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Haaretz and the Associated Press are reporting that the Israel Defense Forces have charged a soldier with manslaughter after he was filmed shooting a Palestinian stabbing suspect who was laying prone on the ground—the video of which received international attention after it was published by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem in late March. Per Haaretz:

According to the indictment, the soldier opened fire in “violation of the rules of engagement, and without operational justification, while [Abdel Fattah] al-Sharif lay wounded on the ground ... and did not pose immediate and real threat to the defendant, civilians or soldiers in the area.” ...

Two weeks ago the military prosecution came to the conclusion that the accumulated evidence warranted E.’s indictment. The prosecution believes that the things the soldier said to several soldiers and an officer right after the shooting, including, “He deserves to die,” indicate that the motive for shooting the attacker, Sharif, was revenge. The soldier told Military Police investigators that he shot the terrorist because he feared he had a bomb or explosive belt on his person.

The victim, a 21-year-old named Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, had stabbed a soldier standing guard at a military outpost in Hebron, a city 19 miles south of Jerusalem, before being subdued by other soldiers. Located in the West Bank, Hebron is the site of frequent violence between its Palestinian residents and Israeli citizens, the latter of which live in fortified settlements protected by the country’s military. The area is considered ground zero of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The soldier charged with manslaughter, who cannot be named by outlets or reporters licensed to work in the State of Israel due to a court gag order, was identified last month as Cpl. Elor Azraya by Israelis voicing their support for his actions. According to Robert Mackey of The Intercept, the circulation of the soldier’s name was later flagged by an Israeli human rights activist named Elizabeth Tsurkov:

An indictment such as Azraya’s is fairly rare. “This is the first time in over 10 years that an IDF soldier has been charged with manslaughter for a killing that took place during field operations,” Haaretz noted. The video recorded by B’Tselem, the aforementioned human rights organization, can be seen below:

Justin Trudeau, the newly elected Prime Minister of Canada, received a wave of universally positive press last week after he appeared to explain the mechanics of quantum computing in an impromptu answer during a press conference held at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. Trudeau’s remarkably erudite explanation, captured in an instantaneously viral video, suggested a deep personal interest in the subject, one unrelated to any obvious publicity benefits. According to the sharp-eyed Canadian blogger J.J. McCullough, however, everything about the press conference—the setting, the question, and the answer—was choreographed by Trudeau himself.

As McCullough points out, Trudeau was actually the first to suggest reporters ask him about quantum computing.

On Friday, Prime Minister Trudeau visited the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics located in Waterloo, Ontario. After a tour, he staged a brief photo op with some scientists and gave a short speech about how his government believes in funding science yada yada. Then, at one point he said this:

“You don’t have to be a geek like me to appreciate how important this work is. Although I have to tell you, when we get to the media questions later I’m really hoping people ask me how quantum computing works because I was excited to deepen my knowledge of that this morning.”

Here’s a video of this exchange, seen at 13:46:

And here’s the video of the press conference during which Trudeau explains quantum computing, with the answer everyone is talking about:

You can see what’s going on here. As McCullough observes, one of the present reporters gave Trudeau exactly what he asked for—a question about “how quantum computing works”:

Eventually we did get to the media questions. The first one went like this:

REPORTER: Morning sir, I was going to ask you to explain quantum computing but.. [trails off as audience laughs] When do you expect Canada’s ISIL mission to begin again and are we not doing anything in the interim while we prepare?

PM TRUDEAU: ‘Kay, very simply, normal computers work by….

And that was that.

“To summarize, the PM went to a place and learned about a thing,” McCollough writes. “During the speech that followed, he excitedly suggested he wanted to talk about the thing he just learned. A reporter was disinterested in playing along, and tried to ask a more relevant question, but Trudeau ignored him and launched into what was clearly a pre-prepared treatise on the thing.”

McCollough may be a student of the Glenn Greenwald school of blogging—“What is being falsely presented as a story of a scrappy prime minister resisting a hostile press is actually a story of a slavishly subservient press who are actively shaping their reporting to suit the government’s needs”—but we’re inclined to agree with him here. This definitely looks like a setup.

We’ve reached out to Trudeau’s office for comment and will update this post if we hear back.

At long last, the federal probe into corruption at the NYPD reveals something interesting. The investigation, which has penetrated the upper echelon of the department, uncovered evidence that powerful officers had sex with a prostitute dressed as a flight attendant on a private trip to Las Vegas, according to the New York Post.

http://gawker.com/i-wish-this-ma...

Citing sources “close to the case,” the Post is alleging that a businessman provided a round-trip flight from New Jersey to Vegas on which officers enjoyed “first-class plus” service which included sex with the cabin staff. Deputy Inspector James Grant, former commanding officer of the Upper East Side precinct, and Detective Michael Milici, an officer in Borough Park, were reportedly among the plane’s passengers. (Grant and Milici’s lawyers told the Post they “denied the allegations.”)

Jona Rechnitz, who allegedly financed the sex plane, is a key figure in the larger FBI investigation into high-level NYPD officials taking expensive gifts from wealthy businessmen in exchange for favors and protection. Jeremy Reichberg, the other businessman at the center of the investigation, was also reportedly onboard the flight. Rechnitz and Reichberg are also both associated with the Campaign for One New York, a nonprofit aimed at furthering Bill de Blasio’s mayoral agenda, which recently announced it would shutter after allegations of conflicts of interest there.

http://gawker.com/bill-de-blasio...

The alleged corruption in New York City is clearly far-reaching, but until now, the scandal has felt like it was missing a certain je ne sais quoi. Now that there’s actual fucking, maybe people like me will finally start paying close attention.

In Manhattan, the NYPD will no longer throw you in jail for asking a fellow citizen for a little help. Wow—civilized!

In New York City, most people must ride the subway to get places. To work. To school. To a doctor’s appointment. To anywhere. If you are poor, and you need to ride the subway, you can either hop the turnstile—which is considered theft, and which will land you in jail—or, you can be a good citizen and stand outside the turnstiles, asking the people coming out of one of them could swipe you in with their MetroCard. For the patron is able to swipe a fellow citizen in need into the subway system, the reward is a warm feeling of doing a good deed. The MTA, which runs the subway system, explicitly allows unlimited-use Metrocards to be transferred to someone else after 18 minutes have passed since the last swipe. This means that swiping someone into the subway system constitutes either a gift of a cash fare, which makes it no different from giving money to someone, or a legal use of an unlimited fare, allowed by MTA rules.

It is also nice because people should help people.

Despite all of this, the NYPD, which for decades has been transfixed with finding new ways of arresting people for ever-smaller infractions, has traditionally responded to people asking to be swiped into the subway by arresting them. Yes! Real nice! Way to reward a fundamentally positive civic and human interaction! Fuckers! The New York Times reports today that thanks to the Manhattan DA deciding not to prosecute fare-swipe-askers any more, the NYPD will now only issue a ticket for this victimless crime. Imagine, though, the scope of the financial and logistical and personal damage done to thousands of human lives in the past few years simply because of this insane, nitpicky arrest policy: “Since 2013, the police have made more than 10,000 arrests of people for asking for swipes and, therefore, impeding the flow of subway passengers, according to statistics from the police. There were 800 arrests this year alone, before the policy change.”

Thousands of people have gone to jail for asking a fellow citizen if they might please help them gain legal admittance to our city’s public transportation system. That is so fucked up. Many times, when swiping someone into the subway, I have imagined how mad I would be to see them (or me) get arrested for this act of basic human decency. (So mad.)

Anyhow, now in one of New York City’s five boroughs poor people will receive a marginally less insane though still unjust penalty for trying to enter the subway system legally. The obligation of holders of unlimited Metrocards to swipe people in upon request is unchanged.

