Jackie Speier Survived Jonestown 40 years ago.

[Delarage]

Trump's ramblings remind me of Jim Jones sometimes. I wasn't aware that Jackie Speier (D, CA-14) was shot at Jonestown while helping people escape with congressman Leo Ryan, who was killed in the effort. I also wasn't aware of how seriously he took his job as a representative of all his constituents...including teachers & prisoners. He also wasn't afraid to stand up to people of his own party, if necessary, a trait NO Repuke currently demonstrates.

Inquisitive by nature, he was a proponent of “experiential legislating,” preferring to go out and experience issues firsthand before he decided what to do.

In 1965, after riots shook Watts, an African-American neighborhood in Los Angeles, Ryan briefly took a job there as a substitute teacher while serving in the state Assembly, and used the experience to shape education policy. In 1970, as chairman of a committee overseeing prison reform, he assumed a pseudonym and had himself booked, strip-searched and incarcerated for 10 days at Folsom State Prison, revealing his identity only when it was time to be released.


[link:https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/10/jonestown-massacre-first-person-speier-ryan-jones-222222|

[lapfog_1]

1. I will buy truckloads of purple koolaid

in anticipation of the day trump decides that his followers need to go on the final great adventure with him.

perhaps they will all gather at the southern border and build a 20 foot high human wall

[3Hotdogs]

7. Pleez, Jesus, Rapture their asses.

If you do, I promise I won't make no more fun of you.

[vlyons]

13. Please don't make kool-aid jokes

I lived in San Francisco, during the Jim Jones episode. I frequently drove by his church. I knew people, who had relatives who literally drank the kool-aid. It is a painful memory for those of us who lived there at that time. Everyone in the SF Bay area went through a long period of grief. The people, who followed Jim Jones were mostly poor people. People recovering from addiction. People fleeing violent marriages. Kids fleeing broken homes. The down and out, people who thought they had found a family, a father figure, acceptance, hope for something better. All of them were victims of a cruel con artist gone paranoid and insane.

We don't need to find joy in gullible, foolish people being preyed on by evil heartless men. I am better than that, and I'll bet you are too.

May all sentient beings be free of suffering, and free of the causes and conditions of suffering.
May all sentient beings be happy, and have the causes and conditions of happiness.

[hlthe2b]

2. I've followed her career for years.. I've always thought she should have gone for D leadership

but I think she was just satisfied to be a devoted advocate for her constituents...

Those who don't know her history, will be amazed at what she has experienced.

[Delarage]

3. Found this, too. She is a real survivor, real person....

[link:

|

[Hortensis]

6. :) How many want to take on top leadership

responsibilities, though? Or rather, emphatically do not?

Thinking of things most of us really, really, really don't want to do, Nancy raised $700,000,000 last year alone. That was half the entire DNCC budget and was critical to electing many of the people who represent lower-income districts against very well funded Republican opponents.

And in addition to everything else Nancy will pack into killer days next term, she'll start it all over again. If she actually stopped. Of course, she's continuing what she built over years, so it'll be easier for her than if she stepped in new.

It is nice to see Jackie Speier discussed. She seems a good, solid liberal overall.

?w=525

[hlthe2b]

8. It is a skill set that few have & those who do, may well know better than to want to do it, for sure

[Hortensis]

11. Maybe they get tired like normal people.

I've noticed the few really outstanding performers I've been around never seemed to get tired while they had work to do, and if they didn't they found things to do to fill in.

[vlyons]

15. Jackie and Nancy are friends

Both from the SF Bay Area. I doubt seriously that Jackie would ever not support Pelosi.

[vlyons]

14. I believe she took 4 bullets

It's people like Jackie, who should get the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She is a treasure and greatly beloved in the Bay Area.

[CountAllVotes]

4. Remember Jonestown so well

It happened at the same time as George Moscone (mayor of San Francisco at that time after a rather bitter battle with Dianne Feinstein for the Mayor's job) and Harvey Milk (a member of the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco) were gunned down by Dan White.

It was a very very sad time in San Francisco and horrific for the American people at large due to the murders in Jonestown.

It was one of those times that you just went ... over and over again.

[mr_lebowski]

5. Wow, seen Jackie's name countless times, never had ANY idea she was at Jonestown and was shot ...

This is an amazing article/excerpt/whatever.

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. I remember all that stuff. No one could believe it.

It was all over the news for days.

Incomprehensible.

[smirkymonkey]

10. K&R

[firstwife]

12. She spoke at my son's law school graduation

a few years ago. Very impressive person. Compelling, dramatic true story. She’s been on my radar ever since.

[Ilsa]

16. There is a new documentary tonight on the Sundance Channel.

Part 2 is tomorrow night. Record it if you can.

Spier was badly injured.

[Brother Buzz]

18. I understand my asshole Libertarian mayor, a teenage survivor, is in it

He was locking horns with the cult enforcers as a rebellious kid, before even going to Jonestown. He's been mostly quiet on the subject for years, and only started opening up lately.

Here's a decent recount of his story after the shooting began:


https://www.wattpad.com/492851100-down-918-rabbit-holes-165-thom-bogue%27s-odyssey

[Delarage]

19. That's a detailed description....

And gruesome. And sad.

This murder/suicide was horrific, with over 250 kids ages 16 or younger involved.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

17. 40 years ago Sunday Jonestown happened.

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

40 years ago Sunday this tragedy happened. The fab @washingtonpost writer Jackie Trescott (@Jtrescott) wrote the story.

Link to tweet