Dr. Gonzo

You'd probably just move on someone for a fee they're not worth to a Saudi side, like you did with St. Maximin

I don't like the political messaging of Danny DeVito being cast for anything other than Frank Reynolds.

I can't believe you've made me explain plots and character development of fuckin' cartoon characters mate.

I mean, when the story of The Little Mermaid was first written, is there even a mention of her race? I don't think there is. Does it matter that in the cartoon she was white and in the live action she's black? What's the political messaging there other than "black people are equal to white people" - which is only controversial to people who are... racist. In Mulan the animated film she starts off as strong and independent. She doesn't quite fit in 100% with cultural norms at the beginning - and the matchmaker calls her a disgrace to her family because of her independence. She then learns her father, an old man, is about to be sent to war... so she takes his sword, cuts her hair, and goes off to war in his place. That's the beginning of the film. She's independent, strong, and wants to protect her family while also bring honour to her family. That's strength and confidence. She begins to doubt herself in training because she is physically weaker and thinks that just because she's a girl she will never have what it takes to be a good soldier. That moment of the story shows her strength, confidence, and independence take a hit. And from a character development point, she overcomes all of that in training - ultimately winning the respect of the men in the story (and all of China). Again, I never saw the remake - but Mulan started off as a strong and independent character from the beginning in the cartoon too. Maybe the hit she takes to her self-belief doesn't happen in the live action movie, I don't know.

What's the political message? If it was a white man cast, it'd be the Little Merman (and this sounds like a funny parody). But what's the political message in making a mermaid black?

Yeah and Soleimani, while being a massive piece of shit, was a big part in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. It's why he's a conflicting figure among many Iranians, because a lot of people hate the brutal dictatorship they live under - and people like Soleimani are the oppressors of Iran. But ISIS are a brutal group of Sunni extremists who believe that Shias are the worst sort of infidels and must die. So he was a sort of partially hated, partially seen as a hero, sort of figure. Killing people at this mourning procession that was being used as government propaganda by the IR also coincides where a few members of ISIS are being put on trial for terrorism in Iran. So it's partially symbolic in attacking people mourning a man they hated deeply, and partially sending a message to the IR about retaliating against ISIS. I'm going to be honest though, I think there is something very suspicious about a propaganda festival for a revered member of Iranian's elite not having any high ranking sepahis (IRGC members) or government officials there.

What was the political lesson? That black people can be mermaids too? And for the record, I didn't say it's racist if you didn't go see the live action Little Mermaid. I said it's racist if you cared that Disney took a mermaid cartoon character and then for the live action film cast a black woman. I didn't care to see the live action remake because I didn't want to see Disney fuck with my childhood memories. But I literally could not give a shit that a black person was cast as a mermaid in a film for kids. They could have cast any race - who fucking cares? Mermaids aren't real. I've just googled it and guess what... the story is the exact same. So the only political message being rejected here is a black person being cast for a fictional character who is something that doesn't exist in the real world. Anyone who seriously gave a shit about the race being cast of a fucking Disney mermaid is absolutely a racist. Only a racist would care about that.

