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Tuesday, August 23, 2016

RNC Rules Committee Strikes Down Anti-Trump Efforts to Unbind Convention Delegates From Trump

Donald Trump Rips MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ Co-Hosts for Being ‘Unwatchable’

A last-ditch effort to block Donald Trumps Republican presidential nomination soundly failed to gain traction late Thursday night as the RNC Rules Committee met ahead of the convention.

Thanks in part to back-room negotiations, the movement to free the delegates or rather, ensure that Republican convention delegates are not bound to any presidential candidate because of who their state voted for by enacting a so-called conscience clause was defeated by a voice vote of the 112-member committee.

Not only was the proposal defeated by an overwhelming margin, the Never Trump movement also lacked the 28 delegates needed to send a minority report to the convention floor, where it would be sure to be defeated but not without enormous attention.

The RNC Rules Committee convened early Thursday to begin a cumbersome review of the partys 42 rules on structure and the selection of a presidential candidate. (Getty Images/Andrew Harrer)

Backers of former Republican presidential contender Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) propelled much of the movement to free the delegates although many in the movement intensely bickered about who they wanted to replace Trump as the GOP nominee.

But despite the infighting, their efforts were taken seriously by the RNC and Trump campaign as Trump aides reportedly descended upon the convention hall when the delegates met. Trumps campaign lawyers also met with the RNCs attorneys as they created the language for consideration.

The Rules Committee didnt get to the issue of unbinding delegates until late Thursday, but a vigorous debate ensued.

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Kendal Unruh, a delegate on the 112-member rules committee and leader of the grassroots movement, at one point likened requiring delegates to vote for Trump to forcing a doctor to perform an abortion.

Members of the free-the-delegates movement blamed the RNC and argued that the party colluded with the Rules Committee to ensure Trump would not suffer an embarrassing defeat on the convention floor during the highly publicized event next week.

This just proves that Donald Trump did not have the support of enough delegates to be the nominee, Delegates Unbound co-founder Dave Waters said in a statement. This act by the Rules Committee just highlights the hypocrisy of the RNC.

If the delegates were unbound as the RNC claimed, why vote to bind them? Waters said.

The sentiment that delegates were never bound to state party rules was peddled by national committeeman Curly Haugland.

The delegates in 2016 are free birds. Whether they know it or not, theyve been lied to, Haugland told TheBlaze earlier this month. Ill confess to knowing that the staff of the Republican Party in Washington has lied repeatedly to the media and to the candidates themselves as well as to the delegates about the binding, and they continue to do it.

Longtime RNC Rules Committee member Morton Blackwell told TheBlaze that it was unlikely for the party to pass a national rule to unbind delegates this close to the actual convention prior to the vote.

It would be wrong to change the rules at the end of the process and know that if we did change the rules, it would split the party horribly, he said earlier this week.

Blackwell asserted that there would only be two ways to change the rules of the party: a consensus among Trump supporters, the Cruz faction and Reince Priebus establishment, or a bitter rules battle in Cleveland that would split the party. Blackwell likened a potential rules battle to that of the 1912 convention, when a fight between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft resulted in a Roosevelt walkout and ultimately the presidency of Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

I dont believe that Reince Priebus wants to be known as the national party chairman presiding over a party analogous to the split of 1912, Blackwell predicted earlier this week.

Following Thursdays meetings, Priebus praised the unity of the GOP as well as the Rules Committees transparency.

Our Rules Committee meeting made very clear the high level of unity within our party, he said. Grassroots voices from every state and territory have crafted a set of rules which will keep our party strong at the local, state and national level, and we honored the spirit of democracy by conducting our Rules Committee meeting in a completely open and transparent fashion.

Shortly after the Rules Committee convened Thursday morning, it recessed due to a printer jam. But under the window of time created by the technology glitch which supposedly occurred right after the arrival of Utah Sen. Mike Lee Priebus and his allies were able to meet behind closed doors with Lee and members of the free-the-delegates movement, including Unruh.

A Republican source told TheBlaze that they are running this like the Senate lots of pre-scripted stuff, but was unable to go into further detail regarding the meeting.

