Black Panthers Open-Carry in Texas: Members of the I-shit-you-not HUEY P. NEWTON GUN CLUB showed crybaby Tea Party paranoids that open carry works both ways. Awesome. (Ring of Fire)

When is it Ethical to Euthanize Your Pet? There’s been a massive shift in recent decades in how pets have been perceived as members of the family. But has that positive shift towards humane treatment led to too many sick animals being kept alive for too long? (The Conversation)

[Serious] Redditors Who Want Trump to Become President, Why? tl;dr, he’s alpha as fuck, bro. (Reddit)

Bernie Sanders Surpasses Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire Poll: THIS CAN HAPPEN! (HuffPo Politics)

Kurt Cobain Solo Album to be Released in November: Universal Music claims it’s “curated to feel as though one were sitting in Kurt’s living room watching him create over the course of an afternoon,” but our feelings on this are decidedly mixed. (Consequence of Sound)

Tyrannysaurus Rex Faux-Gauge Earrings: These are kind of completely awesome. (Etsy)

Found Photos of Mod Girls of the ‘60s: It’s exactly what it says in the headline, and it’s pretty great. (Please Kill Me)

Why Ferguson Erupts: Two academic criminologists discuss why the cultivation of conditions for community upheaval should come as no surprise. (The Conversation)

Amnesty International Will Call for Decriminalizing All Aspects of Prostitution: In the words of the immortal George Carlin: “Selling is legal. Fucking is legal. Why isn’t selling fucking legal? Why should it be illegal to sell something that’s perfectly legal to give away?” (Slate)

America’s Biggest Problem Is Concentrated Poverty, Not Inequality: Thanks to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, economist Thomas Piketty, and, of course, the Occupy Movement, inequality is firmly on the national agenda, but worsening economic segregation has far more compounding effects. (The Atlantic)

“Born in Chicago”: A Uniquely Musical Passing of the Blues Torch: Born In Chicago is a powerful, soulful and uplifting story that chronicles a uniquely musical passing of the torch from the first generation blues performers who had made their way to Chicago from the Mississippi Delta to their followers, mostly young white, middle class kids. (Night Flight)

Herding Cats, the Game: Via Metafilter, this blocky, old-school puzzle game by Anna Anthropy is more fun than you’d expect. (Puzzlescript)

If you thought The Darkness was preposterous, check out Hammered Satin’s “Foxy Dude,” directed by Trip Loon...
 

 
Trump Is Really a Tea-Party Phenomenon: There’s been a lot of talk about Trump representing working-class rage, but Tea Partiers are affluent, white racists—a demographic Trump fits into all too well. (Paul Krugman)

Rand Paul’s New Mission: Take Down Trump: Paul intends to expose Trump as “an empty suit full of bravado but not anything meaningful for the country.” But what if everyone already knows that? (Time)

Hillary Clinton Says Donald Trump’s ‘Outrageous’ Comments Are Part of a Republican Theme: What’s more offensive, Clinton asked yesterday, Trump’s comments about Megyn Kelly or Marco Rubio’s position on abortion? (New York Times)

Donald Trump, Wrecking Ball: Not only is Trump not getting weaker, the candidates he’s hurting most are precisely those that represent the biggest threat to Democrats. (TPM)

Showtime Is Adapting Patti Smith’s Memoir Just Kids: Smith has said she’d be interested in seeing Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson play herself and Robert Mapplethorpe—or two unknowns. (Vulture)

No, Bernie Sanders Is Not a Jacksonian: The Democratic Party is distancing itself from the chief genocidist represented on American currency, and good for them. And that doesn’t disqualify Democrats to speaking to low-income voters in a populist way. (Washington Monthly)

R.I.P. Columbia House, Mail-Order Music Club to Cease Operations: No more 13 CDs for 1 cent; now you can pay Spotify ten bucks a month to play that one Timbuk 3 track on repeat endlessly. (Consequence of Sound)

The Republican War on Women Intensifies: The GOP’s premise, that women should be coerced to carry their pregnancies to term under all circumstances, is now out in the open. “If you think pregnancy being a state-enforced death sentence sounds awesome, you definitely want one of these gentlemen picking replacements for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.” (Lawyers, Guns, & Money)

Should Prison Sentences Be Based on Crimes That Haven’t Been Committed Yet? Pennsylvania is on the verge of becoming one of the first states in the country to base criminal sentences not only on what crimes people have been convicted of, but also on whether they are deemed likely to commit additional crimes. But isn’t this built in to sentencing anyway? Isn’t this part of the reason that murder gets stricter sentences than jaywalking? (FiveThirtyEight)

The World’s Largest Seller of Sugary Drinks Is Telling People How to Lose Weight: Amid a national obesity epidemic, Coca-Cola has been quietly supporting a new nonprofit organization called the Global Energy Balance Network, whose primary goal is to spread the message that we might be a little too worried about what we eat and drink. (Wonkblog)

Even Paul Haggis Doesn’t Think Crash Deserved Best Picture: Personally, contra Haggis, I prefer Crash to Good Night and Good Luck—but Munich and Brokeback Mountain? That’s a whole different story. (AV Club)
 
What if Matthew McConaughey could fly?

