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Women’s March on Washington time 21 Jan 2017


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Barbra Streisand Speech for Women’s March Los Angeles January 21, 2017
January 22, 2017, 4:21am

Hello Los Angeles! What a beautiful day…what a great country we already live in!

I’m going to start by quoting H. L. Mencken, the journalist, satirist and social critic, who said in 1920: “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

I’m not sure the minority who voted for Trump are prepared for what is coming next.

But it’s fantastic that so many of you have turned out to speak truth to power.

Truth is the essence of living in a democracy. And yet this newly elected president seems to care very little about it. That worries me.

But I’ll tell you what worries me the most…that’s children. I’m afraid of what they are seeing and hearing these days…
It’s ok to lie?
It’s ok to brag about sexual assault as just “locker room talk?”
To never apologize and always retaliate?
To try to silence people and the press when they don’t agree with you?
To lack kindness and humility?
That’s what frightens me most about this president…that children will listen…and learn…and emulate his behaviour.

What also worries me is that he said his inauguration was going to be “a great show.” Those words are very revealing. I guess that’s the world he comes from…reality TV. Does he think of the presidency as another show? He tweets about ratings. He basks in the applause. There’s no coherent discussion of policy.

This man who would be king doesn’t seem to understand the seriousness of the job he is about to undertake. The Obama administration left 275 briefing papers…it would be nice if he read some of them. He doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know…and that should make everybody feel very unsafe.

Sometimes, I have to admit, I do feel bad for him…what must it be like to feel so wounded at the slightest criticism…to be so insecure that he has to lash out immediately with crass and cruel personal attacks. He must feel terrible that coming into office he has the lowest approval ratings of any president in history. But he doesn’t seem to examine that, or change his behavior. He just gets more defensive.

What’s important to this president, as I heard him say on TV early on, is winning. It’s about beating the other guy or gal.

I thought maybe he would rise to the occasion in his inaugural address. But it was just another version of his divisive, apocalyptic campaign speech. It was shockingly small and uninspiring. There was no grace or generosity.

And then there are Trump’s appointees from the far right of the Republican Party, who can’t wait to reverse the progress of the last 8 years. The Republicans are eager to take away health insurance from 20 million people. Trump will appoint a conservative Supreme Court justice who will be a threat to all our rights…women’s rights…voting rights. And just look at the White House website today. They have already taken down the civil rights page, the LGBT page, and the climate change page. And they are determined to defund Planned Parenthood, which supplies health care to the women who need it most.

That’s why we’re here today.

Gender inequity has always been an unspoken and tacitly accepted practice in our society. We have, as a culture, normalized violence against women…we have normalized the wage gap…we have accepted men legislating what we can and cannot do with our bodies, even in cases of rape and incest…we have enabled a culture of sexual harassment of women for years. Even when it comes to the treatment of women in medical research, we are not valued as equal.

Donald Trump, a man who has a legacy of disrespecting women, now holds the most powerful seat in the world. His election reflects openly what has been hidden in the shadows for some time—that in many ways women are still second-class citizens in the 21st century.

But this also presents a real opportunity for social change. Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to rise up again.

People of all races, sexual identities, and religions are out in the streets today across the country. It’s thrilling to see so many people who care so deeply, and are making their voices heard. We are saying that we will not sit by as our rights are stripped away. We will not hide as the freedoms of others are destroyed.

By coming out today, we can engage in a deep, honest dialogue about how to reach real equality…and change the playing field, from the classroom to the boardroom and, God willing, in the not so distant future—the Oval Office! But because of the antiquated Electoral College, we don’t yet have a woman president…with another perspective…expansive, experienced, and most of all, extremely intelligent.

You know, before you can drive a car, you have to pass a test. Maybe you should have to pass a test to become President of the United States…a test in civics, American history, domestic and foreign policy…perhaps have a psychological evaluation!

All I really know is we must continue to speak out. When you refuse to back down, when you refuse to be silenced, when you demand equality for yourself and your fellow men and women…you will be heard in the end. We can’t give up.

Today is the beginning of a new movement to hold power accountable to the truth.

Thank you.

https://www.barbrastreisand.com/news/barbra-streisand-speech-womens-march-los-angeles-january-21-2017/

 

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Intelligent, talented and smart women marching.  Wonderful to see so many men as well supporting the women in their life and also speaking out against Trump.   People who oppose his ideology, policies and blatant sexism and racism all using their voices to demonstrate people power. 

 

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5 minutes ago, jazzyjan said:

Intelligent, talented and smart women marching.  Wonderful to see so many men as well supporting the women in their life and also speaking out against Trump.   People who oppose his ideology, policies and blatant sexism and racism all using their voices to demonstrate people power. 

 

Yes! I saw many men at my march and a lot of them weren't even accompanying a woman.  There were lots of little boys with their moms in pink pussy hats as well

and I love Barbra's speech

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1 hour ago, pjcowley said:
Barbra Streisand Speech for Women’s March Los Angeles January 21, 2017
January 22, 2017, 4:21am

Hello Los Angeles! What a beautiful day…what a great country we already live in!

