Just wait until Apple comes out with a digital towel.

Overdramatic much?

I think you're missing a connection here. It is precisely because of the second that the first is permitted to happen. The soi-disant "service providers" convince the political powers that they are doing the best for the price; the political powers don't have the technical knowledge to see through the lies; and the typical American, having even less knowledge, doesn't push his government to push the providers. (Besides, the few have convinced the many/morons that "standards" are a bad thing, rather than the only way to maintain interoperability.) (See also "The Marching Morons", Cyril Kornbluth, 1951)

... until the internet actually worked.

My usual response to anyone of the "I have nothing to hide" mindset: Do you close the bathroom door when you go to the toilet? I'm betting the answer is "Yes." Why? Modesty? Propriety? Custom? Doesn't matter. The question is: Does it mean you have something to hide? Not something evil or wrong, just private? So maybe it's OK to have things to hide . . . or at least not flaunt in public.

Now, Do you also close the bathroom door when you are home by yourself, and know for certain that nobody is there to see? Again, I'll bet the answer is "Yes". Why? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO HIDE? Oh, right, you have nothing to hide, so why are you hiding? The guilty hide when none pursueth! How easy it is to infer guilt!

The machine doesn't work in a vacuum. Machine politics could be compared to cars. American cars were the undisputed kings of the road against all those dinky foreign imports . . . until at some point the foreign imports were visibly higher quality and higher tech, at which point you got people changing and swearing they would never go back, and eventually Detroit tanked. The Democratic "machine" is well-tuned and smoothly operating. To beat it, the Republicans would have to nominate... not necessarily a "Hispanic Lesbian", but someone who is accepting of immigration (currently a national Republican no-no), accepting of non-traditional social issues (Republican anathema!), and otherwise acceptABLE to the voters of California on the social side, while being more Republican-fiscal-conservative. It would be possible, and would have been much more possible when the Republican party wasn't held hostage by their lunatic fringes to the right and the religious directions (much as the Democratic party has long been inconvenienced by its lunatic fringes in the opposite directions).

I agree. They're certainly not showing their own desire for tolerance, any more than the bakery.
Now if only it were as easy for religious people to be tolerant of letting others be as they want to be, as I can be of them . . . It's all about whether one is imposing one's views on others (which, again, is what I agree with you about).

I would reply no to either, but that's certainly a different description than the other articles I saw. Yes, turned down immediately. And actually I agree with you on this story: the reaction is overkill. Not that that ever happens since the Internet and Twitter :-( There would seem to be plenty of bakeries in Lakewood, according to Yelp. OTOH, again, if they had turned down a mixed-race couple, it would be a federal case.
Maybe it's because I belong to a very minority religious denomination myself, and maybe because I'm not strident about it, but I just don't see baking a regular cake as causing a crisis of conscience, especially if it's your business (not a personal favor or a hobby). It's not like they were looking for a vulgar design or shape, just a normal (if colorful) tiered cake, right? That's not a religious icon worthy of protection.
I wonder if anyone would turn down an order for three birthday cakes . . . and some dowels . . . :-)

I would recommend against using alcohol in your prophylactic.

Umm, I thought I addressed the main point: trying to destroy someone for politics. The lawsuits I have read about were more about the small business sabotaging an event at the last minute, that is trying to destroy the other party, using "religion" as an excuse, than about someone saying right up front "Sorry, I don't think I can put this job on my schedule, you'll have to find someone else." An average mainstream-sexual mainstream-religion mainstream-race couple would get angry at that too. Heck, photographers and such get sick or injured and miss events, and that causes lawsuits too (we happen to know a musician who broke his arm the day before an event and lost money subcontracting a replacement so he wouldn't have "failed to perform"). If you have a counterexample - something that really looks like entrapment of a pious person by people hiding the nature of the event - by all means let's hear it.

Ummm. . . partly, yes. OTOH the reason there's a kosher bakery is that there is enough of a community to keep it in business, and doesn't need outside customers. They probably *could* say "to the tribe only". But business is business, business is not religion. (One might say that religion is a business - and then argue about whether it's a protection racket or an entertainment industry - but that's another story.)

1. Not hypothetical - our local kosher bakery went totally nut-free because all of the religious schools need nut-free foods. Guess what - they suddenly became a prime supplier to additional places who have no interest in kosher but need nut-free and vegan, including two preschools at local churches (which is how I know the story).
2. In a small town, there may not be a different shop so close.
3. The only lawsuits that I have read about that might be described as trying to "destroy a small business owner" were cases were people made an agreement or order or reservation, paid money, and were canceled on too late to make alternate plans. That sort of thing causes havoc in totally average cases - here in the NYC area, just a few months back, there was an uproar because a bridal shop suddenly locked its doors, and the owner decamped with whatever deposit money there had been, leaving hundreds of brides and bridesmaids without their promised dresses. Nobody cared about the unpaid employees and bills; all of the publicity was on the weddings planned for that weekend, with dresses already fitted but locked up behind police tape. But that was nothing personal; everyone was being impacted.
Imagine now if the owner had called up only one couple and said, "I know your wedding is coming up, but I decided my conscience wouldn't let me go through with the order for your dresses. You'll just have to get them somewhere else." And imagine that this wasn't in the NYC area where there are lots of other options, but in a small town. Oh, wait - I forgot - what's the reason for this attack of conscience? Maybe it's a mixed-race couple? A May-December romance, in "the wrong" direction (whichever bothers you more)? Whatever other random bee the store owner finds in his/her bonnet? No, none of them is acceptable under law and custom, no matter how convinced the store owner is that it will all end in tears. But somehow those particular style of dresses don't belong on . . . . . THOSE . . . sorts of people. You know, the more I write this, the stupider it sounds, and I thought that attitude was a waste of effort already. Some object to society allowing some people to marry; I object to stupid people marrying and having lots of stupid children, which is more of a problem in the long run. But so what. It's allowed now. And if they want a dress, or a cake, and someone is in business to sell dresses or cakes, it doesn't make you one of them to sell them the damn dress or cake. You'd sell them a party dress or a birthday cake without even thinking about what good friends they are. "I'm not selling you a cake because you're the wrong sort of people" just sounds so 3-year-old.

They have no interest in discriminating. And it is not in the interest of any business to be discriminating. The interest of business is business.

... which they might well do because a kosher bakery's products will be 100% suitable for vegetarians and, if specified as "pareve", 100% dairy-free. The kosher bakery would probably make them. You want smiley faces, you want curls, you want crossed lines, whatever, it's just icing.

Our local kosher bakery has a couple of christian-themed cake decorations on a display . . . gathering dust. :-) I can assure you that plenty of non-Jews buy things there, especially people looking for vegetarian and/or totally-dairy-free foods. They sell tasty baked goods; they take valid currency. It's called "business".