Although I wasn’t exactly a huge fan or avid viewer of the “Black In America” series that aired on CNN, I do salute Soledad O’Brien for telling white people to get over the fact that she dared to bring up racial issues and not worry as to whether or not it made them uncomfortable.

In a chat over at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Soledad noted that some folks have told her that the documentaries were “divisive” and that they think Black Americans should stop differentiating themselves from white Americans.

How cute. White people built this entire country off the backs of African slaves for centuries then proceeded to continue treating them as second class citizens under the law, yet they want us to stop thinking of ourselves as outside of your average American. This despite the widening socioeconomic disparities, lingering racism, and orchestrated targets to diffuse our voting rights and diversity initiatives. Why? Because, because, because…Obama! And some other nonsense you can insert here.

On that, Soledad said:

“First of all, it’s only white people who ever said that — ‘if we could just see beyond race. If only people didn’t see race, it would be such a better place, and you are responsible for bringing up these icky race issues, Soledad, you should just let sleeping dogs lie.’

I was like, again, ‘OK, white person, this is a conversation you clearly are uncomfortable with, and I have no problem seeing race, and I think we should talk about race.”

Damn right.

Soledad went on to explain:

“You know, white people really have a luxury in that they get a range of stories, that they’re not defined by five stories. So I think that the difference with ‘Black in America’ was the filter did matter. That there are only going to be five stories and we want to know exactly who you are and what your credentials are to be telling our story.”

Watch Soledad discuss the “issue” in the clip below:

[H/T: HuffPo]

Many celebrities have voiced their support for gay marriage over the past week, following the Supreme court’s hearing to overturn California’s Prop 8 law and the federal government’s Defense of Marriage Act. And among those celebrities was Beyonce, who posted this to her Instagram:

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments on both sides of the fence about whether Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act were unconstitutional. If Prop 8 is repealed, gay marriage in California would be legal, and if DOMA is repealed, same-sex marriages would be recognized on a federal level.

A house that sits right across the street from the infamous Westboro Baptist Church just got a brand new paint job.

WBC is known for their protests (or threats to protest) against what they describe as America’s “pro-gay, anti-God agenda” outside gay pride parades, soldier funerals and other events like the Sandy Hook memorial services.

So a nonprofit group from Destin, Florida called “Planting Peace” has decided to give the controversial congregation a taste of its own medicine by purchasing a house that sits directly across from the church’s compound in Topeka, Kansas, and giving it a fresh paint job to resemble the gay pride flag.

Aaron Jackson, founder and president of Planting Peace, told the Huffington Post that he got the idea after he discovered that a home across from where the church is located was for sale when he was reading about a young boy who counter-protested the church last year.

“I read a story about Josef Miles, a 10-year-old kid who counter-protested the Westboro Baptist Church by holding the sign that says ‘God Hates No One,’” Jackson told The Huffington Post.

“I didn’t know anything about the church or where they were located, but that story kept popping up. And one night I wondered, Where is this church?

“I got on Google Earth, and I was ‘walking down the road,’ and I did a 360 view. And I saw a ‘For Sale’ sign sitting in the front yard of a house. Right away it hit me, Oh my gosh, I could buy a house in front of the WBC! And immediately I thought: And I’m going to paint that thing the color of the pride flag.”

Jackson said he’s always wanted to get involved in gay activism, but hadn’t been sure of how to do it until this opportunity presented itself.

“The reason I haven’t gotten into the gay rights activism is because, in a sense, it’s almost silly — it’s 2013, are we really still in this position? It just seems ludicrous,” he said.

“But it is a real issue and kids are killing themselves. I’ve wanted to do something, and I knew when I saw that house for sale that it all came together. Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a little crazy and there’s no red tape in my charity. When I want to do something, I do it.”

Planting Peace bought the house for roughly $83,000, and Jackson has been living in Topeka for just over a month.

As he waited for the perfect time to transform the house into a very visible celebration of gay pride — and a direct challenge to what Westboro preaches — he encountered members of the group, including the Phelps family, which has run the church since it was established in 1956.

“They own the majority of the homes in the community, and I walk through the area every day, and I see them running in between each other’s houses,” he said.

“One day I was walking, and Shirley Phelps [one of Westboro's main spokespeople and the daughter of the church's leader, Fred Phelps] was on her four-wheeler. And I said, ‘Hey guys, how are you?’ And [she and her husband] responded, ‘Oh, we’re good. How are you?’ We had a short conversation, and she was extremely nice, and she made a joke and we all laughed.”

“It’s the craziest thing — and it really throws you off — because she’s the type of woman who calls you “hun” and “darling” — she’s very Southern,” he said. “It’s like, aren’t you the lady that’s supposed to be casting me into hell? It’s truly mind-boggling, but I can’t say anything personally bad about her because she was kind to me and she made me laugh. She’d probably be fun to hang out with.”

Aaron Jackson and his colleagues have named the property “Equality House,” and to match the home’s paint job, the group plans on flying a huge rainbow flag outside on an industrial 30-foot flagpole.

“The view is what I bought the home for,” Jackson said in an interview with Gawker.

“We want this house to be a message that where there’s hate, there’s also love. But we also want to raise awareness and capital, and we want to put all that money into creating and sustaining anti-bullying programs, along with supporting anti-bullying programs that already exist,” he told HuffPo.

“Beyond the symbolic message of the home, [the house] will be utilized by volunteers to live here, and these volunteers will work on promoting equality anywhere in the world and managing these anti-bullying initiatives that we plan on creating.”

While Jackson and his Planting Peace group don’t plan on living in Equality House, they are working towards making it a center for equality LGBT rights.

And what does Westboro as a whole think of Aaron Jackson and his friends’ new rainbow-colored house, located right across the street from their HQ?

“We thank God for the Sodomite Rainbow House! Think about it! This is not a novel idea – there are hundreds of similarly-painted houses around the world – the ONLY reason why this one is a story is because of WHERE it is! It is right across the street from the ONLY church that loves people enough to tell them the Bible truth about the filthy, soul-damning, nation-destroying sin of sodomy,” the Church said in a statement provided to TRNS.

It goes on to state, “the Sodomite Rainbow house is another instance where someone has declared their sin as Sodom – and it shines a huge spotlight on our message – you can paint rainbows on every house in America, and homosexuality will still be an abominable sin in the eyes of God. Ultimately, no other perspective matters.”

Just Westboro being Westboro.

Check out some pictures of Equality House below:

Lions are a constant threat to farmers in Kenya, as cattle are their preferred late-night snack. But one family no longer has that to worry about thanks to a 13-year-old boy’s ingenious invention to keep lions from attacking their precious cattle.

Richard Turere has been put in charge protecting his family’s cows, sheep and goats from hungry lions since he was 11 years old. One day, he started moving around at night with a flashlight, and noticed that the lions stayed away because they were scared of the moving light.

So a few weeks later, he came up with a low-cost solution he calls “Lion Lights” — basically LEDs attached to poles that face outward and are programmed to flicker intermittently to resemble blinking flashlights. The lights are hooked up to a switch box and powered with a solar panel and an old car battery.

The Lion Lights seem to be working as intended too, because ever since Richard set them up, the Turere family hasn’t lost a single animal to lions, which is pretty damn impressive.

Even more impressive is the fact that Turere not only came up with the whole idea on his own, but also planned and installed the entire system by himself, with little to no experience or training in electronics or engineering.

“I did it myself, no one taught me, I just came up with it,” he said, according to a CNN report. “I had to look after my dad’s cows and make sure that they were safe.”

Richard Turere’s invention has spread throughout his community, and several of his neighbors have asked him to help them install their own systems.

So far, at least 75 Lion Lights system have been set up around Kenya, and everyone is behind Turere and his invention, which is being praised by conservationists for its humane approach and because it not only saves herds of cattle, but also lions and money.

Stunned by the Turere’s invention and his achievements, Kenya Land Conservation Trust executive director and chairwoman Paula Kahumbu and her colleagues helped the teenager land a scholarship at one of Kenya’s best schools, where he started last April.

Last year, the 13-year-old appeared in a video titled “My Invention That Outsmarted Lions.” He also spoke at the TED conference in Nairobi, and was invited to speak at TED 2013 in California.

“Richard is quite an extraordinary boy,” Kahumbu told CNN, describing him as a “very smart, curious and surprisingly confident [boy] for his age and background,” who has integrated smoothly with his new classmates at school, most of whom come form wealthy families.

“One thing that’s unique about Richard is that if you give him a problem, he’ll keep working at it until he can fix it,” she added. “He doesn’t give up; he doesn’t find things too difficult; he’s not afraid of being unable to do something and I think this is why he is such a good innovator — because he’s not worried that it might not work, he’s going to try and do it anyway.”

Richard’s dream is to one day work in aviation as a pilot and aircraft engineer, and with his ingenuity and ambition, we’re sure he’ll be able to do whatever he pleases in life.

Beyonce is putting her famous face to work for a good cause. Along with other famous faces including Salma Hayek, Beyonce is starring in the newest campaign video for Gucci’s Chime for Change.

“I have always felt strongly about equal opportunity for women,” says Beyonce about her role in the campaign. ”Girls have to be taught from early on that they are strong and capable of being anything they  want to be.”

Chime for Change is an organization devoted to promoting education, health, and justice for  women and girls around the world.

In the campaign video women from around the world are featured protesting for equal rights and Hayek speaks over the clips. Hillary Clinton is featured talking about the possibility of a woman becoming president and women from the Middle East are shown talking about Malala Yousafzai — a young girl that was shot in the head by the Taliban (and survived) for attending school.

The video also marks the first time Beyonce introduces her self as Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.

WATCH HERE:

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Just when we thought we couldn’t love Taraji P. Henson anymore than we already do. In a very touching and inspiring behind the scenes clip from her photo shoot for PETA’s “Be An Angel For Animals” campaign, Taraji expresses her true love for dogs, shedding light on their loyalty, all while bringing awareness to so many dogs that don’t have homes.

She said, “Dogs to me are like children. They are the closest thing to God. They’re so pure in their love and all they do is aim to please. You can watch video of someone abusing a dog and what does the dog do? He’ll get up with his eye swollen and blood leaking and he’ll still love you. That’s the epitome of unconditional love.”

“I never thought I could be in love with an animal until I had Willy,” Taraji said about her own dog, who appears in the ad with her. “He’s our family. He has beds in every room. He travels everywhere I go. He’s just the best companion.”

She added, “I guess what was very intriguing to me was to find out that they build houses to combat the problem of people leaving their dogs outside and unchained. We’re going to build a house for the dog, so that at least when its raining they have something over their heads.”

PETA is doing an amazing job creating different innovative ways for animal awareness. So many celebrities have been on board with PETA to show just how crucial the needs of animals really are.

Sometimes we see stray dogs and we don’t even think twice about whether or not it has a home, or if it has food to eat, or if it starts raining, will the dog have a place to go for shelter?

There are so many things that we can do to help. After watching this clip, I think many will be touched.

FYI: This marks the second time Taraji has done an ad for PETA. Back in 2011, she posed naked for their “Fur? I’d Rather Go Naked” print ad.

The one-year anniversary of Trayvon Martin‘s shooting death was marked with various memorial vigils held across the United States on Tuesday (Feb 26). At the official anniversary vigil for Martin in New York City, where advocates were protesting national gun laws and racial profiling, among the demonstrators were Martin’s parents, and actor/singer Jamie Foxx — who reportedly spoke and sang to the crowd through a megaphone.

In footage obtained by CNN, Foxx told the crowd:

“Don’t think about the color of the child. Think about that child going to school, think about that child hanging out with his father, with his mom. Skiing, skateboarding, doing all these fun things that a 17-year-old child does, and then think about this child on his way home to see his father and then all of a sudden that child has his life taken from him.”

Addressing Martin’s parents directly, Foxx said, “We all want to let you know that we love you and we’re not going to leave you,” before he broke out into song. “No weapon, formed against you, shall prosper,” he sang.

WATCH HERE:

About one year ago, on February 26th 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was walking through his father’s gated community in Sanford, Florida (near Orlando) when he was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

The teen was unarmed at the time of his death, and was wearing a hoodie and only had a pack of skittles and a can of Arizona iced tea that he had just purchased at the gas station on him, which became national symbols representing his murder.

Initially, citing Florida’s state-wide “Stand Your Ground” laws, Zimmerman claimed claimed self-defense in Martin’s shooting death, and was not immediately prosecuted. But that all changed a few months later when a Special Prosecutor charged Zimmerman with murder in the second degree, to which Zimmerman pleaded not guilty to and is currently out on a $1 million bond while he awaits trial this June.

Zimmerman has also requested a hearing under the stand your ground law provisions, which is scheduled to begin in April.

“This is the one-year anniversary of this death, this is a somber day for us,” Trayvon Martin’s father Tracy said at the anniversary vigil. “But also it’s a day of peace for us, because we know as parents we’ve done all we can do to make our children’s lives right.”

Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton added, “I’d just like to say that I’m the mother of two boys. I have one son on Earth and one son in heaven. I will continue to fight for my boys as well as your boys and girls.”

Tonik, the now-famous dog with a face that looks like a human, is up for adoption at a shelter in Indiana after he was rescued from a kill shelter in Kentucky.

Gawker was the first to point out the fact that the “eerily humanoid poodle/Shih Tzu mix” had a “human face,” and now the little pup and his face have gone viral.

According to the site, the “two-year-old person-faced pup” is vetted, groomed and ready for adoption by a loving family from the Homeward Bound Animal Welfare Group in Mashawaka, Indiana.

But if you want to take little Tonik home, you have to physically pick him up at the shelter due to the group’s policy against shipping or transporting their canines. And with the publicity this dog is getting, it shouldn’t too hard for him to find someone to take him in as their own.

If you’re interested, click here for instructions on how to apply to adopt the dog with a human face. You know you want to!

If you’re a fast food lover, stop reading now! Popular fast food chain Burger King has admitted to using horse meat and other non-approved ingredients in its UK products.

According to the UK’s Daily .Mail, the company used horse meat in its famous burgers and whoppers.

The meat was made by the Irish company Silvercrest, which also makes food for British companies like Tesco and Asda. They are now accused of importing horse meat from Poland and covering up their illegal activities.

The scandal was first brought to light two weeks ago when the Food Safety Authority in Ireland discovered unauthorized ingredients in burgers sold in Ireland and the UK. Burger King initially denied the  shocking revelation but eventually threw their hands up and confessed.

According to Diego Beamonte, who serves as Burger King’s vice president, the company was unaware that their supplier was using illegal meats.

‘We are deeply troubled by the findings of our investigation and apologize to our guests, who trust us to source only the highest quality 100per cent beef burgers,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

“Our supplier has failed us and in turn we have failed you. We are committed to ensuring that this does not happen again.”

Despite, Beamonte’s reassurance, it’s safe to say that the company will inevitably lose a bunch of customers over this. We know we won’t be eating at Burger King anytime soon.

Who else do you think is sneaking “meat” other than beef into their food products?

“This is a simple, logical video,” the text on the screen reads. “No aliens, holigrams, rituals or anything like that, just facts.” (All sic.) There’s some light piano (from Guns ‘n Roses’ “Estranged”) playing in the background. “New information comes up every single days, so by the time you see this video there may be a lot more evidence that has come to light.” In a few seconds, the guitar solo kicks in.

You’re watching “The Sandy Hook Shooting – Fully Exposed,” the most comprehensive summary of the bizarre “Sandy Hook Truther” movement you can find on the internet. It’s also the most popular: in the seven days since it was posted, it’s racked up 5.5 million hits. (Less than 24 hours after this article was first published, it jumped to 8.5 million.) “I… honestly would have spent more time on it if I had known it would explode,” the guy who created the video told me.

It only took a few days after Adam Lanza opened fire inside Sandy Hook Elementary School for conspiracy theories to pop up on the internet. We covered a bunch of them at the time, each less likely than the last: Lanza’s father was due to testify in hearings about a banking scandal, and the shooting was a distraction; Obama orchestrated the shootings to enact gun control laws; The Dark Knight Returns and/or Hunger Games predicted the shooting.

As it turns out, the one that stuck was maybe the most unlikely of all: the Sandy Hook elementary shooting never happened at all. Or, that it did, in some way, but not as it was reported — there was more than one shooter, or not as many children died, or the parents we saw on television were actors.

Over the last month or so, the “Sandy Hook Truther” movement has taken hold in the usual channels of internet conspiracy — sites like InfoWars and Natural News, message boards like Godlike Productions and Above Top Secret, and most importantly, on YouTube, where self-produced mini-documentaries like “The Sandy Hook Shooting – Fully Exposed” can make the leap from obscurity to viral success without any mainstream coverage at all.

“[I]t all started when me and my friends used to research 9/11 in high school,” the auteur behind the video told me over email. (He declined to give me a name or personal information, “due to the sensitivity of the channel and my concern for my security,” and signed his emails T.O.T.V., after his YouTube channel’s title “ThinkOutsidetTheTV.”) “That’s what really got me started when it came to researching government cover ups [...] Once I learned about all the false flag attacks in history that have been proven to be true, I knew it was only a matter of time before another came a long.”

The “false flag attack,” in which the true belligerents of an attack conceal their identities, is a common trope among conspiracy theorists, especially 9/11 Truthers, who believe the U.S. government (or another actor) destroyed the Twin Towers and pinned the attacks on Al Qaeda. While there are plenty of documented false flag attacks in history — all fervently cited by 9/11 true believers — they tend to be regarded by conspiracists as the rule and not the exception. Spend enough time in the YouTube conspiracy dregs and you see them everywhere.

“When Sandy Hook first happened i just had a feeling like it was all too perfect,” T.O.T.V. continued. “I just had this feeling deep down that these people and the whole town had this artificial vibe about them.” The perceived “artificiality” of the grieving parents is a cornerstone piece of “evidence” produced by Sandy Hook Truther: SandyHookHoax.com, the premiere Sandy Hook Truther site on the web, has an entire section called “All Actors,” under an enormous header reading “NO TEARS,” devoted to videos of families deemed insufficiently grief-stricken.

And not just families. Gene Rosen, a Newtown man who sheltered six children at his home near the school and later gave an emotional television interview, appears in T.O.T.V.’s video accompanied by the caption: “FUN FACT: Gene is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, look it up!” (He’s not — the widely-circulated “proof” shows a 62-year-old SAG member named Gene Rosen; Gene Rosen of Newtown is 69.) As Alex Seitz-Wald, owning the Sandy Hook Truther beat at Salon, writes, Rosen has been the subject of harassment and accusation from Truthers:

There have been phony Google+ and YouTube accounts created in his name, messages on white supremacist message boards ridiculing the “emotional Jewish guy,” and dozens of blog posts and videos “exposing” him as a fraud. One email purporting to be a business inquiry taunted: “How are all those little students doing? You know, the ones that showed up at your house after the ‘shooting’. What is the going rate for getting involved in a gov’t sponsored hoax anyway?”

The idea that the U.S. government is somehow behind the shooting is widespread. Jay Johnson, who runs SandyHookHoax.com, thinks that the operation may have been a cover-up for the murder of Adam Lanza’s mother, who “was costing his dad a lot of money”: “Peter Lanza is reportedly an executive with GE, which is locally into genetic research and closely tied to the Obama regime.” (Lanza does work for G.E., which is not “into” genetic research, and is not particularly “closely tied” to the current administration.)

Like many of his fellow conspiracists Johnson, who describes himself as “the New Age Messiah” and “the only person in the world to solve LOST” — the TV show — cites the confusion around the initial reports as a reason to believe his conspiracy. “There were early reports [Peter Lanza] was killed, and that is an impossibility, that such a thing would be randomly falsely reported. So, there has to be an unseen hand (unnamed law enforcement officials) feeding disinformation and misinformation, maybe to form an incomprehensible web to dissuade or confuse investigations?” There’s an odd but unsurprising overdetermination to this line of thought — if early reports are conflicting, it’s evidence of a conspiracy of misinformation; if everyone agrees on the story, it’s a cover-up.

But mostly Johnson sticks to I’m-just-asking: the conspiracy is “offered as food for thought.” For his part, T.O.T.V. takes the same stance, in email as in his video. “I really try to stress this video was about putting together a bunch of evidence and raising questions that others could research and answer,” he wrote.

“I never intended to expose who was behind it because I dont know, and I could be wrong. But history repeats itself and i’m really glad people are waking up to it. [...] People seem to mistake my video for exploitation of victims and children and that is totally wrong. As I said in the beginning of the video, we in no way claim this shooting did not take place and our hearts go out to anyone affected by the tragedy, weather one person was responsible or another. [... S]tay tuned for part 2, we have learned from the first one how to improve upon the delivery so hopefully it will be even better than the first.”

Republished from: Gawker

The tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., has set the nation on an irreversible trajectory toward stricter gun control laws. More people want fewer people to have access to deadly weapons.

And now, the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, is launching an aggressive gun control campaign with the help of celebrity support from stars like Beyonce, Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock, Cameron Diaz, Ellen DeGeneres and many more.

The coalition’s Demand a Plan call to action has three stated goals:

1. Require a criminal background check for every gun sold in America
2. Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines
3. Make gun trafficking a federal crime, including real penalties for “straw purchasers”

You can watch the online video calling for support for the campaign below:

Depending on your political views, this is either a great step toward a more tolerant, progressive America or a horrible step backward into a lawless, doomed civilization.

The anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy has forced homosexuals serving in the military to live a closeted life if they wished to remain in the military.

It has prevented these servicemen and women from being who they truly are and it has meant that many qualified, decorated military personnel have been booted from service for being honest about their sexuality.

President Obama officially put an end to the discriminatory policy last year, and now, society is starting to see the real-world effects of the policy shift.

Matthew Phelps and Ben Schock are two gay men who are madly (and proudly) in love. Phelps, however, is an active marine, so prior to Obama’s end to DADT, he couldn’t openly share his relationship with Schock to the world.

So perhaps in a nod of thanks to Obama, Phelps proposed to his lover while the two were visiting the White House.

“Thanks for all the wonderful greetings and messages, and thanks to Barack Obama and Michelle Obama for lending us your home for the occasion!” Phelps wrote on Facebook.

“[Ten] years ago when I enlisted in the Marine Corps under DADT, I never imagined I would one day propose to the man of my dreams, much less as a Marine captain still on active duty and at the White House,” Phelps wrote in another post. “Thank you all so much for your love, support, and continued hard work to make our world a better one.”

Obama’s pro-gay rights stance has at times put him at odds with the black community, which has historically been opposed to gay marriage.

But the times are changing and gay is becoming the new normal. So cheers to Matthew Phelps and Ben Schock on their historic engagement at the White House.

[Daily Dot]

Angus T. Jones, best known for his role as the “half” on CBS’ wildly popular TV series “Two and a Half Men,” has done some soul-searching recently, and has a helluva message for all of you “Men” fans out there:

“If you watch Two and a Half Men, please stop watching Two and a Half Men. I’m on Two and a Half Men, and I don’t want to be on it. Please stop watching it, and filling your head with filth. People say it’s just entertainment. Do some research on the effects of television and your brain, and I promise you you’ll have a decision to make when it comes to television, especially with what you watch.”

[...]

“If I am doing any harm, I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be contributing to the enemy’s plan … You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like that. I know I can’t. I’m not OK with what I’m learning, what the bible says and being on that television show. You go all or nothing.”

Angus T. Jones’s statements comes from a videotaped religious testimonial for the Forerunner Chronicles, the same religious group that brought the world “The Jay-Z Deception” — a documentary that accuses Jay-Z, Beyonce, Kanye West, Rihanna and other world-famous entertainers of being devil worshippers and willing messengers for the work of Satan.

19-year-old Angus — who makes over $300,000 PER EPISODE playing “Jake” on “Two and a Half Men” — says he turned to religion after he woke up one day, and suddenly realized that his life was on a “downward trend,” which included him dropping acid and smoking weed while he was in high school. And also, speeding tickets. Because getting speeding tickets is a sure sign that the devil is calling upon you to do his dirty work.

We do agree with Angus about one thing though. Everyone SHOULD stop watching “Two and a Half Men.” Not because it’s run by the devil, or anything like that, but because the show just sucks without Charlie Sheen.

Neither CBS nor Jones’ “Men” co-stars have responded to his accusations that their show is pure evil and “filth” and Jones never specifically mentions quitting the show (or donating the millions he’s made from it to a charity or his new “church”), but we’re sure new developments will arrive shortly.

For now, watch Angus T. Jones’ testimony about “Two and a Half Men” being the work of the devil in full below:

“Stoner Dogs” sounds pretty funny right? Well it is, in theory. But in reality, it isn’t.

According to reports out of Denver, the popularity of medical marijuana in the state of Colorado has unintended side effects, including dogs getting high off their owner’s supply — sometimes with deadly results.

You see, dogs are different than humans. When we ingest large amounts of weed, we get really high. When dogs ingest large amounts of weed, they get really high … and then they (sometimes) die.

Dr. Stacy Meola, a veterinarian, says the number of dogs that have gotten really sick because of marijuana has quadrupled in Colorado since medical marijuana became legalized in the state.

Some people believe that if weed can help people, then it can also help their pets. It’s also funny to watch your dog stumble around and go HAM on his kibbles and bits because he’s stoned as a mutha.

But Dr. Meola and other vets are warning that marijuana can be very harmful, and sometimes toxic, for dogs.

“They basically have lost a lot of their fine motor control, they have a wide-based stance and they are not sure on their feet,” veterinarian Dr. Debbie Van Pelt explained to CBS 4 Denver. “There are huge spikes in the frequency of marijuana ingestion in places where it’s become legal.”

The vets warn pet owners to be careful about smoking and even having weed around their canine friends.