A leader of the free-the-delegates movement who spoke to TheBlaze under the condition of anonymity early Friday morning said the group is still working to drum up the 28 signatures needed for a minority report.

We havent given up hope quite yet, the activist said.

The deadline to present the required number of signatures is tough; minority reports issued by a committee are to be introduced Monday once the convention formally convenes.

Follow Kaitlyn Schallhorn (@K_Schallhorn) on Twitter

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/07/15/rnc-rules-committee-strikes-down-anti-trump-efforts-to-unbind-convention-delegates-from-trump/

Protesters Try Blocking Baton Rouge Interstate, but Police Aren"t Having It

Donald Trump And Morning Joe Call Each Other Drunks
Editors Note:

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Dave Urbanski

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Officers stared down hundreds of shouting protesters near a ramp onto Interstate 110 in Louisianas capital Sunday night before another squad in riot gear arrived to make arrests.

Earlier Sunday, some 2,000 people rallied outside the Capitol building to protest police killings of black people, State Police Maj. Doug Cain said.

Police arrest protesters after dispersing crowds in a residential neighborhood in Baton Rouge, La. on Sunday, July 10, 2016. After an organized protest in downtown Baton Rouge protesters wondered into residential neighborhoods and toward a major highway that caused the police to respond by arresting protesters that refused to disperse. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)

They didnt have any problems out there. They seemed to be very organized and peaceful, Cain said.

But as night began to fall, a few hundred people aimed for an on-ramp, trying a tactic protesters were using this weekend in multiple cities.

And after a lengthy standoff, more police in full riot gear moved in, pinning some of the protesters as others fled. Some 30 to 40 people were jailed for trying to block a highway, sheriffs spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks said.

That could push Baton Rouges weekend arrest total above 160, with just one reported injury to a police officer.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said hes very proud of the Louisiana law enforcement response to protests over the fatal shooting of a black man by white police officers in the city.

Flanked by law enforcement leaders, Edwards said he doesnt believe officers have been overly aggressive by using riot gear to push protesters off a highway.

The police tactics in response have been very moderate. Im very proud of that, said the Democratic governor, who comes from a family of sheriffs.

Tensions between black citizens and police have risen palpably over the past week or so amid police shootings of African-American men in Minnesota and Louisiana and the gunning down of five white police officers by a black suspect in Dallas in apparent retaliation.

I remain disappointed in the Baton Rouge police, who continue to provoke protesters for peacefully protesting. Theres a lot of work to be done, with this police department specifically, said DeRay Mckesson, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist who embraced supporters Sunday after spending the night in jail.

The Baton Rouge police spokesman, Sgt. Don Coppola, blamed some violence and the large number of arrests on outside agitators. One officer lost teeth to a projectile thrown outside police headquarters, and police also confiscated three rifles, three shotguns and two pistols during that protest, he wrote in an email.

It appears the protest at Baton Rouge Police Headquarters have become more violent as out of town protesters are arriving, he said.

But most of those detained live in Louisiana and faced a single charge of obstructing a highway, sheriffs spokeswoman Hicks told The Associated Press.

The tumult reached well beyond Louisiana. In Minnesota, authorities said 21 law enforcement officers were hurt and about 100 people were arrested late Saturday and early Sunday during clashes in the state capital over the police killing of Philando Castile.

There was very little violence by comparison in Baton Rouge.

I can assure everyone we are hearing the protesters, the governor said. We are listening to their voices. But Im especially gratified that our citizens here in Louisiana, to a very large degree, have decided to protest in a constructive and peaceful manner.

Edwards said hundreds have marched around the city, with only one injury to an officer and mostly misdemeanor arrests. Protesting peacefully is the best way to honor those killed, he said, adding that authorities wont allow people to incite hate and violence.

I want to be clear that will not be tolerated. We dont operate like that in Louisiana, he said.

Police arrest protesters in a residential neighborhood in Baton Rouge, La. on Sunday, July 10, 2016. After an organized protest in downtown Baton Rouge protesters wondered into residential neighborhoods and toward a major highway that caused the police to respond by arresting protesters that refused to disperse. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)

The list of those arrested released by the sheriffs office included two homeless people, and 18 are from out of state, including Mckesson. The vast majority of the Louisiana residents were from the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas.

