It’s already the third Friday in September, that most blessèd month! Soon it will be the autumnal equinox, as the horrors of the burning season begin to fade away.

And thank goodnees it’s FRIDAY!

Anyway, here is a collection of some of the things that I ran across over the course of the week which struck me as worthy of being shared. Sorted into categories with headings so you can skip more easily. This is not all of the links I meant to share, because there was a problem with the system I use to save them and I lost a couple days worth. But I probably collect too many most weeks, anyway, so enjoy:

Link of the Week

Women Trying To Say “No” Politely In Western Art History.

This week in Stupid Over Reactions

Muslim teen Ahmed Mohamed creates clock, shows teachers, gets arrested.

Ahmed Mohamed swept up, ‘hoax bomb’ charges swept away as social media takes up teen’s cause.

Ahmed Mohamed Is Not the Only Student of Color to Get Handcuffed for a Science Project.

Science!

Sea otter learns to use inhaler at Seattle Aquarium.

Right-wingers are worse at swearing than left-wingers.

New Study Finds Link Between Homophobia And Psychoticism.

“Picture yourself as a stereotypical male.” Study shows spatial intelligence not as clear-cut as thought.

One Winning Move: 4000 Physicists Held a Convention in Vegas, Were Asked Never to Come Back.

Baltimore Sun publishes hack job letter on HPV vaccine. I dismantle it claim by claim.

Jupiter’s Moon Io is Even More Hellish Than We Thought.

Is there a Planet X, a ‘massive perturber,’ hidden beyond Pluto?

It will take a year for New Horizons to send all of its Pluto data back to Earth.

New Horizons space probe heading to Kuiper Belt object in post-Pluto mission.

Million-year-old monkey fossil found underwater in cave.

‘Lightning claw’ dinosaur found in Australia: 23-ft long predator is the largest carnivore ever to be found in the region.

The world’s longest volcano chain discovered in Australia.

New Clues about the Evolution of Dogs.

Bad Religion’s Greg Graffin On Our Next Evolutionary Challenge: Moving Past Survival of the Fittest.

Are Some People Hard-Wired To Be Homophobic?

Earth’s record streak of record heat keeps on sizzling.

EXXON EXECUTIVES WARNED ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE IN 1970S.

Nasa releases new photos of Pluto that ‘make you feel you are there.’

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

AN OPEN LETTER TO DISNEY: PLEASE BRING BACK KIM POSSIBLE.

Sci-Fi & Fantasy at Emmy Awards: Who’s Won, Who’s Been Fracked.

Seek out new worlds of science fiction – there’s so much happening out there.

Culture war news:

5 new ways Pope Francis is sticking it to the Christian right.

The ‘First Amendment Defense Act’ is the Vilest ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill of Our Time.

Gay couple gets marriage license as Kentucky clerk Kim Davis stays out of sight.

Texas’ Law-Breaking Attorney General Is Denying Gay People Equal Rights—Again.

Kim Davis is not the only public official refusing to hand out marriage licenses.

Gays Get Unalienable Rights Too.

What About All the People Jailed in America Just for Being Gay?

Homophobic histories of Nazism ignore Hitler’s war against gay men.

Can Game Theory Help to Prevent Rape?

This Week in the Clown Car

11 Distortions, Misrepresentations and Outright Lies in the GOP Debate. This article does not list all of the outright lies told by Republican candidates at the debate.

Rick Perry megadonor wants his $5 million back.

What Republicans Ignored During the Second Debate: Gun Violence, Paid Leave, LGBT Discrimination….

(There were many, many more outrageous headlines regarding the clowns scrambling to out-bigot each over for the Republican nomination; but sometimes enough is enough.)

This week in Other Politics:

The big secret behind Bernie Sanders’ surge in the polls.

Take that, charter schools: Why a Washington court decision will force accountability to a movement that needs it badly.

The Republican base’s “patriotic” treason: The shocking new poll that exposes the dangerous extremism of the American right.

Poll: Majority of Americans say Kentucky clerk should have to issue licenses.

A Group of Texans Thinks It Can Get The State GOP To Endorse Secession.

Obama on debate: Nothing patriotic ‘about talking down America’ (with VIDEO).

This Week in Diversity

If you like Return Of The Jedi but hate the Ewoks, you understand feminist criticism.

12 Women They Didn’t Tell You Were Queer In History Class.

How My Rights in This Country Will Change By the End of This Article.

The Problem With Diversity.

Mason Darrow and Princeton football show how far we’ve come.