Most of the time veterinarians say dogs get the medical marijuana by eating their owners food products that are laced with marijuana that were left out in the open. More and more dispensaries sell those kinds of products.

“I just want dogs, kids to be safe. It needs to be treated like any other drug. If you came home with a prescription of vicodin from your doctor you wouldn’t just leave it sitting there,” veterinarian Dr. Stacy Meola said.

Dr. Meola says at least two dogs who ate pot brownies cooked with medical grade weed butter in them died, but noted that that’s the exception. (Editor’s note: Chocolate is also lethal to dogs, so that could have also played a major role.)

Most of the time the dogs will show symptoms like staggering, lethargy, vomiting and being overly sensitive to sound and light. Sometimes they can fall into a coma.

It’s basically the equivalent of a “bad trip” for dogs. But fortunately, marijuana ingestion is rarely fatal to dogs, and after treatment, most are back to normal within 24 hours.

While the “dogs high on weed” videos on YouTube are wildly popular, and the “Stoner Dog” meme is growing, Colorado veterinarians are warning pet owners that, although most dogs survive, ingesting marijuana can be life-threatening to dogs.

“We need people to realize it is potentially toxic and potentially fatal to their pets,” said Dr. Van Pelt.

Veterinarians say when sick dogs come in, pet owners are usually reluctant to admit medical marijuana could have been the cause.

They say getting to the bottom of what’s wrong with your dog in a timely fashion is critical for them, so they are urging pet owners to fess up and admit that their dogs have ingested or inhaled marijuana so that they can be properly treated.

In response to critics who have been ridiculing her for her recent weight gain, Lady Gaga posted a number of photos of herself on her official Little Monsters social network this week and revealed a painful secret. She’s been battling bulimia and anorexia since she was 15 years old.

On Tuesday, Gaga posted a series of photos of herself wearing nothing but a yellow bra and underwear, along with the following captions:

“Bulimia and anorexia since I was 15 … But today I join the BODY REVOLUTION … To inspire bravery … and BREED some m$therf*cking COMPASSION.”

With the pictures, Gaga announced the launch of a new movement to encourage body acceptance called “A Body Revolution 2013.”

The copy on the Body Revolution page on Gaga’s website reads:

My mother and I created the BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION for one reason: “to inspire bravery.” This profile is an extension of that dream. Be brave and celebrate with us your “perceived flaws,” as society tells us. May we make our flaws famous, and thus redefine the heinous.

The media has been ridiculing Gaga for her “meatier” look lately, and the singer revealed that she has gained 25 pounds, saying in a recent interview, “I really don’t feel bad about it, not even for a second.”

Gaga credits her fuller figure to being a typical “New York Italian Girl,” and admits to having too many meals at her father’s new restaurant Joanne Trattoria.

She explained to radio host Elvin Duran, “My father opened a restaurant. It’s so amazing … it’s so freaking delicious, but I’m telling you I gain five pounds every time I go in there. So my dad wants me to eat at the restaurant, and I’m, like, I’ve got to go where I can drink green juice.”

Gaga continued, “I have to be on such a strict diet constantly. It’s hard because it’s a quite vigorous show, so I tend to bulk up, get muscular, and I really don’t like that. So I’m trying to find a new balance.”

Keg stands? Those are so year 2000 and oh-so late. What’s in these days are alcohol enemas. You heard right, members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at the University of Tennessee have apparently taken up the practice of shoving hoses up their anuses and flooding their rectums with booze.

What could go wrong with that?

Apparently, a lot.

Alex Broughton

One of the frat boys who decided to get butt drunk, 20-year-old Alexander P. Broughton, was hospitalized for severe alcohol poisoning after his butt was filled with alcohol, according to The Huffington Post.

There was no official word on what alcohol these boys were shoving up their anuses exactly, but we bet it was nothing but cheap Parrot Bay vodka and Yuengling.

No, but really. Officers did find several young men passed out in their bedrooms with “bags from wine boxes, some empty and some partially empty, strewn across the halls and rooms.” So it was definitely cheap box wine. Classy.

The frat house where the alleged butt chugging incident took place

But why on earth are kids filling their asses up with alcohol, instead of chugging it orally in the first place?

Because the alcohol hits harder and faster when it’s absorbed directly into the intestinal tract instead of passing through the stomach first. (Well, duh!)

Here’s more details on the science behind booty chugging:

Columbia Health’s Go Ask Alice! forum addressed the issue of butt chugging back in 2006.

“Because the primary job of the intestines is to absorb nutrients into the body, if you put alcohol directly into your colon, it will be absorbed much more rapidly than it would be if it entered your body orally,” Columbia Health’s “Alice” said to an inquiring student. “It can make you very drunk, very quickly. Because everyone’s body is different, it’s hard to judge how much or how quickly an alcohol enema would affect any one person.”

Alcohol enemas can be very dangerous or even deadly because an individual can “use too much alcohol or keep it inside for too long.” Once alcohol enters the bloodstream, it cannot get back out. In 2004, a Texas woman was accused of giving her husband a sherry enema that caused his death, Reuters previously reported.

The real question is who is shoving the hose up whose ass, and who’s washing these hoses as they’re being passed around from anus to anus?

Not only does this sound very homoerotic, but it also sounds like a great way to spread e.coli and other nasty butt germs.

Nasty, nasty, all around. Jesus be some antibacterial soap and a bucket of bleach.

Beyonce, marking the official launch of “World Humanitarian Day,” has teamed up with the United Nations for the release of her brand new “I Was Here” video.

Taped in front of a live audience at the U.N. General Assembly earlier this month, the music video for “I Was Here,” a song, written by Diane Warren, from Beyonce’s most recent album “4,” features the singer dressed in a long, flowing, sparkling white dress in front of a huge screen projecting images of humanitarian efforts all over the world.

According to a video posted on the UN website and Beyonce’s official site, World Humanitarian Day — which was officially observed Sunday (Aug 19) — is a “time to recognize those who face danger and adversity in order to help others” and was “designated by the General Assembly to coincide with the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 22 UN staff.”

Watch Beyonce’s “I Was Here” video below:

Beyonce hit the stage at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City Friday night, where she shot the video for her new single “I Was Here” to promote the launch of World Humanitarian Day.

Dressed in a long-sleeved, figure-hugging all white dress, the charitable singer wowed the audience in the UN’s General Assembly Room as screens behind her showed images of different regions around the world that has been struck by disaster or famine, interlaced with the faces of humanitarian workers.

Anderson Cooper also hosted a series of interviews with local and international humanitarians before eventually introducing Beyonce’s performance.

World Humanitarian Day is a day of remembrance set up for the victims of a 2003 Baghad bombing, and a day to promote humanitarian efforts all over the world.

Beyonce has teamed up with UN officials to launch the global initiative, and the “I Was Here” video will be released on August 19th to mark the official launch of World Humanitarian Day, which is encouraging over a billion people worldwide to give back to their local communities by getting involved in charity ventures.

A 28-year-old woman is reportedly suffering from an extremely rare skin condition that causes her to grow fingernails all over her body — including her face/scalp — instead of hair.

Shanyna A. Isom, a criminal justice student from Memphis, Tennessee, says she first saw signs of the condition back in 2009, when she had an asthma attack that doctors treated with steroids.

Unfortunately, Shanyna had an allergic reaction to the steroids, which caused her to develop bumbs on her legs, and her skin tone began to darken.

“Over time it started to turn my legs black with bumps,” Isom told WMC-TV. She said that doctors in Memphis have treated her for everything, from eczema to a staph infection.

“And we know it couldn’t be that after all the medication she had been on,” Shanyna’s Aunt, Jataun Isom said.

“They’ve tested me from A to Z and everything was coming back negative,” Shanyna said.

When Shanyna was admitted to Johns Hopkins in August 2011, doctors there determined that she produces 12 times the number of skin cells per hair follicle, which is suffocating her skin.

Instead of hair … her skin follicles are producing human nails. “Where hair grows, nails are growing,” she said.

After spending some time at Johns Hopkins, Shanyna’s quality of life has improved slightly. “I couldn’t sit up I couldn’t walk,” she said. “Now I can walk with a cane and sometimes I can walk on my own.”

But Shanyna’s mysterious condition has opened up a whole new door of problems. Her state-issued insurance doesn’t cover her specialist care, and covers only five of the 17 medications she needs to treat her symptoms.

“So we had to depend on the family and friends and different fundraisers and things like that to help me get back and forth,” she said, adding that her family has already burned through their savings, and her outstanding medical bills are currently up to $250,000.

“We know that God is a healer and he’s going to bring her through,” Shanyna’s grandmother Carrie Isom said.

“At this point I just do everything I can to get the help that’s needed for her,” said Shanyna’s friend Tolungia Webb.

“I love her and I know that she’s gonna get better,” Karintha Rawls, another friend, said.

Isom, who says she is the only person in the world with her condition, has set up the S.A.I. Foundation to raise money to help cover her bills and to one day help others who may suffer from unknown illnesses.

The S.A.I. Foundation is accepting donations at any Bank of America branch.

“If it means me dealing with this to help someone else, I’m willing to go through it,” Shanyna said.

[WMC-TV, DailyMail]

A man opened fire at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin Sunday (Aug 5), killing six people and critically wounding three others, including a police officer. He was immediately shot and killed by another police officer outside the temple.

The suspect in the tragic shooting incident was identified Monday as Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old white male who served in the U.S. Army in the 1990s, and also had links to the white supremacist movement.

As details are uncovered from the incident, and pieces of Page’s life emerge in the incident’s aftermath, police have yet to find a motive explaining why he would commit such a horrible act of violence … though FBI agents are said to be looking into Wade’s background to determine if Wade’s crime was motivated by hate.

But who is this guy, what exactly did he do and whose lives did he take/affect?

Here are 7 things you need to know about the Sikh Temple Shooting and the shooting suspect Wade Michael Page:

Amardeep Kaleka, son of the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, center, comforts members of the temple after the tragic shooting accident that left six people dead, and three others severely wounded. Kaleka's father -- 65-year-old Satwant Kaleka -- was among four priests who died in the shooting.

#1 – Authorities say Wade Michael Page walked into the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin carrying a 9mm handgun and multiple magazines of ammunition, and opened fire without saying a word:

Witnesses said Page “did not speak – he just began shooting”. Using a semi-automatic pistol, he fired shots in rapid succession. He was carrying several magazines of bullets. Some of the congregants hid in cupboards. Children cowered downstairs and several women barricaded themselves in the building’s kitchen.

#2 – Wade Michael Page served in a U.S. Army psychological operations unit before he was discharged in 1998 for a pattern of misconduct, including being drunk on duty:

Page joined the military in Milwaukee in 1992 and was a repairman for the Hawk missile system before switching jobs to become one of the Army’s psychological operations specialists assigned to a battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C.

As a psyops specialist, Page would have trained to host public meetings between locals and American forces, use leaflet campaigns in a conflict zone or use loudspeakers to communicate with enemy soldiers. He never deployed overseas while serving in that role, Pentagon spokesman George Wright said.

Page was demoted in June 1998 for getting drunk while on duty and going AWOL, two defense officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information about the gunman.

Page also received extra duty and was fined. The defense officials said they had no other details about the incident, such as how long Page was gone or whether he turned himself in.

James Holmes is the man responsible for the shooting deaths of at least 12 people, and the injuries of at least 59 others Friday (Jul 20) at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado during a premiere showing of the latest “Batman” movie “The Dark Knight Rises.”

But who is this guy … And where did he come from?

READ: Gunman Kills 12 and Injures Nearly 60 Others at “Batman” Movie Premiere in Aurora Colorado

While police have no clear motive as to what led Holmes to commit such a horrible act — which contributed to the deaths and serious injuries of over 70 people, including young children — details about his personal life and background are slowly emerging.

Here are 5 things you need to know about James Holmes:

#1 – His identity and background seem pretty normal … however his mom appears to already have known her son was a disturbed individual:

24-year-old James Holmes is 6 feet, 3 inches tall white male. His family lives in a two-story home in a quiet, upper-class neighborhood in San Diego, California, where they have lived for around 10 years. His mother is a nurse, and his father is a manager at a software company. Holmes also has a younger sister.

Before going public with the information about James Holmes’ identity, ABC News contacted his mother, who told them on gut instinct, “You have the right person. I need to call the police … I need to fly out to Colorado.”

#2 – He graduated from high school and college in California, and was attending graduate school in Colorado:

The Poway Unified School District in California issued a statement, confirming that James Holmes was a Class of 2006 graduate of Westview High School in Carmel Valley, CA.

“On behalf of the Poway Unified School District, Superintendent [John] Collins joins the rest of the nation in offering our deepest condolences to the victims and their families,” the statement read.

The University of California, Riverside confirmed to CBS News that Holmes graduated in 2010 with a degree in bachelor’s degree in neuroscience.

He had enrolled in the University of Colorado-Denver graduate school’s neuroscience program in 2011 to go for a Ph.D, but was in the process of withdrawing. A spokeswoman for the school said she didn’t know why Holmes had decided to withdraw.

