“We have been failed”
THE BIG STORY
"We have been failed": Simone Biles and other gymnasts testified on the FBI's mishandling of the Larry Nassar case Professional gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman on Capitol Hill on Sept. 15, 2021 (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Top gymnasts Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, and Maggie Nichols testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on how the FBI mishandled its investigation into Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor who sexually abused more than 200 young athletes for nearly two decades.
The Senate hearing comes two months after a Justice Department report detailed, with damning evidence, the ways in which the FBI neglected to pursue the investigation into Nassar for more than a year — and how federal agents lied and falsified witness testimony to cover up their errors and inaction. Nassar has been in prison for his crimes since 2018.
In the hearing, the gymnasts also described unprofessionalism on the part of the FBI agents who were handling the Nassar investigation.
"I remember sitting with the FBI agent and him trying to convince me that it wasn't that bad," Raisman said. "It's taken me years of therapy to realize that my abuse was bad, that it does matter." She added that the FBI agent encouraged her not to pursue criminal charges against Nassar.
Maroney echoed her statement, saying, "What is the point of reporting abuse if our own FBI agents are going to take it upon themselves to bury that report in a drawer?" STAYING ON TOP OF THIS
Pennsylvania Republicans are subpoenaing millions of voters' personal information to determine "whether or not they exist."
Pennsylvania Senate Republicans voted on Wednesday to begin a taxpayer-funded "investigation" by seeking vast troves of voters' personal information, as they engage with false conspiracies about the 2020 election.
Republicans are demanding lists of personal information for all 6.9 million people who voted in Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election, everyone who voted in the state's May 2021 primary election, and every person who was a registered voter in the state as of May 1.
That personal information includes all voters' names, dates of birth, addresses, driver's license numbers, the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, and the date of their "last voting activity."
Pennsylvania Democrats said they plan to file suit later this week to try to stop the subpoenas, and they also called on the Justice Department to investigate. So far, the Department of State has refused to comply with requests to participate in the Republican investigation. SNAPSHOTS
The government of Trinidad and Tobago has responded to Nicki Minaj's claim about a cousin's friend's swollen testicles. "Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim," Trinidad and Tobago Health Minister Dr. Terrence Deyalsingh said. Meanwhile on Twitter, Nicki Minaj later said she'll likely be vaccinated in the future because she has "to go on tour, etc."
The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed the third-degree murder conviction of a former police officer found guilty of shooting and killing an unarmed Australian woman in 2017. Mohamed Noor will be resentenced in district court for his second-degree manslaughter conviction, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The disappearance of "Van Life" YouTuber Gabrielle Petito has deepened after her partner was named a person of interest. Brian Laundrie returned home to North Port, Florida, on Sept. 1 driving the white van the couple used on their viral cross-country road trips. His 22-year-old fiancé was nowhere to be found, police said. PRIVILEGE AND POWER The woman who says she coined "Peg the Patriarchy" speaks about Cara Delevingne's Met Gala look
This isn't really a story about calling out Cara Delevingne. It's not even a story about the Met Gala. It's a moment calling attention to the way in which small designers — particularly queer designers and designers of color — face appropriation by larger institutions of power.
At this year's Met Gala, supermodel Cara Delevingne wore an armored vest designed by Dior with the phrase "Peg the Patriarchy" in bold red font.
Why does this matter? "Peg the Patriarchy" is a phrase that small business owner and sex educator Luna Matatas trademarked in 2015 for her own merchandise. Seeing her message at the Met Gala without any credit from Dior felt "very David and Goliath," she said.
Matatas told BuzzFeed News that she first coined the phrase to reflect a "real hunger" she noticed among clients to contextualize how gender-based oppression affects sexuality, kink, and fantasy. While she said that the recent visibility has been good for her brand, that's less her focus than pursuing a truly uplifting campaign about the anti-patriarchy cause.
"It's classic appropriation," Matatas said. "We're talking about people with a lot of privilege. It really would have been so easy for us to link arms and lift each other up." NEW PERSPECTIVE
The best photos taken through microscopes will blow you away
These are a handful of the winners from this year's Nikon microscope photography competition. I'm going to let them speak for themselves — take a look, and check out the rest of the photos when you need a reminder of Earth's odd and staggering beauty.
A snowflake, 4X objective lens magnification (Dr. Joern N. Hopke)
A thin slice of a meteorite, 10X objective lens magnification (Don Komarechka)
The rear leg, claw, and respiratory trachea of a louse (Haematopinus suis) (Frank Reiser)
Filamentous strands of Nostoc cyanobacteria captured inside a gelatinous matrix, 4X objective lens magnification (Martin Kaae Kristiansen)
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