FAST FIVE:
* "How austerity kills" (Courtesy asimplelife.)
* Kevin Drum wraps up the current scandals and non-scandals. Link dumps later this week.
* When I say I ignore the Heritage Foundation, this is why.
* UK prime minister Cameron faces pressure from within his own party. Bonus UK: scapegoating globalization.
* "Scientists say they have, for the first time, cloned human embryos capable of producing embryonic stem cells."

No energy for news today. Going to be a long couple weeks ahead.

CAN'T TRUST THAT DAY:
* "Austerity never works: Deficit hawks are amoral — and wrong." (Courtesy asimplelife.)
* Ugh. What can be done about Guantanamo?
* Five myths about missing children.
* I may have posted this before, but NIMH abandoning the DSM is pretty big news.
* xkcd drops the mic on birds and dinosaurs.

SATURDAY NEWS:
* Good read: Harold Meyerson on the future of organized labor.
* Carbon dioxide levels reach a new high.
* A more partisan electorate means we need to pay more attention to primaries.
* "Israel's fraying image."
* The Benghazi-CIA connection. Also, Eugene Robinson on the witch hunt.
* Ten annoying anime cliches.
* "How the Inception soundtrack conquered the world."

FRIDAY FIVE:
* "The disappearing middle class and the changing nature of work."
* Using time-lapsed pics to show the human impact on Earth.
* Whistleblower shines light on major problems at Veterans' Administration.
* No good moves for Israel in Syria.
* The first animated Marvel movie since the move to Disney will be... Big Hero 6.

FAST FIVE:
* The growing youth joblessness crisis.
* On fearmongering: predicting Medicare insolvency, by the numbers.
* "For all practical purposes, we live in a pseudo-parliamentary system of governance, and the only thing that matters in Congress is what party you belong to."
* Whatever happened to the veto?
* Why we will survive the next world-ending catastrophe.

FAST FIVE:
* "It's time to stop predicting the end of the world."
* Maybe we need to talk less about the Middle East, and more about Asia.
* The Fact Checker on the latest Benghazi talking points.
* As it turns out, our solar system isn't very normal.
* Legendary special effects master Ray Harryhausen passed away. This YouTube clip commemorates his creations.

"Sun reporter Justin Fenton travels throughout the city as he covers Baltimore’s crime stories. During his travels and while at crime scenes, he often documents the people, buildings and vistas of the city with his cellphone camera. His images show the contrast of urban decay and the beauty of street art."

"An atheist Muslim's perspective on the 'root causes' of Islamist jihadism and the politics of Islamophobia."

SATURDAY SIX:
* Greta Christina speaks out in praise of taxes.
* Interesting read on blame and neurocriminology.
* Why your board of directors needs a rank-and-file worker on it.
* Dana Milbank presents a hidden gem of Washington.
* A man spends a year without internet, and meets a not-so-surprising result.
* Why I dig Michael Bay, even though I rarely dig his movies.