🐱 Interesting clickbait, op-eds, fluff pieces and other smaller stories

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/24/caitlyn-jenner-halloween-costume-sparks-social-media-outrage-.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...een-costume-labeled-817515?utm_source=twitter

It's nowhere near October, but one ensemble is already on track to be named the most controversial Halloween costume of 2015.

Social media users were out in full force on Monday criticizing several Halloween retailers for offering a Caitlyn Jenner costume reminiscent of the former-athlete's Vanity Fair cover earlier this year.

While Jenner's supporters condemned the costume as "transphobic" and "disgusting" on Twitter, Spirit Halloween, a retailer that carries the costume, defended the getup.

"At Spirit Halloween, we create a wide range of costumes that are often based upon celebrities, public figures, heroes and superheroes," said Lisa Barr, senior director of marking at Spirit Halloween. "We feel that Caitlyn Jenner is all of the above and that she should be celebrated. The Caitlyn Jenner costume reflects just that."

 

[MuuMuu Bunnylips]

Female Aboriginal

Wait; you mean an injun can actually hold down a job?

 

[neverendingmidi]

A house was listed that a number of people found rather... humorous.

Spoiler: NSFW Possibly? If they know what they’re looking at

It’s has a sex dungeon. And the realtor posted these pics apparently not knowing what the furniture was, before deleting them. But the Internet is Forever.

 

[AnOminous]

A house was listed that a number of people found rather... humorous.

Spoiler: NSFW Possibly? If they know what they’re looking at

It’s has a sex dungeon. And the realtor posted these pics apparently not knowing what the furniture was, before deleting them. But the Internet is Forever.
View attachment 660528

Is it really a sex dungeon if it's that well lit?

 

[Norvic]

Tigers were put together through breeding programme that hopes to save species from extinction

Melati and two of her cubs. Photograph: Richard Gray/PA


A Sumatran tiger kept at London zoo has been killed by its potential mate during their first meeting. Keepers had hoped the big cats would breed but have been left devastated after Asim, the male they brought in, attacked Melati.

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) kept the two tigers in adjacent enclosures for 10 days to allow them to become accustomed to each other. After their keepers saw positive signs, they decided to make the “high-risk” introduction on Friday morning.


FacebookTwitterPinterest
Asim, the newly arrived tiger. Photograph: ZSL London Zoo/PA
“Their introduction began as predicted but quickly escalated into a more aggressive interaction. Zoo staff immediately implemented their prepared response, using loud noises, flares and alarms to try and distract the pair, but Asim had already overpowered Melati,” the ZSL said.

“Zookeepers were eventually able to secure Asim in a separate paddock so that they could safely get to Melati where our vets confirmed that she had sadly died. Everyone at ZSL London Zoo is devastated by the loss of Melati, and we are heartbroken by this turn of events.”

The 10-year-old female had had three litters with her former mate, Jae Jae, and an image of her playing with one of her cubs was featured among the Guardian’s photos of the day in September 2016. The ZSL said five of her cubs survived to adulthood and have since been rehoused across Europe.


FacebookTwitterPinterest
Melati with one of her cubs at London Zoo Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA
Asim, who is seven years old, was brought in from Denmark on 29 January, with Jae Jae heading to a French park. Keepers had assessed Asim as a “confident cat who is known for being very affectionate with the ladies”. He was matched with Melati through a Europe-wide breeding programme that aims to save the species from extinction and keepers in London had high hopes the plan would work.

Early signs were encouraging. “There has been lots of ‘chuffing’, which is a happy sound they make to let each other know they have good intentions,” they said shortly after Asim’s arrival in London. “It’s fantastic to see that they’re interested in each other already.”

But they cautioned meetings between big cats, however carefully planned, are “always considered to be high risk”. ZSL said its Tiger Territory attraction would remain closed for the rest of Friday while its team focused on caring for Asim.

Oops. Maybe their disaster plan should have included a tranquilliser gun.

 

[nostalgiaisadrug]

https://www.monstersandcritics.com/...tion-pewdiepie-and-others-send-their-support/

YouTuber Eugenia Cooney hasn’t updated her social media accounts for over a week, leading to speculation that she is dead. However, there is nothing to suggest that she actually is.