Photo: Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images
 
Republicans May Be Shooting Themselves in the Foot on Abortion: It’s good news for Democrats if the GOP wants to express their distaste for the murder and rape exemptions to abortion laws on national TV. (Mother Jones)

The Big Secret of Abortion: Women Already Know How It Works: The would-be Planned Parenthood “exposés” aren’t going to move the needle on the abortion debate very much. Meanwhile, irritation among women about being lectured on the subject by men could lead to an election cycle like 2012, when clueless Todd Akin and others crystallized the matter for everybody. (New York)

Bernie Sanders Draws 28,000 People in Portland: But it’s Portland, right? Why not 280,000? (Washington Post)

How Do Festivals Pick the Order of Their Posters? This is an interesting and well-researched article about a somewhat puzzling process, but all in all it really makes me want to say: PUPPET SHOW AND SPINAL TAP (Consequence of Sound)

“This Was the New Jim Crow”: An Oral History of the Ferguson Protests: “Peace during the day and war at night”—a very sobering read. (Vox)

Seven Reasons True Detective Blew So Hard This Year: Don’t get me started on this one. Nic Pizzolatto is talented, sure, but we learned just how good McConaughey, Harrelson, and Fukunaga are. And Pizzolatto wasn’t able to reproduce his trick with only a mere few weeks to generate the whole story. HBO should have waited and given everyone more time to work through the problems. (Vox)

The Story of the Other Racist Flag: No, not the Confederate flag, the POW/MIA flag. The whole movement was started as a devious plan by Nixon, and it sells a false, paranoid narrative about the U.S. leaving its troops to die everywhere, it’s completely pernicious. And it also flies on state capitols. (Rick Perlstein)

Why Political Journalists Shouldn’t Report on Internal Polling: The analogy here would be to reporting only the scientific reports that large corporations release on their own products. “The polls are obviously partisan, subject to bias, and released only when in the self-interest of the candidate.” (Columbia Journalism Review)

Mad Men: How Don Draper and Walter White Prepared us for Donald Trump: Sounds far-fetched, right? But Walt’s story is the story of the breakdown of the American Dream, and Don founded a company with his name on it by raiding his employers in a single heady weekend. Hey, premium TV has depended on bad-acting males for ever, and that’s Trump! (The Guardian)

Chicago Police Offer ‘Advice’ on How Not to Get Shot by Them: “Remember your actions and attitude can impact the situation positively or negatively.” An actvist wrote up a useful counter-list for the police, also at the link. (Chicagoist)

Silicon Valley Has No Idea What Teens Want: Basically, the success of Snapchat has really confused everyone. (The Daily Dot)
 
Lou Reed, live at the Bottom Line, NYC, 1983:

 
Will the Economy Help Democrats or Republicans More Next Year? Looks like, somewhere in between! Shucks. (Mother Jones)

Remembering Love Canal: On this day 37 years ago, Jimmy Carter declared a federal emergency at Love Canal in upstate New York in response to the discovery of massive amounts of toxins underneath a school and near a housing development. (Lawyers, Guns & Money)

Donald Trump Is The Nickelback of GOP Candidates: This is a few days old, but how could I resist a headline like that? The idea is that Trump is widely disliked but has a small band of devoted followers. (FiveThirtyEight)

Dick Cheney Was the Real Winner of the First Republican Debate: Hopefully that’s a little alarmist. You’re always going to get a skewed picture when it’s nothing but Republicans on national TV for a couple of hours. (HuffPo)

Hubble Finds Evidence of Galaxy Star Birth Regulated by Black Hole Fountain: Whatever the fuck that means. (Astronomy Magazine)

Black Lives Don’t Matter, Apparently, to Republican Candidates for President: And really, who could be surprised by this? (Guardian)

Hillary Clinton Is Running Away from Her Free Trade Record: She has publicly promoted the Trans-Pacific Partnership 45 separate times. (Alternet)

Jon Stewart Hates Contemporary Art: And here’s the proof. (Artnet)

The GOP and Fox News Have a Secret Plan to Prevent Ridiculous Candidates from Turning Debate into a Laughingstock: I find this quite plausible and also rather shrewd. FOX’s furious agenda-setting in the “post-debate analysis” portion of the evening was quite evident, pushing Fiorina and Rubio for reasons known best to themselves. (Salon)

Staten Island Lawyer Wants to Settle Fraud Case with Trial by Combat: LARP LARP LARP LARP LARP LARP (Death and Taxes)

Car Crush: Why American Writers and Artists Can’t Stop Loving the Automobile: Includes a look at RIchard Yates, Nabokov, Fitzgerald, Kerouac (of course), etc. (The Millions)

Echo & the Bunnymen Brazilian TV special from 1987:

Doesn’t feel like this happened 10 years ago, does it?
 
Here’s the One Republican Debate Question Each Candidate Doesn’t Want: Weirdly, “Why do you think you are qualified to be president when your election to that office would represent an unmitigated catastrophe for the country?” didn’t make the list. (Swampland)

The GOP Debate Drinking Game, Special Trump Edition: Just be careful, people: Alcohol poisoning is a real thing. (Alternet)

Has America’s Disgust at SeaWorld Already Peaked? Blackfish did a lot of damage, but if you have Hulu you may have seen SeaWorld’s aggressive “explanatory” commercials lately. (Slate)

DEA Admits That Marijuana Is Safer Than Heroin: Were they previously claiming that it was as dangerous as heroin?? (Wonkblog)

iTunes Is Now Illegal in the UK (Kind Of): The Europeans have had a more scrupulous privacy and copyright regime for a while now—and now perhaps that mindset will make it to the U.S. Will Apple use its endless cash reserves to lobby Capitol Hill? Does the Pope shit in the woods? (Consequence of Sound)

