Her name was Iryna Filkina. The photo of her hand with red nail polish, taken in Bucha after it was liberated three years ago, spread around the world.
She was identified on her birthday, April 1st, 2022, by her ring finger with a heart on the nail... When the war began, Iryna lived in the local hardware store “Epicentr,” where she fed people hiding from shelling and cooked meals for Ukrainian soldiers.
On March 5th, she tried to evacuate from Bucha in one of the cars leaving the shopping center, but there wasn’t enough space — she gave her spot to a woman with a child. So she decided to return home on her bicycle. Just 15 minutes from her home, she was shot by Russian soldiers… She was such a kind and warm-hearted person that everyone who knew her called her “Mama Ira.”
After her mother’s death, her daughter Olha created a foundation to help Ukrainians affected by the war. “I want the photo of her hand to become a symbol of new beginnings. This symbol tells the occupiers that they can do anything to us — but they can’t take the most important thing: love. The love of people, which they don’t have,” Olha says.
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During the occupation of Bucha, 554 civilians were killed in the community. Another 28 residents of Bucha were killed in neighboring towns. Among the dead were 435 men, 147 women, and 12 children. 43 bodies remain unidentified. 38 civilians are still considered missing. Currently, 33 people are being held in captivity.
Eternal memory to Iryna. Eternal memory to all murdered and tortured Ukrainians.
When I heard about Senator Graham’s death last night, the first thing I thought about was not all the things he said and did in service of Donald Trump. I thought of the time before Donald Trump when he was a brother to Senator John McCain.
A time when senators from different parties could fight about politics and still be friends. A time when a conservative Republican from South Carolina could say of my father: “If you can’t admire Joe Biden as a person, you’ve got a problem. He’s the nicest person I’ve ever met in politics. As good a man as God ever created.”
That is the Senator Graham I will remember today. Not because I have forgotten what came after. Because in that memory there is hope. Hope for a country where brothers can fight like hell over policy and still share a meal, and a laugh, and the loss of the people they love.
I will choose to remember the time before Trump. Because I believe in an America after Trump.
He Wasn’t "Left Behind." He Was Abandoned. And They Lawyered Up Before They Even Said His Name.
Let’s talk about Nolan Xavier Wells. 18 years old. A son. A young Black man who went on a boating trip with "friends" on July 4th and never came home.
Those "friends" came back without him. They didn't call his mother. They didn't call the coast guard. They didn't report him missing. They went home, slept in their beds, and only picked up the phone when they realized the world was watching—TO CALL THEIR ATTORNEY'S!!.
Meanwhile, Nolan’s body was found days later. In the water. Alone.
NOW WATCH THE LANGUAGE.
The sheriff said Nolan "chose" to stay behind. He "wanted to catch another ride." No foul play suspected. Just a kid who "made a bad decision."
Let me stop you right there.
If Nolan was a white 18-year-old from the suburbs, and his friends returned without him—do you think for one second the narrative would be "he chose to stay"? No. The news would scream "VANISHED" and "MYSTERY AT SEA." There would be helicopters. There would be tearful pleas from the family on every network. And those friends? They wouldn't be "kids who lawyered up." They'd be "persons of interest" dragged into interrogation rooms.
But because Nolan is Black, his disappearance is treated like an inconvenience. His death is treated like a "choice." His friends are treated like cautious citizens instead of suspects.
And one of those friends? He was hanging out with, parent is a judge.. They know the legal system. They know that if they keep quiet long enough, the story shifts. They know that Black life gets settled out of court, not avenged in it.
THIS IS THE RACISM WE ARE TIRED OF NAMING.
They stripped Nolan of his vulnerability. They stripped him of his fear. They stripped him of the right to be missed the way white victims are missed. When a Black person commits a crime against a white person, the media calls them a "thug" and demands the death penalty before the trial starts. But when a Black boy is left to die on an island? It's "he chose to stay."
The disrespect is loud. The dehumanization is intentional.
TO NOLAN’S FAMILY:
We see your son. We see your pain. We see your fight. No mother should have to beg for answers while her child lies in a morgue and the suspects sit behind lawyers. We are holding space for your grief, and we are holding the system to its feet. You are not alone. We are praying for your strength, but we also know that prayers without action are just words.
