kimmy

So I gather what you're calling for is "they should have a plan to fight fires." Ok then. Excellent insight. -k

With Trump promising to tear up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, we may be looking at a brave new world where anti-globalization protesters are supporting the Republicans while the "pro-business" types support Hillary. Things are getting weird. -k

So what do you want to do? Bulldoze every forest that's near a town? Bulldoze every town that's near a forest? -k

A plan where this can not happen again? Should we preemptively relocate all Canadians to areas where there is a low risk of natural disaster? Should we preemptively bulldoze every woodland area within a certain distance of human habitation? -k

Lamentably no... he has disavowed his Canadian citizenship, so you are stuck with him. If it was up to God, wouldn't the Reverend Cruz's fanatically religious son have won? Or perhaps God has better taste than I give him credit for. While it is highly entertaining to enjoy Ted's misfortune, we should not forget that he is a fellow human with hopes and dreams just like us. We should not take too much pleasure from his pain. He is a loving husband and devoted father. -k

It's official! I guess he couldn't put the basketball through the ring when it counted. Ted's dead, baby. Ted's dead. -k

Is that a request? I have an Xacto Knife around here somewhere... -k

He didn't exactly stick his neck out, though. Neither Roose nor Ramsey have any reason to suspect Littlefinger intends them harm. With that plan having fallen through, you know he's got to be working on a new angle (or ten). I'm much more interested in finding out what that might be than I am in the Fishmoot in the Iron Isles. -k

We should also put out an APB for Littlefinger. Where's that frickin guy at?! -k

Kingsmoot, Entmoot, whatever. I'm guessing they'll both be equally exciting. Unless the writers figure out some way to connect the Iron Isles to the wider world, I can't imagine anybody giving a crap. Back in season two, Robb and Catelynn strategized that the Iron Isles were an important ally because their naval power would be valuable in defeating the Lannisters and taking King's Landing. If the Iron Isles are going to become relevant again, maybe that means there's more war coming... but the only war in the near future looks like the inevitable battle to take Winterfell from Ramsey, and Winterfell is landlocked. Well, Prince Charles, for one. HIYOOOO!!! -k

I liked "Next time I have an idea like that, punch me in the face" better. He could have said anything at that point... which made "punch me in the face" delightfully unexpected. But my favorite line was the atheist pleading with the broken priestess for a miracle. "I'm not a devout man... Seven Gods, Drowned Gods, Tree Gods, fooook 'em. It's all the same. I'm not asking the Lord of Light for help. I'm asking the woman who showed me that miracles exist." -k

Ramsay is hooped. HOOPED! He has no idea what he's doing. He might have done well in handling Stannis's army, but he has no idea how to rule, and without his dad around to show him the ropes he's not going to have a chance to learn, either. In five seasons of watching this show, I think we've learned that nothing dooms a character more than hubris. Ned, Robb, Joffrey, Oberyn, Stannis, Renley, they all met their fates more or less due to hubris... and Ramsey has headed down the same path. Aside from already having the Lannisters mad at him, he's now also just murdered one of Walder Frey's daughters, which will probably prove to be a costly move. And he has decided he doesn't need the support of the rest of the North other than the Karstarks and the Umbers (it was House Umber, wasn't it?). And he's made his calculations regarding taking Sansa back from Castle Black without knowing that Jon Snow will have a very large army of Wildlings supporting him. Not to mention that most of the people within the walls of his own castle would like to see him dead. Ramsey's going to meet a bloody end... it's just a question of who gets to him first. I guess this puts an end to the fan theory that Roose is actually an immortal vampire, huh? Roose got the son he raised. Great parenting skills definitely came back to bite him in the ass. Happy Father's Day, Roose! I definitely agree about the Iron Isles. They're completely peripheral to every other storyline going on, and they haven't even been on our TV for 2 seasons... so why do we care? They need to either get this storyline relevant, or get it off our TV. We've only got 8 episodes left this season, and only 2 more seasons after this. Time's a wasting! Tick tock! The only way I can imagine this reconnecting with a major storyline is if Theon makes it home in time for the Entmoot (or whatever the hell it's called) and wins and persuades his countrymen to join an alliance to take down Ramsey. Kind of looking forward to Jaime and Cersei getting it together and beating down the cultists. As much as I liked Tyrion and the dragons, my favorite moment was Wun-Wun splatting that crossbowman, and the way it just completely deflated the remaining Crows who had been considering fighting. "uhhhh... Nope." I love Ser Davos. And I loved the final scene. You knew it was going to happen... and yet by the end they almost had me convinced it wasn't going to happen. And then when Ghost perked up I knew that it WAS going to happen and I was so happy. -k

I assume that's because O'Leary would send the CPC rocketing into the dustbin of obscurity? -k

They did the thing! Scored more goals, put the ball through the ring, and so-on. -k

John McCain allegedly thought she'd make a fine VP, but was talked out of it by advisors who convinced him that the "evangelical core" of Republican voters would never support her. I doubt that it would be any different just 8 years later. -k

