Tag: Neetzan Zimmerman

Late yesterday, the White House announced that it was raising the threshold of signatures needed to elicit a response through its “We the People” petition site to 100,000.

In its statement, the White House reminds Americans of the spin it put on the first threshold increase from 5,000 to 25,000 after just one month online: That the system’s popularity was “a good problem to have.”

Turns out that ‘good problem’ is only getting better, so we’re making another adjustment to ensure we’re able to continue to give the most popular ideas the time they deserve.

Which would be fine, if there weren’t just one petition with over 100,000 signatures currently on the site: A call to have the Westboro Baptist Church legally recognized as a hate group.

The second petition in line — a request to investigate the Westboro Baptist Church’s tax-exempt status — has just over 79,000 signatures at the time of writing, and that feat took over 30 days to accomplish.

In other words, it would not receive a White House response under the new rules.

In fact, of all the petitions that White House has responded to since the site launched in 2011, only two have garnered over 100,000 signatures: Letting Texas secede from the Union, and addressing gun control.

And both of those petitions had the benefit of a major galvanizing event that united people under the banner of a common cause.

Perhaps the raising of the signature threshold will spur the same people to demand a more responsive government.

[photo via Twitter]

via Gawker http://gawker.com/5976366/white-house-raises-we-the-people-signature-threshold-to-100000-leaving-only-a-single-response+eliciting-petition-on-the-site

Of all the notable public figures you expect to have beef with one another, CNN anchor Don Lemon and Superbad star Jonah Hill are likely dead last on the list.

That is just one of the things that makes this impromptu Twitter quarrel so delightful.

Lemon is due to “set the record straight on the @jonahhill incident” on CNN this morning, so, thankfully, we haven’t experienced the last of this high school drama.

[H/T: ONTD]

via Gawker http://gawker.com/5959128/jonah-hill-and-cnns-don-lemon-paw-at-each-other-in-catty-twitter-spat

Ryan Andresen was in “total shock” when his Scoutmaster informed him he would not be awarding him the rank of Eagle Scout — the Boy Scouts highest honor — because he was openly gay.

“He had been telling me all along that we’d get by the gay thing,” Andresen, 17, told Yahoo News. “It was by far the biggest goal of my life. It’s totally devastating.”

Andresen spent the past 12 years earning enough merit badges to qualify for Eagle Scout, and recently completed his service project — ironically, an anti-bullying “tolerance wall” he worked on with area schoolchildren.

“I want everyone to know that [the Eagle award] should be based on accomplishment, not your sexual orientation,” Andresen’s mother, Karen, told NBC News. “Ryan entered Scouts when he was six years old and in no way knew what he was. I think right now the Scoutmaster is sending Ryan the message that he’s not a valued human being and I want Ryan to know that he is valued … and that people care about him.”

Boy Scouts spokesperson Deron Smith is definitely not one of those people.

In a statement to the press, Smith said Andresen’s coming out last July was not the only disqualifying factor — he also “proactively notified his unit leadership and Eagle Scout Counselor that he does not agree to Scouting’s principle of ‘Duty to God.'”

Smith said the BSA “did not proactively ask for this information,” but once it was received, forced the Scouts to kick Andresen out of the organization entirely.

Many adult Eagle Scouts have been turning in their badges after the BSA reaffirmed its exclusion policy earlier this year.

Zach Wahls, an outspoken gay rights activist and an Eagle Scout, called Andresen’s case “unique,” as most gay scouts never make it this far before being shoved out. “He is a case study of the detrimental effects this policy has on young men,” Wahls told Yahoo.

Andresen and his mom hope a Change.org petition with nearly 150,000 signatures will help persuade the BSA to change its mind.

But time is running out: Eagle Scout badges can only be earned before the age of 18, and Andresen’s birthday is in three days.

[photo via NBC News]

via Gawker http://gawker.com/5949244/boy-scout-spox-says-teen-who-meets-eagle-scout-rank-requirements-ineligible-due-to-sexual-orientation

After years of delays and setbacks, the big-budget, big-screen adaptation of iconic Western serial The Lone Ranger is finally being released, and it has the teaser trailer to prove it.

Directed by Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy helmer Gore Verbinski, and starring his weekend son Johnny Depp, Depp’s female counterpart Helena Bonham Carter, and relative newcomer Armie Hammer as Lone Ranger John Reid, the film is currently scheduled to hit theaters July 3, 2013.

Not much by way of plot just yet, but here’s a brief synopsis courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures:

From producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski, the filmmaking team behind the blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, comes Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ “The Lone Ranger,” a thrilling adventure infused with action and humor, in which the famed masked hero is brought to life through new eyes. Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice-taking the audience on a runaway train of epic surprises and humorous friction as the two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.

