maxomai | Jul. 14th, 2014

Democratic control of the US Senate is on a knife's edge. This is not the same as "they're going to lose," but it is to say that they need to get their shit together.

Iraq's parliament is still trying to figure things out as ISIS takes over more territory (with Saudi help). The Kurds, for their part, are taking territory themselves. Can you blame them?

Amazon is set to provide cloud computing services to the US Intelligence community - all 17 agencies. It's a $600 million deal.

Gang crime in Portland, Oregon is less than it was ten years ago - but it's also more spread out. Conversely, gang crime in Chicago is way less than it was 20 years ago, and the North Side of Chicago, if it separated from the South and West sides, would be one of the safest cities in North America. But some neighborhoods have gotten even more dangerous since crime peaked in the early 1990s. In other words, if crime seems to be spiraling out of control even though statistically it's getting better, it may be because it's getting worse where you live.

Rolling Stone on how to beat the NRA: stop people from thinking and get them angry. The thing is, if your strategy for getting people to your side depends on them suspending their logical faculties and getting pissed off and afraid, your side's ideas are probably complete shit. And yes, I acknowledge that the NRA does this, too, every time they send out their mailers about the UN.

Zoe Trope (remember her?) on what growing up means to her. Who here can't sympathize?

Finding God in a Dog