Libertarian activist and radio host Adam Kokesh is hoping to get 1,000 people to march on Washington on July 4th — armed with loaded rifles. The plan, launched with a Facebook group today, is to gather on the Virginia side of the Potomac, where gun laws are lax, and then march across the bridge with loaded rifles slung over their shoulders into the District, where openly carrying weapons is generally prohibited.”This will be a non-violent event,” the Facebook group warns, “unless the government chooses to make it violent.” Already, over 200 people have said they’ll attend the march. Here’s the message:On the morning of July 4, 2013, Independence Day, we will muster at the National Cemetery & at noon we will step off to march across the Memorial Bridge, down Independence Avenue, around the Capitol, the Supreme Court, & the White House, then peacefully return to Virginia across the Memorial Bridge. This is an act of civil disobedience, not a permitted event. We will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated & cower in submission to tyranny. We are marching to mark the high water mark of government & to turn the tide. This will be a non-violent event, unless the government chooses to make it violent. Should we meet physical resistance, we will peacefully turn back, having shown that free people are not welcome in Washington, & returning with the resolve that the politicians, bureaucrats, & enforcers of the federal government will not be welcome in the land of the free.Continue Reading… … Read More
Collins hopes other gay professional athletes will come out
Basketball center Jason Collins said in an interview broadcast Tuesday he’s never been happier after his ground-breaking announcement that he is gay, and hopes other pro athletes will now come out, too. Collins told ABC television that coming out lifted a huge weight off his shoulders and…
“Game of Thrones” Recap: Flaming swords!
Let’s start with the most substantial aspect of this episode: man butt. “Kissed by Fire” is the episode of “Game of Thrones” where the writers finally said, “OK, OK, we will do something about our show’s gross nudity imbalance across genders.” So after Ygritte takes off her clothes, it’s John and Jaime’s turn to flash some tush, and then Loras’s conquest/Littlefinger’s spy puts a new twist on the “random character we have never met going full frontal” role just by being a man, instead of woman.Even more remarkably, the camera opts not to ogle Brienne of Tarth, treating her with the sort of restraint it usually reserves for its male characters. Jaime climbs in the bathtub with her and goads her into anger; she lurches up at him in the altogether. But while Jaime gets a good look at the whole Brienne, the camera stays squarely on her face and shoulders, never straying down. We see a flash of her backside, but that’s exactly the amount of nudity usually asked of the fellas. This is both respectful and complicated: Brienne, who is more ‘masculine’ than the other female characters, more attuned to the idea of male honor, gets treated with visual restraint. I’m sure, if she knew, she would appreciate the courtesy. But maybe all the other women on the show would prefer not being objectified too?Continue Reading… … Read More
Russia second biggest spender in world football market
Spending on football’s global player transfer market fell 10 percent in 2012 to $2.53 billion, but that didn’t have any impact on Russian clubs, who poured in $256 million during that period mostly on the shoulders of the Russian Premier League fat cats Zenit St Petersburg.The reigning Russian champions marked the last day of the European transfer window last summer with a $100 million double-signing of Hulk and Azel Witsel from Portugal.However, it was the English teams that accounted for the biggest spend in 2012, shelling out $314 million on players such as Eden Hazard and Oscar, both midfielders joined Chelsea for combined more than $77 million.Brazil was the highest net recipient, taking in $121 million, $18 million more than teams in Portugal, the next-highest earner. FIFA didn’t say why spending was down on a year earlier, though some of the reduction may involve European teams, soccer’s biggest spenders, trimming outgoing costs in preparation to meet new break-even regulations.FIFA established its compulsory online player trading system in October 2010, as an attempt to bring order to an industry where billions of dollars moved annually with little transparency.The Transfer Matching System registered 11,552 cross-border trades in 2012, 1 percent more than the previous year. … Read More
Do Americans still not get Reaganomics?
The results of a new Gallup poll released Monday reveal an unfortunate yet wholly unsurprising fact: The most commonly offered positive statement about the Republican Party continues to be its capacity for “better fiscal management.”While not unexpected, it’s an absolutely baffling, incredible position, noteworthy even when held by an admittedly slim plurality of the public. Considering the enormous damage the Republican brand has taken recently, it’s significant that voters still reflexively assume conservatives are “better at” or more “serious about” the economy than liberals. (At the same time, voters reflexively assume that liberals care more about “people like me.”)Still, the notion that our economy would be healthier if it were managed by Republicans — who advocate implementing a ludicrous, crippling austerity package that falls disproportionately on the shoulders of the poor and middle class — the damning evidence notwithstanding, is left completely unexamined everywhere, the focus falling instead on the poll finding that showed bipartisan distaste for Republican intransigence.Continue Reading… … Read More
Octogenarian widow becomes the face of the legal fight for same sex marriage
An 83-year-old widow will carry the hopes of America’s gay community on her frail shoulders when she takes her landmark same-sex marriage case before the US Supreme Court next week. Edie Windsor, a lesbian who married in Canada, is seeking to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act,…
Derek Khanna: If You Want to Fix Copyright, Check Out FixCopyright.com
From Derek Khanna, the copyright-reform activist who has done as
much as any single person in recent weeks to help push things in a
better direction.
He’s writing about the White House weighing in on the issue of
legal penalties for unlocking your cell phone. In response to a
petition that Khanna helped popularize, the Obama admin has said
that consumers should be allowed to modify phones so they can be
used with different carriers – a small gesture but a good
one. ;
“This is terrific news. It shows the power of the people to
affirmatively act to fix policy rather than just stop bad policy.
;We the people have this power when we come together to fight
for positive, common-sense solutions. This is a major affirmative
victory for the digital generation that stood up against censorship
of the internet through SOPA a year ago. This is a win for
innovation, small businesses, the free market and the consumer.
“The work of this movement is not done, now Congress must follow
through – and it will require continued activism and engagement
from average people who made this possible. I commend Sina Khanifar
for creating this petition, and the many coalition members who
joined in this effort including Public Knowledge and the National
College Republicans. This would not have been possible without the
groundwork laid by the SOPA protest last year – we were truly on
the shoulders of giants.”
We have also launched a website to continue this advocacy going
forward: ;fixcopyright.com
Watch Reason TV’s recent interview with Khanna, a former
Republican Study Committee staffer who got bounced for challenging
the copyright status quo.
