All posts by nedhamson
George Zimmerman Was Suspended From Twitter For Committing A Sex Crime By Posting His Ex’s Nudes [NSFW]
On Thursday afternoon, George Zimmerman, the Florida man who was charged in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, tweeted nude photos of a woman he claimed cheated on him “with a dirty Muslim.”
In addition to posting a topless photo of the woman, who is identified in the tweet by her first name, Zimmerman also included what appears to be the woman’s phone number and, in a second tweet that contains another nude image, her email address. (Mic has blurred the woman’s face and identifying information in the images below.)
Neither the images nor the woman’s contact information appear to have been posted consensually, which might make the tweets a violation of Florida’s sexual cyberharassment law, which Gov. Rick Scott signed earlier this year. Florida is one of 17 states to enact legislation regarding the posting of nude images without consent within the past several years, according to Reuters.
Part of a nationwide effort to curb “revenge porn” online, the law makes it a misdemeanor to post or transmit nude photos that include subjects’ identifying information without their consent. The crime is punishable by up to one year in prison, Reuters reported.
According to University of Miami professor and revenge porn legal expert Dr. Mary Anne Franks, however, Zimmerman’s tweets, while a direct violation of Twitter’s abusive behavior policy, might not be illegal.
“This image probably doesn’t qualify—it’s not quite ‘nude,” Franks told the Daily Dot. Under Florida law, images only qualify as revenge porn if they are “sexually explicit,” which Zimmerman’s photos arguably aren’t.
Efforts to curb online harassment, specifically revenge porn, picked up last year after scores of celebrities’ nude photos were hacked and posted online, sparking a nationwide discussion about sex crimes on the Internet. Several female stars who were targeted in the attack, including Jennifer Lawrence, have been outspoken about the criminal nature of the violation.
“It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change,” Lawrence told Vanity Fair last year.
Zimmerman, who was arrested in January for alleged domestic violence, has been involved in several violent incidents since he was acquitted of killing Martin in 2013. Coincidentally, he happened to post his tweets on the same day former revenge porn impresario Hunter Moore was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison for operating the now-defunct revenge porn website Is Anyone Up.
George Zimmerman’s Twitter account has been suspended since the photos were posted.
If we’re gonna ban guns, let’s ban cars!
First off, I don’t know of anyone who’s seriously proposing we ban guns outright – just certain types (i.e. military grade assault rifles), and tightening regulations. Think of it as calling for safer tires after the multiple accidents caused by faulty ones several years ago, or the call for seatbelts back in the day.
But I keep seeing this come up again and again, and I have thirteen messages in my inbox with this claim – so I’m going to just agree. I’m casting aside the fact that the purpose of a gun is different than that of a car. The only way my gun is getting me a ride to school is if I brandish it in order to get a ride or a jack a car.
Fine. The pro-gun folks win. Let’s treat guns like cars.
In order to drive a car in Wyoming, you first must get a license. The requirements are fairly similar nationwide. Most states require you take a driver’s education course and have a learner’s permit with a multitude of restrictions, but all states mandate you must pass a written test and an eye exam – but don’t forget the actual driving test! You must prove to the instructor you know how to safely and accurately operate the vehicle, and if you are unable to, the instructor has the right to keep you from retaking the test for a specific time period. Scary, huh?
But hooray, you passed!
Not so fast, though! In order to use your driver’s license, your vehicle must be legally registered. This means that you have to go to the courthouse with proof of ownership (the title) to register it initially, and pay a fee every year after that. Failure to register your vehicle yearly can result in a ticket for $110 or more in Wyoming, and can be considered a misdemeanor, especially in other states. If you have multiple vehicles, each must be registered. This must be done within 45 days.
Oh, and you’ll need insurance on your vehicle, in case you damage someone’s property, or cause injury to yourself or someone else while operating your vehicle. In Wyoming, anyone failing to provide proof of insurance on a registered vehicle as required is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable pursuant to W.S. 31-4-103(a) upon conviction. The punishment is a fine of $750.00 or less, or a stint in jail of six months or less. Your insurance must cover each vehicle you own, even if you just drive it occasionally.
