This is really adorable. And important. And moving. As Upworthy‘s Rollie Williams writes, “These two children belong to feuding Malaysian ethnic groups. The little boy, Tan Hong Ming, is Malaysian Chinese while the girl he loves is Malaysian Malay.” See what happens!
Why a Russian official called Madonna a moralizing slut
The eight-day trialagainst three members of the feminist punk rock band Pussy Riot, charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after they performed a punk prayer in an Orthodox church, asking the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of President Vladimir Putin, wrapped up Wednesday. The prosecutors have asked for a three-year sentence and the verdict will be announced Friday August 17th.
The trial was a major miscalculation for the Russian Government. It has shed light on a struggle between a repressive regime of censorship on the one hand and martyrs for freedom, free speech and artistic expression, on the other. The defendants themselves linked their persecution to that of Soviet-era writers in their closing statements. Standing in front of a slit in their glass and metal cage, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova said, ”I, like [writer Aleksandr] Solzhenitsyn, believe that words will crush concrete… We sit in a cage, but we didn’t lose. And the dissidents didn’t lose. Disappearing in psychiatric wards and jails, they convicted the regime.” She also stated, “this is a trial of the whole government system of Russia, which so likes to show its harshness toward the individual, its indifference to his honour and dignity….If this political system throws itself against three girls … it shows this political system is afraid of truth.” Another member, Maria Alyokhina, said, ”I am not afraid of you. You can take away my ‘so-called’ freedom, but you can never take my inner freedom.”
What “Obamacare” will bring you the day after tomorrow
While we won’t see the fruits of some of Obama’s Affordable Care Act until 2014, a regulation goes into effect on August 1 guaranteeing certain free reproductive health care services. Check out this Center for American Progress infographic to see what this could mean for you:
Gun violence video mashup with Melissa Harris-Perry & more
As I wrote earlier, I’ve been struck by the unproductive coverage of the Aurora Colorado shooting. Thankfully, some politicians, like mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rep Carolyn McCarthy (whose husband was killed and whose son was paralyzed by gun violence), as well as some in the media, like Melissa Harris-Perry, have been fearless in linking tragedy to policy. In contrast, others, like Senator Ron Johnston, are not only refusing to look at the connection between gun laws and violence, but suggesting that armed citizens could have prevented the killing. The idea that armed citizens could have engaged in a shoot out with a men in full riot gear without hurting others in far-fetched at best.
Guess who’s slamming islamophobia & defending Huma Abedin?
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN), has long been inspired by Joe McCarthy, and this time, she is aiming her witch hunt at Huma Abedin, a Pakistani-American top aide to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, for her alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Abedin is also married to Jewish former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), the perfect way to inflitrate, not only the U.S, Government, but the Jewish World! [that was sarcasm and I’m Jewish]
Guess who defended Abedin and religious liberty (for Muslims, not just Christians, which is often the implicit argument made by those who defend religious liberty lately)? Conservative Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)! Here he is during a town hall meeting on Sunday, trying to reason with a most unreasonable constituent who implores her congressman to support Bachmann’s investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood’s inflitration of the U.S. Government and ties to Abedin.
Important info, infographics & actions on gun violence
The tragic shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado has received non-stop coverage. Much of it, however, has been abysmally irresponsible, transforming a potential moment for national reflection and discussion on gun laws, mental illness, and popular culture into frenzied sensationalism. Of course, we must mourn the victims, but in the name of the victims, and to prevent more victims, we need to engage in this conversation. Some see this as an inappropriate politicization of tragedy. I see it as a way to prevent more tragedy, and a matter of life and death. If you care about the victims, you need to care about the policies and politics that shape our realities, lives, and deaths. Here are some things you should know about gun violence that you won’t hear from the so called mainstream media.
The Brady Campaign against Gun Violence explores the relationship between women and gun violence. “U.S. women’s firearm death rate is 12 times higher than the combined rate of 22 other populous, high-income countries.” You can sign the Brady Campaign’s petition to Congress here.
Thank You, Daily Caller, for Red-Baiting Camp Kinderland
Campers race during Kinderland’s World Peace Olympics
First of all, I’d like to thank the Daily Caller and Americans for Limited Government for red-baiting Camp Kinderland. For one, I’d be upset if they praised us. Also, it allows me to experience to a very limited degree the 1950s, in all of its McCarthyist glory, without having actually lived through it.
Erica Groshen, Obama’s nominee for commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, evidently sent her children to Camp Kinderland. We should probably look at every educational institution any child of any nominee has attended to make sure we don’t turn any Communist into a government appointee.
But since I don’t have time for that, let me tell you some of the things we do at camp that the ALG and Daily Caller would consider subversive.
Confessions From a Survivor of ‘Communist-Rooted’ Camp Kinderland
Photo by Matt Weinstein
Recently, as the prestigious Daily Caller reports, Americans for a Limited Government (ALG) (in a report, which mentions yours truly) exposed two dangerous facts about Obama’s Labor nominee, Erica Groshen: “In addition to having sent her kids to a camp with Communist roots, Groshen publicly favors more regulations on small businesses.” I honestly don’t know which one is worse. But since I am a third generation Kinderland alum and the director of the soon-to-be released documentary about Camp Kinderland, and not a small business or small business owner, I thought I’d write about the first charge.
This country cannot afford to have a woman whose kids went to Kinderland lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Who knows how her children brainwashed their mother with the values of the camp. For starters let’s look at the people the bunks at Kinderland are named after: Harriet Tubman, Anne Frank, Emma Lazarus, Roberto Clemente. With heroes like these, who knows where these campers could end up! Anywhere from attics, to forests, to the Statue of Liberty, to a baseball diamond, bashing the ball of the American republic with each swing of the unpatriotic bat.
Infographic: marriage equality is officially mainstream
Center for American Progress has issued a report which looks at polls and demonstrates that the majority of the country supports marriage equality. Crosby Burns and Ben Harris write,
In short, marriage equality is now a mainstream American value. Just a decade ago, however, a majority of Americans opposed laws and policies that extended marital rights to same-sex couples. In the ensuing 10 years, the United States has come a long way with states passing marriage equality legislation, national leaders coming out in support of equal relationship recognition rights, and same-sex couples sharing their stories of love and commitment with their friends and family.
And here is an infographic of the support for marriage equality:
10 Comedians Who Aren’t Defending Rape Jokes
More and more comedians are coming out of the woodwork to defend their colleague Daniel Tosh for his defense of rape jokes. For those of you who missed the controversy , a woman who saw Tosh at the Laugh Factory reported that the comedian made “some very generalizing, declarative statements about rape jokes always being funny, how can a rape joke not be funny, rape is hilarious, etc.” The woman yelled out, “Actually, rape jokes are never funny!” So, Tosh responded by saying, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, five guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…?”
katiehalper.com 