Nec Hoc Nec Ilud

* I am hard put to think of a better way to say "Fuck You!" to the slaves who make Apple products than buying 10K watch from them. Apple, which recently had a quarter in which they made higher profits than any company even in the history of the world still claims they need to use slave instead of properly paid voluntary employees because somehow otherwise they wouldn't make a profit. Riiiiight.

* "Employees of Florida state government “banned from talking about climate change, global warming:" http://www.smnweekly.com/employees-of-florida-state-government-banned-from-talking-about-climate-change-global-warming/20424/

* "KKK fliers left at Selma homes on 50th anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday':" http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/03/kkk_fliers_left_at_selma_homes.html

* "Politics, Social Media, and the RWR (or, "hey, my Twitter feed just exploded!"):" http://avian30.com/2015/03/09/politics-social-media-and-the-rwr-or-hey-my-twitter-feed-just-exploded/

* "Mammoth populations were decimated by humans 30,000 years ago:" http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/02/2015/mammoth-populations-were-decimated-by-humans-30000-years-ago

* "Stone Age skeleton judged Norway's oldest :" http://www.thelocal.no/20150216/stone-age-skeleton-found-in-summer-judged-norways-oldest

* "Remains of ancient 'bowman' discovered:" http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-31116689

* "Walker tells of finding 4,000-year-old remains of child on island beach:" http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2015/02/11/walker-tells-of-finding-4000-year-old-remains-of-child-on-island-beach/

* "Ancient Shrines Used for Predicting the Future Discovered:" http://www.livescience.com/49871-ancient-shrines-discovered.html

* "3,500 year-old bronze artifacts inside upturned pot found in south-east Poland:" http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/02/2015/3500-year-old-bronze-artefacts-inside-upturned-pot-found-in-south-east-poland

* "Some Ancient Egyptians Had State-Sponsored Healthcare:" http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/some-ancient-egyptians-had-state-sponsored-healthcare-180954361/?no-ist

* "American Egyptologists prove Pharaoh was brutally killed in a battle away from home:" http://luxortimesmagazine.blogspot.com/2015/02/american-egyptologists-prove-pharaoh.html

* Our Financial Situation continues Scary: http://www.gofundme.com/cuovws or Lethran@gmail.com

* "Why women are leaving the tech industry in droves:" http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-gardner-women-in-tech-20141207-story.html

* In honor of the Christmas season, the Christian pastors are out in force to spread the message that their God is a God of hate and calling for literal genocide against LGBT people. Behold!

TW: Hate Speech, Suicide. "New Zealand pastor tells Christian author he prays for him to commit suicide:" http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/12/new-zealand-pastor-tells-christian-author-he-prays-for-him-to-commit-suicide/

TW: Hate Speech. "Arizona pastor predicts ‘AIDS-free Christmas’ if all gays are killed, as God commands:" http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/arizona-pastor-predicts-aids-free-christmas-if-all-gays-are-killed-as-god-commands/

* "FRC Hatin' Transpeeps For The Holidays:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/12/frc-hatin-transpeeps-for-holidays.html

* "RIP Deshawnda Sanchez:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/12/rip-deshawnda-sanchez.html

* "Plano, TX Passes Problematic TBLG Inclusive Ordinance:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/12/plano-tx-passes-problematic-tblg.html

* "Minnesota Lets Our Transkids Play:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/12/minnesota-lets-our-transkids-play.html

* I kind of love that yesterday was 12/13/14.

* The trend for commercials to be all word salad really needs to stop now.