Plus, the police have the right to inspect your vehicle if they believe it’s necessary for safety reasons, and most states require a Vehicle Identification Number inspection and check by a sheriff’s deputy or state-designated inspector before the car can be transferred to a new owner, even with a private sale. The new owner must also provide the state with proof of a license and insurance to take possession of the title.
If you fuck up enough, the state can suspend your license as prescribed under the law.
Doesn’t matter if you swear that you didn’t mean to, or that it’s your right to drive wherever the hell you want, when you want. Also, “YOLO, your honor!” will not be a great defense when you go before the judge.
In all seriousness, even an accumulation of little violations or a failure to pay a citation can get your license yanked, including not having insurance or registration.
You might say, “BUT I’M A LAW-ABIDING DRIVER!” Doesn’t matter. Everyone has to live by the same set of laws and obey them, even if they’ve never broken them before. This also means rules of the road in the form of traffic laws and such, including laws about where you can’t take your vehicle. You might think it’s your special snowflake right to drive on the sidewalk, do donuts in a school parking lot, or barrel through a city park, but the law says otherwise. Sorry snowflake!
“BUT OTHER PEOPLE DON’T OBEY THE LAWS!” is also not a reason to do away with traffic laws. Sure, there’s a lot of people who speed, myself included. But you take away the penalty, and it’ll be all fun and games until someone’s kid gets mowed down in a school zone by an asshat doing 60 mph – which happens ANYWAYS but is less likely because drivers like myself know there’s a stiff penalty for blasting through school zones.
And yes, while tens of thousands of people die from traffic accidents every year, and that’s terrible, the laws and regulations we have now decrease the likelihood of it happening. Plus, the death rate from motor vehicle accidents (11.7 per 100,000 in the U.S.) is not that far off from firearms (10.1 per 100,000 in the U.S.) when all manner of deaths by firearm are considered. In fact, in some states, you’re more likely to be killed by a gun than in a motor vehicle accident. By 2015, it’s likely firearms will surpass motor vehicle accidents:
Let’s keep in mind, cars are not designed to kill something or someone, which I discuss while taking on the whole “People kill people” canard.
So sure. Let’s treat boomsticks like cars. After all, isn’t this where this comparison would ultimately lead? I’m cool with that.
Cheers,
Meg
I posted this almost three goddamn years ago, and still stand by it. I have to because nothing’s changed. This was shortly after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, when I was naive enough to think the murder of nearly two dozen six-year-olds would be enough for us to finally do something. Silly me.
Same as it ever was.
Scheveningen NL 2015
Why Feminism Can’t Be Replaced By Equalism Or Humanism.
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Recently, I had a conversation with a friend whom I was trying to convince to vote against some sexist rule in our university.
Naturally, we ended up talking about feminism and the rights and wrongs of the notion of equality. During the entire conversation, my friend constantly said that she doesn’t believe in feminism because she thinks that striving for equality is more important than working for women’s rights.
So this got me thinking. And I’ve noticed that anti-feminists have started using the terms equalism and humanism to justify their rejection of feminism. They say that they don’t believe in feminism, but they believe in equalism.
These people are either the ones who believe in the notion of feminism but don’t call themselves feminists because of the stereotypes associated with the word, or the ones who actually believe men face more discrimination than women, or the ones who think feminism equals superiority of women.
I’ve heard it so many times: I’m not a feminist but I believe in equal rights.
As a person who believes in feminism, anti-racism, pacifism and several other -isms, I understand where people are coming from when they ask why they can’t just believe in equality-for-all-ism instead of so many separate isms. All of these movements are essentially working side by side for equality for everybody, right?
Equalism.
Women and men and everybody, completely equal. Sounds sweet. In theory.
In practice, however, it is much more complicated than that.
I believe in equal rights for everyone — black, white, rich, poor, male, female, disabled. But I do consider myself to be a feminist. Because a separate movement for women’s rights is the single most important thing we need for gender equality. And all those people who believe feminism and equalism are mutually exclusive need to get their facts right.
