In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

Some fallout after the disclosure of the Panama Papers: Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson "is to step down after leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm showed his wife owned an offshore company with big claims on collapsed Icelandic banks, his party said. Gunnlaugsson became the first prominent casualty from the revelations in the so-called Panama Papers, which have cast light on the financial arrangements of an array of politicians and public figures across the globe and the companies and financial institutions they use."

Meanwhile: President Obama has called for international tax reform: "'There is no doubt that the problem of global tax avoidance generally is a huge problem,' he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. 'The problem is that a lot of this stuff is legal, not illegal.' The US president said the leak from Panama illustrated the scale of tax avoidance involving Fortune 500 companies and running into trillions of dollars worldwide. 'We shouldn't make it legal to engage in transactions just to avoid taxes,' he added, praising instead 'the basic principle of making sure everyone pays their fair share.' Obama spoke in favour of his administration's new rules to close corporate inversions, by which companies move overseas to avoid taxes. He described the practice as 'one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there.'"

Today, Wisconsin is holding its primary, and there are valid concerns that the state's voter ID law, which is the strictest in the nation and, like all other voter ID laws, disproportionately disenfranchises poor, black, disabled, trans, and/or elderly voters, will cause chaos and result in lots of people otherwise eligible to vote not being able to. "Advocates for and against the law agree that approximately 300,000 eligible voters lack eligible photo IDs—in part because, as a staffer for the voter ID bill's lead sponsor, state representative Jeff Stone, told the Racine Journal Times in 2012: 'When the bill was being drafted, we were trying to limit the number [of eligible forms of identification], not expand it.' The list of eligible identification is, as a result, short. If the cards were valid as of the 2014 general election, voters can show: a Wisconsin driver's license; a non-driver's ID issued by the state department of transportation; a military ID card issued by a US uniformed service; a US passport; or an identification card issued by a federally recognized Native American tribe with land in Wisconsin. Those rules mean, for example, that tribal IDs from tribes without land in Wisconsin are ineligible; expired driver's licenses or passports are ineligible; and out-of-state licenses, even if valid, are ineligible, among other commonly used forms of ID." For fuck's sake.

[CN: Police brutality; racism] Last Thursday, I mentioned the police killing of Loreal Juana Barnell-Tsingine, a Navajo woman was shot after allegedly threatening an officer with a weapon, later identified as a pair of scissors. Over the weekend, a crowd of more than 350 people gathered for a vigil in front of the police station in Winslow, Arizona, and raise awareness about the circumstances of her death: "Ty Yazzie, a spokesperson for Tsingine's family, said police left Tsingine's lifeless body on the street until 6 a.m. the next morning while they cordoned off the scene to conduct the investigation. Many community members claim police ignored crucial eyewitness accounts of the shooting that put the officer at fault. They said police did not administer any life-saving measures to Tsingine such as CPR and they prevented eyewitnesses at the scene from administering aid. They also said the way Tsingine's body was treated was disrespectful to Navajo customs. The Arizona Department of Public Safety is investigating the killing and the officer involved was placed on mandatory paid leave. Neither the city nor the police department has apologized or offered any support to Tsingine's family."

[CN: Racism; misogyny; violence] In related news, Mary Pember has a great piece on the "Sing Our Rivers Red" project, dedicated to signal-boosting the crisis of missing and murdered Native women in the United States and Canada and demanding resources for meaningful investigations.

In news from garbage state governments: Arkansas Will Start Drug-Testing Poor People. Tennessee Lawmakers Vote for Bible as State's Official Book. Missouri Senate Moves to Hold Planned Parenthood President in Contempt. Just a few of the nightmare legislation happening around the nation.

On the campaign trail: Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver said earlier today: "All these young people who are coming out for Bernie Sanders—are they going to come out for Hillary Clinton? I'm not so confident about that, given how many times she's dissed them recently." Hillary Clinton has not been "dissing" young voters, and it's virtually unprecedented for one Democratic campaign to assert that their voters won't support another candidate, were they to win the nomination.

Meanwhile, Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook writes a note to her supporters: "To Hillary Clinton supporters: The facts on where the race stands."

Yayayayayayay! "Gay Olympic Legend Greg Louganis to Finally Appear on His Own Wheaties Box." I met Greg Louganis once and had a chance to speak with him for a bit. He is such a super nice guy.

Why do I find this so cuuuuuuuute?! "Tiny ancient creature carried its babies like kites."

And finally! Everyone loves capybaras. Deservedly so!