June 2013
9 posts
Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations steps forward →
guardian.co.uk
The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA’s history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows.
“I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things.”
The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.
The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. “I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” he said.
Snowden will go down in history as one of America’s most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world’s most secretive organisations – the NSA.
In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions,” but “I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”
Play
Redefining Body Image: sad-queer: things “body positivity” movements should address besides... →
redefiningbodyimage.tumblr.com
things “body positivity” movements should address besides weight/fat:
- (dis)ability
- features associated with non-whiteness
- hair type
- lots of body hair / no body hair / little body hair / hair in all places / losing hair
- acne
- skin conditions
- scars
- stretch marks
- skin…
“The fact that you’re struggling doesn’t make you a burden. It doesn’t make you unloveable or undesirable or undeserving of care. It doesn’t make you too much or too sensitive or too needy. It makes you human. Everyone struggles. Everyone has a difficult time coping, and at times, we all fall apart. During these times, we aren’t always easy to be around — and that’s okay. No one is easy to be around one hundred percent of the time. Yes, you may sometimes be unpleasant or difficult. And yes, you may sometimes do or say things that make the people around you feel helpless or sad. But those things aren’t all of who you are and they certainly don’t discount your worth as a human being. The truth is that you can be struggling and still be loved. You can be difficult and still be cared for. You can be less than perfect, and still be deserving of compassion and kindness.”
—Daniell Koepke (via internal-acceptance-movement)
May 2013
19 posts
Believing that all bodies are attractive does not mean you personally have to be attracted to all bodies.
It means that you believe that every body is capable of being found attractive by someone.
thank you
fuck yeah, hard femme!: September Masterpost: 120 Trans Ladies you need to know. →
fuckyeahhardfemme.tumblr.com
Hello followers! The month of September has drawn to a close, and while this means that womenwhokickass is back to our usual posts, we’re already busy working on the next theme! (If you ask us nicely, we may tell you!)
In any case, it was wonderful writing for you all this…
“When my absence doesn’t alter your life, then my presence has no meaning in it.”
—
Unknown (via mermaidporn)
I unspokenly choose to invest in friendships based on this principle. People who don’t make time for me don’t deserve my time.
I stopped tumblr for many reasons but here are the two most important ones:
1) all the same material, little discussion (more reinforcements or arguments and less exploration) and not enough sourcing
2) my blog has always been used to reblog instead of posting and creating which is unsatisfying and dull
There is a very good reason why I don’t create. The things that aren’t worth creating are usually things that aren’t challenging and I can’t get into. The things that have been buzzing in my head and are personally vital to moving forward are things I’m afraid to address because when the gates are open and i’m not sure what will come out and how stable i’ll be.
I worked on a personal painting about family dysfunction and tried to keep a third party distance to the issues. I still attempted to identify symbols and representations of specific feelings and experiences and it proved impossible to not get emotionally involved. I can’t stand outside myself and address something deeply rooted all the while pretending that it doesn’t affect me. My emotions ended up creeping up into my head space and it got to the point where it consumed me whole and I had to fully realize and address those issues. Though the process fueled my ideas for creating and brought to the surface some untouched observations and realizations, i’m scared to go back to a place where I can’t be productive. Where I don’t know how to balance my emotions and I no longer have control. When I spiral off I can’t pull back and restrain enough to be functional, i just become this hot ass mess.
To all those who follow and all those who are involved with my life please excuse all my new personal posts and I hope you will listen. These days I find it hard to find people actually willing to listen to me.
“Around the block, two buildings near Cass Technical High School and the Masonic Temple were bought in January by entities that have created opaque paper trails. One of the buildings was a vacant nursing home on Ledyard. The other was owned by the Baptist State Convention of Michigan that was being used by Cass Park Baptist Church congregation, which has moved out. Both were sold in January, according to public records. Both purchases are linked to a limited liability company that doesn’t provide a telephone number on the public document; both list a registered agent as the sole representative for the company. The deals are similar to the nearly two dozen property deals of blighted buildings and vacant parcels that have taken place in the neighborhood since September 2008. Most sellers have signed confidentiality agreements. So far, none of the purchased properties has been renovated or put back to use. Residents in each affected apartment building, a total of 96 units, said they received a three-sentence letter in their mailboxes Friday informing them that Mercier has signed an agreement to sell. It doesn’t name the new owner. “And the new owner has requested that all of the apartments be vacated,” states the letter.”