First of all, the history of egalitarianism and humanism shows that women were basically left out of these campaigns. People did not understand that humanism means all people, men and women. In fact, even black people were left out. And in some extreme cases, non-landowning white men were excluded too.
That is why it is necessary to have a separate movement for women — to acknowledge the fact that equality and empowerment for women are as important as they are for men. A separate movement does not mean that feminists believe women are superior. But it is necessary because women are generally the underprivileged sex.
Feminism recognizes that women are less privileged than men in today’s world — not that women deserve more rights because they are superior to men.
The gay rights movement does not believe that gay people are superior to others — it just acknowledges that they are underprivileged. The disabled rights movement does not believe that the disabled are superior — just that they are underprivileged. So what is wrong with the women’s rights movement?
Secondly, the exclusively equalist beliefs reject all the rights movements that work for a specific group — for example, feminists for women, racial rights groups for people of color, disability groups for the disabled, and men’s rights groups for men. It seems to be focusing on everyone — so tell me, who is this making everyone equal to?
Each of these groups has completely different problems and completely different obstacles to overcome, based on many cultural, social and political factors. You can’t make everyone equal without a specific standard to bring them up to. You have to focus on the less equal to bring them up to a level playing field (of the more equal).
The advantage that men have over women in today’s world is the standard that feminists strive to bring women up to.
And while we are working for a specific underprivileged group, it does not make sense to bring up issues faced by the privileged side just to counter all the arguments of the underprivileged side.
That’s like responding to the black rights movement by saying You shouldn’t fight for black rights because white people are generally not given the same level of respect as black people in the hip hop/rap community. Doesn’t make sense, does it?
Thirdly, a separate movement for a group does not mean exclusivity. Yes, feminists essentially work for women’s rights, but they do believe in equality for all.
Some people believe that feminists only care about women’s rights, and that by labeling this movement as feminism, we are creating a divide between the two genders that feminism is basically trying to overcome. This is not true.
This is like saying that there should be no cardiologists or oncologists; there should only be general surgeons. That it is wrong for oncologists to bring so much attention to cancer and for cardiologists to speacialize in the treatment of the heart.
Because doing so means they don’t care about other things like polio or typhoid or malaria, just because they are bringing too much attention to one specific area.
It makes more sense to say that oncologists and cardiologists specialize in their own fields but they are highly knowledgeable about other fields too, and they do care about things other than cancer and heart diseases.
Working for a specific cause doesn’t mean you forget about all other problems. Feminism can be considered a branch of humanism. You can be a humanist and feminist at the same time. Just like you can be a surgeon and a cardiologist at the same time. Or a scientist and an environmentalist.
Lastly, feminism isn’t only about women. Feminists know that patriarchy affects men too.
The society has too many expectations from men about rigid gender roles — they expect men not to show any emotions and act aggressive and macho all the time. Young boys are taught to be afraid of fear, weakness and vulnerability, and to instead show strength, power and wealth. Feminism recognizes this.
Feminism is not about making men weak or women strong. It’s about giving everyone the power to be strong, ambitious, vulnerable, caring, aggressive, opinionated — based on their personalities and experiences, and regardless of their gender.
Feminists also reject the notion that some people have of boys will be boys used to defend rape and sexual harassment. This belief is extremely offensive to men. The belief that men are sexual predators who can’t use their brains to think and have no self-control. Feminists fight against this too.
Feminism also works for men who are victims of rape, abuse and domestic violence. Feminists are friends of men.
So, yes, feminism essentially does advocate women’s rights. Because feminism is based on the concept that no person should be denied their rights based on their gender. And guess what — the persons who are being denied their rights based on their gender are women. Hence the fem in feminism that everyone has such a problem with.
So, feminism works directly for women, but indirectly for all people.
And for all the people who constantly ask why feminism can’t be replaced by equalism: if you’re interested in correcting injustices against women in this world, but you want to call yourself an equalist or humanist instead of a feminist, that’s fine.
