Oct
27

Oct
25

Occupy Movement News Update of the Day: At approximately 4:45 AM PT this morning, some 500 Oakland police officers in full riot gear entered Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall, and proceeded to dismantle the tent city erected by members of Occupy Oakland two weeks ago. Protesters attempted to fend off the police with firecrackers, a fire extinguisher, and stolen police barriers, but were shut down after 30 minutes. The official Occupy Oakland Twitter feed called the early morning raid a “surprise assault,” and claimed many were injured after officers fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bang grenades at a crowd of about 300 campers. Police Chief Howard Jordan later countered that report at a City Hall press briefing, saying the operation went smoothly, and no injuries were sustained by either police or protesters. Officials did confirm that tear gas was used along with “bean bag rounds,” and said an investigation will be conducted. At least 85 people were arrested according The Oakland Tribute, which has posted some photos of the raid.  Mayor Jean Quan released a statement saying that both the demonstrators and the city had lost the ability to “maintain safe or sanitary conditions, or control the ongoing vandalism,” requiring the tent city’s disbanding. Quan invited peaceful protesters to return to the plaza to exercise their first amendment rights during park hours. Occupy Oakland has asked demonstrators to meet up at the city’s public library at 4 PM local time. Other Occupied cities have announced solidarity marches. Meanwhile, both Occupy Atlanta and Occupy Baltimore are preparing for a similar showdown with police. [ows: 1,2 / oaktrib: 1,2 / 11alive.] Related: Occupy Wall Street: The Book.

Occupy Movement News Update of the Day: At approximately 4:45 AM PT this morning, some 500 Oakland police officers in full riot gear entered Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall, and proceeded to dismantle the tent city erected by members of Occupy Oakland two weeks ago.

Protesters attempted to fend off the police with firecrackers, a fire extinguisher, and stolen police barriers, but were shut down after 30 minutes.

The official Occupy Oakland Twitter feed called the early morning raid a “surprise assault,” and claimed many were injured after officers fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bang grenades at a crowd of about 300 campers.

Police Chief Howard Jordan later countered that report at a City Hall press briefing, saying the operation went smoothly, and no injuries were sustained by either police or protesters. Officials did confirm that tear gas was used along with “bean bag rounds,” and said an investigation will be conducted.

At least 85 people were arrested according The Oakland Tribute, which has posted some photos of the raid. 

Mayor Jean Quan released a statement saying that both the demonstrators and the city had lost the ability to “maintain safe or sanitary conditions, or control the ongoing vandalism,” requiring the tent city’s disbanding. Quan invited peaceful protesters to return to the plaza to exercise their first amendment rights during park hours.

Occupy Oakland has asked demonstrators to meet up at the city’s public library at 4 PM local time. Other Occupied cities have announced solidarity marches.

Meanwhile, both Occupy Atlanta and Occupy Baltimore are preparing for a similar showdown with police.

[ows: 1,2 / oaktrib: 1,2 / 11alive.]

Related: Occupy Wall Street: The Book.

Source thedailywhat

Reblogged from thedailywhat

Oct
24

These are the awe inspiring photographs from Japan the day of the earthquakes and tsunami, then partial cleanup, and finally what it looks like just 6 months after (today).

I recommend you click on and look through the entire gallery to see how well this country has bounced back after just a terrible event.  Over 20,000 people are either dead or missing.  800,000 home were either fully or partially destroyed and displaced over 400,000.  Wow, wow, wow.

[Source of pictures]

Oct
23

Oct
21

An update on the Book

I haven’t talked about the book I’ve been writing in a long time.  Many things have happened since I announced and released the first page on Facebook months ago. 

1.  I have completed 122 pages

and

2.  I have rewritten the first page, which I wanted to share at least the ROUGH first bit with you.

——————————————-

My name is Philip DeFranco and my life is…..weird.  I say weird because I have no other way to describe it.  Here is the free run on sentence version if you don’t want to buy this silly book.  I was a loser for 17 years before I finally left my moms house because she was an alcoholic that liked to fight with my abusive step dad a bit too much, I lost my first “real” job at a movie theater for letting my boss perform the oral on me, I spent most of my college years drinking bacardi 151, doing whip-its, and being way too concerned that my girlfriend was cheating on me; spoiler alert, she was and when I broke up with her she fucked her boss at Sonics 24 hours later which really sucked because I loved their onion rings for lunch, so then I jumped into a life of bootlegging DVDs on Ebay to make up the half of rent I no longer had because I kicked that whore out of my apartment, followed by me dropping out of college and “online dating” a 21 year old woman in NY who turned out to be a crazy 17 year old in Kentucky, which is when I lost all my money, but my YouTube audience I had built over the past year gave me 500 bucks for gas money to get to Florida, which is where I lied to my dad about going to my classes at FSU, used the student loans to buy a computer and camera to help make youtube videos that slowly got more and more popular which resulted in my father kicking me out for lying to him and throwing my life away into a field with no future, then just three months later meeting my now current girl of 4 years Lindsay through YouTube and having one of the most watched shows on YouTube, WHICH is also around the time I formed a super mega ultra company with friends, left it, compete with it, and now according to the news I’m helping lead the digital entertainment revolution.  Or something like that…..

So if you would like to continue reading this book that I have written with half a bottle on Jack Daniels in me……..enjoy.

The last moments of Gaddafi before he was pulled away and shot at close range. This is why, conspiracy theories aside, Hitler had his body burnt and destroyed.

The new images show a frightened and heavily wounded Gaddafi being dragged by his captors to an unknown location. According to Global Post, fighters can be heard shouting “don’t kill him, we need him alive.”

The AP has obtained video footage from a different angle, in which Gaddafi can reportedly be heard saying “What you are doing is forbidden in Islamic law.”

Though the scene is quite tumultuous, it does call into question the suggestion put forth by a senior National Transitional Council official that Gaddafi was shot in the head because he “might have been resisting.” Similarly, interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril’s allegations that Gaddafi was caught in the crossfire between loyalists and NTC fighters doesn’t appear likely.

Gaddafi was supposed to be brought to burial today, in accordance with Islamic tradition, but the investigation into his death is still ongoing. His body is being kept in a freezer at a shopping mall in Misrata. Forensics experts say the bullet wound in his head appears to indicate that he was shot at close range. 

A formal declaration of liberation by Libya’s interim government is set to take place tomorrow. It is expected to be followed by the start of a reconstruction process that will lead to the country’s first-ever presidential elections in mid-2012.

justinrampage:

EA is releasing a quantity of only 500 actual size M8 Avenger Assault Rifle replicas from the Mass Effect universe. These 20 pound polystone beasts may not be capable of blasting holes through your living room walls, but it is one hell of a statue to show off to your friends.

You can throw down for a pre-order at the BioWare Store, if you have 600 dollars burning a hole in your intergalactic pocket.

M-8 Avenger Assault Rifle Replica at the BioWare Store

Via: Kotaku

I bought one because I’m a Mass Effect loving tool.

Source justinrampage

Reblogged from justinrampage