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How Chicago Is Trying to Hide Its Giant Hell Pit

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How Chicago Is Trying to Hide Its Giant Hell Pit
Credit: Santiago Calatrava - Chicago Fordham Spire 停擺之工地

This 110-foot-wide hole, punched into one of Chicago’s best neighborhoods, represents nearly a decade of dashed architectural dreams. Recently, developers gave up trying to build on it, and have started building hills to hide it from the sight of angry neighbors.

This hole, which looks like the aftermath of an attack by either Godzilla or Jehovah, was actually caused by economics. In 2007, it was meant to be a foundation for the tallest tower in the Western Hemisphere. It’s 76 feet deep and 110 feet wide, and it was going to put up over a thousand homes right in the center of Chicago. However, after 2007 came 2008, the end of the housing boom, and a huge economic downturn.

The property market is resilient, though, and in 2014, the developer, Shelbourne, raised people’s hopes with the idea that the spire could once again go forward. Sadly, the only thing that came of it was the transfer of the deed to the land to Related Midwest.

Streeterville, the neighborhood in which this literal depression is placed, is right in the center of Chicago. It’s next to the Navy Pier, a pier extending into Lake Michigan that was once a shipping location but is now a kind of permanent fairground—and a popular spot for tourists and locals. The neighborhood is a good one, and none of its residents enjoyed looking at a metaphoric hell-pit.

Passers-by might have taken the construction crews that started showing up in the last week as a good sign. Sadly, they weren’t there to build a tower. They were there to build hills around the hole. These small hills will be covered with trees which will hide the giant hole from view, at least from ground level. It appears, though, that people have temporarily given up on the idea of a new tower in Chicago, and accepted the hole as a semi-permanent part of the neighborhood.

[City Lab]


Six Arrested Around Brussels as Belgian Officials Acknowledge Errors

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Six Arrested Around Brussels as Belgian Officials Acknowledge Errors

Six people were arrested in a series of police raids carried out around Brussels late on Thursday, the Guardian reports, in connection with Tuesday’s bombings. Also on Thursday, two Belgian officials offered to resign, as evidence mounted that the country failed to adequately prepare for the attacks

Two suspects in the deadly bombing were thought to be still at large Thursday as police carried out raids around Brussels. From the Guardian:

The operation involving Swat teams and armoured cars with helicopter support began soon after 9pm. RTBF, the state broadcaster, cited police sources as saying it had targeted “people suspected of taking part in the attacks” that killed at least 31 people and injured 300.

Federal prosecutors confirmed six unidentified people were arrested, including three who were detained outside the prosecutors’ own office in the centre of Brussels.

Two others were arrested in the Belgian capital, and one person was arrested in Jette, on the city’s outskirts.

Both the Belgian interior minister, Jan Jambon, and the justice minister, Koen Geens, offered their resignations on Thursday. Jambon admitted that there had been “errors at Justice and with the Belgian liaison officer in Turkey,” and that “if you put everything in a row, you can ask yourself major questions” about how the government dealt with the threat of European ISIS militants returning to Belgium from Syria.

The prime minister, Charles Michel, refused their resignations, Jambon said, telling him, “In time of war, you cannot leave the field.”

Earlier on Thursday, a French man in the “advanced stages” of a terror plot was arrested on the outskirts of Paris.

National Enquirer: Ted Cruz Has Had at Least 5 Extramarital Affairs

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National Enquirer: Ted Cruz Has Had at Least 5 Extramarital Affairs
Photo: AP

According to the new issue of the National Enquirer, Republican political operatives are investigating rumors that Texas senator Ted Cruz has had extramarital affairs with at least five different women.

Courting the evangelical vote, Cruz presents himself as a deeply Christian man—despite the fact that he does not properly tithe. “I will readily admit that I have not been as faithful in this aspect of my walk as I should have been,” he told the Christian Broadcasting Network earlier this year.

Now it seems there may be other aspects of his walk in which the senator has not been faithful. From the Enquirer:

“Private detectives are digging into at least five affairs Ted Cruz supposedly had,” claimed a Washington insider.

“The leaked details are an attempt to destroy what’s left of his White House campaign!”

The ENQUIRER reports that Cruz’s claimed mistresses include a foxy political consultant and a high-placed D.C. attorney!

The actual story—which is not online, but which Gawker has obtained a copy of—does not name any of the women with whom Cruz purportedly was involved. Descriptions are given for each, however, and at least one should sound very familiar to folks who have been following this election.

If you have any information about Ted Cruz’s faithfulness, get in touch: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com or tips@gawker.com.

Settlement Talks Between Bernie Sanders and the DNC Don't Appear to Be Going So Well

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Settlement Talks Between Bernie Sanders and the DNC Don't Appear to Be Going So Well
Photo; AP

Bernie Sanders is still suing the Democratic National Committee over its decision to suspend his access to their voter database, as sure a sign as any that settlement talks aren’t going so well.

Sanders—who filed papers in December after the DNC suspended his access, claiming his campaign had improperly accessed Clinton campaign voter data—had until Thursday to serve the DNC with process or abandon the suit. He opted, according to The Politico, to serve the hell out of them.

http://gizmodo.com/a-quick-guide-...

Sanders, who accused the DNC of deliberately sandbagging him to aid the Clinton campaign, is officially seeking $75,000 in damages on claims of negligence and breach of conduct, though The Politico notes court filings indicate both parties “continue to engage in cooperative discussions in their efforts to resolve the pending litigation.”

Both parties also say, through their respective spokespersons, that they’re willing to settle out of court.

“We are continuing to cooperate with the DNC to resolve the matter and hope to do so in short order,” Sanders communications director Michael Briggs said in a statement.

The DNC sounded a similar note, with press secretary Mark Paustenbach writing in an email Thursday, “We continue to have productive discussions with the Sanders campaign and look forward to resolving this matter.”

Wonder what’s causing the impasse then!

Saudi Royal Drama: The Graduation Party

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Saudi Royal Drama: The Graduation Party
Photo: AP

Graduation—some of us have one, some of us don’t. Some of us have a few friends over to celebrate, and some of us rent out a house in Los Angeles for a month and fill it with strippers and drugs. We’re a diverse people.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Saudi Prince Aziz al Saud graduated this year from Pepperdine University. To celebrate, he rented out a well-known party home in the Hollywood Hills, which he allegedly stocked with drinks, snacks, strippers, drugs and drama.

According to the complaint, more than 800 people showed up, with guests doing drugs, including smoking marijuana, and strippers dancing on kitchen countertops.

Fitzgerald said there was damage to furniture and walls and that hardwood floors buckled because of spilled drinks. His invoice for the damage totaled $86,379. In the complaint, Fitzgerald alleges that the defendants — who include two of the prince’s employees — have not paid for any damages.

“Incredibly, after this August 16 party, Prince Aziz continued to have nightly parties until the early mornings and continued to leave piles of trash on the street,” the complaint read. “Guests of the Prince were seen urinating on Plaintiff’s neighbors’ properties.”

The homeowner, chagrined to learn the Prince’s insurance policy was more conceptual than the rental agreement had indicated, has, with a straight face, filed a suit as if he might actually one day drag the Prince into court. His neighbors, who hate him because he keeps renting out his house for parties, say he had it coming.

(The homeowner explains to the Los Angeles Times, “he has not been disrespectful to the neighbors, saying that over seven years, he’s received only one ticket that resulted in a fine. That was for not having a permit for the lion, he said.”)

Either way, the import: Saudi royals—ephemeral, ethereal, and frankly far too wealthy for a process server to track down—must deal with many things. Our futile demands are not one of them.

Class War: Yale Edition

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Class War: Yale Edition
Photo: Erin Pettigrew/ Flickr

Yale University is sitting on an endowment worth $25.6 billion. The state of Connecticut, on the other hand, is pretty broke. Now, Connecticut wants to tax Yale’s endowment. This could be more revolutionary than it sounds.

