Link Me Up, Scotty - Losing Their Damn Minds Edition

For the first time, sex slavery is being tried as a war crime.
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A list of Supreme Court candidates who are fully qualified, should the President choose to nominate them. Of course I'm quite sure the Insane Clown Posse that is the current Republican establishment would block each and every one. Which, according to some, means Obama wins anyway.
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Matthew Yglesias writes a fascinating article contending that American Democracy is doomed. He makes the very valid point that Parliamentarian systems have a way to resolve gridlock, and Presidential systems don't, leading to the most ineffective legislature in history. Perhaps it's time for Americans to go back to our roots and revamp the system before it implodes. But I don't think Americans have the political will or courage to make such hard choices.

The idea that America's constitutional system might be fundamentally flawed cuts deeply against the grain of our political culture. But the reality is that despite its durability, it has rarely functioned well by the standards of a modern democracy. The party system of the Gilded Age operated through systematic corruption. The less polarized era that followed was built on the systematic disenfranchisement of African-Americans. The newer system of more ideological politics has solved those problems and seems in many ways more attractive. But over the past 25 years, it's set America on a course of paralysis and crisis — government shutdowns, impeachment, debt ceiling crises, and constitutional hardball. Voters, understandably, are increasingly dissatisfied with the results and confidence in American institutions has been generally low and falling. But rather than leading to change, the dissatisfaction has tended to yield wild electoral swings that exacerbate the sense of permanent crisis.

H/T Brother Seth
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If you're a singer interested in Virtual Choruses, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is working with Peter and Evynne Hollens and others to sing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. 
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Our good friends the Grabills are once again participating in the annual Type 1 Diabetes walk for charity in honor of their T1 son. Please consider supporting TEAM IAN-CREDIBLE HULK and supporting the JDRF in their work to cure and control this life-threatening auto-immune disorder.
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And....cue the right wing whackadoodles who believe the President and his liberal lackies murdered Justice Scalia in order to swing the court left. Because Scalia couldn't possibly have died from natural causes, him being an overweight, out of shape 79 year old man, THAT'S JUST CRAZY TALK.
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NPR with a decent article on Next Generation 9-1-1 technologies, and how Massachusetts is helping to lead the way with this new technology.

Personal note: The company that won the Massachusetts RFP is my former employer, and I was the Principal Engineer in their NG911 practice when I was employed there. Important and meaningful work, but when Moe passed, I didn't have the emotional wherewithal to continue in that job and needed to leave. While it was the right decision at the time, it's one of my few professional regrets.
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Video of my Heart: SNL hits a home run with their new trailer, The Day Beyoncé Turned Black.

 

Link Me Up, Scotty - Majority/Minority Edition

From the "people are awesome" files: Apple employee provides a little human kindness when providing service to a special needs kid and his mother.
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A wonderful rebuttal to the "Why isn't there a 'White History' month" dumbasses.
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The best explanation I've read so far about why young women don't feel they owe Hillary Clinton (or any older feminist) a damn thing.

H/T Rivi
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NASA's new Space Tourism posters. Neat!
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Video of my Heart: A Capella Science addresses the Science of Love.

 

Random Thoughts and Rules to Live By - Part 3

Intense, committed love with a non-family member isn't just for romantic partners.

Honoring the Fallen

On Monday, a Mesa County, Colorado Deputy Sheriff was shot while trying to apprehend a suspect. Deputy Derek Geer was placed on life support, and subsequently removed the next day after the organ donation process was completed.

I come from a family with a tradition of service. My father was a Deputy Sheriff. Whenever these things happen, I experience a "there but for the grace of god go I" type feeling. My heart aches for this man's family and colleagues.

Which is why it makes me apoplectic with rage when - inevitably - people start using this tragedy to justify the police killing unarmed black people.

"Where's the outrage NOW," they cry. "Why isn't everyone up in arms NOW that a police officer has been killed in the line of duty?" they ask.

Have these people been living under a rock? Have they missed the dozens, hundreds, THOUSANDS of shootings in this country over the last decade? Weren't these the same individuals who refused to consider any kind of gun control measure? Of course people are outraged over this officer's death. Of course people grieve for the loss of this officer, and wish the outcome was different. Of course they want the perpetrator punished to the fullest extent of the law.

But here's the thing - on the occasions when the police behave badly, when they shoot the innocent and kill unarmed citizens, people also want the perpetrators held accountable.

