kimmy

Last chance to bail before spoilers! -k

My personal feeling is that the sports and entertainment threads are held to a lower standard than threads on more serious topics... I think that they're intended to be fun, flippant, and should be allowed to have some amount of banter. If people are upset by that, I can go back and edit it, but I don't really want to. I don't want these threads to turn into No Fun 'Llowed threads. -k

This is the kind of thing that I think drags the thread in a negative direction. It just riles people up, without contributing to the discussion. -k

Nobody is arguing that other issues regarding violence against women should be forgotten and we should just focus on Muslims instead. As a society, we've tried our best to provide a safe environment for women. In Germany, we've seen graphic evidence that mass migration of people from that region has had an immediate and terrible effect on the safety of women. Clearly that policy decision has had a disastrous result for German women. We should learn from it. -k

I gather that Joey Porter could receive league disciplinary action for being on the field, but I don't know if that's something they can issue yards for. I thought that it was an epic football game, one of the most intense I've ever seen... but the ugly ending ruined my enjoyment of it. -k

I've gotten that advice too, but always in regard to the proverbial "dark alley". Never in regards to a place as public as a train station. Never in regard to the whole city, day or night. I don't go down dark alleys in my home town either... but if the mayor told me that I have to treat the whole city as if it were a dark alley, I would move. I couldn't live like that. They might get a handful, but this German legal expert thinks that convictions are unlikely. Mrs Merkel's party is now planning to reduce the number of migrants they allow in, and discussing rules to make it easier to kick criminal migrants out of the country. But it's too late for that. They're closing the gate after the horses have left. -k

There's a second one that is also painfully obvious, and people-- including German media, and the Cologne police-- bent over backwards to try to discuss mentioning it at all. Does being afraid to mention it make things better, or worse? -k

"whatever it turns out happened in Germany" is that hundreds of women were assaulted in public by spontaneous groups of men, while police stood by powerless to help. The middle of Cologne turned into Tahrir Square. The Mayor of Cologne just gave the women of that city the advice to essentially treat the whole city as if it's one big dark alley. "stay in groups, don't go out alone, stay in public well-lit areas, avoid strange men, stay at arms length." Are you sure that "men" is the only common denominator? Men have been in Cologne for a very long time, but it's only now that women aren't safe going out in public. -k

I think that's overly broad, and the kind of thing that has probably pushed the thread in the wrong direction. I think that modern Muslims can leave misogynistic elements of their faith behind, just as modern Christians and Jews do. I think that Muslims who grow up in environments where respect for women and pluralism are cultural norms adopt those values too. However, I think the important point is that the Muslims coming here, and certainly the 1.1 million refugees Germany received in 2015, didn't grow up in environments where respect for women and plurality are cultural norms. -k

Estimate based on what? Traveled there for sex... does that mean prostitutes? I can't vouch for Australia, but in Canada visiting a prostitute isn't a crime. Prostitution isn't unique to any particular culture either. It's not called the world's oldest profession for nothing. Protecting prostitutes from exploitation is an issue that is a concern for me, but that's an issue for another thread. This just seems like a deflectionary tactic, designed to draw attention away from the issue at hand. -k

Great football game in Cincinnati yesterday, marred by a couple of really ugly incidents. The first was a helmet-to-helmet hit on Bengals RB Giovanni Bernard that knocked him out and almost caused an on-field brawl between the two teams, as well as garbage being thrown onto the field. That seemed to energize the Bengals, particularly defensive lineman Vontaze Burfict, who was ballistic with anger. Burfict channeled his rage into Hulk-like strength and sacked Steelers QB Big Ben Rapistburger on the next series. Rapistburger's shoulder was injured on the tackle and he had to leave the game. The Bengals erased a 15 point deficit and took a 1 point lead. The second was a flagrant, head-hunter type cheap-shot to Steelers receiver Antonio Brown-- by the rageoholic Burfict-- that caused him to fall down like a rag doll. The penalty yards for the cheap-shot, and a second call against a Bengal player who got in the face of the referee during the resulting scrum, moved the Steelers into range for a last-second field goal to win the game. Congratulations, Bengals, you had the game won and lost it by being stupid. Congratulations, Broncos, you get a matchup against a team that will be be seriously battered. In other action... Congratulations, Patriots. Your reward for finishing 1st in the AFC is... a matchup against a team that has won 12 straight games. Lucky you! The Chiefs look very strong. -k

How could Penn find "El Chapo"? Because El Chapo's desire to be immortalized on film led him to divulge information to Sean Penn that he wouldn't have divulged otherwise. El Chapo's ego was his downfall. -k

I think that recent events in Cologne and other European cities have demonstrated, quite graphically, that the concerns about the effects of mass migration from Muslim countries aren't unreasonable. I also think these events have shown that the decision to focus on families, women, and children, and to shun single men was a rather wise decision. -k

"our" excuse is the same as for every other race and culture... we can't catch every deviant, try as we might. I don't understand the attempt to draw a parallel between isolated child predators and large groups of men forming spontaneously in public places to harass women. I think it's a disingenuous argument. -k

If anyone is expecting me to "balance" the moderating team by sticking up for certain causes or viewpoints, or attacking other causes or viewpoints, that's unfortunate. That's certainly not my goal. My intention is to try to help promote good discussions. -k

I think that the bulk of the Oath Keepers membership is buffoons and kooks, actually. I somewhat agree with eyeball... the apparently infinite patience with these guys seems likely to inspire confidence in other "militiamen". -k

