What's in the news?

[gaggedLouise]

I remember one of my professors in college going on an absolute tirade about that word--she was Japanese and taught Japanese language classes. She was absolutely insistent that only very disrespectful people would use it, and she pretty much hammered it into our heads that the correct term for a foreigner that doesn't have the xenophobic connotation is actually 'gaikokujin.' She used to tell us that the difference might sound small to our ears, but it was a very important tonal difference.

*cpnsiders asking Melisa, who is a native japanese speaker, about this*

On a lighter note about coded Words, Ga-Jol (proounced Gaah-Yule) is a Danish brand of sweet drops, but it has also been used as slang for breasts: she showed me her Ga-Jols. 

[RedRose]

He always was. 

As far as being 'ahead of his time', it's also been attributed to a French playwright who died in 1944 - but there's no contemporary confirmation on that. (It doesn't show up in his writings.)

I've read several of his books and he was definitely ahead of his time. It strikes me as something he could have said.

Awww those octopi. And I really admire those who create the blankets because it's not a happy thing to live with and still they do it for strangers. Fantastic.

[Sara Nilsson]

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/04/11/pastor-who-claimed-devil-gays-deserve-to-die-found-guilty-of-child-molestation/

Headline says it all really :)

[Oniya]

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/04/11/pastor-who-claimed-devil-gays-deserve-to-die-found-guilty-of-child-molestation/

Headline says it all really :)

Something something speck in your brother's eye, something beam in your own...

[Shekinah]

Borussia Dortmund football team bus hit by explosion

So now they are also targeting athletes. And what scares me, normally these kind of events have lots of security, how the hell did they get bombs on the site?
Lucky no-one was killed

[gaggedLouise]

"Zlatan: I grow smarter"

-wonderfully odd headline in the local paper, in the very province where it all started. Zlatan is one of the most intelligent players ever in Scandinavian football, so why is he saying that *now* when everyone appreciates him? (Apparently he had been joking to a reporter after making several fresh goals for Man U).

[Beorning]

Hospital appeals for crochet octopuses to comfort tiny premature babies. <3

https://www.mummypages.co.uk/hospital-appeals-for-crochet-octopuses-to-comfort-tiny-premature-babies

Okay, I must really be tired, as I missed the "crochet" part of the news and I started imagining some revolutionary new care method involving putting live octopi on the babies... 

[Iniquitous]

http://abc11.com/politics/nc-house-bill-seeks-to-reinstate-same-sex-marriage-ban/1861479/

North Carolina has introduced a bill to make same sex marriages illegal again despite the Supreme Court ruling.  A copy of HOUSE BILL DRH10214-MM-60 can be found here.

[gaggedLouise]

The US, Canada and Mexico are planning a joint bid for the 2026 Football (FIFA) World Cup with 60 matches to be played in the US, 10 in Canada and 10 in Mexico (the group stage of the tournament is soon going to be bigger than ever before, with a whopping 48 teams).

Excellent idea. Sharing the party over three countries minimizes the need for one of them to build several huge new stadiums which might be left standing as white elephants after the games are over. And it's also a good show of North American unity and brotherhood - and an oblique dig at that Wall... 

[Beguile's Mistress]

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/08/science/sci-sn-joshua-tree-park-graffiti-20130408

Vandalism forces closure of Rattlesnake Canyon at Joshua Tree park

[Ebb]

http://abc11.com/politics/nc-house-bill-seeks-to-reinstate-same-sex-marriage-ban/1861479/

North Carolina has introduced a bill to make same sex marriages illegal again despite the Supreme Court ruling.  A copy of HOUSE BILL DRH10214-MM-60 can be found here.

Luckily, it looks like the bill's been submitted by a couple of right-wing state representatives who probably don't expect it to go anywhere. Just drumming up support for their base.

From the article:
The bill states that the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage across the country "is null and void in the State of North Carolina."

Good luck with that, gents. I'm pretty sure overruling the Supreme Court takes more than passing a local bill. Last time I think it required an army, and that still didn't work out that well.

