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shortformblog: kindofagiant: shortformblog: brooklynmutt: CNN’s Nancy Grace and Ashleigh Banfield Hold Split-Screen Interview in Same Parking Lot Check out the “same bus in both shots.” More: The Atlantic Wire CNN’s problems, in animated GIF form. OH MY GOD WHAT A HORRENDOUS OCCURRENCE! Seriously? People are complaining about their live shots? Well, considering Nancy Grace had to make multiple appearances on multiple networks right after one another, this actually makes sense. Ashleigh can host her show from one place while Nancy does all her appearances without making either crew scramble and run around town. I get that picking on CNN is in fashion with the Internet blogs right now, but I guess I’d like to see more substantive critiques rather than “Hey they’re both in the same place! What’s up with that?!” Maybe there’s a reason why they’re doing it like this? Maybe give them the benefit of the doubt that they know what they’re doing? Sounds crazy, I know. Just my 2 cents. Sure, let’s try a substantive critique.  The woman on the left is talking to Nancy Grace, a major CNN Networks personality who once berated a woman on television just a few days before that woman committed suicide, then was forced to settle for $200,000 in a wrongful death suit. When asked if she felt sorry for what happened, she said of Melinda Duckett in the immediate wake of the news, “If anything, I would suggest that guilt made her commit suicide.” Despite this, Nancy Grace is still on the air seven years later, talking in the same parking lot as Ashleigh Banfield. If you had a job where you did that and had to settle over it, would you still be working there? Probably not. But Nancy Grace is still at HLN. The problem with CNN is that they have lowered their standards significantly, thinking that a broad but unbiased approach will bring the ratings. (It hasn’t.) Moments like Howard Kurtz’s 15-minute mea culpa are so rare on the network these days that you have to cherish them as signs that a network that’s lost its way might find it again. It’s like they realized recently, hey, Twitter is faster than we are, and so maybe this breaking news thing isn’t quite as fun anymore. Let’s do another “lighter side of life” segment. They don’t have a rudder anymore. For the first twenty years of their existence, they had a pretty good one: Covering news, being the first news outlet to report on a story, keeping the level of the conversation high. But sometime between 9/11 and now, something changed. They got sloppy. They blew two major stories within a year—first healthcare, then the Boston marathon suspect. For some reason, Fox News scared them a lot. And instead of deciding their mission was hard-hitting journalism, they decided they were more comfortable with “background visuals for airport terminals.” Their rudder could be BBC, American version. But instead it’s, The Weather Channel, but for news. You may think that this is a stupid thing to make fun of, funny ha ha, oh they’re on split screens like this. But really, the reason this is coming up is because CNN has become so much about the spectacle—holograms, giant touch screens, never-ending cruise line sagas—that you can’t take them seriously, and moments like this bus moving by two anchors at the same time overshadow the news actually happening. I snarked that this was “CNN’s problems, in animated GIF form,” and I stand by it. They were already seen as lightweight, but then they hired the fluffmeister himself. They’re so concerned with looking like a serious news outlet that they’d rather look the part by having split screens than actually focus on the kind of in-depth stuff that Al Jazeera English actually does. Do you think AJE’s producers are like “we must get our reporter on a split screen to make it look like we’re on the scene”? No. They’re at the big kids’ table, reporting the news. That’s why this GIF represents CNN’s problems. Because while they were busy putting Nancy Grace on a split screen, they could have gotten someone other than Nancy Grace to talk about this story.
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latimes: The photo above, showing Boston the night after the tragic marathon bombing, was tweeted yesterday by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield from the International Space Station in a sign of solidarity: Our crew just heard about the horrible events at the Boston Marathon. We all pass our condolences and thoughts to everyone affected. — Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) April 15, 2013
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definitelydope: knowledgeequalsblackpower: kaileyxkatastrophe: cocobaby23: medeaismyfavourite: babyslime: dumbthingswhitepplsay: siddharthasmama: thequilentone: knowledgeequalsblackpower: June, 1964. Black children integrate the swimming pool of the Monson Motel. To force them out, the owner pours acid into the water. And white folk wonder why My mom was born in ‘64, kay? So, what that means is… THIS SHIT WASN’T THAT LONG AGO AND Y’ALL NEED TO STOP ACTING LIKE THE SHIT WE TALK ABOUT IS ARCHAIC AND OLD-HAT. my mom was still in trinidad when this happened but seriously it could’ve happened to either my aunt or uncle who were 12 and 15/16 respectively I think photos like this need to exist, not because I like the subject matter, but because it helps immortalize events that many people want to forget ever happened (and work pretty hard to make it so). It makes us face it. I’ve seen this picture before, but don’t know all the details. I hope the children in this photo were okay. I’m always going to reblog photos like this. People are always like “Oh just get over it already”. Well, no. No. Reblogging this picture AGAIN. Because NEVER FORGET. This is awful, no human being should be treated like this. However, I’d just like to point out that not all white people were like this or are like this. Many people might be annoyed by the fact that anyone with a lighter complexion is grouped in with savages such as the man depicted above pouring the acid ^Wtf is wrong with White people though? Like, I really want to know what the fuck is wrong with y’all? I really want to know what possesses y’all to hear, see, eat, shit, and breathe nothing but White people, White ideals, and White history all fucking day long… and then when you see ONE thing circulating that doesn’t involve White people and sunshine, lollipops, and teddy bears, you feel the need to “point out” something???? THIS IS NOT AN OFFENSIVE AGAINST YOU. THIS IS SIMPLE HISTORY. THIS IS WHAT YOU DID AND DO TO PEOPLE!! And instead of fessing up.. White people have only ever denied and averted attention away from true facts of the matter. They never want to talk about what IS there. They wanna talk about what ISN’T there. Any other time, it’s exactly what’s in the photo. But only when confronted with their racism, white people look away and suddenly think, “Well.. what about what’s not there.” Is it like looking in the mirror and not liking what you see?.. I mean, wtf is that? Why did you have to poke in your little irrelevant opinion? Sure there are “good White people.” NO DUH! But I’ll tell you one thing… seems like it’s a billion White people online ****all**** thinking they’re “good.” But racism against people of color still exists… from the economy.. to education…to the government…. to dating…  to simple online gaming… RACISM STILL EXISTS. Not only are people of color talking about it…. It is documented. It is quantitative and qualitative.  So where the fuck are all you “good” White people????????????????? I guess too busy trying to defend your “image”  and apparently not “good” enough to get off your “good” asses and make changes in this country.  Here is THE ONE THING I’ve learned about “good” White people. You go to their blog…….. They sit on their asses blogging nothing but White models.. White television shows, White book characters…. White White White.. all day….and then the ONE TIME they decide to blog anything .. anything about racism at ALL…. they still manage to somehow make it about White people’s “goodness”. Oh.. everybody doesn’t do that. I can’t possibly be grouped in with those other people. I’m diet racist-lite now with Splenda. I wish I could take every “good” White person I’ve run across online.. line them up in a row, and spit in their faces or at least physically shake them…. maybe toss a glass of wine in their face. Something ANYTHING to get them to WAKE THE FUCK UP and realize YOU ARE NOT THE  GOOD WHITE PERSON THAT YOU LIKE TO THINK THAT YOU ARE!!!!!!!! Racism is alive and prospering in the country that it built… we are living history right now. And when they look back on our present times, you will not be counted among the “good” White people. And has the nerve to talk about being annoyed. You don’t know what it’s like to be annoyed ‘til you had a conversation with a “good” White person about racism. And for the record, in my entire life, I’ve met 2 racially conscious White people… and lemme tell you, they don’t derail conversations about racism so that they can put more unnecessary positive White affirmations out into the world. ^^^^^^^^^yes.
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laughingsquid: The World As 100 People, An Infographic By Jack Hagley
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If your child is young enough to believe this, they’re probably also young enough to stick their hand in and eat jellybeans straight from the toilet.

