thatvegancosplayer:

italianluxury:

siknastynik:

porcelainivory:

thecityhorse:

horsecalledbear:

ohsleeper:

Remember this lady?

Oh my

I’ve reblogged this before and I’ll reblog is again.

Fuckin al gore !

Wow… That’s amazing. Just, wow. 

reblogging forever

Ugh I always love hearing about her.

strugglingtobeheard:

genderbitch:

masksarehot:

gaobibaituo:

awesome-everyday:

shorterexcerpts:

thecallus:

theatlantic:

The Cheapest Generation: Why Aren’t Millennials Buying Cars or Houses?

What if Millennials’ aversion to car-buying isn’t a temporary side effect of the recession, but part of a permanent generational shift in tastes and spending habits? It’s a question that applies not only to cars, but to several other traditional categories of big spending—most notably, housing. And its answer has large implications for the future shape of the economy—and for the speed of recovery.

Read more. [Image: Kagan McLeod]

It’s safe to say that a decent number of Tumblr users are a part of the Millennial generation. So, tell us: Do you own a car or house? If not, why?

IT’S BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO DISPOSABLE INCOME YOU THUNDERING IDIOTS. Fucking preference has nothing to do with it. 50% of college graduates have no job! They all have the most student loan debt ever! What are you asking this question for?!

Also: housing is a good bit more expensive now.

My parents got a 15-year mortgage on a new house in the mid-70s. The house was $32,000. Average home price in that area now? $190,000.

So, home prices went up. Food prices went up. Health care prices went WAY UP. Rent prices went up. Higher education went up so damn high that some of us forgo that all together. Energy prices went up. Car prices went up.

Prices of prices went up.

We also pay cell phone bills, internet bills, data plans, text plans, online subscriptions, cable/satellite tv, netflix, DVR subscriptions — bills that didn’t even exist 30-40 years ago. We also use computers and smartphones and microwaves and other consumer electronics that didn’t exist 20-50 years ago.

We need medications and doctors and contact lenses and tampons and maxi pads and other things that cost money just to be alive and keep us healthy.

Most of us can’t afford to:

1. Get married and have a “Traditional” big wedding
2. Buy a house
3. Buy a new car
4. PLAN to have children
5. Take two, consecutive weeks of vacation.

Jobs that paid 50k in the late 1990s now pay between 30-35. Interest rates that favor consumers have gone down.

So I say, no. We are not choosing not to buy homes. We’re not choosing to take the bus in cities where there’s no good public transit. WE ARE NOT CHOOSING TO LIVE WHAT SOCIETY DEEMS AS AN UNDESIRABLE LIFESTYLE.

Don’t even get me started on the fact that these two people in the picture are young white hipsters. Young black and brown folks have been forgoing homeownership and buying new cars for decades, this shit isn’t new, pal. You’re just acting like this shit is new because it’s hitting white folks.

anyway, my point is: We are fucking broke.

 fuck all these articles written by assholes who actually know nothing about our generation

FUCK THEM

FUCK
THEM

I’m either Gen X or Millennial, depending which dates you use, and so I’m old enough to have been living on my own as a lot of this started spinning out of control. It was like watching a trainwreck. The current state of all of this is ridiculous. I was going to go on a long rant about Boomers refusing to age gracefully, the impact of 9/11, the double-edged sword that is globalization, and our current loan culture and confusion of “needs vs. wants” that has been bred into us by clever marketing, but I’m too angry, and it was getting too long.

So I’ll just say this: the system is seriously out of whack, and we’re in this strange place where we’re both trapped in bubbles and depressions at the same.

I keep waiting for market corrections that just don’t seem to be happening.

And also, I’ll just throw up Crack Shack or Vancouver Mansion for reference. And if you visit it, bear in mind that this is in a city where the AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD INCOME is $46K. FORTY-SIX THOUSAND A YEAR. Oh, yeah, the system isn’t broken at all…damn those cheap fucking Millennials & Gen-X-ers!

