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This is [presented without title]. This is where my curiosity lead me. Let's see where I go.
Please buckle your seatbelts, this can get bumpy.
My name is irrelevant, my opinions will be easily seen.
Gentlemen, I’ve only been here five months, but this is the most astounding and most astoundingly disturbing hearing that I’ve been to since I’ve been here. You guys have essentially rewritten the Constitution here today. The Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 11, clearly says that the Congress has the power to declare war. This—this authorization, the AUMF [Authorization for Use of Military Force], is very limited. And you keep using the term “associated forces.” You use it 13 times in your statement. That is not in the AUMF. And you said at one point, “It suits us very well.” I assume it does suit you very well, because you’re reading it to cover everything and anything. And then you said, at another point, “So, even if the AUMF doesn’t apply, the general law of war applies, and we can take these actions.” So, my question is: How do you possibly square this with the requirement of the Constitution that the Congress has the power to declare war?
This is one of the most fundamental divisions in our constitutional scheme, that the Congress has the power to declare war; the president is the commander-in-chief and prosecutes the war. But you’re reading this AUMF in such a way as to apply clearly outside of what it says. Senator McCain was absolutely right: It refers to the people who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks on September 11. That’s a date. That’s a date. It doesn’t go into the future. And then it says, “or harbored such organizations”—past tense—”or persons in order to prevent any future acts by such nations, organizations or persons.” It established a date.
I don’t disagree that we need to fight terrorism. But we need to do it in a constitutionally sound way. Now, I’m just a little, old lawyer from Brunswick, Maine, but I don’t see how you can possibly read this to be in comport with the Constitution and authorize any acts by the president.
— Senator Angus King (I-ME) at a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on May 16, 2013, quoted in “‘Astoundingly Disturbing’: Obama Administration Claims Power to Wage Endless War Across the Globe” (May 17, 2013), Democracy Now! (via thepeoplesrecord)Welcome to NJ, Pro Gun Citizen Forcefully Removed From Hearing in the Middle of His Testimony
James Kaleda explains that the proposed NJ Gun Bills will not save any lives but will endanger them. He is ejected by Committee Chair Senator Norcross. This took place at the NJ Senate gun control hearings in Trenton on April 30, 2013.Notice in the video the legislators laugh as they have their security (armed with guns of course) remove Kaleda before he finished his testimony.
I guess this is how they handle dissent in NJ, remove it from the building with armed guards.
Drunk on power.
I watched this through to make sure he wasn’t actually in contempt… he did nothing wrong. They threw him out because his opinion was not their own.
THIS is intolerance. This is the physical act of physically keeping someone from expressing an opinion. Way to go, New Jersey. Goodbye, liberty.
And they clap because the man with the different opinion is escorted out of the building, violating his first Amendment right to free speech and the right to petition is his government.
Whether you’re pro-gun or not, this is ridiculous and a violation of his rights.
(via realworldnews)
TW: Rape Culture
Often men do not understand that women have to walk home carrying protection. I have friends who carry keys, mace, and keychain clubs. I carry a switchblade in my pocket when I walk home from work. The fact that I feel like I have to do so is sickening, and men should be able to see that.
I encourage men to be just as disgusted by rape culture as women. Aren’t you angry that a small percentage of your sex forces women to carry weapons and assume the worst of you when you walk home behind them?
We shouldn’t have to live in a culture that breeds necessary fear of strangers. I shouldn’t need a knife to walk home in the dark.
xx SF
Yes I was, That’s why I moved out of a violent crime ridden area, of course I was so focused on the danger of men that I never saw the woman coming….
terribly interesting.
because I and and every guy I know carries at least one knife on him at all times. several of them keep guns in their homes. and when travelling, I carry a slightly battered shillelagh.it appears that men are accustomed to what feminists call rape culture.
I’ve never carried a knife but I usually carry a water bottle which I make sure is available as a quick weapon (it’s usually full also).
Will these people please stop acting like they talk for all women omg, I have literally lost count of the number of times I’ve had to say this, but no, these experiences you’re all talking about are not universal female experiences.
I have literally never walked home like that… in fact, most of the time when I’m walking home, even late at night, I do so with my hands in my pockets and my ipod on. Is this the wisest choice? Maybe not, but where I live is ridiculously safe, my walk home is along a brightly-lit highly residential main road and I have never, ever felt truly threatened when walking anywhere late at night (aside from that one time with a bunch of aggressive teenage girls…). But my point is that not every woman lives their lives paralysed by fear and, more importantly, the fear you feel does not necessarily have any real bearing on the amount of danger you are actually in. Images like this prove nothing except that a small subset of women apparently like to bolster each other’s paranoia to make themselves feel special. …Or something, idek.
Plus, there are other reasons for being afraid of being out late. I personally have a tremendous fear of being mugged. Plus rape typically happens in a home environment, committed by someone the victim knew personally.
- Conor
Women don’t ‘have’ to do anything. Nobody is ‘forcing’ them to do this. Men face a much, much higher risk of all types of stranger violence.
Even if you use the most biased feminist statistics of rape, and erase that men are raped too, you have to consider other forms of violence, which are much more common. You cannot, therefore, claim that being unsafe is a uniquely female phenomenon.
You have to consider that most instances of rape are by somebody the victim knows, often at a party or within a relationship. You cannot, therefore, use statistics of rape’s prevalence to justify points about being unsafe on the streets, as most rapists are not strangers in alleyways, and so carrying weapons into those alleyways has nothing to do with most of the occurrences of rape you are citing.
I’ve always carried my keys like this, as a man, whilst I don’t know any women who do. Not only are you speaking over me, your claim to speak for all women as terrified little damsels is patronising and demeaning. Please stop.
(via kawaii-world-order)
People being angry about ~dem gays~ on Target’s Facebook.
