18 June 2017

Link round-up for 18 June 2017

Enjoy some amusing cats, some baby hippos, these pesky pandas, and this honkin' huge fish.

Ken Ham blames atheists for his "Ark Encounter" scam's utter failure (both found via Mock Paper Scissors).

It's not a good day for these two.

Star Wars, religion style!

A centuries-old relic is discovered.

What if LOTR was like modern politics?

This was a library, long ago.

We could really use Wonder Woman right now, but watching the movie may have side effects.  Here are a few behind-the-scenes pics (click to enlarge).

Here's a photo of Melania Trump's father.

Microsoft is still trying to push Windows 10 on us.

If you think shoplifting is OK, read this.

See what a bullet does to a block of gel.

This phone app sounds good for personal security.

A pastor explains why he reads ex-Christian Bruce Gerencser's blog.  Here's another reader who just can't let go of the arrogance.

Old pallets can be useful.

Stop coddling net Nazis.

What is the "war against religion"?

Hadrian did mourning on a lavish scale.

Karen the Rock Whisperer remembers growing up Catholic, and escaping.

12 June marked two very different anniversaries.

A California woman demonstrates faith-based parenting.

It's really true, a higher minimum wage is good for business.

Finally, a little justice for Flint MI.

"Pro-life" legislator kills thing.

Wingnuts launch yet another ineffectual boycott.

Salvation by grace alone is a morally-incoherent concept.

A Texas Alt-right rally attracts some wacky characters.  These didn't attract much of anybody.

Denounce homophobia wherever it appears.

Here are some resources for learning stuff for free.

Privatizing air-traffic control?  Not so fast.

Religio-wingnuts bewail re-paganization of Western culture -- and you ain't seen nothin' yet, you turkeys!  Speaking of paganism.....

Ranch Chimp has some tough questions in the wake of the Scalise shooting.  Progressive Eruptions has some reminders.

David Clarke's jail has something of a history (found via Mendip).

Andrew Breitbart left a legacy.  NBC is about to destroy its reputation.

A Republican says other Republicans are eating shit fish, or something like that.

The Dunning-Kruger effect has been known for a long time.

Ignorance of science is frighteningly pervasive in our country.

This person wasn't vaccinated.

Even in the US, clean energy is booming beyond expectations.

Consider how arrogant scientists really are (found via Yellowdog Granny).

It may be that stars normally form as binaries.

There aren't reptiles.

It has arrived.

The conventional wisdom that Jeremy Corbyn was too far left for British voters has been shattered.

The Grenfell Tower fire, rooted in "free market" mania, is Theresa May's hurricane Katrina -- and popular fury is still growing.

The Irish potato famine was caused by capitalism.

Here's how voting works in Australia.  And just offshore, there's a gay island kingdom.

Assimilation in action -- Germany gets a gay-friendly mosque.

Moan, whine, sin, penance, blah blah blah.....

I would board this flight without hesitation.

Follow the example of the perfect man.

The ghastly sentence of blogger Raif Badawi shows that the Saudi regime isn't so different from Dâ'ish (ISIL).

Muslims are the main victims of Islamist extremism.

A hacker is giving Dâ'ish (ISIL) a gay make-over on the net (found via Mendip).

Women in Iran and Afghanistan used to dress differently.

Chinese investment creates jobs in Ohio, but there are problems.

Trump and his gang are trying to discredit Mueller.

Only mass deportation can save America (found via PM Carpenter).

Hard-core Trumpanzees vote by tribe, not interests.

A fight is brewing in the Senate over medical marijuana.

Bernie would have won, except for.....

Hysterical Raisins looks at Sessions's testimony and Trump's "praise me" cabinet meeting. Even RedState is nauseated by the latter event (but they still don't know the difference between "reign" and "rein").

Karen Handel is against LGBT civil rights because religion (of course).  If she loses, it will be despite admitted Republican gerrymandering.

Trump's abandonment of the Paris agreement is a big steaming pile of (redacted).

Rural Americans resent minorities, and me.

