By Jessica Gandy
The on again and off again relationship between Miss Piggy and Kermit is officially off, so who’s Kermit’s new sizzling sidepiece?
On Sept. 1, Kermit released an official statement on his current relationship status, because of rumors circulating about Kermit and a new belle.
“While I prefer to keep my personal life private, this is Hollywood, so who am I kidding? It is true that I am dating again. However, at this time no one woman – pig or otherwise—is my official ‘new girlfriend’. We are simply close friends,” Kermit said in a tweet.
Kermit broke the Internet and hearts around the world, as fans tweeted their response to his news.
@KermitTheFrog @A_Katzman83 right….. pic.twitter.com/OuIKX5ousG
— Dustin Stauffer (@dustinstauffer2) September 1, 2015
Kermit diving into a relationship so soon with Denise—who bears more than a passing resemblance to his ex—suggests some issues, but ☕?
— Parker Higgins (@xor) September 1, 2015
So who is this new woman in Kermit’s life? Her name is Denise, according to People Magazine. Photos of Kermit and Denise have been circulated around the Internet over the past week. Few seem to know much about the mysterious pig, but she has caused quite the uproar- or up-oink.
She’s definitely a step down. Photo of Kermit’s New Girlfriend, Denise: http://t.co/7tHY47oxv6 via — Diana (@BrukDiana) September 1, 2015
While neither Kermit, Denise, The Jim Henson Company or ABC have commented much on the issue, ABC’s promo video, featuring both characters, leads some to speculate whether or not Denise is just a publicity stunt to drum up ratings for The Muppets’ new show, similar to when Barbie and Ken’s split in 2004 was seen by some as an attempt to increase Mattel’s stock.
@TheMuppetsABC @kenjeong @KermitTheFrog Is this a ratings grab or Kermit is down with O.P.P. (Other People’s Pork)! @naughtybynature #bacon
— Zombie Leader (@ZombieLeader1) September 2, 2015
While some fans have not been extremely welcoming of Denise, Miss Piggy seems to have not been affected at all. Miss Piggy has been spotted with some of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities like Liam Hemsworth and Constance Wu.
So while adding Kermit and Miss Piggy to the list of infamous celebrity break-ups, like Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston, is unfortunate, Denise could be a promising, new leading lady for Kermit in the future.
Photo Credit: ABC (Screengrab)
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What The Revolution Wrought: The Umbrella Movement Two Years On
By Joy Pamnani
HONG KONG-It’s been two years since Hong Kong people took to the streets to fight for genuine universal suffrage.
The protests drew global attention, as protestors expressed their demands in peaceful, artistic ways.
The movement seems to have worked in bringing about a different political reality in Hong Kong.
In this article, we’ll be taking a look at some of the major events throughout the protests, and changes in Hong Kong’s political scene since.
Political background in the 852
Hong Kong was ruled by the British in the 20th century, and got handed over to China in 1997.
The great difference between Hong Kong and the mainland’s political atmosphere at the time saw both sides reach a deal of “one country, two systems”, granting the city a semi-autonomous status.
That deal lasts until 2047.
Debate however, continues about liberties granted under the agreement. A hot topic being universal suffrage.
Read More: Does The Government Even Want To Save Cantonese From Going Extinct In Hong Kong?
According to Article 45 of the Basic Law, “the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be selected by election or through consultations held locally and be appointed by the Central People’s Government.”
Moreover, the article states “ the ultimate aim is the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures.”
Media from around the world came to report on the growing Occupy movement in Hong Kong. Photo Credit: Max/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Controversy began in August 2014 when Beijing ruled out public nomination, saying Hong Kong voters would only be able to choose from a list of two or three candidates selected by a nominating committee.
The committee likely to contain pro-Beijing election candidates, saw democracy activists argue the announcement was a way for China the ability to screen out any candidates it disapproves of.
Criticism was ignited across the city.
Young people’s call for action
On September 22, 2014, a student class boycott was held at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, at the same time some of Hong Kong’s top tycoons crossed the border to discuss politics with President Xi Jinping.
Students from more than 20 universities and colleges joined the movement.
During the week of 26 September, activist groups Scholarism and the Hong Kong Federation of Students, had staged protests outside government offices in Admiralty.
The Galvanizing Effect
As the protests escalated, police used pepper spray against the demonstrators.
Benny Tai, initiator of the Occupy Central movement, officially declared the start of Occupy Central at the central government offices.
Later that evening, police also used the tear gas in dismissing the protests.
The tear gas surprisingly proved galvanizing, drawing Hong Kongers from all walks of life to occupy streets for 79 days.
