Friday Links (102-year-old delegation chairperson edition)

It's the fifth Friday in July, and I'm glad that Friday is finally here. It was a much better week, for me, at least the news from the real world sense. I'm feeling a lot more hope for the future this than I was last week.

Anyway, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week, sorted into various topic areas.

Links of the Week

102-year-old's Hillary Clinton speech will move you.

The Obamas And The White House's Slave Legacy.

'Don't use our songs': musicians join John Oliver for anti-politician singalong.

Happy News!

Marta the River Otter – the adorable fursuit mascot of King County, Washington.

Ice Bucket Challenge funds discovery of gene linked to ALS .

News for queers and our allies:

Boy Scouts faring well a year after easing ban on gay adults.

7 Bands Bringing Camp And Queerness Back To Punk.

Sarah McBride Becomes First Transgender Person To Speak At Major Political Convention .

Navy to Name Ship After Gay Rights Activist Harvey Milk.

Science!

Ray Kurzweil: The world isn’t getting worse — our information is getting better.

A New Explanation for One of the Strangest Occurrences in Nature: Ball Lightning.

Witnessing kindness inspires kindness, causing it to spread like a virus.

Scientists have found a perfect illustration of how the climate is spiraling ‘out of control’.

A Crazy New Species of Beaked Whale Has Been Discovered in the Pacific.

Fossils Reveal That Modern Humans Were Living In China 20,000 Years Before We Thought They Left Africa.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Big Dumb Objects: science fiction's most mysterious MacGuffins.

Exploration of the Genre: A Starship Ladies Recommendation Masterpost.

Comic-Con: Lucy Lawless Went to the Deathbed of a Fan Once, Which, Yep, That Seems Right.

How Creating Inclusive Sci-Fi/Fantasy Sparked a Culture War.

Aftermath's Chuck Wendig on Killer Droids, Unkillable Characters, and Helping Create the Star Wars Universe. "Fiction is at its worst when it hangs on OH GOSH WHO LIVES AND WHO DIES"

'Star Trek Beyond' is the sci-fi action movie we needed right now.

Man Seeking Movies: The all-female “Ghostbusters” is a comedic delight.

This week in Writing

How Technology Has Changed the Way Authors Write.

This Week in History

History tells us what may happen next with Brexit & Trump.

This Week in Tech

Photographer Files $1 Billion Suit Against Getty for Licensing Her Public Domain Images.

This Week in Diversity

‘Sesame Street’ Lets Go Longtime Cast Members Bob, Gordon and Luis .

Why There Is No Such Thing As Too Much LGBTQ Representation On TV.

#BlackSpecFic: A Fireside Fiction Company special report.

Ones and Twos and Rarely Threes.

Culture war news:

Ken Ham Isn’t a Big Bad Ogre: Why I Feel Bad About Ark Encounter. But he is still a liar (who posted photos of another event claiming that it was opening day), and a con man (who convinced the state to give him tax money for a religious project, that's after essentially embezzling from a religious group he used to work for in Australia), and a peddler of lies and pseudo science. But we're suppose to believe he's not an ogre. Fine, he's not an ogre, he's a parasite.

Energized white supremacists cheer Trump convention message.

Marriage Equality Plaintiff Jim Obergefell: GOP Doesn’t Consider Us Human.

12 States Will Support Obama’s Transgender Policies In Court, Bucking Texas And Others.

This Week Regarding the Lying Liar:

What Trump says about crime in America and what is really going on.

Trump is driven by one thing and one thing only: the search for glory.

"There is no redemption in being one of the good Nazis.".

This week in Politics:

STEPHEN COLBERT’S JOYFUL RETURN TO POLITICAL COMEDY.

Watch a Woman Older Than Her Right to Vote Pledge Arizona's Delegates to Hillary Clinton .

THE LIBERTARIANS’ SECRET WEAPON.

Inspired by Trump, Former KKK Leader Runs for Senate.

The DNC email leak doesn't show wrongdoing – Bernie is barely a Democrat.

All Signs Point to Russia Being Behind the DNC Hack.

‘Crying Robin Hood’ is a Minnesota hero.

Jill Stein’s Ideas Are Terrible. She Is Not the Savior the Left Is Looking For.

Dr. Jill Stein Is Anti-Science, Bad for the Environment, and Deserves Her Anti-Vax Label.

It looks like Russia hired internet trolls to pose as pro-Trump Americans.

NC GOP wigs out after mistaking Tim Kaine’s Marine pin for Honduras flag — and hilarity ensues.

Hillary Clinton, Considered in Herself.

Farewells:

Marni Nixon, the Singing Voice Behind the Screen, Dies at 86.

A Cartoonist Remembers His Hero, Cul de Sac’s Richard Thompson.

Jerry Doyle Dead: ‘Babylon 5’ Actor Was 60.

Youree Dell Harris, the TV Psychic Miss Cleo, Dies at 53.

Things I wrote:

A Certain Shade of Green — stop asking me to shoot myself in the foot.

