In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] There is extreme weather on many parts of the globe right now, and some of it is making for uncharacteristically mild weather and some of it is making for dangerous weather. If you're in one of the latter spots, my sympathies and wishes for safety to you.

[CN: Terrorism] "Boko Haram militants struck the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Monday with rocket-propelled grenades and multiple [redacted] bombers, witnesses said. At least 50 people were killed and the death toll could go higher. Another twin [redacted] bombing killed at least 30 people in Madagali, a town 150 kilometers (95 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, witnesses said. ...'We are under siege,' [civil servant Yunusa Abdullahi] said. 'We don't know how many of these bombs or these female [redacted] bombers were sneaked into Maiduguri last night.' He said some residents have found undetonated bombs." (I continue to find it inappropriate that young women and girls who detonate bombs strapped to them are called "suicide" bombers, which connotes an agency that the women and girls kidnapped and forcibly sacrificed by Boko Haram do not have.)

[CN: War on agency] Goddammit: "A Tennessee woman accused of using a coat hanger to try to terminate her pregnancy pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree murder charges Tuesday. Prosecutors indicted Anna Yocca this month for illegally attempting to end her pregnancy herself. Yocca in September allegedly filled a bathtub with water, sat in it, and then took a coat hanger and attempted to abort her pregnancy, prosecutors said. Yocca reportedly bled heavily during the attempt, at which point her boyfriend rushed her to the hospital. Medical professionals at Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital in Nashville delivered a 1.5-pound infant boy. The baby survived and will reportedly need extensive medical care. Hospital staff alerted law enforcement officials after, they said, Yocca made 'disturbing statements' to them about trying to terminate her pregnancy. Abortions must be performed by a physician under Tennessee law. The state has no abortion clinic providing care after 16 weeks."

[CN: Police brutality; racism; guns] Fucking hell: "Chicago police shot and killed two people early Saturday morning after responding to what they called a domestic disturbance call. According to NBC 5, police fatally shot Quintonio Legrier, a student at Northern Illinois University, after responding to a call from Legrier's father. Family at the scene say that police were called after Legrier threatened his father with a baseball bat. However, Janet Cookery, Legrier's mother, said her son suffered from mental illness. 'He was having a mental situation. Sometimes he will get loud, but not violent,' Cookery told WLS-TV in Chicago. ...The second victim in Chicago, Bettie Jones, was a mother of five who lived in the same apartment building as Legrier and his father." The police say that Jones was "accidentally struck." Rage. Seethe. Boil. And all of this while Chicagoans, led by black Chicagoans, protest police violence.

RIP Meadowlark Lemon. "Meadowlark Lemon, the court jester of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team who delighted audiences around the world for some 25 years with an array of trick shots, comedy routines, and pure charisma, has died at the age of 83, the team announced on Monday. ...Lemon was the undisputed master of the long-range hook shot, rubber-band ball, and other crowd-pleasing tricks during the years he wore the Globetrotters' star-spangled red, white and blue uniform. The team's website said he played in 7,500 consecutive games—the equivalent of more than 92 NBA seasons—in some 100 countries before audiences that included everyone from Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to three popes."

Dear David Spade: I can think of few things thirstier than calling the president thirsty for appearing on a reality show. I mean, not for nothing, but have you even seen what the actual news looks like these days? Bear Grylls' show is like a million times more respectable than CNN. I'm just saying. No Love, Liss.

Welp, this is my new favorite website: "The new year is almost here, and fans of arbitrary starting points tend to use it as a time to make resolutions for ways they want to change their lives. Do you need a little extra motivation to try and get yourself going in 2016? Or maybe do you just want to feel bad about yourself? Then the website supbowie.com is perfect for you. The ethos of the website is set up with the simple, yet garish, text that greets you: 'What did David Bowie do at your age?' You type in your age, and the website tells you something that Bowie did at said age. Sometimes, the entry includes helpful video and or photographic evidence of what weird, yet incredibly successful, thing Bowie did at the time." LOL!

And finally! "A Dog's Life in London." Awwwwww!