@occupy #ows #OccupyHK #OccupyCentral pic.twitter.com/kutLqe76L1
— Occupy Toronto (@OccupyToronto) September 29, 2015
The name “Umbrella Movement” came up after protestors were seen using umbrellas to protect themselves against tear gas. Photo Credit: Studio Incendo/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Don’t afraid, whole World is with you #HongKong. Freedom, Justice & Democracy can’t be compromised. #OccupyCentral pic.twitter.com/6XBSPEiOYH
— Dr. Imran H Sarker (@deborahrubio191) July 11, 2016
Protest elementals
During the days, activists blocked several traffic junctions, shutting down the city’s central business districts.
Aside from the Admiralty camp outside government offices, protestors occupied areas in Causeway Bay, Mong Kok and Canton Road.
The protest spirits were held high in the city, as the yellow ribbon symbol was seen across social media sites in the city.
Read More: What Are The Wukan Protests And Why Should Young People Care?
Many artists contributed to the protest’s peaceful forms of expression, from creating paintings of politicians, origami-inspired yellow umbrellas, and periodic tables defining Hong Kong core values.
RT OccupyToronto: Happy June 4th to everyone fighting the CCP. Respect and love from Toronto! #ows #OccupyCentral pic.twitter.com/vkzwPB3tU2
— Anonymous (@CovertAnonymous) June 4, 2015
Ernüchtert, aber nicht resigniert: Hongkongs Protestbewegung #OccupyCentral ein Jahr danach: http://t.co/rwPApjTq1l pic.twitter.com/jnPPLFqn93
— DW | Politik (@dw_politik) September 27, 2015
Artists gathered to express political opinions of Hong Kong people
The street #art/posters in #Umbrellamovement at Umbrella Festival at JCCAC, Shek Kip Mei, #HongKong. #OccupyCentral pic.twitter.com/qkj5vxEdA8
— Fion Li (@fion_li) May 31, 2015
A periodic table defining Hong Kong’s core values.
Also spotted a periodic table defining HK’s core values #occupycentral #UmbrellaRevolution #hongkong pic.twitter.com/rGu6mlnAkD
— Joy Pamnani (@joypamnani) November 2, 2014
An origami umbrella making stand where people learnt how to make their own little paper umbrellas #occupycentral pic.twitter.com/J95ar6uV4w
— Joy Pamnani (@joypamnani) October 17, 2014
Protestors even hung a banner on Lion Rock Tunnel, calling on CY Leung to step down
#梁振英 #下台 直幡在 #獅子山 #雨傘運動 #佔領中環 #HK1213 #CY #StepDown #LionRock #UmbrellaMovement #OccupyCentral @hu_jia @OCLPHK @aiww pic.twitter.com/4aUTTUGARZ
— P H Yang Photography (@TravelFoto) December 14, 2014
Subjects of debate
According to an article by the Australian news network ABC, ANZ economists sent out a research estimating the protests may have cost retailers $400 million, given occupation of roads at core business districts such as Tsim Sha Tsui.
Ordinary citizens fed up of the demonstrations formed an anti-Occupy group in an attempt to dismantle camps across core business districts in the city.
Another debate triggered was the role of police in the protests.
Read More: Was There Massive Voter Fraud In The Hong Kong LegCo Elections?
Throughout the protest, a viral video showing police beating up protestors went viral in the city, triggering a debate about police violence.
City opinion was divided on the issue, but those who supported the police wore blue ribbons.
A man was filmed being kicked and punched by seven police officers near government headquarters in Admiralty during the movement:
Yellow ribbon photos spread across social media sites in Hong Kong.
Why #UmbrellaRevolution Is the Most Important Story of 2014 #OccupyHK #OccupyCentral #HongKong http://t.co/dqLCLdn7Nw pic.twitter.com/8WcYIkCNcE
— Bridget Johnson (@Bridget_PJM) December 31, 2014
Political progress
Students managed to hold talks with the government, yet didn’t gain much ground through official channels.
Alex Chow of the Hong Kong Federation of Students and two other activists sought a meeting with China’s leaders to discuss the issue.
However, their visas were declared invalid after they tried to cross the border.
Clearing Camps
In later stages of the movement, camps began to be cleared off after the High Court stepped in.
In early December, three organizers of Hong Kong’s Occupy Central movement turned themselves in to the police for “participating in an unauthorized assembly”, calling their act a symbolic way to end the street protests.
They called for a shift in the movement’s focus to a long-term march towards democracy.
The three leaders were quickly released.
On 11 December, over 7,000 police arrived at the protest sites, and began making arrests.
The main camp was cleared out, thereby putting an end to the 79-day political movement.
