Venezuela Getting Worse, Tech Groups Come Out Against Backpage Bill, Scientists Look for Gender-Identity Genome: A.M. Links

• 

  Jorge Sanz/ZUMA Press/Newscom

  "There is no denying it now: Venezuela's government has crossed the line and become a full-fledged dictatorship," writes Javier El-Hage at National Review, reporting on the country's recent Constituent Assembly elections.

• Sen. John McCain has joined Ted Cruz and other senators in sponsoring a bill to punish web publishers and platforms for user posts, comments, and interactions. Meanwhile, a wide array of tech groups, web-policy wonks, sex workers, and law scholars have come out in opposition.
• An international consortium of researchers that includes Boston Children's Hospital, George Washington University, and Vanderbilt University are undertaking a massive study—"researchers have extracted DNA from the blood samples of 10,000 people, 3,000 of them transgender and the rest non-transgender, or cisgender," NBC reports—to search for a genetic component to gender identity.
• "Sending weapons to Kiev makes no more sense today than it did two years ago," writes Michael Brendan Dougherty.
• Ugh.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ugh.

What did you expect?

[Griffin3]

I keep telling my two sons: don't knock people for being ignorant, they just need to be taught. But, you can't fix stupid.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I have a feeling the authors here are willfully ignorant.

[Griffin3]

Willfully ignorant is nearly the definition of stupid.

Although, if you squint at it in a dark room, the opening sentence is actually true. Rolling back Title IX guidance will make it slightly safer for college rapists. It will also make it greatly safer for the falsely accused.

What do the authors have against the falsely accused, anyway -- a position they seem so sure they will never be in?

[Mickey Rat]

The falsely accused are acceptable losses.

[Zeb]

At an emotional level, I can almost understand the people who want lower standards. Rape is often a difficult thing to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal court. Which of course is how it must be. But I'm sure that actual rapists do go free often enough.
But too many people forget the other side of the equation. You can't undo a rape by punishing someone. But you can try hard to make sure only truly guilty people are punished.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Ugh. Jesus Christ what an asshole.

McCain. Jesus Christ what an asshole.

[Griffin3]

Hello, Rufus.

Some days it's assholes all the way down.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

I'd say he should retire already and go live out the rest of his days at home, but Arizona will just replace him with someone similarly terrible, especially on moral panic issues.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

Eh, Flake's not that bad, but the real concern is whether they'd replace McCain with some race huckster like Raul Grijalva.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Flake's not as bad, but in this case, he joined McCain in presenting this bill. And this bill is baaaad.

[Mickey Rat]

Well, of course. They also had a recent series waxing nostalgic for Communism.

Wrecking someone's dreams is fine if it serves the needs if the collective.

[Rhywun]

Ugh.

I have the exact same reaction when I see, and ignore, yet another morning link to the bloody NYT.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Sending weapons to Kiev makes no more sense today than it did two years ago," writes Michael Brendan Dougherty.

With the exchange rate what it is?

[Drave Robber]

Two dollars for a pound of (dried) hryvnia?

[loveconstitution1789]

How about (wet) hryvnia?

[Rhywun]

Better see a doctor for that.

[Citizen X - #6]

"There is no denying it now: Venezuela's government has crossed the line and become a full-fledged dictatorship," writes Javier El-Hage at National Review, reporting on the country's recent Constituent Assembly elections.

"Trust democracy" - joe from lowell

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Where have you gone Joe from Lowell?
A nation turns it's lonely eyes to you (woo woo woo)
What's that you say Venezuela?
'Lil Joe has left and gone away
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

[Jerryskids]

"There is no denying it now: Venezuela's government has crossed the line and become a full-fledged dictatorship"

See now the international repercussions of electing Trump president?

[Rhywun]

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain manipulating the counts.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. John McCain has joined Ted Cruz and other senators in sponsoring a bill to punish web publishers and platforms for user posts, comments, and interactions

Can we also go after the constituents who put these people in the Senate?

[Fist of Etiquette]

There is no denying it now: Venezuela's government has crossed the line and become a full-fledged dictatorship...

But has Maduro risen to Trumpian levels?

[Eek Barba Durkle]

Somewhere worse than Hitler, but not quite Trump.

[Conchfritters]

John McCain has joined Ted Cruz

Holy shit - that brain problem thing that McCain has is legit.

[Jerryskids]

Legit, hell, it's fucking contagious.

[Calvin Coolidge]

"researchers have extracted DNA ... to search for a genetic component to gender identity"

I can save them a lot of time and money. Males have an "xy" chromosome, females have an "xx".

Surprised that hadn't figured that out by now. Glad I could help.

[Zeb]

And therefore there is no point in looking for genetic reasons why individuals differ?

[dantheserene]

z- that's quite a leap you made there.

[Zeb]

Yes, perhaps a bit flip. But he seems to be saying that the XX/XY sex determining chromosomes is all we need to know about when it comes to human sex and gender expression.

I find it weird that all of a sudden, transgenderism is the most important issue ever. This wouldn't be high on my list of research priorities. But it is an actual phenomenon (however you prefer to describe it) that does cause people problems and I think that makes it a legitimate subject to study.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

It was no leap and not flippy. CC was explicitly saying there is no scientific question to be investigated. Your response was fair and accurate, sir.

[Take that cloud!]

I love how you're such an asshole that you tell the guy who made the comment, who admitted he was being flip, that he wasn't being flip.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

I love it, too. Being right feels great.