Her last video was another Kingdom Hearts Kairi cosplay and makeup tutorial, but showed what appeared to be dramatic weight-loss — with her bones and skeletal structure clearly visible.

Many have speculated that Eugenia suffers from bulimia or anorexia, however she has previously denied any claims that she has an eating disorder.

Popular YouTubers including Keemstar, Onision, and PewDiePie have urged their viewers to send her support.

On January 28, Eugenia Cooney took to Twitter to state that she is alive and was surprised to hear rumors about her death.

However, she hasn’t returned to social media since her last hiatus, which was for about one week — leading to renewed speculation.

Eugenia Cooney has not released a statement on any of the latest developments.

 

[Norvic]

Jesus. Permanently cosplaying as a holocaust survivor. No one needs to see that.

 

[Absolutego]

I find this girl even more disturbing than Ashley Isaacs since the anorexia hasn't affected her face as much and the disconnect between head/body is incredibly off-putting.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

I don't often say this but damn girl you'd be so pretty if you put on thirty or forty pounds.

 

[neverendingmidi]

Nobody has arms like that without either anorexia or being a famine victim.

 

[Quijibo69]

Donald Duck just called, he wants you to eat a sandwich.

 

[Mender Bug]

When I first saw the thread title I already knew it was about Eugene Cooney. It's been a long time since I've since a recent picture of her, and couldn't have imagined that she could get any worse.

Spoiler: Onion Content

As much of a scumbag onision is, his video about her is pretty funny.

 

[MeatRokket08]

I was appalled when I first saw her online, even more when I read the comments on Twitter and Facebook praising her appearance, unaware that they're just enabling her to stay like this. Anorexia is a severe issue, just like obesity, and it should be treated as such.

 

[trannyfucker]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/pol...er-stripping-off-during-radio-4-a4061541.html

A Brexit protester has challenged Jacob Rees-Mogg to a naked debate after stunning BBC Radio 4’s John Humphrys by stripping off during a live interview.

Dr Victoria Bateman, an economics fellow at Cambridge University, invited the prominent Tory Brexiteer to discuss the the UK's withdrawal from the EU as she appeared on the Today programme without any clothes on.

When she sat down for the interview, she was wearing a coat but she then took Mr Humphrys by surprise and removed it.

The academic, who is known to argue the benefits of the bloc in the nude, had the words "Brexit leaves Britain naked" written across her body as she was interviewed by Mr Humphrys.

She said: "I invite Jacob Rees-Mogg to do a naked debate with me and we will get to the roots of this issue.

"Britain faces many, many problems right now from housing to the NHS, and the European Union is not the cause of those problems."

Dr Victoria Bateman, an economics fellow at Cambridge University, is interviewed by John Humphreys (PA)
She said she decided to talk about Brexit with nothing on to demonstrate that leaving the EU is the "emperor's new clothes".

She told the programme: "I have myself written thousands of words looking at why Brexit is bad for Britain, but I thought it would be useful to reduce all of those words down, condense all of those words down to one powerful message: Brexit is the emperor's new clothes - that Britain has sold itself a project that cannot possibly deliver on what it promised."

Asked whether she is simply an "exhibitionist", Dr Bateman said: "I am completely comfortable with my own body, I view women's bodies as one of the big battlegrounds that we face today.

"And actually by engaging with society about women's bodies, one of the things it shows is the way in which people are quick to judge women purely based on their bodies.


"For thousands of years men have controlled what women can do with their bodies, and women's bodies have been seen as something purely existing for sex and for babies.

"So what is wrong with a modern day woman taking control of her body and using it to give voice to what is the most depressing political subject in Britain right now?"

Co-presenter Nick Robinson noted at the end of the interview: "I want you to know that my computer screen was strategically placed so I have only been listening to what was being said."

Spoiler: more nudes

(video: https://twitter.com/vnbateman/status/1017484737743646721?s=21)

Yes, her name really is 'Bateman'. And no, she hasn't invited tribute cum videos on Pornhub.

