I Watch Silently As the World Screams

A dump of my mind; ideas, pictures, words, and the undecided. You can expect a mess of different things.

November 27, 2012 11:34 am
"Costco’s average pay, for example, is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam’s Club. And Costco’s health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco “it’s better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder.” Mr. Sinegal begs to differ. He rejects Wall Street’s assumption that to succeed in discount retailing, companies must pay poorly and skimp on benefits, or must ratchet up prices to meet Wall Street’s profit demands. Good wages and benefits are why Costco has extremely low rates of turnover and theft by employees, he said. And Costco’s customers, who are more affluent than other warehouse store shoppers, stay loyal because they like that low prices do not come at the workers’ expense. “This is not altruistic,” he said. “This is good business."

—

How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart - New York Times (via alexdarke)

(via pieceinthepuzzlehumanity-deacti)

11:29 am
thrillhouse1980: Having survived two assassination attempts, Mexican mayor found beaten to death Maria Santos Gorrostieta had been stabbed, beaten and burned She defied Mexico’s powerful drug gangs, who twice tried to gun her down previously She was kidnapped in broad daylight in front of her terrified daughter  The former mayor leaves behind three children This is an absolutely heart-wrenching and tragic story. If anybody ever dismisses wanting to end the nonsensical US drug war and the cause of drug legalization as something frivolous and self-serving to potheads, make sure you link them this article. 50000 Mexican people have died in cartel violence since 2006. How in the world do people anywhere in the world find this acceptable?

thrillhouse1980:

Having survived two assassination attempts, Mexican mayor found beaten to death

  • Maria Santos Gorrostieta had been stabbed, beaten and burned
  • She defied Mexico’s powerful drug gangs, who twice tried to gun her down previously
  • She was kidnapped in broad daylight in front of her terrified daughter 
  • The former mayor leaves behind three children

This is an absolutely heart-wrenching and tragic story. If anybody ever dismisses wanting to end the nonsensical US drug war and the cause of drug legalization as something frivolous and self-serving to potheads, make sure you link them this article. 50000 Mexican people have died in cartel violence since 2006.

How in the world do people anywhere in the world find this acceptable?

(via queerencia-deactivated20130103)

11:29 am
"America’s “millennials,” typically defined as the generation born during 1980-95, so roughly seventeen to thirty-two years old in 2012, grew up witnessing an era of unprecedented inequality of income, a catastrophic financial bubble, and a contagion of corporate fraud led by Wall Street. They have reached the age of majority and have tried to find jobs in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. They have never experienced firsthand a government that champions the principles of a mixed economy, regulation of corporate abuse, and fair redistribution of income."

—

Bit from “Occupy Global Capitalism” by Jeffrey D. Sachs in The Occupy Handbook. (via anabalius)

(Source: suilab, via oldenough2burmom)

November 21, 2012 8:55 pm
reclaimingthelatinatag: “My dream is to live in a better culture, one where hospitality and respect are the core values. Every morning I get up and I do much more than write, so that the next day I may awaken in my own dream. The only thing left to find out is, what will you do to share my dream?” - Agnes Torres Today is the 14th International Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day when we remember those who have been victims of anti-trans* violence. Agnes Torres is one of the many people who have lost their lives due to anti-trans* sentiments. Torres was a 28 year old psychologist, educator, and activist fighting for human rights in Mexico who was murdered this past May. This beautiful and brave woman fought very hard in her community, and she will never be forgotten. Justice for Agnes and all of our trans* brothers and sisters is something we must demand. Today we remember and mourn the victims of such violence, and we should also show solidarity with folks like CeCe McDonald, who is currently in a men’s prison because she defended her life and the lives of her friends. To learn more about the ITDOR and to see if there are any events near you, visit this website. 

reclaimingthelatinatag:

“My dream is to live in a better culture, one where hospitality and respect are the core values. Every morning I get up and I do much more than write, so that the next day I may awaken in my own dream. The only thing left to find out is, what will you do to share my dream?” - Agnes Torres

Today is the 14th International Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day when we remember those who have been victims of anti-trans* violence.

Agnes Torres is one of the many people who have lost their lives due to anti-trans* sentiments. Torres was a 28 year old psychologist, educator, and activist fighting for human rights in Mexico who was murdered this past May. This beautiful and brave woman fought very hard in her community, and she will never be forgotten.

Justice for Agnes and all of our trans* brothers and sisters is something we must demand. Today we remember and mourn the victims of such violence, and we should also show solidarity with folks like CeCe McDonald, who is currently in a men’s prison because she defended her life and the lives of her friends.

To learn more about the ITDOR and to see if there are any events near you, visit this website. 

(via queerencia-deactivated20130103)

8:53 pm

humanformat:

adailyriot:professorfangirl:songstersmiscellany:songstersmiscellany:

Shakespeare plays and sonnets performed using 400-year-old Original Pronunciation.