I’m going to start by quoting H. L. Mencken, the journalist, satirist and social critic, who said in 1920: “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

I’m not sure the minority who voted for Trump are prepared for what is coming next.

But it’s fantastic that so many of you have turned out to speak truth to power.

Truth is the essence of living in a democracy. And yet this newly elected president seems to care very little about it. That worries me.

But I’ll tell you what worries me the most…that’s children. I’m afraid of what they are seeing and hearing these days…
It’s ok to lie?
It’s ok to brag about sexual assault as just “locker room talk?”
To never apologize and always retaliate?
To try to silence people and the press when they don’t agree with you?
To lack kindness and humility?
That’s what frightens me most about this president…that children will listen…and learn…and emulate his behaviour.

What also worries me is that he said his inauguration was going to be “a great show.” Those words are very revealing. I guess that’s the world he comes from…reality TV. Does he think of the presidency as another show? He tweets about ratings. He basks in the applause. There’s no coherent discussion of policy.

This man who would be king doesn’t seem to understand the seriousness of the job he is about to undertake. The Obama administration left 275 briefing papers…it would be nice if he read some of them. He doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know…and that should make everybody feel very unsafe.

Sometimes, I have to admit, I do feel bad for him…what must it be like to feel so wounded at the slightest criticism…to be so insecure that he has to lash out immediately with crass and cruel personal attacks. He must feel terrible that coming into office he has the lowest approval ratings of any president in history. But he doesn’t seem to examine that, or change his behavior. He just gets more defensive.

What’s important to this president, as I heard him say on TV early on, is winning. It’s about beating the other guy or gal.

I thought maybe he would rise to the occasion in his inaugural address. But it was just another version of his divisive, apocalyptic campaign speech. It was shockingly small and uninspiring. There was no grace or generosity.

And then there are Trump’s appointees from the far right of the Republican Party, who can’t wait to reverse the progress of the last 8 years. The Republicans are eager to take away health insurance from 20 million people. Trump will appoint a conservative Supreme Court justice who will be a threat to all our rights…women’s rights…voting rights. And just look at the White House website today. They have already taken down the civil rights page, the LGBT page, and the climate change page. And they are determined to defund Planned Parenthood, which supplies health care to the women who need it most.

That’s why we’re here today.

Gender inequity has always been an unspoken and tacitly accepted practice in our society. We have, as a culture, normalized violence against women…we have normalized the wage gap…we have accepted men legislating what we can and cannot do with our bodies, even in cases of rape and incest…we have enabled a culture of sexual harassment of women for years. Even when it comes to the treatment of women in medical research, we are not valued as equal.

Donald Trump, a man who has a legacy of disrespecting women, now holds the most powerful seat in the world. His election reflects openly what has been hidden in the shadows for some time—that in many ways women are still second-class citizens in the 21st century.

But this also presents a real opportunity for social change. Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to rise up again.

People of all races, sexual identities, and religions are out in the streets today across the country. It’s thrilling to see so many people who care so deeply, and are making their voices heard. We are saying that we will not sit by as our rights are stripped away. We will not hide as the freedoms of others are destroyed.

By coming out today, we can engage in a deep, honest dialogue about how to reach real equality…and change the playing field, from the classroom to the boardroom and, God willing, in the not so distant future—the Oval Office! But because of the antiquated Electoral College, we don’t yet have a woman president…with another perspective…expansive, experienced, and most of all, extremely intelligent.

You know, before you can drive a car, you have to pass a test. Maybe you should have to pass a test to become President of the United States…a test in civics, American history, domestic and foreign policy…perhaps have a psychological evaluation!

All I really know is we must continue to speak out. When you refuse to back down, when you refuse to be silenced, when you demand equality for yourself and your fellow men and women…you will be heard in the end. We can’t give up.

Today is the beginning of a new movement to hold power accountable to the truth.

Thank you.

https://www.barbrastreisand.com/news/barbra-streisand-speech-womens-march-los-angeles-january-21-2017/

 

Beautiful speech.

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4 hours ago, Martin B. said:

Beautiful speech.

Yes, incredible speech.  Barbra is pure class and talent.  As is Madonna.  People keep talking about celebrity "elites"  but  many women who are famous that I love and are true to themselves come out in force. Madonna. Cher, Barbra,  Scarlett, Gloria Steinem as examples  - love all of them.  Ashley Judd's speech was incredible.  These so called celebrity elites are the real deal not vapid trophy wives or reality talentless puppets.  

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5 hours ago, le smoking said:

Yes! I saw many men at my march and a lot of them weren't even accompanying a woman.  There were lots of little boys with their moms in pink pussy hats as well

and I love Barbra's speech

Bravo to the men of the world who support equal rights.  I was lucky to grow up with a father and brother who always wanted women to be equal and treated all women with love and respect.  I learnt from an early age to treat everyone with respect.  Love men who support women and so glad that so many men do on this forum too.   

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Trump Revives Ban on Foreign Aid to Groups That Give Abortion Counseling

UNITED NATIONS — President Trump reinstated a policy on Monday that originated in the Reagan era, prohibiting the granting of American foreign aid to health providers abroad who discuss abortion as a family-planning option.

United States law already prohibits the use of American taxpayer dollars for abortion services anywhere, including in countries where the procedure is legal. But Mr. Trump’s order takes the prohibition further: It freezes funding to nongovernmental organizations in poor countries if they offer abortion counseling or if they advocate the right to seek abortion in their countries.

The freeze applies even if the organizations already use other sources of funding for these services.

Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence stated their opposition to abortion during the presidential campaign. Mr. Trump had signaled his intent to make the order one of his first acts as president, which pleased anti-abortion activists at home.

Continue reading the main story
 
 

“We applaud President Trump for putting an end to taxpayer funding of groups that promote the killing of unborn children in developing nations,” Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee in Washington, the nation’s largest anti-abortion organization, said in a statement.

Critics said the order reflected the new administration’s disregard of women’s reproductive health rights, whose advocates were an important force in the protest marches in Washington and other cities after Mr. Trump’s inauguration.

It revives what is known as the Mexico City policy, so named because President Ronald Reagan announced it in 1984 during a United Nations population conference in Mexico City. Critics call it the global gag rule. Since Reagan, Democratic administrations have suspended the policy and Republicans have reimposed it.

Asked at his first official briefing on Monday what message the Trump administration was seeking to send by reinstating the policy as one of its first orders of business, Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, told reporters in Washington that Mr. Trump had “made it very clear that he’s a pro-life president.”

“He wants to stand up for all Americans, including the unborn, and I think the reinstatement of this policy is not just something that echoes that value but respects taxpayer funding as well,” Mr. Spicer said.

Health experts say the policy has not led to a decline in abortions in the affected countries. Some research suggests that it has had the counterintuitive effect of increasing abortion rates by forcing health clinics to close or to restrict contraceptive supplies because of lack of funding. Others say the restriction only heightens the risk of illegal and often unsafe abortions.

The impact of Mr. Trump’s order is likely to be felt beyond abortion services, which cannot be carried out with federal funding under a 1973 law known as the Helms Amendment, after the former North Carolina senator Jesse Helms.

Critics said the order would hinder the ability of women in poor countries to obtain reproductive health services, including family planning, by severing American funding to health clinics that offer a variety of services, including abortion counseling.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation said its partners in Nepal, Kenya and Ethiopia had lost American funding the last time the policy was in effect, during the Bush administration. Because nongovernmental groups in those countries refused to accept the conditions of the policy, they were compelled to close clinics and offer fewer contraceptives, said Kelly Castagnaro, a Planned Parenthood spokeswoman.

A study of 20 sub-Saharan African countries by Stanford University researchers found that in countries that relied heavily on funding from the United States for reproductive health services, abortion rates rose when the Reagan-era policy was in place.

“When the policy comes on, fewer women get contraceptives in countries that depend on U.S. funding for family planning,” Eran Bendavid, the lead author of the study, said on Monday. The outcome is “not what you’d expect,” he said.

Ms. Castagnaro said the revival of the Mexico City policy could cost Planned Parenthood about $100 million in American funding over the next four years.

In recent decades, abortion rates have declined sharply in the richest countries, including the United States, where the rate has fallen to its lowest level since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Rates have remained steady in the developing world since the early 1990s.

The World Health Organization says 225 million women in developing nations would like to delay childbearing but are not using contraception for a variety of reasons, including a lack of access.

“President Trump’s reinstatement of the global gag rule ignores decades of research, instead favoring ideological politics over women and families,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, said on Monday. “We know that when family planning services and contraceptives are easily accessible, there are fewer unplanned pregnancies, maternal deaths and abortions.”

Vicki Saporta, president and chief executive of the National Abortion Federation, a Washington-based advocacy group for abortion rights, said in a statement, “President Trump’s decision to reinstate the global gag rule will endanger already vulnerable women by further curtailing their access to accurate information and safe reproductive health care services.”

Mr. Trump’s order repealed one made by President Obama when he took office in 2009, which had repealed the Bush version of the policy from 2001. In effect, Mr. Trump reinstated the Bush policy.

Democrats in Congress have tried, unsuccessfully, to pass legislation that would scrap the policy. Ms. Shaheen said she intended to introduce similar legislation. But with Republicans controlling both houses of Congress, it is unlikely to pass.

Mr. Trump’s pick for ambassador to the United Nations, Gov. Nikki R. Haley of South Carolina, made clear in her confirmation hearing last week that she opposed abortion, but said she supported funding for contraceptive services in United States foreign aid programs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/world/trump-ban-foreign-aid-abortions.html?smid=tw-share

 

It's not just men who questioned the march, women as well.

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20 hours ago, MeakMaker said:

He's against giving rights to women to decide what to do with their bodies basically. 

He allowed the miscarriage in some cases like incest, rape & if the pregnant mother life in danger.

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