University endowments are exempt from taxes, for the same rationale that exempts museums and cultural institutions from taxes. They are nonprofits that are good for society, and whatnot. By not taxing them, we, as a society, essentially subsidize them as institutions. This is not a bad rationale, at least in the abstract. But like many things, there is a point at which it veers into the absurd. At $25.6 billion, Yale’s endowment may have reached that point.

Twenty five billion dollars. This ain’t the Little Sisters of Perpetual Poverty Preschool for the Poor, over here.

Connecticut lawmakers are proposing a tax only on state schools with endowments over $10 billion, which is to say, only Yale. It is unclear whether such a tax would survive a legal challenge. Morally and politically, though, it certainly has the potential to be justifiable, at a time when public schools in the state are relatively impoverished.

In Slate last year, Jordan Weissmann wrote a good overview of the pluses and minuses of taxing these sorts of huge endowments. On the plus side, they can fucking afford it, and the per-student tax subsidies that we offer our nation’s richest universities amount to far more than what states spend on each student in their own public state universities, which seems like an insane skewing of public priorities. On the minus side, even advocates have to admit that taxing the endowments of rich school is a wildly arbitrary project in a nation that doesn’t even really tax the wealth of rich individuals. And, of course, the schools themselves argue that their huge endowments are the result of proper planning to prevent piss poor performance, a quality that should be rewarded rather than penalized.

It is true that schools need endowments if they are to run properly. It is also true that, at a certain size, even the staunchest Ivy League partisan must admit that the schools are thoroughly well-funded. It is not hard to see the dangers of opening the door for feckless politicians to raid the coffers of any well-managed nonprofit whenever they mismanage the public coffers. It is also not hard to see the dangers of publicly subsidizing (by not taxing) institutions that exist primarily to educate the rich and powerful while the majority of students at public schools get crumbs.

Perhaps the most prudent course of action is just to dangle the threat of taxing endowments over the head of rich universities in order to extort on-time payments to the state as necessary. Protection money to the masses. Indulgences for the sins of greed.

In any case, Fuck Yale.

Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More

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Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More

The smartest pet toy you’ve ever seen, cheap wiper blades, and a smartphone-connected kitchen scale kick off Friday’s best deals. Bookmark Kinja Deals and follow us on Twitter to never miss a deal.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JGWN8O8/...

Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here to learn more, and don’t forget to sign up for our email newsletter.

Top Deals

If you’ve come home after work to one too many destroyed pillows or overturned trashcans, this ingenious little gadget can help you keep an eye on your pets from anywhere.

Petcube is a Wi-Fi camera, intercom system, and laser toy all wrapped into one sleek package, and Amazon is selling it today for $150, or $50 off its usual price. The video above does a better job of explaining this thing than I ever could, and if you own a pet and spend a lot of time away from home, it certainly seems like it could be a great investment. [Petcube, $149]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JGWN8O8/...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JGWN8O8/...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Get up to 30% back in Amazon gift cards when you book home services

If you have any long-neglected home maintenance and upkeep tasks to check off your to-do list, Amazon’s offering up to 30% back in gift cards when you book through their home services department today:

  • $15 back when you spend $50
  • $30 back when you spend $100
  • $60 back when you spend $200

Available services will vary depending on your location, but they can include lawn maintenance, cleaning, home improvement, computer help, and more. In fact, Shane recently used Amazon to install a TV wall mount.

http://gear.kinja.com/amazon-mounted...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Lenovo Y Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, $45. Also available at Best Buy.

If you’ve been thinking about getting a mechanical gaming keyboard, don’t even think; just buy this. The Lenovo Y is available for $45 today on Amazon and Best Buy, which is a whopping $55 less than its previous low price. Discount percentage aside, that’s one of the best mechanical keyboard prices we’ve ever seen, including from no-name manufacturers.

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Gaming-...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
PlayStation Plus, $40

If your PlayStation Plus subscription is getting close to its expiration date, or (gasp) you just don’t have it, you can grab a 12 month membership today for $40, or $10 less than usual.


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Xbox One Elite, $400

You could drown yourself in deals on standard Xbox One bundles, but if only the best will do, here’s the lowest price we’ve ever seen on the Xbox One Elite. This is the Xbox One you know and (maybe?) love, but with a 1TB hybrid drive for faster load times, and a bundled Elite controller, which retails for $150 on its own.

http://kotaku.com/a-guided-tour-...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
25% off men’s and women’s clearance with code EPIC25

Now that it’s finally warm enough to go outside and exercise, Nike’s taking an extra 25% off everything in their clearance section today with promo code EPIC25. A lot of items are only available in a few sizes, so I recommend using the sidebar filtering tools to find what will fit you.

Extra 25% Off Nike Women’s Clearance | Use code EPIC25

Extra 25% Off Nike Men’s Clearance | Use code EPIC25


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Wedding Ring Gold Box

If you or someone you know has a wedding on the horizon, Amazon’s offering big discounts today on dozens of styles of wedding bands. Inside you’ll find gold, platinum, titanium, cobalt, and even some with inlaid diamonds. Like all Gold Box deals though, these prices are only available today, so I suggest sprinting up the aisle to Amazon before they start selling out.


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Two Bosch Insight Wiper Blades, $22. Add two to cart (must be shipped by Amazon) to see the discount.

In case you missed out earlier this month, Amazon’s offering a pair of Bosch Insight Blades for just $22 right now. All you have to do is pick the two you want and add them to your cart, then you should see the discount at checkout. This deal even allows you to mix and match sizes, so you can almost certainly find a combination that will work for your car. [Two Bosch Insight Wiper Blades, $22]

Note: The discount will only work on blades shipped and sold by Amazon directly. No third party sellers.


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
GreenWorks 16" Electric Lawnmower, $125 or $128 on Amazon

Electric lawnmowers are quieter and greener than gas-powered alternatives, and if you’re sick of pulling on that starter rope in vain, this corded 16" GreenWorks alternative might be just what you need.

The fact that you’ll need an extension cord is a bit of a bummer, but $125 is an all-time low, and you’d be looking at around $200 more for a similarly sized, battery-operated alternative.

Update: Also available on Amazon with Prime shipping for $3 more.

http://www.amazon.com/GreenWorks-251...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
X-Chef Food Storage System, $20 with code RU9D8HW2

Whether you’re packing food for the beach, a picnic, or just lunch at the office, this insulated lunch box and food storage set were designed to fit together like peanut butter and jelly. And yes, the containers are microwave safe; just don’t test them with leftover fish in the break room, please.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01193MK6I?...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
iClever Wireless Doorbell, $12 with code AZK55LNI

Just because your house or apartment doesn’t have a doorbell doesn’t mean you’ll have to rely on knocking like a caveman. This $12 kit has everything you need to install one, no wiring required. You can even choose from 52 different chimes!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SGKJD7W?...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More

For a limited time, if you buy a new amiibo from Amazon, Best Buy, or GameStop, you’ll receive an early access code to play Mini Mario & Friends on your Wii U or 3DS. The game will be free to play, but if you have any amiibo on your wish list, the early access key is a nice incentive. Nintendo has the full promotional details on their site.

Note: If you buy from Amazon, make sure your amiibo is shipped and sold by Amazon.com. This link should show you all of the available options.


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
PlayStation 4 Camera, $40

The PlayStation 4 Camera isn’t a mandatory accessory by any means, but it’s certainly nice to have, and Amazon has marked it down to $40, matching its all-time low price.

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-4-...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Perfect Bake Smart Scale, $23

If you tend to crash and burn when making baked goods, this smartphone-connected scale can walk you through the process step by step. Just connect your phone or tablet to the kitchen scale, pick your recipe from the free app, and start following instructions. The app will tell you what to add, when to add it, and how much you need; all you need to do is pop the results in the oven, and make sure you get it out at the right time.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
PowerA DualShock 4 Charger, $15

When your DualShock 4 runs low on battery, you could plug it into a raggedy old microUSB cable like a caveman, or you could set it on this elegant dual charging dock. At $15, the choice is clear.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Kylo Ren Disney Infinity 3.0 Figurine, $10

Kylo Ren’s Disney Infinity figurine is pretty damn adorable by world-destroying psychopath standards, and Amazon’s knocking $5 off the preorder price today.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Extra $3 off Stacy’s Pita Chips

If you can’t live without your Stacy’s pita chips—and I know I can’t—Amazon’s currently taking an extra $3 off 24-packs of single serve bags. I’ve been known to accidentally eat an entire family sized bag of these things before I even realize what I’m doing, so the fact that they come in 1.5 ounce single serve size is appealing.

