middle finger

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Hate a Building? Give It Ai Weiwei's Middle Finger

Artist's latest project lets you virtually flip his bird to anywhere on Google Maps

(Newser) - Virtual middle finger tourism, it's apparently a thing that's come alive in Ai Weiwei's latest—and blatantly profane yet oddly satisfying—new project, called, well, Middle Finger . The gist, as Rhea Nayyar writes at Hyperallergic , is that you can punch in an address anywhere that's on...

Bewildered Judge Defends Right to Flip Someone Off

Flipping the bird is 'a God-given' right, rules Canada's Dennis Galiatsatos

(Newser) - Flipping the bird is "a God-given" right in Canada, a judge has ruled following a dispute between neighbors, a case the judge suggested he'd like to literally throw out the window. "To be abundantly clear, it is not a crime to give someone the finger," Quebec...

At Murdaugh Trial, an Obscene Gesture and Contraband

Official says some family members will have to sit further back in court on Friday due to their antics

(Newser) - The courtroom drama continues in the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh , the South Carolina man being prosecuted for the June 2021 killings of his wife, 52-year-old Maggie, and son Paul, 22. On Wednesday, a bomb threat led to the evacuation of the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro. Now, it appears...

Pope Accidentally Gives Thumbs Up to Middle Finger

That tweet has since been taken down

(Newser) - If you've ever wondered when the elderly spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Christian souls would get on his Twitter account and accidentally expound on the rudest gesture in Western culture, well, today is that day. As Mediaite reports, Pope Francis was going about his day per usual, waxing...

Berlin Ad Gets Explicit With Its COVID Mask Reminder

It depicts an elderly woman with her middle finger raised

(Newser) - Berliners and tourists to the city are getting an explicit reminder about the COVID-related rules that must be followed there. The Local reports Berlin's Senate Department for Economics, in partnership with Visit Berlin, on Tuesday released a new poster (see it here ) that shows a masked senior citizen...

She Flipped Off Trump. She Also Just Flipped an Election

Juli Briskman won a seat in Virginia on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors

(Newser) - Juli Briskman was fired for giving President Trump the middle finger. Now, the former government contractor is an elected official herself. Briskman was fired in late 2017 after flipping the president's motorcade the bird in Sterling, Va., while riding her bike, with her employer saying she'd violated its...

Court Backs Driver Who Gave Police the Finger

Ruling says the gesture is free speech, though possibly rude

(Newser) - It may not seem like you're protected at the time, but if you make a gesture to a police officer that means the opposite of "Have a nice day," a federal appeals court has your back. A Michigan police officer pulled a driver over for speeding in...

In Congressman's Selfie With 6th-Graders, a Middle Finger

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida wasn't miffed

(Newser) - It's probably not a photo that mom is going to frame. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida made a stop at Shoal River Middle School in Crestview on Tuesday to talk civics, but things concluded with some not-exactly-civil behavior. Gaetz posed for a selfie with sixth graders and posted it...

Driver Who Flipped Off Police Gets 8-Month Sentence

UK's Timothy Hill was caught using illegal radar jammer

(Newser) - The UK's Timothy Hill had a message for police, and they were all too happy to give it a very careful look. Police in North Yorkshire say the 67-year-old drove by a camera set up to catch speeders in December and flipped off authorities with his middle finger. Then...

Woman Who Flipped Off Trump Gets Fired

Juli Briskman, 50, was a government contractor until the image went viral

(Newser) - Last week, an image revolving around President Trump went viral, though the White House surely wasn't happy about it. In the photo—you can see it here —a female bicyclist is seen flipping the middle finger to the Trump motorcade as it passes her in Sterling, Va. The...

America, Give Your Pastor the Finger With Impunity

Court overturns man's conviction for flipping the bird in church

(Newser) - Georgia's highest court has reversed the conviction of a man who was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after he held up his middle finger and shouted at his pastor during a service, the AP reports. The unanimous opinion issued Monday says David Freeman's behavior amounts to speech...

Pol Caught Flipping Bird Wishes He'd Flipped 2

Germany's Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel kept things concise for neo-Nazi hecklers

(Newser) - Germany's second-in-command has only one regret after flipping the bird at a group of neo-Nazis recently. He wishes he'd shown them both middle fingers, not one, reports the AP . Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel received both criticism and applause for his unambiguous gesture of disdain toward neo-Naziprotesters in the...

Tsarnaev Defense Revisits His Middle Finger

Lawyer contends gesture wasn't as sinister as prosecution alleges

(Newser) - Jurors deciding whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will live or die are suddenly being asked to pay a lot of attention to an image of him flipping the bird. Yesterday, prosecutors showed jurors the image, taken from video in his jail cell three months after the bombing, and cast it as the...

Tsarnaev Flips Off Camera in Photo Shown to Jury

It was taken just 3 months after attack; prosecutors call him 'unrepentant'

(Newser) - Prosecutors opened the death-penalty phase of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial in memorable fashion: with a photo of the bomber flipping off a security camera in his jail cell just a few months after the attack. (The photo hasn't been made public, though WBUR posted a sketch on Twitter here...

Guy Buys House Next to Ex, Flips Her 12-Foot Finger
Guy Buys House Next to Ex, Flips Her 12-Foot Finger
in case you missed it

Guy Buys House Next to Ex, Flips Her 12-Foot Finger

In Michigan, revenge is a dish best served with gestures

(Newser) - Hell hath no fury like, well, like a guy with the means to buy the house next door to his ex-wife and the lover with whom she allegedly cheated, and it probably also doesn't have Alan Markovitz's vindictive creativity, either: Seems the Detroit-area man then had a 12-foot...

Driver Who Flipped Off Police Wins Round in Court

New York appeals court reinstates lawsuit over arrest

(Newser) - A federal appeals court in New York has reinstated a lawsuit brought by a man who was arrested after giving the finger to a police officer and sued for what he calls a malicious prosecution. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals today restored the claim brought by John Swartz...

It's World Middle Finger Day
 It's World Middle Finger Day 

It's World Middle Finger Day

Because if Hallmark can do it, why not bitter people?

(Newser) - As Newser fumbled with the alarm in the dark this morning, it had a special feeling that today was not just any Wednesday, and lo and behold it is not: It is World Middle Finger Day, reports Wired , which compiles some of the best bird-flying clips available on the big...

Adele Flips Bird at Brit Awards

She's annoyed when Best Album speech is cut short

(Newser) - Adele pulled an MIA Super Bowl stunt and flipped the bird at Britain's music awards last night when one of her acceptance speeches was cut short. She grabbed honors for Best British Female Solo Artist and Best Album in London, a week after scooping up six awards at the...

Enough With the Outrage Over MIA's Middle Finger

It was hardly the most offensive thing about the Super Bowl: Sasha Frere-Jones

(Newser) - NBC, the NFL, and MIA herself have now all apologized for the singer's middle finger incident at the Super Bowl—but why? "Unless somebody was handing out Xanax with the foam fingers, Lucas Oil Stadium was ringing with the music of profanities" during the game, writes Sasha Frere-Jones...

MIA Flips Bird in Super Bowl Halftime Show

Apparently she cusses, too, just like in song's original version

(Newser) - What would a Super Bowl halftime show be without a pop star doing something fairly outrageous? But halftime queen Madonna wasn't this year's provoker; it was her guest star—political dance maven MIA, who ended her performance during Madonna's "Give Me All Your Luvin" by flipping...

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