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MANILA -- Netizens warred with fact-checkers on the Wikipedia page of a United Nations (UN) rapporteur critical of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, with changes coming mere minutes apart, early Friday morning.

Hours after the arrival of Agnes Callamard in the Philippines, a paragraph accusing her of being "a highly paid consultant of the Liberal Party of the Philippines dedicated into overthrowing one of the best President (Duterte) the country has ever had" (sic) appeared on her Wikipedia page.

The paragraph first added at 2:08 a.m. was removed, only to be put back minutes later.

The exchange continued several times, coming minutes apart, until the defacers finally gave up at 3:25 a.m.

Callamard is the UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings. She arrived in the Philippines this week, and attended the anniversary of the Commission on Human Rights in Quezon City on Thursday night. While President Rodrigo Duterte said she was in the country to investigate drug-related killings, she said she was here for an academic purpose.

She spoke during a forum at the University of the Philippines on Friday, and will attend sessions on Saturday.

During her talk, she condemned the Duterte administrations bloody war on drugs.

Wikipedia is a community-maintained encyclopedia covering a wide range of topics, with local versions in some countries. It urges its users to input fact-checked information, and to cite sources in articles.

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UN rapporteur's Wikipedia page defaced upon visit to PH - ABS-CBN News

BBC News

Turkish authorities block Wikipedia without giving reason BBC News However, the Hurriyet daily newspaper said Wikipedia had been asked to remove content by certain writers whom the authorities accuse of "supporting terror" and of linking Turkey to terror groups. The site had not responded to the demands, Hurriyet said ... Why Turkey Blocked Access to WikipediaThe Atlantic Wikipedia blocked in Turkey - Turkey BlocksTurkey Blocks IANSLIVE (@IANSLIVE) | TwitterTwitter Reuters -Facebook all 247 news articles »

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Turkish authorities block Wikipedia without giving reason - BBC News

mer Fatih Sayan, head of Turkeys Information and Communication Technologies Authority (Source: Hurriyet Daily News)

ANKARA, Turkey (Hurriyet Daily News)It is impossible to grant access to the worlds largest encyclopedia, Wikipedia, unless Turkeys judicial decisions are implemented, the head of the countrys telecommunications watchdog has said.

There are judicial processes that had been completed regarding some Wikipedia pages but, unfortunately, Wikipedia has not removed those pages. Turkey obeys the rule of law and what will be said on the issue has already been said by the courts. It is impossible for Wikipedia to be opened without the implementation of those decisions, Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) head mer Fatih Sayan said at the opening ceremony of the Turkey Informatics Summit on May 3.

Sayan said the country is a civilization of knowledge, while expressing his sadness over the access ban.

He also said authorities were open to any kind of cooperation on condition that the website administration abide by the law to implement judicial decisions so as to permit access.

We can discuss it Freedom is not one-sided. Turkey has the rule of law. Everyone should [act] within the law. No one has the right to say, I do not recognize the Turkish courts. I also want to express that we are ready to provide all kinds of support to re-open Wikipedia, Sayan said.

Sayan, meanwhile, urged the online encyclopedia to confirm the information it provides.

My call is that Wikipedia should solve problems that led to its closure and the system should be rehabilitated at this point if required. We care about the latest developments in the fight against fake news on the internet We find WikiTribune initiative by Wikipedia officials positive. Fighting against fake news is beneficial for all of us, Sayan said.

The telecommunications watchdog stated on April 29 that it had blocked access to Wikipedia, citing a law allowing it to ban access to websites deemed obscene or a threat to national security.

The Ankara 1st Criminal Court of Peace later ordered the ban after the Wikipedia administration reportedly refused to remove two English-language pages claiming that Ankara channeled support to jihadists in Syria.

In response, the Wikimedia Foundation appealed the court ruling that came after the administrative measure against the website.

