Jefferson Holiday Party

Hanukkah Crafts Fair - 2016

32 Years Later, This Song Holds Up. The Message = Christmas Time is About Giving to the Less Fortunate (Bob Geldof & Friends)

In Austria, voters defied the right-wing populist wave by electing Alexander Van der Bellen, 72, a former Green Party leader, as their next president

In Auburn

Reno

Virginia City

Signs above are the brainchild of S.F. local Anna Sergeeva who started what she's calling the Compliment Project - click below - You can print signs to post.

https://www.thecomplimentproject.org/

For the first time in the company's history, CoverGirl will feature a woman wearing a hijab in its advertising. Her name is Nura Afia.

Safety pins - a symbol of solidarity with victims of racist, religious or homophobic abuse, following attacks in the US in the wake of Donald Trump's election win.

Leonard Cohen (21 Sep 1934 – 7 Nov 2016) - My All-Time Favorite Singer/Songwriter - Here Performs My All-Time Favorite Song - RIP

Some Women, Like Ruline, Were Born Before Women Had the Right to Vote

A Visit to the de Young

Boris Karloff on the Set

Jefferson Students Receive Hospitality Class Certificates

Democratic National Convention - Our Fight Song

Sarah Silverman at Last Night's DNC

Riverside - The Mission Inn & more

Los Angeles - LACMA & Farmer's Market

Los Angeles - Natural History Museum & Hermosa Beach

Los Angeles - Olivera St & Griffith Observatory

Los Angeles - The Getty

Los Angeles - Museum of Jurassic Technology & Venice Beach

Los Angeles - MOCA & Canter's

Los Angeles - The Broad, Clifton's (& more)

Imam Muhammad Musri Says the Community is in Mourning after Attack at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida

Let Your Voice Be Heard or Allow for Fascist Rule

Using Hate and Fear to Rise to Power - It's the Same Old Story

Elizabeth Warren for Vice President !

Fallon & Obama - Slow Jam

Fallon & Obama - Thank You Notes

President Obama Endorses Hillary

Jefferson's Graduation Day 2016

Yes We Can !

On the Right - Our Next President - Unless You'd Rather Have (the Real Version of) this Guy on the Left

Bernie Supporters Try to Articulate What Makes Him Different

Good-Bye Alan Young - The Man Who Spoke to Mr. Ed

Good-Bye Morely Safer - He Gave Us News Stories Like This One - The Beginning of the End of the Vietnam War

