Link round-up for 12 July 2020

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

o o o o o

Bread-making can be more intriguing than you think.

Dellgirl has a few new definitions for words.

Ben the ornithologist is looking for the right woman.

This is art.  And this is music.  And this is a future blogger.

"My heart will go on....."

There must be something in that water.

It's beautiful, but don't touch.

Gaze into the depths.....

Cthulhu seems less scary in person.

"Never stop dreaming."

Many beings, or one?

See award-winning sky photographs.

Donald Trump, Hitchcock villain.

Most ridiculous political propaganda image ever.

Fake Scotland, real Scotland.

Some people apparently believed this was an alien spacecraft.

"That's because of the walls, Phil."

Fireworks are tough on vermin.

This exists.  Nobody knows why.

There's a clear winner in the race.

Sarah Cooper does Trump's cognition test.

It has not been a good year.

"The axe forgets, but the tree remembers."

The minions of the King in Orange spread madness and fear in Dim Costcosa.

Back to school!

A new book teaches kids that the body is the self, to the predictable annoyance of some.

Good sign.

So.....here's the deal with Microsoft Edge.

Censorship affects sales.

Don't fly yet.

It's tough being a sane person in South Carolina these days.

The US is in the grip of demons, according to an exorcist -- yes, never forget, the world's largest Christian sect still employs exorcists.  More demons here.

Viruses, like gravity and reality in general, are unaffected by what people believe or don't believe.

This is the world we live in, for now.

Don't vote for Kanye.

Experts need to be careful how they write.

We're fighting two pandemics at once.

The internet can enlighten people in backward societies about the outside world.

Gort Nation posts an open letter to our Spoiled-Toddler-in-Chief.

There's no common ground between us and the fundies.  And don't trust them.

Keep this and this for the next time you meet someone who believes Trump's bullshit about testing.

Literature has much to teach, if we don't let political correctness get in the way.

It's all about statues.

Fighting for freedom means fighting for freedom.  No, it is not OK to use violence against people just for having opinions you don't like.

Imagine trying to have a rational conversation with this person.

Your tax dollars pay for Catholic priests to molest kids.

It's Trump logic.

The reaction to an open letter on free speech shows why it's necessary.  More here.  I believe the use of intimidation and bullying to silence and punish people with "wrong" opinions is now the West's most serious cultural problem (I've added a link to the letter in the sidebar).

Yellowdog Granny has an e-mail exchange with a Christian.

Mississippi legislators have been refusing to wear masks, with predictable results.  Rachel Maddow comments.

A conservative columnist hopes for divine intervention to help Trump win in November.

Frat parties generate a covid-19 outbreak at UC Berkeley.

Religious morality:  homosexuality is absolutely evil, but slavery is basically OK.  More here.

"We are done with corona" -- but corona is not done with you.

Religious hucksters made out like bandits from covid-19 aid money.

These are conservative values (found via New Witch).

Satanists stand up for the First Amendment in Mississippi.

Biden should jump on the marijuana bandwagon, especially in light of this.

A network of Christian summer camps becomes a nexus of covid-19 in Missouri.

The "stupid one-third" can't seem to grasp that freedom doesn't include a "right" to endanger other people.

Tucker Carlson says we hate America -- forgetting that we are America.

If an arrest seems suspicious, check what time of day it happened.

Employees at Voodoo Doughnut in Portland struggle to unionize under pandemic conditions.

A Florida church apparently sponsored a "covid party".  At least one teenager is already dead.

Here's another huge collection of crazy from the wacky world of wingnuts.

Despite high unemployment, hazard pay for essential workers may be coming back.

Republican presidents are consistent in their effect on the deficit -- Trump is just the worst of all.

Covid-19 is now hitting red states the hardest.

Churches hate being held accountable.

Yeah, they fired this piece of shit.

Trump's Tulsa rally was followed by a spike in infections.

Funny how these same numbers keep cropping up, just by coincidence.

At least one more person who went to a "covid party" has died.

Congress could cause an economic disaster if it fails to extend economic aid beyond July.

In ancient times, worshipers of the god Moloch used to sacrifice children to him.  Modern people would never do such a thing -- certainly not modern leaders.

Do Americans understand what a disaster this country has become?  Here's a view from Germany.

The Supreme Court should have been tougher on Trump.

There was even a Confederate monument in Seattle -- was (found via Mock Paper Scissors).

The big prize the right wing got from its Faustian bargain with Trump was packing the federal judiciary with wingnut judges -- but it probably won't last.

Covid-19 can cause delirium and severe brain damage.  Any immunity you get after having it seems to be weak and last only a few months.

By leaving the WHO, the US would give up a lot.

Greece is forging ahead with clean energy.

Poland's wingnut anti-gay president faces a liberal challenger.

US religionists gloat as Russia institutionalizes religion and homophobia -- and entrenches Putin's dictatorship indefinitely.

In what could become a global trend, Fujitsu plans to halve its office space and shift many employees to permanent work-from-home.

Even if Trump isn't re-elected, the Russian and Chinese regimes have gotten plenty of good value out of him.

China's new "security law" in Hong Kong is already imposing censorship.  The UK and US are enacting sanctions.  Australia and some other countries are taking action.

In Cameroon, too, an activist fights to remove statues honoring colonialism.

Racist trolling has a global reach.

Remember the names of Trump's most powerful enablers -- and support their opponents.

What if something really crazy happens right before the election?

It's not just voting against Trump -- we have a lot to vote for.

For now, our side is mostly united.

Don't let the polls make you complacent -- the enemy fights dirty.

Here's why Trump's campaign against vote-by-mail is likely to backfire.

More links here.

[1,270 days down, 192 to go until the inauguration of a real president.]