Link round-up for 8 October 2023

While Ukraine continues to fight for survival, now another embattled democracy is under murderous attack by the forces of genocidal totalitarianism and, in this case, theocracy.  At latest report the Islamist scum have killed at least three hundred people and injured nearly two thousand, mostly civilians and including some Arab citizens of Israel; they have abducted hostages and filmed themselves dancing around Israeli corpses while chanting ecstatically.  There have also been rocket attacks on northern Israel from Hizbullah.  In a sense, Ukraine and Israel are two fronts of the same war.  India -- another democracy repeatedly targeted by Islamic terrorism -- stands firmly with Israel.  Here are responses from Biden and Zelensky.  Here's a look at how this attack fits into the Iranian regime's overall game plan (Hamas and Hizbullah, like Russia, are supported by Iran).  I have no doubt that, within the West, the usual anti-Israel human garbage will be both-sidesing and excuse-making and yes-butting as they always do, egged on by their puppet masters.  Netanyahu has promised a "merciless" war to destroy Hamas's power once and for all, and one can only hope he will follow through.  In past retaliations for terror attacks, Israel has gone to almost absurd extremes to minimize enemy civilian casualties -- and we see now how much good that did.  Time to take the gloves off.

Update:  An example of what the Islamists are doing.  Here's a brief clip of two abductions at the music festival.

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New Witch hails the coming of October.

This security guy got an early Halloween scare.

Pour the water correctly to avoid spilling.

Oh, stop over-reacting.

People -- and cattle -- are dumb.

This is not the best way to attach a towed vehicle.

Hey, man, quit being such an asshole.

Cats do Halloween.  So does this dog.

Time for some witches.  And for a dance.  Maybe even a table dance.

Check your vital signs.

3D printers just keep getting better.

I wonder if this game will ever catch on in the US.

Play the skeleton.

Scare your neighbors with glow-in-the-dark horse skeletons.

This Halloween, make black-cat-o'lanterns out of your pumpkins.

Learn the fate of Bog-Thing the swamp monster.

Hogwarts is real!

Here's some more on Rover, the "runway meowdel" black cat shown in a vampire cape in last week's link round-up.

Little girl, big present.

Animation is hard work.

Being a waitress is a demanding occupation.

Fashion evolves -- but why, after decades of mostly improvement, is the most recent picture suddenly the ugliest?

Uh, next time I'll take the stairs.

Idiots.

Stay the hell away from that thing..... too late.

Stay the hell away from these things..... probably too late.

This apartment is conveniently close to the train station.

He boarded a moving ship.

Nature is weird.

Respect the bumblebee's feelings.

Impressive photos here of Colorado's mountain country.

Mate selection in animals is more complex than we thought.

Kindness is often a sign of intelligence (but do not assume that low-intelligence people can't also be kind).

With chronic pain, you can't judge by appearances.

Blogger Mary Kirkland recounts another nightmarish episode from her family history.

Here's what it's like living autistic.

Many internetters thought this was real.

Drew Barrymore is not forgiven.

For most things, waiting lists are silly.

If you're running out of money, try the 211 service.

Here's one reason why Google search results are so bad compared with other search engines.

Suggestion here for dealing with YouTube's anti-ad-block policy.  I have no idea whether this works.

Remote-controlled electrical outlets can partially automate your home without any corporate-spyware "smart"-crap.

Amazon's Alexa is failing to live up to corporate expectations.

Credulity leads to a variety of dangers.

"He was a complicated man, to say the least."

Serves you right, asshole.

The US military doesn't serve wannabe dictators.

Here is a page from the book Gender Queer, which is being made available in many high schools.  This is what some people think should be shown to your teenager without your knowledge or permission.

The IRS is going after rich tax evaders.  Many of the wealthy don't even bother to file tax returns, and owe billions.

Religion ranges from hateful to absurd.

If Jim Jordan becomes the next House speaker, it will result in an unusual accomplishment.

Blogger Annie explains why she's still on Twitter.

The CDC is phasing out those covid vaccination record cards.

You should be able to get covid vaccine free, even if you're uninsured (includes useful links).  But there can be insurance problems with some vaccines.

The partisan divide over vaccine acceptance is still huge, suggesting that the pattern of most hospitalizations being concentrated in red states will continue.

No, most teenage boys are not turning conservative.  In fact, the great majority of teens don't identify with either political "side".

Fight against the delusion that misogyny can be "progressive".

