In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Sexual assault; disablist slur] More unearthed grossness from Donald Trump: 1. In 2006, Trump responded to a "joke" about how he's sexual predator by shrugging and saying, "It's true." 2. In 1992, "Trump is described as having spotted a youth choir singing Christmas carols at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. He asked two girls how old they were. When they said they were 14, Trump, then 46, replied, 'Wow! Just think—in a couple of years, I'll be dating you.'" 3. Trump reportedly called Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin, who is deaf, "retarded" when she was a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice.

[CN: Worker harassment] An important piece from Sharona Coutts at Rewire: "At Trump's Companies, Workers Have Long Suffered Illegal Threats and Intimidation. ...On at least eight occasions since 2007, Trump's companies have had to reinstate or reimburse workers who were fired illegally in retaliation for their union activities, the documents show."

[CN: Misogyny] And the rotten apple doesn't fall far from the rotten tree: "Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., dismissed workplace sexual harassment in a 2013 radio interview—and suggested that women who couldn't take it should become kindergarten teachers."

Meanwhile: "Entire US political system 'under attack' by Russian hacking, experts warn." Terrific. Funny how Trump doesn't seem too concerned about this actual possibility of "rigging."

In other election news, Hillary Clinton has picked up two more major newspaper endorsements: 1. "The Miami Herald recommends Hillary Clinton for president of the United States." 2. The Idaho Statesman: "Hillary Clinton’s experience makes her the right choice for president."

[CN: Police brutality] This is huge: "The Justice Department said Thursday that it would start collecting nationwide data early next year on police shootings and other violent encounters with the public, after a series of protests and investigations since 2014 spurred by a string of deadly episodes. The project, the most ambitious the federal government has undertaken in tracking the use of force by police officers, is meant to fill what officials say is a huge and frustrating void in publicly available data on the shootings that have roiled the country. Under the plan, the Justice Department will gather more data on the use of force by federal agents and help local departments report information on a wider range of police encounters."

[CN: Racism] A new Department of Justice report has found: "San Francisco PD Targets People of Color. The Justice Department's COPS Office just made 272 recommendations aimed at revamping the department."

[CN: Death penalty] "In a long-awaited decision, the Florida Supreme Court today ruled that the Florida Legislature botched a re-write of the state's death penalty statute earlier this year, meaning that Florida currently has no death penalty. ...Today's ruling was in response to one handed down on Jan. 12, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Florida's death penalty was unconstitutional because it required a judge—not a jury—to decide whether a defendant should be put to death. By a vote of 8-1, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that jurors—not a judge—must specifically identify why someone convicted of a capital crime should be put to death."

Wow: "In a medical first, brain implant allows paralyzed man to feel again."

Beautiful: "I Photographed the Fairy-Tale World of Snails in Poland."

What have you been reading?