Grandmas for Gun Reform

It is Thursday. That can mean only one thing. Time to check back in with more pictures from the March for Our Lives Rally from back in March.

But before we get to the pictures, here is a little fun fact:

90% of gun owners (including me, technically) don’t belong to the NRA. Despite the NRA claiming to represent gun owners, it does not. Almost all of the funding for the NRA comes from gun manufactures (heck they probably get more money from Russia than they do from individual gun owners) because the actual aim of the NRA has nothing to do with representing the views of gun owners. The NRA has one purpose and one purpose only, that is to increase gun sales. By any means necessary.

This is why the NRA LOVES school shootings. They can put out their scare propaganda and send their followers running to get guns. Thus sending the profit margins of their true benefactors through the roof.

This is the reason that a staggering 90% of gun owners don’t belong to the NRA. They don’t reflect the views of the average gun owner.

There are roughly 75 million gun owners in the United States. Sounds like a lot, until you realize that is less than 30% of the population. Of those 75 million gun owners, less than 5 million gun owners belong to the NRA.

These are the statistics on gun control measures that the NRA has lobbied against for their benefactors (and probably the Russians).

Universal Background Checks: Over 70% of NRA members favor universal background checks, Over 89% of gun owners – non-NRA favor universal background checks.

Ban on assault style weapons: Over 40% of NRA members favor ban; Over 50% of non-NRA gun owners favor ban.

Ban on high capacity magazines: Almost 50% favor ban; Over 60% of non-NRA gun owners favor ban.

When gun owners that don’t belong to the NRA were asked why they don’t belong to the NRA this was some of the responses:

25% I disagree with the NRA’s political beliefs.
22% I don’t feel that the NRA represents people like me.
49% I don’t see any benefit to being a member of the NRA.

Several people wrote in answers like:

“There’s no place for politically moderate, POC gun owners in the NRA.”
“They give us actually lawful gun owners a bad name.”
“They hijack issues, spread fear and propaganda all to sell, sell, sell!”

I bring up these statistics because people try to paint people that are for more gun regulation, with being anti-gun. There is more than enough meat on the bone to be a gun enthusiast and understand that there is common sense gun control laws (since the majority of gun owners favor gun control) that can be passed that can help stem the tide of the genocide that is going on in the schools (but not just the schools) in this country at a rate that nobody wants. I mean, besides the NRA and gun manufacturers.

(These statics are from a Pew Research poll)

More pictures from the rally:


March for Our Lives - 2018

March for Our Lives - 2018

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March for Our Lives - 2018

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March for Our Lives - 2018

March for Our Lives - 2018

March for Our Lives - 2018

Yes, there are more photos from the March for Our Lives Rally in the hopper. How many more? Only time will tell! Stay pumped!

Custer State Park Vol. 3

This is the final collection of pictures from Custer State Park in South Dakota. In fact, I’ve almost come to the end of the pictures from my trip to South Dakota with my Mom. The only ones left to curate and edit are the pictures from Mount Rushmore.

Even though Custer State Park didn’t quite live up to the hype, I would definitely visit it again. If for no other reason than to visit my feral donkey friends.

So without further adieu, I present the last of the Custer State Park pictures:


Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

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Custer State Park

Custer State Park

I’ll probably start unveiling the Mount Rushmore pictures in the near future!

I’m Feeling It; You Don’t Like It Then Deal with It; And if God Ain’t Real; Real Isn’t

While it is true that Photography 139 doesn’t take holidays, it is also true that Photography 139, okay me, can try to rush stuff together and throw it all together because while they will still post on say Memorial Day, they don’t have all that much time.

This lead me to making a couple of regrettable errors in yesterday’s initial blog posting.

#1 – I mistakenly credited a series of photos to Linda Bennett (my aunt and occasional submitter) instead of Linda Clark. This error has since been corrected.

#2 – Kim Barker submitted 3 photos, but I only posted 1.

A pox upon me for a clumsy lout.

