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Hey, Republicans!

IF CHILDREN are such a precious GIFT FROM GOD,

why aren't you scooping up all those poor

Central American kids crossing over from Mexico?

Imagine how much richer you'd be if you did...

Oh, I forgot...

They're not fetuses...They're already here!

Sorry, kids...keep walking...
Look for some Christian country!

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I'll believe corporations are people...

...when one is baptized. (hear that, you religious creeps?)

...when one is called for jury service.

...when one is elected Pope. (or, to tone it down "...when one becomes a minister")

...when one is allowed to vote.

...when I see a banker go to jail. (somewhat tangential, but still...)
...when one takes a selfie. (I had to look that one up)
...when one adopts a pet.
...when one serves in the military. (hear that Cheney, you slime!)
...when one gets married to a human being.
...when one actually pays some taxes.
...when one climbs Mt. McKinley.
...when one gets bitten by a shark. (make that eaten by)
...when someone shows me where in the Constitution corporate personhood is mentioned.
...when one becomes a saint.

Texas Beer Joint Sues Church In Mt. Vernon, Texas

Drummond's Bar began construction on expansion of their building to increase their business. In response, the local Baptist Church started a campaign to block the bar from expanding with petitions and prayers. Work progressed right up until the week before the grand reopening when lightning struck the building and it burned to the ground! After the bar burned to the ground due to the lightning strike, the church folks were rather smug in their outlook, bragging about "the power of prayer", until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church ... "was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means." In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise. The judge read through the plaintiff's complaint and the defendant's reply, and at the opening hearing he commented,  "I don't know how I'm going to decide this, but it appears from the paperwork that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that now does not."

14 Signs America Is Turning Into A Police State

In 2013, an international survey determined that the country that poses as the single biggest threat to world peace is...The United States Of America. The land of the free--where government is running amok and where citizens feel less and less in control every day. It may still feel safe to live in the US, but we are headed in the direction of a full-blown police state--a reality where we are not welcome to speak out against our own government.

1. Police are killing more people every year

While the number of officer deaths is thankfully declining, the number of killings by officers is increasing. In 2013, 33 law enforcement officers were killed by gunfire. While it is a morbid statistic, it is the lowest number since 1887. Meanwhile, in 2012, police committed over 400 justifiable homicides for the first time in more than a decade. This trend would suggest that crime is increasing...but it isn’t. It only means that officers are more frequently resorting to violence. latimes.com

2. Unlawful harassment is becoming the norm

Earl Simpson, 28, has been stopped 258 times in four years by Florida police. These stops, which he believes to be racially motivated, have resulted in 100 searches and 56 arrests for “trespassing.” The best part? The majority have occurred while he is at work, trying to do his job. His boss at Quickstop, Alex Saleh, told the Daily News "He's a good guy, a humble guy, a quiet guy. He's not a convicted felon." During his long history with the law, Simpson’s only conviction has been for marijuana possession. There really is no cause or purpose for the ongoing harassment.nydailynews.com

3. Even children are seen as criminals

What might have been considered an issue for teachers and parents in the past...is now a police matter. Recently, 7-year-old Wilson Reyes was handcuffed and interrogated by police for hours. All the commotion was over a missing $5 bill, which Wilson ultimately did not steal.gothamist.com

4. Stop and searches are becoming more common and more invasive

Experts have referred to modern search techniques as “security theater.” In the case of David Eckert, officers may search for non-existent drugs in your anal cavity for a matter of hours and then send you the bill for the gesture. For a New Mexico woman, it meant being stripped down and “searched” so extensively--that lawyers deem it sexual assault. alternet.org

5. New York City’s “Stop and Frisk” program is racial profiling

Mayor Bloomberg’s failed “Stop and Frisk” policy allows NYPD to stop, question, and frisk anyone for contraband and weapons, often times without reasonable suspicion. In 2013 alone, New Yorkers were stopped 179,063 times. In 89% of cases, the person stopped was completely innocent. As well as doing very little to stop crime, the method is clearly racially motivated. Of those stopped in 2013, 56% were black and 29% were Latino, while only 11% were white.nyclu.org

6. Non-criminals are being arrested for ridiculous things

Until recently, prison was reserved for dangers to society. Now, you can be arrested and imprisoned for making nothing more than a human mistake. George Norris was sentenced to 17 months in prison after he forgot to get the proper paperwork and sold orchids to an undercover agent. Georgia Thompson, a state employee who accidently filled company data incorrectly, spent four months in prison. A bridal shop owner, Judy Wilkinson, was hauled away in cuffs after making a champagne and orange juice cocktail for a customer without having the proper license. alternet.org

7. You can face jail time for not paying rent

In the nineteenth century, the cruel practice of arresting debtors until they repaid their debt was put to an end. Now, it’s making a comeback. Rental tenants in Arkansas who are allegedly behind on their payments can be sent to criminal courts, where judges will respond to failure to pay with arrest and imprisonment. It’s almost like the judicial system wants to fill prisons with people who shouldn’t be in them.hrw.org

8. The NSA is listening to everything and achieving nothing

According to the US Government, NSA agents are frisking all of your digital and telephone communications in an attempt to avert terrorism and save lives. However, Senators recently concluded that there’s no evidence that this method of policing is doing anything to stop terrorism. So why exactly are we paying billions to turn into an Orwellian surveillance state?thehill.com

9. More people are being sentenced to life in prison without parole for nonviolent offenses

“Life without parole” is supposed to ensure that the most dangerous criminals are never allowed back into society. However, 3,278 people are currently serving life without parole for crimes in which no one was injured. These include offenses such as acting as a middleman in the sale of $10 of marijuana and stealing a $159 jacket. That doesn’t sound like justice.aclu.org

10. Police officers don’t face the same punishment as civilians

In April, 2013, Orlando Police Officer Michael Fiorentino-Tyburski hit a homeless man with his police car and drove away without calling for help. Tetris Nunn survived, but saw no justice. The officer who hit him was not charged and received a measly 88 hour suspension. The officer’s defense for the hit and run? He didn’t think Nunn was injured after hitting him with the car--so he didn’t stop. What if someone without a badge had done something this negligent?wftv.com

11. America’s incarceration rate is the highest in the world

With 737 prisoners per 100,000 citizens, the US has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the entire world. That number makes China look like a democratic paradise with their rate of 118 per 100,000. More shockingly, African-American men are five times more likely to be arrested than citizens of the Soviet Union at the height of the gulags. These shocking stats are a direct outcome of having privatized prisons, which allow people to profit off the incarceration of American citizens. Criminals are human beings who need support; they are not an opportunity to make money.alternet.org

12. Peaceful protests are being met with violence

As an American, the constitution grants you the right to assembly. In October, 2011, the peaceful Occupy Oakland protest turned violent when police forcefully evicted protesters, and in the process, fractured an Iraq veteran’s skull. This is only one example where perfectly lawful protests were disbanded with unnecessary force.dailymail.co.uk

13. The Government is hunting down a national hero

Edward Snowden is a hero. It is a not a debate. When he leaked NSA files and revealed the full extent of illegal Government espionage, he was doing his country a service. How has the US repaid his honesty? He has had to seek sanctuary in Russia, and will likely never see his country, friends, or family ever again, for fear of being prosecuted...or worse.csmonitor.com

14. The FBI can watch you whenever, for no reason at all

If you were worried about the NSA listening to your communications, then you’ll be outraged to learn that the the FBI has been able to record you for years. Not only can they take control of your laptop camera, they can activate it without turning the light on.gizmodo.com

When you get your paycheck, a chunk is taken out to support programs like these. Policies and technologies that are supposed to protect citizens, which are actually more dangerous than the “security threats” that they’re designed to stop. Right now, our own government is holding us hostage in subtle ways. This is how it starts. We have seen how police states violently ends through history, so let us not get to that point. Know your rights, and refuse to be taken advantage of.

Lauren Bacall
Biography

By Denny Jackson

Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City.

She is the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents.

Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a salesman and her mother as a secretary.

They divorced when she was five.

When she was a school girl, Lauren originally wanted to be a dancer, but later, she became enthralled with acting, so she switched gears to head into that field.

She had studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York after high school, which enabled her to get her feet wet in some off-Broadway productions.

Once out of school, Lauren entered modeling and, because of her beauty, appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, one of the most popular magazines in the US.

The wife of famed director Howard Hawks spotted the picture in the publication and arranged with her husband to have Lauren take a screen test.

As a result, which was entirely positive, she was given the part of Marie Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944), a thriller opposite the great Humphrey Bogart, when she was just 19 years old.

This not only set the tone for a fabulous career but also one of Hollywood's greatest love stories (she married Bogart in 1945).

It was also the first of several Bogie-Bacall films.

After 1945's Confidential Agent (1945), Lauren received second billing in The Big Sleep (1946) with Bogart.

The mystery, in the role of Vivian Sternwood Rutledge, was a resounding success.

Although she was making one film a year, each production would be eagerly awaited by the public.

In 1947, again with her husband, Lauren starred in the thriller Dark Passage (1947).

The film kept movie patrons on the edge of their seats. The following year, she starred with Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo (1948).

The crime drama was even more of a nail biter than her previous film.

In 1950, Lauren starred in Bright Leaf (1950), a drama set in 1894.

It was a film of note because she appeared without her husband - her co-star was Gary Cooper.

In 1953, Lauren appeared in her first comedy as Schatze Page in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953).

The film, with co-stars Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, was a smash hit all across the theaters of America.

After filming Designing Woman (1957), which was released in 1957,

Humphrey Bogart died on January 14 from throat cancer.

Devastated at being a widow, Lauren returned to the silver screen with The Gift of Love (1958) in 1958 opposite Robert Stack.

The production turned out to be a big disappointment.

Undaunted, Lauren moved back to New York City and appeared in several Broadway plays to huge critical acclaim.

She was enjoying acting before live audiences and the audiences in turn enjoyed her fine performances.

Lauren was away from the big screen for five years, but she returned in 1964 to appear in Shock Treatment (1964) and Sex and the Single Girl (1964).

The latter film was a comedy starring Henry Fonda and Tony Curtis.

In 1966, Lauren starred in Harper (1966) with Paul Newman and Julie Harris, which was one of former's signature films.

Alternating her time between films and the stage, Lauren returned in 1974's Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

The film, based on Agatha Christie's best-selling book was a huge hit.

It also garnered Ingrid Bergman her third Oscar.

Actually, the huge star-studded cast helped to ensure its success.

Two years later, in 1976, Lauren co-starred with John Wayne in The Shootist (1976).

he film was Wayne's last - he died from cancer in 1979.

In 1981, Lauren played an actress being stalked by a crazed admirer in The Fan (1981).

The thriller was absolutely fascinating with Lauren in the lead role.

After that production, Lauren was away from films again, this time for seven years.

In the interim, she again appeared on the stages of Broadway.

When she returned, it was for the filming of 1988's Mr. North (1988).

After Misery (1990), in 1990, and several made for television films, Lauren appeared in 1996's My Fellow Americans (1996).

It was a wonderful comedy romp with Jack Lemmon and James Garner as two ex-presidents and their escapades.

Despite her advanced age and deteriorating health, she made a small-scale comeback in the English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle (2004) ("Howl's Moving Castle," based on the young-adult novel by Diana Wynne Jones) as the Witch of the Waste, but future endeavors for the beloved actress are increasingly rare.