Daily Blend: 05/01/13

Kiera Wilmot

How the hell can it be this hot this early in the year? This can’t bode well.

Animal liberation activists in Milan, Italy, heroically sabotage years’ worth of mental health research by releasing scared and helpless lab animals that cannot survive on their own.
(via Pharyngula)

Who made the “bad choices” here: the model high-schooler ^[pictured] who created a tiny pop in a bottle by mixing chemicals in an experiment* (To be fair, not generally a good [or safe] idea unless you know what you’re doing, which it didn’t sound like she did), or the dumbass school and police officials who got her expelled, arrested and are dragging her to court for “possession/discharge of a weapon”?
(via @radleybalko)

• Better yet: The school then respond to criticism by declaring that “there are consequences to actions”. Indeed, and those consequences are that students will refrain from ever exhibiting any curiosity or scientific interest at Florida’s Bartow High School in order to avoid violating their ridiculous zero-tolerance policy.
  (via Pharyngula)

Wait, hydrogen peroxide doesn’t work? Dammit, Cracked, stop exploding my beliefs.

And finally, happy decaversary to MythBusting! Even though I only started watching in 2005 (“Steel Toe-Cap Amputation, Bottle Rocket Blast-Off”)
(via @MythBusters; RT: @JamieNoTweet)

Daily Blend: 04/15/13

Gitmo

My thoughts and hopes go to Boston, MA today. How utterly senseless.

Alternate lede: “Sure, Gitmo detainees ^[pictured] were captured without charges and illegally imprisoned far away from home for many years with zero due process … but hey, they get to enjoy books and videogames (in between all that sleep deprivation and waterboarding)!”
(via @ggreenwald)

In response to UK’s current measles epidemic, The Independent gives platform to discredited quack responsible for modern anti-vaccination movement. (They later retracted the article.)

Canadian feminist becomes latest target of those compassionate, “human rights”-oriented Men’s Rights Activists.

And finally, here’s what religion has done for us this month:

Transcript: (click the [+/-] to open/close →)

[−]

Massive Islamic protests in Bangladesh calling for the hanging of “blasphemous” bloggers;

The New Zealand Herald: “Beheadings in Papua New Guinea for sorcery”;

Five Jerusalem women arrested for violating Israeli law by praying out loud in public, which ultra-orthodox men find “provocative”;

The Guardian: “Muslim Brotherhood backlash against UN declaration on women rights”;

Hamas in Gaza Strip orders genderal segregation in all schools;

BBC News: “Kenya condom advert pulled after religious complaints”;

French man Wilfred de Bruijn assaulted and beaten for walking with his boyfriend in public;

Large anti-gay protests in Paris, France against pending same-sex marriage legislation;

Gay Star News: “Gay man ‘stoned to death’ in Somalia”;

Senior pastor Bertheophilus M. Bailey Sr. at Claremore, OK’s Mount Zion Baptist Church charged with punching his son in the face;

WHNT.com: “Former Franklin County Pastor Charged With Sexual Torture, Abuse”;

Teacher at Pleasanton, CA’s Centerpointe Christian Preschool ties up two-year-old girl for refusing to nap;

The Times: “Priest accused of sexual abuse at West Sussex children’s home”;

Indiana megachurch pastor Jack Schapp fired and jailed for molesting troubled 16-year-old girl across state lines;

BBC News: “Ex-priest Patrick McCabe sentenced for child abuse”;

Pastor Artelino Vallada at Toronto, CA’s Jesus Christ the Open Door Church charged with sexually assaulting four girls and women;

Irish Central: “Irish Priest accused of sexual abuse pleads with Pope Francis not to be dismissed from Church”;

Police confiscate computers from priest’s home after tracing downloads of child porn to his parish offices;

RTE News: “South African cardinal says paedophilia 'not a criminal condition'” [Which it isn’t. Child molestation is. Get it right, people. —JM]

Priest Angel Perez of Woodburn, OR’s Saint Luke Catholic Church accused of molesting 12-year-old boy;

al.com: “Former Wetumpka youth pastor sentenced to 10 years in prison in sexual abuse of child”;

Rev. David Kramer jailed for molesting young boys in US and Australia;

PostBulletin.com: “Oregon priest gets 6 years for child sex abuse”;

Associate pastor Darin Evans at Elmhurst, IL’s West Suburban Community Church imprisoned for having sex with an underaged girl in public spaces;

PressTV: “Austrian former priest charged with sexual abuse of minors”;

Rev. James Burnett of Mokena, IL’s Saint Mary’s Parish accused of molesting several young boys in his care; diocese accused of knowingly sheltering crooked priests;

Pink News: “Cardinal O’Brien alleged to have been in long-standing physical relationship with male priest”;

North Carolina Republican lawmakers propose bill to establish state religion (bill has since failed);

Oneindia: “Rajasthan: Video reveals family commits suicide to meet god”; and

Woman at church asks worshipers give “$100”, “$1,000” or “$150,000” if they can.