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Impossible to Access Wikipedia in Turkey Without Judicial Order - Asbarez Armenian News

By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

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Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) and Assemblyman Clyde Vanel (D-Cambria Heights) will be among the many mourners expected at the funeral Saturday for four of the five victims who died April 23 in a fast-moving house fire in Queens Village.

Managing the funeral is family member Sheener Bailey-Briggs.

Everything happens for a reason, but I dont know about this one, Bailey-Briggs said.

A three-alarm fire took the lives of four family members and a friend on a quiet Sunday afternoon in Queens Village when the frame house at 112-16 208th St. burst into flames. No calls were made from the house and the Fire Department was alerted by a passing motorists six minutes after the fire first broke out. The cause of the blaze was still under investigation.

Bailey-Briggs chose to have the funeral service at New Greater Bethel Ministries at 215-32 Jamaica Ave. in Queens Village not just to accommodate many family members, but because it was a place close to her heart, like her nephews and cousins who perished in the blaze.

Bailey-Briggs was related to all four victims who will be remembered Saturday: Jada Foxworth, 20; Destiny Dones, 16; Rashawn Matthews, 10 and Chayce Lipford, 2. Sisters Jada and Destiny were her first cousins, once removed. Rashaw was her great nephew and Chayce her great-grandnephew.

Bethel Ministries has served the extended family in difficult times before.

I joined over 20 years ago, Bailey-Briggs said. When my mom died, and my cousin died in a motorcycle accident, I used this church.

Planning this funeral has been the toughest thing she has ever done in her life, she said. For the past 12 days she has barely been sleeping or eating.

I dont believe that it is true, Bailey-Briggs said. Everyday I drive past just to see if its true. I dont let my sister (Gwen) know. I drive pass the house. What a nightmare. Just pray for us to get through this.

As she reads through the obituaries for her four relatives, she recalls her fondest memories of them.

Chayce, his smile. That baby was too cute. Destiny, from the time that she was a baby, that girl walked with joy. If you think that God takes the best, he really did. That kid right there all four of them where joyful. They were rays of sunshine. Im not kidding.

Despite the tragedy that has befallen her family, Bailey-Briggs is working diligently to put on a funeral that befits the family.

This is going to be a beautiful funeral. It is going to be excellent. Just pray for us. Its a lot.

The wake will be from 9 a.m. to 11.am. followed by the funeral from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A repast will be held at 4 p.m.

The four young people will be buried at Pinelawn Cemetery in Farmingdale in L.I.

The fifth victim, Melody Edwards, 17, was laid to rest Wednesday at Mount Moriah AME Church in Cambria Heights.

Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 2604573.

Posted 12:00 am, May 4, 2017

2017 Community News Group

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Al Sharpton to attend burial for Queens Village fire victims - TimesLedger

This essay was written as part of a pretty dry structure writing class in Advanced Expository writing for Classification and Division. I was a student teacher at U-32 this past fall in the class when this was written. Nate Morris chose the subject of memes. If you dont use the internet, particularly social media, or are older than I am, you may have no idea what he is talking about. I know just enough about technology to think this is very witty, but not enough to really get it all the way. Carla Occaso, managing editor.

The internet is an incredible place. It has altered the landscape of business, allowed us to reconnect with childhood friends and given us common (though not necessarily neutral) platforms to discuss our opinions with millions of other users. On a less serious note, the internet has developed its own subculture with its own tropes and its own humor. The staple source of laughs come in the form of what is called an internet meme. On the surface they can seem like simple puns or jokes when in fact they mean so much more to the people posting them or the audience its intended for. Memes have distinct audiences, historic icons, mechanics such as the meme economy, and oftentimes second meanings that put it in a very different light.

A meme is a concept, catchphrase or piece of media that spreads from person to person, gaining an audience, and with the endless stream of information thrown at you on the internet, memes have become widely accessible by all audiences. Examples such as grumpy cat or rickrolling have been adapted by all kinds of people, and thanks the the straightforward format of the original image macros, anything can be made into a meme. Everyone is able to use or create a meme, but due to how broad its spectrum has become, not everyone will understand a joke or even the fact that there was a joke. Ironically, in a medium meant to connect everyone, memes can be more divisive than they are connective.

