In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Guns; death] I just read these two stories back-to-back: "Suspected gunman at Philly college in custody" and "11-year-old 'bully' murdered 8-year-old neighbor with a shotgun after dispute over puppy: police." For fuck's sake. Is there any point at which the right not to be murdered by a shitlord with a gun and a grievance trumps the right to bear arms?

[CN: Disablism; regionalism] The rest of the world thinks USians are ignorant lunatics for not changing our gun laws and instead allowing these mass shootings to happen at a rate unseen elsewhere. Which, you know, isn't really helping. Especially the shit about how the fault lies with "middle America." (Doesn't it always?) The US is certainly not a monolith when it comes to how we feel about guns, and it would be better if people outside the country allied themselves with those of us who are trying to put pressure on legislators to enact gun reform. It would be helpful if you identified yourselves as supporters of gun reformers, rather than suggesting the entire country is full of gun-crazed bumpkins.

Here are some ways that you can help South Carolinians affected by devastating floods. (I wouldn't recommended all of them, so please always do your own vetting re: charitable giving.) Please feel welcome and encouraged to leave suggestions for other ways to help in comments.

[CN: Image of insects] This is how fire ants are surviving the flooding, which is a pretty interesting nature story in the middle of a terrible disaster, but also kind of a moving metaphor for how humans survive such disasters. At least to me.

[CN: War; bombing; death] Amy Davidson has "Five Questions About the Bombing of a Hospital in Kunduz." Meanwhile, Spencer Ackerman notes that "the US account of the Saturday morning airstrike [has shifted] for the fourth time in as many days." One constant is that is was just a big mistake: "Campbell instead said the hospital was 'mistakenly struck' by US forces." That is woefully insufficient.

[CN: Homophobia; racism] I don't even know: "Alabama judges are using a Jim Crow-era law to avoid issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. That law, passed in 1961, makes the issuance of marriage licenses optional rather than mandatory." What I do know is that Imani Gandy is a champion for wading through this stuff.

[CN: Racism] In case you weren't aware, Donald Trump not only says heinous racist things about immigrants and refugees, but also says heinous racist things about Native Americans.

[CN: Privacy violations] Welp: "The personal data of Europeans held in America by online tech corporations is not safe from US government snooping, the European court of justice has ruled, in a landmark verdict that hits Facebook, Google, Amazon and many others. The Luxembourg-based court declared the EU-US 'safe harbour' rules regulating firms' retention of Europeans' data in the US to be invalid, throwing a spoke into trade relations that will also impact on current negotiations on a far-reaching transatlantic trade pact between Washington and Brussels. The ECJ, whose findings are binding on all EU member states, ruled on Tuesday that: 'The United States … scheme enables interference, by United States public authorities, with the fundamental rights of persons…'"

Are you a huge fan of McDonald's breakfast? Then you will probably be excited to hear that McDonald's [moving gif at link] is now serving breakfast all day. Or maybe not! If part of the reason you liked it was its pre-10:30am exclusivity!

Mad Max director says there will be at least two more installments. Yay! But will they be as good as the first one? I bet not! But I hope I'm wrong! Will one of them be a Furiosa film? I wish! And I say that as a human being who is physically incapable of wanting to see more Tom Hardy than I already do! But MORE FURIOSA PLZ!

And finally! A chihuahua mama who was mourning her stillborn pup adopts (with the help of her guardians and a pet rescue) some newborn kittens without a mama. Blub. ♥