Is every dipshit who writes these articles a rich sheltered moron? Cuz if I had fucking money I would buy those things.

I DON’T HAVE FUCKING MONEY.

Lol convicted felons don’t get shit. Home ownership? I can’t even get a job I’m qualified for. And your generation wanted it that way. You paid for your homes and cars by redlining us, by allowing lenders to not give us access to lines of credit for being Black. By making your homes and suburbs “safe” by allowing Nixon and Reagan and Clinton and bush and now Obama to lock us up, to fight a war on drugs against the same people you enslaved and then gave nothing to. My family before me didnt own a home because of you you white fucks. While you drink and get high and abuse your wives and children in your suburbs you also lynched economically tortured and continued genocide via policy and white supremacy. Sent police on us and prevented us from organizing or locking us up for organizing. Us Black American millennials are the children of civil rights activists and parents alive during segregation and busing and all kinds of shit. You didn’t allow them to accrue wealth. Add all the economic shit everyone discussed above and why the fuck would I be buying a home? With what? Even if I earn the money I can get screened and denied. It’s not like the whole housing crash was because white bankers preyed on my people and other people of color with subprime loans. It’s not like we still don’t experience housing discrimination. Redlining and the benefits white soldiers but not Black soldiers got after WW1 and WWII, that never fucking happened.

I love how journals like this can have writers like teju and also dipfucks like this

jesterwitch:

adriofthedead:

snoozlebee:

allisonkilkenny:

Chris Person fixed TIME’s new magazine cover. Now it’s accurate. (TIME version #1, Person edit #2)

Update: And here’s another stellar contribution from @direlog

EXCELLENT

From @EARNEST_CYBORG9

Yep. Baby Boomers, you have a responsibility to how your children turned out. I’m not saying it’s all of the Boomer’s fault, yet so many parents of the Y Generation (my generation) did spoil their kids.

reverseracism:

When people claim that willfully ignorant opinions that support systems of oppression and discrimination are the other side of the argument and should be given the same respect in order to have a balanced exchange.

girljanitor:

thepeoplesrecord:

The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious” Black poor person
May 7, 2013

Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue three Cleveland women presumed dead after going missing a decade ago, has become an instant Internet meme. It’s hardly surprising—the interviews he gave yesterday provide plenty of fodder for a viral video, including memorable soundbites (“I was eatin’ my McDonald’s”) and lots of enthusiastic gestures. But as Miles Klee and Connor Simpson have noted, Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame. Ramsey has become the latest in a fairly recent trend of “hilarious” black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a “colorful” style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class.

Before Ramsey, there was Antoine Dodson, who saved his younger sister from an intruder, only to wind up famous for his flamboyant recounting of the story to a reporter. Since Dodson’s rise to fame, there have been others: Sweet Brown, a woman who barely escaped her apartment complex during a fire last year, and Michelle Clarke, who couldn’t fathom the hailstorm that rained down in her hometown of Houston, and in turn became “the next Sweet Brown.”

Granted, the buzzworthy tactic of reporters interviewing the most loquacious witnesses to a crime or other event is nothing new, and YouTube has countless examples of people of all ethnicities saying ridiculous things. One woman, for instance, saw fit to casually mention her breasts while discussing a local accident, while another man described a car crash with theatrical flair. Earlier this year, a “hatchet-wielding hitchhiker” named Kai matched Dodson’s fame with his astonishing account of rescuing a woman from a racist attacker. But none of those people have been subjected to quite the same level of derisive memeification as Brown, Clark, and now, perhaps, Ramsey—the inescapable echoes of “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife!” and “Kabooyaw,” the tens of millions of YouTube hits and cameos in other viral videos, even commercials.

