Quantcast
Channel: Gawker
Viewing all 24829 articles
Browse latest View live

Watch a Graffiti Drone Tag This Six-Story Tall Kendall Jenner Billboard

0
0


Kendall Jenner’s mug was tagged by a gleeful and highly illegal drone in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Wired reports. The drone, rigged so that it could carry a can of red spraypaint, scribbled a few lines onto the young reality TV star’s face before being pulled down by its designer, artist KATSU.

KATSU spoke briefly with Wired about his new graffiti project, which is in its infant stages:

“Seventy percent of the concentration is in maintaining this equilibrium with the two dimensional surface while you are painting,” he explained. We have a ways to go until drones are capable of autonomously blasting tags while their artist masters relax at home.

But that is the plan, and KATSU’s stunt this week was proof of concept. He is also gearing up to release a new, more user-friendly version of the graffiti drone “very soon.”

KATSU premiered the drone-artist-hybrid last year for an art exhibit, and while the scribble it made on Jenner’s billboard isn’t much, it’s still too early in its development to judge what it could be capable of in the future. As KATSU told Wired: “It’s exciting to see its first potential use as a device for vandalism.”


Contact the author at dayna.evans@gawker.com.


The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

0
0

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

[Note: Some of the photos below are NSFW]: When you are Kim Kardashian, every year—1998, 2012, 40 A.D., the future—is a good year for you. Looking out over the hills of Calabasas or the boulevards of Paris, your kingdoms, both, you can feel proud of all you have wrought. Fame for you has expanded like a waist freed from a waist trainer, and in 2015, your notoriety continues to grow.

It’s not even May and Kim has been very busy: she arrived at the Grammys in a slick, regal Jean Paul Gaultier gown and enough oil to blur skin and dress. She dyed her brunette hair a striking icy blonde, then almost immediately dyed it back. She was an advocate for her husband’s shoe release and modeled in his NYFW show. She visited her ancestral Armenia on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide and used an exclamation point in an Instagram caption. And in just a few days, she will release her first book: a hardcover compendium of intimate selfies titled Selfish.

The book is compact and sleek. The handwriting throughout—superbly clean and legible—is Kim’s own (captions dot several pages, occasionally adorned with hashtags like #wifelife). Toward the middle of the book the pages are black instead of white, and on each of those are selfies with boobs exposed, ass naked. These, she’s quick to point out, are for her husband. Some of the racier pictures are surprising in their intimacy: one photo is a very closeup image of Kim’s boobs in a wet white t-shirt as she seductively pulls it down. The book is a perfect representation of the idea of Kim Kardashian: she gives to us for free what other celebrities would feel embarrassed to have leaked.

After Kardashian covered Paper magazine in December, revealing every single part of herself that most everyone had already seen, Kardashian exhaustion rumbled. How much more intimately could we get to know the reality star and model? And why should we keep paying attention? Kim’s five-hundred page tome—which possesses 474 selfies of Kim—flirts outrageously with and tests that line. “You thought you were sick of me?” it taunts. “This is only the beginning.”

We have pored over each page to push the limit on understanding who this woman is and what she does best (Kim Kardashian; be photographed). Allow us to present to you: The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards for Kim Kardashian Selfies. The terms of the awards are simple: does Kim look most Kim-like in this selfie? Is the image mesmerizing like a Magic Eye? Beautiful like a Balmain blazer? Interesting in some way? Do these selfies make us feel? Do they make us ache or wonder or remember that life is both short, punishing, and full of misery? Are we horny? Curious? Do we find her visage frightening for reasons we cannot explain?

Of 474 selfies, these are the best of the best.

#TBT

Year: 2006
Description: Tongue out, right hand up, cheap fur pillows in the background.
Reason For Award: Baby hairs. Of-the-moment slang. A coyly written “lol” that reads more like “101.” This selfie, taken one year before the leak of her sex tape with Ray J, has everything. It’s the purest form of #tbt one can imagine.

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

Selfie Taken By a Blackberry lol

Year: 2008
Description: Remember when Kim was on Dancing With the Stars? Now you do.
Reason For Award: This photo is grainy as hell. Kim looks like a Vegas showgirl who hasn’t made it past her first casting call. She is in what looks like a tiny, uncomfortable dressing room and wearing bangles the color of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. It’s a very, very dismal photo, made only more dismal by the Blackberry with which she takes the selfie. A++++++.

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

Kanye Selfie

Year: 2012
Description: Kanye is sleeping lmao.
Reason For Award: Kim just punked her husband. Ya burned, Kanye! This also appears to be taken on a Blackberry—in 2012!!!!! Kim is a jokester and a brand loyalist, and does not care about your fancy technology, which is endearing.