OUR CALL TO ACTION:
1. Demand criminal charges. This cannot be settled with money. This cannot be swept under a wrongful death lawsuit alone. Someone knows what happened on that island. Someone saw him alive, and someone left him dead. We need homicide detectives, not damage control.
2. Flood the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office with calls. Demand transparency. Demand the release of that video showing the "heated argument." If there's nothing to hide, show us everything.
3. Share this post. Blow it up. Make it uncomfortable. Make sure they know we are watching.
4. Tag your local news. Ask them why they aren't covering this the way they cover missing white children. Ask them why "chose to stay" is acceptable language for a dead Black boy.
Nolan Xavier Wells did not "choose" to die. He was failed by the people he trusted and the system that was supposed to find him. We don't want your thoughts and prayers alone. We want truth. We want justice. And we want it now.
#JusticeForNolan #BlackLivesMatter #SayHisName #NoMoreSettlements
Drop a 🔥 in the comments if you're tired of the excuses. Share this until the DA has to answer.
Do not stop talking about Epstein.
Do not stop talking about Epstein.
Do not stop talking about Epstein.
Do not stop talking about Epstein.
Do not stop talking about Epstein.
Do not stop talking about Epstein.
Do not stop talking about Epstein.
The family of the teenager whose body was found off the coast of Mississippi is calling for a thorough investigation into his death.
Eighteen-year-old Nolan Wells went on a boat trip to a nearby island with friends during the July Fourth weekend but did not return with them. He was the only Black teenager among a group of white friends.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office says no foul play is suspected but is calling for any witnesses to come forward.
At a press conference Friday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said the facts of the case are not adding up as the mother of Nolan Wells asked for answers.
“We just want to know what happened and why our baby didn’t come home,” Christine Wells-Wonsley said.
An official autopsy has been conducted, though it could be weeks before results are released.
Police say the friends who were on the island with Wells are cooperating with the investigation.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo woke up at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, kissed his wife goodbye and drove off to pick up his construction crew just like he had done every day for 35 years. He never saw his family again. An ICE agent shot and killed him during a vehicle stop in Houston. ICE has since confirmed he was not even the target of their operation. He was a husband, a father and a hard worker. How many more families have to bury their loved ones before this stops? This is WRONG! Justice for Lorenzo!
This photo must be seen by the entire world so people understand what Russia truly is.
A mother is holding her child as tightly as she can, trying to shield them with her own body while Russia drops guided аerial bоmbs on Sumy.
No child should grow up in a reality like this. No mother should have to become a human shield to protect her child.
Since the start of the day, russian terrorists have continued killing civilians across Ukraine.
💔 Odesa — 6 killed
💔 Sumy — 5 killed
💔 Sloviansk — 1 killed
Twelve civilians murdered in a single day.
I keep hoping tomorrow will be better.
But I know it won't be.
I want every one to recall the Natalie Holloway case and how devastated every one was when she went missing. Communities and law enforcement rallied around them to get answers, and rightly so. This is all we ask when Black people die or disappear under suspicious circumstances.
The Housing Bill is now law today despite no signature from Trump. I don’t think he realized we don’t need his signature after 10 days. Now he can never take credit for actions to lower costs. Let’s make sure all Americans know he opposed actions to lower housing costs.
My condolences to Senator Lindsey Graham’s family and loved ones.
Senator Graham fought until the very end to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom and raise the cost of Russia’s war of aggression.
He worked tirelessly to strengthen sanctions, in close coordination with the EU.
A determined and fearless leader. He will be deeply missed.
Even while secretly fighting cancer, Chadwick Boseman still visited kids battling the same disease.
He showed up full of love for them, all while carrying his own silent pain. A real-life superhero. ❤️🙏
Cherokee Nation has officially opened its new $470 million W. W. Hastings Hospital.
CN leaders celebrated on Thursday with hundreds gathering to see the new 127-bed facility which modernizes our patient care and adds many new services such as a Surgery Center, Hospice and NICU.
Ahmed Salim was shot in the head by Israeli forces on Wednesday while delivering humanitarian aid for the World Central Kitchen. He is the latest Palestinian aid truck driver killed by Israel in Gaza, where drivers are protesting the repeated killings of their colleagues.
Trump is subpoenaing journalists for exposing his Qatari plane scandal— his Air Fraud One — a private jet he’s spent hundreds of millions of YOUR tax dollars on.
He is the most corrupt president in American history!