In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Rape culture] There is an update to this story on the Patrick Kane rape case: The accuser's attorney has quit, and apparently said the victim's first name on his way out, because her mother allegedly fabricated the story about the rape kit/evidence bag left at her home. The DA gave a press conference earlier today, in which he said that he interviewed the accuser's mother (not under oath) and she denied taking it. Obviously, I have no idea how this is going to shake out, but I will say if that the mother did invent the story, it's not illegal, per the DA, but it's clearly unethical. And while I certainly don't condone that sort of thing, I do understand the desperation that underwrites it, when there are so many things (starting right from a rape exam cut short "because of problems with equipment") acting to undermine the cause of accountability and justice. As ever, rape apologists will use this as "proof" that they are right to engage in rape apologia and harassment of survivors, but the reality is that their rape apologia and harassment of survivors is why people feel hopeless and impotent and end up doing desperate things.

[CN: White supremacy] In another follow-up: Matt Damon says he agrees with "the people who were upset" about his whitesplaining Effie Brown with shitty comments about diversity in filmmaking, and subsequent garbage apology, but I still don't feel like he really gets it, since he claims his words were taken out of context before saying: "Look, it's a very sensitive subject and the shame of it for me is that I agree with the people who were upset. So, that part was a little difficult. But in terms of our own Greenlight contest, we ended up with a group of 20 finalists. 16 or 17 were white men and we have to recruit more aggressively in other areas and do better so that our contestant pool is more diverse. Because all kinds of people are making movies and all kinds of people want to make movies. And the whole point of Greenlight is to give people access, so we've got to do a better job. And we will." I sure hope so.

[CN: War on agency] Goddammit: "The Michigan legislature is considering a pair of bills that would criminalize coercing a woman to have an abortion, a policy that has been pushed for years by anti-choice lawmakers. Supporters claim that the proposals will protect women from being forced into terminating a pregnancy, while opponents say the language of the bills is too vague and will promulgate myths about abortion. 'Coercive abortion laws like these are the byproduct of a decades long public and political campaign to market that anyone who seeks an abortion does so because she's confused, misled or coerced,' Shelli Weisberg of the ACLU of Michigan told MLive.com." Reproductive coercion is a serious issue. It is irresponsible as fuck to use it as cover for anti-choice legislation.

[CN: Police brutality; death; racism; disablism] My god: "A family in Wilmington, Delaware is demanding answers about why wheelchair-bound Jeremy McDole was shot multiple times. Police officers say he threatened them with a gun, though video suggests otherwise. In a video of the encounter on Wednesday afternoon, an unidentified officer points his gun at the 28-year-old, yelling 'show me your hands!' A shot is fired, but it is unclear who it came from. The officer continues to yell for the man to put his hands up and 'drop the gun,' and three more officers arrive for back up, saying 'hands up, put your hands up,' with guns drawn. The witness who recorded the video notes that McDole is bleeding. McDole moves his hands around in his lap and appears to put one in his pocket, when the cops fire their weapons at least ten times." Ten times. Ten times.

Today in unsurprising news: "The Swiss attorney general has opened criminal proceedings against Sepp Blatter in the heart of the Zurich HQ he has dominated as Fifa president for 17 years, as the continuing corruption crisis gripping world football took another dramatic turn."

Oh dear lolsob: "22 Hilarious Excerpts from Scathing Reviews of Stonewall."

All right then: "Mind reading might not be as far-fetched as many people believe, says a study published by researchers at the University of Washington. Their research, published in PLOS One on Wednesday, demonstrated 'that a non-invasive brain-to-brain interface (BBI) can be used to allow one human to guess what is on the mind of another human.' With only the use of brainwaves and a specifically designed computer, they examined the potential for exchanging basic information without saying a word." Deeky and I already do this all the time. It's called BEING BRAINTWINZ!

Hugh Jackman wants Tom Hardy to be the next Wolverine and my love center just exploded. (Please interpret "love center" however you see fit. You'll be right either way.)

Holy Maude, this picture captured by the Hubble Space Telescope of the Veil Nebula is absolutely breathtaking.

And finally! Blub: "A little opossum named Poncho was found on the side of the road clinging to his mother after she had been hit and killed by a car. Rescuers saved the little marsupial and hoped he would survive; however, without a mother to help him, his chances were slim. Along came Hantu, a German Shepherd, who stepped up to fill in Poncho's mom's shoes. The two became inseparable." Good dog.