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

Kim and Friends Selfie

Year: 2013
Description: [L to R] Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé Knowles, Solange Knowles
Reason For Award: This selfie (questionable) was taken at the Met Gala, an evening where many believe Kim established her “cred” in the high-fashion world by wearing a gloved Givenchy gown akin to an elasticized pair of curtains. I personally think she looked wonderful. In this photo, Beyoncé is half grimacing and Solange barely cracks a smile. Maybe they did not like her dress.

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

Selfie That Is Not a Selfie

Year: 2011
Description: Kim is wearing a fur hat, touching her hair, and giggling with a wide smile.
Reason For Award: Not only does Kim look phenomenal (we so rarely see her smile and laugh with her teeth in photos), but this photo cannot possibly be a selfie. If she was able to dislocate her elbow and bend her forearm like Gumby, that would be reasonable. But I do not think Kim can do this. I love it!

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

Kim and Family Selfie

Year: 2009
Description: Seven selfies of Kim and younger sister Kylie, the former in a camo baseball cap, the latter in a pink-and-black tiger print T-shirt.
Reason For Award: Kylie Jenner was eleven years old in these photos. Here is a recent photograph of Kylie Jenner, four hundred years later. Time is a social construct that no person can truly trust.

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

Selfies With Things on Head

Year: 2010
Description: Kim is wearing a helmet of some sort.
Reason For Award: You still know that it’s Kim! Even with the helmet on! Flawless execution and a good reminder to always be safe. Broom broom.

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

Disturbing Selfie

Year: 2012
Description: AHHHHH!
Reason For Award: AHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

R-Rated Selfie (NSFW, Do Not Scroll Down If At Work)

Year: 2012 (but somewhat unclear)
Description: Kim is naked and bent over in her walk-in closet. Her skin is VERY, VERY DARK.
Reason For Award: The caption: “Fresh spray tan. I get so dark . . . Kanye calls it a Yé-tan.” Unreal insight into the famous couple’s relationship and the kinds of fun conversations they have. Her pose, despite being completely naked, is not sexy. She looks alien-like and alarming. Of all the NSFW photos in this book, this one is the best because it looks like contemporary art and not porn.

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

Thailand Selfies

Year: 2014
Description: Kim is grimacing with an elephant behind her. It is literally such a stupid photo.
Reason For Award: As Kim puts it, “I just wanted a selfie with an elephant. This pic was taken before the elephant scared me.” The elephant is probably very nice and also flattered to be in a photograph with famous worldwide celebrity Kim Kardashian. This photo is notable because Kim doesn’t “think [she’s] ever taken as many selfies as [she] did in Thailand.” This was probably a throwaway selfie until this little book came about. I’m glad you kept it, Kim!

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies

Caption Award

Year: 2012
Description: Very upclose photo of Kim’s face, almost definitely too close. She is in a cab of some sort.
Reason For Award:

I was in Italy with Kanye for my birthday. We went shopping and found the best stuff. We went to dinner and I changed halfway through dinner in a small bathroom into my new green Lanvin dress. There were so many paparazzi that showed up while were eating. I wanted to change into a dope new look.

“I wanted to change into a dope new look.” Who hasn’t thought this? In Kim’s world, this very thought can be an immediate reality.

The Best Kim Kardashian Selfie in the Kim Kardashian Book of Selfies

Year: 2014
Description: Three women in the back of a car. One woman in the front. All four manage to make it into several photos at once.
Reason For Award: In only two pages and four photos, the existence of the Kardashian family is justified. The photos are from a zip-lining trip between sisters (Kourtney is sadly missing) and while the three women take selfies in the back, Kim is in the front, taking her own selfie of herself, which turns into a photo as well of the sisters taking selfies. It is like looking into an M.C. Escher sketch of our modern, navel-gazing times, but instead of spiral staircases, we have narcissism-on-demand and intimacy that is repainted as exposure (or is it the other way around?). These women show us a renovated version of the American dream: do very little, be very little, think very little, but show it all. And because of our incredulousness that this actually worked for not just one sibling, but the whole Kardashian-Jenner brood, we simply cannot look away.

The Kim Kardashian Selfie Awards For Kim Kardashian Selfies


Pardon the distortion of some images—capturing them was almost impossible. Top image via Instagram. Images via Rizzoli/“Selfish”. Contact the author at dayna.evans@gawker.com.

