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Meet the Romney adviser who backed criminalizing homosexuality in Africa. →

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futurejournalismproject:

In February, the Globe and Mail published a map to show Moammar Gadhafi’s influence in Africa.

In Mali, for example, Gadhafi’s money and diplomacy have helped resolve conflicts between rebels and the government.

And in Sudan, the 20,000 troop peacekeeping mission includes African Union troops that are heavily funded by Gadhafi’s Libya.

We modified the map for display here so click through to learn more.

H/T: Torie (The Political Notebook) via G+.

Warren Buffett's Son Is Super-Wrong About Africa →

We know the billionaire is having a great week and all, but Tom Philpott would like to lay some realkeeping on you.

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Another great Good slideshow: 7 African nations that could go Qaddafi and why.

"Now that denial isn't much of an option, the anger stage has kicked in: Birtherism has given way to fear-of-a-virile-black-man-ism." →

Oh my.

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Fox’s New Birther Meme: Obama’s Dad Was a “Serial Womanizer”

The birth certificate’s real. So presidential critics have found a new way to stoke age-old racial fears, with help from the media. File under “mandingo.”

Oh, and yeah, we’re gonna be reblogging this later.

(Source: Mother Jones)

Misrata, Libya: There is always time for tea, even when firing a mortar.

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Congo: meet the miners who bring you the bling. Oh hey, speaking of Africa? @MotherJones is sending @MacMcClelland to the Congo to report on #humanrights. To help, text MOJO to 20222 to give $10.

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Remember those Santa pajamas that made such a cute gift to your Minnesota nephew 10 years ago? Liberia’s wearing them now. MJ’s Laura McClure traveled there and tracked down your duds in a photo essay, “Where Do Your Goodwill Clothes Really Go?”

Ted Nugent wants to racistly tell you why the US shouldn’t have acted in Libya.

Bless the Washington Times for letting a guy with a guitar spill this racist diatribe on the op-ed page:

Africa isn’t called the Dark Continent for no reason. Africa has forever been a politi- cal nightmare full of overt corruption, tribal warfare, genocide, murderous regimes and brutal dictators.

There is no country in Africa that truly respects freedom or the rule of law. The majority of countries in Africa are in economic ruin because of political corruption and a history ugly with cruel despotism. That’s why starvation and disease are rampant. AIDS is projected to kill as much as half the populations of some countries. Genocide is a way of life. There is little light in Africa…

Africa is an international scab. Bono of the band U2 advocates that if we forgive debt African nations owe, peace and tranquillity will sprout up mystically. The real problem is murdering, corrupt thugs and punks like Col. Gadhafi. Once we swat one of these African cockroaches or intervene in their civil war, where do we stop?

America can’t solve all the world’s problems, nor should it try. We have enough of our own problems to address without getting involved in a Libyan civil war.

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What’s Happening in Libya Explained (AND UPDATED)

Last week, Libyan dissident Najla Aburrahman begged western media to pay attention to the bloodbath unfolding in her country. “If the Libyan protesters are ignored,” she wrote, “the fear is that [Libyan dictator Muammar] Qaddafi— a man who appears to care little what the rest of the world thinks of him—will be able to seal the country off from foreign observers, and ruthlessly crush any uprising before it even has a chance to begin.”

Inside the “lavish,” “debauched” lifestyle of Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of the dictator of Equatorial Guinea. Beyond the oil money, all-night parties, Playboy bunnies, and 15,000-square-foot Malibu mansion, there’s the larger question of whether Teodoro has used shell companies to funnel $100 million into the United States. Click here for deets and this week’s 4 other Longread story picks.

In a rambling discourse, [Qaddafi] blamed the uprising on the leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, saying he had drugged the people, giving them "hallucinogenic pills in their coffee with milk, like Nescafe." →

Oh, that’s what happened.

Beware the "Dirty Handshake." →

Things to know when female and traveling to a Central African conflict zone.