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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