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No more tumblr for me. Too much drama. Prefer the real world. Peace.

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Self-styled ‘hardcore huntress’ sparks outrage after posting picture of herself with male lion she shot dead on Twitter as thousands sign petition to ban her from South Africa

Melissa Bachman presents a series called Winchester Deadly Passion about hunting

The ‘hardcore huntress’ posted a picture of herself with a lion she killed on Twitter

The reaction was immediate condemnation

A petition to prevent her from returning to South Africa, where she shot the lion, has been signed more than 23,000 times

TV presenter Melissa Bachman raised ire when she posted a photo of a mature male lion she allegedly shot and killed on Twitter and Facebook.

Within hours of the post, an online petition by Cape Town resident Elan Burman asking the South African government to ban Bachman from ever returning to the country was launched.

The picture depicts Bachman crouching over the carcass of a male lion with its eyes closed, paws either side of its head, as she holds her gun and smiles toothily.

‘An incredible say hunting in South Africa!’ she tweeted. ‘Stalked inside 60 yards on the this beautiful male lion… what a hunt!’

She is an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation this country prides itself on,’ wrote Burman.

The African lion is considered a vulnerable species. Numbers are rapidly declining due to loss of habitat and conflict with humans.

However, hunting lions is legal in several countries, including South Africa where Bachman bagged her big male.

Bachman’s social media pages and website reveal an array of huge beasts that have died after coming in contact with her. The ‘Trophy Room’ section of her website features a grinning Bachman with dead deer, antelope, alligators, turkeys and hogs.

This latest furor is not the first time Bachman has run afoul of anti-hunting groups.

Last year, she was slated to appear on the National Geographic Channel’s Ultimate Survivor Alaska but was dropped after a Change.org petition that called Bachman a ‘contracted trophy killer’ was signed more than 13,000 times in less than 24 hours. (My previous post about this here)

Minnesota-based Bachman, whose blog includes posts such as ‘Why every girl should try bowhunting’ and ‘Stupid hunting regulations I just can’t stand,’ is the host of a television series called Winchester Deadly Passion.

In each episode, she travels to a locale and hunts its native animals with a variety of weapons including her beloved bow and arrow.

Lourens Mostert, a manager at the Maroi conservancy where Bachman shot the lion said the hunt was legal.

'If it isn't right to hunt these lions, why does out government legally give us permission?' he told the Daily Telegraph.

'This is not the only lion that has been hunted in South Africa this year.'

adoptpets: She is a vile and heartless bitch. She is playing God with these animal’s lives and is just murdering them. And her conservationist stance is fucking bullshit. Hunters are not conservationists, they are animal murderers. She is just like a serial killer collecting trophies of her kills. And it’s not about population control either, because lions are a threatened species, and also she is killing predator and prey. Sign the petition to ban her from South Africa here.

"Winchester Deadly Passion" airs on NBC Sports channel. NBC Sports needs to cancel this disgusting show. Better yet, they need to cancel all hunting shows. Hunting is not a fucking sport. NBC Sports cancelled “Under Wild Skies” after a petition was started to cancel the show after it featured the hunting of an elephant, although they used the excuse that the hunter & host Tony Makris who is a lobbyist for the NRA, compared his critics to Nazis. So, they used the Nazi comment to cancel his show. (My previous post about this here).

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Erik Lamela is quite beautiful.

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Semi Transparent Lips & Nails (changes colour with your blog background - drag it!)

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Would you believe in what you believe in if you were the only one who believed it?

Kanye West  (via adiilenee)

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Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.

Robert Frost (via kerryquotesquotes)

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“My South Africa is the working-class man who called from the airport to return my wallet without a cent missing. It is the white woman who put all three of her domestic worker’s children through the same school that her own child attended. It is the politician in one of our rural provinces, Mpumalanga, who returned his salary to the government as a statement that standing with the poor had to be more than just a few words. It is the teacher who worked after school hours every day during the public sector strike to ensure her children did not miss out on learning.

