Link-Off

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Sunday Link-Off: 14 Seconds of Links

Okay, this isn’t a 14-second post but who knows? Maybe you’ll just skip to the end where we have the whole damn Ronda Rousey / Cat Zingano fight to watch in a GIF. I missed the fight and was worrying about catching a video this morning but I didn’t expect it to be that easy to watch the fight. Joe Rogan’s first post-fight question to Cat was longer than the damn fight.

Anyway, it’s time for the links. It’s only appropriate to start this post with Ronda Rousey.

Until this week, you may not have known that Prince Edward Island was looking into launching online gambling. Then the plan went so wrong that Robyn Doolittle is doing a report on it. (The Globe and Mail)

Bill O’Reilly has gotten off comparatively lightly for lying when compared to others. Maybe that’s because it seems to be a force of habit. (Daily Dot)

Prime Minister Harper said that a Muslim woman should have been forced to remove her niqab when taking the Canadian citizenship oath. Not everyone is happy with that remark. (CBC News)

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Entertainment Link-Off: Live Long and Prosper

jessica-chastain-oscars15-01Don’t change the channel but it’s Steve in for Jackie with this week’s edition of the entertainment links. I’m not sure that this was a week that I really wanted to take over. Well, when Jackie get in touch on Wednesday, it wasn’t a problem. But I don’t think anyone was expecting all of the Oscar talk to suddenly be made completely irrelevant with the death of the legendary Leonard Nimoy. I thought this weekend’s links would be Oscars and that damn dress and then some news just smacks you upside the head out of nowhere.

But regardless of what sad news there was this week, there’s still a set of links to do. Since the Oscars were last weekend, let’s start with a photo from there. Here’s Jessica Chastain.

After the jump, a Leonard Nimoy obituary, some Oscars fallout, that damn dress and the unreality of reality TV.

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Wednesday Link-Off: Lies, Damned Lies and the News Media

amy-adams-jennifer-aniston-vfoscars15-01Just when you though that Brian Williams was the only member in the media in the middle of a scandal, I happened across a bunch of stories about news media scandals. Welcome my friends to the show that never ends. And there’s a whole bunch of legitimately interesting stories if that’s more your speed.

Anyway, it’s time for us to do the links. Because the Oscars were this weekend, let’s kickoff with something special. Here’s Amy Adams and Jennifer Aniston.

The right often complains about the war on Christmas or the war on religion but they ignore their war on science. For some reason, science is under attack from people who should know better. (National Geographic)

“Among African-American men aged fifteen to forty-four, 88.7 percent of gun deaths are homicides; among white American men aged thirty-five to sixty-four, 89.2 percent of gun deaths are suicides.: (Harper’s Magazine)

Naturally, Bill O’Reilly went to town on Brian Williams for his lying scandal. Little did he know that he was about to get caught up in a scandal of his own. (Mother Jones)

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Sunday Link-Off: It’s the Law

candice-swanepoel-maxim15-03I kind of wanted to title today’s linkdump with a bit of a Judge Dredd reference but this title fit best. I’ve finally caught up on my back issues of Judge Dredd. Now it’s to catch up on Justice League and Superman. I don’t even have that big a file at my local comic book shop and I’m always behind. Some people order in like five times the number of comics I do. How can they pull that off?

Anyway, it’s Sunday which means that it’s time for the links. Something like nine months after being named Maxim’s hottest woman of 2014, we finally have Candice Swanepoel’s Hot 100 shoot. It’s too bad that there’s only one photo that’s remotely SFW.

When the chief economist for America’s biggest conservative think tank can’t come up with an actual fact to back up his claims that the Affordable Care Act has been a failure, isn’t it time to give up that fight? Then again, lying to electorate seems to work so why the hell not. (Daily Intelligencer)

A former CSIS officer says that the Harper government’s new anti-terror bill will completely backfire. (National Post)

Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein went from petty criminal to shooter in a short period of time. What happened to him to cause that change? (Time)

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Entertainment Link-Off: To Infinity and Beyond

dakota johnsonLooks like we can finally catch a glimpse of the sci-fi epic Jupiter Ascending after several months delay this weekend. I suppose this will be good counter programming to Fifty Shades of Grey. Speaking of which, that film is making massive amounts of moolah right now. So let’s kick this off with Dakota Johnson, which apparently is the lone bright spot in the critically panned film. 

