Group of protesters march from Tahrir square, where thousands more demonstrated against Egypt’s ruling generals A group of about 30 protesters broke into the Israeli embassy in Cairo on Friday and threw hundreds of documents out of the windows, Egyptian and Israeli officials have said. Hundreds of protesters had been converging on the 21-story building housing the embassy throughout the afternoon and into the night, tearing down large sections of a security wall. For hours, Egyptian security forces made no attempt to intervene. Just before midnight, a group of protesters reached a room on one of the embassy’s lower floors at the top of the building and began dumping Hebrew-language documents from the windows, according to an Egyptian security official who spoke on condition of anonymity. In Jerusalem, an Israeli official confirmed the embassy had been broken into, saying it appeared the group reached a waiting room on the lower floor. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to release the information. Since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, calls have grown in Egypt for ending the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, a pact that has never had the support of ordinary Egyptians. Anger increased last month after Israeli forces – responding to a cross-border attack – mistakenly killed five Egyptian police officers near the border. Seven months after the popular uprising, Egyptians are still pressing for a list of changes, including more transparent trials of former regime figures accused of corruption and a clear timetable for parliamentary elections. Egyptians have grown increasingly distrustful of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took control of the country when Mubarak was forced out on 11 February after nearly three decades in power. The council, headed by Mubarak’s defence minister, Muhammad Hussein Tantawi, has voiced its support for the revolution and those who called for democracy and justice. But activists accuse it of remaining too close to Mubarak’s regime and practicing similarly repressive policies, including abusing detainees. The trials of thousands of civilians in military courts has also angered activists. Protesters marched to the Israeli embassy from Cairo’s Tahrir square, where thousands more demonstrated against Egypt’s ruling generals. Demonstrators in Cairo also converged on the state TV building, a central courthouse and the interior ministry, a hated symbol of abuses by police and security forces under Mubarak. Protesters covered one of the ministry’s gates with graffiti and tore off parts of the large ministry seal. Protests also took place in Alexandria, Suez and several other cities. Up to 90 people were injured, the health ministry said. Egypt Israel Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Protest guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Group of protesters march from Tahrir square, where thousands more demonstrated against Egypt’s ruling generals A group of about 30 protesters broke into the Israeli embassy in Cairo on Friday and threw hundreds of documents out of the windows, Egyptian and Israeli officials have said. Hundreds of protesters had been converging on the 21-story building housing the embassy throughout the afternoon and into the night, tearing down large sections of a security wall. For hours, Egyptian security forces made no attempt to intervene. Just before midnight, a group of protesters reached a room on one of the embassy’s lower floors at the top of the building and began dumping Hebrew-language documents from the windows, according to an Egyptian security official who spoke on condition of anonymity. In Jerusalem, an Israeli official confirmed the embassy had been broken into, saying it appeared the group reached a waiting room on the lower floor. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to release the information. Since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, calls have grown in Egypt for ending the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, a pact that has never had the support of ordinary Egyptians. Anger increased last month after Israeli forces – responding to a cross-border attack – mistakenly killed five Egyptian police officers near the border. Seven months after the popular uprising, Egyptians are still pressing for a list of changes, including more transparent trials of former regime figures accused of corruption and a clear timetable for parliamentary elections. Egyptians have grown increasingly distrustful of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took control of the country when Mubarak was forced out on 11 February after nearly three decades in power. The council, headed by Mubarak’s defence minister, Muhammad Hussein Tantawi, has voiced its support for the revolution and those who called for democracy and justice. But activists accuse it of remaining too close to Mubarak’s regime and practicing similarly repressive policies, including abusing detainees. The trials of thousands of civilians in military courts has also angered activists. Protesters marched to the Israeli embassy from Cairo’s Tahrir square, where thousands more demonstrated against Egypt’s ruling generals. Demonstrators in Cairo also converged on the state TV building, a central courthouse and the interior ministry, a hated symbol of abuses by police and security forces under Mubarak. Protesters covered one of the ministry’s gates with graffiti and tore off parts of the large ministry seal. Protests also took place in Alexandria, Suez and several other cities. Up to 90 people were injured, the health ministry said. Egypt Israel Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Protest guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Group of protesters march from Tahrir square, where thousands more demonstrated against Egypt’s ruling generals A group of about 30 protesters broke into the Israeli embassy in Cairo on Friday and threw hundreds of documents out of the windows, Egyptian and Israeli officials have said. Hundreds of protesters had been converging on the 21-story building housing the embassy throughout the afternoon and into the night, tearing down large sections of a security wall. For hours, Egyptian security forces made no attempt to intervene. Just before midnight, a group of protesters reached a room on one of the embassy’s lower floors at the top of the building and began dumping Hebrew-language documents from the windows, according to an Egyptian security official who spoke on condition of anonymity. In Jerusalem, an Israeli official confirmed the embassy had been broken into, saying it appeared the group reached a waiting room on the lower floor. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to release the information. Since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, calls have grown in Egypt for ending the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, a pact that has never had the support of ordinary Egyptians. Anger increased last month after Israeli forces – responding to a cross-border attack – mistakenly killed five Egyptian police officers near the border. Seven months after the popular uprising, Egyptians are still pressing for a list of changes, including more transparent trials of former regime figures accused of corruption and a clear timetable for parliamentary elections. Egyptians have grown increasingly distrustful of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took control of the country when Mubarak was forced out on 11 February after nearly three decades in power. The council, headed by Mubarak’s defence minister, Muhammad Hussein Tantawi, has voiced its support for the revolution and those who called for democracy and justice. But activists accuse it of remaining too close to Mubarak’s regime and practicing similarly repressive policies, including abusing detainees. The trials of thousands of civilians in military courts has also angered activists. Protesters marched to the Israeli embassy from Cairo’s Tahrir square, where thousands more demonstrated against Egypt’s ruling generals. Demonstrators in Cairo also converged on the state TV building, a central courthouse and the interior ministry, a hated symbol of abuses by police and security forces under Mubarak. Protesters covered one of the ministry’s gates with graffiti and tore off parts of the large ministry seal. Protests also took place in Alexandria, Suez and several other cities. Up to 90 people were injured, the health ministry said. Egypt Israel Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Protest guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A viral video advertising a fake game, Slavery: The Game , has been the talk of video game sites and other parts of the web in the last week. As seen in the trailer above, the game would’ve allowed players to become slave traders and buy and sell slaves in order to become the master slave trader. In a lengthy explanation the creators of the video explain that it is not a real game and that the video was created to “raise awareness” of a new television program appearing on Dutch public television. The idea was to increase viewership for the show about slavery. The explanation falls flat, though, because the ad encourages players to “make a tremendous fortune,” “buy slaves,” “discipline them,” and “exploit them,” while also showing you a variety of weapons you can use to discipline your slaves, including a whip, a scourge, a rifle, and a spiked club. It’s hard to imagine how the creators of the video thought such things would be an appropriate way to raise awareness for the video. Their explanation does, however, prove to be educational and it looks like the programs that will air on Dutch public television will help raise awareness of the Dutch role in the American slave trade. Much worse, though, are the widespread comments in support of the original trailer which were posted before people knew it was a fake. There are hundreds upon hundreds of comments like those below at various websites and while some of them are clearly meant to be satire, many others are obviously not. And if some of this is meant to be funny, it really, really isn’t. And keep in mind that there are also many comments that were so bad they were banned. Here’s a sampling of what survived: Present me a nigger and a whip. BEST GAME EVAR!!! I got to play an early beta of this at E3, and it was amazing! There is a subtle beauty in disciplining a field-hand with the butt of my gun before raping his wife. It’s like breaking a horse, only… no, actually, that about sums it up…. talk about being born a few generations late… slavery isnt that bad, there was good slavery systems, now everyone think its ugly because the last they saw was western slavery.. I’d play it, but I don’t think that I could make any serious money in it. You see, my weapon of choice for training the creatures would always be a rifle. This is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I will buy extra copies and hand them out. im gonna work them niggers harder then ever before To all the black people who feel offended by this, please shut up. Why? 1. I haven’t seen a single black person in this trailer. 2. Slavery excisted from 10.000 years ago untill 160 years ago, that means YOUR PARENTS weren’t even there back then. There isn’t even a single person alive this day who got deported from Afrika to America. And another thing. If slavery didn’t excist YOU wouldn’t be here, typing retarded comments without arguements. 3. Slavery affected ALL races not only yours, egoman. none of you 81 289 people who have seen this vid have been slaves. Stop acting like ” My grand grandpa was a slave so now I got a freecart to do n say whatever I want” you people are fucking retarded. chill g-dawg homie sizzle da dizzle . Sorry my nigga language got lynched 1002 people are niggers. So while the creators of the original video might simply be misguided in their attempt to raise attention about an important topic their television show is covering, many others are fully ready for a game like this to not only exist, but are willing to spend money on it and use racial attacks in condemning anyone who doesn’t like the game.
