They have the freedom to say it, and I have to freedom to not hire them because of it.
Actions have consequences.

And I think you have serious misconceptions of the concept of "law". Here's an example - the CEO of Chick-Fil-A is very publicly anti gay, and anti gay marriage. He breaks no laws while expressing his opinions. However, people who don't agree with him have the option of protesting, boycotting, writing letters to the editor, saying mean things about him online, quitting their job at CFA, etc. People who agree with him can eat more chicken, protest the protestors, etc. No laws will be broken. Just because 100,000 people will never eat at CFA again (mob mentality) it's so far from a law, that you can't even see a law from there.

All of these things are part of free speech, and whenever CFA is mentioned, there will alway be a little bit of "oh, the anti-gay company" (whether spoken out loud or not). It's simply consequences (both good and bad) for his actions. I really don't see a difference here.

If we all thought that saying "we want to rape her with baseball bats" was an OK thing to do, we'd all laugh and say "boys will be boys" and nothing would happen. I'm certain that there are a lot of people in the US that think their behavior is acceptable and don't care about this issue.

However, there are many, many people who are tired of these kinds of attacks, as well as tired of men treating women like passive object for them to put their dicks in. I'm one of those people. These grown ass men know that it's wrong to say this shit, and did it anyway, in public. Now they have consequences to deal with. Not the law; consequences. You are welcome to be on either side of the issue, but my desire to see them pay a price is not a law.

I have a serious issue with one thing you're saying - "I don't even think that there are any "people like this" in our society."
Yes. Yes, there are "people like this" in our society. Put yourself in her shoes for just a moment. You are getting rape threats from unknown guys; you don't know who they are, where they live, or how serious they are. Scared? Feel threatened?
Our society, for too long, has turned the other cheek, and said "boys will be boys" when people do this. She was dressed that way. She had too much to drink. Why was she alone? Why didn't she fight back? How many men has she had sex with?
This is all bullshit, and it puts the burden of not being raped on women. Our mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, friends and neighbors. It's bullshit. Of course women should be smart, and limit exposure to risk (just like men do), but we need to get out of this cycle of blaming women for what happens to them, and expose the men who perpetuate these actions - whether they act on them or not.

Don't talk shit about the UAE, or people who do business there. Duh. Freedom of speech does not exist there.

Just because I can smoke weed in Colorado, doesn't mean I can get away with it in Utah. Duh.

They have the freedom to say it, and I have the freedom to fire them for it. I'm not sure how you aren't seeing this as a victory for free speech.

Freedom of speech is not the same as freedom from consequences. The government isn't attacking these guys; other humans, who also have freedom of speech are responding to them. The school, most certainly, has a behavioral clause on the books, and has every right to kick that guy out of school. An employer has every right to fire somebody who acts like a giant asshole in public.

As I said in a previous reply, we are not making up laws. The people have spoken (using that freedom of speech thing) and don't want these guys working for them, or attending their university. Freedom of speech gets a win - win today.

Nobody is talking about the law. These guys made public "remarks" about raping a woman with a baseball bat, and the public is pissed off about it. The cops haven't stepped it, as far as I know.

These men had the right to say that shit, as vile as it is. Now they have to deal with the consequences. If one of my employees was being that much of a complete asshole in public I'd fire him (or her), and that's exactly what happened here. Sure, there's a lynch mob, but it's my right to sit at this keyboard and do my best to send these guys to hell.

We don't need people like this in our society. We have to share our world with them, but we can certainly stand up and say "enough".

Let them go silently, so they can date your daughter?
I'm not trying to be disrespectful of your daughter (if you even have one) but wouldn't you want a loved one to know this before she started dating this creep? Is it fair that somebody this damaged could hide those damaged thoughts (shoving a baseball bat up a young woman, against her will) after screaming about them in public?

I have no idea what to do with him, and prison is certainly not the answer, but when people do shit like this, it's in their permanent record (google). If anybody who has graduated from high school hasn't figured this out, they are probably too stupid to function anyway.

Would you just let him go if he robbed a liquor store?

You are free to start a company and hire these guys. I, however, don't want to hire grown adults that think it's OK to threaten a person with rape by baseball bat, simply because her father plays baseball. These aren't junior high boys who have their head up their asses; these are men. Adults. They are responsible enough to vote, buy booze, buy guns, serve in the military - yet we shouldn't hold them accountable to their hateful words?

If the comments were off-color, like "hey, can't wait for her to get to college so I can date her", it wouldn't have been a story. They'd just have been douchy guys, and nothing would have happened. Read the comments, and tell me that there should be no record of what happened. Rape by baseball bat? Raping her and bragging about it to her father? There is something seriously wrong with these men, and there should be a consequence for their actions.

We all have a line in the sand about who we would hire (or date, or live with, or whatever) and who we wouldn't. Yours is simply in a different location than mine.

What's your recommended punishment?

Adults threatened raping a 17 or 18 year old girl with a baseball bat. At what point does their tiny, shitty little brain say "hey, that's not a good idea". These people are fucking psychos. They deserve what they get.

The comments were horrific. Directed at her, because she was his daughter. Her only "crime" was being the daughter of a sports star. She had done nothing, but comments ranged from raping her, to penetrating her with a baseball bat.

I hope every one of these sick little fuckers loses their job, gets kicked out of school *and* has their name attached to the story. I want somebody to find these comments *every* time that one of these guys is googled, forever.

This shit won't stop until there are actual consequences. It won't ever stop completely, but it could certainly help.

The money goes to the label, who then pays a small percent to the writer (composer) rather than the performer.

Pandora has a different model than Spotify, and comparing them is somewhat silly.

Pandora pays the standard rate, set by the government. It cannot play a specific song you request, or play an entire album. Much like traditional radio, you hear what "the DJ" decides to play. You can "choose a station" by selecting an artist or song, but you can't force it to play the song you want.

Spotify, on the other hand, deals directly with the artist, and pays more for allowing to play an album, or specific songs.

At at the end, it doesn't really matter how much they pay the label, because the artists doesn't get shit.
As a side note, the royalties, like in radio, are paid to the song writer, not the performer.

Yes. Well, there's probably some other people who aren't familiar with The Oatmeal who are equally offended.
Take a look at his website; it's obvious that the guy is a an animal lover, with a twisted sense of humor.

Can we stop saying that only fanboys buy Apple products now?
It's pretty clear that mid America buy a shitload of Apple products; it's not a single, small demographic.

I don't care what you use for a phone or a computer, but your arguments no longer hold water.

Apple has some software problems for sure; let's just start with iTunes. However, calling it a "nosedive" is simply lame. I feel he's just trying to gain some attention.

I am an OSX and iOS user. While I don't think either one is perfect, I have recent Windows and Android experience, and have no desire to use either on a regular basis. Problems? Yes. Nosedive? Not at all.

Don't buy ice at peak times.

For fuck's sake, Burning Man is about self reliance. Sp rather than be an adult, and deal with his ice chest in the early morning late at night, or some other time with low lines he wants to change the system to suit him.

He simply doesn't understand the event. And guys like him are part of the reason I no longer go.