Kira Marrero, 21, of New Orleans, also charged with obstructing a highway, said she did nothing of the sort. I have no doubt in my mind that I did nothing wrong, said Marrero, a 2015 graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts

A police affidavit of probable cause says Mckesson intentionally placed himself in the road after protesters were repeatedly warned by loudspeaker not to step off the curb.

During the protest, the defendant entered the roadway and was provided another verbal order to exit the lanes of travel. Moments later, the defendant entered the roadway again and was taken into custody by officers on scene without incident, the affidavit said.

Activist Brittany Packett, who was with Mckesson, wrote in an email that he was on the highway shoulder when multiple police crossed onto the shoulder, tackling Deray and arresting him.

Associated Press photos show police apprehending Mckesson and pulling him to his feet before leading him away with his hands secured behind his back.

Darren Bowers, 26, of Baton Rouge, said his girlfriend, 26-year-old Ariel Bates, called him from the jail early Sunday. She told me that they jumped all on her and her cousin on the grass. They werent on the street or anything, Bowers said.

He said he believes police are antagonizing protesters.

People are peacefully protesting. Why are (police) in riot gear? he said.

In Louisiana, Saturdays demonstration began at the convenience store where 37-year-old Alton Sterling was killed by police, then fanned out through the state Capitol.

Members of the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense called for the arrest and indictment of the officers involved in Sterlings death, shouting Black Power and raising their fists. The U.S. Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation.

These are human rights violations, Krystal Muhammad shouted to the crowd at the convenience store before heading over to the police department. They are not operating as human beings. They are being predators on our communities across America.

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/07/11/protesters-try-blocking-baton-rouge-interstate-but-police-arent-having-it/

The Harambe meme is still going strong. And it"s about a lot more than a dead gorilla.

Harambe MEME REVIEW (R.I.P. HARAMBE TRIBUTE)

In the two and a half months since he was tragically killed, Harambe the gorilla has transcended his lowly origins as some random zoo gorilla. In his afterlife, he has become a superhero, a mega-meme, the internets gorilla.

The "Harambe" meme takes myriad forms, including popular sub-memes like over-the-top parody memorials and the popular viral slogan "dicks out for Harambe." It has also been decried for its racist undercurrent, despite the fact that black communities played a part in creating the meme and popularizing its initial spread on social media.

On Reddit, forums memorializing him, like r/Harambe and r/dicksoutforharambe, have gained thousands of readers since Harambes death on May 28. Currently there are online petitions to erect a White House statue of Harambe, make him a Pokmon, put his face on the $50 bill, and change the name of Cincinnati the Cincinnati Zoo was Harambes home until his untimely demise to "Harambe City." Last week, a Texas-based presidential poll indicated Harambe getting 2 percent of the popular vote (with last years meme, Deez Nuts, one point ahead). Hes been spotted on T-shirts and at the Republican National Convention, and at QuakeCon, a popular gaming convention, this shrine for Harambe quickly filled up with irreverent tributes to our dead ape cousin.

Harambe has been declared the "Meme of the summer," and its hard to disagree with that assessment. In 2014, we were all pouring ice buckets on ourselves; last year, we were arguing over a dress; this year, were (irreverently) mourning Harambe.

The media has observed the Harambe phenomenon largely with bafflement. "The Internet wont let Harambe rest in peace," opined the Washington Post in July. Many have compared the meme to an extended "dead baby" joke, though New York magazine dismissed the entire phenomenon as "fairly standard internet non-sequitur nonsense humor." Many outlets also hint at the memes more offensive sides.

Above all, everyone seems perplexed by the memes longevity.

Its easy to boggle at the popularity and persistence of the Harambe meme. But like every great meme, this dead gorilla combines several traits of internet culture including the best and the worst of us.

