Pulse Nightclub, Orlando Domestic Terror

[Buzzard]

 

Some wear uniforms, some wear white coats, some are easily identifiable.  In the end, though, all of us can be helpers, even from afar.  If we are able we can donate blood, we can send food and water to support those that are working with the first responders and doctors.   We can do things that many dont think of, like offer aid for the animals of the victims.  While someone recuperates in the hospital their pets need care too; offering them safety will give the injured peace.

Most of all, we can stand against the urge to allow this horrible action to pit us against eachother.  Our society does not gain anything from allowing hate to divide us.  We help most by allowing love and kindness to win.

I hope that I can be a helper.

[lilwriter85]

10 hours ago, SpoonfulOSugar said:

I found a heart-breaking post by an MD who was involved, but it doesn't seem to be public, so I have not re-posted it.

When we talk about heroes - the first responders and medical personnel did a Herculean job.  

Did the post include a picture of his shoes with bloodstains on them? A LGBT page that I follow on FB shared a post from a doctor at the hospital where he mentioned that his work shoes were brand new and that working with the shooting victims was tough and that overall he didn't care about their race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation and that he was there to help them.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

8 minutes ago, lilwriter85 said:

Did the post include a picture of his shoes with bloodstains on them? A LGBT page that I follow on FB shared a post from a doctor at the hospital where he mentioned that his work shoes were brand new and that working with the shooting victims was tough and that overall he didn't care about their race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation and that he was there to help them.

New sneakers less than a week old with bloodstains on them now, yes.  It was a touching post.

[lilwriter85]

26 minutes ago, SpoonfulOSugar said:

New sneakers less than a week old with bloodstains on them now, yes.  It was a touching post.

I also thought it was touching. I think he may have set the post to public and might not have issues with other pages or people sharing it.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

36 minutes ago, lilwriter85 said:

I also thought it was touching. I think he may have set the post to public and might not have issues with other pages or people sharing it.

I went back and looked.  The link I followed was not active, but tons of news stories covered it.  This is one of them for anyone who wants to read his post (warning, damned autoplay on the page):

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/doctors-bloodied-shoes-show-horror-orlando-nightclub-shootings/story?id=39844444

[bashfulpixie]

2 hours ago, Buzzard said:

 

Some wear uniforms, some wear white coats, some are easily identifiable.  In the end, though, all of us can be helpers, even from afar.  If we are able we can donate blood, we can send food and water to support those that are working with the first responders and doctors.   We can do things that many dont think of, like offer aid for the animals of the victims.  While someone recuperates in the hospital their pets need care too; offering them safety will give the injured peace.

Most of all, we can stand against the urge to allow this horrible action to pit us against eachother.  Our society does not gain anything from allowing hate to divide us.  We help most by allowing love and kindness to win.

I hope that I can be a helper.

I absolutely love that. That's what I do every time something like this happens. Seeing how many good people there are in the world helps restore my faith in humanity.

[Imagine20]

Radicalization comes from groups outside of the Muslim faith. ISIS is not a Muslim organization. They're a terrorist organization that kills innocent people. They wrongly claim to be Muslim. Period.  

In the Washington Post today said: "Trump accused American Muslims of harboring terrorists and blamed them for the Orlando attack as well as for last December’s shooting in San Bernardino, Calif."  

There are calls by Newt Gingrich to being back McCarthy Era investigations. 

As an American Muslim, I'm shocked, dismayed, and scared of this backlash because the fault has been laid on our laps. The guy wasn't even religious. 

You can use the modifiers "extremist" or "radicalized" but what everyone really means is just "Muslim." Mosques do not teach hate. I've been to mosques all over the US and never encountered hate speech.  But the entire religion and it's followers are made the scapegoat. We see the stares, the faces, and hear strangers loud and clear when they call us 'terrorists" or "ISIS terrorist." (last one usually just at my husband.)

Like other Muslim families, my husband and I have finally made a plan on how we'll exit the US quickly if we need to. We know what we're bringing, have cash saved, and have made provisions for our pets.  This hate is going to get much worse. 

I wish they would have an inclusive day where all marginalized groups could come together and show solidarity for each other. Pride isn't the time, it should completely be for the LGBTQ populations and we who support them.  June is their time. We need a showing of all groups somehow and show solidarity to each other. 

The fact that this has been made the public discourse veer into Muslim hate is ridiculous. This should be a time of unity and support for the LGBTQ community.  I know Muslims who would like to go to the Pride Parade in Minneapolis, but they're afraid of making others uncomfortable or alarming security. 

[polecat]

6 minutes ago, Imagine20 said:

Like other Muslim families, my husband and I have finally made a plan on how we'll exit the US quickly if we need to. We know what we're bringing, have cash saved, and have made provisions for our pets.  This hate is going to get much worse. 

 

I hate that you have to do this. I hate that anyone has to do this. It makes me sick and sad and angry. "Never again" is what we say every Holocaust Remembrance Day, and yet ... here we are, with people preparing to run for their lives. 

