The Most Mind-Boggling Stories You Need To Read This Week

When a woman living with bipolar disorder was beaten by a police officer on a video that went viral, her family thought legal action would lead to justice. They couldn’t have anticipated that a battle with her own lawyer would leave them feeling more hopeless than ever. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

The 30-year-old Canadian singer and songwriter behind one of the decade’s biggest hits made 2015’s best pure pop album. There was only one problem: Nobody bought it. Reggie Ugwu explores why she’s the perfect embodiment of our weird music moment. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

He was an inmate, facing deportation over a minor arrest. She was a guard, fed up with her job at a for-profit prison. They fell in love, but, as David Noriega reports, living happily ever after was not going to happen. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

Jada Yuan and Aaron Wong discover how transgender pioneer Tracey Norman defied the odds and ascended in the fashion industry of the 1970s. "Norman wanted to do more than pass — she wanted to excel in the most scrutinized realm of femininity." Read it at The Cut.

Ten months before the deadly attacks in Paris, a nighttime raid in a quiet corner of Belgium left an apartment destroyed, two suspected attackers dead, one man arrested — and a host of unanswered questions. Joshua Hersh investigates a shoot-out that showed Europe’s terrorism problem starts at home. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong tell the story of Marie, a young woman from Washington who reported being raped in 2008. The police's subsequent failure to fully investigate her account led to devastating consequences — for Marie and other women. Read it at ProPublica or The Marshall Project.

For all of Good Eggs’ noble intentions, big money, and tech bells and whistles, reinventing the grocery store turned out to be much harder than anticipated. Stephanie Lee asks: What does its stumble mean for the future of ordering food online? Read it at BuzzFeed News.

Deena Shanker reveals what's really under the wrapper of one of the world's most celebrated brands of "artisanal" chocolate. "The Mast Brothers’ story highlights how a company can have great success selling a product of dubious quality as something 'artisanal' or 'handcrafted' with beautiful packaging and handsome, bearded founders." Read it at Quartz.

Ben Smith discovers how a godfather of Democratic political blogging became obsessed with immigration — and came around to Donald Trump. "A total outsider, seen by even his close friends as a bit unhinged, Kaus is the unlikely embodiment of this bizarre political moment." Read it at BuzzFeed News.