Authorities have released the full toxicology report from the autopsy of Rudy Eugene — the man who made headlines after he chewed another man’s face off in Miami on Memorial Day Weekend — and, contrary to popular belief, it looks like bath salts, or any other outrageous drugs for that matter, were NOT behind the gruesome attack.

According to a statement on the full toxicology report by the Miami-Dade medical examiner, the only drug detected in the 31-year-old’s lifeless body …. was marijuana. MARI … FREAKIN … JUANA!

[Editor's note: We know weed gives people the munchies ... but DAYUM!]

Medical examiner Dr. Bruce Hyma said in his statement, “The laboratory has tested for but not detected any other street drugs, alcohol or prescription drugs…This includes cocaine, LSD, amphetamines (Ecstasy, Meth and others), phencyclidine (PCP or Angel Dust), heroin, oxycodone, Xanax, synthetic marijuana (Spice), and many other similar compounds.

A second forensic toxicology test conducted by a separate lab also confirmed the absence of the most comment ingredients found in bath salts, which mimic the effects of cocaine or methamphetamine and have been associated with various bizarre “zombie attack”-like crimes in recent months, and many — including Miami police officials — believed they were what caused Rudy Eugene to attack Ronald Poppo, and chew off at least 70% of his face.

“Within the limits of current technology by both laboratories,” the statement continued, “marijuana is the only drug identified in the body of Mr. Rudy Eugene.”

But that doesn’t necessarily mean weed — literally the least harmful “drug” known to man — is what made Rudy Eugene eat Ronald Poppo‘s face. According to the Miami Herald, the medical examiner’s report didn’t address previously reported autopsy findings of what appeared to be undigested pills in Eugene’s stomach … so we’ll most likely never know what really unhinged Eugene and caused him to act so violently

As Dr. Bruce Goldberger, Professor and Director of Toxicology at the University of Florida, noted in a report from the Associated Press, “The problem today is that there is an almost an infinite number of chemical substances out there that can trigger unusual behavior,” adding that the medical examiner’s office in Miami is known for doing thorough work, and he’s confident that they, as well as the second lab, covered as much ground as possible.

Still, Dr. Goldberger says that it’s almost impossible for toxicology testing to keep up with all of these new street drugs that literally come out of nowhere.

“There are many of these synthetic drugs that we currently don’t have the methodology to test on, and that is not the fault of the toxicology lab. The challenge today for the toxicology lab is to stay on top of these new chemicals and develop methodologies for them, but it’s very difficult and very expensive.” Goldberger said. “There is no one test or combination of tests that can detect every possible substance out there.”

Dr. Patricia Junquera, who is an assistant professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and is considered an expert on addictions, said she wouldn’t rule out the fact that a different “strain” of marijuana could have caused the attack.

“It could have been the strain of marijuana that increases the dopamine in the brain,” she said, adding that there are two strains of marijuana called sativa, which increases dopamine and gives you energy, and indica, which is a “sleepy high.”

“People don’t really know what the amount of either is in each little packet of marijuana,” Dr. Junquera explained. “And we can’t differentiate between the two in the blood, much less in a dead person.”

She also suggested that if Eugene suffered from a mental health condition, “the marijuana could have increased even further the dopamine levels and aggravated the situation,” which, she says, is why marijuana can’t be totally ruled out.

It’s been a little over a month since the May 26th incident, and officials still have no clue what led 31-year-old Rudy Eugene to attack Ronald Poppo, a 65-year-old homeless man who was asleep moments before the assault occurred.

Surveillance video from the Miami Herald’s parking garage nearby captured the 18-minute attack, in which Poppo woke up to Eugene stripping him naked, and beating him senseless, while his attacker used his bare teeth to chew off pieces of the flesh from his face.

The police officer who shot and killed Eugene said he growled at him, with pieces of Poppo’s face hanging from his mouth, when he was told to stop.

Surprisingly, the homeless man survived the bizarre attack, however … to this day, Ronald Poppo remains in a Miami hospital with some of the most serious injuries to his face doctors have ever seen.

According to local reports out of Miami, Rudy Eugene — a former football player for the North Miami Beach High School — was once diagnosed as schizophrenic after an arrest, and authorities are unsure as to whether or not he sought treatment for the condition.

Eugene was also reportedly accused of threatening to kill his mother in another incident in which he was arrested. But despite all of that, his friends and family members say they never expected the man they knew to commit such a horrific act.

Eugene’s friends and family have said that he was a religious, non-violent person, and that he didn’t drink or do any drugs other than marijuana. Eugene was reportedly participating in a Bible study and telling friends he wanted to stop smoking weed.

“There’s no answer for it, not really,” Eugene’s younger brother, Marckenson Charles, said in an interview. “Anybody who knew him knows this wasn’t the person we knew him to be. Whatever triggered him, there is no answer for this.”

Charles said that Eugene has been buried, and his family doesn’t plan on pursuing any legal action against the Miami PD for killing Eugene because they understand that the police had to use “the force they felt was necessary, even if we don’t agree with that.”

Meanwhile, despite the victim’s injuries (he lost an eye and his nose, and must undergo another round of reconstructive surgery), Ronald Poppo is said to be “doing well,” according to doctors at the Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

His doctors say that mental health professionals have been helping him with the coping, and he’s coping “remarkably well.” Poppo’s family has said that they haven’t been in contact with him for more than 30 years and thought he was dead.

Now that we know that “bath salts” didn’t do it (and we know marijuana for damn sure didn’t do it)…

What do you think caused Rudy Eugene to attack Ronald Poppo, and chew more than half of his face off?

Adidas announced Tuesday (Jun 19) that they will NOT be releasing their “JS Roundhouse Mid” sneakers after various critics pointed out that the shoes — which featured a pair of golden ankle shackles — reminded them of slavery.

The controversial sneakers, now infamously known as the “Shackle” or “Slavery” shoes, were designed by world renown artist Jeremy Scott, who is known for creating outrageously flamboyant and unique shoe designs for Adidas. Some of his previously released shoes have featured teddy bear heads, Mickey Mouse heads, wings and eccentric style/colors.

Scott’s latest creation was expected to be released in August, according to the Adidas Facebook page, where the shoes were first unveiled. A caption below a photo of the sneakers read, “Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?”

The June 14th post prompted a ton of backlash from thousands of Facebook users, with many commenting saying that they felt like the shackles on the shoes were a painful reminder of the slave trade, a nearly 500-year period when Africans were ripped from their homes, stuffed into huge slave ships … and inhumanely shackled together, using chain cuffs similar to the ones Adidas planned on using with their shoes.

Sneaker blog Kicks on Fire first previewed the sneakers back in February, calling them “handcuff” shoes, but the controversy didn’t explode until Adidas posted a picture of the shoes on their Facebook page.

“These shoes are the WORST idea EVER! Really, we’re supposed to voluntarily buy shackles now?!” wrote one commenter. “Who ever wears this is openly saying they are a slave,” said another.

“You have GOT to be KIDDING ME! Shackles?? Really??” one Facebook user wrote. “Horrible!” added another.

A commenter on the website NiceKicks.com wrote, “Wow obviously there was no one of color in the room when the marketing/product team ok’d this.”

Dr. Boyce Watkins, a journalist and author, wrote on the website Your Black World, “I literally froze up when I saw a new design from Adidas set to hit stores in August.” He added, “When I see the shoes, I also think about the ankle bracelets being worn by far too many men who are affected by the mass incarceration epidemic that the White House says nothing about.”

Rev. Jesse Jackson even offered his opinion about the footwear. “The attempt to commercialize and make popular more than 200 years of human degradation, where blacks were considered three-fifths human by our Constitution is offensive, appalling and insensitive,” he said.

Adidas initially brushed the controversy off, saying in a statement that the shoes were “nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery.”

The sportswear giant continued, “Jeremy Scott is renowned as a designer whose style is quirky and lighthearted and his previous shoe designs for adidas Originals have, for example, included panda heads and Mickey Mouse. Any suggestion that this is linked to slavery is untruthful.”

But just hours after defending the shoes, with the controversy growing by the minute, Adidas decided that it would be best to halt production, and to cancel the shoe’s upcoming August release.

The company said in a follow-up statement, “Since the shoe debuted on our Facebook page ahead of its market release in August, adidas has received both favorable and critical feedback. We apologize if people are offended by the design and we are withdrawing our plans to make them available in the marketplace.”

Jeremy Scott defend himself in his own statement, saying that his work has always been inspired by cartoons, toys and his childhood. He revealed that the inspiration from the shoes came from a plush toy from the 1980′s called “My Pet Monster.”

The JS Roundhouse Mids were apparently a part of an upcoming sneaker collection for Adidas that also featured a number of other quirky designs. Take a look below:

What do you think about the “Shackle” shoes and Adidas’ decision to not release them?

Freddy Sharp knows exactly what it feels like to be high on “bath salts” … and he says it’s not a good feeling.

“Balth Salts” — not to be confused with the scented bath salts you would buy at Victoria’s Secret or Bath & Bodyworks and put into your bathtub — is the synthetic drug that the “Miami Cannibal” Rudy Eugene is believed to have been on when he chewed off a homeless man’s face off last month.

READ: Bath Salts May Have Caused Miami Man to Strip Naked and Eat Another Man’s Face Off

The horrific 18-minute attack, captured on video surveillance cameras nearby, only ended after Eugene was shot dead by police. The victim remains in critical condition at a Miami hospital with close to 80% of his face missing.

“The guy just kept eating the other guy, like ripping his skin,” witness Larry Vega told reporters, adding that when Eugene was told to stop, he growled like an animal with flesh hanging from his teeth, and continued to eat the victim’s face.

According to officials, the synthetic drug known as “bath salts” are marketed under that name because they are usually sold in smoking paraphernalia stores disguised as a common household product, with a label that reads “not for human consumption.”

They contain amphetamine-like chemicals such as methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and are sold as “cocaine substitutes” or “synthetic LSD.” Its effects include paranoia, hallucinations, convulsions and psychotic episodes.

27-year-old Freddy Sharp, a self-proclaimed drug addict since the age of 13, describes his overdose on bath salts as the “darkest, evilest thing imaginable.”

Shocking video footage of Sharp shortly after taking the highly potent drug — commonly called the “new LSD” shows the Tennessee native squirming around, and then making faces and singing to himself while he is strapped down by paramedics.

Sharp told CNN that he was hallucinating about being in an insane asylum and being possessed by Jason Voorhees from the “Friday the 13th” movies.

“I just felt all kinds of crazy,” said Sharp, who says he hasn’t used bath salts in months, ever since the overdose convinced him it was time to quit. “It felt like impending doom was coming down on me,” he recalled. “I felt like I was about to bust loose and actually hurt somebody.”

Though Sharp says he never felt the urge to “eat anybody’s flesh,” he admits the drug did make him feel invincible.

“You feel like you’re 10 feet tall and bulletproof, and you actually do not feel any pain,” he said … which explains why it took police officers over half a dozen shots to kill Rudy Eugene — who was apparently strong enough to actually hold someone down, and use his bare teeth to rip almost 80% of their face from their head.

Freddy Sharp gave a warning to other users of bath salts:

“The only thing I can say to them is that if you value your life, you’ll stop it and you won’t do it anymore, because it will destroy your life. It will destroy your family. It will destroy everything.”

The involvement of “bath salts” in the horrific attack on Ronald Poppo remains unverified, as police weren’t able to recover anything from the crime scene, and Rudy Eugene’s autopsy didn’t reveal too much either; though a toxicology report is expected to be released in the next couple of weeks.

Police in Miami believe that the naked homeless man who was shot and killed while he ate the face of another homeless man may have been high on a dangerous drug known as “bath salts.”

Miami police identified the cannibalistic attacker as 31-year-old Rudy Eugene. His victim — identified as 65-year-old Ronald Poppo — remains in critical condition in a Miami-area hospital after at least 75-80% of his face was chewed off.

Hospital staffers say Poppo is suffering from “some of the most horrific injuries” they have ever encountered, and he is completely unrecognizable after Eugene ate part of his nose, cheeks, ears and eyes.

The harrowing attack, which has shocked the world, took place Saturday afternoon (May 26) on a freeway bridge near Miami Beach.

According to police, Rudy Eugene, who they believe had come from a Memorial Day weekend beach party, stripped a sleeping Ronald Poppo naked, beat him, then proceeded to chew lumps of flesh from his face and head.

Eugene continued to eat the man’s face even after a Miami police officer shot him in the chest.

An eyewitness said that Eugene growled like an animal when officers told him to stop before they shot him half a dozen more times, killing him instantly.

Stomach-churning images of Ronald Poppo’s horrific injuries and the crime scene have gone viral.

The photos of the crime scene show a partially-clothed Poppo laying next to his fully nude attacker, and blood is everywhere.

Another set of photos, allegedly taken at the hospital, shows the extent of Poppo’s injuries, and the massive destruction done to his face and head. His facial features are non-existent, and all you can see is a bloody eye and a blood-soaked goatee.

