Link round-up for 31 May 2015

We'll be hearing more and more of this in coming years:  "It's not global warming!  My imaginary friend is mad at you!"  Of course, by this argument Denmark and the Netherlands would now be under water.

Oregon has a turbulent history, in its own way.

Mesmerizin' minerals.....

Scientists in Sheffield and Copenhagen discover a way to stop metastasis of breast cancer.

It looks like our solar system is something of a freak case.

Charlie probably has better things to do than come hang out with these doofuses (found via Mendip).

Hey, did McCain just call himself an idiot?

Check out Coober Pedy, Australia's heat-proof underground town (found via GoodShit).

ISIS says it won't destroy Palmyra, or at least not most of it.

Green Eagle finds a conservative who believes we don't have enough inequality.

Hamas used the 2014 Gaza conflict as cover to murder its political opponents.

Texas Republicans freak out as some of "their" women momentarily rebel over abortion.

This is how anti-abortion rules work in the real world.

The enemy denounces Ireland's gay-marriage referendum as a "defeat for humanity" (found via Republic of Gilead) and as "defiance of God" -- hey, you guys ain't seen nothin' yet!  Breitbart was pinning its hopes on the Muslim vote (yes, really!), while the Westboro Baptist Church can't even figure out the Irish flag.

Russia still has a lo-o-o-ong way to go.

Religious creeps ban women from driving.  Saudi Arabia?  No, London.

Jim Wright wants Presidential candidates to answer the real questions.

Here's another example of what happens when the damn government won't spend money.  Most Americans have no idea how far we're falling behind.  Maybe too much of Congress is elected by places like this.

If the US wants to do more against ISIS, then it must arm the Kurds directly rather than via the inept Iraqi state.

Why does the US honor traitors?

Love, Joy, Feminism has a worthwhile insight into Duggargate (link from Ahab).  Funny or Die has a video that puts things in perspective (found via Crooks and Liars).  Bruce Gerencser dissects the "we're all sinners" horseshit.  A Republican state senator wants the police chief who released the records fired.  See more right-wing views, many of them vile, in comment threads at LifeSite News and Race42016.  Perhaps the language will gain a new word.

The legacy of insanely-long drug-crime sentences is a growing elderly prison population (found via GoodShit).

Jeb Bush's favorite author calls for plutocracy to subvert democracy. Booman has commentary.

Valerie Tarico gives ten reasons for being pro-abortion, not just pro-choice.

If the Bible is true, why has most of the world forgotten about it?

Oops, Scott Walker may have just ToddAkinized himself.

Jindal faces a backlash for his anti-gay executive order (found via Republic of Gilead).

In the unlikely event that Sanders starts getting traction, this is going to be a problem.

The NRA wants to save elephants by (what else?) shooting them.

Nigeria's new President is an Islamist and former military dictator, but he may be the country's least bad option.

Young Americans' accelerating abandonment of religion is linked to cultural change, not just the fact that they're young.  How do Evangelical churches grow despite this decline?  By cannibalizing each other.

Alabama is still in Wallace-in-the-schoolhouse-door mode.

Here are some rare photos from World War II (found via GoodShit).

You have more in common with yeast than you think.

Horrid parasitic wasps are a big part of our planet's biodiversity.

[Image at top found via Rosa Rubicondior.]