In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: War; violence; death] In Israel and Gaza: "The death toll in Gaza continued to rise on Thursday as Israel's strikes against Hamas intensified, while residents in Tel Aviv awoke to explosions as rockets were shot down over the city by the Iron Dome defence system. Reports claimed that eight members of the same family—including five children—were killed in an air strike on two homes in Khan Younis, south of Gaza. A spokesman for the Gazan health ministry told Palestinian media that no warning was given and that most of the dead were children. Ashraf al-Qidra said the total number of Palestinians killed over the past three days now stands at 77, with over 500 people injured in the tiny coastal strip. There have been no Israeli casualties from the hundreds of rockets that have been fired by militants in Gaza."

I want to underline, again, that Israel's government and Hamas military leadership are not the same thing as Israeli people and Palestinian people, and neither group is in monolithic agreement. Many, many, many people do not want or support this violence. And by virtue of wildly unbalanced military and defense capabilities, it is Palestinian people who are paying the most costly price.

Being really fucking sad about that does not constitute reflexive, undiluted support for Hamas' military leadership. There are lots of Israelis who are really fucking sad about that, at the same time they're the ones under threat. Let's keep that in perspective.

[CN: Gun violence; murder] Are we going to talk about this in the frame of a culture of violent male entitlement? Probably not: "A man involved in a domestic dispute shot dead six family members and critically wounded a seventh in a suburb of Houston Wednesday, before surrendering to police following a tense standoff, authorities said. Law-enforcement officials said the suspect—identified as 33-year-old Ron Lee Haskell—had a domestic argument involving a divorce before he drove to the home in Spring, Texas, and shot seven family members, including five children." All the blubs forever that a surviving but wounded 15-year-old girl was able to tell police where he was headed, to hurt more people, so they were able to intercept him.

[CN: Sexual assault] A 16-year-old girl, who is so brave, is speaking out about having been sexually assaulted and then having video and pictures of the assault go viral among classmates. (At the link: "In a way, it's as though Jada's been assaulted twice, both inside the house and online." Yes, in a way. That way being actually and really and without question.) She's survived, and is surviving, a horrible trauma, and I wish for her both justice and peace. However she may define them.

[CN: Rape culture] Rage-making, but unsurprising: "More than 40 percent of colleges and universities in the United States didn't conduct a single sexual assault investigation on their campuses within the past five years, even though federal law requires them to do so if they have reason to believe a crime occurred, according to a survey administered by the office of Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. ...Even worse, 21 percent of the largest private schools surveyed investigated fewer sexual assault cases than the number they reported to the Department of Education each year, investigations that are legally required by the federal Clery Act. Sometimes the number of assaults reported to the Department of Education was seven times the number of cases a school had investigated, the report said." This is rape culture.

[CN: Prisoner mistreatment] This is appalling: "Food and serving equipment contaminated with live maggots have been found at two Ohio prisons. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction confirmed that on June 30 a 'hot box was found to have maggots' in the Ohio Reformatory for Women at Marysville. Prison spokeswoman Jo Ellen Smith said contaminated food was not served to inmates. Aramark Correctional Services, a private company, feeds state inmates under a $110 million state contract signed last fall. ...Maggots were also found recently in potatoes served to inmates in Michigan prisons, which also have a food service contract with Aramark. The Detroit Free Press reported that more than two dozen prisoners became ill with symptoms like food-poisoning after maggots and fly larvae were found on serving trays." Fuck you, Aramark. Jesus.

The Emmy Nominations have been announced. There are some pretty extraordinary categories, just full of amazing shows or performances. A golden era of TV, for real. But, as always, the nominee list is, in virtually every category, reflective of the usual kyriarchal privileges. And I will never stop being steamed that Fargo's Allison Tolman was not nominated as a lead.

[CN: Misogyny] Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling are expecting a child. Congratulations to them! And all the eyerolling in the world to this extremely common framing:


1. I'm pretty sure she's pregnant with her baby, too. 2. This framing really feeds into the narrative that women "get pregnant" to trap an eligible dude. She's having his baby, as opposed to: They're having a baby together.

This picture, taken at yesterday's meeting in Texas between President Barack Obama and Governor Rick Perry, may be the greatest picture ever taken.


And finally! Here is just a terrific video of a greyhound happily bouncing around a pool on a hot day. Yay!