In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

News from the Nigerian election: "Partial results from Nigeria's election give ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari a substantial lead over the incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan. With only five states left to declare, Gen Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) is ahead by almost three million votes. ...BBC Nigeria analyst Jimeh Saleh says that Delta and Edo are the only pro-Jonathan states still to declare, so it is hard to see how he can overturn Gen Buhari's lead."

[Content Note: Homophobia] LGBT rights attorney Mary Bonauto and former assistant US solicitor general Douglas Hallward-Driemeier have been chosen as the attorneys to present marriage equality arguments to the Supreme Court on April 28: "Bonauto will present arguments for DeBoer v. Snyder on Question 1, 'Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?' ...Hallward-Driemeier will present oral arguments on behalf of plaintiffs in Ohio and Tennessee for question 2, 'Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state?'"

[CN: Misogyny] Annie Lowrey on "Ellen Pao and the Sexism You Can't Quite Prove." Otherwise known as: The Sexism That People Who Don't Want to See Sexism Refuse to See.

[CN: Racism; carcerality] Fucking hell: "Sixteen states have more people in prison cells than college dorms." Which can be traced to a legacy of both institutional racism and, I would argue, progressive institutional neglect. Because it's not like there isn't profound racism in the north, too.

[CN: War on agency] Oh dear: "Pro-Choice Advocates on Radical Kansas Abortion Law: 'We've Never Seen This Language Before': The bill redefines the D and E procedure as 'dismemberment' abortion, language that is key to NRLC's strategy, as anti-choice advocates push similar bills in other state legislatures, many controlled by Republicans. The NRLC strategy is to pack the bills with graphic, medically inaccurate language describing the D and E procedure. 'We've never seen this language before,' Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues associate for the Guttmacher Institute, told the Kansas City Star. 'It's not medical language.'" The bill has already been approved by the Republican-majority Kansas house and senate.

[CN: Death penalty] This is A Big Deal: "A leading association for US pharmacists has told its members they should not provide drugs for use in lethal injections—a move that could make carrying out executions even harder for death penalty states. The declaration approved by American Pharmacists Association delegates at a meeting in San Diego says the practice of providing lethal-injection drugs is contrary to the role of pharmacists as healthcare providers. The association lacks legal authority to bar its members from selling execution drugs but its policies set pharmacists' ethical standards. Pharmacists now join doctors and anaesthesiologists in having national associations with ethics codes that call on members not to participate in executions." Which doesn't mean that health professionals don't still participate in executions, but making it an ethical violation certainly matters. A lot.

[CN: Worker exploitation; class warfare] A landmark labor case against McDonald's moves forward: "Monday marked an important step in a landmark labor case that could bring greater corporate accountability and worker protections, as a federal agency moved to consider whether McDonald's should be held responsible for what employees call poor working conditions. More than 300 unfair labor practice charges have been brought against the fast food giant since November 2012... The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided in December to move forward with about 80 of those charges by bringing complaints against the company, and on Monday the board took up consideration of the consolidated case. The case is notable because the NLRB will be for the first time treating McDonald's as a 'joint employer,' meaning that the corporation can be held liable for labor law violations committed by its franchises."

Noooooooooooooo! Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is opening his lead on challenger Chuy Garcia. Fucking fuck.

I barely even understand what this means, but I'm sure it's very exciting for people who understand it! "IBM Investing $3B in Internet of Things."

And finally! This video of a cat and dogs eating watermelon might be the cutest thing you see all day!