In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Homophobia] Well, late Friday night (in typical news-hole fashion), a stay was granted, thus calling a halt to legal same-sex marriage in Indiana. Which is super upsetting, especially since it's just cruelty for cruelty's sake: The state will never win the appeal. I am, however, really happy with this local coverage of the stay, which gives no time to bigots and plenty of time to people questioning their decency. (Take note, national media! It is possible to write a story without shitty "both sides" journalism.) The couple pictured at the link is my oft-mentioned oldest friend Anthony and his husband Mark, whom I also adore. I am angry they were obliged to by bigotry to participate in this story, but I am so proud of them for being insistently visible.

[CN: Terrorism; violence; death] Boko Haram continues to wreak violent havoc in northern Nigeria, killing dozens of people in attacks on three villages. My god. I don't even have words.

[CN: Violence; guns] Welp: "A panel of mental health experts has concluded that Oscar Pistorius was not suffering from a mental illness when he killed [Reeva Steenkamp, the woman he was dating] in his home last year, the chief prosecutor at the athlete's murder trial said." His trial resumes today.

[CN: Violence; threats; murder] Everyone needs to read this New York Times piece about the Blackwater mercenaries: "Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad's Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor's operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater's top manager there issued a threat: 'that he could kill' the government's chief investigator and 'no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,' according to department reports." Holy shit.

[CN: Privacy violations; emotional manipulation; disablist language] NPR's Linda Holmes has a great piece on Facebook's decision to allow "researchers both inside and outside the company to manipulate users' news feeds to hide good news or bad news to see whether it affected the emotions of those users themselves."

RIP Meshach Taylor. I imagine a lot of us held a special place for him in our hearts for his role as Anthony Bouvier in the sitcom Designing Women.

And finally! This little boy used his birthday to raise money to save dogs. Adorbz. Kids today! Get ON my lawn!