In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Police brutality; racism] A new video shows NYPD officers beating a black teenage boy against a car: "After three cops hold the boy against the car, a non-uniformed officer is seen running up and punching the child repeatedly." There is some dispute about how old the kid is, who is identified as 12 years old. "Officers allege the victims were actually 16 and 17-years-old, and that they were participating in a gang initiation." This is their defense for holding and beating a child: He's older than you think, and was doing something bad (that no one else says he was doing), therefore we are justified in physically assaulting him. I mean.

[CN: Police misconduct; violence; misogyny] Meanwhile, in Austin: "Joy Diaz, a reporter at Texas NPR affiliate KUT, reported on Thursday that she was recently approached at a police union building by veteran officer Andrew Petrowski. According to audio captured by Diaz, Petrowski offered an unprompted take on the case of NFL running back Ray Rice, who knocked out his then-fianceé in an elevator in February. 'I don't care who you are,' Petrowski said on the recording. 'You think about the women's movement today, [women say] 'Oh, we want to go [into] combat,' and then, 'We want equal pay, and we want this.' You want to go fight in combat and sit in a foxhole? You go right ahead. But a man can't hit you in public here? Bullshit!' the officer continued. 'You act like a whore, you get treated like one!' he added on the tape." Yeah, it's a real mystery why a lot of marginalized people don't trust cops.

[CN: War on agency; anti-choice fuckery; medical procedure] Katie Klabusich: "My Latest Reproductive Health Procedure Makes Anti-Choicers Seem Even More Hypocritical." This is so good. I'm not even going to excerpt it; just go read the whole thing.

[CN: Class warfare; worker exploitation] Your Waitress, Your Professor: "My perhaps naïve hope is that when I tell students I'm not only an academic, but a 'survival' jobholder, I'll make a dent in the artificial, inaccurate division society places between blue-collar work and 'intelligent' work."

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is reportedly "laying the groundwork for what one ally says is an 'imminent' presidential campaign—one that could launch as early as next month." Ed Kilgore suggests that she's actually running for vice-president on the Republican ticket, which I think is right—or would be, in another election cycle. But I can totally see the GOP getting fired up for a corporate lady with no political experience. You can't criticize someone's record who doesn't have one! This kind of wacky nomination also tends to happen when people are bored with their options, and when Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush are your most exciting options, welp.

Marvel has given Spider-Woman a new suit, and already the fan-boys are screaming that it's boring and stupid and not sexy enough, which is obviously integral to the character they love so much because she is supercool and it's for sure definitely totally not about BOOBZ.

And finally! Here's just a terrific video of a fox playing with a golf ball! (I'm glad they took it away from hir at the end, because I was worried zie'd swallow it!)