In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: War; violence] So, this is what spreading freedom looks like: In Iraq, the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria have seized control of Mosul, the capital of northern Iraq, and now have control of the airport, government headquarters, and prisons. In Pakistan, where we are fighting a not-war as an outgrowth of the war-war in Afghanistan, the Taliban led a coordinated assault on the Kirachi airport, killing at least 36 people. And speaking of Afghanistan: "Five American Special Operations service members and at least one Afghan soldier were killed when a coalition aircraft accidentally unleashed an airstrike on their position in southern Afghanistan, one of the deadliest instances of friendly fire in more than a decade of war." Basically, everything's going great with US foreign policy.

[CN: War; sexual violence] In other war-related news, Angelina Jolie has joined forces with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague to raise awareness about the use of rape as a weapon of war. Y'all, I think she's a good egg. (I don't mean I think she's perfect, or above criticism. I mean I think she's a good egg.)

[CN: Carcerality; abuse] The ACLU has released a report titled "Warehoused and Forgotten: Immigrants Trapped in Our Shadow Private-Prison System," and its findings are grim: "With attention focused on other aspects of immigration reform, the federal government has quietly gone on a massive immigrant prison building spree. Since 1999, the Bureau of Prisons has contracted for the operation of 13 for-profit private prisons located mostly in isolated towns far from the prying eyes of activists, prisoner's families or attorneys. Five are located in Texas. Run by three private companies, these 13 'criminal alien requirement' prisons, as the BOP calls them, house one of America's fastest-growing prison populations: immigrants in federal custody, many convicted for the crime of illegally crossing the border. ...These private prisons exist in legal shadows, unanswerable to many BOP policies and protected by laws that exempt them from open-records requirements. In a multi-year ACLU investigation, the organization found that the BOP shields contractors from disclosing information, claiming 'trade secrets' in response to public information requests." ACLU investigators also found that prisoners are "subjected to shocking abuse and mistreatment."

[CN: Carcerality] Attorney General Eric Holder is "supporting a proposal set for a vote next month" on the "measure that would make potentially thousands of non-violent drug offenders now serving time in federal prison eligible for reduced sentences." Background on that measure is here.

[CN: Class warfare] Wealth redistribution upwards: "The world's richest 1% had a banner year in 2013, propelled by robust equities performance in developed economies and healthy GDP growth in emerging markets. Global private wealth jumped 14.6%, reaching a total of $152 trillion, and disproportionately enriched the wealthiest investors, according to a report released June 9 by the Boston Consulting Group titled Global Wealth 2014: Riding a Wave of Growth. This surge in affluence led to a 20% increase in the number of millionaires worldwide, reaching 16.3 million in 2013 from 13.7 million in 2012." How neat for those rich people! I can't wait for all that wealth to trickle down on us! Which will be weird, since that wealth was stolen from the rest of us in the first place, and I don't see why the thieves would give it back, but they promise it's gonna happen and I'm sure they wouldn't lie, so!

This Friday will be a very rare Friday the 13th with a full moon. That won't happen again until sometime after 2035. Cool!

And finally! Here are just some super adorable pictures of John Legend and Chrissy Teigen and their three dogs, including their newest rescue, a three-legged French bulldog named Penny. Yay!