These are not mutually exclusive positions, and as a society, we can demand both.

I wish those complaining about Black Lives Matter and other civil rights groups would just shut the fuck up. They're using this officer's death to cry about how unfair it is that a significant portion of the population wants the police to stop killing them. Seriously - that's what they're complaining about. They think that a criminal shooting and killing a police officer justifies police officer shooting and killing an unarmed civilian, and their thinking is sloppy and indefensible. Do they really expect our law enforcement officers and criminals to hold themselves to the same standards?

Law enforcement should hold themselves to a higher standard than the murdering criminals they pursue. Why is that so hard to understand?

Honor the fallen. Celebrate his service. Support his family and brothers and sisters in arms. Admire his sacrifice, and his last, life-giving act. And keep your logical fallacies and knee-jerk emotional responses out of it.

Link Me Up, Scotty - Let's Pick the Leader of the Free World Edition

A psychologist's suggestions for picking the next leader of the free world. I love this, since he freely admits that only someone with narcissistic tendencies would run for president in the first place. We just need to make sure the winner is an emotionally healthy narcissist.

H/T Debbie the Librarian
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America's most hated douchecanoe has taken the Fifth in front of the House Hearing on drug prices. How shocking. Not.
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Evolution is COOL.  BUZZSAW TEETH, BABY!
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And the Confederate apologists are at it again, this time by deliberately baiting an HBC with their shenanigans. But they're not trying to antagonize, nor are they racist assbags, oh, no!
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Things to say (and not to say) if you're pulled over by the police. As much as I support law enforcement, I hope I never, ever forget that they do not have my best interests in mind when we're in a confrontational scenario such as a traffic stop.
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Alternatives to resting bitch face. I have made ALL OF THESE FACES.
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The NEJM has a study on the effects on Medicaid of Texas defunding Planned Parenthood. How utterly unsurprising.

H/T NeuronDoc
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This Toronto-based all-female boxing club will be "crashing" the pro-rape meet-up organized by professional douchenozzle Daryrush Valizedeh entitled "Return of Kings." I wish to fuck I was making that up, while simultaneously wanting to don my my own gloves and go punch this motherfucker and his dude-bro friends right in the head.
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I admire Temple Grandin tremendously. The money quote: "I consider being well-known a responsibility," says animal behaviorist Temple Grandin. "I want to see the geeky, different ones—labeled autistic or dyslexic or ADHD—become successful." ME, TOO.

H/T Robin
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Video of my Heart: The theme from The Last of the Mohicans on acoustic guitar by Luca Stricagnoli.

H/T Brother Juan

Random Thoughts and Rules to Live By - Part 2

Sometimes people judge me harshly and find me wanting, but their real motivation is to justify their own bad behavior. This is not my problem, although it may be hurtful.

Link Me Up, Scotty - Bring on the Cookies Edition

A young trans girl sells a butt-ton of cookies in response to a nasty neighbor who told her "no one wants to buy cookies from a boy in a dress." Fuck you, nasty neighbor. Stormi sold over 3,000 boxes, most of which she'll be donating to other foster children. Go, Stormi, go, and thank you to foster mom Kim for being AWESOME.

H/T Brother Steve
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Just when you think people suck so much that the earth may disappear from the displacement, they surprise you by spontaneously doing the right thing again, and again, and again. THERE'S SOMETHING IN MY EYE.
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And then there's this. What. The. Hell. The hubris of white men when it comes to women's bodies - especially the bodies of women of color - is ASTOUNDING.
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But then there's THIS! Dr. Leila D. Denmark practiced medicine for over 70 years before retiring at the age of 103. MIGHTY GIRL.
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Bios of famous male scientists written as if they were women. Tell me again how women in STEM aren't discriminated against due to systemic sexism.
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Why American Muslim women wear (or don't wear) the hijab. I tend to think of this a very personal choice, and it's not up to me to tell some Muslim woman whom I've never met and whose life I don't know how to symbolize her faith or what they should or shouldn't wear. For me, being a feminist means respecting other women's choices, especially when they don't agree with my own.
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A conversation on the value of an education in the humanities. I myself believe a Liberal Arts education has incalculable value (please note I said "liberal arts," not "liberal," as the two are not the same thing).
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Video of my Heart: The Piano Guys mash up Adele and Mozart with lovely results.