You can see the corrections by clicking on the link below:

Weekly Photo Challenge – Week 141 – Store

Below are my alternates for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:


Store - Alternate

Store - Alternate

Store - Alternate

Store - Alternate

Store - Alternate

Store - Alternate

Store - Alternate

Store - Alternate

You’re welcome wold!

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 141 – STORE

Before I get into the business of the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE, I need to point out that today is Memorial Day. Happy Memorial Day. Don’t forget what this day celebrates.


Memorial Day - 2018
Iowa Veterans Cemetery – Van Meter, Iowa

The WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE took its customary holiday hit for participation rates. I also know that STORE is not the most popular theme, even though I enjoy it. However, as we close in on another new set of 52 themes, I would advise you to suggest themes for the next 52 themes. The best way to do that is to leave a comment in the “Comments” section of this here blog.

The only theme suggested for this next 52 has been BREAKFAST by Andy Sharp. Only 51 theme ideas to go!

However, you didn’t come here to talk all tommyrot about participation rates, you came to see the submissions:


WEEK 141 - STORE - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 141 - STORE - MICKY AUGUSTIN
Micky Augustin

WEEK 141 - STORE - BECKY PARMELEE
Becky Parmelee

WEEK 141 - STORE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 141 - STORE - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Clark

WEEK 141 - STORE - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Clark

WEEK 141 - STORE - LINDA BENNETT
Linda Clark

WEEK 141 - STORE - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 141 - STORE - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:


WEEK 142 - RELIGION
RELIGION

RELIGION! What a great theme! But what is a RELIGION photo? A RELIGION photo is any photo that involves the practice of religious belief. That could be a religious book, a religious building, religious art, or religious ritual.

As usual, I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date. It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 WEBMASTER

2 out of the last 3 days and 3 times in the last 30, the publishing of the blog has caused the website to crash. I’m currently working on the matter. Hopefully this post didn’t crash the website. This will possibly lead to a new page being added to the website. We will see.

**************************************

That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very religious Monday!

Custer State Park Vol. 2

Today is as good as any to check into the back log and post some more pictures from my trip to Custer State Park with my Mom.

I wouldn’t say that Custer State Park was a disappointment, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype. I do feel however that I had more time to visit Custer State Park, I would be way more impressed with it. I hope I do get to do that again at some point. Maybe do some hiking. Maybe find these buffalo that are allegedly all over the place.

But like I wrote earlier. The lack of buffalo was made up for by the awesome feral donkeys.
>br?
Here are more pictures from Custer State Park:


Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

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Custer State Park

Custer State Park

I felt really bad for the donkey that stood facing the sign. I did talk to him and give him food. He eventually came out and joined the other donkeys.

There are a few more Custer State Park pictures in the hopper.

05-09-08: The Big Jesus Road Trip

The photos from today’s blog come from the folder 05-09-08.

These pictures were taken during what historians have called THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP. It is hard to believe that 10 years have passed since THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP, but they have.

Jesse and I embarked on THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP with a destination in mind (Big Jesus) and a few stops in mind to make along the way. We wanted to see the place where “The Music Died”. We wanted to see the World’s Largest Cheeto. We wanted to stop at Bob’s Drive-Inn and try a Bob’s Dog. Anything else we experienced on the trip was gravy. Delicious gravy. The type you put in a gravy pitcher during Thanksgiving.

Mmmmmm…. gravy!


The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The Big Jesus Road Trip

The World’s Largest Cheeto did not disappoint. Neither did Big Jesus or the Bob’s Dog. The Pocahontas statue… yeah. That is one ugly statue.

Sometime this year I hope to make a trip to see the world’s largest popcorn ball. Who is game?

By adding THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP photos to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following historical “An Artist’s Notebook” post to its original glory:

THE BIG JESUS

There are more pictures from THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP that I didn’t share in this blog post. If you want to take a gander at those, click on the link below:

THE BIG JESUS ROAD TRIP PHOTO GALLERY

Next Saturday’s trip down memory lane will involve a trip to visit the Cardiff Giant and his giant phallus. Jason Baier will be joining us!

