In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Terrorism; death; injury] "At least 11 people have been killed in a car bomb attack targeting a police vehicle in central Istanbul, the latest in a series of terror attacks in Turkey. The explosion occurred at a busy intersection in the Vezneciler district during morning rush-hour, near Istanbul University and the Grand Bazaar, a popular tourist attraction in the historic Sultanahmet district. The Istanbul governor, Vasip Şahin, said a parked car packed with explosives was detonated by remote control the moment a bus carrying riot police personnel passed by. Seven of those killed were police officers, he said, and three of the 36 injured remained in a critical condition. The explosion destroyed the police bus, damaged nearby cars and buildings, and blew out windows on shops and hotels more than 50 metres (164ft) from the blast site. ...There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's blast." Fucking hell.

[CN: Rape culture] "In a brief phone interview with the Guardian on Monday, the [Stanford rape victim], whose emotional testimony has since gone viral, said the positive responses to her statement have been moving. 'I'm worried that my heart is going to grow too big for my chest,' she said. 'I've just been overwhelmed and speechless.' The Guardian can also reveal that the judge who gave the former Stanford athlete the light sentence will now face a recall campaign led by a law professor at the elite university who argues the jurist took extraordinary measures to allow the student to avoid prison."

Toxic Trump: "BuzzFeed has terminated a deal with the Republican National Committee to run political advertisements in the fall, the company's CEO, Jonah Peretti, informed employees Monday morning. In an email, Peretti cited Donald Trump's rhetoric and campaign promises as the reason for the decision to terminate the buy, worth $1.3 million according to a source who spoke with Politico. 'Earlier today, BuzzFeed informed the RNC that we would not accept Trump for President ads and that we would be terminating our agreement with them,' Peretti said. 'The Trump campaign is directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and around the world and in some cases, such as his proposed ban on international travel for Muslims, would make it impossible for our employees to do their jobs.'"

In other Toxic Trump news: Speaker Paul Ryan now says that Trump's racist tirade against Judge Gonzalo Curiel was "indefensible." But whooooooops Ryan endorsed Trump several days after that tirade. So, basically, he thinks indefensible racism is A-OK. (Which, frankly, we already knew.)

And for the last bit of Trump news (I promise!), Trump says that he "was the one that really broke the glass ceiling on behalf of women more than anybody in the construction industry." Uh. That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works.

This is pretty terrific: "Some 9,000 people stuck with delinquent medical bills had their debts forgiven courtesy of HBO host John Oliver. Oliver, on his 'Last Week Tonight' program Sunday, took the action to illustrate a story about the practices of companies that purchase the records of debtors and attempt to collect on them. The show set up its own company to acquire $15 million worth of debt owed to hospitals in Texas, paying $60,000. Oliver added a little show-biz flair, pressing a big red button to symbolize the debt forgiveness. He claimed it eclipsed the $8 million giveaway by talk-show host Oprah Winfrey when she gave a car to each member of her studio audience one day, making it the biggest ever."

[CN: Misogyny; racism] Here's a cool interview with Ralph Nader in which, among other things, he laments how white men "aren't allowed" to tell racist jokes and harass women anymore. Awesome progressivism, bro.

At Colorlines: "8 Ways to Fight Anti-Trans Bias on the Job." This guide will be most useful to trans workers in traditional employment with established companies. If, however, you are, for example, nontraditional work, or if you work for a small company without a human resources department, it may not be as useful.

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Wow: "A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's artificial intelligence laboratory and the Harvard University revealed Monday that they had developed an algorithm that may allow us to actually 'see' black holes. ...The algorithm, which the researchers call Continuous High-resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors, or CHIRP, will essentially fill in the gaps in data collected by radio telescopes spread across the surface of the planet—thereby mimicking one giant telescope—in order to create an image of the black hole. The algorithm would do so by sifting through the vast pile of gathered data, removing the interference and noise, and then translating what's left into a visual image."

Probably no one besides me will care about this, lol, but Manchester United's Marouane Fellaini has dyed his amazing locks blond. "Fellaini revealed his new do on Twitter, posing a picture alongside the caption: 'Here we go with Blondie Felli....'" LOL! Love that guy.

[CN: Video autoplays at link] And finally! "Amazing Greyhound Tricks!" As advertised. LOL.