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During the 15-hour Senate filibuster on gun control, there were 38 shootings that killed 12 people and injured 36 more across America. 

House Democrats stage sit-in for gun control action

The sit-in at times grew raucous.

When Ryan — who dismissed the sit-in as a “publicity stunt” — entered the floor to schedule a vote on an unrelated spending bill, Democrats in the chamber loudly chanted over him.

A crowd of protesters gathered outside to support the sit-in at times grew so loud their chants could be heard in the House chamber.

youtube: Illuminati Clones - Was Avril Lavigne Replaced?

me:

I admit, as a trans woman I really love using a particular few filters on Snapchat. I’m still fairly new to HRT and using them helps me see myself in ways I don’t usually get to see in the mirror. They soften my features and obscure/smooth out my skin from the constant shadow from shaving. I see a person I feel deep affection for and comfort toward.

I like sharing these picture here on tumblr with other trans girls because the affirmation and validation is really amazing and helps me love and accept myself as a person and as a woman. My heart is so joyful to both give and receive this affection.

But at the same time I feel like in some ways I’m lying. I’m misrepresenting myself and how I look to myself and to a whole community that I rely on and love so deeply. It’s a source of both great validation and bitter shame.

So I wanted to say this out loud for all of you and vicariously to myself: You are always valid. Using tools and technology to help cultivate an internalized sense of self-love does not in any way diminish that validity. A lifetime of culturally imposed shame is not easily overcome and you have the right to unabashedly use whatever resources accessible to destroy it.

The Boston Globe on Thursday published an interactive op-ed calling for Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, drawing attention to the hundreds killed in mass shootings since the federal ban expired in 2004.

“There is nothing more American today than a mass shooting, the quickest way for the wicked among us to join the ranks of the reviled,” the newspaper’s editors wrote. “Their motives are many, but their opportunity is limited only by their gun and ammunition magazine brand preference. In this country, the federal government limits duck hunters to weapons that carry only three shells, to protect the duck population. But you can buy an assault weapon in seven minutes and an unlimited number of bullets to fire with it.”

This past weekend, Omar Mateen allegedly killed 49 people and injured 53 more using an AR-15-style rifle, the Sig Sauer MCX, in what was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Pointing out that there have been 47 mass shootings since the assault weapons ban expired, resulting in 411 deaths, the Globe editors argued a “sensible, mature society” should be able to recognize that these firearms play a central role in our national gun death epidemic.

The newspaper rolled out interactive features to highlight the point, including a web videoshowing what it’s like to be shot by a rifle, whose bullets travel twice as fast as those of a pistol, and a feature to email or tweet congressional representatives who have stood in the way of changing the gun control debate.

On Twitter, the Globe posted the names, ages, and date and location of death for all 411 victims of mass shootings since 2004, along with the hashtag #MakeItStop.

DAYS AFTER ORLANDO ATTACK, HOUSE G.O.P. BLOCKS VOTE ON GAY-RIGHTS AMENDMENT

“Less than three days after a popular gay club in Orlando became the site of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives blocked a vote on a proposal that would ensure federal contractors can’t discriminate against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identification.”

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