RationalWiki:Best of the blogosphere

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This is the place to sort, search and review all the classic What Is Going On in the blogosphere? moments. Results are sorted by vote count and month, at the moment you can provide your own vote number cutoff, browse different months, or filter all the results by a keyword.

The day-to-day updates of the blogosphere are over at What Is Going On in the blogosphere? and all new contenders should be added there. Entries are automatically moved here.

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87The cruelty is the point: President Trump and his supporters find community by rejoicing in the suffering of those they hate and fear.
85A quiz "persecuted American Christians" need to take - How to Determine If Your Religious Liberty Is Being Threatened in Just 10 Quick Questions
75In response to Benjamin Netanyahu's attack on Jeremy Corbyn attending a Palestinian memorial, comedian Mark Steel reminds people of the time Netanyahu attended a memorial with Irgun members to commemorate the King David Hotel bombing.
74The forces of stupidity outdo themselves and reveal that Canadian force to be reckoned with, Canadian Cynic is in reality Rob Day from talk.origins. The tactic backfires badly, as now the Cynic is able to call Creationists and IDiots "douchebags" in a much more public fashion than before.
66 Francis Fukuyama interview: socialism ought to come back
65 Red Hats are the new white hoods
65"I hate what Fox News has done to almost everyone in my family. It’s absolute poison and the only thing I think is worse is that there are people who think that destroying the morals and conscience of multiple generations is worth a few more bucks." 'Fox News brain': meet the families torn apart by toxic cable news
65Christianity Today, the evangelical publication founded by Billy Graham, endorses the impeachment and removal of Donald Trump. Trump rails against the magazine, re-defining the usual definitions by calling it far-left!!
62Radical open-access plan could spell end to journal subscriptions: Eleven research funders in Europe announce ‘Plan S’ to make all scientific works free to read as soon as they are published
61Christianity has died in the hands of Evangelicals. Evangelicalism ceased being a religious faith tradition following Jesus’ teachings concerning justice for the betterment of humanity when it made a Faustian bargain for the sake of political influence.
60Over the past decade, a new type of historical denialism has cropped up -- the insistence that 19th century Americans never discriminated against Irish immigrants. Enter a 14-year-old girl who decided to do a Google search on the topic just for the hell of it and . . . well, you can probably guess the rest. And if you'd like to see some examples of actual, supposedly non-existent 19th century "NINA" (i.e., no Irish need apply) classified ads, here are some from The Brooklyn Eagle. (The professor whose claim the girl refuted? R.J. Jensen, late of Conservapedia.)
59"WARNING: This product contains deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The Surgeon General has determined that DNA is linked to a variety of diseases in both animals and humans. In some configurations, it is a risk factor for cancer and heart disease. Pregnant women are at very high risk of passing on DNA to their children."
58Line Goes Up: The Problem With NFTs. Dan Olsen gives a broad look into the Crypto and NFT trend, the motivating economic factors behind it, and an examination of the hyper-capitalist implications of the tokenization of everything into a speculator market.
56Warhammer 40,000 publisher Games Workshop (finally) tells Nazi gamers to fuck off: "We won’t let you participate. We don’t want your money. We don’t want you in the Warhammer community."
56‘Ukraine fatigue’ is unpardonable. Western countries have the resources but now must display the will to ensure Russia does not prevail. No western soldiers are at risk. The sums to be agreed this year amount to less than 0.25 per cent of the combined GDP of the EU, UK and US, while Baltic countries have spent as much as 2 per cent of their GDP helping Ukraine. The argument that this is unaffordable is ridiculous.
55The subject is Canadian blogger/idiot Patrick "Twatsy" Ross, but we can all spot people we know. Including at CP. Maybe especially at CP.
55How the Christian Gospels More Resemble the works of fiction produced in the time they were written in than actual works of history produced during the same period
54Cracked: 4 Dangerously Influential Dimwits, featuring Sylvia Browne and Jenny McCarthy.
