In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Religious extremism; violence] The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack on "a Prophet Muhammad drawing contest" in Garland, Texas, over the weekend. "This is the first time IS has claimed responsibility for an attack in the U.S., according to AP, but U.S. officials have not confirmed whether or not the extremist group was behind Sunday's shooting."

[CN: Police brutality; racism; class warfare] The mother of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old black boy who was shot and killed by Cleveland police outside a city rec center while playing with a toy gun, has been forced to move into a homeless shelter, and "the Rice family said they have yet to bury Tamir because it is unclear if there will be need for any additional medical examination." Tamir was killed last November, and the City of Cleveland claims to still be investigating the shooting. No charges have been filed. This family has been failed by their country in so many ways. Absolutely shameful.

[CN: Police brutality; racism] Sounds legit: "Baltimore police denied a media report on Monday they had shot a black man while trying to take him into custody, saying the man's firearm went off accidentally while officers were arresting him and that no one was injured."

I don't even know: "Defense officials Monday dismissed as 'wild speculation' an Internet-fueled claim that a massive summertime exercise called Jade Helm 15 for special operations commandos is a covert operation by President Barack Obama to take over Texas. That claim was given legitimacy by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott's order last week for the Texas State Guard to monitor the exercises. 'Operation Jade Helm poses no threat to any American's civil liberties,' Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday." But Chuck Norris says you can't trust the government and "that he thinks concerns about a possible military takeover of Texas might well be justified," so.

[CN: Ovarian cancer] This is good news: "A new screening test that tracks changing levels of a protein in the blood can detect twice as many ovarian cancers as conventional methods, research has shown. ...In the world's largest ovarian cancer screening trial, the new method correctly diagnosed 86% of women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer. The standard test would have been expected to identify fewer than half of these women, according to results from previous studies and clinical practice."

[CN: Drought; food safety] This is not good news: "As California farmers face a fourth year of the state's historic drought, they're finding water in unexpected places—like Chevron’s Kern River oil field, which has been selling recycled wastewater from oil production to farmers in California's Kern County. Each day, Chevron recycles and sells 21 million gallons of wastewater to farmers, which is then applied on about 10 percent of Kern County's farmland. And while some praise the program as a model for dealing with water shortages, environmental groups are raising concerns about the water's safety." Ya think?!

[CN: STD] Here is what substituting abstinence-centered sex ed for fact-based comprehensive sex ed has wrought, at one school: "A small Texas high school has notified parents that it was dealing with a chlamydia outbreak. Officials from the Crane Independent School District confirmed to KWES that the state health department was sending a letter to Crane High School parents informing that at least 20 cases had been reported. The school has an enrollment of about 300 students." I hope those students have access to the healthcare they need, and that all of them are safe following disclosure of sexual activity to their parents.

[CN: Homophobia; transphobia; eliminationism; homophobic slur] The online gaming site Steam has pulled a game following complaints about its reprehensible content: "'Kill The Faggot' [in which players earn points for killing gay and transgender characters and lose points for killing straight and cis characters] was created and uploaded by Skaldic Games to Steam's Steam Greenlight section which allows game developers to showcase their games and let the Steam user community decide which ones they want to be made commercially available through Steam. Steam does not actively vet games for offensive content but developers must pay $100 to get their game onto Steam Greenlight as a quality control barrier. ...Skaldic Games are claiming that the game was not intended to encourage hatred or violence towards LGBTI people but to protest political correctness in the gaming industry." Fuck off.

[CN: Misogyny] Joss Whedon has flounced off Twitter because of criticisms that maybe he's not actually the powerfeminist he fancies himself to be, or something. Listen, Twitter can be brutal and no one is obliged to inhabit that space. Do what's best for you, Whedon. But now of course the narrative is that all the meany unappreciative feminists have driven him off of Twitter. Because of course it is.

And finally! A kitten with markings that give him the appearance of permanently worried eyebrows is fixing to give Grumpy Cat a run for her money! Aww lol.