NEWS: Nazis, Mega Millions, Nick Cage, John Cage, God, Surveys, Science

Armed neo-Nazis patroling Sanford, FL:

Neo-Nazis are currently conducting heavily armed patrols in and around Sanford, Florida and are "prepared" for violence in the case of a race riot. The patrols are to protect "white citizens in the area who are concerned for their safety" in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting last month, says Commander Jeff Schoep of the National Socialist Movement. "We are not advocating any type of violence or attacks on anybody, but we are prepared for it," he says. "We are not the type of white people who are going to be walked all over."

Because nothing diffuses racial tension like gun-toting racial separatists patrolling an already on-edge community.

Some pro-equality activists don't like what other pro-equality activists do with their money.

A survey for your mothers. (HT: Joe.My.God.)

Only dubiously witty, but unexpectedly fun: Nicholas Cage does John Cage.

Apparently, Los Angeles isn't superficial, New York drives aren't that bad, and Miami isn't full of fit people.

PinkIsTheNewBlog has a pic of Zac Efron's bum.

Andrew Sullivan on America's bad religion:

"When I go and see young people, their image of Christianity these days is one of judgment, intolerance and to some extent bigotry and politics," Sullivan said. "They associate it with one political party in this country, because of the fusion of evangelical and ultra-orthodox Catholics with the Republican Party. They don't see it as the message of Jesus, they don't see it any more as a message of love and forgiveness. They see it as a bunch of people trying to control their lives through political mechanisms.

Gallup probes American religiosity:

... it’s no surprise that all of the “top” ten [religious] states are in the south save Utah and Oklahoma, which, as Abbie Smith will attest, may as well be in the south. It’s also no surprise that the least religious states are in New England, with the proportion of “very religious” being 23% in New Hampshire and Vermont, 25% in Maine, and 28% in Massachusetts ...

What did surprise me was the 32% of Americans who see themselves as “nonreligious" ... Since roughly 10% of Americans don’t believe in God, and only about 1.5% go so far as to describe themselves as “atheists” or “agnostics,” I wonder how many of these 32% of “nonreligious” Americans are secret atheists who just don’t like the label, or are unwilling to confess to an interviewer that—horrors!—they don’t believe in God.

Teen sells kidney for Apple products:

He received 220,000 yuan ($35,000) for the transplant, gave the student 22,000 yuan ($3,500) and shared the remaining money with the other defendants and several medical staff involved in the operation, Xinhua said.

When the student returned home, he was asked how he could afford a new iPhone and an iPad and he told his mother that he sold one of his kidneys

High up in Chile's Atacama desert -- at almost 17,000 feet above sea level, where heads ache, noses bleed, and "dizziness overcomes the researchers toiling in the shadow of the Licancabur volcano" -- scientists are turning Chile into one of the world's elite destinations for astronomical research. But for how long? From the Times:

At the same time, the financial crisis in rich industrialized countries has raised concerns that funding for some ambitious astronomy projects could face constraints. In the United States, a Congressional panel last year proposed killing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope before a compromise spending plan saved the project.

“It would be very sad for humankind if we were so spiritually decadent to forgo the pleasures of consciousness and of knowledge,” said Mr. Mosterín, reflecting on the funding choices political leaders need to make. “These things make human beings a very interesting animal indeed.”

Goodbye, John Derbyshire

John Derbyshire's career is over.

The polemecist, novelist, and National Review writer -- who long ago made the admission that he was a "homophobe, though a mild and tolerant one, and a racist, though an even more mild and tolerant one" -- last week published a not-at-all mild or tolerant article in the online journal Taki's Magazine entitled "The Talk: Nonblack Version." The article is a response to the dozen or so other articles published since the killing of Trayvon Martin in which black American parents discuss "the talk" they must have with their children about dealing with white authority figures. (The talk goes something like this: Do as you're told servilely, even if you think you're being treated unfairly, or else you might wind up in trouble far greater than your alleged misdeeds would warrant.)

Writes Derbyshire:

There is a talk that nonblack Americans have with their kids, too. My own kids, now 19 and 16, have had it in bits and pieces as subtopics have arisen. If I were to assemble it into a single talk, it would look something like the following.

Among your fellow citizens are forty million who identify as black, and whom I shall refer to as black ...

As with any population of such a size, there is great variation among blacks in every human trait (except, obviously, the trait of identifying oneself as black). They come fat, thin, tall, short, dumb, smart, introverted, extroverted, honest, crooked, athletic, sedentary, fastidious, sloppy, amiable, and obnoxious. There are black geniuses and black morons. There are black saints and black psychopaths. In a population of forty million, you will find almost any human type ...