* "The Potential of Urban Fantasy:" http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2014/12/the-potential-of-urban-fantasy_12.html

* "Sunday Sweets: Gorgeous Gingerbread:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2014/12/14/sunday-sweets-gorgeous-gingerbread.html

* Internet friends who need to move fast: http://www.gofundme.com/ip2els

* Our Financial Situation continues Scary: http://www.gofundme.com/cuovws

* Ghana has kindly agreed to be a staging ground for international food, medical, and specialist personnel intended to help the countries quarantined because of the ebola outbreak. This is a very important contribution, as most airlines and shipping companies are (understandably) unwilling to go into those countries right now, leading to massive shortages which is only making the epidemic worse. Meanwhile, the growing season has been heavily disrupted and the malaria season is about to start, both of which can only make things so much worse. hana is stepping up, even though they haven't the resources to provide the sort of relief needed themselves. It's now up to the rest of the world to fill the planes and airstrips in Ghana with people and supplies to save lives.

* Want to help the people in west Africa?

Doctors without borders is by far the most effective medical aid organization when it comes to ebola: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/monthly.cfm?source=AZD140001D41&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=PPC_DWB_Brand&utm_term=Doctors_Without_Borders

World Food Programme: http://www.wfp.org/get-involved

* Because the woman didn't specifically use the word "assault" when reporting a violent racially motivated attack with death threats, the police want to remind you they were completely justified in stopping for 45 minutes for bagels instead of coming to help her or hurry to arrest her white assailant for the 56th time on assault charges. After all, which is more important, a snack or getting an extremely dangerous white man off the streets before he killed someone? The snack. Obviously. "How NYPD responded to report of an attack:"

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* "Oklahoma cop accused of assaulting 8 women:"

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* "Re-opened abortion clinic faces closure again:"

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* "Arthur Conan Doyle's eerie vision of the future of war:" http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28954510

* "Trans Latina Killed In Memphis:" http://www.transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/09/trans-latina-killed-in-memphis.html

* "Everything Wrong with Christian Bale as Moses:" http://thenerdsofcolor.org/2014/08/04/everything-wrong-with-christian-bale-as-moses/

* "Where’s the Diversity, Hollywood? Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blockbusters Overwhelmingly White, Male:" http://blog.leeandlow.com/2014/07/29/wheres-the-diversity-hollywood-sci-fi-and-fantasy-blockbusters-overwhelmingly-white-male/

* "David Mack · Why we must strive for diversity in SF/F:" http://www.davidmack.pro/blog/?p=4924

* "Sunday Sweets for Book Lovers:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2014/9/7/sunday-sweets-for-book-lovers.html

* Fundraiser to pay insurance and back rent: http://djinni.livejournal.com/507872.html

* "Rare Incan 'Calculators' Found in Peru:" http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/rare-incan-calculators-found-in-peru-140627.htm#mkcpgn=rssnws1

* "Deadly Victorian fashions or "Don't lick the arsenic dress:"" http://www.macleans.ca/culture/arts/deadly-victorian-fashions/

* "Hundred-year Mafia murder 'solved':" http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27971542

* "The Soapbox: Black Nerds, Escapism, & Why We Need More Diverse Books:" http://www.thefrisky.com/2014-07-04/the-soapbox-black-nerds-escapism-why-we-need-more-diverse-books/

* "Effortless Beauty: I Know You Didn't Really Eat That Pizza:" http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2014/07/effortless-beauty-i-know-you-didnt.html

* "Stopping James Crow III:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/07/stopping-james-crow-iii.html

* "Shut Up Fool Awards-Fourth Of July 2014 Edition:" http://www.transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/07/shut-up-fool-awards-fourth-of-july-2014.html

* How did I not know Douglas Addams wrote for Doctor Who?

* I wish I could see this. "This Beautiful Mourning Attire Is Coming To Met's Costume Institute:" http://gothamist.com/2014/07/01/this_beautiful_mourning_attire_is_c.php

* "Josh Charles shares ‘Dead Poets Society’ memories, 25 years :" http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/07/03/dead-poets-society-josh-charles/

Along with "Another Country," "Dead Poet's Society" is one of two films I have ever seen that really speaks to my experience of high School. It's hard to watch still. It was extra unnerving for me when it first came out, as the boy I was dating, and in fact watched the film in the theater with, looked eerily like Neil. His parents were a special class of horrible, seeing him not as a human being with needs and wants of his own, but their favorite pawn in a complex psycho-sexual game they played with each other. He went to a different prep school we used to run against. It was way to close and very dagger to the heart at the time. (This is the same boy who took me to see his psychiatrist to 1. prove I was not a particularly elaborate fantasy/symptom of a psychotic break and 2. So that I could validate his descriptions of his treatment at home.)