In case you missed it, heres what happened to Harambe Cincinnati Zoo

On May 27, Harambe celebrated his 17th birthday in the Cincinnati Zoo. On May 28, an unsupervised 4-year-old child determinedly climbed into the zoos gorilla enclosure and fell into the moat. Interpretations of what happened next differ wildly depending on who was telling the story, but Harambe the gorilla proceeded to strut about the child, drag him out of the moat, and stand over him. While zoo officials clearly believed the child was in danger, other onlookers believed Harambe was just as clearly protecting the child.

Ultimately, zoo officials shot Harambe, killing him instantly, opting to use real bullets instead of a tranquilizer dart in order to protect the child if Harambe reacted badly to the tranquilizers before the drugs took effect.

The internet hysteria over Harambe was initially pretty over the top, resulting in major public criticism of zoo officials for making the decision to kill the gorilla instead of tranquilizing him, and an onslaught of harassment directed toward the childs mother for her perceived negligence. Media outlets reported days of protests and candlelight vigils at the Cincinnati Zoo and other zoos around the country, while #Justice4Harambe trended online.

Harambe was always about more than a single gorilla

Protesters angry about Harambes death were upset for a number of reasons. Many believed killing the gorilla was unnecessary, though numerous wildlife experts insisted it was the only safe option; still others believed the entire incident spoke to the inherent cruelty of raising wild animals in captivity.

Harambes death occurred the same week in which 1,000 people died attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to immigrate safely into Europe. Given that the gorillas death largely overshadowed the conversation about actual human life, backlash to the backlash was swift to follow. Cosmopolitan called the publics reaction "sexist and racist," noting along with other outlets that the public seemed to value the life of a gorilla more than the life of the endangered child or the safety of his mother, both of whom are black.

So Harambes death was inherently a complicated, polarizing subject. The situation was always going to be controversial. But whether it was coming from advocates for Harambe or for child safety, or advocates for animals never being kept in zoos in the first place, the anger over the issue quickly seemed to cause outrage fatigue. That is, the Harambe situation quickly reached the point at which the anger over the Harambe situation was more draining than the actual Harambe situation itself.

This is where the internet stepped in.

Harambes meme origins are important to understanding what kind of meme Harambe became

Various sources place the early memeification of Harambe as originating from two equally vast yet different repositories of internet culture: Instagrams black community and Weird Twitter (the common name for a loose grouping of meme- and humor-based Twitters), which started churning out over-the-top Harambe memorials like these:

As a form of protest, black social media communities embraced the Harambe meme to ironically comment on the ways in which society tends to minimize and overlook the deaths of ordinary people of color. Meanwhile the contrasting outpouring of grief over black celebrities can sometimes seem artificialmuch like the grief over Harambe. Heres a good example of the way these different points of commentary converged through the meme:

The spread of the meme, however, placed it within the hands of communities which politicized it in a different way. As many noted during the online harassment of Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones, a frequent tactic of racists on social media has been to compare people of color to the gorilla. Harambe jokes fell into the hands of the right-wing internet almost immediately though not necessarily because of racism. The creator of the QuakeCon Harambe shrine, Tony Oritz, described himself as a Hispanic Trump supporter to conservative site Breitbart, and claimed the gorilla for his side of the spectrum in a tongue-in-cheek interview:

I believe Harambe would understand that its the fear mongering and corruption that liberals and the mass media have been pushing for so long that got him killed. The one thing that would have prevented the tragic loss of Harambe is having a proper wall in place. Theres only one candidate who is supporting tighter border security and a beautiful wall and thats Donald J. Trump.

Instagram Harambe was always a meme waiting to happen

When he invented the term "meme" in his famous 1976 book The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins described it as a cultural mode of transmission that works by replication and succeeds through imitation, similar to a gene. Decades of cultural study have been devoted to defining what a "meme" actually consists of, but in an age where internet culture and meme or remix culture are practically synonymous, this process of replication and imitation is simply everywhere, as inherent to modern culture as the internet itself.

Memes seem to live and die by the moment, but the most successful memes seem to have a few common elements: above all, humor, and almost always a sense of irony. A successful meme contains an element of genuine fun, but it often also contains an element of social commentary or ironic commentary on social issues.