The uncensored images are pretty gruesome, and aren’t for the faint of heart. (CLICK HERE to check them out — but you’ve been warned!)

Doctors, police and news reporters all theorize that Rudy Eugene was high on “bath salts,” a dangerous drug that mimics the effects of highly potent (and illegal) substances like cocaine, LSD and meth-amphetamines.

As Dr. Howard Mell, an emergency room physician from Ohio, noted to CBS News: “These are not the bath salts you buy at Victoria’s Secret … There’s not soap in them.”

Mell says that at least seven people — all under the age of 27 — have died in the two Cleveland-area hospitals where he works at as a result of using “bath salts,” which can cause severe agitation, rapid heart rate, high blood pressure and a number of other ailments.

The drug can also lead to the body overheating, which explains why Rudy Eugene stripped completely naked before his savage attack.

Users of the dangerous drug also experience hallucinations, lose touch with reality and can exhibit psychotic behavior, though calling Eugene’s behavior “psychotic” would be an understatement.

EMS workers who have responded to cases involving users who are high on “bath salts” say that they exhibit super-human strength and don’t respond to stun guns or tasers.

Several workers — and sometimes even burly police officers and/or security guards — are usually required to hold down a person who is high on “bath salts.”

“Addictive substances, whether they are bath salts, alcohol or other drugs, can have horrific and costly consequences. Sometimes these consequences can result from only one use; other times they are a result of the complex brain disease of addiction,” says Susan E. Foster, vice president and director of policy research and analysis at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

“Together, risky use of addictive substances and addiction constitute our nation’s largest and most costly health problem. In the interest of health and public safety, Americans must begin to understand that substance use is a preventable public health problem and addiction is a treatable disease,” she added.

According to Jeffrey Scott, a spokesman for the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency, “bath salts” – the street name for the drug that is considered a replacement for cocaine or a synthetic form of the hallucinogen LSD — can be snorted, smoked, or broken down and injected.

[Sources: CNN, CBS]

Do you think “bath salts” can cause a man to strip completely naked … and EAT another man’s face off?

Time Magazine thought it would be pretty cool to put a picture of a real, 3-year-old boy standing on a chair with his mom’s boob in his mouth on the cover of their nationally syndicated magazine for an issue on “attachment parenting.”

So they did it … and here it is!

From Time.com:

The subjects on this week’s TIME cover aren’t models in pose. Jamie Lynne Grumet, photographed by Martin Schoeller with her 3-year-old son, is a mother from Los Angeles who subscribes to attachment parenting, the subject of staff writer Kate Pickert’s cover story.

Attachment parenting has been on the rise over the past two decades, since the publication of “The Baby Book” by Dr. William “Bill” Sears and his wife Martha in 1992. Its three main tenets are extended breast-feeding, co-sleeping and “baby wearing,” in which infants are physically attached to their parents by slings.

Martin Schoeller says he spent an entire day photographing four different women from various parts of the country who practice this odd method of motherhood.

“When you think of breast-feeding, you think of mothers holding their children, which was impossible with some of these older kids,” Schoeller explained. “I liked the idea of having the kids standing up to underline the point that this was an uncommon situation.”

Jamie Lynne Grumet says she isn't shy about breastfeeding her almost 4-year-old son in public.

Jamie Grumet from Los Angeles says she isn’t ashamed that she still breastfeeds her 3-year-old son, who will turn four next month and will still continue to be breastfed. “I don’t consider breast-feeding immodest at all. I’m not shy about doing it in public.”

Jamie also has a 5-year-old (adopted) son of a different race who she breastfeeds as well. “I know so many amazing women who have induced their lactation, but I had milk [from feeding my biological son], so I had one of the easier situations as far as adoptive breast-feeding is concerned,” she said, “but it was considered extended breast-feeding. And it was transracial. And he was adopted. I was ready for attack as soon as I posted one of the pictures [on my blog].”

Grumet says she and her sister — who also practices attachment parenting — were breastfed up until she was six years old, and she still remembers how she felt when she drank milk from her mother’s teet over 2 decades ago.

“It’s really warm,” she recalled. “It’s like embracing your mother, like a hug. You feel comforted, nurtured and really, really loved. I had so much self-confidence as a child, and I know it’s from that. I never felt like she would ever leave me. I felt that security.”

She said, “I grew up this way and never thought about raising my kids differently.”

Dionna Ford, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri, says when she was pregnant, she watched a video of a British woman breast-feeding her 7-year-old daughter, and she thought she could never do the same … until she found out how hard it was to wean her son off breast milk.

“After six months, I decided I’d wait until he turned 1,” she said. “But after my baby turned a year old, he was still a baby — not talking, barely walking — and I wondered why I’d stop now.”

Dionna’s son is now 4-years-old and she not only breastfeeds him, but she also breastfeeds her 5-month-old son.

Melinda Larson pictured here with all her children. She breastfeeds all four of them.

For Brooklyn, New York native Jessica Cary — who still breastfeeds her 3-year-old daughter — she says attachment parenting is a way of life. “I don’t think about when I’ll stop. For us, it’s a life philosophy.”

Melinda Larson from Long Island, New York breastfeeds all four of her children, aged 6, 4, 2 and 1/2 and 9 months. “The philosophy resonated with us, and it felt comfortable. Other forms of parenting felt like I wasn’t in my own skin.”

Not only capturing photographs of attached parents, but also their reasons for attachment parenting, was Schoeller’s biggest goal for this very … “interesting” photo shoot.

“It was important to show that there’s no stereotypical look for a mom who practices this kind of parenting,” he said.

There’s no doubt about it that not only this magazine cover — but the ENTIRE pictorial feature — is shocking, but…

What are your thoughts on this whole “attachment parenting” thing? Are these women out of their minds or what?

During an exclusive interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts Wednesday afternoon (May 9), President Barack Obama came out of nowhere and announced that he personally endorses the legalization of same-sex marriage.

President Obama said in an interview that appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday:

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together … When I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.“

The president also discussed how his young daughters Sasha and Malia, and the younger generation as a whole, played a role in forming his opinion:

“It’s interesting, some of this is also generational … You know when I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same-sex equality or, you know, sexual orientation, that they believe in equality. They are much more comfortable with it.

“Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and, frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”

President Obama also talked about how his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, and his Christian faith were also instrumental in his opinion on the issue:

“This is something that we’ve talked about over the years and she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do. And that is that, in the end the values that I care most deeply about and she cares most deeply about is how we treat other people.

“And we are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule, treat others the way you would want to be treated.

“And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I’ll be as a as a dad and a husband and, hopefully, the better I’ll be as president.”

As ABC writer Rick Klein notes, President Obama’s public support of gay marriage is a “complete turnabout,” as he has opposed marriage between same-sex couples throughout his career in politics.

In 1996, as a state Senate candidate, he indicated support for gay marriage in a questionnaire, but Obama aides later disavowed it and said it did not reflect the candidate’s position.

In 2004, as a candidate for the US Senate, he cited his own religion in framing his views: “I’m a Christian. I do believe that tradition and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.”

He maintained that position through his 2008 presidential campaign, and through his term as president, until today (May 9th 2012).

As president in 2010, Obama told ABC’s Jake Tapper that his feelings about gay marriage were “constantly evolving. I struggle with this.” A year later, the president told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, “I’m still working on it.”

“I probably won’t make news right now, George,” Obama said in October 2011. “But I think that there’s no doubt that as I see friends, families, children of gay couples who are thriving, you know, that has an impact on how I think about these issues.”

What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with President Obama’s public support of gay marriage … and do you think this will positively or negatively affect his re-election this November?

French lawmakers recently repealed France’s law against sexual harassment in the workplace, claiming that the definition of the crime was too vague.

When France’s first sexual harassment law was implemented back in 1992, it was originally defined as a person abusing their position of power and authority in an effort to receive sexual favors.

The law was revised in 2002 to broaden the definition to include anyone pressuring any person to perform sex acts in exchange for favors.

According to Reuters, the repeal of the law doesn’t necessarily mean that there won’t be a new law to replace the old one, but French women will have to wait until the new Parliament goes into office this June before any new law with clearer guidelines can even be discussed.

Some women’s groups said the decision, by France’s highest constitutional body, would leave victims without legal protection until a new law is penned, while others argued an improved law could lead to more convictions. [Source]

So that means for the next few months, if not longer, it’s totally legal to sexually harass someone in France, which is really bad news for women of the workplace … but good news for their perverted bosses. At least until the new law is drafted up, and put into practice, whenever French lawmakers “get around to it.”

Do you think sexual harassment will get out of control in France over the next several months?

North Korea went against international warnings and decided to launch a long-rage rocket into the air on Thursday (Apr 12). Or at least they tried to.

U.S. officials say the the rocket broke apart shortly after launch, which means that their rogue mission was a total and complete #FAIL!

Japan was prepared to shoot down any rocket flying over its territory, and officials there say the rocket wasn’t even in the air for a full minute before it fell into the ocean.

“We have confirmed that a certain flying object has been launched and fell after flying for just over a minute,” Japan’s Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka said. He said there was no impact on Japanese territory.

Marked in red in this simulation photo is the field of debris left from the crash of North Korea's Unha-3 rocket shortly after its April 13th 2012 launch. The North Korean peninsula is located at the upper right. (Image Credit: Analytical Graphics, Inc.)

According to the U.S. military, the missile fell into the sea west of South Korea and posed no threat to any landmasses.

International leaders urged North Korea to cancel the launch, but they went ahead with it anyway against everyone’s wishes, insisting that the rocket launch was for peaceful purposes only.

Prior to the launch, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said, “The wise thing would be for North Korea to avoid this provocative and ill-considered action, which is in blatant violation of international law and their international obligations.”

Officials in Pyongyang, North Korea said that the rocket was going to be used to simply launch a weather satellite into orbit.

However, officials in the US, South Korea and other countries believe the North Koreans are using this purported “rocket launch” as a cover-up to test a ballistic missile armed with a nuclear warhead capable of hitting United States soil.

After the failed launch, the White House called North Korea’s actions “provocative” and said that what they did threatens regional security, violates international laws and was a total breach of trust internationally.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement:

“Despite the failure of its attempted missile launch, North Korea’s provocative action threatens regional security, violates international law and contravenes its own recent commitments.

“While this action is not surprising given North Korea’s pattern of aggressive behavior, any missile activity by North Korea is of concern to the international community.

“The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations, and is fully committed to the security (of) our allies in the region.”

The last time North Korea carried out a “satellite launch” was in April 2009, and at the time, the U.N. Security Council condemned the action and demanded that it not be repeated.

Before this week’s launch, U.N. diplomats warned the North Koreans that they could face further isolation from the rest of the world if it went ahead it.

“This launch will give credence to the view that North Korean leaders see improved relations with the outside world as a threat to the existence of their system,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this week. “And recent history strongly suggests that additional provocations may follow.”

“Pyongyang has a clear choice: It can pursue peace and reap the benefits of closer ties with the international community, including the United States; or it can continue to face pressure and isolation,” Clinton said.

North Korea heavily promoted their launch in an attempt to draw attention to the country as a show of its strength amid economic hardship as their new young leader Kim Jong Un adjusts to his position of power following the death of his father Kim Jong Il four months ago.

**Start slow handclap** Good job. Way to show your “strength” North Korea!

Kim Il-sung would be proud.

[Sources: Reuters, CNN]

George Zimmerman can count down the hours of freedom he has left … because the neighborhood watch volunteer will finally be charged today for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

According to various confirmed reports, Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey plans to officially announce the charges this afternoon. It is not immediately clear what charges Zimmerman will face.

NBC reports the charges will be announced at a 6 p.m. EST news conference.

The prosecutor’s ruling comes just a day after Zimmerman’s lawyers withdrew from his case.

Looks like justice may be served after all….

——————————————

UPDATE: George Zimmerman is in police custody and will be charged with second degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

A little girl from Colombia who is just 10 years old recently gave birth to a 5 pound baby, and now the young mother is making headlines worldwide.

According to reports, the girl arrived at a hospital bleeding and in a great deal of pain. This was the first time she had received any kind of medical treatment for her pregnancy.

The birth of the baby girl, which was full-term, required a Caesarean section because of the mother’s small size.

The girl is reportedly a member of the Wayuu tribe, which has kept quiet about the pregnancy and the identity of the boy (or man) who fathered the child.

Because the tribe follows its own laws, law enforcement and elected officials in Colombia are trying to figure out a way to handle the situation, while also showing respect to the tribe’s sovereignty.

“We’ve already seen similar cases of Wayuu girls,” said Efrain Pacheco Casadiego, director of the hospital that treated the young mother and her newborn baby. “At a time when [the girls] should be playing with dolls, they go to having to take care of a baby. It’s shocking.”

Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time an extremely under-aged child has birthed a baby and made worldwide headlines.