A year after Freddie Gray’s death, the Baltimore Sun has a “where are they now” feature regarding some of the key figures in the subsequent protests and riots that rocked Baltimore. Former police commissioner Anthony Batts moved to Florida, where he is living in a house he registered under the name “Jean Luc Giovanni.”

According to The Politico, Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski this week revealed a previously unknown depth of ignorance about the one thing he’s expected to know: Elections.

Lewandowski was a guest Sunday on Fox News, where he was asked about his decision not to apologize to Michelle Fields, the reporter he grabbed at a Florida press conference in early March.

The answer to that question, of course, is that he didn’t apologize because he’s a bit of an asshole. So instead of answering, Lewandowski attacked Florida’s delegate system by stating a series of incorrect facts.

http://gawker.com/update-corey-l...

“The chairman of the party of Florida, who is an avid and outward supporter of Marco Rubio, gets to appoint 30 of those delegates. Now, I understand those are the rules but Donald Trump won,” he said. “And now, you’ve got a person who is supporting Marco Rubio who gets to appoint 30 of the 99 delegates.”

As Politico points out, approximately zero percent of what he said was accurate.

Lewandowski’s comments were wrong on three counts: Ingoglia remained neutral before and after the state’s March 15 GOP primary; the chairman doesn’t “appoint” any delegates; and the chairman is in charge of recommending 15 — not “30 of the 99” — delegates to the state executive committee.

Lewandowski also incorrectly said Trump won Florida’s March 15 winner-take-all primary “by 23 points over all of his competitors.” Trump’s margin over second-place Rubio was 19 percentage points.

That wasn’t even the only idiotic thing Lewandowski said during that interview: A source told the website that Lewandowski’s pronouncement that the Trump campaign expects to pick up 200 delegates in the next month was a terrible idea, strategy-wise.

“That’s a number we hope for,” the source said. “We’re trying to set expectations at 180, and he just blew through that — a complete amateur.”

Surely there is something Corey Lewandowski is qualified to do—we just don’t know what it is yet.

http://gawker.com/donald-trump-c...

Venezuela, one of the world’s least successful nations, is seriously fucked. How much more fucked is Venzuela since the last time we told you how fucked Venzuela is?

Amid the manmade economic disaster that is Venezuela, residents are now contending with natural disasters as well, including drought, forest fires, and a dust-filled smog blanketing the capital city of Caracas. Unfortunately, much of the nation’s electricity is provided by hydroelectric dams, so the drought has also led to a national electricity crisis. Unable to actually generate more electricity, the president has resorted to declaring national holidays, shortening the work week to four days, and changing the country’s time zone in a desperate attempt to grab more daylight. The economic crisis has caused both telephone and television providers to halt service, leaving Venezuelans with little to do except sit around in the dark. A recent meeting of major oil nations failed to produce an agreement to slow down production to increase prices, meaning Venezuela’s economy will be stuck in the toilet for the foreseeable future. On top of that, international corporations like General Mills, Liberty Mutual, and Halliburton are pulling out of the country and taking desperately needed jobs with them. There is also a medicine shortage of critical proportions. There is also a water shortage of critical proportions. There is also a food shortage of critical proportions. The president’s political party continues to crush its opposition through legal and extra-legal means, increasing the national sense of frustration. The Supreme Court has upheld human rights abuses. In response to rampant violent crime, government security forces have “have allegedly razed neighborhoods, engaged in mass detentions and deportations, and murdered suspects.” A newspaper publisher has been sentenced to four years in prison for investigative reporting. Protesters are killing police officers. Gangsters are killing gold miners. A thief in Caracas was burned to death by an angry mob.

On the bright side, flights to Caracas are cheap!

The New York presidential primary begins in less than 24 hours, and I am among the nine percent of New York primary voters who remain undecided.

I’m not surprised to find myself waffling. What’s been strange this election season is how many voters on the left seem sure that one Democratic candidate is an obvious choice over the other. While one may well turn out more deserving of your confidence, neither Bernie Sanders nor Hillary Clinton deserves your certainty. Both are flawed candidates whose nomination would carry with it significant risk, and who you vote for depends entirely on which bad thing you are willing to overlook.

Both candidates come with strong recommendations, of course: an equal and opposite source of confusion. Sen. Bernie Sanders is the rare politician who is stubbornly consistent in his core beliefs, and the radical system overhaul he envisions is a world many of us would like to live in. His platform is rooted in making life livable for the majority, in a moment when livability seems to have become a perk for the wealthy. Although his record is not packed with legislative victories, Sanders has a history of working effectively with Republicans and reaching out to conservatives, an enormous advantage for anyone looking to lead a country as polarized as this one. Currently, Sanders polls better than Clinton against both Cruz and Trump. But it remains unclear how, armed with a POTUS’s limited power and faced with an oppositional congress, one person could fundamentally and instantaneously change the system he was elected to run.

Sanders demonstrated recently in an interview with the New York Daily News editorial board that he is better at shouting “break up the banks” than explaining how he might do that. As my former colleague Greg Howard has written, he tends to over-conflate racial inequality with economic inequality, assuming that the latter would fix the former. And while his reasonable declarations on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have resonated sharply with many liberal voters, it was made painfully clear in the NY Daily News interview that he hasn’t taken the time to check his facts, which led to a member of the Knesset accusing him of “blood libel”; on issues of foreign policy, he is consistently weak, which, in a warming world ripped up by extremism and disease, should alarm you. Bernie’s platform also includes significant and unprecedented tax increases to fund programs like universal health care and free college tuition, increases that would not spare the middle class. Whether or not the value of these programs would outweigh their cost in taxes, will people vote for someone who they think will cost them money? Seems unlikely.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, would be the first woman president, an enormous and overdue milestone that has unfortunately has done little to stir excitement. She was a powerful woman in politics before America was ready for it, and has been a magnet for misogynist vitriol for nearly three decades; her overly scripted demeanor and “zone of privacy” could be a direct result of, say, being featured on the 1995 cover of Spy magazine with a dick under her skirt. She is undeniably experienced and extremely smart, performs spectacularly well under pressure, and although she doesn’t seem to love the A-word, has championed Planned Parenthood in a scary national moment for abortion rights. She has been raising significant funds for down-ballot candidates, while Sanders only just began doing so following criticism. Her views on many issues are complex and pragmatic, something that often backfires in an election trading in applause lines.

Clinton has also benefited enormously from the system that Sanders would like to dismantle. As a recent New Yorker feature underlined, both Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street are movements that sprouted in opposition to legislation signed during Bill Clinton’s presidency, legislation that Hillary Clinton championed. She, and particularly the Clinton Foundation, appear to care more about acquiring money than where that money is coming from. She is being investigated in three separate inquiries by the federal government. She considers Henry Kissinger a friend. She sat on the Wal-Mart board of directors. She is bafflingly gaffe-prone in a wholly un-charming way, as is her husband, who was recently found explaining black lives to Black Lives Matter activists. She voted for the Iraq war, and has a tendency to conveniently change her mind. Many American voters and members of Congress appear to believe she is the antichrist.

We all have to choose eventually, of course—unless you’re not voting, a dumb choice even if your vote might not matter all that much—and ideally your decision was or will be based on something more than whim, some solid reasoning as to why you think that candidate would be good at winning the general election and running the United States. For some, however, it seems that this decision was made quite early on, and cemented into something like gospel.

“Democrats are now so divided and dug-in that no matter who wins the nomination, it will take a considerable effort to heal and reunite them,” wrote the New York Times editorial board after the Democratic debate in Brooklyn. When my colleague Joanna Rothkopf and I were covering the New Hampshire primary in February, we attended a Democratic dinner-slash-rally in Manchester that had Sanders and Clinton supporters literally facing off on opposite sides of the partially-filled arena. There was an air of seething rivalry similar to what one might find at a sports event, except the boos and cheers were lodged on behalf of two senior citizens running for elected office. A hammered woman a level above us kept leaning over the rail and shrieking “YOU’RE SINGIN’ MY SONG, BERNIE!” during Sanders’ speech, at times visibly throwing him off.