And yet misogyny has run rampant throughout human history and women still have to fight for equal rights and protections as men... basically all over the world. As a result, it's not surprising there are TV shows, films, books, etc... that have political messaging in support of equality for women. Companies having political values or putting out political messages isn't anything new. Especially in films, which are a form of art. There's always been politics in art, in the Rennaissance... most art was actually political (even the very religious stuff). Art has famously been used for propaganda (which is political) since... probably since the concept of "art" became a thing. As a result, it's not surprising a filmmaker puts their political values into a film. And honestly... Star Wars itself originally is a story about fighting off fascism to restore democracy. The prequels are very much about how easy it is to lose democracy and slide into fascism - with a lot of not-so-subtle criticisms of Bush and the Iraq war. So political ideas in a Star Wars film are not new either. Feminist ideas aren't even new to Star Wars. The leader of the Rebel Alliance is Mon Mothma, a woman portrayed as a strong and respected leader fighting for freedom in the galaxy. Princess Leia needs to be rescued by Luke, Han, and Chewie... but she never seems like a weak character. She withstands getting tortured by the Empire, watches her family (and planet) get murdered in front of her eyes, and never once seems to display weakness at all before Imperial leadership. Her character is considered a feminist hero by many for good reason. I think Disney are pretty not subtle about the way they do it... and a lot of what they do tbh feels like obvious "LOOK WE ARE INCLUSIVE AND THEREFORE GOOD" to pat themselves on the back. And then other times, like with Andor, their political messaging is really well done and brilliant. I don't think anyone likes sloppy political messaging that just seems like forcing in some sort of ideas of diversity - it's just lazy tokenism. What I liked least about the Disney trilogy of Star Wars was the absolute dogshit writing. I didn't hate Rey because she was a woman Jedi, disliked Rey because she's a poorly written character it was fucking stupid that with barely any guidance or training she's suddenly a master at the force. If this director that "End Wokeness" is worried about can put her political messaging in line with... the traditional political messaging of Star Wars and can tell a good story that's well written, I will probably like her film. If her political messaging is sloppy tokenisms and the film is poorly written, I'll think it's shit. But I'm not going to think it's shit because of "wokeness" - I think wokeness is an entirely meaningless term. "Oh no, some film and TV show has political messaging" - no shit, that's always been the case. If you don't like the political messaging, don't watch it. And I do think that the people who use the terms "woke" and "wokeness" as a pejorative descriptor are definitively racist and/or. They don't like the idea of people they don't believe as equal to be portrayed as equal to them in popular culture. For instance, if the idea of Disney casting a black woman as Ariel in the Little Mermaid upset anyone... I know 100% that they are a racist. It's a fucking mermaid, why does the skin colour matter? It doesn't, it's just people being pissed off something they remember from their childhood is now depicting Ariel as someone they see as "lesser" - and they see her as lesser because they're racist. So then they say things like "Disney is woke" and "go woke, go broke" because otherwise what they'd want to say and tweet would probably include the n word and get them widespread condemnation. If someone made the works of Ayn Rand into a film or TV show, I'm not going to watch it because I know it's going to be shoving libertarian values that lead society towards fascism down my throat. And Ayn Rand was a terrible writer aside from being a terrible person. By the same token, I don't know why any libertarians or far right people would want to watch Star Wars - it's a franchise where the political messaging has always been against their values. tl;dr - films are a form of art, art has always been political, worrying about politics in art too much is stupid.

Yeah, even if Szoboslai is out. I wouldn't expect us to ever use a traditional back 3 unless we're doing something like trying to hang onto a 1 goal lead with the last 10-15 minutes left. I also think Jones has demonstrated he's pretty well rounded this season - he's improved every aspect of his game, defensively and offensively. Either way, it's infinitely more protection than the back two was given last season with midfielders that had no legs left chasing shadows while the defense was constantly under pressure. And even then we didn't resort to a back 3 - and I think that's for good reason.

@Redcanuck - ISIS has taken credit for the attack

They are but they aren’t really that big anymore. They’re still banned in Iran, so they can’t run for any political office. Most of the more active people from the party were killed in part of the mass purges of the 80s and the rest are in exile.

@Redcanuck - we'll probably never know, but AP seems to think it's ISIS (which I take to mean this had some Saudi involvement), the IR is quick to blame Israel for it - which has members of Iranian opposition claiming that it was the IR itself in a false flag attack. There's certainly history for that, with things like Cinema Rex. MEK are, in my mind, the most likely suspects because a terrorist attack that targets a large number of children as well as those connected to the government seems like the kind of stupid move they would do. They're absolutely hated in Iran, despite their close ties with the American right-wing. I feel bad for the kids though. Iran does this a lot with their big televised propaganda events: they'll bus in shitloads of poor people and their kids in to participate in propaganda events with the promise of giving them food. Now there's 95 people dead and over 200 injured... and a lot of them are kids. But I doubt we'll ever know who was truly behind this. Personally... I think it's an inside job. It seems conspiratorial - but it is surprising that no high level sepahis were at the procession. Like with the Shah Cheragh attack... I think this is similar to the Cinema Rex attack of the 70s. The Shah got the blame, but most evidence pointed towards it being done by pro-Islamacists that would eventually foist Khomeini's reign of terror on Iran.

