You Think What

On Wednesday 09 October 2013,  the website  WikiLeaks published the first letter from Julian Assange, Australian activist, journalist, to Benedict Cumberbatch, English television and film actor who portrays Assange in  “The Fifth Estate”. It’s a Dreamworks movie about WikiLeaks set to open in the United Kingdom on Friday 11 October, and later in the United States on Friday 18 October, 2013.

As you may have guessed or recall, Assange was not selected as Time Magazine’s person of the year 2010. The honor (?) went to American computer programmer, Internet entrepreneur and FaceBook co- creator Mark Zuckerberg. For a weekly news mag Time was, and likely still is, tardy in covering current cultural and political events!

According to the site, and its attendant news release, the letter was sent to decline the meeting invitation from Benedict Cumberbatch after he made overtures to contact Julian Assange in January 2013, just prior to the commencement of principal photography.

YouThinkWhat presents the full text of the open letter in order to provide our readers, as well as the general public with informed insight as to who Julian Assange is, what WikiLeaks is and why, when viewing the film, the audience need view what they see on screen with willful disbelief.

After all it is from Dreamworks/Disney, and we know how they are purveyors of faerie tales and such. Think “Toy Story” and “Shrek”; not to mention the  fact the actor, in the role of a still living, real person Julian Assange, is known for his part as the fictitious villain in the recent sci-fi film, “Star Trek Into Darkness”. Despite the fact we find the film less interesting than its previous Star Trek franchise productions it is reported as of  September 2013, the film has earned over $228 million in North America and over $466 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the franchise.

Ladies and gentlemen…Julian Assange, in his own words: (more…)

The staff of YouThinkWhat is weighing in on the controversy of whom to cast in the film role of one of our legendary musical heroes, the late Nina Simone. In the American Black African Community she is known as the High Priestess of Soul. Nina Simone is internationally renown for her activism, her love of classical music and her innovative American jazz musical stylings; she called jazz music America’s classical music.

As of today no release date for the film has been announced. It is reportedly in post production. We hope it remains on the shelf. This statement is disparaging,  and justifiably so because there was a time in Hollyweird when movie executives did not believe audiences would pay to see blacks on screen…at least not an entire feature length project with blacks, Negroes or coloreds in major roles. In those times the films remained in the can, on the shelf for years awaiting distribution to the public for viewing. How times have changed.

Nina Simone is an American music icon molded from the depths of the artistic joy, the angst, the pain, the struggle to be black, female and bipolar in the United States of America. Our current and future generations must be given the complete story of who she was and what she contended with to become the legendary music royalty she is. (more…)

“We have never invested as much in public education as we should have because we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children … We haven’t had a very collective notion of ‘these are our children. So part of it is we have to break through our kind of private idea that ‘kids belong to their parents,’ or ‘kids belong to their families,’ and recognize that kids belong to whole communities.” ~ excerpt of Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC in 30 second “Lean Forward” campaign promotional video.

Currently US cable news outlet MSNBC is airing a  “Lean Forward” promotional video featuring Melissa Harris-Perry, teevee host, author and teacher of political studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

In the 30 second video Ms Harris-Perry suggests it takes a village to raise children; in her opinion we are collectively responsible for the upbringing of this nation’s children. This is an old fashioned idea, popular during the early part of the last century; and by the negative response of some of those on the right side of politics in the United States, particularly those who are often calling for a return to the way it used to be, the idea of reviving the practice is causing quite an uproar.  It’s a controversy where none exists…except in the empty heads of the three spokesmen for the epically stupid…none other than *Beck , Limbaugh, and Palin.
*At YouThinkWhat we like to refer to them individually as the Rodeo Clown, Beck; the Blow Hard, Limbaugh, and the Duchess of Dumb, Sarah the Terrah.
(more…)

“I want to show that my community has many beautiful qualities that aren’t always represented in the media.”
~Yityish Titi Aynaw, Miss Israel 2014

“It’s important that a member of the Ethiopian community win the competition for the first time. There are many different communities of many different colours in Israel, and it’s important to show that to the world.”