Continue reading …A viral video advertising a fake game, Slavery: The Game , has been the talk of video game sites and other parts of the web in the last week. As seen in the trailer above, the game would’ve allowed players to become slave traders and buy and sell slaves in order to become the master slave trader. In a lengthy explanation the creators of the video explain that it is not a real game and that the video was created to “raise awareness” of a new television program appearing on Dutch public television. The idea was to increase viewership for the show about slavery. The explanation falls flat, though, because the ad encourages players to “make a tremendous fortune,” “buy slaves,” “discipline them,” and “exploit them,” while also showing you a variety of weapons you can use to discipline your slaves, including a whip, a scourge, a rifle, and a spiked club. It’s hard to imagine how the creators of the video thought such things would be an appropriate way to raise awareness for the video. Their explanation does, however, prove to be educational and it looks like the programs that will air on Dutch public television will help raise awareness of the Dutch role in the American slave trade. Much worse, though, are the widespread comments in support of the original trailer which were posted before people knew it was a fake. There are hundreds upon hundreds of comments like those below at various websites and while some of them are clearly meant to be satire, many others are obviously not. And if some of this is meant to be funny, it really, really isn’t. And keep in mind that there are also many comments that were so bad they were banned. Here’s a sampling of what survived: Present me a nigger and a whip. BEST GAME EVAR!!! I got to play an early beta of this at E3, and it was amazing! There is a subtle beauty in disciplining a field-hand with the butt of my gun before raping his wife. It’s like breaking a horse, only… no, actually, that about sums it up…. talk about being born a few generations late… slavery isnt that bad, there was good slavery systems, now everyone think its ugly because the last they saw was western slavery.. I’d play it, but I don’t think that I could make any serious money in it. You see, my weapon of choice for training the creatures would always be a rifle. This is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I will buy extra copies and hand them out. im gonna work them niggers harder then ever before To all the black people who feel offended by this, please shut up. Why? 1. I haven’t seen a single black person in this trailer. 2. Slavery excisted from 10.000 years ago untill 160 years ago, that means YOUR PARENTS weren’t even there back then. There isn’t even a single person alive this day who got deported from Afrika to America. And another thing. If slavery didn’t excist YOU wouldn’t be here, typing retarded comments without arguements. 3. Slavery affected ALL races not only yours, egoman. none of you 81 289 people who have seen this vid have been slaves. Stop acting like ” My grand grandpa was a slave so now I got a freecart to do n say whatever I want” you people are fucking retarded. chill g-dawg homie sizzle da dizzle . Sorry my nigga language got lynched 1002 people are niggers. So while the creators of the original video might simply be misguided in their attempt to raise attention about an important topic their television show is covering, many others are fully ready for a game like this to not only exist, but are willing to spend money on it and use racial attacks in condemning anyone who doesn’t like the game.
