In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

President Obama appeared on Jerry Seinfeld's web series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," and if you would like to see it, here you go!

Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza compiled his annual Year in Photographs, and there are a whole lotta great photos there. I am really going to miss President Obama when he leaves office. Damn.

[Content Note: Police brutality] The latest in the Guardian's "The Counted" series, examining how the "fate of police officers who kill often rests in the hands of the prosecutors they typically work alongside," is really terrific. The whole series is just great. Difficult but great.

[CN: Transphobia] Fucking hell, this is so cruel and disgusting and abusive: "A new bill [introduced in Indiana] would actually criminalize transgender people for using the restroom. Sen. Jim Tomes (R) calls his legislation 'a simple bill,' and he' not wrong. SB 35 does two things. First, it would prohibit schools from ever allowing transgender students from using restrooms that match their gender identity. Students would only be identified by the sex assigned to them at birth as determined by their anatomy and chromosomes, and that sex would determine which facility they can and cannot use. This would force schools to violate Title IX and discriminate against transgender students. The Department of Education has repeatedly found that schools can not refuse access to transgender students on the basis of their gender identity. Then, the bill mandates that any transgender person who uses a public sex-specific restroom, locker room, or shower room that matches their gender identity has committed a 'single sex public facility trespass,' which it deems a Class A misdemeanor. A Class A misdemeanor is the highest non-felony charge in Indiana, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000 dollars." Rage. Seethe. Boil.

[CN: Guns; death] In Florida, a woman who is a 911 dispatcher with the Osceola County Sheriff's Office and who is married to a St. Cloud Police Corporal shot and killed her own daughter after mistaking her for an intruder. "Her death is being characterized by St. Cloud Police as an 'accidental shooting.'" I guess. But it wasn't really an "accident," despite the fact that it's a terrible tragedy. The woman intended to kill someone she thought was an intruder. (Which also would have been legal.) Calling it an accident suggests the lesson here is "make sure you know who you're killing," but maybe it should be "don't fucking kill people." I don't know. I'm so sorry for this family, and I'm so angry at our culture.

Okay: "When Marco Rubio was majority whip of the Florida House of Representatives, he used his official position to urge state regulators to grant a real estate license to his brother-in-law, a convicted cocaine trafficker who had been released from prison 20 months earlier, according to records obtained by The Washington Post." He seems neat.

[CN: Stalking; harassment; murder; spoilers for the series Making a Murderer] If anyone has watched the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, which I recommend, this article contains some important details about the case that didn't make it, for reasons I cannot understand, into the series. I share the author's opinion about both this series and Serial. (I also have the same concerns regarding consent of the victim's family that I had about Serial.)

[CN: Toxic masculinity; Star Wars spoilers] "Geek male identity has been reduced to Kylo Ren thrashing a computer with his sword; this needs to change."

"Hairstylist Ursula Goff Shares Selfie Photos to Show No One Is Perfect: We should keep in mind that behind every pretty face or perfect lifestyle is a regular person and that there's really no point in comparing amongst ourselves because this is all cultivated." A+

[CN: Moving gifs at link] "This Raccoon Who Stole a Doughnut in Toronto Is Your Inspiration for 2016." LOL! When Deeky tweeted this video last night, he said: "Raccoons don't give a fuck." To which I replied: "They have tiny hands and the laws of humankind cannot hold them. WHY WOULD THEY."

And finally! I love this sooooo much: In 2009, Patti Page rewrote her 1952 classic song "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" and recorded a new version called "Do You See That Doggie in the Shelter?" Blub.