Overnight Open Thread (9-17-2014)

PJ O'Rourke: Up to a Point: A Free Scotland Would Be a Hilarious Disaster

And PJ is in rare classic PJ form as he preemptively piles on the future craphole country of Scotland. With love and affection.

I, however, have a personal reason for wanting an independent Scotland. I'm an ex-foreign correspondent, vintage 1983-2003, who retired after the Iraq War, too old to be scared stiff and too stiff to sleep on the ground.

Yet once foreign correspondenting gets in your blood.

Ah, there's nothing like a primitive, quarrel-torn, disastrous Third World country. And Scotland has everything it needs to be what old-school foreign correspondents fondly call a "shit-hole."

...Scotland's economy will be the requisite Third World shambles. Scotland's two dominant political parties are the leftist Scottish National Party and the leftist Scottish Labor Party. These can be counted on to vie in out-lefting each other. Cuba-with-chilblains, here we come!

Scottish music is sufficiently - to be kind - exotic. As soon as Scotland descends into barbarous chaos expect the pig-sticking squeal and shagged sheep moan of bagpipes to be frequently heard on NPR. (By the way, NPR newscasters will have to learn to pronounce "Scotland" the way the Scottish do. When asked how to pronounce the name of their country the Scottish say, "Faauhk you.")

...The Scottish have the regulation Third World tales of past glory, featuring such unlikely characters as The Maid of Norway, a King Robert nick-named "The Bruce," an Earl of Atholl (really), and Mel Gibson.

They also have the standard-issue yarn about how, after brilliant victory upon victory in defense thereof, their independence was treacherously stolen from them. This would be by the 1704 "Act of Union" with Great Britain, which passed the Scottish Parliament by a vote of 110 to 69.

An Independent Scotland 'would have to increase taxes by up to £18,000 per person to keep the pound'

Well that doesn't sound like so much fun.

Arizona Cardinal's Jonathan Dwyer Arrested for Domestic Abuse

And it does seem to be abuse-abuse:

I'm guessing with all the media attention/hysteria focused on the NFL that the official word has gone out to all the players to do absolutely nothing that could possibly cause any more bad PR at all. So the fact that Dwyer still did this when it'll almost certainly mean the end of his season and/or career is a sign that he literally could not stop himself.

Also given the current media frenzy the WAGs and baby-mommas of the NFL have never had so much power - all they have to do is merely threaten to hint at abuse to the media and that player knows he is screwed.

Update: Apparently Dwyer's two incidents happened in July but weren't reported until Sep. 11th.

Etsy Allows Swastikas But Bans Any Redskins Items

Those Who Don't Learn From LBJ's History Are Doomed to Repeat It

From the album Stuff Santana Said Vol. III liner notes.

Your NYT Intellectual Betters: What the Hell is a Shylock?

Michael Barbaro is in his mid-30s and graduated from Connecticut's Hamden Hall Country Day School in 1998 and Yale in 2002. He is now a New York Times political reporter.

Now I'm no Shakespeare expert and have never actually read The Merchant of Venice but even as a college freshman if you had quizzed me about the term 'Shylock', I would have at least recognized the term, known that it came from a Shakespeare play and understood why it was controversial just from cultural osmosis alone.

DNC Rush Chairman: DWS, I'd Like You to Meet Mohammet, Jugdish, Sidney and Clayton

Europe Has a Big Muslim Problem

If there are supposedly 100 ISIS fighters from America, here are the proportional equivalent numbers from European countries.

Canada:893
Ireland: 2,049
Britain: 2,449
Belgium: 8,408
Germany: 1,557
France: 3,328
The Netherlands: 2,803
Spain: 1,151
Denmark: 5,591
Norway: 3,087
Sweden: 3,272
Finland: 1,731

Belgium and Denmark are in some deep caca of their own making.

Penn State: No Free Speech Tables are Allowed in the Free Speech Zone

The LA Unified School District Would Like to Return Their Grenade Launchers

BOLO: Fake Warsaw Pact Soldier With A Mohawk Who Ambushed PA State Police

Heaven's Gate Website and Gift Shop Still Operational After 17 Years

Every month, the bills get paid on time. The emails get answered, and any orders filled. Which, for HeavensGate.com, is positively extraordinary. Because as far as the public is aware, every last member of the suicide cult died 17 years ago from a cocktail of arsenic and apple sauce. A few stayed behind, though. Someone had to keep the homepage going.

They'll probably catch the next comet-spaceship.

It Came From the Video Store

Younger morons may want to ask your parents or grand-parents or trusted elder members of the community what these 'video stores' were and how they worked.

The Group knows what you did.

Tonight's post brought to you by know your NFL memes:

Notice: Posted by implicit permission of AceCorp LLC. Please ftp life tips to Ace. He loves being told what to do and exactly how to do it.

posted by Maetenloch at 10:42 PM

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