The combo pack comes with 12 bags of Simply Naked, and six bags each of parmasean garlic & herb and cinnamon sugar. If you like the garlic and herb variety, you can opt for a straight shipment of 24 bags as well, for roughly the same price.

Note: Be sure to clip the coupon and use Subscribe & Save when you order; you’ll be able to cancel the subscription after your first delivery.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Hoover Cyclonic Stick Vacuum, $55

This vacuum is about as simple as they come. You won’t find any hoses, detachable hand vacs, or battery packs. That being said, I’ve owned it for years, and absolutely love it. Its suction power is great, I’ve never had to replace any belts, and it’s incredibly light and maneuverable. For a smallish home, you could do a lot worse for $55.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
31-Piece GoPro Accessory Kit, $20 with code 34C7S39M

If you own a GoPro, or any other action cam that’s compatible with GoPro accessories, you can own every accessory you see in the image above for just $20. That’s less than $1 per piece, including critical gear like strap mounts, a floating bobber, and even a padded carrying case.

http://co-op.kinja.com/your-favorite-...

http://www.amazon.com/Leknes-Common-...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
25" Samsonite Spinner Luggage, $70

Everyone needs at least one good piece of checked luggage, and this 25" Samsonite spinner is a great deal at $70. For a point of comparison, that’s $39 less than Amazon’s current price, where it has a 4.3 star review average.


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
$100 Lowe’s Gift Card, $90

If you have any home improvement projects on the horizon, this discounted Lowe’s gift card is like $10 in your pocket. I suggest spending it on a six pack to consume while you operate power tools. [$100 Lowe’s Gift Card, $90]


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Worx 2-Battery Edger/Trimmer, $60

If you have a yard, you need an edger. If you need an edger, you should buy a battery-operated electric one. And when you can pick one up for just $60, there’s really no reason not to.


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Rear View Mirror/Dash Cam/Rear View Camera/Screen, $58 with code M2HOBZBO

If you’re looking to bring your older car into the modern age, this clip-on rear view mirror includes a dashcam on the backside, plus a rear view camera and an integrated screen to view it, all for just $58. We see lots of deals for dash cams, rear view cameras, and camera viewing screens, but I’ve never seen one product incorporate them all.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
Nasty Things, $17

If Cards Against Humanity is feeling a little stale, here’s another inexpensive party game with the strong possibility of offending your friends and/or forcing your parents to make sex jokes in front of you.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WB3H6YC/...


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More
50% off everything at J.Crew Factory. Use code HEYSPRING to take $20 off $100+

In my time as an obsessive shopper and dedicated deal hunter I’ve come to agree with Lifehacker: cheap clothes are [generally] too expensive. However, I’ve actually been quite happy with the various articles I’ve picked up for a song at J.Crew Factory over the years.

Update: Code HEYSPRING takes $20 off $100+ [h/t Bradley’s Balls]

Through March 27, save 50% on basically everything they sell, with free shipping over $100. Prices as marked.

Let us know what you’re picking up in the comments!


Today's Best Deals: Smart Pet Toy, PlayStation Plus, Cheap Wiper Blades, and More

You’ll find Amazon “insets” across much of the content on our network. These modules provide readers with the name of an item, the price, and the retailer (we hope to support more in the future).

The full size insets also provide an image of the item and disclosure about potential for commissions.

The green text in the full size insets is “social proof”, a counter for how many of a product has been purchased through links on Gawker sites. This counter tracks all-time purchases, not purchases from a single post, and is delayed 24 hours.

We’ve recently added a promo code field to our insets, so Kinja Deals readers can now get everything they need to take advantage of a deal in one place.

Finally, you may have noticed in the past that the pricing in our insets could lag behind the current price on Amazon. We’ve made inset prices editable, so let us know if something’s wrong and we can fix it right away! This also means our insets will now take into account promo code discounts when displaying a price.

Questions? Feedback? Let us know!


Tech

Storage

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X1404E4/...

Power

http://www.amazon.com/Aukey-CC-S1-4-...

http://www.amazon.com/Qualcomm-Certi...

http://www.amazon.com/Qualcomm-Certi...

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http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0156DT79A?...

Audio

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007VL90R0/...

http://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Premiu...

http://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Omak...

http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Speak...

Home Theater

$50 | Insignia Soundbar with Bluetooth | Best Buy

$300 | Logitech Harmony Touch 15-Device Universal Remote w/ $200 Gift Card | Best Buy

$188 | Klipsch SW-450 Subwoofer | Newegg

Computers & Accessories

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KRA5RTC/...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0161NBPZS/...

http://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Wirele...

http://www.amazon.com/KMASHI-Wireles...

$600 | Lenovo Core i7 IdeaPad 500 15.6" FHD IPS Notebook w/ Radeon R7, 8GB, 1TB HDD | eBay

$380 | Lenovo Core i5 Laptop w/ Microsoft Office 365, Sleeve & 8GB Flash Drive | Best Buy

$36 | Lenovo - Y Gaming Mechanical Switch Keyboard | eBay | Open Box

$24 | Logitech Marathon Mouse M705 Wireless Laser Mouse | Best Buy

$480 | MP 22-inch 1080p Pen Display Tablet | Monoprice | Use code PEN20

$110 | Refurb HP 25VX Black 25" 7ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor IPS | Newegg

PC Parts

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J8E8Y5C/...

$180 | EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB GAMING | EVGA

Mobile Devices

http://www.amazon.com/Camera-Fisheye...

$1 | Magnetic Car Air Vent Phone Mount | eBay

Photography

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GMZUW6O/...

http://www.amazon.com/Smatree-SmaSpi...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01464D2P0?...

FREE | Nik Collection Photo Plugin Set | Google

$3 | Flash Diffuser (Gary Phong Knockoff) | eBay

$10 | Tamrac 5422 Aria 2 Shoulder Bag | B&H

Home

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JGWN8O8/...

http://www.amazon.com/Tiptiper-Digit...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SGKJD7W?...

$255 | Stand Up Desk | Woot

$35 | Honeywell 0.17 Cu. Ft. Security Safe | Best Buy

Apparel

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YR4EKB0?...

Extra 25% Off Nike Women’s Clearance | Use code EPIC25

Extra 25% Off Nike Men’s Clearance | Use code EPIC25

$47 | Marmot Calaveras Fleece Jacket - Men’s | REI

50-70% Off Classic Wedding Bands | Amazon

Kitchen

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01193MK6I?...

http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Digit...

$169 | Nespresso Prodigio Smart Connected Coffee, Espresso Maker and Milk Frother | Buydig | Use code NESPECIAL110

$60 | Keurig MINI Plus Brewing System | Best Buy

$400 | Insignia 2-Tap Kegerator/Beverage Cooler | Best Buy

Camping & Outdoors

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CGFMJ3M/...

$45 | Yukon Outfitters Alpha Backpack | Woot

Fitness

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TRS3JG/...

Tools & Auto

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004DT24ZI/...

$7 | KD Tools Digital Tire Gauge | Sears

Media

Movies & TV

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014GJBU68/...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MHT49KO/...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DON8NJ0/...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TP7NT70/...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JPUR5FY/...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AMSNEGM/...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B80LOLY/...

Books

$2 | A Thousand Miles to Freedom Audiobook | Audible

Apps

$1 | Lara Croft Go | iOS | Normally $5

FREE | Pocket Earth Pro Offline Maps | iOS | Normally $5

$1 | WikiLinks | iOS | Normally $3

$2 | Shadowgun | iOS | Normally $5

$1 | BlackCam Pro | Android | Normally $2

$3 | 2Do | Android | Normally $4

Gaming

Peripherals

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0188V8JPA?...

http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Scrol...

