Tag Archives: OddBox

Vice President Pence, Detached from Reality, Says Florida, Texas, and Arizona Covid-19 Outbreaks Are Improving

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During a rare Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence tried to suggest that the worst of covid-19 is behind the United States.

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Supreme Court Deals Massive Blow To Birth Control Access

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Today, the Supreme Court ruled against free and comprehensive access to birth control under the Affordable Care Act, a long-term project of the Religious Right and a decision that will immediately prevent hundreds of thousands of women from accessing free reproductive care. The decision upholds a Trump Administration…

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Tehachapi Loop in Tehachapi, California

Tehachapi Loop is an amazing feat of ingenuity to raise or lower a train a significant elevation in a very short distance. The project was completed in 1876, and has remained largely unchanged today. 

When the train is going downhill, or generally to the northwest, it begins a descending arc in a clockwise direction. As it goes over a tunnel, it starts a 0.73-mile loop, tightening its spiral to encircle a hillock. As it completes the loop, 77 feet lower, the train circles under itself—through the tunnel that a long train might still be passing over. If the train is going uphill, or to the southeast, the process is reversed, with the engine entering through the tunnel, making the loop counter-clockwise.

If you don’t see a train immediately, have a little patience. An average of 36 trains per day use the loop. 

Freedom #4thofJuly #proudamerican

stretching her wings

lifted high by summer currents

no turning back

You may be swaying over all the events in our nation and our world.

You should be.

Jesus in the Bible talked alot about the poor, the widows, the mistreated. We should in any season be offering help to another in need. That is not based on our abundance; it is based on the need to give and care in any season of our lives.

Matthew 25:36-37 says: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”

Giving away freedom does not help anyone. If you want to know what it’s like to forfeit your freedom, move to a communist country. You will have no freedom to walk on a sidewalk in the evening with your significant other, give a piece of bread to a starving child. or sing a song (of your choosing.)

Between Muzzling and burning cars .. infirmity is the master of the situation

Truth is strength. The power of oppression and intimidation, no matter how long it last, remains invalid.

And this land has been a land of truth since God leveled it to be….

And I am the daughter of this land.

Between Muzzling and burning cars … “infirmity” is the master of the situation

Between Muzzling and burning cars … “infirmity” is the master of the situation

The word “infirmity” appears to express it all. Somehow a certain equality in a term that modifies both sides, despite its absence, from the master and the slave in this situation.

Our lives as Masters and Slaves.

They are the masters and we are the slaves.

They are the powerful, the strong, the dominating, the ruthless, the controlling.

We are just followers who are harnessed for them, and for their sake: they can sacrifice us, enslave us, harness us for their interests and burn us if they wish, and set us as firewood for their warmth, after they exhaust all our benefits.

We have to accept with consent.

Keep quiet and mute.

Submissive and kneeling.

Fear, terror, and dread.

Ever since I started writing, I knew that every time, with every article, I knocked someone’s “comfort” as I knocked on the Freedom “Tank”. I was and will always believe that our liberation comes from our freedom, and our freedom requires us to enjoy a degree of awareness, knowledge, faith and dedication for what we believe in. Because free nations are built from societies whose weapons are morals and values and their ability to express and defend what is their right and know how to distinguish what is their duty.

Over the years I have written without fear. Every time I was afraid, I wrote more. And every time I feared, I wrote more. I believed that writing protects and immunes. I also believed that a free human is a fearless human. And my pursuit of freedom remains and continues to be a liberation from fear that shackles. There is no freedom in chains.

A journey that is neither easy nor will it be, and it cannot be. Freedom is dearly valued, and defending it is a sustainable business.

But … does the defense of freedom deserve to die for?

Does life deserve fear, terror and intimidation?

The day before I was exposed to what I might have expected one day. 

I know that with every word I write, it is like walking on embers. I am not a fan of playing with fire, but I do not care about the flames.

 I know how to avoid combustion.

 To live requires us to mingle with risks, if we aspire to live in dignity.

I grew up as a Palestinian, who was accompanied by the word “freedom”, ever since my feet first touched the ground.

 Liberty craves my emancipation for passion to live. 

How can I anticipate liberation from occupation, while there is no freedom granted to us as people, from the leadership that struggles for our assumed liberation? How can I resent occupation, fight for my liberation when my leadership muzzles our mouths and deprive us from the basic freedom of expression to express the need for a change or to stave off corruption that surrounds us from all directions, as it is becoming a norm of living.