Bernie Sanders supporters in particular (and as comedian Joel Kim Booster has put it, there is a considerable difference between people who voted for Bernie Sanders and Bernie Sanders Supporters) are not known for their embrace of nuance. At this point most people familiar with the Internet have heard of the patronizing “Bernie Bro,” the definition of which has been exhaustively debated since The Atlantic’s Robinson Meyer coined the term in October; some men have suggested that the Bernie Bro does not exist at all, but is rather a Clintonian smear tactic.

While the term is certainly unencumbered by precision—having come to broadly symbolize anyone from serious online harassers to, for example, a friend’s boyfriend who gently criticized her support for Clinton by suggesting she “do more research”—what is consistent about the Bernie Bro is his (or her) rigid and unshakable belief in Bernie Sanders’ qualifications. “The degree to which any criticism of this candidate is met with this complete brick wall of rage—it’s like criticizing Jesus,” journalist Jill Filipovic told the Los Angeles Times recently.

Supporters of Clinton can be similarly single-minded. A Jezebel commenter graced an article I wrote with a list of “pros and cons” about the candidate that named Clinton’s only con as “hasn’t fulfilled her potential.” Alexandra Schwartz at the New Yorker wondered whether millennials should “get over” Bernie Sanders, heavily conflating Sanders’ young supporters’ optimism with stupidity. In an election where major conventions of the campaign process itself are being questioned and dismissed on the left and right (as the candidate field demonstrates), and where just about every single thing that matters—from civil rights down to the survival of the planet—is being threatened by two Republicans competing for the title of Grossest Man Alive, certainty becomes appealing. In an age of ideological purity, decisiveness beckons like a mirage.

Aided by the self-righteous mores of the internet, the debate amongst Democrats often turns antagonistic, flattening into something simplistic and unfocused. A recent attempt by a Clinton supporter to start a supportive hashtag—#HillarySoQualified, in reaction to Sanders’ claim that she was not—went awry when an army of Bernie supporters coopted the hashtag, resulting in an endless back-and-forth game of liberal-on-liberal taunts from accounts like @AGirl4Bernie and @SayHillYes. Sen. Claire McCaskill recently let the air out of a meme that read “Hillary uses public transportation to get votes, Bernie uses public transportation for transportation,” tweeting that Bernie was actually pictured on a government tram. Susan Sarandon and Debra Messing (the former supports Bernie, the latter is for Clinton) recently got into a fight on Twitter over Sarandon’s statement, quickly taken back, that she would rather vote for Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton.

But a hashtag is both declarative and empty by nature; there’s no room to air the world’s many competing truths in 140 characters. Especially for those of us working in the media, who are obliged to watch the election unfold one finger-wagging Take and ridiculous pop star feud at a time, the choice feels more enormous and impossible with every cocksure attempt at simplification.

This is not the general election, where Democrats will (hopefully) feel obligated to suck up their qualms and rally loudly behind a candidate because the other one might accidentally nuke China. The only reasonable reaction to this primary race is bewilderment, and right now, critiquing each other for supporting the wrong candidate is probably less useful than critiquing both candidates for providing detractors with so much ammunition.

It’s okay to be unsure, and it’s okay to wonder whether your vote will haunt you five years from now, because any which way, it very well might.

Image via Getty, gif by Bobby Finger.

The depressed and faded coal-mining center Buchanan County, Virginia is the county that loves Donald Trump more than any other county in America. Trump has said “we’re going to bring the coal industry back 100%,” which is a lie.

http://gawker.com/a-carbon-tax-i...

“YouTube has a problem...the most recent one involves something that I absolutely hate, which is drama,” Pewdiepie, YouTube’s biggest star, said in a video on Saturday that is approaching three million views. “Drama is the hot new thing. Drama is what everyone is talking about.”

In that video, Pewdiepie denounces ‘drama,’ and the way people obsess over the lives of internet celebrities who have become famous on social media platforms such as Vine or YouTube.

The very idea of a digital celebrity might sound silly. You might think, who are people like LeafyIsHere and Bashur, and why should I care? Yes, many of the people who fall under this purview may lack the sort of recognizable household name that traditional entertainers like Drake and Rihanna have, but these digital stars have still accrued millions of devoted fans. In turn, an entire TMZ-like industry has sprung up from following the exploits of these new celebs. “There’s even [YouTube] channels now focusing solely on YouTube drama,” Pewdiepie said. “It’s just growing, bigger and bigger.”

There are a number of YouTube channels out there who cover this sort of gossip, but the most notorious channel of all is Drama Alert and its host, Keemstar. Pewdiepie doesn’t call Keemstar out by name during his video, but anybody who talks about YouTube drama automatically associates it with Drama Alert. Pewdiepie trashed Keemstar on Twitter recently, so it’s no stretch to see him as the type of YouTuber Pewdiepie is complaining about.

Drama Alert has 1.4 million followers on YouTube. On average, his videos get anywhere from 500k to well over a million views each. That makes Drama Alert one of the biggest voices on the internet right now, though his coverage and definition of news is controversial.

Let’s look at some of the stuff Keemstar has covered in recent videos, just to give you a sense of what he’s about. Recently, Keemstar published images that he claimed show a YouTuber doing gay porn (900k views). In another video, he covered a YouTuber posting a bikini selfie on Twitter (800k views). And in a different video, he talked about a random girl who claimed to fuck dogs (2 million views). The veracity of salacious subjects like these can’t always be verified, but if the internet is talking about it, Keemstar is probably going to cover it. Keemstar might have even started the conversation in the first place.

“Pewdiepie made a point that traditional media won’t take YouTubers seriously because of drama and Drama Alert, which is probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Keemstar said in a video Tweet. “Because a show like mine, Drama Alert, validates that these people that I report on are celebrities, are famous.”

Once the rumors are out in the wild, they become a topic of conversation for other YouTubers who cover recent events. This is where things become dicey, because it means that some people make money by covering the embarrassing, potentially untrue private details of other people, many of whom might not typically be considered public figures. And according to the biggest YouTubers around, this environment has given YouTube a very mercenary vibe of late: anybody could be sacrificed at the vlogging altar if it means racking in the views and cash. (Naturally, that’s what people will say about tabloid media, too, but seeing this all happening on YouTube feels new.)

“YouTube is changing,” another huge YouTuber, Markiplier, declared in a recent video. “When people are doing YouTube, they are after a few things. And you can’t fault them for it, because of course people would want to do this for a living. But they’re after influence, more viewers, and money.”

“I’ve seen this change in attitude,” Markiplier said, lamenting the path he sees some video personalities taking of becoming gossip-mongers. “It’s a change from seeing YouTube as a platform where anyone can do anything, and anyone can put up whatever they want whenever they want, to a system where you have to follow strict rules. You have to follow strict protocols. You have to criticize others. It’s every man for himself, and no one can cooperate.”

Pewdiepie agreed. “It’s created this mob mentality where everyone is so on edge, and everyone is so ready to attack their next target of someone fucking up or doing something bad,” he said in his YouTube drama video. “There seems to be more YouTubers getting involved, because they know talking about the topic is gonna get them more views and attention...you might think, so what? They’re just giving people what they want. But really they’re stepping over other people’s lives for YouTube fame, and YouTube recognition.

“I’ve said this before, but YouTube is becoming this drama machine, where everyone is throwing in their two cents to get their twenty cents back.”

The problem, as Pewdiepie illustrates in his video, isn’t just that people want celebrity gossip. It’s that people want the rumors so bad, they don’t even care if they are true–so long as it’s scandalous. Think about the tabloid magazines you might see at a checkout counter and the tall tales they weave about the secret lives of the biggest stars. The same thing is happening on YouTube, except it’s not about Jennifer Aniston, it’s about some dude who plays Mario Kart.

