Protest

Parks and Recreation were months ahead of their time. All Paul Rudd memes belong in a museum.

This was from the list of 15 Funniest Parks And Recreation Memes via the website Know Your Meme in their Editorial section.

As the numbers continue to pour in, and it becomes clear that more people in America wanted Hillary Clinton to be president than wanted Donald Trump to be, those who voted with a majority of America are trying to expedite the president elect’s removal. But they aren’t turning law books, they’re turning to Google. Not Bing. Not Ask Jeeves. Google. Because when you need to find out how to impeach a president, accept no substitutes.

via Wiffle Gif

According to Metro, searches for “how to impeach a president” have surged by almost 5,000 percent (4,850 percent, to be exact). Meanwhile, online petitions to impeach Trump have begun to spring up and have received thousands of signatures, including one that has collected 13,322 names.

So it’s clear, this is a subject of major public interest, but what do the experts say? Well, thanks to Trump University, the public might have a case.

The Daily Mail reports:

“University of Utah Law professor Christopher Peterson said he found evidence to charge Trump with fraud and racketeering — felonies within state and federal law.

“'In the United States, it is illegal for businesses to use false statements to convince consumers to purchase their services,' Mr Peterson said. 'The evidence indicates that Trump University used a systemic pattern of fraudulent representations to trick thousands of families into investing in a program that can be argued was a sham.’

'Fraud and racketeering are serious crimes that legally rise to the level of impeachable acts.’”

Can you impeach a president before they take the oath? I'm asking for a friend.

— deray mckesson (@deray) November 9, 2016

 Tell your friend: Maybe.

Just a quick update on all those Facebook check-ins in North Dakota yesterday. As it turns out, the Morton County Sheriff's Department says that it is not looking at check-ins to verify protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline. 

The Morton County Sheriff's Department took to Facebook and said: 

via @MortonCountySD

Yesterday, thousands of Facebook users "checked in" at Standing Rock Indian reservation in Cannon Ball, ND in hopes of confusing police and showing support for the activists.

Despite the validity of the original post, The LA Times says, "Some Native American activists still welcomed the check-ins as another form of showing support for the months-long protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline, proposed to run past tribal land on its route between North Dakota and Illinois."

Does this look familiar to you? Are you one of the 130,000 people at Standing Rock Reservaton in Cannon Ball, ND?

By most estimates, probably not, but that hasn’t stopped possibly you and a good chunk of your Facebook friends from checking-in at Standing Rock today.

If you’re one of the countless people who were wondering why all of your friends were suddenly in North Dakota, they're not. The check-in is part of a viral social media campaign to confuse the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, who is allegedly using Facebook geotags to round up protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline or DAPL. In addition to the check-ins, a handy explainer has been going around Facebook as well. Most of them read something like this:

This is all done in service of standing in solidarity with the protestors of the controversial pipeline, which cost billions of dollars and aims to connect the Bakken and Three Forks oil pipelines, which, altogether, could transport nearly 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day. However, among other things, DAPL will cut through Sioux Native American reservations.

“The Standing Rock Sioux opposes the pipeline's construction near the Sioux reservation on the grounds that it threatens their public health and welfare, water supply and cultural resources,” writes Aaron Sidder of Smithsonian. “What began as a small protest camp in April on the Standing Rock reservation has since morphed into an encampment with over 1,000 people. Over the past few months, the Sacred Stone Camp, as it is now called, has been the site of a number of antagonistic face offs between protesters and the oil company.”

"The Standing Rock Sioux maintains that the government did not properly consult with them prior to shifting the pipeline’s route, and that the new crossing would entail destruction of sacred spots and old burial grounds."

There is still speculation, however, as to the validity of the Facebook campaign. According to Snopes, the Facebook post is still “Unproven,” so its affiliation to actual police activity is still unconfirmed.

We’ll have to wait and see if this form of protest is effective or not, or even if the Morton County Sheriff’s Department is using these Facebook check-ins to smoke out protesters. Until then, you’ll likely see more check-ins over the next day or so.

More than 11,000 people were marching against gay marriage in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico on Sept. 10th. Queue our hero, a 12-year-old Mexican boy, who stood against the crowd as a solitary voice of reason against the tide of oppression.

Afterwards, the child said, "I have an uncle who is gay and I hate the hatred."

Same-sex marriage has been legalized in Mexico City and 9 of the nation's 31 states. There are challenges currently underway in the 22 other states.

Wow! This photo! 12-Year-Old Mexican Boy Attempts to Block Thousands of Anti-Gay Protesters: https://t.co/qmHip9lA03 pic.twitter.com/uH93PYEONC

— Zack Ford (@ZackFord) September 12, 2016

See the people marching here.

His moment was reminiscent of the Tiananmen Square "Tank Man" in Beijing in 1989:




We won't stop saying it, because it's the truth no matter where you live:



Support Human Rights Campaign Here, or Freedom to Marry here.

Taxi drivers are blocking traffic in Toronto in protest of Uber taking away profits from taxi companies. It's not a secret that taxi companies don't like dealing with Uber which gets around many of the regulations that taxis have to follow by labeling their service as "ride sharing".

Does that mean it's okay to try to break a stranger's window because you suspect them of being an Uber driver? No.

At least some people have a sense of humor about the incident.


via@seannay

Many people on Twitter think the taxi driver protest is just making people hate the taxi industry more.


via @SunBryMyers

Others are making the point that the taxi industry's real problem isn't Uber, it's that they need to adapt and get better at service and technology.


via @iv0rychick


via @FrankMargani

You dildon't want to miss out on this protest.

In response to a new law passed in Texas that allows students to carry concealed guns on campus, some students at The University of Texas at Austin are planning a very unique way to speak out.

