In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: War; injury; death] The situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate: "Ukraine is close to war, the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has warned in interviews published in four European newspapers on Tuesday. Dozens are feared to have died in clashes outside Slavyansk on Monday as Ukrainian troops clashed with pro-Russia separatists. 'The bloody pictures from Odessa have shown us that we are just a few steps away from a military confrontation,' Steinmeier told El País, Le Monde, La Repubblica, and Gazeta Wyborcza. He added that the conflict had taken on an intensity 'that a short time ago we would not have considered possible.'" I have no words.

[CN: Surveillance] Welp: "Email exchanges between National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander and Google executives Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt suggest a far cozier working relationship between some tech firms and the U.S. government than was implied by Silicon Valley brass after last year's revelations about NSA spying." It appears (at least to me) that tech firms may have agreed to reasonable participation in national security operations in good faith, and sometime along the line, the requests became increasingly unreasonable.

Something something poll something something Hillary Clinton something something Jeb Bush something something Rand Paul something something 2016.

[CN: Abortion; anti-choice harassment] Emily Letts filmed her abortion and discusses why she made the decision to publicly share the film. (Spoiler Alert: It's to help destigmatize and demystify abortion!)

[CN: Sexual assault] Angus Johnston has a great write-up of the responses to the the first report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.

Democratic Governor of Oregon John Kitzhaber helped save a woman's life in downtown Portland yesterday: "Kitzhaber was traveling by car through downtown Portland on his way to dinner around 5 p.m. when he noticed a woman on the ground with someone trying to help her. He ordered his driver to pull over near Southwest 13th Avenue and Main Street and instructed his security detail to call paramedics, the a spokesperson confirmed. The woman was not breathing when Kitzhaber began to perform CPR. Paramedics arrived some minutes later and took over treatment of the patient, who may have overdosed on drugs. She was taken to the hospital and is expected to live, according to the governor's office." Right on!

(Unlike the death penalty, this is the sort of life-and-death business I want our governors to be in!)

[CN: Car crash; injury] In a truly amazing story of survival, Kristin Hopkins stayed alive for five days in her wrecked car at the bottom of a hill off a Colorado highway before she was rescued: "Seeing what he thought was dead body inside a car, a firefighter went to break out the window. 'As he was attempting to strike the window, the patient put her hand against it,' said Lt. Jim Cravener of North West Fire Protection District." Blub.

ADELE IS TEASING A NEW ALBUM! I repeat: ADELE IS TEASING A NEW ALBUM!