Octopus Overlords

El Guapo wrote: Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:04 pm The devastating first strike has always been somewhat chimerical, though. All you have to do is scatter your retaliatory capacity across different areas, and chances of the first strike getting substantially everything are pretty much zero. And that's not factoring in nuclear submarines and the like.

Weapons from a faraway, long-ago war are flowing into immigrant neighborhoods here, puncturing Swedes’ sense of confidence and security. The country’s murder rate remains low, by American standards, and violent crime is stable or dropping in many places. But gang-related assaults and shootings are becoming more frequent, and the number of neighborhoods categorized by the police as “marred by crime, social unrest and insecurity” is rising. Crime and immigration are certain to be key issues in September’s general election, alongside the traditional debates over education and health care.

Part of the reason is that Sweden’s gang violence, long contained within low-income suburbs, has begun to spill out. In large cities, hospitals report armed confrontations in emergency rooms, and school administrators say threats and weapons have become commonplace. Last week two men from Uppsala, both in their 20s, were arrested on charges of throwing grenades at the home of a bank employee who investigates fraud cases.

An earlier jolt came with the death of Mr. Zuniga, who on Jan. 7 picked up the grenade, which the police believe had been thrown by members of a local gang targeting a rival gang or police officers.

Rip wrote: Sun Mar 04, 2018 7:05 pm What do you know, Trump was right.

Alec Baldwin: It's Tough To Impersonate The Greatest Presidential Impersonator Of All Time

El Guapo wrote: Wed Feb 28, 2018 3:03 pm

GreenGoo wrote: Wed Feb 28, 2018 2:47 pm

Rip wrote: Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:23 pm It is a little weird to see you guys jump in on my Turkey hating.

It's less Turkey hate and more Erdogan hate. He's an obvious dictator who slaughter thousands of his own people when they rebelled. He is constantly stirring shit up on the international stage and happily used an archaic German law to have Germany lock up one of their own comedians who made fun of Erdogan (this is on Germany too).

I'm not saying Turkey is awesome without Erdogan, but right now, he's the problem.

Also, we should absolutely be doing what we can to help the Kurds - they really do deserve their own state. Pre-Erdogan, when Turkey was a reliable and important democratic U.S. ally, the calculus was a little more complicated. But one side effect of Turkey going into the shitter is that that minus factor is now gone. Though now Iraq complicates things a bit.

Of course, Trump saying that Erdogan is one of the world leaders he most admires probably means that won't happen. Also yet another indicator that Trump is a huge asshole.

U.S.-allied forces in eastern Syria said Tuesday that they are withdrawing from the front lines of the war against the Islamic State in order to battle the United States’ NATO ally Turkey elsewhere in the country, jeopardizing the fight against the militants.

Citing disappointment with the United States, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they were pulling fighters off the front lines in the province of Deir al-Zour, where Islamic State fighters have been putting up a fierce fight in a pocket of territory on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. The holdouts there are thought to include some of the most senior leaders of the organization who escaped the cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria last year, U.S. officials say.

The move follows an effort by the Trump administration to assuage Turkish ire over the U.S. military’s close relationship with Syrian Kurdish forces. Those forces have been instrumental in the capture of vast swaths of territory from the Islamic State over the past three years, including the militants’ self-styled capital, Raqqa.

According to a statement by the SDF, which has received arms and training from the United States, the fighters will relocate to the Kurdish-controlled enclave of ­Afrin in northwestern Syria to help fend off a six-week-old Turkish offensive that has reportedly killed hundreds of civilians, displaced more than 10,000 people and contributed to one of the worst crises in U.S.-Turkish relations in decades.

It is with “regret” that the “painful decision” has been made to pull fighters away from the battle in Deir al-Zour, the SDF statement said. The decision would not have been taken, it added, “were it not for the failure of the international community to curb the Turkish aggression and put real pressure” on the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to “stop its madness within our Syrian borders.”

A popular Mansfield ISD art teacher was placed on administrative leave with pay in September days after she asked officials to modify the district's anti-discrimination policy to include LGBTQ language, documents show.
...
In emails to Wright and the school board members, Bailey stated she was told by MISD associate superintendent Kimberley Cantu and human resources department to contact them about her concerns. She cited San Antonio, Dallas and Austin as Texas school districts that have included LGBTQ language to their policies.
...
Almost two weeks later, on Sept. 7, Bailey emailed Michelle Smith and Sarah Buckner, counselors at Ben Barber Innovation Academy, to ask if that school had a gay/straight alliance group and so she could possibly connect with the faculty members who may have organized such a group.
...
Sept. 8, the documents show, Cantu sent a letter to Bailey notifying her that the district was placing her on administrative leave with pay "until an investigation is completed." The three paragraph letter did not disclose a reason for the disciplinary action or the basis for an investigation.