The Definitive Oral History of Kid Rock: More interesting than you’re expecting. And tons of goofy pics of the erstwhile Robert James Ritchie. (Detroit Free Press)

The Smithsonian’s Mini-Documentary on Slayer and Thrash Metal: “Auschwitz, the meaning of pain / The way that I want you to die / Slow death, immense decay / Showers that cleanse you of your life…..” (Rolling Stone)

Stephen King Proposes Trump Campaign Slogan: “If you’re white, you’re all right!” Ha ha! (CNN)

Going Clear Movie Director “Disappointed” Jon Stewart Didn’t Confront Tom Cruise: Contains this beautifully deadpan passage: “He wondered out loud that he might like to see, as a stunt, Tom Cruise jump into a volcano. It was a veiled reference to Scientology’s sci-fi origin story in which Xenu, the galactic overlord, drops narcotized aliens into volcanoes and then peppers them with atomic bombs, insuring that Teegeeack, the prison planet—a.k.a. Earth—would forever be haunted by bits and pieces of those pulverized spirits.” (Hollywood Reporter)

No, Ted Cruz Did Not Cook Bacon With A Machine Gun: Thing is, it was an AR-15 rifle. But you can’t really expect latte-swilling conservatives to understand guns, now can you? (TPM)

Presidential Elections Have a Game Design Problem: “Early Elimination is usually considered to be an unwanted feature in multiplayer games with long play time, especially in the case of face to face board or card games, as the eliminated player remains outside the play for the rest of the game instance.” (Kill Screen)

Below, Slayer kicking ass in Cleveland on Groundhog Day of 1991:

John Bonham
 
Obama: Iraq War Backers Now Seek to Derail Iran Nuclear Deal: “The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy and some form of war,” said Obama, and you know damn well where the GOP stands on that issue, and even if you don’t, Lindsey Graham will be happy to remind you. (Washington Post)

Joe Biden Isn’t Likely to Outperform His Other Presidential Runs: If nothing else, people may have forgotten how hard it is to get him to stop talking sometimes. (The Daily Beast)

Led Zeppelin’s 74 Songs, Ranked: Just one person’s opinion, of course. “Moby Dick” finished dead last. But what finished first? (Vulture)

What Jeb Bush’s ‘Gaffe’ on Women’s Health Really Tells Us: It’s not that he’s anti-woman, we already knew that. It’s that Jeb isn’t a very good campaigner. (Washington Post)

Five Times Pop Culture Said Hedgehogs Deserved It: Proof that anything can be a trend if you want it bad enough. (AV Club)

Katha Pollitt: How to Really Defend Planned Parenthood: As always, Pollitt is vivid and incisive and talking very good sense here. “The whole society benefits when motherhood is voluntary,” she writes. (New York Times)

Americans Say Racism Is a Bigger Problem Today Than at Any Point in the Past 20 Years: Putting the lie to the ‘post-racial’ trope for the time being…. (Wonkblog)

The GOP’s Recipe for Disaster: You guessed it—the threat of further government shutdowns. Because the Republican Party is awful at governing, and when it doesn’t get what it wants, it makes sure everyone else suffers too. (Washington Monthly)

New Alice In Chains Book Reveals Courtney Love’s Suspicion That Kurt Cobain Didn’t Commit Suicide: If Courtney Love isn’t sure what happened, then that suggests she didn’t have Kurt killed. Or maybe that’s what she wants us to think….. (Stereogum)

This Was Supposed to Be the Strongest GOP Field in Decades. Yet Donald Trump Is Leading It: Of course, I never bought into that bushwah, the Republican Party hasn’t had a really good politician since Reagan—wait, you’re counting George W. Bush? Don’t make me laugh. Every year it’s a struggle to figure out which disgrace should be the nominee, and 2016 is no exception. (Ezra Klein/Vox)

Keith Richards Explains Why Sgt. Pepper Was Rubbish: And disses the Stones’ Satanic Majesties Request in the same breath. Hm. (Esquire)

Here’s the song “In Another Land” off Their Satanic Majesties Request, in Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome:

 
Hate Obamacare? Wanna Fire Gays? Create a Fake Church! And you just know that this Supreme Court would totally let that happen, too. (The Daily Beast)

Chris Christie Has Used Birth Control—“And Not Just the Rhythm Method”: Hooray for TMI! (Time)

Rod Stewart to Rejoin Surviving Members of the Faces for Show in September: Bassist Ronnie Lane died in 1997 and keyboardist Ian McLagan passed away late last year, but Stewart, Ronnie Wood, and Kenney Jones will all be present at the charity event. (Consequence of Sound)

Don’t Look Now, But Trump’s Favorables Are Improving: From a -28% net approval to a +17% net approval in just a few months—very impressive indeed. Trump isn’t going to go away very soon. (TPM)

Joe Biden’s Schrödinger’s Cat Campaign: Biden serves his ends—and the ends of the Democratic Party—by being neither wholly in the race nor wholly out of it. (Nate Silver/FiveThirtyEight)

Why Historians Are Fighting about “No Irish Need Apply” Signs—and Why It Matters: How common were the signs in the U.S.? Are the Irish stuck in a “culture of victimhood,” or were they actually victimized? (Vox)

Elizabeth Warren Hammers GOP: “Did you fall down, hit your head, and think you woke up in the 1950s or 1890s?” Sock it to ‘em, lady. (Salon)

