What big news barely received coverage this week

[malaise]

White male killed one cop and injured six others while protecting his adult son from receiving a warrant for sexually abusing foster children

White cop sentenced to prison for murdering African-American man.
Don the Con 's family tax fraud (thanks ginnyinWI)

Nobel Peace Prize received by two good people for fighting against rape.

What else?

[genxlib]

1. A rapist was caught in Seattle

After they finally bothered to test an 11 year old rape kit.

It wasn’t big news but I thought it was the perfect sidecar story for this week to show how we as a society disregard the victims of sexual assault

[malaise]

5. 11 years old victim

[Luz]

13. I believe the rape kit was 11 years old. No one had ever bothered

to process it.

[malaise]

21. Thanks

[genxlib]

35. Sorry if a misplaced modifier misled

Here is my post from yesterday

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211237814

I think the disregard with which we treat rape victims is disgraceful and emblematic of the week we have had

[malaise]

43. LOL

No problem.

[OnlinePoker]

32. I know lack of testing of rape kits was a big issue a few years back

Have the number of kits still needing to be tested dropped any since then or is there still a major backlog?

[genxlib]

36. There has been progress

Primarily because many States and Non-profits have tried to make it a priority.

The number has dropped but the backlog is still huge. Every kit that goes untested is a perpetrator still terrorizing women.

Here is a post from yesterday about it. https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211237814

[OnlinePoker]

37. Thank-you...very illuminating. n/t

[OnlinePoker]

41. I found this site which seems pretty detailed

http://www.endthebacklog.org/backlog/where-backlog-exists-and-whats-happening-end-it

[genxlib]

42. Thank you for that

I saw them referenced as one of the non-profits pursuing this work but had not had a chance to see the website.

It does sound like things are improving but it kills me that we allowed this to happen. I can't imagine how many additional victims have resulted from just letting the bad guys stay out there.

[ginnyinWI]

2. Why is Donnie's tax fraud scandal gone already?

Seems to me that should still be a big story!

[malaise]

6. Damn - that is huge - will add

[Hermit-The-Prog]

10. it achieved its purpose -- distraction

All the info in that piece was available before the 2016 election. The only difference was the cache of paper documents found in a basement.

[watoos]

25. I don't think so.

NY is looking to recoup taxes and this lays the ground work for when Jerry Nadler gets Trump's tax returns in January when Dems take over the House.

You can't seriously believe that Trump would be behind a distraction that exposes that he wasn't a self made man, that exposes that he needed daddy to take care of him to bail him out? A distraction that shows that Trump is really one big snowflake, a terrible businessman?

Of course we should have known that Trump's claims of being a billionaire were just lies, but his cult believes it. I can get a loan from any bank in America and Trump can't, that was all I needed to know.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

30. here's a single link summary

The Atlantic first posted this story 2016-09, but it's been updated.

The Many Scandals of Donald Trump: A Cheat Sheet
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/donald-trump-scandals/474726/

It's not comprehensive, but it's a good long read and goes back to the '70s.

[lunatica]

22. It served to open more than one investigation

So it isn’t gone at all.

[JI7]

3. and this is why we need to build the wall and condemn black athletes for kneeling

if it was a minority who killed the cops the defective filth would be all over it.

[Scarsdale]

11. Amen.

So very true. I applaud Nike for standing by Colin. Now he needs to get back to what he does best - playing football again.

[malaise]

18. Precisely and he would not have been arrested, handcuffed and led away

He would be in a morgue

[Achilleaze]

4. Fortune Magazine report on how republican family-values role model Dirty Donny* is

losing scuzzbucket-loads of money, because his BRAND is toxic. Meanwhile, Dirty Donny (R) plunged over 130 places on the Forbes "wealthiest" list, such as it is (sad measure of a life). Everything the republican role model touches DIES DIES DIES.

* aka republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief


Here's an NBC report on the report:

Some wealthy patrons are steering clear of Trump properties, saying the country club experience is now ruined "by metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs."
by Claire Atkinson / Oct.03.2018 /

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/trump-has-lost-1-billion-personal-wealth-running-president-n916221

[malaise]

7. Yes

This must be eating his putrid insides

[safeinOhio]

8. This week both

China and Saudi Arabia give Dummy Donnie a big FU on trade and oil.

[marybourg]

9. Anything that happened in

another country.

[HipChick]

12. Melly in Africa went to her colonial instincts

symbol of colonialism and oppression...not a fucking fashion accessory...

[oberliner]

14. Zeinab Sekaanvand was executed

“Child bride.” “Criminal.” “Juvenile offender.” These are some of the many labels assigned to Zeinab Sekaanvand during her far too short life. Sekaanvand, who was executed on Tuesday in Urumieh prison in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, was rarely seen for who she really was: a vulnerable young woman trapped in a cycle of violence and sexual abuse since childhood.

Sekaanvand, who was 24 when she was hanged, had spent almost a third of her life in detention. In February 2012, she was arrested and put on trial over the murder of her husband, a crime that took place when she was 17 years old. She had reported being raped by her brother-in-law and tortured by police after her arrest. What’s especially chilling about Sekaanvand’s case is the number of points at which the Iranian authorities could have intervened to help her. Sekaanvand reported the abuse she suffered. She spoke out, yet she was ignored.

http://time.com/5415628/zeinab-sekaanvand-iran-execution-violence/

[OhNo-Really]

15. Trump wore a sort of military GREEN suit, with matching GREEN podium.

https://m.

