In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Police brutality; racism] Daniel Rivero: "Web series about Cleveland police lawsuits is a must-read for #BlackLivesMatter activism." Yep.

In related news: Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has requested "a federal civil rights investigation into the 'patterns and practice' of the city's police" following a meeting with US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and the Chicago City Council has approved "a $5.5 million reparations package for the victims of the city's notorious police torture scandal that also includes a formal apology and a promise to teach schoolchildren about one of the darkest chapters in Chicago's history."

The New Democratic Party (NDP) has ended the Progressive Conservatives' (PC) "44-year rule" of Canada's Alberta province: "Political observers were stunned by the result, with one commentator saying: 'Pigs do fly.'"

[CN: Domestic abuse] A woman being held hostage with her children by her boyfriend cleverly used the Pizza Hut mobile app to signal for help: "Nickerson took away Treadway's phone, police said, but she was eventually able to persuade him to let her order a pizza using her Pizza Hut app" because the kids were hungry. "Along with her order of a small, classic pepperoni pizza, she wrote: 'Please help. Get 911 to me,' according to police. She also wrote: '911hostage help!'" And enormous credit to Pizza Hut Manager Candy Hamilton, who immediately took action: "I've been with the company for 28 years and I've never seen nothing like that ever. We didn't even question it, we immediately called 911."

[CN: Airline crash] An update on the Germanwings crash investigation: The German newspaper Bild, "citing sources close to France's BEA crash investigation agency, said an interim report that BEA was planning to publish on Wednesday would say that Lubitz had practiced reducing flight altitude on the outbound flight from Duesseldorf to Barcelona the same day as the crash. Bild cited the sources as saying the BEA report would talk about a 'controlled descent that lasted for minutes and for which there was no aeronautical justification.'"

Jem and the Holograms artist Sophie Campbell has disclosed she is trans. "It's time to stop hiding. I'm transgender and over the past year I've been transitioning and I'm sick of keeping it all a secret."

Astronomers have discovered the oldest and furthest galaxy from our own that has been identified. EGS-zs8-1 is 13 billion light years away from Earth and is 13.1 billion years old. Wow.

Did you miss Oprah's interview with Janet Mock? It's now available on her website!

"Rock Band 4 May Be the Last Music Game You'll Ever Need." YES! I CAN'T WAAAAAAAIT!!!

Daimler Trucks has introduced the first self-driving 18-wheeler. I have mixed feelings about this, because trucking is a huge source of jobs around here, but also a huge safety issue, because the highways are cluttered with trucks (and their shredded tire detritus) which are often being driven by people who are exhausted and racing to meet impossible deadlines set by exploitative employers. I don't want people to lose their jobs; I'd prefer to see tighter regulations on the industry. But I don't believe that's ever going to happen. It pains me to think that losing drivers altogether is the only thing that will make the roads safer, because their greedy employers won't prioritize human safety and decency.

And finally! This photo series documenting the friendship between the photographer's sons and their cats is lovely. ♥