Martin World News

ITEM:  A short stack this week, as I worked on nothing until Friday.  At that point, I finally began to get my snark back on, but wasted most of it on Facebook.  And why, do you ask, was that?


Mainly because you would think the ONLY news in this nation was the Religious Freedom law Indiana just passed, thereby making the multiverse stop dead in its tracks and tumble into the abyss.  I'm really pretty done with the whole thing, but I would like to point out the different types of "Facebook experts" weighing in on the topic.

1- First, you have supporters who have done the homework, read the law, and have a firm grasp on what it is meant for.

2- Next on the scale, you have the supporters who hope to use it as the opponents fear they will- as a tool to spread actual racist, intolerant thought.  These are the ones that add a one-liner to any discussion they happen onto, pat themselves on the shoulder, and- thankfully- usually disappear.

3- Next, you have the opponents who conceive of " a thoughtful, well-argued response" as an insulting meme which they borrowed from any one of a million other threads and still think it's clever.  These are the ones I wasted my venom on, pointing out over and over the stupidity of their meme and the lack of original thought they put into the thing.

4- Then comes the opposite of #1- those who oppose the law, and then go on to discuss their well-thought out reasons why.  These may start with a meme, but more likely draw others who think their well thought-out argument needs an insulting meme to be complete.  I have found a grand total of two of this type.

5- Businesses and communities trying to point out their self-righteousness by calling for a boycott of Indiana, attaching any hateful, insulting idea onto their post in order to rally those who'd rather not think for themselves on any subject to their side.  Including such "I'll be so sad if you go" boycotters as Seattle, San Francisco, and Angie's List.

6- And of course, George Takei, the genesis of all the retarded memes that make their way onto Facebook.   I'm still waiting for the meme with his picture that says, "To boldly go away- and never come back."

And where am I?  Lurking behind the herd, picking off stragglers.



ITEM:  Well, one of the good bits I missed last week was the Great "What happened to Putin" crisis that broke out the week before last.  Apparently, 36 hours away from the media made half of Europe think something happened to the BMOK (Big man on Kremlin), and the jokesters were out in force:

ITEM:  Just when you think it never happens in Fort Wayne:

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A 20-year-old Auburn man is facing a public indecency charge after he apparently took off all of his clothing inside in an Allen County Library.

According to the police report, the manager of the Allen County Library at 536 E. Dupont Road called police at about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The manager told police the situation started after she confronted a man at a computer station wearing only his shorts – no other clothing.

The manager told police that she told the man, who police identified as Donn Avary Schmidt, that he needed to wear more clothing while in the library. The manager said Schmidt questioned the policy but left to get more clothing. However, as he was walking out, he took off his shorts and walked out completely naked.

The manager said that Schmidt then came back in, with his shorts back on, and asked to see the policy that required him to wear more clothing. She asked him to leave, and Schmidt again took off his shorts and walked out completely naked.

The manager followed him out and waited in the parking lot until police arrived, according to the police report. Schmidt was taken to the Allen County Jail.


Wonder if he was trying to read Naked Lunch?


ITEM:  Not to bring up the RF law again, but here's an example of #3, right in the State House:

An Indiana Democratic state representative made a shocking claim during a floor speech earlier this week when she said a Republican colleague’s 18-month-old toddler was scared of her because she’s black.

Rep. Vanessa Summers was debating the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on Monday when she speculated that Republican Rep. Jud McMillin’s young son is a fledgling racist.

“I have told Representative McMillin I love his little son, but he’s scared of me because of my color,” Summers speculated. “And that’s horrible.”

It couldn't be that the child is just scared because she's a big-mouthed, scary, stupid stranger.   No, it's the color, it's ALWAYS the color.


ITEM:  Remember this one from the MWN of April 28th, 2014?

ITEM THE LAST:  In a matter of great concern to this blog, Spanish forensic scientists are going to try to find the lost body of Author Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra, who wrote Don Quixote- without which this blog wouldn't have a name.  The author, who died penniless in 1616, is allegedly buried in a pauper's grave at the Convent of the Trinitarians in Madrid.  The team is going to use satellite tech to scan the grounds for the gravesite.  The supposedly-teetering-on-the-edge-of-bankruptcy government will be forking over in excess of $100,000 for the search.  There seems to be no real motive for the search, which makes it a perfect candidate for a government grant.



Well, they found him a couple of weeks ago, buried in a common grave with a bunch of other people, including his wife.   Once the spend another hunk of money they don't have on dividing the group by DNA so they can get the bones that are actually his, they intend to re-bury him right where they found him, in a brand new coffin- that is, after they let a bunch of tourists check him out to "honor the 400th anniversary" of his death.

The remains of Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra- and a few close friends.