I used maggiejean's picture. Because I liked it. And it's Monday. And I couldn't choose from the others.
Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Doctor RJ, Magnifico, annetteboardman and Man Oh Man. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Person of the Year: Utah (SL Trib)
Madi Barney, Utahn of the Year.
In the weeks following that campus forum, more than 50 current and former students revealed to The Tribune accounts of sexual abuse at BYU. A majority had never reported the crimes, many citing fears of Honor Code retaliation. Twelve who did report said they faced interrogations loaded with a presumption of guilt, and that sex crime investigations often transformed into chastity investigations against them.
Several students — and police — reported that assailants explicitly used the threat of Honor Code discipline to discourage them from reporting. LGBT students said they faced special risks, as predators have recognized their vulnerability under the school's ban on "all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual behavior."
She then filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, which began investigating how BYU handled Barney's case. BYU is the third university in Utah to be added to a list of about 200 colleges facing review under Title IX, the law that forbids sex-based discrimination at all schools that receive federal funding.
Madi is so brave. Erin Alberty did outstanding reporting and also put herself at risk. To know that your rapist will threaten you with the honor code. To know that the local police will conspire with the Honor Code Office. Where women and LGTBQia persons are treated like this. I wonder why BYU doesn’t just remove all Federal Funding from their campus budget. Or what DT will do to Title IX.
Terry Brandstad's Messy Inaugural Fund
A charity controlled by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad missed a legal deadline for disclosing the names of donors who paid for his 2015 inaugural celebration, keeping them secret even as he prepares to become the U.S. ambassador to China.
Tax experts say the lack of disclosure could subject the charity to IRS penalties of $100 per day retroactive to Nov. 15, when the information was due. It also means that weeks after President-elect Donald Trump named Branstad to the important diplomatic post, the public doesn’t know the identities of individuals and corporations who wrote checks totaling roughly $1 million to fund the Republican governor’s inauguration and namesake college scholarships.
The Branstad-Reynolds Scholarship Fund was founded after Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds won election in 2010 to raise private money to pay for their 2011 inauguration. Branstad pledged that the leftover money would be used to award $30,000 annually in scholarships for Iowa college students, although it has fallen short of that goal. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate as ambassador to China, Branstad plans to resign as governor and be replaced by Reynolds.
I wonder if this will come up during Senate Confirmation Hearings. #SarcasmJenn
Missing Former Legislator Found
Without cell phone service, he remained in his vehicle, hoping to be found after hearing on the car radio there was an active search for him, according to the release. He did have food and other supplies for an emergency and was able to survive two nights in the vehicle.
Police searched trails on the west side of St. George all day on Sunday, working with other area police agencies to conduct an air search throughout the area.
A passing hunter found Bennion and helped free the vehicle, and Bennion returned to family members, calling to say he was safe once he had a cell signal.
Of note: He was found by a mountain lion hunter, per Twitter. No cell service. Went alone but told others when he would be back. Hiking is dangerous. Another lawmaker’s niece was killed in Oregon during a hike in October, took weeks to find the body.
Sentencing Phase for Dylan Roof
CHARLESTON, S.C.
After a judge ruled Monday that Dylann Roof is competent to represent himself, the same jury that last month unanimously found him guilty in the slayings of nine black parishioners at a South Carolina church will return to court to begin contemplating his punishment.
With the 22-year-old representing himself, the process is sure to be unconventional. But even if Roof is sentenced to death, it's highly unlikely he'd be executed anytime soon.
While prosecutors plan to call up to 38 people related to the nine people killed and three who survived the June 2015 slaughter during Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, Roof said last week he plans on calling no witnesses and presenting no evidence.
...
In his journal, which was read in court during his trial, Roof said his doesn't believe in psychology, which he called "a Jewish invention" that "does nothing but invent diseases and tell people they have problems when they don't.”
Psychology is Jewish invention to make people think they have problems when they don’t.
Ivanka Trump Will Not Fix "Women's Issues"—She Will Distract From Them
Of course, Trumpism is unsurvivable for women who do not happen to be exceptional Ivankas. "Being the best mother you can be" probably doesn't sound aspirational to a woman who's lost her birth control due to the repeal of Obamacare and can't abort her resulting pregnancy due to increased state abortion restrictions, lack of federal funding, and/or the overturning of Roe. The support staff who provide Ivanka's soothing greige lifestyle—domestic and child care workers who are predominantly female—will not find their work-life balance enhanced by child care proposals that don't cover the cost of caring for their own children, or by the lack of a livable minimum wage.
The goal of Trumpism is not to benefit women. The goal is to benefit one woman, Ivanka, or the one type of woman she represents. She provides her father with a human credential and downplays his sexism; in exchange, she gains an invaluable boost for her aspirational lifestyle brand (only $10,800 for the bracelet Ivanka wore on 60 Minutes!) and the opportunity to charge strangers $50,000 for a "coffee chat," thus proving that women really can succeed after all. We're not meant to benefit from her; we're meant to look at her, and think about how we can be more like her. We're meant to blame ourselves for falling short, as we have with every other Exceptional Woman to date. Ivanka is the Disney princess; we're the peasant chorus members who watch, and serve, and sigh at her pretty hair. Hell, maybe we'll even pitch in some background vocals on a few of the big musical numbers. Peasants always do, in those movies, even though they're probably all starving.