I hate traditional back 3s, I hope we don't go with one even without Endo.

I think the way we play is far off from how sides with a back 3 typically play, imo. And with the way we play, I think there've been times where MacAllister's been alright as a 6 in our system... but I think seeing Endo over the last month highlights how much better our midfield can be with a more natural player in the role.

Oh shit did he get hurt? I think he's just been pretty sloppy with the ball lately but honestly he probably has improved off the ball. MacAllister's gotten back to fitness at a good time for us. He's not a natural #6 but he's probably the closest we've got for the role until Endo's back from Japan. I'm looking forward to seeing more Endo & MacAllister together, so we can see MacAllister in a more box to box role.

I think we need Szobo to find form ASAP. As well as the non-Salah members of our attack. Because while Endo seemed like a random signing, he'd really come into form as of December and I think he's easily been our best midfielder in the past couple months. Makes me quite glad we missed out on Caicedo & Lavia with their massively overinflated transfer prices. Endo in good form has reminded me of someone with the good qualities of Milner and Henderson - he's a solid addition to the squad. Salah being out for us is an obvious big loss because he's one of the best players in the league if not the best player in the league.

I can't see him going anywhere for the prices mentioned without getting some first team football first. I imagine he goes out on loan before anyone buys him.

No nobody’s claimed responsibility. It’s probably MEK though.

73 killed after an attack in a procession commemorating the dead General Soleimani in Kerman, Iran.

I liked all the borderlands games - I think 2 was the best, but I still thought 3 was very good. Fallout 76 has come a long ways since launch. It's also weirdly the least toxic multiplayer community I've ever seen in a game now. Back when I started it was awful because there would be high level people waiting for new players and then would just immediately keep killing them.

https://newrepublic.com/post/177804/netanyahu-wants-dershowitz-israel-hague-gaza-genocide-hearing lol Netanyahu wants Alan Dershowitz to represent Israel against the genocide charge South Africa leveled at it. Hilarious timing with Dershowitz showing up 3 times in the Epstein flight records. Great PR. Who better to defend the indiscriminate bombing of a densely packed area full of children than an alleged child rapist, who's advocated for lowering the age of consent in the past.

Epstein flight records show 2 US presidential candidates taking the pedo plane. Trump & RFK Jr. Bill Clinton also shows up on the list (as many times as Trump) - but he's no longer got political aspirations. Think they all belong in prison, rather than on the campaign trail though.

I think it could be permanent if it goes well, tbh. Rumours about Klopp not really liking his attitude all that much - which is a shame because he's clearly got a lot of talent and potential waiting to be tapped. If that's true then I assume other rumours from the same sources are also true regarding him, which includes that the club wanted him to go on loan to the championship again and he said "I'm too good for the championship, I should be at a top flight club" then ended up going to Red Bull Leipzig... where he's got about as much competition as he does for a starting role as he does at Liverpool. I've got no clue if that's true because honestly a lot of the "behind the scenes" rumours at most football clubs are absolute bollocks. But if it is, I imagine the club would be pretty annoyed with him for thinking he's too big for the championship and spending several months not playing football, therefore not really developing. So I could see it a case of the club now thinking "we'll send you wherever we think you'll do well to where we can get back the most amount of money we can for you." But I hope it's not true because I think he's got a lot of talent and he could go on to be a very good player.

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Some friends talked me into playing some Fallout 76 with them. I tried it years ago and I didn’t really like it. Liked it much more revisiting it though.