Hugo Ballot 2016: Why I’m not reviewing this year.

Videos!

Saade - Wide Awake ft. Gustaf Norén (Official Music Video):



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La La Land (2016 Movie) Official Teaser Trailer – 'City Of Stars':



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Dream On - Postmodern Jukebox ft. Morgan James (Aerosmith Cover):



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Friday Links (dystopian convention edition)

It's the fourth Friday in July, and I'm glad that Friday is finally here. After a week of trying not to watch the white supremacist trainwreck that is this year's Republican Convention, I'm really looking forward to going out with my husband to see Star Trek tonight and Absolutely Fabulous tomorrow night. I need to get away from the real world for a few hours!

And the news, not just out of the Republican Convention, was full of way more unpleasantness than I usually see. I decided not to include a bunch of links that I had bookmarked for this week's posts because I felt that it was just getting too overwhelming. I also decided to re-arrange things a little bit, so that more of the good news is concentrated together. I'm not sure if it's an improvement, but I hope it is.

Anyway, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week, sorted into various topic areas.

Links of the Week

On My Dad Harold Ramis and Passing the ‘Ghostbusters’ Torch to a New Generation of Fans.

Trump Tracts: Subgenius-inflected mini-comics about Trump in the style of Jack Chick tracts.

Singapore's celebrity urban otter family.

Fabulous, Darling!

This new AbFab Lego set looks like more fun than the Betty Ford Clinic.

‘Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie’ not false advertising.

Happy News!

Crime Is Down and People Feel Safer.

News for queers and our allies:

James Franco On How A Prosthetic Penis Brought Him Closer to the LGBTQ Community.

Gay Men and Body Image.

It Gets Better, Unless You’re Fat.

Massachusetts transgender rights bill signed into law.

Science!

A broken telescope just discovered 104 new planets.

Scientists still don't know what caused the 'Eye of the Sahara'.

Explosive caterpillar infestation in New England is visible from space.

New venomous snake discovered in Costa Rica.

17 Maps That Will Change The Way You Look At The World Forever.

Scientists mapped the human brain like a city and revealed that we've been ignoring some of its most important parts.

A rock as long as New Jersey may have smashed up the moon’s ‘face’.

Scientists turn old plastic bottles into fuel.

Graphics reveal how different today's climate is from the one many of us grew up with.

Edmonton professor discovers new 'megaraptor' in Argentina.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

More 2016 Comic-Con Photos Including Cosplay!

Comic-Con: Why so few movies in Hall H? Blame the pirates, matey.

At San Diego Comic-Con, Toy Collectors Aren't Playing Around.

Over 200 Pictures of the Cool, Weird, and Crazy Things on Display at Comic-Con 2016.

Patt Morrison interviews: 'The Left Hand of Darkness' author Ursula K. Le Guin.

Uncanny Magazine Kickstarter Raising Funds for Year Three.

“Muppets” Take Ankh-Morpork. The Jim Henson Company is going to make Wee Free Men!

This week in I can't even...

Leslie Jones’ Tweets on Monday Night Were a Powerful Response to an Insane Torrent of Hate.

The Ghostbros Ruined My Childhood.

Truth, Consequences, Twitter, and Milo Yiannopoulos.

What my evening with Milo told me about Twitter’s biggest troll, the death of reason, and the crucible of A-list con-men that is the Republican National Convention.

A Note On a Jackass Getting Booted From Twitter. "So the math there at least appears pretty obvious from the outside. You can punch down on Twitter and get away with it, but don’t punch up, and punch up enough to make Twitter look bad, or you’ll get in trouble (after more than a day)."

This Week in Tech

Who is harmed by a "Real Names" policy?.

Stop the privatization of health data: Tech giants moving into health may widen inequalities and harm research, unless people can access and share their data.

We Shouldn’t Get Used To Online Abuse.

This Week in Diversity

​A tale of two selfies: This New Capitol Hill Interns Selfie Will Give You Hope.

This Week in Police Problems

Albany Cops Sound Like Abusive Spouses in Teen Workshop.

Video Shows Unarmed Black Man Pleading With Arms Raised Before Getting Shot by Police.

This week in awful news

It’s Time To Recognize What Many Mass Murderers Share In Common: Yet again, a deranged mass killer abused the women in his life before striking the public.

Sovereign Citizens Are America’s Top Cop-Killers.

What Is the Washitaw Nation, 'Sovereign' Group Baton Rouge Shooter Identified With?

Sovereign Citizens A Growing Domestic Threat to Law Enforcement.

Culture war news:

Here Are All the Disturbing Ways Evangelical Christianity Influenced the GOP’s 2016 Platform.

An Open Letter to the Log Cabin Republicans.

The Class Politics of Decluttering.

Texas’ Voter ID Law Struck Down By An Extraordinarily Conservative Appeals Court.

Lawsuit: Trans Students Made To Wear Green Bracelets To ID Themselves.

Rick Scott Discussed Orlando During His RNC Speech. He Didn’t Mention The LGBT Community Or Guns.