My South Africa is the first-year university student in Bloemfontein who took all the gifts she received for her birthday and donated them – with the permission of the givers – to a home for children in an Aids village. It is the people hurt by racist acts who find it in their hearts to publicly forgive the perpetrators. It is the group of farmers in Paarl who started a top school for the children of farm workers to ensure they got the best education possible while their parents toiled in the vineyards. It is the farmer’s wife in Viljoenskroon who created an education and training centre for the wives of farm labourers so that they could gain the advanced skills required to operate accredited early-learning centers for their own and other children.

My South Africa is that little white boy at a decent school in the Eastern Cape who decided to teach the black boys in the community to play cricket, and to fit them all out with the togs required to play the gentelman’s game. It is the two black street children in Durban, caught on camera, who put their spare change in the condensed milk tin of a white beggar. It is the Johannesburg pastor who opened up his church as a place of shelter for illegal immigrants. It is the Afrikaner woman from Boksburg who nailed the white guy who shot and killed one of South Africa’s greatest freedom fighters outside hishome.

My South Africa is the man who went to prison for 27 years and came out embracing his captors, thereby releasing them from their impending misery. It is the activist priest who dived into a crowd of angry people to rescue a woman from a sure necklacing. It is the former police chief who fell to his knees to wash the feet of Mamelodi women whose sons disappeared on his watch; it is the women who forgave him in his act of contrition. It is the Cape Town university psychologist who interviewed the ‘Prime Evil’ in Pretoria Centre and came away with emotional attachment, even empathy, for the human being who did such terrible things under apartheid.

My South Africa is the quiet, dignified, determined township mother from Langa who straightened her back during the years of oppression and decided that her struggle was to raise decent children, insist that they learn, and ensure that they not succumb to bitterness or defeat in the face of overwhelming odds. It is the two young girls who walked 20kms to school everyday, even through their matric years, and passed well enough to be accepted into university studies. It is the student who takes on three jobs, during the evenings and on weekends, to find ways of paying for his university studies.

My South Africa is the teenager in a wheelchair who works in townships serving the poor. It is the pastor of a Kenilworth church whose parishioners were slaughtered, who visits the killers and asks them for forgiveness because he was a beneficiary of apartheid. It is the politician who resigns on conscientious grounds, giving up status and salary because of an objection in principle to a social policy of her political party. It is the young lawman who decides to dedicate his life to representing those who cannot afford to pay for legal services.

My South Africa is not the angry, corrupt, violent country whose deeds fill the front pages of newspapers and the lead-in items on the seven-o’-clock news. It is the South Africa often unseen, yet powered by the remarkable lives of ordinary people. It is the citizens who keep the country together through millions of acts of daily kindness.” -Jonathan Jansen

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If you post an opinion of yours on a public forum such as this, you should expect to be questioned on it. If it is really what you think / believe you will be able to defend your opinion with a well reasoned argument. Everyone has the right to an opinion just as everyone has the right to question the opinion of others.

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Mascherano: “Success in football is so brief that you must enjoy it a little”

Javier Mascherano, one of the most articulate footballers at Barça and indeed in world football, gave an interview with radio station RAC1 yesterday. Below are some of Mascherano’s insights on Barça’s successes, its complicated past season and negative atmosphere, and the club’s future as well as his own.

On the Supercopa, last year and this year:

“A single error can cost you the title. This year, there was no error and we won the title.”

On Barça’s past season:

“I don’t think that the past season has been poor personally. But at times there were errors … We caught Bayern at their best moment, at the crest of their wave. And we did not arrive well [referring to injuries to himself, Puyol, Busquets, and Messi]. I saw both games against Bayern from the stands and I do not think the difference should have been four goals in Munich.”

“Since Tito’s illness hit in December, we had to adapt to circumstances that almost nobody has had to face, dealing with a trainer who isn’t there. Not having Tito was a new situation for everyone and I believe we dealt with it fairly well.”

