In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: White supremacy] Cliven Bundy is under arrest and the "remaining occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were expected to surrender Thursday morning on the 41st day of the standoff." Insert all the contempt on the planet here for the evident racist double-standard that affords white seditionists a peaceful surrender. Fuck.

Albert Einstein's prediction was right: Researchers at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory have detected gravitational waves! And naturally, Maddie Stone at Gizmodo has the best headline: "Holy Shit! Scientists Have Confirmed the Existence of Gravitational Waves." LOL! "Gravitational waves were observed on September 14th, 2015, at 5:51 am ET by both of the LIGO detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. The source? A supermassive black hole collision that took place 1.3 billion years ago. When it occurred, about three times the mass of the sun was converted to energy in a fraction of a second."

[CN: Terrorism; death; video may autoplay at link] Fucking hell: Two female [redacted] bombers blew themselves up this week in a camp in northeastern Nigeria set up to shelter people from terrorism, killing at least 58 people. But others were spared when a third intended bomber realized at the last minute that her family had taken shelter there, too, and refused to detonate her explosives, relief officials sad. Officials said 78 people were injured. The victims were staying in a camp for people who had been displaced by Boko Haram violence in Nigeria's Borno state." (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. And while I don't want to strip women of their agency, even when they're committing atrocities, we do not know if the women who self-detonated had any meaningful agency to exercise.)

[CN: War on agency] These laws are heinous: "A Tennessee woman who was one of the first to be charged under the state's controversial fetal assault law accepted a plea deal that will keep her out of jail but on probation for almost a year. Brittany Nicole Hudson pleaded guilty to child abuse, or simple assault, stemming from an incident in October 2014 where Hudson allegedly gave birth to a baby girl in a car on the side of a Blount County, Tennessee road. The Blount County Sheriff's Office then opened an investigation and determined that Hudson had used illicit drugs during her pregnancy. Tennessee lawmakers in April 2014 passed the first-of-its-kind fetal assault bill, which enables prosecutors to charge pregnant patients with assault for actions patients took while pregnant that cause 'harm' to their fetus. SB 1391 allows a person to be prosecuted for the illegal use of a narcotic while pregnant, if the baby is born addicted to or harmed by the narcotic drug, and the addiction or harm is a result of illegal use of a narcotic drug taken while pregnant. This bill allows women to be charged with aggravated assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, if they have a pregnancy complication after illicit drug use. Hudson was one of the first women to be charged under the fetal assault law, passed by Tennessee's GOP-majority state legislature."

[CN: Carcerality; death] "Fifty-two people have been killed and 12 wounded in a prison riot in Monterrey, north-eastern Mexico, the state governor has confirmed, just days ahead of a planned visit by Pope Francis to another prison nearby. Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, the governor of Nuevo León, said the violence involved a brutal fight between rival factions, including one led by a member of the Zetas drug cartel. All 52 victims were male, Rodríguez said, adding that they had not yet all been identified. Five of the 12 wounded had serious injuries." Damn.

[CN: Racism] OMFG Meryl Streep: "The Berlin International Film Festival became embroiled in the debate about diversity in the movie industry Thursday, with jury president Meryl Streep dismissing questions about the all-white panel by telling reporters that 'we're all Africans really.' ...Asked by an Egyptian reporter whether she understood films from the Arab world and North Africa, Streep said that while she didn't know much about the region, 'I've played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures. There is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture, and after all we're all from Africa originally,' she added. 'Berliners, we're all Africans really.'"

This is polite: "Moments after he placed second in the New Hampshire primary, John Kasich was transformed from a low-profile, under-the-radar candidate to the new face of compassionate conservatism in America. ...But behind the unassuming image is a track record in his home state of Ohio, where he is a second-term governor, that puts him a big step to the right of what many Americans would consider moderate." All he does is wear the mask.

"Sources: Jim Webb May Announce Presidential Candidacy Again." Oh.

"Wisdom, a Laysan albatross that researchers first tagged in 1956, has hatched what could be her 40th chick, leading the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to call her 'an iconic symbol of inspiration and hope.' Born at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (which is part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument), the new (adorable) chick has been named Kūkini—the Hawaiian word for messenger."

[CN: Moving gifs at link] And finally! "17 Just Great Looking Dogs." LOLOLOL! (P.S. They're cats.)