In his YouTube drama video, Pewdiepie actually highlights videos where he claims people have fabricated stories about him, in an attempt to highlight what makes a drama-hungry audience so dangerous.

“Everyone is so thirsty for drama, I am actually scared that people will take this stuff seriously,” Pewdiepie said. “And if they are real videos, you’d WANT people to take them seriously.”

There’s another side to this. Drama Alert doesn’t just wade in the mud when it publishes news. It is also willing to cover complicated stories of abuse that other major outlets would never touch, because they often involve very serious allegations that are tough to prove or crimes that nobody got convicted for. Months before a major outlet covered the scandal of Minecraft personalities accused of pedophilia, Drama Alert’s Keemstar had already briefed his viewers on the allegations, and walked them through the digital evidence that spawned the controversy. Hell, Drama Alert became the top source for more traditional outlets that covered that debacle in the first place. (The biggest YouTuber accused of preying on underage fans has not been convicted or charged with any crimes, and he blames hackers for obtaining nude pictures of teen girls.)

When you consider how commonplace allegations of sexual assault have become for male YouTube stars, some might argue that channels like Drama Alert are doing the public a service. Nobody else is holding these celebrities accountable if they allegedly put kids or women in danger. YouTube is starting to be known for its ‘creep problem,’ and there’s seemingly nothing to keep it in check. But without editorial oversight, drama channels are just as likely to swing and miss, too, and the resulting damage they can do with a false allegation is significant.

It’s all created a lot of discussion on YouTube itself. In particular, some YouTubers have defended the practice of talking about gossip on YouTube.

“I can’t speak for other YouTubers, but whenever I talk about current events, or YouTube drama, or things going on in gaming, I try to add something to the conversation that’s personal to me and is about me,” boogie2988 said. “For example, when I talked about Nicole Arbour...making fun of fat people, I also talked about the struggles that I deal with every day, and the way it’s affected me, and the way those negative feedback loops can affect a person who is overweight. When I talk about abuse allegations like Matthew Santoro or Toby Turner, I talk about what it’s like to be an abuse survivor and what’s that has done to me on a personal level,” Boogie said.

In short, Boogie argues that when he covers ‘drama,’ he is adding to the conversation constructively, often on a subject that everyone is already talking about anyway. More big picture, viewers come to personalities like Boogie for guidance on how to live life or think about things. As far as the viewer is concerned, their favorite YouTuber isn’t causing more drama when they cover gossip. The YouTuber is just chatting, like any friend might do with another friend. The problem is that that YouTubers often have millions of ‘friends,’ which means that things can easily spin out of control.

“The other reason I make these videos is because sometimes this is really relevant to me, whether it’s The Fine Brothers, or Nicole Arbour, or Matthew Santoro,” Boogie said. “These are people I know. These are people I like. These are people I work with. This is my community. This is my home. I’m a vlogger. I’m a pundit, and you’re damn right I have the right to talk about it. So I’m going to.”

Boogie also takes umbrage with the idea that he covers drama for personal gain, though he does draw a line between what he does and more bloodthirsty drama channels. He acknowledges that sometimes drama channels can misrepresent things, or get things wrong, only to have their audiences gang up on people who don’t deserve it.

Keemstar, the king of YouTube drama, has also thrown his hat into the ring with his own videos. In satirical video published today, Keemstar makes fun of people who act as if Drama Alert is responsible for creating the YouTube messes that he covers.

“Before Drama Alert existed, there was absolutely no drama on this website,” Keemstar joked. “No one ever fought, there was never any scandals, no one was raped, there wasn’t pedophiles. There just simply was no drama until I created Drama Alert.”

In a different video published yesterday, Keemstar speaks more plainly about the drama channel controversy.

“I think Pewdiepie is fucking hypocritical,” Keemstar exclaimed. This allegation is compounded by two things: Pewdiepie has taken shots at other YouTubers in videos before, and Pewdiepie’s own drama video is monetized, too.

“As much as we like to pretend, for the most part, none of us are truly above this stuff,” Boogie said in his own video response to Pewdiepie. “We all like gossip, we all like talking about other people, and it’s really, really hard not to, because that’s part of human nature.”

Today is Marathon Monday, and by all reports, it is a splendorous day in Boston: the sun shining down, the breeze lilting lightly, the male nipples bleeding, and the Mark Wahlberg dressed as a hardscrabble cop with a heart of gold. But let us not forget a great shame that hangs over the city like the malodorous stench of seafood served at the Top of the Hub. That’s right: I’m talking about Mr. Spaghetti.

http://gawker.com/no-justice-for...

When the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Transit Police Department announced earlier this month that it would be taking suggestions for the name of its newest police dog, Bostonians across the internet rallied around the name Mr. Spaghetti. It was first put forward by Dicky Stock, a local comedian whose medium is Facebook. For seven years, Stock has been posting as Kimberly Strubell, a surreal, oversexed caricature of a Masshole mom.

Strubell has an elaborate backstory, but if you don’t want to sift through hundreds of Facebook status updates, you can get a pretty good grasp of her sensibility from the fliers Stock and other Kimberly fans started posting around Boston after the cops turned down Mr. Spaghetti in favor of the name “Hunter.”

Previously, Boston’s Metro newspaper claimed, and Gawker repeated, that Mr. Spaghetti was passed over despite having received nearly double the votes of any other competitor on Twitter. That’s true, but we (and Metro) neglected to mention that the MBTA also solicited votes for the dog’s via text message. (Gawker regrets the omission.)

It’s hard for me to imagine that dozens of people texted the cops, all urging them to choose the same boring, fascistic name for their cop dog, but that is the line the MBTA transit police are taking. On Friday, a tipster who described himself as a “concerned citizen” told Gawker that after he tweeted about Mr. Spaghetti’s clear majority in Twitter votes, he received the above salty DM from the department’s official account. It reads:

Hi, we also received suggestions via text message(most received this way) and DM. Which you would have no way of counting. Thank you.

That same day, @MBTATransitPD got extremely mad at @Gawker and other accounts such as @ohholybutt over our Mr. Spaghetti support.

For now, there’s really no way to tell whether the MBTA police’s wild claims about privately communicated dog name votes are truthful, but hopefully that will soon change. After publishing our first exposé, I filed a request with the authority for all public records regarding Mr. Spaghetti. If there was a coverup, Gawker readers can rest easy knowing that we will blow it wide open, right here.

Jalopnik Watch This Annoyed Reporter Rescue A Man From A Sinking Car On Live TV | Lifehacker How I Got Super-Vision by Shooting My Eyeballs With Lasers | io9 Oscar Isaac Somehow Just Got Us Even More Excited For Star Wars Episode VIII | Kotaku Why Big YouTubers Are Arguing About ‘Drama’ |

In the 1991 movie Madonna: Truth or Dare, the titular superstar plays the role of her lifetime: herself. Filmed during her 1990 Blond Ambition tour when the then-31-year-old pop star was at her commercial peak, the Alek Keshishian-directed concert film/backstage documentary finds Madonna reveling in the cult of her personality. “She doesn’t want to live off-camera, much less talk,” her then-boyfriend Warren Beatty remarks in one scene, delivering a perfect capsule review. Seemingly baring all, at least in terms of her personality’s facets, she is unafraid to come off as a demanding asshole, just as often as she promotes the idea that she’s the nurturing mother in the “family” of employees that support her.