When Republicans demand respect from us, remember this.  Then go read this.

RedState bemoans the divisions Trump has wrought among wingnuts. The Guardian celebrates the rising tide of anti-Trump activism.

Tweet!  Tweet!

[150 days down, 1,312 days to go until the inauguration of a real President!] 

9 Comments:

Anonymous Marc McKenzie said...

So after making breakfast for my father (it is Father's Day, after all!), I sit down to a different kind of meal from you--but just as satisfying.

--You're right--that IS one honkin' huge fish! Imagine how many fish fillets you can get...:)

--Seeing that picture of the Library of Celsus...while I am very glad that libraries still exist, where is our modern equivalent? Perhaps the New York Public Library, I guess.

--We actually do have real-life Wonder Women right now--see Hillary Clinton, Maxine Waters, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kristen Gillebrand, Nancy Pelosi, and Tammy Duckworth. But in all seriousness, I am glad to see the Wonder Woman movie doing so well, and I hope it continues to inspire.

--Methinks Melania Trump has an Electra complex.

--The video of the bullet vs. the gel block needs to be played repeatedly by news channels, with this text below--"Now, imagine if this were a person". Because THAT is exactly what happens (but expect the NRA to cry foul).

--Even a liberal Catholic like myself scoffs at the idea of the "war against religion". Really? As my late grandmother would say, "What a bunch of bullshit!" I'd say that there is the war against intelligent thinking in this country (Science and reason), and the war against civil rights and women's rights. But that's just me.

--Thank you for the post on the two anniversaries. Many people today still have no knowledge of the Loving case (despite the films and documentaries that have been made, the most recent film being released last year with Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton as the stars). The Orlando mass shootings were yet another tragic example of what happens when one mixes easy to obtain weapons and a mentally deranged personality.

--So raising the minimum wage leads to profits, eh? Wow...too bad that we could have had a President who was pushing for that but just wasn't pure enough as a candidate for some people...but I'll say no more than that.

--How ironic that it will take the shooting of someone from their own party for the GOP to start addressing gun violence in America. They did nothing when a Democratic
Congresswoman was shot, they did nothing when the Virginia Tech students were shot, they did nothing when 49 people were shot dead in Orlando last year, they did nothing after the mass shootings at the church in Charleston in 2015, and they did NOTHING when twenty children were shot dead in Newtown--NOTHING. But yeah, now they want to do something while still gleefully planning to destroy the social safety net of millions just for a fucking tax cut. Can you say "hypocrites" boys and girls?

--The "Bernie woulda won!" idea needs to have a stake driven through its heart, and quickly. That "People's Summit" in Chicago was nothing but fan-wanking for Sanders, with no discussions about how to save healthcare or how to win in 2017 and 2018. "Beyond Resistance"? Please! The Resistance is just getting started.

--The sad thing about seeing the "then and now" photos of women in Iran and Afghanistan is that there are people who still believe that the 1979 revolution in Iran was a great thing because it threw off Western influence...and I guess that "Western influence" involves women's rights as well.

--Expect to see more fallout from the Grenfell Tower fire.

--What many in the media are not seeing is that yes, Trump's approval ratings among his core supporters is falling--and fast. But please, New York Times, continue to put up those articles discussing how Trump supporters are doing while ignoring those of us who rejected this fool in vast numbers (like nearly three million more).

Whew! Quite a bit from me today, but honestly, this was quite a meal you put on the
table!

18 June, 2017 09:43  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Marc: It's striking how many of the best modern buildings draw on Greco-Roman style. In the millennia since, it has never been equaled.

Wonder Woman is an appropriate hero for the times, I think, with the Republican minority-rule regime being so determinedly chauvinistic and the resistance being largely female-led. But mainly, it's just a really well-done movie.

I was thinking the same thing while watching the bullet and the gel block. Ever seen this?

Those whose idea of their own religion includes being able to impose their taboo system on the whole society probably do feel there's a "war against" them, in the sense that an uprising by a colonized people feels like a "war against" the occupier. The decidedly non-liberal Catholics at LifeSite News exemplify that.