I just want to give my two cents on this and tell you a story.
A couple weeks ago, I was hired at Target. I have a job at Target. Not a big deal right?
It is a big deal because i’m a transman.
It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that it’s hard for me, my brothers, and sisters to get a job. There are legal restraints regarding the job and if you don’t pass, it’s hard to be taken seriously at a job interview.
Right on the application, it asks what your preferred name is. It also asks if there is anything that target should know. I put the fact that I am a transman, expecting not to get a call because usually when you put that down, people will throw out the application. I got TWO interviews.
At the interview, they asked me about it. I told them I am on hormones and they told me that they didn’t care. Not in the sense that they don’t emotionally care, but that it didn’t matter. I was male and that’s all that mattered. They also told me that they give sex same couples benefits in states that do not recognize them as a married couple.
At my job orientation, I was not misgendered once. Even my supervisors who weren’t sure of my gender avoided pronoun use, which I found only happens when you’ve had pronoun training. They gave me a name tag with my preferred name and didn’t ask questions. I felt safe and respected, which is huge for a trans* person.
TLDR: Target is amazing not just for the LGB, but also the T. Shop there for the rest of your life.
Fuck yeah, Target! why you will forever get my business.
Right fucking on!
I feel that’s how a business should be run. What matters is if you can do the job and do it well. Target seems to understand that with some impressive staff, management and amazing policy. Fuck yeah, Target!
(via kawaii-world-order)
When I spend two hours in a meeting that should have lasted ten minutes
Still hearing this often. Thought a simple diagram might clear things up.
My, isn’t it awkward that you just fuckin recycled a nearly 40 year old article to shit on this latest generation?
Recession. Student debt. Etc. Lots of people smarter than me have already had some excellent commentary on this (here and here and here not to mention all the great Tumblr commentary).
But I do want to say:
Of all the images you could have picked, you chose one of a teenage girl taking a selfie.
Because of course, girls who have been taught nothing else by their elders except that their appearance is what matters are the reason we are all lazy and narcissistic.
Fuck off. You fucking made us. You raised me and my sister and my female cousin and millions and millions of girls to be self-conscious and obsessed with making ourselves look pleasing to men. You taught us that that was our only worth. And now you shit on us for it.
FUCK OFF, TIME.
(via cactustreemotel)
voice actor of finn draws finn
voice actor of finn is cordially invited to fuck my brains out
voice actor of finn is 15 years old
voice actor of finn is gonna get me arrested
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Reblogging simply for the amazing commentary
(via nicoliioo)
over 3 decades of groundbreaking advances in information technology and now here we are
SCREAMING BECAUSE AHHHHH.COM IS CAT
PLAY THE GAME PLAY THE GAME PLAY THE GAME
WAIT BUT http://www.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.com/
GUYS
i dont know but http://www.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.com/ is pretty amusing
BUT LOOK
http://www.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.com/ IS CATS STUCK IN BOXES THIS IS FANTASTIC
coke you silly silly bastards
There’s sixty fucking two of them
they stopped at sixty two
Why.
(via ticklishbutts)
First of all, dismissing info-activism as ‘just sharing pictures’ is so early 2000s. I’m only a little bit kidding. Because in all seriousness, in the age of digital information, spreading awareness by sharing images & information actually is important. And as much as older generations (who must not be paying attention to rapidly changing cultural shifts in how information is digested or who simply don’t understand the opportunities that creates) like to foolishly repeat the dismissive notion that anything done on the internet isn’t really doing anything ‘real’, that simply isn’t the case. Virtual space is where many of the meaningful social dialogues in our society are now happening. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing, if you care about the future of society, you have an obligation to participate in and affect that space.
That’s why these campaigns work so hard to get people to take quality photographs & to edit photos and maintain pages for the campaigns. The images are taken, made & posted so that we (the world/internet) will share them. It affects turn out to direct actions, it magnifies the impact, etc. Awareness is the whole point of these actions, so instead of the action only being seen by three people driving by that day (plus the workers at the construction site,) thousands will get to see what a few have done in these actions. It affects national consciousness and conversations around the world. It’s important. And every day as more people turn to the internet over TV, and turn to the internet for news over print media, it becomes more important, more relevant, more essential. Virtual spaces are not going away. They are increasingly relevant and increasingly helpful for sharing visual information, and that will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future. Affecting the consciousness, being vigilant in making sure that the left is more involved than others, is important for shaping our society and the possibilities of our society going forward.
Direct action is extremely important, for obvious reasons. If you specifically want to get involved with direct actions regarding the keystone XL pipeline, the states that have the pipeline are probably your only option. If you have a free weekend and the capacity to travel, they relatively often have campaign events calling for participants to arrive for a series of coordinated actions over a weekend. Gracie & I were recently able to go to a blockade in East Texas; we were there for three days. See the above map for ideas of where you might be able to travel to get involved with some pipeline resistance. If there isn’t a campaign related to your nearest pipeline, you can organize with others to build one. You really can. No, really. You can. You can use this blog for help finding like minds if you decide to go in that direction.
But there are many other direct action campaigns in Portland, Oregon that you can get involved with. Here a few starting resources for finding environmental organizations in your area that you could potentially get involved with:
Glad looks beyond the kitchen with trash bag tents
In an effort to encourage outdoor music festival clean-up, Glad, the venerable purveyor of plastic wrap and trash disposal accoutrement, introduces a camping tent that doubles as a giant garbage bag.
All of my this
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
since abercrombie an fitch destroys its unsold clothes and wont donate bc poor people wearing their clothes gives them a bad image i say everyone should donate as much abercrombie and fitch brand clothing that you have to homeless shelters so you can simultaneously piss off a shitty company and help those in need
(via this-is-getting-over-you)
