davidthompson

Well, That’s The First Decade Done

Yes, as of today, this blog is officially ten years old.

I have to say, back in February 2007, I had no idea what I was doing and no expectation that I’d still be doing it a decade later. Much as I’d like to applaud my own obstinacy, the fact that I have a slightly better idea of what to do, and am still doing it, is due in very large part to you heathens. Without readers and commenters, and feedback and inspiration, and links to news items about exploding toilets, I doubt this disreputable establishment would still be here.

So, er, group hug. 

And now that we’re all feeling warm and fluffy and well-disposed, I’m going to slyly remind patrons that this rickety barge is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant for a while longer, and insert a coin for the dancing monkey, there’s an orange button below with which to monetise any love. Debit and credit cards are accepted. For those wishing to express their love regularly, there’s a monthly subscription option top left. Additionally, any Amazon shopping done via this link or the search widget top right, or for Amazon US via this link, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.

For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last decade, and in over 2,000 posts and 60,000 comments, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start. If you can, do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads too. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found. And do please join in.

Again, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company. 

Simple Folk

Meanwhile, in other twenty-first century news, 

A family in Bangladesh has been arrested after using a fake penis to trick villagers into believing a genie had performed a sex change on their teenage daughter. “The girl and her parents have set up a profitable business promising to heal people with a genie,” Monzur Murshed, the local police chief, said. As news spread that the girl had not only been transformed but undergone a mystical circumcision, villagers flocked to seek the genie’s intervention with their own medical woes.

Via sk60.

Don’t Touch Their Biscuits

Following the recent scolding by her crab-bucket comrades, Laurie Penny wishes to reassert her leftist credentials: 

All very pious. Though it seems to me those credentials were amply visible immediately after the rioting and thuggery at UC Berkeley, covered here, when Laurie was letting her followers know just how brave she is for mixing with conservatives and college Republicans, i.e., the people under attack, who are apparently “vicious and vengeful.”   

Well. Here’s an interview with Kiara Robles, one of the “far right” women surrounded and assaulted, repeatedly, by the righteously left-leaning Berkeley ‘protestors’. It seems that merely wearing a hat with the words “Make Bitcoin Great Again” is enough to make you a “Nazi,” a “fascist,” and therefore a target of physical abuse. And here’s an interview with another woman – sorry, “Nazi” – who was repeatedly assaulted at UC Berkeley, along with her husband, who was severely beaten with metal bars.

These ladies, then, are some of the people of whom Laurie Penny is, and I quote, “fucking terrified.” 

Update:

Meet Yvette Felarca, a middle school teacher and one of the organisers of the Berkeley rioting. “The left has been far too timid for far too long,” says she. 

Update 2: 

Here’s Yvette Felarca and her goons getting ‘hands-on’ in Sacramento. And again, watch the police.

Elsewhere (224)

Ian Miles Cheong on the mob thuggery at UC Berkeley and its ‘progressive’ cheerleaders: 

Vocal members of the progressive left took to social media to voice their support for the riot, dubbing it a legitimate resistance movement against the Trump administration. Feminist film director Lexi Alexander, who has directed episodes of Arrow, Supergirl and American Gothic, encouraged rioters to set the campus on fire. Her calls to “join the resistance” were echoed by comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, whose outspoken calls for violent insurrection have only escalated with each passing day... Polygon senior editor Ben Kuchera expressed support for the violence, saying it was okay to punch anyone who mocked safe spaces. And Arthur Chu, the perpetually “woke” male feminist ally, invited his followers to cheer about the brutalisation of a young woman who was assaulted as she conducted an interview.

See also this thread from yesterday.

Somewhat related, this screeching creature – apparently a professor – was rendered outraged and hysterical when some of her leftist associates were arrested following an unprovoked assault on the writer Gavin McInnes. She seems to believe that she and her comrades should be able to assault people, as they deem fit, with impunity.

Also related: Laurie Penny, who has yet to comment on the UC Berkeley thuggery despite being at the scene, is now letting her followers know just how brave she is - for - wait for it - mixing with conservative students. Because unlike masked far-left rioters who are armed with iron bars and who smash windows and punch women, conservative students and Trump supporters are “vicious and vengeful.” And she’s “fucking terrified of them.” *

Friday Ephemera

Earthbound telescopes taking pictures of space, as seen by telescopes in space taking pictures of Earth. // John Carpenter’s The Thing – storyboard-to-film comparisons. // Mishap with pet. // Enforcing manners. // Designer dog coats. // Retro keyboard. (h/t, Rafi) // This is one of these. // Why Marvel’s films are generally better than DC’s. // Why it’s unwise to take Salon seriously. // Thomas Sowell on personal responsibility. And on thug culture. // Upscale falcon transportation. // His first attempt. (h/t, Damian) // Ten metre tower. // Eye candy. // Eye candy 2. // All done with dandelions. // Lava stream. // Assorted gifs. // Reaction gif generator. // And finally, fragrantly, “I used a long Q-tip to extract some residue from my vagina in order to use it for my perfume.” 

So At What Point, Exactly, Did You Become This Colossal Bitch?

As noted here recently, it’s remarkable just how often “social justice” activism is difficult to distinguish from spite and petty malice. If another example is needed, here’s how some educators at Marquette University plan to cope with a visit from Ben Shapiro: 

Chrissy Nelson, the programme assistant at the Centre for Gender and Sexualities Studies, claimed that she “just got off the phone with one of the directors of diversity on campus” and received a suggestion to reserve a seat as a student to “take a seat away from someone who would actually go” and then not attend the event. “This is what I will be advising students to do,” she adds. “Take a seat away from a student that would be interested in going.”

Remember, this isn’t the plotting of a moody and vindictive teenager. It’s a supposedly adult member of staff. One employed by the university’s Centre for Gender and Sexualities Studies, the stated goal of which is “the pursuit of knowledge and dialogue.” And hence the attempt to ensure that no-one gets to hear a speaker with whom Ms Nelson disagrees. Before devoting her energies to sabotaging other people’s evenings, Ms Nelson majored in “sociology and social justice,” which may explain her enacting of that great egalitarian maxim, “I don’t like, so you can’t have.”

Note the unspoken but blatant disdain for any students who might wish to hear Shapiro speak and ask him questions, or who might want to challenge him on some point - an activity he encourages with lengthy Q&A sessions. Ms Nelson is quite happy to deny all of those students that chance, by overriding their preferences in an underhand manner and imposing her own, selfish will. It’s the antithesis of what a university is supposed to be about, and yet it’s an attitude that’s increasingly come to define what that institution now is.

[ Updated via the comments. ]