In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Possible death and injury; possible terrorism] Over the weekend, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished with 239 people on board, and the investigation has still not turned up any evidence of wreckage. Officials are now investigating "the possibility that it disintegrated mid-flight...after climbing to a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing." What a strange and terrible story. I feel so deeply for the people whose loved ones are missing, who have no answers as to what happened to them.

[CN: Anti-choice terrorism] Bail has been set at $100,000 for 24-year-old Zachary Jordan Klundt, who is facing "four felony charges, three of them from the break-in at All Families Healthcare, a medical clinic that provides the only abortion services in [Montana's] Flathead Valley." Klundt is the son of Twyla Klundt, a board member of Hope Pregnancy Ministries, whose mission is "to honor Christ by providing an alternative to abortion through life affirming education and intervention, offering help and hope to women in need." Just like Jesus would do!

[CN: Anti-choice terrorism] Relatedly, I highly recommend Tara Culp-Ressler's piece published today on the harassment of abortion providers, "Meet America's Most Hated Doctors."

[CN: Sexual violence; reproductive coercion] Good news: Canada's Supreme Court "has unanimously upheld the sexual assault conviction of a Nova Scotia man who tried to trick his girlfriend into becoming pregnant by poking holes in her condoms. ...In Friday's 7-0 ruling, the high court ruled that Hutchinson deprived the woman of her ability to consent to sex."

[CN: Sexual violence] I would say this story is unbelievable, except it is perfectly, terribly believable: "The top Army prosecutor for sexual assault cases has been suspended after a lawyer who worked for him recently reported he'd groped her and tried to kiss her at a sexual-assault legal conference more than two years ago." Meanwhile: The US Senate has blocked passage of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's Military Justice Improvement Act, after it failed to "receive the 60 procedural votes needed to break a filibuster and progress." The legislation "would have removed the prosecution of sexually violent crimes in the military from the chain-of-command and given the responsibility to independent military prosecutors."

Senator Bernie Sanders, the only Democratic Socialist serving in the US Senate, says he is considering running for president. Good luck, Bernie Sanders! I would almost definitely vote for you!

Meanwhile, Republican Senator John McCain, founding member of the two-man I Lost the Presidency to Barack Obama Club, is now the least popular Senator in the country. LOL! Thanks for finally getting on board, AMERICA.

[CN: Hostility to consent] Jill Pantozzi covers how Fan Expo Canada's "Cuddle a Cosplayer" marketing strategy is ignorant and dangerous and gross.

Why We Rescue is a neat site documenting people's stories of rescuing cats and dogs. Please note if you click on an individual story, audio begins to play, but you can turn it off and read the stories (where the transcripts have been been added; some are still waiting).