Rand Paul Vows to "Look Into" Insane Martial Law Conspiracy Theory

0
0

Rand Paul Vows to "Look Into" Insane Martial Law Conspiracy Theory

The military is not about to take over the Southwestern United States. No one’s building underground tunnels to connect various Walmarts. Texas is not erecting a series of FEMA death camps. And we’re not about to enter the age of martial law in America. But! Just in case—Rand Paul is on it.

In an interview with conservative radio host Jan Mickelson, Rand was asked to shed some light on upcoming Jade Helm military exercises. The same military exercise that has gotten the internet worked up into a paranoid frenzy. To understand the extent of the Jade Helm breathlessness going around, consider what one Texas resident told Austin’s American-Statesman:

It’s the same thing that happened in Nazi Germany: You get the people used to the troops on the street, the appearance of uniformed troops and the militarization of the police. They’re gathering intelligence. That’s what they’re doing. And they’re moving logistics in place for martial law...

With that in mind, what did Rand Paul say when Mickelson asked what he knew about the operation?

You know I’ve gotten a few questions on it on the road, and I really don’t—I’m not sure about exactly what is going on with that.

And what about the conspiracy theories making people nervous?

We’ll look at that also.

Words that might assuage our underground tunnel/FEMA death camp fears—if only they could be believed. Because if Rand Paul’s willing to cover up the truth about trains, god only knows how deep the rabbit hole goes. [Right Wing Watch]

Image via AP.


Contact the author at ashley@gawker.com.

Start Answering All Your Phone Calls—The Pope Might Be Calling 

0
0

Start Answering All Your Phone Calls—The Pope Might Be Calling 

Listen: If you get a phone call, and the guy on the other line says something to the effect of, “Hey, it’s me, the Pope,” do not immediately hang up. It could actually be him!

This is exactly the grave sin recently committed by one Franco Rabuffi, the Vatican’s newspaper l’Osservatore Romano reports. Rabuffi, who was feeling sick this week, received a phone call Monday from Pope Francis to wish him well—except Rabuffi, lacking faith and believing the call a prank, hung up on the Pope. Twice.

It wasn’t until the Pope’s third call that Rabuffi finally realized that he was not being punked. “I was speechless, but Francis came to my rescue, saying that what happened was funny,” he told the paper, as translated by Sky News.

According to the BBC, Rabuffi and his wife asked for the Pope’s forgiveness for the mistake that may or may not have imperiled their eternal salvation in person on Wednesday.


Image via AP. Contact the author at aleksander@gawker.com .

Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Baltimore Photos

0
0

Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Baltimore Photos

Occasionally, against all odds, you’ll see an interesting or even enjoyable picture on the Internet. But probably not this week. Here are the fake viral Baltimore photos that deserve nothing more than a pitiless “delete.”

Image via Twitter/@Dat_Saintsfan


DELETE

Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Baltimore Photos

Some of this week’s worst bullshit photos were posted online by racist trolls using the hashtag #BaltimoreLootCrew. As Gawker’s own Sam Biddle reported yesterday, a reverse image search shows that the images have no connection the city, misattributed by bigots affiliated with the 8chan message board.

Astute readers will notice that the unnamed white girl pictured above is Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell who—you’ll be relieved to hear—did not get shot with a 9 mm or any other caliber of bullet on Monday.

Image via Twitter


DELETE

Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Baltimore Photos

Another widely-circulated “Baltimore” photo showed an enormous fire silhouetting a McDonald’s sign, an image so striking that Memphis’ WHBQ-TV used it to illustrate their Baltimore coverage. It’s not completely clear where the photo (which has previously been attributed to Venezuela’s 2014 riots) comes from, but it pre-dates the unrest in Baltimore by over a year.

In a since-deleted apology, the station acknowledged their mistake:

Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Baltimore Photos

Images via Facebook/fedgeno.com/Reverb Press


DELETE

Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Baltimore Photos

However, not every bogus picture of this week’s rioting was designed to inflame or incense. Some were downright whimsical, like this photo of a supposedly stolen miniature train.

In reality, the image comes from a protest in Ferguson last year. According to Buzzfeed, the “Peace Train” was brought from Atlantic City by Ferguson residents who own an amusement ride company.

Image via Twitter


DELETE

Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Baltimore Photos

No, New Balance did not turn photos of Monday’s violence into a series of tasteless ads, a fact the shoe maker clarified this week by repeatedly tweeting, “This is clearly not a New Balance generated post – we ask that you please do not re-tweet.”

By Tuesday morning, the company had somewhat stemmed the tide of outrage, but not before the images were shared by rapper Joe Budden to 940,000 of his fans.

Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Baltimore Photos

Images via Twitter


FORWARD

This scene from Baltimore’s protests, on the other hand, was both real and good.