It’s difficult to watch these videos and not sense that their popularity has something to do with a persistent, if unconscious, desire to see black people perform. Even before the genuinely heroic Ramsey came along, some viewers had expressed concern that the laughter directed at people like Sweet Brown plays into the most basic stereotyping of blacks as simple-minded ramblers living in the “ghetto,” socially out of step with the rest of educated America. Black or white, seeing Clark and Dodson merely as funny instances of random poor people talking nonsense is disrespectful at best. And shushing away the question of race seems like wishful thinking.

Ramsey is particularly striking in this regard, since, for a moment at least, he put the issue of race front and center himself. Describing the rescue of Amanda Berry and her fellow captives, he says, “I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway!”

The candid statement seems to catch the reporter off guard; he ends the interview shortly afterward. And it’s notable that among the many memorable things Ramsey said on camera, this one has gotten less meme-attention than most. Those who are simply having fun with the footage of Ramsey might pause for a second to actually listen to the man. He clearly knows a thing or two about the way racism prevents us from seeing each other as people.

Source

Now that you know this is a thing, please stop sharing these memes. Poor Black people speaking candidly about various serious incidents isn’t a hilarious joke.

This is a great article.

atrapforfools:

signifierofmalepower:

My picks from #safetytipsforladies on Twitter.

See, this is how you can do satire/be funny about a serious subject without making light of it or the people who suffer because of it. Thank you and goodnight.

bubbleslayer:

(boost the signal)

Charles Ramsey is a hero. He doesn’t wear a suit of high-tech armor. He doesn’t wear a cape. He’s just an ordinary guy,living an ordinary life.

Then, he saw a woman asking for help.

And he helped her.

He didn’t walk away.

He didn’t think of himself.

He just helped her.

It took less than a day for someone to make this heroic man into a joke.

As proud as Charles Ramsey makes me to be a human, those people make me ashamed.

No, he doesn’t speak perfectly.

No, he didn’t take the time to fix his hair before he went on camera.

He’s an African American man from an economically depressed neighborhood, city, and state.

And for that, he’s mocked and ridiculed.

It breaks my heart.

Now, in yet another heroic moment Mr. Ramsey’s response to Anderson Cooper’s inquiry about a possible reward Charles has proven he’s truly worthy of the hero mantle.

No, no, no. Bro, I’m a Christian, an American, and just like you. We bleed same blood, put our pants on the same way. It’s just that you got to put that – being a coward, and I don’t want to get in nobody’s business. You got to put that away for a minute…I tell you what you do, give [the reward] to them. Because if folks been following this case since last night, you been following me since last night, you know I got a job anyway. Just went picked it up, paycheck. What that address say? […] 2203 Seymour. Where are them girls living? Right next door to this paycheck. So yes, take that reward and give it to—that little girl[.]

Thank you Charles Ramsey.

Thank you.

The full interview w/ Anderson Cooper can be found here.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/?iref=allsearch

thescarletwoman:

Prosecutor Behind Kiera Wilmot Arrest Filed No Charges For White Teen Who Killed Little Brother

 

It turns out that Assistant State Attorney Tammy Glotfelty does not prosecute juveniles equally.

On Monday, April 23, Glotfelty told the Barlow Police Department to charge 16-year-old high school honors student Kiera Wilmot with two felonies for conducting a botched science experiment. Wilmot mixed a household toilet cleaner with aluminum in an 8 oz. plastic bottle, causing the top to pop and some smoke to rise. Thepolice reportstates that Wilmot was charged with two felonies at the behest of Glotfelty:

I THEN CONTACTED ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY TAMMY GLOTFELTY VIA TELEPHONE. I ADVISED A.S.A GLOTFELTY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE AND SHE ADVISED THIS OFFICER TO FILE THE CHARGES OF, POSSESSING OR DISCHARGING WEAPONS OR FIREARMS AT A SCHOOL SPONSORED EVENT OR ON SCHOOL PROPERTY F.S.S. 790.115 (1) AND MAKING, POSSESSING, THROWING, PROJECTING, PLACING, OR DISCHARGING ANY DESTRUCTIVE DEVICE F.S.S. 790.161 (A).

