In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Rape culture; sexual assault] The two former Vanderbilt University football players accused of raping a female classmate were found guilty on all counts yesterday, after the jury deliberated for fewer than four hours. An amazing result, which I hope will bring the woman who survived this horror some measure of peace. Two more former teammates are awaiting trial.

[CN: Racism; carcerality. Video may autoplay at link.] "More than a half-century after they were arrested and sentenced to hard labor for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter in South Carolina, a group of African-American student protesters known as the 'Friendship Nine' had their convictions overturned and sentences vacated Wednesday. The moment was met with applause and a standing ovation in the court room." Long, loooooong overdue.

[CN: Anti-choice terrorism] Fucking hell: Threats against abortion providers have nearly doubled just since 2010. Wow do I wish we had some pro-choice legislators with spines in this country, who would talk about this campaign of domestic terrorism; who would say anything about it at all.

[CN: Misogyny; religion; anti-choicery] First Lady Michelle Obama has caused a SCANDAL! by choosing not to wear a headscarf during a visit to Saudi Arabia. On the one hand, she's being yelled at for being disrespectful, and, on the other, she's being praised for showing that headscarves are stupid and terrible blah blah. But neither is accurate. Ideally, women everywhere should have unilateral choice on what they want to wear, and the First Lady made the perfect commentary on that by choosing to forego a headscarf, without making an explicit political statement about it. A+

Heads-up if you drive a Nissan: "Nissan Motor Co is recalling about 768,000 vehicles, including its popular Rogue crossover and Pathfinder SUV, for separate problems, the company and U.S. regulators said on Wednesday. Some 552,135 Rogues from model years 2008 and 2013 will be recalled because moisture could seep through the driver side floor and cause an electrical short to wiring that could lead to a fire... Also, 215,789 Pathfinder SUVs from the 2013 and 2014 model years and 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles will be recalled for problems related to a secondary hood latch."

[CN: Christian Supremacy; guns] Mike Huckabee continues to run his mouth, asserting that school shootings would be prevented by inserting Christianity back into public schools: "Because we were bringing Bibles to school people weren't bringing guns to school, except for the deer hunters who left them in their trucks. What has happened to our culture? What's happened is we have lost our landmarks. When we reject the Bible as the objective word of truth, when we say that the Bible is no longer the standard by which we live and we make it whatever we feel, what we think, what we believe, then we have no landmark at all because that landmark is always being moved to accommodate our lifestyle rather than make our lifestyle accommodate the word of the living God and the power of the Holy Spirit." This fucking guy.

[CN: Class warfare] Here are two interesting charts: One shows how much someone has to earn in each US state to be part of their state's 1%, and the other shows the ratio of each state's average 1percenter's income to the bottom 99%. Wow.

[CN: Misogyny] Yesterday, the new all-female Ghostbusters cast was announced! WOOOOOOOOT! Guess how misogynists reacted? If you guessed that they aren't afraid of no ghosts, but are terrified of women, give yourself a thousand points!

And finally! "Learning from Animal Friendships." ♥