Link round-up for 7 July 2019

Various interesting stuff I ran across on the net over the last week.

o o o o o

Debra She Who Seeks celebrates Canada Day.

Spot the item that's out of place.

"They're like adult pacifiers."

This door-knocker should keep some intrusive religious pests away.

How did we miss the story of the insatiable rampaging piss goats?

The spirit of Jack D. Ripper lives on, with a dash of anti-Semitism added in.

Here's some humor for the literate.

"What's in the other bag?"

Time to improve your vocabulary.

RO covers various miscellania, much of it kissing-related.

Behold the sulfurous hellscape of the Dark Lord's domain.

Here's what happens when a fireworks stand catches fire.

Twitter users have fun with Trump's speech.  More internet snark here and here.  Even Russian state TV is mocking him.  And someone's been messing with Wikipedia (found via Mock Paper Scissors).

This trans-Atlantic flight came with a few extras.

Fascinating post here on haunted houses.

Don't allow categories created by words to control your thinking.

A racist in Britain tried to burn down a synagogue, but it didn't go well for him.

Here's a good parental e-mail.

This is a Japanese office building at night.

You brought that stupid flag to the wrong house.

What is Satan's real role in the Judeo-Christian scheme of things?

Les Jenkins does not wish you a happy 4th of July.

An ice-cream vendor pushes back against the "influencer" bullshit.

The business world has decided bigots aren't a market worth keeping.

I'm completely out of patience with websites that nag me about using an ad blocker.  If the internet weren't absolutely drowning in a plague of intrusive ads, ad blockers wouldn't be necessary.  They brought it on themselves.  If you feel the same, this may help.

"There is no elevator to success.  You must take the stairs."

Dumbest story ever.

Republicans don't really admire success via hard work.

A new Illinois law will expunge most criminal records for marijuana possession.

No, people today are not more eager to take offense than in the past -- they're just offended at different things.

Jeffrey Epstein has finally been arrested.

The military stood up to Trump.

Do they have souls?  (Of course not -- nobody does, because there's no such thing.)

Let Minnesota keep the flag.

This is not a healthy economy.

Yes to caution, no to victim-blaming.

Not all religious authority figures are predators, but.....

The Plain View Project is a database of police malignancy on social media (found via Mike).

A bizarre new ideology is re-legitimizing aggression and violence against women and mutilation of young gay people (both found via Aunt Polly) -- read the comments on both too.

Interesting read here on how Evangelical Christianity became the reactionary cult of resentment it is today.  The story goes back more than 150 years.

A Vox writer makes the case that US independence was a mistake.

If religionists succeed in destroying separation of Church and State, they may come to regret it.

Immigration policy is a real vulnerability for the Democrats.

Is forgiving student debt disrespectful to those who paid theirs off?

No, the Pilgrims weren't seeking religious freedom.  Quite the opposite.

"Compromise is impossible when those who raise concerns are shouted down as bigots."

Amash isn't a good guy.

There is a moral breakdown, but it's not among homeless people.

Why do alt-right types keep trying to come back to platforms where they're banned? (found via Tengrain).

A threat note in an Alabama suburb provokes a stern response.

Evangelical pastors play a major role in human smuggling for profit.

Some on the left are preparing to fight back against potential right-wing violence.

There's a common thread in some of the worst episodes of Trump's career.

"We're only killing them accidentally."

Phone hackers are ruining people's lives.

Never pay a debt you don't owe.

Those who behave criminally may be punished in the future.

This is child-stealing, plain and simple.

Some good discussion here on the nature of Trump and his Presidency.

One corrupt cop framed (at least) 119 people for drug possession.

A meteorologist blogger looks at one of the dumber global-warming-denialist arguments making the rounds.

Self-driving cars can be tricked into doing dangerous things by projected fake road signs that humans can't see.

Technology is helping to defeat governments' efforts to censor and control the internet (this example is about a terrorist manifesto, but it could work just as well for any content which any regime is trying to censor for whatever reason).

Probiotics may help fight obesity, but the evidence is still murky.

A tiny spider lives four miles up and depends on the wind for food.

Reforestation can be a powerful weapon against climate change.

NASA is getting serious about planetary defense.

DNA offers clues to the origins of the Philistines.

North Atlantic right whales are hurtling toward extinction.

Four more years of Trump would destroy our alliance systems.

Here's a disgusting story from Britain.

The British government imposes outrageous internet censorship, but Mozilla may -- perhaps inadvertently -- be solving the problem.

An Australian university is encouraging professors to lie about history.

Don't be misled about how things work in Scandinavia.

Wernher von Braun wasn't as innocent as he was made out to be.

The depraved Christian fetish for forgiveness went too far for these parishioners.

The French government is becoming a threat to free speech globally.

See harrowing photos of the Lviv pogroms of 1941.  This is what the natural culmination of ethnic hatred looks like.

It makes no sense to claim that Iran was behind the June 13 tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman.

Heat waves in India are becoming increasingly lethal.

Modi's re-election stokes fears of increased religious violence.

This is barbarism.

Beware of trolls trying to divide us.  They may be Russians, Republicans, or sincere but misguided liberals -- it makes no practical difference.  Here's an example of what to watch out for; here's what many fake blogs look like.

In 2020, we must take as many state legislatures as possible.

Trump's speech wasn't as bad as some expected -- it's worth considering why.

Perhaps Warren would be our best compromise candidate.

Republicans are starting to realize they may need to fight to hold Texas.

John Scalzi ranks the candidates.

Trump won in 2016 partly by posing as a moderate on some issues.

Don't allow the Republicans to re-brand themselves -- they are forever the party of Trump.

How unprepared is Biden?  Think of him as a time traveler.

Harris, too, has a record that will need to be addressed.  It's a mix of good and bad.

Shower Cap reviews Trumpian madness during the week of July 4th.

More links here.  "Coincidence is a powerful force", indeed.

[Image at top found via Earth-Bound Misfit.]