A Facebook event using the hashtag #CocksNotGlocks is encouraging students to strap sex toys onto their backpacks August 2016 to protest.

Event organizer Jessica Jin had this to say about the protest:

"'You're carrying a gun to class? Yeah well I'm carrying a HUGE D*LDO,'" she said in the group's description. "Just about as effective at protecting us from sociopathic shooters, but much safer for recreational play."

If you say so, Jessica.

These high school students gave themselves an 'A', a scarlet one.

Frustrated by the Charleston County School of the Arts' dress code, finding it demeaning and sexist, students decided to take matters into their own hands.

Post and Courier gives the details:

Reese Fischer, a junior creative writing student at the school who helped organize the protest, said she doesn't oppose the dress code. But, based on her experience, faculty members enforce the dress code more strictly against girls than boys, and against heavy-set girls than smaller girls, she said.

"Especially in the summer, you see guys walking around in muscle tank tops with half their sides hanging out and their pants hanging down, and they don't get called out for that," Fischer said. "They don't get called out for wearing a hat, but a girl will get called out for a short skirt in a second."

...School of the Arts' dress code states that "appropriate, decent and non-distracting attire must be worn" and prohibits hats indoors, exposed underwear, bare skin "between upper chest and mid thigh," shoulder straps less than two fingers wide, and clothing that features inflammatory or profane messages. Students who break the dress code can be sent to an administrator's office and told to change into a school-owned T-shirt and sweatpants.

So Fischer put out a call to action on Instagram last week.



Her post read:

Hi! As many of you heard, there's a new dress code policy being enforced as of tomorrow that will require students to leave class and sit in the office until their dress code violation is 'dealt with'. Also, for a teacher to send you to the office they do not have to dictate whether or not you're in dress code, [they just have to] simply question it. Many students find it incredibly offensive that their outfits are being held at a higher importance than their education. ...

Tomorrow, Sept. 24, it would be awesome if we could get as many people as possible to incorporate a red 'A' into their outfits, as the red 'A' is a famous symbol for 'sin.' We'll keep this page updated as frequently as possible so that the movement is cohesive and effective. Thank you for standing up for what's fair (that everyone should be treated with equal respect).

Post and Courier said the protest went very well.

Fischer said that on the first day of the protest last Thursday, about 100 students — as well as some faculty — wore a homemade red A on their clothing, sometimes as part of a slogan, "Not A Distraction." The red letter A is a reference to the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel "The Scarlet Letter," in which 17th-century Puritans force a young woman to wear the letter after finding her guilty of adultery.

A week in, and students are still adding the letter to their clothes.

Way to find a civil way to stand up for yourself and get your point across!

Tens of thousands rallied to the Sol Square in Madrid to protest Sept. 15's Toro de la Vega festival, wherein local men chase down a bull and hurl spears at it until its dead. Why would anyone have a problem with that?

If you can believe it, the festival is said to have begun in 1534. Without Internet, television and probably a largely illiterate population, chasing down a bull would probably seem like some pretty stellar entertainment.

The BBC describes the proceedings even futher:

The Toro de la Vega festival is unique in that after the bull is run through the town, chasing daredevil participants through the streets in a similar fashion to Pamplona's famous San Fermin event, the beast is not fought by professional matadors in a ring.

Instead, all comers battle for the honour of killing the animal out in the open plain, some on horseback, others on foot. The winner of the tournament trophy is the one who lands the mortal wound on the bull, bringing it to its knees before an accredited expert deals a coup de grace to the animal's neck.

Supporters of the nearly 500-year-old tradition say it is the purest of battles between man and bull, pointing to strict rules against wounding the animal from the side or attacking in numbers rather than one by one.

But of course, this festival is seen as an act of barbarism by many in Spain and abroad. It sparked large protests last year with accusations of assault on both sides of the issue — not including those four injured by the chased bull.



And then this year, the protests swelled and erupted on social media as well:

Don't kill animals just for fun! We're not troglodytes Help us! "Rompesuelas needs your help! NO Toro de la Vega pic.twitter.com/5g5yfUsOPg

— Jesusf. (@Jesusf_Malaka) September 15, 2015

If you don't know "The Toro de la Vega" it's were a bunch of cretins with spears stab a toro over and over again until it finally dies.

— Ooh no you didn't.. (@VKateMitchell) September 15, 2015

Despite thousands protesting against abuse, the next victim of the Toro de la Vega is set to be killed tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/Spt2fectXX

— jc.....55! (@jczv) September 14, 2015

It could be a sign of ever-more divisive political sides, raising ethical consciousness or the outrage over Cecil the Lion has found a new target.

Whatever it is, there won't be a happy ending for that bull this year.

A prisoner in a maximum security Manchester prison climbed up to the roof sometime on Sunday demanding better prison conditions and heckling prison guards.

Horner is now sitting on top of #strangeways roof and is shouting to prisoners in cells pic.twitter.com/CvN9z6Q14I

— Katie Butler (@KatieButlerMEN) September 14, 2015

According to The Guardian:

Convicted murderer Stuart Horner has been on the roof of the jail, also known as HM Prison Manchester, since about 2pm on Sunday, defying efforts to talk him down and shouting to fellow prisoners, who are on lockdown in their cells.

...Pictures from the scene show a man perched on the gable roof of the 19th-century, panopticon-style prison, which was slick with early morning rain. On Sunday night, according to the Manchester Evening News (MEN), he was seen climbing poles on the roof, removing his jogging bottoms and shouting remarks such as: "100% reoffender".

Horner, who is visible and audible from the rooftop above the walls of the jail, has complained about prison conditions and shouted he wants to change prison history.

Here's a video showing Horner letting out his aggression on the prison: