In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Death; extreme weather] Just awful: "Communities across the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu have been left devastated by Cyclone Pam, which brought gusts of wind of up to 300km/h (185mph). At least eight people have died—but contact has not yet been made with the population of some islands and the toll is expected to rise. ...Aerial images from remote villages across the islands also reveal scenes of devastation. Tens of thousands of people have been left without shelter. President Baldwin Lonsdale said the storm had 'wiped out' all development of recent years and his country would have to rebuild 'everything.'" Please feel welcome to leave links to relief efforts in comments.

[CN: Drones; war] Today, the ACLU will file a disclosure lawsuit over the Obama administration's continued drone program: "As the US debates expanding its campaign against the Islamic State beyond Iraq and Syria, the leading US civil liberties group is intensifying its efforts to force transparency about lethal US counterterrorism strikes and authorities. On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will file a disclosure lawsuit for secret Obama administration documents specifying, among other things, the criteria for placement on the so-called 'kill list' for drone strikes and other deadly force. Information sought by the ACLU includes long-secret analyses establishing the legal basis for what the administration terms its 'targeted killing program' and the process by which the administration determines that civilians are unlikely to be killed before launching a strike, as well as verification mechanisms afterward to establish if the strike in fact has caused civilian deaths."

[CN: Shooting] An arrest has been made in the non-fatal shooting of two police officers in Ferguson: "St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch announced that authorities had brought charges, including assault in the first degree, against 20-year-old Jeffrey Williams. ...Williams had been involved in protests on the evening that the shooting occurred and had 'acknowledged' firing shots, according to McCulloch. McCulloch said that Williams, who is African-American, may have been firing at someone other than the police. But regular demonstrators denied that they had ever seen Williams at the protests. 'We don't know him,' said Tony Rice, the founder of Ground Level Support, who has been protesting since August."

[CN; Guns; rape culture] In news that will surprise absolutely no one reading this: "College Rape Survivors Don't Want Guns on Campus." Nor do anti-rape advocacy groups. Says survivor and activist Lauren Gambill: "If my rapist had a gun at school, I have no doubt I would be dead. That's why I started this petition asking legislators in these states not to allow guns on campuses and put survivors like me in even more danger."

[CN: Misogyny; illness] Schools in Sierra Leone shut because of the Ebola crisis will finally reopen, but pregnant girls and young mothers will not be allowed: "Dr. Minkailu Bah, Minister of Education, Science and Technology said '[pregnant girls'] presence in the classroom would serve as a negative influence to other innocent girls.' Human rights groups have slammed the move, which specifies that pregnant girls and young mothers cannot sit the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE)—essentially barring them from graduating from high school or continuing on to university." Fucking hell.

[CN: Rape culture; child abuse; police misconduct] London's Metropolitan Police are being investigated following "claims it covered up child sex offences because of the involvement of police officers and MPs. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating 14 referrals spanning four decades. It said the claims were of 'high-level corruption of the most serious nature.'" The allegations of looking the other way are utterly appalling, and include, as but one example: "An allegation that a document from the Houses of Parliament was found at a paedophile's address linking 'highly-prominent individuals,' including MPs and senior police officers, to a paedophile ring but no further action was taken." Rage. Seethe. Boil. Again, this is why anyone who shames survivors for not going to police are ignorant assholes.

[CN: Drought; climate change] Um fuck: "While Californians contemplate what they'll do if the drought lasts 10 years or turns into a megadrought by the end of the century, their attention is being directed by some scientists to a slightly more immediate problem. 'The state has only about one year of water supply left in its reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly disappearing,' Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed last week. And we're not ready, he wrote: 'California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain.'"

[Video] "Happy Monday, you're old! In the latest 'Kids React' video from The Fine Bros, watch as as these children and preteens marvel at the grainy quality of the VCR's picture, struggle with putting a VHS tape in, and discover how difficult it used to be to record a show or rent a movie." LOL.

And finally! Senior dogs with "frosted faces." LOVE.