A 17-year-old suspect, “is being held on charges of capital murder and aggravated assault on a public servant.  The Santa Fe student allegedly used a shotgun and a revolver to kill eight students and two teachers and injure 13 others."  The alleged murderer "confessed that he acted alone in the shooting, according to a probable cause affidavit.”
The murders took place at Sante Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, on May 18, 2018.
  - KTLA 5

"Fate can be like an alimony check that never comes, no matter how much you need the cash."

(posted earlier)

​"Slippery Dick was pardoned by Congress before, uh, Ms. Clinton, Ms. Trump, Ms. Haley, Ms. Pingree, Ms. Giffords, Ms. Waters, Ms. Matsui, Ms. Wasserman-Schultz, Ms. Palin, Ms. Gabbard, Ms. Torres joined the ranks of some other GOGs -- Good Old Girls -- like Ms. Pelosi, Ms. Feinstein, Ms. Collins, Ms. Mitchell, and Ms. Obama, becoming senators, governors, congresspersons, etcetera, which, of course, ah, then made pardoning someone named Slippery Dick politically problematic if not outright unwise.  A series of well-placed bribes, uh, arguments predicated on The Rights of Man, and, ah, blatant distortions delivered to powerful lobbyists of special interests insured Dick the wherewithal he needed to re-design his, uh, qualifications and to, eventually, become the president of the Guam Bar Association, where he presides naked whenever possible." 
(posted earlier) 
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“On Monday, May 14, Israelis and Americans celebrated the opening of a new US Embassy in Jerusalem.
“The festive event had a guest list that was 800 people long and included a televised speech by President Donald Trump. ‘The United States will always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of freedom and peace,’ he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also gave a speech, declaring that it was a ‘great day.’
“At the same time, 60 miles away, Israeli soldiers were firing on Palestinian protesters at the Gaza border. They’ve so far killed more than 50 people and wounded thousands of others.  Many of the protesters were unarmed, though some hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails. The Israeli military also said they shot dead three protesters who were attempting to detonate a bomb.”     -Vox/  Kainaz Amaria & Alexia Underwood (5/14)



History of Israel and Palestine (post WWll):
1947: United Nations adopts Resolution 181 partitioning the British Mandate of Palestine into two states: Israel and Palestine (which includes the West Bank and the Gaza Strip).
1948: Israel becomes a state.  Jewish, Palestinian, and Arab groups begin fighting.  The war escalates when Arab forces -- Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Yemenese, Syrian -- including the Arab Legion, invade. 
The war ends in 1949.  As a result of the conflict, the Two State Solution does not take place, a flight of Palestinian refugees begins, Israel becomes larger, Egypt controls the Gaza Strip, and (Trans)Jordan the West Bank.
1956: Israel, France, and Britain invade Egypt’s western Suez Canal area and the Sinai, after President Nasser of Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal.  The joint forces withdraw by 1957.
1967:  Israel launches preemptive airstrikes against Egypt.  Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq retaliate. The Six-Day War results in Israel’s capture of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.  Israel still occupies 2/3rds of the Golan Heights, controls the West Bank with the Palestinian Authority. 
1973 Yom Kippur War: On Yom Kippur, a Jewish religious holiday, Egypt and Syria invade Israel.  After suffering losses, Israel counterattacks, repulses Egyptian and Syrian troops, and recaptures the Golan Heights.  The war lasts nineteen days.
With President Jimmy Carter in 1978: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign the Camp David Peace Accords.  Egypt recognizes Israel’s right to exist.  Sadat and Begin win the Nobel Peace Prize. President Sadat is assassinated as a result of his participation in the accords.
In 1993, the Oslo Peace Accords are signed by the Palestinian Authority and Israel.  A two-state solution is still recognized as a viable goal.  The Palestinian Authority recognizes Israel’s right to exist.
Approximately 91,105 Arabs and 24,969 Israelis (2016 statistics) have been killed in the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1920, or beginning with the end of Ottoman Empire’s control of the Palestine region and the League of Nations’ (British) Mandate.
In the Mideast: Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Please see Carbuncle Moon post: 6/21/16 
 

In securing a sovereign and inviolate Israel and Palestine:
The Armeggeddon-puzzle of solving war should include the parents of children with no future --
Without peace.

 
Sources: Wikipedia, historynet, Office of the Historian, Britannica.com, the history learning site, history.com, cnn.com, BBC, Jewish Virtual Library, Google, Speech by President Gamal Abdel Nasser 



Please give to the Palestine Red Crescent Society: HQ ,Palestine , Al-bireh/ 972 2 297 85 20/ info@palestinercs.org/ And:
Magen David Adom in Israel: 60 Yigal Alon Street/ Tel Aviv 67062/ Israel/ 972 3 6301461/2

​Today is Peace Officers Memorial Day in the United States: 

​

                                      A Good Cop Makes The Job Noble. 
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(posted earlier)



​Please give to the Police Protective Fund: P.O. Box 1084/ Schenectady, New York  12301/ 877-343-2477

"My martial art discipline, ah, is called Lamaze -- breathe in, breathe out -- calm now -- breathe in, breathe out -- c’mon, push, push a little harder.  We're Muslims, but when my wife was pregnant and we were in Reno, I, uh, studied under her at the YWCA.*  That has a certain image to it that I like -- Happy Mother's Day."  (edited 5/14)

*Young Women's Christian Association.