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

Daily Blend: 04/12/13

Audrie Pott (15)

Understatement of the Day: “It turns out that the Obama administration has not been honest about who the CIA has been targeting with drones in Pakistan.”
(via @ggreenwald)

I just don’t have the patience (or stomach) today to write about the horrific Kermit Gosnell case, other than to affirm how it’s the perfect argument for why abortion should be fully legalized and easily accessible to ensure women never need to resort to such barbarity out of desperation.

Ditto with Vox Day’s predictably pathetic rant about how pro-choicers are all worse than Nazis and so on.

Another teenaged girl ^[pictured] commits suicide to escape persecution resulting from the publicization of her student gang-rape. Now to watch the rape-culture-soaked media fret over those poor arrested rapists. (Again.)
(via Pharyngula)

Appeals court denies Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli’s petition to bring back anti-sodomy law.
(via Joe. My. God.)

Uruguay becomes latest country to legalize same-sex marriage.

And finally, Cracked presents some popular online myths, revised for accuracy.

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

Daily Blend: 03/31/13 – Happy Zombie Jesus Day

There’s something especially hideous about sentencing someone to complete surgical paralysis for a crime they committed as a juvenile a decade ago. (From a US-supported “allied” country, no less.)
(via @tomgara; RT: @ggreenwald)

Cracked has a very solid and informative piece explaining how the causes and nature of gun violence are never as simple as we make them out to be.

I am shocked, just as I assume you will be, to learn that the much-ballyhooed “college student suspended for refusing to stomp on Jesus!” story isn’t actually what the wingnuts claim it is.

And finally, while I find it odd that Google chose to celebrate Cesar Chavez over Easter, it’s hilarious how utterly incensed the Christianist-Right is getting over it. Gawd forbid a secular company not celebrate their cherished religious holiday!

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

Daily Blend: 03/15/13

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)

Catholic Church in Joliet, Illinois forced to release thousands of internal documents that “reportedly show every bishop since the 1950s has been aware of diocese priests sexually abusing children”. I can hear Bill Donohue preparing his “old news” stamp already.
(via @jennifurret)

Ironically named National Vaccination Information Center launches anti-vaccination billboards in four states. Not sure why Phil Plait expects the same company that proudly hosts Rush Limbaugh to apologize for, well, anything.

Why police officers shouldn’t be automatically believed (especially by the courts).

Republican Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio) ^[pictured] becomes latest example that the best way to get someone to drop their homophobia is for them to know a gay person.
(via Joe. My. God. & @BuzzFeedAndrew)

Information is Beautiful on the major causes of death in the 20^th Century. Is it just me, or does cancer seem disproportionately large?

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

Daily Blend: Thursday, February 28, 2013

Bill Donohue

NOTE: Effective tomorrow, Disqus will automatically “update” the old system (still in use on this blog as of this writing) to the new platform, which trades in marginally improved functionality while stripping any trace of customization. I expect to spend some time tinkering with the new system to try and squeeze out any possible improvement, though I won’t hold my breath. (Configurations and commenting histories should remain untouched.) That is all. (UPDATE: 03/06/13 3:35 PM ET – Date has been set back to the 13^th. So … yay?)

You know, it’s not often that we see priests making accusations of clerical child abuse against their superiors. Refreshing?
(via Joe. My. God.)

Indiana Republicans correct themselves: One government-sanctioned rape by medically pointless transvaginal ultrasound (instead of two) is just right for women seeking an abortion after all.

Another prosecutor thinks the best way to protect teens from the eeevils of “sexting” is by ruining their lives with the criminal justice system.

US Senate finally reauthorizes full Violence Against Women Act despite House Republicans’ best attempts to derail it and strip LGBT, native American and undocumented immigrant protections.

(Old gem) Quacks of a feather: Australian chiropractors accused of being key supporters of the anti-vaccination Australian Vaccination Network.
(via @DrRachie; RT: @BadAstronomer)

And finally, I don’t understand what Bill Donohue’s ^[pictured] anti-abortion argument is, here. I don’t think he does, either.