$100 | Corsair - Gaming K65 RGB Mechanical Keyboard | eBay

$20 | Refurb Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller | Shop

PC

FREE | Medal of Honor Pacific Assault | Origin

Ubisoft Weekend Sale at Steam

$6 | The Escapists | Steam

$18 | The Banner Saga 2 | Steam

$7 | Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag | Steam

PlayStation 4

http://www.amazon.com/Toukiden-Kiwam...

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Xbox One

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3DS

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Toys

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Stop-and-Frisk Is Bad in Philly, Too

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Stop-and-Frisk Is Bad in Philly, Too
Image: Getty

The NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk, and the subsequent federal lawsuit against the department, became a big enough news story over the last several years that the practice is virtually synonymous with New York’s Finest. Stop-and-frisk is used in plenty of cities, however, and it’s bad in other places, too. Take Philly, for example.

The Philadelphia chapter of the ACLU released a report this week which analyzed the police department’s use of stop-and-frisk in the first half of 2015. The statistics will look familiar to anyone who followed the battle over the practice in New York: 69 percent of the people stopped were black, 23 percent were white, and seven percent were Latino. Of those who were subsequently frisked, 79 percent were black, 11 percent were white, and 10 percent were Latino. Compare that to the demographics of the city as a whole, as of 2013: 44 percent black, 32 percent white, 13 percent Latino.

In New York, critics also charged that officers often made stops based on little more than hunches, and that the practice wasn’t actually effective at turning up guns, the ostensible reason for it was used. In Philly, too. The ACLU found that 33 percent of stops and 42 percent of frisks there were made without usual suspicion, and only six of 2,380 analyzed stops found guns.

No matter who is managing a police department, and in what city they’re working, it seems that stop-and-frisk leads to racially biased policing that doesn’t make neighborhoods any safer. It’s almost as though there’s something fundamentally wrong, on the very basest level, with the concept of interrogating law-abiding people on the street based on little to no evidence.

They NYPD eventually cut back its use of stop-and-frisk drastically, but only after the issue went to federal court. That, too, may be the case in Philly: The ACLU has said it may seek federal sanctions if things don’t change, Philly.com reports.


Atop the New York Times homepage today is a banner ad for the Broadway play “Shuffle Along” that cli

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Atop the New York Times homepage today is a banner ad for the Broadway play “Shuffle Along” that clicks through directly to this week’s New York Times Magazine story about “Shuffle Along.” That’s... very synergistic.

Who's the Most UFO-Friendly Presidential Candidate?

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Who's the Most UFO-Friendly Presidential Candidate?
Illustration: Sam Woolley

Today while the political world is fixated on a salacious tabloid story about Ted Cruz, eccentric news site operator Matt Drudge is concerned about aliens. He’s not the only one.

“They can bullshit me all they want but I’m not going to play the government’s game,” Stephen Bassett, Capitol Hill’s only registered extraterrestrial lobbyist, tells me. “This isn’t about ‘UFOs.’ The government uses that acronym in order to prevent disclosure,” he says. “‘Extraterrestrial craft’ is the proper term.”

Bassett is, as you might imagine, passionate on the subject—perhaps too much so. He told me that the acronym “UFO” itself is a slur used to “ghettoize” those who seek the truth, and compared it to racial slurs—specific ones, in fact, which he was not shy about using. Considering how many of his fellow truth-seekers use the term, it’s hard to avoid entirely.

“Since November, more political coverage has taken place on this subject than it has in 60 something years,” Bassett says. Since 1996, he has been waging war for the public’s right to know what information the government has about aliens and he thinks the time is nigh. “There is a very good chance that the truth embargo will collapse later this year, Hillary Clinton will be the one to push it and President Obama will have to address the issue!”

In case it doesn’t happen until the next president takes office, who among our top presidential candidates is the most UFO-friendly? Are there any extraterrestrial experts willing to rank them on a scale of 1-10?

“This will be easy,” writes certified UFO investigator—and 2014 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence winner for his Roswell UFO Tours—Dennis Balthaser, in an email to Gawker. “Every President since Truman, when the Roswell Incident happened in 1947, has tried to open the UFO Files and none have been able to. Don’t expect any of the current candidates to do it either. The President is a temporary employee (8 years max), they don’t have the security clearance or need to know. To answer your question on a scale of 1-10, I’d say 1.”

Everyone starts at 1.


Donald Trump

Who's the Most UFO-Friendly Presidential Candidate?
Photo: Getty

What the candidate said: Trump has remained (suspiciously) silent about aliens from outer space, but he’s the only candidate that was reportedly followed by an unidentified flying object in his own private jet. Sharp-eyed truth seekers have claimed to have seen his effigy in photos taken by the Mars rover. How do you explain THIS?! There is something going on with him that we don’t know about. We don’t know. We’re just saying.

Record on government transparency: Trump has never held office and has generally talked more about his dong than policy specifics. As a figurehead of the “birther” movement, he demanded the public be given President Obama’s birth certificate. The birth certificate was provided; Trump wasn’t satisfied; he doesn’t talk about it anymore.

Extraterrestrial disclosure friendliness: Based on his silence on the issue and his record of ‘seeking the truth’ then subsequently abandoning it, the Donald gets the lowest score.

1/10


Bernie Sanders

Who's the Most UFO-Friendly Presidential Candidate?
Photo: Getty

What the candidate said: “I am not aware of Sanders or any of the Republican candidates even mentioning UFOs, much less having any serious intention of getting to the bottom of the mystery,” says UFOlogist Dr. Thomas E. Bullard says via email. There is one mention of Bernie Sanders commenting on the aliens, via Conway Daily Sun’s Daymond Steer. Steer is quoted by Grant Cameron (full-time researcher of “the UFO mystery”) on his blog:

“After admitting that he is in fact, the same person as ‘Seinfeld” creator Larry David (who played him on ‘Saturday Night Live’) Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was asked if he believed that extraterrestrials may have visited the Earth, Sanders said, ‘I have met many. I see them in Washington all the time.’”

Steer broke Hillary Clinton’s position on aliens last year, but, suspiciously, this account of talking to Bernie Sanders doesn’t appear anywhere outside of Cameron’s blog. We asked him. In an email, Steer confirmed that this actually happened. He also says he didn’t realize he was on record when he was relating the Bernie encounter to Cameron over Facebook.

Record on government transparency: GovTrack.us ranks Sanders among the top 50% of Senate Committee Chairs for sponsoring or co-sponsoring 3 of the 19 bills relating to increased government transparency that came up in the senate during the latest session. In 2015, he re-introduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. He’s the only top candidate who opposed the Patriot Act in 2001 and believes that Edward Snowden “played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined.”

Extraterrestrial disclosure friendliness: Bernie is sick and tired of hearing about your damn flying saucers. What do little green men have to do with the skyrocketing level of income and wealth inequality that’s not only grotesque and immoral, but economically unsustainable? Sanders will probably not be giving this issue any time unless aliens are funneling all corporate profits to the top 1%. He gets an extra point for his record on government transparency.

2/10


Ted Cruz

Who's the Most UFO-Friendly Presidential Candidate?
Photo: Getty

What the candidate said: According to Steer’s now verified account, Cruz “was surprised at Hillary’s involvement with the UFO story while First Lady” and “stated he might check into Area 51 if elected President.”

Record on government transparency: At GovTrack.us, Cruz is tied for the lowest score on government transparency among Senate sophomores by sponsoring none of 19 recent bills relating to government transparency.

Extraterrestrial disclosure friendliness: Cruz is the kind of guy who could have first-hand experience with aliens and not give a shit unless there was some way to use it against one of his rivals. So if there’s an opportunity to drag Hillary into an investigation over it then yeah, he’ll move mountains to tell people what’s up at Area 51. We can’t say for sure that there are any liberals who would be harmed by those disclosures, we’ll split it at 5/10 and doc one point because Cruz hasn’t shown any interest in government transparency in the past. But he’s so unbelievably hated across all party lines that truth seekers should probably ask themselves whether they even want to hear the news if it’s coming from him.