Pointing out that non-Muslim Thailand (as well as numerous other non-Muslim nations, like India and much of Africa for that matter) has a shoddy record on sexual abuse doesn't refute the point that most of the Muslim world does too. -k

I don't think Hudson is making a personal attack, I think he's disputing PIK's amount of insight into what Muslims really believe. -k

Sexy eye. -k

I think there's a clear standard on the use of lethal force by law enforcement, which is that you don't kill the bad-guys unless there is imminent danger. Even though these guys have guns, there doesn't appear to be imminent danger. Law enforcement has an alternative to forcing a confrontation to resolve this. They can starve these guys out. When they run out of Oreos and attempt to leave, they can come out without their guns and be taken into custody. Or they can come out with their guns, and that's when the decision to shoot them can be made. The attempt to draw a parallel between these guys and the Occupy protesters fails, in my opinion. The Occupy protesters were overwhelmingly unarmed and non-combative. The police were able to apply pepper-spray and beat-downs to their hearts' content without fear of getting shot in response. In contrast these self-styled militiamen make a clear implication that they'll respond with force to law enforcement. I heard a bit of an interview with one of them (Ammon Bundy, I believe) on the radio one day... he had a bunch of constitutional ideas as to why they're following the law and the federal government and federal officers are the ones who are breaking the law. It sounded, to my ear, like the kind of legal nonsense the "Free Men On The Land" types spout. -k

Thanks, August ... I think? One thing I have learned today since being let behind the curtain is that the moderating process here is quite collaborative. When people report messages, Charles and Michael discuss how it should be handled (unless it's a truly blatant complaint). It's not just a couple of guys throwing darts at the Wheel of Justice. I will be sharing my opinions in those discussions, as well as helping with the janitorial work that needs to be done, on those occasions when visitors are convinced that you need to buy a mail-order bride, a 100% authentic knockoff Louis Vuitton handbag, or 100% legit prescription drugs. -k

I think what we want to avoid is a situation where people post videos or meme images in place of actually contributing their own thoughts. I think that what we would like is that if somebody read the your post with embedded media disabled they would still be able to understand the gist of your post. I think that *referencing* a video is fine. "The Daily Show had a segment on this last night that hit the nail on the head (link)" or "As this video shows, this is becoming a serious problem in some places (link)". It should be supporting information for a point you're trying to make. It shouldn't be your entire message, and you should post a video as a replacement for articulating ideas of your own. -k

I'm not clear on which part offends you. That I'm not on the list yet? I'm not on the list yet because I'm not officially on the moderating team yet. Hydraboss's pretend outrage at the discrimination against half-Swedish blondes? It was just satire. It was a parody of politically correct outrage. Kind of like the time he forced me to resign from the federal election due to inappropriate comments I made about Dairy Queen. Was there something else that I didn't see that I should have been upset about? I don't mean to dismiss your concerns, I'm just trying to understand the complaint. -k

I'm struggling to follow your line of thought here. You clearly feel that the West bears some responsibility for the state of affairs in the nation these asylum-seekers came from. However I don't see why that means the average German on the street should tolerate such overwhelming numbers of people coming into the country if this is the result. Why isn't putting a moratorium, or at least a cap on the number, an option? -k

So with "Blind Spot" up on blocks until late February and having finished Jessica Jones, I went looking for something new to watch. I came up with ... iZombie. The premise of the show is delightfully silly. A promising med school intern, Olivia "Liv" Moore (she's "Liv Moore", get it?) is at a party where a ZOMBIE RAMPAGE suddenly occurs. She's infected! She's dead! Except, she isn't. Everybody else thinks the attack at the party was a psychotic episode by drug-users under the influence of bad drugs, and is unaware of the existence of zombies. Liv is determined to keep her newly dead state a secret. She's able to hold off the degenerative effects of the zombie disease as long as she eats brains regularly. Her skin and hair have turned chalky white, but as long as she eats brains regularly, she gets to keep her mind and can pass for a living person. With an eye towards finding a reliable source of brains, she quits her hospital internship to take a job as the medical examiner's assistant at the Seattle police department morgue. She also dumps her fiance and becomes isolated from her friends and family, who attribute her drastic changes to PTSD caused by the attack. Her boss, the medical examiner, is the only one who knows her secret. It gets even sillier. When she eats someone's brain, she temporarily takes on some of the former owner's skills, personality traits, outlook, and memories. Given that the brains she feeds on come from corpses in the police morgue, it's inevitable that some of them come from murder victims. As a result, her borrowed memories can help bring murderers to justice. With the encouragement of her boss ("you've eaten her brain... the least you can do is help find her killer...") she forms a partnership with a homicide detective who becomes convinced that she's a real honest-to-goodness psychic, and her visions of the victims' memories help solve murders. "I'm a crime-fighting zombie," as she explains in the opening credits. This show is created by Rob Thomas, who also created the Veronica Mars TV series, and it has a lot of the characteristics that made Veronica Mars such a cult favorite: A plucky likable heroine, snappy dialogue, a structure that neatly blends a stand-alone "mystery of the week" with a season-long story arc. Another thing I like about it is that the gimmick-- the part about borrowing someone else's personality and outlook for a little while-- gives Liv an opportunity for introspection... she gains new perspective about her former life and her new unlife by experiencing life through someone else's perspective. This probably sounds like the most ridiculous thing ever, but I quite enjoy it. It's silly, but it's charming and highly entertaining. -k