Vox Sentences: An Oklahoma ex-cop is convicted of serial rape. How many more are there?

Oklahoma ex-cop Daniel Holtzclaw convicted of assaulting 8 black women on duty; a big blow to freedom of the press in Hong Kong; and Saudi women go to the polls for the first time tomorrow.

Vox Sentences is written by Dylan Matthews and Dara Lind.

TOP NEWS

Daniel Holtzclaw faces justice and loses

Jezebel

• Former Oklahoma police officer Daniel Holtzclaw has been convicted of 18 charges relating to the sexual assaults of 8 different black women while he was on duty.

  [Vox / Michelle Garcia]

• Holtzclaw was accused of sexually assaulting 13 women. There's evidence that he deliberately chose victims who were unlikely to be believed.

  [BuzzFeed News / Jessica Testa]

• BuzzFeed's Jessica Testa compiled the testimonies of all 13 accusers, if you can stomach reading.

  [BuzzFeed News / Jessica Testa]

• Holtzclaw's conviction was hardly a slam dunk. There was anxiety that an all-white jury would be more sympathetic to him than his accusers — especially because, as this essay shows, black women often don't get the credit of being "victims."

  [Jezebel / Kali Holloway]

• Holtzclaw is clearly a bad dude. But he's not a lone bad apple. An AP investigation found that from 2008 to 2014, 1,000 officers across the US were stripped of their badges over sexual misconduct allegations.

  [AP / Matt Sedensky and Nomaan Merchant]

• And given how few allegations even advance far enough for officers to be disciplined, the number of cops engaging in sexual misconduct is probably far higher.

  [Vox / Dara Lind]

China-skeptic newspaper bought out by China-cozy corporation

ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

• The South China Morning Post, the paper of record for Hong Kong, is being bought by Chinese internet giant Alibaba.

  [AP / Kelvin Chan]

• This is a big deal. The SCMP has a history of calling out the Chinese government for its human rights abuses — a legacy of Hong Kong's continued semi-autonomy after it was returned to China in 1997.

  [NYT / David Barboza]

• Readers are very worried that the Alibaba acquisition will neuter the Morning Post politically. After all, in a letter to readers, Alibaba VP Joseph Tsai emphasized the importance of "objective" reporting on China.

  [Alibaba Group / Joseph C. Tsai]

• And in China, "objective journalism" is usually a euphemism for journalism that is nicer to the Chinese government than Western media is.

  [Foreign Policy / Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and David Wertime]

• Alibaba's leadership has a history of cozying up to Chinese officials. It's a big part of their success.

  [NYT / David Barboza]

• "Self-censorship" by the businesses owning media outlets is common in Hong Kong. It looks like SCMP might be its next victim.

  [Committee to Protect Journalists]

• For more on Alibaba, see Matt Yglesias' explainer from last spring.

  [Vox / Matt Yglesias]

Saudi women voting: progress or window-dressing?

Jordan Pix/ Getty Images

• On Saturday, Saudi Arabia will hold its first election in which women can vote or run for office.

  [Al Jazeera / Anealla Safdar]

• This article in the Guardian follows one municipal candidate, a successful businesswoman, as she tries to convince men to vote for her.

  [The Guardian / Ian Black]

• But while the Saudi government has hyped this as a major reform, observers say it's largely window-dressing that's unlikely to reduce the deep gender inequities in Saudi society.

  [Washington Post / Brian Murphy]

• Women will still, for example, have to be accompanied by a male guardian to go vote — just as they must be accompanied when going anywhere else in public.

  [Vox / Amanda Taub]

• This BBC quiz is a terrific reality check on what rights Saudi women actually have. I (Dara) got 3/7, but the BBC reassured me that "It's a complex issue."

  [BBC]

MISCELLANEOUS

Against hope. [The Atlantic / Ta-Nehisi Coates]

• PSA: corporations aren't your friends.

  [NYT / Josh Barro]

• Andrew Solomon's family contains 4 kids with 6 parents. It's more traditional than it looks.

  [Yahoo / Andrew Solomon]

• Scientific prizes are old news. But prizes to held make science itself better are new — and necessary.

  [The Atlantic / Ed Yong]

• Fran Hoepfner had crushes on 15 people, so she did what any sensible person would do: start a Facebook group, invite all of them into it, and then see what happens.

  [Cosmopolitan / Fran Hoepfner]

VERBATIM

"Multiple simulations have demonstrated that most people, if placed in an active shooter situation while armed, will not be able to stop a shooter, and may in fact get themselves killed in the process." [Vox / German Lopez]

• "Justin Trudeau’s mother, Margaret, was 22 in 1971 when she married Pierre, then 51. He was the prime minister and a famous eligible bachelor; he was also a workaholic and a notorious skinflint. After giving birth to three boys in quick succession, the beauty dubbed 'Maggie T.’' by the press smoked marijuana while under the watch of Mounties, ate peyote before giving a speech in Venezuela and left her husband to party at Studio 54 in New York."

  [NYT Mag / Guy Lawson]

• "Usually on a movie it would be me and maybe two or three other women, even though there are 100 people there. It's crazy. I loved making the movie Lawless — it was a very masculine story about three brothers — but when Mia Wasikowska showed up on the set, I ran into her trailer and yelled, 'It's a girl!' I was so happy."

  [Hollywood Reporter / Jessica Chastain]

• "I'm sure other books would work to create a suitable standing desk. These are just what worked for me. I think a stack of Harlan Coben novels, plus a Harry Potter, plus Lorrie Moore's Bark would also work well. It's really up to you here."

  [Claire Carusillo]

• "It’s very exclusive. There are very few members. There is only one member. I am the only member."

  [NYT / Megan Amram]

WATCH THIS

The World War II meme that circled the world [YouTube / Phil Edwards]

Vox/Government Printing Office via Northwestern University

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