Kansas and Arizona seem to be in a competition for which state can pass the most anti-gay legislation; the government wants to create a national database to track license plate locations; and a photo captures how the Civil Rights Act lost Democrats the white working-class vote. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

Arizona Senate Passes Bill Allowing Religious-Based Discrimination
The bill, which opponents say opens LGBT people to discrimination, now travels to the state house where it is expected to pass.

The Construction of a Twitter Aesthetic
Like many of us, Eric Jarosinski first started tweeting as a way of avoiding work.

Will the Roberts Court Follow Its Own Religious-Freedom Precedent?
If the conservative justices uses the same logic they have in the past, Hobby Lobby’s case against the contraceptive mandate doesn’t stand a chance.

Mass Surveillance of All Car Trips Is Nearly Upon Us
The government wants a national database noting where license plates were spotted. Congress should regulate the runaway data-collection industry instead.

Actual Photo of the Moment Democrats Lost the White Working Class Vote
The image shows President Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act into law. Martin Luther King, Jr. stands immediately behind him.

8 Year-Old Musical Prodigy
Eight-year old Israeli/English/Swiss girl expertly playing both piano and violin, classics from Scarlatti, compositions she herself wrote, improvisations, and ending with an opera she wrote and performed at a Habonim Kibbutz (Kfar Blum) in the Upper Galilee.