Anyway, it was an incredibly hard film to watch, but the thing that bothers me still is that I knew damned well that schools like mine loved teachers like Keating. No really. They were rare, but oh so cherished. I could list my Keatings here if I wanted. The thing about prep school is that there is massive pressure to conform, but there is this countervailing force to turn the exceptional into future leaders. Conformity was for the middle of the personality Bell Curve. At the ends were the rock stars and the monsters. The system reinforces the monsters into something out of "American Psycho;" you need Keatings to turn the eccentrics into leaders and writers and Great Men/Women.

* "The Famous Artworks That Inspired 15 Films:" http://flavorwire.com/464926/the-famous-artworks-that-inspired-15-films

* Russia has annexed the Crimea. A Ukrainian officer was killed and another shot as they defended their military base from an attack. Russia has already mobilized and Ukraine is mobilizing. They are digging trenches and building fortifications along the border with the Crimea.

* They are appropriating the narrative of slavery to strip away women's human rights and to justify imprisoning and killing women by denying them emergency medical care. "The Abolitionist:"

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* "Energy company caught pumping from toxic pond:"

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* "Gun violence as a public health issue:"

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* "2,600 year old wooden coffin found near Athens:" http://www.sotterraneidiroma.it/notizie-sdr/item/2600-year-old-wooden-coffin-found-near-athens?category_id=20

* "5 new royal tombs discovered in Vergina:" http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/culture/2014/03/14/Archaeology-Greece-5-new-royal-tombs-discovered-Vergina_10232270.html

* "Spark in Darkness: Fred Phelps is dying:" http://www.sparkindarkness.com/2014/03/fred-phelps-is-dying.html

* Greenwick found. "Transgender people will be able to alter birth certificates:" http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/transgender-people-will-be-able-to-alter-birth-certificates-20140316-34vt0.html

* Greenwick found. "8 Myths About Transgender Men's Genital Reconstructions:" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitch-kellaway/8-myths-about-transgender-mens-genital-reconstructions_b_4510196.html

* "DeSoto ISD Posts Problematic Prom Dress Code:" http://www.transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/03/desoto-isd-posts-problematic-prom-dress.html

* Side Note: I think it's interesting that the Huntington Post seems to have more respectful Trans* coverage than the Advocate.

* "Why I Hate The 'All Politicians Are The Same' Meme:" http://www.transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/03/why-i-hate-all-politicians-are-same-meme.html

* ""Tiger Lily Doesn't Equal Human Torch" plus a very long rant:" http://thisfeliciaday.tumblr.com/post/79718617942/tiger-lily-doesnt-equal-human-torch-plus-a-very-long

* Doctor's appointment went as expected. We are having to fight another mini-meds war with the new insurance company. I need to go see my lung guy about where we currently are on lung meds, and I need yet more blood work. This last is because the new lady is trying to get me one proper hormone dose instead of yo-yoing me every few months, so we are trying to take lots of readings at different meds levels.

* I've craving this for at least a week. Voivod "Le Pont Noir:"

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* I find this weirdly soothing in the way I used to find Ministry soothing, which is likey proof my brain is a little different:

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* In South Sudan, a town has been completely depopulated and another emptied and burned with the exception of a hospital and a couple of other especially fire resistant buildings. It's all rubble and corpses. Both sides of the Civil War are getting more and more brutal. It's sounding like the peace talks haven't accomplished much at this point, what with zero progress on even a temporary cease fire.

* A rocket attack on Arsal Lebanon has killed seven civilians, mostly children. Syria has been blamed for completely logical reasons, but I'm seeing some disagreement on that.

* The Hoboken aspect of the bridge scandal adds another wrinkle to the Christie administration's abuse of power.

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* Proof I am not a proper grown up: My brain automatically translates alleged Bridge scandal/Hoboken shakedown artists "Wolf and Sampson" into "Wolfram and Hart."

* TW "Republican congressional hopeful doesn’t think spousal rape should be a crime:" http://www.salon.com/2014/01/15/republican_congressional_hopeful_doesnt_think_spousal_rape_should_be_a_crime/

As long as Republicans keep demanding we legalize rape, I do not understand why any women vote for them.

* "North Carolina ‘wacko bird’ GOP candidate Greg Brannon compares food stamps to slavery:" http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/14/north-carolina-wacko-bird-gop-candidate-greg-brannon-compares-food-stamps-to-slavery/

As long as Republicans keep demanding we legalize rape, I do not understand why any women vote for them.

* "America Black Ops Wars in 134 Countries:" http://www.juancole.com/2014/01/america-black-countries.html

* "Texas Public Charter Schools Are Teaching Creationism:" http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/01/creationism_in_texas_public_schools_undermining_the_charter_movement.html

* "In our quest to appease superstitious neanderthals and short-sighted plutocrats we are abandoning the future:" http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/in-our-quest-to-appease-superstitious.html

* "How Did Toast Become the Latest Artisanal Food Craze? :" http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/toast-story-latest-artisanal-food-craze-72676/

"How did toast become the latest artisanal food craze? Ask a trivial question, get a profound, heartbreaking answer."

* "Rand's little white slip:" http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/rands-little-white-slip.html

* "A Whitewashed Earthsea: How the Sci Fi Channel wrecked my books:" http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/post/73628842758/a-whitewashed-earthsea-how-the-sci-fi-channel-wrecked

* "About Time SNL You Addressed The Lack Of Diversity:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/01/about-time-snl-you-addressed-lack-of.html

* On cultural appropriation and Frozen. "Thoughts on ‘Frozen’:" http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/post/73718849319/thoughts-on-frozen

* "Belize Trans Teen Killed:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2014/01/belize-trans-teen-killed.html

* "TED Talk: Ending Gender by Scott Turner Schofield:" http://youtu.be/TWubtUnSfA0

* "Jon Stewart's Thumbs Up, Women:"

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* "Gaywatch: Red Weddings:"

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* I was trying to take today fairly easy, as my arms and hands are still messed up from driving and I am tired. Most of the housework involved discovering and cleaning up cat messes. I also put together my stereo. The new component is as excellent as promised, though some of my equipment is too antiquated to hook up, but luckily it was secondary stuff I got free over the years and mostly use as back ups. The important pieces remain and now I can haz music.

* Attn: Greenwick. Hiram McDaniels: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/73454280442/the-city-council

* "9 Scandals that Rocked the Figure Skating World:" http://mentalfloss.com/article/54492/9-scandals-rocked-figure-skating-world

* Why a few have access to majority of wealth:

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* How movements for justice are caricatured:

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* "The wrong side of history on apartheid:"

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* "United States, Israel opposed Mandela, supported Apartheid:" http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/mandela-supported-apartheid.html

* I love that Melissa Harris-Perry routinely calls out the transphobia in statements like "Men don't have babies." MHP: "Look it up! They have!" It may seem like a small thing to cis folk, but it matters that she does it every time and not just on trans issue shows or when trans folk are in the room..

* "The Amazing Raise:"

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* Bill de Blasio & Billionaire Flight:

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* Greenwick and I cleared more stuff out to the new apartment storage unit. It turned out the good looking 30ish Ukranian giant doing installation Friday had enough time to start laying the living room floor. (Seriously, he was at least a foot taller than me). I can tell it's laminate, not hardwood, but it looks good. I have faith in them finishing Monday, given how far that guy got on his own. The living room here looks a little naked with three book shelves gone and most of what was left on the remaining shelves emptying out. (The good shelf is in the new place, and the unfinished shelf is getting painted before it goes over. One of the collapsible particle board ones went home with Greenwick, so they can use it in their new space at the flea market. I plan to buy ceiling high book cases to fit available space at the end of the move. Squirrel gets first pick of my collapsibles and then Greenwick and Djinni will get the rest.

* RP: Seeking Snakes:

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Next week, both Vampire players are gone, so we expect to do Tiger's menagerie raid instead of Snake hunting.

It turns out that everyone loves a Crap Croc. ;)

* "Dystopians: The Leadership of Cis, Straight, White, Able-Bodied Men.:" http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2013/12/dystopians-leadership-of-cis-straight.html

* More than a thousand people were killed in Egypt in the last week, approximately 90% were Muslim Brotherhood.

* I'm linking Joy Reid's Egypt coverage as it includes commentary for the excellent Mona Eltahawy's commentary amoung others. It starts here: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/mhp/46419672#52786680

* In some jurisdictions they refuse to investigate rapes at all, while the rape kits gather dust, and the rapists just keep attacking people:

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* Dear Rand Paul:

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* Living the Dream 50 Years Later:

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* "Wow, Seriously?" Contraception is not abortion Edition:

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* Detroit is a Tea Party Republican Paradise. Think about it, this is what a "government so small you can drown in a bath tub" looks like. This is what austerity, unfettered capitalism, shrinking tax base, and out sourcing do together. If this is such a good thing, why aren't Republicans moving there in droves? Why haven't rand Paul and the Koch brothers moved there? This is a the result Republican policies create, the ones they want on a National level, so why don't they put their money where their mouth is. Detroit is a Libertarian paradise, so why aren't they owning their great "success?"

* Clueless Spies: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/BUGGER

"Thousands of Daily Mail readers couldn't be wrong." *facepalm* There's your first mistake.

* "Judge says Chubby Checker can pursue lawsuit against HP over penis-measuring app:" http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/judge-says-chubby-checker-can-pursue-lawsuit-against-hp-over-penis-measuring-app/

* For fuck's sake, calling out racism doesn't cause racism. Can we please stop pretending it does, News Media?

* Yesterday: I'm still recovering physically from the house hunt stuff. This week has not been particularly good from a getting shit done perspective, and it took until Friday for me to start seeing the shape of Sunday's game. I think it will be okay though as it's starting to jell. The very nice young gay man from or floor came by earlier in the week asking if we'd share our wifi for a fee. I said we are likely moving soon, but until then he's welcome to use ours. The code was the last place I looked, of course, but tonight he had me over to sort his lap top access out. He had me work on it in his bedroom. *facepalm* Nothing untoward happened, gentle reader. The boy is half my age. It ended up he can only pick us up in his living room, due to architectural vagueries. We had a nice chat at least and I made friends with his cat. I came home to finish my research for tomorrow and poke at the bureaucracy pile.

* Moving Update: We've been going back and forth on minor paperwork stuff while the bank bureaucracy grinds on. Tomorrow I deposit the check, which generates another round of bureaucracy, plus I need to make some bureaucracy related phone calls.

* I did not much like this season's Being Human(UK)'s plot arc. This season had a lot of plot crucial continuity issues with previous years, I did not like them dragging the Devil in, I did not like how predictable it all was. I had trouble attaching. The continuity errors and plot holes kept yanking me out and then there was the fundamental character thing. I have always liked Tom, and while Alex is no Annie I took to her well enough. I never took to Hal though. He always struck me as both selfish and a coward, so it was hard to feel anything like surprise that he proved to be so. Mitchell was terribly flawed, but when he fell, it had emotional punch because he was clearly capable of better. Mitchell was like alcoholic friends I've had over the years, a good man struggling with addiction who sometimes does terrible things in the throws of his sickness. You can root for someone like that. You can empathize with the struggle and wince when it all goes wrong. Hal... Hal was always a shit and it's pretty much a matter of degree of shittiness. It's really hard to care about someone like that, and while in real life, there are plenty of people like that, I generally don't invite them into my home. The plot seemed to want the audience to root for him and Alex to get together, but I think she deserved way better, just as Tom deserved a way better male friend than the ones on offer. I think there would have been more tension in Hal's struggle with himself if there had genuinely been a "good Hal" as opposed to selfish near sociopathic Hal vs. sociopathic selfish Hal.

I'm not going to talk about the ending other than to say it completely lacked twists, to the point I actually guessed not only plot, but actual lines characters spoke in spots. Sigh. Not with a bang, but a whimper in more senses than one.

* RP Report Welsh Edition:

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* Weirdly, Hector was really cuddly with the new player who was a complete stranger, spending most of the night pressed up against him napping, like he does for me when we're alone. O.o It was like he was drugged, not simply full of tuna.

LM and Mache were not convinced.

* "Top 65 Kick Ass Female Fantasy Characters - Looks Awfully White:" http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2013/08/top-65-kick-ass-female-fantasy.html

* "Doctor Who, You Broke My Heart:" http://arsmarginal.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/doctor-who-you-broke-my-heart/

* "Vintage KFC Commercial Is The Stuff Of Nightmares:" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/09/kfc-commercial_n_3731971.html

* Steampunk Lady Vader: http://www.epbot.com/2012/08/presenting-lady-vadore.html

* Steampunk Cakes: http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2013/8/18/sunday-sweets-steampunk.html

* Dragon Cave:

* They believe the catastrophe in Quebec was caused by sabotage. The are still looking for people, but five are confirmed dead and many of the survivors have lost everything when the town burned. You can reach the Canadian Red cross here to donate: http://www.redcross.ca/who-we-are/contact-us/quebec

* There has been the largest bombing in Lebanon in years in a Hezbollah controlled area of Beirut. It sounds like fifteen wounded. There is a lot of finger pointing going on, and I am not sure what is most credible.

* Ron and Rand Paul's White Supremacist problem is a general GOP problem as well:

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* The GOP stands in the way of enforcement of laws to help workers and consumers because they hate people who work for a living just that much:

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* Civilization crumbling away in Detroit as we aren't willing to pay for basic services:

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* The War on Women Continues:

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* "Revealed, the house-proud Neanderthals:" http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/discovery/revealed-the-house-proud-neanderthals-1.1542483#.Udysl21nB_Q

* This needs more substantiation, but it could lead to a major revision of human origins within Africa: http://phys.org/news/2013-07-dawn-trees-cradle-disease.html

* "Medieval tower and paintings discovered by Polish archaeologists in Sudan:" http://www.naukawpolsce.pap.pl/en/news/news,396057,medieval-tower-and-paintings-discovered-by-polish-archaeologists-in-sudan.html

* It makes me sad he killed it. "Man catches 200-year-old fish in Alaska:" http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/07/200-year-old-fish-rockfish-alaska/

* I know I recently told someone about the Killer Rabbit, but I'm not sure which of you it was. In any case, here is the Straight Dope's version. "What was the deal with Jimmy Carter and the killer rabbit?:" http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/950/what-was-the-deal-with-jimmy-carter-and-the-killer-rabbit

* "New Abortion Restrictions Reignite Culture Wars:" http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/07/new-abortion-restrictions-reignite-culture-wars.html

* On ruling party politics, "A Bad Dream:" http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/07/a-bad-dream.html

* "Dallas Observer LBGT Movers And Shakers List Has No Trans, Bi Or Lesbian People On It:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/07/dallas-observer-lbgt-movers-and-shakers.html

* "Brazil's Transwomen Are Catching Hell:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/07/brazils-transwomen-are-catching-hell.html

* "Still Aiming Higher:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/07/still-aiming-higher.html

* "I Repeat: White People Doing Blackface Drag Is Not Acceptable, Period!:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/07/i-repeat-white-people-doing-blackface.html

* I am not okay with gendered food. I have never been okay with gendered food. "The Weird New World of Girl Cheese:" http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/07/03/the-weird-new-world-of-girl-cheese/

* "Costumes are not consent. What does that mean for you?" http://seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com/520130.html

* "11 Harsh Realities About The World Of Harry Potter:" http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/harsh-realities-about-the-world-of-harry-potter

* Armie Hammer persists in sounding like someone's porn name to me.