Matt Damon apologizes over ‘Project Greenlight’ and ‘whitesplaining.’ – except it isn’t an apology…

News for queers and our allies:

Judge David Bunning, The Anti Kim Davis?

MASON DARROW HAS BEEN EMBRACED BY THE PRINCETON FOOTBALL TEAM SINCE HE TOLD THEM HE’S GAY. NOW HE COMES OUT PUBLICLY DAYS BEFORE KICKOFF.

A Look At The Promiscuity ‘Culture War’ In The Gay Community (VIDEO).

Righting a Stubborn Wrong: Anchorage Revisits Law Protecting LGBT Community.

Stonewall Featurette Focuses on Gender-Fluid Character “Ray/Ramona.”

Farewells:

Swiss font legend Adrian Frutiger dies.

Things I wrote:

Homemade Rockets and Invisible Moons: more of why I love sf/f.

Weekend Update 9/12/15: It’s about ethics….

Videos!

Disclosure & Sam Smith cover Hotline Bling in the Live Lounge:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Arguing About Kim Davis at the GOP Debate:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Tim Cook On Speaking Up For Equality:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

BECA – METEOR:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Atlas Genius – Molecules [Official Music Video]:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Asthmatic sea otter learns to use inhaler – longer video than the one in the article:

https://embed.theguardian.com/embed/video/science/video/2015/sep/18/mishka-sea-otter-diagnosed-asthma-inhaler-seattle-video

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

It’s the second Friday in September. September, ah, that most blessèd month!

And thank goodnees it’s FRIDAY!

Anyway, here is a collection of some of the things that I ran across over the course of the week which struck me as worthy of being shared. Sorted into categories with headings so you can skip more easily. This is not all of the links I meant to share, because there was a problem with the system I use to save them and I lost a couple days worth. But I probably collect too many most weeks, anyway, so enjoy:

Link of the Week

Rallying to Help a Homeschooled Christian Kid Who Got Thrown Out After He Came Out.

There are lots of other kids who need our help. Here are a few places you can help:

The True Colors Fund.

BUILDING A MOVEMENT TO END HOMELESSNESS.

The Ali Forney Center.

And the local one I give to regularly: Youth Care.

This week in Difficult to Classify

Why did the FBI show up at this Globalist youth reporter’s house?

Twitter Done Wrong.

Science!

Homo naledi, a new species of human, discovered in a cave in South Africa.

NASA Releases New Image of Mysterious ‘Bright Spots’ on Ceres.

BEHOLD PLUTO IN ALL ITS MAJESTY.

Earth’s magnetic mystery forces scientists to get creative.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

People are talking about a Best Series Hugo proposal...

On the same topic: The format is political.

How gay rights got its start in science fiction.

NO MORE DIVERSITY PANELS, IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON.

Queer Sci-fi/Fantasy Anthology Beyond Goes Above and [Review].

2015 Hugo Analysis: Nominating Stats, Part 1.

SIZE MATTERS: THE EVOLUTION OF UNICORN HORNS.

This week in Geek

The queer masculinity of stealth games. “In games, men’s bodies often represent brute strength. Stealth games are the focal point for an alternative masculinity: sleek, illusory, sensitive, and self-reflective.”

Culture war news:

We’re getting Kim Davis all wrong: What she reveals about the right’s true motivations.

Let Go of the Fig Leaf.

That’s Me in the Corner, Losing My Religion.

Boss Who Asked Transgender Woman ‘What Are You?’ Agrees To Significant Settlement.

Kim Davis Is Just the Beginning.

This Week in the Clown Car

Ben Carson’s theocratic lie: The pernicious myth of America the “Christian nation.”

Emasculated white men love Donald Trump: The real reason a billionaire bozo rules the GOP.

The secret hidden inside Bush’s tax plan.

Cruz’s second shutdown play rankles fellow Republicans.

Huckabee: Dred Scott Decision “Remains To This Day The Law Of The Land.” The Dred Scott decision was overturned by the 14th Amendment.

This week in Other Politics:

Bernie Sanders stood up for gay soldiers — 16 years before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ended.

RUSSIA SAID TO GET IRAN’S CLEARANCE FOR SYRIA-BOUND FLIGHTS.

The Biggest And Boldest Ideas For How To Stop Rising Inequality.

Reporter Says He Was Fired For Asking If Sen. Vitter Still Hires Prostitutes.

This Week in Racism

Her Name Was Natasha McKenna & No One Will Be Held Responsible For Her Death.