Please give to the Diabetes, Nutrition and Endocrine Center: 905 Union Street #11/ Bangor, Maine  04401/ 207-973-7334

Some stuff about John Kelly's statements on illegal aliens:

edited: 5/13

“ ‘The vast majority of the people that move illegally into United States are not bad people. They're not criminals. They're not MS-13,’ Kelly said in the interview. ‘But they're also not people that would easily assimilate into the United States, into our modern society. They're overwhelmingly rural people.
“’In the countries they come from, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-grade educations are kind of the norm,’ he continued. ‘They don't speak English; obviously that's a big thing. ... They don't integrate well, they don't have skills.’”  -quoted by Avery Anapol in The Hill from an interview on NPR’s, Morning Edition.
 
The reaction to Kelly’s comments have been, let’s see, passionate:
When I was young I worked with illegal immigrants, and Mexican Americans, Central Americans, from farm work to other labor, from the San Jacinto Valley to the Sacramento Valley.  I was also locked up with some when I was a kid.
I found that most of the people I knew that were or likely illegals, worked with, spent time with were hospitable, hard working, tough, decent, and that they might, outside of the barrios, have a tough time assimilating into some communities in California; that they spoke Spanish and not always English, that they were brown-skinned and not generally white; that they weren’t criminals -- not MS-13 -- that many were from rural communities in Mexico and further south.  I found that some were so poor, had lived such tough lives, that a few days in jail might be an improvement in living conditions; clean sheets, enough food…  Some didn’t have much of an education but were bright people, some did work that was rugged, unskilled, that a lot of folks didn’t want, and that It was a pleasure to have known many of these illegals…

My first best friend, my first girlfriend, were Mexican-American; I've had other friends.

The Spanish were in California before the English, Mexicans before Americans, Spanish was spoken before English.

I understand why some folks have an issue with Kelly’s statements but in regards what was stated, or quoted above, I don’t.

edited: 5/13

​“President Trump and first lady Melania arrived early Thursday morning to greet three Americans as they flew into Joint Base Andrews, outside the U.S. capital, less than 24 hours after they were released by North Korea. The three men, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim, were released during a visit on Tuesday by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and were in the air less than one hour after being released in North Korea's capital city, Pyongyang.”  - CBS  

​Welcome home...

​
​“Otto Frederick Warmbier (December 12, 1994 – June 19, 2017) was an American college student from Cincinnati, Ohio, who was arrested in North Korea in January 2016 for attempted theft” (of a banner), “for which he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. While incarcerated, he fell into a coma and never regained consciousness, dying in June 2017.”
In a comatose state, Warmier was freed in 2017 after being imprisoned for 17 months.  He died on June 19, 2017, in Ohio, without regaining consciousness.  The coroner’s report did not identify a cause of injury.  - Wikipedia


​Please see Carbuncle Moon post: 5/1/17


Please support the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Palais Wilson/ 52 rue des Paquis/ CH-1201, Geneva, Switzerland

(toon posted earlier)

​

"I terrorized you kids, uh, by tellin you thousands of people clipped their toenails on motel bedspreads that were never changed.  In every motel you and Cait stayed in, the bedspreads were moldy, creepy, and in the room.  I'm sorry: God forgive me but I'm  sorry, Conor -- they change them every now and then."     (edited: 5/14)


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Please give to Operation Smile: 3641 Faculty Boulevard/ Virginia Beach, Virginia  23453/ 888-677-6453    

Feliz Cinco de Mayo:


“Cinco de Mayo” “is an annual celebration held on May 5. The date is observed to commemorate the Mexican Army’s unlikely victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza.”
“In the United States, Cinco de Mayo has taken on a significance beyond that in Mexico.” “More popularly celebrated in the United States than Mexico,” “the date has become associated with the celebration of Mexican-American culture. In Mexico, the commemoration of the battle continues to be mostly ceremonial, such as through military parades or battle reenactments.
“Cinco de Mayo is sometimes mistaken in the United States for Mexico's Independence Day—the most important national holiday in Mexico—which is celebrated on September 16, commemorating the Cry of Dolores that initiated the war of Mexican independence from Spain.”  - Wikipedia 

edited 5/16:
Cinco de Mayo is the celebration of the victory an army of Mexican peasants that kicked the asses of Emperor Maximillian's French Army, one of Europe's most effective.  Maximillian (an Austrian) was enthroned by Napolean lll of France as ruler of Mexico without the Mexican people's permission.  Mexico defaulted on international loans, and the French stayed in Mexico after other representatives of the international community left.  The French stayed to offset American policy in the region -- the Monroe Doctrine -- and for reasons of French imperialism.
Maximillian was eventually shot, executed, by the Mexican Army: a decent man, honorable, brave, romantic, and a bonehead (if I remember my history) to the very end.  Maximillian's mission was idiotic, brutal, cruel, that ended, resulted, in the deaths of thousands of innocents, but Emperor Maximillian was a relatively good man.     
​     - History.com/ Google

Happy May Day...

"May Day marks the end of the winter half of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations, regardless of the locally prevalent political or religious establishment.
"As Europe became Christianized, pagan holidays lost their religious character and either changed into popular secular celebrations, as with May Day, or were replaced by new Christian holidays as with Christmas, Easter, and All Saint's Day.  In the start of the twenty-first century, many neopagans began reconstructing the old traditions and celebrating May Day again as a pagan religious festival."   - the New World Encyclopedia 

​
​"On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day (labor) celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike with the anarchists in the forefront of the public's eye."   - .org/history

                                   Congress takes a dive on immigration reform.

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(toons were posted earlier)
​

​Please give to Farmworker Justice: 1126 16th Street NW #270/ Washington DC  20036/  202-293-5420