[Lustful Bride]

This depresses me to no end.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/vets-in-imminent-danger-at-va-in-dc-investigation-finds/ar-BBzLV1P?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

[gaggedLouise]

On Sunday, Turkey is holding the controversial referendum on expanding the powers of the president. Heard this morning on the radio about a couple in eastern Turkey who had given their newborn daughter the name Evet (Turkish for Yes) as a gesture of support for Erdogan. Of course they brushed off any worries about future awkward and confusing situations when the girl would have to be referred to as "Yes"...at school, on the job, at home... ^ _ ^

Actually, they didn't have an aswer to the question "what if some other president than Erdogan wields these powers? A president who is more secular in his politics?" either. 

[Missy]

On Sunday, Turkey is holding the controversial referendum on expanding the powers of the president. Heard this morning on the radio about a couple in eastern Turkey who had given their newborn daughter the name Evet (Turkish for Yes) as a gesture of support for Erdogan. Of course they brushed off any worries about future awkward and confusing situations when the girl would have to be referred to as "Yes"...at school, on the job, at home... ^ _ ^

Actually, they didn't have an aswer to the question "what if some other president than Erdogan wields these powers? A president who is more secular in his politics?" either. 

There's a point where human stupidity ceases to surprise a person.

[Lustful Bride]

Japan fears that North Korea may be capable of firing missiles loaded with Sarin Gas.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/n-korea-may-be-capable-of-sarin-loaded-missile-attack-japan-pm/ar-BBzNc5M?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

[Lustful Bride]

Absolutely horrible.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/feds-more-female-genital-mutilation-victims-likely-exist/ar-BBzPMBe?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

[Iniquitous]

China is warning of the risk of war if the US strikes out at N. Korea and that it would have devastating consequences.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-14/china-warns-of-war-risk-as-trump-rattles-saber-at-north-korea

[Lustful Bride]

Roman Polanski compares US courts to Nazis

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/roman-polanski-compares-us-court-to-nazis-over-order-denying-no-jail-time/ar-BBzQSXw?li=BBnb2gh&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

[Lustful Bride]

Feels like a repeat of history as Women in India take harsher measures personally against Alcohol.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/alcohol-ban-succeeds-as-women-warn-%e2%80%98behave-or-we%e2%80%99ll-get-tough%e2%80%99/ar-BBzSehN?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

[gaggedLouise]

No fewer than 1636 persons have registered as candidates to next month's presidential elections in Iran, 137 of them women (you don't have to be affilaited to a political party to formally make a bid). Nearly all of them will be disqualified by the powerful Guardian Council of the Islamic Revolution before campaigning even starts, though.

Say hello to democracy... 

[Trigon]

So Trump and his lawyers are now making the claim that he can't be sued for the violence at his rallies because he won the election: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/15/trump-says-he-cant-be-sued-for-violence-at-his-rallies-because-he-won-the-election/?utm_term=.74ac8fa70e92

[gaggedLouise]

Erdogan claims a narrow but clear win for Yes to his package of proposed changes to the Turkish constitution, giving the president (=himself) effectively dictatorial powers if he'll pull through with this - which he is surely going to do. The opposition demands a recount, hinting that there were suspicions of voting irregularites (insertion of packs of fake yes ballots, etc).

All I can say is: Woe is Turkey! And this vote is likely to lead to a very difficult path not just for Turkey but for Europe and the Near East - Turkey lies at a critical position between Syria/the Levant/Caucasus, Iran, Iraq and Europe, and it's a key state in any attempt to make deals with the Arab world. If Turkey becomes more autocratic, more angry and (as a state) more openly islamist, then who the hell is going to trust them? Especially with a leader like Erdogan? And how long will it be before many western-leaning and liberal Turks start fleeing to Europe? 

[Lustful Bride]

Welp seems BP is at it again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/16/business/bp-damaged-oil-well-alaskan-arctic.html?ref=energy-environment&_r=0

[Ariel]

I have no words.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/police-searching-man-recorded-homicide-facebook-live-article-1.3062840

[Ket]

I have no words.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/police-searching-man-recorded-homicide-facebook-live-article-1.3062840

Yeah...try freaking out because the last locations of the pings on his cellphone have been in your city, two hours east of Cleveland. Not leaving my house until he's caught. Not sleeping tonight either.