Headline of the Day (one year ago)

This is actually a year old to the day, but it seems I never mentioned it, so here you go:

(ABC News)

(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

Daily Blend: Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Pres. Barack Obama

A Tale of Two Obamas: BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski presents a trenchant exposé on the President’s ^[pictured] then-and-now stance on civil liberties and government powers.

10-year-old Alexandria, VA boy arrested and charged with “brandishing a weapon” for showing his orange-tipped toy gun to other kids on a school bus.
(via @radleybalko)

Maybe the reason some police departments hate being recorded (including by their own surveillance tools) is because it exposes their corruption.
(via @normative; RT: @radleybalko)

And finally, latest Republican attempt to force God into classrooms includes text from a noted pro-choice atheist.
(via Rob F)

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

Headline of the Day

From Gay Star News:

The full story is a bit less cartoon-villain-sounding.

(via @todayspolitics)

Tags: Don Dwyer Jr. • gays • Magothy River • homophobes

The Second Amendment scoreboard

Posted without comment (other than to note the ever-growing incongruity of a legal right originally intended to empower the populace to deal with the eventuality of a tyrannical government in an age where a massively overgrown federal military would make any attempt at rebellion utterly futile):

© Tom Toles @ 08/05/10

I’m not for gun prohibition, but I sure as hell am for reasonable gun control. Roger Ebert lays it out plainly – and I can practically hear the Breitbart baboons a-hollerin’ over it already.

It’s always amazing how so many Americans love to blame these shooting tragedies on everything except guns.

(via Joe. My. God.)

Tags: Aurora, CO shooting • Roger Ebert • assault rifles • mass shootings • USA • United States • Americans

Non-officer arrested after shooting dog that bit him

Another study in contrasts:

Authorities said [Savannah, GA landlord James] Wrenn was fixing an electrical problem at a mobile home when the dog bit him. The animal's owner said the dog was tethered with a chain.

Police said Wrenn went to his truck, got a pistol and shot the dog nine times. Neighbors said Wrenn reloaded his gun during the incident.

For his blatant overkill (no pun intended), Wrenn was charged with everything under the sun from aggravated animal cruelty to firing a gun in a residential area.

Everything, that is, except the implied, unofficial charge: “committing doggycide without a badge”.

(via @radleybalko)

Tags: James Wrenn • Savannah, GA

Headline of the day (and Darwin Awards honorable mention)

(Not that I’m the habit of mocking the deceased unless they truly deserve it, but … come on.)

(via Rob F)

Tags: Mack Wolford • Mark 16:17-18 • snake-handling • snake-handlers

Daily Blend: Monday, April 23, 2012

Chuck Colson

Isn’t it actually a compliment when homophobes equate gays with the Devil? It’s like saying they’re so big and scary, they make God himself crap his pants.

Obama administration launches official Stop Bullying website.
(via Joe. My. God.)

Watergate felon-turned-anti-gay preacher Chuck Colson ^[pictured] dies at 82. Why, God, why? … not years ago?

Today in conservative asshattery: comparing the outrage over Romney sticking his terrified pooch on top of his car for a 12-hour road trip with the trumped-up nonsense over how President Obama once tasted dog meat as a child in Indonesia. Is there really no pseudo-scandal too abjectly pathetic for the Right to harp on?

Victory!: American Airlines plans to show interview with antivaccination crank Meryl Dorey. Skeptics everywhere roar, threaten boycott. AmAir backs down.

Jon Stewart brushes off the Catholic League’s inane boycott, which Bill Donohue’s ego interprets as a sign that he’s “getting to” Stewart.

This awesome fan-art raises a very important question: Where’s the Harry Potter animated TV series?!
(via @KyellGold)

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

Tags: StopBullying.gov • Stop Bullying • Obama administration • Chuck Colson • conservatives • Rightists • Tom Sexton • Big Journalism • Barack Obama • dog meat • Dreams from My Father • Mitt Romney • dogs • American Airlines • Meryl Dorey • Jon Stewart • The Daily Show • vagina mangers • Bill Donohue • Catholic League • boycotts • Harry Potter • fan art • Tristyn Pease

Daily Blend: Thursday, January 26, 2012

Bill Gates

• Shorter Washington State police: “There’s no good evidence for it, but we think your kids might all be getting hooked on heroin.”
  (via The Agitator)

• “In sum, Obama has deftly and intelligently pursued ignominious and ignoble foreign-policy goals.”

