Free Republic

Forget the Ice Bucket Challenge, it’s a different kinda bucket challenge that’s sweeping the “sandy” Middle East this week! Using #RubbleBucketChallenge to raise awareness on social media, campaigners have swapped ice-and-water-filled containers for sand and rocks. The trend appears to have been started by Jordanian comedian Mohammed Darwaza last Friday, reports The Independent. This challenge is closer to home for Palestinian superstar Mohammad Assaf than others, who’s joined the trend in support of his hometown Gaza, that’s been under attack by Israel for two months now. Assaf knows exactly how his people are feeling; he went through the same exact...

Kamala Khan isn’t your average New Jersey teenager battling a cultural identity crisis. She has superpowers. And she’s here to smash the stereotype of young Muslim-American women.Marvel has a comic book superhero named Kamala Khan, a Muslim teen from New Jersey. This idea is refreshing. It’s important. It reminds me of the late ‘60s film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. That was a revolutionary story about interracial marriage in America at a time when it was taboo. Like that film, Kamala will shatter taboos, too. Ms. Marvel (Kamala’s alter ego) will open the eyes of a new generation of comic...

Marvel is creating four live-action superhero series and an Avengers-style special event that will all air exclusively on Netflix, beginning in 2015. The first of the TV series will focus on Daredevil, while the following series will star Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage. At least 13 episodes of each series will be produced, and — like all good Marvel series — they'll eventually come together for a special event. For Netflix, that event will be a mini-series called The Defenders, though there's no word on just how long it'll run. "This serialized epic expands the narrative possibilities of...