Overnight Open Thread (11-16-2014)

Quote of the Day I #ShirtStorm

"Yes, that's right. After years of effort, the European Space Agency's lander Philae landed on a comet 300 million miles away. At first, people were excited. Then some women noticed that one of the space scientists, Matt Taylor, was wearing a shirt, made for him by a female "close pal," featuring comic-book depictions of semi-naked women. And suddenly, the triumph of the comet landing was drowned out by shouts of feminist outrage about ... what people were wearing. It was one small shirt for a man, one giant leap backward for womankind."

-- Glenn Reynolds

Quote of the Day II

If I land a space ship going millions of miles an hour on a rock going millions of miles an hour, y'all are lucky if I wear pants.

-- Larry Correia (@monsterhunter45) November 15, 2014

Behold the Shirt of Shame

Filled to its 100% cotton brim with misogyny and available in sizes X-Small to 7XL of hate.

Granted it wouldn't have been my first sartorial choice for a comet landing presser mainly for style reasons. But then if you're a successful comet-landing rocket scientist, one of the perks ought to be that you get to celebrate in whatever damn shirt you feel like.

The number of young women discouraged from a career in science by this shirt: 0.0000000

In Which Critics of Instapundit's Column Accuse Him of 'Doxxing' and Threating Rose Eveleth and Insty Gets Annoyed

Comet Guy and the Social-Justice Black Hole

No one seriously thinks Taylor is a misogynist or meant to offend anyone with his shirt.  In fact, it was designed by a woman named Elly Prizeman, who was properly mortified by the reaction.  "My heart just broke watching Matt's apology," she wrote on Facebook.  "That is not cool.  The public can be unreasonably cruel.  I'm saddened and angered by this."  A personal friend of Taylor's, she has described him as "an amazing, kind, loving and sensitive person."

Of course, the very point of the mob action is that no conscious offense by Taylor was required for him to be boiled in online oil.  Thoughtcrime does not always proceed from deliberate action; intention is divined by the accusers.  The goal is to create an atmosphere of terror, in which everyone is double extra careful to pre-censor their words and deeds, and by extension their thoughts, for fear of career destruction.

...That's because acceptable behavior is now defined not by universal norms, but by elastic, politicized equations that take identity into account.  There are things Person A can do with impunity, but Person B would be destroyed for, based entirely on their sexes, or the color of their skins.

Time Magazine Apologizes For Including "Feminist" In Its Poll Of Words To Be Banned

Of course it won the poll before it was yanked.

CNN's Cuomo Apologizes For Saying 'Anchor Babies'

Apparently it's now hate speech.

This issue is called the anchor babies, I used that term this morning, I shouldn't have, it's ugly and it's offensive to what it is. What it really goes to is the root of the most destructive part of our current immigration policy, you're splitting up families" he said.

Meet Jill Upson

The 'Drunk Girl' Video Appears to be a Hoax

At least part of it was staged and some guys appearing in it were told that they were part of a hidden camera sketch and to hit on the girl.

Shockingly, of the five men featured, only one actually offers her assistance, while the rest attempt to lure her back to their homes - despite her obviously drunken state.

Two sources told The Smoking Gun that men in the video were approached on the street and asked to participate in a 'comedic, hidden camera' video.

One man who decided not to appear in the video, says he was told it was a 'student video' and that it appeared they had no releases or paperwork to sign.

Mike Koshak is one of the men who agreed to participate in the video and is filmed in a blue tank top, telling the tipsy woman: 'You're in no shape to be walking around like this' before leading her in the direction of his home where there is 'more beer'.

Under Fire from Western Leaders Putin Leaves G-20 Summit Early

Libyans Behaving Badly In Britain

Libya's finest were apparently a bit unclear on the absolutely no-drunken-raping thing.

In early November Britain sent 300 Libyan officer trainees home before their 24 week training was completed. Five of the Libyans did not leave as they are being held on rape charges. Three of these Libyans are charged with raping women and two of raping a man. The Libyans had arrived in June and within a month locals were complaining of Libyans coming into the nearby village and behaving badly. This was not supposed to happen as the Libyans were selected to receive combat and leadership training so they could better train and command troops back in Libya. British authorities were surprised by the bad behavior and responded by ordering the Libyans were restricted to the 80 hectare (200 acre) base where they lived and trained. In August this led to a mutiny among the Libyans.

...The British tried to cope with all this by stationing hundreds of armed soldiers in the village (population 3,500) and on the base to prevent the Libyans from getting out of hand. This did not work either. Some of the Libyans tried to apply for political asylum. This was denied after the rape incidents in late October and the decision was made to send all the Libyans home.

The Pot Gender Gap

A fascinating new national poll from Quinnipiac University shows that men and women disagree markedly on the question of marijuana legalization.  While men surveyed strongly favor legalization by a margin of 59 to 36 percent, women oppose it by a clear majority of 52-44 percent.  This 15-point gender gap in support for marijuana legalization -let's call it the "pot gender gap" - is not quite as large as the 20-point gender gap in support for President Obama in the 2012 presidential election, but it is striking.  What's most interesting, though, is how it confounds the expectations set by the voting gender gap.  In voting, women trend more liberal and Democratic, while men trend more conservative and Republican.  Yet with the pot gender gap, we see women taking the more conservative, law-and-order approach.

Colt Teetering on the Brink of Bankruptcy

Colt has been on the decline for quite some time. The key to Colt's success has been their government contracts - Colt was the sole manufacturer of the M4 carbine and M16 rifle for decades. But in 2013, FNM won the contract for the M4 and the M16 rifle, and the military is showing no signs of going back. With its main cash cow gone, all that's left for the manufacturing giant is the commercial market (which they had more or less ignored for years). Now, unable to compete in the modern firearms market, Colt may soon be just another corporate casualty.

All He Wanted Was a Pepsi

And they wouldn't give it to him. Because of the hosiery. Oh well he'll probably get hit by a car anyway.

The Troubles With Tribbles Episode in a Single GIF

Too big to embed so you'll have to follow the link.

Weekly Commenter Standings

Top 10 commenters:
1 [687 comments] 'Mike Hammer, etc., etc.' [96.50 posts/day]
2 [537 comments] 'J.J. Sefton'
3 [427 comments] 'Ricardo Kill'
4 [426 comments] 'Costanza Defense'
5 [400 comments] 'EC'
6 [378 comments] '---'
7 [346 comments] 'toby928(C)'
8 [334 comments] 'ThunderB'
9 [311 comments] 'Insomniac'
10 [303 comments] 'Sven S Blade a.k.a. El Assassin@sven10077'

Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [130 names] 'The Political Hat' [18.26 unique names/day]
2 [50 names] 'Joe Wilson'
3 [37 names] 'Thin veneer of civility'
4 [34 names] 'John McCain'
5 [32 names] '---'
6 [31 names] 'Cicero (@cicero)'
7 [30 names] 'steveegg'
8 [28 names] 'Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains'
9 [28 names] 'Bruce Stringbean'
10 [27 names] 'flounder'

The group. Never heard of it.

Where it's at - the Twitter

Tonight's post brought to you by famous covers:

According to Wikipedia this was in fact not the best selling issue of National Lampoon - that happened a few months later with their 'Pubescence' issue

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posted by Maetenloch at 09:43 PM

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