What do 20 year old Colorado student Peter Smith and Avengers superhero Iron Man have in common? They both throw missiles at their enemies. That’s according to the Denver police anyway, who charged Mr. Smith with throwing a missile, causing a disturbance, and unlawful acts after he “glitter bombed” Mitt Romney earlier this month.
For those not in the know: glitter bombing is an activity engaged in by gay rights activists, who throw handfuls of glitter at politicians to make those that think gay people are fairies, look like fairies themselves. It has become increasingly popular, and a laundry list of politicians have already felt the glistening wrath of their civilian opponents.
The media has been mighty taken by Mr. Smith’s story. Some claim that the possible punishment for Mr. Smith (six months in jail and a $1,000 fine) is ludicrous, while others say that because the Secret Service has no way of knowing if it’s glitter or anthrax being thrown (hint: one sparkles!), the student should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law... MORE
On the heels of 25 arrests of Spanish-speaking anons last week, Anonymous was rocked Tuesday by the news that Hector Xavier Monsegur, the legal name of prominent antisec known as Sabu, has been cooperating with the FBI to hunt down other anon hackers from Lulzsec and Antisec.
The chatter on the anon IRC servers and anon-associated Twitter accounts ranged Tuesday from denial about Sabu’s involvement to outrage and hatred for Monsegur. One who worked with Sabu as part of Antisec, the miltant and pranksterish arm of Anonymous, described themselves as “emotionally devastated” and “shocked” by the news.
“Sabu was in my opinion a great guy. I was woken up today with the message that the arrests happened. It came to me like an emotional bitchslap,” said the anon in an online chat. ”I know why I got kicked out of antisec now,” the anon continued, intimating that Sabu did so to protect him/her from prosecution.
Another anon described Sabu as a mentor figure, saying Sabu had encouraged and taught him/her about Python programming.
“I honestly wouldn’t have learned without him actually taking the time to give me some really pro tips… and show me that there was almost no limits to what you could do with it if you were doing it right.”
But in the timeframe of Monsegur’s arrest — which occurred without public notice in the summer, this anon saw a change in Monsegur’s behavior. Monsegur became more distant, and while he’d always displayed an un-Anonymous desire for fame that drew criticism, “after a certain point everything just became about him-him-him. And he’d randomly send out some almost cryptic messages about how it was all for Anonymous etc etc, but at a certain point I just stopped buying that. I think a lot of people did.”
According to several anons, around this time Monsegur became interested in a wider range of operations, including those he’d not had previous involvement in.
But despite the changes and ultimate betrayal, many anons aren’t ready to condemn Monsegur after hearing about the arrests of fellow anons due to his cooperation with the feds.
“It was either 124 years for Sabu, or 10 years each for the others,” said the former antisec anon. “I get why he did it, but he damaged the collective because of his own problems. And Anonymous is not your personal army. Nor is antisec.”
The possible 124-year sentence for Monsegur’s crimes struck anons as out of proportion for his crimes. As one put it, “Sabu is approximately one Topiary and some cash less heinous than Bernie Madoff, according to the FBI using their measurement of prison time,” referring to the purported age of one of the Lulzsec members Monsegur snitched on and the relatively light sentence of the billion-dollar ponzi scheme fraudster...
Move the Mountain is an exhibition of original Chinese propaganda posters from 1969-1979. The communist posters depict scenes ranging from young Chinese people holding up copies of Mao's Little Red Book to soldiers fighting cartoonish capitalist monsters. This is the first time these works have been exhibited in the UK. At Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester from 9 March to 7 April 2012 MORE
'Ever needed to get rid of unwanted guests in the early hours? Just reach for Dirk Bogarde’s Lyrics for Lovers, on which the actor inhales audibly on his cigarette before reciting Ira Gershwin’s ‘A Foggy Day’ amid a swathe of violins...' - Elvis Costello.
I'm not really a culture maker, but I can make Joseph Kony famous in strange circles. Take a moment to learn about this piece of crap. However, you can also learn a little something about the Invisible Children activist group by checking this blog: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/ Awareness is good...on both sides. Just know what you support and why.
...However, Invisible Children was accused of spending most of its raised funds on salaries, travel expenses and film-making.
Bloggers also pointed out that NGO watchdog Charity Navigator had given the group only two out of four stars for financial accountability.
And an article in Foreign Affairs which accused Invisible Children and other non-profits of having "manipulated facts for strategic purposes" was circulated on the web.
Invisible Children posted a blog to answer the criticism.