• The Land of the Free slips to #47 in world press freedom index. (Canada is #10 – yay?)
  (via The Agitator)

• Funny world: Founder ^[pictured] of evil technological empire is quickly becoming the greatest philanthropist in human history.

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

Tags: heroin • Washington • Dave Hoag • Glenn Greenwald • Barack Obama • foreign policy • Press Freedom Index • Reporters Without Borders • USA • United States • Canada • Bill Gates • Microsoft • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation • charity • Global Fund

Daily Blend: Wednesday, November 22, 2011 – Blame time zones

I am so sorry you are now amongst those you mocked

I don’t care what anyone or their calendars say; it’s still Tuesday the 22^nd until I go to bed. Harumph.

• Doggycide: Off-duty NYC cop shoots & kills neighbor’s friendly Doberman for “growling” at his dog.
  (via @radleybalko)

• Dash-cam video showing Black man pepper-sprayed and (allegedly) choked for jaywalking appears online; Mayor says he’s “gravely disappointed” … that the video was made public. Because it’s “counteractive” to “police-community relations”. Always nice to see where their priorities lie.
  (via @radleybalko)

• Oh karma: “Foreclosure mill” law firm caught mocking the homeless at a Halloween party ^[pictured] now forced to close after backlash.
  (via Political Irony)

• MythBusters’ Grant Imahara answers Reddit’s top 10 questions.

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

Tags: Joe Mazzola • Boo Boo • Champaign, IL • Don Gerard • police brutality • Steven J. Baum P.C. • foreclosure • homelessness • Grant Imahara • MythBusters • Reddit

Daily Blend: Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI)

• Michigan’s “license to bully” bill finally loses religious exemption. ^{[advocate pictured]}

• Catholic bishops try to color abortion and LGBT rights as “religious liberty” issues. ’Cause nothing says preserving your freedoms like interfering with how other people fuck and procreate.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Anti-choice group launches “all points bulletin” to find pregnant woman to continue pressuring her out of having an abortion. Charges for stalking/harassment, anyone?
  (via @todayspolitics)

• New opening for Catholic Church child safety coordinator. (Bet you never saw that one coming.)
  (via Rob F)

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

Tags: Michigan • Republicans • Matt's Safe School Law • License to Bully Bill • Gretchen Whitmer • Roman Catholic bishops • same-sex marriage • LGBT marriage • gay marriage • Timothy Dolan • religious liberty • United States Conference of Catholic Bishops • USCCB • Vigil for Life • Catholic Church

Daily Blend: Sunday, October 09, 2011

Anwar al-Awlaki

• Obama administration launches yet another crackdown on legal medicinal marijuana dispensaries.
  (via The Agitator)

• U.S. House passes bill to make it a felony for any U.S. citizen to violate U.S. drug laws while out of the U.S.

• Irony alert: Secret memo giving President Obama the right to kill Anwar al-Awlaki ^[pictured] without due process was authored by two outspoken critics of the Bush administration’s expansive use of executive power.
  (via The Agitator)

• Doggycide in Trenton, NY: Lethal dog shooting by retired officer leads to tense investigation with both sides suspected of wrongdoing.
  (via The Agitator)

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

Tags: medicinal marijuana • medical marijuana • Obama administration • House Judiciary Committee • Controlled Substances Act • CSA • Anwar al-Awlaki • David Barron • Martin Lederman • Bush administration • Trenton, NY • Anthony Randazzo • Bernard Sperfeld

Daily Blend: Monday, September 12, 2011

Jennifer McKinsey

All I have to say about 9/11 anymore can be surmised perfectly through this graphic. What has happened is a national disgrace and absolutely nothing more. Anyone pretending otherwise is either hypocritical or simply delusional.

• Irony blindness: Kansas high school teacher ^[pictured] forced by parents to apologize after stepping on U.S. flag during lesson on free speech.

• President Obama: “Americans […] refuse to live in fear”. Glenn Greenwald, erm, disagrees.

• Canadian doctors in Toronto, ON reject proposed quackery-friendly guidelines. More of this, please (particularly in the U.S.).

• Paul Krugman vents about post-9/11 climate of politicized fear. Right-wingers wax outrage. Being called out on moral grounds by Donald Rumsfeld is particularly rich.
  (via @ggreenwald)

• Ray Comfort’s latest argument against abortion: Yahoo! Answers users. #facepalm (Note: I also left a perfectly civil comment refuting some of the claims from the quoted “Best Answer”, which has since been deleted by an administrator, even though it had accumulated 11 thumbs-up. How very telling.)

• You will never think of balloon animals the same way. Ever. Again.
  (via Ian Meredith)

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

Tags: 9-11 • US Military • Afghanistan • Iraq • Jennifer McKinsey • US flag • American flag • flags • Towanda, KS • Circle High School • Barack Obama • Americans • USA • United States • Security State • alternative medicine • CAM • College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario • CPSO • doctors • Paul Krugman • Donald Rumsfeld • conservatives • Jennifer Rubin • Ray Comfort • Yahoo! Answers • balloon animals • dogs • Durex • condoms • commercials

Always important to set an example

I wonder: Does a double wrongdoing cancel itself out?

(via The Agitator)

Tags: Texas Department of Public Safety • cell phones

Bryan Fischer says only losers call other people “Nazis”

Bryan Fischer

Hide your irony meters, folks. The American Family Association’s über-bigoted Bryan Fischer, who often goes so far that even the AFA itself is compelled to censor him, is now saying that only pathetic losers without an argument would call their opponents “Nazis”:

[…] Fischer kicked off the program by stating that somewhere on the internet, someone had referred to him as a "Nazi gas bag" ... and claimed that when people start calling you a Nazi, it is proof that they do not have any legitimate arguments to make:

[embedded audio player; see it at source article]

And by the way, ladies and gentlemen, this is a clear indication that the Left has lost the argument and the debate in public policy. Because name-calling is the first refuge of a man who does not have an argument. As soon as someone starts calling you names, then realize they're out of ammunition, they're out of arguments. They can't reason with you any longer, they don't have facts on their side, they don't have reason on their side, they don't have logic on their side, they don't have history on their side, they don't have research on their side, they don't have science on their side so they start calling you things like a "Nazi gas bag."

Of course, this is coming from a man who would make Glenn “Nazi Tourette’s” Beck proud. Here’s Fischer just two months ago openly and unequivocally declaring that gays are Nazis:

I mean, ladies and gentlemen, they are Nazis. Homosexual activists, when it comes to freedom of speech, are Nazis. When it comes to freedom of religion, they are Nazis. There is no room in their world dissent, there is no room in their world for disagreement, there is no room in their world for criticism. You criticize homosexual behavior, they tag you as a bigot and a homophobe and then they got to work to silence you just like the Roman Catholic Church did in the days of Galileo - it's no different; it's the Spanish Inquisition all over again.

Ladies and gentlemen, they are Nazis. Do not be under any illusions about what homosexual activists will do with your freedoms and your religion if they have the opportunity. They'll do the same thing to you that the Nazis did to their opponents in Nazi Germany.

As the writer quips, “Bryan Fischer is a lot of things ... but self-aware is not one of them.” Then again, Fischer’s not necessarily wrong; he did just say that only people who don’t have “reason”, “logic” or “arguments” call their ideological opponents “Nazis”. He just doesn’t understand how right he is.

Tags: Bryan Fischer • Nazis

Study: Homophobia is caused by latent homosexuality [updated]

Pictured: If you’re anti-gay, you secretly dream of this

How’s this for interesting (and revealing, and amusing): A study conducted on both regular and homophobic men seems to indicate that a homophobe is really just a repressed homosexual at heart. From Psychology Today:

If Freud is right, then perhaps men who are the most opposed to male homosexuality have particularly strong homosexual urges for other men.