Lets take, for example, the brief but awesome "d**n, Daniel!" meme that swept the internet earlier this year. As an idea, it was extremely innocuous: an inherently hilarious and affectionate video of a kid (Daniel) coming to school and wearing white Vans. As a meme, it contained an ironic embrace of corporate branding: People responded to the meme by simultaneously laughing at the videos white-Vans-worship while wanting to buy white Vans themselves. Then they extended the commentary by mocking their own wish to buy Vans. The best memes always have multiple layers within layers that contradict and conflict with each other, while ultimately responding to a larger social impetus in this case, over-hyped commercialism.

The parts of internet culture that thrive on this multi-layered interplay coalesced around the Harambe meme. It served as an opportunity to deconstruct the histrionic level of modern media and social media commentary. It favored irreverence and cynicism.

If you were a progressive, the Harambe meme gave you a chance to mock what you viewed as the hypocritical haranguing of the mainstream while avoiding real issues of social justice; and if you were a conservative, the Harambe meme gave you a chance to mock liberal hysteria.

If you were the kind of person wanting to use the Harambe meme as an excuse to be offensive and juvenile in the name of whimsical fun, then the Harambe meme was all yours. If you were looking for an actual excuse to be racist, then the Harambe meme provided that as well.

And if you were among the many, many people who were genuinely sad about Harambes death, the meme gave you a way to honor his memory sincerely or otherwise.

A study in irreverence and sincerity

According to the Daily Dot, the first person to coin the phrase "dicks out for harambe" was Twitch user bigdaddyshaq. Around July 3, days after Harambes demise, he reportedly mentioned the joke in an unrecorded Twitch chat to user Sexualjumanji, who then repeated it in the first recorded (now deleted) tweet that would become the meme:

We comin with them dicks out to avenge harambe !!! pic.twitter.com/bGy1mhqcyz

crumbling brick ruin (@sexualjumanji) July 3, 2016

On Vine, comedian Brandon Wardell independently came up with the concept in a viral post featuring cult figure actor Danny Trejo:

Though the meme was probably an example of multiple discovery, Wardell and Jumanji still had a spat over who rocked out first. Meanwhile the phrase flew around the internet, becoming an all-purpose slogan that went with everything.

Yet even at its most random and spontaneous, for all its complexity and ludicrous variants, the meme has never really ceased to be about paying tribute to a dead gorilla. Whats fascinating about the Harambe meme is that it simultaneously manages to encompass so many other parts of contemporary societal concerns at once, while still maintaining its primary focus.

On Metafilter Tuesday, a group of users had a prolonged and earnest conversation about whether they, and the rest of the internet, were memeing Harambe ironically or not. The fact that such a conversation can exist, with such fervent advocates for multiple interpretations of the meme, almost three months after Harambes death, makes the Harambe meme somewhat unprecedented. After all, with most other long-term memes, everyone reifying the meme is in on the message. Everyone knows theyre Rick-rolling ironically; everyone knows theyre ice-bucketing sincerely.

Harambe, though, is a different kind of meme; its Schrdingers meme, both ironic and sincere. And while many might feel that continuing to proliferate it on the internet is tantamount to flogging a dead ape, one thing remains true: As long as Harambe the meme survives, so will the memory of Harambe, the fallen gorilla.

Update: The Cincinnati Zoo has spoken out against Harambe"s post-life memeification. Zoo spokesperson Thane Maynardtold the Associated Press that the zoo was "not amused" by the meme and its many iterations, adding, "Our zoo family is still healing, and the constant mention of Harambe makes moving forward more difficult for us."

The most famous baboons on the internet explained

Source: http://www.vox.com/2016/8/17/12457468/harambe-meme-social-commentary-explained

Kasi Bennett: A "Kardashian" de Bolt

Usain Bolt Accused Of Cheating On Girlfriend Kasi Bennett & DMX Welcomes His 15th Child

Tem 26 anos, manequim e a mulher que conquistou o homem mais rpido do Mundo. Durante os Jogos Olmpicos do Rio de Janeiro, Kasi Bennett foi incansvel no apoio a Usain Bolt. Nas redes sociais celebrou as trs medalhas de ouro conquistadas pelo jamaicano, sem nunca esconder o orgulho que tem no atleta, com quem namora h cerca de trs anos. Tem mais de 50 mil seguidores no Instagram e considerada a Kardashian da Jamaica. Discreto na vida pessoal, o velocista publicou este ano uma foto rara do casal em que os vemos a danar de forma ousada. "A primeira-dama", escreveu Bolt sobre Kasi Bennett.

