t bring it in here

It’s a dangerous word 

It spooks the herd 

And we all bleed in the stampede 

Fear makes a false friend indeed 

And I take it seriously. 

So hear me now 

Before the truth gets drowned out

By a demagogue flexing 

A DEMAGOGUE FLEXING 

He’s history repeating – 

... 

Angry? 

Am I Angry? 

You ask Am I Angry? 

 And I’m at a Loss for Words… 

After all we done 

Every battle hard won 

Every hair gone gray 

In the name of this place 

In a history plagued 

With incredible mistakes 

Still I pledge my allegiance to these 

UNITED DIVIDED STATES ------ 

SERIOUSLY. 

Let’s end with ‘why’? 

It’s a question I 

Want to ask of us as a populace 

Why not take the time 

Or the weight of this story 

 Seriously. 

How is that for a powerful musical start to your Sunday? 

New Carole King inspired ad for Hillary Clinton hits you right in the feels.

I don't know if I am just turning into an old softie or if this election has rubbed my emotions raw, but some of these pro-Hillary ads really get to me.

This one in particular made my throat close right up, and all I could think of is how angry I would be if some asshole spoke to my daughter in that way.

If this election were based on effective advertising alone Hillary would be crushing Donald Trump right now. 

Forbes Magazine lists the 100 most powerful women. No quitters allowed.

Courtesy of Forbes: 

Our annual snapshot of the 100 women with the most impact are top politicians and CEOs, activist billionaires and celebrities who matter. In roughly equal measure you’ll find next gen entrepreneurs and media mavens, technologists and leaders in philanthropy — all ranked by dollars, media momentum and impact. 

We’ve selected women that go beyond the traditional taxonomy of the power elite (political and economic might). These change-agents are actually shifting our very idea of clout and authority and, in the process, transforming the world in fresh and exhilarating ways.

On this list are politicians, entrepreneurs, business women, entertainers, and activists. Easily a list of the most impressive women on the planet.

Here are the first five:

  German Chancellor, Angela Merkel

President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff.

Melinda Gates,  Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Michelle Obama, well she needs no introduction.

Hillary Clinton, and neither does she.

The entire list can be found here.

Many prominent Democrats and Obama administration members are on this list such as Janet Napolitano, Nancy Pelosi, and Kathleen Sebelius, While the number of prominent conservatives is not so well represented. (Though Greta Van Sustern DOES show up as number 97.)

And as you may have gleaned from my title there is NO mention of a certain disgraced former politician and Fox News contributor, even though she once held a fairly prominent spot on that very same list.

Nice to see that the most powerful and influential women on this planet are far more visionary, and progressive than some of those listed in times past.

Is is also nice to see that Hillary and Michelle are listed in the top five, since I think that indicates good things for America moving forward.

Forbes names President Obama "The World's Most Powerful Person." Do you hear that Republicans?

"Who's the bad ass? Why I'm the bad ass, thanks for asking.

Courtesy of Forbes Magazine:  

To compile the list, we considered hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe, and measured their power along four dimensions. 

First, we asked whether the candidate has power over lots of people.  

Next we assessed the financial resources controlled by each person. 

Then we determined if the candidate is powerful in multiple spheres. 

Lastly, we made sure that the candidates actively used their power. 

U.S. President Barack Obama emerged, unanimously, as the world’s most powerful person, for the second year running. Obama was the decisive winner of the 2012 U.S. presidential election, and now he gets four more years to push his agenda.The President faces major challenges, including an unresolved budget crisis, stubbornly high unemployment and renewed unrest in the Middle East. But Obama remains the unquestioned commander in chief of the world’s greatest military, and head of its sole economic and cultural superpower. 

Oh yeah!

I think we should send this article to every obstructionist teabagging Republican politician in Washington and remind them that THIS is the man that won the election, THIS is the man with all the power, and THIS is the man to whom they better start showing some damn respect!

No more obstructionism, no more yelling "You lie" when he addresses Congress, and no more of this kind of shit:

The man has earned a second term, he demonstrated his ability to do the job, and he has earned the respect of the entire world.