My worship of Madonna was why, at age 12, I bought a ticket to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and attempted to sneak into the theater playing Truth or Dare. Management found me and forced me to sit through Kevin Costner’s other bland performance of 1991 (he briefly appears in Truth or Dare to declare the Blond Ambition Tour “neat”). Madonna’s the hook that got me into the movie, but when I finally saw the movie after it came out on video, the depiction of her dancers left a richer impression on my young mind. Truth or Dare was my first exposure to a group of openly gay men merely existing. They hang out backstage, they bond, they gossip, they laugh, and at one point, during a climactic game of “truth or dare,” two of them make out on a dare.

Now when those same guys play “truth or dare,” they almost always choose truth. Or at least, that’s how it goes during the climax of Strike a Pose, a documentary currently playing the Tribeca Film Festival that turns cameras back on the surviving members of the troupe over 25 years after Madonna and Keshishian did.

Strike a Pose is far less a daring documentary than Truth or Dare was, thanks in part to social progress: It’s easier, in 2016, to access stories of gay men (as five out of six of them are) than it was in 1991. Gay identity alone rarely has the power to shock the masses that it once did. So whereas Madonna was “pushing buttons,” as dancer Kevin Stea puts it, with matter-of-fact depictions of gay men in the early ‘90s, European filmmakers Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan are providing a platform in their affirming Strike a Pose. Separately, the men and the mother of Gabriel Trupin (who died of AIDS in 1995), discuss their lives after Madonna, including their continued commitment to dance as well as hardships they’ve faced like addiction, homelessness, and HIV.

Gould and Zwaan’s pledged gentler approach helped sway initially resistant members of the troupe, like Luis Camacho, to get back in front of the camera. That said, it’s somewhat surprising to see Stea and Oliver Crumes (the lone straight guy) show up. They along with Trupin, sued Madonna in 1992 for invasion of privacy, among things, and eventually settled out of court. Trupin specifically accused charged Madonna in the suit with “exposing his sexual orientation,” before he was openly gay. Assured by Gould and Zwaan’s “humanist” angle, Stea said he had no such concerns this time around. He points his lawsuit boiled down to a contractual dispute. He was, after all, hired as a dancer first, not a documentary subject.

The means by which the Blond Ambition dancers made it to the big screen make them unique specimens. Unlike the aspiring reality star whose end game is to appear on camera, so receives little public pity in the event that he is ridiculed (because it is what he “signed up for”), being portrayed as intimately as the dancers were in Truth or Dare was beside the point of their connection to Madonna. That Truth or Dare was essentially supplemental to the Blond Ambition Tour, though, didn’t matter in academic criticism that accused Madonna of exploiting her dancers’ identities for her own gain.

Twenty five years later, her dancers break out into a mild furor when I introduce this idea to them by reading passages from bell hooks’s essay “Madonna: Plantation Mistress or Soul Sister?” from her book Black Looks: Race and Representation. All nine of us—the six surviving dancers, the two directors, and I—are sitting at a giant round table during a junket at the Smyth Hotel in lower Manhattan. I feel the air thicken as I convey hooks’s view of their degradation. Jose Guitierez, Father of the House of Xtravaganza, one of the longest existing “houses” in New York’s ballroom scene, has tuned out entirely, not looking up from the phone he’s spent most of the interview glued to. I recite:

After choosing a cast of characters from marginalized groups—nonwhite folks, heterosexual and gay, and gay white folks—Madonna publicly describes them as “emotional cripples.” And of course in the context of the film this description seems borne out by the way they allow her to dominate, exploit, and humiliate them.

“That’s absolute bullshit,” responds Stea. “She chose us for our skills. It’s not like we were auditioning: ‘Hey I’m so and so and I’m from a small town in Iowa.’”

“She just picked the best dancers,” explains Salim “Slam” Gauwloos.

“One of the great things about her that I always liked, and she never said it out of her mouth but I got it from her, was, ‘Give me more of you.’ She was never trying to marginalize or take advantage of us,” says Carlton Wilborn. Wilborn also compares hooks to Donald Trump, or more specifically, me to a Trump supporter. “By having a conversation about this person that you get their point of view is a bit ridiculous, you keep hyping their attention, which is what they’re screaming for,” he says.

I float the idea that the exploitation of historically disenfranchised people by powerful entities (such as Madonna) has a place in the conversation about documentary filmmaking, that the power dynamic between subject and documentarian is an unavoidable truth even when guided by the best of intentions. Co-director Zwaan tells me, “It was never about exploiting anything so you never have to worry about stuff like that either. We just wanted to make a film about these guys because they are great guys and we want to show them to the world again.” He assures me that hooks’s perspective is “a very small part of the conversation.”

A similar note that undeniably occupies more discursive space, is that of cultural appropriation, which Madonna has been accused of several times. It’s pertinent in the present company because of her relationship with voguing. Voguing, the series of rhythmic poses proliferated and perfected by mostly black and Latin gay and trans men in ‘80s New York, was an underground art form until Madonna shone a spotlight on it and made it a global sensation with her hit song.

What complicates the appropriation argument is that Madonna did this by plucking Guitierez and Camacho (who recorded for her Maverick Records as Jose & Luis) from the New York City’s 80's ballroom scene to choreograph her “Vogue” video and then tour with her.

“It would bother me more if she would have tried to vogue on her own, and not use somebody that wasn’t from the authentic culture. At least she had the wherewithal to turn to the culture and say, ‘This is what I’m doing, would you like to be involved?’” Camacho explains. “We sent in a tape. She picked our tape, and we choreographed and helped direct that part of the show. We were there to be of service and lend our expertise.”

“The community shouldn’t feel like she took anything,” says Guitierez, now engaged and looking up from his phone. “If anything, it would take a person like her to bring it to the masses. People feel like she stole or she stripped the community of this dance, and it was to the contrary.”

Camacho points out that “Vogue” did nothing to diminish the culture from which it originated—to this day, New York’s ball scene thrives, and it’s just one of several such scenes throughout the country. TV shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race continue to season pop culture with a ball sensibility. What Madonna’s “Vogue” did for me, practically speaking, was present a distinctly queer element of culture to people would not otherwise have access to it. An 11-year-old in South Jersey when “Vogue” was released, I was one of those people. The images Madonna presented in this era of her career were incredibly useful, if for nothing else, to show me there was more out there, and that it was fun and waiting for me whenever I could get to it. Sometimes providing hope merely means expanding one’s worldview.

The entire table is on board with the idea that Madonna has been a cultural force for good. No one has a bad word to say about her—the closest we get is when Gauwloos says he was “never comfortable” with the Truth or Dare scene when Madonna, perhaps nervously, laughs after being informed that Blond Ambition makeup artist Sharon Gault has been raped. Otherwise, it’s all roses. Wilborn says he his enjoying his current opportunity to “pay homage to her,” and Stea points out that even when he wrote her a personal letter to inform her of his impending lawsuit against her, he signed it by telling her that he loved her.

Madonna declined to appear in Strike a Pose, and the documentary makes clear that none of the dancers remain in touch with their former employer.

But, her presence is impossible to ignore—so much of Strike a Pose is devoted to discussions about her, and her name was said dozens of times in my 35-minute conversations with the guys. Madonna’s orbit is so strong that even when Gauwloos and Wilborn discuss being HIV positive in Strike a Pose, it’s largely in terms of how it affected them emotionally and physically while on Madonna’s tour. Neither of them wanted to disrupt it or get kicked off the tour during that less enlightened time.

And yet, Stea calls the career association with Madonna “limiting,” while Wilborn says the problem is bigger than Madonna—backup dancers aren’t given a lot of credit, period.

“It’s been a gift and a curse,” says Camacho regarding how his association with Madonna has defined a huge part of his career. “The gift is that we get to associate ourselves with her and it was an iconic moment in my life. The curse is that we get pigeonholed into that moment, and sometimes all they want to hear is about that moment. And that’s fine for a while, but then five, six, seven, ten years go by and you’re like, ‘We’re still in that moment?’”