Last days of #OccupyHK, one year ago today CWB clearance @krislc pic.twitter.com/SDIUETHemY
— 2cats (@2cats4) December 15, 2015
Success of the movement
Despite securing international attention, the Umbrella Revolution failed to win concessions from Beijing.
As of now, Hong Kong isn’t seeing universal suffrage, and many believe the movement wasn’t successful in changing the longterm political agenda.
Some, however, disagree, on the grounds of the fact that political momentum was gained among the population.
“Even if we cannot change the system immediately, if the movement provided more momentum for the fight for democracy, then it’s not a failure,” Dr Chan Kin-man, an Occupy organizer said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
Two years on
Hong Kongers gathered to commemorate the second anniversary of the Umbrella Revolution last Wednesday (28 Sept).
Right before 6pm, protestors stood in silence to mark police firing tear gas on those who gathered early in the protest timelines.
Nathan Law is the youngest lawmaker in Hong Kong’s legislature.
Photo: Facebook/Nathan Law.Although the Umbrella Revolution isn’t occupying the streets of Hong Kong, its leaders have continued to persist in their democratic demands, as evidenced in the July 1st March and June 4th Tiananmen Massacre Anniversary gatherings celebrated every year.
In April 2015, the government formally announced a new voting system, but it failed to gather two-thirds vote at the Legislative Council because it had ignored calls for a more democratic process.
This would leave Hong Kong with the same political system that brought the current chief executive to power.
However, the city’s political scene saw hope after lawmaker elections were held last month.
Being the city’s first major elections since Occupy Central, the results spoke volumes for political sentiment.
A few Occupy politicians secured seats, including student leader Nathan Law, who participated in the protests and is Legco’s youngest ever lawmaker.
Law sees people voting for a democratic future, and with the trust and support of the public, he hopes to bring about political change in the future. “We inherited some spirit from the (Umbrella) Movement and I hope that that can continue in the future,” Law said, in an interview with Hong Kong Free Press.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
You can also like our RISE NEWS Hong Kong Facebook page to stay engaged with our local coverage.
Cover Photo Credit: Studio Incendo/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Miami’s Shame: Little Farm Trailer Park Sinks Into Slum As Chinese Land Owners Ignore Resident’s Plight
The closest that most of the world has come to the Little Farm was during the pilot episode of HBO’s original series Ballers.
In the show, retired NFL player Charles Greane works as a salesman at the very real Tropical Chevrolet car dealership (8800 Biscayne Blvd) before Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson swoops in to convince him to get back on the field.
But three blocks away at the Little Farm trailer park in El Portal (8500 Biscayne Blvd), the HBO cameras wouldn’t dream of going. No luxury to be found there. Just unspeakable despair.
There, one of Miami’s former great working class neighborhoods has been turned into a slum by years of bad landlords and poor governmental oversight.
Photo Credit: Rich Robinson/ RISE NEWS.
The Little Farm is not talked about much- mostly because few people seem to know about it and even fewer care.
There’s lots of poor people in Miami and the area’s middle class is somewhat used to the idea that poverty is close to home.
Homeless men and women are a ubiquitous site at most I-95 off ramps in the area, meaning that it is near impossible to avoid the thought of abject poverty on your daily commute.
And yet, we ignore it and go home to our comfortable lives filled with Netflix and minor inconveniences.
But the Little Farm is different.
Empty trailer at the Little Farm in El Portal. Photo Credit: Rich Robinson/ RISE NEWS.
I’ve lived six minutes away my entire life and didn’t know about it until a few months ago when one of our reporters wrote about it.
And even then, I didn’t fully comprehend what was happening there until I got off my ass and drove into the development last week.
“They Didn’t Tell Us Nothing”
Clairmise Blanc is fed up.
A youthful looking Haitian woman in her early 70’s, Blanc is the defacto point person for outsiders to the Little Farm. She also lives right next to a burnt out trailer that stinks to high heavens.
“My husband died on April 22, 2011 and left me here alone,” Blanc said to me, causing me to pause and offer my condolences. “I’d like to live here. But there’s no future in this. Everything is down, especially at the nighttime. Too many people are drug addicts here. I don’t like it no more. I’ve tried to find other places to go.”
Clairmise Blanc. Photo Credit: Rich Robinson/ RISE NEWS.
Born in Haiti, she moved to the United States in 1981 and has lived at the Little Farm for eight years. She owns her own trailer, but it is poor shape, with holes in the windows and a sagging look to it. She also pays $450 a month for the trailer to sit on her small plot.
At one time, hundreds of trailers dotted the 17 acre property, but after a Chinese company bought the property last year, people started getting evicted. Then came the buy out offers– $2,000 to up and leave.
