In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: War on agency; anti-choice terrorism] More absolutely heinous fuckery from the Conservative Legislation Lab: Indiana House Bill 1337 is an utterly appalling anti-choice piece of legislation, which will be heard in committee tomorrow. Earlier today, Harmony tweeted some important information about the bill, and I am sharing her tweets here with her permission:

We need to talk about #HB1337, being heard in committee tomorrow. It's an anti-abortion bill with 3 main issues.

Issue 1: would add a new hoop for abortion seeking patients to jump through, requiring an ultrasound 18 hours before procedure. Right now, patients have to hear state required info 18 hours before, but the ultrasound can be done day of. Requiring it earlier? Means that patients may need to travel farther, multiple times. More time off work, more childcare, etc. No reason for it.

Issue 2 with #HB1337: would share admitting privileges and backup agreements for abortion providers with all hospitals in county or contiguous. This is just another way to stigmatize abortion providers and cut them off from local doctors who provide their backup by making info public. Anti-abortion protesters will show up at the schools of doctors' CHILDREN. Flier their neighborhoods. Kill them. #HB1337 opens them to this. There is no reason hospitals need this info. Patients who experience complications post abortion will receive care no matter where they go. And since most patients seeking abortion have to travel so far from home, this info is even more useless for local hospitals.

Issue 3 with #HB1337: MANDATES that remains from miscarriages OR abortions be buried or cremated. Totally shames patients and takes autonomy. Current law allows patients to CHOOSE. #HB1337 removes that choice. Shameful.

So, now that we've talked about why #HB1337 is bad, let's talk about what to do next.

First thing: talk about it! #INLegis is def hoping that after the disappointment of not passing LGBTQ protections, you won't be paying attention to abortion issues. Next thing let's make sure local media is paying attention to #HB1337. So @indystar @rtv6 @NUVO_net @WTHRcom will you be @ #INLegis tomorrow? It's also important that legislators hear about opposition to #HB1337, so feel free to call the committee!

Teaspoons ahoy, Shakers!

Former United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has died. "Boutros-Ghali, whose term was marked by war in the former Yugoslavia, massacres in Rwanda and repeated battles with the US, has died at the age of 93. ...A diplomat who helped secure peace deals between Israel and his native Egypt, Boutros-Ghali served as UN chief from January 1992 to December 1996, and became the first secretary general to be deprived of a second term as he struggled to impose the UN's writ in a post-cold war world. He was the first African to hold the position. Repeated clashes with the world's dominant power meant his second term was opposed by then US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and president Bill Clinton, who garnered the mixed support of some EU nations, including the UK, to block him. He was succeeded by Kofi Annan."

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] The singer Vanity has also died at age 57. "Denise Matthews, who as Vanity fronted the group Vanity 6 but was best known for her collaboration with Prince, has died at a hospital in Fremont, California." RIP Nasty Girl. What the fuck, 2016?

[CN: Misogynoir] Saturday Night Live had an amazing digital short this weekend, called "The Day Beyoncé Turned Black," sending up white people's reactions to Beyoncé's "Formation" video. If you missed it, head over to Colorlines. I was lolsobbing my face off when I saw it. My favorite part: Two dudes' reacting to the realization that Beyoncé is not only black, but a woman. A pretty terrific commentary on white supremacy's regard for black humanity, and how women are routinely asked to wrench their womanhood and/or their race and/or other parts of our identities from our personhood.

This is promising news: "A therapy that retrains the body's immune system to fight cancer has provoked excitement after more than 90% of terminally ill patients reportedly went into remission. White blood cells were taken from patients with leukaemia, modified in the lab and then put back. But the data has not been published or reviewed and two patients are said to have died from an extreme immune response. Experts said the trial was exciting, but still only 'a baby step.' The news bubbled out of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in Washington DC. The lead scientist, Prof Stanley Riddell from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, said all other treatments had failed in these patients and they had only two-to-five months to live. He told the conference that: 'The early data is unprecedented.'"

[CN: Racism] This is a great observation by Leela Daou: "'While Sanders has drawn a significant portion of his support from the youngest voting bloc (under the age of 30), just 25 percent of millennial black voters said they are supporting the Vermont senator, compared with 64 percent who said they are backing Clinton. The reverse is true among white millennials, who support Sanders 75 percent to 22 percent.' Unless someone in the media wants to argue that black millennials don't matter, let's see some coverage of this. Because 'millennials' shouldn't just mean white millennials."

Whooooooooooooops! The opening shot in Marco Rubio's "Morning Again in America" campaign advert "appears to be filmed from Vancouver Harbour. And the flag on the boat appears to be Canadian."

Um, what? "Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Monday weighed in on the Senate's upcoming battle with President Obama over the next Supreme Court nominee, saying he believes Obama 'has a conflict of interest' in appointing somebody to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia's seat." STFU, Rand Paul.

[CN: War on agency] In other Republicans Being Awesome as Usual news: "U.S. House Republicans are plowing ahead with an investigation into unsubstantiated claims that Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue, with plans this week to subpoena three organizations involved in fetal tissue research."

[CN: Homophobia] "Manny Pacquiao, the famed boxer turned politician, has apologized for remarks he made saying that gay people are worse than animals. Pacquiao, a current member of Philippines' House of Representatives, made the disparaging comments about homosexuality in a TV interview. Pacquiao is currently running for one of 12 seats in the country's senate." Honestly? Who the fuck cares if he apologizes? How sorry can someone who said something so hideous actually be?

This is really cool: "NASA's Giving away Brilliant Space Travel Posters for Free: [The retro-style space travel posters from the design studio at NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs] are a continuation of the Exoplanet Travel Bureau poster series first created by JPL's design studio last year. The studio, first put together 13 years ago, helps JPL's scientists and engineers plan out future missions, which means they're always aware of the latest and greatest ideas being bandied about the lab. When NASA came to them asking for additional posters in the series, they were able to integrate many ideas the agency had already been spitballing for the future—such as floating cities hovering above Venus."

And finally! "Dog Adopts Orphaned Opossums, Gives Them Awesome Rides on Her Back." Awwwwww! ♥