New Pavement Rarities LP Available for Streaming at NPR: Obscure Pavement on vinyl? Yes, please. Matador, you know where to find me. (Matador)

Hollywood Blockbusters Are Getting More and More Incomprehensible: From Transformers 2 to Furious 7 and beyond. (The Guardian)

Trump Converts His Private Cell Number into a Campaign Asset: Gawker thought it was being cute when it punk’d him yesterday by publishing his number, but Trump is just damn hard to box in right now. (The Verge)

Democrats Unveil a Plan to Fight Gerrymandering: Well, it’s about goddamn time.
(New York Times)

Jon Stewart Changed Everything: When Stewart took the TDS job in 1999, little in his resume would have suggested that he could ever become anything like the public conscience of the liberal elite—but he did. (Salon)

It’s Time to Start Liking Tom Cruise Again: Not over my dead body—although I have to admit, Edge of Tomorrow was tons of fun. (Vulture)

Below, the Yes Men explain to Californians that they can have steaks or showers—but not both:

 
Donald Trump Used to Say, Legalize ALL the Drugs—But Not as GOP Front-Runner: The irony is, the old Trump was more in tune with today…. (The Daily Beast)

Chris Christie Booed at Some Horse Racing Event: Okay, okay, it’s called the Haskell International. Remember when “President Christie” seemed like it might be a thing? That was a loooooong time ago. (Huffington Post)

Climate Change Activists Punk Scott Walker with Huge Fake Koch Bros. Check in NH: Click through to see a fantastic picture of Walker posing with them, utterly unaware that the check is a dig against him. (Washington Post)

Jeb Bush Goes After Low-Hanging Fruit in Attacking Lazy Members of Congress: Weirdly, the YouTube spot has gotten virtually no traction thus far. (Kevin Drum/Mother Jones)

Ted Cruz Cooks Bacon with his Gun: Ah, but can he do sausage links? In this YouTube video, the Smarmiest Man Alive makes a bid to be the GOP’s true “red meat” candidate.

John Roberts Has Been Trying to Gut the Voting Rights Act for Decades: Ironically, he is Chief Justice in part because of the voting rights travesty that is Bush v. Gore. (Scott Lemieux/The Week)

The Declining Marginal Value of Crazy: The usual GOP nut cases just can’t compete with Trump’s incredibly effective, incredibly authentic-sounding, non-Beltway version of the gaga. (Josh Marshall/TPM)

Rand Paul and the Scarlet “I”: Paul sold out his iconoclasm to become the GOP’s darling, and ended up alienating everyone. Now, in the hawkish Republican Party, he’s looking to make some waves with Isolationism with a capital I. (Ed Kilgore/Washington Monthly)

Friends Of Starbucks’ CEO Want Him to Run Against Hillary: Just like your local barista, make sure you spell his name right when you write him in on your primary ballot—H-O-W-A-R-D S-C-H-U-L-T-Z. (Time)

New Hendrix Documentary Focuses on 1970 Atlanta Concert: If you have Showtime, you’ll be able to watch it starting September 5. (Rolling Stone)

Washington, D.C., Deserves to Be a State (or at least Have Full Representation in Congress): John Oliver makes the case—very persuasively. (Last Week Tonight)

Are Royal Trux Reuniting? And more to the point, would anyone care if they did? (Pitchfork)

Wal-Mart, Amazon Pull Toy Guns From New York Shelves: Sounds good to us. (Newsweek)

Clueless KKK Member Confronted for Wearing FUBU Sneakers: FUBU stands for “For Us, By Us”—it’s a group founded by African-American entrepreneurs to empower the African-American community (The Raw Story)

Check out that KKK guy’s sneaker game here:
 

 
Bernie Sanders Builds a People’s Army: Across the country, left-wing activists and veterans of the Occupy movement are organizing for Bernie Sanders—and think the Vermont socialist can topple Hillary. (The Daily Beast)

Does “Creative Destruction” Include the State?: Everyone lauds “creative destruction” when it shreds monopolies and disrupts private enterprise “business as usual.” This raises an obvious question few dare ask: does this inevitable process of creative destruction include the state? If not, why not? Aren’t the state and the central bank the ultimate monopolies begging to be disrupted for the benefit of all? If government is inefficient and unproductive, shouldn’t it be “creatively destroyed” in the same fashion as private enterprise? The obvious answer is yes. (Charles Hugh Smith/Of Two Minds)

Regular People Are Totally Useless When Trying to Use Handguns In Self-Defense: Sorry wannabe Jack Bauers, turns out you suck at saving the day. (AlterNet)

In the Age of Trump, Will Democrats Sell Out More, Or Less? The collapse of the GOP gives the Democrats an opportunity to abandon “lesser evilism” — but they probably won’t. (Matt Taibbi/Rolling Stone)

Mathematician says Kansas voting machines need to be audited: A Wichita State University mathematician said she has seen enough odd patterns in Kansas election results that she thinks it’s time to check the accuracy of some voting machines. Election officials are making it as difficult as possible for her to get the data she needs. (KMBC Kansas City)

Why Bernie Sanders Is The Millennials’ President: Are you feelin’ the Bern? Plenty of young people are. (The Odyssey)

Trump’s presence in first GOP debate makes prep challenging for candidates: Ya think? Trump is allegedly doing ZERO prep for the debate. Why should he? He’s quite adept at calling other people “losers” and that act plays very, very well to the Republican base. No point in messing with a successful formula. (Washington Post)

