In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Carcerality] This piece by Josie Helen on who's responsible for mass incarceration is so, so good: "Here's the reality: if you want to fix mass incarceration, stop talking about Hillary and start talking about your local district attorney. If you want to fix mass incarceration but you don't know the name of your local district attorney—or you don't know when the primary is, or who is opposing them—you are making the biggest mistake you can make as a voter and as a responsible citizen. You cannot improve this problem if you don't know who is prosecuting cases in your county. ...[G]enerally, criminal justice reform lives or dies at your local prosecutor's office. These decisions are made there. That's where prosecutors make the choice to send someone to rehab or jail, where the rules are followed, where the plea deals are made. ...Prosecutors also have a remarkable amount of discretion, meaning that they often get to choose which crimes to charge people with and what sentences to recommend. That power is especially pronounced at the plea bargain stage, where prosecutors are constrained by little more than their whimsy." I urge you to read the entire thing.

[CN: War on agency; misogyny; Christian Supremacy] FUCKING HELL: A pregnant woman who was taken by ambulance to Mercy Health Partners hospital in Muskegon, Michigan, was miscarrying—and a specialist apprised of her situation said the fetus would definitely die, and the woman might, too, if labor was not immediately induced. But hospital staff "would not induce labor for another 10 hours. Instead, they followed a set of directives written by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that forbid terminating a pregnancy unless the mother is in grave condition. Doctors decided they would delay until the woman showed signs of sepsis—a life-threatening response to an advanced infection—or the fetal heart stopped on its own. In the end, it was sepsis. When the woman delivered, at 1.41am, doctors had been watching her temperature climb for more than eight hours. Her infant lived for 65 minutes. This story is just one example of how a single Catholic hospital risked the health of five different women in a span of 17 months, according to a new report leaked to the Guardian." Goddammit. This makes me want to smash things.

[CN: Police brutality; racism; death] An enragingly familiar tale of a person of color killed by police and questions about the police version of events: "Just before midnight on January 28, a Tacoma police officer fatally shot Puyallup tribal member Jacqueline Salyers, 33." And although police assert that Salyers "sped toward the officers" in her vehicle, "Associated Press photographs of the car show that it was struck with multiple shots. Bullets struck the driver's side door, shattered the passenger's and driver's side windows, and punched holes in the passenger's side of the windshield. ...Tacoma Police Department spokeswoman Loretta Cool told ICTMN that additional information cannot be released until the department's investigation of the incident is complete." There is much more at the link.

[CN: Flint water crisis] Well, this certainly doesn't seem good enough: "The Michigan House approved $30 million on Thursday to help pay Flint residents' water bills in the aftermath of the city's lead-contamination crisis. The lawmakers unanimously OK'd the measure, which now goes to the Senate, which is expected to approve it and send it to Gov. Rick Snyder for final approval. Residents would have about 65 percent of the drinkable water portion of their bills paid by the state. Residential customers would still have to pay for water used to flush toilets or do laundry."

[CN: Stalking] Y'all know I am not a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand, but I have all the sympathy and anger for her that her stalker of 17 years (!!!) has been acquitted by an Ohio jury, who apparently believed the unmitigated horseshit that he "was a Christian who was writing to Paltrow in an attempt to minister to her," was seeking forgiveness for previous harassment, and was just "lonely [and] wanted to have a penpal." Fuck. That. I hope she is safe, although she understandably doesn't feel like she is, which itself can be terribly traumatic.

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] RIP Big Ang: "Mob Wives star Angela 'Big Ang' Raiola died early Thursday after a difficult battle with throat, lung, and brain cancer. She was 55." Like her or hate her, she was a true character.

"Trump Goes to War with the Pope." Sounds about right.

WANT! "Our favorite sassy squad, the women of The Golden Girls, are officially being turned into Funko Pop! Vinyl figures. The toy company had previously confirmed that the fabulous foursome would be getting the Funko treatment, and now we're getting a look at just how perfect they are." So perfect.

And finally! Pig + sheep + dog = Mangalitsa Pig!