Here's her fully nude video on why she's not a whore for getting naked constantly: https://twitter.com/vnbateman/status/1093452378408407042

She does the titty drop during this video: https://twitter.com/vnbateman/status/1090187677847248897

I'd be worried about grool on the furniture tbh?

https://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/people/victoria-bateman

http://vnbateman.com/

(She's 39, btw)

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

She looks like a deformed eighth grader imo

 

[CWCissey]

At least trim your minge love.

 

[MuuMuu Bunnylips]

I was appalled when I first saw her online, even more when I read the comments on Twitter and Facebook praising her appearance, unaware that they're just enabling her to stay like this. Anorexia is a severe issue, just like obesity, and it should be treated as such.

If she shaved off her hair, she could cosplay as one of the aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind:

 

[LN 910]

tfw you can't respond to Trump without bingeing britbong capeshit first

Original article:

Is there anything Time Lords can’t do? Democrat Stacey Abrams received widespread acclaim for her televised response to Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night and it turns out she calmed herself by watching several episodes of Doctor Who prior to going in front of the camera.

“I watched about three episodes of Doctor Who and just kind of chilled out,” Abrams told the hosts of Buzzfeed’s AM to DM show, detailing her pre-speech prep.

Pressed to elaborate on which era of Doctor Who she was watching, Abrams said, “So, I’m catching up. I started watching the new iteration of Doctor Who probably about a year ago, so I’ve watched the last season of Peter Capaldi and all of the new. But I had to go all the way back, because over New Year’s they did a Doctor Who marathon on BBC, so I’m now up to Season 8, so I just watched the end of Matt Smith and the oncoming of Peter Capaldi.”

Abrams later clarified her position on which is her favorite Doctor via Twitter, while also establishing her old school Doctor Who credentials.

“I’ve liked all of the newest regenerations since its return (some more than others), but Tom Baker remains the one Doctor to rule them all,” she wrote.

Baker played the so-called Fourth Doctor on the time travel show in the ’70s, later returning to make a cameo appearance in the show’s 50th-anniversary episode in 2013.

The absolute state of Democrats. Proof they're absolutely Doctor Doomed

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

This is just like that one time Harry Potter used the triforce to defeat Emperor Palpatine!

 

[CWCissey]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47179344

Sir Philip Green paid a female employee more than £1m to keep quiet after she accused him of kissing and groping her, the Daily Telegraph has reported.

The paper said the senior female employee was one of five members of staff who signed gagging orders after being bullied or harassed.

It reported a black male executive also received £1m after Sir Philip said he was "throwing spears in the jungle".

The Topshop boss denies allegations he behaved wrongly.

Lawyers representing Sir Philip told the Telegraph that he was a "passionate businessman, who can at times be over-exuberant and hot-headed" and that he could be "perceived at times as aggressive with senior and trusted staff".

Sir Philip's lawyers added: "It is further denied that any of Sir Philip's conduct towards employees amounted to any type of crime, or anything that would amount to gross misconduct, or a serious risk to health and safety."

The billionaire had previously used an injunction to stop the paper from publishing the allegations six months ago.

But the paper continued fighting a legal battle against the billionaire, and on Friday his action against the paper was formally ended by a High Court judge.

• Sir Philip Green drops Telegraph injunction

• What are non-disclosure agreements?

In the meantime, last October, Sir Philip's identity became widely known when Lord Hain used the protection of parliamentary privilege to name the businessman in the House of Lords, saying he was "standing up for human rights".

Shortly after he was identified, Sir Philip repeated his denial of any wrongdoing, telling the Mail on Sunday: "There has obviously from time to time been some banter, but as far as I'm concerned that's never been offensive."

He said on Friday that his legal action was now "pointless" but made the point that the Telegraph had pursued a "vendetta" against him.

What are the allegations in the Telegraph?

