The state of Washington has
filed suit against Arlene's Flowers, whose owner, Barronelle Stutzman, refused to provide flowers for the wedding of regular customers Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed.
[more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen
on Apr 11, 2013 -
232 comments
To understand what is at stake we need to make our way through the rhetorical smog. For months prior to the WCIT, the Euro-American press trumpeted warnings that this was to be an epochal clash between upholders of an open Internet and would-be government usurpers, led by authoritarian states like Russia, Iran and China. The terms of reference were set so rigidly that one European telecom company executive called it a campaign of “propaganda warfare” (2). ~
Masters of the Internet, Le Monde Diplomatique
posted by infini
on Feb 12, 2013 -
22 comments
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.
posted by Malor
on Feb 4, 2013 -
148 comments
Lisa Kristine, a photographer, gives a thoughtful and very moving talk on the extent of modern day slavery in this
TEDx talk. The photos she shows are absolutely beautiful and the bare-bones stories behind them are exceptionally hard to hear at times. The group she is working with,
Free the Slaves, seems to be doing a lot of good work and working on real solutions for the people involved (such as the one example she gives where the slaves that were freed carried on doing the same work, the only work they had ever known, but rent the quarry themselves and are now the recipients of the profits etc). She has published a book with these photos as well and it's available on her
website.
posted by HopStopDon'tShop
on Aug 15, 2012 -
4 comments
Some people have claimed that Barbie is really about giving girls the image of an empowered woman. There can be little doubt of empowerment when it comes to
Black Moses Barbie -
she fights for freedom and has all the coolest playsets and accessories.
posted by yeloson
on Apr 3, 2011 -
9 comments
The Someone You're Not: "Our packed prisons are starting to disgorge hundreds of mostly African-American men who, over the last few decades, we wrongly convicted of violent crimes. This is what it's like to spend nearly thirty years in prison for something you didn't do. This is what it's like to spend nearly thirty years as someone you aren't. And for Ray Towler, this is what it's like to be free." Via. [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Feb 25, 2011 -
18 comments
Deacon Dodge has a couple of posts (
here and
here) about religion, freedom and democracy amid the turmoil of Egypt.
[more inside]
posted by KMH
on Feb 4, 2011 -
4 comments
Copycat of Arizona's immigration status bill has passed the Mississippi Senate by a vote of 34-15. The difference here is that there is a precondition with the immigration status check. Though selection cannot be based on race, color, or country of origin but ability to English can cast enough suspicion to warrant a check on immigration status.
posted by azileretsis
on Jan 20, 2011 -
73 comments
Andrew Goodman was a classmate and friend of Paul Simon. During the Freedom Summer of 1964,
Andrew, Mickey Schwerner and James Chaney were arrested in Mississippi for speeding, and, after being released and encouraged to leave town, were shot by the KKK.
The song is attributed to Paul Kane (AKA Paul Simon).
posted by HuronBob
on Nov 15, 2010 -
24 comments
Jonathan Franzen makes a
video partially about why he doesn't like making videos.
posted by anothermug
on Aug 16, 2010 -
11 comments
The Anti-Defamation League has been
tracking religious extremism for several decades, including anti-Islamic violence in the United States after 9/11. Nonetheless, the organization
joined right-wing opposition earlier this week to the construction of
Cordoba House, a 13-story Muslim community center and mosque that may be built two blocks away from the site of the former World Trade Center. The ADL's alignment with calls for
"refudiation" by Republican celebrities Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, along with other members of the GOP who are
ramping up angry sentiments in voters during an election year, have puzzled and angered religious, political and cultural figures of various stripes, particularly within New York City itself.
[more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon
on Aug 1, 2010 -
446 comments
The FBI has released their extensive files on US Senator Edward M. Kennedy to the public, covering their relationship with him between 1961 and 1985. The seven files, totaling more than 2,200 pages of documents
reveal (among other things,) the perhaps unsurprising news that the late Senator
received "scores" of
death threats from radical groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, “Minutemen” organizations, and the National Socialist White People’s Party. The release was initiated by a Freedom of Information Act Request from
Judicial Watch on May 3, 2010, (Complaint
pdf) but the FBI gave the Senator's family the
"rare opportunity" to raise objections before releasing the file.
posted by zarq
on Jun 14, 2010 -
20 comments
Restoring Journalism Maureen Tkacik talks about her life as a journalist, the nothing-based economy, and the future of journalism. She suggests abandoning authority and productively channeling narcissism. (via
2p &
dd)
[more inside]
posted by kliuless
on Jun 12, 2010 -
18 comments
