Link round-up for 27 October 2013

Here's the Washington Mall if the teabaggers had won (click to enlarge).

There's still five days left to vote for the stupidest creationist tweet.

If only Obama could really do this!

Beware the communist lesbian Girl Scout cookies.

Idiots use science too.

Spice up your Halloween with these mini horror films.

There is no excuse for treating a person like this because of the opinions he expresses.  None.

Ranch Chimp looks at "battling boardom" in Texas.

Warren 2016?  The buzz is growing.

The latest figures debunk the myth that the ACA is destroying full-time jobs (found via P M Carpenter).

In Kansas, restaurant patrons rally against a display of bigotry.

If Republicans lose Virginia, they lose it all.

MRA and evangelical Christian Theodore Beale justifies the Taliban shooting of Malala Yousafzai.

Paul Krugman, who was right about everything from the euro to the housing bubble, warned us about teabaggerdom before it even started.  Here's an inside look at how Obama and Reid agreed on their get-tough policy against the most destructive force in politics.  Next obstructionism target: Janet Yellen.  But they're no longer funny.  Here's one Texas judge who couldn't take the bullshit any more.

The 400 richest persons in the US now own total wealth of $2 trillion (that's over $6,000 for every person in the country).

Fox News writer Sally Kohn tells her ACA success story.  Other Republicans may not be so lucky, especially after the party's outright sabotage.  Watch their delusional invocation of HIPAA melting down (found via Parsley's Pics).

The Pope is causing division within the US Christian Right -- but they're already divided over whether or not the culture war is lost.

The White House delivers a stern rebuke to secessionists.

Spending-cut mania and strict immigration rules are undermining US dominance in science.

The Republican civil war is on and the nutters are out for blood.  Mike Lee is already feeling the heat at home; Christie defies the fundies on gay marriage.  Here's one teabagger candidate.  And check out this Hot Air comment thread on McCain.

An oil-industry sonar mapping action killed 100 whales.

A murderous foreign terrorist in Britain faces justice.  Now something needs to be done about crazed vigilanteism.

The Netherlands tells immigrants to learn Dutch or leave (the report is negative in tone but still worth a look).

NSA spying is seriously damaging our relations with Europe.  Germany and Brazil are taking the issue to the UN.

Terrorists destroy a crowded bus in Volgograd, but this plot blew up in the perpetrators' faces.

Syrian refugees are a massive burden on Jordan.

American Shiite pilgrims are attacked by Sunnis in Mecca, and Saudi police destroy the evidence.

17th-century Japanese persecution of Christians was spurred by sectarian violence.

Here's the latest in clunky, heavy-handed Chinese propaganda posters.  Slashes in one poster are described as "a rare attack on propaganda", but I notice that several of the posters shown have similar damage.

Toxic jerky exported from China has killed 600 dogs in the US.

Brunei adds itself to the list of countries sensible people should stay away from.

When terrorists seized the Westgate Mall in Nairobi last month, one brave man rescued many shoppers -- including an American family.

Here's a look at current thinking on the nature and function of dreams.

Evaporative "salt flats" surround giant lakes near the north pole -- 800 million miles from here.

German researchers have succeeded in rejuvenating stem cells in mice.