AMUSING, INTERESTING, OUTRAGEOUS, or PROFOUND

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Being old, death gets my attention, so I read the obituaries. This is a collection of recent obits, mostly of people whose work touched my life, because I want to say thanks (or maybe give 'em a final fuck you).

There’ll be a roundup like this occasionally, until I’m on the list myself.

   
• Morton Abramowitz
believed in human rights     (archived link)

• A Cornelius Baker
National Association of People with AIDS     (archived link)

• Jerico Blair
forgotten person     (archived link)

• Rona Bowles
forgotten person     (archived link)

• Marshall Brickman
screenwriter, Annie Hall

• Brandon Canfield
in county jail     (archived link)

• Victor Castaneda Jr
swimmer     (archived link)

• Abigail Clayton
porn star

• Robert Joseph Edwards
in county jail     (archived link)

• Jahkye Gayle
played football     (archived link)

• Roger Golubski
policeman/serial rapist     (archived link)

• Mason Johnston
in county jail     (archived link)

• Bruce Laing
Martin Luther King Jr County     (archived link)

• Billy Ray Lyons
in county jail     (archived link)

• Mary McGee
Motorcycle Mary     (archived link)

• Darvin Mumphrey
in county jail     (archived link)

• Miho Nakayama
actress, Be-Bop High School     (archived link)

• Debbie Nelson
Eminem's mother     (archived link)

• James Robert
forgotten person     (archived link)

• Leah Seneng
teacher     (archived link)

• Brian Thompson
deserved it, and more     (archived link)

• Sabrina Voeller
in county jail     (archived link)

   
Previously dead

• Church youth leader sentenced to 13 years in prison for sexual abuse of young girls
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• Catholic nun among 25 arrested in mob bust in northern Italy
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• Member of secretive Christian sect sentenced to 120 years in prison; part of widespread child sexual abuse and subsequent coverup
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• Oklahoma deputies arrest former pastor accused of lewd or indecent acts to a child
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• Oklahoma pastor sentenced to 25 years in prison for lewd acts, rape of underage girls (not the same Oklahoma pastor as previous headline)
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• Retired New Orleans priest pleads guilty to kidnapping and raping boy in 1970s

• Texas pastor accused of secretly recording visitors, downloading child porn
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Previously

• Memphis police ‘regularly violate’ Black people’s rights, justice department finds

• Protesters demand answers after 18 deaths at St. Louis jail in 4 years; latest death shrouded in mystery
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• Police illegally sell restricted weapons, supplying crime
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• DOJ investigation proves that if a police department isn’t known for its constant rights violations, it’s because it hasn’t been investigated yet
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• Eighth person dies in Tarrant County Jail custody this year after feeling unwell, sheriff says
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• Rapist detective dies by presumed suicide as long-awaited criminal civil rights trial set to begin
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• Retired detective claims leadership covered up corruption and rapist cop's alleged crimes
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• Honolulu pays $175,000 to settle lawsuit over arrest of a 10-year-old girl

• Who were the six white Mississippi "goon squad" cops who tortured Black men in 2023, and why did they think they could get away with it?

• Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approves $4M settlement in Phoenix man's jail death
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• El Paso County admits no liability, but pays $1,875,000 to family of man who died in jail
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• "I can’t breathe," says New Jersey man right before he dies in police custody
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• Seattle Police Dept is still delaying public disclosure by “grouping” records requests, in defiance of 2023 settlement

• "It’s long overdue": Experts call for statewide scrutiny of local jails amid inmate deaths, suffering
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• South Jersey detective accused of stealing drugs from evidence room
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• Since Texas sheriff Bill Waybourn took office in 2017, 65 people have died while in custody at the county’s jail
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• Cop who shot black woman in the head, in her home, will be released with the "least restrictive conditions" until trial
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• Mass puppycide ends career of Tennessee deputy who probably never should have been a cop

• "Special inspections" and "enhanced enforcement" planned after 13 inmate deaths at Bexar County Jail in 2024
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• Seattle PD fires community liaison suspected of selling stolen items, timesheet fraud

• Family who blamed Klickitat County Jail for son’s suicide to get $2 million settlement
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• Don't call the police.

   
Previously

• German island to end ritual of spanking women with cow horn

• In 2024 US elections, 48 of 51 openly socialist candidates won

• Ohio Satanic Temple to offer religious program for elementary school students

• Kansas detective accused of kidnap and rape is found dead on morning of trial

• Wisconsin judge strikes down Republican-backed state law that strangled public sector unions

• Belgium becomes first country to give sex workers robust labor rights and protections

• 'Brazen' attack kills UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York City

• Small North Carolina town sues energy ‘Goliath’ in historic climate action

• Website of toxic “man-fluencer” Andrew Tate hacked with rainbow & transgender flags
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• An extreme heat wave off California’s coast seemed like an anomaly 10 years ago, but as the ocean warms, the catastrophe may be a glimpse of the future

• Formaldehyde causes more cancer than any other toxic air pollutant, but little is being done to curb the risk

• The first ice-free day in the Arctic Ocean could occur before 2030
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• Meta-analysis of current global warming impacts suggests a third of all species could be extinct by 2100
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• ‘Climate bomb’ warning over $200bn wave of new gas projects

• Texas farmers say sewage-based fertilizer tainted with ‘forever chemicals’ poisoned their land and killed their livestock

• In Mexico, heat waves are killing younger adults, not just the elderly

• Seagrass is fantastic at carbon capture — and it’s at risk of extinction
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• Tenbury Wells could be the first UK town centre abandoned over climate change

• Decline of reflective low clouds may have contributed to recent record heat

• Europe's native oyster ecosystems have 'collapsed', scientists say
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Previously

...which is terrifying.

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