The largest healthcare strike in US history has begun.

Mike Lindell destroyed his own fortune by backing Trump's lies.

Religions are dictatorships.

Women athletes are increasingly speaking out against men invading their teams and events.

Brett Kavanaugh, least bad of a bad lot.

Religious "morality" is always stuck in the past.

Stop twisting American Indian culture to support current fads.

Eagerly, blindly, they fight each other over scraps while the parasite class steals the value of what they both produce to spend on yachts and dick-shaped rockets and Mars-colony delusions.

Idaho's government banned abortion -- and then abandoned pregnant women and girls.

Biden is investing $6 billion in encouraging decarbonization in heavy industry.

"In 30 years scholars are going to debate how this was allowed to happen."

Vagabond Scholar examines Republican minority rule and extremism.

Forced-birth lunacy is endangering women's access to many types of medical treatment.

54% of Americans support enlarging the Supreme Court.

California's math-teaching policy sets students up for failure.  Never forget that the American kids whose education is sabotaged by this nonsense will grow up to have to compete with peers in other countries who got a real education.

For once, a thug who terrorized innocent people receives a sentence actually approaching justice.

Most red states have substantially higher death rates than most blue states, largely due to state government policies (here's an accessible version of the article he's referring to).

California's governor Newsom has vetoed two major pro-worker bills.  But he's also shifting his stance on trans ideology to match the trend in national opinion -- what does that really mean?

"Coffee badging" is the latest workers' stratagem to evade return-to-office mandates.

Republicans are increasingly treating Ukraine as a hostage, not an ally.  Reagan would not be impressed.

Far fewer Americans now identify as Democrats or Republicans than twenty years ago.  Half the population now rejects both affiliations.

"What validates 'trans' denies homosexuality. And what acknowledges homosexuality denies 'trans'."

After the terrible 2020 wildfires in rural Oregon, the state government promised new housing for those whose homes had been destroyed.  Three years later, they're still waiting.

House Republicans have only themselves to blame for the mess they've made of their time in the majority.

Next month, Maine will vote on replacing for-profit electric companies with a public, non-profit one.

I'm linking to this posting as an example of how not to write about politics.  A radical-right speaker and broadcaster pontificates at length about what the Republican base believes, but cites no statistically-valid evidence -- no polls, no election or referendum results.  He cites only e-mails and reactions from his own audiences, a group obviously self-selected to agree with him.

Hakeem Jeffries pushes for a bipartisan coalition of moderates to run the House, sidelining the nutball fringe to pass necessary legislation.

Understand why narcissists so easily turn violent.

Apparently the impeachment push against Biden was based partly on faked documents.

Job growth in September was massive, highlighting the ongoing vitality of the US economy while Russia and China implode.  The New York Times once again showed itself to be bullshit.

Georgia Republicans have reined in a nutjob state senator for trying to impeach Fani Willis.

3D printing technology is increasingly important in countries with laws that restrict gun ownership.  The control-freaks are worried.

One rally in Canada's 1MillionMarch4Children campaign was shut down early by mob threats and violence.

Jenny Watson is trying to create a lesbian venue that's actually for lesbians (includes link to donate).

In the UK, it is now officially legal to agree with Martin Luther King Jr.

In another move back to sanity, British hospitals reinstate single-sex hospital wards.

In the Netherlands, you can still be subject to a criminal investigation for saying the equivalent of 2+2=4.  Americans, be grateful for the First Amendment.

In 1967 Franca Viola stood up against an old and barbarous Sicilian tradition.

Poland's opposition party turns out a major rally in Warsaw.  The election is on October 15; the opposition favors liberalizing Poland's current draconian forced-birth laws.

Here's how Ukraine is beating Russia in the Black Sea, despite not even having a navy.  Next, Ukraine should attack Russia's oil infrastructure.

A Russian official in occupied Ukraine calls for invasions of more countries that were under Russian rule in Czarist times.

While US Republicans turn against Ukraine, Russian commentators sink into despair over the state of their country's forces.

Here's an article on the Xichang satellite launch disaster discussed in Friday's video.

A Chinese submarine apparently blundered into one of its own side's anti-submarine traps, leading to the death of all 55 crew members.

More links at Fair and Unbalanced and WAHF.

My own posts this week:  stopping the government shutdown, some truths and inspirations, and a covered-up Chinese rocket disaster.

If any links in this round-up are paywalled or require a log-in to view, please let me know so I can avoid linking to that site in the future.

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