Some good news, for once. Or at least better than bad news.

[Cain]

Well, no surprise there.  Limbaugh was also going on about how the Castro brothers were Obama voters, and talking about people going missing in Hawaii a decade ago.

Subtle he is not.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Well, no surprise there.  Limbaugh was also going on about how the Castro brothers were Obama voters, and talking about people going missing in Hawaii a decade ago.

Subtle he is not.

THANKS A LOT, OBAMA!  [/obligatory]

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22441124

The inevitable discussion of missing white woman syndrome

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22441124

The inevitable discussion of missing white woman syndrome

Is that even a question? Seriously?

[Junkenstein]

It is BBC Policy to wait 2/3 days and then remind people of it before proceeding to practice exactly that thing until the next instance it can remind you about it.

UK media has a lot of shit that it churns out in sequence after certain kinds of events.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

But according to some people, we live in a post-racism era. 

[Junkenstein]

This name may mean something to some of you:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/07/sylvia-browne-amanda-berry-cleveland

One of the world's most recognizable self-proclaimed psychics was wrong yet again about the fate of a missing child, and her followers on social media are taking her to task.

Browne's prediction about the fate of Amanda Berry was not her first attempt to explain the fate of a child, but her fans on social media demanded acknowledgment from the self-proclaimed spiritual leader.

On Wednesday, Browne released the following through her Facebook page:

For more than 50 years as a spiritual psychic and guide, when called upon to either help authorities with missing person cases or to help families with questions about their loved ones, I have been more right than wrong. If ever there was a time to be grateful and relieved for being mistaken, this is that time. Only God is right all the time. My heart goes out to Amanda Berry, her family, the other victims and their families. I wish you a peaceful recovery.

On Facebook and Twitter, Browne sends inspirational messages to hundreds of thousands of fans, often advertising her latest appearances or one of 45 books she has published (most recently Afterlives of the Rich and Famous). She reached a high level of visibility after years appearing as a regular guest on Montel Williams' television show, a long-running daytime talk program that subsisted on paternity test results, cheating spouses and half-baked psychic predictions before it stopped production in 2008.

Psychic makes incorrect prediction. More at 11.

[Cain]

The UK tends to be a bit more equitable in that regard.  While you do get the wall-to-wall, 24/7 coverage of someone like Madeline McCann, the UK media are savvy enough to realise that concentrating on missing black and Asian children allows endless opportunities to engage in paternalistic patronising and low key racism. 

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/t-paining-too-much-the-meme-ification-of-charles-ramsey/

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

http://www.mediaite.com/online/smoking-gun-cleveland-hero-charles-ramsey-a-repeated-domestic-abuser-with-jail-time/

I personally think the fact that he did fucked up shit in the past doesn't negate that this time he did the right thing.

maybe he's getting more bipedal, maybe that's why he doesn't want the reward money. Personal redemption?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

But according to some people, we live in a post-racism era. 

Again, "Better" and "Improved" do not mean "good enough".

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://www.mediaite.com/online/smoking-gun-cleveland-hero-charles-ramsey-a-repeated-domestic-abuser-with-jail-time/

I personally think the fact that he did fucked up shit in the past doesn't negate that this time he did the right thing.

maybe he's getting more bipedal, maybe that's why he doesn't want the reward money. Personal redemption?

Maybe he regrets fucking up so badly. Maybe he had, or has a drinking problem. It's not an excuse for battering his wife, but neither does it diminish that he helped those women.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://www.mediaite.com/online/smoking-gun-cleveland-hero-charles-ramsey-a-repeated-domestic-abuser-with-jail-time/

I personally think the fact that he did fucked up shit in the past doesn't negate that this time he did the right thing.

maybe he's getting more bipedal, maybe that's why he doesn't want the reward money. Personal redemption?

Maybe he regrets fucking up so badly. Maybe he had, or has a drinking problem. It's not an excuse for battering his wife, but neither does it diminish that he helped those women.

And this is it.  And this was exactly what I was talking about in the redemption thread.  People can better themselves.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Additional Squick:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/09/18138242-best-of-friends-neighbors-describe-close-bond-between-victim-castros-daughter?lite

[Cain]

More background information on what kind of man Ariel Castro was for you, Nigel.  Tainted by hindsight bias, of course, but nonetheless interesting

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/08/us-usa-missing-ohio-suspect-idUSBRE9470UG20130508

In hindsight, there were signs of a darker side to Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man suspected of abducting three girls and holding them captive for around a decade.

Divorced years ago and never seen in the company of women, Castro suddenly started showing up in the largely Latino, working-class neighborhood with a 6-year-old girl. It was his girlfriend's child, he told neighbors.

Castro, 52, was believed to have lived alone, yet on his lunch break would bring home enough bags of fast food and beverages for several people.

He was a school bus driver given mostly "excellent" marks on his performance appraisals, but was repeatedly disciplined, including for one incident when he was accused of calling a young student a "bitch" and leaving the child alone on a bus. He was fired last November.

Castro was arrested in 1993 after a domestic violence complaint, though a grand jury decided not to indict him. Another complaint in 2005 filed by his ex-wife, who died last year at age 48, accused him of twice breaking her nose and attempting to abduct their daughters and keep them from her mother. That case was dismissed.

In the 2005 petition for domestic violence protection order, Grimilda Figueroa, who died last year, said Castro broke her nose twice and listed other acts of violence she said resulted in rib injuries, lacerations and a blood clot on the brain. A temporary protection order was granted.

"Knocked out tooth. Dislocated shoulder (twice - one each side); threatened to kill petitioner and daughters 3/4 times just this year," the petition, signed by Figueroa and her lawyer, said.

Figueroa said Castro "frequently abducts daughters and keeps them from mother," according to the petition, which was dismissed after Figueroa appeared for a court hearing without her lawyer for a second time.

Also, this, which is weird:

One childhood friend said a music session with Castro, who was born in Puerto Rico, suddenly turned bizarre.

"Ariel was in my garage probably five or six years ago. We were recording a song, an idea we had - a little hard rock with some Latin," said Joe Popow, 45, a father of six who said he has known the Castro brothers since childhood.

"And - you're going to laugh - he said he was in the CIA. And I don't know if he was joking or not, but it's the way he said it, how serious he said it. I didn't know what he was capable of. That just put me on defense, and I just started stepping away," Popow said.

I somehow doubt it.  Ex-CIA guys can get better gigs than driving school buses.  But it could be indicative of a rich fantasy life.