In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Sexual assault; rape culture] Rage. Seethe. Boil. "Another college sex offender has avoided prison after a Colorado judge decided time behind bars wouldn't be good for the convicted rapist's rehabilitation. At a St. Patrick's Day party in 2014, Austin James Wilkerson, then a 20-year-old University of Colorado student, told an intoxicated woman's friends he would escort her home safely. Instead, Wilkerson raped the incapacitated woman, and was convicted of the crime in May. The victim pleaded with Boulder District Judge Patrick Butler to consider a prison sentence for her rapist. 'Have as much mercy for the rapist as he did for me that night,' the victim told Butler during her tearful testimony, according to the Daily Camera. But the judge spared Wilkerson prison time... 'I've struggled, to be quite frank, with the idea of, 'Do I put him in prison?'' Butler wondered aloud during sentencing, the Daily Camera reported. 'I don't know that there is any great result for anybody. Mr. Wilkerson deserves to be punished, but I think we all need to find out whether he truly can or cannot be rehabilitated,' he added." So definitely leave him free to just keep raping women, then, because that is what will happen. Rapists are virtually always repeat offenders. Period. I am so angry about this I can barely breathe.

[CN: War on agency; Christian Supremacy] Jessica Mason Pieklo: The Supreme Court Could Give Religiously Affiliated Employers Even More Room to Discriminate: A series of cases working their way through the courts could expand which businesses get a pass for offering employees discriminatory health and retirement benefits." Goddammit.

The world is aging. And that is going to put a lot of pressure on a lot of economies: "By 2030, 56 countries will have more people aged 65 and over than children under 15."

LOL Nancy Pelosi: "It's reminiscent of demagogues who want to be in the press no matter what they have to say. They make their verbal poo-poo any place to get attention. And this is a tactic." That is an excellent point and what a terrific way to work the media and ensure that point gets reported everywhere through the strategic deployment of "poo-poo."

[CN: Sexual harassment; terrorism] Whooooooooooooops: "Donald Trump on Wednesday night admonished Hillary Clinton for having [note from Liss: She didn't "have" him there; it was open seating] the father of the Orlando shooter seated behind her at a recent campaign rally. 'Wasn't it terrible?' Trump asked, that Seddique Mateen was 'sitting with a big smile on his face right behind Hillary Clinton ... When you get those seats, you sort of know the campaign.' But as he said those words, disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley smiled up at him from behind the stage. Foley, a Republican who represented southern Florida, was forced to resign his seat in September 2006 in the wake of allegations that he sent sent suggestive emails and instant messages to congressional pages. The former congressman shared Trump's camera shot, with a smile, for the entirety of the hour-long rally."

[CN: Guns] NYT: "Donald J. Trump's candidacy has driven away throngs of Republican elected officials, donors, and policy experts. But not the National Rifle Association." Of course not the NRA. Of course. P.S. "Driving away throngs" is what low enthusiasm really looks like. Ahem.

This probably won't amount to a big deal in the States, but it's a big deal nonetheless: "Donald Trump's golf resort in Scotland has admitted it failed to comply with strict data protection laws after not registering with the UK's privacy watchdog, the Guardian can reveal. ...The resort insisted the failure was a 'clerical error' [but] MSP Liam McArthur, justice spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said: 'There is a strong case for the ICO to look into how the Trump organisation stored and used the data that it holds. This is an organisation which has been accused of bullying local people who disagree with it, and these substantive concerns cannot be brushed under the carpet. The Trump organisation failed to meet its data obligations for years. We need to know how data was collected, stored and used during this period.'" Don't fuck with Scotland.

Ooh! "We finally know who forged Piltdown Man, one of science's most notorious hoaxes." Spoiler Alert: It was Bigfoot! Just kidding. It was the Loch Ness Monster.

[CN: Video autoplays at link] And finally! If you ever wanted to know what it was like to be a squirrel running around in a tree with acrobatic abandon, check out this video of a squirrel who stole a GoPro! I LOVED IT SO MUCH! I DON'T EVEN CARE IF IT'S SOME KIND OF GUERILLA ADVERTISING! YOU GOT ME WITH YOUR CUTE SQUIRREL VIDEO!