So said the first black Israeli beauty queen who after her winning the title met the first black elected President of the United States…This is big news…a showcase of diversity for both nations.

The newly crowned Miss Israel 2013 is Yityish Titi Aynaw, an Ethiopian Immigrant, admits  President Barack Obama of the United States has been a “notable influence” in her life,  after meeting the American chief executive, said,

“He’s an exciting man, a world-class hunk, charming and an extraordinary gentleman.”

This according to reports in the Israeli publication Yediot Aharonot. (more…)

The people in the following video are addressing their remarks to United States Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat,  elected to be representing the people of Nevada. *The way he talks we believe he’s an agent for we say the gun lobby, firearm manufacturers in general,  and the National Rifle Association specifically.*

Harry Reid is the Majority Leader of the the U.S. Senate. He’s the chief spokesman for the party holding the majority of seats in the body. At this time in history it’s  the Democrats…the same party as the President of the United States, Barack Obama, now in his second term as president.

“Is (a ban on assault weapons) something that can pass the Senate? Maybe. “Is it something that can pass the House? I doubt it.”
~ Senator Harry Reid in an interview with a PBS television affiliate in Las Vegas earlier this year. (more…)

This will make you laugh…it made us laugh when we looked at this page of alleged security for one of the major US banks…oh what the heck…it’s Wells Fargo that is perpetrating a fraud.

Banksters continue to provide the “illusion of security” to their internal customers as well as their external customers. Like most everything being done by 21st Century financial institutions, the ones considered by federal regulators Too Big To Fail, Too Big to Sue, Too Big To Charge with Malfeasance or even cause any one individual to be accountable by limiting, even curtailing the criminal activities of the so-called experts in the industry, this page and others like it are a sham fake not real. (more…)

You may be familiar with the name John McAfee. You may recall him as the guy who developed the anti-virus program for computers before any digital viruses had been created to cause  digital infection. That was  in 1987. Twenty-six years ago John McAfee founded McAfee Associates, a computer anti-virus company. He is said to be the first to distribute anti-virus software using what has come to be known as the ” shareware”  business model. Today McAfee Associates, acquired by Intel in 2010 for $7.68 billion is a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel. (more…)

During the most recent session of the United States Senate Committee on Banking Hearing, Elizabeth Warren, the Democrat senator from Massachusetts, reported on the illegal activities of HSBC; formerly The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation one of the largest banking and financial services institutions in the world. It serves around 60 million customers through four Global Businesses.

According to its web site, HSBC, the British financial company describes itself as:

“An unrivalled international network with a presence in all of the world’s major developed and faster-growing markets…”

Last December, 2012, HSBC  admitted to laundering nearly one billion US dollars for Colombian and Mexican drug cartels; additionally the company was found to have repeatedly violated US economic sanctions against Iran, Cuba, Libya, the Sudan as well as Burma, known as Myanmar. The US Treasury Department imposed a fine, recorded as the the largest fine ever imposed by the department for HSBC’s illicit actions. (more…)

With this entry we are providing our readers with a kind of info-edu-tainment special. It’s Black History Month and Oscar season.

The following video interview conducted by reporters from the Washington Post web site The Fold  features two-time Academy Award winner Russell Williams…who is also Distinguished-Artist-in-Residence at the American University in Washington, D.C. (more…)

Late night teevee talk show host, Jimmy Fallon donned a pink “mom” style sweater, a brunette  wig and performed a dance collaborated with First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama to promote her famous “Let’s Move” campaign. This is the drive to get our nation’s children physically fit. The video demonstration is called “Evolution of Mom Dancing”.

Parental units are encouraged to join their children in becoming more physically active. Dancing is  an easy and fun activity. (more…)