06 April 2014

Link round-up for 6 April 2014

How would a libertarian police department work?

From Green Eagle's latest Wingnut Wrapup we learn that a Catholic priest has denounced Lego as a tool of Satan.  He doesn't like My Little Pony either.

Commemorate Fred Phelps!

Here are 20 creepy two-sentence horror stories (found via Mendip).

Tommykey reviews Prometheus.

Artist of the week:  Steve Cutts, whimsical works with a dark edge (found via Lady Freethinker).

This must be a hot item.

Support our veterans.

Conservatives attacked Social Security and Medicare when they were first introduced, just as they attack Obamacare now.

Honey Maid puts out a wonderful response to some nasty vitriol aimed at one of their commercials.

Hey, we found the death panels.

Let truth prevail (found via Squatlo Rant).

In February Illinois began issuing concealed-carry permits after its law against them was struck down.  Chicago's murder rate has already fallen to its lowest level since 1958.

Jeremy Bentham was an early pioneer of sexual liberation.

Some people still think "you can't do that because my imaginary friend doesn't like it" is a trump argument.

West Virginia still suffers in the aftermath of the Freedom Industries toxic spill.

Meet Thaddeus Stevens, 19th-century radical (I discussed his Thirteenth Amendment dilemma here).

There's a reason why conservatives want to spend less on education.

Too much money in too few hands is very dangerous, but there's a solution.

Booman Tribune responds to Andrew Sullivan on the Mozilla/Eich controversy.  Josh Marshall has more (link from Shaw Kenawe).

A popularity poll of politicians gives a surprise winner, and Republican commenters fulminate.

Illinois girls protest dress-code idiocy.

Ted Cruz polls Obamacare on Facebook, gets pwned.  As the law's popularity rises, even Ross Douthat admits that it's working.

Bruce Gerencser looks at World Vision and Christian callousness.

A Georgia high school has just now (!) hosted its first non-segregated prom.

Annie Oakley was quite an educator.

Christie's bridgegate troubles are only beginning.

Some Catholics are still trying to defend the murder of Giordano Bruno.

Right-wingers are fuming that the new Noah movie promotes paganism.

Coinbase is the latest fiasco in the bitcoin world.  More here.

A soldier writes to Bush and Cheney.

Anti-gay violence rears its head in Michigan.

Teabaggers flounder, establishment Republicans gloat.

The latest anti-suicide meme is the semicolon.

Rand Paul wants to court Hispanics, gets trashed by PJM commenters.

Texas now gets up to 29% of its electricity from wind power.

Los Angeles police torture a man in front of his family over a dropped cigarette butt.

Right-wingers are nasty -- check out the comments on this NRO piece about a lesbian cemetery in Germany, and this item from Mexico.

Many debt collectors can't be bothered to get it right.

Glenn Beck is being sued by a Boston Marathon bombing victim, who seems to have a strong case.

"The mosquito" makes loitering teens buzz off.

Jeb Bush won't be the Republican savior.

Andrew O'Shaughnessy looks at British leadership during the US War of Independence.

Behold the ten horrors that gay marriage will bring to England (found via Republic of Gilead).

The Muslim Brotherhood, banned in Egypt, now falls under suspicion in Britain.

Terrorist forgets about daylight savings time, blows himself up.

Hitler was one of the greatest farters in history (found via Mendip) -- and his girlfriend had a family secret.

The Shroud of Turin forgery is very much a product of its time.

Here's a waterfall in Romania.

Ukraine's leading Presidential candidate is a rare honest billionaire, eastern Europe's candyman.

Even militarily, the US has the edge over Russia.

In several countries, religious revival has accompanied a rise in violence and repression.

Vatican tells Mexico to stand fast against gays and abortion, Mexico tells Vatican to fuck off.

The story of Muqdad Salah tells us much about Palestinian aspirations.

Saudi Arabia declares atheism, or questioning Islam, to be terrorism.

The Ebola outbreak in west Africa is serious.  And South Africa's HIV problem is just getting worse.

Don't be fooled by denialist "global cooling" lies.

Ancient interbreeding with Neanderthals has important modern implications.

Here's a chart of which countries discovered various elements.

The organic world is full of oddities inconsistent with an "intelligent designer".

9 Comments:

Anonymous Zosimus the Heathen said...

Gee, thanks a lot! It's 2:30 in the morning here, I live alone, and I just read those 20 short horror stories! Nos. 5 and 13 gave me a particularly serious case of the willies - there were real echoes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers* in both of them (who was the real parent or child in each instance, I wonder, and who was the impostor?). As someone who's spent a lot of time around cats, No. 9 was one I could relate to only too well - they really do have a habit of appearing to look at something just behind you!

*I've seen three versions of that movie, and each one of them has scared the crap out of me. Not bad for movies in which the monsters look just like us!

06 April, 2014 10:11  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Yes, monsters can be most frightening when we don't know who they are -- as is sometimes the case in reality.

06 April, 2014 15:53  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't have any problem with Congressman Stevens. If I were President, I'd do some underhanded things to pass free college education. Unfortunately, we live in a world where everyone isn't as evolved as you are and so you act accordingly to meet your objectives. So having said that, just about everything is on the table when it comes to getting big things passed in my eyes. Maybe I'm wrong, but having universal college education would be worth the sacrifice. I can't wait to find out all that Obama, Reid, and Pelosi went through to pass the ACA. I want to know how the GOP was manipulated to go along with the JOBS Act.

Vic78

06 April, 2014 19:16  
Anonymous Blurber said...

On the Fred Phelps post — I'll drink to that!

07 April, 2014 10:04  
Blogger Blurber said...

Shroud of Turin coverage on the Internet is typical of crackpot theories. Nine out of ten posts are pro-Shroud being the burial shroud of Christ. I fear many people are taken in by this, as if the truth is decided by some kind of vote.

07 April, 2014 10:08  
Blogger Rosa Rubicondior said...

Thanks for the shout-outs. It's very much appreciated.

07 April, 2014 11:01  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Vic78 It's a point we need to remember nowadays as well. It's better to accomplish what good one can, than to insist on everything and get nothing.

Blurber: As James Randi discovered with Uri Geller and faith healers, people's desire to believe something they find comforting can outweigh even the strongest disproof. All we can do is try to get the truth out -- the internet at least makes the information easier to get for those who are open to it.

Rosa: And thank you, for providing all the great material you do.

07 April, 2014 23:44  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

I didnt know about the capacity of electricity put out by Texas wind- farms, but didnt think it was that much, what that article is saying basically, if it can power 5 million homes or whatever, that it could power most of the Dallas- Fort Worth Metroplex. I did a wind farm posting sometime back on Texas ... I still am not sure though if that is accurate as far as that much. I can tell you that if you go bout a 100 miles west of Dallas these dayz like Abilene and further, there are alot of those wind turbines, they seem to go as far as your eyes can see. Not long ago I walked to the base of one, it was alot bigger than I thought up close, seems like it was 20/ 30 stories tall too. But 5 million homes?

09 April, 2014 06:44  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

That surprised me too, but come to think of it, Texas is an ideal place for wind power -- it's big and mostly flat and doesn't have a lot of trees or other obstacles. Those things are hell on birds and bats, though.

09 April, 2014 08:09  

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