links post

[mao4269]

SECURITY FORCE VIOLATIONS AND VIOLENCE
(Alternatively: International News)

• Honduran President Is Ousted in 1st Latin-American Coup since the end of the Cold War.
• Iran Arrests Iranian Employees of British Embassy as Protests Return.
• According to a recently-filed complaint in the U.K., two people who also actively protest police surveillance at demonstrations were arrested at a power plant protest when they challenged police officers for not displaying their badge numbers. They were held in prison for four days, until after the demonstration had finished. The video, ironically enough obtained from police surveillance records, is rather disturbing.
• French diplomats allegedly assaulted by Israeli police.

GENDER

• Essay - Inadequate reproductive health services for women on U.S. military bases. The part that I found most disturbing was: According to statistics released by the Department of Defense, the rate of sexual assault rose eight percent worldwide between 2008 and 2009 but rose 26% for women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though alarming, these are just the numbers for reported assaults. According to the Department of Justice, 60% of sexual assaults are unreported....Military health insurance only covers abortions performed to save the life of the mother. Rape and incest victims have to pay for any abortions themselves. (On a side note, the military's health care provider also refuses to cover forensic rape kits>.)  EDITED TO ADD: The information about forensic rape kits appears to be inaccurate.  Thanks to flyboymike for letting me know.
• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a school strip-searching a thirteen year old girl to check for ibuprofen violated her rights. The lone dissenting opinion? Clarece Fstarking Thomas (you know, the member of the court most likely to be unfairly searched himself).
• A Russian woman is in intensive care after restoring her "virginity" 6 times in an attempt to please her husband. Is it really so hard for people to understand that virginity isn't a medical concept? Having surgery to insert a flap of skin because otherwise you'll be killed says enough about screwed up gender dynamics. Doing so six times because your partner has a thing for "virgins" is just...mind-blowing.
• Swedish parents keep 2-year-old's sex secret to allow hir to choose hir gender.  The story is interesting, but the article is problematic in that it treats the parents' choice as somehow more controversial than parents choosing a gender for their children.

OTHER

• Algae farm aims to turn carbon dioxide into fuel.
• Apparently my dislike for Holden Caulfield/Catcher in the Rye is a generational thing...
• Brigham Young University is ending its 3-year policy of blocking YouTube.
• The Beatles in Yiddish!