In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Refugee crisis] Croatia says it will not accept any more refugees: "After suddenly landing in the path of the biggest migration in Europe for decades, Croatia said on Friday it could no longer offer them refuge and would wave them onwards, challenging the EU to find a policy to receive them. The [refugees], mostly from poor or war-torn countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, have streamed into Croatia since Wednesday, after Hungary blocked what had been the main route with a metal fence and riot police at its border with Serbia. 'We cannot register and accommodate these people any longer,' Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told a news conference in the capital Zagreb. 'They will get food, water, and medical help, and then they can move on. The European Union must know that Croatia will not become a migrant 'hotspot'. We have hearts, but we also have heads.'" Fuck.

[CN: Anti-immigrant rhetoric; racism] This is amazing: "An Open Letter to Presidential Candidates from 100 Immigrant Women: The rhetoric and solutions we have heard are not grounded in reality. The reality is, many of you count on immigrants every day. We know, because we clean your homes and take care of your children and aging parents. We drive you to work, cook and serve your food. We teach your children language, art and dance. We design your apps and build your homes. In this country, we are interdependent. The 11 million undocumented people living and working in this country are integral to this economy and our social fabric." YES.

[CN: Sexual violence] What say you, Bill Cosby? "Bill Cosby faces renewed public focus on allegations he drugged and sexually attacked large numbers of women over a prolonged period after the cable TV channel A&E broadcast on Thursday night the stories of 13 of his avowed victims on Cosby: The Women Speak. ...The 13 women related stories that ranged in date from the late 1960s through to the late 1980s. Several women raised similar allegations that they had been promised help by Cosby in their fledgling acting careers, had been encouraged to visit him in Las Vegas or Los Angeles, and had then been drugged and sexually attacked." And he continues to maintain that they are all liars. Okay.

In good news: "Same-sex couples will be able to marry in Ireland by year's end after the Supreme Court turned away an appeal of a challenge to the country's historic referendum victory back in May." Yay!

[CN: Sexual harassment; misogyny] In more good news—or, at least, a good outcome to a terrible situation: "New York utility company Con Edison will be forced to pay $3.8 million to more than 300 of its women workers who were subjected to sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Con Edison, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the New York attorney general's office reached the joint settlement this week, ending a government investigation that began in 2007. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said: 'This agreement sends a clear message to employers across New York State: All women, including those working in male-dominated work-places, are entitled to equal justice under law.'"

[CN: Carcerality] I haven't read the details yet, and I wish it were more comprehensive prison abolition, but this sounds like a solid start, at least: "Sen. Bernie Sanders said he hopes to end the 'private, for-profit prison racket' with the introduction Thursday of bills to ban private prisons, reinstate the federal parole system, and eliminate quotas for the number of immigrants held in detention. The Vermont independent, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, introduced the 'Justice is not for Sale Act' with Democratic Reps. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, and Bobby Rush of Illinois. It would bar the federal government from contracting with private incarceration companies starting two years after passage."

[CN: Misogyny] Jesus fucking Jones, everything about this, starting with the picture at the top of the article, is the woooooorst: "What Is Hillary's Greatest Accomplishment? Carly Fiorina dared Democrats to name it. 20 top Dems accepted the challenge."

Tom Hardy explains why he was contemptuous of a question about his sexuality, and it was pretty much exactly what I said about its being an unwinnable game "that puts people in the position of being accused of lying, denying, distancing, or upholding their own privilege." Says Hardy, after referring to his having been coy about his sexuality (and also misrepresented) in previous interviews, he goes on: "I'm quite sensitive and I feel like I've let people down for something that I actually didn't ask for, for something that's important to a lot of people. Should I come out of the closet when I'm not in one? I ought to maybe come out of the closet, even though that's a lie, to do the right thing. Or, if I say no, then I'm homophobic? Bless him, he's young. But at the same time, it left me feeling like I have to do something about that. And it's like why? Whose business is it anyway and isn't that the point?" I love him the end.

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] And finally! Tillie the Setter stayed with her doggie friend Phoebe the Basset Hound for a week after Phoebe got trapped in a concrete cistern. Every day, Tillie would leave for a short time to look for help. And finally: "On Sept. 14, [the animal rescue organization Vashon Island Pet Protectors] received a call saying that while they were out on their property, a 'reddish' dog had come up to them a few times, before promptly heading back into a ravine. Based on the tip, volunteers made their way into the ravine, said Amy Carey with VIPP. After a bit of searching, the volunteers heard a small one-woof response when they called out to Tillie. A few minutes later they found her lying beside the old cistern with her head resting on the concrete wall. 'They knew that meant Phoebe was inside the cistern. Every breath was held and every doggie prayer offered that the peek over the rim would somehow find her safe,' Carey said. Both dogs were cold and hungry but are doing well." Blub.