Just last year, a 10-year-old girl gave birth to a baby in Mexico, and in 2010, an 11-year-old girl in the same country gave birth.

Also in 2010, a 10-year-old Romanian girl from Spain gave birth, which made headlines all over the world as well.

[CBS News]

George Zimmerman is a bold-faced liar, which shouldn’t be new information to anyone with a fully functioning brain who has been following the Trayvon Martin shooting death case.

Newly released police surveillance video, obtained by ABC News, shows that Trayvon Martin’s killer had not one single visible injury … which totally contradicts his fallacious story that Martin attacked him by punching him in the face and slamming his head into the sidewalk “multiple times,” causing various injuries including a swollen lip, bloody nose and lacerations to the back of his head.

The video footage, recorded just four hours after the shooting, shows no such injuries. In fact, Zimmerman appears to be upbeat (and in no pain) as he literally hops out of the back of the police car with no assistance what-so-ever, despite his hands being cuffed behind him.

Take a look at the video:

Do you see any “lacerations” on the back of his head? Nope.

What about that bloody nose? Shouldn’t he have blood all over his shirt? And when you have a bloody nose, aren’t you supposed to hold your head back so you don’t bleed to death?

That’s because Zimmerman clearly lied to police, who are taking his word (and the word of “anonymous witnesses”) over the clear facts.

Trayvon Martin did not attack George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman did, however, murder Trayvon Martin, but Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law prevents him from being arrested, because Zimmerman claims he was acting in self defense when he shot and killed Trayvon Martin the night of February 26th.

READ: Trayvon Martin Deserved to Die Because He “Acted Like A Thug,” Says New Orleans Police Officer

Zimmerman’s lawyer Craig Sonner says the video neither supports nor refutes his clients version of the events. “I don’t think it does either one,” Sonner said on the ‘Today’ show. “It’s a very grainy video.”

17-year-old Trayvon Martin was reportedly staying with his father and future step-mother (his father’s fiancee) when he walked to a nearby convenience store to buy a bag of skittles for his little brother, and a can of iced tea for himself.

28-year-old George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watchman, shot and killed Martin after calling 911 to report a “suspcious” person walking around his gated suburban community near orlando.

Zimmerman — who was told by 911 dispatchers to stay in his car and NOT follow the teenager — falsely claims that Martin confronted him, decked him with a single punch, and pounded his head into the ground several times.

The controversial case continues to spark outrage across the nation (and even the world) as George Zimmerman, who clearly murdered Trayvon Martin for no apparent reason, has yet to be charged with anything.

The United States Justice Department announced this week that it will launch an investigation into the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was killed almost a month ago by a racist, gun wielding neighborhood watchman.

“The department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation,” the U.S. government said in a statement Monday (Mar 20).

The announcement follows numerous protests held across the country calling for the arrest of 28-year-old George Zimmerman, who claims he was defending himself when he shot the teenager in cold blood on February 26th 2012.

Trayvon Martin was returning to his father’s house in a gated community in Sanford, FL after what was supposed to a quick trip to a nearby convenience store when he was shot and killed by Zimmerman.

When Zimmerman spotted Martin, he called 911, and told the dispatcher he thought the young, African American boy looked “suspicious” and continued to follow him, even after the 911 operator told him he shouldn’t.

READ/LISTEN: 911 Calls Released in Trayvon Martin Shooting Death Case

“This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something,” Zimmerman said to the 911 operator. “It’s raining and he’s just walking around looking at houses.”

“He’s just staring, looking at all the houses,” Zimmerman said. “Now he’s coming toward me. He’s got his hand in his waistband. Something’s wrong with him.”

George Zimmerman -- Trayvon Martin's murderer

Zimmerman, who described Trayvon as wearing a hoodie and sweatpants or jeans, continued, “He’s coming to check me out. He’s got something in his hands. I don’t know what his deal is. Can we get an officer over here?”

“These assholes always get away,” he calmly told the 911 operator. “Shit, he’s running.” At one point during his conversation with the 911 dispatcher, Zimmerman can be heard calling Trayvon a “coon.”

Within moments, more 911 calls were placed from within the gated upscale community describing a quick scuffle, cries for help and a gunshot.

Zimmerman claims self defense, however Trayvon Martin showed no signs that he intended to attack or otherwise harm Zimmerman. All he had in his possession was a can of iced tea and a bag of skittles.

Other people living in the neighborhood told officials they heard Martin pleading for his life, which was followed by a gunshot, then silence.

Zimmerman was taken in for questioning, but wasn’t arrested and right now isn’t facing any charges, which has sparked outrage amongst those who want justice for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

On Monday, college students held rallies on the on the campus of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee and outside the Seminole County Criminal Justice center, where prosecutors are reportedly reviewing the case to determine whether or not to file charges against George Zimmerman.

Sadly, changes made to Florida law in 2005 are preventing prosecutors from being able to charge Zimmerman.

Under the old law, people in fear of their lives could use deadly force in self-defense, but only if they had tried to run away or otherwise avoid the danger.

But under this new law, the person doesn’t have to retreat and has the legal right to “to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force” if they feel threatened.

28-year-old George Zimmerman claims he felt threatened by Trayvon Martin, even though Zimmerman was twice the 17-year-old’s size and over 10 years his senior.

But there is no possible way Trayvon Martin could have displayed any signs of threatening behavior. All he had in his possession was a bag of skittles and a can of iced tea, and he was actually running from Zimmerman in fear of his own life.

Had the tables been turned and Trayvon had shot George Zimmerman … he would definitely be in jail. But sadly, almost a month after the incident, Zimmerman is still a free man.

A march for justice for Trayvon held in New York City Wednesday evening (Mar 21), dubbed the “Million Hoodie March,” drew thousands and thousands of supporters who want George Zimmerman put behind bars for his heinous crime.

Demonstrators were heard chanting “we want arrests!” as they paraded through NYC’s streets. They greeted the teen’s parents with “God bless you!”

“My son did not deserve to die,” Trayvon’s father, Tracy Martin, said after thanking the large crowd.

Trayvon’s mother Sybrina Fulton told the crwod, “My heart is in pain, but to see the support of all of you really makes a difference.”

At one point, the march dispersed into various groups, with some demonstrators traveling to Times Square to hold an impromptu rally, and dozens of others making their way to downtown Manhattan to hold demonstrations there.

Trayvon’s parents say they had no idea about the march beforehand, and had only found out about it while they were in town to do interviews about the case.

Daniel Maree, one of the organizers for the march, said that the timing of the teen’s parents being in the city when the march was happening was “incredible.”

“I was outraged and wanted to do something about it,” Maree said, adding that he first heard about the case earlier this week.

Asked how he was holding up, Tracy Martin said he was trying to stay strong.

“I don’t feel this is the time to break down, even though it’s a very troubling time in my life,” he said. “I’ve told myself, when I get justice for Trayvon, then I’ll have my time to break down.”

[Sources: CBS, HuffPo]

What do you feel about how the Trayvon Martin case has been handled so far?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you’ve probably heard about 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was tragically killed last month at the hands of a demented gun-toting neighborhood watch leader at an upscale neighborhood in Sanford, FL.

After repeated requests for the release of the audio recordings of the numerous 911 calls that were placed that night, the Sanford police department finally released the recordings over the weekend.

Listen to the calls below:

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According to numerous confirmed reports, Trayvon was watching the 2012 NBA All-Star game on Sunday, February 26th 2012 while visiting his father in a gated community in Sanford, FL (near Orlando).

Trayvon, who had celebrated his 17th birthday just weeks before, left the residence to walk to a nearby convenience store to buy a can of iced tea for himself, and a bag of skittles for his younger brother.

As he was walking back to the home, Trayvon (a young black man) was spotted by the neighborhood watch leader — a 28-year-old white man named George Zimmerman — who called 911 to report a “suspicious” person was walking around.

“This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something,” Zimmerman told the 911 operator. “It’s raining and he’s just walking around looking at houses.”

“He’s just staring, looking at all the houses,” Zimmerman said. “Now he’s coming toward me. He’s got his hand in his waistband. Something’s wrong with him.”

The 911 operator asked Zimmerman to describe the young man’s race and age, to which he responded, “He’s a black male … late teens.”

Zimmerman, who described Trayvon as wearing a hoodie and sweatpants or jeans, continued, “He’s coming to check me out. He’s got something in his hands. I don’t know what his deal is. Can we get an officer over here?”

“These assholes always get away,” he calmly told the 911 operator. “Shit, he’s running.”

Zimmerman can then be heard getting out of his car in an attempt to chase down Trayvon, despite the dispatcher telling him that an officer was being sent.

“Are you following him?” asks the dispatcher, to which Zimmerman calmly responded, “Yeah.”

“Okay, we don’t need you to do that,” said the dispatcher.

“Okay,” replied Zimmerman, who continued to follow Trayvon anyway.

Within moments, a herd of 911 emergency calls were placed from inside the gated, upscale community describing a scuffle, cries for help and a gunshot.

In one of the recordings, one concerned neighbor told the dispatcher that two guys were wrestling right behind his back porch, and one of them was yelling for help. Within seconds, the male caller reported that he believed that one of the men — “the black guy” — was dead.

“I’m pretty sure the guy is dead … Oh, my God! … The black guy looks like he’s been shot and he’s dead.”

In another recording, the caller told dispatchers that Zimmerman was actually on top of Trayvon, for whatever reason.

“The guy on top has a white T-shirt,” a female caller said.

“Is he on top of someone?” the operator asks.

“Mmmhmmm,” the caller responds.

Yet another caller can be heard saying, “Someone was screaming ‘Help! help! help!’ Then I heard a gunshot.”

Another caller, a teenage boy, said that he was walking his dog when he saw a helpless Trayvon lying on the ground. “He was screaming,” the teenager said.

Then he told the operator that he had heard a single gunshot, and the screaming had stopped.

At that very moment, Trayvon Martin — an innocent, unarmed teenager — was dead.

A woman whose back door was steps away from where Trayvon was gunned down said she heard a boy crying, then a gunshot … and then silence.

“I heard someone crying – not boo-hoo crying, but scared or terrified or hurt maybe,” the woman said. “To me, it was a child.”

After the shooting, Zimmerman was taken in for questioning — without actually being arrested — where he admitted to shooting Trayvon in the chest and claimed self-defense. He was released shortly thereafter without any charges being filed.

Trayvon Martin's mother and father speak to the media during a press conference in Sanford, FL on Friday, March 16th 2012

Trayvon Martin’s family and their lawyers were given the opportunity to listen to the audio before it was made public.

Before the release of the audio recordings, police tried to say that Zimmerman was the one who was heard screaming, however now that we — the public — can hear the tapes for ourselves … we all now know the truth.

“You hear a shot, a clear shot, that we can only assume is a warning shot,” said Natalie Jackson, a family attorney. “Then a 17-year-old boy is begging for his life. Everything tells me that that was Trayvon Martin.”

Tracy Martin — the teenager’s father — broke down crying as he listened to the audio on Friday, the family lawyers said. “My son was crying for help, and he still shot him,” Mr. Martin said, according to Benjamin Crump, another family attorney.

Barely lasting through half the tapes, Trayvon’s mother Sybrina Fulton ran out of the room screaming and crying.

Trayvon’s father and his mother Sybrina Fulton are now accusing Sanford police of mishandling the investigation and have criticized them for not arresting Zimmerman, despite his claims of self defense.

Martin wasn’t armed, and his parents believe that Zimmerman wasn’t (and weeks later, still hasn’t been) arrested simply because he is white and their son was black.

The entire situation has sparked a huge wave of public outrage across the country, and requests have been made that the Department of Justice step in and get involved with the case.

A petition pleading for Zimmerman to be charged with murder that was posted to Change.org has over 500,000 signatures (at the time this story was published) and counting.

That’s over half a million people who believe Trayvon Martin’s death was an act of violence, and not “self defense” as George Zimmerman claims.

“Do we really believe that if Trayvon Martin would have pulled the trigger, he would not be arrested?” said family attorney Benjamin Crump. “This is obviously a cover-up, and we need a sweeping overhaul of the Sanford Police Department.”

[Sources: HuffPo, ABC, CBS]

A group of about a dozen or so protesters — including actor George Clooney — were arrested early Friday (Mar 16) during an illegal protest at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C.

According to CNN, the arrested protestors included congressmen, human rights activists and faith leaders.

Clooney, along with his dad Nick and the other demonstrators, were peacefully arrested by the uniformed division of the U.S. Secret Service at around 11:45 am for crossing police lines, a misdemeanor offense.

Clooney was booked into a D.C. police station and he bailed out for a measly $100 (pocket change for this guy) a couple of hours later.

Sources close to the actor say that he feels good about the arrest because it puts an ever bigger spotlight on the crisis.

The other notable protestors who were arrested included United to End Genocide President Tom Andrews; Democratic Reps. Jim McGovern, Al Green, Jim Moran and John Olver; Martin Luther King III; and NAACP President Ben Jealous.