After the jump, Joss Whedon stripps Ultron of his powers, creating an ending to a movie seems to be an impossible mission, first look at Aquaman, a companion piece to Birdman, and some Game of Thrones bloopers to lighten up the mood. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: More Equal Than Others

miranda-kerr-wonderbra15-14Orwell once wrote, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.” The frightening thing is how prophetic Orwell’s writing is today. I was actually just saying that Orwell’s 1984 is more relevant today than it was when it was published. The man was good and his books are just getting better with age.

And I realized something while putting this post together. I was supposed to do a Valentine’s themed picture to start the links. Let’s ignore that I forgot and just pretend I was on time with this photo of Miranda Kerr.

The fall and rise of American inequality. (NPR)

And your leading House Republicans aren’t rushing to change things. Paul Ryan thinks that the poor need to comply with the tax code more strongly. Of course. They’re the ones who can afford tax loophole finding accountants. (Washington Post)

Meanwhile, in Canada, the Quebec Education Minister says that strip searches of high schoolers is allowed if they’re “respectful.” If that isn’t among the most ridiculous things you ever heard, I don’t know what is. (Montreal Gazette)

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Sunday Link-Off: Valentine’s Hangover

Good news, guys! Valentine’s Day has come and gone and it’s safe to come out of hiding again. Hopefully you didn’t screw it up and if you did, we’ll need your ex’s phone number. For research purposes only, of course… I think everyone bought that.

Anyway, it’s Sunday which means that it’s time for the links. Let’s continue going through some of the SI Swimsuit issue with Canada’s Kate Bock.

Global News was going to run a report on the Koch brothers’ connections to Canada. Then it was suddenly killed. What happened? (Canadaland)

Even more of Brian Williams’ reports are being questioned in the aftermath of his suspension. (Gawker)

How much is the legal weed market in Colorado? Only $700 million. (Washington Post)

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Entertainment Link-Off: Valentine’s Surprise

anna-kendrick-thelastfiveyears15-04Hello, entertainment links fans. Steve here in for Jackie. While Jackie is dealing with the arduous task of hot Australian summer weather, I’m taking a break from shoveling snow to take care of the ELO this week. He’s lucky I didn’t show up at his front door unannounced. Since Tuesday, I’ve dug out from over a foot of snow. Jackie? The worst that’s happened to him is turning the air conditioning down a degree because it got a wee bit nippy. Yes, I’m incredibly bitter about winter and no, I don’t intend to complain about 40° weather this summer.

Anyway, it’s Saturday night and it’s time for the links. No, I don’t have a lot of Valentine’s themed links today which is the surprise. Okay, that’s a terrible surprise but there’s TV, movie and celebrity gossip news for your perusal today. But for something Valentine-ish, let’s start with The Lowdown’s official celebrity crush Anna Kendrick.

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Wednesday Link-Off: Lies, Damned Lies and Isn’t There Anything Else to Talk About?

I know I’ve mentioned how some weeks are easier to find weeks than others. Sometimes, though, it’s nice to have links about new stories. As much as I’m sure Brian Williams interests most of you, there has to be other things in the world that are worth writing about. I swear the media finds one bit of clickbait to latch onto and it doesn’t let go.

Anyway, it’s time for the links. Since she’s on the cover of the SI Swimsuit Issue, here’s Hannah Davis.

Quiz time: Would you rather spend $1 billion on the Iraq War or on infrastructure? Independent Senator Bernie Sanders is trying to push through an infrastructure bill that would almost equal spending on the Iraq War. (The Hill)

Brian Williams is being whipped from pillar to post after it came out that he lied about being shot down in Iraq. The story’s traction might come more from the public spectacle than the principle of the matter. (Bloomberg)

The spectacle doesn’t change the fact that NBC news is in complete disarray at the moment. (The Daily Beast)

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Sunday Link-Off: Lies, Damned Lies and Brian Williams

emily-ratajkowski-hm15-05I bet nobody was expecting to wake up to a set of links about some unlikely to win the White House Republican nomination hopefuls, some exposes on sports media and the implosion of Brian Williams career. Sometimes, you get a really bad week for links. Sometimes, you get this week.

And it’s a good thing that I didn’t do an SI Swimsuit cover odds post this year because I would have been wrong. Hannah Davis was #5 on my list. Who was #1? Emily Ratajkowski.

Why are people anti-vaccine? Vox asked an anti-vax activist why he thinks vaccines are terrible. (Vox)

The news has become the news. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has admitted to lying about an alleged helicopter attack in Iraq. (The Hill)

It’s not just the Iraq story that’s falling apart from the Williams lie. His whole career is now being gone through with a fine-toothed comb. (TKTK)

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