Culture war news:

How Religious Liberty has been used to justify racism, sexism, and slavery throughout history.

The Problem With Religious Exemptions to Gay Rights.

Readers React: Issuing marriage licenses isn’t God’s work.

‘A fag is still a fag’: Texas tent revival uses loud speakers to flood city park with anti-gay hate speech.

This Week in Sexism

Does the Tech Industry Even Deserve Women?

News for queers and our allies:

Are GOP Donors the Key to Passing a Nondiscrimination Bill?

Gay Marriage Is Legal, but We’re Still Not Equal.

Inside the Seattle Clinic That Survived the Darkest Days of AIDS. Being an out gay man in Seattle in the ‘90s myself, I know more than a few of those names in Dr. Shalit’s card file…

In the heat of our nationwide marriage equality victory, can LGBT and allied Americans resist a hate group’s bait?

Things I wrote:

Semi-Precious Stone, Helical or Otherwise: more of why I love sf/f.

We’ve always been here, even in a galaxy far, far away….

Things I wish I could post to Facebook without causing relatives to go bananas….

Storytelling should not be preaching, part 2.

Videos!

Tiger plays with bamboo like a kitten with string:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

[Official Video] Can’t Sleep Love – Pentatonix:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

HELL’S CLUB. NEW MASHUP AMDSFILMS (watch it all the way to the end of the credits…):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Gareth Thomas: Never Alone tells the story of how the former Wales captain’s greatest fear wasn’t the opposition he faced on the pitch, but the fear of rejection from everything he had known, because of his sexuality:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Troye Sivan – WILD (Blue Neighbourhood Part 1/3):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

My Heart Will Go On – Vintage ’50s Jackie Wilson – Style Celine / Titanic Cover ft. Mykal Kilgore:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

It’s the first Friday in September. September, ah, that most blessèd month! Summer is drawing to a close (thank goodness!) and autumn will soon be here! And soon, soon the regular NFL season begins, and my Seahawks mania is only going to get worse.

And, hey, it’s FRIDAY!

Anyway, here is a collection of some of the things that I ran across over the course of the week which struck me as worthy of being shared. Sorted into categories with headings so you can skip more easily:

Link of the Week

Open Letter to Parents of Gay Kids: This Is Not About You. “Parenting is 100 percent choice. You chose it. When we choose to be parents, we are taking on the responsibility, obligation and honor to love the children we adopt or create. This statement does not come with an asterisk at the end. You don’t get to parent only children who are academically gifted. You don’t get to parent only children who are gifted at sports. You don’t get to parent only healthy children. You don’t get to parent only well behaved children… You get to parent your child, and everything that comes with that.”

Happy News!

Here’s Why I’ve Been Married 8 Times.

Fishermen Rescue Abandoned Kittens that Swam to Their Boat.

Science!

Knotty network could have powered universe’s early growth spurt.

The secret history of “Y’all”: The murky origins of a legendary Southern slang word. Ahem. It is not a slang word, it is a proper second-person pronoun.

5-Foot-Long Spider Relative Found In Iowa.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

A Thing Not to Do When You’re Smart.

11 Reasons Terry Pratchett Is A Literary Genius.

Fantasy is NOT Historically Accurate.

Where no show has gone before: The bisexual future of Other Space.

New Book Roundup: Algorithms Run Amok, the Intergalactic Rum Trade, and a Farewell to Discworld.

This Week in History

Illinois Officials Burned by 1950s Library Purge.

Culture war news:

Since When Are Consensual Sexual Relationships a Threat to National Security?

CNN’s Bizarrely Homophobic Coverage Of The Virginia Shooter.

Is It Called Gay Or Equal Rights?

A Psychiatrist Writing in The New York Times Forgets That First He Should “Do No Harm.”

Here Is All You Need To Prove Bigots Wrong About ‘Traditional Marriage.’

Sadistic Frat Boys Allegedly Attack Gay Man, Strip Him Naked, In Possible Hate Crime.

This Week in Bigots Pretending to be Martyrs

It’s time to remove Kentucky clerk Kim Davis.

‘Old Redneck Hillbilly’ Husband of Kim Davis Has a Warning for Nosey People. ‘Davis compared his wife to the biblical figures Paul and Silas, sent to prison and rescued by God.’

Kim Davis Vows To Use County Office To Spread ‘God’s Word,’ Act As Divine Vessel.

U.S. District Judge Sends Kim Davis to Jail.

‘Homo Terrorists’: Here’s What Kim Davis Supporters Outside The Courthouse Today Are Saying About Gays.

