British Constitution

If Omar Mateen was a disciple of “radical Islam,” as Donald Trump angrily described him, and “one of the soldiers of the caliphate,” as the Islamic State approvingly deemed him, he wasn’t a very impressive one, ideologically speaking. Mateen didn’t observe Islam terribly faithfully or seem to know much about what Islamists call the “true path.” According to FBI Director James Comey, in the past few years Mateen confusingly expressed support for both the Islamic State and Hezbollah—even though the latter group is an avowed enemy of the Islamic State and is fighting against it in Syria on the side of Bashar Assad. The night he slaughtered 49 people in Orlando on Sunday, Mateen swore allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at the last minute and with apparent self-doubt. Mateen called 911 twice, hanging up at first before finally fulfilling ISIS’s injunction to self-starter terrorists to declare allegiance to the group publicly before they act.

Based on the accounts of his aquaintances and family, Mateen also appears to have been a deeply conflicted and possibly self-loathing homophobe who drank heavily, took drugs, dated men, frequented the same club he later attacked, Pulse, and used a gay dating app—not the sort of behavior one would expect of a faithful soldier of Islam.

Yes, Mateen was a terrorist—but what kind of terrorist? He had no known ISIS or Al Qaeda connection; he wasn’t getting operating orders from abroad; he hadn’t gone overseas to be trained; he followed no predicable course of radicalization. Mateen appears, in fact, to have been less a soldier than yet another deeply disturbed American (born in Trump’s own home borough of Queens), who was full of hatred and uncontrollable anger—an example of what law enforcement officials describe as an aspiring violent criminal searching for a larger justification for the acts he’s desperate to commit.

Okay, staff, I am super freaking pissed about the update and here’s why. 

I cannot read your new format. 

I’m not trying to be whiny or nitpicky or over-dramatic. I can appreciate that you were attempting to make things look more organised/less confusing/whatever. I also expect the new format is a great improvement for people who have screen readers. That’s great. That’s fine. 

I just cannot freaking read this. I have dyslexia, and my dyslexia is set off by pictures, bold, italics, anything that is more “interesting” to my brain than plain, unadorned text.

Like this monstrosity:

Look at it. Just look at it. The pictures get in between the lines of text, there’s distracting colors and pictures everywhere. The names are bolded when they’re really not the most important thing. Looking at this, I see everything except what I’m supposed to see, that cheesy series of puns. (No pun intended.)

You literally couldn’t have made a worse format for me if you’d tried.

The thing is, your format was what made me really like Tumblr in the first place. It was super clear who was writing something new, because look, there was a freaking line pointing right to it. Unless someone started writing in all caps or bold or whatever, all the text in a post had the same amount of emphasis. Finally, SOMETHING ON THE INTERNET I COULD READ.

And now, now I can’t read any of it at all. 

So yeah, I’m pissed. 

Like, I know that you’re not going to change it back, because you never seem to listen when anyone on your site complains about anything. I’m not sure why I bothered writing this to you guys, given your track record. 

But now’s your chance to prove me wrong. Seriously, the least you could do is give us an option here. You’ve still got the old code. Just stick a button somewhere to revert to the old format so I can enjoy my text posts in peace. 

Sincerely, 

FDA and Greed to Blame for Rising Drug Prices; Not Capitalism

The Pharmaceutical CEO who raised the price of his life saving drug by 5000% has drawn a lot of criticism from media, politicians and the public. But he isn’t a rare example, rather he is just one example of the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the FDA that has harming consumers.

I’m not the biggest fan of Ben Swann, but he is correct here.  Shkreli might be a terrible businessman, but government regulation is ultimately to blame.

Facebook Adds New Feature For Suicide Prevention

“wish you were queer”

Call the cops.

HERE is a list of crisis hotlines for rape and abuse. Most of them are 24/7 hotlines. 

HERE is a list of crisis hotlines by state. 

In addition to giving you the compassion your rapist clearly won’t, they might be able to advise you on possible next steps: what to tell the police, how to get a test done.