What's in the news?

[Icelandic]

I mean, a politician asking for a debate from an opponent is a bit different from a dipshit conspiracy theorist like Ben Shapiro who knows almost nothing about anything offering to pay to be debated. Now technically yeah a politician still doesn't have the entitlement to be debated by an opponent but it always depends on the circumstances and whether or not it is good for their optics or makes them look bad. We saw some similar situations regarding Bernie Sanders when Hilary Clinton refused a public debate.

The issue for me is that she equated a paid offer to debate with catcalling, which for me just screams of "I can't simply say no without my reputation being bruised so I'll use buzzwords to defend myself."

It's kinda a no-win situation for her. She either dishonestly equated debate offers with catcalling, which shows a degree of manipulative behavior on her part. Or she actually believes her statement to be true, which suggests that she is very out of touch with reality.

[Icelandic]

(Also I dunno if I have much more to say on the topic, but the 'election' thread might be more appropriate for it if you wanna continue. I dunno.)

[Tolvo]

I dunno about even continuing in there. We kind of seem to have really incompatible world views and don't really reach a common understanding typically, so I dunno what the real point is when we aren't gonna convince each other. Otherwise we're just talking for the sake of other people reading which I dunno about the full purpose of that even. Ya know? Like we could do it but feels like we're both wasting energy at that point.

[Icelandic]

I dunno about even continuing in there. We kind of seem to have really incompatible world views and don't really reach a common understanding typically, so I dunno what the real point is when we aren't gonna convince each other. Otherwise we're just talking for the sake of other people reading which I dunno about the full purpose of that even. Ya know? Like we could do it but feels like we're both wasting energy at that point.

Eh, I guess so. I dunno if my goal is to convince anyone of anything. Just sharing my thoughts and learning what and why you believe in things.

That's fine though.

[gaggedLouise]

Barnard's Star, one of the very closest neighbours of the solar system at just six light years away, and known for having the greatest proper motion of all stars in the night sky,, has a rocky exoplanet, three times the mass of Earth and "as cold as Saturn".

*marvels at the thought of such an inhospitable, cold hell.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/A_cold_Super_Earth_just_6_light_years_away_at_Barnards_Star_999.html

[Tolvo]

Space really frightens me. Just anything about it as silly as it is just fills me with such dread.

https://www.thecut.com/2018/11/acting-attorney-general-whitaker-has-bigfoot-connections.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=s1&utm_campaign=nym

Also huh, our government is weird can I just say it? Can I just say the people in our government are fucking weird.

[gaggedLouise]

Space really frightens me. Just anything about it as silly as it is just fills me with such dread.

https://www.thecut.com/2018/11/acting-attorney-general-whitaker-has-bigfoot-connections.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=s1&utm_campaign=nym

Also huh, our government is weird can I just say it? Can I just say the people in our government are fucking weird.

Yes you can, we hear you.  You are not a looney, it's the government, Trump and some of their enablers that do loony stuff.

[Tolvo]

By the way, this is not the first weird Bigfoot controversy we've had surrounding US politicians this year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/us/politics/bigfoot-porn.html

Our government is full of weirdos.

[Lustful Bride]

I think we should ban our politicians from using the internet.

[Tolvo]

Personally I won't even vote for a president anymore that doesn't recognize the Mongolian Death Worm threat which one day may destroy us all.

[gaggedLouise]

I think we should ban our politicians from using the internet.

Especially one Donald J. Trump?

[Tolvo]

Ok would Spring Heeled Jack jokes be better in the Brexit thread?

[Lustful Bride]

Personally I won't even vote for a president anymore that doesn't recognize the Mongolian Death Worm threat which one day may destroy us all.

I agree! The deathworms even now breed en masse beneath the sands and cause sinkholes to weaken the surface. We must go where they breed, destroy their nests and root them out. We must not lose a second interspecies war, not after the terror that was the Great Emu War.

----------
Yet more political failings. Japan's Cybersecurity minister is computer illiterate.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/japans-cybersecurity-minister-cant-use-a-computer/ar-BBPJQ9m?ocid=spartanntp

That's like the pope asking what the Bible is. Its your job to know it!

