In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Racism; appropriation; war; death] Ben Becker recalls the origins of Memorial Day, and how it was co-opted into a broad remembrance of fallen soldiers: "What we now know as Memorial Day began as 'Decoration Day' in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Civil War. It was a tradition initiated by former slaves to celebrate emancipation and commemorate those who died for that cause. ...While historians have gone a long way to expose the white supremacist history of the Civil War and uncover its revolutionary content, the spirit of the first Decoration Day—the struggle for Black liberation and the fight against racism—has unfortunately been whitewashed from the modern Memorial Day."

[CN: War on agency] My pal Andrea Grimes on the latest anti-choice fuckery going down in Texas: "The new restrictions would raise the burden of proof that abused, abandoned, and neglected minors must meet when taking their case to a judge, and would give judges five business days, rather than two business days, to rule on a minor's judicial bypass application. This delay could extend the process of judicial bypass by more than a week and push some minors past the threshold when legal abortion care is allowed in the state. ...[Sponsor Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock)] denied that the bill is intended to limit access to abortion care in Texas."

[CN: Death threats; racism] Twitter has finally suspended aggressively violent and dangerous conservative troll Charles Johnson after he tweeted that he was accepting donations for 'taking out' social justice activist DeRay Mckesson (one of the amazing activists profiled here). Johnson tried to claim he was speaking metaphorically, and Mckesson called that shit right out: "For someone who considers themselves a journalist, I firmly believe that he understands the power of his words. And his words are his words. 'Take out' functions in a certain way. And if I got on any media outlet and said something to the effect of 'take out the police,' nobody would think that I was talking about an exposé." Damn right.

[CN: Death; torture; trafficking] Just awful: "Malaysia has begun exhuming bodies suspected to be migrants buried in 139 grave sites close to the Thai border. Authorities believe the migrants were held for ransom in jungle camps by gangs of human traffickers. Thousands of migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar have left for Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia in recent weeks. ...[A]uthorities in Myanmar have charged 20 people with offences related to human trafficking. They were arrested from a vessel carrying 200 migrants from Bangladesh that was rescued last week."

[CN: Rape culture; rape apologia] The public defense of Josh Duggar by everyone who knows him continues, care of one of his sister's father-in-law. And this guy repeats the common assertion that people are gloating: "There is blood in the water and the sharks are in a feeding frenzy. Finally, the Duggar family's opponents have found what they have been eagerly waiting for: shocking revelations of scandal by Jim Bob and Michelle's firstborn son, Josh." I'm sure, because the planet is a big place, there are people who are gloating, but the idea that critics have been "eagerly waiting" to hear that girls were sexually abused is contemptible. Don't project your utter lack of concern for victims onto us, bub.

Oh good! I was just saying last never that we need more media monopolies: "Charter Communications Inc, controlled by cable industry pioneer John Malone, offered to buy Time Warner Cable Inc for $56 billion, seeking to combine the No. 3 and No. 2 U.S. cable operators to compete against market leader Comcast Corp."

[CN: Misogyny] People in Australia are quite rightly asking why it is that tampons and pads are not considered an "important health good," and are thus subject to the 10% Goods and Services tax. I mean, they know why. (What a mystery for the ages!) They are asking for that particular expression of misogyny to stop.

Whoa! "Madagascar is known for its incredible biodiversity, but even so scientists were surprised to find that one species in particular that's unique to the region, called the panther chameleon, is actually 11 different species in one." I love panther chameleons; they have to be one of the most beautiful creatures on Earth.

And finally! This dog says fuck solidarity when it comes to the question of who pooped in the kitchen lol!