In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

Here's a real shocker: "Trump rejects new adviser's push to make him 'presidential': Donald Trump is bristling at efforts to implement a more conventional presidential campaign strategy, and has expressed misgivings about the political guru behind them, Paul Manafort, for overstepping his bounds, multiple sources close to the campaign tell POLITICO." Gee, who could've guessed?

[Content Note: Class warfare; food insecurity; victim-blaming] "For over five years now, Kansas has served as an economic policy experiment for anti-tax, small-government conservatives. Their lab work is costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars, crippling public service budgets, and making life harder for low-income families without reducing the state's poverty rate at all. With his political star beginning to tarnish, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) came to Washington on Wednesday to discuss his poverty policies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. At one point, the embattled governor justified his policy of forcing people off of food stamps if they can't find a job by likening low-income and jobless people to lazy college students. ...'You probably went to college. You had a lot of papers you had to write. When do most people do their papers in college? My guess is most of you, if I polled you, you would say the night before it was due,' Brownback said. 'That's just kind of who we are as people. And the work requirement is much the same thing.'" NO IT IS NOTHING LIKE THAT AND YOU ARE THE WORST.

[CN: Police misconduct; racism; anti-immigrationism] This is a really important read by Sarah Ryley for ProPublica: "The NYPD Is Running Stings Against Immigrant-Owned Shops, Then Pushing for Warrantless Searches."

[CN: Police misconduct; racism; homophobia; sexual assault] Fucking hell: "Authorities said they have uncovered racist and homophobic text messages sent by and to a former San Francisco police officer who is embroiled in a growing scandal over such messages among law enforcement. Jason Lai has resigned from the San Francisco Police Department following a 2015 investigation that first looked into sexual-assault allegations. ...Lai, a six-year veteran on the force, appeared to have made derogatory comments about numerous ethnic groups as well as gay police officers, according to CNN. ...The messages were discovered during a sexual-assault probe last year amid allegations from a woman who claimed she was on a date with Lai, who was off-duty, when he raped her, according to the Associated Press. Lai told police he could not remember whether they had sex, according to court records. Prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to charge Lai with sexual assault. ...Lai's attorney, Don Nobles, told CNN this week that the text messages were taken from Lai's personal cellphone and were 'not reflective of who he is' or his abilities as a police officer. 'It's hard to say any of those things in context,' Nobles said, 'but there is context to it.'" Can you imagine the look on my face right now? I BET YOU CAN.

[CN: Homophobia; violence; terrorism] Al Qaeda has taken responsibility for the killings of Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy, two gay activists in Dhaka, Bangladesh: "Ansar-al Islam, the Bangladeshi branch of al Qaeda on the Indian subcontinent, claimed responsibility in a Twitter message Tuesday for what it called a 'blessed attack.' It said the two were killed because they were 'pioneers of practicing and promoting homosexuality in Bangladesh' and were 'working day and night to promote homosexuality … with the help of their masters, the U.S. crusaders and its Indian allies.' U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the [horrific] murders in a statement Monday and said the U.S. government would support Bangladeshi efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice."

[CN: Racism; classism] Welp: "Instant product delivery is seemingly the last service online retailers need to provide to conquer their brick-and-mortar competitors. Amazon’s same-day delivery option hopes to lead the charge. But a report from Bloomberg raises concerns about many of Amazon's black customers being excluded from the service. ...Amazon cites multiple reasons this may be the case, while adamantly denying racial stereotyping as one of them, including a lack of Prime users in certain areas, a disproportionately high number in others, slower expansion of coverage areas, and distance from the nearest product warehouse." But, for example: "The exclusion in Chicago is blamed on the predominantly black South Side being more than two hours away from the nearest production warehouse in Kenosha, WI. However, same-day delivery goes as far southwest as the suburb of Oak Lawn, which is eight miles south of the city and 85 percent white."

[CN: Death] Wow, this was a long time coming: "Ninety-six football fans who died as a result of a crush in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster were unlawfully killed, the inquests have concluded. The jury found match commander Ch Supt David Duckenfield was 'responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence' due to a breach of his duty of care. Police errors also added to a dangerous situation at the FA Cup semi-final. The prime minister said the inquests had provided 'official confirmation' fans were 'utterly blameless.' After a 27-year campaign by victims' families, the behaviour of Liverpool fans was exonerated."

Whooooooops! "The Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi Motors has admitted using fuel-economy testing methods that did not comply with Japanese regulations for 25 years, much longer than previously known. It said on Tuesday that aggressive internal targets may have put pressure on employees to overstate the fuel economy of its vehicles, adding that it would set up an external committee to investigate the matter."

[CN: Whitewashing] "Joaquin Phoenix might play Jesus Christ to Rooney Mara's Mary Magdalene." Sounds about right. *epic eyeroll*

Whoa! "New State for Water Molecules Discovered: Water's just plain old water, right? Not when you trap it inside a tiny channel, it seems, because then it behaves like no other solid, liquid, or gas."

[CN: Animal abuse] I love this (except for the part about the contest to kill stingrays, my god): "Aquarists are given the rare opportunity to learn from a wide variety of animals on a daily basis. The ability to constantly learn from animals in our care provides valuable insight and advances in animal welfare. The Phoenix Zoo has recently been providing significant insight to the intelligence of the Southern cownose stingray. This insight is being used to assist other facilities in breeding and husbandry practices. ...We should never underestimate the intelligence of any animal, nor should we underestimate the fact that every animal is capable of affection. The training sessions with Annie have also created a bond between us. I am always immediately greeted by Annie upon stepping into the tank."

And finally! "From Timid Rescue to DockDog Champ: Meet Sandy the Lab Mix." ♥