• A female employee received more than £1m after Sir Philip groped her, kissed her, called her a "naughty girl" and made comments about her weight
• A black male employee received £1m after Sir Philip mocked his dreadlocks and suggested he was "throwing spears in the jungle"
• A female employee received hundreds of thousands of pounds after Sir Philip sexually harassed her and grabbed her face
• A female employee received hundreds of thousands of pounds after Sir Philip put her in a headlock and groped her waist
• A male employee left his role with one month's pay shortly after Sir Philip smashed his mobile phone

The paper said that all five staff had accepted the money in return for signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), preventing them from talking about their experiences.

The Telegraph's report included testimony from other members of staff that it says witnessed the events.

Sir Philip told the paper he "categorically denies any unlawful… sexual behaviour". He also denied any "unlawful… racist behaviour".

What are NDAs?
Sometimes known as "gagging orders" or "hush agreements", they typically prevent staff and ex-staff making information public.

Sir Philip had argued that the five former staff would be breaking the law if they breached NDAs they had signed in return for money.

His statement said the Telegraph had "knowingly and shamefully coaxed these [five] individuals to breach their obligations under these lawful agreements".

But the paper's editor, Chris Evans, said the Sir Philip case raised wider questions about the use of NDAs.

"In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein affair, we became aware that gagging orders called NDAs were being used to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct and racial abuse in the workplace. And that led to our investigation into Sir Philip Green and Arcadia.

"We maintain there is a clear public interest in telling people whether a prospective employer has been accused of sexual misconduct and racial abuse."

Who is Sir Philip Green?
Sir Philip used to be known as the king of the High Street.

He built a fortune from a retail empire that included Topshop, BHS, Burton and Miss Selfridge.

He sold BHS in March 2015 for £1, but it went into administration a year later, leaving a £571m hole in its pension fund.

He later agreed a £363m cash settlement with the Pensions Regulator to plug the gap.

In a report into the collapse of BHS, MPs called the episode "the unacceptable face of capitalism".

He and his wife Cristina are estimated by Forbes to be worth £3.8bn.

Phillip Green continues to be the second worst person in Britain.

 

[Reynard]

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wjmjqw/the-juicy-round-world-of-blueberry-porn
http://archive.li/BHCmW

“If something exists, there is porn of it:” Welcome to Rule 34, a series in which Motherboard’s Samantha Cole lovingly explores the highly specific fetishes that can be found on the web. If you’ve thought of it, someone’s jerked off to it.
The links and images in this article may be considered NSFW.
Most stories in the blueberry porn genre begin the same way: A woman eats an unusually delicious piece of candy. She starts to feel a little funny—maybe a little bloated—and as she chews, her transformation into a piece of fruit becomes unstoppable. Her thighs, breasts, and belly start to swell to cartoonish proportions, ripping her clothing as her juice-filled body swallows her arms and legs.
“Squeeze me,” she might plead, begging the onlooker to relieve the pressure that’s built up in her gurgling, swollen, bluish form. The berry girl is rendered helpless by her round, over-full state, at the mercy of the onlooker. She sloshes and rolls, confused at what’s happening but not altogether repulsed by it.
The “blueberry” kink is a subgenre of several other kinks: It combines force-feeding, expansion or inflation porn (using air, water, enemas, or food), super-sized “big beautiful women”, as well as elements of bondage and submission. There’s often a humiliation element, or care-taking tenderness, or a combination of the two.
Yes, this all might seem a little weird, even for someone who writes a column dedicated to lesser known, highly specific fetishes. But the more I looked into the genre, and the more I talked to the people in the blueberry community, the more universal their experiences with sexuality seemed. That’s not because everyone has some unexplored fruit-based fetish, but because they understand something that's true for us all: It's not always easy to admit your kink, and it's a relief to find a group of people who accept it, and you.
“A catalyst that sparked something in their brain”
As with most of the niche fetishes we’ve covered in the Rule 34 series, the most visible part of the blueberry community on the internet is on Reddit, with the r/blueberry subreddit. While that forum is fairly dead (the most recent post was a month ago), there are chat rooms, Discord servers, and fan forums where the community is very much active and alive.
Almost everyone I talked to within the blueberry kink community referenced Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (some reference the 1971 movie starring Gene Wilder, others said the 2005 movie starring Johnny Depp or the original Roald Dahl book)—where the boisterous young girl Violet Beauregarde chews some of Willy Wonka’s magical meal-flavored gum and subsequently becomes a human blueberry—as their first awakening to blueberry content. Beauregarde inflates to a huge blue ball, to mimic the blueberry pie flavor at the end of the gum. She is then sent to a "juicing room” to alleviate her condition.
For many, watching it as children themselves, this surreal preteen berry girl was their gateway to a lifelong kink.

