Horrible

Abducted Girls Forced To Marry Nigerian Extremists

Scores of girls and young women kidnapped from a school in Nigeria are being forced to marry their Islamic extremist abductors, a civil society group reported Wednesday.

Parents say the girls are being sold into marriage to Boko Haram militants for 2,000 naira ($12), Halite Aliyu of the Borno-Yobe People’s Forum told The Associated Press. She said the parents’ information is coming from villagers in the Sambisa Forest, on Nigeria’s border with Cameroon, where Boko Haram is known to have hideouts.

This breaks my heart. To be sold into marriage (which happens far too quickly to girls and young women in our world, and mostly we turn a blind eye to it), especially to thugs who seem to despise women and any kind of education, is terrible. It is a form of slavery. It is unpardonable that this still happens in this day and age, and I hope that the government acts quickly to save these girls, including asking for international help, because so far it seems groups like this can act with impunity there.

Got home while the sun was still streaming through the windows

It's beautiful outside--80 degrees but with low humidity and a slight breeze. I can feel my tension in my shoulders relaxing a bit now that I'm home. I've turned off the air conditioner, opened the windows, and just have a fan going.

Today I said goodbye to my boss of many years. I will miss her a great deal. She's always been there for me through the good and the bad, and she was super great during my time off from my injury last year. She's moving to academia, and I'm sure she'll do fine.

The first thing I heard today was my alarm clock giving me the news of the day (it always greets me and then gives me three headlines in a male British voice). The first was the Ariel Castro suicide. I can't say that I'm sorry to see him dead and gone. Maybe it's my Christian upbringing, but I usually feel that it's bad to think that of other people; I'd like to think everyone has some good that can redeem the person, but I don't have much faith in that for him. He imprisoned and raped three women over a decade, heinously kidnapping them and stealing away their youth and bright futures, and fathered a child in that terrible situation. While he declared he was not a monster, I beg to differ. I have to admit, my first reaction was 'good riddance'. I only hope that with his death, these women (and the little girl) can find closure of some sort, some normalcy, and go on to have full and happier lives.

This must have been the answer to their families' prayers

3 brothers arrested as missing women found in Ohio

Three women who went missing in separate cases about a decade ago were found alive in a residential area of Cleveland on Monday, and police said three brothers were arrested in the case.

Cleveland's police chief says he thinks three women were tied up in the house where they were found and had been there since they disappeared.

A hospital physician said all three are in "fair condition."

Cheering crowds gathered Monday night on the street near the home where police said Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were found earlier in the day.

"This isn't the ending we usually hear to these stories, so we're very happy,'' said Gerald Maloney, an emergency room physician at the Cleveland hospital where all three were being treated.

"They are able to speak with us. Beyond that, I can't go into any further details,'' Maloney said.

Cleveland police released the frantic 911 call Berry made after escaping from the house where she had been living.

"I'm Amanda Berry ... I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here -- I'm free now," she said, her voice distraught and quick, according to an audio recording of the call released Monday night.

A six-year-old was also found. The imagination runs wild, of course, as to what they may have endured, but as Berry put it, they are free now. Best wishes to each of them. Also, according to a story by The Guardian, a man named Charles Ramsey helped Berry escape:



Kudos to him for not turning away from someone in trouble.

Update: Another man also responded to the cries for help, named Angel Cordero--in fact he may actually have been the first to respond. Also Wintel Tejeda let Berry make the 911 call from the Tejeda home. Kudos to them, as well. Also, the three brothers Ariel Castro (the owner of the house and the man identified as the alleged abductor), Pedro Castro, and Onil Castro, all brothers, have been identified and arrested in connexion with the case. The 6-year-old girl, Jocelyn, has been identified by police as the daughter of Amanda Berry. Just as an aside, Ariel Castro was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Ohio as a child. It amazes me how many comments on news stories were by people who seem to have no idea that Puerto Rico is a territory of the US and as a result, he's just as American as I am. Just because a person's Latino does not mean they're illegal or from another country. Nor does his ethnicity have anything to do with being a kidnapper and general monster of a person. Geez.

Up and I've been busy

Getting everything ready for the carpet cleaners. Everything's off the floor, the floor's been vaccumed, and I'm showered and I've eaten--all before I would normally clock in at work. I do hope they come early, as I have laundry to do, and I can't take a chance on being in the laundry room when they come. So now I'm listening to Rob Thomas on the radio and considering my next move.

I did glance at the news. I'm sorry to hear that the missing Tennessee mother and her eldest daughter were found dead. Her other two daughters are still missing, allegedly kidnapped by a family friend. Horrible.

On a happier note:
Brevard libraries take another peek at banned '50 Shades of Grey': Library officials to review their selection while word about 'Shades' spreads through media Okay, it's a racy book, yes, but there are others just as racy in our libraries, and censorship certainly doesn't belong there. So it's good that they're at least reviewing their policy. Maybe someone will read the book before the final decision is made, too--I got the impression that they pulled it without doing so. It's not one I'm interested in reading, but my, it's popular in the book and e-book markets. And I'm not saying that libraries have to stock out and out pornography to stay relevant, but anytime you pull a title that's that popular, it's going to be a public relations nightmare.

It has been the week for stories of horrible death by chemicals

Today, of course, is news of the twenty people who died on a Russian nuclear sub of freon poisoning after the gas was released as part of a false fire alarm. About 21 other people were poisoned but have not died. Freon can be a very dangerous poison and lead to a range of awful symptoms.

But the one that truly horrified me were the Mexican kidnappers who killed a five-year-old boy by injecting him in the heart with acid when his parents went to the police. That's beyond inhuman. Five have been arrested. The nature of the crime has prompted many Mexicans to demand the reinstatement of the death penalty.

And in the bizarro category

When beauty queen law students go bad...

Ariz. Beauty Queen Accused of Kidnapping

Oh, just go read it. It's really weird and a summary wouldn't do it justice. And that mug shot is so a bad hair day.