The difficult, almost contradictory, task Strike a Pose sets out for itself is to distinguish its subjects apart from their association with Madonna. But of course, the reason you watch it is because you are aware of them through Madonna in the first place. To attempt a true detangling would be futile.

Strike a Pose is now playing the Tribeca Film Festival.

All countries have great national past times. For America, it’s baseball. For England, it’s soccer. For Egypt, it’s making world leaders sit there and listen while their national anthems are completely massacred by the Egyptian national army band. Here’s what I think is supposed to be La Marseillaise, the national anthem of France.

French President Francoise Hollande, in town to fly next to some fighter jets and sign an arms deal, had to sit there for nearly two minutes while the proud nation of Egypt insulted the noble people of France.

Hollande, of course, isn’t the first to receive such treatment. Last year the Egyptian military similarly saluted the nation of Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin:

And before that, the works of Richard Strauss:

People of Egypt, please keep inviting foreign dignitaries to your beautiful country. It’s amazing.

The Georgia-based Veterans for Trump super PAC, which registered with the Federal Election Commission in February, has filed a report declaring its intention to TERMINATE itself, effective immediately. “For what it is worth, we received 0 donations and had 0 expenses,” the filing reads.

“We would like to TERMINATE this Super PAC, effective immediately,” the PAC declared in a filing submitted Monday. “Additionally, we were unable to file our April 15th Quarterly report due to the software failing to recognize our ID.” The super PAC had only filed its statement of organization with the FEC in February. Its treasurer, Omar Shihadeh, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Incidentally, the Georgia “Veterans for Trump” PAC is not the only super PAC by that name to shutter recently: Another “Veterans for Trump” super PAC, based in Nevada, terminated itself in December after registering with the FEC a month earlier. It also did not raise any money, but it did receive a letter from the FEC informing it that super PACs cannot name themselves after candidates unless authorized to do so by the campaign, which it was not.

Anker’s biggest battery ever, Eneloop AAs, and a Philips Wake-Up Light kick off Monday’s best deals.

Bookmark Kinja Deals and follow us on Twitter to never miss a deal. 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

Anker has continued its inexorable march towards producing anything that includes a battery with the release of the new PowerHouse electric “generator,” and you can save $100 on yours for a limited time.

I put “generator” in scare quotes because you can’t readily use the PowerHouse to generate electricity, unless you buy additional solar panels. Instead, it’s basically a gigantic lithium-ion battery that can power everything from mini-fridges to laptops to televisions to emergency medical equipment for hours on end.

There are a few similar products on the market, most notably Goal Zero’s Yeti 400, but those use heavy lead-acid batteries (the Yeti weighs 29 pounds), rather than lithium-ion like the compact PowerHouse (9.3 pounds).

I could see using this thing as an alternative to a noisy gas generator for tailgating, or you could just keep it charged and at the ready for power outages at home. It’s definitely an investment at its $500 list price, but for a limited time, you can save $100 with promo code ANKPower.

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It’s a law of physics that your home never has enough power outlets, but you can fix that today with great deals on several Belkin surge protectors. Options range from a 12-outlet model designed for your home theater to the top-selling SurgePlus travel surge protector. Just note that this is a Gold Box deal, meaning these prices are only available today, or until sold out.

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You’re never too old for gummy vitamins, and Amazon’s taking an extra $3 off a variety of offerings from Vitafusion. Just find the vitamins you’re looking for, add them to your cart, and you’ll see the $3 discount at checkout.

We’ve seen several deals lately on Philips’ life-changing wake-up lights, but if you’re not among the 20,000+ Gawker media readers who have already pulled the trigger, the entry level model just dropped to its lowest price of the year.

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Unlike an unsympathetic traditional alarm clock, the Philips Wake-Up Light eases you awake with a gradually-brightening light that simulates a natural sunrise, which is how humans are designed to wake up anyway. And of course, it will still nudge you awake with an audible beeping when it’s really time to get out of bed. It also doubles as a very warm and pleasant reading light as you’re getting ready to go to sleep. I’ve owned this thing for over a year, and I can definitely tell the difference when I sleep away from home and have to rely on my iPhone alarm.

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Update: Sold out

Whether you’re starting or expanding your collection, this is the best price Amazon’s ever offered on an 8-pack of Panasonic’s class-leading Eneloop AA rechargeable batteries.

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You might also want to pick up some C and D spacers to get even more use out of your AAs.

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The new DJI Phantom 4 sure looks impressive, but for $1000 less, you can pick up the still-completely-amazing Phantom 3 Standard today. You’ll lose out on features like the (finnicky) accident avoidance, indoor positioning, and 4K video, but the camera still boasts an impressive 2.7K resolution, and it’ll last over 20 minutes on a single charge. At $400, it probably won’t even eat up your entire tax refund.

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It won’t show you your notifications or track your steps, but this simple Casio watch does include a solar panel on the face to keep its battery charged indefinitely. For $20, you could do a lot worse.

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While slot toasters certainly aren’t as versatile as toaster ovens, few would argue that they aren’t far superior at actually toasting bread. So if you take your toast seriously, this 4-slice Cuisinart is a steal at $50, an all-time low. That gets you seven different shade settings, a bagel mode, dual-zone control, and more.

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If you take your home theater audio seriously, these JBL 8" floorstanding speakers are on sale for $450 each today. That’s still quite a bit of money, especially since you’ll probably want to buy a pair, but they frequently sell for as much as $1,000 each, and they’ve never been this cheap before.

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Because your teeth deserve the best, Amazon’s offering a $10 coupon on a variety of Philips Sonicare toothbrushes today, bringing starting prices down to just $30. Just note that the listed prices do not take the $10 discount into account; you won’t see the final price until checkout.

If you like the idea of a Logitech Harmony remote, but don’t care about bells and whistles, this Harmony 350 is only $32 right now on Amazon. You won’t get a touchscreen, smartphone app, or charging dock, but it can control the same 225,000+ devices as the rest of the line. We’ve seen it cheaper as a refurb, but this is the best price we’ve ever seen on a new one.

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Our readers have bought thousands of UltraFire Cree LED mini flashlights, but if you’ve missed out so far, you can stock up for just $5 each today.

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The Logitech G502 was your choice for best gaming mouse (though you don’t need to be a gamer to appreciate its benefits), and the upgraded Proteus Spectrum model (which includes fully adjustable backlighting) is on sale for an all-time low $70 today.

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The marquee spec here is the DPI range of 200-12,000, adjustable on the fly. There are also five easily movable and removable weights, and 11 customizable buttons, along with the classic Logitech dual-mode scroll wheel. Mechanical microswitches and a braided cable are also nice touches.

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The perfect grill for tailgating is marked down to its lowest price ever today on Amazon. All you have to do is set this up on any table, hook up a propane tank (including compact camping ones), and start cooking. Just note that this is a Gold Box deal, meaning this price is only available today, or until sold out.

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Need some grilling accessories to go with it? This travel-friendly kit is also marked down to $20.

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Sewing is one of those things everyone should at least try to learn, and this popular Singer sewing machine is marked down to just $96 today as part of a Gold Box deal.

The Singer 3232 includes 32 built in stitches, a fully automatic buttonhole mode, and typically sells for around $120. Today’s price is the lowest Amazon’s ever posted, so be sure to grab yours before this deal bursts at the seams.

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If you can’t afford to outfit your entire kitchen with All-Clad gear, this 3-quart Cooks Standard saucepan uses the same Tri-ply technology of 18/10 stainless steel surrounding an aluminum core, and it can be yours for just $30, an all-time low.

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Aruba is a great destination because it features both quality beaches to sit and do nothing on and a solid list of excursions for those who want to get out there. Travelzoo has rounded up a strong list of deals on lodging today, and while it’s always easier to pull the trigger on a trip where air is included, flying to the Bahamas is pretty low impact.