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

Daily Blend: Monday, February 18, 2013

Rhonda McGee

Iowa woman ^[pictured] “arrested and charged with intent to manufacture [crystal] meth” after buying cold medicine for her allergies – without even violating legal limits.
(via @radleybalko)

In case you somehow missed it, Phil Plait has breathless coverage of last Friday’s spectacular Russian meteoric fireball, along with a reassurance that no, the Universe is not out to get us lately (any more than usual, that is).

The Heartland Institute: Still a bunch of lyin’ liars about climate change.
(via @BadAstronomer)

And finally, here be morans. (To be fair, the handrail looks like it broke and slid askew rather than got installed that way.)
(via @RichardWiseman; RT: @pzmyers)

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

AZ court: DUIs don’t require actually being “under the influence”

It’s all too often that I find myself both astounded and depressed at the almost cartoonish stupidity and injustice exhibited some courts of law in the US, particularly when any form of drugs are involved:

An Arizona appeals court has ruled that marijuana users don't need to be actually impaired to be successfully prosecuted for driving under the influence. The ruling came Tuesday in the case of a man who tested positive for an inactive marijuana metabolite that remains in the body for weeks after the high from smoking marijuana has worn off.

The ruling in Arizona v. Shilgevorkyan overturned a decision by a superior court judge who said that it didn't make sense to prosecute people for driving under the influence if they're not actually under the influence.

The ruling turned on a close reading of legislative intent in writing the state's DUID law. The legislation specified the presence of "the metabolite" of THC, and Shilgevorkyan had argued that lawmakers meant "hydroxy-THC, the metabolite which would indicate current impairment, not carboxy-THC, an inactive metabolite that indicates only usage some time in the past.

The appeals court disagreed, citing its decisions on earlier challenges to the DUID. "The legislature intended to create a 'per se prohibition' and a 'flat ban on driving with any proscribed drug in one's system," the court noted. "We determined that the legislative ban extends to all substances, whether capable of causing impairment or not."

In other words: It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since you’ve taken a substance, how much of it is present in your system, or if it’s actually affecting you in any way, shape or form – or if it’s even possible for it to affect you – because, well, drugs are bad, m’kay?

I’d say there has to be some sort of legal principle against any rationale that ridiculously hackneyed and overbroad, but the fact that none was brought up to prevent this ruling would indicate that there isn’t. And that’s one damning condemnation against the legal system and its agenda-driven puppets all on its own.

(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

Daily Blend: Thursday, February 14, 2013

Dr. Callan Bentley

Information is Beautiful reveals the horrible state of rape prosecution in the UK, where only 1.5% of all estimated rapes end with a conviction.

Illinois Senate votes to approve same-sex marriage, sends bill to Democrat-controlled House where passage is virtually guaranteed.

Florence, AZ high-schooler suspended for using photo of a gun as desktop wallpaper on his school-issued laptop.
(via @radleybalko)

And finally, geology professor Callan Bentley ^[pictured] graciously provides an ID/Creationist with a head-spinning scientific smackdown.
(via @BadAstronomer)

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

Hack of the Day: MSNBC’s Touré excuses presidential crimes

There’s nothing like the recent revelation of the Obama administration’s legal justification for assassinating U.S. citizens suspected of terroristic activity to help expose the more dedicated partisans out there, and MSNBC’s Touré was quick to take the cake:

He's the Commander in Chief. RT @kirstenpowers10: You are fine w the White House deciding who is guilty and who should die?

— Touré (@Toure) February 5, 2013

Maybe I’m growing blind(er) in my old age (*cough*), but I could’ve sworn that reads “Commander in Chief”, not “king”, “emperor”, or “judge, jury and executioner”. The Office of the President is responsible for executing the law and representing the people, not subverting the whole purpose of the separation of powers by declaring who gets to live or die by fiat based on whatever loose interpretation of the law they chose. (Even if that’s what they’ve been doing for a while, now.)

Even President Bush (whose executive overreach Obama has now matched or exceeded in several ways) never dared try to declare himself the sole party responsible for wantonly murdering U.S. citizens. Yet, is there any doubt at all that apologists like Touré would have cried bloody murder if Bush had tried to pull a similar stunt as Obama’s secret kill list? But because it’s a Democratic president who does it, well, it’s just necessary to combat them evil terrorizers, then. (And really, who cares if we even know what they’re accused of, or if we’re even sure they’re the right targets in the first place?)

