About the only thing that will happen to “the Nuge” is that he has been uninvited to perform at an upcoming military concert at Fort Knox. The soldiers who would’ve been attending all erupted into sighs of relief upon hearing the news. — Michael Kindt on the double standard of liberal anti-establishment criticism vs. conservative anti-establishment criticism. One is culturally acceptable and encouraged (even when it takes the form of innocuous death threats), and the other is almost universally vilified (even when it’s simply a respectful and measured response). (via jonathan-cunningham)
(via ladyatheist)
“Yes, I mean if they can tell us to buy health insurance, it completely destroys the idea of limited government, because right now all the government can do is tax me, draft me, put me in jail, or declare me an enemy combatant and then execute me without trial using a flying death bot, but making me eat broccoli. I think we’d all rather die from a preventable disease.” - Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report
(via stfuconservatives)
![thedailywhat:
On Kony 2012: I honestly wanted to stay as far away as possible from KONY 2012, the latest fauxtivist fad sweeping the web (remember “change your Facebook profile pic to stop child abuse”?), but you clearly won’t stop sending me that damn video until I say something about it, so here goes:
Stop sending me that video.
The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.
Additionally, IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited. That’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s a very bad thing, and should make you immediately pause and reflect on where the money you’re sending them is going.
By IC’s own admission, only 31% of all the funds they receive go toward actually helping anyone [pdf]. The rest go to line the pockets of the three people in charge of the organization, to pay for their travel expenses (over $1 million in the last year alone) and to fund their filmmaking business (also over a million) — which is quite an effective way to make more money, as clearly illustrated by the fact that so many can’t seem to stop forwarding their well-engineered emotional blackmail to everyone they’ve ever known.
And as far as what they do with that money:
The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.
Let’s not get our lines crossed: The Lord’s Resistance Army is bad news. And Joseph Kony is a very bad man, and needs to be stopped. But propping up Uganda’s decades-old dictatorship and its military arm, which has been accused by the UN of committing unspeakable atrocities and itself facilitated the recruitment of child soldiers, is not the way to go about it.
The United States is already plenty involved in helping rout Kony and his band of psycho sycophants. Kony is on the run, having been pushed out of Uganda, and it’s likely he will soon be caught, if he isn’t already dead. But killing Kony won’t fix anything, just as killing Osama bin Laden didn’t end terrorism. The LRA might collapse, but, as Foreign Affairs points out, it is “a relatively small player in all of this — as much a symptom as a cause of the endemic violence.”
Myopically placing the blame for all of central Africa’s woes on Kony — even as a starting point — will only imperil many more people than are already in danger.
Sending money to a nonprofit that wants to muck things up by dousing the flames with fuel is not helping. Want to help? Really want to help? Send your money to nonprofits that are putting more than 31% toward rebuilding the region’s medical and educational infrastructure, so that former child soldiers have something worth coming home to.
Here are just a few of those charities. They all have a sparkling four-star rating from Charity Navigator, and, more importantly, no interest in airdropping American troops armed to the teeth into the middle of a multi-nation tribal war to help one madman catch another.
The bottom line is, research your causes thoroughly. Don’t just forward a random video to a stranger because a mass murderer makes a five-year-old “sad.” Learn a little bit about the complexities of the region’s ongoing strife before advocating for direct military intervention.
There is no black and white in the world. And going about solving important problems like there is just serves to make all those equally troubling shades of gray invisible.
[kony2012.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0iyiw3Jv01qzpwi0o1_r1_1280.jpg)
On Kony 2012: I honestly wanted to stay as far away as possible from KONY 2012, the latest fauxtivist fad sweeping the web (remember “change your Facebook profile pic to stop child abuse”?), but you clearly won’t stop sending me that damn video until I say something about it, so here goes:
Stop sending me that video.
The organization behind Kony 2012 — Invisible Children Inc. — is an extremely shady nonprofit that has been called ”misleading,” “naive,” and “dangerous” by a Yale political science professor, and has been accused by Foreign Affairs of “manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes.” They have also been criticized by the Better Business Bureau for refusing to provide information necessary to determine if IC meets the Bureau’s standards.