If you didn’t take the deal, it wouldn’t matter much because you had to leave under the terms of a deal the Village of El Portal signed with the Chinese company- Wealthy Delight.
From a Miami New Times report on Little Farm a few months ago:
“One day last February, everything changed. Little Farm was sold for $14.25 million, and Wealthy Delight, a company based in Coral Gables but whose owners are difficult to trace, took over. Soon it became clear the Village of El Portal had agreed to forgive more than $8 million in liens on the site if the new owners paid $575,000 and razed the mobile home park.”
Many people took the buy outs and soon their trailers were razed.
A lot where a trailer once stood. Photo Credit: Rich Robinson/ RISE NEWS.
Legal action has delayed the complete eviction of the remaining residents at Little Farm, but only around 40 people remain according to Blanc. And they will all certainty will be pushed out in the coming months.
“They didn’t tell us nothing,” Blanc said. “They’ve tried to push us away. It’s not fair.”
The Fire
According to multiple witnesses, a fire broke out in a Little Farm trailer on the evening of February 19th.
“It was a mother, son and a daughter was living in there,” Blanc said.
While no one was hurt, the fire was intense and devastating.
The family living there had to move- one less eviction for Wealthy Delight to conduct.
Blanc’s trailer sits less than 15 feet away from the burnt out trailer. Nearly two months after the blaze, little has been cleaned up and the smell is starting to become unbearable for the remaining residents in the area.
Photo Credit: Rich Robinson/ RISE NEWS.
Photo Credit: Rich Robinson/ RISE NEWS.
Photo Credit: Rich Robinson/ RISE NEWS.
“I’m tired of that smell, it just stinks,” Blanc said. “I want them to clean this thing. It is a mess. People can’t live like this.”
I start to cough after the breeze picks up and I notice how disgusting the burnt out remnants really are.
“That’s the office right there,” Blanc said while pointing towards the land lord management building across the road.
The view of the burnt out trailer from Blanc’s trailer. Photo Credit: Rich Robinson/ RISE NEWS.
The view of the burnt out trailer (behind the trees) from the porch of the land lord management building. Photo Credit: Rich Robinson/ RISE NEWS.
The burnt out unit is directly in front of the office, which means that the land lord would have to see it everyday as they arrive for work.
“They don’t care,” Blanc said of Wealthy Delight. “You think if they cared, they would have cleaned it a long time ago. But it’s been two months now. If they cared, they would have cleaned it because people are living here.
I ask her if she thinks the trailer hasn’t been cleaned up as a way to get her to move.
She demurs and says that in order for her to leave they are going to have to fork out more money.
El Portal Village Manager Jason Walker told RISE NEWS that he had not been aware of the fire but that it was the landlord’s responsibility to clean it up.
A representative for Wealthy Delight refused to answer questions on the phone and asked for questions via email, which they have also not answered.
Have a tip? Email us at [email protected].
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us
All Photo Credits: Rich Robinson/RISE NEWS.
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The Dollar High Club Is Trying To Revolutionize The Way People Get Weed Supplies
Are you a smoking aficionado? Ever run out of smoke supplies and get too slumped to leave your couch?
Well then Dollar High Club’s got you covered.
Dollar High Club is a monthly subscription service that discreetly delivers smoking supplies (intended for tobacco…right).
“A lot of people don’t have access to affordable smoking supplies, and we want to change that,” Harrison Baum, the founder and CEO of Dollar High Club told RISE NEWS.
For only a dollar a month you can receive 1.25 size all natural papers, all natural filter tips, 3.3’ organic bee wick and a matchbook.
That’s a good amount of smoking supplies for a dollar.
They also offer the option to subscribe for the Connoisseur package for $12 a month that comes with 7-9 products or the El Primo package for $30 a month that comes with 10-15 products.
Essentially, it is the smoking equivalent of the Dollar Shave Club.
When I first heard about the company, I was eager to learn more and my question to Baum was, how did you come up with this idea?
“It was a idea I came up with while browsing Reddit Trees and Reddit Entrepreneur,” Baum said. “I put the idea on Reddit, it topped r/Trees, and then I quit my day job that week and it changed my life.”
Sometimes the best ideas hit you out of nowhere, and that’s exactly what happened to Baum.
“We want to change the stigma surrounding smoking, by making it accessible to the everyday person worldwide,” Baum said.
The company has its own warehouse and can ship products to anywhere around the country.
They plan to get the word out using more grassroots means via social media including humorous content creation on YouTube and Facebook.
With that being said they just released a new video on Youtube that topped Reddit videos for a short time. It is a parody of the famous Dollar Shave Club commercial.
Check it out:
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Dollar High Club/ Facebook
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