building. we are thrilled to be back. it has been an incredible and exciting morning of discussions today. i m especially excited about our next talk because it features two people i really admire. one is a professor of digital storytelling and interim provost of education at george washington university. she is also a close friend an incredible supporter of cannabis advocacy and also an incredible advocate for the power of storytelling. the second person i m excited to introduce today is gary chambers, who is running for senate in louisiana. i think if we can talk about the power of storytelling, that mr. chambers experienced and what we are seeing with him as far as he has captured public attention is a testament to the power of storytelling. without further ado, i would love to bring our next two speakers to the stage for what i m certain will be an interesting discussion. [applause] hello. good afternoon, everyone. hello, hello. hi. we get the lovely coveted spot
elementary school, could have, should have been confronted sooner. parents demanding answers. why? why were police reluctant to immediately engage with the gunman? one explanation the texas department of public safety initially gave to cnn is that the officers could have been shot or killed, but we now know the mind-set goes directly against texas protocol for school shooter situations, which uvalde police trained for just two months ago. the manual states as first responders, we must recognize that innocent life must be defended. a first responder unwilling to place the lives of the innocent above their own safety should consider another career field. armed officers circled the building and up to 19 of them were inside a school hallway just feet away, kids and teachers in two classrooms were utterly helpless against the gunman. young kids, some covered in the blood of their friends dialed 911 begging for help. nearly 80 minutes after the gunman first entered the building he
If theres any umbrellas people arent using all right. Thanks, everybody for being here. We appreciate it. We wanted to make sure we kept the rain until this morning. Thank you for being here in this weather and thank you for joining us today to talk about something thats very, very important. Im mark pocan, chair of the equality caucus, the largest caucus in congress, at 195 members dedicated to advancing lgbtq equaltism im glad to be joined by other leaders to mark todays day of no silence. Now we used to have a day of silence. In past years students would go silent in the classroom for a full day in protest of the harassment, bullying and discrimination that queer students faced. This year is different. This year we cant be silent. In 2024, antiequality extremist republicans have continued to unleash an avalanche of attacks against our community, including by introducing more than 475 antiequality bills across state legislatures and extremists in the house of representatives have int
If theres any umbrellas people arent using all right. Thanks, everybody for being here. We appreciate it. We wanted to make sure we kept the rain until this morning. Thank you for being here in this weather and thank you for joining us today to talk about something thats very, very important. Im mark pocan, chair of the equality caucus, the largest caucus in congress, at 195 members dedicated to advancing lgbtq equaltism im glad to be joined by other leaders to mark todays day of no silence. Now we used to have a day of silence. In past years students would go silent in the classroom for a full day in protest of the harassment, bullying and discrimination that queer students faced. This year is different. This year we cant be silent. In 2024, antiequality extremist republicans have continued to unleash an avalanche of attacks against our community, including by introducing more than 475 antiequality bills across state legislatures and extremists in the house of representatives have int
right now from the supreme court this morning. retired associate justice of the supreme court sandra day o connor has died at the age of 93. she is a trailblazer in so many ways. she was the first female member of the supreme court. our ken dilanian is joining us right now with more. ken, what do we know? we are just getting right now a statement from the supreme court announcing her death. the first woman ever appointed to the court, appointed by ronald reagan. the statement said that she died of complications related to advanced dementia, probably alzheimer s, and a respiratory illness. again, she was 93 years old. justice o connor was appointed to the court by president reagan in 1981, and she retired in 2006 after serving more than 24 years on the court. she s survived by her three sons, six grand children, chief justice john roberts said the following about justice o connor in this statement from the court. a daughter of the american southwest, sandra day o connor blaz