In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

Leading the headlines today is the news that Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as CEO of Fox, his conservative nightmare media empire. Okay. He will still remain as chairman, and his sons James and Lachlan will take over. I'm guessing this will have approximately zero effect on how terrible Fox is.

[Content Note: Misogyny] Sir Tim Hunt, he of the cool science misogyny and even cooler non-apologies, has resigned from his position as honorary professor in the University College London's department of life sciences. Says UCL: "UCL was the first university in England to admit women students on equal terms to men, and the university believes that this outcome is compatible with our commitment to gender equality." Ouch! Don't let the door hitcha on the way out, Professor. Wouldn't want you crying in the lab.

[CN: Rape culture] I have all the concerns about the framing of "rape prevention" in this new research that asserts teaching incoming female college freshman about "healthy relationships, defining personal boundaries, and self-defense" reduces incidents of sexual violence. I'm all for teaching young people about healthy relationships and defining/respecting boundaries, and in fact I strongly believe these should be a part of every sex ed curriculum, but framing that as "rape prevention," which tasks women with preventing their own assaults, and only talking to women about boundaries, and not men, is garbage for a whole lot of reasons.

[CN: Guns; terrorism] WOW: "A school bus driver in North Carolina is being called a hero, after chasing two heavily-armed suspects off of school grounds. The suspects were taken into custody last Thursday morning, on the campus of South Macon Elementary School. The two reportedly planned to shoot students and staff inside. But their plans were possibly averted by the school bus driver, Alice Bradley. Officers say Bradley was walking through the bus parking lot when the suspects charged at her. She managed to get away from them, though, and make it to her car. That's when Bradley used her wheels to charge at the two suspects, driving them right off school grounds. 'Everybody says I'm a hero, I'm not a hero. I just reacted, like anybody else would, I guess,' Alice said. 'I was real nervous. I always thought I was a tough woman, but this really scared me.'" Tough and scared are not mutually exclusive! Way to go, Alice!

[CN: Homophobia] Oh for fucks sake: "The North Carolina House of Representatives has voted to override Gov. Pat McCrory's veto of a bill allowing public officials to opt out of marrying same-sex couples for 'sincerely held religious' objections."

[CN: Misogyny; video may autoplay at link] Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., says he doesn't know if Senator Elizabeth Warren "fully understands the global banking system." STFU, Jamie Dimon. I just want to observe that this is a common bit of misogyny: To assert that a female critic "doesn't understand" something, where a male critic would typically just be said to be wrong, but his understanding not called into question.

(See, for example, the number of times I am accused of "not understanding" politics, when I have disagreements with male progressives. It's not that I have different conclusions drawn from the same information; it's that I'm stupid.)

[CN: Rape culture; child abuse] "Co-Author of Mike Huckabee Books Was Accused of Child Molestation in Two Legal Cases." Huckabee sure does seem to like hanging out with child predators.

[CN: Racism] This Pew Research piece about their polling on multiracial USians is really fascinating in how it exposes (once again) that race is a cultural construct. I highly doubt that only 7% of the US population is multiracial, but their definition is limited to "US adults who have at least two races in their background" only back to their grandparents. Which, ahh, ignores some pretty important and ugly parts of our nation's history, for a start.

[CN: Misogyny; racism; ageism; fat hatred] The Hollywood Reporter did a roundtable with six Emmy-nominated actresses—Lizzy Caplan, Viola Davis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Taraji P. Henson, Jessica Lange, and Ruth Wilson—to talk about acting and typecasting and beauty standards and nudity, among other things. And Viola Davis continues to be the best. I mean, all these ladies are awesome, but Viola Davis y'all.

RIP Ornette Coleman and Sir Christopher Lee.

Headline of the Day: "Lance Armstrong admits fears over trial—and compares himself to Voldemort." Sounds about right.

[CN: Human and animal injury, but everyone is recovering] Figo the guide dog threw himself between a school bus and his blind owner, 62-year-old Audrey Stone, taking the brunt of the accident, and then refused to leave her side until help arrived. Both of them were injured, but they have gotten the medical help they needed and are in recovery. "The dog took a lot of the blow," [Police Chief John Del Gardo] said. "And he did not want to leave her side. He stood right with her. He was there to save her." I hope at some point accommodations will be made so that Figo can join Audrey while she heals.

And finally! "Owner Pretends to Throw Ball and Captures the Exact Moment Dog Realizes He Was Betrayed." LOLOLOL FOREVERRRRR. Oh, dogs. Never change.