This video demonstrates why historically informed performance can be so illuminating.  Puns and lewd jokes, hidden in RP, leap out when performed in certain versions of OP.  Rhymes that don’t work in RP, do in OP: love vs. prove, speak vs. break, etc.  The ca. 1600 OP is so rich sounding; I would love to hear a production using it!

HBBO asked about unexpected “classics”.  Here’s one.

YIIIIS. I use this in class and lost the video and now here that motherfucker is!

for Cindy (my professor) since we’ll be reading Shakespeare next quarter. :)

Omg this changes everything ughhhh

(via queerencia-deactivated20130103)

8:52 pm

thepeoplesrecord:

Al Jazeera’s Cairo bureau firebombed by Egyptian protesters
November 11, 2012

Al-Jazeera’s office overlooking historical Tahrir Square in Cairo was firebombed by protesters as the third day of violent anti-government demonstrations rages on in Egypt’s capital.

The building was left gutted by the fire hours after protesters fell on the building with a volley of Molotov cocktails and gasoline bombs.

Footage broadcast on Egyptian television showed scorched lighting equipment dangling from the charred walls. No injuries were reported in the attack.

“At about 11 o’clock (1100 GMT) a group of protesters gathered near the office,” said Abdulla Ebeid, the operations manager of Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr said.

“They started to throw rocks at us and after all the windows were broken they threw a Molotov (petrol bomb) inside the studio so that it caught on fire. And, as you can see, all the components got ruined – the cameras, lighting systems and all the equipment got burned.”

Earlier in the day,  a mob fell upon Cairo’s security chief El-Sagheer as police and hundreds of protesters violently clashed on the square.

Primarily young demonstrators have battled with police in the heart of the city since Monday. Protesters have regularly lobbed stones and firebombs at security forces, who have responded by firing birdshot and tear gas into the crowd.

An interior ministry official said 118 people had been arrested since Monday. Medics say at least 60 have been injured in the three days of violence, while one protester from the secular April 6 movement remains in critical condition, AFP reports.

Protesters have accused Al-Jazeera of being biased toward the Muslim Brotherhood.

Many secular and youth movements have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the country’s perceived shift towards theocracy.

Monday’s demonstrations erupted on the one-year anniversary of bloody street battles which left 42 people dead. Activists have called for a mass nationwide protest against the government of Mohamed Morsi on Friday.

Source

(via anarcho-queer)

8:50 pm

(Source: kamranzaib, via queerencia-deactivated20130103)

8:45 pm

katelucia:

strugglingtobeheard:

i don’t get together on thanksgiving to give thanks for the colonization of this land, the enslavement of my peoples or the genocide of many indigenous peoples. i give thanks and get together with my family for surviving another year in a nation founded on all of that.

so say we all

(via brashblacknonbeliever)

November 17, 2012 11:19 pm

you know what dont mix well ? drunk me and internet.

lol

November 15, 2012 2:53 pm
fotojournalismus: Jihad Masharawi weeps while he holds the body of his 11-month old son Ahmad, at Shifa hospital following an Israeli air strike on their family house, in Gaza City, on Nov. 14. The offensive began on Wednesday when a precision Israeli airstrike assassinated Hamas military mastermind Ahmed Al-Jaabari, and Israel shelled the enclave from land, air and sea. The 15 killed in Gaza included Jaabari and six Hamas fighters plus eight civilians, among them a pregnant woman with twins, an 11-month old boy and three infants, according to the enclave’s health ministry. Medics reported at least 130 wounded. A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to 15 in a military showdown lurching closer to all-out war and an invasion of the enclave. [Credit : Majed Hamdan / AP]

fotojournalismus:

Jihad Masharawi weeps while he holds the body of his 11-month old son Ahmad, at Shifa hospital following an Israeli air strike on their family house, in Gaza City, on Nov. 14. The offensive began on Wednesday when a precision Israeli airstrike assassinated Hamas military mastermind Ahmed Al-Jaabari, and Israel shelled the enclave from land, air and sea. The 15 killed in Gaza included Jaabari and six Hamas fighters plus eight civilians, among them a pregnant woman with twins, an 11-month old boy and three infants, according to the enclave’s health ministry. Medics reported at least 130 wounded. A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to 15 in a military showdown lurching closer to all-out war and an invasion of the enclave.

[Credit : Majed Hamdan / AP]

(via mochente)

2:45 pm
"

A week after losing the election to President Obama, Mitt Romney blamed his overwhelming electoral loss on what he said were big “gifts” that the president had bestowed on loyal Democratic constituencies, including young voters, African-Americans and Hispanics.

In a conference call on Wednesday afternoon with his national finance committee, Mr. Romney said that the president had followed the “old playbook” of wooing specific interest groups — “especially the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people,” Mr. Romney explained — with targeted gifts and initiatives.

“In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Mr. Romney said.