—
this is what gentrification looks like. this is what land grabs look like. this is what white supremacist heteropatriarchy looks like. FUCK.
THIS IS BULLSHIT.
(via iinventedeverything)
Necessary reblog, this shit is supposed to be illegal. I hate it when people tell me block busting is a serious accusation and then in two years I see luxury high rise apartments/condos and no low income housing anymore.
(via spiralred)
March 2013
174 posts
Why do you have to bring up race? →
sinidentidades.tumblr.com
- 70 Percent of Anti-LGBT Murder Victims Are People of Color
- While people of color make up about 30 percent of the United States’ population, they account for 60 percent of those imprisoned.
- Report: Immigration Status Race Affect Domestic Workers’ Pay
- Once convicted, black offenders receive longer sentences compared to white offenders. The U.S. Sentencing Commission stated that in the federal system black offenders receive sentences that are 10 percent longer than white offenders for the same crimes.
- Marijuana Prohibition Turns 75, Blacks Three Times More Likely to be Arrested Than Whites
- According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime.
- A number of states have bans on people with certain convictions working in domestic health-service industries such as nursing, child care, and home health care—areas in which many poor women and women of color are disproportionately concentrated.
- African Americans were twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police.
- The prison population grew by 700 percent from 1970 to 2005, a rate that is outpacing crime and population rates. The incarceration rates disproportionately impact men of color: 1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men.
- [TW: Rape] Canadian police accused of abusing native women
- CNN breaks down the numbers: > Nearly nine out of 10 people “stopped and frisked” under a controversial New York Police Department policy in 2011 were African-American or Hispanic.
- The War on Drugs Is Really a War on Minorities
- Martin Luther King assassinated by US government: MLK civil trial decision
When Body Snark Becomes Even Uglier: The Problem with Calling People ‘Tr*nny’ →
thelingerieaddict.com
About a year ago, as TLA was starting to get a lot bigger, I noticed the beginnings of a strange new pattern. People started calling me a “tr*nny” in the comments of some my photos. Even now, as I’m typing this, my brows kind of furrow into a confused expression.
It’s not that I’m offended and appalled anyone would think I’m transgender (because, obviously, there’s nothing wrong with being transgender), it’s just that I’m a bit taken aback people would attempt to use gender identity as an insult. 1) How is being transgender a bad thing? 2) Why in the world are you still using those slurs?
But as it happened more and more (never what I’d call “frequently,” but often enough to take notice) and as The Lingerie Addict established itself as an anti-bullying environment, that whole thing got me thinking about body snark. One of the most offensive aspects of body snark is that it’s used to delegitimize women (as the popular phrase like “real women have curves” makes clear). Suddenly, instead of just being a woman, full stop, there are degrees of ‘real’ womanhood to aspire to. And if you don’t make the cut, then I suppose you’re a fake woman. Which is just weird. And silly. And wrong.
Attn: Dudes
Call out your bros.
I have literally never seen a guy tell another guy that he is being sexist, misogynist, or slut-shamey.
Not even once.
Call out your bros.
Something Quiet: HOW TO FUCKING MAKE A FINE-ASS CUP OF TEA →
something-quiet.tumblr.com
LISTEN UP ALL YOU PANSY MOTHERFUCKING TEA DRINKERS. TEA IS A FINE-ASS LADY, AND DESERVED TO BE FUCKED GENTLY AND SLOWLY, NOT FUCKED UP BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION.
YOU FUCKING MICROWAVE YOUR WATER? BULLSHIT.
SHITTY TEABAG USER? DOUBLE BULLSHIT.
BEFORE YOU…
“
People who think that no one uses welfare/food stamps to actually buy things they need can tell that to my hungry 11 year old self who wouldn’t have had decent lunches or meat (at all) without government assistance.
Oh, and who might have gone hungry if there had been drug testing involved. Thanks. I’m glad that you know more about my life than I do! If only I had realized sooner that my mom wasn’t really buying food with that money! I mean, I don’t know what she was doing with it, since our lives were fucking awful at that point and we had a grand total of zero luxuries (I shared a room with my mom! In the basement of my grandma’s condo! I did laundry for the whole house to earn enough dimes to buy myself sodas and candy!), but really, please, enlighten me.
Also, as a child of a drug addict, this law fucking terrifies me. The idea that some kid who is trying to cope with having an addict for a parent (not always easy) also might go hungry or without new clothes or whatnot because some privileged assholes think poor people have to be suffering saints to qualify for help literally makes me cry to think about.
” —(via stfuconservatives)
YAAAS TO ALL OF THIS
(via love-resist)
All these bullshit “welfare reform” laws that are designed to fix some imaginary problem in the system that doesn’t exist all comes out of the perpetuation of the “welfare queen” stereotype that we love to vilify all the time.
When we think welfare we think poor black woman who’s having babies for extra government benefits who’s really just taking the government handouts to buy drugs, candy or brand new shoes or some shit…
Making laws based off stereotypes is NOT how we combat poverty. Its how we make the issue even worse
(via newwavefeminism)
If my mom didn’t have foot stamps she would probably be not able to afford the frugal below poverty line living that she does now. My mom has been unemployed forever, deals with a serious case of bipolar and can barely keep track of conversations while having them. She smokes sometimes to help and if drug testing inhibited her from getting aid me and my brother would probably have been seriously fucked.
“Don’t settle. Don’t finish crappy books. If you don’t like the menu, leave the restaurant. If you’re not on the right path, get off it.”
—Chris Brogan (via dulcetdecember)
New research shows 0.6% of rape allegations are false. →
m.guardian.co.uk
and for those interested, you can find the report HERE
Just in case any dudebros are unclear on what this means: it means that your buddy who totally just had some bitch trying to ruin his life by accusing him of rape…almost certainly actually did rape her.
Just keep that in mind.
Yeah man, imagine that, bitches don’t be lying.
Can we put this into context? It means that 99.4% of rape allegations are true.
It means that 99.4% of rape allegations are true.
When you read through and learn about those 0.6% who did make false allegations, there are some seriously important things to note. Firstly :
“Furthermore, the report shows that a significant number of these cases involved young, often vulnerable people. About half of the cases involved people aged 21 years old and under, and some involved people with mental health difficulties. In some cases, the person alleged to have made the false report had undoubtedly been the victim of some kind of offence (sic), even if not the one which he or she had reported.”
And then, when you get into the case studies you find things like a 14 year old girl sleeping with an 18 year old. When discovered, she claimed the sex was non-consensual in fear of her father’s disapproval, but investigation of texts and emails found that to be untrue. THAT SAID, the 18 year old was found to have a history of pursuing and seducing many very young girls, and once he was counseled he expressed not only regret over his actions, but the knowledge that he was purposefully picking vulnerable girls who could be easily manipulated into consent.
Another case was a married couple, where the wife claimed rape and domestic violence, so the husband was arrested and held. After some contact between the two while he was incarcerated, she went back to him and wanted the charges dropped. It’s okay because she still loves him. When the DA decided to keep going, she suddenly said that she made it up and he never raped her at all.
Further counseling revealed that the allegations were true, but she didn’t want to be without him so she lied about the allegations being false.
I don’t know about you, but this kind of sounds like classic domestic violence, and the kind of patterns you get into after living with an abuser.The point I’m trying to make is that even though there are 0.6% false claims… when you break them down you find that there’s generally a lot of skeevy shit going on, and like the above quote, many of the alleged rape victims are actual victims of other abuses. For some of them, I’m guessing that an allegation of rape was the only way to bring enough attention to their abuse to finally get protection by law enforcement, or enough care from family to be freed from their abusive situations and moved somewhere safe. Some are mentally ill and have been taken advantage of, or are victims of statutory rape because they are not even remotely mature enough to truly consent to a sexual relationship with an adult.
These cases aren’t just as simple as, “some bitch regretted sex and cried rape”.
