In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

Today, President Obama is calling for "the passage of the Healthy Families Act, a bill that would require most employers to give workers paid sick leave. The legislation calls for businesses with 15 or more employees to let them accrue up to seven paid sick days a year to care for themselves or a family member who falls ill. On a call with press, adviser Valerie Jarrett said the White House estimates that it would give 43 million workers access to leave who don't already have it. The leave could also be used by victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking to recover or seek assistance." Good stuff. Where was all this awesomeness before the midterm elections, when they had a greater chance of passing?

[Content Note: Death penalty; torture] Despite a series of botched executions around the country, in which death row prisoners were tortured to death as prisons tried new cocktails of execution drugs, Oklahoma plans to resume executions today. "Attorneys for four death row inmates, including [Charles Warner, scheduled to be killed by lethal injection today], are asking the US supreme court for a stay." End the death penalty now.

[CN: Rape culture] Kids today! Get ON my lawn! "Two eighth graders in Toronto, Canada are pushing to overhaul their province's sexual health curriculum to include more information about healthy relationships, saying that combating rape culture involves creating a 'consent culture' among youth. Tessa Hill and Lia Valente, both 13 years old, are asking the Ontario Ministry of Education to add consent education as a topic in the province's health curriculum." LOVE.

US District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith has ruled that Michigan "must recognize the legal marriages of about 300 same-sex couples who were wed in the state in a one-day period last year after a federal court struck down a ban on gay marriage and before the decision was put on hold by a U.S. appeals court. ...'In these circumstances, what the state has joined together, it may not put asunder,' Goldsmith said in a written opinion." Yay!

[CN: Police brutality] Twenty-nine people were arrested by Massachusetts State Police this morning, after they "stopped traffic on two sections of a major highway into Boston during the morning rush hour to protest the recent killings by U.S. police of unarmed black [people]."

I'm sure you will be shocked to hear that USians trust in police varies significantly between people of color and white people, young and old, progressives and conservatives. Huh.

[CN: War on agency] Oh for fuck's sake: "Following Well-Worn Scripts, State Lawmakers Renew Assault on Access to Abortion Care." I honestly don't even know what to say anymore. These fuckers. These hateful, misogynist, consent-hostile fuckers.

[CN: Climate change] Shit: "Researchers have come up with a new and improved way of measuring the rise in the sea level, and the news is not good: The seas have risen dramatically faster over the last two decades than anyone had known."

LOLOL WHUT: "An anonymous advisor to Mitt Romney told the Boston Globe in an article published on Tuesday that if the former Republican nominee had been elected President, there would be no Islamic State terror group in Syria and Iraq, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin would never have invaded Ukraine." Uh-huh sure. And by now we'd all be living in gold moon mansions and have pet unicorns that shit rubies.

Speaking of Mitt Romney, there seems to be some kind of double-standard about the way the media talks about Mitt Romney's and Hillary Clinton's age and family status, even though they are the same age and Clinton only has one grandchild to "enjoy" while Romney has 22. Gee, I wonder what could explain that double-standard? We're definitely living in a post-feminist society, so it can't be sexism, that's for sure! OH WELL I GUESS IT'S ANOTHER MYSTERY LOST TO THE SANDS OF TIME!

The new baby Asian elephant born at the Oklahoma City Zoo last month has been named Achara, which means "pretty angel." And she is ridiculously adorable!

And finally! Here is a terrific story about a dog rescued by the ASPCA from a dog fighting operation, who found a happy forever home where she is loved and spoiled. Yay!