For real tho?!?! Clearly foreign affairs isn’t Kim’s strong point!! Acording to TMZ : Kim Kardashian is APOLOGIZING for “offending” some of her followers by tweeting about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Kim says she wants “own up” for publishing two tweets — the first read, “Praying for everyone in Israel.” A short time later, she added, “Praying for everyone in Palestine and across the world!” Kim later deleted both the tweets — and issued the following explanation: “I want to own up to and explain that earlier today I sent out two tweets about saying prayers for the people in Palestine and Israel and after hearing from my followers, I decided to take down the tweets because I realized that some people were offended and hurt by what I said, and for that I apologize.” The statement continues, “I should have pointed out my intentions behind these tweets when I posted them. The fact is that regardless of religion and political beliefs, there are countless innocent people involved who didnt choose this, and I pray for all of them and also for a resolution. I also pray for all the other people around the world who are caught in similar crossfires.” Think before you tweet folks! Images via tumblr
Big oil tycoons are still blowin’ isht up!!! According to ABC News : Ships and helicopters are searching for two oil rig workers who disappeared when an explosion rocked a Gulf of Mexico oil rig off the coast of Louisiana and set it on fire, Coast Guard officials said. Eleven other crew members were flown to hospitals, and four of them are listed in critical condition. There were no confirmed deaths as of the early evening. Earlier reports by the Coast Guard that as many as 15 people were unaccounted for were resolved as the workers were located. Among the injured were four who were airlifted for medical treatment to the West Jefferson Medical Center, where they were in critical condition after suffering serious burns. All four were intubated and were to be evacuated to Baton Rouge Burn Center when they were stabilized, according to West Jefferson spokesman Taslin Alfonzo. Three helicopters and two rescue boats were scouring the water looking for the missing crew members, according to Ed Cubanski, chief of the U.S. Coast Guard response. The Coast Guard said that a Black Elk Energy Co. oil and natural gas platform caught fire after workers using a torch cut a line that had 28 gallons of oil in it, causing an explosion. Black Elk’s CEO, John Hoffman, said that the wrong tool was used in cutting the line. Contract workers should have used a saw instead of a torch, which caught vapors and caused the blast. The workers were employees of Grand Isle Shipyard, not Black Elk, he said. All of the individuals were men. The rig was offline for maintenance and was scheduled to go back online for production later this month. Because the rig was not actively producing oil or gas, there appeared to be little threat of a spill, according to the Coast Guard. There were 22 people on board at the time of the explosion, the Coast Guard said. Images via tumblr
Fourth Grader Writes Children’s Book For Kids Whose Parents Have Cancer A nine-year-old D.C. boy who wrote a children’s book to help him cope with his mother’s cancer is now a local best-selling author. via ABC News A tear rolled down Veronica Marion-Rawlins’s cheek when she discovered there weren’t ample resources that could help her explain her breast cancer diagnosis to her then four-year-old son. The single mom and her son, James “Trey” Rawlins III, searched everywhere – from local booksellers to online retailers – for reading materials that could help them better understand the journey they were about to embark on together. When they ended up with nothing,Trey decided to write a book himself. Five years later, Trey, now age nine and a fourth-grader at Edgewood Magnet School in New Haven, Conn., is a published author, with help from a $1,000 donation from Howard University Hospital, in Washington, D.C., and his mom’s credit cards. “When Mommy Came Home” is targeted toward children ages four to seven. By word-of-mouth the book, available for $10 through his mother, became so popular among local schools, clinics and hospitals that it is now sold out. The mother-son team hopes that with donations, they will be able to order more books that can be distributed to the people and places that may need them most. What an inspiration this young man is for other children going through the same thing. Good for him. Image via Shutterstock
You may be waiting in that line longer than usual if you’re shopping at Walmart next Friday. According to The Huffington Post : Organizers are planning a nationwide strike against Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, and are banking on a new strategy: online organizing. Labor organizers are working with social action nonprofit Engage Network as well as corporate watchdog nonprofit Corporate Action Network to pull off what they are calling a “viral” — meaning national and spreading online — strike. Brian Young, cofounder of the Corporate Action Network, said on a conference call coordinated by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union Thursday, that organizers cannot cover the roughly 4,000 Walmarts across the country, but enabling self-appointed leaders online has widened and decentralized the campaign. The campaign is also mobilizing strikers and supporters through a Facebook app, multiple Facebook pages, a Tumblr and Twitter with the hashtag #walmartstrikers. The outreach leading up to Black Friday follows a series of unprecedented actions taken by Walmart workers against their employer and working conditions. In October, for the first time in the company’s 50-year history, more than 70 workers at multiple Los Angeles-area Walmart stores walked off the job, even though their jobs are not protected by an official union. The strike had a ripple effect, causing strikes in 12 other cities, in large part through online organizing. The success of these strikes, as well as one over the summer touted as the largest ever protest against the company, and a six-day pilgrimmage of warehouse workers in September, would not have been possible without Facebook, Twitter and other web sites, Young said. “Making Change at Walmart,” which organized the demonstrations and is a campaign affiliated with the UFCW union, has over 25,000 supporters on Facebook. Corey Parker, a Walmart worker from Mississippi, said on the conference call that he became active with OUR Walmart after finding out about it through a HuffPost article on Facebook. Now, he has mobilized workers at his store to strike on Black Friday because, he said, he realized that “not being able to make a living was not just an issue at my store.” Adding fuel to movement, Walmart announced Thursday that it will kick off its Black Friday sale at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, its earliest start ever. “Lots and lots of Walmart workers are going to be forced to not have Thanksgiving because they’re going to be preparing all day for the busiest shopping day of the year,” Dan Schlademan, director of Making Change at Walmart, said on the conference call. “This essentially cancels Thanksgiving for hundreds of thousands of workers.” “It’s not like Walmart is financially hurting. It’s not like they’re not making unbelievable sums of money. The price of this is really decimating an important family day in our country.” But Walmart spokesman Steven Restivo said of the sale, “Last year, our highest customer traffic was during the 10 p.m. hour and, according to the National Retail Federation, Thanksgiving night shopping has surged over the past three years.” “Most of our stores are open 24 hours and, historically, much of our Black Friday preparations have been done on Thanksgiving, which is not unusual in the retail industry,” he said, adding that the strikes planned for Black Friday, will not “have any impact on our business.” Regarding the action over the last few months, Restivo said, “While the opinions expressed by this group don’t represent the views of the vast majority of more than 1.3 million Walmart associates in the U.S., when our associates bring forward concerns, we listen.” In September, dozens of Walmart-contracted warehouse workers in Southern California’s Inland Empire walked off the job and went on a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage to protest working conditions and retaliation for speaking up. More than a month later, the warehouse company NFI responded to some of the strikers’ working condition requests. “Just in the last week, we’ve seen the warehouse operators scrambling to replace broken and unsafe equipment, they’ve rented fans to increase ventilation, and they’ve added more water coolers,” Elizabeth Brennan, communications director for Warehouse Workers United, said on the conference call. However, the strikers who returned to work have continued to face retaliation, many times getting their hours cut from 35 down to eight, she said. Some of these warehouse workers will join striking Walmart workers on Black Friday, Brennan said. Do you support the strike?? Images via tumblr
You may be waiting in that line longer than usual if you’re shopping at Walmart next Friday. According to The Huffington Post : Organizers are planning a nationwide strike against Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, and are banking on a new strategy: online organizing. Labor organizers are working with social action nonprofit Engage Network as well as corporate watchdog nonprofit Corporate Action Network to pull off what they are calling a “viral” — meaning national and spreading online — strike. Brian Young, cofounder of the Corporate Action Network, said on a conference call coordinated by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union Thursday, that organizers cannot cover the roughly 4,000 Walmarts across the country, but enabling self-appointed leaders online has widened and decentralized the campaign. The campaign is also mobilizing strikers and supporters through a Facebook app, multiple Facebook pages, a Tumblr and Twitter with the hashtag #walmartstrikers. The outreach leading up to Black Friday follows a series of unprecedented actions taken by Walmart workers against their employer and working conditions. In October, for the first time in the company’s 50-year history, more than 70 workers at multiple Los Angeles-area Walmart stores walked off the job, even though their jobs are not protected by an official union. The strike had a ripple effect, causing strikes in 12 other cities, in large part through online organizing. The success of these strikes, as well as one over the summer touted as the largest ever protest against the company, and a six-day pilgrimmage of warehouse workers in September, would not have been possible without Facebook, Twitter and other web sites, Young said. “Making Change at Walmart,” which organized the demonstrations and is a campaign affiliated with the UFCW union, has over 25,000 supporters on Facebook. Corey Parker, a Walmart worker from Mississippi, said on the conference call that he became active with OUR Walmart after finding out about it through a HuffPost article on Facebook. Now, he has mobilized workers at his store to strike on Black Friday because, he said, he realized that “not being able to make a living was not just an issue at my store.” Adding fuel to movement, Walmart announced Thursday that it will kick off its Black Friday sale at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, its earliest start ever. “Lots and lots of Walmart workers are going to be forced to not have Thanksgiving because they’re going to be preparing all day for the busiest shopping day of the year,” Dan Schlademan, director of Making Change at Walmart, said on the conference call. “This essentially cancels Thanksgiving for hundreds of thousands of workers.” “It’s not like Walmart is financially hurting. It’s not like they’re not making unbelievable sums of money. The price of this is really decimating an important family day in our country.” But Walmart spokesman Steven Restivo said of the sale, “Last year, our highest customer traffic was during the 10 p.m. hour and, according to the National Retail Federation, Thanksgiving night shopping has surged over the past three years.” “Most of our stores are open 24 hours and, historically, much of our Black Friday preparations have been done on Thanksgiving, which is not unusual in the retail industry,” he said, adding that the strikes planned for Black Friday, will not “have any impact on our business.” Regarding the action over the last few months, Restivo said, “While the opinions expressed by this group don’t represent the views of the vast majority of more than 1.3 million Walmart associates in the U.S., when our associates bring forward concerns, we listen.” In September, dozens of Walmart-contracted warehouse workers in Southern California’s Inland Empire walked off the job and went on a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage to protest working conditions and retaliation for speaking up. More than a month later, the warehouse company NFI responded to some of the strikers’ working condition requests. “Just in the last week, we’ve seen the warehouse operators scrambling to replace broken and unsafe equipment, they’ve rented fans to increase ventilation, and they’ve added more water coolers,” Elizabeth Brennan, communications director for Warehouse Workers United, said on the conference call. However, the strikers who returned to work have continued to face retaliation, many times getting their hours cut from 35 down to eight, she said. Some of these warehouse workers will join striking Walmart workers on Black Friday, Brennan said. Do you support the strike?? Images via tumblr
Did you see this coming?? Folks are asking BET why the show airs so late in defense of poor viewer turnout and, according to The Grio , the network isn’t putting any of the blame on their shoulders: When T.J. Holmes left CNN to host his own show on BET, Don’t Sleep, some called it a risky move, while the network’s viewers seemed to be excited. Holmes saw it as an opportunity to “reach out and report on stories that directly affect the African-American community.” Unfortunately, the viewership has not lived up to hype. Holmes’ show combines comedy, news and commentary not unlike The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Don’t Sleep airs in the 11 pm time-slot and drew 400,000 viewers on to its October 1 premiere. The October 9th episode drew 1 million viewers, but since then, it has slipped to as low as 203,000. “To be honest, the ratings haven’t been great in the past two weeks. Our audience always says they want this kind of programming, but they don’t show up,” said Debra Lee, BET’s CEO. theGrio’s 100: T.J. Holmes, News anchor leaves CNN for BET As a result, Don’t Sleep will now be on for one hour once a week, instead of every night. BET released a statement saying, “The viewers have spoken and due to the overwhelming demand, Don’t Sleep will now be expanded to a one hour weekly format allowing for a more comprehensive discussion of the issues and events affecting the African-American community,” “We will now have an hour-long format to educate, empower, and engage. This will allow us more time to delve deeper into topics and determine how we can all, in our own way, be agents of change,” Holmes wrote on his website. “As part of being extended to an hour, the show will move to Wednesday nights at 11 p.m. This will allow us to do on-location reporting from cities and communities across the country.” Here’s a thought BET. How about you address the rest of your programming as a whole and leave real shows like ‘Don’t Sleep’ alone for now. Images via twitter
What are they tryin’ to say?!?! We all know someone who likes to have a drank at the end of a long day but cotdayum…these statistics are pretty crazy. Americans get too many calories from soda. But what about alcohol? It turns out adults get almost as many empty calories from booze as from soft drinks, a government study found. Soda and other sweetened drinks — the focus of obesity-fighting public health campaigns — are the source of about 6 percent of the calories adults consume, on average. Alcoholic beverages account for about 5 percent, the new study found. “We’ve been focusing on sugar-sweetened beverages. This is something new,” said Cynthia Ogden, one of the study’s authors. She’s an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which released its findings Thursday. The government researchers say the findings deserve attention because, like soda, alcohol contains few nutrients but plenty of calories. But a liquor trade association said the findings indicate there’s no big problem. “This research shows that the overwhelming majority of adults drink moderately,” Lisa Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the Distilled Spirits Council, said in a statement. The CDC study is based on interviews with more than 11,000 U.S. adults from 2007 through 2010. Participants were asked extensive questions about what they ate and drank over the previous 24 hours. The study found: –On any given day, about one-third of men and one-fifth of women consumed calories from beer, wine or liquor. –Averaged out to all adults, the average guy drinks 150 calories from alcohol each day, or the equivalent of a can of Budweiser. –The average woman drinks about 50 calories, or roughly half a glass of wine. –Men drink mostly beer. For women, there was no clear favorite among alcoholic beverages. –There was no racial or ethnic difference in average calories consumed from alcoholic beverages. But there was an age difference, with younger adults putting more of it away. For reference, a 12-ounce can of regular Coca-Cola has 140 calories, slightly less than a same-sized can of regular Bud. A 5-ounce glass of wine is around 100 calories. Here’s a thought. Maybe they should throw up the same calorie count on drinks as they do on everything else? LLS…do you think it’d make a difference? Images via shutterstock
Dammit, and he’s still alive??? Aurora Dark Knight Shooter James Holmes Tries To Commit Suicide In Jail According to TMZ reports : James Holmes — the shooter in the Aurora movie theater massacre — was hospitalized after several “half-hearted” suicide attempts … this according to law enforcement. According to cops, Holmes ran headfirst into a jail cell wall on Tuesday … and while he sustained injuries … they were not life-threatening. Holmes also reportedly stood on the bed in his cell and fell backwards … in an apparent attempt to crack his skull open. He failed. Holmes — who killed 12 people and injured 58 more during his July 20 shooting rampage — has since been released from the hospital. Awwww, jail life is pretty tough huh azzhole? Google where your major arteries are so you’ll be better prepared next time. We’re sure the victims’ families back in Colorado won’t miss him if he’s successful one day. Image via AP
Do you think this guy’s a good doer ?? According to The Huffington Post , he donated half of the proceeds made in two days to Hurricane Sandy victims: The dealer said he didn’t care about the implications of turning drug money into supplies for victims in the Rockaways, N.Y., some of whom are still without power. He just wanted to help out, and raised $700 for the cause. “Look, there are probably some people down there [in the Rockaways] who want some marijuana — but that’s not going to clothe and feed them,” he said. “So in order for me to help, I needed to turn what I do into something concrete that I could give to them.” The college-educated weed dealer said he saw the devastation in Breezy Point — where some 80 homes flooded and burned to the ground — and decided it was time to make some green for the victims. He alerted his clientele last Monday that he would be donating, and the calls started coming in. He’s no Pablo Escobar, but the dealer claims he did make $1,400 in those two days, amounting to $700 that will go toward hot meals, diapers, formula, clean water and other supplies that people on the Rockaway Peninsula still desperately need. HuffPost crime confirmed that he bought 50 wool blankets that will likely go to residents who are still without power. “Yes, I made a little extra money for myself those two days,” he told HuffPost Crime. “But [my clients] are getting something they’d already get anyway. I was going to work regardless, and now I felt like I was doing it with purpose … I’m not doing what I do in order to get rich or create some super marijuana empire. I’m trying to help, and this is my job.” Love or hate his source of revenue, you’ve got to give him credit for giving part of his ‘salary’ to charity. It’s a lot more than most have done! Images via tumblr
Obama isn’t taking any isht from the GOP anymore! POTUS just nominated Susan Rice as his candidate for Secretary of State and, while she may be the current Ambassador to the United Nations, some shady azz Republicans like John McCain are already throwing false accusations her way. According to The Huffington Post : In a series of media appearances on Wednesday, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) pledged they would do everything in their power to block the possible nomination of Susan Rice, the current ambassador to the United Nations, as secretary of state. The senators have based their objection on Rice’s role in disseminating the White House’s version of events in the days immediately after the September attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. At the time, Rice told several television stations that the attack, which left four Americans including the U.S. ambassador to Libya dead, was not believed to be related to terrorism. Administration officials later acknowledged that this was incorrect, and said the misleading information was the product of incomplete “talking points” from the intelligence community, although Republicans on Capitol Hill believe the White House knew the truth sooner. To McCain, Graham, and a small cadre of colleagues, this is enough to disqualify Rice from a cabinet-level job. “Susan Rice should have known better, and if she didn’t know better, she’s not qualified,” McCain said Wednesday during an appearance on Fox News. “I will do everything in my power to block her from being the United States secretary of state.” In his press conference Wednesday afternoon, Obama took umbrage with this line of attack. “If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after someone, they should go after me,” he said. “And I’m happy to have that discussion with them. But for them to go after the United Nations ambassador, who had nothing to do with Benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intel she had received, and to besmirch her reputation, is outrageous.” Obama also said Rice never had a choice about whether to appear on the talk shows to discuss Benghazi. “She made an appearance at the request of the White House in which she gave her best understanding of the intelligence that had been provided to her,” he said. Some Democrats have said that the Benghazi-related attack on Rice brings to mind another secretary of state nominee, Condoleezza Rice: Her appointment by the Bush administration was opposed by those who felt her advancement of the mistaken notion that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in Iraq similarly disqualified her from the office. During a 2002 appearance on CNN, Condoleezza Rice had said that while “there will always be some uncertainty” about the intelligence, “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” When she was later nominated for secretary of state, by which point it had become clear that there were no WMD in Iraq, both McCain and Graham publicly defended her appointment despite the misstatements. Graham and his allies denounced this comparison, saying that Condoleezza Rice’s statements at the time reflected the widely agreed upon understanding of the intelligence community, while Susan Rice should have opted not to speak on the subject without more certainty.”When it comes to Condoleezza Rice, we’re not the only country that thought he was trying to get weapons of mass destruction,” Graham said. These guys just keep making themselves look more and more ridiculous! Images via Getty