[image via IMDB, video via Comic Book Movie via /Film]

via Gawker http://gawker.com/5948518/heres-the-first-trailer-for-gore-verbinskis-the-lone-ranger

Not deterred by the explosive reaction to its last depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has once again published caricatures of the revered Islamic figure, prompting the French Foreign Ministry to order the closure of embassies, diplomatic missions, and schools in some 20 countries as a “security precaution.”

The Muhammad cartoons, which appear in the Parisian publication’s latest issue, were printed in response to violent protests around the world sparked by the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims.

According to the AFP, one of the more controversial drawings depicts Muhammad “exposing his posterior to a film director, a scene inspired by a 1963 film starring French film star Brigitte Bardot.”

Charlie Hebdo‘s last attempt to ridicule Muhammad resulted in the firebombing of its offices. This time around, riot police were stationed around the premises to prevent a similar attack.

Despite the enhanced security measures, the French government said it stood by the magazine’s right to publish the cartoons. However, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius cautioned against “throwing oil on the fire.”

Muslim organizations in France, which has more Muslims than any other western European nation, asked community members to “rise above their anger” and respond to the magazine’s “stupid provocation” through legal means.

Speaking with the AP, one of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoonists, Tignous, defended the publication’s actions, saying “it’s just a drawing, it’s not a provocation.”

[Photo via Getty]

via Gawker http://gawker.com/5944498/france-rushes-to-shut-down-embassies-and-schools-after-satirical-french-magazine-makes-fun-of-muhammad

Thumbing its nose at legal threats made by the royal family, the Italian magazine Chi today went ahead with its promise to publish a multi-page spread featuring topless photos of Kate Middleton taken from the set that first appeared last week in its French sister-publication, Closer.

Despite the announcement that lawyers for the royal family plan to sue the French photographer who captured the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing on a terrace in a private villa in Provence, Chi‘s editor, Alfonso Signorini, was unconcerned, tweeting that “not even a direct call from the Queen” would stop the presses.

There are said to be some 200 photos in all, but only 18 were picked for the spread in Chi, which is owned along with Closer by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Mondadori group.

“If I had had more scandalous photos I would have willingly published them,” Signorini told a local newspaper, likely in reference to suggestions that the photo set contained more intimate content. YouPorn.com has gone so far as to offer an “open check” in exchange for the alleged sex photos, but Signorini’s response indicates that none exist.

Still, the photos that do exist are scandalous enough: The Irish Daily Star is facing the possibility of being shut down after it republished a few of Closer‘s photos over the weekend.

“I am very angry at the decision to publish these photographs, and am taking immediate steps to close down the joint venture,” said British media mogul Richard Desmond, whose company, Northern & Shell, co-owner the tabloid with Independent News Media.

Meanwhile, Marina Berlusconi, Silvio Berlusconi’s daughter and Mondadori’s chairwoman, responded to critics of her company by saying the publishing house “did its job” in upholding freedom of the press. In his interview, Signorini responded by saying the Duchess was “not exactly Alice in Wonderland, she should have expected this.”

[photos via AP, Egotastic]

via Gawker http://gawker.com/5943784/the-queen-is-naked-italian-magazine-flouts-impending-lawsuit-publishes-more-topless-photos-of-kate-middleton-%5Bnsfw%5D

Staring down the barrel of bankruptcy, an Arizona State University doctoral student with Stage 4 colon cancer who ran out of insurance money to cover his treatment decided he had nothing to lose by tweeting the CEO of his health insurance company and asking for help.

Much to Arijit Guha’s surprise, Mark T. Bertolini not only responded, but by the end of their two-day conversation, the CEO of Aetna agreed to cover “every last penny” of his medical bills.

“The system is broken, and I am committed to fixing it,” Bertolini tweeted last Friday.

Guha had been paying $400 a month for a fairly robust student health-insurance plan, but after being diagnosed with cancer last year, the 31-year-old’s expenses quickly mounted, surpassing the plan’s $300,000 lifetime cap.

According to ABC News, lifetime caps have been eliminated by the Affordable Healthcare Act, but Inside Higher Ed says the caps are still in effect for student plans.

“I am incredibly pleased and in shell shock and trying to figure out what just happened. It’s a huge relief,” Guha told ABCNews.com.

Though he can certainly use all the help he can get in paying off his massive medical tab, Guha has been hard at work raising money through his own website. His “Poop Strong” campaign — a play on Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong wristband initiative — has raised over $120,000 according to ABC.

Guha’s cancer is currently in remission, and, with Aetna covering the cost of his treatments for the rest of the year, the Arizona Republic says he plans on donating the funds he raised to cancer charities so they can benefit others in need.

[photo via @Poop_Strong]

via Gawker http://gawker.com/5931251/cancer-patient-tweets-aetna-ceo-gets-him-to-cover-every-last-penny-of-his-medical-expenses