Daily Blend: Friday, December 21, 2012

Wait, there’s still time for the world to end yet!

The NDAA ^[pictured] gets even worse: Senate removes amendment protecting U.S. citizens from indefinite detention without a trial.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

Meanwhile, it turns out that the Obama administration’s surveillance program is even worse than under Bush & co., to absolutely no-one-who’s-been-paying-attention’s surprise.

41-million-strong state of São Paulo, Brazil passes same-sex marriage.
(via Joe. My. God.)

Pro-gun lobby blames Newtown massacre on gun-free zones, media, movies, videogames, music, gun safety advocates, President Obama, hurricanes, terrorism, gunman.

Better yet, the NRA wants “an active national database of the mentally ill”; sensible people everywhere pop an aneurysm.

In lighter news, contrary to expectations, it seems that 2012 was the best year overall in human history (so far!).

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Election Day wrap-up

Note: 11/07/12 7:20 PM ET – I’ve posted a follow-up edition with tons more links!

Oh you look so beautiful tonight / In the city of blinding lights …

[source]

It looks like Mitt Romney will have to continue campaigning for four more years.

Same-sex marriage: PASSES (or is guaranteed to very shortly) in Washington, Maryland, Maine and Minnesota, all by popular vote! Right-wing homophobes everywhere who continually trumpet the “never passed by popular vote” trope, get fucking lost.

Recreational marijuana: PASSES in both Colorado and Washington! I’d like to see the Obama administration drug warriors crack down on two entire states.
(via @BadAstronomer & @breakingpol (RT: @BreakingNews))

Rape-gate: Republican troglodytes Richard Mourdock (IN), Todd Akin (MO) and John Koster (WA) are all kicked to the curb.

Some of these links are more-or-less preliminary reports, so be sure to look around for further confirmation and details. But nonetheless, today went a damn sight better than two years ago. It’s certainly been one hell of a day for Washington state – gay marriage, pot legalization and getting rid of that “rape thing” moron all in one evening.

You know, I think my faith in humanity may have improved just a tiny little bit tonight.

Edit: 11/07/12 5:04 PM ET – Added some detail about Obama’s anti-pot track record.

Daily Blend: Thursday, September 20, 2012

Ken Ham

Happy one-year-anniversary, totally and predictably non-apocalyptic repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell!

Today in schadenfreude: Biblical Creationists ^[pictured] are stompin’ mad that modern science says dinosaurs were actually quite feathery.
(via @rdfrs)

Proud Christian man wants everyone to know that he got married “the right way” and that the rest of you are just floozies and losers.

And finally, here’s an awesome map of the awesome latest xkcd strip, ‘Click and Drag’.
(via Rob F)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Don't Ask, Don't Tell • U.S. Military • Creationists • Ken Ham • Answers in Genesis • Steven Crowder • Christians • Christianity • xkcd

Anti-doggycide in Baltimore, Maryland

The obvious and unfortunate effect of the maxim that bad news will always be louder than happy news is that we tend to seriously underestimate just how much good there is in the world, even when we can’t go five minutes without hearing about the latest robbery, defrauding … or household pet being slaughtered by police under suspicious circumstances. Speaking of which, here’s a much-needed uplifting tale to illustrate that there are good and competent cops out there, such as Ofc. Dan Waskiewicz of Baltimore, who sent this email to the pitbull advocacy blog, Modified k9, describing his recent encounter with an allegedly “vicious” dog:

Hey,

I'm a Police Officer in Baltimore City. I am originally from Wilkes-Barre, and I am a fan of your organization and Pit Bulls. Today I received a call while on duty about a vicious dog chasing kids. When I came on the scene, I noticed people yelling out their windows at the dog. I followed the dog into an ally to see how it was acting. Going on my own approach, being a dog lover, I got out of my car and called the "vicious dog" over to me. The dog came over with it's tail between it's legs and panting. I grabbed my water bottle and the dog sat down next to me and began licking my pants. I started giving the dog water. I brought the dog over and waited for the pound to show up. My partner was not a fan of dogs and was startled by my approach. I suggested to him that this dog cannot be put down, and should be taken to a shelter. We took it upon ourselves to take the dog to the shelter, and transported it in the back seat in the back of our patrol car. Then I decided that I wanted to keep the dog, and spoke to the shelter about the steps to take to adopt it. The dog was originally kept outside and was filthy, and now it just might have a new home. I know you like positive pictures so I have attached a few. Have a great day and keep up the good work!

Officer Dan Waskiewicz
Baltimore City Police

Now this is how it’s done. No rash judgment, no shooting on-sight based on unreliable random witnesses, and best of all, no knee-jerk prejudice against an animal for belonging to a particular breed. Just a calm and rational approach with a perfectly happy outcome. Not to tell other cops how to do their jobs – wait, that’s actually exactly what I’m doing – but they really need to start looking at their more level-headed peers for guidance. There might just be a few less cadavers in the end.

Keep up the good work yourself, Officer Waskiewicz. Meanwhile, be sure to head over to the original post to see all those heart-tingling pics of the (very happy) pooch and his rescuer.

(via @radleybalko)

Tags: Dan Waskiewicz • pitbulls • dogs • Baltimore, MD • Modified k9

Daily Blend: Friday, January 27, 2012

Rep. Larry Pittman (R-NC)

• Arkansas man Tased, beaten and arrested despite having committed no crime. Court partially sides with him, awards him … $1.

• Whoopsie: Pastor and Rep. Larry Pittman (R-NC) accidentally sends out mass email calling for “public hangings” for “abortionists, rapists and kidnappers”.
  (via @radleybalko)

• The Internet: Rallying people around good causes like never before.

• 40 questions for fundy Christians.
  (via Rob F)

• Headline of the day: Drug-fueled-orgy-ruined-by-bear-spray edition.
  (via @radleybalko)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Derrol Kirby III • Danielle Ingram • James Marschewski • police brutality • excessive force • Larry Pittman • hanging • capital punishment • public execution • Reddit • Omari • Faaraja • orphanages • Christians • Christianity • fundamentalism • fundamentalists • Stephen Barclay • Leanne Reid • bear repellant • bear spray • orgies • Owen Greenan

First-ever same-sex kiss at U.S. Navy ship’s return

I didn’t really feel like smiling. Then I came across this story:

A Navy tradition caught up with the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule on Wednesday when two women sailors became the first to share the coveted "first kiss" on the dock after one of them returned from 80 days at sea.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta of Placerville, Calif., descended from the USS Oak Hill amphibious landing ship and shared a quick kiss with her partner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell of Los Angeles. The crowd screamed and waved flags around them.

Now I can’t stop.

Long may the barriers continue to fall like the decrepit leftovers of institutionalized bigotry that they are.

(via @BadAstronomer)

Tags: Marissa Gaeta • Citlalic Snell • US Navy

Daily Blend: Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Pretty much.

Three more days before U2! (Yes, I had to brag. Deal with it.)

• Federal wiretaps doubled last year. Change and transparency, eh?
  (via The Agitator)

• Kansas officials give the finger to federal judge, decide to enact permanent anti-abortion regulations.

• Beyond disturbing: Eight insane sexual products aimed at little girls. Humanity, I hate you.

• Conversely, modern life really isn’t as bad as we’re always told.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: wiretaps • Obama administration • Kansas • Sam Brownback • Cracked.com • child sexualization • creepy • Gulf oil spill • Gulf of Mexico • HIV • AIDS • Ozone hole • Ozone layer • teen pregnancy

Facebook protest gets Australian pro-safe sex ads restored

Men embracing at “Rip & Roll” counter-protest

I do love news like this. Only yesterday did I blog about how the Australian Christian Lobby, a typically prudish pearl-clutching group, was able to raise enough of a hissy fit over a new pro-sexual protection ad campaign featuring two men embracing and holding an unopened condom wrapper to get the ads yanked. But while the advertizing company caved in after only 30 complaints, the move created enough outrage, including a massive Facebook counter-protest, that about 40,000 Aussies made their voices heard and convinced the advertizing company to cancel its cancellation of the ads [my emphasis]:

MORE than 35,000 people have joined a "Rip and Roll'' Facebook support group after their safe sex advertisement targeting gay men was pulled down from Brisbane bus stops because of 30 complaints.

The Queensland Association for Healthy Communities started the group after Adshel - the company that provides advertising for Brisbane's bus shelters - buckled after pressure from the Christian lobby and removed the ad featuring an image of a gay couple embracing, holding an unopened red condom packet.

The "Homophobia - NOT HERE - Adshel Caves to Homophobic Pressure'' Facebook campaign has generated a big public response after Michael James who appeared in the ad with his partner asked the public to join their petition.

[…]

A group of about 20 people gathered outside Adshell’s office on Agnes St in Fortitude Valley this afternoon, chanting “equal rights, equal love, equal people”.

The organiser of the protest, Michael O’Brien, said a Facebook event advertising the protest was set up about 8pm last night.

[…]

The protest drew immediate results, with Adshel this afternoon reversing its decision to pull the ads.

Of course, as heartening (and schadenfreudelicious) as this turn of events is, it could never realistically happen in the Unites States, especially in anywhere near the Bible Belt. Any advert featuring a gay couple (!) kissing (!!) while holding a condom (!!!) would never see the light of day, and even if it somehow did, the fundamentalist move against it would undoubtedly garner hundreds or even thousands of pearl-clutching voices of protest that no pro-LGBT counter-protest could really match.

Oh, well. Baby steps, I suppose.

(via Uzza's Notes)

BREAKING: Uganda parliament drops “Kill the Gays” bill!

Uganda MP David Bahati

Some great news out of Africa today. While until now, it seemed that Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality (“Kill the Gays”) Bill was being fast-tracked into law to the point where it could even have been enacted today (Wednesday), it seems that the renewed international outburst of condemnation has led to the Ugandan parliament dropping the bill for now:

KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda's parliament appeared Wednesday to have dropped plans to debate a controversial bill that once proposed the death penalty for some gays and lesbians following an outcry from U.S. leaders and rights groups.

The bill was first proposed in 2009 but wasn't debated until last Friday. It had been scheduled to be debated before the full parliament on Wednesday but was dropped from the schedule.

The future of the bill remained murky as Wednesday was parliament's last scheduled day of session. It wasn't clear if the proposed legislation could be carried forward to the next session or if the author would have to offer a new bill, which he has said he will do if needed.

The original bill would mandate a death sentence in some cases, part of the reason it attracted global attention. The bill's author, David Bahati, has said a new version would not contain the death penalty, but no amended version has been released publicly.

One member of parliament, John Arumadri, said Wednesday that the bill may have been dropped from the agenda because of the worldwide outcry against it.

Now, being a homosexual in Uganda already isn’t much of a picnic, but at least it’ll be a while before gay and lesbian Ugandans are again faced with the prospect of being put to death by their government for being in love with someone with the wrong set of genitals.

(via @BreakingNews)

Kitties take care of lost infant boy

Pictured: Infant caretakers

Time for a little pick-me-up after that last story. Now, Uzza calls them “Demo-cats”, but they are obviously “Socatlists”:

(Newser) – Police in Argentina recently found a 1-year-old homeless boy being cared for by wild cats, the Daily Telegraph reports. A policewoman on patrol noticed an unusually large cat gathering which, on closer inspection, was surrounding the boy. Doctors believe the eight cats snuggled up to keep the child warm on cold nights that would have otherwise been fatal.

“The boy was lying at the bottom of a gutter,” the officer said. “There were all these cats on top of him licking him because he was really dirty. When I walked over they became really protective and spat at me.” The cats also apparently foraged for the boy's food. Police later found his homeless father, who said cats have always been protective of his son.

Though, we both agree they aren’t Republicats. They would obviously have bartered the baby for fish, or possibly denounced him as a freeloader.

(via Uzza's Notes)

Daily Blend: Friday, January 21, 2011

Gulet Mohamed

• Gulet Mohamed [pictured], US teen who was kidnapped to Kuwait, tortured and secretly placed on the no-fly list, now set to return home at last thanks to the courts. Absolutely no thanks to President Obama or any hand he commands. What a fucking disgrace.

• Republican anti-science demagoguery marches on, now threatens to defund CIA climate monitoring and analysis program.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Conservapedia tries to list some examples of Wikipedia’s “liberal bias, deceit, frivolous gossip, and blatant errors”. Three guesses how that goes.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Lemme help you with this quandary, pearl-clutchers: If there’s no actual porn, then no matter how debauched it may be (at least, to you), it’s not fucking child porn. For fuck’s sake.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Giles Muhame

• Ugandan high court bans the media from publishing the identity of numerous homosexuals. Chief editor [pictured] of local tabloid Rolling Stone (of no relation to the US magazine) plans to defy order and keep doing so.
  (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

• College student Aaron Tobey strips for the TSA to reveal Fourth Amendment scribbled on his chest, is promptly arrested for disorderly conduct.
  (via The Agitator)

• Debunking Sarah Palin & co.’s excuses that the notorious gunsights map didn’t really have gunsights.

• Finally, some happy news: Michael Douglas says his throat cancer seems to be beat.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

DADT is dead

Sayonara, bitch

The measure to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has passed the US Senate with a 65-31 vote, with only eight Republicans voting for the repeal. The bill is now en route to President Obama for a final signing. Even he can’t screw this up. (Okay, that was harsh. But frankly, this issue has been exhausting, and his constant pandering to both sides of the debate – as if there were two equal sides to the debate – hasn’t helped matters.)

I’ll let everyone else, most of whom are far better qualified and informed on the matter than I am, take care of writing the essays on the origins, life and long-overdue demise of that wretched policy, and what a more open and fair armed forces will do for the US in the long run. Me, I’ll just here and blog away with a smile on my face for most of the day.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

How to tell if you may be bigoted

If these photos evoke any sort of disgust or resentment in your heart, chances are you’re a bigot and are unfit to pronounce judgment on any issues, social or legal, pertaining to the lives, rights and freedoms of these individuals:

Lol Kin Castaneda (seated) and her partner Judith Vazquez hug in their bedroom in Mexico City March 10, 2010. Castaneda and Vazquez are among some of the first same-sex couples to plan their marriage after the city passed a law in December allowing same-sex marriage. The law, now in effect after being approved by the city's mainly left-wing legislature in December, goes beyond current law allowing same-sex civil unions to give gay couples the same marriage rights as straight couples, including adoption. (REUTERS/Eliana Aponte (MEXICO - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY)

Alex Freyre, right, receives a wedding ring from his partner Jose Maria Di Bello during their marriage at the civil registry in Ushuaia, southern Argentina, Monday, Dec. 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Government of Tierra del Fuego)

A lesbian couple who gave their first names as Emma, left, and Janis, right, hold a child as they begin their legal process towards marriage in a city government building in Mexico City, Thursday, March 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Homophobes and conservatives see in these pictures something to oppose, something to rail against as though it were a crime against nature or humanity. Normal, rational people look at these pictures and see people in love. Nothing more. Nothing less. Because it’s all there is. And that should be celebrated.

(via @hemantmehta)

Tags: gay • gays • LGBT people • gay marriage • same-sex marriage • love • relationships

BREAKING: Prop 8 overturned as “unconstitutional”! [updated]

No to Prop 8 [source: 'OZ' - The 'Other' Side of the Rainbow]

YES!

In the long-awaited ruling Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 9th Circuit District Court Judge Vaughn Walker handed down a doozy of a ruling: The voter-approved law known as Prop 8, which stripped California's same-sex couples of the right to marry, is unconstitutional, violating both due process and equal protection clauses.

Details forthcoming in the 136-page ruling. Hard copies will be distributed at 2pm PST.

From the ruling, according to sources at New York: "Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same sex couples." ^{[my emphasis]}

Note that the aforementioned article has since been updated, but I’m leaving this excerpt as-is as it explains the basics perfectly as it is.

I will now post a song representing my feelings. (Screw you haters; it’s a beautiful song performed by a magnificent talent that perfectly captures the moment, IMO.)

Open post page to view above video

Oh, what a good day, indeed.

---

UPDATE: (08/04/10 6:35 PM) – What’s better than a federal judge ruling that ideologues and bigots don’t have the right to deny people the right to wed whomever they love? Why, relishing in the moaning and whining of the usual suspects in light of the smackdown they’ve received, of course. From a CNN article chronicling some reactions towards the ruling:

Daily Blend: Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Kristin Davis [source: NY Daily News]

• FEATURED: NYC’s Landmarks Preservation Commission votes unanimously to deny “protected historic status” to the building situated at the site of the proposed “Ground Zero Mosque”, thus officially clearing the way for the Islamic cultural center to be built. Don’t you love it when bigots get crushed by the very people they rail against?

• New NOAA study assembled by by over 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries adds yet more irrefutable evidence confirming the Earth is warming up. Though, that might just be denialists fuming as their arguments burn up.
  (via Bad Astronomy)

• News: Two Brooklyn, NYC cops charged with falsely arresting man with trumped-up charges. PWNed: Man was undercover cop executing a sting operation and caught their misbehavior on video.
  (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

• Pensacola, Florida cop Jerald Ard wildly chases after 17-year-old Victor Steen on his bike with his cruiser for no reason, Tases the teen at high speed, runs him over and kills him. Bad enough yet? Nope: Ard then caught by his cruiser’s dashcam apparently planting a gun on Steen’s body (still under his car). Blood boiling yet? The clincher: Judge ruled Ard innocent of any wrongdoing. Because, of course, planting evidence on an innocent teenager you’d run over because you Tased him at high speed when chasing him for having stolen something that he never actually stole is a victimless crime, is it?
  (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

• Vox Day’s evidence that atheists are dumb, ignorant, irrational and can’t argument competently: various random comments left by random readers of random blogs. Sorry to those of you whose irony meters were non-returnable.

• American Family Association freaks out over Sears selling softcore posters, doubly pissed that the superstore would dare ignore their ravings. Be sure to send Sears a “complaint” letter letting them know how offended you are, too.
  (via Fark)

Daily Blend: Sunday, July 18, 2010

Nelson Mandela

One of the more disconcerting aspects to growing older is seeing the world and its treasures age along with you.

• Is this site trying to say that “gay ‘marriage’” isn’t actually marriage at all? Perhaps it’s some sort of tribal custom, then. Which would still be superior to civil unions.
  (via @rdfrs)

• “New Atheists claim to possess moral superiority –” Whoops, sorry, just lost any interest in your book. Not to mention the rest of the description is just a ridiculous mix of the same old stereotypes we’re all used to.

• I’m not one for even acknowledging celebrities’ birthdays, but in this case: Happy 92^nd birthday, Nelson Mandela ^[pictured], and may you be well for years to come still.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• The GOP and their priorities.
  (via @todayspolitics)

As always, if you have any story suggestions, feel free to send them in.

Tags: gay marriage • Argentina • Spero News • New Atheists • atheists • stupid • Nelson Mandela • GOP • Republicans • economy • deficit • hypocrisy • cartoons

Daily Blend: Thursday, July 08, 2010

BP board game box art

• When does “slave trade” become “Atlantic triangular trade”? When the Texas Board of Education says so, is when. For fuck’s sake.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• A happy story of a woman who gained a new face after 7/7 London terror attacks.
  (via The Agitator)

• Single mother of two with leukemia had her medical insurance coverage terminated (briefly) when insurer claimed she had underpaid her premium – by ¢1. Literally. A fucking penny. But, noo, the system’s just fiiine as it is, isn’t it, Rethuglicans?
  (via @todayspolitics)

• The Chicago public library commissioner, Mary A Dempsey, smacks down a previous idiotic Fox News report that claimed how public libraries are a “waste of tax money” and ought to be “on the way out”. Taking particular issue with the Fox report claiming that the clientele were focused on the free computers, not the bookshelves: “Your 'undercover cameras' shots were taken in a series of stacks devoted to bound periodicals used for reference. Next time, try looking at the circulating collections throughout the building.”

• Uninformed Creationist claims that “Darwinists” never criticize the sophistication and efficiency of the human brain. Allow PZ Myers to explain just how, despite its abilities that still defy human understanding in their awesomeness, the brain also has a multitude of harsh limitations that we could really do without, imperfections that arose as a result, not of intelligent design, but of a biological imperative for long-term survival.

• The BP Board Game. … No, seriously. BP made a board game ^[pictured]. About oil rigs. With “hazard cards” that resulted in spills. “Blow-out! Rig damaged. Oil slick clean-up costs. Pay $1million.” Oh, if only. If only.

• Lolwut?
  (via Diaphanitas)

• Food for thought about money for power: The average Japanese CEO has less than one-sixth the salary of the average American CEO. Not exactly surprising, given how some cultures still have a sense of shame.
  (via @todayspolitics)

As always, if you have any story suggestions, feel free to send them in.

Tags: Texas Board of Education • slavery • slave trade • history revisionism • wingnuts • Davinia Turrell • facial reconstruction • London bombings • health insurance • douchebaggery • libraries • anti-intellectualism • Mary A Dempsey • Evolution • Creationists • PZ Myers • neurology • brain • BP • board games • irony • lolwut • humor • Japan • United States • CEO salaries

Daily Blend: Saturday, June 26, 2010

Ex-WaPo blogger Dave Weigel

It’s not enough that my Internet connection is perpetually on the fritz; now, even my printer has decided to turn into a passive-aggressive asshole. Oh, the joys of temperamental technology.

• The Washington Post forces David Weigel [pictured], great blogger about conservatives, to resign after leaked private messages from Weigel reveal that he dared to have opinions about the assholes on the Right who are actively desecrating the United States and its founding ideals. In other words, the WaPo just revealed itself to be a giant spineless pussy and has lost one of its greatest contributors.

• Faux News: Federal agencies are boycotting Arizona and canceling conventions there. Reality: Dept. of Education will be holding a conference there next week and Border Patrol states that no conferences have been canceled.

• Ho hum: anti-gay group “Americans for Truth about Sexuality” is piggybacking on Illinois Family Institute’s Laurie Higgins’ dumbass attack against Hemant Mehta (Friendly Atheist). Hemant responds with some delicious mathematical mockery – check it that graphic cleavage! (Yes, that’s a double-entendre.)

• From Ed Brayton: “Worldnutdaily: All the News Fit to Hallucinate”. Couldn’t have put it better myself.

• And to think that until just now, I used to believe in each and every one of those steak-grilling myths. Egads!
  (via The Agitator)

• New York senate demands that the NYPD shut down its database of innocent people where were stopped and frisked.
  (via The Agitator)

• A good reaction to an annoying horn.
  (via The Agitator)

• Did Venus once have oceans – and life?
  (via The Daily Grail)

• Bionic kitty will rule you. Also, my room appears to be strangely dusty right now.
  (via The Daily Grail)

• I felt unoriginal posting these vids as posts of my own after PZ already featured them, so here’s just a quick link to two examples of things that A) prove how much of a humongous geek you are, and B) for the second vid, are liable to get you run after with pitchforks.

• GOP not happy with Gov. Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) and his knack for doing things that they don’t like. Like supporting gay rights, environmental protections, universal healthcare, etc., etc. …
  (via @todayspolitics)

As always, if you have any story suggestions, feel free to send them in.

Daily Blend: Friday, May 28, 2010

She’s Ron’s sister
But she’s ditched Dean!
She’s still Ron’s sister.
I’m his best mate!
That’ll make it worse.
If I talked to him first--
He’d hit you.
What if I don’t care?
He’s your best mate!
— Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

• “Quantum teleportation”: not quite Star Trek-level, but the ability to instantaneously beam information across distances of 10 miles is still pretty damn awesome.
  (via @ebertchicago)

• Best response to a fire-and-brimstone street preacher I’ve seen yet. All hail The Boot!

• Again, why it doesn’t really pay all that well to be a whistle-blower, especially in a government law enforcement agency.
  (via The Agitator)

• Doggycide, complete with literal burning of the (potential) evidence.
  (via The Agitator)

• Interesting Slate sideshow on the possible end of street art.
  (via The Agitator)

• Car enthusiast has amassed a £500,000 (US$615.3K) collection of cars from classic films and TV shows. Jay Leno last seen crying his heart out.
  (via @ebertchicago)

• FEATURED: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, No More. With a 234-194 vote in the Congressional House.
  (via The Daily Dish)

• Someone needs to kill this thread and bury it. The puns … oh my dear God, the PUNS!!!

• CNN Breaking News email: “BP's top official upgrades impact of Gulf oil spill from "very modest" to "environmental catastrophe."” You. Don’t. Say.

As always, if you have any story suggestions, feel free to send them in.