Iowa church sues to change LGBTQ civil rights brochure.

Ala. Judicial Ethics Commission to Chief Justice: Roy, Bye.

NBA pulls 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte, focuses on New Orleans.

This Week Regarding the Lying Liar:

GOP chair wrongly claims 'facts' show children do better with straight parents.

Violence, Blood and Betrayal inside the Trump Potemkin Village.

Lying Liars Who Lie: 2016 Edition. I'm not just linking to a Mormon Press story, I'm agreeing with it? Yes, yes I am!

“The Art of the Deal” made America see Trump as a charmer with an unfailing knack for business. Tony Schwartz helped create that myth—and regrets it.

Mike Pence’s top seven most homophobic moments (out of many).

Trump Used 'We Are the Champions' at RNC Against Queen's Wishes.

Kim Davis Loses Yet Again, Appeals Court Denies Her Request To Have Antigay Record Cleared.

This week in Politics:

Male escorts are making crazy money at the RNC.

Close Encounters of the Casual Kind: Dear God, Republicans are a horny gay bunch.

Dan Savage on Jill Stein: Just No. A vote for the Green Party candidate is exactly a vote for Trump, and so is a vote for the Libertarian. And if you don't understand that, let me first explain to you that the Earth is not flat.

The Republicans waged a 3-decade war on government. They got Trump. I'm sorry, I can't feel any sympathy to anyone who supported Romney, or McCain/Palin, or Bush/Cheney who only just now realized that the party has been running on hate and lies.

This Week in (other) Hate Crimes

Alleged Hate Group Member Charged in Shooting of Trans Woman in Indiana.

‘We just want to be accepted.’ At a vigil, transgender people mourn one of their own.

This Week in Misogyny

Roger Ailes Resigns as Fox News Chief After Sexual Harassment Accusations.

Violence Against Women and Online Harassment.

Farewells:

Garry Marshall, ‘Pretty Woman’ Director and Creator of ‘Happy Days,’ Dies at 81.

Dem Rep. Mark Takai Dies Of Cancer At Age 49.

Hawaii mourns passing of health care advocate U.S. Rep. Mark Takai.

Things I wrote:

Bustin’ ghosts and laughing it up.

I ain’t afraid of no dude-bros, or just call me a Ghost Girl, too!

Queer and self-loathing in the Grand Old Party.

Bullied Bullies: Orchestrating Harassment Isn’t Expressing an Idea.

Really arrested development. (I wrote one sentence, the rest of this post is C.S. Lewis, but...)

Videos!

First Lady Michelle Obama Carpool Karaoke:



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Ghostbusters 2016 Red-Carpet Interviews w/ Cast, Crew & Lindalee Rose (make sure you stick around to see the little girl interview Kate McKinnon about Holtzman):



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Mister Wallace 'It Girl':



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Billy Cullum - Friends:



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The Brocks - Going Nowhere (Official Video):



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"Hands" - A Song for Orlando (Lyric Video):



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Friday Links (fear, hope, and listening edition)

It's the third Friday in July, and it hasn't been a great week. Maybe not as awful as last week, but plenty of scary and unpleasant things happening. I'm doing my very best not to think about that stuff at least tonight, because my husband and I are going to go see Ghostbusters, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Anyway, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week, sorted into various topic areas.

Links of the Week

I Am A Transwoman. I Am In The Closet. I Am Not Coming Out.

WHY THE CLINTON AMERICA SEES ISN’T THE CLINTON COLLEAGUES KNOW.

There is Hope: Time to Follow an Indigenous Model for Peace in America.

And other news:

Amazon's Chinese counterfeit problem is getting worse.

Heavily armed drug cops raid retiree’s garden, seize okra plants.

Surviving Suicide In Wyoming.

This week in evil people

Minuteman Militia Founder & Senate Candidate Chris Simcox Sentenced To 20 Years For Child Molestation.

Edmond man arrested at Black Lives Matter rally on terrorist hoax complaint.

This week in History

Congress Approves Arlington Cemetery Burials For Female WWII Pilots.

45 YEARS IN, THE FBI ANNOUNCED THEY’RE NO LONGER INVESTIGATING THE D.B. COOPER HIJACKING.

This Week in Tech

The Tragedy of Pokémon Go: What it takes for good ideas to attract money.

Google quietly brings its forget program to the U.S..

This Week in Diversity

One Photo Shows Why We Needed An All-Female ‘Ghostbusters’ Reboot.

Don’t Praise the Designer Who Made Leslie Jones a Gorgeous Dress for the Ghostbusters Premiere.

An Open Letter on Identity Politics, to and from the Left.

This Week in Police Problems

Aren’t more white people than black people killed by police? Yes, but no. There are two different parts to the "no." First, portionate to their part of the populate, black people are nearly three times more likely to be killed by cops than whites. But the big difference is this: of UNARMED suspects killed by cops? Far more black unarmed suspects than white unarmed suspects are killed by cops every year.

NYC Man Who Recorded Eric Garner’s Choke Hold Death Takes Plea Deal, Will Likely Serve 4 Years in Prison.

