In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today!

President Obama says he's "not a particularly ideological person." That is too bad, because frankly what we really need to lead the charge against the Republican Party is a fierce ideologue.

The United States ranks 26th in average lifespan. Whoops.

This sounds like a terrific idea: Police and sheriff's departments are getting leftover war vehicles. "Coming soon to your local sheriff: 18-ton, armor-protected military fighting vehicles with gun turrets and bulletproof glass that were once the U.S. answer to roadside bombs during the Iraq war. The hulking vehicles, built for about $500,000 each at the height of the war, are among the biggest pieces of equipment that the Defense Department is giving to law enforcement agencies under a national military surplus program."

[Content Note: Sexual violence; racism; disablism] In more police news, a San Antonio police officer is accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman during a traffic stop, and a suburban Detroit police officer has admitted asking a black man with psychological disabilities to sing and "dance like a chimp."

News from the Conservative Legislation Lab: "The Indiana Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Monday in the legal battle over a $52 million judgment the state has been ordered to pay IBM over the failed attempt to privatize public welfare services under former Gov. Mitch Daniels. ...The state is appealing a Marion Superior Court judge's 2012 ruling awarding $52 million to IBM after the state canceled a contract Daniels had hailed in 2006 as the solution for fixing one of the nation's worst welfare systems. Instead, the project ended with the state firing IBM in 2009 after hundreds of millions of dollars were spent for a system that generated widespread complaints of delayed benefits and impersonal interactions. The dispute ended up in court, with the state trying to recoup more than $150 million of the $437 million it had paid IBM before scrapping the deal and IBM asking for $113 million for breach of contract." Gee, if only someone had mentioned that privatization is a bad idea. (HA HA EVERYONE MENTIONED THAT.)

[CN: Rape culture; rape apologia] This is an actual column in USA Today: "Sex drive blurs line surrounding assault." Whut. WHUT.

Following the international agreement in which Iran will halt its nuclear program, western states will likely begin to ease long-standing sanctions on the state.

[CN: Death] Terrible weather will affect lots of Thanksgiving holiday travelers, as a deadly winter storm "heaped up to a foot of snow on the mountains of Utah and Colorado and claimed 13 lives, including a 4-year-old girl who was killed in a rollover crash on an icy road in New Mexico. Now the weather pattern is picking up speed and heading for the Northeast, and the 43 million Americans who plan to travel for Thanksgiving are at risk. Rain and ice sweeping across the South will converge with a storm system pushing down from the Great Lakes." Be careful, everyone!

Here is an adorable video of The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus with his cat.