I guess the Bernie bitter-enders don't realize how effectively the Republicans could have attacked him if he had been the candidate. Those lines of attack were never used just because he wasn't the candidate. Thing is, our 2020 candidate won't be perfect, nor everyone's first choice, either. We need to get this purism our of our systems before then.

It irks me that so many people who know nothing about Iran look at this wretched theocracy and think the society is actually like that. That isn't Iranian culture, any more that the society of The Handmaid's Tale is real American culture.

Glad you had such a hearty appetite!

18 June, 2017 11:39  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

I'm still going through these, but wanted to leave some comment now.

I know about this privatization thing of air traffic and such, this is a damn shame what they are doing, I mean, this crap is going on all over, and the damn republicans are more bloody neoliberal than corporate dems, even though they will deny it ... I hope like Hell, they get all kinds of resistance on that too. My daughter was telling me about some of this stuff she has to follow, because of her business ... but she is disgusted with it too, and thinx it will make us less safe travelling as far as customers, and it will not do a damn thing to reduce costs or whatever. She just brought it up when she was going over the Amazon buy- out of Whole Foods with me, talking about how everyone is trying to privatize everything, and these acquisitions/ mergers are damaging as well to business, if it just ends up like a "real life" game of the board game "Monopoly" as she puts it. We knew this was coming though Infidel ... these folks are on a roll and will privatize the goddamn air we breathe if they can.

I got a laugh though out of the boycott story of McDonald's pride fries ... it's not even permanent, just to honour pride month or whatever ... and the fundamoralists still get their panties in a bind.

The alt- right folks in Houston ... damn man, guess that's one way to get noticed ... you know, this alt- right cult had really been getting bold too with this new Washington ... time to set them straight too, them SOB's think they can just run over the damn country basically.

Kimberly Felder ... damn man ... that shit is almost unbelievable ... what in Hell could they be thinking? ... good that at least her daughter will get protection from her. I dont even understand stuff like that ... I grew up with pretty basic parents, never had to face abuse or whatever ... I just cant imagine what it must be like for some of these kids.

That was a good post though as far as learning things for free, there is stuff out there, it's a matter of finding it.

Really nice piece on the pallets, as far as making use of them.

Yes, it is a good start as far as getting some indictments on that Flint water crisis. Too much we hear of top dawgs like CEO's in the private sector, that just do whatever they want and will pay fines ... as the cost of doing business (they will, do anything to make a buck, even if it kills), so it's been becoming more prevalent ... if we start actually holding people accountable, even if it's in the public sector or lower ranks, it sends a message.

Folks like Mike Moon are those kinds that just think they are above everything in life so much, that they will destroy anything to make that point. Folks like him and those that think they are God's little personal Teddy Bears ... are just like those at the top of the chain like Exxon, that known for decades what they are doing.

18 June, 2017 15:04  
Blogger Shaw Kenawe said...



The links were all so good.

The one on Melania Trump's father was startling. I did read that her father was a Communist and the head of his local Communist Party.

Wonder what the wingnuts would have said if Michelle Obama's father had been a former Communist leader and then moved into the White House with the First Family as has Melania's father and mother.

Actually, I don't have to wonder.

Thanks for the link.

18 June, 2017 18:18  
Anonymous nonnie9999 said...

So much linky goodness. Thanks for including The Raisin, Infidel.
That post about the woman who was not vaccinated was horrible!
I agree with so much of what your commenter Marc said. Love that library. we do have plenty of Wonder Women out and about, and Melanoma Trump...well, don't know if she has an Electra complex as much as a hunger for money. Maybe growing up with her father gave her some kind of immunity that allows her to be around disgusting pigs. The bullet through the gel was unreal. +
I agree with Marc that the NRA would never allow it to be aired. However, there's a Missouri state rep who killed a chicken on video to express his disapproval of abortions. I don't think the Goopers are going to do a damned thing about guns, at least nothing that is substantial. I almost vomited when Eddie Munst...I mean, Paul Ryan said, "An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us." Fuck him, and fuck the rest of the us-es! Never heard him say that an attack on 20 precious babies in Sandy Hook is an attack on all our children. They will have their occasional moments of silence, and they will pray for the victims and for their families. You know, they can take their prayers and shove them up their asses. They are a poor substitute for putting restrictions on gun ownership, use and sales.

