Activision promptly issued a copyright claim, removing the video and saving us from the great terror we would otherwise feel from North Korea’s nest of special effects. Dream on Kim Jong-Un. Please.

In addition to their incredible investigative coverage, Deadspin has the best Gif roundup of the day.

That little humanoid is the 8 and 1/2 month old baby daughter of Oistein Moskovil Thorsen and his wife Malena. Right now he is at the finish line of a month-long string of 16 hour days at the United Nations. His first child, is a month away from coming into the world and Oistein chose to use his last days before endless diaper changing, late night soothing and new parent hand-wringing to fight for us…for her.

Tweet: I’m giving an #ArmsTreaty for #BabyThorsen. Join me: http://buzz.mw/-VMp_y @VinoThorsen

The Arms Trade Treaty is in final day of negotiations after nearly a decade of campaigning that grew the idea from impossible dream to plausible reality. Campaigners like Oistein are giving every free moment – foregoing sleep, family time and often their sanity to give this long shot a real shot.

The Arms Trade Treaty will not stop all world conflict. It will not be the silver bullet that finally ends extreme poverty and suffering. Yet, it will make a difference. It will save millions of lives. The Arms Treaty will keep illicit arms from flowing freely to the next Joseph Kony. It will force companies to stop shipping arms to a future dictator willing to kill his citizens rather than cede power, regardless of the veto of one Security Council nation. It is easy to sit back and mock the UN as useless and feckless. Really, it is just us — people who have organized into nation states sitting at a table to figure out how we can survive together on this planet and make it better for future generations, like #BabyThorsen. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the first big step we collectively made when the UN was born out of the ashes of WWII. Today, the Arms Trade Treaty stands as our best chance to keep that promise that we will never stand idly by while millions of innocents die. The illicit and completely unregulated flow of arms has taken more lives in Congo than deaths in the war that led to the UN’s formation.

I can pile on the facts about how the banana you ate this morning or the iPad you are reading this on face tighter controls and more regulations than the Ak-47s carried by 300,000 child soldiers. I can tell you that two bullets are produced for each person on the planet, every single year, and they are not used for hunting elk in Alaska. In fact the Arms Trade Treaty will in no way impact the domestic sale of guns or right to posses weapons in a sovereign state, though opponents like the NRA want to convince you otherwise.

You have heard all the arguments before. What you likely never hear is the story of the people giving their lives to keep the promise that so many made when #Kony2012 went viral — that millions of us will stand up to protect the innocent and vulnerable. We will not stay silent. It is people like Oistein that carry our message to those with the political power required to have an actual impact.

Gentleman, Scholar, Campaigner, Father

Why am I singling out my friend? Perhaps it is because I owe him and his wife after accidentally ruining their big baby announcement with a mistimed yet prescient Secret Santa gift. Mainly, it is due to the fact that when our Email boxes and Facebook pages fill up with pleas from organizations like Oxfam, for whom Oistein works, or the nebulous Control Arms coalition we forget that real people ARE these organizations. They are well-educated and brilliant activists who sacrifice more than most of us imagine for that quaint notion that the world could and should be better; that the vulnerable should be protected and the bad guys should be stopped. They could be high-paid analysts in the private sector, but they chose to use thier talents in the service of us all for very little pay and even less recognition.

The seed of change was planted in Oistein at age 11 when he saw convoys of young boys headed to the frontlines in East Africa. The decisions he has made since then have all been in preparation for today, the final day of negotiations and the last best chance at truly bulletproof Arms Trade Treaty. Since that moment he dreamt of a world where warlords had no access to the tools of destruction and the arming of children for battle would be relegated to history. Take action now and give an inspiring birthday present to his daughter and every person about to come into this world — a promise of “Never Again” that goes beyond words and becomes deed. We actually can make this idealistic dream a reality if we act today. Join me and say, “Welcome!” to #BabyThorsen and, “Thank You” to Oistein. The Arms Trade Treaty is a gift that they both deserve, and so do we.

Give #BabyThorsen her birthday gift  http://buzz.mw/-VMp_y

The #ArmsTreaty will have zero impact on the sale of guns domestically and gun owner’s rights as Amnesty International points out in a recent blog post. Yet, the NRA is up to their usual conspiracy theory tricks trying to convince 2nd Amendment advocates that the UN is after their guns. This is so blatantly false that either the NRA is lying and distorting, or they do not understand the basic tenets of International Law and treaties. The law-abiding, god-fearing, gun-toting Americans who lined up to support #Kony2012 and expressed outrage at the LRA massacres and kidnapping must chose a side: either they actually want to see groups like the LRA disappear with no access to arms, or they want to be knee-jerk reactionaries that attack anything with the words “gun” and “regulations” in them without thought or understanding like the NRA.

Even on Huffington Post the winger comment machine is ready to attack. Commentor 2N2B5 celebrates the lobbying “Effectiveness” of the NRA in impacting the ATT. It is true, the NRA has an out-sized lobby. So why do they not use their power to support effective regulation of the dangerous trade in weapons that keeps dictators well-stocked and war criminals armed to the teeth? The NRA constantly says they protect “Responsible gun ownership.” Are they not smart enough to do that and keep guns from those who destroy homes, rape women and steal children?