Despite my genuine believe and determination, always, that no matter how dissatisfied some may be from my words, and no matter how my topics disturbed the slumber of those who hold safely in their places and positions, and no matter how arguable matters are, with agreeing or disagreeing with me in some opinion and position. No matter how divert the views are, we must always maintain and adhere to that safe line of space among us that maintains and protects our differences with acceptance, tolerance and respect. Because our differences should never spoil our issues, on the contrary it is with our difference that we nourish. Especially that we are a nation that is supposed to be living under occupation. Our differences should unite us not kill us.

My car was set on fire, and the act appeared to be an act of an experienced person who knew that he only reality that exist is his act and the fire he blew. The flames of fire that spread to eat iron in moments, as if it was the only truth present in this reality.

Terrorism and the burning of everything that could reach their hands.

I think about terrorism, which has become our homeland. Between action and reaction. There are those who are terrorized and there are those who are terrorists.

I try to exclude what happened from my memory. I want to burn those moments, sweep its ashes and throw it away from me. I feel infirmed, but I also feel their infirmity. Those weak, cowardly, lurking far away, hiding and protected by their clout, their power, their weapon and their blazing bottles.

The question still twirls inside me: Will being muzzled protect us from their terrorism?

Will our silence, kneeling, turning a blind eye from the leadership corruption protect us from their power, their brutality and their oppression?

If silence was a solution, I would be the first to remain silent.

But as my life is secure and my preservation depends on the lives of those close to me. And so, I must be careful, afraid, and terrified. Likewise, their security and a free dignified life is my duty. If we all remain silent in fear, and fear from being harmed, we will not have a place to live even with submission, because they will continue to oppress and violate.

Freedom begins and ends with the ability to express.

Yes … corruption is exorbitant, and the hands of the oppressor are long and extended. But whoever wants to rot by this corruption is free to rot. And because God has bestowed on me with a very strong sense of smell I cannot cope with rotten mold.

Truth is strength. The power of oppression and intimidation, no matter how long it last, remains invalid.

And this land has been a land of truth since God leveled it to be…. 

And I am the daughter of this land.

Catholic Priest in Indiana Suspended After Calling Black Lives Matter ‘Maggots and Parasites’

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Regardless of their occupation, quite a few white Americans are dead set on ensuring systemic racism continues in this country. Take, for instance, a Catholic priest based in Indiana who told his followers that the Black Lives Matters movement is comprised of “maggots and parasites.”

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Face Masks Mandatory In Most Of Texas, Starting Friday

And what about California, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida…?

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Starting Friday, wearing face masks will be the law of the land in most of Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order on Thursday requiring Texans to wear face coverings in public in counties with 20 or more COVID-19 cases. “We have the ability to keep businesses open and move our economy forward so that Texans can continue to earn a paycheck, but it requires each of us to do our part to protect one another — and that means wearing a face covering in public spaces,” Abbott said. There are some exceptions, such as for children under age 10 and people with certain medical conditions. Masks are also not required during activities including swimming, eating in a restaurant and exercising outdoors while maintaining distance from non-household members. A list of counties exempt from the face covering requirement will be maintained on the Texas Division of Emergency Management’s website . The order says local officials “can and should” enforce the face covering requirement but

Miami Officer ‘Relieved of Duty’ and Under Investigation After Video Catches Him Hitting Black Woman in Airport

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You really can’t blame Black people for believing that excessive force is just the police go-to for dealing with Black people when they get into heated exchanges with them. If our lived experiences weren’t enough to convince us of this, the fact that we can’t seem to go more than a week without seeing a new viral…

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Mike Pence Says Holding Rallies Amid a Deadly Pandemic Is Just Demonstrating Freedom of Speech, Baby!

So untrue and devious. If you are found to have an STD or TB after a visit to a clinic or your doctor, they are legally bound to report that to local health department, which is then bound to contact you about getting mandated treatment and contacts. Covid-19 can kill people within days, It has nothing to do with freedom of speech – it has everything to do with saving lives! iewlq40lndkhyzilb8mk.jpg

After a spike in covid-19 cases throughout the South and Southwestern United States, the White House Coronavirus Task Force assembled for its first press briefing in two months. Predictably, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, provided a litany of grave but…

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Facebook Will Show Users a Pop-up Warning Before They Share an Outdated Story

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Facebook announced Thursday that it would introduce a notification screen warning users if they try to share content that’s more than 90 days old. From a report: They’ll be given the choice to “go back” or to click through if they’d still like to share the story knowing that it isn’t fresh. Facebook acknowledged that old stories shared out of their original context play a role in spreading misinformation, a fact that the social media company said “news publishers in particular” have expressed concern about old stories being recirculated as though they’re breaking news. “Over the past several months, our internal research found that the timeliness of an article is an important piece of context that helps people decide what to read, trust and share,” Facebook Vice President of Feed and Stories John Hegeman wrote on the company’s blog.

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Read more of this story at Slashdot.