One study asked heterosexal men how comfortable and anxious they are around gay men. Based on these scores, they then divided these men into two groups: men that are homophobic, and men who are not. These men were then shown three, four minute videos. One video depicted straight sex, one depicted lesbian sex and one depicted gay male sex. While this was happening, a device was attached to the male participant's penises. This device has been found to be triggered by sexual arousal, but not other types of arousal (such as nervousness, or fear - arousal often has a very different meaning in psychology than in popular usage).

When viewing lesbian sex and straight sex, both the homophobic and the non-homophobic men showed increased penis circumference. For gay male sex, however, only the homophobic men showed heightened penis arousal.

Heterosexual men with the most anti-gay attitudes, when asked, reported not being sexually aroused by gay male sex videos. But, their penises reported otherwise.

Homophobic men were the most sexually aroused by gay male sex acts.

Now, as if I had to put up such a disclaimer, I am no expert in human psychology or sexuality, and nor do I have any ability to assess the validity of such a study. The abstract itself at PubMed is painfully limited in data, not even giving any information regarding the sampling numbers or methodology. Personally, I’m hoping for a timely examination by our favorite scientifically minded fag hag to let us all know whether this study is worth more than mere gleeful snickering.

Still, though, assuming they used a sample size that included at least ten anti-gay bigots, it’s still quite schadenfreudelicious that all of them got hard(er) at seeing full-on gay sex – and doubly more amusing that they were all significantly more aroused than their non-intolerant counterparts.

Oh, homophobes. Whether it’s being superficially repulsed or secretly aroused by it, they do seem uncharacteristically interested in gay sex.

(via The Agitator)

---

UPDATE: (06/16/11 2:25 PM) – Thanks to CalliopeJane in the comments for posting some more information about this study.

Tags: homophobia • gays • homosexuality

Poor if you do, unemployed if you don’t

To have money, you gotta make money. To make money, you gotta have money. To have money, you gotta have a job. To have a job, you gotta have money. Isn’t that just a fun little catch-22?

Those stupid, inconsiderate poor people! They should all just get a job.

Oh, riiight …

(via Political Irony)

Tags: Ted Rall • comics

Daily Blend: Saturday, May 28, 2011

“Sexting”

• Texas bill reducing “sexting” [pictured] charges from felony to misdemeanor goes to Gov. Perry for signing.

• Self-parody: Detroit crime lab ordered closed due to “sloppy investigations”, subsequently left open to the elements, with evidence still inside.

• The bottomless stupidity of WND: Obama’s birth certificate is fake because tiny random markings in signature look like a smiley face. Journalism!
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Five things that make poor people’s lives that much more difficult.

• China takes a decidedly bizarre approach to prison “hard labor”.
  (via @ebertchicago)

• Facebookers who actually believe Onion articles. What a sad spectacle.
  (via @jennifurret)

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

Supplemental tags: Weird • Prisons • The Onion • Satire/Parody

Daily Blend: Friday, May 27, 2011

Father Riccardo Seppia

• It would be funny how predictable this is becoming if it weren’t so disturbing. [pictured]

• Family fined $90,000 by USDA for selling pet rabbits.
  (via The Agitator)

• PersonalFailure explains whether one can be both Catholic and a feminist. (Hint: No.)

• Media Matters reveals Fox News’s utter lack of accountability compared to other, actual news networks.

• Hilarious: Poor terrorists are struggling without Osama’s guidance.

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

Quote Tweet of the Day: On cakes and cults

Julie Borowski

From Libertarian blogger Julie Borowski on Twitter:

I witnessed someone calling Ron Paul people a "cult" while eating a cake shaped like Reagan's face at #CPAC. Wait a min.

I’m not too big on Ron Paul, myself, but the Reaganites have grown downright disturbing in their whitewashing, idolizing fantasies of late.

(via The Agitator)

Daily Blend: Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Abortion

• Remember how House Republicans had supposedly removed “forcible rape” language from their latest no-federal-funding-for-abortion bill? Turns out, they didn’t.

• Department of Irony: Sarah “aggressive rhetoric is harmless!” Palin cancels public appearance out of safety concerns due to … aggressive rhetoric.

• Good: Cops oppose red light cameras. FFS: Because they don’t let them off like other cops do.
  (via The Agitator)

• Man killed by sharp cock. (No?)

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