In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

Y'all, I just heard "burning dumpster fire" used on CNN in election coverage. Welp.

[Content Note: Misogyny] This is an incredible essay by former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, who, by his own admission, was deeply unfair to Clinton during the '08 election—and after: "It was one of the stupider, more disrespectful mistakes I've made, and one that could have cost me a job if Hillary hadn't accepted my apology, which she did with grace and humor. As a result, I had the chance to serve in the Obama Administration with someone who was far different than the caricature I had helped perpetuate. The most famous woman in the world would walk through the White House with no entourage, casually chatting up junior staffers along the way. She was by far the most prepared, impressive person at every Cabinet meeting. She worked harder and logged more miles than anyone in the administration, including the president. And she'd spend large amounts of time and energy on things that offered no discernible benefit to her political future—saving elephants from ivory poachers, listening to the plight of female coffee farmers in Timor-Leste, defending LGBT rights in places like Uganda. Most of all—and you hear this all the time from people who've worked for her—Hillary Clinton is uncommonly warm and thoughtful. She surprises with birthday cakes. She calls when a grandparent passes away. She once rearranged her entire campaign schedule so a staffer could attend her daughter's preschool graduation. Her husband charms by talking to you; Hillary does it by listening to you."

[CN: Fat prejudice] Oh for fuck's sake: "That spare tire around your waist may also be weighing down your memory. Experts believe that added fat changes the structure and function of the brain, including its ability to recall past events with episodic memory." We've heard this before. That post was six years ago; I wonder how it was possible I remembered it with all the FAT WRECKING MY BRAINZ?!

[CN: Racism] Good grief: "The Black Lives Matter movement has shed light on the racial profiling, police brutality, and racial inequality experienced by the African-American community across America. But apparently some of the employees at Facebook's notoriously white, bro-centric Menlo Park, California office don't agree. In a private memo posted on a company announcement page for employees only, Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that employees have been scratching out 'black lives matter' (sic) and writing 'all lives matter' on the company's famous signature wall."

[CN: Transphobia] A new study has found that "socially transitioned transgender children have notably lower rates of internalizing psychopathology than previously reported among children with GID living as their natal sex." That is, trans children who are allowed to live as their real gender, instead of being forced to live as the gender they were assigned at birth, have better mental health and happiness. File under: Things Trans People Have Been Telling You.

This is pretty cool: "A team of Cleveland Clinic transplant surgeons and gynecological surgeons performed the nation's first uterus transplant during a nine-hour surgery Wednesday, Feb. 24. The 26-year-old patient—who is not being identified publicly—was in stable condition Thursday afternoon. The transplanted uterus came from a deceased organ donor." I really love the global interest in making womb transplants possible.

[CN: Homophobia] Of course: "Not surprisingly, the anti-gay Texas bakers who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple last week have quickly assumed the role of martyrs. Edie and David Delorme, co-owners of Kerns Bake Shop in the East Texas city of Longview, turned away Ben Valencia and Luis Marmolejo, saying they don't prepare cakes for 'homosexual marriages' based on their religious beliefs. ...'We just want equal rights,' David Delorme told Fox News. 'We want to be treated equally.'" STFU.

[CN: Transphobia; corporatism] Anohni, the first transgender performer ever nominated for an Academy Award, explains why she will not be attending the Oscars, after being disinvited from performing.

RIP Tony Burton. "Tony Burton, the former boxer best known for playing Apollo Creed's trainer 'Duke' in the Rocky franchise, has died. He was 78." He was so great in those films.

"Watch Tom Hardy trek through the wilderness in a loincloth." Okay!

This is definitely the Headline of the Day: "Pony dressed as unicorn leads California authorities on wild chase." Sure.

And finally! "Meet Mutka, Our Dog of a Thousand Faces." OMG this dog is the best! LOL!