The Wage Gap - Where's the Equity?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/robin-wright-equal-pay-debate-160558090.html .By Mandi Woodruff. Robin Wright asked for more and she got it. At a charity event earlier this week, the “House of Cards” actress told the story of how she negotiated a pay raise that would put her on equal footing with her co-star, Kevin Spacey. (Spacey is rumored to earn half a million dollars for each episode of the hit Netflix series.) Wright saw her opportunity when “statistics” she was following showed that her character on the show was becoming more popular than Spacey’s character. So she pounced. “I was like, ‘You better pay me or I’m going to go public.’ And they did, ” Wright told the audience to rapturous applause, later adding “You do have to shame and guilt them into it.” And all at once, another equal pay “shero” was born. Wright joins a growing list of A-list Hollywood actresses like Jennifer Lawrence, Patricia Arquette and Emma Watson to publicly denounce the pay gap that has long plagued women in Hollywood on both sides of the camera. The key takeaway from Wright’s story seemed to be this: You can’t get what you don’t ask for, ladies. It’s a familiar piece of advice to any woman who’s ever secretly Googled salary negotiating tips right before their annual review. But it’s not enough. Can I just say that? It’s not enough! It’s not enough for women to simply ask for more. And it’s not fair for women to feel like the entire weight of closing the gender wage gap rests on our shoulders. Yet, so much of the advice out there focuses on what we, as women, should be doing better in order to earn more. Do your research. Track of your performance. Bring notes. Dress the part. Be nice but not a pushover. Be firm but not a bitch. Undo decades of social constructs that have taught you to give and to please and never to ask for more. And if all else fails just go ahead and “shame them and guilt them into it,” Wright says. Anyone else out there crumbling under the weight of all that pressure? (::Raises hand::) Yes, Wright was completely badass for standing up for her right to earn more. But here’s the question we should really be asking ourselves (and it’s not ‘How can we teach women to ask for more?’). Why (why why WHY) do we have to ask in the first place? We all seem to agree that paying workers differently for doing the same work is pretty lame. And yet, here we are, with our minds completely boggled by the news that a famous woman earns the same pay as a famous man. What about the other people (her agent? Netflix higher-ups?) who thought she was worth less in the first place? There are a few other reasons I found the reaction to Wright’s story so disappointing. For starters, Wright has tools at her disposal that most women never have at the negotiating table. One of her biggest bargaining chips was her own celebrity. Go ahead, Linda who works in sales in Omaha! Try telling your boss that you’ll “go public” and alert all 147 of your Twitter followers if they don’t give you a raise. See how well that works out for you. Wright also had access to information that is still frustratingly difficult to obtain: she (or, more likely, the agent who represented her) had to have known how much Kevin Spacey was paid. So often, the rest of us are negotiating blind, with no idea what our coworkers earn or what to ask for. Lastly (but not unimportantly), she had race on her side. And this is not a privilege that we can afford to ignore, especially when it comes to equal pay. There are many brilliant discussions about equal pay taking place in America today, and yet the only ones that seem to garner any real attention are the ones that are led by white, successful women who are already in a position of power. It’s not just an issue in Hollywood, either (hello, Sheryl Sandberg and Hillary Clinton). When Wright said that women earn 80-ish cents for every dollar men make, she missed a crucial point: that’s really only true for white women. Women of color are in far worse shape. African-American women earn 63 cents of every dollar men earn. Hispanic women earn 54 cents. Actress Viola Davis nailed this dichotomy in a recent Mashable interview. When asked about the equal pay gap in Hollywood, Davis said thinking about earning as much as men isn’t a luxury she, like many black professional women, can afford. “The struggle for us as women of color is just to be seen the same as our white female counterparts,” Davis said. “Forget the men! We’re not even in that realm yet … It’s like talking to someone who lives in poverty! ‘You don’t want that Bentley?’ They’re like ‘Shoot, I’m just trying to get bus fare money.’” In the ongoing battle to achieve equitable pay for women in America, the real heroines shouldn’t always be A-list celebrities or CEOs with publicists and agents and a world of resources at their feet. Yes, they have the power to bring much-needed attention to causes like equal pay and we should all be inspired anytime women stand up for themselves. But we have to also acknowledge that all women are not impacted by the wage gap in the same way.

Goats Climb Argan Trees in Morocco

Au Revoir Madeleine LeBeau

A Visit to My Sister's Place - February, 2016

Mexico City - February 14, 2016

Mexico City - February 15, 2016

Mexico City - February 16, 2016

Mexico City - February 17, 2016

Mexico City - February 18, 2016

Mexico City - February 19, 2016

Mexico City - February 20, 2016

Mexico City - February 21, 2016

Lesley Was Lucky Not to Have Such a Scary Bunny (see below)

Happy Easter

A Little Bird Tells Bernie, "You Can't Win."

