Overnight Open Thread (12-1-2015) – Raped by a Bear Edition

Quote of the Day I

I love how The Nation is now scolding people for believing the received wisdom about "poor, meek, untrained, ordinary church lady" Rosa Parks that their fellow "progressives" have shoved down our throats for 60 years.

-- Kathy Shaidle

Quote of the Day II

Oklahoma Wesleyan is not a "safe place", but rather, a place to learn: to learn that life isn't about you, but about others; that the bad feeling you have while listening to a sermon is called guilt; that the way to address it is to repent of everything that's wrong with you rather than blame others for everything that's wrong with them. This is a place where you will quickly learn that you need to grow up.

This is not a day care. This is a university!

-- Dr. Everett Piper, President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, to students who were offended by a university chapel service because it implied they were imperfect

Quote of the Day III

On the radio this morning, Michael Graham asked me about recent polls finding that 40 per cent of millennials think "hate speech" should be criminalized and nearly a third of Democrats feel the same way about dissent from "climate change" orthodoxy. And that's why John Kerry stands up in Paris and blurts out that killing cartoonists for drawing something you disapprove of has a "legitimacy" or "rationale". If you don't believe in free speech for climate deniers or homophobes, why would you believe in it for Charlie Hebdo? Sure, you might be a little squeamish about gunning them all down in cold blood - but all you're doing is quibbling over the penalty: fines for trans apostates, prison for climate apostates, death for Islamic apostates. They're merely different points on the same continuum.

-- Mark Steyn

Quote of the Day IV - Incapable of Learning Edition

With respect to Planned Parenthood, obviously my heart goes out to the families of those impacted. I mean, Nancy, I say this every time we've got one of these mass shootings. This just doesn't happen in other countries.

-- President Obama in Paris today, 19 days after the Bataclan shootings and 10 months after the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris

Quote of the Day V

DG: Right, but there's no way you could have, like, gotten up to get popcorn and gotten stuck in a long line and missed Leonardo DiCaprio getting sexually assaulted by a male bear on two non-consecutive occasions?

KP: I can state definitively that I was present in the theater and fully awake throughout The Revenant and that it contains no scenes of a bear raping Leonardo DiCaprio, or anyone else.

DG: And you're very sure about this? The no-bear-raping thing?

KP: I believe that part of what makes movies such a wonderful art form is the act of interpretation. There's no "right" or "wrong" reading of a film. Having said that, anyone who tells you a bear rapes Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant is wrong.

DG: Right, but are you like very, very sure?

KP: I am.

-- Interview between Uproxx's Danger Guerrero and Keith Phipps who actually saw a screening of The Revenant in a theater

Sacred Dances of the Climatista Tribe

What the Paris Climate Agreement Would Achieve If Everything Went Exactly Perfectly: Nada

And that's according to their own estimates.

Unfortunately, though claims of success are already pouring in, the best estimate for that progress is approximately zero.

Here's how we know. Any improvement must start from a baseline: what emissions and warming were expected before the INDCs? A projection created in 2000 by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), called "A1B," serves this purpose well. It was designed long before the INDC process began, and scientists worldwide use it as a baseline, as did the U.S. government in its 2014 "National Climate Assessment."

Under the A1B scenario, different computerized climate models produces varying estimates for how much warming would occur by 2100. The IPCC reports 3.3 degrees Celsius. Other widely-used models produce estimates of 3.4 to 3.8 degrees.

How do the INDC commitments change the picture? Climate Interactive, a partner of the U.S. State Department, calculates that warming by 2100 would be 3.5 degree Celsius. The U.N. Environment Program agrees.

That's right: forecasts using the acclaimed greenhouse gas commitments are in exactly the same range as what prior analyses, without the commitments, expected anyway.

Can You Spot The Fake Hillary-Directed Sycophancy?

One of these obsequious flatteries in various emails to the Dowager Empress of Chataqua is fake - can you spot it?

1. "You are so loved by many people and so well respected because of your strength, intelligence and humanity. Your accomplishments and contribution to the world has brought much hope and promise to the present and future of the U.S."

2. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone handle themselves with the grace, humility, and inspiring courage as you did during your 60 Minutes appearance - our princess Di, a total rock star. If you ever take a break from changing the world, Joan and I would love to have you and 42 over for dinner."

3. "The honest to goodness truth is: Aside from Carolyn, my four children, and my immediate family, I consider you to be the best friend and the best person I have met in my long life. You know that from the dedication and appreciation of you I have always felt and expressed to you over four decades."

4. "Even my hairdresser who hardly ever watches the news told me how impressed she was by your elegant performance before the committee. Your strength and endurance are a true inspiration for the next generation (and the next and the next !) of young women leaders who will enjoy boundless opportunity in the world your vision has shaped for their futures."

5. "She is sensitive to the perspective of others - she doesn't impugn motives and respects the interests of others - as was said about Atticus Finch in 'To Kill A Mockingbird': 'she can walk in other people's shoes and see the world through their eyes.'"

Answer here: 2

Students at Brown University Stand Up For Free Speech

Of course they have to do it through a secret Facebook page since there is no free speech at Brown.

News You Can Use: Light Treatment May Work on Nonseasonal Depression, Study Finds

So, basically, your grandmother's advice to stop sitting around moping and go outside for some fresh air and sunshine was right.

I've been using this light box in the mornings for several years since I'm a bit prone to SAD and I'd say it's at least equal to a cup of coffee. I can really notice its effects when I travel - using it in the mornings my body clock resets to anywhere in the world I happen to be within a day or so .

Pure Shameless Unadulterated Cultural Appropriation Unmasked

To the re-education camps with her! She has also committed cultural crimes against Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, SRV, and Radiohead (possibly one of the best covers I've ever heard).

Couples Then and Now

In the Land of Hunger The Man With a Sandwich is King

A new report reveals that more Greek women than Eastern European women are working as prostitutes in Greece following the difficult years of austerity. 'Some women just do it for a cheese pie, or a sandwich they need to eat because they are hungry,' claims the report's author, sociology professor Gregory Lazos at the Panteion University, Athens.

Prostitution is legal in Greece and with the fall in wages and rising unemployment, the industry has been growing rapidly.

'Factor in the growing number of girls who drift in and out of the trade, depending on their needs, and the total number of female prostitutes is startling,' Mr Lazos said. The Greek academic's findings suggest that Greek women now dominate 80 per cent of the sex trade industry, which has become a ?600 million business

The Yahoo group is for closers only.

Teh Tweet!

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Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to people who care. I have had it with these monkey-fighting snakes on this Monday-to-Friday plane.

posted by Maetenloch at 10:24 PM

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