In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Airline disaster; death] "Egypt said on Friday its navy had found human remains, wreckage and the personal belongings of passengers floating in the Mediterranean, confirmation that an EgyptAir jet had plunged into the sea with 66 people on board. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi offered condolences for those on board, amounting to Egypt's official acknowledgement of their deaths, although there was still no explanation of why the Airbus had crashed. ...The navy was searching an area about 290 km (180 miles) north of the port city of Alexandria, just south of where the signal from the plane was lost early on Thursday.There was no sign of the bulk of the wreckage, or of a location signal from the 'black box' flight recorders." My condolences once again to the people who lost loved ones. I hope they will get some answers soon.

[CN: Extreme heat; death] My god: "A city in India's Rajasthan state has broken the country's temperature records after registering 51C, the highest since records began, the weather office says." That's 124 degrees Fahrenheit. "The heatwave has hit much of northern India, where temperatures have exceeded 40C for weeks. The run-up to the Indian monsoon season is always characterised by weeks of strong sunshine and increasing heat but life-threatening temperature levels topping 50C are unusual. Murari Lal Thanvi, an eyewitness in Phalodi, told the BBC he had struggled to stay outdoors on Friday. 'Even my mobile phone gave up and stopped working when I was trying to take pictures today,' he said." Dozens of people have already died in the heatwave. Absolutely awful.

[CN: Illness] Fuck: "More than 270 pregnant women in the U.S. are infected with the Zika virus and worry about whether their babies will be born with birth defects, federal health officials announced Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the way it reports Zika-affected pregnancies, and said the new numbers show 279 women who tested positive for the virus. This includes 157 women in the 50 states and Washington, D.C, plus 122 in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other U.S. territories. So far, fewer than a dozen have had an 'adverse event,' such as a miscarriage or evidence that the fetus has a birth defect, CDC officials said." Still, the CDC continues to encourage pregnant people who have themselves or whose partners have traveled to Zika-affected areas to get tested for the virus.

[CN: Anti-immigrationism; doxxing] "A federal judge with a history of anti-immigrant sentiment ordered the federal government to turn over the names, addresses and 'all available contact information' of over 100,000 immigrants living within the United States. He does so in a strange order that quotes extensively from movie scripts and that alleges a conspiracy of attorneys 'somewhere in the halls of the Justice Department whose identities are unknown to this Court.' It appears to be, as several immigration advocates noted shortly after the order was handed down, an effort to intimidate immigrants who benefit from certain Obama administration programs from participating in those programs, lest their personal information be turned over to people who wish them harm. As Greisa Martinez, Advocacy Director for United We Dream, said in a statement, the judge is 'asking for the personal information of young people just to whip up fear'—fear, no doubt, of what could happen if anti-immigrant state officials got their hands on this information. Or if the information became public." I don't even have words. What the fuck.

[CN: Misogyny; harassment; threats; abuse] "When Will the Internet Be Safe for Women?" The opening of that story details the swatting of a Massachusetts state congresswoman in retribution for introducing legislation to try to address swatting and online harassment. Which pretty much sums up the state of affairs.

[CN: Threats; harassment] Krystal Lake, a black woman from Long Island, "said she received death threats after photos of her wearing a cap with the message 'America Was Never Great' were posted widely on social media." Obviously, this was a response to Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan, and, the truth is, the country has not been great (and still isn't) for lots and lots of people. And the fact that a black woman got death threats for expressing that opinion really kind of proves her point.

[CN: Fat hatred; bullying] I mean, this is how Donald Trump treats his friends: "Donald Trump teased New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie about his weight while speaking at a fundraiser to pay off Christie's presidential campaign debt. Trump, when mentioning that the Nabisco cookie plant was leaving Chicago for Mexico, pointed to Christie and told the crowd the governor would stop eating Nabisco cookies. 'I'm not eating Oreos anymore, you know that—but neither is Chris,' Trump said. 'You're not eating Oreos anymore. No more Oreos. For either of us, Chris. Don't feel bad.'" This fucking guy.

[CN: Fat hatred; bullying] Hey, speaking of Trump and his disgusting fat hatred, remember the former Miss Universe who said that Trump had called her Miss Piggy? Well, she just got her US citizenship, and Hillary Clinton tweeted at her: "Congratulations on becoming a U.S. citizen, Alicia. Enjoy casting that vote." HAHA YES!

No kidding: "The last time information from Donald Trump's income-tax returns was made public, the bottom line was striking: He had paid the federal government $0 in income taxes." Which is exactly what I predicted his current tax returns will show.

RIP John Berry: "John Berry, an original member of hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, died Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. at a hospice in Danvers, Massachusetts. He was 52."

Trees sleep? "In research both charming and groundbreaking (sorry for the pun), scientists from Austria, Finland and Hungary used lasers to measure the overnight movements of birch trees. Their unexpected finding: During the hours of darkness, the trees appeared to relax, or droop, their branches at the tips by as much as four inches." Oh trees. You are a delightful mystery!

And finally! Big man and tiny dog! LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!