Additionally, IC has a low two-star rating in accountability from Charity Navigator because they won’t let their financials be independently audited. That’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s a very bad thing, and should make you immediately pause and reflect on where the money you’re sending them is going.
By IC’s own admission, only 31% of all the funds they receive go toward actually helping anyone [pdf]. The rest go to line the pockets of the three people in charge of the organization, to pay for their travel expenses (over $1 million in the last year alone) and to fund their filmmaking business (also over a million) — which is quite an effective way to make more money, as clearly illustrated by the fact that so many can’t seem to stop forwarding their well-engineered emotional blackmail to everyone they’ve ever known.
And as far as what they do with that money:
The group is in favour of direct military intervention, and their money supports the Ugandan government’s army and various other military forces. Here’s a photo of the founders of Invisible Children posing with weapons and personnel of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Both the Ugandan army and Sudan People’s Liberation Army are riddled with accusations of rape and looting, but Invisible Children defends them, arguing that the Ugandan army is “better equipped than that of any of the other affected countries”, although Kony is no longer active in Uganda and hasn’t been since 2006 by their own admission. These books each refer to the rape and sexual assault that are perennial issues with the UPDF, the military group Invisible Children is defending.
Let’s not get our lines crossed: The Lord’s Resistance Army is bad news. And Joseph Kony is a very bad man, and needs to be stopped. But propping up Uganda’s decades-old dictatorship and its military arm, which has been accused by the UN of committing unspeakable atrocities and itself facilitated the recruitment of child soldiers, is not the way to go about it.
The United States is already plenty involved in helping rout Kony and his band of psycho sycophants. Kony is on the run, having been pushed out of Uganda, and it’s likely he will soon be caught, if he isn’t already dead. But killing Kony won’t fix anything, just as killing Osama bin Laden didn’t end terrorism. The LRA might collapse, but, as Foreign Affairs points out, it is “a relatively small player in all of this — as much a symptom as a cause of the endemic violence.”
Myopically placing the blame for all of central Africa’s woes on Kony — even as a starting point — will only imperil many more people than are already in danger.
Sending money to a nonprofit that wants to muck things up by dousing the flames with fuel is not helping. Want to help? Really want to help? Send your money to nonprofits that are putting more than 31% toward rebuilding the region’s medical and educational infrastructure, so that former child soldiers have something worth coming home to.
Here are just a few of those charities. They all have a sparkling four-star rating from Charity Navigator, and, more importantly, no interest in airdropping American troops armed to the teeth into the middle of a multi-nation tribal war to help one madman catch another.
The bottom line is, research your causes thoroughly. Don’t just forward a random video to a stranger because a mass murderer makes a five-year-old “sad.” Learn a little bit about the complexities of the region’s ongoing strife before advocating for direct military intervention.
There is no black and white in the world. And going about solving important problems like there is just serves to make all those equally troubling shades of gray invisible.
[kony2012.]
(via wilwheaton)
When I first saw this, I was like “Oh come on, Rose totally wore skirts too,” but then I did some googling, and yeah, she’s pretty much always wearing jeans. Or some super adorable overalls in the werewolves episode. In fact, these appear to be based on the outfit choices for the official action figures of all these characters.
I dunno… I kinda have a feeling Matt Smith wouldn’t be quite so embarrassed to be rocking a skirt…
This is the official cover for the Doctor Who/Star Trek: TNG crossover: Assimilation2
Two of the biggest sci-fi titles of all-time — Doctor Who and Star Trek: The Next Generation — will join forces in their first officially commissioned comic-book crossover. Released by IDW Publishing, Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 will launch in May.
In the eight-issue series, the Doctor and his companion will team up with Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise against an unholy alliance between the Borg and the Cybermen. Scott and David Tipton, the authors behind Star Trek: Infestation, will be assisted by Doctor Who writer Tony Lee, with artwork by J.K. Woodward.
This information is important. Very important to many people who follow along here. You’re welcome for passing it on.
Very important information.
ENGAGE!
OMG YOU GUYS I WAS JUST TALKING TO ALAN KISTLER ABOUT HOW THE BORG WERE INSPIRED BY THE CYBERMEN AND NOW THEY ARE GOING TO TEAM UP AND THEN THE DOCTOR AND PICARD WILL TEAM UP AND FIGHT THEM OH MY GOD I’M SQUEEING ALL THE SQUEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!