[Tolvo]

I'm honestly not surprised given how many people with little understanding of it are in charge of cyber security in many countries around the world. Keep in mind in the USA we got rid of that role under Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/technology/white-house-cybersecurity.html

[gaggedLouise]

I agree! The deathworms even now breed en masse beneath the sands and cause sinkholes to weaken the surface. We must go where they breed, destroy their nests and root them out. We must not lose a second interspecies war, not after the terror that was the Great Emu War.

All intelligent monster plants must be destroyed, before they spread far and wide, and smother us out! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTuJQL8GBqY

[RedRose]

This is such a mess I don't even understand. "reflexology session in mayor office turns into threesome". The lawyer is a hot mess too, claiming these women like power, it's all because of the feminists and there was no threesome anyway.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/french-ex-minister-cleared-raping-two-former-employees-154211931--spt.html

[TheGlyphstone]

This is such a mess I don't even understand. "reflexology session in mayor office turns into threesome". The lawyer is a hot mess too, claiming these women like power, it's all because of the feminists and there was no threesome anyway.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/french-ex-minister-cleared-raping-two-former-employees-154211931--spt.html

Do they think the real world runs on porno logic?

[Sara Nilsson]

Do they think the real world runs on porno logic?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46207304

The accused maintained that the sexual contact between him and the girl, which took place in a laneway in Cork, had been consensual.

Details of the closing argument presented by his senior counsel Elizabeth O'Connell, however, attracted widespread attention and prompted a series of online protest movements.

"Does the evidence out-rule the possibility that she was attracted to the defendant and was open to meeting someone and being with someone?" she asked, according to the Examiner's report.

"You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front."

No, they just always think either the woman is up for it based on some.. "logic" or that she is lying for.. "reasons" or possibly just regretting it. it is never the mans fault. Fuck the system, why I never bothered to push forward. whats the point? No one would believe me anyway.

[TheGlyphstone]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46207304

No, they just always think either the woman is up for it based on some.. "logic" or that she is lying for.. "reasons" or possibly just regretting it. it is never the mans fault. Fuck the system, why I never bothered to push forward. whats the point? No one would believe me anyway.

'She was asking for it' is an old one. It was the 'massage session turns into hot FFM threesome' defense that got me, because that is straight out of a porn script. And not even a high budget porn.

[Beguile's Mistress]

I think we should ban our politicians from using the internet.

Or remove their thumbs.

[Tolvo]

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-hippodrome-20181114-story.html

This is pretty horrifying. I often get prepared for hearing this very thing myself when I go to the movies after mass shootings have happened with plans on how to pull people to the ground and protect their bodies from gunfire if it could possibly give us precious seconds should an actual shooting happen. Though thankfully a shooting did not happen.

[Sara Nilsson]

Rather chilling considering the play.

*just shakes head sadly*

[Tolvo]

I also wonder about the legality of it. Because they claim its free speech to incite terror like that, but also would they still consider it freedom of speech if someone yelled allahu ackbar(Which is just a common prayer in Islam) in public especially on a plane or train? People get thrown off plains and arrested just for "Looking like a terrorist." While "Heil Hitler Heil Trump" at Fiddler on the Roof seems way more intent on causing terror without any other reason to do it.

[Avis habilis]

... if someone yelled allahu ackbar(Which is just a common prayer in Islam) ...

Forgive my pedantry, but it isn't even a prayer. It just means "God is the greatest" & you can say it any time you're happy about anything. I heard an interview with a Muslim guy who said something along the lines of "I say it when I bite into a really good kebab, I said it when my beloved Cavs beat the Golden State Warriors".

[Tolvo]

It is also commonly used as a prayer but yes it can have a variety of other uses. It's quite similar to saying just "God" or "Oh god." Which people say all the time here. We see this happen with a lot of terms. Jihad for instance has a very mixed usage among Muslims. It can mean a violent holy war to them, it also can mean resisting a temptation or other more personal struggles. Though Jihad is more specific.