Crash and Bern - There is No Shame in Admitting Defeat

I feel I have to chime in in on the political race - when it comes to my opinion on things that matter, I can't hold back. I want to preface what I'm about to say with - I like Bernie Sanders. I agree with everything he has to say about how things are rigged against the little guy in favor of big business, etc. (btw, it all sounds a bit like Ralph Nader and Elizabeth Warren and others, so he didn't exactly invent these ideas). Not to dump on the man, but you have to ask honestly, what has he actually accomplished other than to draw attention to these ideas (which others already have before him)? I'm not saying they don't need to be continually addressed, but at some point he starts sounding like a broken record (I'm not sure that idiom works so well in this digital age). When you look at his people's own webpages promoting him, there is indeed a long list of accomplishments, but they are mostly just votes he made on other people's policies. He began in the House in 1991 and later joined the Senate in 2007 for a total of 25 years now... voting. Well how hard is it to vote like a Socialist? It's a funny thing about people who don't do much... and please don't talk about him getting arrested when he was part of SNCC in 1963... my S.O. (significant other) was part of SNCC. My S.O. was beaten up, arrested and shot at as part of SNCC and calls himself a Socialist too, but he doesn't think he's qualified to be president. Bernie talks a good game, and that's important, but like so many people who don't actually do much, they are the ones so quick to judge those who do. Oh and then he speaks out of both sides of his mouth when he proudly says he was involved with Obama Care, but then says the single payer plan is better. Let's look at Bernie who was the talk of the town when he was elected the first self-proclaimed Socialist to the House, but how quickly he abandoned his party when it came to running for president. What are you anyway, Bernie? Don't get me wrong. I do respect the man, but I will respect him a whole lot more when he bows out of the race. Let's look at the numbers. At the time that I'm writing this, Hillary has 1690 of 2636 delegates (= 64%) and Bernie has 946 of 2636 delegates (= 36%). That's what we call a landslide victory for Hillary. Don't think so? Let me share an example of a landslide victory with you (just google landslide victory and this one will come up). The outcome of the presidential election of 1936 had FDR winning with 61% of the vote and Alf Landon only 37%. Notice that Alf had one more percentage point than Bernie and notice that FDR had three fewer percentage points than Hillary. It's a sure thing that Hillary will win the Democratic nomination. The sooner Bernie starts backing Hillary, the more likely she is to win against Trump who is sure to be the Republican nominee (I'm going to assume I don't need to go into what's wrong with this candidate). It's basic math. Unless you are a misogynist. Misogyny tends to blur numbers. Hillary clearly has a stronger resume. If she were applying for the job and didn't get it, she could have a sexual discrimination suit. But elections don't work that way. She has to win over the public. She has to win over people like my S.O. who calls her shrill. I have to remind him that women's voices are generally higher in pitch than men's. There is an undercurrent of misogyny in this country. So many women feel it. I hope women realize all that they'll be doing for their gender when they vote for Hillary. Oh, and you men needn't worry - having a woman in charge won't mean you'll have to suffer the same injustices that we have endured. Remember that women give life and your mother loves you.

Plantu Cartoon Expressing French-Belgian Solidarity

"European Sovereignty" is Code for "White Supremacy"

Recently, I got into a back-and-forth in the comments column of a YouTube video. A guy named Bill Still included all kinds of misinformation about "illegal immigrants" in his video/rant. Where I live (San Francisco), the phrase "illegal immigrant" is considered politically incorrect by many. When I've used it, people have corrected me by saying, "No human is illegal." Frankly, I think they miss the point because it is a legal issue. There is a problem with laws that make movement across the border by some people illegal, even though these people are vital to our economy. The right wing won't admit it, but any economist will tell you so. The right wing will argue that these immigrants are bleeding the economy dry. They have little understanding of how our economy works, or maybe that erroneous argument is just a way to veil their prejudice. One could argue, the right-wingers lack of education is the real problem and education in the U.S. needs to be improved. Sorry xenophobes on the right, but this means more government money to educate people like you who don't understand the law, history, demographics, and economics. Before this past weekend, I had only heard the term "European Sovereignty" as it relates to the current "Refugee Crisis" in Europe and while I found it offensive in that context, more recently I heard from Bill Still (and his followers on YouTube), who are presumably American, use it in relation to "illegal immigrants" in America. They speak of preserving our "European Sovereignty." I asked Mr. Still where in the Constitution it is written that those of European descent are any more entitled to anything here in this country than anyone else. I was completely astonished by his response which was, "The nation was meant specifically for the people that founded it. It's very simple." I decided not to respond to this or any more messages from this man who has a completely distorted view of what this country stands for. However, I did feel the need to "alert the media" as it were. I'm not sure how many people out there in cyberspace read this blog, but in case you are wondering why certain candidates running for president are so popular despite or because of their racist views, the answer may be that there are many like Mr. Bill Still out there and it's not just misinformation they are spreading. It's hate speech. I feel so fortunate to live here in San Francisco. Seattle, Boston and San Francisco are considered among the America's top three "Smartest Cities" (see LINK) BTW, Mr. Still and friends, the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most diverse areas of the country. So, I'm also happy to know that it's doubtful you'll be visiting any time soon.

