According to the Associated Press, law enforcement will now ask victims of crimes, including rape survivors, to sign a consent form that asks for their permission to seize their electronic devices in order to access mobile data that might be relevant to the investigation.
“If you refuse permission for the police to investigate, or for the prosecution to disclose material which would enable the defendant to have a fair trial then it may not be possible for the investigation or prosecution to continue,” the form states, according to the AP.
Author: mcequality
Swarthmore Students Protest and Want to Transform Fraternities
Students at Swarthmore who arecurrently protesting their college’s two fraternities with a sit-in have an idea. The Washington Post reports that documents were leaked earlier this month from Swarthmore’s chapter of Phi Psi that detailed “graphic descriptions of members’ sexual encounters, including a reference to a ‘rape tunnel’” and a “rape attic” as well as “conversations about women, minority groups and sexual assault that often contained offensive language, such as homophobic and racial slurs.” In response to the leaked information, students demanded the college terminate its housing leases with the frats. When Swarthmore didn’t budge, a group of what eventually became 100 students organized a sit-in at Phi Psi in protest, shortly after which it was announced fraternities would be suspended.
via Swarthmore Students Protest and Want to Transform Fraternities
BFI female film season sparks misogyny row – BBC News
The British Film Institute (BFI) is facing accusations of misogyny over the title of a forthcoming season dedicated to “fierce females”.
The programme includes films featuring “some of the most wickedly compelling female characters on screen”.
But a letter signed by more than 300 academics and critics argued that the title “uncritically parrots” misogyny.
The Playing the Bitch season was programmed by Anna Bogutskaya, who said she hoped to “start a conversation”.
In a blog explaining the project, Ms Bogutskaya said she realised the word had “powerful connotations” that made it “offensive to many”.
Astra Taylor & Natasha Lennard on Anti-Fascism, Women's Protest
It makes a perverse kind of sense that the election of a gleeful, pussy-grabbing misogynist to the highest office in the land would cause a feminist backlash at the grassroots. Since the 2016 presidential election, women have been rising up: marching in the streets, mobilizing their communities, running for office, and winning a whole lot of them. And many have been explicit about their intention to pull this country’s political center to the left. The two democratic socialists to win congressional seats in the 2018 midterm election were not white guys shaped by the old-school mold of Bernie Sanders, but young women of color, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, who defy the alleged division between economics and identity politics with every breath. They, along with Ihlan Omar, point the way toward a forward-looking, appealing, and effective radicalism that we can only hope will continue to catch on.
via Astra Taylor & Natasha Lennard on Anti-Fascism, Women's Protest
Stephen Moore Awkwardly Tries to Defend Racist Obama Joke
Once upon a time in 2016, in the wake of President Trump’s election, conservative writer and policy advisor Stephen Moore decided to share a little joke.
“There’s that great cartoon going along that [shows] the New York Times headline ‘First Thing Donald Trump Does As President Is Kick a Black Family Out of Public Housing,’ and it has Obama leaving the White House,” Moore said, eliciting a chorus of groans and laughter from the audience. “I mean, I just love that one!”
Moore is now one of Trump’s nominees for the Federal Reserve Board. On Tuesday, PBS’s Margaret Hoover gave Moore an opportunity to address the racist joke, and Moore’s attempts at clarity quickly turned into a sputtering mess:
via Stephen Moore Awkwardly Tries to Defend Racist Obama Joke
Homeland Security to Start DNA Testing Asylum Seekers as It Tries to Back Up ‘Fake Families’ Scare Tactic
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will start using Rapid DNA tests on some asylum seekers at the U.S.–Mexico border next week, according to a new report from CNN. The tests are intended to determine whether adults and children who are traveling together are actually family members.
The Rapid DNA tests involve a cheek swab and will be deployed at two ports of entry starting the week of May 6. Results from the test take about 90 minutes.
These new Rapid DNA tests are supposed to catch immigrants who are lying about being related, but it’s unclear how DHS can establish familial ties through DNA alone. Obviously, DNA relations aren’t the only thing that define a family.
The Life and Loves of Anne Lister – BBC News
Kneeling side by side under the medieval arches of the tiny church, two women bowed their heads and prayed.
Candles flickering around them, they took the sacrament at the altar.
But this was not a normal church service; in the lovers’ eyes, their “marriage” had been sealed.
Gay HIV transmission with treatment is ‘zero risk’, study confirms – BBC News
Further evidence that taking anti-HIV drugs stops gay men passing on the virus to sexual partners has been called a “powerful message” which should be more widely known.
A study of nearly 1,000 gay male couples in The Lancet found no cases of HIV transmission over eight years.
This was due to treatment reducing the virus to very low levels in the body.
“Undetectable equals untransmittable” should be basic HIV knowledge for everyone, experts said.
The European study followed 972 gay male couples – where one was living with HIV and taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) and the other was HIV negative – over eight years, from 2010-2017.
via Gay HIV transmission with treatment is ‘zero risk’, study confirms – BBC News
Stagecoach’s sponsorship of Turner prize ends over LGBT rights row | Art and design | The Guardian
The Turner prize and its controversial 2019 sponsor, Stagecoach, have parted ways just one day after the partnership was announced.
There was anger and a degree of disbelief when it was revealed on Wednesday that a company founded and chaired by a wealthy campaigner against gay rights would be lead sponsor of the prize this year.
Stagecoach South East had been brought on board by this year’s host venue, Turner Contemporary in Margate, which saw the local bus company as a good match.
via Stagecoach’s sponsorship of Turner prize ends over LGBT rights row | Art and design | The Guardian
CHEER UP LUV
via CHEER UP LUV