Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
Where Are the Academic Boycotts of Turkey? ~ Just more evidence of the Left’s selective morality and hypocrisy ~

The Western academy doesn’t hesitate to boycott Israel — but outright suppression of academic freedom in Turkey draws silence.

 
Sleep on It: Housekeeping Night Crew Works Swing Shift ~ From Creation-Evolution-Headlines. Research is finding that sleeping has a purpose beyond just resting and recharging. It seems that it also allows…

… housekeeping processes to take place that stop our brains becoming overloaded with new memories.

Secular scientists assume that this phenomenon just evolved, but believers recognize the signature of an all-knowing Creator ~

(He) thought of everything. Imagine! While your conscious mind is mostly off, your body’s night crew knows what to do and springs into action.

 
Anti-Police leftists invited to White House meeting on ‘Police/Community Relations’ ~ Makes you wonder what Barack Obama would be doing if he were trying to make things worse?
 
Let’s pray these calmer heads prevail ~

In ‘Uncharted’ Period of Violence, Police Change Tactics but Keep Perspective ~ Staying engaged despite the tragedies, because that’s what good guys do ~

(P)olice departments are responding to recent ambush attacks in Dallas and Baton Rouge that left eight officers dead by mostly taking the long view, emphasizing the importance of shoring up community ties as a way to diffuse historic tension around law enforcement […]
 
“If they trust us and see and know you, they are our first line of defense. The community sees and hears things before we do, and promoting an environment that makes them comfortable enough to just call us leads to prevention and detection of criminal activity.”

 
Saudi Arabia revives a 15-year-old anti-Pokemon fatwa ~ As Pokemon Go recaptures the attention of the millennial generation, Saudi Arabia has revived a 15-year-old fatwa to prohibit the popular time-waster ~

“in response to public calls for guidance on the newly launched smartphone version of the game” […]
 
The kingdom’s Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta determined that gambling and evolution is promoted in the game, which is rejected by Islam. But beyond this, Saudi Arabia’s top clerical body determined that “most cards on the game carried symbols of ‘deviant’ religions and organisations, such as ‘international Zionism’ and Israel, Christian crosses, Freemasonry, and symbols from Japan’s native Shinto religion.”

A tad too totalitarian, but they do have a point.
 

Senator Mike Lee Warns of Revolt, Following RNC’s Defeat of the Free the Delegates Movement ~

In the battle to free the delegates at the GOP convention in Cleveland next week, it seems there has been a victor.
It’s not America.[…]
 
Senator Lee is like many who see Trump as unqualified, and someone who will possibly usher in a time of authoritarian rule in what is supposed to be republic.
 
“Instead of focusing on a message that could truly unite the party, you’ve got all these people in there who are shouting about, ‘Darn it, we’ve got to be united,’” Lee said, his voice rising. “And to be united we’ve got to shut you guys up. We’ve got to lock up the rules, so that anyone who disagrees with us will be silenced. That’s how we’re going to be unified.”

 
How Trump Folk Talk ~ Excellent commentary from Jay Nordlinger at National Review captures the essence of “a political movement and its lexicon” ~

“It’s not about ideology.” This is something I hear from Trump folk when I or someone else points out that Trump is not a conservative, or that he takes left-leaning positions, or outright leftist positions (as on health care).
 
A related phrase is, “It’s not about box-checking.”
 
What do they mean by this? I think they mean, “No fair talking about issues. No fair talking about the federal debt or taxation or entitlements or trade or gun control or abortion or NATO or affirmative action or ethanol subsidies. Issues and positions don’t matter. Thinking doesn’t matter. What matters is that Donald Trump is a big strong man, and that’s what this country needs now.”

 
New U.K. leader Theresa May shuts climate change department ~ Brexit is paying dividends already ~ Britain’s New Prime Minister Drives A Stake Through The Heart Of The Green Vampire ~

This is good news. Very good news. The agonised screeching of all the usual suspects in the Environmental movement will be enough to sustain many of us in lols for weeks and months to come.

 
Famous Ukrainian journalist Pavel Sheremet killed in Kiev ~ You can take the boy (Putin) out of the KGB, but you can’t take the KGB out of the boy ~

A car bomb in Kiev has killed Pavel Sheremet, a pioneering journalist and outspoken critic of leaders in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

 
The NBA is the National Bullying Association ~ Who appointed the National Basketball Association the latest LGBTQ agenda enforcer? What stake do they have in forcing women to share their restrooms and locker rooms with potential predators? ~

(North Carolina) has taken a stand for commonsense, for safety, and for privacy, yet the NBA is punishing the state for protecting its residents, announcing that it will pull next year’s All Star game from Charlotte […]
 
Let us not forget that when the NBA decided to bring the All Star game to Charlotte, the laws were just as they are today: Men were expected to use men’s bathrooms and locker rooms and women were expected to use women’s bathrooms and locker rooms.