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"Distributed by torrent, as socialist software should be, comrades!"

This article is gold.  

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Midnight musings

All the time I wage a war inside myself.

Freedom is what I desire, but fear of having nothing to fight for keeps me from fully pursuing it.

However, I was reminded today that nothingness is my friend- my salvation. So much of my perception of self is wrapped in illusion. Letting go of these illusions of self is the only way to experience freedom.  

The process of cutting every single one of the ties that bind me to my identity- emptying myself and embracing nothingness- is the war that I must wage and win. 

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Despite de Blasio’s plea, the protests in New York must go on 

New York City is on edge. 

In the weeks since the non-indictment of the police officer who put Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold, the city has been awash in countless protests and quickly became the epicenter of a national clash over police brutality and discrimination.

On Saturday, the brutal murder of two New York City Police Department officers sitting in a patrol car in Brooklyn prompted a dramatic shift in the city’s atmosphere, leading Mayor Bill de Blasio to call for a suspension of protests until after the officers have been laid to rest.

The officers’ deaths elicited sympathy from all quarters, regardless of people’s position on police reform. And while de Blasio is right to plea for calm for the sake of the officers’ families, his shift in focus from the actions of the police to those of protesters lends legitimacy to the misguided idea that the killings were in any way connected to protests against police brutality.

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According to a Pew Research survey, only 37% of white Americans think the events in #Ferguson raise important issues about race.

Okay, fellow white people. We need to talk.

Let me tell you a story: I was an angry punk teenager. Not violent, but...

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Boom.

Link.

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Ha!

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This week in war by Torie Rose DeGhett

This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism.

Four Egyptian protesters were killed on Thursday when security forces clashed with demonstrations to honor the one year anniversary of the crackdown on protesters in Rabaa which left a thousand dead. 

The police chief in Tripoli, Libya, has been assassinated.

The US sent $10 million in Pentagon emergency spending money to assist France’s fight against terrorism in northwestern Africa. 

The appointment of the Central African Republic’s first Muslim PM, Mahamat Kamoun, has been rejected by rebel group Seleka.

Israel and Gaza began a five day ceasefire on Thursday.

Rahed Taysir Al-Hom, who headed northern Gaza’s sole bomb disposal unit, died defusing an unexploded 500kg bomb on Wednesday.

AP videojournalist Simone Camilli and his freelance Palestinian translator Ali Shehda Abu Afash were killed when a previously unexploded bomb detonated in Gaza.

For Gaza’s wounded, and its overwhelmed hospitals, an excruciating battle continues.

Canadian law professor William Schabas has been appointed head of the UN’s commission to investigate Israel for war crimes in Gaza — to Israel’s vocal displeasure.

Assad’s forces have retaken Mleiha, a key Damascus district.

The Islamic State has seized a number of towns in Aleppo.

After weeks of struggle, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki agreed to step down, accepting Haider al-Abadi’s candidacy.

The rise of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and of the Islamic State/ISIS and its inextricable connection to US involvement in Iraq.

The Islamic States is putting effort into establishing cells outside of Syria and Iraq.

IS seizes on wheat supplies as an economic weapon.

Watch Vice’s full-length documentary on ISIS here.

The situation with the Yazidis stranded on Mount Sinjar seems to have both markedly improved and been overestimated in the first place… did US intelligence misjudge the humanitarian situation? Yazidi leaders strongly resist the claim that the crisis is over.

A helicopter delivering aid on Tuesday in northern Iraq crashed, killing the pilot, and injuring New York Times reporter Alissa Rubin.

EU foreign ministers are holding an emergency meeting in Brussels today to discussing arming the Kurds.

Attah Mohammed Noor — Balkh province’s governor, former warlord, and powerful ally of Abdullah Abdullah — has warned of “civil unrest” should the vote recount be biased.

Pakistan foiled a militant attack on an airbase on the outskirts of Quetta.

Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk on Wednesday ambushed a Bush carrying Ukrainian soldiers — twelve of whom were killed. An unknown number were taken captive.

Russian Alexander Borodai has resigned as prime minister of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, ceding the title to a Ukrainian named Alexander Zakharchenko. Its military leader, Igor Girkin — AKA Strelkov — has also resigned.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine are aggravated by a Russian aid convoy to the separatists.

