In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Abuse grooming; drugging] Beverly Johnson tells her story about being drugged by Bill Cosby. Johnson escaped without being assaulted, but her account of how he groomed her and developed her trust before drugging her is incredibly upsetting to read. It's definitely worth your time, if you can, because of the calculations she describes having to make around her decision to tell her story.

[CN: Extreme weather; video may autoplay at first link] California is getting hammered by a terrible storm, which has left people without power, caused mudslides, and shut down airports. How's everyone doing on the West Coast?

[CN: Police brutality] This is promising: "This week as all eyes were on budget deal wrangling, with little attention and fanfare, Congress actually got something done to reform the police. It passed a bill that could result in complete, national data on police shootings and other deaths in law enforcement custody. ...Under the bill awaiting Obama's signature, states receiving federal funds would be required to report every quarter on deaths in law enforcement custody. This includes not just those who are killed by police during a stop, arrest, or other interaction. It also includes those who die in jail or prison. And it requires details about these shootings including gender, race, as well as at least some circumstances surrounding the death."

[CN: Homophobia] A federal judge has refused to lift his stay on same-sex marriages in Texas. "The decision from Judge Orlando L. Garcia means same-sex marriages won't be allowed pending an appeal of the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court." Just fuck.

Something something Mitt Romney 2016. Least worst 4eva!

Something something Mike Pence 2016. Nope. No. Absolutely not. No no no. Nein. Nyet. Nuh-uh.

Neat! "Star Wars: The Force Awakens character names revealed in coolest way possible."

Hey, watchers of the heavens: "One of the best meteor showers of the year is coming this weekend: This Saturday and Sunday night, head outside to see one of the year's best meteor showers: the Geminids. ...The shower will peak early Saturday morning, but experts say that both nights should feature a good number of meteors — somewhere around 50 to 60 per hour." Cool.

Oooooh: "Mysterious X-Ray Signal Could Reveal Dark Matter: Astronomers may finally have detected a signal of dark matter, the mysterious and elusive stuff thought to make up most of the material universe. While poring over data collected by the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton spacecraft, a team of researchers spotted an odd spike in X-ray emissions coming from two different celestial objects—the Andromeda galaxy and the Perseus galaxy cluster. The signal corresponds to no known particle or atom and thus may have been produced by dark matter, researchers said."

And finally! This dog is so happy to have been rescued that she can't stop dancing! Awww.