In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: War on agency] Welp! "Officials from the California Attorney General Kamala Harris' office reportedly executed a search of anti-choice activist David Daleiden's apartment late Tuesday. The search appears to be connected to an ongoing investigation by Harris' office into videos produced and released by Daleiden and associates that claim to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal tissue for profit. Federal law prohibits the sale or purchase of fetal tissue, but it does permit reimbursement for costs associated with donating it for medical research. Daleiden first released the videos in question in July 2015 under the banner of the Center for Medical Progress, an organization Daleiden created with the help of Troy Newman, head of the radical anti-choice group Operation Rescue. Last year, Harris wrote that her office would review whether the Center for Medical Progress violated any California laws while obtaining the footage." Couldn't happen to a worse guy!

[CN: White supremacy; whitewashing] "Historians at the University of Mississippi are objecting to language inscribed on a recently installed campus plaque that accompanies a statue of a Confederate soldier. In a written statement, 33 faculty members in the department of history have called on the chancellor, Jeffrey S. Vitter, to revise the plaque to recognize slavery as a central cause of the Civil War, The Clarion-Ledger reports. Their proposed language also contextualizes the statue as one of thousands erected across the South to promote the 'Lost Cause' ideology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This idea sought to glorify the Confederacy, and, for many, the statues stood as oppressive symbols of white supremacy. The current plaque, installed in mid-March, does not refer to slavery, nor to the broader context of how the statues are connected to segregation." Fucking hell. If you want to support the historians' efforts to push back on this garbage, they've launched a petition.

[CN: Rape culture] Oh my god: "A Virginia judge has ruled that 'Jackie,' the central figure in a retracted Rolling Stone article about her allegations of gang rape on the University of Virginia campus, must submit to a deposition in an ongoing defamation lawsuit against the publication. Tuesday's decision overruled objections from Jackie's lawyers that probing questions would be traumatizing for a survivor of sexual assault." This is so heinous.

Dolores Huerta is awesome: "Mexican-American civil rights activist Dolores Huerta said she holds no ill feelings toward actress Rosario Dawson over her 'open letter' criticizing Huerta for supporting Hillary Clinton for president. ...'I think that our campaign for Hillary Clinton in the Latino community is being effective and that's why (the Sanders campaign) is asking people like Rosario Dawson to come out and attack me,' Huerta said. 'I guess they think they can silence my voice by doing that.' ...Huerta said she understood why some activists might be disappointed in her for not supporting Sanders since they agree on many issues. But Huerta said she feels Clinton will get more things done as president. 'When the dust settles...we are going to be together,' Huerta said. 'And we need to be together to defeat Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.'"

Awesome: "Representative Alma Adams (D-N.C.) introduced legislation last week that, if passed, would offer historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) access to millions of dollars in competitive grants. 'HBCUs provide opportunities for many low-income, first generation, and often minority students to get a quality education,' Adams explained in a press release. 'However, they have been historically underfunded and lack many of the resources needed to address some of their most extreme challenges.' The HBCU Innovation Fund Act seeks to create a fund with $250 million in competitive grants that would assist HBCUs with planning and implementing programs 'that improve student achievement, increase recruitment, increase graduation rates, and increase enrollment and completion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees.'"

Uh, okay: "During a Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control hearing Tuesday about how the Department of Justice is monitoring the effects of marijuana legalization in states like Colorado and Washington, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) bemoaned that years of work 'trying to send that message with clarity that good people don't smoke marijuana' hasn't resonated." LOL! No good people have ever smoked weed! LOL!

Whooooooooooops! "It must have seemed a straightforward way to honor a U.S. Supreme Court justice who was famous for, among other things, prizing straightforwardness. But then people began to titter about the unintended acronym of the Antonin Scalia School of Law—and now George Mason University has tweaked the name. The new name for the institution in Arlington, Va., will be the Antonin Scalia Law School, says law school dean Henry N. Butler, citing 'some acronym controversy on social media' as the reason for the change."

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Neat! "This may be one of the coolest photos NASA's Mars Opportunity rover has ever sent back to Earth. Perched on a high ridge, Opportunity snapped a stunning photo showing a dust devil whirling in the distance. The rover's tracks are visible from its climb up a steep ridge."

And finally! Baby rhino enjoying his bath! Oh em gee!