Some internet users go past the base definition of memes, and assimilate with what is called meme culture. They dedicate time to studying memes to understand all aspects and corners of the meme spectrum. They see the term meme as the broadest descriptor of one of these pieces of entertainment. In reality, memes can go much deeper than what you see viewing it for the first time. There are subcultures of memes and subcultures within those subcultures.

To get an idea of how deep a meme can go, the perfect example is the rise and fall of Pepe The Frog. Over the course of its lifetime, Pepe has been reiterated the most out of any meme, changing appearance and meaning to the point where it has no core message or joke. Pepe became the apex meme because it encompassed broad portions of the humor spectrum. However, every meme that exists will eventually cease to do so, and Pepe went down in flames.

Pepe The Frog originated in a comic called Boys Club by Matt Furie, depicting Pepe as a laidback dude enjoying life. A specific panel in the comic shows Pepe saying feels good man when asked about why he goes to the bathroom with his pants all the way down. This panel was used as a reaction image on the internet when it started to gain popularity. Users took a liking to the friendly amphibian and began producing their own pictures of Pepe, building their own character over years of reiteration. For the majority of Pepes lifetime, he was depicted as a smug, racy frog with heavy depression. From this base, users changed Pepes appearance, keeping his general look while altering things such as his color, shape and clothing while making sure it could be identified as Pepe. These are called Rare Pepes, theyre referred to by that name because they are posted on obscure sites or forums. Pepe thrived and during this period was referred to as the best meme or the king of memes, until it kicked the curb hard when it intermingled with hate groups. The KKK and Neo Nazis adopted Pepe as a mascot and used iterations of him in uniform for propaganda. Around this time Donald Turnip also began posting pictures of Pepe in his image on twitter. Pepe was marked as a hate symbol because of his adoption by these hate groups and he tanked. The landscape of Pepe memes became barren as no morally-sound person would use them after what happened, and as a result the true Pepe fans got what they wanted. Pepe is considered obscure now and thats exactly what Rare Pepe creators desire, allowing them to create Rare Pepes in peace.

All memes collect and converge in what has been dubbed the meme economy, a metaphor for how the lifetime of a meme works and its popularity. Similarly to how a new stock acts, a new meme is under the radar at first, and then it begins to gain recognition. It picks up steam and then spikes in usage. Then it plateaus before gradually losing footing before it stops being used completely. Some memes stick around longer than others due to when and how long it takes them to plateau, too fast and people will lose interest quickly. Too slow and its apex will be lackluster. The parallels to the stock market are strikingly close.

Sometimes, memes can have a darker meaning behind the initial joke for reasons other than ironic or black humor. A study showed that the admins running popular internet meme pages on facebook actually use memes as a coping method for crippling depression. Some memes would have double meanings that only dedicated fans would perceive, hinting that they are unhappy; others would straight up be ironic jokes about suicide or self harm. Many Pepe memes alluded to this and became a popular outlet for expressing these feelings.

Groups involved in the the Rare Pepes or the distorted hood memes take the basics of these memes and further its definition to the point where only those involved after weeks of following the way it changes will understand the humor it has to offer. The most prominent subculture is by far ironic memeing. It takes any meme and uses its first meaning as a mask for a new joke. The original meme will experience either subtle tweaks or a complete overhaul, rewriting the joke while making sure it still identifies with the original meaning. These people create ironic memes as a way to set themselves apart from the regular Joes of the internet, referring to them as normies who steal memes and dont give proper credit to its maker, therefore classifying memes as art in a strange turn of events.

When you take a step back, memes really are just a way to express humor or opinions in a variety of ways. The people viewing or creating them all want the same thing whether they claim to be unique or not. Normie or memelord we all want to laugh, and memes do a great job with that, no matter how many layers of irony its on.

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ESSAY: What Does It All Meme? - Montpelier Bridge