Composite roundup

The Times' piece on Minneapolis youth as Somali fighters is good but long. If you're not up for the whole thing, this page is fascinating.

Two angles on the tortured future of the Republican party.

Good news for my fellow potty-mouths.

Following the recent study--I posted news of it over the last couple of weeks--that cats are useless, here's another that finds them to be manipulative. This one gives Gracie too much credit, as she's been pretty slow to catch on to the fact that this particular human doesn't take well to nagging.

I'm not in the mood for a fight, otherwise I'd send this to my mother. Who, if you'll recall, chided me for not remembering how much I paid for salt.