Vigils to honor the victims of a shooting spree at an LGBT center in Tel Aviv over the weekend are planned throughout the U.S. this week.

San Francisco
Monday, August 3
5:30pm Gather at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav (290 Dolores St @ 16th St)
6:00pm March to SF LGBT Center (1800 Market Street @ Octavia St)
6:30pm Speakers & Candlelight Vigil
(more)

Washington D.C.
Monday, August 3 at 8:15pm (more)

Los Angeles
Thursday, August 6 (more) and Friday, Aug 7 (more)

Vigils have already been held throughout Israel and in London. Video below is from a spontaneous rally the night of the shooting.

Three  teenagers are dead and 11 injured in an attack on a gay youth club in Tel Aviv last night.

A masked man opened fire on a crowd in front of a gay community centre in Tel Aviv late Saturday, killing three people and wounding at least 10 others, Israeli emergency services said.

A young man and a young woman were killed on the spot while the third victim died in hospital and one of the wounded was in serious condition, they said.

The gunman, who was dressed in black, unloaded an automatic weapon on the young group of gays and lesbians at the entrance of the centre, located in the heart of Tel Aviv, and then ran away, witnesses said.

All LGBT clubs in Tel Aviv have now been closed and there is concern that the shootings were religiously motivated.

More hilarity from That Mitchell and Webb Look as some of Jesus’ followers call out their savior on his prejudices against Good Samaritans.

In hardly shocking news, a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll revealed that Southerners and Republicans buy into the birther nonsense more than anybody else. The poll asked a simple question “Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States or not?”

First by region. Note how Southerners are half as likely to believe Barack Obama is a citizen, while at least three times as likely to believe he is a foreigner, or they simply don’t have a clue.

Next by party affiliation. No real surprises here.

It seems that while perceived as a fringe movement from the outside, among Southerners, and by-and-large most Republicans, the birther movement is practically mainstream.

The poll did ask one other interesting question barely covered in the media reports. The question was “Do you believe that Africa and America were once a part of the same continent?” The results are shall we say, interesting…