Actor Charlton Heston famously invoked the “Cold dead hands” line to close his speech at the NRA annual conference in 2000.

This weekend I sat talking guns with my grandfather who first took me shooting at the age of eleven. It’s a wonderful Oregon memory. He has been president of his gun club and a dues paying member for years. We do not always agree on politics, but he is always reasonable and wise. He explained that he does not carry a gun even though he has a concealed weapons permit, “Because I don’t train every week to responsibly wield a gun around people and in tense circumstance, unlike Greg,” he said gesturing to my police officer uncle. He used sober judgement to hold in balance what he believed was his right as an American and what is right as a person. As he spoke I found myself wishing that the NRA took the power they wield this seriously and ended the lying and grandstanding and truly advocated responsible gun ownership at the domestic and international level. Lobbying doesn’t kill people, but irresponsible lobbyist do. It’s high time the US gun lobby exercised responsible political advocacy or we will continue prying guns out of the cold dead hands of children across the world.

Take Action with Amnesty Now.

Some free communications advice for both parties:
Republicans – People DO like having sex.
Democrats – People DO NOT like paying taxes.

The progressive Email machine was ginned up with Bain and tax evasion hysteria last week — at least that was the case in my inbox. Romney’s tax-dodgiing, double-speak and secrecy will conspire to paint him as an elitist who does not play by the same rules as the rest of us. Ultimately, it will not hurt him that much and may end up reinforcing a continual dangerous narrative for Democrats: The Pro-Taxes Party.

At the height of the Sanrdra Fluke “Slut”-troversy reasonable conservative voices tried to explain that the GOP was on the wrong side of the issue not simply by virtue of their antiquated moral stance, but because people like sex. The GOP was the party against the enjoyment of consensual sex. Their fuddy duddy non-drinking robot of a candidate was not helping. The “Anti-Sex Party” was not just going to lose independent women, but all women…and men if they did not change course fast.

Similarly, people do not like paying taxes! The logic and policy may be right, but simply put: paying taxes is no fun. Attacking Romney for trying to pay as little taxes as possible will just reinforce that Democrats love taxes…”Tax and Spend.”

Progressives are right on the policy. Taxes are needed to run and build a healthy country. Obama admitted recently that his biggest mistake was not understanding the difference between having the right policy and creating an inspiring narrative. What is more inspiring to you: “Pay 30% of your income in taxes or you are un-American;” Or, “We are the party of firefighters, teachers, police officers, construction workers, doctors and nurses”? Democrats should stop being the party that loves taxes and become the party that prevents your community from burning down. Up with the Public Sector. Not with taxes. At every turn Democrats should praise and celebrate public servants. They are heroes who keep us safe and educate our children. Oh, and it just so happens that when they work at full employment, our economy works too. Not a bad deal.

TED relented and released the video, but along with a feckless rebuttal by TED Curator, Chris Anderson who assured, “The internets” (his term) that the talk had not been censored due to its partisan nature. Anderson claims, “The audience at TED who heard it live (and who are often accused of being overly enthusiastic about left-leaning ideas) gave it, on average, mediocre ratings.” Yet, they clearly give the talk a standing ovation in the video. Anderson further promotes the view he is trying to diffuse by saying that the talk, “…framed the issue in a way that was explicitly partisan.” In other words, they didn’t reject posting the video because the talk was partisan, but the talk was partisan. (I’m thinking Anderson could have a sterling career as a Romney speechwriter.)

Though I find the TED teams’ excuses unconvincing. The frightening reality is that Conservative linguists have succeeded in making common sense issues and arguments partisan. Is there really a partisan debate about judging the strength of the economy by the number of billionaire “Job Creators,” verse the standard indicators of employment as well as consumer confidence and consumption? No. History and basic economics show that income inequality is bad for everyone while a robust middle class means more consumers to propel industry. The problem with Hanauer’s talk is that partisans on the right have succeeded in framing basic logic as…partisan! The talk was simply a sound, “Idea Worth Spreading.”

Anderson worries in an Email obtained by the National Journal that the talk will make TED seem too partisan, especially due to the imminent release of Melinda Gates’ talk on contraception in the developing world.. “Next week ain’t right. Confidentially, we already have Melinda Gates on contraception going out. Sorry for the mixed messages on this.” Got that? The use of basic family planning tools is partisan!

The partisan parity fallacy values perceived balance over reasonable debate. The moment one political group makes a claim, all claims to the contrary become partisan.

The problem that TED and every media organization that buys into this false frame have uncovered is that one political party has openly rejected reason. If the GOP claimed that they sky does NOT appear blue, a TED talk explaining why the sky appears blue would be, “Politically charged.” Climate change. A woman’s access not just to abortion, but even contraception. The thoroughly debunked notion of Trickle-Down-Economics. The separation of church and state. The word, “Gay,” being spoken in a school. Access to basic science in text books. All are now partisan. It’s hard to spread worthy ideas when a radical group of true believers can label basic truth  as partisan ideology. Stephen Colbert is dead on. It is no longer about what is logically right or true, but what feels true. Truthiness, indeed.

via gizmodo.com

This is the story of a wonderful idea. Something that had never been done before, a moment of change that shaped the Internet we know today. This is the story of Flickr. And how Yahoo bought it and murdered it and screwed itself out of relevance along the way.

Read the whole story on Gizmodo

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