If you are really so afraid of offending this patriarchal society, and if all that stands between you and me being on the same side and working for the same cause is a word, then by all means, go ahead and call yourself an equalist. But please don’t question feminism, or suggest that the whole movement should change its name.
When people say that feminism should change its name to something that doesn’t include fem, it is clear that they have not taken a single hour out of their lives to find out what patriarchy means or what issues women and men face in today’s world.
To say that feminism should be replaced by humanism, just because the word offends some people simply because of the feminine connotation of it, is to take away another right from women, and to take away their representation in this movement they have worked for endlessly.
To say that feminism should be replaced by humanism shows that you care so much more about the name than the sacred struggle that feminism embodies.
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Tuba Sajjad is an extremely headstrong feminist, writer, political fanatic, martial artist and athlete. She has a brown belt in karate, and she hopes to change people’s lives with her writing one day, like many writers have changed hers. You can contact her on Twitter or Facebook.
Pinned to Feminista on Pinterest
Description: When people say that feminism should change its name to something that doesn’t include fem, it is clear that they have not taken a single hour out of their lives to find out what patriarchy means or what issues women and men face in today’s world.
By Ned Hamson
Pinned to Feminista on Pinterest
Found on: http://bitly.com/1THLzLD
Why Feminism Can’t Be Replaced By Equalism Or Humanism. | Rebelle Society
When people say that feminism should change its name to something that doesn’t include fem, it is clear that they have not taken a single hour out of their lives to find out what patriarchy means or what issues women and men face in today’s world.To say that feminism should be replaced by humanism, just because the word offends some people simply because of the feminine connotation of it, is to take away another right from women, and to take away their representation in this movement they have worked for endlessly.To say that feminism should be replaced by humanism shows that you care so much more about the name than the sacred struggle that feminism embodies.
Source: Why Feminism Can’t Be Replaced By Equalism Or Humanism. | Rebelle Society
Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1910
Islamic State Uses Satellite Internet To Spread Message – SPIEGEL ONLINE
The answer to this question is an extremely problematic one for Europe, for it is European companies that provide the terrorists with access to the platforms they use to spread their propaganda. It remains unclear whether the companies knowingly do so, but documents obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE show that they may very well know what’s going on. And the documents show that the companies could immediately cut off Islamic State’s Internet access without much effort.If you need to get online in Syria or Iraq, the technology needed to do so can be purchased in the Hatay province — a corner of Turkey located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Syrian border. In the bazaar quarter of the regional capital of Antakya, peddlers hawk everything from brooms and spices to pomegranates, wedding dresses, ovens, beds and all kinds of electronics. Antakya has served as a crossroads for numerous trade routes for thousands of years. Wares continue to flow through the region’s relatively porous borders even today.Thousands of dishes have been installed in the region allowing users to access the Internet by satellite. There has been a huge surge in recent years in the satellite Internet business. Instead of the usual landline cable connection, all one needs is a satellite dish with a transmission and reception antenna and a modem. The result is top-speed Internet access, with downloads at a rate of 22 Megabits per second and uploads of 6 Megabits.
Source: Islamic State Uses Satellite Internet To Spread Message – SPIEGEL ONLINE
Sit-in at the Woolworths lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi, 1963
Annie Moody (far right) was a student at Tougaloo College in Jackson. Mustard and ketchup drip off her forehead. Joan Trumpauer (center), also a student at Tougaloo, had been doused with mustard, ketchup, water, Coca-Cola, and spray paint. Tougaloo professor John Salter (left) is covered in condiments and blood. He had been hit with brass knuckles.
The all-white police force allowed several hundred people to torment them before arresting the protesters.
It was a photograph which was widely reprinted back then, but not much since; of the United States’ civil rights struggle in the 1960s and the 1970s, many iconic photos had been made, but only a handful conveys the scale of anger and hatred this photo captured on May 28, 1963.
The moment was captured by Jackson Daily News photographer Fred Blackwell, who stood atop the lunch counter to take pictures.


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