But that’s not all:

Daily Blend: Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Pres. Barack Obama

Sorry for the repeated link dumps, only there’s this awesome story I just … must … finish …

President Obama ^[pictured] finally proposes some basic, obvious, commonsensical gun control regulations.
(via Pharyngula)

… Which, of course, means he’s out to disarm Americans to make it easier for the government to kill them all! (Seriously, Vox, take a toke.)

California lawmakers present bill to fix ridiculous legal loophole used to exculpate rapists posing as someone’s partner.

Radley Balko has a great write-up about the inordinate and dangerous amount of power and immunity granted to U.S. prosecutors.

And finally, I don’t agree with everything in it, but Robert Brockway at Cracked has an interesting piece about the U.S.’s culture of glorified violence and the role of videogames as a symptom.

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

Daily Blend: Thursday, December 13, 2012

PZ Myers

If crap like this doesn’t convince you that the U.S. criminal justice system is an absolutely hideous farce, nothing will.
(via @ggreenwald)

I can’t wait for the usual dolts to quote-mine PZ Myers’s ^[pictured] (discomforting but incontrovertible) assertion that “[i]f you’re white, you’re racist”.

Meanwhile, the man must be damn near a saint if harmless, sex-positive jokes are the blackest dirt the anti-Freethought Blogs ilk can dig up on him.

And finally, here’s your amazing wildlife video of the day:
(via @DiscoveryCanada)

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

Daily Blend: Thursday, November 29, 2012

Susan Johnson

Juvenile crime in California dropped by a record-breaking 20% between 2010 and 2011 thanks to marijuana decriminalization.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

South Lyon, MI middle school performing arts teacher plays pro-LGBT music video in support of diversity. So naturally, the school suspends her without pay.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

And finally, new from NASA: Mercury “almost certainly” has frozen water buried at its north pole.

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

NYPD’s stop-and-frisk: more rare, still racist, mostly useless

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) has a new report on the statistics of New York City police’s practice of stopping and searching anyone they feel is acting suspiciously, and this little paragraph reaffirms everything that’s already known about the injustice and prejudice inherent to such a program:

The latest stop-and-frisk report shows that the NYPD stopped and interrogated New Yorkers 105,988 times between July 1 and Sept. 30. About 89 percent of those encounters did not result in arrests or tickets. About 86 percent of those stopped were black or Latino. Whites were around 10 percent of people stopped.

And yet, the number of (mostly innocent) people being accused of acting like possible criminals has actually been going down by 30% over the past year.

And of course, that’s not mentioning how the program is completely at odds with the Fourth Amendment, as I doubt any court could mangle the meaning of “probable cause” enough to apply it to cops who think someone’s sidewalk gait or white-knuckle cellphone grip indicates they’re out to deal drugs or launch an illegal knife-throwing enterprise. But then, that’s one part of the Constitution that everyone in power seems to have forgotten about these last few years.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Daily Blend: Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Savita Halappanavar

Irish woman ^[pictured] has a miscarriage. Catholic hospital refuses to abort the dead fetus. Woman suffers and dies. To keep in mind for the next time some anti-choice asshat claims abortion doesn’t save lives.

Meanwhile, an ongoing study publishes preliminary findings: Women who have an abortion don’t fare any worse than those who are denied.
(via Wonkette)

Ed Brayton nails it: The Republican Party did everything in their power to bring about its latest crushing defeat, and they should absolutely be ridiculed for it.

Radley Balko at his most optimistic: Americans seem to be leaning away from punishment and towards reason and rehabilitation on drugs and crime.
(via The Agitator)

And finally, outsiders shouldn’t have any say in Illinois’s East Aurora School District’s handling of trans anti-discrimination policies, says group of hate-mongering outsiders.

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

Daily Blend: Saturday, November 10, 2012

Dean Boland

Lawyer ^[pictured] ordered to pay $300K for “harm[ing]” unidentified children whose stock images he used to create fake child sex photos to prove how irrational and overbroad child porn laws are. So … mission accomplished?
(via @tedfrank; RT: @radleybalko)

The Catholic Church reaffirms its commitment to obsolescence.

Ed Brayton has a measured take on five clichéd catchphrases that atheists should stop using.

And finally, in case there was any suspicion, Vox Day is still a dumbass.

