News you need,
whether you know it or not

• New York prisons may have effectively banned journalism behind bars • Human Rights Campaign declares a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the United States • Saudi crown prince buys PGA Tour – and control of golf in North America Golf was already dead to me, but now it’s deader. … [read more]

 

• Virgin Mary apparitions “not always real,” says Pope • Atlanta approves funding to build ‘Cop City’ despite fierce opposition • Henry Kissinger had a birthday party at the New York Public Library, and you weren’t invited • Scientists successfully transmit space-based solar power to Earth for the first time • What happened when a Brooklyn neighborhood policed itself for five days • Federal judge backs trans kids in lawsuit over Florida’s ban on the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy • Much of Reddit will go dark June 12-14 in protest against API changes which will essentially kill 3rd party apps • Reddit Enhancement Suite: “We think we should be fine, but we aren’t 100% sure• New York finally gets its first worker-owned cooperative cocktail bar  

• ‘Zombie viruses’: Ancient diseases climate change will bring back • Florida’s strawberry industry threatened by climate change • Carbon dioxide soars to a new record in Earth’s atmosphere as climate change continues unabated • Dutch report warns about negative impact of climate change on health of citizens worldwide • Carbon dioxide soars to a new record in Earth’s atmosphere as climate change continues unabated 

• Sheriff’s deputy caught on camera slamming a handcuffed inmate’s head into a concrete wall with no apparent provocation • Cop covers for political player with sex offender past • Cop hired after charges of sexual abuse of minor and domestic violence faces new count of reckless homicide • Police and prosecutor re-charge man almost beaten to death by cops • Another Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department gang member admits the department has plenty of gang members

•  Florida high school offers refunds and reprints over yearbook’s “disgusting and wrong” LGBTQ+ content In addition to pictures of smiling students, the pages featured terms including “genderfluid,” “sexual orientation,” “queer,” and “nonbinary,” as well as the rainbow Pride flag.• … [read more]

Walking into the diner, the seat situation is ideal —  my favorite stool at the counter is unoccupied, and even better, no-one’s within half a dozen seats of my preferred seat. … [read more]

The cat is being extra friendly to me, presumably because she’s lost half the staff that pets her. I’m doing all the things I’ve always done, with frequent interruptions to scream or smash my fist into the wall. … [read more]

 

Here’s a very brief moment about funerals, and another reason why I never want to be at one again.An … [read more]

 

My bus from the island to downtown originates in Bellevue, a very rich and swanky suburb with notoriously brutal cops that don’t have much patience for bums, so it’s rare to have a bum on the bus for that ride.We … [read more]

I’d been waiting before he got there, so when a man walked up and joined me at the bus stop, I said, “Good morning.” He said the same right back at me, and that’s where it should’ve ended, but no, he wanted to tell me it’s going to be clear and cool today, with no chance of rain, and how about [local team], and shouldn’t the bus have been here by now…

Looking into the distance for a bus, I smiled but said nothing. … [read more]

In
my teens I thought I’d have my act together by my 20s, and in my 20s I
thought I’d have my act together by my 30s, and so on. … [read more]

 

A middle-aged southeast Asian woman wearing one of those lovely swirling gowns rang the bus bell, but she didn’t get off at the next stop. … [read more]