Man, 60, Dies After He Couldn’t Access Chemo Drugs Amid Shortage

Jeff BolleWhile grappling with stage 4 cancer, Jeff Bolle continued coaching high school football for one last season. What a season it was as his team won the state championship.Courtesy Connie Bolle

In 2022, Jeff Bolle, of Milwaukee, learned he had bile duct cancer, which has a dismal long-term survival rate. At the time, doctors hoped that surgery and chemotherapy could prolong his life. He was in good health prior to his diagnosis, which made everyone feel optimistic.

He underwent surgery and four rounds of chemotherapy before the chemotherapy shortage stopped his treatment in May 2023 — two rounds short.

As the months passed and his cancer progressed unchecked, Jeff Bolle became sicker. In late September 2023, doctors realized “there was really nothing else they could do, which was hard to hear,” Connie Bolle recalls. There was no immunotherapy. There was no other chemotherapy.”

Source: Man, 60, Dies After He Couldn’t Access Chemo Drugs Amid Shortage

Project publishes full list of 1940s Japanese American incarcerees – AsAmNews

Evacuees of Japanese ancestry board a train in Woodland, Calif., for the Merced detention facility, in May 1942. // By Dorothea Lange, via U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and Wikipedia Creative Commons

The Irei Monument Project, created to document and commemorate the World War II-era Japanese American incarceration camps, has teamed up with Ancestry.com to publish the first comprehensive list of the more than 125,000 individuals who were imprisoned in the camps.

The searchable, free-to-access list is available both on Irei’s website — which includes a scrolling wall of the names — and now on Ancestry.com as well.

Source: Project publishes full list of 1940s Japanese American incarcerees – AsAmNews

Hell Yes I WILL VOTE — You Can’t Stop Me!!! | Filosofa’s Word

You know that old saying, “If you can’t win honestly, then lie, cheat, and steal.”  That’s the unofficial motto of the Republican Party here in the U.S.  Since their policies are either non-existent or terrible — racist, misogynist, wealth-centric, etc. — they cannot win in a fair and honest election, so what’s the next best thing?  Keep people away from the polls using whatever tactic is available, including violence.  Thom Hartmann has a good summation of the current situation … this is serious stuff, my friends, with potentially disastrous consequences.


THE NEW GOP “NATIONAL BALLOT SECURITY TASK FORCE” IS READY TO HARASS VOTERS

When Black or Hispanic voters show up to vote, the Task Force officers are there to stop them before they enter the polling place, asking to see their voter registration card and ID…

By Thom Hartmann

02 May 2024

While the media devotes much hand-wringing to Republican vulnerability in this November’s election because of abortion, virtually no attention is paid to what’s been that party’s primary electoral strategy since the 1960s: preventing citizens from voting.

This year, it appears, voter purges, signature challenges, and election worker intimidation are how the GOP thinks they can overcome America’s distaste for their support of criminalized abortion.

In the run-up to New Jersey’s 1981 gubernatorial election, Republicans in that state put together what they called the National Ballot Security Task Force. They recruited hundreds of off-duty cops and private security guards, arming them with guns, walkie-talkies, and armbands that said “Task Force.” Large signs were posted that said:

“WARNING – THIS AREA IS BEING PATROLLED BY THE NATIONAL BALLOT SECURITY TASK FORCE. IT IS A CRIME TO FALSIFY OR TO VIOLATE ELECTION LAWS.”

In slightly smaller print, the posters referenced state laws about voter eligibility and then proclaimed, in bold type, “$1,000 Reward for information leading to arrest and conviction of persons violating New Jersey election law” along with a voter fraud tip line phone number.

Source: Hell Yes I WILL VOTE — You Can’t Stop Me!!! | Filosofa’s Word

Boris Johnson turned away from polling station after forgetting to bring photo ID | Local elections 2024 | The Guardian

A source close to Johnson confirmed that he had forgotten the photo ID, but did later vote. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/PA

Boris Johnson was turned away from his local polling station when trying to cast his vote in Thursday’s elections after forgetting to bring the required photo identity.