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

Washington prosecutor dismisses all pending marijuana cases

Dan Satterberg

It’s the rarity of seeing prosecutors do the right thing, especially when they don’t have any legal obligation to do so, that makes this report all the more awesome:

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg has dismissed all misdemeanor marijuana possession cases currently pending in Washington’s largest county.

Taking action following Tuesday’s landmark vote on marijuana legalization, Satterberg said there would be “no point” in continuing to prosecute the 175 people currently facing misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession.

Friday’s announcement followed the passage of Initiative 502, which legalized marijuana possession of one ounce or less in Washington State. The law also called for a legal framework under which marijuana could be grown and sold; both those activities remain illegal outside the medical marijuana industry.

[…]

“Although the effective date of I-502 is not until Dec. 6, there is no point in continuing to seek criminal penalties for conduct that will be legal next month,” Satterberg said in a statement.

Better yet, we can (hopefully) expect the same to happen in Colorado before too long. And eventually, everywhere else.

(via @drgrist; RT: @radleybalko)

Daily Blend: Wednesday, October 31, 2012 – Lazy Halloween

I find myself with both an overabundance of blogging material and a critical lack of drive this evening, so here’re your links for the day.

Federal judge rules that police don’t need a warrant to install hidden surveillance cameras on private property. Comes with the usual *headdesk*-worthy Fourth Amendment distortions.
(via @radleybalko)

A better phrasing: “Three ex-governors resort to predictably and embarrassingly bad arguments to oppose California death-penalty repeal”.
(via @LilianaSegura; RT: @radleybalko)

Headline of the day contender.

Second contender, as well as another item to keep in mind if you ever find the odd soul wondering why no-one takes PETA seriously.
(via Joe. My. God.)

While we’re at it, have this brief, pictorial Frankenstorm retrospective:

NYC shortly after Hurricane Sandy’s passage [source | full size (1024×722)]

Don’t miss this spectacular, gut-wrenching special on Hurricane Sandy’s devastation at the Boston Globe’s Big Picture feature.
(via Joe. My. God.)

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

Daily Blend: Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Tawfiq Okasha

Welp, as of this evening, I’m officially a student again. At least I’ll be studying from home this time, which effectively nullifies 95% of all my previous issues with school. Now, if I could only remember how to hold a pencil … (It’s between the thumb and index, right? Wait, don’t tell me, I’ll get it!)

The reality: Change.org to start allowing ads from all sides. The perception: The site’s turning into a Republican-run anti-abortion corporatocracy!
(via Joe. My. God.)

This is censorship: Egyptian TV host gets four months in jail for “insulting” President Muhammad Morsi.
(via @dmataconis; RT: @radleybalko)

After Arizona, a federal appeals court prohibits Indiana from defunding state Planned Parenthood affiliates.

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

Italian scientists sentenced to jail for being “too reassuring” before deadly earthquake

Bernardo de Bernardinis in court

Science on trial, conviction edition: After being accused of providing false reassurance about the risks of a deadly earthquake right before a large one struck L’Aquila, Italy and resulted in heavy casualties, the scientists responsible have now had their day in court – and lost:

Six Italian scientists and an ex-government official have been sentenced to six years in prison over the 2009 deadly earthquake in L'Aquila.

A regional court found them guilty of multiple manslaughter.

Prosecutors said the defendants gave a falsely reassuring statement before the quake, while the defence maintained there was no way to predict major quakes.

The 6.3 magnitude quake devastated the city and killed 309 people.

This is asinine. As tragic as the disaster was, the idea that scientists should be punished – much less imprisoned – for failing to describe the exact date, location and size of the next earthquake is complete lunacy, and that it’s actually come to pass should be singularly enough to destroy anyone’s trust in the Italian judicial system. And even worse is the fact that not only didn’t the scientists actually do anything wrong, they never even made the “falsely reassuring statement” in the first place, as it was instead pronounced by former VP of the Civil Protection Agency, Bernardo de Bernardinis. In it, he actually misrepresented the scientists’ opinions, as they had actually told him that risks were low, but still very much present, contrary to his subsequent declaration that everyone was perfectly safe.

If anyone ought to be punished, it should be de Bernardinis and him alone, as he’s the official who put words in the experts’ mouths in order to cover his own ass. As it stands, six perfectly capable and innocent individuals are being thrown behind bars not only for a crime they never committed, but for failing to do something that’s absolutely impossible with our current equipment and know-how. It’s a sickening outrage.

(via @BadAstronomer)