Source: http://www.record.xl.pt/jogo-da-vida/detalhe/kasi-bennetta-kardashian-de-bolt.html

33 WTF Moments From WWE SummerSlam 2016

Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler - WWE World Title Match: SummerSlam 2016, only on WWE Network
WWE.com

I would not like to be in SummerSlam"s flip flops after an absolutely stellar NXT TakeOver:Brooklyn II on Saturday night.

WWE"s "developmental" pulled another rabbit out of the hat as what looked like being a bit of a underwhelming card provided one of the best shows of the last decade. Every single match had its moments on a night that raised the bar for WWE pay per view events.

If "developmental" could put something like that on, surely the main roster could equal or better it, right?

The early signs looked good for SummerSlam, with a stacked 13 match card providing more than its fair share of big fights.

Both World Titles bouts, Orton/Lesnar, Banks/ Charlotte, Cena/Styles, Rusev/Reigns, and even JeriKO/Enzo and Cass all had me salivating like Pavlov"s dog at their respective prospects.

Has there been a better looking card in SummerSlam history? I don"t think there has...

Here are all the WTF Moments from WWE SummerSlam 2016. I haven"t included any happenings from the pre-show because if it"s not worthy of making the main card, then quite frankly it isn"t worth my time.

Although, I do have to acknowledge Neville"s !*$% falling out of his tights. How could I not acknowledge something is nuts as this? Urgh, I"m turning into a Doctor Gallows or Doctor Anderson. I"m better than that...

WWE.com

Source: http://whatculture.com/wwe/33-wtf-moments-from-wwe-summerslam-2016

Malicious Pokmon Spam, "NSA" Exploit Patched, Facebook Fails to Diversify: ICYMI

Harambe MEME REVIEW (R.I.P. HARAMBE TRIBUTE)

Heres some news you may have missed today:

An Irish security firm warns Pokmon Go spam is leading users to sites infected with malicious malware. Thousands of players have been targeted with a widespread SMS campaign offering free in-game currency.

Cisco has patched the so-called ExtraBacon exploit unearthed by Shadow Brokers, a mysterious entity auctioning off data allegedly stolen from an NSA-linked threat known as Equation Group. The exploit would have allowed the NSA to penetrate corporate networks and data centers.

The NSAs website is suffering intermittent downtime, stirring rumors about a possible link to the alleged Equation Group hack. It may be a DDoS attackor, as an unidentified source told FedScoop, an internal reviewbut either way, Patrick Howell ONeill writes, We"re all left to wonder why America"s top cyber operators can"t keep their website working.

Michael Moore, ahem, claims he knows for a fact that Donald Trump doesnt want to be president. The filmmaker and liberal activist, whos obviously not a big fan of Trump, says the Republican nominee"s recent cringeworthy gaffes are likely an attempt at self-sabotage.

Donald Trumps hire of Stephen Bannon, a Breitbart News executive, is likely to intensify the negativity surrounding the 2016 election. The move is expected to extinguish any semblance of Trump as a moderate candidate in line with the rest of the Republican Party, Layer 8 editor Andrew Couts writes.

Speaking of Breitbart, a former editor for the company went on CNN Wednesday to voice his opinion about Bannon"s new job. Ben Shapiro, colorfully describing Trump as a "t**d tornado," said the shake-up signaled the campaign intended to double down on the hostile strategy so far playing poorly with historically Republican voters.

Incentives offered to Facebooks recruiters for hiring new black, Hispanic, and female candidates apparently failed to further diversify the company: Facebooks workforce is still predominantly white and male. Diversity is just one part of the shift within the tech industry, writes Selena Larson, creating an inclusive environment in which these individuals can thrive is vital to making any progress.