... and because of this variance, Derbyshire explains, it is important for his children to treat each individual black person with the same courtesy and kindness accorded to strangers of any hue.

But:

As you go through life ... you will experience an ever larger number of encounters with black Americans. Assuming your encounters are random -- for example, not restricted only to black convicted murders or to black investment bankers -- the Law of Large Numbers will inevitably kick in. You will observe that the means -- the averages -- of many traits are very different for black and white Americans, as has been confirmed by methodical inquiries in the human sciences. ...

Of most importance to your personal safety are the very different means for antisocial behavior ...

A small cohort of blacks—in my experience, around five percent—is ferociously hostile to whites and will go to great lengths to inconvenience or harm us. A much larger cohort of blacks—around half—will go along passively if the five percent take leadership in some event. They will do this out of racial solidarity, the natural willingness of most human beings to be led, and a vague feeling that whites have it coming.

Which is why Derbyshire wishes his children to avoid "concentrations of blacks not known to you personally," black neighborhoods, beaches and amusement parks frequented by blacks, concerts and other events frequented by blacks, and depart public events at which large numbers of black people show up. Which is really five ways of saying the same thing, which Derbyshire nevertheless thought necessary to separate into bullet points. Perhaps he ran out of things to say.

But no! Derbyshire continues:

Do not settle in a district or municipality run by black politicians.

Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.

Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.

If accosted by a strange black in the street, smile and say something polite but keep moving.

Most of the rest of Derbyshire's screed deals with the alleged relative stupidity of black people. Nevertheless, Derbyshire admits the existence of "intelligent and well-socialized blacks," which he abbreviates as "IWSBs," and about whom he writes:

You should consciously seek opportunities to make friends with IWSBs. In addition to the ordinary pleasures of friendship, you will gain an amulet against potentially career-destroying accusations of prejudice.

... Unfortunately the demand is greater than the supply, so IWSBs are something of a luxury good, like antique furniture or corporate jets: boasted of by upper-class whites and wealthy organizations, coveted by the less prosperous. To be an IWSB in present-day US society is a height of felicity rarely before attained by any group of human beings in history. Try to curb your envy: it will be taken as prejudice (see paragraph 13).

The reactions from Derbyshire's fellow conservatives and National Review collegues were swift and brutal. (Even though a perusal of their own published opinions suggests that they agree with most or all of Derbyshire's points, if not with his method of expressing them.) Jonah Goldberg, author of Liberal Fascism, called Derbyshire's article "fundamentally indefensible and offensive." National Review editor Rick Lowry decried Derbyshire's "appalling view." Asked if he wanted to associate with such "racist trash" as Derbyshire, National Review writer Ramesh Ponnuru tweeted "I know I don't." And in the article containing these very condemnations, Matt K. Lewis, of the right-wing, Daily Caller wrote:

I believe in free speech — especially unpopular speech. But that doesn’t mean National Review has to subsidize it. And it certainly doesn’t mean we shouldn’t condemn it.

Some people aren’t worth the fighting for. Some things are indefensible. This is one of those cases.

The National Review announced Derbyshire's firing in a post on Saturday night, and it seems unlikely anyone other than Taki's Magazine will ever publish his polemics again. It's a shame, in a way, that we'll never know what kind of conversation he might have had with his children about gay people. Though we may obtain hints here, and here, and here.

Coalition of National LGBT Groups Issue Joint Open Letter on the Killing of Trayvon Martin

A coalition of LGBT groups yesterday released an open letter related to the Trayvon Martin case:

An Open Letter: Standing Alongside Trayvon Martin’s Family and Friends

The tragic killing of Trayvon Martin is a national call to action. Our hearts go out to Trayvon’s family and friends for the loss they have experienced. We stand in solidarity with them as they demand answers and justice. We represent organizations with diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender constituencies.

Many in our community have been targets of bigotry and bias. We have a great deal of experience grappling with the role bias plays in violent crimes against our communities. We well know the stories of young people targeted for violence just because of who they are: Rashawn Brazell, Lawrence King, Ali Forney, Deoni Jones, Brandon White, Matthew Shepard, Angie Zapata, Sean Kennedy and countless others.

Trayvon’s killing is a wakeup call to the enduring cancer of racism and racial profiling. The pain his family continues to endure transcends communities and unites us all. Every person, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, must be able to walk the streets without fear for their safety.

Trayvon’s killing is tragic and the stark reality that racial bias played a role in his death has alarmed our nation. Questions must be asked. Answers must be sought. And justice must be served. We join our voices to the chorus of so many others to demand that local and federal authorities find those answers. We stand in solidarity with Trayvon’s family and friends as they seek justice for his killing. In the timeless words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Signatories:

CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Equality Federation
Family Equality Council
Freedom to Marry
GLAAD
Human Rights Campaign
Immigration Equality
International Federation of Black Prides
Lambda Legal
LGBT Progress at the Center for American Progress
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)
National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE)
National Coalition for LGBT Health
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Stonewall Democrats
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
PFLAG National
Pride at Work
Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE)
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN)
The Trevor Project
UNID@S

NEWS: China Cracks Down, Republicans Crack Up, Literature Gets Fun

 China cracks down on media as CP drama mounts:

Chinese police have arrested six people and shut 16 websites after rumours were spread that military vehicles were on the streets of Beijing, officials say.

The web posts were picked up last week by media outlets around the world, amid uncertainty caused by the ouster of top political leader Bo Xilai ...

Two popular microblogs have temporarily stopped users from posting comments ...

China's top leaders are grappling with the biggest political crisis they have faced for years, the BBC's Michael Bristow reports from Beijing.

The country will begin a once-in-a-decade leadership change later this year. But one of the main contenders for promotion - Bo Xilai - has just been sacked, suggesting a fierce fight behind the scenes for control of the ruling Communist Party.

 Good to remember: Many people of faith support marriage equality in NC.

 The White Plains police didn't need to kill Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr.

 Rahm Emanuel wants to keep LGBT Chicagoans healthy.

 The modern family: Two women mother a brood of quadruplets who were born two weeks apart.

 He was an illegal immigrant. He was kicked out of the United States after running a red light. Now, that criminal record prevents him from re-entering the country to go to his son's funeral:

“Fidel” Merlos-Lopez is trying to attend the funeral services for his 10-year-old son Damien Lopez on Monday after the boy, along with his cousin, aunt and 7-month-old half-brother, died in a fire last week in the town of Shenandoah.

But U.S. Customs and Border Protection have denied Fidel Lopez entrance into the country after he was asked by immigration authorities to leave the country voluntarily in 2007 after running a red light.

 Republicans, under the impression that kids in school "can't talk about God," rally against make-believe war on religious freedom:

“This type of faith and values politicking has very, very little broad support amongst Americans,” said Jacques Berlinerblau, a Georgetown University professor and author of the upcoming book “How to be Secular: a Call to Arms for Religious Freedom.”

“The problem is a core constituency of the Republican party will only engage as Republicans if that product is sold and this is where they’re stuck.”

 At the Large Hadron Collider, it's sometimes difficult to distinguish evidence from error.

 Another case of teachers abusing disabled kids.

 The screams recorded on that telephone call were probably not George Zimmerman's.

 Are we all excited about The Sugar Frosted Nutsack?

Obama Speaks On Trayvon Martin Case: VIDEO

Obama commented on the Trayvon Martin case today in the Rose Garden:

"I think about my own kids. and you know, I think every parent in america should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this. and that everybody pulls together, federal, state and local, to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened. so I'm glad that not only is the justice department looking into it, I understand now that the governor of the state of Florida has formed a task force to investigate what is taking place...My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he would look like Trayvon. and, you know, I think they are right to expect that all of us as americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Petition to prosecute Trayvon's killer, George Zimmerman, here.

In related news, activist and writer Zach Stafford writes, in the HuffPost, about everyone's civil rights movement, how they relate to the Trayvon Martin case, and why LGBT people should be involved:

Trayvon Martin's story is a tragedy, but we need to look at this instance and see it as a battle on a few levels. On one level it is a battle for justice for the Martin family, who rightly deserve it, and on another level it's also a battle for all folks who face violence when being in public -- even gay folks. Although I can never say that "I Am Trayvon Martin!" (even though I do understand that protesting tactic), what I can say is that I have been in the "wrong" place and policed by folks who live in that place far too many times just for looking "suspicious" (translation: not white, not heterosexual, or not what is thought to be an upstanding member of that place). And I believe many of the gay folks in the world could say they have to been thought of as suspicious -- suspicious for being gay...

...In a previous blog post I wrote, "It's time for us to stop saying that the gay rights movement is the new civil rights movement, because my civil rights movement hasn't stopped: as a person of color, for me it's still going." I would like to point to the Travyon Martin case as an example of my civil rights movement not stopping, in terms of my race. Many people responded to this statement by saying that the civil rights movement is the gay rights movement, that we all should be working together toward equality. So with that I challenge you to show that this proclamation is true; that we are all in this together for equality; that you, as a gay man, lesbian woman, or transgender person, can see the movement for racial equality and sexual equality as a fight we are all apart of; and that you can start showing that by helping seek justice for Trayvon Martin, who was killed just a few weeks ago for being outside, for being in public and looking "suspicious."