4/10


John Kasich

Who's the Most UFO-Friendly Presidential Candidate?
Photo: Getty

What the candidate has said: According to Steer’s account, Kasich “does not believe.” But Kasich threw in a caveat, saying, “My brother-in-law says if I become president, his No. 1 thing is for me to open all books on Area 51.” On the phone, Kasich’s press secretary Joe Andrews could neither confirm or deny the existence of this brother-in-law and said he’d get back to us. We’ll update the post if he does.

Record on government transparency: As Governor of Ohio, Kasich has come under fire for his administration’s lack of transparency and weakening of transparency laws. He called Edward Snowden a “traitor” and he believes that programs instituted under the Patriot Act should continue. Minus 1 point.

Extraterrestrial disclosure friendliness: Like all things Kasich, his position is somewhere in the middle and is decidedly uninspiring.

4/10


Hillary Clinton

Who's the Most UFO-Friendly Presidential Candidate?
Photo: Getty

What the candidate has said: “I’m going to get to the bottom of it,” Clinton told Steer in the now infamous comment to Conway Daily Sun at the end of 2015. “I think we may have been (visited already). We don’t know for sure.” Clinton says that her campaign chairman John Podesta has made her “personally pledge we are going to get the information out… One way or another. Maybe we could have, like, a task force to go to Area 51.”

CNN characterized her remarks as a joke, but extraterrestrial lobbyist Stephen Bassett tells me he’s certain she was sincere. He says that all politicians have to lie to get elected but in this case, “It’s an extremely risky statement and it could only cause her trouble.” Furthermore, Podesta is a known disclosure enthusiast. And X-Files fan.

And then, on Jimmy Kimmel last night, to Drudge’s delight, Clinton said: “I would like us to go into those files and hopefully make as much of that public as possible. If there’s nothing there, let’s tell people there’s nothing there.” And if there is something there? “Well, if there is something there, unless it’s a threat to national security, I think we ought to share it with the public.” She even specified that. “It’s ‘unexplained aerial phenomenon.’ U.A.P. that’s the latest nomenclature.”

Record on government transparency: Hahahaha. In addition to using a private server for her government emails, Clinton also voted to authorize the Patriot Act in 2001 and re-authorize it in 2006 and she has condemned Edward Snowden as a criminal who should be prosecuted. The list goes on.

Extraterrestrial disclosure friendliness: “Of all the candidates I would consider Clinton the most ‘UFO friendly,’” confirms UFOlogist Dr. Thomas E. Bullard says via email. “The others seem pretty much blanks… She has shown some interest in the subject and has discussed it with Rockefeller” (Clinton met with Laurance S. Rockefeller about the Rockefeller UFO Initiative in 1995) “and Podesta. So, at least, it is not nonsense or—dare I say—‘alien’ to her.” But he’s not too excited about it: “Air Force, CIA, and NSA files have been released in considerable numbers over the past several decades, but the answers are never the ones UFOlogists want. Of course, [the UFOlogists] would not be satisfied until the government coughed up the Roswell wreckage and alien bodies.” That might be difficult. UFO researcher/Roswell tour guide Dennis Balthaser says, “Hillary will not get into Area 51 either. I’ve been there and the security is like none other on the planet.”

Clinton is the clear frontrunner here. Even extraterrestrial lobbyist Stephen Bassett says tells us every other candidate is “irrelevant, won’t touch it or is ignorant” on the issue. But her record on government transparency raises some questions. We’re going to knock off two points, one for each of her email accounts. And despite her recent “unless it’s a threat to national security” caveat, she’s still on top.

8/10


Andrew D. Basiago and Ed Baker

Who's the Most UFO-Friendly Presidential Candidate?

If you want someone who considers extraterrestrial disclosure to be a top priority, meet independent candidates Andrew D. Basiago and Ed Baker.

What the candidates have said: Basiago wants to see government transparency on “UFOs,” atomic weapons, the Moon landing and protection of the Sasquatch as an endangered species. Among the 100 proposals that Basiago lists on his website, he also wants all living presidents to admit that they were told about their impending presidencies beforehand. He believes that the government has had time travel capabilities for years and future presidents are always informed that they will be elected, a belief that does not bode well for Basiago’s prospects in November.

Baker may appeal to a more conservative voter. Along with “full disclosure of UFOs,” his platform/goals include “support of the Confederate Flag,” “deport illegal aliens,” “punish the bad guys.” Although he does list one of his goals as just “taxes,” without any further explanation, so that one could go either way.

Record on government transparency: While neither candidate has held elected office, Baker does have a record of sorts. His official site features a breakdown of his criminal history and how he has overcome it.

Extraterrestrial disclosure friendliness:

10/10


Rhett Jones is a journalist based in New York.

A Trump Supporter Just Accused Amanda Carpenter of Sleeping With Ted Cruz on CNN

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On CNN this morning, former Ted Cruz communications director Amanda Carpenter and pro-Trump newspaper columnist Adriana Cohen were asked to discuss the two candidates’ ridiculous feud over their wives. As soon as Cohen began speaking, talk turned to...something else.

http://gawker.com/national-enqui...

“I think we should move on,” Cohen said when anchor Kate Bolduan asked her about the spousal sniping. “Where we should move to is the National Enquirer story that has reported that Ted Cruz has allegedly had affairs with at least five mistresses, including—you’ve been named, Amanda.”

The allegation that Carpenter was named in a recent Enquirer story about a supposed Cruz sex scandal isn’t strictly true, but the tabloid did heavily imply that the former staffer is one of Cruz’s mistresses.

According to the Enquirer, political operatives are digging into rumors that Ted Cruz had extramarital affairs with five different women. The story does not name specific women, but gives a vague description of each. Among these mistresses, the Enquirer’s anonymous source says, is a “hot babe who once worked” on a Cruz campaign.

The Enquirer also published five photos of women with their faces pixelated. The woman on the far right of the lineup appears to be Carpenter.

Cohen said that Cruz should issue a statement about whether or not the Enquirer is true, and asked Carpenter to denounce or confirm the story as well.

Carpenter forcefully denied the claim, with understandable dismay at being accused of an affair on live national television. “What’s out there is tabloid trash. If someone wants to comment on it, they can talk to my lawyer. It is categorically false. You should be ashamed for spreading this kind of smut. Donald Trump supporters should be held to account for it,” she said.

Bolduan was eager to change the subject, which is equally interesting. You’d think CNN would have seen the dustup coming after inviting Carpenter on to talk to a vocal supporter of Cruz’s opponent. “I’m going to be much more comfortable talking about a National Enquirer report when CNN has done some reporting on that topic,” the anchor said at the end of the brief back-and forth. “Let’s do this. Let’s move on, because I don’t want to talk about the message, the messenger, the intent of the message—at least for today. At least for today, ladies, I don’t want to talk about a National Enquirer report.”

Automation and Basic Income

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Automation and Basic Income
Image via Eatsa/ FB

Without meaning to, the CEO of a restaurant corporation that is busily trying to automate employees out of existence is becoming one of the best spokesmen for the idea of providing all Americans with a universal basic income.

http://gawker.com/the-brilliant-...

Andy Puzder is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which runs the Carls Jr. and Hardees fast food chains. In 2012, Puzder made about $4.5 million. But he is a true believer in the iron laws of free market, and often writes about the many wonders of capitalism.

Last week, Puzder made news when he said that he wants to open an “employee-free” restaurant, where all front-of-house tasks are automated. Today, he follows up with a Wall Street Journal op-ed that preaches the inevitability of automation in the restaurant industry. He says that consumer preference and cost savings will soon ensure that many front-of-house restaurant jobs are replaced by computers. “If consumers prefer it, or if government-mandated labor-cost increases drive prices too high,” he writes, “the traditional full-service restaurant model, like those old gas stations with the employees swarming over your car, could well become a thing of the past.”

Puzder here poses as a rational, mild-mannered businessman who is simply taking stock of reality. And he may well be correct in saying that many restaurant jobs will be lost to automation—not least because there are restaurant industry CEOs like Andy Puzder. Rather than raise prices in order to raise wages, they would prefer to eliminate jobs entirely.

