In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Abduction; terrorism; misogyny; abuse.] After another eight girls were abducted by Boko Haram, following the mass abduction 23 days ago, dozens of protestors rallied at the Nigerian Embassy, "with the hope of pressuring authorities to take action. ...Molly Alawode, a leader of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, told Al Jazeera the protests would continue 'if the government doesn't live up to its duty of service and protect the Nigerian population. We think it's really important to send this message today to let him [President Goodluck Jonathan] and other leaders know that the world is really watching,' she added." Nigerian police have now offered a $300,000 reward for information aiding in the rescue of the girls, and the White House has announced "it is sending a team to Nigeria to aid the effort to find the girls and those responsible."

[CN: Racism] Former Republican Governor of Floria Charlie Crist, who is now a Democrat, says that one of the primary reasons he left the GOP was its entrenched racism toward President Obama: "I couldn't be consistent with myself and my core beliefs, and stay with a party that was so unfriendly toward the African-American president, I'll just go there. I was a Republican and I saw the activists and what they were doing, it was intolerable to me."

[CN: Rape culture] Speaking of intolerable, Tucker Carlson is such a fucking dirtbag: "A 15-year-old boy looks at [being sexually assaulted by a female teacher] as the greatest thing that's ever happened." He is as colossally gross as he is colossally wrong.

[CN: Guns] Speaking at the National Council for Behavioural Health conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned against letting go unchecked the idea that "anybody can have a gun, anywhere, anytime." Said Clinton: "I think again we're way out of balance. I think that we've got to rein in what has become an almost article of faith that anybody can have a gun, anywhere, anytime. And I don't believe that is in the best interest of the vast majority of people. And I think you can say that and still support the right of people to own guns." I will give this a provisional thumbs-up, although I expect that Clinton, should she become a candidate, will disappointingly take the same approach that's popular among Democrats right now and ultimate propose reforms that demonize people with mental illness.

Speaking of Hillary Clinton, former Second Lady Lynne Cheney took to Fox News to discuss Monica Lewinsky's recent piece in Vanity Fair about her affair with former President Bill Clinton, and these are the actual fucking words that Lynne Cheney actually fucking said: "I really wonder if this isn't an effort on the Clintons' part to get that story out of the way. Would Vanity Fair publish anything about Monica Lewinsky that Hillary Clinton didn't want in Vanity Fair?" Jesus Jones.

And finally! NBA MVP Kevin Durant gave a moving acceptance speech last night, in which he "thanked teammates by name, telling personal tales about each of their relationships and why they mattered to him. He thanked his coaches, talking at length about the close bond he has had with coach Scott Brooks since they came together during the Seattle SuperSonics days in 2007. ...When he finally turned his attention to woman who has always been his backbone, everything else seemed to fade away. With the room captivated, the son who is truly one of a kind spoke from the heart. 'Single parent with two boys by the time you were 21 years old,' Durant said, crying. 'Everybody told us we weren't supposed to be here. We moved from apartment to apartment by ourselves. One of the best memories I had was when we moved into our first apartment. No bed, no furniture, and we just all sat in a room and just hugged each other. We thought we'd made it.'" He called his mom "the real MVP." All the blubs forever.

(Video is here. If and when I can finally find a transcript, I'll add a link. If you happen to find one, please drop a link in comments.)