I know this is opinion, I included it for two reasons: With the failure of traditional media, we are finding valuable writing in alternatives. Also, there is absolutely no end to the corruption and deception of the incoming PEOTUS.
Hectic Cyprus diplomacy ahead of Geneva talks
The Turkish Cypriot leadership is engaging in intense consultations in Ankara to flesh out a joint position before Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı and President Nicos Anastasiades present their respective maps for a settlement in Cyprus.
Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün had talks in Ankara on Jan. 2 with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım ahead of a crucial meeting on Jan. 9 and 10 in Geneva, in which leaders from both communities will try to hammer out a path for the unification of Cyprus. Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu was also in Ankara last week for consultations.
I know this issue is critically important to those involved. As is the situation in the Kashmir region. When we, as humans, as a United Nations, can’t make decent, measurable progress on these smaller diplomatic problems, how can we hope to make progress on the larger ones?
Marijuana-Related Illness Increases in Legalized States
As various states move towards the legalization of marijuana, doctors are noticing the increase of a particular illness that is associated with regular use of the drug. Emergency rooms have been seeing an influx of patients with the same symptoms – severe abdominal pain and intense vomiting – and this increase is particularly high in certain states that have already legalized the use of marijuana.
While some doctors have been perplexed by these symptoms, the disease does have a name: cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS. The illness is believed to be caused by regular and long-term use of marijuana.
I hope Hollyweed takes note. Also, Teen Vogue, one of our favorite new reads.
Damascus Nights Despair and Debauchery in Assad's Capital
Her boyfriend, the barkeeper Kinan, is sitting beside her. Small, sturdy and prematurely balding, he has a boyish laugh and dark rings around his eyes. "Yolo," he says: "You only live once." Almost all of his friends have fled to Europe, but he decided to open a bar instead and now parties as often as he can. The state, he says, only still exists in places where the regime has control. And the stability it provides is the only thing he cares about.
All of the people in the bus have different reasons for supporting the regime. But there is one thing they share: the fear of Islamic State (IS). It is a product of Assad's successful strategy of posing as the lesser of myriad evils: Even as millions have fled the country to escape the horrors of war, IS has also driven many people into Assad's arms.
Assad apparently had brilliant messaging. From the beginning, there was so small of a chance for any happy ending. This situation reminds me of something from Lord of the Rings. From the dark mirror of Galadriel probably.
Minister claims an 'obvious risk' of kids raping each other if not in adult jail
There is an "obvious risk" children might assault and even rape one another if they were removed from an adult prison and returned to shared custodial cells at Parkville Youth Justice Centre, Children's Minister Jenny Mikakos has said.
Ms Mikakos made the claim during a New Year's Day social media spat with lawyer Ruth Barson.
What does this minister thinks happens in adult prison? And why are there shared cells in juvenile justice?
Only those abroad from Nov 10-Dec 30 can now exchange scrapped notes
Several citizens who were turned away at RBI offices+ in different cities on Monday recalled that in his November 8 speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that there may be some who were unable to deposit their old 500 or 1,000 rupee notes by December 30, 2016. "They can go to specified offices of the Reserve Bank of India up to March 31, 2017 and deposit the notes after submitting a declaration form," the Prime Minister had said on television.
However, when depositors turned up at the RBI's offices in Kolkata, Ahmedabad and other parts of the country to exchange some notes that were left behind, they were told there was no grace period+ . "This policy is in the government's ordinance and notification. The grace period is only for those who were abroad during November and December and did not have an opportunity to deposit," said an RBI official.
Some context from the Beeb: India currency bombshell
North America's first total solar eclipse since 2008 and more cool science for 2017
There was a lot going on in science in 2016.
In space, we had the arrival of Juno in orbit around Jupiter. SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket, opening the door for cheaper and possibly more frequent space travel. And scientists arrived at a better understanding of how our universe formed with the confirmation of gravitational waves.
So what's ahead?
While there's no telling what discoveries lie in wait for scientists, there are a few things to keep an eye on in the coming year.
This self-contained science roundup in honor of Neon Vincent.
Read, Review, Write Diverse Books
2016 was an excellent year for diverse books. We saw the release of many great titles that celebrated marginalized perspectives and experiences, as well as several debut and established authors who gained the recognition they deserved. It was not a perfect year by any means, especially outside of the book community. Within the book community we saw much discord and conflict. Many of us had to be louder & more passionate than ever in our support for diversity against a barrage of racist books, authors, bloggers, and the general onslaught of a system that keeps pushing back on our demands for inclusion and equity in the publishing industry.
But we’re still here because we love books. The zeal with which I will promote and advocate for diverse books will not diminish in 2017. It will only be stoked and intensified by every conflict and setback the book community faces. So expect to see me around all year. Providing new content every week!
One year ago, I started to try to read more diverse books. With more diverse authors. POC, women, LGTBQia, culturally diverse. On topics that are interesting to me anyway. (Largely non-fiction and science fiction). It’s going ok. Even though I love Erik Larsen and Bill Bryson, I can balance them with other authors.
Note: I have an airport errand at posting time. I was so rusty. And I can’t find my tip jar. I will be here as soon as I can after the airport pickup. Love and miss you all.