This White Woman's Shocking Account of Police Brutality Has a Lesson About Race in America.

FBI Confirms 2015 Was One Of The Safest Years Ever For Cops.

Man who Posted Alton Sterling Shooting Video Arrested 24 Hours Later on Fabricated Charges.

Surprising New Evidence Shows Bias in Police Use of Force but Not in Shootings.

After Dallas Shootings, Police Arrest People for Criticizing Cops on Facebook and Twitter.

The Singular Trauma Of A Child Who Loses A Parent To A Police Shooting.

Sorry conservatives, new research from Harvard shows a profound amount of racism by police…not less of it.

Why it’s impossible to calculate the percentage of police shootings that are legitimate.

This Week in Restoring Our Faith in Humanity

Bob Fletcher Dies at 101; Saved Farms of Interned Japanese-Americans.

Muslim Man Hugs ISIS Militant Armed Wearing Suicide Vest Before Explosion, Saves Hundreds Of Lives.

This week in awful news

80 Killed in Truck Attack on Bastille Day Crowd in Nice, France. This one does not seem to autoplay the horrible video.

Scores Killed in Terrorist Attack in Nice, France. Also no video.

Unsealed Court Documents: Sandusky Abuse Allegation Was Reported To Joe Paterno In 1976.

Queer leaders of Black Lives Matter condemn deadly Dallas ambush.

This Goddamn Week: Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, and the Real America.

NEWS‘I Hate Gay N****s’: Lunatic Posts Disturbing Video of Himself Pulling a Gun on Man He Thinks Is Gay.

This week in Topics Most People Can't Be Rational About

The Case of Mark Hughes, Or Don't Carry at a Protest.

Sen. Murphy leading effort to raise cash for pro-gun control candidates.

News for queers and our allies:

A country boy's story about coming out: self-harm, suicide and Safe Schools.

Student scholarships grow out of move to 'mourn' same-sex marriage.

This teen’s family threw her an incredible surprise coming out party.

The Kindness of Strangers: An older woman comes out of a quarter century of stealth life to discover Trans Pride.

one man's obsessive and historic collection of queer photography.

The Couch in Rainbow Colors: ‘L.G.B.T.-Affirming’ Therapy.

Science!

How one man repopulated a rare butterfly species in his backyard.

Looking Down on the International Space Station. Literally.

Science reveals 8 plants that will purify your home.

A 'slow catastrophe' unfolds as the golden age of antibiotics comes to an end.

The quantum origin of time.

Scientists who found gluten sensitivity evidence have now shown it doesn't exist.

NASA’s Juno probe beams back its first images from Jupiter’s orbit.

Astronomers discover new planet on the edge of the solar system.

Study shows what happens when you swap fat for sugar.

Here's What Really Happens When You Digitally Detox, According to Research.

Mantis Shrimp Roll Their Eyes, But For A Good Reason.

Super-massive and supersonic black hole studied with the Sardinia Radio Telescope.

Rate of species decline 'no longer within safe limit' for humans, experts warn.

Why the turtle got its shell.

50 million year old mushroom found trapped in amber.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Where has this Amazing Comic Book Art Been all My Life? This Belgian artist's visions of a retro future are simply too beautiful for words.

I saw Tarzan and this is my review after some wines.

The world needs Star Trek's progressive sexual future, and gay Sulu proves it.

Readercon 27: Confronting the fails.

George Takei Sets Record Straight on Gay Sulu Comments: Star Trek Actor 'Delighted' with 'Daring Storytelling'.

George Romero Finally Getting Hollywood Walk of Fame Star!.

Ghostbusters Is the Movie We Need Right Now.

This week in Writing

Critics Suck. But Life Goes On: How to Deal With Negative Reviews of Your Work.

Author Blume doesn't think of her legacy.

This is How You Find Your Readers.

Calling Emily Post: A Blogging Etiquette Roundup.

Review: Scrivener for iOS app is finally out next week, and it’s worth the wait.

Culture war news:

Op-Ed: Christian Universities Can't Have It Both Ways.

When Christian Schools Make Campuses Less Safe.

Here they are, the ‘enemies of equality’ for LGBT Americans.

Four Things You Need to Know About the So-Called First Amendment Defense Act.

GOP adopts “cure gays” platform plank.

Donald Trump Keeps Distance in G.O.P. Platform Fight on Gay Rights. "reviving a festering cultural dispute"

Contempt ruling upheld against Kentucky clerk against gay marriage.

In response to the Dallas police shooting, presidential flop and Donald Trump supporter Dr. Ben Carson thought it provided a unique time to do some good ol' gay bashing.

MISSISSIPPI LEADERS DIVIDED ON RELIGIOUS-BELIEFS LAW APPEAL.

Emerging Republican Platform Goes Far to the Right.

Transgender bathroom issue headed to SCOTUS.

Opinion: Sorry Scott Morrison, but you’ll never be able to relate to a gay person’s experience.

This Week Regarding the Facist Clown:

For Whites Sensing Decline, Donald Trump Unleashes Words of Resistance.

GOP war on porn: The same party that nominated a libertine for president is now calling your porn a “public health crisis”.

This week in Politics:

Totally Not Gay Advisor To Dr. Stabby Sued For Alleged Sexual Harassment Of Male Former Staffer.

Revised GOP platform includes measure for Trump's Mexican 'border wall,' endorsement of mogul's plan to ban Muslims, but lacks gun control reform. "...a list of priorities straight out of the 1950s..."

In Win for Senate Dems, Bayh Will Run in Indiana.

Obama Renews Call For A 'Public Option' In Federal Health Law.

The Democratic Party has moved left after Bernie Sanders’s run. The platform is proof.

Barney Frank Came Back To Congress And Ran Circles Around Everyone.

Victory Fund Statement on Donald Trump’s Selection of Mike Pence.

Welcome to the New Democratic Party.

Why Hillary Clinton's 'Extreme Carelessness' with Classified Emails Isn't Criminal.

Cleveland Strip Clubs Pumped for Trump But Brace for Violent Protests.

This Week in Racism

Sarah Palin: Media Must 'Quit Claiming' Black Lives Matter Protesters 'Are People'.

Sen. Tim Scott reveals incidents of being targeted by Capitol Police being target.

'Classic intimidation'—Black Lives Matter activists targeted by FBI ahead of RNC.

This Week in Feminism

The Logic of Misogyny.

This Week in Misogyny

Stop Treating Emotions Like Character Flaws Of The Powerless.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 7/9/2016: anti-trans law not going to ballot, shooter stopped.

Sunday Funnies, part 19.

Sausage making: my history with presidential nominees.

Rough, manly sport, part 6.

It’s about time – why Star Trek’s Sulu reveal is overdue.

Videos!

Hear Every 2016 Song of the Summer in One Perfect Mash-Up:



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Shim El Yasmine - Mashrou' Leila (Beirut-Based Band That Challenges Homophobia) Live in San Francisco:



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Friday Links (can the bad news let up? edition)

Friday has finally arrived. It is the second Friday in July. I was actually surprised that this week's collection of links is at least as big as last week's, given that I've been busy with Camp NaNoWriMo and then came down sick.

Anyway, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week, sorted into various topic areas.

Links of the Week

In Praise of Ambivalence — “Young” Feminism, Gender Identity and Free Speech.

Optical Illusion: Concentric circles, not a spiral.

And other news:

Minorities, punished most by war on drugs, underrepresented in legal pot.

Is nothing sacred? Mrs. White Will Be Gone From the Clue Board, Replaced With a 'Dr. Orchid'.

This week in We won't give up:

Gays Against Guns stood up by laying down.

This week in History

After 7 years, UK's Iraq War inquiry releases 2.6M word report damning Tony Blair and the invasion.

From 'Runt Of The Litter' To 'Liberal Icon,' The Story Of Robert Kennedy.

To show that Gothic script could be fatiguing to read, medieval scribes invented this joke sentence.

This Week in Tech

Searching for a good reason to remove the headphone jack. "Is Apple removing the headphone jack from the iPhone? Nobody really knows... This is a tech unicorn, an unannounced feature on a nonexistent product, and it’s important to keep that in mind."

This Week in Diversity

Fat People and Chairs – A Hate Story.

This Week in Police Problems

Democrats: The White Working Class Isn’t Voting for You, So Stop Pandering to Them.

A POLICE KILLING IN BATON ROUGE.

How police work rooted in racial profiling maintains hostilities that inevitably lead to violence.

2015: in 97% of murders by police, NO officers charged. The system is working as intended.

Alton Sterling: Top 10 Facts You Need to Know.

Pinned Down, Gunned Down: Protests Erupt After Police Fatally Shoot Black Man in Baton Rouge.

Police killing of Philando Castile a reminder Second Amendment and NRA campaigns don't apply to Black people.

I'm a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing.

This Week in Restoring Our Faith in Humanity

Washington transgender bathroom initiative fails to gather enough signatures.

This week in awful news

Bangladesh attack: Twenty hostages killed, army says .

Bangladesh attack: Dhaka's Holey cafe attackers were known to police .

These are the victims of the Bangladesh attack .

More than 120 killed in Islamic State's worst ever bomb attack in the Iraqi capital.

Medina explosion: Suicide bombing near Saudi holy site.

Iraq suicide bomb attack: Deaths in Baghdad rise to 165.

Why so-called Islamic State chooses to bomb during Ramadan.

Baghdad bombing death toll rises to 250.

Attack on holy city of Medina appalls Muslims amid Ramadan violence.

Dallas protest shooting: 11 police shot, four dead, as suspect in custody.

Update: another officer has died Dallas police shooting: Five officers killed, six hurt by snipers.

Dallas Police Department Was Posting Pictures of Peaceful Protesters Before Shooting Started.

Iraq violence: Dozens killed in Shia shrine suicide attack.

News for queers and our allies:

Judge: Indiana Must List Both Moms For Children Of Lesbians.

Artist Creates An Imaginary History Of Queerness From Found Photos.

'My Pride includes Black Lives Matters,' says an original organizer of the parade.

Science!

Butterflies in the Time of Dinosaurs, with Nary a Flower in Sight.

'Welcome to Jupiter!' NASA's Juno space probe arrives at giant planet.

Science Says These Work Hours Are Terrible for Your Health.

Researchers develop genetic test that can predict your risk of Alzheimer's disease.

'One-two punch': Researchers' latest insight on what killed the dinosaurs.

GHOSTLY FISH SEEN ALIVE IN DEEP OCEAN FOR FIRST TIME.

Massachusetts is being swallowed by millions of hungry caterpillars.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Top Ten Tuesday: underrated books.

How science fiction writers predicted virtual reality.

NEW ASH VS EVIL DEAD SEASON 2 TEASER BRINGS THE GUTS AND GORE.

Culture war news:

God vs. the Constitution.

Brazil Is Confronting an Epidemic of Anti-Gay Violence. This nugget is buried near the end of the article: “The anti-gay violence, [experts] contend, can be traced to Brazil’s culture of machismo and a brand of evangelical Christianity, exported from the United States, that is outspoken in its opposition to homosexuality. Evangelicals make up nearly a quarter of Brazil’s population, up from 5 percent in 1970, and religious leaders reach millions of people through the hundreds of television and radio stations they have purchased in recent years.”

Gee, where have we heard news like the Brazil story before: How Uganda was seduced by anti-gay conservative evangelicals.

WTF? Christians pose as gay pothead zombies to spread hate at Toronto Pride.

Trump Supporters Flooded Me With Anti-Semitic Taunts & Death Threats Yesterday.

THE LATEST: NO JUDGES SOUGHT RECUSAL FROM DOING GAY WEDDINGS.

The Mormon fallout of legalized same-sex marriage.

State's Youth Suicide Rate Has Nearly Tripled Since 2007, But Health Officials Refuse to Acknowledge Impact of Anti-Gay Religious Teachings.

Gay Ex-Mormon Tyler Glenn Reports 5 More LGBT Youth Suicides; Church Responds.

The Benham Brothers can even make cooking homophobic.

Kim Davis Flouts The Law — Again — As Liberty Counsel Withholds Attorney-Client Records.

Millions of Americans Have Nothing to Celebrate on the Fourth of July.

The Cult Next Door: For decades, the people of Hinsdale gave little thought to the mysterious brick building in town. Then came a scandal. When I was a teen-ager, my church and others organized outings to this organizations week-long seminar/workshop things which filled a stadium.

Homophobia and mass shootings are afflictions that won’t be solved overnight — but the problematic and outdated restrictions against gay blood donors could be.

Pope Francis Can Begin By Apologizing For His Own Hateful Words Against Gays.

Same-sex couple denied a birthday cake by Ohio bakery.

Tory Candidate For Prime Minister Says Marriage Should Just Be For Christians.

This Week Regarding the Facist Clown:

Trump and Brexit are like lotto tickets: the more unrealistic, the better.

Donald Trump's Star of David Hillary Clinton Meme Was Created by White Supremacists.

An Open Letter To Reince Preibus . I think it's almost cute that the "GOP media guy" who wrote thinks that Trump's voter base is in any significant way different that the voter base the Republican's have been courting, encouraging, and creating for the last 36 years...

Leading white supremacist on Trump's retweets: Trump is "giving us the old wink-wink."

The Theology of Donald Trump.

Donald Trump's Love Affair With White Supremacists.

A GOP Strategist Explains How Donald Trump Knows Anti-Semites And White Nationalists Are "The Center Of His Play".

Trump Tells GOP Senator He'll Lose Re-Election, Even Though He's Not on Ballot.

Donald Trump Has No Clue How Many Articles Are in the Constitution: Pledges to Defend Nonexistent 'Article 12' in Meeting with House Republicans.

This week in Politics:

Jim Comey's Statement on the Clinton Emails: A Quick and Dirty Analysis.

FBI Director Comey: Petraeus case worse than Clinton's emails.

Cruz to speak at convention after Trump meeting. We knew the tapeworm would eventually cave...

House GOP indefinitely delays gun control votes.

GOP faces tough odds to revoke Clinton’s clearance.

This Week in Racism

"Racism Exists": Minnesota Governor Says Philando Castile Would Be Alive If He Were White.

The disturbing data on Republicans and racism: Trump backers are the most bigoted within the GOP.

Am I Going to Write About Murdered Black People Forever?

Farewells:

Famed Holocaust Survivor and 'Night' Author Elie Wiesel Dies At Age of 87.

WATCH: Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

Noel Neill dies at 95; first actress to play Lois Lane.

'Deer Hunter' Director Michael Cimino Is Dead.

Legendary Women's Basketball Coach Pat Summitt Has Died.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 7/2/2016 – Neither free nor religious.

Got a dream we’ve come to share.

It’s my country, too.

Advanced Civilizations and Clever Monkeys – more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

The Beginning:



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The Daily Show - The Fatal Shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile:



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Clean Bandit - Tears ft. Louisa Johnson [Official Video]:



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The Nightly Show - Alton Sterling's Death & Black Lives Matter:



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Adam Lambert - Welcome to the Show feat. Laleh [Official Music Video]:



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Friday Links (more links than ever before edition)

Friday has finally arrived. It is the first Friday in July, which means that I've started my Camp NaNoWriMo project and looking forward to a nice holiday weekend with my hubby. I was a little shocked when I assembled this week's links, because the number was so much higher than usual. In fact, it might be the most links I've ever put together for a Friday Links post! Maybe I'm trying to get a jump on the rest o the month, since I'll be spending all of my lunches writing rather than half reading the news and half writing. I'm not sure.

Anyway, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week, sorted into various topic areas.

Links of the Week

Letter From the Editor: On Orlando and Its Aftermath. "You cannot decry the “lifestyle” of queer people and then wring your hands when someone takes you seriously and tries to end our lives."

Who Blames the Victim?

Letter to the 10-year-old girl who applied to the Paris Summer Innovation Fellowship.

This week in privacy

How Facebook's 'People You May Know' Section Just Got Creepier.

Microsoft's pushy Windows 10 upgrade tactics have finally come back to haunt them. Travel agency owner Teri Goldstein swears that she didn't want the upgrade and never asked for it, either....

Mister Rogers Said to Look for the Helpers

This heroic son of Muslim immigrants saved countless lives during Orlando shooting.

‘Microcosm of the city’: Garfield High principal navigates racial divide.

The heroes of Istanbul: Stories of incredible bravery from the Turkey airport terror attack.

These Orlando shooting heroes prove people are fundamentally good.

This week in We won't give up:

Orlando tragedy spurs huge turnout at Seattle’s Gay Pride Parade.

#RestInPRIDE memorializes Orlando shooting victims with heartbreaking music video.

This Week in Community Radio

Community Group Inks Deal With Pacific Lutheran University To Buy KPLU.

This Week in Diversity

Why queer hockey webcomic Check, Please! is stealing the internet's heart. I've recommended this comic, myself.

Midnighter & Apollo, Gay Superheroes of Comics, to Reunite This Fall.

This Week in Restoring Our Faith in Humanity

LONDON COMMUTERS STAND UP TO HOMOPHOBIA IN PUBLIC – WATCH.

This week in awful news

The Catholic Church is lobbying to prevent changes to statutes of limitations.

C.I.A. Arms for Syrian Rebels Supplied Black Market, Officials Say.

Car set on fire outside Perth mosque as hundreds pray inside.

41 killed in Instanbul attack blamed on ISIS.

Istanbul airport attack: Who were the victims?

Michael Katze, famous for his studies of Ebola and the flu, ran a lab at the University of Washington where intoxication and sexual harassment went unchecked, and where he misused public resources for personal gain, according to two investigations.

This week in Topics Most People Can't Be Rational About

Supreme Court Just Ruled that Domestic Abusers Can't Have Guns.

News for queers and our allies:

I've been thinking a lot about this category. As I mentioned to a friend, if a person is reading my blog, they either are a member of the queer community, or they are an ally, or they are an enemy who is following me to see what we're up to. I thought about changing the headline for this section to someting like "News for people who aren't haters" or something even snarkier. Does anyone have any ideas? Let me know.

Adam Silver Made History And Marched In The NYC Pride Parade And Kevin Durant Approve.

He Escaped ISIS to Lead NYC Pride: Subhi Nahas’s Fight for LGBT Refugees.

40 Powerful, Joyous Photos of People Celebrating at NYC Pride.

The simple reason so many US businesses openly support LGBT rights.

The Fetish Pups, Rainbow Babies, and Sequinned Drag Queens of London Pride.

Op-Ed: Why I'm Marching for the First Time.

¡Viva Orgullo! See how Mexico City celebrated Pride.

Seattle Police report a drop in Pride Weekend attacks.

Pentagon ends ban on transgender troops in military.

Estimate of U.S. Transgender Population Doubles to 1.4 Million Adults.

Angels in America: The Complete Oral History.

A Father Refused to Claim Body of Pulse Victim.

Science!

Mad Scientist Builds a 200-Watt Laser Bazooka That Can Shoot Through a Computer Case: VIDEO.

Scientists Unleash Full Einstein Equations To Model The Universe.

New evidence that sperm whales form clans with diverse cultures, languages.

Mouse study helps explain why running improves memory.

Augmented eternity: scientists aim to let us speak from beyond the grave.

Juno probe closes in on Jupiter after five-year journey from Earth.

Ken Ham’s Version of Noah’s Ark Is Horribly Designed.

Dwarf planet Makemake has a moon, astronomers find.

We have the wrong idea about males, females and sex.

Has Physics Gotten Something Really Important Really Wrong?

New model predicts once-mysterious chemical reactions.

The Latest Science Says Coffee Is Good for You.

Humans are driving the evolution of new species — and that could be just as bad as causing extinctions.

Scientists discovered a new shade of blue and it's totally gorgeous.

WAITING FOR GÖDEL.

Unprecedented Recovery Documented in 10 Early-stage Alzheimer’s Patients.

7 science-backed reasons you should make art, even if you're bad at it.

No, We’re Not Headed for a Mini–Ice Age.

The 1 Type of Complaining That Will Make You Feel Better, According to Science.

Marijuana compound removes toxic Alzheimer's protein from the brain.

Giant spacecraft arrives at Jupiter on July 4.

Little Worlds Have Bigger Features: Why Everest And The Grand Canyon Are So Small.

World's First Robot Lawyer Helps 160,000 People Void Their Parking Tickets.

It's not easy being green - What colors tell us about galaxy evolution.

City Lights Trick Trees into an Earlier Spring.

31 scientific societies just told Congress to take their climate denial and shove it.

Scientists Find 'Life-Saving' Stash Of Precious Helium Gas.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Star Trek: A Case Study In How to Dismantle a Fandom.

Neil Gaiman Delves Deep Into Norse Myths for New Book.

This week in Writing

How To Turn Your Rules for Failure Into Success.

A Year in the Publishing Game . . ..

Culture war news:

Judge Strikes Down Mississippi’s Anti-LGBT HB1523 Minutes Before It Was to Take Effect.

A Year After Marriage Equality, It's Time For Media To Stop Giving Anti-LGBT Liars A Pass.

Tony Perkins believes that he has a First Amendment right to be on TEEvee.

Watch Hollywood star Jesse Eisenberg shame homophobic protesters: ‘You’re so f**ked’.

Love beats ISIS.

Cops: Trans Activist Beaten After Orlando Benefit.

New York Case Could Provide Key Test For Establishing Legal Protections For Gay People.

Here's Why the Lavender Scare Still Matters.

NOM's March for Marriage Is the Dying Gasp of Opposition.

Socialism or barbarism: Only the left can defeat the rise of the radical right.

NBA and Charlotte Hornets: ‘We Do Not Endorse’ the Amended Version of HB 2.

Bryan Fischer: The Obergefell Ruling Was When “Moral Jihadists” Committed 9/11 Against Christians.

White Americans Are Biggest Terror Threat in U.S.: Study.

'I Do Not Construe Homosexual Rights As Human Rights' Says GOP Human Rights Subcommittee Head.

Americans are split on "reverse racism." That still doesn't mean it exists.

Two More Supreme Court Decisions Support Abortion Access.

Trumpism is here to stay: America’s neo-fascist fever dream has only just begun.

Texas AG Doesn't Understand It's Illegal to Out Trans Students.

At Evangelical Schools, Why Are Atheists Typically Favored Over LGBT Students?

This week in Politics:

Mike Huckabee Owes Band $25,000 After Playing “Eye of the Tiger” at Kim Davis Rally.

Republicans Rocked By Report Detailing GOP Lies And Abuses During Benghazi Investigation.

Why the Sanders "Revolution" Must Take on the Permanent War State.

House Benghazi report faults military response, not Clinton, for deaths.

With Clinton exonerated, conspiracy theorists turn on Trey Gowdy.

Trump Institute Offered Get-Rich Schemes With Plagiarized Lessons.

People Are Figuring Out Ways to Blame Obama for Brexit, Because of Course They Are.

What a real ‘Brexit Britain’ would look like.

Bernie Sanders’ Take on Globalization Is Simple, Ideologically Comforting, and Factually Wrong.

The Laziest Lie Of Donald Trump's Entire Campaign (So Far).

Fact checkers confirm Hillary Clinton is more honest than any of her 2016 opponents.

How Bernie Sanders Overplayed His Hand and Lost His Leverage Over Hillary and the Party.

Conservatives Have Groomed the Perfect Suckers for Trump’s Epic Scam.

The Supreme Court Just Affirmed That Domestic Violence Vacates Gun Rights — Here’s Why That’s So Important.

New Electoral College Projection Has Hillary Clinton Demolishing Donald Trump.

'I'm Still Alive,' Queen Elizabeth Quips During First Public Appearance Since Brexit Vote.

Emmy-winning journalist resigns to work against Trump: 'I couldn’t bear to be a bystander anymore'.

This Week in Racism

Why the “Make America White Again” Candidate Makes No Sense: Liberal Redneck Edition.

Things I wrote:

Why the haters won’t win.

Someone who loves the same books as me….

Finding ways to make their hating of the sinner sound compassionate.

Hi ho! Hi ho! It’s off to Camp I go….

Antique Books and Incongruous Pages, more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

100 Years of Fashion: Men’s Underwear ★ Mode.com:



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WONDERKID Trailer: Film following the inner turmoil of a gay footballer:



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Full Frontal tries to make sense of Brexit with some help from a Time Lord:



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Years & Years - Worship:



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