In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Trans hatred; violence; death] RIP Bri Golec, a 22-year-old trans woman from Ohio, whose father killed her. "Bri Golec is the 6th transgender individual to die a violent death in 2015" in the United States. She "was a drummer and an artist. She loved her cat and had many friends."

[CN: War on agency; misogyny; death] My pal Andrea Grimes on the Republican lawmaker in Texas who wants to "appoint a 'guardian ad litem' for fetuses of brain-dead pregnant people whose families wish to say a proper goodbye to their loved one without forcing the continued gestation of a pregnancy inside a legally and medically deceased body." Because fetuses are valued more highly than the people who carry them.

[CN: Environmental hazard; video may autoplay at link] Holy shit: "Fires burned for hours after a train carrying more than 100 tankers of crude oil derailed in a snowstorm in West Virginia, sending a fireball into the sky and threatening the water supply of nearby residents, authorities and residents said Tuesday. Officials evacuated hundreds of families and shut down two water treatment plant following the Monday afternoon derailment. The West Virginia National Guard was taking water samples to determine whether the oil had seeped into a tributary of the Kanawha River, state public safety division spokesman Larry Messina said." Perhaps the most frightening part of this is that we cannot trust the state to be honest about the safety of the air and water, because over and over we've seen safety declared prematurely and people getting sick as a result.

[CN: War] Welp, the ceasefire was fragile at best and now it is broken: "Fierce fighting is reported inside the key Ukrainian town of Debaltseve despite a ceasefire agreed last week. Rebels say they have taken most of Debaltseve, a transport hub, but the government says it is still holding its positions. International observers tasked with monitoring the ceasefire have been unable to enter the town. Meanwhile Ukraine accused separatists of breaching the ceasefire and said hopes for peace were being destroyed."

[CN: Islamophobia; violence] Democracy Now! examines who is funding and promulgating anti-Islamic hatred as anti-Muslim attacks increase in the US: "As a federal inquiry begins in the killing of three Muslim students in North Carolina and an Islamic center in Houston, Texas, was intentionally set on fire Friday, we look at a new report that exposes the people who fund and stoke anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. ...The Islamophobia network has real consequences for Muslim Americans."

[CN: Theft] Whoa! "Hackers have stolen approximately $1 billion in what could be one of the largest bank heists ever, according to a new report from the Internet security firm Kaspersky Lab. Kaspersky said Sunday it has uncovered how hackers surreptitiously installed spying software on bank computers, eventually learned how to mimic bank employee workflows and used the knowledge to make transfers into bank accounts they had created for this theft. More than 100 banks were hit, Kaspersky said, and based on the hackers' practice of stealing between $2.5 million and $10 million from each bank, it estimated 'total financial losses could be as a high as $1 billion, making this by far the most successful criminal cyber campaign we have ever seen.'"

[CN: Disease; climate change] Confirming what anyone with a 7th grade science education and no agenda already knew: "Climate change, which is shuffling habitable zones for pathogen-carrying animals, is poised to make future outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Ebola, H1N1 and TB worse, and more frequent."

[CN: Extreme weather] And the latest fuckwinter news from the East Coast of the US: "An icy winter storm has coated the south and eastern seaboard in sleet, freezing rain and snow, from from South Carolina to New York, cancelling flights, meetings of state legislatures, school and left hundreds of thousands of houses in the dark on Tuesday morning. Forecasters say the regions won't enjoy a thaw any time soon–another Arctic front is expected in the middle of the week." Yeah, when the power goes out in a winter storm, being "in the dark" isn't really the primary problem. Not freezing to death is.

This is pretty neat: Movie posters boiled down to circles.

Photos of dogs in midair at the Westminster agility championship!

And finally! This bird named Bowie (THE BEST NAME!) really loves his tickles. Aww lol.