Custer State Park Vol. 1

Custer State Park was one of the most hyped up Black Hills location that my Mom and I were told to visit.

Some people even indicated that it might be the best part of the trip. The reason:

Buffalo!

Repeatedly, I was told that when we went to Custer State Park, we would see more buffalo than we could imagine. Throw a rock, we would hit 3 buffalo. You couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting 4 buffalo.*

Custer State Park was indeed awesome, but it had nothing to do with buffaloes. It was all about the feral donkeys!!

Here are a few photos from our trip through Custer State Park:


Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

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Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park

I have more pictures from Custer State Park coming in the near future!

*This is not an endorsement of swinging dead cats.

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE REMINDER – STORE

BONUS REMINDER: Monday is Memorial Day. While the bank, schools, and the government take the day off, Photography 130 doesn’t. You might be spending Monday on a boat or at a barbecue or at a lake or watching a Rambo movie marathon and are too busy to send in your submission. If that is the case, plan to send your submission in early.

This is your reminder that the theme for this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is STORE.


WEEK 141 - STORE
STORE!

Remember that a STORE photo is a photo that involves a place of commerce. Where things are sold and where they are purchased. The picture can be taken inside a store or outside a store. The word STORE also has multiple meanings.

Happy photo harvesting!

USA Not NRA

Here is another collection of images from that snowy day around the Iowa Capitol during the March for Our Lives Rally. I thought I would share the words from a pamphlet that a guy was handing out:

“The Second Amendment

A Sacred Covenant of Ethnic Cleansing and Slavery Between the Nation State and Settler Militias

There is a myth that has infiltrated the core of the American imagination. It is the belief that the Second Amendment is a result of the Revolutionary War, thus, a right to self-defense and to protect the country from any enemies that rise. It is also believed that if the government fails to protect its citizens, the citizens have the right to revolt. However, the historical context that led to the creation of the Second Amendment is actually based on the process of land annexation and the mitigation of local populations through assimilation, genocide or slavery–much of which took place at the point of a gun. The colonists that built this country ousted the British for many reasons, but fundamentally, ‘what colonists considered oppressive was any restriction that British authorities put on them in regard to obtaining land.’

The Second Amendment is actually a sacred religiopolitical covenant between the Nation State and the settlers of this continent that recognizes the fundamental ideology of land expansion through ethnic cleansing and slavery. It is nothing more than recognition that this cleansing and slavery. It is nothing more than recognition that this country was founded on the actions of generations of Europeans with a maniacal lust for Indian killing and the control of Black people. Men were expected to bear arms (at one point it was the law) in order to protect themselves, their families, the State and process of westward expansion. In essence, extreme violence was a god given right and an obligation of the average “citizen” that took on the singular role of a vigilante and that formed into small groups that cleared the way for the rise of the American government. The average citizen was a raider, a ranger, a frontiersmen, a marauder, a pirate and the average colony was a settler militia, an armed household, and a slave patrol.

The nation state did not create the Second Amendment to protect its citizens from invasion but to allow its citizens to invade. It is written permission to continue on with the doctrine of discovery, manifest destiny, westward expansion, i.e., the work of the white supremacist. As Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz writes, ‘The astronomical number of firearms owned by US civilians, with the Second Amendment considered a sacred mandate, is also intricately related to militaristic culture and white nationalism. The militias referred to in the second amendment were intended as a means for white people to eliminated Indigenous communities in order to take their land, and for slave patrols to control black people.’

The violent approach to Indigenous and Black populations is still practiced in current day American society. For instance, Native Americans have the highest police murder rate per ethnic group in the county and vast majority of these deaths are through the use of a firearm. According to the Center for Disease Control, ‘for every 1 million Native Americans, an average of 2.9 of them died annually from 1999 to 2015 as a result of legal intervention’. For the Black population the number is 2.6, for the Latinx it is 1.7, for Whites it is .9 and for Asians it is .6. This is a startling statistic because Native Americans only make up .9% of the population. However, these deaths are probably under reported just like the other epidemics that Native Americans face, such as missing and murdered women, abuse, rape, stalking, runaway children and violence committed by non-tribal members. According to Matthew Fletcher, director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center, ‘The data available likely does not capture all Native American deaths in police encounters due to people of mixed race and relatively large homeless population that is not on the grid.’