This Week in Sexism

Why Straight White Dudes Don’t Get Offended As Often As Normal People Do. Thanks to Sharpclaw for the link!

News for queers and our allies:

Why I’m Increasingly Frustrated With Closeted Pro Athletes.

Queer Eye for the Messiah Guy.

In a Word, What It Means to Be Pansexual.

ABC Family, Fox are best networks for LGBT representation, GLAAD says.

‘The Sum Of Us’ writer David Stevens on the play’s 25-year influence.

Steve Grand Accepts U.S. Marine’s Invitation to 2015 Marine Corps Ball: WATCH.

The obligatory Hugos post-post-mortems:

My friend, Sharpclaw, who while being a fan of fantasy is not normally that interested in the Hugos, sent this link: Mutiny at the Hugos. I find it hilarious that the people who block-voted the steal much of the ballot claiming that “social justice warriors” had controlled the Hugos for years, are now trying to claim that all of the new voters registering and voting No Award is proof that… the social justice crowd has decided to invade the Hugos and take it away from the people who have always been there. What? There are many other amusing contradictions…

2015 Hugo Analysis: Category Participation. Stat tables and graphs!

Sad Puppies 4 Begins. “Between now and MidAmeriCon II people will expend a million words arguing whether Sad Puppies 4 is a slate or a recommendation list, a Hugo voter registration drive, an outlet for those frustrated with message fiction, a movement to oppose the dread SJWs, or all of the above. But the opening paragraph of Kate Paulk’s Mad Genius Club post about Sad Puppies 4 shows its first priority is gratifying the egos of the organizers…”

Farewells:

Dean Jones Dies: Star Of Disney’s ‘The Love Bug’ And Sondheim’s ‘Company’ Was 84.

Wes Craven, man behind ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ and ‘Scream,’ dies at 76.

An Outpouring of Reader Reflection After the Death of Oliver Sacks.

Things I wrote:

All we need are goals.

Delusions, discrimination, and hitting pay dirt, part 1.

Delusions and denial in the name of….

Why I hate hay fever reason #5946.

Videos!

The Librarians Trailer : Season 2:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Taylor Swift – Wildest Dreams:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

The Horrible History of Ex-Gay Cures:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

WELL-STRUNG – Royals (feat. Palladio):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Hozier covers Sam Smith’s Lay Me Down in the Live Lounge:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

It’s Friday! The third Friday in August. I’ve been feeling especially worn out most days this week, so don’t have much particularly clever to say.

Anyway, here is a collection of some of the things that I ran across over the course of the week which struck me as worthy of being shared. Sorted into categories with headings so you can skip more easily:

Link of the Week

A girl I used to know.

This week in Difficult to Classify

An Open Letter to People Thinking About Checking to See if Their Husbands or Wives Were On Ashley Madison.

The Bully’s Pulpit: On the elementary structure of domination.

Relentlessly Gay’ yard donations to be returned, Overlea woman says. I’m always fearful of developments like this when funny stories come through the pipeline…

Happy News!

Seattle police deliver baby after pulling over speeding car.

Seattle police department receives thank you from father of the newborn.

Science!

Here’s What Actually Gets Terrorists To Tell The Truth — And It’s Not Torture.

The 10 things you’ve always wanted to know about penises but were too afraid to ask.

Glass paint could keep metal roofs and other structures cool even on sunny days.

We have autism all wrong: The radical new approach we need to understand and treat it.

Corn Wars: The farm-by-farm fight between China and the United States to dominate the global food supply.

The Network is Hostile: A Few Thoughts on Cryptographic Engineering.

Weird things start to happen when you stare into someone’s eyes for 10 minutes.

Existence of a Solar System Twice the Age of Ours –“Has Far-Reaching Implications.”

Scientists find how obesity gene works, a clue to treatment.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Data, books, and bias: an analysis of awards.

FIVE REASONS TO LOVE WOMEN WHO LOVE COMICS.

How Snoopy Killed Peanuts.

IN YOUR FACE JAM: Deadpool Ain’t My Idea of Queer Representation.

Why Midnighter Is So Important For Queer Fans.

Culture war news:

These religious clowns should scare you: GOP candidates’ gullible, lunatic faith is a massive character flaw.

The sleeper issue in the ‘gay wedding cake’ controversy. Dear reporter: that isn’t a sleeper issue, it is the ONLY issue. It’s why the bigots keep losing these cases.

The Way It Was: The Beatles ruled. The mini was in. I was seventeen, and pregnant. What happened next is what could happen again.