Putin sought to act as peacemaker between Azerbaijan and Armenia after renewed fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory has resulted in dozens of deaths recently. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia, however, are skeptical of Russian intentions — both agreeing that Russia should not send in peacekeeping forces.

Azerbaijan has detained four of its most prominent human rights activists and advocates. 

NATO is close to an agreement to bolster its presence in Eastern Europe.

WIRED profiles Edward Snowden.

Former DARPA head Regina Duggan reportedly violated internal ethics regulations in discussing products sold by the company she founded with Pentagon officials during her tenure. 

I wrote a feature article for The Atlantic online about a war photograph from Desert Storm. 

Photo: Al Shaaf neighborhood of Gaza City. A Palestinian man surveys the destruction. Alessio Romenzi for TIME.

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How to be a reverse racist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_mRaIHb-M

How to be a Reverse Racist

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DIY Girls- STEM programs for girls and it needs support!

Tumblr, DIY Girls needs your help. 

This amazing program normally runs after school STEM programming for elementary school girls. For the first time, DIY Girls is running a Summer Camp, full of things I wish I could do now, nonetheless in elementary school (Inventing with Recycled Electronics! Toy Design and Hacking?!?! FASHION AND WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY!!!!). 

It costs $150 per girl to make this program work, and since the program is already in a low-income, high-need area of Pacoima, we’re trying to raise the funds through donations. We have until July 1st, and then our attendance will be capped based on how much money we’ve raised.

Please help us admit more girls to the program! $150 is a lot of money, but every $5 gets us closer to admitting another student. Anything you can contribute is appreciated, especially a reblog to get more eyeballs on this program. Today Pacoima, tomorrow the world. 

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Queen Boudicca probably isn’t a name you have heard before. For one thing, she wasn’t a real queen. (At least not by the standard definitions.) We only have two primary sources which mention her at all, and both of these historians date back to the first or second century AD.

The short version:Romans are assholes and Boudicca tries to fight back. She loses. The End.

So why the fuck should you care? Because Boudicca was a bonafide badass that’s why.... 

read more

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#potd: #sunset in my window. #summerinStockholm #myviewistodiefor

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#tbt that one time I was in #Dublin drinking #Guinness at the brewery. #yum

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Photo of the day: Pier in Salt Hill, Galway, Ireland.

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This is what the media should be reporting. Celebrate those who were lost, not those that committed the crime. 

Though, there is a much needed conversation being had about the shooter's motivations, turning the shooter into a celebrity is not only a travesty of justice against those that he mercilessly killed, but it could also be increasing the likelihood that others will follow in his path. This Forbes article, by Joseph Grenny, broached the topic after the Portland shooting and his point still stands.

The phenomenon that Grenny touches on is known as The Werther Effect, and refers to a link between media reports about suicide and subsequent increased rates of suicide. The link has since been identified as harboring potential for positive results as well:  

"Certain suicide-related media reports in newspapers seem to function as triggers for suicides by individuals who already find themselves in a state of severe and unbearable psychosocial crises. However, most recently, the Media & Suicide Study Team in Vienna has found evidence that not all depictions of suicide in the print media trigger such copycat effects; in contrast, certain portrayals of suicidality in the news (e.g., stories on individuals who were in suicidal crises but adopted coping mechanisms other than suicidal behaviour) may even prevent suicides, as indicated by decreasing suicide rates after the publication of such print-media reports[x]"

Discoveries like this mean that there is a chance that:

a.) sensationalized media reports of violent crime could be pushing individuals from the brink of committing violent crime to actually committing those crimes, and

b.) that a shift in coverage could possibly have a reverse affect on these individuals (i.e. coverage of individuals that have urges and seek help, or even taking the focus OFF of the individuals that commit the crimes). 

These conclusions might seem like a stretch, but I'll wager I am not the only one questioning the status quo. I am not a psychologist. I am not an expert. However, I am an individual that can see these occurrences are not becoming any less common. Something needs to happen.

As Grenny puts it, it's time to "match responsibility with influence", and frankly, the media isn't doing it. 

So, what do we do now? 

These are the victims of the May 23, 2014 Isla Vista, CA killings. They’ll receive too little face time for their loss.