Aruba features everything from casinos and shopping to aloe farms, ruins, and amazing tide pools you’ll need an experienced all-wheel driver to get to. Eat the dutch pancakes, go to the butterfly garden, skip the bird sanctuary.

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If you scurry over to BuyDig’s eBay storefront, you can score a pair of noise-cancelling Audio-Technica earbuds for under $30. For comparison’s sake, Amazon is selling this pair for $46.

Presto’s 3-stage electric knife sharpener is perfect for making your favorite knives feel new again, and today’s $30 deal is the best that Amazon’s ever offered. I know a lot of people are reflexively scared of these kinds of sharpeners, but this model has a 4.4 star average on nearly 1,000 reviews.

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Microwave popcorn sucks, but we’ve got great deals on two different methods of popping your own kernels today. Buying popcorn in bulk is way cheaper than microwave packs, so these deals should pay for themselves over time.

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For just $5, you’ll never have to fish a cable out from behind your desk again. Now that’s what I call a deal.

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Anker PowerCore is your favorite line of USB battery packs, and two different models are on sale today on Amazon. The $21 PowerCore 13000 should be sufficient for most users, but the 26,800mAh model includes Quick Charge 2.0 output, and can recharge faster via an included Quick Charge 3.0 power brick.

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TP-Link’s Archer C7 is The Wirecutter’s favorite router for most people, and Amazon will sell you one for just $82 today, the best price they’ve listed all year.

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If you’ve been meaning to wall-mount your TV, you can save 50% on this articulating Cheetah mount on Amazon with promo code XPGXFOL7. This dual-arm mount is designed for 32"-65" TVs, which should be perfectly suitable for almost all of you. [Cheetah Mounts APDAM2B Articulating Dual Arm TV Wall Mount, $35 with code XPGXFOL7]

If you’re ready to take the plunge into LED lighting, this 6-pack of higly-rated TCP daylight bulbs is down to just $18 on Amazon right now, one of the best per-bulb prices we’ve ever seen. They aren’t dimmable, so you won’t want to put them in certain fixtures, but it’s a great bulk pack for filling out ceiling lights and lamps throughout your house.

Once you’ve got them, check to see if your local utility company offers rebates for purchasing LEDs. If so, it’s possible these could pay for themselves even quicker than they would otherwise.

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If you prefer a warmer bulb, the equivalent soft white pack is just a couple bucks more.

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This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. And no, these aren’t the sugar free ones.

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For a limited time, Amazon’s taking an extra 20% off dozens of “box top” cereals and snacks through their Prime Pantry program. You can find all of the eligible items here; just be sure to clip the coupon on the product pages, and note that the prices listed are before the discount, which won’t be applied until checkout.

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If Prime Pantry’s $6 per delivery fee is scaring you off, all you have to do is add five of these select items (including several of the aforementioned box top snacks) to your box to enjoy free shipping. And if that weren’t enough, if you have a Prime Pantry no-rush shipping credit in your account, that’ll stack with this deal, giving you an extra $6 off.

Tech

Storage

• HP v165w 64GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive | $13 | Amazon

Power

• 8-Pack of Panasonic Eneloop AA 2100 Cycle Ni-MH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries | $18 | Amazon
• RAVPower 10050mAh Outdoor External Battery Portable Charger | $24 | Amazon | Use code LFHCA9QG
• RAVPower 13400mAh Power Bank (2A Input, 4.5A Dual USB Output) | $20 | Amazon | Use code 7R9GCL2L
• Tronsmart 6 Pack Micro USB Cable | $7 | Amazon | Use code 6USBCORD
• Mpow Apple MFI Certified 8-Pin Lightning USB Cable | $5 | Amazon | Use code 5XJAFBDV
  
• ORICO Desktop 40W 5-Port High Speed Desktop USB Charger Black | $9 | Amazon | Use code VEPQADXE
• ECEEN 10W USB Solar Panel | $25 | Amazon | Promo code HBNL79RQ
  

Audio

• Audio-Technica ATH-M30x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones | $49 | Amazon
• Audio-Technica ATH-ANC23 QuietPoint Active Noise-Cancelling In-Ear Headphones | $29 | eBay
• JBL Synchros S200 In-Ear Headphones for iOS with built-in remote/Mic | $40 | eBay

Home Theater

• Seiki SE43FKT 43-Inch 1080p LED TV (2015 Model) | $200 | Amazon
• Refurb VIZIO E24-C1 24" Class 1080p 60Hz Razor LED HDTV | $90 | Walmart
• Samsung 24-Inch LED 720p HDTV | $130 | Best Buy
• HDMI Pocket Projector Mobile | $125 | Amazon
• Roku 2 4210R Streaming Media Player and AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable | $68 | Amazon
• Yamaha AVENTAGE 5.1-Ch. Network-Ready 4K Ultra HD and 3D Pass-Through | $297 | eBay
• JBL Sub 560P - Cherry 400W, 12-inch powered subwoofer | $300 | eBay

Computers & Accessories

• Desk Cable Drop ONME Wire Clips | $5 | Amazon | Use code Y8LTRCV9
• HP 15-ay013nr 15.6" Full-HD Laptop (6th Generation Core i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) with Windows 10 | $460 | Amazon
• Acer G236HL Bbd 23-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor | $90 | Amazon
• ASUS VX279Q 27-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor | $170 | Amazon | After $30 rebate
• LG 27-Inch 1920 x 1080 AH-IPS LED Monitor | $180 | eBay
• Refurb Corsair K70 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, Backlit Red LED, Cherry MX Red | $78 | Newegg
• Wenger SwissGear Granite Deluxe Laptop Backpack | $30 | eBay
• Premium PU Business Handbag Briefcase / Men Vintage Messenger Laptop Bag | $20 | Amazon
• Brother HL-L2340DW Duplex 2400 dpi x 600 dpi USB/wireless mono Laser Printer | $80 | Newegg

PC Parts

• Rosewill 4 Pack Black 120mm Long Life Sleeve Case Cooling Fans | $12 | eBay
• Corsair Vengeance Series Military Green C70 Mid Tower Computer Case | $58 | Amazon

Mobile Devices

• Acer Iconia One 8 Tablet, 8-inch HD, Intel Atom Z3735G, 1GB DDR3L, 16GB Storage | $66 | Amazon
• Mini Clip On Lapel Microphone for Smartphones | $16 | Amazon | Use code L75WVOSB
• Mozeat Lens 3 in 1 Cellphone Camera Lens Kit | $8 | Amazon | Promo code QBNLWRRK
• Mozeat Smartphone Telephoto Lens | $23 | Amazon | Promo code QBNLWRRK
• 2-Pack Waterproof Smartphone Bags | $8 | Amazon | Promo code L5NTVJRM

Photography

• GoPro HERO Starter Bundle | $134 | Amazon

Home

• Dr.Meter LCD Display Electronic Balance Digital luggage Hanging Scale | $8 | Amazon | Use code 74OZF6Q7
• Dyson AM08 Pedestal Fan | $280 | eBay
• Refurb Dyson Ball Multifloor Upright Vacuum | $200 | Groupon
• Sharpie Electro Pop Limited Edition Ultra Fine Point Permanent Markers, Assorted, 24/Pack | $10 | Staples