Civilities: Why can you fly the rainbow flag but I can’t fly the Confederate flag?

John Oliver’s “Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption” Church Exposes Faith-Based Fraud.

Christian pastor lashes out at ‘false reverend’ John Oliver for mocking predatory televangelists. Thanks to @sharpclaw for the link!

So, college “p.c. culture” stifles comedy? Ever hear a comedian sh*t on the American Dream at a Wal-Mart shareholders meeting?

Conservative pastor: “Stoning gays is the mindset of God.”

Pastor Who Said Stoning Gays Is God’s ‘Mindset’ Is Shocked People Think He Supports Stoning Gays.

Dr. Steve Hotze wages war on “homofascists.”

Family Values Activist Josh Duggar Had a Paid Ashley Madison Account.

This Week in the Clown Car

Carly Fiorina was a Complete Failure as CEO at HP: She is Lying About her “Success”.

Donald Trump’s First Policy Plan Is Even More Racist Than You Think It Is. (TL;dr: opposition to the 14th Amendment has ALWAYS been racist)

Mike Huckabee’s Support of Sexual Predators Isn’t Just Limited to His Defense of Josh Duggar.

Donald Trump’s appalling reaction to a hate crime committed in his name.

This week in Other Politics:

Progressive Groups Ask Obama To End Bush-Era Religious Protection. The rightwing group’s analysis: doing this might make it harder for groups using discriminatory hiring practice to get taxpayer subsidies: exactly. That’s the point!

This Week in Racism

Misunderstanding Forgiveness.

IA Radio Host Jan Mickelson: Enslave Undocumented Immigrants Unless They Leave – Mickelson, Who Recently Hosted Walker, Fiorina, Carson, And Santorum, Asked, “What’s Wrong With Slavery?” Can’t you just feel the christian love?

Wing-nuts with guns & dreams of a race war: Inside the dangerous obsessions of right-wing extremists.

This Week in Stupidity

Another Oblivious Artist Comes to Detroit, Accidentally Lets Tiger Loose. “Another!”

Accidental shooting takes place at Oklahoma ‘Muslim-free’ store.

This Week in Sexism

Comfortable misogyny.

I’m tired of being kind to creepy men in order to stay safe.

News for queers and our allies:

First Baptist Church in South Carolina hit for allowing same-sex union, gay ministers. This is a big deal, even though it will have little effect on other Baptist churches.

Boys Like Me.

If 43% of young people aren’t straight or gay, why do only 2% identify as bi?

Spotlight: Queer Books, Diverse Books.

Michael Sam Was No Jackie Robinson, But …Gay Athletes Still Owe Him.

Farewells:

Yvonne Craig, R.I.P..

Yvonne Craig, Best Known As ‘Batgirl,’ Dies At 78.

Things I wrote:

Weekend update (8/15/2015): of greedy bigots and a rescued whale.

Leopard spots and sheep’s clothing, part 3.

Uphill battle or slippery slope? Depends on which side you’re on….

Computerized Clods and Squeamish Scoundrels: more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

Silent film footage taken in 1909 by the Thomas Edison Co. at “Stormfield” Mark Twain’s Redding, CT, one year before Twain’s death:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

TFG Film & Tape has performed a digital restoration to the 1909 Edison film of Mark Twain. The image has been flipped left to right to correct the camera-to-subject orientation. It has had it’s speed corrected from the camera frame rate of the day. The detail has been enhanced dramatically bringing out visuals never before seen. The fluctuations in the exposure have been reduced markedly making the image much more pleasing to watch:

Embedding is disabled, so click here.

New Order – Restless (Official Video) interesting use of Arthurian imagery:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Breath and Sound – Tom Goss feat. Matt Alber:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

El SMS (a sweet little short film):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

It’s Friday! The last Friday in July, and what a strange summer it has been thus far! But good news, a long running copyright dispute may finally be resolved!

Anyway, here is a collection of some of the things that I ran across over the course of the week which struck me as worthy of being shared. Sorted into categories with headings so you can skip more easily:

Link of the Week

Are You Brave Enough to be Vulnerable? Thanks to Sharpclaw for sharing the link!

This week in Heart-wrenching

What Walter Palmer Did Wasn’t Hunting. ” Killing a single lion in 2015 is mathematically equivalent to murdering 400,000 of the planet’s roughly eight billion people.”

Happy News!

Our long national nightmare may soon be over: The copyright on the “Happy Birthday” song may finally be coming to an end.