Heavy Social Media Use Linked With Mental Health Issues In Teens: More than two hours of use per day can spell trouble. (Huffington Post)

Michael Moore film to attack US government’s state of ‘infinite war’: Where to Invade Next was made in secret because of surveillance concerns. The film satirizes America’s ‘constant need to have an enemy to keep the military-industrial complex alive.’ (The Guardian)

The absolute worst advice we give to Americans struggling to pay rent: In urban centers around the country, rental prices are soaring. Cities like San Francisco, Seattle, and New York City routinely report double-digit increases that make it nearly impossible for residents to make ends meet. But moving someplace “cheaper” ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, either… (The Daily Dot)

Christian snake handler dies: Bye dummy! (The Raw Story)

The Great Paradox of the Democratic Presidential Race: There is no shortage of bold, liberal ideas from the candidates that have little chance of getting past Congress. While they compete over who can produce the ideas that most satisfy the party’s base, the proposals they are offering face a stark reality: Hardly any of them are likely to be approved by Congress, where Republicans have an almost iron-clad grip on the House of Representatives for the foreseeable future. (Bloomberg)

Janis Ian says Bill Cosby spread lesbian rumors about her as a teen, tried to blacklist her from TV: The singer/songwriter writes on Facebook that she met Cosby at a Smothers Brothers taping in the 1960s. As if you needed another reason to hate Bill Cosby, enjoy this performance by a young Janis Ian. What kind of asshole would go out of their way to be mean to this kid???

 
Scott Walker’s Campaign Stop In Philly Goes Hilariously Off The Rails: Charlie Brown-like Presidential candidate visits Philadelphia, cuts line to buy a Philly cheesesteak, leaves his trash on the table and has protestors greeting him carrying signs that read “Scott Walker smells his own poop.” (TPM)

‘The video is not good’: Cincinnati braces for footage release in campus cop killing of Sam Dubose: Not exactly a city with the greatest racial relations at the best of times, riots are predicted by some. Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, of Cincinnati police said “We’re just trying to do our best to be prepared for whatever might come out of it.”(Raw Story)

Sarcasm may make you more creative: Practice with close friends only. Scientists think that sarcasm may lead to greater cognitive function because in order to understand and convey a sarcastic comment, the brain uses creative thinking. (Popular Science)

Inside Rand Paul’s downward spiral: His theory of the 2016 primary — that Republican voters would reward a candidate who promised fresh ideas and an unconventional approach — has not borne out in reality. He was once a serious contender for the White House. Now, his campaign is fighting over what went wrong. (Politico)

Trump Would ‘Love’ Sarah Palin in His Cabinet: ‘She’s a Special Person’ sez The Donald. Well, yeah, but “special” with quotes around it. (Mediaite)

Wisconsin Judges Receive Campaign Funding from Party Accused of Corruption with Scott Walker: Four Wisconsin Supreme Court judges dismissed an investigation into whether Gov. Scott Walker (R) violated election laws during his 2012 gubernatorial campaign and ordered that all evidence be destroyed. The justices who killed the investigation received campaign funds from the very same groups that Walker was suspected of coordinating with. He’s ‘the new Nixon’! (Ring of Fire)

Koch brothers summon Koch-whores Bush, Cruz, Walker, Rubio to SoCal confab: The crowded field of GOP contenders is competing aggressively for the support of uncommitted conservative mega-donors who are ready to spend about a billion bucks on the 2016 election. (Politico)

Bernie Sanders: The Vox conversation. The barnstorming socialist talks to Ezra Klein. (Vox)

After Two Years, White House Finally Responds to Snowden Pardon Petition — With a “No”: The White House on Tuesday ended two years of ignoring a hugely popular whitehouse.gov petition calling for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to be “immediately issued a full, free, and absolute pardon,” saying thanks for signing, but no. (The Intercept)

One Email That Proves Campaign Finance Laws Are A Joke: Super PACs and candidates can’t coordinate, except when they obviously do. (Huffington Post)

Dummies for Trump: Donald Trump’s surge is all about less-educated Americans: “Trump’s support is strongest with Republicans in the Midwest, conservatives across the country who do not have a college degree and (perhaps not surprisingly) those who report the most negative views of immigration ...” Flabbergasting, isn’t it? (Washington Post)

In the vein of ‘Go the Fuck to Sleep,’ here’s ‘Neighbors From Hell: An American Bedtime Story’ new from Feral House.

 
Santorum Walks Away From Porn-Busting Promise: The last time he ran for president, former Sen. Rick Santorum aroused Internet users by promising to take away their access to pornography. ‘I don’t even remember that position, to be very honest,’ he now says. Well, I’m sure he really meant it at the time. (US News and World Report)

Boy George: ‘This Is the World I Was Fighting for in 1984’: I saw that this article was linked off Drudge Report, which would probably explain why they closed the comments down! (Yahoo! Music)

Trump Would Lose Badly In A Third-Party Bid, But He Could Take The Republican Down, Too: What’s not to love about this? This is perhaps the greatest thing in politics to happen in our lifetime! (FiveThirtyEight)

