Via Democracy Now!:

The last of the funerals have been held for the 27 victims of the Newtown massacre, the worst grade school shooting in U.S. history. On Friday, mourners held a moment of silence at the Newtown memorial site and across the country to mark the first week since the 20 children and seven adults were killed. On Christmas Day, visitors from neighboring areas flocked to Newtown’s memorial site to honor the dead.

Sandra Johnson: "Because it was Christmas and as a parent I just couldn’t move on celebrating unless we came and, you know, respect these kids and the adults. It touched everybody’s hearts. So I just couldn’t move forward. I came in this morning, early, you know, and just saying a prayer."

Jesus Carrion: "We wanted to contribute and bring some teddy bears for the families, you know, of these kids and the teachers who are not here today because of some tragic moment. And so we just wanted to come down and show support for the families — obviously that will be never be the same again, whose holidays will never be."

I know that the children, the teachers and families of Newton haven't been far from my own thoughts this holiday season. Did any of you feel moved to do something, say a prayer, send good thoughts, a moment of silence or anything else?

In this timely essay, Bill urges us to remember the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre by name. He also rejects the notion of doubling down on guns and body armor as a response, and encourages all of us to work hard on realistic and moral solutions.

“Laws are hard to come by, civilization just as hard” Bill says. “But democracy aims for a moral order as just as possible — which means laws that protect the weak, and not just the strong.”

Today we remember:

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Rachel D’Avino, 29

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dawn Hochsprung, 47

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Mary Sherlach, 56

Victoria Soto, 27

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6

[Via]

Part 1: 'What Is It About Us as Americans?'

Michael Moore on Piers Morgan Tuesday, 7/24/12

"I think that both conservatives and liberals are half right, each of them. The conservatives when they say guns don't kill people, I would alter that to guns don't kill people, Americans kill people. The left, liberals, believe that if we just have more gun control laws, all the problems are going to go away. Well, I don't think so. It won't really get rid of the larger problem. What is it about us that wants to do this?" -- Michael Moore

Continue reading »

[Note: The report in this video is disturbing, but it seems that ABC News filtered the extremely graphic images.]

United Nations observers reported that a brutal attack in a city near Homs on Friday left 32 children and at least 60 adults dead, with an estimated 300 wounded. Syrian anti-government groups claim that official troops raked the city with mortar shells and then sent thugs and soldiers in. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his predecessor, Kofi Annan, released a joint statement calling for a ceasefire and criticizing the government for the attack. Bloody images of the young casualties prompted anti-government demonstrations across the country.

Via:

The rebel Free Syrian Army, the loose federation of armed militias across the country, issued a statement saying it was no longer committed to the United Nations truce because the plan was merely buying time for the government to kill civilians and destroy cities and villages.

“We won’t allow truce after truce, which prolongs the crisis for years,” the statement said.

The Syrian government blamed “terrorists,” its catchall phrase for the opposition, for killing the civilians.

Interesting that the mainstream media caught on to that "catchall phrase for the opposition" so quickly, yet...oh, nevermind. *Sigh.*