Kitchen

• Presto 08810 Professional Electric Knife Sharpener | $30 | Amazon
• Cuisinart CGS-5014 14-Piece Deluxe Stainless-Steel Grill Set | $20 | Amazon
• Cooks Standard Multi-Ply Clad Stainless-Steel 3-Quart Covered Sauce Pan | $30 | Amazon
• Conair Cuisinart CPC-600 6 Quart 1000 Watt Electric Pressure Cooker | $70 | Amazon
• Presto 07211 Liddle Griddle | $17 | Amazon
• iCoffee 12 Cup Coffee Maker with Steam Brew Technology | $70 | Staples
• Etekcity 15lb/7kg Digital Kitchen Food Scale with 0.01oz Resolution | $9 | Amazon | Use code CW86VT4Q
• Granite Ware 0719-1 Enamel-on-Steel Canning Kit with Blancher, 12-Piece | $33 | Amazon
• Presto 04824 Orville Redenbacher Hot Air Corn Popper | $16 | Amazon
• Great Northern Popcorn Original Stainless Steel Stove Top 6-1/2-Quart Popcorn Popper | $18 | Amazon
• Rome Old Fashioned Waffle Iron | $11 | Amazon

Tools & Auto

• Pioneer TS-A6965R Car Speaker Pair | $38 | Amazon
• SOG Specialty Knives & Tools FSA98-CP Flash II Knife | $25 | Amazon
• Seneo 3.5mm In-car Fm Transmitter Radio | $10 | Amazon | Use code FCJW3SIE
• Etekcity Lasergrip 774 Non-contact Digital Laser IR Infrared Thermometer Temperature Gun | $12 | Amazon | Use code WJ9TWDSE
• Ultrafire CREE XM-L T6 Zoomable 2000 Lumen Tactical LED Flashlight | $5 | eBay
• Husky Bucket Jockey | $9 | Home Depot
• Craftsman Professional 4 Ton Jack Stand Set | $27 | Sears
• Milwaukee M18 18-Volt Lithium-Ion Cordless Hammer Drill/Impact/Sawzall/Light Combo Kit (4-Tool) | $299 | Home Depot
• DEWALT 20-Volt MAX Lithium-Ion Cordless Combo Kit (5-Tool) with Bonus Cut-Off Tool and Bluetooth Speaker | $399 | Home Depot
• Refurb Escort Passport 9500ix Radar Detector | $255 | Woot
• Plano Ammo Can (Field Box) | $5 | Amazon

Lifestyle

Apparel

• 50 - 70% Off Classic Gold Jewelry | Amazon
• FILA Men’s Oxidize Low | $20 | eBay
• ASICS Men’s GEL-Challenger 10 Tennis Shoes | $40 | eBay
• ASICS Women’s GEL-Fit Nova Training Shoes | $30 | eBay
• Vasque Inhaler Low Hiking Shoes | $60 | REI
• New Balance 460 - M460LC1 - Men’s Running | $41 | Joe’s New Balance | Use code DOLLARSHIP

Camping & Outdoors

• Diamondback Women’s Lux XE Mountain Bike | $300 | Dicks Sporting Goods
• Diamondback Axis XE 27.5" | DICK’S Sporting Goods | $300 | Dicks Sporting Goods

Fitness

• HyperIce Vyper - 3 Speed Vibrating Foam Roller | $189 | Amazon
• BalanceFrom GoYoga All-Purpose 1/2-Inch Extra Thick High Density Anti-Tear Exercise Yoga Mat with Carrying Strap | $20 | Amazon
• Fitbit Charge HR Activity, Heart Rate + Sleep Wristband | $100 | eBay

Media

Movies & TV

• Preorder Top Gun | $13 | Amazon
• The Man with the Iron Fists | $5 | Amazon
• Family Guy: Something Something Something Dark Side | $5 | Amazon
• Conan the Barbarian 3D | $5 | Best Buy
• I, Frankenstein 3D | $5 | Best Buy
• Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome | $6 | Amazon
• Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 2 (Amazon Exclusive) | $30 | Amazon

Books

• Return to Homecoming Ranch (Pine River) [Kindle] | $2 | Amazon
• The Guise of Another Audiobook | $4 | Audible

Apps

• Hitman Go | $2 | iOS | Normally $5
• TextGrabber + Translator | $1 | iOS | Normally $10
• Badland 2 | $2 | iOS | Normally $5
• FREE Noizio | iOS | Normally $2
• Circulux LWP | $1 | Android | Normally $2

Gaming

• Video Game Sale | Toys R Us

Peripherals

• Razer Firefly-Hard Gaming LED-Lit Mouse Mat | $45 | Amazon
• SteelSeries Rival 100, Optical Gaming Mouse | $25 | Amazon
• Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum RGB Tunable Gaming Mouse | $70 | Amazon
• Dell Gaming S2716DG 27.0" Screen LED-Lit Monitor | $490 | Amazon
• DBPOWER DPI LED Optical 7 Buttons Wired Gaming Mouse | $10 | Amazon | Use code X99XSCDO

PC

• LIMBO | $2 | Steam
• Princess.Loot.Pixel.Again | $4 | Steam
• Humble Telltale Games Bundle | Name Your Own Price

PlayStation 4

• PlayStation 4 Console + Uncharted:Nathan Drake Collection+ Tom Clancy’s Division | $359 | eBay
• Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Disc | $19 | Amazon
• Batman Arkham Knight - Season Pass [Digital Code] | $20 | Amazon
• Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 | $40 | Best Buy
• Diablo III Ultimate Evil Edition | $20 | GameStop
• Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below | $27 | Amazon
• Mega Man Legacy Collection | $17 | Amazon

Xbox One

• Just Cause 3 | $37 | Amazon
• Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 | $40 | Best Buy

Wii U

• Rodea the Sky Soldier | $20 | Toysrus

3DS

• Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker | $25 | Amazon
• The World Ends With You [DS] | $19 | Amazon
• Rodea the Sky Soldier | $10 | Toysrus
• Chibi-Robo!: Zip Lash with Chibi-Robo amiibo | $20 | Toysrus

Toys

• Select Ever After High Figures | $12 | Amazon
• PlayHut Luxury Townhouse Giant Play Tent | $40 | Woot

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Future First Lady and celebrated speaker of dozens of words Melania Trump is a fan of one tweet and only one tweet.

That tweet is her own.

“Hello Twitter!” Melania writes.

Yes, that is a good tweet. A very good tweet, she says out loud to an empty, gold-trimmed house while dining on bald eagle meat and purified air. What’s this? A “favorite” button? Why, yes—it is my favorite.

Melania clicks the star and smiles. Exhausted, she reclines on a bed of infant hair and falls into a peaceful sleep.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside of the Supreme Court Monday in anticipation of oral arguments for a case challenging President Obama’s 2014 executive actions on immigration. The legal challenge is led by Texas and brought by twenty-six mostly Republican states.

The challenge to Obama’s executive action, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents or DAPA, raises questions about the extent of presidential powers, which the justices concluded does have a limit but needs to be more sharply defined. To that end, the court appeared “sharply divided” and ended the session with a 4-4 split after 90 minutes of arguments today, the New York Times reports.

DAPA allows for deferred action—a stay on deportation and removal proceedings—for the parents of Americans with legal status, provided they have no criminal record. The program also provides work authorization and access to Social Security benefits, which has not gone over well with the “make America great again” crowd: The Supreme Court’s decision, which is expected in June, will likely play into the general election.

According to Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner, Justice Kennedy also suggested that the case be dismissed because the court was not the proper venue for a challenge to DAPA. The most concerning provision to the states bringing the suit—the work authorization and limited access to benefits—flows from an existing legal justification that allows certain immigrants to work. Kennedy suggested several times that the proper case would be a challenge to that existing regulation.

Activists and community members tell reporters they turned out to show that they have a stake in the court’s decision. “I have the right to live without fear,” youth immigration activist Sophie Cruz, who is six and fighting her parents’ deportation, told NBC from the steps of the court.

Trump, campaigning ahead of this week’s New York GOP primary, gave a speech to a group of supporters Monday night in Buffalo, where he spoke fondly of the brave 7-11 responders.

“I was down there and I watched our police and our firemen, down on 7-11, down at the World Trade Center, right after it came down, and I saw the greatest people I’ve ever seen in action,” he said.

Talk about New York values!