holden421 asks: You recently just replied to someones asking if you think the Wall Street protests are important enough to pay attention to. Your answer was "If more moments like this weekend’s macing take place, you can expect people to start taking them seriously." So my question to you is do you think the wall street protests should only be paid attention to when there is some amount of violence or civil unrest? Shouldn't these protests be getting full coverage by the media despite violence or unrest?
» SFB says: The problem with the protests right now is that they need a spark or a hook, something for an outsider to say, holy crap, I need to focus on this. You don’t have a rally-around-the-flag moment without a reason. It doesn’t have to be violence or over-the-top anger, but it has to be something that brings people together. For example, the Tea Party had a speech by Rick Santelli which was talked about on TV for a week. This movement doesn’t have anything like that. It doesn’t have a leader. It’s decentralized. This can be good, but it needs a spark. — Ernie @ SFB
I never felt like passing out in a warehouse and I never felt treated like a piece of crap in any other warehouse but this one. They can do that because there aren’t any jobs in the area.Former Amazon factory worker Elmer Goris • Complaining about the conditions at the Allentown, Pa. Amazon warehouse facility, which handles East Coast orders. The problem? It was really freaking hot this summer, and the factory didn’t have air conditioning, turning the working conditions somewhat nightmarish. People reportedly fainted from heat exhaustion. In the wake of the lengthy Morning Call article that brought the allegations to light, Amazon appears to have put up a job posting for on-support medical staff, and now plans to install an air conditioner in the plant. In their defense, average temperatures throughout the year are reasonably cool, so the situation this summer was somewhat unexpected. Still, though. source (via • follow)
There may not be a ‘radical’ threat as much as it is simply a normal assertion of the orthodox ideology. The strategic themes animating these Islamic values are not fringe; they are main stream.A FBI training presentation • Suggesting that mainstream — not just radicalized — Muslims are dangerous. The training materials, leaked to Wired by FBI whistleblowers, seem to suggest that normal religious behavior protected by the Constitution is a tell sign of terror ties. The training documents, some of which were produced solely by William Gawthrop, seem to support fairly controversial views he’s previously pushed forward on such sites as WorldNetDaily. The FBI responded to Wired’s article today, saying that the presentation was only given one time, was the work of one person (presumably Gawthorp), and doesn’t reflect FBI policy as a whole. “As of August 2011, the individual who delivered the presentation no longer provides training on behalf of the FBI,” their response states. “These corrective measures were made before recent media attention was given to this topic.” The real question: How did this guy get in a position where he could make such a presentation in the first place? This is a huge black eye for the FBI. (thanks kateoplis) source (via • follow)
These are two really good, reasonable Tumblrs who aren’t afraid to make their opinions known. They posted one completely understandable (if not across-the-board supported) opinion, and suddenly their Ask boxes look like that. This is not what we like to see come out of Tumblr. Sigh. — Sincerely, disappointed.
I’ll be watching.
Thoughts that I genuinely have every time any politician announces a press conference: whether Jon Stewart will be able to change his opening monologue in time to comment on said event. Looks like this one is going to come down to the wire…
Also, the WaPo reports that ABC has been in touch with the woman who received the photos and will be naming the woman in an upcoming report.
» Israel’s long-term plan: While Obama continues to push Israel to return to their 1967 borders, Prime Minister Benjamain Netanyahu has plans for the capital, now a single piece thanks to the Six-Day War, which changed those borders. ”The city was united 44 years ago,” he noted, “and we returned to our ancestral lands. Since then Jerusalem has flourished.” The multi-year package would increase funding for tourism, education grants and also give bio-technology companies incentives to work in the long-divided city.
What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. But I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end. He’s not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I’m not for the Second World War, and I’m not against Jews. I am very much for Jews. No, not too much, because Israel is a pain in the ass. How can I get out of this sentence? … OK, I’m a Nazi.Lars von Trier • Giving a pretty good impression of verbal self-destruction in just a handful of seconds. Von Trier has already apologized for this dispiriting and horrible speech, on the heels of organizers of the Cannes Film Festival, which von Trier was speaking at when he let this slip, called his performance “disturbing.” source (via • follow)
This week in objections: There’s been a controversy swirling over the White House’s decision to invite rapper Common (his real name is Lonnie Rashid Lynn) to a poetry event. The outcry, spearheaded by Sarah Palin, centers rather predictably around his lyrics through the years, some of which people might find offensive (the New Jersey State Police union, for example, is upset about this). Here’s the reality: Michelle Obama probably likes Common, mostly known for his socially-conscious rapping and this terrible album, and she wants him to attend. How many of us can honestly say if somebody else found an artist we enjoyed controversial, we’d like the art less? It’s certainly rich coming from Sarah Palin, whose ethics on controversial speech are plainly situational — it places lyrics above actions, which seems backwards to us. source
» The lesson: Don’t have someone on your board who uses “support of Israel” as a litmus test for playwrights who few even know for their foreign policy views.
But seriously … I am not kidding.
I’m not watching all of...
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
An earlier version of this post said that Groupon dropped their sponsorship of “Celebrity Apprentice.” That’s half-true. The company will no longer allow their ads to show up on the Apprentice Web site. However, they never actively sponsored them, but instead showed up on the site thanks to Google and other ad networks. So, while ThinkProgress (30,000 followers), did throw the tweet to the company (35,000 followers), and Groupon did agree to it, it’s something of a misnomer. They agreed to “dump Trump” … if Trump happens to be in the same room as Groupon. But he isn’t right now. Still, there are examples of this technique being used against sponsors, including:
» And there’s an Egypt tie to this story, too: Perhaps the most bizarre spare detail of the entire incident might be the reason why Berlusconi was caught this time. See, Ruby Heart-Stealer, a Moroccan whose real name is Karima El Mahroug, was arrested last May for theft, and he called the Police to intervene – because, get this, he believed she was Hosni Mubarak’s niece. Random. Berlusconi and Heart-Stealer both deny they had sex, though there must have been an interesting story about how they met, then. Right?
200 cities + a tawdry sex scandal = A huge anti-Berlusconi protest: Hundreds of thousands of women took part in today’s protests. This is why, if you’re the leader of Italy, you don’t get associated with scandals involving underage prostitutes. source
OK, this ad up here, which uses a cute baby (and we mean cuuuuuuute) to promote parenting that prevents violent offenders such as rapists, is anything but subtle, but the reaction to the ad is perhaps a little strong from some. The guy who created it, Josh Jasper of the Riverview Center in Dubuque, Iowa, is getting death threats because the ad was perceived as anti-male. “I appreciate and respect when people have differing viewpoints,” Jasper said. “But for individuals to take it to a personal level and threaten my life, that’s taking it too far.” The melding of visuals and messages in this ad make us a little uncomfortable, but honestly? It’s not really that bad considering what’s out there. And the message is good, even if the execution is a little overwrought. Disagree with someone. Don’t call their house. (thanks think4yourself & azspot) source
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