* Greenwick found, "I saw The Lone Ranger so you don’t have to:" http://nativeappropriations.com/2013/07/i-saw-the-lone-ranger-so-you-dont-have-to.html

* "Steampunk Watch Part Sculptures:" http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/07/steampunk-watch-part-sculptures-by-sue-beatrice/

* My Scented Home Products Circular Swap is looking for people to sign up: http://www.bpal.org/topic/81082-summer-scented-home-products-circular-swap/

* The Clutch:

* Re: Standardized test cheating scandals. If you monetize cheating and punish honesty, while simultaneously demanding folks perform increasingly bigger miracles with fewer and fewer resources: Surprise! The expected result occurs. Do I condone cheating? No. At the same time if you give people money to cheat and create massive dire consequences if they don't cheat, even passing knowledge of human nature says people will mostly cheat to survive if that's the only choice. Also, if you legislate that schools for the poor do the opposite of what schools for the rich do and expect them to magically have better results, I have a bridge over the Columbia I'd love to sell you. There are very good reasons that people who can afford the best pick schools with small class sizes throughout, mandatory athletics, hands on science, plenty of enrichment activities and art/music program opportunities, lots of essays/research papers etc.. Did we have standardized testing? Yes, because if you've been taking them in a low stakes environment since first grade, you do really well on PSAT/SAT's. They didn't teach to the test because the primary purpose of the test was to teach us to tack that kind of test. Instead, we were sectioned based on a wide variety of more complex measures. Was private school a horrible place to grow up? Yes, but not because of the academics. The academics were excellent. Yet we've decided that even though numerous studies show that breaks for physical activity and artistic expression actually improve academics as does small class size, the children of the poor should be made to sit still and fill in bubble sheets in classes double the size of those of the children of the rich. Surprise! Real learning suffers. Surprise! The drop out rate soars.

* Trap Laws, attacks on women's rights, and Homophobia and the GOP:

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* RNC invites Dick Cheney, a conspiracy theorist, and a white supremacist to help them appeal to voters of color. O.o:

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* When you pay your mortgage but the bank still steals your house:

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* Melissa Harris-Perry addresses Rand Paul's embarrassing Howard speech:

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* The 8 year old who stopped Senator Campfeild:

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* Straight Athletes standing up for gay team mates:

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* Melissa Harris-Perry responds to the way FOX "News" and other right wing commentators have gone ballistic about her promo asking for proper funding for education:

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* Watch This Space! Release the X-Files!:

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* Hector appears to be deescalating. He's started feeding himself while I sleep and only woke me up twice: both with nightmares. I consider the need for comfort after a nightmare a reasonable reason to wake someone and crooning soothingly while petting him until he's calm enough to go back to sleep doesn't take that long and is certainly the kind thing to do.

I am worried about the Butt. He was doing really well, but the last few days he's super reclusive, only coming out of Squirrel's room for very rare water breaks. He didn't even come out for goosh yesterday, let alone pettins, catnip, or raids on the cat grass. Squirrel promises me he'll hydrate him tomorrow just in case.

* "Photos of Children From Around the World With Their Most Prized Possessions:" http://www.featureshoot.com/2013/03/photos-of-children-from-around-the-world-with-their-most-prized-possessions/

* "GBLT Characters on Supernatural:" http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2013/04/gblt-characters-on-supernatural.html

* The Clutch: