Daily Blend: 06/23/17 – Wall o’ Links the First

Ali Awad Habib

All right, let’s see if I remember how this goes …

AP report: US complicit in torture ^{[victim pictured]} in Yemen’s secret prison system. You didn’t really think the US’s participation in torture had stopped under Obama, did you?
(via @Snowden)

US Gov’t claims Syrian drone strike killed one civilian. Syrian civilians on the ground say it killed dozens. Whom to believe?^*

In theocracy news, Pakistan sentences a man to death over blasphemous Facebook posts.
(via Techdirt)

How is the US’s new Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrong about drug sentencing? Let Radley Balko count the ways.

Today in “took long enough”, the Montreal Catholic Church imposes strict new rules on priests’ interactions with minors and other vulnerable groups. And Bill Donohue pops an artery in 3 … 2 …
(via Friendly Atheist)

Meanwhile, the head of the Church of England admits it helped cover up for a bishop who spent decades abusing children.

Confederate monuments have little to do with the South’s cultural heritage and much more to do with its racism.
(via The Watch | The Washington Post)

Hate speech is protected speech, and other free speech myths. (Or, why anyone who says “You can’t yell ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater” undermines their own point.)
(via The Watch | The Washington Post)

US Supreme Court puts an end to banning anyone from the Internet, no matter what they’re convicted of.

I struggle to find the words to express my incredulity that news outlets actually report on “Breatharian” nonsense. (Rags like The Sun and the New York Post, I can understand; what’s the excuse for other outlets?)

PZ Myers recently toured Ken Ham’s Ark Encounter. Ken Ham didn’t like his review.

I’m still waiting for Trump/Putin jokes to advance beyond the “ooh, let’s make them kiss!” phase.
(via Joe.My.God.)

And finally, to celebrate this first wall o’ links on this here blog, I give you two quotes of the day. The first, from the ongoing Orange County, CA informant debacle: “Sheriff Sandra Hutchens claims the veteran officers were unaware they were required to testify honestly during prior court appearances […]”
(via The Watch | The Washington Post)

And the second, from NY Sen. Brad Hoylman on last night’s Full Frontal with Samantha Bee: “Churches and youth groups like the Boy Scouts presumably oppose [the Child Victims Act] because they think it’s going to bankrupt them.” (I think Bee took everyone’s response out of their mouths.)

If you have any story suggestions, you can leave them in the comments or send them in.

* Rhetorical question.