Let’s assume Puzder is correct. And let’s further assume that automation begins eliminating large numbers of jobs not just in the restaurant industry, but in all sorts of service industries. Millions of lost jobs. Millions of workers that no longer fit into our modern economy. Millions of families without a way to pay the bills. Automation may be an opportunity for corporations and shareholders, but it is a threat to the American middle and lower classes.

So it is surprising that Puzder does not make the tiny logical leap towards advocating a universal basic income for every citizen in America. If you truly believe that automation could soon wipe out millions of jobs—without opening up an equal number of job opportunities in another sector of the economy—it is common sense to ask yourself, “So how will all those worker provide for themselves?” (Millions of industrial and manufacturing workers were automated out of jobs in recent decades, but were always sold the vague promise that “retraining” would allow them to settle into other industries—computers, perhaps.) If our wonderful technological progress actually shrinks the number of available jobs, people still need to eat. Perhaps the simplest and most straightforward way to ensure that these victims of progress do not end up homeless is to just raise taxes enough to put a small, but adequate, basic income in everyone’s pocket. Indeed, some of the strongest advocates of the basic income model are Silicon Valley people who are the strongest believers in the idea that machines are the future.

If you want to welcome the machines, you have to take care of the people. If you don’t like basic income, you need to offer a better idea. Otherwise you’re just a Puzder.

People Have Been Talking About "The Thing" With Ted Cruz For Some Time Now

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People Have Been Talking About "The Thing" With Ted Cruz For Some Time Now

This week, the National Enquirer published a story claiming Ted Cruz may have been involved in as many as five extramarital affairs. But the general allegations are nothing new. People have been talking publicly about, well, something involving Cruz for weeks.

The conjecture so far has been just that—speculation in the absence of receipts. Still, people have repeatedly pointed to Katrina Pierson, a former Cruz aide and one of the women whose blurred-out photo appeared in the National Enquirer story.

On Twitter, conservatives have been discussing the scandal, in vague (and sometimes less-vague) terms since March, using the hashtag #thething, which seems to have originated, or at least gained popularity, around March 11, with the Stop Trump Super PAC twitter account and GOP strategist Rick Wilson. (Given that many tweets on the subject have since been deleted, it’s difficult to track down the actual origin of the term.)

Those tweets, at least initially, suggested the existence of some sort of video.

The only things about “The Thing” that people seem sure about are that 1) it involves former Cruz staffer and current Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson, and 2) the media’s been sitting on it. (“I hate getting scooped,” Breitbart’s Allum Bokhari tweeted early this morning after the Enquirer story dropped.)

Pierson, for her part, weighed in on being involved in “The Thing” earlier this month, writing that “political hacks...couldn’t even come up w/a plausible scandal, the absurdity is obvious.”

Today, she denied the allegations made by the National Enquirer, saying: “Of course the National Enquirer story is 100% FALSE!!!” She also said: “I only speak for myself, however.”

Ted Cruz Implies He'd Fuck a Rat As Long As It Wasn't Donald Trump

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Ted Cruz Implies He'd Fuck a Rat As Long As It Wasn't Donald Trump

Ted Cruz has a curious way of taking a situation he has every right to be mad about and responding to it so bombastically that it’s almost impossible to feel sympathetic to him. Today, he continued this trend by implying he’d happily fuck a rat, as long as the rat wasn’t Donald Trump.

http://gawker.com/ted-cruz-is-no...

Cruz is doing some damage control after a National Enquirer story dropped this morning alleging he’s had affairs with at least five women who are not his wife. Cruz says he believes Donald Trump is behind the story, which isn’t totally implausible. But for some reason, his response—which he had valid reasons to make—ended in a garbled metaphor about a ratfucker, a term he uses first to refer to someone playing dirty tricks during an election, and then uses... literally.

“It is a story that quoted one source on the record: Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s chief political adviser,” Cruz said, unprompted, during a press conference Friday. “It is attacking my family. And what is striking is Donald’s henchman, Roger Stone, had for months been foreshadowing that this attack was coming. It’s not surprising that Donald’s tweet occurs the day before the attack comes out. And I would note that Mr. Stone is a man who has 50 years of dirty tricks behind him. He’s a man for whom a term was coined for copulating with a rodent. Well, let me be clear: Donald Trump may be a rat, but I have no desire to copulate with him.”

Ignoring the fact that fucking Donald Trump the rat would actually make Ted Cruz the ratfucker, one thing is clear: Ted Cruz has definitely spent time thinking about fucking a rat. A strong message, indeed.

Robert De Niro Is Doing a Convincing Portrayal of an Anti-Vaccination Kook

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Robert De Niro Is Doing a Convincing Portrayal of an Anti-Vaccination Kook

Robert De Niro’s upcoming Tribeca Film Festival is in trouble for including the movie Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, directed by Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced physician turned anti-vaccination activist. The festival site describes the film as “[d]igging into the long-debated link between autism and vaccines,” a description that avoids the official conclusion of that debate, which is that Wakefield was a fraud peddling destructive lies to desperate parents.

Now De Niro has issued a statement on why the film is in the lineup:

“Grace [Hightower] and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined. In the 15 years since the Tribeca Film Festival was founded, I have never asked for a film to be screened or gotten involved in the programming. However this is very personal to me and my family and I want there to be a discussion, which is why we will be screening Vaxxed. I am not personally endorsing the film, nor am I anti-vaccination; I am only providing the opportunity for a conversation around the issue.”

This is nonsense. People who are not anti-vaccination do not claim to want to have a “conversation around the issue” of whether or not vaccines, which do not cause autism, cause autism. Parents of autistic children do not support an inquiry into a fake and dangerous explanation of the causes of their children’s autism, if they don’t believe that fake and dangerous explanation themselves.

Saying “it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined” is functionally identical to saying “it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the extent of the Holocaust be openly discussed or examined,” or saying “it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the potential role of crisis actors in the Sandy Hook ‘massacre’ be openly discussed or examined.”

Did the Tribeca Film Festival screen Loose Change, to openly discuss and examine the questions surrounding what really happened on 9/11? It did not (though it did screen Loose Change, a six-minute 2011 comedy short about a Brooklyn man and his senile landlord).

If Robert De Niro were an anti-vaccination crank using his film festival to promote an anti-vaccination movie, but he wanted to be dishonest about it, he would have written precisely the statement he released. Is Robert De Niro a dishonest anti-vaccination crank? It’s certainly worth having a discussion.

Photo via Getty.


Listen to the Full Conversation About Sex and Love Between Alabama Governor Robert Bentley and His Alleged Mistress

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In 2014, when he was still married to his now-ex wife Dianne, Alabama governor Robert Bentley was secretly recorded talking to his alleged mistress Rebekah Caldwell-Mason, who is also one of his closest advisors. Earlier this week, after months of public speculation regarding his alleged infidelity, Bentley held a press conference to address an excerpt of a recording of a phone call between he and Mason that was leaked to AL.com. The two-minute long snippet posted by the newspaper captured Bentley describing both physical and emotional intimacy with Mason, who currently serves as the governor’s senior political advisor. Above, you can hear relevant parts of the entire 14-minute recording obtained by Gawker, the full contents of which have not been previously published.

http://gawker.com/leaked-audio-a...

The tape was sent to us by an anonymous source. Like AL.com, we have edited it down to erase periods of silence in the recording during which Bentley is listening to Mason speak to him. We have also cut out some mundane chit-chat—Bentley discussing the weather, Mason apparently talking to him about music—between the two alleged lovers. What’s left is a conversation between two people who, as AL.com’s original snippet made clear, were clearly in the midst of an intense relationship that they nonetheless needed to keep secret.

The tape opens with Bentley telling Mason that his wife has just gone for a walk on the beach (a local gossip blog has reported that Dianne left her cell phone behind to record what Bentley might say while she was gone). After that, you will hear the following from Bentley:

  • “I was so afraid I wasn’t going to have the chance to talk to you.”
  • “I’m fixing to come up there and sit on the back porch with you. Can I sit by you and can you put your head on my shoulder?”
  • “Well, I’m sorry, baby, you know how it is. We really worked hard, we really did. Hey, I love you.”
  • “Hey, listen sweetheart, I want you to have a good time, okay? Well, hey, look baby, you’ve been getting up early for me for a long time.”
  • “I love—I love when you come and see me.”