“Some of my earliest memories were replaying and replaying ‘the scene’ on the VHS player in the living room, my eyes literally plastered up against the glass as I rewound the scene for the eighteenth time in a row,” a member of the community who goes by Weeblord told me in an online chat. Motherboard granted Weeblord and other members of the blueberry community anonymity because of the private nature of the subject matter.“

A huge misconception with this fetish is that since its origin is from a children's movie it has something to do with being attracted to children,” another member of the community who talked to me in a private message, who also asked to remain anonymous, told me in an online chat. “That couldn't be further from the truth. Almost all of the people I've encountered online just saw it as a catalyst that sparked something in their brain when they were young and it carried over into adulthood.”
But as they grew up and explored new aspects of the berry girl world, their tastes evolved into something more erotic. On forums like DeviantArt and Discord chat servers devoted to the kink, in illustrated and photographic art, or through text-based role playing or erotic writing, it became less about a specific scene in a movie or book and more about what new creative directions they could take the concepts of inflation and BDSM.
Even outside of Willy Wonka’s inventing room origins, the community has its own landmark works and origin stories. Several enthusiasts brought up blueberry comic artist and writer DocSwell's "Bizarre Adventures of Berrygirl" series when I asked what influenced their interest in the kink.
Last week, several members of the community launched an anthology of blueberry kink writing and art called Bloomph! They crowdfunded the more than 70 page collection. A contributor who goes by Fate-Full told me it's a “love letter” to the community.

