Andrew.frampton

At this writing over 55,000 85,000 101,000 120,000 132,000 182,000 people are watching the below live-stream as Democratic Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis enters the twelfth hour of her filibuster to block a bill that would shut down 37 of the state's 44 abortion clinics. Note: The sound on the below feed is occasionally turned off as GOP reps attempt to argue points of order to end Davis' speech.

UPDATE: The live-stream is concluded.
Images via Memeographs.

Need a good long cathartic cry? It’s unlikely you’ll find anything more worthy than this video of Bette Midler, who phoned Anna Greenberg, a longtime superfan of the entertainer, in the hospital battling cancer to chat about her condition, thank her for her support and sing one of her signature songs, “The Wind Beneath My Wings.” Not long after the video was taped Greenberg died at age 28.

h/t: Yahoo

GREAT NEWS, GUYS! RACISM IS OVER— well, over-ish. At least it is according to today's 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that a key component of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional.

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Two stories of a seemingly different sort captured Americans attention yesterday: The flight (pun!) of Edward Snowden, and the hunt for Rusty the red panda.

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While customers in a Washington, D.C. restaurant watched, cheered and filmed, drag performer Heidi Glüm sustained multiple injuries during a violent and bloody attack on June 22 which the victim described as “really petty drunk girl nonsense that escalated into insanity.”

Glüm, whose real name is Miles DeNiro, told Queerty that female patrons of Manny & Olgas, a popular D.C. pizzeria, approached him and made derogatory comments about his makeup and shoes.

“The Latino girl was touching my face telling me I needed to blend my makeup while her African-American friend was trying to bully me for wearing Christian Louboutin heels.”

The victim said he has ”three large bumps and a huge gash” on his head, as well several cuts on his arms. He also noted that he’s suffered hair loss, which continues “to come out in clumps when I touch it.”

Queerty watched the video on YouTube before it was taken down and replaced with the message “This video has been removed as a violation of YouTube’s policy on shocking and disgusting content.” It’s indeed filled with disturbing images and sounds. At the :31 mark in the video, someone can clearly be heard saying “beat her ass” though it’s unknown to whom the order is directed. And after it’s over DeNiro is obviously reeling from pain with blood streaming down his face.

Where was the restaurant staff during the melee? DeNiro told Queerty they remained behind the counter working and ignored the fight. In the video one employee appeared to push his way past the throng of onlookers to carry on with his delivery duties. Equally disturbing is the glee with which the restaurants patrons watched and even encouraged the fight. Some pulled out smart phones to film the fracas and one repeatedly yells “World Star,” a hip-hop-oriented website to which he uploaded the video with the pejorative “tranny” used in the title, rather than trying to break it up. DeNiro said he believes the two men who actually tried to stop the fight rushed in from outside the restaurant.

DeNiro said he didn’t file a police report immediately after the altercation and that he had been ”waiting for a video to surface to help support my case. I saw a multitude of phones capturing it while I was being attacked, and only found the video a few hours ago.” He did, however, comment on the fight on his Twitter account with the following tweets:

 

Just got Jumped by two girls at manny and olgas. Let them WHALE on me because I don’t hit nappy headed niggers

— Heidi Glüm (@milesdeniro) June 23, 2013

 

Im not sorry for what I said. In a fight with women,all I have is words as a male. Im not going to jail for their ignorance. #LetThemHaveIt

— Heidi Glüm (@milesdeniro) June 23, 2013

This is not a painting. It's actually a game called Morphopolis.

If you've ever played Machinarium, you'll find this game somewhat familiar. The game with robots and an industrial backdrop was actually an influence to Morphopolis, the creators say.

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Check it out here:

This hidden object game will be out this summer for Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, Android, iOS and Blackberry.

via Indie Statik

To contact the author of this post, write to tina@kotaku.com or find her on Twitter at @tinaamini.

Outside of those Steubenville comments, Serena Williams gave other eyebrow-raising quotes in her Rolling Stone interview, specifically one about Maria Sharapova.

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A couple of weeks ago, Anne Belanger of New Westminster, British Columbia, was heartbroken to see her son's second grade class picture. Seven-year-old Miles Ambridge was smiling brightly, sitting in his wheelchair, off to the side of his class. Miles has spinal muscular atrophy, which does not affect his cognitive abilities, but prevents him from walking. The stigma of being different from the other kids was bad enough without being pushed off to the side in a photo that will last forever. Miles' parents asked the photo company to reshoot the picture, and posted the image to the photo company's website, from which it went viral.

Belanger thinks it was Miles’s smile in the photo that struck a chord with so many.

“He’s just so happy,” she said. “And that’s the thing — he’s oblivious to the whole thing but he’s so happy and he wants to fit in.”

Last week, Lifetouch Canada admitted its photographer made a mistake and said it had already retaken the photo.

Lifetouch said it trains its photographers to arrange students differently when working with a child in a wheelchair. In this case, the composition “wasn’t done right,” said territory manager Dean Cochrane.

In the new picture, Miles appears with his group just like any child.

“You can’t pick him out this time,” she said. “For him, to fit in, this is what it should be.”

Miles was never shown the first picture, and is delighted with the second. Link -via Arbroath

Pikachu sure is cute. Well, save for the times that the yellow Pocket Monster is utterly terrifying.

Over the years, numerous scary Pikachus have popped up on the internet—this and this, for instance. There are many more examples, but here's a quick look at some, not all, of the standouts that have been spotted around Japan, China, South Korea and beyond.

You might have seen some of these. Maybe not. Have a look and feel free to shudder.

Photos: kagalli13, low211, kyanaleen, 10fucking_laugh, wai_bot, namajun, 中国政治Blog, kimkayoo, kedamono, shiiro22, KoTa_OTL, ちょねっとの日常日記

To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.

Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.

Max here. We’re short, stubby and entirely wonderful. We bounce along with very little ground clearance, but generally don’t have a care in the world- we’ve got the world wrapped around our stubby little feet paws. But do you ever wonder what really makes us tick? You’re about to find out. Then some pix of my pals Trinket, Corgnelius, his new lil’ bro Stump Stump, and a new friend, Jackson Stubbington! Enjoy. -MS

~Le Creditos s’il vous plaît~
Video from William Haynes.
Photo 1 of Trinket from Paul P.
Photo 2 thru 8 from Corgnelius The Corgis Tumblr.
Photo 9 of Jackson Gatsby Stubbington from his blog.
*Technical stuffs: Corgnelius/Stumphrey photos taken with a Sony NEX-5N.*

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Corgis, Max Stubbular

Torrential monsoons have wrought havoc in Northern India this week, triggering cloudbursts, landslides and deadly floods.

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There was plenty of talent to go around at last weekend's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival: Paul McCartney, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Wilco, Kendrick Lamar, Bob Saget.

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