“I want to bring positivity to the streets,” 22-year-old Michael Jackson superfan Dimitri Reeves told The Baltimore Sun on Thursday. “I want Baltimore to make it through this and be stronger.”

500 Days of Kristin, Day 96: Happy Birth, Jay!

0
0

500 Days of Kristin, Day 96: Happy Birth, Jay!

It has come to our attention that Kristin Cavallari’s husband Jay Cutler’s birthday was on Wednesday (Taurus). He is 32. Happy birthday!

In celebration, here’s a photo of Jay and Kristin at the Diesel swimwear fashion show during Miami’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week (Swim) in 2011.

500 Days of Kristin, Day 96: Happy Birth, Jay!


This has been 500 Days of Kristin.

[Photo via Getty]

Deadspin Here’s Floyd Mayweather’s Son’s Note Telling How His Dad Beat His Mom | io9 An Undersea Vol

Why Everyone in Baltimore Hates the Media

0
0

Why Everyone in Baltimore Hates the Media

Around Baltimore this week—and especially in Sandtown-Winchester, Freddie Gray’s neighborhood—people have been guarded about speaking to the media. I can’t blame them.

When Geraldo Rivera arrived at Pennsylvania and North Avenues for a live broadcast, he was greeted with jeers and aggressive questioning from demonstrators. “I want you and Fox News to get out of Baltimore city,” one man told him. “Because you’re not reporting about the boarded-up homes and the homeless people under MLK [Boulevard]. You’re not reporting about the poverty levels up and down North Avenue.”

On my first trip to the Gilmor Homes, a public housing complex in Sandtown-Winchester, a man told me “we do our own media,” and refused to speak with me further. Later, the same man interrupted an interview with another resident, wondering aloud whether I was reporting for a politically conservative outlet. When I told him that Gawker skews left, he said, “So you ain’t going to be calling him a thug and violent criminal and all that? Because we’re gonna check on that. Somebody’s going to come see you about that. If you print anything negative about Bruce Court [a section of Gilmor Homes], we’re gonna come see you.”

A second man at Gilmor Homes saw through the charade of my profession instantly, asking frankly how much Gawker was paying me for my reports from the city. He had been in Ferguson, he said, and he saw how the system had worked there. Before I could answer, yet another man piled on: “Everyone [in the media] is just trying to line their pockets.” Kevon, a buddy of Freddie Gray, was friendly with me but stayed on a strictly first-name basis because he’d heard that you should “never give a reporter your last name, or else they’ll look up your criminal record” and use it against you in writing.

Though the frustration and wariness may seem extreme to out-of-towners, they are warranted. Non-local media here have gravitated toward images of boarded-up windows and burning cars, largely ignoring the daily peaceful demonstrations and the reasons why people were angry enough to provoke violence in the first place. Racism, poverty, police brutality, Freddie Gray himself—all have become afterthoughts to the irresistible spectacle of a city on fire. (For the record, I have seen neither a fire nor a single incident of violence since Monday. I also haven’t stayed out past curfew.) A refrain I’ve heard often in West Baltimore—and that was vocalized by activist Deray McKesson in his smackdown of an interview with Wolf Blitzer this week—argues that fixating on looting and burning instead of Gray’s death places more importance on a broken window than on a broken spine.

The riots, after all, are the aftermath. A few days of chaos in the streets is a pittance compared to a few generations of poverty and violence at the hands of the state. Media hand-wringing over rioting as a stain on the nobility of otherwise peaceful protests also misses the point. An activist told me that after days of traditional demonstrations in the wake of Gray’s death, it was only Saturday’s scuffle outside Camden Yards and Monday’s night of mayhem that brought serious attention to the issues.

A friend of Gray’s named Shana Pinkett expressed a similar sentiment during an interview at her home: “If it took this to get attention, then that’s what it is. Me personally, I’m for the riot,” she said, specifying that for her, looting businesses was acceptable because they may have insurance, but burning Baltimoreans’ cars and other personal property crossed a line.

“Looking at whatever happened, we didn’t destroy our own city,” she added. “The police did.”


Contact the author at andy@gawker.com.

Photo via AP


Kurt Cobain (From Nirvana) to Release Solo Album This Summer

0
0

Kurt Cobain (From Nirvana) to Release Solo Album This Summer

Kurt Cobain once sang, “I’ll take all the blame, aqua seafoam shame.” What was he talking about? I don’t know, but he’s releasing a brand new solo album this summer even though he has been dead (murdered?) for twenty-one years.

