In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Threats of violence; video may autoplay at link] The FBI says a bartender at a country club Speaker John Boehner frequented was planning on poisoning him. The man, who has mental illness and stopped taking his medications, has now been indicted. Because in the United States, prison is treated as a sufficient alternative to a competent mental healthcare facility.

[CN: War on agency] The Indiana General Assembly has introduced legislation that makes it a felony for a "a person who knows [zie] is pregnant" to "knowingly or intentionally consume a controlled substance commits endangering an unborn child [sic]." First of all, "controlled substance" is so broad; that includes most prescribed medications. Secondly, despite the fact that Indiana legislators are doing their damnedest to make abortion totally inaccessible, it is still a legal procedure in the state. No pregnant person is obligated to carry a pregnancy to term, and thus not obliged to protect a fetus by not taking medication that may harm one.

[CN: Misogynist terrorism] Over at BoingBoing, Jay Allen documents "How crowdfunding helps haters profit from harassment." Fucking hell.

[CN: Abduction; death] Jose Luis Abarca, the former mayor of the Mexican city of Iguala, where 43 students were abducted last year and are feared dead, has been charged with the kidnapping, along with 44 others. They are "the first charges filed against Abarca that are directly related to the students' disappearance even though authorities have said the mayor and his wife were the masterminds of the kidnappings since October."

[CN: Airline disaster] The fuselage of the AirAsia airliner which disappeared on December 28 has been found in the Java Sea. Hopefully, this discovery will allow more victims' bodies to be returned to their families, and help investigators determine the cause of the crash.

[CN: Climate change; video may autoplay at link] This is a real thing in the world: "Senate to vote on whether climate change is happening." Terrific. Maybe when they're done with that subject, they can vote on whether monkeys exist. Since there's nothing pressing going on in the country that needs the attention of the people elected to run it.

[CN: Close-up image of bat at link] In good news: Some bat populations are starting to recover from white-nose syndrome, which has been killing bats by the millions all over the US. The situation is still dire, but it's a little less grim than it was. Bats are so important to our ecosystems; we need lots of them, and we need them thriving!

And finally! This is a terrific instructional video on how to teach your dog how to hula hoop. (OMG SO CUTE I AM DED.)