I will stand arm-in-arm with you.

[bashfulpixie]

@Imagine20 I can't imagine what it must be like having to live with that day in and day out.  I hate that our country has come to this point, and just don't understand it.

[Rachel333]

I hate the no true Scotsman argument. ISIS is a Muslim group, just like the LRA, KKK, and WBC are all Christian groups even if the vast majority of Christians strongly oppose them. ISIS, however, absolutely does not represent all of Islam and it's really sad and reprehensible that people's reactions to events like this have made American Muslims feel unsafe.

[bjr70]

I hate that you have to do this. I hate that anyone has to do this. It makes me sick and sad and angry. "Never again" is what we say every Holocaust Remembrance Day, and yet ... here we are, with people preparing to run for their lives. 

I will stand arm-in-arm with you.

Me too. I live in a city with a huge Muslim community, and I can only imagine the concern my neighbors are feeling. I stand with you.

[Lillybee]

Sometimes Christians can act decently. Chick-Fill-A opened their nearby store on Sunday (which is something that they never do) and cooked and made drinks and served all the people who were standing in line waiting to donate blood in Orlando.

[Jana814]

4 minutes ago, Lillybee said:

Sometimes Christians can act decently. Chick-Fill-A opened their nearby store on Sunday (which is something that they never do) and cooked and made drinks and served all the people who were standing in line waiting to donate blood in Orlando.

Heard about this. I was in shock and also happy that they did that. 

[mizandry]

Wanna do another link drop here - this interview with Isa Noyola from Democracy Now is really important in contextualizing and further grasping the extent of this tragedy. A transcript is provided beneath the video, for those who need it. This is, needless to say, a very painful and emotional interview - but one that is very much needed in the current media discourse about Pulse.

[Clementine]

4 hours ago, Imagine20 said:

Radicalization comes from groups outside of the Muslim faith. ISIS is not a Muslim organization. They're a terrorist organization that kills innocent people. They wrongly claim to be Muslim. Period.  

In the Washington Post today said: "Trump accused American Muslims of harboring terrorists and blamed them for the Orlando attack as well as for last December’s shooting in San Bernardino, Calif."  

There are calls by Newt Gingrich to being back McCarthy Era investigations. 

As an American Muslim, I'm shocked, dismayed, and scared of this backlash because the fault has been laid on our laps. The guy wasn't even religious. 

You can use the modifiers "extremist" or "radicalized" but what everyone really means is just "Muslim." Mosques do not teach hate. I've been to mosques all over the US and never encountered hate speech.  But the entire religion and it's followers are made the scapegoat. We see the stares, the faces, and hear strangers loud and clear when they call us 'terrorists" or "ISIS terrorist." (last one usually just at my husband.)

Like other Muslim families, my husband and I have finally made a plan on how we'll exit the US quickly if we need to. We know what we're bringing, have cash saved, and have made provisions for our pets.  This hate is going to get much worse. 

I wish they would have an inclusive day where all marginalized groups could come together and show solidarity for each other. Pride isn't the time, it should completely be for the LGBTQ populations and we who support them.  June is their time. We need a showing of all groups somehow and show solidarity to each other. 

The fact that this has been made the public discourse veer into Muslim hate is ridiculous. This should be a time of unity and support for the LGBTQ community.  I know Muslims who would like to go to the Pride Parade in Minneapolis, but they're afraid of making others uncomfortable or alarming security. 

 

I don't know it this was one-of-a-kind event, but a lot of the big mosques in Europe regularly invite preachers who teach homophobia, antisemitism and misogyny. I live next to one who has a history of "unfortunate" preachers and terrorist connections and IS supporters. It's not some obscure cellar mosque but the most influential mosque in the country, the one all the politicians usually visit to talk to muslims.

Hate preachers in mosques are a huge problem here, but the authorities won't do anything because "islamophobia". Councils continue to support and finance mosques who teach that homosexuality is a "Western virus that we have to protect our children from".

[MatthewDuggar]

6 hours ago, Lillybee said:

Sometimes Christians can act decently. Chick-Fill-A opened their nearby store on Sunday (which is something that they never do) and cooked and made drinks and served all the people who were standing in line waiting to donate blood in Orlando.

I didn't hear about this yet.  Was it a corporate directive, or a sympathetic franchise owner?  I'm not trying to minimize the kindness of this, but Chic Fil-A has been on my shit-list for years. 

[HarryPotterFan]

@Imagine20 It breaks my heart that you even have to consider plans to leave the country. But I completely understand. Like @polecat said, what happened to "Never Again?" I don't see how more people don't realize that Trumps hateful Islamophobic rhetoric is eerily similar to the crap Hitler spewed as he rose to power.

I was listening to NPR in the car yesterday, and they were discussing how the shooter claimed allegiance to several terrorist groups, including groups that are mortal enemies. It's just not possible to be a member of all of the groups. He was nothing more than a vile hateful man looking for any excuse to justify his hatred.