Moments before his arrest, Clooney, who was leading the protest, explained why he and the other protestors were demonstrating outside the Sudanese Embassy:

“We are here really to ask two very simple questions. The first question is something immediate — and immediately, we need humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

“[The second] is for the government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women and children. Stop raping them and stop starving them. That’s all we ask.”

Watch the video footage from the arrest (and check out the pics) below:

Your thoughts?

Remember that “pink slime” stuff the USDA recently purchased to serve in school meals? Turns out, the cheap meat filler can be found in at least 70 percent of the ground beef that is sold at grocery stores across the country!

And if that doesn’t make your stomach turn enough, by some estimates, pink slime is in up to 25 percent of almost every hamburger patty consumed in America.

READ: USDA Purchases 7 Million Pounds of “Pink Slime” to Serve in Schools

“It kind of looks like play dough,” said Kit Foshee, a former corporate quality assurance manager at Beef Products Inc., the company that makes pink slime. “It’s pink and frozen, it’s not what the typical person would consider meat.”

Once only used in dog food and cooking oil, the pinkish substance formally branded as “Lean Beef Trimmings,” or “pink slime,” in much more appropriate terms, is basically a disgusting mixture of beef scraps, cow connective tissues and other spare beef trimmings that have been treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill pathogens like salmonella and E. coli to make the meat safe and at least somewhat appetizing.

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING!!

The resulting substance is flash frozen and boxed, then shipped out to whoever decides to blend it into ground beef and hamburger patties as a “filler” to sell to grocery stores and restaurants.

“[It will] fill you up, but won’t do any good,” Foshee said, explaining that the substance is more like gelatin and isn’t as nutritious as real ground beef.

Even though this sounds (and looks) really gross and unhealthy, the USDA believes that “Lean Beef Trimmings” are safe to eat, which explains why they bought 7 million pounds of the stuff to serve in schools, and apparently allow meat producers nationwide to use it without even letting us — the consumers — know.

From the ground beef you buy at the grocery store, to the hamburger you’re eating at your favorite restaurant, all of it contains at least a little bit of pink slime. And up until now, you probably didn’t even know because there is absolutely no labeling on the meat’s packaging indicating so.

“There is no way to even know from labels or even from the butchers here whether it contains pink slime,” said an ABC News producer from New York.

“It’s economic fraud,” says former USDA scientist Gerald Zirnstein, who was the first person to call the meat stuff “pink slime” after he toured a Beef Products Inc. production facility as part of an investigation into salmonella contamination in packaged ground beef.

“It’s not fresh ground beef. It’s a cheap substitute being added in,” he told ABC News.

What are your thoughts on this “pink slime” stuff?

After posing nude for PETA‘s “In, Not Mink” campaign last year, rapper Waka Flocka Flame has joined forces with the animal rights group for a second time.

This time around, Waka Flocka and PETA are fighting against animal cruelty, and Waka poses with an adorable little puppy in a newly released ad campaign photo.

“If you’re going through different stuff and you’re feeling a certain way, an animal will always be the same way, no matter how you feel,” the Bricksquad rapper says. “An animal isn’t going to curse you out, an animal ain’t gon’ fight you. It’s going to show you nothing but love. Animals are just like you, so be cautious of what you do.”

From PETA:

Atlanta-based Brick Squad hip-hop artist Waka Flocka Flame never stops when it comes to raising awareness about animal protection.

In advance of his sophomore album Triple F Life: Friends, Fans & Family, Waka earns a “Round of Applause” from animals everywhere for his second PETA ad, which is aimed at stopping chaining, fighting, and other abuse of dogs.

Waka’s adorable co-star in the ad is Daphna, a rescued dog from the Atlanta Humane Society who is named after PETA’s vice president of cruelty investigations.

Go behind the scenes with Waka and PETA below:

As of this very moment, Joseph Kony is arguably the most hated man on earth.

But why? How can one person spark so much hate and disgust on a global scale?

Keep on reading and you’ll find out…

Joseph Kony is an evil, EVIL man from Uganda who heads an infamous guerilla group called the Lord’s Resistance Army, or “LRA” for short.

The LRA is a militant group of people who, with an extreme religious ideology, use violence in an effort to establish a theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout various African countries, including Uganda.

Directed by Kony, the LRA has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has forced the internal displacement of over 2 million people since its rebellious campaign began back in the 1980′s, earning the violent army one hell of a reputation worldwide.

In the past decade alone, the LRA — which mainly operates northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic — has spent the majority of its time and energy not only attacking, but also enslaving and killing unarmed Acholi people from its own tribe, many of them being women and children.

Joseph Kony — who calls himself the official “spokesperson” of God, and even goes as far to consider himself the Holy Spirit — was indicted in 2005 for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, and has spent the past 7 years evading capture.

Now, social media has taken upon itself to create a massive campaign called “Stop Kony,” in an extreme and global effort to make the indicted war criminal “famous” (or “infamous” — depending on who you ask) so that he can finally be captured and punished for his heinous crimes against humanity.

A California-based non-profit charity organization called “Invisible Children” is at the helm of the campaign, which says it wants to harness the power of the Internet to raise awareness and finally bring Joseph Kony to justice.

A documentary video, entitled “The KONY 2012 Documentary” has now become an Internet sensation after going viral this week, reaching over 40 million views in just 3 days.

The Washington Times reported:

Less than two days after its initial release, the video on YouTube and Vimeo had garnered almost 20 Million views. Most viewers have been referred from Facebook and are between 13 and 24 years of age.

The KONY 2012 Documentary was created by Invisible Children, whose mission is not to celebrate him, but to “raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice,” as stated in the video’s description on YouTube.

The documentary calls for a massive event on April 20th called “Cover the Night,” culminating in the form of hundreds of thousands of supporters placing posters and stickers in every city across America. These materials seek to make the name of Joseph Kony famous and eventually bring him to justice via awareness.

Instantly, “Cover the Night” events on Facebook were started and grew to many hundreds of members who each committed to take part in this effort on the night of April 20th.

The video states that when Kony is a household name, the US Government will have to keep American soldiers in Central Africa, on their mission to find Kony.

“In order for Kony to be arrested this year, the Ugandan military has to find him. In order for them to find him, they need the technology and training to find him in the vast jungle. That’s where the American advisors come in. But in order for the American advisors to be there, the US government has to deploy them. They’ve done that, but if the government doesn’t believe that the people care about arresting Kony, the mission will be canceled. In order for people to care, they have to know, and they will only know if Kony’s name is everywhere.”

What are your thoughts on the “Stop Kony 2012″ campaign? Do you support it?

GROSS! This is what "pink slime" looks like before it's added to meat

Pink slime for lunch, anyone?

Popular fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King and Taco Bell recently stopped using the controversial ground beef additive known as “pink slime” in their recipes, however, that didn’t stop the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from buying over 7 million pounds of the stuff for school meals.

Officially branded as “Lean Beef Trimmings,” the product is basically a disgusting mixture of beef scraps, cow connective tissues and other spare beef trimmings that have been treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill pathogens like salmonella and E. coli to make the meat safe and at least somewhat appetizing.

The pinkish substance — normally used for dog food — is then blended into traditional meat products like ground beef and hamburger patties as a sort-of “filler.”

Pretty gross, right?

Two former microbiologists at the Food Safety Inspection Service think so too.

“I have a 2-year-old son,” microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein told The Daily. “And you better believe I don’t want him eating pink slime when he starts going to school.”

Zirnstein was the first person to call the meat stuff “pink slime” after he toured a Beef Products Inc. production facility as part of an investigation into salmonella contamination in packaged ground beef. After the visit he said in an e-mail to his colleagues that he didn’t “consider the stuff to be ground beef.”

“We originally called it soylent pink,” said retired microbiologist Carl Custer, a 35-year veteran of the Food Safety Inspection Service. “We looked at the product and we objected to it because it used connective tissues instead of muscle. It was simply not nutritionally equivalent [to ground beef]. My main objection was that it was not meat.”

Custer says he first came across the pink slime back in the 1990s, and despite him voicing his concern about the gross stuff, it was officially approved under the George H.W. Bush administration.

Custer and Zirnstein both concluded in a study that the meat trimmings were a “high risk product,” however, “scientists in D.C. were pressured to approve this stuff with minimal safety approval,” Zirnstein said.

“My objection with having it in the schools is that it’s not meat,” Custer said. “It’s more like Jell-O than hamburger, plus it’s treated with ammonia, an additive that is not declared anywhere,” he said in reference to the lack of labeling on the product’s packaging.

“They’ve taken a processed product, without labeling it, and added it to raw ground beef,” Zirnstein said. “Science is the truth, and pink slime at this point in time is a fraudulent lie.”

The New York Times reported back in 2009 that despite the added ammonia, tests of “Lean Beef Trimmings” from schools nationwide uncovered dozens of instances of E. coli and salmonella pathogens.

Between the years of 2005 and 2009, salmonella was found 48 times, including two contaminated batches of 27,000 pounds of meat. E. coli was found three times.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver pictured here demonstrating the ammonia-treated beef process.

A public outcry against the meat filler is being led most prominently by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who in the past has successfully waged war against flavored milk in L.A. school, and continues to fight for healthier school lunches.

News of the USDA buying 7 million pounds of “pink slime” to serve in school cafeterias across the country comes just weeks after the government outlined new guidelines to make sure students are given healthier options for school meals.

The new standards call for a wider selection of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as well as less sodium and fat in school meals.

What do you think about pink slime?
Do you want your kids eating this stuff at school?

Kirk Cameron is facing a ton of backlash after he made some controversial comments against homosexuality and gay marriage last week.

In an interview with Pierce Morgan that aired on CNN last Friday (Mar 2), the actor-turned-evangelist said that he “doesn’t support the idea” of gay marriage and homosexuality, calling them both “unnatural, detrimental and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.”

Asked if he would tell his children that gay marriage is a sin, Cameron answered, “I would tell my children what I believe myself and, er… I believe that marriage was defined by God, a long time ago, marriage is almost as old as dirt and was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve, one man, one woman, for life.”

He added, “I would never attempt to redefine marriage and I don’t think anyone else should either.”

In the days since his interview, Cameron has come under for his comments about homosexuality.

Among the celebrities who condemned Kirk Cameron for his remarks was actress Tracey Gold, who played his sister Carol Seaver on “Growing Pains.” She tweeted:

“I am a strong supporter of the #LGBT Community, and I believe in equal rights for all. #NOH8 #LOVE”

Kirk’s TV dad Alan Thicke also spoke out against him on Twitter:

“I’ll address kirk’s comments as soon as I recover from rush limbaugh’s. I’m getting him some new books. The Old Testament simply can’t be expected to explain everything.”

GLAAD (The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) also fired back at Kirk Cameron over his comments.

“In this interview, Kirk Cameron sounds even more dated than his 1980s TV character,” said Herndon Graddick, senior director of programs at GLAAD. “Cameron is out of step with a growing majority of Americans, particularly people of faith who believe that their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters should be loved and accepted based on their character and not condemned because of their sexual orientation.”

Your thoughts?

With a little help from Oprah Winfrey and a few others, Pop singer turned philanthropist Lady Gaga formally and officially launched her “Born This Way Foundation” Wednesday (Feb 29) at Harvard University.

The newly launched foundation’s point of existence is to “challenge meanness and cruelty by inspiring young people to create a support system in their respective communities,” Gaga said.

Though bullying is a favorite cause of Gaga’s, the singer says that the BTW foundation wasn’t created to just fight bullying alone, but rather to empower youth and promote bravery.

“When you see someone being negative to somebody else, it’s OK to intervene and stand up for someone that needs it … I don’t believe that one person can change the world. I believe that humankind, as a whole, can change the world,” Gaga told a crowd of more than 1,000 people.

She continued, “I’m doing everything I can, working with experts, studying statistics, trying to figure out a way we can make it cool or normal to be kind and loving,”

25-year-old Gaga says she was bullied in school, and knows that it will take a while to shift people’s perceptions about bullying. But she says the first step is not to demonize bullies.

“We do not make a distinction between the bully and the victim. Because each person is an equally important and valuable member of society,” she said. “What the foundation is about is a transformative change that is going to take a long time to affect the overall culture. Bullies were born this way, too.”

Asked why she feels as though she can change the world’s perception on bullying, Gaga laughed, “I guess I sort of have this feeling that if I can make a song called ‘Just Dance’ really big all over the world, I might be able to make a song that’s, you know, ‘Just Be Nice!’”

Gaga also revealed that a “Born Brave Bus” will follow her tour bus this year, and anyone and everyone from all walks of life will be invited to meet with others and discuss love, acceptance and kindness. She said fans will be able to hang out at the bus, even if they don’t have tickets to her concerts.

During the press conference at Harvard, Lady Gaga was joined by Oprah Winfrey and her mother Cynthia Germanotta, who will serve as the foundation’s president.

Oprah says her involvement with the foundation is based on her own personal values.