I am getting a little long-winded, so I'll close with agreeing with Marc and you, Infidel, that the Bernie woulda son bullshit has to end. No, he would not have won, and he and his cult members don't own The Resistance.

I think that's about it for now.....Ooops! Just gonna add that I want to replace all my furniture with pallets.

18 June, 2017 23:45  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

The Chinese investment creating Ohio jobs link took me to a cover page of MSN? ... I was curious about it ... I'll just look it up though.

The Trump cartoon about tweets gets to the point, now you see why I call him Tweety ... I cant turn on the damn news when I wake up without having to hear about Trump's tweets ... I even heard that his lawyers and folks with him are asking him to slack up on the tweets.

Mass deportation in America? ... that'll work! ... start with Washington/ Capitalism Hill ... they're some of the most worthless ones to our country (IMO)

Iran and Afghan women then and now ... you can thank religious culture for that shit. I had a guy tell me once (he's a muslim arab immigrant), that women need to cover, because men cant control themselves, so it's protection for the women. Frankly ... I seen alot of Iranian and Afghan women that are really knock- outs too!

Italian public penance gathering/ sit- in over gay pride? ... well, it's Italy after all ... dont give American catholics more ideas.

As far as Trump's abandonment of the Paris Agreement ... how long will that last? ... even big business is bucking that. Bush Jr (Shrub) done the same thing if you remember ... with Kyoto on the same grounds basically ... about US not being treated equal with China as far as obligations, being China not held to the same and given too much slack. Regardless of any of it though ... we are already on the path to greenhouse gas reductions and renewables as we speak, just a matter of time ... then the "too big to fail" giants are gonna come in and buy it all up.

19 June, 2017 09:31  
Anonymous Marc McKenzie said...

Speaking of Wonder Woman...

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/books-comics/wonder-woman/265783/exclusive-wonder-womanconan-crossover-coming-this-fall

19 June, 2017 09:40  
Blogger Pinku-Sensei said...

"There aren't reptiles."

I teach that there still are because of the following syllogism. Birds are dinosaurs and dinosaurs are reptiles, so birds are reptiles. That preserves reptiles as all the descendants of a single common ancestor, but it means that birds are not a group separate from reptiles.

20 June, 2017 21:32  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Ranch: As gay-positivity becomes the norm for big business, the "fundamoralists" have so many things to get upset about that they might as well just opt for a state of permanent outrage and boycotting of everything in the world.

Felder is an example of what happens when people really believe that religion / superstition bullshit.

The Paris agreement thing is like the old joke "what if they did X and nobody came?", but in reverse. What if the President leaves the agreement but everybody follows it anyway?

Shaw: I was actually surprised there's another guy out there who looks so much like Trump. As for the wingnuts, if the existence of Michelle Obama's parents had ever crossed their minds, there would have been more ape cartoons and suchlike insults no matter what they did.

Nonnie: If Melania married Trump for money, she's earning every penny, hard. I suspect that what Ryan meant by "An attack on one of us....." was "an attack on a fellow rich and powerful person". As one of the Trumplings has pointed out, mere Democrats and other such riff-raff are not people. You've probably heard that Scalise's life was saved by two police officers, both of them black and one of them a lesbian. No Republican will have second thoughts because of that, of course.

Thoughts and prayers are very useful in cases like Sandy Hook -- much easier than actually doing something.

Marc: Interesting concept, though I don't know much about Conan. In the wake of such a good movie, almost any other treatment makes me nervous that they'll mishandle a good thing.

Pinku: If people accept birds as reptiles, the category of "reptiles" would again become cladistically valid. I suppose it could happen -- most people seem to have given up the idea that whales are fish.

21 June, 2017 19:15  

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