There was also a caller into the show I was listening to who asked how we know for sure this was a homophobic act. I have to commend the host and his guest (a leader in a LGBTQ advocacy group) for remaining calm and giving him the facts. I would have used language not appropriate for radio in response to such stupidity.

[nolongerIFBx]

On ‎6‎/‎13‎/‎2016 at 0:01 AM, Rachel333 said:

Blood donation is a complicated issue, and personally I don't think it's just about homophobia. Currently a man who has had sex with a man (MSM) since 1977 can never donate, and someone who has had sex with a MSM must wait a year to donate, but the policy is changing so that MSM will have a year-long deferral, rather than a life-long deferral. I think I agree with the change They turn also defer people who have engaged in various other risky behaviors within the past year, including getting a tattoo, staying in jail for more than three days, and visiting a country where malaria is found. (Source for all of the above.) I actually just got turned away a week ago because my heart rate was too high.

There is also a life-long deferral for people who have ever injected drugs (PWID), and I'm not aware of any plans to change that, even though the HIV prevalence in PWID in the US is much lower than in MSM in the US. (Source here and here)

I cannot donate because I lived in Europe before they banned cows being fed animal products (Mad Cow risk). That was 30 years ago.

 

Quote

 Refugee said: And if you were living in (certain countries? in) Europe, at the time of Mad Cow disease, you are (so far as I know) forever banned from giving blood in the US. My spouse is/was a universal donor, and the local Red Cross office used to call him every six weeks (I think it was... It was like one day past the earliest time you can donate, after having donated), like clockwork, to remind him to donate. We used to go in together to donate, as a matter of fact, even though I hated needles. (Still do.) But not since Mad Cow, even though it was decades ago.

I see Refugee already beat my to that point. Being needle phobic, a part of me is grateful, but sometimes I wish I could give (I've been poked, I know I won't go completely off my rocker. I would manage.).

[louisa05]

1 hour ago, HarryPotterFan said:

@Imagine20 It breaks my heart that you even have to consider plans to leave the country. But I completely understand. Like @polecat said, what happened to "Never Again?" I don't see how more people don't realize that Drumpfs hateful Islamophobic rhetoric is eerily similar to the crap Hitler spewed as he rose to power.

I was listening to NPR in the car yesterday, and they were discussing how the shooter claimed allegiance to several terrorist groups, including groups that are mortal enemies. It's just not possible to be a member of all of the groups. He was nothing more than a vile hateful man looking for any excuse to justify his hatred.

There was also a caller into the show I was listening to who asked how we know for sure this was a homophobic act. I have to commend the host and his guest (a leader in a LGBTQ advocacy group) for remaining calm and giving him the facts. I would have used language not appropriate for radio in response to such stupidity.

This is from ADL. In regard to both the Islamic community and the LGBTQ community, our country is moving the wrong way on this pyramid: 

[Destiny]

17 hours ago, Imagine20 said:

Like other Muslim families, my husband and I have finally made a plan on how we'll exit the US quickly if we need to. We know what we're bringing, have cash saved, and have made provisions for our pets.  This hate is going to get much worse. 

This breaks my heart. No one should have to feel this way in a supposedly free country.

[ADoyle90815]

2 hours ago, louisa05 said:

This is from ADL. In regard to both the Islamic community and the LGBTQ community, our country is moving the wrong way on this pyramid: 

That's the sad thing, that we're going the wrong way on this pyramid, especially with the Islamic community. It breaks my heart that some Islamic people are considering leaving because this isn't a free enough country anymore. While things have gotten better with the LGBTQ community, not enough progress has been made as there are still groups calling for genocide.

[AlwaysExcited]

Turns out, I live in a country where one of biggest mainstream churches is led by a clergy who felt that the day after the mass murder of LGBT people was a great time to retweet stuff about how it is not a discrimination if same sex couples aren't allowed to marry. Then he tweeted about the shooter being gay.
And that was all he had to say about the subject. 

Now I have another church that I don't want to attend. Not that they would wish me there, anyway.

[Tim-Tom Biblethumper]

Why was Australia able to say "Never Again!!" and yet the US can't?  As a group of people, are we THAT morally bereft?  I'm having a hard time admitting that we are because then I'm admitting that there's no hope.  I can't imagine being any more depressed than I am already.

@Imagine20 Your story, your life as it is now, is breaking my heart.  It makes me think of the Jews fleeing Nazi Germany.  And this is supposed to be freaking America!!!

[Emme]

13 hours ago, MatthewDuggar said:

I didn't hear about this yet.  Was it a corporate directive, or a sympathetic franchise owner?  I'm not trying to minimize the kindness of this, but Chic Fil-A has been on my shit-list for years. 

Unclear. But they're not getting a pat on the back from me if they continue to donate to anti-lgbt+ organizations. Has anyone seen the breakdown? They decreased donations to anti-lgbtq+ groups in 2014, I will give them that. 

[FJismyheadship]

So look what popped up on my news feed today... Those of you who follow the Jessica Seewald thread might recognize this guy...

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154255766290917&id=780835916&set=a.449441700916.231403.780835916&source=48