This makes Glotfelty sound like a hard-ass who over-prosecutes. Yet just two days later, Glotfelty announced that 13-year-old Taylor Richardsonwould not face charges for shooting and killing his 10-year-old brother, Skyler, with a BB gun.

In a letter to the Polk County Sheriff’s Department, Glotfelty wrote, ”Our office has considered this case, keeping in mind that (Taylor) is 13 years of age and is a student at Roosevelt Academy.”

“After a thorough review of the facts, available to our office at this time, it is our opinion that this case can only be seen as a tragic accident,” added Glotfelty.

Tayler and Skyler were shooting what they believed were empty BB guns at one another. However, Taylor’s gun had a BB in it, which struck Skyler in the head while they were playing. Skylerdieda week later.

I agree with Glotfelty’s choice not to prosecute Taylor Richardson for what was clearly an accident. But her decision is telling when compared with the harsh treatment dished out to  Kiera Wilmot, whose misguided science experiment caused no harm or damage to anyone or anything.

Glotfelty was clear that she took 13-year-old Taylor’s age into account when deciding whether to prosecute. In stark contrast, 16-year-old Kiera is being charged as an adult, which raises the question: Why aren’t Kiera’s actions viewed through the same lens of childhood innocence and naiveté as Taylor’s?

Furthermore, young Skyler died on March 20, one week after he was shot in the head by his brother. That means Glotfelty spent over a month examining the case before making a determination about whether to prosecute Taylor. Conversely, Kiera’s treatment was quite the opposite. As soon as Glotfelty received word from police about Kiera’s actions, she wasted no time deciding to prosecute to fullest extent of the law.

The Polk County Attorney’s Office would not respond to requests for comment because they say the case is still under investigation.

So, what explains the disparity? Well, the most glaring distinction between Kiera and Taylor (aside from three years in age) is their race: Kiera is black and Taylor is white.

Is Glotfelty racist? I don’t know, but her actions are in keeping with the overall racial disparities that plague the criminal justice system and school-to-prison pipeline.

In an excellent primer, the Center for American Progressexplainsthe stats behind the disparity:

According to the latest data, which was collected from schools nationwide during the 2009-2010 academic year, black students were three and a half times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white classmates. What’s more, African Americans made up 46 percentof those students who were suspended more than once. During the 2009-2010 school year, 39 percent of all expulsions were of black students even though they represented only 18 percent of enrolled students at sampled schools. These racial disparities in suspension and expulsion rates cannot be explained, as some contend, by socioeconomic status or by higher rates of misbehavior among students of color. Multiple studies confirm that students of color receive harsher consequences than their white peers for committing the same offenses.

Kiera Wilmot has been expelled from Polk County Schools and will have to complete her education in an expulsion program. There’s no way to know if a white teen girl would have been treated more leniently for doing what Kiera did, but based on the data, a white girl would have been far less likely to be expelled, let alone arrested and cuffed at school:

When it comes to being arrested in school, students of color are once again at disproportionately higher risk. According to the data released this week, 96,000 students were arrested and 242,000 referred to law enforcement by schools during the 2009-2010 school year. Black or Hispanic students made up more than 70 percent of arrested or referred students. Harsh school punishments ranging from suspensions to arrests are causing high numbers of youth of color to come into contact with the juvenile justice system at ever-earlier ages.

Kiera Wilmot’s record is now stained with an arrest and two felony charges. This could impact the rest of her life if she is convicted. I only wish Assistant State Attorney Tammy Glotfelty would offer Kiera Wilmot the same compassion she gave Taylor Richardson.

Tammy Glotfelty works for the Florida State Attorney’s Office in Bartow, which can be reached at:

Adress: 255 N Broadway Ave Bartow, FL 33830

Phone: (863) 534-4800

Message:http://www.sao10.com/contact_us.asp

Let’s flood them with calls, letters and messages demanding they drop the charges against Kiera Wilmot.

More VERY important information you need to know about the Kiera Wilmot case.