54'Toxic Christianity': the evangelicals creating champions for Trump.
54Let People Not Enjoy Things. These days, a good portion of the fandoms of nerd franchises such as the MCU, Star Wars and Game of Thrones - which is to say, consumer products fielded by megacorporations - gets far too defensive upon reading criticism thereof, and would do well to engage in some self-reflection.
54Why libertarian cities fail. How attempting to be free of the "tyranny" of regulation and taxation can result in running out of clean water or neighborhoods being overrun by wild bears.
53"Dear 1%ers, many of our fellow citizens are starting to believe that capitalism itself is the problem. I disagree, and I’m sure you do too... [but] these idiotic trickle-down policies are destroying my customer base. The pitchforks are coming for us plutocrats."
53 Court-packing is necessary to save American democracy
53A history of Israel pursuing diplomatic relations with pro-Israeli anti-semitic regimes to serve the interest of the state, at the expense of Jewish communities worldwide.
52The resolution of the Bitcoin experiment, according to one of its developers: Complete and total failure as human nature overcomes libertarian ideals.
52CBC: Alex Jones deals in vicious stupidity. It's not free speech — it's incitement.
52Why the Western notion of an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and morally perfect God is incoherent.
51Complaining to the Advertising Standards Authority about the British Homeopathic Association. UPDATE: A response has been received from Advertising Standards Authority. Seems they agree that the BHA leaflet "contains material that is likely to be problematic".
51The creator of the blatantly fake UndergroundNewsReport.com shared his outlandish (and totally false) stories to pro-Trump groups on Facebook, who fell for it hard: "It seemed that there wasn’t anything I could write that was too wild or outrageous to be believed by this particular audience."
51Popular youtuber JonTron allegedly "goes full Nazi".
51Sovereign citizens — not "radical Islam" — are the biggest terrorist threat in the US.
50Pizza chain CEO who owns "a 40,000 square-foot mansion in a tony suburb of Louisville, Kentucky, that features several swimming pools, a private golf course and a 22-car garage among other amenities," threatens to make all of his employees part-timers in order to save the $5 to $8 million that (he says) Obamacare will cost him. He also claims that O-care will cost him between 11 and 14 cents per pizza. Forbes columnist does the math: It'll cost between 3.4 and 4.6 cents per pizza -- and, besides, the company gives away about 2 million pizzas in an annual promotion that costs between $24 and $32 million dollars.
50"Vaccines Work." A cartoon guide to vaccines and vaccine denialist arguments.
50The implosion of a legacy sports magazine perfectly encapsulates the ugly, ongoing collapse of US journalism, being steadily replaced by a parade of automated gibberish, clickbait, well-funded propaganda, and marketing
49 John Oliver finally gave into the temptation to talk about Donald Trump.
49A new experiment in teaching kids to be critical thinkers and combat pseudoscience and fake news shows promise.
49The Guardian’s Catherine Bennett has criticised the number of illiberal views that have been growing on BBC Radio 4’s daily religious programme Thought of the Day.
48Apparently this is controversial.
48Oh behalf of actual gamers everywhere, everyone's favourite former NFL player Chris Kluwe spectacularly rips Gamergaters several new ones.
48A video exposing the corruption in Putin's government has been banned in Russia, so its makers have reuploaded it to PornHub.
48 Publishers are not obligated to give bigots like Jordan Peterson a platform
47Muslims take the piss out of ISIS, using genuinely funny snark and satire. We at Rationalwiki salute you.
47Jimmy Wales tries to patiently explain to a Gamergater why Gamergate has some public relations problems. "It is very difficult for me to buy into the notion that gamergate is 'really about ethics in journalism' when every single experience I have personally had with it involved pro-gg people insulting, threatening, doxxing, etc." They don't quite take the recommendations of the world-famous and highly influential charity founder they enquired with to heart.
47"I teach human evolution at the University of Kentucky. There are some students I’ll never reach."
47On Starbucks and the "War on Christmas", from a Christian who's had enough of that nonsense.
47"This tax bill is straight out of 1929" says economic historian.
47Even Tucker Carlson is starting to lose faith in Donald Trump, as revealed in an interview with the conservative Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche in which he calls him "not capable" of governing and accuses him of having barely achieved anything.
47What Happened After My 13-Year-Old Son Joined the Alt-Right
47Why are American churches in decline? Long story short: a one-two punch of drastically fewer young people continuing to attend of their own accord (as a result of not having time to attend, feeling alienated and/or shunned due to political and social factors, or both) and the pandemic breaking existing churchgoers' attendance habits.
46Shortest evolution debate ever?
46In 2008, Focus on the Family predicted what 2012 under Obama would be like. Let's see how they did. (Some portions may be familiar.)
46Cracked: A 90-Second Guide to Determine if Your Internet Cause Is BS
46John Oliver takes on televangelists. Alternative link.
46Even Reason thinks the Republican base has gone totally and utterly bonkers.
46NPR, as part of its 4th of July celebrations, tweeted the entire text of the Declaration of Independence. The response from the right went about as well as expected.
46Rick Reilly analyses Trump's claim to have won 18 golf tournaments: unsurprising conclusion - Trump lied
45Twitter Joke Trial: a layman journalist’s view. Paul Chambers was prosecuted for joking on Twitter that he planned to "blow an airport sky high" if they didn't deal with their snow problem. This blog post is about the appeal and a layman's view from the court room.
45"Legitimate" rape and the "gift" of pregnancy: An analogy as subtle as being hit with a slice of lemon, wrapped around a brick.
45Mars One is sounding pretty scammy.
45The privatization of the US justice system, thanks to a 2011 Supreme Court decision that allows businesses (defendants) to shift an individual plaintiff's lawsuit out of the courts and to a private arbitrator -- who is usually hired by the defendants. So basically...
45Return of socialism to the U.S. (Note: worldwide, it's not considered socialism.)
45Donald Trump Isn’t the Presidential Candidate We Should Be Worried About: The real danger is the smarter, more capable neo-fascist politician who will inevitably rise in his wake.
45The Dutch far right’s election donors are almost exclusively American.
45A Christian pastor explains how young Earth creationists like Ken Ham are turning young people against Christianity. (Short version: a myth that flies in the face of all evidence is a terrible foundation upon which to build a lasting faith.)
44 P. Z. Myers writes beautiful open letter to a nine-year old suggesting that "how do you know?" is a better question than "were you there?". The dribbling idiot who came up with the "were you there?" question complains. Mom weighs in without reading the letter.
44Mayor of Boston to Chick-fil-A: Fuck off.
44"I'm not a scientist" = "I'm losing the War on Science."
44Frustrated Gunman Can’t Believe How Far He Has To Drive To Find Nearest Planned Parenthood ClinicThe Onion
44Sweden’s recycling is so revolutionary, the country has run out of rubbish, and has to import rubbish from other countries to keep its recycling plants going.
44 How (and why) Americans were taught to hate atheists
44Trump is a shockingly un-masculine and immature president, and his popularity among working-class men in America is a symptom of a culture that values perpetual adolescence.
44QAnon is basically a white evangelical cult whose believers become even more fanatical when the prophesied end does not come.
44 Donald Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine: Handing Vladimir Putin an unearned and undeserved victory will only hurt the US. Ukraine has fought Putin’s revanchist dictatorship behemoth to a standstill over two heroic years, despite being outmanned and outgunned and has achieved this at minimal cost to western countries. The war has done far more than inflict great damage on Russia’s military. It has also revitalised Nato itself. Yet now, Trump and his acolytes seem set on handing Putin an unearned and undeserved victory.
43Creationist Questions translated.
43The "Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology" petitioned Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, to "create and enforce new policies that allow for true scientific discourse about holistic approaches to healing." Jimmy Wales responds.
43Go fuck yourself, ESPN! ESPN suspends MLB writer Keith Law ostensibly for defending evolution.
43Reddit enacts new anti-harassment policy and begins to crack down on subreddits that promote harassment. Among the first on the block is the infamous /r/fatpeoplehate along with /r/hamplanethatred, /r/transfags, /r/neofag and /r/shitniggerssay. A large number of users are enraged by the news, and the announcement is currently flooded with downvotes.
43In response to Tumblr banning all NSFW content, a writer at The Guardian proposes that social media should focus less on nipples and more on Nazis.
43Fears grow that Trump will use the military in ‘dictatorial ways’ if he returns to the White House
42If only American TV journalists had the balls to say something like this on the air. Oh, and there is video of it on the intertubes (quote at 2:30).
42Court decides parent's refusal to vaccinate kids is not “free exercise of religion”. Win one for the constitution. (self promotion warning)
42Daily Kos: Neil deGrasse Tyson makes important scientific discovery: Liberals can be just as anti-science about GMOs as Conservatives are about Global warming.
42Idaho Representative Vito Barbieri is not an OB-GYN
42Jordan Peterson appears very profound and has convinced many people to take him seriously. Yet he has almost nothing of value to say.
42It's time for #MeToo in the Catholic church
42Young conservatives flock to Washington, D.C., to support renewable energy.
42PewDiePie faced backlash for giving a shoutout to a YouTuber called E;R, who is known for making anti-semitic jokes, comments, and content and also has a Gab account. PewDiePie has since then responded to the controversy.
42Are Israeli media too soft on the country's popular military?
42 My semester with the snowflakes.
42Contemporary journalism is failing to accurately convey the rise of American authoritarianism and the threat it poses to democracy. The media needs to focus on the underlying issues and stakes rather than traditional election coverage.
42Michael Shellenberger's "WPATH Files" contains 216 instances of factual errors regarding transgender healthcare.
41Phil Sandifer: an analysis of the 2015 Hugos, the Sad Puppies, Vox Day's politics and his supporters, and how neofascism works in a culture war.
41A woman in Texas kicks off a plan to protest a "campus carry" law by carrying dildos to a university.
41Star Trek Discovery — y'know, the series that shows races from all over the galaxy working together — now has an Asian captain and a black first officer. Right wingers are outraged by this clear example of "white genocide".
41 Hatred of liberals is all that's left of conservatism (paywall)
41 The Japanese Wikipedia is full of historical misinformation, apologism and propaganda
41The Republicans refusal to supply arms is sabotaging Kyiv’s war effort. Some of the Republican reluctance to pass new aid for Ukraine is driven by genuine scepticism about the war. But most of the foot-dragging is simply about Trump’s refusal to give Biden anything that looks like a “win” ahead of the presidential election.
40Skepticism *is* making a difference
40The heir to Mencken's throne of snark: An American football player?
40Can you tell the difference between conservative Christians and Muslim fundamentalists?
40How Gamergate has destroyed the reputation of video games in academia.
40The left should receive more criticism for their anti-science views - Opinion piece from The Tech.
40The Grauniad on "populist correctness", aka the right's tendency to get triggered by whatever doesn't fit their worldview.
40The women who flipped: the price of changing your conservative views.
40 America isn't just a failing state, it's a failed experiment as the realities of bigotry, discrimination and gross economic inequalities belied the promised ideals of equality and justice for all.
40"Welcome to the Brexit" says a Dutch customs officer Martijn as he confiscates a gentleman's ham sandwich, has a social media phenomenon as many Brits were surprised that EU Customs would be banning the personal importation of food.
40It’s Time for Justice, Not Healing. The United States needs to follow South Korea’s post-impeachment example
40Oh my fucking god, get the fucking vaccine already, you fucking fucks
40Bizarre conspiracy-laden messages about secret societies keep showing up in food boxes in central Pennsylvania