'Where' in the World Are Mr. and Mrs. Bill Walsh?

My sister-in-law, Jacqueline, writes a popular blog about life on Capitol Hill. Much to our delight, one of her eagle-eyed readers noticed this photo of the cover of a D.C. tourist freebie magazine, which happens to be a photo of Jacqueline and my brother Bill walking home from a Washington Nationals game! She says it must have been from spring 2016 because they only attended one game last year, shortly before my brother's diagnosis. I found this discovery incredibly touching -- so candid -- and it reminded me of two other inadvertent magazine appearances by members of my family. My mom recalls the time the side of my dad's head could be seen in Life magazine sitting in the train station in Chicago when they were returning from Omaha (her hometown) to Pottsville, Pa., about a month or two before Bill was born. (If there's a copy in the family archives, I've yet to see it.) And one of my fellow interns noticed my big head sticking out in a crowd of Washington press corps members at a White House event on the cover of the National Journal back in 1989! Has this ever happened to you?

Part of stock-image history!

Man in Custody After Gunfire at U.S. Capitol Visitor Center

When the first report came in I feared the worst. Glad the situation has been contained with the help of this Capitol police officer out of Central Casting. It should be noted that while it was a "good guy with a gun" who stopped a "bad guy with a gun" who had pointed his at officers, a female bystander was injured in the kerfuffle, which further proves that even the most trained gun users in the world are a risk to the general public -- all the more reason to have as few guns out there as possible. 

ACLU Response to Senate Moving One Step Closer to Passing ENDA

You know the House is going to totally fuck this up, but at least the Senate did something, voting today to begin debate on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) by a bipartisan vote of 61-30. Here's what the American Civil Liberties Union had to say about this historic day on Capitol Hill:

"Tonight, we are one step closer to finally enshrining in law the basic principle that job applicants and employees should be judged on their professional credentials and the caliber of their work, and not be penalized because of who they are," said Ian Thompson, American Civil Liberties Union legislative representative. "We urge the Senate to pass these long-sought and overdue protections without delay.” A vote on final passage in the Senate is expected later this week.

Snapped?

U.S. Capitol shooting: Brooklyn neighbor says Connecticut woman shot dead outside Capitol 'seemed like a nice young lady, stable' 

Relatives of Miriam Carey converged in Bushwick to try to make sense of the events that unfolded in Washington, where the 34-year-old dental hygienist and former Brooklyn resident led police on a pursuit toward the Capitol after trying to ram the White House gates. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who said he was briefed by Homeland Security, said she did not appear armed. 'There was no return fire,' he said. 

Some details emerging about the young single mother who went berserk yesterday in Washington. We don't have much to go on -- no surprise that mental illness seems to be an issue, I'm reading postpartum depression -- but I will never understand why the police are TRAINED to shoot to kill, especially an unarmed woman with a child. Yes, a 5,000-pound car is a weapon. But aren't police cars built just for that reason -- to ram and block people like Carey? Furthermore, the New York Times reports that she was shot AFTER exiting her vehicle -- and that her body was so badly disfigured afterward that it made identifying her difficult. And that "dozens" of shots were fired, leaving two officers wounded -- meaning they shot EACH OTHER. A tragedy all the way around, and I'm sure the cops were doing their best under difficult circumstances. But still, it really seems like they need to calm down with this movie-scene rapid firing. We have seen far too many bystanders getting shot lately.