Ted's big announcement: Carly Fiorina will be his Vice President! Nice one, Ted. That'll put butts in seats! -k

Not looking good for Ted. Nate Silver's projections have Trump on pace to secure a majority of delegates. Cruz has a Big Announcement for later today. I wonder what he has in mind? -k

The Republicans face a similar dilemma if a brokered convention makes someone other than Trump their nominee. I think both parties face a potential rift, but on the Republican side there's the potential for outright revolt. For the Democrats, I expect that the phrases "President Trump" or "President Cruz" would get younger voters out to the polls to support Hillary. -k

Man, Cruz really got his ass beat in New York... not just by Trump, but by Kasich as well. His sneering comments about "New York values" might have helped pick up a few votes in Iowa, but apparently not so helpful in New York. He should have "shaken the Etch-a-Sketch" harder, I guess. -k

I agree in principle with what you're saying... I just don't see a practical way to determine the specifics of the case. Suppose you're a bureaucrat and you have an East Indian couple in front of you and you're trying to determine whether they want this abortion for purposes of gender selection, or for some other reason? They told you they've realized they just can't afford another child. Do you believe them? How can you determine otherwise? Suppose you have a white couple in front of you. Same question. Does the ethnicity of the couple weigh into the decision? Maybe the white couple already has 4 daughters and were trying one last time for a son, but they really can't afford another child. Does gender selection in their case seem any more sympathetic than for the woman-hating culture? Maybe the East Indian couple are dirt poor and can't actually afford a child regardless of gender... does their financial status make their claim more believable? Should it? Maybe they're totally in this for gender selection, and the fact that they're poor just makes their excuse more credible. I mean, I totally understand why you feel this way... the idea that public healthcare dollars are being used to support misogynist cultural beliefs doesn't sit well with me either. I just don't see a practical response. I just had a quick look and it looks like the ratio of male births to female births in Canada is 1.05 males per female, which I believe is very close to the natural rate mentioned in the opening post. So it seems like in the large picture, gender-selective abortion is perhaps not a big factor in Canada. -k

I'm sure that such a circumstance could have been handled without a state law prohibiting municipal legislation against anti-gay discrimination, or banning people from pursuing civil action for anti-gay discrimination. -k

And I think you've dropped back to the showers and changing rooms because that's all you have left. This "sexual predators in bathrooms" scenario that you and others have been promoting is pure fiction designed to rally people into supporting laws that actually go far beyond keeping men from showering with girls. The North Carolina HB2 law was enacted to over-rule Charlotte's civic law which provided a variety of anti-discrimination protection for LGBT people. HB2 forbade Charlotte (or any other municipality) in North Carolina from enacting legislation to provide anti-discrimination protections other than those already provided by state law-- a list on which sexual orientation is conspicuously absent. It explicitly removes the right to pursue civil action for discrimination. You can sit there and tell me it's not an attack on gay people, and maybe you even believe it, but the guys who wrote the law know what's up. Now Gov. McCrory gets on TV and says "gee, y'all, I know y'all mad, but we just want people to have privacy in the can. Now, we all love equality here just as much as you folks, so I'mma ask the house to look into fixing that anti-discrimination thing some time in the future, maybe they get around to that sometime, y'all, so don't be bad, and especially don't take away our NBA all-star game next year, y'hear?" Sure, I don't want some dude watching me in the shower either. This is the kind of emotionalism that these guys have used to con people like you into supporting laws that go way beyond keeping dudes out of your daughter's shower. Since it's a Todd Starnes story, I'll have to read about it from another source and get back to you. If Starnes said the sky was blue, I'd want time stamped photographs and spectroscopic analysis before I believed him. He's probably the single biggest liar at any major network, which is quite a feat. -k

...well, if we're talking about washrooms, there's not a whole lot to see, aside from partitions and perhaps a line-up. So you're going to just drop the transvestite rapist angle? Ok. Let's move on. I'm completely willing to admit that the idea of a biological male in the change room and showers makes me uncomfortable. I still have to confess I hadn't heard of this being an issue. Perhaps things are just a little different in North Carolina. -k

Soooo... some transgender person goes into the womens' washroom, suddenly has the uncontrollable urge to commit rape, climbs over or crawls under the divider between toilets, and attacks? I'm kind of speechless... if some hypothetical guy has such complete inability to control himself, what makes you think an ordinance is going to stop him? To be honest, that hypothetical guy sounds like he'd be a menace in pretty much any situation. What makes you think that a bathroom ordinance is going to protect society from this animal? To me it kind of seems like you're trying to invent some kind of fantasy scenario to justify this law, because this law is a solution in search of a problem. -k

So... North Carolina has had some sort of ongoing problem with men dressing up in drag and going into womens' washrooms to harass or assault? Or is North Carolina taking preemptive action in case this suddenly breaks out? So other jurisdictions have this problem, or is it specific to North Carolina? As far as I know BC doesn't have legislation to stop people from dressing up in drag and going into the opposite sex's washrooms... should I be worried? When will this wave of cross-dressing peepers strike BC? Should I contact Christy Clark? -k