In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: War; death] Great fucking Maude: "Russian officials vehemently defended the country's airstrikes in Syria on Thursday as blows to Islamic State militants even as evidence mounted suggesting that U.S.-backed rebels and others were facing the brunt of Moscow's attacks. ...Russia's expanding military intervention in Syria added urgency to separate efforts by Russia and U.S. officials to coordinate strategies against the Islamic State and avoid potential airspace missteps between the two powers—so-called 'deconfliction' talks. The Pentagon said the discussions will begin Thursday." And I'm sure those talks will go splendidly, when Russia's objectives re: the Assad regime are directly in conflict with the US' objectives.

[CN: Racism; class warfare; disenfranchisement] After Alabama announced that it would be closing five state parks and cutting back services at 31 part-time satellite driver license offices due to budgetary constraints, columnist John Archibald noted that of "the 10 Alabama counties with the highest percentage of non-white registered voters," eight of them will have their driver license officers closed. "Closed. In a state in which driver licenses or special photo IDs are a requirement for voting. ...Every single county in which blacks make up more than 75 percent of registered voters will see their driver license office closed. Every one. ...[T]he same Alabama Legislature that could not raise enough money to properly run the state in three sessions this year decided in 2011 that all voters must have a photo ID. It was such a great idea that Gov. Robert Bentley signed that bill into law despite complaints that such a move would disproportionately disenfranchise black voters. It went into effect last year. And now this." This is not a coincidence. This is class warfare. This is white supremacy. This is the institutional disenfranchisement of black voters.

[CN: Sexual violence] Fuck: "At a press conference with Gloria Allred on Wednesday, three more women came forward to tell stories of sexual assault and harassment they'd received at the hands of Bill Cosby, bringing the total number of accusers over 50." I take up space in support of them.

[CN: Sexual violence] In other celebrity rape culture news: "Former Canadian Broadcasting Corp radio host Jian Ghomeshi has pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one count of choking in a case that rocked the country's vaunted public broadcaster." A case that rocked his employer. Huh.

[CN: Illness; descriptions of pain; misogyny; war on agency] This is an extraordinary piece by Lili Loofbourow on how Planned Parenthood saved her vagina: "Women's pain is embarrassing, and women are therefore encouraged to hide it, make it invisible. It's remarkably simple, under those circumstances, to pretend that the work Planned Parenthood does to mitigate that pain doesn't matter or even exist. ...Anti-choice activists do not think women need targeted care. In the frenzy to defund Planned Parenthood in Louisiana, for example, dentists and audiologists were included in the list of medical providers capable of taking over Planned Parenthood patients. No one who knows anything about medicine—or cares about women's health—would consider that an acceptable substitution. Women need targeted medical care, and Planned Parenthood provides it. It should be funded. ...Women's bodies are not a footnote."

[CN: Invasion of privacy; hostility to consent; miscarriage; war on agency] This guy is a shameless liar and an unethical shitheap who invaded a family's privacy in order to disseminate lies about abortion. And Carly Fiorina repeats his gross lies without an ounce of compunction, and this is the sort of craven media coverage that gets: "Questions Remain Over Whether Video Carly Fiorina Cited in Debate Shows Abortion." No, no questions remain. She is a fucking liar who spreads the fucking lies of fucking liars.

Terrific: "US stores are expected to accept chip-and-PIN credit cards today, but most aren't ready."

[CN: Anti-feminism] Oh Meryl Streep, why must you disappoint me so? "Are you a feminist? I am a humanist, I am for nice easy balance." I'm so making this face right now. As I have been making from birth, clearly.

Yikes! "A mountain lion climbed up a 35-foot-high wooden power pole Tuesday afternoon about two miles south of Cougar Buttes on East End Road." I guess maybe the mountain lion just wanted everyone to get a good look at its cougar butte?

And finally! Cats reeeeeeeeeally don't GAF about your personal space. Truth.