I didn’t do it, and he isn’t even my dentist

cecil

OK, everyone who has written to me to tell me about Walter Palmer, Minnesota dentist and butcher of wildlife, 5½ million people live in this state. Don’t know him, never met him, and if he were my dentist, I’d be dropping him instantly.

Walter Palmer, a trophy hunter who operates River Bluffs Dental in Bloomington, is believed to have paid about $55,000 to bribe wildlife guards July 1 at Hwange National Park, reported The Telegraph.

The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force confirmed that Palmer — who has been previously fined for illegal hunts — spotted Cecil the lion at night and tied a dead animal to his vehicle to lure the famed cat out of the park.

That tactic is known as “baiting” and is used by big-game hunters to justify their killings as legal.

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What is the minimal number of participants required for a parade?

The answer is, apparently, one. Some guy tried to organize a ‘heterosexual pride’ parade in Seattle, and only the organizer showed up. With some balloons and a cardboard sign.

straightprideseattle

This reflects poorly on us, and I think we need to vote Anthony Rebello out of the Straight Men’s Club. All in favor (only straight men allowed to vote — we know all teh gayz want to snap him up for their club), raise your hand and say “AYE”.

Has Comma forgotten us?

comma

Terry Dean, Nemmers, better known around here as Comma, wouldn’t do that, would he? He wrote a screed to the Monitors list this morning, didn’t he? I won’t include the text here, though, will I, since he also posted the whole thing and more on his website, hasn’t he? He’s also collecting IP addresses of all visitors, so I’m sure he’d be thrilled to get more, wouldn’t he?

“Offensive” doesn’t begin to cover it

womanhaters

Soraya Chemaly describes the fraternity scene on college campuses.

Feminists United, a group at the University of Mary Washington, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education asserting that their school did little or nothing to address death and rape threats made on Yik Yak [an anonymous social media app] after they protested a rugby team’s sexist chant and argued that there was a connection between Greek culture and sexual assault. Sexual assault ranks second in fraternity insurance claims, men in fraternities are three times more likely to rape than their non-fraternity peers, they consume more objectifying content and are more accepting of rape myths. The connection is entirely valid and well-documented; it’s just that no one likes the information.

Oh, those feminists. Complaining about a song? About idle chatter on social media? It’s harmless! They’re just venting! Free speech! Get a thicker skin!

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How not to market your software company

killthefaggot

You think you’ve seen it all, and then along comes someone to dig even deeper. A company called Skaldic Games came up with a little game they had up on Steam, before it got pulled. It was called Kill the Faggot. It was appalling, as you might guess from the title.

It was a pathetic little arcade style shooter: you moved a crosshair around the screen, clicked a button, and shot whatever was under the crosshairs. Only the targets were running groups of people, some of whom were stereotypically gay, and others were cartoonishly transgender individuals. And you got points for killing them.

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#gamergate: the nexus of self-obsessed sociopaths

manlyessence

What awful people. Boston Magazine has a run-down of their obsession with Zoe Quinn, and it’s sick and disturbing. This Eron Gjoni guy who started it all just keeps talking, and making himself look worse and worse with every word, and he won’t shut up. That’s the thing that disturbs me about these people: they aren’t smart enough to realize when their own words are more devastating to their reputation than anything anyone else can say. Or perhaps they’re so vain or so lacking in empathy that they can’t imagine anyone not siding with their perspective.

And there’s yet another example of their habit of unlimbering Schwerer Gustav and aiming it at their own foot.

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Creepy ol’ Colin McGinn in the news again

mcginn

Remember the Colin McGinn case? Famous philosophy professor at the University of Miami behaving extraordinarily badly? There’s a very good, very thorough review of the story online — the only problem with it is the bad editor who slapped a really stupid title on it: Is it ok for a UM professor to burden a student with sexual advances? I’m pretty sure the answer to that one is NO.

The story describes an awful situation in which a woman was sexually harassed by a man in a position of power, and the end result was that her career was wrecked, and he resigned from the university…but he continues to natter on smugly, publishing books, and retaining the support of other famous philosophers. The University of Miami does not emerge smelling of roses, either.

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Very dodgy, very beta

Vox-Day

If you’ve ever wondered what Vox Day looks and sounds like when he’s not holding a flaming sword, Futrelle has unearthed a video interview. He’s actually not particularly interesting; he recites tepid versions of the awful things he’s written, and he gives a good impression of a not-very-bright person scuttling around in a corner to avoid getting pinned down.

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