Category Archives: Rock on-Peace Out

Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls: Commitments from the North American Leaders Summit | whitehouse.gov

In Canada, indigenous women and girls also face horrific acts of violence. According to a report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, an estimated 1,181 indigenous women and girls are missing or murdered. As is the case in the United States, most homicides of indigenous women are committed by a non-Indigenous intimate partner. These murders—which the Canadian government believes are vastly underestimated—occur at a rate that is at least seven times higher than for non-Indigenous women. In recognition of this grave injustice, the Trudeau government is working with First Nations advocates to launch a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.Likewise, in Mexico, lethal violence against indigenous women and girls is also a serious problem. Across Latin America, including in Mexico, it is estimated that indigenous women and girls are disproportionately the victims of feminicidios (gender-motivated killings) according to a report prepared by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Given the widespread impact of this violence, each of our governments expressed a deep commitment to meaningfully responding to this regional problem through collective action.Recognizing the scale and complexity of this violence, representatives from all three countries have resolved to work together as part of the North American Working Group on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls, with the goals of:Exchanging knowledge of comprehensive policies, programs and best practices to prevent and respond to violence against indigenous women and girls through increased access to justice and health services, with a human rights and multicultural approach;Enhancing cooperation to address violent crimes against indigenous women and girls, including human trafficking, residing on or off their Tribal, First Nations, and indigenous lands and across our borders;Improving the response of our justice, health, education, and child welfare systems to violence against indigenous women and girls; and,Strengthening the capacity of our health systems to provide culturally-responsive victim services.

Source: Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls: Commitments from the North American Leaders Summit | whitehouse.gov

Did this Swedish cop just make the arrest of the year? – The Local – “No shooting, just tackle him and pin him down!”

Mikaela Kellner and her friends were sunbathing in the Rålambshov park in Stockholm when a man walked up to them pretending to sell magazines for homeless people. When he refused to take no for an answer, but instead lingered around their blankets, she started suspecting that something was wrong.”I told my friends to keep an eye on their things. But as soon as he left one of my friends said ‘where did my mobile phone go?'” Kellner told The Local on Thursday.She explained that the man had used his magazines to cover the mobile phone, picking it up without anyone noticing when he left. Let’s just say this was a decision he would soon come to regret.”There was no time, so I ran after him, maybe 15 metres or so. One of my friends is also a police officer, so we got hold of him. He tried to get away so we held onto him harder,” she said.They called their colleagues on duty who were able to get there to arrest him.Kellner has been a police officer for 11 years, but it is the first time she has nabbed a suspect while wearing a bikini. She said a picture she posted on Instagram quickly went viral after Aftonbladet wrote about it.

Source: Did this Swedish cop just make the arrest of the year? – The Local

Sorry Donald Trump, but ‘France IS still France’ – The Local

During a news conference in Florida on Wednesday, the Republican presidential nominee brought up the recent attack on a church in Normandy, and said a friend who recently visited the country told him: “I wouldn’t go to France. France is no longer France.””They won’t like me for saying that,” Trump continued, “but you see what happened in Nice. You see what happened yesterday with the priest, who is supposed to be a spectacular man. France is no longer France.”Sorry to say, Mr Trump, but it is.And it’s largely because the majority French people defiantly won’t allow themselves to fall victim to the kind of reaction Trump would call for in the aftermath of a series of devastating terror attacks.No, France hasn’t closed its borders to Muslims.There have been some unsavoury incidents which saw some veil-wearing Muslim women verbally abused but the country’s five million Muslims are still free to wander the same streets as everyone else.There has been no walls put up around the banlieues – the poor suburbs home to mainly poor North African immigrant communities.There may be anger but communities have not turned on each other.

Source: Sorry Donald Trump, but ‘France IS still France’ – The Local

Dear Politicians, Please Shut Up About Hacking and Chopping Rapists. Do Some Actual Work to Ensure Women’s Safety Instead – The Ladies Finger

When politicians make noisy bombastic statements about killing rapists, it’s a neat little diversion from work. How do you create environments in which women can report rape, be safe after reporting, stay secure and strong during trials, and create conditions in which rape trials can be sensitive? All of this is hard work and requires more effort than simply hanging someone. It requires challenging existing laws that are biased against women; it requires making changes in the educational system by introducing sex education and sensitising young adults and children; it requires us, and especially politicians, to stop moral policing women, a task that requires a little more than gruesome solutions such as “cutting the hands and legs of rapists”.So if you don’t mind, Raj Thackeray and the rest of you, don’t give speeches and demand blood in our names. Call us after you’ve done some work.

Source: Dear Politicians, Please Shut Up About Hacking and Chopping Rapists. Do Some Actual Work to Ensure Women’s Safety Instead – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

Mimi Writes…….: How To Grow a Nation

My life isn’t perfect. Our world isn’t either.But I’ll keep planting.And digging.And getting my hands dirty.And tending my own garden.Because when I find myself planting seeds in window-boxes in the silence of the hot southern sun or during a snowy inaugural walk, I feel a growing in my own soul. And a voice with the deepest strongest wisdom of all saying…”Just plant, Mimi. Plant.”

Source: Mimi Writes…….: How To Grow a Nation

DNC’s 102-year-old delegate thrilled to see woman nominated – video | US news | The Guardian

Jerry Emmett, 102, was just six years old when women were given the right to vote. She said that was very much on her mind when she helped cast a ballot to nominate Hillary Clinton for president on Tuesday. Emmett, the honorary chairwoman of the Arizona Democratic delegation, said despite her flagging energy levels, she was thrilled to be at the convention

Source: DNC’s 102-year-old delegate thrilled to see woman nominated – video | US news | The Guardian

Bernie Sanders’ Former Staffer: “No One Stole the Election From Us” | Mother Jones

But after Sanders’ attempt to rally support for Clinton this morning led to boos and protests, Sanders’ former national press secretary, Symone D. Sanders, took to Twitter to reject notions that the senator had been cheated. “I worked there,” she tweeted. “No one stole the election from us.”

Source: Bernie Sanders’ Former Staffer: “No One Stole the Election From Us” | Mother Jones

Mimi Writes…….: Monday Mimisms ~ I Need An Ocean and A Long Strong Kiss

But I am having a good hair life this year (unlike a few real candidates) and I haven’t lost any emails (that I know of) and the ONLY reason I know that my bloglegs are returning as we blogspeak is that I continue to use unnecessary and annoying parentheses and run-on sentences galore while adjusting my wrinkled couch skirt in public. Yes. Finally.

Source: Mimi Writes…….: Monday Mimisms ~ I Need An Ocean and A Long Strong Kiss

Obama at D.N.C.: Character Witness and Prominent Clinton Convert – The New York Times

Mr. Obama is well positioned to be a character witness for Mrs. Clinton, his advisers argue, because of his popularity — 53 percent of Americans approve of his job performance, according to this month’s New York Times/CBS News poll — and because he is a prominent convert to her cause, a once-bitter campaign rival who came to trust and respect her.In the interview on Sunday, Mr. Obama said he had become friends with Mrs. Clinton, but the two are not “bosom buddies.” The president said he was “cleareyed” about her strengths and weaknesses.“This is somebody who knows as much about domestic and foreign policy as anybody; is tough as nails; is motivated by what’s best for America and ordinary people; understands that, in this democracy that we have, things don’t always happen as fast as we’d like, and it requires compromise and grinding it out,” Mr. Obama said. “She’s not always flashy — and there are better speechmakers — but she knows her stuff.”

Source: Obama at D.N.C.: Character Witness and Prominent Clinton Convert – The New York Times