On negativity at Barça

“Many times Barça lapses into self-destructive tendencies, because we don’t stop to enjoy our successes. We won La Liga with 100 points and it seemed that we had not accomplished anything. We won the Supercopa against Atlético Madrid and the only thing that we did is look for the ‘but’ … But we won! Success is so brief that you must enjoy it a little. It is one thing to be demanding of yourself, to see both the positives and mistakes. It is another thing to see only negatives.”

“Some day Piqué, Xavi, Puyol, and Busquets will not be here. So we must enjoy it. Barça won three Champions Leagues in a short time. Before that they had to wait almost a hundred years to win one. I believe that it will be very difficult to replicate the joy that this team has given to the people.”

On new manager Tata Martino:

“We face the uncertainty of beginning a new era, closing an old one. It’s a new trainer, that is not from the club, although he has a very similar mentality.”

“When the message is clear it is easier for everyone. Every trainer has different characteristics. El Tata puts a lot of emphasis on maintaining pressure on the opponent. El Tata pretends that this team has two faces, not just possession but also the ability to be direct.”

“Tata is adding something to our play and I believe that he is developing us well.”

“We have changed our way of marking on corners and free kicks. The defense is showing improvement.”

 On his own work ethic and a possible center-back signing:

“I don’t like receiving too much praise. The best thing that can happen is receiving recognition for your work, but too much praise creates false expectations in people.”

“When I join the national team I remember that I am a midfielder (laughs) … Today I think of myself as a defender because I have played two years in this position. I am very critical of myself and I try to fix my mistakes.”

“Perhaps the trainer saw that those that could be brought in did not convince. What do I know? … When a teammate arrives you cannot feel hurt. [At Barça] the players that arrive are here to improve the team. Competition is good, it makes you stronger. When you grow comfortable you cannot keep growing … I will never change my way of thinking and working, if a defender should be signed or not. I train each day to become a better player. If someone better than me arrives, it’s not a problem.”

On Marc Bartra, Puyol, and rotation:

“Marc (Bartra) still has not played, true. The past year he did not begin playing but he ended up playing two Champions League semifinals. The mentality of a footballer should be to train and make an effort to be ready and wait for his opportunity. When I arrived I went six months almost without playing, which was hard. But later I found myself playing the Wembley final.”

“It serves nobody to rest and rotate the players if we aren’t still playing in all three competitions by April.”

“Puyol is well. He is not yet training with the group but he is very close. It has been hard on Puyol, the injury has lasted longer than previous ones. Puyol is a very necessary player, not only for what he gives on the field. Injuries at times can split the team a little bit, you can’t share things. And we need Puyol to be with us.”

On Abidal

“Abidal is obviously missed. He has been an example for all of us, he had a special gift in that he was always happy. He transmitted much of that to the dressing room. You feel it when a person like that leaves. The most important thing is that Abi can continue playing and enjoying his profession, and above all else that he is healthy. I am not one to judge the decisions of the management. We are employees of the club.”

On Argentina, the World Cup, and his future

“Each time there remain fewer years of my career remaining, and this will probably be my last World Cup. We are confident we will qualify. To arrive at the World Cup with the best player in the world is a plus, and it gives us a lot of confidence. In my case, it’s this World Cup or nothing.”

“Being a manager is one option, and I’m going to try it. We’ll see if it happens or not … Manager of Barça? I would have to give only one press conference a month (laughs). One always remains involved in football, you cannot disconnect.”

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da fuck?

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those little legs of Messi's move so quickly:)

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To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

E.E. Cummings (via ambivalentnature)

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i carry your heart with me (i carry it in 

my heart) i am never without it (anywhere 

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done 

by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear 

no fate (for you are my fate, sweet) i want 

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows 

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud 

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows 

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

~e. e. cummings

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Everybody knows Messi is the best player ever! I think its nice that they recognised somoone who had a great season for his club and won the treble. Well deserved, Mr. Ribery. :)

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Xaviniesta :)

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Truer words were never written

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javiermascherano:

MoTM: Cesc Fabregas, or Alexis Sanchez.

Flops: Iniesta and Xavi.