Science!

The Origin of Cultivation and Proto-Weeds, Long Before Neolithic Farming.

this Intel announcement is inadequately appreciated.

Mystery Solved? Why Pluto’s Big Moon Charon Has a Red Pole.

Why Red Means Red in Almost Every Language.

Mystery ‘cat scratches’ spotted on Saturn’s moon Tethys.

Giant Planet-Like Brown Dwarfs –“Harbor Powerful, Pulsing Auroras.”

Northern White Rhino Dies, Leaving Only 4 Left on Earth.

The scientific breakthrough that could radically transform the way we treat neurological disorders.

Pulsar punches hole in stellar disk.

Beyond Pluto: 5 things left to explore in our solar syste,.

Astronomers Capture the Birth of the Universe’s First ‘Normal’ Galaxies.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

How ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ Changed Sci-Fi Forever. Thanks to Joi the Artist for the link!

These Videos Show All the Changes Ever Made to the Star Wars Trilogy.

Ant-Man leaves many unanswered questions, large and small.

Culture war news:

America Has Become a Second Amendment Death Cult.

Breaking: Mike Pence’s Investigation Into Planned Parenthood Finds Zero Violations.

If I Must Accept the Hobby Lobby Decision, You Must Accept Marriage Equality.

“I Love the Sinner” Is Often What Abusers Say.

6 stabbed at Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade by ultra-Orthodox Jewish assailant.

“The Daily Show” takes down laughably ignorant anti-gay pastor who thinks he’s “discriminated” by anti-discrimination law.

Racism, Bigotry Forces Gay CIA Contractor, Former Navy SEAL Out of a Job.

This Week in the Clown Car

GOP primary voters torn between people who think Obama is Hitler and actual fans of Hitler.

Jon Stewart Mocks Huckabee Without Saying A Word.

“You can’t rape your spouse”: Trump counsel’s “inarticulate comment” is a hallmark of rape cultur.

Donald Trump Holding First Place In Latest Polls Is A Reflection Of GOP Voters’ Ugly Beliefs.

(There were many, many more outrageous headlines regarding the clowns scrambling to out-bigot each over for the Republican nomination; but sometimes enough is enough.)

This week in Other Politics:

Veteran Republicans Say Right-Wing Media Is “A Big Problem For The Party” In New Harvard Report.

Sen. Jeff Merkley: It Doesn’t ‘Feel Right’ To Separate LGBT Equality Act From 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Paul Krugman: The GOP has never “abandoned its dream” of destroying the social safety net.

This Week in Racism

Trevor Noah tackles police brutality and racism at stand-up set in L.A.: “I don’t know how not to die.”

A Dream Undone: Inside the 50-year campaign to roll back the Voting Rights Act.

Ta-Nehisi Coates woke me up: Lessons on race, atheism and my white privilege.

This Week in Sexism

BOOKS ABOUT WOMEN DON’T WIN BIG AWARDS: SOME DATA. Pie charts!

News for queers and our allies:

Brilliant letter from a student shows why this gay teacher comes out every year.

Not Gay Men Who Have Not Gay Sex with Other Not Gay Men.

John Fugelsang: Why the New Testament doesn’t condemn gay people.

The Six Biggest Questions About Gay Rights and Religious Freedom.

Lawsuit Claims That People Who Want LGBT Americans Treated Equally Are The Real Bigots.

100 Queer Characters of Color Who Show Why Hollywood Should — and Must — Diversify.

Homosexuality: Can a single YouTube sermon change conservative minds? Unfortunately, the church has since issued a statement that the pastor’s comments should not be taken as an endorsement of gay rights: After Preacher’s Pro-LGBT Sermon Goes Viral, Church Does Damage Control So No One Thinks They Support Gay Rights.

Farewells:

Jeff Rice, writer who accidentally created Kolchak/Nightstalker series, has died (1944-2015).

And other news:

Frigid offices, freezing women, oblivious men: An air-conditioning investigation.

Things I wrote:

Finland! Finland! Finland!.

Dreaming of better tales.

What is art? I know what I like….

Aging Enchanters and Sinister Plots – more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

Tiny penguin chicks mark 50th hatching at Woodland Park Zoo!:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Are Gay Leaders a Threat to Boy Scouts?:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

NSFW! Manila Luzon – “Ice Cream” ft Andre Xcellence [official music video]:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Will Young – Thank You:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Demi Lovato – Cool for the Summer (Official Video):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

1st Delhi Queer Flashmob by Harmless Hugs!:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)