June 7, 2010

Blackwater Opens a Retail Chain

Courtesy of <a href="http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/images/2008/02/29/blackwaterhellokittylove_2.gif">Wired's Danger Room</a>

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Hey, remember when Blackwater killed all those Iraqis in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, and billed the government for prostitutes, and probably assassinated people was enlisted in an aborted US plan to maybe assassinate people, then got in trouble, then changed its name to Xe™ and attempted a rebranding campaign? To hell with all that, the company now says: It’s time to market the Blackwater brand of clothing! After all, as M.I.A. just told the New York Times, “The best sportswear is on Blackwater operatives!”

Noah Shachtman of Wired‘s Danger Room blog caught wind today of a company plan to open two retail stores—one in Salem, Connecticut, and one in Fayetteville, North Carolina, near Fort Bragg (home of the military’s Special Operations Command). Blackwater Pro Shops, as it’s being billed, already has an online store, selling firearms and beer coozies with the firm’s bear-paw logo. On the front page, there’s also a sale on T-shirts from the not-at-all-ironically-named Afghan outpost, Camp Integrity.

No word yet on when they’ll open. But I’m looking forward to perusing the “sale rack” of Afghan and Iraqi antiquities. Maybe I can even get a $400-an-hour job as a sales associate!

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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