Continue reading …A viral video advertising a fake game, Slavery: The Game , has been the talk of video game sites and other parts of the web in the last week. As seen in the trailer above, the game would’ve allowed players to become slave traders and buy and sell slaves in order to become the master slave trader. In a lengthy explanation the creators of the video explain that it is not a real game and that the video was created to “raise awareness” of a new television program appearing on Dutch public television. The idea was to increase viewership for the show about slavery. The explanation falls flat, though, because the ad encourages players to “make a tremendous fortune,” “buy slaves,” “discipline them,” and “exploit them,” while also showing you a variety of weapons you can use to discipline your slaves, including a whip, a scourge, a rifle, and a spiked club. It’s hard to imagine how the creators of the video thought such things would be an appropriate way to raise awareness for the video. Their explanation does, however, prove to be educational and it looks like the programs that will air on Dutch public television will help raise awareness of the Dutch role in the American slave trade. Much worse, though, are the widespread comments in support of the original trailer which were posted before people knew it was a fake. There are hundreds upon hundreds of comments like those below at various websites and while some of them are clearly meant to be satire, many others are obviously not. And if some of this is meant to be funny, it really, really isn’t. And keep in mind that there are also many comments that were so bad they were banned. Here’s a sampling of what survived: Present me a nigger and a whip. BEST GAME EVAR!!! I got to play an early beta of this at E3, and it was amazing! There is a subtle beauty in disciplining a field-hand with the butt of my gun before raping his wife. It’s like breaking a horse, only… no, actually, that about sums it up…. talk about being born a few generations late… slavery isnt that bad, there was good slavery systems, now everyone think its ugly because the last they saw was western slavery.. I’d play it, but I don’t think that I could make any serious money in it. You see, my weapon of choice for training the creatures would always be a rifle. This is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I will buy extra copies and hand them out. im gonna work them niggers harder then ever before To all the black people who feel offended by this, please shut up. Why? 1. I haven’t seen a single black person in this trailer. 2. Slavery excisted from 10.000 years ago untill 160 years ago, that means YOUR PARENTS weren’t even there back then. There isn’t even a single person alive this day who got deported from Afrika to America. And another thing. If slavery didn’t excist YOU wouldn’t be here, typing retarded comments without arguements. 3. Slavery affected ALL races not only yours, egoman. none of you 81 289 people who have seen this vid have been slaves. Stop acting like ” My grand grandpa was a slave so now I got a freecart to do n say whatever I want” you people are fucking retarded. chill g-dawg homie sizzle da dizzle . Sorry my nigga language got lynched 1002 people are niggers. So while the creators of the original video might simply be misguided in their attempt to raise attention about an important topic their television show is covering, many others are fully ready for a game like this to not only exist, but are willing to spend money on it and use racial attacks in condemning anyone who doesn’t like the game.
Continue reading …A viral video advertising a fake game, Slavery: The Game , has been the talk of video game sites and other parts of the web in the last week. As seen in the trailer above, the game would’ve allowed players to become slave traders and buy and sell slaves in order to become the master slave trader. In a lengthy explanation the creators of the video explain that it is not a real game and that the video was created to “raise awareness” of a new television program appearing on Dutch public television. The idea was to increase viewership for the show about slavery. The explanation falls flat, though, because the ad encourages players to “make a tremendous fortune,” “buy slaves,” “discipline them,” and “exploit them,” while also showing you a variety of weapons you can use to discipline your slaves, including a whip, a scourge, a rifle, and a spiked club. It’s hard to imagine how the creators of the video thought such things would be an appropriate way to raise awareness for the video. Their explanation does, however, prove to be educational and it looks like the programs that will air on Dutch public television will help raise awareness of the Dutch role in the American slave trade. Much worse, though, are the widespread comments in support of the original trailer which were posted before people knew it was a fake. There are hundreds upon hundreds of comments like those below at various websites and while some of them are clearly meant to be satire, many others are obviously not. And if some of this is meant to be funny, it really, really isn’t. And keep in mind that there are also many comments that were so bad they were banned. Here’s a sampling of what survived: Present me a nigger and a whip. BEST GAME EVAR!!! I got to play an early beta of this at E3, and it was amazing! There is a subtle beauty in disciplining a field-hand with the butt of my gun before raping his wife. It’s like breaking a horse, only… no, actually, that about sums it up…. talk about being born a few generations late… slavery isnt that bad, there was good slavery systems, now everyone think its ugly because the last they saw was western slavery.. I’d play it, but I don’t think that I could make any serious money in it. You see, my weapon of choice for training the creatures would always be a rifle. This is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I will buy extra copies and hand them out. im gonna work them niggers harder then ever before To all the black people who feel offended by this, please shut up. Why? 1. I haven’t seen a single black person in this trailer. 2. Slavery excisted from 10.000 years ago untill 160 years ago, that means YOUR PARENTS weren’t even there back then. There isn’t even a single person alive this day who got deported from Afrika to America. And another thing. If slavery didn’t excist YOU wouldn’t be here, typing retarded comments without arguements. 3. Slavery affected ALL races not only yours, egoman. none of you 81 289 people who have seen this vid have been slaves. Stop acting like ” My grand grandpa was a slave so now I got a freecart to do n say whatever I want” you people are fucking retarded. chill g-dawg homie sizzle da dizzle . Sorry my nigga language got lynched 1002 people are niggers. So while the creators of the original video might simply be misguided in their attempt to raise attention about an important topic their television show is covering, many others are fully ready for a game like this to not only exist, but are willing to spend money on it and use racial attacks in condemning anyone who doesn’t like the game.
Continue reading …Oh, come on. Of course Obama’s trying to cut Medicare and raise the eligibility age. Why do you think he talked about protecting “current beneficiaries?” You’d have to believe in unicorns if you heard that speech and still think otherwise. But you know what the problem with that is? First, our middle-aged, stressed-out, uninsured bodies are giving out. If we don’t die first, but manage to hang on to age 67, we’ll be moving into the Medicare system with much more serious (and expensive) illnesses that could have been treated more cheaply in the prevention stage. The other problem is, we’ll have to work much longer — and that will take up jobs that young people desperately need. Other than those little problems, I’d have to say that having a Democratic president embracing Republican talking points on Medicare (even for a bill that has almost no chance of passing) is a fabulous idea! What’s not to love? WASHINGTON — In his jobs speech before Congress Thursday night, President Barack Obama appeared to call on congressional Democrats to cut Medicare , a politically toxic proposal that undercuts a previous Democratic campaign strategy. Obama pushed to cut Medicare during the debate over raising the federal debt ceiling, urging lawmakers from both parties to accept a “grand bargain” that involved cutting both Social Security and Medicare. Obama’s move upset congressional Democrats, who saw a proposal from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to radically cut Medicare as an attack ad opening going into the Nov. 2012 elections. House Republicans voted for the Ryan proposal en masse, just months after hordes of GOP freshmen were swept into office amid advertisements vowing to protect the hugely popular entitlement program. “Now, I realize there are some in my party who don’t think we should make any changes at all to Medicare and Medicaid, and I understand their concerns,” Obama said during his speech Thursday. “But here’s the truth. Millions of Americans rely on Medicare in their retirement. And millions more will do so in the future. They pay for this benefit during their working years. They earn it. But with an aging population and rising health care costs, we are spending too fast to sustain the program. And if we don’t gradually reform the system while protecting current beneficiaries, it won’t be there when future retirees need it. We have to reform Medicare to strengthen it. ” Yep, he went there. We have to burn the village in order to save it! Medicare faces long-term problems due to the rising costs of health care, a uniquely American problem sparked by protections the U.S. government provides for health insurance companies and drug manufacturers. Obama’s health care reform bill attempted to lower those costs, but his call now to “reform” Medicare is sure to be interpreted as a call to raise the eligibility age for Medicare, something Obama urged during the debt ceiling debate to no avail. As Ezra Klein reported for the Washington Post on Wednesday, Obama is planning a separate deficit reduction package that liberal groups expect to include raising the eligibility age. Making this change for both Medicare and Social Security hits poorer participants in the programs hardest, since they are more likely to die at a younger age.
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Those crickets you hear? Her fellow left-wingers responding to Rachel Maddow referring to then-President Elect Obama as a “boy king” on her MSNBC show last night. Yes, hard to believe. Even in an era when the president of the United States is a man of color, as is our attorney general, as is the governor of the state of Massachusetts where Maddow lives, Obama must be subjected to such vile disrespect — a black man at the pinnacle of achievement described as a mere “boy,” albeit of the monarchical variety. (video clip after page break) It hardly lessens the sting that this came from one of Obama's most vocal defenders in the leeward media, Maddow herself, an ardent liberal who can detect racism, real or imagined, anywhere in a 10-state radius. Listen for yourself from the embedded video while Maddow takes off her KKK hood just long enough to commit this utter outrage (1:09 in the clip). If any children are within earshot of your computer, you may want to shield them lest they pursue a path of skepticism toward affirmative action and speech codes as a result of witnessing this crime against humanity. That non-existent reaction from liberals after Maddow revealed she is the late George Wallace's alter ego stands in sharp contrast to the left-wing hissy fit after Rush Limbaugh had the Maddowesque gall to describe Obama as a “little boy” and “this little man-child.” At the very least, Maddow can expect a cold shoulder at the water cooler from MSNBC colleague and inveterate grievance monger Al Sharpton, who pounced on the chance to pontificate after Pat Buchanan described Obama to Sharpton as “your boy.”
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AOL chief sounds out Yahoo’s advisers over combination of internet companies AOL and Yahoo, fallen giants of the first age of the internet, are reportedly discussing a merger. The news comes after Yahoo axed chief executive Carol Bartz earlier this week. AOL’s chief executive Tim Armstrong has approached Yahoo’s advisers to gauge its interest in combining the companies, Bloomberg reported. Armstrong has reportedly approached investment bankers from Allen & Co. who are working with Yahoo. Yahoo announced this week that it was conducting “a comprehensive strategic review” after the decision to fire Bartz. She had been brought in to turn the company around but, while she cut costs by firing staff, she failed to grow Yahoo’s huge but dwindling business. Armstrong reportedly teamed up with several private equity firms to make an approach to Yahoo last year but was rebuffed by Bartz. Yahoo was courted by Microsoft in 2008 but rejected a $47.5bn (£30bn) offer. The firm was worth $80bn in its heyday and is now worth just over $17bn. The firm is being outpaced by Google and Facebook but remains the most visited web portal in the US. AOL, once the hottest name on the internet, is valued at $1.68bn and has lost almost $800m since it was spun off from Time Warner in 2009 as its lucrative dial-up internet access business has dried up. Armstrong has tried to rebuild the business by buying content companies in the hope of building an attractive audience for advertisers. In February, AOL bought Huffington Post, one of the US’s most visited news sites. The talks come in a week of controversy for both firms. Bartz gave an angry interview to Fortune after being ousted, calling Yahoo’s board “doofuses” and claiming they had “fucked me over”. AOL faced its own controversy after sacking Michael Arrington, founder of the influential TechCrunch blog that the company bought last year. Arrington has set up an investment fund in which AOL is a major backer. The fund will target tech startups, TechCrunch’s area of interest. AOL reacted in a confused manner to criticism that there was a conflict of interest between the fund and the blog’s editorial independence. First, it denied any conflict, then said Arrington would not work for TechCrunch, then pushed him out. Despite their downward trajectory, AOL and Yahoo remain huge players online and any merger is likely to trigger regulatory scrutiny. AOL and Yahoo declined to comment. AOL Internet Yahoo United States Technology sector Mergers, acquisitions and funding Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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