by Blogbot

[..]

by Keith Daniels

Even if you actively ignore all news about politics, your panicky uncle probably mentioned something on Facebook about the potential for the federal government to shut down last week over budget disagreements between House Republicans and Democrats. Crisis has been averted, temporarily, but the budget battle touched core issues for both sides and so it’s doubtful we’ve seen the end of it.

Republicans want to de-fund Planned Parenthood, National Public Radio, and the agency that is charged with the protection of the environment of the only planet on which we live. They’ve basically become comic book super-villains. Democrats, to their credit, actually had the gonads to refuse to budge when it came to protecting women’s access to reproductive care and the health of the, y’know, planet. Republicans won deep spending cuts across the board, but the Democrats held on those few core issues – for now. I know. I’m shocked too.

[..]

by Sash Suicide

[..]

by Fred Topel

Julian Schnabel has never made easy films. Basquiat was a biography of the street artist who became a protege of Andy Warhol. Before Night Falls portrayed exiled gay author Reinaldo Arenas. And The Diving Bell and the Butterfly told the story of author Jean-Dominique Bauby – all from the point of view of the one eye from which he could see after a paralyzing stroke.

Miral is a story set in the midst of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, told through the eyes of a Palestinian girl. Miral (Freida Pinto) grows up in a Palestinian orphanage, where her teacher, Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass), encourages her to stay out of politics. But young activists in the PLO like Hani (Omar Metwally) are powerful examples to Miral, and she wants to get involved.

[..]

by Blogbot

In an unlikely alliance, the undead joined forces with the living on the streets of Wisconsin this past Saturday to rise against GOP Governor Scott Walker and his grotesquely unfair anti-union policies.

[..]

by Alana Joy

The CEO of GoDaddy, Bob Parsons, has posted a video of his vacation in Zimbabwe online. Normally not something that would cause controversy, it’s the slaughter of an innocent elephant being glorified that has the internet in an uproar. The video opens with “For the second year in a row, I spent ten days hunting problem elephant in Zimbabwe.”

The video below contains scenes of graphic violence against animals. Viewer discretion is advised.

Parsons, accompanied by local tour guides, shows where crops have been trampled by these “problem elephant” on his self-proclaimed “humanitarian” expedition. “Many die each year from starvation and one of the problems they have is the elephants, of which there are thousands and thousands, that trash many of their fields destroying the crops. Of everything I do this is the most rewarding. This video shows one typical night and day.” This is how he rationalizes what comes next…

[..]

by Sash Suicide

[..]