In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

One of the big stories in the news today is POPE FRANCIS! Especially what a LIBERAL he is! I have nothing new to say about that. Moving on.

[Content Note: Refugee crisis] Hrm: "European governments have pushed through by majority vote a divisive deal to share 120,000 refugees after clashing over whether the quotas would be imposed on reluctant countries or left to be accepted on a voluntary basis. ...In a highly unusual move because of the lack of consensus, the decision to share 120,000 refugees was put to a vote which the supporters of quotas easily won but which will feed central European resentment of what they perceive as western—and especially German—bullying. The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania voted against the decision to impose quotas, but Poland peeled off from its central European allies and voted yes with the majority. The vote alienated the opponents of quotas on a highly sensitive issue and split Europe into those who decide and those who will now have to accept refugees and migrants against their will." This is not going to go well for refugees who are settled in countries where they aren't wanted. Fuck.

[CN: War on agency] Well, this is good news: "Democrats in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday blocked a Republican bill from becoming law that would have banned most late-term abortions, according to the Associated Press. The bill would have banned all abortions at 20 weeks, with limited exceptions. Senators voted 54-42 to progress the legislation, which then fell six short of the 60 votes needed to advance the measure. Republicans called on their peers to have empathy for fetuses that they said can feel pain. Democrats have said pain isn't likely until a pregnancy is in the third trimester." Two sides to every issue! Oh well! Guess we'll never know who's right!

[CN: War on agency] In far less good news: "Less than a year from now, Roe v. Wade could be all-but-dead. Employers, health providers, and pharmacists could gain sweeping new power to impose their religious views on women who use birth control. And elected lawmakers could even be stripped of their power to correct Supreme Court decisions that read religious objectors' rights too expansively. Simply put, the Supreme Court term that begins next month is likely to do more to determine how much control women have over their own bodies than any term since the justices decided Roe v. Wade." Fucking hell.

[CN: Misogyny] "Mike Perrin, a lawyer and former college football player, was chosen as the new interim athletic director for University of Texas over Chris Plonsky, a woman who has worked in the athletic department of the university for a quarter of a century. The announcement of this decision has many pointing to the lingering gender gaps in athletics at the collegiate level and beyond." I wonder why she was passed over. Huh. Another mystery lost to the sands of time!

Oh my god: "The federal government paid out as much as $51 million in green car subsidies for Volkswagen diesel vehicles based on falsified pollution test results, according to a Times analysis of the federal incentives. ...The Times analysis matched Internal Revenue Service data with Volkswagen sales figures to determine the value of subsidies VW diesel buyers were eligible to collect in 2009, the first and only year the vehicles qualified. ...'It is really unfortunate,' said Luke Tonachel, director of clean vehicles and fuels project at the Natural Resources Defense Council. 'The government has been effective to help advance clean technologies, but it is a waste of taxpayer dollars when they aren't actually helping to clean the environment.'" Haha yes it certainly is!

"This Massive To-Scale Model of Our Solar System Will Blow Your Mind." I am very suspicious of headlines that claim anything will blow my mind, because my mind is rarely blown by what follows, but this really did blow my mind! MIND: BLOWN.

Annie Potts will have a cameo in the new Ghostbusters. Yayayayay that's perfect!

"15+ Things Every Elephant Lover Needs in Their Life." YES! Someone buy me all these things immediately! (I am just kidding. Nobody buy me anything!)

And finally! Puppy Mill Survivors Puppy Party! ♥ Go home, puppies! You're drunk!