Not a peep about the disrespectful green suit worn while spewing the lowest mocking comments made ever by a President. Inching towards military garb?

Remember when a tan suit was a right wing scandal.

https://m.

[Honeycombe8]

16. Announcements of large layoffs by Verizon and Ford Motor Co. nt

[Kurt V.]

17. the EPA dumping science

[malaise]

19. Yes

And I had. Thread about that

[Kurt V.]

29. thanks for bringing attention to it.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

20. Indonesia tsunami: crisis worsens as aid struggles to reach island

More than 1,400 are dead and tens of thousands of people homeless on Sulawesi, but aid shipments are being held up

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/04/indonesia-tsunami-crisis-worsens-as-aid-struggles-to-reach-island

------------

This continuing disaster did receive some news coverage but in many cases was swamped by tRump bullshit. These people are poor Muslim people of color so that is very telling in itself.

Welcome to our world of non-stop soap opera and sensationalism.......

[malaise]

26. Yes

This is huge

[blaze]

23. Russia!!!

Well done Vlad.

[robbob]

24. I heard that while everyone is focused on BK nomination

...tRump administration is quietly pushing through dozens of confirmations to lower courts.

[malaise]

27. Yes

It's crazy

[peekaloo]

28. Interpol's President goes missing in China.

[Squinch]

31. The trump family multi-generational tax scam fell off the front pages and it damn well better get

back on them.

[OnlinePoker]

33. New version of NAFTA finally negotiated. n/t

[malaise]

48. Same with a new name

[OnlinePoker]

49. Not really the same

Canada's getting screwed by continued tariffs on steel and aluminum and now have to allow more dairy products into the country without the guarantee it won't be contaminated by growth hormones or antibiotics (not allowed in Canada). There is also the contentious issue of softwood lumber tariffs which Canada keeps winning at the WTO but the U.S. keeps reapplying. If we're doing so well at dumping our products into U.S. markets, why have sawmills shut down all over B.C. in the last 20 years?

[malaise]

51. Thanks

[Capperdan]

34. First Rain in 6 months

To California Central Coast. Half inch fell last week on our thirsty beach town. Hooray.

[malaise]

45. Great news

[slater71]

38. The House passed another huge tax break for the rich.

[malaise]

47. Yes - barely mentioned

What a mess

[GoCubsGo]

39. The individual squtting in the White House is massive tax cheat and a fraud.

That NY Times article hasn't gotten anywhere near the attention it deserves.

[suffragette]

40. Mushroom extract might help bees fight off viruses

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/science/how-the-mushroom-dream-of-a-long-haired-hippie-could-help-save-the-worlds-bees/

To test Stamets’ theory, the researchers conducted two experiments: They separated two groups of mite-exposed bees into cages, feeding one group sugar syrup with a mushroom-based additive and the other, syrup without the additive. They also field-tested the extract in small, working bee colonies near WSU.

For several virus strains, the extract “reduced the virus to almost nothing,” said Brandon Hopkins, a WSU assistant research professor, another author of the paper.


The promising results have opened the door to new inquiries.

Researchers are still trying to figure out how the mushroom extract works. The compound could be boosting bees’ immune systems, making them more resistant to the virus. Or, the compound could be targeting the viruses themselves.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181004100044.htm

[malaise]

46. Did not see this

Important

[suffragette]

52. Local news with a global impact. Like many important discoveries, it came to him in a dream.

The subconscious can be so powerful. It helped him pull together information from behavior he had observed in his bees to consider how this might help bee colonies fight off viruses.

[lame54]

44. Trump: lifetime criminal...

NYT story gone in a day

[Vinca]

50. Another Nobel winner reported to have sold his medal to pay medical bills.

But thank heavens we don't live in a socialist country and we've got our freedoms.

[mahina]

53. William Barber won a MacArthur genius award for his social justice work.

[malaise]

55. He's a great man

Hasn't looked well recently

[enid602]

54. Citizen Strong

John Burton, ex Obama strategist announced he’s employing 16000 investigators to destroy the GOP.

[malaise]

56. Please, please please

That was great news

[mahina]

57. Awesome.

[spanone]

58. Mike Pence blamed China for interfering in our elections....much more than Russia

Mike Pence accuses China of meddling in US elections despite lack of evidence

Mike Pence has claimed that Russian interference in US elections “pales in comparison” with Chinese meddling, which he said was aimed at ousting Donald Trump.

The vice-president’s allegation echoes a similar claim made by the president at the UN last week, but it has been contradicted by cybersecurity experts and the administration has yet to provide any supporting evidence, other than to point to instances of overt lobbying.

The administration’s own secretary of homeland security, Kirstjen Nielsen, said: “We currently have no indication that a foreign adversary intends to disrupt our election infrastructure.

“We know they [the Chinese] have the capability and we know they have the will. So we’re constantly on alert to watch. But what we see with China right now are the influence campaigns, the more traditional, longstanding, holistic influence campaigns,” Nielsen said on Tuesday at a Washington Post cybersecurity conference.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/04/mike-pence-china-us-elections-meddling

[Pachamama]

59. This was bizarre to me....

Family and friends in Europe took the time to ask WTF was up with Pence stating such a thing....

Deflection from Russia? Why?