Friday links! Sincere beliefs edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links 1 Comment
Lesbians

Lesbians

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that this country is falling apart for lack of religious belief. Think of America’s finest moments—our Nazi-stompin’, steam engineerin’, self-evident truthin’ glory days: they all came at moments when we were at our most religious. From curing polio to integrating the public schools, church has been the principle contributor to this nation’s success. And yet it has become unpopular. After childhoods witnessing our parents’ delirious happiness with traditional values, a new generation of Americans has turned from spiritual pursuits to heartless science, admittedly fun but empty internet dating, and leaving gay people alone. Today is Friday, and we have hidden our light under a bushel. Won’t you let it shine with me?

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Field-sized image of Pakistani child shames drone operators

By Dan Brooks in Existential Dilemmas 2 Comments

jr_kpk_full

An enormous image of a child whose family was killed in a drone attack has been placed in a field in northwest Pakistan by a shadowy artist collective that has no name. Either that or Yahoo! has not seamlessly assumed the duties of a news-gathering organization. The point is that somebody put a big picture of an orphan in a field to shame drone operators. That somebody also created #NotABugSplat, which encourages people to think about the civilian casualties of drone attacks as something other than the operator slang from which #NotABugSplat is derived.

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So, what’s in the Pakistani news?

By Dan Brooks in Church People 2 Comments

Yesterday’s All Parties Conference in Islamabad (not pictured: various parties)

Because I am a curious fellow in dire need of supervision, I spent several hours yesterday reading the Express Tribune of Pakistan. Granted, now seems like an especially interesting time in Pakistani news, but man—that place is a den of insanity. The photo above comes from this story about a meeting of the All Parties Conference, which threatened to block NATO supply routes to Afghanistan if the United Nations does not pass an anti-blasphemy law. They also threatened to leave the UN and form a separate, Muslim United Nations, which would pretty much be the best thing ever to happen to American talk radio. It gets better after the jump.

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Department of False Friends: Pakistan

By Dan Brooks in terror 4 Comments

Dr. Shakil Afridi, with weird objects near his head

Remember when Pakistan was like, “Bro, we have no idea where Osama Bin Laden is. That guy’s a dick!” and then it turned out he was in Pakistani Arlington, Virginia? And remember when we shot him in the eye and dumped his body in the ocean, and Pakistan was like “that’s what we wanted to do! But it is absolutely unacceptable that you came into our house.” Far be it from me to criticize a military junta while it makes the delicate transition to theocracy, but I worry that Pakistan might not be our real friend. Evidence: This morning, a tribal court in Khyber convicted Shakil Afridi—the Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA locate Bin Laden—of high treason, sentencing him to 33 years in prison.

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