Ivanka Trump is learning why a candidate"s family needs to be cautious when throwing cash around. A boutique jewelry company announced plans to donate the proceeds of a recent purchase by the Republican candidates daughter to Hillary Clinton. Critics have blasted the stunt as unprofessional, but as writer Jaya Saxena points out, Trump threw her own hat in the ring last month during the RNC.

Current mood

China is the first country to launch a quantum satellite into space in hopes of creating an unhackable communications system for the "post-Snowden age." via Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer, Popular Science

Vox valiantly attempts to kill the Harambe meme. They will fail. via Aja Romano, Vox

Donald Trump"s post-convention collapse appears to be having an effect on the Republican Party"s U.S. Senate candidates. via Harry Enten, FiveThirtyEight

Trump says he doesn"t trust the classified intelligence briefings he"s receiving from the current administration. Look what"s happened over the years, he said. It"s been catastrophic. via Nick Gass, Politico

Heres how DEA Special Agent Carl Force got caught trying to launder $700,000 from the Silk Road investigation. via Cyrus Farivar and Joe Mullin, Ars Technica

A top Canadian police organization vows to pursue a law that would force people to turn over their encryption passwords, given a judge"s consent. via Jordan Pearson, Motherboard

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/trump-breitbart-facebook-diversity-nsa-shadow-brokers-pokemon-spam/

Cincinnati Zoo takes down Twitter account amid Harambe meme onslaught

Ultimate Dank Memes Vine Compilation | BEST ONE 2016 DICKS OUT FOR HARAMBE

Cincinnati Zoo has deactivated its Twitter account after it was targeted in an online deluge of jokes and memes about Harambe, the gorilla shot and killed after a 3-year old boy got into his enclosure earlier this year.

The Twitter account was deactivated late Monday, according to media reports. The zoo has not yet responded to a request for comment on this story from FoxNews.com.

Social media expert and President of JRM Comm Jason Mollica told FoxNews.com that deactivating a social media account in a situation like this is unwise. People know that they can get under the Cincinnati Zoos skin now, so they are going to continue to post things, he said. I would advise the zoo not to delete their Twitter account because the only way to move forward is to show people the great things they are doing there.

Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynards Twitter account was reportedly hacked recently and used to send out a series of Harambe-related tweets, one of which contained an expletive. WCPO Cincinnati reports that the account appeared to be back in Maynards hands late Sunday. However, like the zoos Twitter account, Maynards account was unavailable Tuesday.

Harambe remembrances began soberly, with a "Justice for Harambe" petition seeking to hold the boy"s mother responsible in his May 28 death. The county prosecutor ruled there was no cause for charges. The zoo reopened its gorilla exhibit with a higher, reinforced barrier and urged support for gorilla conservation efforts.

But the zoo"s hopes of moving on have been countered by all the continued reminders.

The late 17-year-old great ape has shown up in tongue-in-cheek petitions to rename the hometown Cincinnati Bengals, to add his face to Mount Rushmore or the Lincoln Memorial, and to put him on the dollar bill. He has grown the angel wings and halo of a deity in social media memorials.

He"s even been mock-nominated for president.

"We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe," Maynard told the Associated Press, via email. "Our zoo family is still healing, and the constant mention of Harambe makes moving forward more difficult for us. We are honoring Harambe by redoubling our gorilla conservation efforts and encouraging others to join us."

The Harambe phenomenon turned ugly in June, when images were posted on a Facebook page likening Adam Goodes, a retired Australian football player of indigenous ancestry, to the ape. They were pulled down and the page apologized. Twitter got caught in a similar controversy after racial posts about "Ghostbusters" star Leslie Jones, who is black, included a Harambe comparison. The social media site recently announced two new settings aimed at curbing harassment.

Social media users like to satirize controversies. "Never Forget #Harambe," read posts accompanying Harambe"s photo superimposed on sculptures, above cityscapes, among famous dead people such as Muhammad Ali or John F. Kennedy. Some Twitter users routinely add the hashtag #RIPHarambe even to posts that have nothing to do with him.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/08/23/cincinnati-zoo-takes-down-twitter-account-amid-harambe-meme-onslaught.html