Bentley then discusses with Mason the impending quasi-retirement of his executive assistant Wanda Kelly, who sits in his office, and thus overhears his conversations. He tells Mason:

“You know, I’ve been thinking about—I think I’m going to rearrange the office when Wanda retires. She’s not gonna retire, she’s just gonna work part-time, but you know, I think that would be a good time to do it.”

[pause]

“I don’t want her right there. I honestly don’t. And it doesn’t have anything to do with you and me—uh, well, it does I guess—but really and truly I don’t think somebody needs to be right there listening to every word that is said in that office. I just really don’t.”

Bentley continues:

  • “I miss you. I wish I was with you right now.”
  • “I love you. I do. You know, I worry sometimes I love you so much. I worry about loving you so much. I do.”
  • “I feel all the time: How can I contact her? How can I call her? How can I touch—text her? How can I get in contact with her? How can we do this, you know.”

He then tells Mason about a text he meant to send to her but that he accidentally sent to “Zach,” who appears to be Zach Lee, Bentley’s director of local government affairs:

“I text you and I said, ‘I’m sorry I have not been able to call.’ I said something along the lines of, ‘How much time?’ Or something like that. ‘I’m sorry but—.’ It went to Zach.

[pause]

“So, well, now, he texted me back and he said, ‘Did you get the videos? You sent it to the wrong person, but did you get the videos?’ And I texted back and said, ‘Yeah. Yeah I did, Zach.’ I said, ‘Thanks. I didn’t mean to send this to you, I had some people I needed to call.’ So, it was fine. He couldn’t—because he couldn’t—he couldn’t tell who I was sending it to. And it didn’t say, ‘Hey baby, I love you so much, and I’d like to spend the rest of my life with you.’”

The end of the recording is what AL.com posted on Wednesday night, in which Bentely tells Mason:

  • “You kiss me. I love that. You know I do love that.”
  • “You know what, when I stand behind you and I put my arms around you, and I put my hands on your breasts, and I put my hands on you [unintelligible] and pull you real close...”
  • “Hey, I love that too, putting my hands under you.”
  • “Oh, great. I think about that right now, so let’s do it.”
  • “Yeah, I could tell you were thinking about—I could tell you were thinking about it last night.”
  • “It’s okay, everything is going to be fine. We’re going to be alright this week.”
  • “I love you. I love to talk to you. I do.”
  • “But baby, lemme tell you what we’re gonna have to do tonight: Start locking the door. If we’re gonna do what we did the other day, we’re gonna have to start locking the door.”

In his press conference following the initial release of the audio, Bentley maintained that he did not have a sexual relationship with Mason, saying, per AL.com, that, “his sins were in the words he used in talking to Mason, nothing more.” The part of the tape released by AL.com did not support that benign excuse—Bentley talks of touching Mason’s breasts—and neither does the full recording.

In a Facebook post put up this morning, Mason’s husband said that he “long ago resolved the personal issue playing out now for everyone this week”:

On behalf of our family I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and messages of unconditional love and grace over the past few days. I wanted to share that I long ago resolved the personal issue playing out now for everyone this week. Please continue to support families, the governor, and our state with prayers as we all move forward.

Nonetheless, for Bentley, the saga of his alleged affair is nowhere close to ending. State auditor Jim Zeigler announced today that he has filed a report to the Alabama Ethics Commission to trigger a formal investigation into “The Governor’s misuse of state property, and the legality of Senior Political Advisor Rebekah Caldwell Mason’s status as either a public official or lobbyist.” In the press release, Zeigler is quoted as saying:

“The Governor continues to disgrace the state of Alabama, and in my official capacity as State Auditor, I am require to report these suspected violations. It is clear to me that he is misleading the state about the nature of his relationship, but it is also clear that Ms. Mason is required to either be classified as a public official, or file as a lobbyist, in her capacity as an advisor who is paid by an outside source.”

Bentley’s office has not responded to a request for comment.

The National Enquirer Has Been Right Before

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The National Enquirer Has Been Right Before

It’s easy to dismiss today’s National Enquirer story about the alleged secret, highly active extramarital sex life of Ted Cruz, because, hey, it’s just some crappy tabloid that makes up all of its stories, right? And it’s true: They’ve printed a lot of fantasy and nonsense. But on some stories—including some huge ones—the Enquirer has been very right.

It’s entirely possible the magazine’s claim that candidate Cruz has had five separate affairs while married to his wife Heidi is completely false. Maybe they were fabricated by an agenda-toting third party and fed to the Enquirer as true (although fragments of the story have been circulating online for awhile, now). There are innumerable people who will take great pleasure in just seeing this headline reverberate across Twitter, to Cruz’s immense embarrassment, and any number of them would be capable of spearheading a smear campaign.

But it’s also possible that the Enquirer’s story, or parts of it at least, are accurate, making Ted Cruz a “family values” fraud and hypocrite. The tabloid is operated in part by a team of real reporters that have launched bombshells before. Their news-gathering process, as documented by Gawker in 2012, is highly unorthodox, and wouldn’t pass muster at any newspaper (or even here!), but it does involve traditional reporting and fact-checking—even when it’s done only to cover their ass legally.

http://gawker.com/5912377/how-to...

John Edwards

Perhaps the Enquirer’s greatest feat to date was breaking the 2008 story of charming presidential hopeful John Edwards’ secret child with a mistress, a triumph of snooping, gossiping, and reporting that immediately ended his existence as an American political entity. The story included actual photos of Edwards in a hotel room, holding the baby whose existence he wouldn’t acknowledge while his wife battled cancer. It was a story “respectable” media outlets would’ve crawled over each other to get a piece of, and it appeared in a supermarket checkout rag those same outlets still consider a punchline.

There’s still no good reason why the Enquirer wasn’t given a Pulitzer for this work.

O.J. Simpson

The National Enquirer is responsible for breaking two notable stories during and after the O.J. Simpson murder saga. In the 1990s, the mag obtained and published a photograph of Simpson wearing a pair of Bruno Magli shoes that matched bloody prints left at the scene of the killing—the same kind that’d earlier prompted Simpson say he “would have never worn those ugly-ass shoes.” When confronted with a photograph of himself wearing said ugly ass shoes, Simpson simply denied that they were his. A decade later, the Enquirer was the first outlet to reveal Simpson had penned a manuscript about carrying out the murders he was accused of committing, the infamous If I Did It.

http://gizmodo.com/5762521/steve-...

Steve Jobs

The founder and CEO of Apple went out of his way to conceal his dire health situation—and the fact that he was recklessly avoiding legitimate medical treatment—from the public and Apple shareholders. One of the only outlets to puncture the immense, otherwise-impregnable Apple spin and black ops PR machine was the National Enquirer, which reported in February 2011 that Jobs had “six weeks to live,” citing rapidly deteriorating health and photographs that depicted him looking extremely, disturbingly frail. They had the timeline wrong—Jobs died over six months later, in October of 2011—but they were absolutely right that Steve Jobs was dying when no one in the legitimate “business press” would dare touch the truth.

The Mistakes

None of this is to say that the National Enquirer doesn’t blow it, and blow it a lot, because it does. The paper infamously whiffed on a report that Barack Obama was “caught in a DC hotel with a former campaign aide,” a report they partially retracted soon after publishing. It’s also home to a regular rotation of baseless stories that are patently, stupidly wrong, and never amount to anything. For example, this one:

And that’s the frustrating thing about the Enquirer, which maintains a confounding ratio of fearless reporting and unflappable tip-chasing to pure bullshit. There was no way to predict that the Edwards scoop was in fact a scoop and not a tall tale until the magazine had Edwards nailed dead-to-rights with a photo, and so far there’s no way to verify anything in the stomach-turning vagueness the Enquirer has alleged about Ted Cruz’s penis, either.

