Rumpus Roundup
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Dakota Access Pipeline: A Rumpus Roundup
Protecting the Water. Mni Wiconi. Water is Life. Over the last few weeks, thousands of Indigenous people, representing hundreds of tribes, have gathered together on the banks of the Cannonball River, on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation…
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Philando Castile: A Rumpus Roundup
On Wednesday evening, police shot and killed St. Paul Minnesota resident Philando Castile after stopping him for a broken tail light. More than five hundred police shootings have occurred so far this year, and Alton Sterling’s Philando Castile’s death might…
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Alton Sterling: A Rumpus Roundup
If the regular mass shootings have been the distraction you needed to forget about America’s ongoing police violence, Baton Rouge, Louisiana would like to remind everyone that, too, is still a problem. On Monday evening, police shot and killed 37-year-old Alton…
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Peter Thiel’s War on Free Speech: A Rumpus Roundup
Last week, tech billionaire Peter Thiel admitted to funding lawsuits against Gawker Media, including the lawsuit brought by Hulk Hogan. Hogan won a $140 million judgment against Gawker after the site published a small portion of a recording of Hogan…
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The Panama Papers: A Rumpus Roundup
Over the weekend, journalists announced a leak of 11.5 million files from the law firm of Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm specializing in corporations designed to take advantage of offshore tax havens. On April 1st, Mossack Fonseca sent a…
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Grantland: A Rumpus Roundup
At the end of October, ESPN announced that Grantland, the sports and culture website it had acquired, would cease publication. Some commentators claimed the site should have been shuttered sooner when Bill Simmons, the “voice” of Grantland, parted ways with…
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New Zealand Just Banned a Book: A Rumpus Roundup
New Zealand, an otherwise seemingly modern nation, has just banned a book. Ted Dawe’s Into the River was banned this week in the island nation where it is now a crime to supply, display, or distribute the book with fines starting…
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Ellen Pao: A Rumpus Roundup
On Friday, Ellen Pao resigned as CEO of Reddit, one of the largest sites in the world by traffic. She left amid a controversy created by efforts to civilize an online community often seen as hostile towards women and other…
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Marriage Equality: A Rumpus Roundup
On June 26th, the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that states must allow same-sex couples to marry and that they must recognize marriages performed in other states. The ruling ends the bans against same-sex marriage that existed in…
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Rachel Dolezal: A Rumpus Roundup
Six months ago, Rachel Dolezal, an academic and the president-elect of NAACP Spokane chapter, wrote an op-ed piece piece describing the importance of the #BlackLivesMatter protest movement. On Monday, she resigned her post at the NAACP surrounded in controversy. Dolezal…
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World Cup Slaves: A Rumpus Roundup
Earlier today, the United States Attorney General charged 14 FIFA officials with 47 counts of corruption, racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. FIFA is the international association that oversees football (soccer), including the World Cup. Pundits have already begun to…
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Emma Sulkowicz: A Rumpus Roundup
Emma Sulkowicz graduated from Columbia University yesterday. She might have gone unnoticed had she not also been carrying around a mattress. In her sophomore year at Columbia, Sulkowicz was raped. Like many rape victims, Sulkowicz considered her attacker a friend,…