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

 
Amish Uber? Michigan Man Starts His Own Horse and Buggy Service ~ Enterprising ~

Timothy Hochstedler of Colon, Michigan, has added his own spin on the fairly newfangled concept of ride sharing with what he calls “Amish Uber.” For $5, Hochstedler will take you where you need to go in his horse and buggy and provide stories and conversation along the way […]
 
Of course, there’s no Amish Uber app. Riders simply have to seek Hochstedler out or flag him down if they come across him on the road […]
 
The Amish have not shied away from hard work, and they take pride in the services and goods they offer. They’re not afraid to reach out to people who are different than they are, and they don’t sell a product or offer a service that they don’t stand behind.

 
‘Trump Standard’ Means These H’Wood Leftists Lose Walk of Fame Stars – Bye, John Lennon! ~ The vandals that keep destroying Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame need to apply the same standard to many other, far worse, celebrity reprobates ~

(T)hese fascist West Hollywood politicians have to hide behind a fig leaf to call for the removal of Trump’s Walk of Fame star, and this fig leaf is “treatment of women.” This standard is of course ridiculous. We all know that this is just another attempt to blacklist a man who does not hold the “appropriate” views.
 
And we know that because no one is calling for John Lennon, Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Charlie Chaplin, and a whole host of political leftists who have been accused of much worse, to have their Walk of Fame star removed.

 
Do abortion-supporters care about the danger and destruction of the abortion pill? ~ It’s pretty much a rhetorical question ~

It was only this year that the Food and Drug Administration updated their guidance to reveal the disturbing fact that 22 American women have been killed by abortion pills. The official website stated: “As of December 2017, there were reports of 22 deaths of women associated with Mifeprex since the product was approved in September 2000, including two cases of ectopic pregnancy resulting in death; and several cases of severe systemic infection (also called sepsis), including some that were fatal.”

 
North Korea: ‘Our Society Is the Best in the World’ ~ Well, yes, if you enjoy living in a prison camp. Perhaps we can send some of these misguided millennials there for a visit ~

North Korea’s state newspaper Rodong Sinmun published a column Wednesday urging North Koreans not to be enticed by other cultures or ways of life, insisting instead that the brutally repressive communism of the Kim family regime is the “best in the world.” […]
 
“Our society is the best in the world as everyone enjoys happiness in very stable living condition, helping and leading each other though their life is not so luxurious and rich,” the piece continues, touting “the principle of collectivism” as the key to the alleged success of the regime. “Ordinary workers, peasants and intellectuals have become deputies to the Supreme People’s Assembly to discuss state affairs and conduct free socio-political activities. This is a true picture that can be found only in the Korean-style socialist society.”

 
Meanwhile, things aren’t going so well in Brazil ~ “I’m Totally Freaked Out”: Brazil’s Elite Fleeing Bloodshed And Chaos ~ They sound like South American immigrants we should be welcoming! They’d probably vote Republican ~

Besides violent crime and a collapsed economy, 16- to 24-year-old Brazilians may want to flee the country because of high taxes, stifling economic growth as a huge chunk of which goes to pensions, said Tony Volpon, chief economist at UBS in Brazil. For those with a good education, leaving “looks like a good decision,” he said.

 
Soldiers who criticise Army’s new recruitment ads about inclusivity could face disciplinary action ~ This is from the UK, let’s hope it doesn’t catch on over here ~

The adverts, launched earlier this year, feature soldiers displaying their emotions, praying while on manoeuvres and asking: ‘Can I be gay in the Army?’
 
Some critics of the films have pointed out that a memo designed to restrict free speech about an initiative intended to depict the Army as an inclusive, caring environment could be seen as ironic.

 
Did the FDA Just Buy Baby Parts From Babies Killed in Abortions at Planned Parenthood? ~ As if abortion isn’t a big enough evil ~

Earlier this week, CNS News reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently signed a one-year, $15,900 contract with Advanced Bioscience Resources to acquire human fetal tissue “for implantation into severely immune-compromised mice to create chimeric animals that have a human immune system.” […]

 
ABR is among the entities under referral for criminal investigation for possibly profiting from the sale of fetal tissue from aborted babies. Among its sources for fetal tissue are Planned Parenthood-affiliated clinics.

 
Facebook blocks California candidate’s video for discussing her parents suffering through communist genocide in Cambodia ~ Heng is – of course – a Republican. Her campaign released this statement on August 3rd ~

This Friday, Facebook revoked approval to advertise Elizabeth Heng’s campaign video detailing why she is running for office in the 16th Congressional District of California. Her video, which includes the story of her American immigrant parents who lived through the atrocity of communism and genocide that ravaged Cambodia in the early 1980s, evidently contained content too “shocking, disrespectful or sensational” for the platform, to quote Facebook directly.

It took almost a week, but they did remove the block on August 8th.

 
Feinstein’s Ties To China Go Way Deeper Than An Alleged Office Spy ~ Instead of investigating Trump for phony Russian collusion what about the long-time CA Democrat’s Chinese connections? ~

As media, intelligence agency, and political scrutiny of foreign meddling is seemingly at its apex, a story with big national security implications involving a high-ranking senator with access to America’s most sensitive intelligence information has been hiding in plain sight […]
 
For the last 40 years, no politician in America has arguably maintained a deeper, more longstanding (more lucrative?) and friendlier relationship with China, at the highest levels of its ruling Communist Party, than Feinstein.

 
Google’s Plan for a Censoring App for China Makes a Mockery of Its Mission of Information Access ~ Actually, it exposes their shared totalitarian tendencies. It’s becoming painfully obvious that neither Google nor their client want the peasants to have unfettered access to information. Pretty chilling stuff ~

Code-named “Dragonfly,” Google’s highly exclusive project was started in spring 2017, and only a few hundred employees are privy to it. The purpose of Dragonfly is to produce a Google app that will adhere to China’s Orwellian censorship laws.
 
The app, which could later be expanded to a computer search engine, would actively censor information deemed subversive by the state. The engine would block queries relating to democracy, human rights, religion, and events or history the state wishes to suppress.

 
Mending Smiles ~ A touching photo-essay shows the healing Samaritan’s Purse is bringing to patients with cleft-lips in South Sudan ~

Imagine if, from the time you were born, people looked at you and saw a cursed life. That is the reality for men, women, and children with cleft lips who live in South Sudan. But for 87 people, it all changed this year when they received reparative surgery through Samaritan’s Purse.