In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Extreme weather; death. Video may autoplay at link.] Tulsa area hit by deadly tornadoes: "One person was killed and several others were injured when a series of 'extremely dangerous' tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma, knocking out power and leaving a massive trail of destruction. The twisters targeted the Tulsa area, and the state Emergency Management Services Authority confirmed that one person died at a mobile home park in the nearby town of Sand Springs. Three other people were injured—one critically, it said. ...Utilities companies said that more than 79,000 customers were without power across the state as of late Wednesday night. At least 10 Tulsa public schools were without power, prompting the city to cancel classes for Thursday."

[CN: War] Shit: "Warplanes from Saudi Arabia and Arab allies struck Shi'ite Muslim rebels fighting to oust Yemen's president on Thursday, a gamble by the world's top oil exporter to check Iranian influence in its backyard without direct military backing from Washington. Riyadh's rival Iran denounced the assault on the Houthi militia group, which it backs, and made clear the kingdom's deployment of a Sunni coalition against Shi'ite enemies would complicate efforts to end a conflict likely to inflame the sectarian animosities fuelling wars around the Middle East." I just feel immensely sad for all the moderate and peaceful people in this region who just want to get on with the business of living their lives, but are constantly being subjected to danger, violence, and death.

[CN: Police brutality; racism] "Why are you beating on me like this?" Three white Inkster, Michigan, police officers were caught on tape dragging Floyd Dent, a black man, from his car, putting him in a chokehold, hitting him 16 times in the head, and Tasering him three times. "Dent says the bag of crack cocaine the officers claim they found was planted and, according to his attorney, there is unreleased video which shows the officers planting the drugs. The officer who repeatedly punched Dent was 'was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office for planting evidence and falsifying reports' in 2003. He was ultimately found not guilty. 'I'm lucky to be living. I think they was trying to kill me, especially when they had choked me. I mean, I was on my last breath. I kept telling the officer, 'Please, I can’t breathe,'' Dent said in a media availability today." Fucking hell.

[CN: Addiction; illness] In other news from Indiana: "Indiana is battling the worst HIV outbreak in its history: The HIV epidemic that now grips Austin, Ind., seemed to come out of nowhere. Since the first diagnosis in mid-December, the number of infected there and in the surrounding region has skyrocketed—26 by the beginning of March, 72 as of this Wednesday. It's the worst HIV outbreak in state history, and has local and federal officials scrambling to stem the spread of the disease. But to William Cooke, who runs the only doctor's office in this city of about 4,300, this epidemic has been years in the making. 'We identified long ago there was an undercurrent there that was very unhealthy,' he told NBC. Poverty and drug addiction in Austin created 'a recipe for disaster.' Long before the first HIV diagnosis, the city has been coping with another epidemic: intravenous drug use. Used needles can be found strewn across yards and roadsides, but just as often wind up in the hands of other users, contributing to the spread of infection." My state is in trouble. In many, many ways. And it all comes back to this: No political will among our conservative leadership to provide for vulnerable people, nor to stop the skyrocketing numbers of vulnerable people, as our middle class crumbles through lack of jobs with a livable wage.

Well, if Elizabeth Warren won't do it... "Joe Biden may come under pressure to decide whether he will challenge Hillary Clinton for the White House sooner than anticipated, as liberal anxiety has prompted multiplying grassroots supporters to wonder if the vice-president might be knocked from his perch of studied neutrality and into a presidential bid. A third-party political action committee urging Biden to challenge Clinton from the left in the smoldering controversy over her email arrangements has ballooned tenfold in the past week alone, the Guardian has learned, even as advisers close to the vice-president insist that he will wait and see about a 2016 run."

Something something Chris Christie blah blah presidency fart.

Wow: "They must be the two most audacious space missions currently in development. Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe Plus will venture inside the orbit of Mercury to study the Sun."

I love Dolly Parton so much: "There's a brain under the wig and a heart beneath the boobs. I may look artificial, but inside I'm totally real."

The second season of Fargo is shaping up nicely: "Taking place in the late 1970s, Season 2—a prequel to Season 1 that stars Patrick Wilson as a younger version of Keith Carradine's Lou Solverson—is set against 'the cultural transformation that was going on at that time,' as well as Reagan's first campaign for President of the United States, previewed FX Networks CEO John Landgraf back in January. 'He's on his first campaign [and he] makes a swing through Fargo. Some of the characters have some interactions with him. And some of his movies are also a part of the show.'" And who's gonna play Reagan? Why, Bruce Campbell, of course!

[CN: Images of animal abuse/neglect but with happy endings] This is the power that love has: "Powerful Before and After Pics Show How Rescue Can Change a Cat." We domesticated them; we made them dependent on us; we have the responsibility to care for them.

And finally! Cats stealing dog beds. LOL FOREVERRRRR.