The album will be composed of previously unheard recordings found during the making of director Brett Morgen’s new Cobain documentary Montage of Heck. Morgan spoke about the album in an interview with Bedford+Bowery:

“We’re going to be putting out an amazing album this summer that I think will answer that question.” The album of home recordings, Morgen said, “will feel like you’re kind of hanging out with Kurt Cobain on a hot summer day in Olympia, Washington as he fiddles about. It’s going to really surprise people. Just to be clear, it’s not a Nirvana album, it’s just Kurt and you’re going to hear him do things you never expected to come out of him.”

Like what? The “BONK” noise from an iPhone? A “very nice” Borat impression? Little bits of unfinished songs that we don’t need to hear, necessarily, no offense? A duck quack? Cash register cha-ching, no offense?

Hmm. We’ll see! I can’t wait for the album to, as Kurt Cobain would say, “entertain us.”


h/t Vulture. Image via Getty. Contact the author at kelly.conaboy@gawker.com.

Heat Settles in Next Week as a Possible Tropical Thing Forms Off Coast

0
0

Heat Settles in Next Week as a Possible Tropical Thing Forms Off Coast

Welcome to May! We are now two-thirds of the way through spring, and right on schedule, the atmosphere has a mini heat wave in the forecast for most of us east of the Rockies. On top of that, models are trying to spin up some sort of a tropical cyclone-ish thing off the East Coast next week.

Meteorological Spring

We really are two-thirds of the way through spring, even though it doesn’t quite feel like it for many of you. Instead of using astronomical seasons, we follow meteorological seasons when talking about the weather. Meteorological spring, for example, begins on March 1 and ends on May 31, while meteorological summer starts on June 1 and stretches through August 31. As I explained in-depth last September, meteorological seasons are cleaner, easier, and tend to follow temperature/precipitation profiles better than using astronomical seasons.

Why is that important? It helps keep it in perspective when I say that some people many of you will have to tick on your air conditioners next week. Spring and fall serve as transitions between hot and cold—the first half of spring trends cold, while the latter half gradually heats up to uncomfortable levels before schools let out and the droning sound of bugs looking for mates in the heat of the afternoon sun. We’re approaching the latter.

Mild Heat Wave

Wavy jet streams are what provide us exciting weather. Troughs in the jet bring us turbulent weather, while ridges tend to foster calm, warm conditions. Beginning next week, much of the eastern half of the United States will be under the influence of quite the ridge in the jet stream, allowing warmer weather to take hold.

Heat Settles in Next Week as a Possible Tropical Thing Forms Off Coast

Combine the ridge in the jet stream with southerly winds pumping warm air from the tropics, and it’s a recipe for the first major influx of heat this year. The animation above shows the jet stream (contours and wind arrows) superimposed on a map of model-forecast surface temperatures, illustrating the steep ridge across the eastern part of the country, with temperatures in the low- to mid-80s climbing relatively far north.

Heat Settles in Next Week as a Possible Tropical Thing Forms Off Coast

It’s going to get pretty toasty in some spots. As shown above, the GFS model predicts temperatures approaching (or even hitting) 90°F as far north as Greensboro, North Carolina.

There will be a sharp cutoff between warm and mild, though—it’s along these boundaries where showers and thunderstorms are most likely next week.

Tropical Thing

Heat Settles in Next Week as a Possible Tropical Thing Forms Off Coast

Hurricane season doesn’t begin in the Atlantic Ocean until June 1, but nature doesn’t always follow our boundaries (wouldn’t it be great, though?). We’ve seen tropical and subtropical storms develop in April, so one in May, while uncommon, wouldn’t be unprecedented.

Both the GFS and European models are hinting at the possibility of what would likely be a subtropical depression or subtropical storm developing off the southeast coast next week. A subtropical cyclone is a hybrid between a tropical cyclone and an extratropical cyclone—it has characteristics of both. Things can and will change over the next few days, but if you live along the East Coast, it’s something worth keeping an eye on.

If it strengthens into a sub/tropical storm, its name would be Ana. If it continues to appear on models next week, the National Hurricane Center will handle forecasts and advisories on the system before and during its existence.

There are only 30 days until (meteorological) summer.

[Images: GREarth, WeatherBELL, Tropical Tidbits]


You can follow the author on Twitter or send him an email.

The Washington Post's Police Problem

0
0

The Washington Post's Police Problem

We trust the press to arbitrate the news, and rarely is that responsibility more important than with stories like that of Freddie Gray’s. But from Ferguson to Baltimore, a bizarre pro-police bias has seeped out of one of the country’s most visible papers: the Washington Post.

Two days ago, the Post published a story titled “Prisoner in van thought Gray ‘was trying to injure himself’.” The story repeated a version of Gray’s death as told by “a police document obtained by the Washington Post,” a document that was, the story later notes, written by a “Baltimore police investigator” relying on the testimony of an unnamed prisoner who could not see Gray in the van they shared because they were separated by a metal partition.

It’s not clear who leaked the document to writer Peter Hermann, though it seems obvious that the leaker was sympathetic toward the Baltimore police, if not actual police him or herself. On April 29, when the story was published, the circumstances of Gray’s death were still unclear, which the story noted:

The document, written by a Baltimore police investigator, offers the first glimpse of what might have happened inside the van. It is not clear whether any additional evidence backs up the prisoner’s version, which is just one piece of a much larger probe.

The Post accepted the responsibility of offering one of—if not the—first definitive reason for Gray’s death, and they reported that Gray killed himself by thrashing around the van. The story is, as of this writing, the most read article on the Post’s website, and when it was first published it immediately found the exact sorts of fans you expect it would. Here is Breitbart’s Ben Shapiro, one of the most openly vile commentators on the internet, using the report as a way of mocking Ferguson’s well-known populist chant:

The story was gross two days ago, but it’s something even worse now that Baltimore state attorney Marilyn Mosby has charged the six cops involved in Freddie Gray’s death with crimes that include second-degree murder and manslaughter. Which is to say nothing of Donta Allen, the other prisoner in the van that the Post chose not to name, telling a local television station that the report leaked to the Post was distorted by the cops:

Via Baltimore’s CBS affiliate:

He tells WJZ he’s angry about an internal police report published in The Washington Post.

“And they trying to make it seem like I told them that, I made it like Freddie Gray did that to hisself (sic),” Allen said. “Why the [expletive] would he do that to hisself (sic)?”

Allen was in the van because he allegedly stole a cigarette from a store on North Avenue.

He was never charged. Instead he was brought straight to the station.

“I talked to homicide. I told homicide the same story.” Allen said.

A story he says is being distorted and now he fears being killed.

“I had two options today right, either come and talk to y’all and get my credibility straight with ya’ll and not get killed by these [expletive] or not tell a true story,” Allen added. “The only reason I’m doing this is because they put my name in a bad state.”

In planting stories that placed the burden for Gray’s death on his own shoulders, Baltimore police attempted to follow the same playbook that worked for the brass in Ferguson. Mosby, though, put a stop to that this afternoon, and now the Post has been left holding the bag.

Hermann’s story is not the only story the Post published about Freddie Gray, of course, but all the Vox-style explainers for the racist aunts of the world can’t make up for the fact that the Post participated in the Baltimore police’s tried-and-true anti-justice charade, only to be exposed right along with the same corrupt cops who would do anything to protect their brethren.

This deference towards the police recalls a visual piece published by the Post during Ferguson. Last August, after prosecuting attorney Bob McCulloch announced that a grand jury had decided not to press charges against police officer Darren Wilson in Michael Brown’s death, the Post put together an illustrated slideshow that purported to visualize and explain exactly what happened in the moments before Brown was killed.

Before substantial changes were made to it, the slideshow essentially went to bat entirely for Wilson; one image in it illustrated Brown cocking back to punch a cowering Wilson, while another showed Brown charging at Wilson like an enraged bull. Any part of the story that would have benefited Brown—for instance, that he might have had raised his hands before being shot by Wilson—was cast into doubt with the phrase “witnesses say.”

The Post swayed towards the police in its Ferguson slideshow, and that same bias bled into and out of an exclusive on Freddie Gray that has been its most popular piece of coverage of Gray’s death.

If the Post has sources within Baltimore PD, they will hopefully leverage that access to write stories that serve the public’s interests instead of those of the cops. Was Donta Allen pressured into providing his testimony? Was the report fabricated? Neither question is asked by the Post, let alone answered. The only real doubting of the report comes via a quote from one of Gray’s attorneys—you know, gotta hear both sides.

Maybe the Post will do better next time, and we all know there will be a next time.

[image via Getty]

Police Union Tries, Fails to Start GoFundMe for Freddie Gray Cops

0
0

Police Union Tries, Fails to Start GoFundMe for Freddie Gray Cops

The Baltimore Police Union, the repulsive organization which last week compared peaceful protesters to a “lynch mob,” tried to start a GoFundMe for the six officers allegedly responsible for Freddie Gray’s death today. Thankfully, it was taken down within 40 minutes because it violated the fund raising site’s terms.

From the now-deleted page:

The Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #3 has been overwhelmed with the enormous generosity of people from around the world. We have received many requests to open an online account that will accept monetary donations for the 6 officers who have been wrongly charged in the death of Freddie Gray. All monies collected will be used to assist our officers with their living expenses during their unpaid suspension. as well as to help defray their legal expenses.We thank you, in advance, for your continued support.

That sure sounds like a campaign “in defense of formal charges or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual or discriminatory acts,” which goes against GoFundMe policy. Of course, the group is already trying to find another site to host their fundraiser.

The GoFundMe gimmick has become a standard move now for defenders of suddenly-famous bigots and killer cops who shoot unarmed black men. The good news—if there can be any—is that the fund only raised $425 before being removed, a small fraction of the amount donated to Darren Wilson and the owners of Memories Pizza.


Contact the author at taylor@gawker.com.

Cosby Show Actress and Writer Accuse Bill Cosby of Sexual Assault

0
0

Cosby Show Actress and Writer Accuse Bill Cosby of Sexual Assault

Two more women came forward at a press conference with Gloria Allred today to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault. One of the women, Lili Bernard, is an actress who played Mrs. Minnifield during the last season of The Cosby Show. The other, Sammie Mays, says Cosby attacked her at a TV conference.

Bernard says Cosby drugged and raped her during what was supposed to be a “mentoring” session before filming scenes for the show. The Wrap reports:

[Bernard] claimed that she was drugged, raped and threatened by Cosby while he was mentoring her in preparation for her appearance as “the zany and very pregnant Mrs. Minifield.” According to Bernard, Cosby was initially comforting and welcoming to her, complimenting her on her various skills.

“After he had won my complete trust and adoration he drugged me and raped me,” Bernard said in a statement Friday.

Bernard says she did not come forward before because the last time she saw him at the studio in 1992, he allegedly told her, “As far as I’m concerned, Bernard, you’re dead. Do you hear me? You’re dead, Bernard. You don’t exist, I never wanna see your face again. Now get the hell out of here!”

Mays says Cosby drugged her at the National Association of Television Program Executives conference in New Orleans in the mid-1980s. She was a writer covering the event who agreed to an interview in Cosby’s hotel room. Per The Wrap:

Once in Cosby’s hotel suite, Mays says, Cosby mixed a drink for her with his back to her. After taking two big swigs, Mays claims, “The next thing I remember when I awoke, from my state of unconsciousness I seemed to have been drooling, and was sloppily slouched in the chair with barely the edge of my bottom in it.”

According to Mays, her shirt was unbuttoned and her bra was slid to the side, exposing her breasts, and her belt had been “unhooked and re-hooked, left loose around my hips.”

Bernard and Mays join more than 40 women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault. Bernard reported her incident to the police this week, since there is no statute of limitations on sexual assault in New Jersey, where she says the rape took place.


Photo of Bernard, Allred, and Mays via AP. Contact the author at allie@gawker.com.

Man Sues MillerCoors for Pretending Blue Moon Is a "Craft Beer"

0
0

Man Sues MillerCoors for Pretending Blue Moon Is a "Craft Beer"

A San Diego beer drinker is suing massive alcohol conglomerate MillerCoors, the second macro-est macrobrewer in the world (behind Anheuser-Busch Inbev), for false advertising because he’s been buying Blue Moon all these years, believing it was a “craft beer.” Did he actually drink any of it? Because that probably would have cleared things up pretty quick.

Seriously, though: Evan Parent accuses MillerCoors of taking all kinds of steps to disguise the fact that Blue Moon is not produced in small batches at a little, independent brewery. For example: putting “Blue Moon Brewery” (but not “Coors”) on the label, and setting up a dedicated Blue Moon brewery at Coors Field.

The thing is, contrary to its trademarked slogan, “artfully crafted,” the Blue Moon you buy in stores and use to ruin the flavor of orange slices at bars isn’t made in that facility. It’s made in the same huge Colorado and North Carolina plants that bring you Miller High Life and Milwaukee’s Best, but it costs much more per bottle than those products.

Parent points to the Brewers’ Association rules—which aren’t legally binding, mind—defining craft breweries as companies that produce less than six million barrels of beer annually and are no more than 25% owned by a major brewer. MillerCoors produces 76 million barrels of beer (or close facsimiles like Icehouse) every year.

When he found out who really owned Blue Moon back in 2012, Parent quit buying it, he says, and hasn’t had one since.

Eater points out that previous false advertising claims against booze conglomerates have been successful, including a suit by drinkers who believed Kirin Ichiban (produced by Anheuser-Busch) was imported from Japan. Bourbon label Jim Beam was sued in February over the “handcrafted” claim on its label, a claim Blue Moon also makes on its website.