The former prime minister was initially told by polling station staff he would not be allowed to vote in the police and crime commissioner election in South Oxfordshire without proving his identity.

The misstep was embarrassing for Johnson because the requirement to bring photo ID is a stipulation of the Elections Act which he introduced in 2022 while still in Downing Street.

The Electoral Commission has warned that hundreds of thousands of people could be excluded from voting because of the law, which it said could have a disproportionate effect on some groups.

A source close to Johnson confirmed that he had forgotten the photo ID, but did later vote. “Mr Johnson voted Conservative,” a spokesperson added. Earlier on Thursday he had posted on X: “The polls are now open. Vote Conservative!”

It came after the veterans minister apologised to former military personnel who have been prevented from using their veterans ID in order to vote in the local elections in England.

Downing Street said it would “look into” changing the controversial new rules, which require photo ID in order to vote, to allow veterans’ ID cards on to the list of valid identification.

The minister, Johnny Mercer, was responding to a complaint from a veteran who said he had been turned away at a polling station. “I am sorry about this. The legislation on acceptable forms of ID came out before the veterans ID cards started coming out in January this year. I will do all I can to change it before the next one,” Mercer tweeted.

A government spokesperson said it was the intention to add the veterans’ card to the list of accepted ID and that defence identity cards for serving armed forces members were already accepted. “We are already consulting on this,” they said.

Source: Boris Johnson turned away from polling station after forgetting to bring photo ID | Local elections 2024 | The Guardian

Luminătorii – ore de drum

Izamal, 2019

Toate diminețile mexicane au o strălucire specială, însă, în Izamal, plenitudinea luminii vine din îngemănarea, consfințită în timpuri vechi, a soarelui cu luna.

Mărturie stau rămășițele celor cinci piramide dispuse pe un larg perimetru, pe amplasamentul unui mare centru religios maya din perioada pre-columbiană, locuit neîntrerupt din anul 750 î.Hr.

Începând din anul 1000 și până la colonizarea spaniolă, a fost cel mai vestit centru de pelerinaj din regiune…

Source: Luminătorii – ore de drum

Nostalgic Art from 70’s Star Wars – Content Catnip

” I just did my best to depict how I thought the film should look, I really liked the idea. I didn’t think the film would get made. My impression was it was too expensive. I thought there wouldn’t be enough of an audience. It’s too complicated. But George knew a lot of things that I didn’t know.”

 

 

It was McQuarrie who came up with the idea for Darth Vader to wear a breathing apparatus to survive the vacuum of space. George Lucas then added the samurai helmet and Darth Vader was born.

McQuarrie is an example of what a mind set free by creativity can achieve. The book Star Wars: The Art of Ralph McQuarrie is available through Dream and Visions Press.

Source: Nostalgic Art from 70’s Star Wars – Content Catnip

Is she still me? – Saania’s diary – reflections, learnings, sparkles

Hi everyone! Today, I offer a poem straight from the depths of my heart. Have you ever felt the haunting presence of past fears creeping back into your life, threatening to engulf you once more? I certainly have. Often, I want to believe I have evolved. That I am not the same person anymore. Yet here I am, confronting my fears of interaction, of speaking up, of social anxiety…

Is she still me?

Many and many a year ago
A young girl cries
"What ails my heart?"
She fears. Tear-stained eyes

Called forth to speak
Her voice a flittering bird 
Longing for words, anxiety led
She can't let out a word

Watching them chat
Their worlds, melodies in song
Yet she remained silent, averse
To being judged wrong

Today's dawn breaks 
With a haunting trace
A lump in the throat
A ghostly chase

Why this fear
This trembling plight
I yearn to flee
Seek a place to hide

Amidst the echoes
I ponder with plea
The anxious girl of yore 
Is she still me?

But I am not the same
As this girl of the past
I will unfurl my wings
To fly at last...

- SaaniaSparkle 🧚‍♀️

 

Source: Is she still me? – Saania’s diary – reflections, learnings, sparkles