This Picture of Pre-Peeled and Packaged Oranges Sums Up What is Wrong with Whole Foods (Thank You Twitterverse for Shaming Them)

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Welcomes Syrian Refugees

Ai Weiwei's Installation - 66th Berlin Film Fest. Medium = Refugee Life Vests (From: http://www.aljazeera.com)

Celebrities Like Susan Sarandon Help Bring Attention to the Plight of Refugees. Here she is in Skala with Under the Tree Server (and Volunteer), Apostolis Paraskevopoulos

Actor Mandy Patinkin Speaks About Being Passionate Toward Refugees

Mats, a Lighthouse Volunteer from Norway, Helps a Refugee Child

News: Greek Island Volunteers & Nobel Nomination

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35460012?SThisFB By Joel Gunter. BBC News. 1 February 2016. The leader of a volunteer group on the Greek island of Kos has welcomed news that islanders have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. George Chertofilis, the president of the Kos Solidarity Group, said a win would "give meaning to the work we do". Kos Solidarity is one of 16 volunteer groups from the Aegean Islands nominated on Sunday for the award. It adds: "Despite persistent constraints and the continuous institutional inability to respond to this challenge in a respectful and efficient way, the nominees provide an example of possibility for action in the darkest of times and with the most limited of means." Mr Chertofilis, a physics teacher on Kos, said the prize would be "a nice thing for individuals of course, but more importantly for the ideal of peace and solidarity". "Ultimately we are not doing this for a prize, we are doing it because we are human beings and we must do everything we can to help each other," he said. According to the nomination letter, the prize money in the event of a win would be used to fund healthcare on the islands. Three unnamed volunteers have been chosen who would travel to Norway to collect the award. In order to make the volunteer groups eligible for the prize, which states that only individuals or organisations can be nominated, they were joined in an umbrella network called the Aegean Solidarity Movement. The network was pieced together by Avaaz, a grassroots campaign group that coordinated the nomination. More than 630,000 people have signed a petition on the Avaaz website to show their support. Sam Barratt, a spokesman for Avaaz, said the campaign group worked closely with the Nobel committee to ensure that the network complied with the prize rules. He was keen to stress that the 16 groups included in the nomination represent many smaller groups and individuals who have given up their time to offer support to refugees and migrants. Mr Chertofilis continues to volunteer several days a week, patrolling the beaches at night in shifts, armed with warm clothes, shoes, and snacks. "The prize would be a nice thing for the people of these islands, many of whom have helped," he said. "But we are doing this because we don't like to see people suffer."

News: In Syria, People Are Being Deliberately Starved

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/15/middleeast/syria-madaya-starvation/ By Don Melvin, Nick Paton Walsh and Tim Hume, CNN. Fri January 15, 2016. The starvation in Syria is no act of God -- not the result of drought or flooding or crop failure. This famine is man-made. And it is drawing international condemnation. The use of starvation as a weapon in Syria is "a war crime," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday. "U.N. teams have witnessed scenes that haunt the soul," Ban said. "The elderly and children, men and women, who were little more than skin and bones: gaunt, severely malnourished, so weak they could barely walk, and utterly desperate for the slightest morsel." He spoke after U.N. convoys had finally arrived in Syrian towns to deliver food to malnourished residents. "Let me be clear: The use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime," he said. "All sides -- including the Syrian government, which has the primary responsibility to protect Syrians -- are committing this and other atrocious acts prohibited under international humanitarian law." The civil war in Syria is nearing its five-year mark, with the brutal regime of President Bashar al-Assad pitted against rebels. The terrorist group ISIS has taken over large swaths of the country and neighboring Iraq. More than 250,000 Syrians -- mostly civilians -- have been killed, according to the United Nations. About 10.5 million Syrians have fled their homes -- and more than 4 million of those have left the country.