[h/t Eater, Photo: Tirzah/Flickr]

All Six Cops Charged in Freddie Gray’s Death Have Posted Bail

0
0

All Six Cops Charged in Freddie Gray’s Death Have Posted Bail

The six Baltimore police officers accused of being responsible for Freddie Gray’s death have posted bail. The bail for all six—including the officer charged with murder—was lower than the $500,000 set for 18-year-old protester Allen Bullock, who was photographed smashing a cop car and charged with eight misdemeanors.

Caesar Goodson (second degree murder, three counts of manslaughter), Alicia White (manslaughter, second degree assault), William Porter (manslaughter, second degree assault), and Brian Rice (manslaughter, two counts second degree assault) posted $350,000 bail; Edward Nero (two counts of second degree assault) and Garrett Miller (two counts of second degree assault) both had bail set at $250,000. All except for White have been released.


Cops Shut Down CNN Broadcast; Reporter: "Are We Under Martial Law?"

0
0

Baltimore police shut down Miguel Marquez’s live shot as he attempted to cover the arrest of Freddie Gray protesters, leading the CNN reporter to ask officers, “Are we under martial law?” in the face of law enforcement who demanded he “comply.”

As he signed off, an exasperated Marquez—who appeared close to being arrested himself—announced that “I think that the First Amendment still applies in Baltimore, and tonight police are changing that rule.”

[CNN]

To contact the author of this post, write to tim@deadspin.com (PGP key) or find him on Twitter @bubbaprog.

Kate Middleton Gives Birth to Human Girl

0
0

Kate Middleton Gives Birth to Human Girl

Of all the babies that were born on Saturday—and there were several—one of the babies was a royal baby, which, as these things go, is a pretty good kind of baby to be. This particular royal baby was born to Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and is a girl.

The child—the first Princess of Cambridge to be born in 180 years—is fourth in line to the throne and Queen Elizabeth II’s fifth great-grandchild, the Guardian reports.

According to the BBC, the duchess got the whole thing over with in about two-and-a-half hours. Kensington Palace announced the birth in a statement:

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter at 8.34am. The baby weighs 8lbs 3oz.

The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth.

The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news.

Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well.

The new baby—whose name has not yet been announced, so place your bets—will benefit several new rules governing the line of succession, which came into effect in March, the BBC reports. These include the removal of male bias (i.e. she won’t be overtaken by and future young brothers), and also she can marry a nice Roman Catholic, if she so desires, without giving up her place in line.

Update, 1:45 p.m. – It’s a real baby.


Photo credit: AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.

Chad Coleman Yelled Loudly at Some People on the Subway

0
0

Chad Coleman Yelled Loudly at Some People on the Subway

Chad L. Coleman of The Walking Dead and The Wire and also It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia lost his shit on the 4 train on Friday, TMZ reports.

“Yes, I’m Chad L. Coleman,” Coleman says by way of introduction in a video taken by another subway passenger. “I’m on ‘The Wire,’ ‘The Walking Dead.’ I’m not trying to play no fuckin’ games with you. I’m telling you the truth. Yes, I’m an actor.”

“I wanna know where my humanitarians are,” Coleman says. “If you care, fuckin’ care! And that’s the goddamn truth.”

TMZ spoke to Coleman about the video:

He heard a guy and a girl on the train talking, trying to figure out where they knew him. He says the guy told the girl, “No, we don’t know that n*****,” and that set him off.

As for the screams about humanity, he says he was referencing the problems in Baltimore.

According to TMZ, Coleman says he was sober.


Image via YouTube. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.

Los Angeles: “It’s like grown-up version of Williamsburg.”

16 Arrested After Police and Protesters Clash in Seattle

0
0

16 Arrested After Police and Protesters Clash in Seattle

A day of peaceful May Day demonstrations in Seattle was followed by violence on Friday, CNN reports, with black bloc protesters hurling bricks, wrenches and burning objects at police and officers responding with pepper spray and flash bang grenades.

“During this moment in history, peaceful protest and civil disobedience can be effective vehicles of social change,” said Mayor Ed Murray in a statement. “What erupted tonight is a very different story. Tonight we saw assaults on police officers and senseless property damage, which cannot be tolerated. Those who are violent will be arrested.”

According to police, 16 people were arrested at the “unplanned and un-permitted” demonstration on charges ranging from failure to disperse to assault. From Reuters:

Footage on social media showed protesters smashing shop windows in Seattle and crowds scattering as police in riot gear threw in “flashbang” grenades. Demonstrators set fire to garbage and damaged at least two dozen vehicles, police said.

Three officers were reportedly injured in the clash, suffering from a dislocated shoulder, a broken wrist and leg burns. According to The Seattle Times, several protesters say they suffered injuries from pepper spray and police projectiles.

[Image via AP Images]

Viewing all 24829 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images