December 13, 2013 - This comic may have went better with yesterday's blog. Finished comics will be up this weekend, and hopefully things will run smoothly next week.

I've been missing a bunch of news stories recently, and I still need to go through last week's news to see what significant information I missed. Today I wanted to talk about the Jameis Winston rape allegations which brings to light many of the problematic aspects of investigating allegations of sexual assault. Considering at no point does any story seem to refute the victim's intoxication, I can't see how it's possible consent could have been given, and I think there are very legitimate concerns that this case may discourage other victims from coming forward and exaccerbate the problem of how we as a society prosecute rape. Most of this opinion I've stated before with other cases.

I also feel this news may be somewhat overshadowed by the state of affairs in Michigan, where a bill has been sponsored specifically eliminating abortion coverage from medical insurance plans. In a state where the largest city has recently declared bankrupcy and there is bipartisan lack of support with both most state democrats and the Republican governor of the state rejecting it. Many feel that the entire state should vote on the bill rather than the small percent of the population who signed a petition managing to push it through. The fact is that most health professionals reject the bill, many legal experts have concerns about how the bill categorizes rape, and the guttmacher institute's numbers assessing abortion access seem to suggest it's fiscally irresponsible at least in the short term (which is significant when your largest city's declaring bankrupcy). I hope there's some way the harm of this bill can be undone, but unfortunately, I'm unsure of the solution.

-D