I was forced awake this morning, well before I would’ve preferred to be conscious, by a small creature, a ruthlessly annoying pet that I welcomed into my home and chose to care for: a cat.
Little did he know that today was a precious day of rest, and little did he care. “Was it an emergency?”, you may be thinking to yourself. It was decidedly not. The young rapscallion simply chose violence at 6am and didn’t care who was disturbed by his outbursts. So rather than sleeping in and enjoying a relaxing lazy morning, I was forced from the warm comforts of my bed and relegated to the couch, where I could try unsuccessfully to sleep unbothered.
This story isn’t exactly headline news, but it’s the top story today for me personally.
Side Items
Minneapolis Cops Are Bad?: In a shock to absolutely no one, a recent report from the US department of justice found that the Minneapolis police department engaged in a pattern of discrimination against black and Native American people and routinely resorted to "excessive force". Following the investigations, the city has agreed to negotiate an agreement, known as a consent decree, with the justice department on reforming its police department. You know what that means…more money for the police! Being a cop in this country is the only gig I know of where you can harass and kill innocent people and still somehow get a raise
Overton Window Shifting: This article investigates the deadly rampage by Israeli settlers through the Palestinian village of Huwara back in February. The research is based on analysis of videos from the scene, as well as testimony from an Israeli soldier and interviews with eyewitnesses and Palestinian journalists. 10 years ago, this article would never have been featured on CNN, an American news outlet with little to no sympathy for the Palestinian cause. In their investigation, CNN found that not only did Israeli forces fail to stop the riots in Huwara, they made no effort to protect Palestinian residents as settlers set fire to their homes and businesses and blocked emergency services from responding. Instead, when Palestinians threw rocks in reaction to the settlers’ aggression, the scummy Israeli apartheid defenders fired at them with tear gas and stun grenades
Pay Grad Students: A graduate student at the College of Charleston recently made a grim discovery: an ad for a slave auction larger than any historian had identified in American history. Scouring old newspapers for her history degree, Lauren Davila saw that on February 24, 1835, buried in a sea of classified ads in a Charleston newspaper selling everything from fruit knives and candlesticks to enslaved humans, was the following ad. On page 3, fifth column over, 10th advertisement down, Davila read: “This day, the 24th instant, and the day following, at the North Side of the Custom-House, at 11 o’clock, will be sold, a very valuable GANG OF NEGROES, accustomed to the culture of rice; consisting of SIX HUNDRED.” 600 human beings were sold in an auction, the largest known slave auction in US history. Sometimes the cruelty of humanity is hard to fathom