But don’t count them out based solely on some snobbish journalism oath. The National Enquirer is always extremely wrong and full of shit until they’re extremely right.

A study finds that people who have “recurrent bouts of extreme, impulsive anger” are more than twice

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A study finds that people who have “recurrent bouts of extreme, impulsive anger” are more than twice as likely to carry a parasite that is transmitted through the feces of infected cats. Eating cat butt make you mad.

The People Who Upload Torrents

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The People Who Upload Torrents
Image Credit: Sam Woolley

On a popular torrent site, Fallout 4 has been downloaded nearly 140,000 times. Nearly 200 people are downloading right now, as I write this. AAA or indie, Fallout 4 or Super Meat Boy, it doesn’t matter. Piracy is inevitable. But a torrent doesn’t appear out of thin air.

There’s a person at the start of that process, an individual who decides to share a game with the world for free. I’ve talked with a few of them, and here’s what they had to say.

I recently sent private messages to more than 30 uploaders at KickAssTorrents, ranked by Torrent Freak as the most popular torrent site in 2015, hoping some would talk to me. Only three responded. The vast majority of uploaders ignored my request—not exactly shocking—but those that did were more than happy to talk about being part of the piracy community. One told me his dream was “sharing games with the world,” while another declared piracy as just “part of the game.”

Torrents are the most popular way to share pirated material these days, though the technology is hardly exclusive to piracy. Rather than a website hosting a file and paying for bandwidth as each individual downloads it, torrents allow groups to collectively shoulder the burden. It’s a much cheaper and more efficient way to distribute large files to a lot of people.

Every uploader in this story declined to provide their real name, choosing to be addressed by their pseudonym used on KickAssTorrents.

The People Who Upload Torrents
Stardew Valley, one of the many torrents started by mercs213.

mercs213 has, as of this writing, uploaded 1015 torrents, including ones for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and Stardew Valley. (Between writing a draft of this story and hitting publish, he’d uploaded 10 more. )

He’s a 23-year-old working for a “company that provides networking opportunities for CEOs” and spends most of his time fiddling with tech. When he’s not building computers for friends or family, he’s playing games. (Mostly RPGs.) He estimates spending about five hours per week creating and uploading torrents.

“When I was young I always enjoyed the games people would provide which I could not afford but wanted to experience,” he told me. “I promised myself I would become a torrent uploader and do the same. So here I am sharing games with the world.”

Some of the games he’s uploading come from the piracy scene, others are ones he’s legitimately bought. He prefers buying games from GOG, which prides itself on selling games without DRM.

What makes mercs213 different from other uploaders is his constant communication with his...well, fans. KickAssTorrents is not merely a torrent repository; there are comments, message boards, and other social hooks to foster a community. There are even achievements to unlock, including Fake Killer (report 100 fake torrents), Last Man Uploading (upload a torrent just before a new year), Spamtastic Reporter (uploaded more than 1,000 torrents), and others.

The People Who Upload Torrents

mercs213 regularly interacts with the legions waiting for the next upload. Because he’s “listening,” in his words, “they [fans] have more respect towards me and the effort I put into my work.”

“Thanks so much for keeping all your GOG and other games up to date!!!,” wrote one fan. “You[’re] part of a very select group—and really appreciate all that you do here for us!!!”

“Heyo Mercs. Love your uploads but can you please, PLEASE, upload the new Disgaea PC patches?” wrote another. “The game had an awful release and they fixed mostly everything in the last 3 patches. Thanks.”

These fans are, of course, people downloading games illegally on the Internet. Lots of people have reasons—even good ones—for pirating games, as we’ve written about in the past, but let’s call a spade a spade. They’re fans of someone who’s really good at uploading games for free.

This moral gray area doesn’t bother mercs213, who sees all DRM as “hurting the consumers.”

“I don’t like to say the games are being stolen as nothing is being taken from someone,” he said. “People who are pirating a game can’t afford it, want to demo it, or had [any] intention of buying in the first place and there many more reasons I could list.”

Even if people have reasonable justifications for piracy, there’s still the question of whether people are entitled to a free video game, whatever their reasons.

“Even if they can’t afford the game, people should be able to experience it,” he said. “It gives a developer (especially an indie one) a chance to show their audience what types of games they can create. If the game is enjoyable, people are more inclined to buy it along with future games they produce.”

That said, he believes if you enjoy a game, you should “support the developers by purchasing it.”

FitGirl, with 322 torrents and counting, is another prominent uploader on KickAssTorrents. And yes, the name is descriptive.

“I’m a female and kinda proud of it,” said FitGirl, who said she’s between 20 and 30 years old and works with computers. “In gaming—it’s growing. In repacks I think I’m alone for now.”

“Repacks” is shorthand for repackaged software.

Like mercs213, FitGirl maintains torrents, but fills a specific niche: smaller file sizes. She “worshiped” compression in her youth. As games got bigger in size, her hard drive couldn’t fit as many. She started storing games in ZIP files before discovering the many nuances driving compression. She wanted to share her experiments with the world. Thus, torrents.

“It started when I realized that one of my games I compressed for my archive was much smaller than any releases on torrents,” she said. “I said to myself: ‘hmm, that’s interesting.’ [...] It’s like a sport—you try to compress the game to a smallest possible size yet it should unpack relatively fast.” For example, she was able to compress Mad Max from 32GB to 4.1GB, Grand Theft Auto V from 60 GB to 34.1GB, and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor from 53.3GB to 17.6GB. The one downside is that unpacking compressed games can take a while; GTA V takes several hours.

The People Who Upload Torrents
Months after release, Rise of the Tomb Raider still hasn’t been cracked.

Repacks even have some uses outside of piracy.

“Many people use repacks as an installer for Steam,” said FitGirl. “Just install in Steam game folder, then it checks that it already [has the] files and [downloads] just some small chunks.”

Originally born in Russia, FitGirl started sharing her work with Russian-specific torrent sites. Hoping to reach a larger audience, she moved over to KickAssTorrents and was quickly welcomed. All of her torrents are personally repackaged and compressed on her computer.

“Kind of a personal touch, you know,” she said.

Whereas mercs213 sometimes buys games to share on KickAssTorrents, FitGirl only pulls from existing releases in the piracy scene. She does, however, buy games she “likes or loves.”

“What I really hate is when uploaders (or pirates as a wider term) try to make money on what they are doing,” she said. “I think that I can share digital stuff made by others, but I shouldn’t make money on it. That’s totally unfair.”

mercs213 and FitGirl said they don’t make money from piracy, but uploading torrents and making games freely available has a financial impact on developers, even if the exact amount is largely unprovable. She claims it’s not a big deal.

The People Who Upload Torrents
Just Cause 3, like Tomb Raider, remains uncracked...for now.

“That [impact] can only happen to some indie games,” she said, “Of course, sometimes such thoughts visit me.”

Lots of developers I’ve spoken to over the years would likely take issue with that statement. Just this week, the developer behind the popular Steam game Punch Club revealed more than one million people were playing their game, but only 300,000 had purchased legitimate copies.

In the near future, it might not matter what FitGirl or merc213 think about the game demos, piracy, or the presence of DRM. In February, I reported on the anti-piracy software from a company called Denuvo that’s vexed hackers for some time. It’s made games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Just Cause 3 uncrackable for months. While torrents for these games exist, they’re useless; no cracks exist to make them playable. It’s the same for the new Hitman, Garden Warfare 2, Far Cry Primal, and other games.

One way or another, enough time will pass, and the games will be broken and pirated.

“It’s part of the game,” said FitGirl. “When you start making games—be prepared.”

Video Shows NYPD Zipping Live Man in Body Bag, Which Is a Normal Thing They Do All the Time

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Here is a video of the NYPD zipping a live man into a body bag and dropping it on the side of the street. But don’t be alarmed, the NYPD says: That’s just their normal bag for disturbed individuals.

“The bag is ventilated and they can breathe,” a spokeswoman says to the New York Post.

“We’re not suffocating anyone with this highly unnecessary tactic,” might seem to some like a strange feature to brag about, but for the NYPD it’s a real step up.

http://gawker.com/i-cant-breathe...

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