Welfare recipient drug testing brings shocking results: In November 2009, GOP Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona announced that the state would test adults if they felt like there was a “reasonable cause” to believe they were getting high. But while the laws were designed to help save money by keeping people who might use their benefits on illegal drugs instead of bare necessities, they largely proved to be a complete waste of the state’s money. The implementation of the process cost the Arizona taxpayers millions of dollars. Over 87,000 welfare recipients were been tested: One test came up as positive which ended up saving the state only $560, according to USA Today. (AOL)

America’s Top Killing Machine: Gun deaths are poised to surpass automobile deaths in the United States this year. (The Atlantic)

Reason #1 to Vote Bernie: Sanders Does ‘Better Than Clinton’ Against GOP in Swing States: According to a July 22, 2015 Quinippiac University Poll, Hillary Clinton’s once overwhelming lead in public opinion has been cut substantially, and it’s still a long way to the February 1, 2016 Iowa Caucus. In states that will decide the 2016 presidential election, Quinippiac reports that “Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, runs as well as, or better than Clinton against Rubio, Bush and Walker.” Clinton’s lead has eroded in swing states, while Sanders’s surge has spread from Iowa and New Hampshire to other key regions. (Huffington Post)

Life sentence for woman whose hired hit man shot the wrong guy: A South Carolina woman whose teenage lover shot and killed the woman’s brother-in-law instead of her husband who was the intended target, will serve life in prison, and the teenager is expected to plead guilty, the prosecutor in the case said on Friday. (Raw Story)

The Grateful Dead’s Fare Thee Well Shows Made a Whole Bunch of Money: The surviving members of the Grateful Dead should be able to buy themselves plenty of boxes of rain following their 50th anniversary shows. According to Billboard‘s data, the five concerts raked in an incredible $52.2 million haul while drawing 361,933 people in total. (Ultimate Classic Rock)

Hear Led Zeppelin’s Upbeat ‘When the Levee Breaks’ Rough Mix: “If It Keeps On Raining” will appear on upcoming deluxe reissues of ‘Coda.’ (RollingStone)

Dennis Rodman endorses Donald Trump for president: The five-time NBA champion tweeted that the Donald “has been a great friend for many years” and added “We don’t need another politician, we need a businessman like Mr. Trump! Trump 2016” Rodman announced his support of Trump only an hour after defending World Wrestling Entertainment legend Hulk Hogan in separate tweets. Special! (Politico)

Virtual reality is the new hope of the porn industry with headsets like Oculus Rift set to go mainstream: Let’s face it, we are a red-blooded, sex-obsessed species. Behind every new technology, pornography has been hot on its heels, and the brave new world of virtual reality is right now climbing its way to a hyper-real climax. (News.com.au)

Poll: Republican Party approval ratings lowest in decades: Only 32% of respondents said they had a favorable opinion on the Republican Party in a new Pew Research Center poll published Thursday — the lowest number Pew has reported at any point since 1992. The party is viewed unfavorably by 60% of respondents, again the party’s worst score. Oddly, the biggest drop in GOP favorability is among actual Republicans, not Democrats or independents. (USA Today)

I was Ronald McDonald: More men have walked on the moon than been Ronald McDonald. Joe Maggard was McDonald’s mascot from 1995 to 2007. He was eighth of nine men to have done the job. But what happens after you step out of the big red shoes? Maggard says you never truly retire from being the fast-food chain’s Chief Happiness Officer. At a carnival in Las Vegas as he dons the costume again, and offers advice on healthy eating and the importance of being Ronald (Guardian Docs)

 
What is Socialism?: A Look at its Many Misconceptions: No word may be more used, yet less understood in colloquial political talk in the United States, than “socialism.” (The Jailhouse)

Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture: “Before I moved there for almost a decade, American Reality was all I knew. I was living in a two-bedroom apartment making $30,000 a year in a job where I worked almost seven days a week with no overtime pay and received 10 days of paid time off a year. Now that I’m back, I’m angry that my own country isn’t providing more for its people.” (Vox)

Congressman Trolls Republican Hypocrisy: “Officials have an obligation to uphold rights for all Americans enshrined in the Constitution.” A Democratic congressman is using a Republican-sponsored bill that would withhold federal law enforcement funding to so-called sanctuary cities to draw attention to GOP hypocrisy. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Wednesday added an amendment that calls for applying the same funding restrictions to states and municipalities refusing to abide by the Supreme Court ruling that legalizes gay marriage. Brilliant! (Huffington Post)

At Wall Street Journal, Government-Enforced Monopolies = ‘Free Market’: The Wall Street Journal ran a column complaining about efforts to pass “transparency” legislation in Massachusetts, New York and a number of other states. This legislation would require drug companies to report their profits on certain expensive drugs, as well as government funding that contributed to their development. Is it any wonder that the WSJ asked a former CEO of Glaxo Wellcome to denounce these bills? (FAIR)

Let’s stop pretending Republicans have a serious critique of the Iran deal: Did you see John Kerry’s face when he testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee? His expression said it ALL. And while we’re on the subject, exactly how many non-Fox News watchers do you reckon showed up in Times Square to protest the Iran deal. Five? Six, tops? (Washington Post)

Breitbart’s Ben Shapiro: You’re “stupider than a three year old” if you believe trans people should be accepted: Personally, I strongly believe someone should punch Ben Shapiro in his stupid and highly punchable face. What a pathetic, hateful wimpy little man he is. The best part about this whole matter is how clearly he realizes what an asshole he made of himself. DOUBLE DOWN ON THE DUMB, right Ben? (Salon)

Indiana worker fired for opposing same-sex marriage files lawsuit, predictably quotes Leviticus: Summers says she is a Christian with a “sincerely held religious belief” against gay marriage. I hear Walmart is hiring. Maybe they won’t make her handle any shellfish? (WNDU NBC)

Jeb Bush pushes to ‘phase out’ Medicare: C’mon, does this guy REALLY want to be President? I mean does the former Governor of Florida—FLORIDA, people—really think he’ll gain traction by wanting to end Medicare? This is exactly what America’s elderly want! Let’s see how this “compassionate conservatism” stuff works out for ole Jeb! (MSNBC)

Bernie Sanders’ Louisiana supporters may be few, but they’re organizing quickly: Sanders will speak in New Orleans at a town hall-style meeting on July 26th, a rare appearance by a Democrat this early in the election cycle for such a Red state. The comments are kind of interesting, too. (Times-Picayune)

I Spent Thousands to Keep My Sick Cat Alive. I Don’t Think I’d Do It Again: This article isn’t easy to read, I won’t lie, but it should be read by every pet owner. (Science of Us)

GOP establishment’s dumbest idea: Boycott the debates until Trump is kicked out! Banning Donald Trump from the debates would be the absolute best thing the GOP could do… for Trump. For the rest of those losers, the idea STINKS. (Salon)

Below, Slim Twig’s latest “Slippin’ Slidin’”

 
The bigoted elephant in the room: Donald Trump’s popularity reveals racism of Republican base. (Al Jazeera America)

Tweaking one enzyme doubles a worm’s lifespan: It could work the same way in humans. (Popular Science)

“God’s plan”: These GOP candidates claim the Almighty wants them to run: You can’t say God doesn’t have a sense of humor! (Salon)

How Exactly Did Ant-Man Make Michael Douglas Look So Young? How did the film undo 25 years of time’s cruel work? Trent Claus of Lola VFX, the company that de-aged Douglas for Marvel, can tell you. (Vulture)

Ben Carson Says Prison Is So Comfy Some People Never Want to Leave: Yeah, think of it as an enforced indoor vacation with really bad food and psychopaths. What’s not to love? (Mother Jones)

GOP’s problem isn’t Donald Trump; it’s the voters: Trump might be a deeply clownish figure, immune to facts, evidence, and good taste — but he’s not stupid. He clearly understands, as many members of the Republican Party did before bashing immigrants became a political liability, the way to the heart of a rank-and-file Republican voter. (Boston Globe)

Youngest Killers Ever Convicted In America To Be Released From Prison: The brother and sister murderers are scheduled to be released from prison in early August after spending 16 years behind bars, according to reports. (Inquisitr)

Donald Trump Insult Generator: Perhaps no presidential candidate in history has wielded the put-down quite like Donald Trump. John McCain’s a “dummy.” John Kasich is “desperate.” Rick Perry “needs new glasses.” Karl Rove is “a total loser.” Now Trump can insult you or someone you know. (TIME)

New York Acts to Mandate a $15-Hour Wage in Fast Food: The increase would represent a raise of more than 70 percent for fast-food workers earning the state’s current minimum wage of $8.75 an hour. This is a big fucking deal. (New York Times)

Swing State Polls: Bernie Just As Strong As Hillary: Democrat Hillary Clinton is trailing some potential Republican opponents in three key swing states, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac, and doing about as well against the GOP as one of her rivals for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders. Both Clinton and Sanders are losing to Walker, Rubio, and Bush in Colorado, Virginia and Iowa. (The Weekly Standard)

Rupert Murdoch Wants to Stop Donald Trump, But First He’s Got to Rein In Roger Ailes: The mounting problem Donald Trump poses to Republicans is also a mounting problem for the country’s most powerful conservative media mogul. (New York)

Below, Noel Coward performs an astonishing rendition of his “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” on American television in the mid-1950s:
 

 
Donald Trump and ‘the little cracker’ and ‘the little wine’: Trump on religion: Trump tells Iowa religious conservatives at the Family Leadership Summit that he’s never asked for God’s forgiveness. What do they think he is? A loser? (Rachel Maddow)

Really, it’s time to shut down the GOP: A deeply unserious party, hijacked by lunatics and Fox News, is driving us all into a ditch: “News” without truth. A base that celebrates a clown. Tear the party down and start over—for the country’s sake. (Salon)

How selective outrage over Trump is dooming the GOP: The problems of the Republican Party are in high relief. It is saddled with a loud mouth who will say anything and is getting substantial support for doing so, no matter how callous. And its selective outrage — quick response on McCain and crickets on anything else — only enhances its image as a party that couldn’t care less about anyone who isn’t white, Southern, straight or male. If the GOP’s goal is to never win the White House again, it’s off to a great start. (Washington Post)

When Capitalism Turns to Cannibalism: With authentic growth scarce, there’s no other way to reap huge profits but cannibalism. (Of Two Minds)

Governor Bobby Jindal Ransacked Louisiana: He’s one of America’s worst governors. Since taking office in 2008, Jindal has steadily driven the state into a deeper financial hole while handing off an astonishing amount of taxpayer money to already profitable corporations. In his two terms, Gov. Jindal has given $11 billion of public money in the form of taxpayer subsidies to multinational corporations – more than any other state – costing the average resident there $2,500. (Occupy)

National Review says Bernie Sanders is a national socialist: National Review writer Kevin Williamson has a hot take on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — he’s a Nazi. Here’s a hot take on National Review writer Kevin Williamson — he’s a fucking idiot. (Vox)

Grooveshark creator found dead weeks after music streaming site shut down: Joshua Greenberg, 28, co-founded music streaming website in 2006, gaining 35m users before closing in April after copyright row with major labels. (Telegraph)

Indian Woman Beheaded For ‘Witchcraft’: Mother-of-five Moni Orang was snatched from her home by machete-carrying locals after priests accused her of casting spells. (Sky News)

Clinton to propose increasing capital gains taxes: Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton plans later this week to propose raising capital gains taxes for some investors, pivoting from a 2008 pledge not to increase the rate beyond 20%. (Yahoo!)

Democrats Plan To Introduce Sweeping LGBT Rights Bill In Congress This Week: The measure, which lawmakers plan to file in the House and Senate, would ban discrimination in seven categories — including housing, education, and public accommodations. (Buzzfeed Politics)

Study: Probability of Obese People Reaching ‘Normal’ Weight Less Than 1%: Despite the fact that the diet industry does several billion dollars worth of business in the U.S. alone each year, a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health suggests that most obese people will never achieve a “normal” weight. The annual probability of reaching a normal weight was less than 1 percent for both groups — just 1 in 210 for obese men and 1 in 124 for obese women. (CBS Local Washington)

Cost of insurance forcing many in Detroit to ‘drive dirty’: Like most Americans, the drivers of Detroit are required to carry auto insurance whenever they get behind the wheel, but many law-abiding residents can’t afford the Motor City’s highest-in-the-nation auto premiums, which top $5,000 a year in some neighborhoods.So fully half of Detroit drivers do what’s known locally as “driving dirty” — taking to the streets without any coverage. It’s practically a tradition these days. (MyWay)

This $153,000 rattlesnake bite is everything wrong with American health care:  In May of this year, a snakebit Missouri man died after refusing to seek medical care, saying he couldn’t afford the bill.(Washington Post)

“Barely Legal” voters on the 2016 candidates:

 
Size Matters: Bernie Sanders Continues to Draw the Biggest Crowds of Any 2016 Candidate: Audiences have been flocking to see the progressive Vermont senator speak. Bernie’s barnstorming the red states. None of the pundits, pollsters and strategists could’ve expected this. (Bloomberg)

Porn Star Karaoke: Fully clothed and belting out songs at a strip mall: If it’s Tuesday, it must be Porn Star Karaoke night at Sardo’s Grill & Lounge in Burbank, the longtime haunt of the adult film industry. If ‘Cheers’ had a bar porn-style, that’s what Sardo’s would be. (Los Angeles Times)

Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro files assault charges against trans woman who called him ‘little man’: During a panel discussion over Caitlyn Jenner receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPY’s, Shapiro referred to transgender men and women as “mentally ill.” Heh-heh… Ben Shapiro, what a wimpy, widdle punkass bitch. You can tell this incident really rattled him! In Trump-parlance: Loser! (The Raw Story)

Americans favor Supreme Court term limits: Most Americans would support imposing a term limit on the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices, who now serve for life, a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll has found. Support for the 10-year term limit proposed by the poll was bipartisan, with 66 percent saying they favored such a change while just 17 percent supported life tenure. (Yahoo!)

Nope. Trump’s Latest Outrage Will Not Sink Him One Bit: Has Donald Trump finally done it? Finally gone too far? Will Trump’s latest outrage finally sink him with his growing ranks of supporters? I very much doubt it. Let’s not forget: these are supporters who have cheered Trump as he’s called Mexicans rapists and criminals and all the rest. They don’t have delicate sensibilities. (Talking Points Memo)

AC/DC drummer arrested for more dirty deeds of unknown cheapness: Phil Rudd—the drummer for AC/DC—hasn’t had the best year. In fact, it’s been downright rotten, especially if you consider that he was charged with trying to have a former employee killed. Now his band is on tour without him and it just keeps going downhill from there. (AV Club)

Watch a Prankster Shower FIFA’s Sepp Blatter With Fake Dollar Bills: British comedian Lee Nelson, crashed the proceedings, and put a stack of fake banknotes onto the table in front of Blatter. “This is for North Korea 2026,” he shouted as he was taken away. Nelson also disrupted Kanye West’s set at Glastonbury last month. (New York)

Fake Doctor Sold Woman With Cancer Bag Of Dirt For $2,000: Told her if it was working if it burned her stomach. (CBS News)

Fox News’ coming war on Donald Trump: The Murdoch/Trump Twitter feud which could catch fire: A Rupert Murdoch tweet and WSJ editorial suggests the Murdoch empire may be about to adjust its tone on Trump. The fraught dynamic on the right just gets more and more fascinating, does it not? This is going to be the “best” election ever in the entire history of the United States of America, mark my words. You’ll notice that I keep my definition of “best” deliberately vague. (Salon)

The end of urban sprawl? Ambitious plan to fit an entire CITY inside a single ‘bee hive’ skyscraper would house 25,000 people: The 18-floor Vertical City allows the outside elements to become part of the interior, giving a sense of space. Hexagonal voids run up the side of the tower, allowing sunlight and rainwater to nourish the plant life housed inside. (Daily Mail)

Liberal activists see Bernie Sanders as champion for causes failed by Obama: Little visible support seen for Hillary Clinton at Netroots Nation convention. (Washington Post)

Scott Walker, the sweaty supercut…