“With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest, was a big gift,” he said. “Free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008.”

The president’s health care plan, he added, was also a useful tool in mobilizing African-American and Hispanic voters. Though Mr. Romney won the white vote with 59 percent, according to exit polls, minorities coalesced around the president in overwhelming numbers — 93 percent of blacks and 71 percent of Hispanics voted to re-elect Mr. Obama.

“You can imagine for somebody making $25,000 or $30,000 or $35,000 a year, being told you’re now going to get free health care, particularly if you don’t have it, getting free health care worth, what, $10,000 per family, in perpetuity, I mean, this is huge,” he said. “Likewise with Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus. But in addition with regards to Hispanic voters, the amnesty for children of illegals, the so-called Dream Act kids, was a huge plus for that voting group.”

"

—

It’s hard being a member of the 1 percent.

The New York Times, “Romney Blames Loss On Obama’s ‘Gifts’ to Minorities and Young Voters.”

Mitt Romney, a fucking piece of shit asshole.  Fuck you, you privileged dicksmack.  Fuck you.

(via inothernews)

Seconded.

(via cognitivedissonance)

Because Romney definitely didn’t run on a platform that included massive gifts for his pals, the rich people. Healthcare and birth control should be rights; they are in no way a “gift.” Racist shitstain.

(via stfuconservatives)

Yeah, “gifts” liiiiike treating women, minorities, and poor people like ACTUAL HUMAN BEINGS.

(via ragingbitchfest)

(via oldenough2burmom)

2:42 pm
"

I don’t believe in any kind of nonviolence. I believe that it’s right to be nonviolent with people who are nonviolent. But when you’re dealing with an enemy who doesn’t know what nonviolence is, as far as I’m concerned you’re wasting your time.

And I think that the people in this part of the world would do well to listen to Dr. Maritn Luther King and give him what he’s asking for and give it to him fast before some other factions come along and try to do it another way. What he’s asking for is right, that’s the ballot, and if he can’t get it the way he’s trying to get it, then it’s going to be gotten one way or the other.

"

—

Malcolm X

Even though Malcolm disagreed with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent approach, he still supported him. Taken from footage in Selma, Alabama, Feb. 4, 1965.

(via disciplesofmalcolm)

(via queerencia-deactivated20130103)

2:36 pm
africaisdonesuffering: Who are you denying? Skin bleaching is reaching a terrifying popularity within the African continent. As nations look to build their economies based on a capitalistic model, it seems the people are chasing beauty based on a European model and the only solution is from a bottle. Young women have begun to use skin bleaching to achieve the fair skin of our western cousins instead of the rich tones of our ancestors. At the core of this practice is the narrative presented on the meaning of beauty, worth, and identity. When a woman buys a potion hoping to change her skin tone because she equates fair skin to beauty, it also means that she believes dark skin is less beautiful or cannot be beautiful at all. If she believed otherwise, there would no reason to alter her appearance. It also tells us that having fairer skin is a more beautiful feature, that thought alone elevates an individual with dark skin from invisible to visible after bleaching. In that one act she communicates to others that she does not think she is beautiful, but she also says that her mother is not beautiful, her sister is not beautiful, and all other women of dark complexion are not beautiful by this standard she has accepted. By extension her ancestry cannot be beautiful unless they somehow also have this desired, fair skin. continue reading

africaisdonesuffering:

Who are you denying?

Skin bleaching is reaching a terrifying popularity within the African continent. As nations look to build their economies based on a capitalistic model, it seems the people are chasing beauty based on a European model and the only solution is from a bottle. Young women have begun to use skin bleaching to achieve the fair skin of our western cousins instead of the rich tones of our ancestors.

At the core of this practice is the narrative presented on the meaning of beauty, worth, and identity. When a woman buys a potion hoping to change her skin tone because she equates fair skin to beauty, it also means that she believes dark skin is less beautiful or cannot be beautiful at all. If she believed otherwise, there would no reason to alter her appearance. It also tells us that having fairer skin is a more beautiful feature, that thought alone elevates an individual with dark skin from invisible to visible after bleaching. In that one act she communicates to others that she does not think she is beautiful, but she also says that her mother is not beautiful, her sister is not beautiful, and all other women of dark complexion are not beautiful by this standard she has accepted. By extension her ancestry cannot be beautiful unless they somehow also have this desired, fair skin.

continue reading

(via mochente)

2:35 pm

eastafrodite:

Languages that are spoken in Ethiopia:

  • Amharic
  • Tigrinya
  • Oromo
  • Afar
  • Somaligna
  • Gamogna
  • Harari
  • Muher
  • Basso

..and about 80 others

Languages not spoken in Ethiopia:

  • Ethiopian

Why? Because that’s not a language that exists.

(Source: maarnayeri, via queerencia-deactivated20130103)

3:49 am
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."

—

Albert Camus (via quotesforarevolution)

(via undiscoveredpsyche)