The notion that there is a rise in gun violence in this country is actually a misunderstanding of history. There was just a period of time in the late 19th and early 20th century where guns were not essential for the coercive control of brown people as the government had created reservation internment camps and implemented Jim Crow laws to segregate ‘problem populations’. However, the rise of the NRA, gun lobbying and the mass production of automatic weapons tied to a long held gun fetish in the American imagination has given white supremacists updated permission to dust off their ancestors weapon of choice and reenact the violence that this country was founded upon. America is a young country and lacks a distinct culture of its own, but one thing is certain–Americans covet their sacred right to free real estate, cheap labor and the gun, thus, the Second Amendment is but permission to steal, kill and dominate in order to fulfill this expectation.”

If nothing else, it is an interesting piece of reading and you can think it over while you are looking at this collection of pictures from the March for Our Lives rally:


March for Our Lives - 2018

March for Our Lives - 2018

March for Our Lives - 2018

March for Our Lives - 2018

March for Our Lives - 2018
This guy spoke about losing his son to gun violence and the miracle of forgiving the person that killed his son.

March for Our Lives - 2018

March for Our Lives - 2018

March for Our Lives - 2018

March for Our Lives - 2018
Remember these activists.

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March for Our Lives - 2018
Late birthday present ideas for me: A resist fist

March for Our Lives - 2018

The gentleman that spoke about losing his son to gun violence had an incredible story. I wish I would’ve caught his name. He spoke about forgiving and then helping raise the kid that killed his son. He concluded his speech about how his son’s murderer (who was also his son’s friend) recently had a son of his own. That baby has a birthmark in the shape, size, and on the same part as his murdered son.

“Don’t let anybody ever tell you that miracles don’t exist.”

He concluded his speech.

The two high school girls I told you to remember, they gave the last speech before the marching started. Their speech was also very impressive. They talked about the fear and horror they felt when their school was thought to have an active shooter on campus. While it ended up being a false alarm, something clicked in them on that day and they decided to be more active in the political process.

They arranged a meeting and spoke with their U.S. Representative David Young.

Representative Young in a condescending tone, explained to them that while gun ownership was a right (a horrible misunderstanding of what is a “right”) and that voting was a privilege. Dismissing them because they were not old enough to vote.

They concluded with saying:

“Well David Young, we will be able to vote in November and it will be our PRIVILEGE to vote against you.”

Then they lead the marching.

Don’t worry, there are still plenty more March for Our Lives Rally photos in the hopper. Get pumped, or remain pumped.

Congratulations Saydie – Alpha

I’d just like to wish a full and hearty congratulations to all the Class of 2018 on their recent accomplishment of graduating from high school.

I obviously don’t have any wise words about their future, but I can Google and find somebody that something wise once with the best of them!

“But my dear graduates, let me be frank, the best years are very much ahead of you. And they can be whatever you want them to be… As much as you’ve changed during your time here, more change is coming. You’re going to continue to evolve in unforeseen ways. You are full of complexities and wonders that haven’t even begun to surface. Life’s unpredictability will draw these out and what defines you now will be mere shades and hues of a more vibrant you over the next five, 10, 50 years. Honestly, I can’t think of anything more liberating than that, knowing that life will look differently than you think it will.”
– Octavia Spencer

But if there is one person whose accomplishments I most want to lift up and whose future adventures I’m most interested in now that her high school career as come to an end, it is my niece Saydie.

I celebrate Saydie’s accomlishments and look to her future by sharing some (a ton) of pictures from her Senior Picture Photo Shoot from last summer:


Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

You may recall my fondness for pictures that aren’t posed. Yes, those are my favorites in this collection and every collection.

Don’t worry, there are plenty of other Saydie pictures coming in the coming weeks. We aren’t even warmed up. We are warming up to get warmed up!