“What is exciting to me,” Winfrey said, “is that thought leaders have gathered together as one force to ask why does bullying and violence and hatred against young people continue in our society and what we can do about it.”

Watch video footage from the press conference below:

Your thoughts on Lady Gaga’s new Born This Way Foundation?

Somebody needs to punch Rush Limbaugh right in that big ol’ mouth of his!

The Conservative radio host declared Georgetown Law School’s Sandra Fluke “a slut” for arguing that birth control should be covered by health insurance at religious institutions.

The shock jock mocked Sandra Fluke for arguing that her fellow students shell out $1,000 a year in out of pocket expenses. Georgetown University, a Catholic institution, does not cover birth control as part of its health insurance plan.

Limbaugh dismissed Fluke’s assertion that women may be prescribed the pill for medical reasons and accused her of merely promoting promiscuity.

“What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute,” he said. “She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception.”

Limbaugh went on to insult Fluke’s family for raising a daughter with loose attitudes.

“Can you imagine if you’re her parents how proud of Sandra Fluke you would be?” he said. “Your daughter goes up to a congressional hearing conducted by the Botox-filled Nancy Pelosi and testifies she’s having so much sex she can’t afford her own birth control pills and she agrees that Obama should provide them, or the Pope.”

In order to accentuate his point, he played the 1970s soul song “Troglodyte (Cave Man)” by the Jimmy Castor Bunch. He shouted “get pregnant!” over the lyrics about clubbing and grabbing women.

Even the top-ranked Georgetown Law School, a Catholic institution, did not escape Limbaugh’s sexist wrath.

“Well, I guess now we know why Bill Clinton went to Georgetown and why Hillary went to Wellesley,” he said. “Well, all the sex going on at Georgetown.”

In a statement, Fluke thanked her supporters and admonished Limbaugh for the “egregious” personal attack.

“His language is an attack on all women, and has been used throughout history to silence our voices,” she said. “The millions of American women who continue to speak out in support of women’s health care and access to contraception prove that we will not be silenced.”

[NYDN]

Your thoughts?

Fellas….have any of you slept with this woman?!?

If so … sorry! :(

Read more at The Sun

A 17 year-old boy named Jamie Love was recently sent home from high school after showing up dressed as a girl.

Is this inappropriate or free expression?

Give us your thoughts in the comments below!

In celebration of their 100-year anniversary, The Girl Scouts have released a brand new cookie called “Savannah Smiles.”

The brand new powder sugar-covered, lemon-flavored cookie’s name is a nod to Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low, who started the world famous organization in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia.

The Savannah Smiles cookies are supposed to a healthier option, in comparison to the dozens of other GSC flavors, and are described this way by Little Brown Bakers (the company manufacturing the cookie):

This lemon wedge cookie is cool and crisp, with just the right number of lemon chips to deliver tiny bursts of flavor. And, when you hold it right, you’ll quickly be reminded of that world-famous “Brownie Smile.”

According to WebMD:

Savannah Smiles actually have a relatively low fat and calorie content for the serving size, compared with other Girl Scout cookies (they are a bit higher in sodium, however).

Girl Scouts began taking orders for their new cookie flavor on Saturday (Jan 6) but the cookies don’t officially arrive until February.

What are your thoughts on the new “Savannah Smiles” Girl Scouts cookie?

Kanye West is ready to make dreams come true.

The G.O.O.D. Music leader announced via Twitter that he will be launching a new company called “DONDA,” named after his late mother Donda West. The goal of his new business venture will be to make products and experiences that people can afford … which sounds a lot like Steve Jobs’ original vision for Apple.

For more on Kanye’s new company, check out a compilation of all of his recent tweets below:

I have started a new company and I’m so excited about the name…. it’s got the best name ever of all companies of all time!!!….

The name of the company is DONDA. DONDA is a design company which will galvanize amazing thinkers and put them in a creative space to bounce there dreams and ideas.

I used to blog all the time an fit was a way to get my opinion out…Dr Dre redesigned headphones and made more impact off of one product.

I am assembling a team of architects, graphic designers, directors musicians, producers, AnRs, writers, publicist, social media experts…app guys, managers, car designers, clothing designers, DJs, video game designers, publishers, tech guys, lawyers, bankers, nutritionist ..doctors, scientist,teachers.

DONDA will be comprised of over 22 divisions with a goal to make products and experiences that people want and can afford…I want to put creatives in a room together with like minds that are all waaaay doper than me

We want to help simplify and aesthetically improve everything we see hear, touch, taste and feel. ..To dream of, create, advertise and produce products driven equally by emotional want and utilitarian need.. To marry our wants and needs.

This will all take time but I wanted everyones to know what I really care about… I care about people. I care about my fans..I care about people who have never heard of me… There are over 7 billion people on the planet now.

The Watch the Throne tour was a small example of what a Donda Experience can be.

This one of our projects to be released this year called 2016 OLYMPIC’s … It’s a semi sic-fi since 2016 is only 4 years away. We would also like’ to design the MTV awards. We’re taking everything 10 steps at a time LOL!

I wanted to put this in the world in hopes that the people who can actually make a difference will stand up and reach out. We need as many amazing powerful smart talented wealthy people to be involved… Come get on board… don’t just sit there… reach out

We can collectively effect the world trough design. We need to pick up where steve jobs left off.When I said wealthy I wanted to point out there are so many billionaires in the world that can come together and help to redesign it. Help education. School systems were designed to turn people into factory workers.

Schools should be designed to prep human beings for real life. Spike Jonze and I want to do a Summer school that tries new forms of cuuriculim. Math classes should teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, accounting and money management aaaaaand cut!!! ….

I know this is not a very rapper thing to say but I haven’t bought a new car or piece of jewelry in about 2 years…I invest every dime back into creativity… hiring amazing creatives paying for flights, offices … etc…My area of expertise is in music, my passion is in music design film and products… my strength is connectivity…

There are so many broken systems from the economy to school systems jail systems… we need experts for this…We need scientist and top world designers to directly affect governments. If anyone would like to reach out email us at contactDONDA@gmail.com

We give Yeezy major props for wanting to create something totally new and creative … but accomplishing this isn’t going to be a walk in the park. We hope ‘Ye knows what he’s doing with all of this….

Your thoughts?

You’re going to hear a lot this year about how, at some point in 2012, the world is going to end. That we will all, in some way or another, wound up gone, destroyed, burned, eaten, smashed to pulp or, if we’re really lucky, a combination of the lot.

We’ll be fine, of course, but they’re going to say it anyway. Here’s why.

The first time most people will have come across this prophecy is courtesy of 2009 movie 2012, a film in which the planet is torn asunder and only John Cusack and giant space boats survive. It’s complete rubbish, of course, but the theory underpinning the movie is a very real one, based on the fact that in December 2012 (December 21, to be exact) an entire cycle of the Mayan calendar, one which has run for around 5000 years, comes to an end.

The calendar, actually known as the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar (it wasn’t just the Mayans using it), doesn’t work like ours. So there’s no January 2011, then January 2012, and so on and so on. It ran in enormous cycles, called b’ak’tuns, and this December we reach the end of the thirteenth b’ak’tun recorded on the calendar, which also coincides with the end of a larger “world age”, which can last for around 5000 years.

While for most Mesoamericans this simply meant the end of an age, and maybe even cause for celebration (similar to the “millennium madness” in 2000), others with a more pessimistic view on life have constructed something else out of the phenomenon. In recent years various spiritualists, crackpot astrologists and other well-wishers of apocalypse have latched onto the date and foreseen that it means the end of the world, supported by little but fantastical theories of planetary alignments and phantom planets.

Basing their predictions on doomsday writings from Columbus and poorly-translated and agenda-riddled works from 19th century European scholars, there are now numerous possible theories as to how and why the world will end in 2012, when this Mayan calendar rolls over and kills us all.

The most popular of these include the appearance and subsequent collision with Earth of a planet called Nibiru, the spontaneous reversal of Earth’s magnetic field (which was expanded upon in the movie 2012) and our alignment with a black hole in the centre of our galaxy somehow managing to destroy us all.

Those theories are, in order, implausible, optimistic (such reversals can take thousands of years to take place) and out of date (we passed that alignment over a decade ago). Mayan scholars also want no part of them, pointing out that in actual Mayan history and records – not those cooked up by Westerners centuries after the fact – there’s no mention of an apocalypse coinciding with the end of the calendar cycle whatsoever.

Still, believers (and the media) aren’t going to let science get in the way of a good story, so you can bet as December rolls around you’ll see more than a few nutjobs on your local TV news buying tinned food and batteries.

Unless you’re mad or extremely gullible, leave them be. What you may find more interesting than doomsday preparations, though, are the number of popular works of media that join the Mayans in predicting the end of the world, in one way or another, during 2012.

TV show The X Files , for example, is faithful to the Mayan calendar theories, in that one of the key storylines running throughout the series, that of government conspiracies and aliens, comes to a head in December 2012 with the alien colonization of Earth.

Also closely aligned with the Mesoamerican calendar are two gaming properties. Shadowrun, the popular role-playing game franchise, (which has in turn been adapted several times into a video game), is based on the end of the Mayan age and beginning of another – on December 21, 2012 – marking the return to Earth of magic forces, an event that makes Shadowrun one of the most compelling and unique properties going around.

Blockbuster video game series Assassin’s Creed does something similar. All four major games in the series have been set in some way or another in 2012, with the player controlling an Assassin in the historic order’s fight against the Knights Templar. It’s suggested that the series’ story ends on December 21, 2012, with gamers having to race to stop the end of the world.

So if you’re up into the wee hours on December 20 this year and want something more enjoyable (and poignant!) to do than watch crazies prepare for the end of the world, there are plenty of good movies, TV shows and games around to keep you entertained.

Republished from: Kotaku (Gawker)

From the Associated Press (via the Huffington Post):

Jenni Lake gave birth to a baby boy the month before her 18th birthday, though she was not destined to become just another teenage mother. That much, she knew.

While being admitted to the hospital, she pulled her nurse down to her at bed level and whispered into her ear. The nurse would later repeat the girl’s words to comfort her family, as their worst fears were realized a day after Jenni’s baby was born.

“She told the nurse, ‘I’m done, I did what I was supposed to. My baby is going to get here safe,’” said Diana Phillips, Jenni’s mother.

In photographs, the baby’s ruddy cheeks and healthy weight offer a stark contrast to the frail girl who gave birth to him. She holds the newborn tightly, kissing the top of his head. Jenni, at 5 feet and 4 inches tall, weighed only 108 pounds at the full term of her pregnancy.

A day after the Nov. 9 birth, Phillips learned that her daughter’s decision to forgo treatment for tumors on her brain and spine so she could carry the baby would have fatal repercussions. The cancer had marked too much territory. Nothing could be done, Phillips said.

It was only 12 days past the birth – half spent in the hospital and the other half at home – before Jenni was gone.

Even so, her family and friends insist her legacy is not one centered in tragedy, but rather in sacrifice.

This month, her family gathered at their ranch style home in Pocatello, where a Christmas tree in the living room was adorned with ornaments picked out just for Jenni, including one in bright lime green, her favorite color. She had passed away in a bedroom down the hall.

Recalling Jenni’s infectious laugh and a rebellious streak, her mother held the baby close, nuzzling his head, and said, “I want him to know everything about her, and what she did.”

Read More at HuffPost

Jennifer Hudson sings beside her former, heavier self in a brand new commercial supporting her campaign to promote the Weight Watchers weight loss plan.

The interesting clip, which aired last week during the X Factor finale, shows the R&B singer in two forms (the old Big Jennifer and new Skinny Jennifer) as she belts out a rendition of the inspirational tune “I Believe In You and Me.”

Watch the commercial below:

Remember a couple years back when the new “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” movie leaked on the web prematurely? And when we say prematurely, we’re talking several months in advance. (The film hadn’t even finished being edited yet!)

Well….the guy that uploaded the movie was sentenced to a year in federal prison:

Gilberto Sanchez has been sentenced to one year in federal prison for uploading an unfinished version of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine film to his Megaupload account.

The film was subsequently shared across the internet resulting in millions of infringements according to prosecutors. Nevertheless, the 20th Century Fox flick ended up grossing $373 million worldwide.

In March, Sanchez pleaded guilty to one count of uploading a copyrighted work being prepared for commercial distribution.

However, he claims that he bought the movie on a Bronx street corner near his home but the original source of the workprint was never identified. US attorney Andre Birotte Jr. had this to say in response to the ruling:

“The federal prison sentence handed down in this case sends a strong message of deterrence to would-be Internet pirates. The Justice Department will pursue and prosecute persons who seek to steal the intellectual property of this nation.”

[The Verge]

Wow! So even though Fox made close to $375 million … they still prosecuted the guy and put him in jail … FOR A YEAR?! For downloading a movie. An unfinished movie, that eventually went on to make well over $300 million.

Yet, there are still hardened criminals on the streets today, right this very second … and the law chooses to spend time and money prosecuting people who upload movies on the Internet.

Your thoughts?