In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

The AP is reporting that Hillary Clinton has won the Iowa Caucus. She is the first female presidential candidate ever to win the Iowa Caucus. Ahem.

Bernie Sanders has called on "the Democratic party to release a raw vote count in Iowa after a nail-biting finish... He threw little light on an unfolding controversy over certain Iowa precincts that did not have enough Democratic party volunteers to report delegate totals for each candidate but did call on officials to take the unusual step of revealing underlying voter totals. Delegates are awarded in the Iowa Democratic contest on a precinct-by-precinct basis, irrespective of the state-wide vote for each candidate. 'I honestly don't know what happened. I know there are some precincts that have still not reported. I can only hope and expect that the count will be honest,' he said. 'I have no idea. Did we win the popular vote? I don't know, but as much information as possible should be made available.' Sanders' campaign director, Jeff Weaver, told reporters he did not 'anticipate we are going to contest' specific results but hoped there would be an investigation into what happened."

[Content Note: Homophobia] Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have pledged, if elected, to pass a vile piece of homophobic legislation in their first 100 days in office. (More bullshit campaign promises that rely on people not understanding how government works.) The First Amendment Defense Act "would allow businesses and individuals to discriminate against gay people in the guise of 'religious liberty.' ...Though the bill's chances are slim, its broad right-wing support ('The bill has 152 co-sponsors in the House and 37 in the Senate—all Republicans but one, Representative Daniel Lipinski of Illinois. It has been endorsed by the Republican National Committee and at least four Republican presidential contenders') should serve as a warning that the fight to retain LGBT rights and protections is far from over and we must continue to be vigilant against efforts to take them away from us."

[CN: Hostility to consent] "Adele has told Donald Trump that he does not have permission to use her songs at campaign rallies after fans expressed their anger that the Presidential hopeful was using the singer's hits as his warm-up music. ...Adele has now broken her silence over the association and made it clear that she does not endorse Trump's use of her music. 'Adele has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning,' a spokesman for the singer told The Independent." The guy's a fucking billionaire and is stealing music.

[CN: Transphobic violence] Goddammit: "After a year that saw a record high number of homicides of transgender women of color, The Austin Chronicle reports that Monica Loera was the first known trans woman to be killed in the United States in 2016. The 43-year-old Latina was shot in the doorway of her Austin home on January 22. But according to Advocate.com, news of her death didn't reach the wider community until recently because both the police report and local media misgendered her, using an outdated and inaccurate name and photo." My condolences to Monica's family, friends, and community.

[CN: Extreme weather] Oh dear: "Heavy snow has disrupted public transport in southern China, stranding tens of thousands of people outside a rail station, police say. The crowd outside Guangzhou station swelled to nearly 100,000 at its peak on Monday night, police said. Central China has experienced some of its coldest weather in years. The rare snow has coincided with the run-up to Chinese New Year—where hundreds of millions of Chinese travel home to see their families." What awful timing, and how scary for the people who are stranded.

[CN: War on agency] Teddy Wilson reports that there have been "147 anti-choice bills introduced in state legislatures during the first month of 2016" and 90% of them have been introduced by white Republicans. Jesus fucking Jones.

[CN: Rape culture] "Bill Cosby arrived in court Tuesday at a hearing where his lawyers are pushing to get the only criminal charges against him dismissed based on what they say is a former district attorney's promise years ago not to prosecute the comedian. ...Former Montgomery County District Attorney, Bruce Castor, testified for the defense at Tuesday's hearing saying he saw 'red flags' in [victim Andrea Constand]'s yearlong delay in reporting her sexual assault, 6ABC News reported. Castor, who has insisted that he had promised Cosby years ago not to prosecute him, also testified that he found inconsistencies in Constand's story." So, basically, because the former prosecutor was garbage, now Cosby argues the current prosecutor shouldn't be allowed to prosecute him. Fucking hell.

Here's Hugh Jackman just being ridiculously adorable talking about his wife again. That guy.

Whoa! "NASA's New Horizons scientific team headquartered at Johns Hopkins University just revealed some intriguing new updates on the amount of water ice potentially on Pluto. [False-color images], derived from infrared light observations by the spacecraft's Ralph/Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) instrument, shows where the unique spectral features of concentrated water ice are amazingly abundant on Pluto's frigid surface."

And finally! BABY ANTELOPES! I mean.