CRANKY OLD FART’S
NEWS & LINKS
#352  [archive]
 • Lawsuit: Trans student denied use of girls’ restroom, threatened with rape in boys’ restroom, twice attempted suicide • Transgender adults in Florida are blindsided that a new law limits their access to health care • Federal appeals court rules Kentucky can force trans kids to de-transition
    Cruelty is the Republicans’ passion, always. It’s their defining principle, and it’s only thing that makes them happy.

• Heads up on some fresh Republican bullshit: The alternate slate of electors from Hawaii in 1960 • ‘Christian’ conservatives freak out over shampoo ad with a boy wearing a tutu • Florida
will not allow public school students to take Advanced Placement
psychology because the course includes lessons on sexual orientation and
gender identity • Republican member of Congress says USA is now “post-Constitution” 

• Family of Henrietta Lacks wins “confidential” settlement over use of dead woman’s “HeLa” cells
    Here’s some background on Henrietta, if it’s all news to you.• Jim Larkin, Backpage exec, dies by suicide a week before his trial • The price of rice is skyrocketing, and it’s pushing millions more people towards starvation • “It’s a racism crisis”: call for action on Koran burnings in Sweden
    No, it is assuredly not a racism crisis. White, Asian, and black Muslims read the same Koran. The crisis is, some people have no belief in freedom except their own.
    Reading the article, I’m reminded again that a conversation with the deluded is pointless.

• Texas A&M will pay $1M to Black professor following botched hiring and internal review • Durham NC city attorney asks Wikipedia to identify users who added accurate but unfavorable information about city officials • IRS moves forward with free e-filing system in pilot program to launch in 2024
    Will H&R Block allow this?• California becomes the second state in the nation to allow prisoners free calls • Most NYC crosswalk buttons are placebos • Rallies across Canada demand search of Winnipeg landfill for slain Indigenous women • The Reddit protest is finally over. Reddit won.
    Of course, nobody seriously thought Reddit wouldn’t “win,” but long-term, damage has been done, and Reddit will never get back what it’s lost.• Reddit closes its popular r/place on one final “Fuck Spez” note • Lemmy’s version of ‘Place’ is underway 

• Atlantic Ocean is at risk of circulation collapse – it would mean even greater climate chaos across Europe • Arizona’s extreme heat is killing honeybees and melting their homes • Cactus collapsing in Arizona extreme heat, scientist says • A reckoning for southwestern golf courses • All cops continue being bastards 

🖯  MY BROWSER HISTORY  🖯• Where did the pen name Lemony Snicket come from? •  The Real Origins of the Religious Right
    “They’ll tell you it was abortion. Sorry, the historical record’s clear: It was segregation.”• “The only moral abortion is my abortion” • The hidden side of Helen Keller • Trump is a hemorrhoid 

♫♬  AUDIO  ♫• CIA Man — The Fugs • Last Night — The Mar-Keys • Pulsar — Vangelis • Society’s Child — Janis Ian • That Girl — Stevie Wonder 

❔  MYSTERY LINKS  ❔• Click • Click • Click • Click • Click 

👁  VIDEO  👁• 48 seconds with Mike Hoy, president of Loompanics Unlimited
    Old radicals and malcontents might remember Loompanics, bookseller of the bizarre, with titles like Getting Started in the Illicit Drug Business, Secrets of a Super Hacker, and How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found.
    Loompanics locked up shop in 2006, and I still miss their marvelous catalogues that came in the old-fashioned postal mail.• A few seconds of Virginia summer downpour, slowed beautifully • Alternate Reality: the Tommy Wiseau of metal 

🕸 WISDOM OF THE WEB 🕸• The Alamo remembers Paul Reubens • Line cooks 

⚰️  OBITUARIES  ⚰️ • Carl Davis 
• John Gosling • Charles “Hungry” Hardy • Jim Larkin • Mark Margolis • Bob Murdoch • Adrienne Vaughan• Carmen Xtravaganza

8/5/2023   
Cranky Old Fart is annoyed and complains and very occasionally
offers a kindness, along with anything off the internet that’s made me
smile or snarl. All opinions fresh from my ass. Top illustration by Jeff Meyer. Click any image to enlarge. Comments & conversations invited. Tip ‘o the hat to the AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf’s, Cogent Coquette, Depsidase, Kottke,org, Looking for My Perfect Sandwich, MetaFilter, Miss Miriam’s Mirror, RanPrieur.com, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I’ve stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration.Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Wynn Bruce,
Joey Jo Jo, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra
special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and
proved that the world isn’t always shitty.