“We came, We saw, We destroyed, We forgot” by William Blum
An updated summary of the charming record of US foreign policy. Since the end of the Second World War, the United States of America has …
1. Attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, most of which were democratically-elected.
2. Attempted to suppress a populist or nationalist movement in 20 countries.
3. Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries.
4. Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries.
5. Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders.In total: Since 1945, the United States has carried out one or more of the above actions, on one or more occasions, in the following 69 countries (more than one-third of the countries of the world):
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Angola
- Australia
- Bolivia
- Bosnia
- Brazil
- British Guiana (now Guyana)
- Bulgaria
- Cambodia
- Chad
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Congo (also as Zaire)
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- East Timor
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Fiji
- France
- Germany (plus East Germany)
- Ghana
- Greece
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Kuwait
- Laos
- Lebanon
- Libya
- Mongolia
- Morocco
- Nepal
- Nicaragua
- North Korea
- Pakistan
- Palestine
- Panama
- Peru
- Philippines
- Portugal
- Russia
- Seychelles
- Slovakia
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Soviet Union
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Syria
- Thailand
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Vietnam (plus North Vietnam)
- Yemen (plus South Yemen)
- Yugoslavia
The first democratically elected government the CIA overthrew was actually Iran’s in 1953 through Operation Ajax. Democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadiq and his National Front Party planned on nationalizing the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now known as BP). To protect British interests, the CIA and MI6 overthrew Mossadiq, reinstalled the Shah, and set up a secret police known as SAVAK. Until the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Shah and SAVAK killed over 20,000 Iranians.
Demonstrating: The EXTREME marshmallow cannon!
(Pro tip: Want to be invited to the White House? Be a 14 year old who clearly designed the best invention ever).
That face…
CLUE 1:
“went to short dogs house,
they was watching Yo MTV
RAPS”
Yo MTV RAPS first aired:
Aug 6th 1988
CLUE 2:
Ice Cubes single “today was a good day” released on:
Feb 23 1993
CLUE 3:
”The Lakers beat the Super
Sonics”
Dates between Yo MTV Raps air date AUGUST 6 1988 and the release of the single FEBRUARY 23 1993 where the Lakers beat the Super Sonics:
Nov 11 1988 114-103
Nov 30 1988 110-106
Apr 4 1989 115-97
Apr 23 1989 121-117
Jan 17 1990 100-90
Feb 28 1990 112-107
Mar 25 1990 116-94
Apr 17 1990 102-101
Jan 18 1991 105-96
Mar 24 1991 113-96
Apr 21 1991 103-100
Jan 20 1992 116-110
CLUE 4:
Dates of those Laker wins over SuperSonics where it was a clear day with no Smog:
Nov 30 1988
Apr 4 1989
Jan 18 1991
Jan 20 1992
CLUE 5:
“Got a beep from Kim, and
she can fuck all night”
beepers weren’t adopted by mobile phone companies until the 1990s. Dates left where mobile beepers were availible to public:
Jan 18 1991
Jan 20 1992
CLUE 6:
Ice Cube starred in the film “Boyz in the hood” that released late Summer of 1991, but was being filmed mid-late 1990 early 1991 and Ice Cube was busy on set filming the movie Jan 18 1991 too busy to be lounging around the streets with no plans. Ladies and Gentlemen..The ONLY day where:
Yo MTV Raps was on air
It was a clear and smogless day
Beepers were commercially sold
Lakers beat the SuperSonics
and Ice Cube had no events to attend was…
JANUARY 20 1992
National Good Day Day-Donovan
You’re absolutely correct that nobody is voting for Gingrich here. They’re voting for the deeply cherished fantasy that he will do to Obama what he’s done to Mittens.
Nothing else counts. When he scolds John King and Juan Williams, they can actually see him doing that to Obama. It doesn’t matter what he says. Nobody is listening to the words. They’re listening to that visceral, piggy-eyed hatred, and they love it. Romney’s mealy-mumbly management-speak imitation of the same performance exasperates them almost beyond endurance.
—Guardian comment from ‘Natasha Fatale’
This is the most brilliant deduction I’ve read for why Gingrich is winning.