Congrats again to our 2016 Charlotte Anderson Teacher of the year, Ms. Stacy Bailey!

Pedophilia, or paedophilia, is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty at age 10 or 11, and boys at age 11 or 12, criteria for pedophilia extend the cut-off point for prepubescence to age 13. A person who is diagnosed with pedophilia must be at least 16 years old, and at least five years older than the prepubescent child, for the attraction to be diagnosed as pedophilia.

Rip wrote: Thu Mar 08, 2018 4:45 pm I can't help but wonder if the people criticizing him have also criticized the likes of Luc Besson or Woody Allen.

I find it hard to get upset when the entire media business is guilty of sexualizing minors every minute of the day.

Remus West wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 8:53 am

Rip wrote: Thu Mar 08, 2018 4:45 pm I can't help but wonder if the people criticizing him have also criticized the likes of Luc Besson or Woody Allen.

I find it hard to get upset when the entire media business is guilty of sexualizing minors every minute of the day.

and yet you managed to get upset regarding imagined slights from the Clintons while ignoring real ones from the right.

Rip wrote:

Remus West wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 8:53 am

Rip wrote: Thu Mar 08, 2018 4:45 pm I can't help but wonder if the people criticizing him have also criticized the likes of Luc Besson or Woody Allen.

I find it hard to get upset when the entire media business is guilty of sexualizing minors every minute of the day.

and yet you managed to get upset regarding imagined slights from the Clintons while ignoring real ones from the right.

Not hardly. I've never in my life been upset about politics. Doing so is as silly as being upset about the weather.

The only thing sillier is getting upset over what some dude wrote in a fantasy fiction piece.

Rip wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 6:19 pm There is much distance between disliking something and being angry about it.

Alefroth wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 6:37 pm

Rip wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 6:19 pm There is much distance between disliking something and being angry about it.

You're using an incorrectly narrow definition of upset, but we all know why you need to.

Rip wrote: Sat Mar 10, 2018 1:37 pm One would think if I was angry I would go to some of those rally events, protest, or something maybe donate some money to a political group. Nope never done it. Not many of you can say the same.

Holman wrote: Sat Mar 10, 2018 6:49 pm

Rip wrote: Sat Mar 10, 2018 1:37 pm One would think if I was angry I would go to some of those rally events, protest, or something maybe donate some money to a political group. Nope never done it. Not many of you can say the same.

Or you could take every opportunity to post the most paranoid, fantastic, rage-fueled Lock-Her-Up fantasies that cross your feed.

Rip wrote: Sun Mar 11, 2018 3:55 am If I was angry I wouldn't bother posting.

Rip wrote: Sat Mar 10, 2018 1:37 pm One would think if I was angry I would go to some of those rally events, protest, or something

Daehawk wrote: Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:27 am 10 years: That's how long the FBI has been using Geek Squad to surreptitiously spy on computers brought in for repair, the EFF has discovered. The Feds leveraged the repair center in its fight against child porn, at least that's the story they're sticking with.

Today, voters in Pennsylvania's current 18th district head to the polls to elect a new Congressman.
...
The winner of the contest will become Pennsylvania's 18th district's Congressman, but that district may not be around for much longer. In February, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the state's Congressional maps as a partisan gerrymander in violation of the state constitution's equal protection clause. An appeal to this decision is pending before the US Supreme Court (on a theory of violating the Elections Clause of the federal Constitution), but should a stay be denied, the existing configuration of the state's districts will be thrown out for the elections in November later this year. As a note to users looking for more information on this district, maps on Wikipedia have been updated, and the current 18th district is now largely split between the new 14th and 17th districts.

A man who registered as a Green Party candidate for Montana's U.S. Senate race was on the state Republican Party's payroll and heads a newly formed anti-tax group, according to a review of election documents.

Alefroth wrote: Wed Mar 14, 2018 4:46 pm I'm not familiar with Briscoe. What's the implication, that Stephen met his maker?

Briscoe Rowell Cain, III, is an attorney from Harris County, Texas, who is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 128.

Alefroth wrote: Wed Mar 14, 2018 4:46 pm I'm not familiar with Briscoe. What's the implication, that Stephen met his maker?