In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Class warfare; eliminationism] I'm still fighting it out on Twitter over #BoycottIndiana, and some of the responses have been absolutely extraordinary. Not in a good way. Here is a perfect example of the shit with which I'm dealing. I should be killed because my state government is the worst. Neat.

As a result, In the News will be slightly brusque today, because I'm having to direct a lot of my continued attention to social media.

[CN: Class warfare] Senate passes Republican budget with deep safety net cuts: "The Senate passed a Republican-authored budget plan early on Friday that seeks $5.1 trillion in domestic spending cuts over 10 years while boosting military funding." Just fuck.

In other Senate news: "Senator Harry Reid, the tough tactician who has led Senate Democrats since 2005, will not seek re-election next year, bringing an end to a three-decade congressional career that culminated with his push of President Obama's ambitious agenda against fierce Republican resistance." Reid has reportedly endorsed Chuck Schumer as his successor.

[CN: Airline crash; death; disablism] The latest in the investigation into the Germanwings airline crash has found that the co-pilot who downed the plane was living with depression: German authorities found torn-up sick notes indicating he "was suffering from an illness that should have grounded him on the day of the tragedy, which he apparently hid from the airline." The Guardian's coverage on this is pretty good, especially in that they include statements from mental health professionals who note what ought to be obvious—that most people with depression don't harm other people. There's going to be a lot of awful disablism around this, I fear.

[CN: War on agency; sexual violence; misogyny] Tara Culp-Ressler has a good piece on Democratic Ohio State Rep. Teresa Fedor disclosing during a legislative debate about a proposed abortion ban "that she had been sexually assaulted, became pregnant, and had an abortion." This bit is particularly strong: "On the other hand, even as reproductive advocates celebrate the fact that an increasing number of women are feeling comfortable enough to disclose their stigmatized health care experiences, there are lingering concerns. Is this too high of an emotional cost to demand from women in the public sphere? Do we feel too entitled to women's personal stories, when we should be able to understand the impact of proposed abortion restrictions without that invasion of privacy?"

[CN: Rape culture] Erin Keane: "Woody Allen is a genius. Woody Allen is a predator."

Oh dark matter, you are so strange and wonderful: "By observing multiple collisions between huge clusters of galaxies, scientists have witnessed dark matter coasting straight through the turmoil. ...Galaxy clusters are vast and contain huge amounts of dark matter, so when they collide—over billions of years—it offers a unique glimpse of how the stuff behaves. 'We like these collisions because it's exactly what we'd do in the lab,' [Dr Richard Massey from Durham University] told BBC News. 'If you want to figure out what something is made out of, you knock it, or you throw it across the room and see where the bits go.' In this case, the bits went straight through each other. Unlike the gas clouds, which grind to a turbulent halt, and the stars, which mostly glide past each other, the ubiquitous dark matter passes through everything and emerges unscathed, like a ghost. 'It seems not to interact with anything at all,' Dr Massey said."

And finally! Here is a great video about a dog with disabilities and a cat who became BFFs. Blub.