“Jiggliness and squishiness”
An erotic video producer who goes by the name Maxgrowthtold me that he believes blueberry porn is not something anyone consciously chooses to be into, but “just the way you are wired.” He said he’s always been fascinated with transformation sequences in comics and cartoons, and as he grew up, that fascination turned sexual.
“I always gravitated to bigness in transformation, so the berry girl scenario was easy to get excited about,” Maxgrowth said. “On the surface, for me, it's about the bigness and the roundness, but I think underneath the surface psychologically it's about the helplessness and emotional reactions of the girl to her condition.” Those emotions can range from confusion, to excitement, arousal, and fear.
https://archive.is/BHCmW/8f303eab86d8a49ce1929285d8ded4455ceac590
ImageCredit: Maxgrowth/TaylorMadeClips
Riddlercorps, a prominent member of the blueberry kink community who runs a Discord server with channels focused on the kink, creates photo edits and role plays blueberry transformations with his partner. She doesn’t share his kink, but he says she’s a supportive model for his artwork.
“I like the psychological implications that the transformation has,” he told me. “It’s a process of shock, fear and/or pleasure in some cases, acceptance, etc. and different people react in different ways.”
“If you have a strange interest you believe no one else has or will accept, then turn that fantasy into something tangible"
To many, it’s a form of BDSM: The berry-person is trapped in their own juice-laden bodies, unable to move except for some helpless twirling fingers protruding from their round forms.
“Some people find it as [a] form of bondage due to the obviously restricted movement of the submissive, berried individual,” Riddlercorps said. “Others enjoy the humiliation and embarrassment factor of it. Some people just like to pretend that they or a partner is swelling up, ripping through their clothing. Some people mimic it to the BBW kink. It truly just depends on who you ask.”
https://archive.is/BHCmW/52b0b5a01a842ce154f75a5becda30e64722f984
Image: Phot edit by Riddlercorps
A blueberry enthusiast who goes by Thiccestboi1293 told me that it’s the “jiggliness and squishiness” of the characters that’s attractive to him. Another fan, Mikey D, told me that it’s the “size and the heaviness,” combined with the slow buildup of juice.
”It's foreplay to the body, and then the immediate helplessness once it finishes filling you with juice. At least when being the berry,” Mikey D said. “Looking on at one, the size is still something to love, regardless of how the berry is or if the berry's got an erect dick. Once it's big, you feel that sort of daunting feeling on how massive they are and how juicy they seem to be.”
For others, the gurgling, churning of the juice inside the berry belly is a turn-on. A community member who goes by JC19 told me that the changes in skin color and the softness are also part of the allure, for him: “Seeing how soft it must feel to be a ball of fat or juice, and just the growth and helplessness of it all.”
“We’re treated as freaks”
As patient as the many blueberry enthusiasts I spoke to for this piece were with my questions about their kink, their openness is not without some sense of risk to their community. In the past, their kink has been labeled as “horrifying,” and several people I interviewed told me that they were concerned about harassment—or had experienced it in the past.
“I think a lot of people who are in the community aren't very open about their expansion fetish in broad daylight,” Maria Alive, a fetish-artist who specializes in inflation and dabbles in blueberry photo edits, told me in an email. “A lot of the time it’s due to these social stigma around fetishes, especially as this is one where the partner requires to grow larger or at least pretends to grow larger. We all have been conditioned to find bigger or larger people unattractive, as they’re fat and unhealthy—but that couldn’t be further from the truth. So most people are ashamed to admit this to their partner.”
Read more: Slime Girls are the Sticky, Gooey Monsters of Your Wet Dreams
Another member of the community who requested anonymity told me that many people in relationships keep their kink a secret forever, out of fear that their partner will judge them for it. “I've always mentioned it [to partners] and never suffered a negative reaction, but curiosity instead,” she said. “It's a much more male dominated fetish than female like most fetishes are. I've sort of felt like an outsider as a woman into it but many of the guys I talk to about it are nice and I've had very few bad experiences.”
“For the most part, the community keeps to itself because we’re treated as freaks rather than normal individuals with an unusual kink,” Riddlercorps told me. “It also doesn’t help that there are some prominent members of the community that seem to actively ruin the reputation. We’re normal people, just like you and the readers. Of course there are always a handful of people fucked up in the head that do nothing but damage to our community’s reputation. The few ruin it for the many.”
Blueberry erotica writer Fate-Full told me that the challenges they face are like any other marginalized kink that exists on fan art sites like DeviantArt, where a lot of blueberry art is hosted. When blueberry art occasionally makes it to the front page, people who don’t share or understand the kink spam the comments with hate and distaste.
“Sometimes art is taken down, but like YouTube's algorithm, many times it's completely random and impossible to protect against. Artists try to solve this by posting their work elsewhere, especially if the content is NSFW, but as seen with the Tumblr ‘no female presenting nipples’ implosion, this can be a finite solution.”
It's even harder for blueberry enthusiasts to get mainstream acceptance of the kink because it’s nearly impossible to replicate the blueberry effect in person, unless you have an inflatable suit and a lot of blue makeup handy. Not everyone has the interior space or funds to buy a giant sumo-suit for acting out their kink—which is why so much of it lives in illustrated art, photo editing, erotica and text-based role playing. It's a fetish that, for many, originated from a special effect in a big Hollywood movie, and while people find creative ways to replicate it, it's still a production when compared with more widely known kinks.
“Blueberry inflation/transformation is inherently impossible in reality, it is pure fantasy,” blueberry artist luvemripe told me. “There are inflatable suits available that simulate the experience as close as possible, perhaps enough to suspend one’s disbelief. The challenge with a morph is crossing this line of believability, making something unrealistic look realistic.”
Despite all this, blueberry enthusiasts find ways to explore their kink, and many said it helped them explore their sexualities, beyond giant blue women. “The average blueberry enthusiast realizes that the kink is strange and ridiculous and usually has a good sense of humor about it,” luvemripe said.
“If you have a strange interest you believe no one else has or will accept, then turn that fantasy into something tangible,” Fate-Full said. “Watch as people slowly find it and realize they are not alone, and neither are you.”

This is a real article. It's beautiful yet sad at the same time.