pinterestyouaredrunk:

image

Source: ivillage.com via Chateau on Pinterest

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breakingnews: Snowstorm ruins spring’s arrival for much of US NBC News:An early spring snowstorm is expected to bring even more snow to Colorado, the Great Plains states and the Midwest through the weekend and into early next week. Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio could receive up to a foot of snow from the storm, while most of the country will continue to see unseasonably cold March temperatures through next week. The spring snow even affected international football. The US won a World Cup 2014 qualifying game against Costa Rica on Friday night despite Costa Rica’s protests that the blizzard conditions made the game an ‘embarrassment to football.’ Photo: A soccer match between the US and Costa Rica went ahead Friday despite blizzard conditions in Commerce City, Colorado. Snow in Colorado in March doesn’t seem that unreasonable.  July would be a different story.
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gq: Jason Bateman Tells Us About the Next Season of Arrested Development GQ: Okay, Arrested Development. What was that like to get everyone back together after all those years of talking about it and fans clamoring for it? Jason Bateman: It was something that, every month or two since the end of the show, there would be an update about the progress [about some kind of reunion]. So it wasn’t that big of a shock when it happened, because it always seemed like it was a half a year from happening anyway. But when we did finally all come together on the set, it was pretty neat. I just don’t know how many examples there are of that—where people get to come back and do a reunion-type situation and have it not be a bit of a Hail Mary, careerwise. That show launched a lot of our careers and everyone is doing great, so to come back together while things are going well is really a fortunate situation. Everybody had to be big boys about not making it financially impossible. GQ: What else can you tell me about the show? The entire Internet wants to know. Jason Bateman: The last line of the last episode of Arrested Development was Ron Howard saying to Maeby—she’s pitching him a show about her family at Imagine—and he says to her, “No, I don’t see it as a series. Maybe a movie!” And then the screen goes black. That’s it. So Mitch [Hurwitz, the show’s creator] was always planning on writing a movie. Every time he went to start a movie script, there was so much work to be done just to fill the audience in on where the family had been since the end of the show, and to also initiate the uninitiated about who these characters are. So he thought: The only way to tell a story of this size is to do the first act in episodes. So it’s really a hybrid distribution of one big story. The episodes are simply act 1, and the movie will have act 2 and act 3 in it. So one does not work without the other. GQ: So there are stories in the episodes that won’t resolve until the movie? Jason Bateman: There are many, many questions that these episodes ask that only the movie will answer. And there are many stories where the loop is closed inside the episodes. But the overall story, the bigger story, once you see the movie you will see that “oh, this story started with those fourteen episodes,” because the action in these fourteen episodes happens simultaneously. Each character has their own episode. There’s a Michael episode, a Gob episode, a Lindsay episode, a Maeby episode. And the action across the episodes is happening simultaneously. If I’m driving down the street in my episode and Gob’s going down the sidewalk on his Segway, you could stop my episode, go into his episode, and follow him and see where he’s going. It’s not exactly like a Choose Your Own Adventure type of thing, but Mitch has written these episodes exclusively for the distribution platform and format of Netflix, knowing that they were all going to be released, like an album, on the same day. So certain clues are revealed to you based on the order in which you watch them. There will be an order that is suggested, but because part of the fun of what he does is so dense and multilayered—I mean, if you could see the writers’ room before we started shooting—the cards and literally the strings of yarn, different colored characters where plotlines and index cards are matched to this one, and then there’s an entire other room that is the movie. It looks like A Beautiful Mind. Continued at GQ.com
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humansofnewyork: Found this on the front page of Reddit.
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In Torrington, CT, two football players have been accused of rape, and as the Register Citizen reports, the 13-year-old reported victim has faced significant bullying on Twitter ever since.

shortformblog:

Two Torrington High School football players stand accused of sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl. Four others were suspended in a hazing scandal last fall that is still under investigation. One player, the team’s second-highest scorer last fall, was allowed to play even though the team’s coach knew he had been charged with felony robbery and assault.

School officials claim that the sexual assault charges against 18-year-olds Edgar Gonzalez and Joan Toribio, the hazing and other incidents are isolated problems and don’t signal a deeper issue with the culture of Torrington High School, its athletic programs or football team.

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But on social media in recent weeks, dozens of athletes and Torrington High School students, male and female, have taunted the 13-year-old victim, calling her a “whore,” criticizing her for “snitching” and “ruining the lives” of the 18-year-old football players, and bullying students who defend her.

Extremely tough read. A number of tweets are republished behind the link.

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"I was raped by four men in one evening. I got drunk and tried to say no. What did my predators do? They told me to drink more. They shoved a bottle in my face and told me to keep drinking. Drink till I was drunk enough to fuck them. I blacked out. They urinated on me. They assaulted me. They shoved foreign objects in my body, anally and vaginally. They took videos. I was just 16 years old. The video was sent around my entire school, and I was bullied every single day of my senior year of high school. I lost all of my friends. I was physically and verbally abused by peers and people I once called friends. Someone tried to set me on fire in the hallway during passing period. Nobody sympathized with me. Nobody cared about the fact that because of these events, I was trying to kill myself every single day. I was cutting myself, making myself puke, showering upwards of fifteen times a day because I felt filthy. I was scratching and peeling the skin off of my body because I was dirty. I looked at myself like I deserved what I got. The world saw me as dirty, so I began to see myself that way, too. My rapists were praised by my peers for their deed. I never had a voice. When I first learned about the Steubenville incident going to trial, I was overjoyed. Because Jane Doe’s story was my story, and if anyone deserved justice, it was her. She would get the justice I never got. She would change the tide of the rape culture movement. Despite the horrific events that occurred, I knew that the justice served would help ease her pain. But she didn’t get justice, and now she has to witness this news coverage, favoring and sympathizing with her attackers. Pain is not an accurate word to describe what she is feeling right now. Pain is the simplest term you could use. As a rape victim and an aspiring journalist, I am disgusted with the way this case was reported on. Jane Doe’s rapists deserve their suffering in prison. They deserve more. They do not deserve to be sympathized with. They made their stupid decision, and they deserve whatever consequences come their way. If you don’t want to be labeled as a rapist, don’t fucking rape."

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Anonymous comment left on the CNN petition demanding they apologize for sympathizing with the Steubenville rapists (via theworldmaybebroken)

I’ve had a hard time looking at Tumblr the past couple days because of the constant reminder of this fucked up media sympathy situation. It turns my stomach. I’ve had people close to me suffer sexual assault and then had people they love tell them they “deserved it” because of what they were wearing or what they were doing. This is the culture we live in? That we should naturally assume and believe that all men are disgusting pigs just WAITING for an opportunity to take advantage of someone? No one “deserves” to be raped. That is repulsive. Everyone keeps talking about the misogyny in this situation and our culture (which is fucking obvious to anyone who has a functioning brain) but there’s also an extreme level of misandry that I have yet to read about, that every male is a villainous monster and we should OBVIOUSLY ASSUME they are going to hurt us if we flirt with them and wear a short skirt. That we are taught and reminded on a daily basis to think so lowly of men is horribly insulting to them.

(via juliavickerman)

(Source: , via juliavickerman)

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