[Azathoth!!]

Being right feels great

Who told you?

[Fist of Etiquette]

..."researchers have extracted DNA from the blood samples of 10,000 people, 3,000 of them transgender and the rest non-transgender, or cisgender," NBC reports?to search for a genetic component to gender identity.

...and how it affects the polar ice caps.

[damikesc]

And if they find no genome?

They'll need more funding, clearly.

If they do?

Have to suppress it or else parents will, by and large, abort babies who will grow up to be such obnoxious narcissists.

[loveconstitution1789]

I would bet money that not finding a special genetic component to sexual confusion will never end the delusion of transtestical people and their useful idiots.

[Jerryskids]

That's not how it's going to play out - I can guarantee you there are already protest groups organized demanding the research be shut down, the researchers fired, the record suppressed. The science is settled, gender identity is a social construct and that's a proven fact. This flagrant attempt to deny reality is nothing more than hate speech and gender denialism and an attack on the differently-gendered just like what the Nazis did.

You remember when Larry Summers got fired and nearly lynched over his suggestion that maybe there are biological differences between men and women that might explain why STEM majors attract more men than women and maybe we should look into the question? He got fired because the science was already settled, there are absolutely no biological differences between men and women and sexism was the only reason there were more men scientists than women scientists. I don't see how this is going to play out any differently.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

Considering that Larry Summers is a pathological liar and economic ignoramus, he pretty much had it coming for speaking the truth just once. He was hired to support people's delusions and he had been doing exactly that until his one oopsie.

[damikesc]

You remember when Larry Summers got fired and nearly lynched over his suggestion that maybe there are biological differences between men and women that might explain why STEM majors attract more men than women and maybe we should look into the question??

What I liked best about that episode was that the women proved his point for him.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

I'm curious as to whether they'll look into the socio-economic backgrounds of the transgender individuals as well to see if there are any commonalities. Based on media coverage, most transgenders clearly appear to skew towards white middle-class, which should bring up some interesting discussions of privilege and whether something like this is more apt to appear in affluent communities.

There are quite a few shitlib parents who are insisting that their 2 year olds are transgender based on those kids' immature perceptions of gender and sex, and getting sympathetic psychiatrists to sign off on that literally childish delusion. This isn't the sort of thing you typically see in blue-collar or inner-city communities, which tend to have little patience for such social indulgences.

[Juice]

Based on media coverage, most transgenders clearly appear to skew towards white middle-class

Yeah, but that's not how it is, actually. Plenty of non-white non-middle-class trannies.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Well if it is genetic it's clearly a spontaneous mutation given its natural adverse self-selection.

[CatoTheChipper]

For some reason, there are lots of SE Asian trannies, and they are not affluent. One encounters trannies way more often in SE Asia than in the US.

[DesigNate]

Maybe cause they can make more money as a lady-boy than a subsistence farmer?

[Mickey Rat]

How exactly can you find a genetic component indicating affinity to a mere social construct?

Either gender is at the foundation an innate quality, or there can be no genetic component.

[Zeb]

Well, perhaps it will resolve some of those questions.

I tend to doubt it, though. People have been looking for a "gay gene" for some time without much success.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Uuum, why do you think they call it the "G" nucleotide? Duh.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

If there is no gay gene it will become necessary to create one.

[colorblindkid]

There is no evolutionary reason for homosexuality to exist. Why would I evolve to not want to reproduce? Sure I would love to have kids, but I sure the hell am not going to have sex with a woman. My genes will die out. I'm convinced there might be some recessive trait that many people are born with but it is 90% due to non-genetic influences once you're born. "Born this way" is absolutely not true, though.

[Vernon Depner]

So, how are they defining "transgender" for the purpose of the study? As far as I know, there is no consistent and coherent definition. The story blithely refers to "transgender" and "cisgender" as if that were something that could be tested for and determined?when if fact the study is looking to see if there are ways of determining that. Reasoning in circles.

[Conchfritters]

...how are they defining "transgender" for the purpose of the study?

Great question - do they have to have to remove the pillar and the stones to qualify, or can the equipment still be there to be included in the study? Do crossdressers qualify?

[Rhywun]

- "Are you transgender?"
- "I guess."

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

- "Are you transgender?"
- "On Fridays and alternate Saturdays, yes."

[Zeb]

That's a good question. It doesn't seem like a very rigorously defined thing at this point. Especially for the people who want to look at gender as a spectrum.

[BYODB]

Well that's because if it were defined, they couldn't constantly redefine it as the situation merits to receive special legal protections from the State. Can't have that, now.

Not that having it defined as a mental illness by the Psychiatric Associations seems to have done much to hinder it's growth into a special protected class that literally anyone can claim to be a part of.

[colorblindkid]

But are they searching for an elfkin gene?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Recently Ms. DeVos declared that "a system without due process ultimately serves no one." We have no quarrel with this statement. But-

As you can imagine, the authors (yes, took two people to write this) go on to ignore the lack of due process in Title IX investigations.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Let me introduce you to Mr. Asset Forfeiture.

[Citizen X - #6]

Sen. John McCain has joined Ted Cruz and other senators in sponsoring a bill to punish web publishers and platforms for user posts, comments, and interactions.

Christ, what assholes.

[Eek Barba Durkle]

Needs moar woodchipperz.

[Mickey Rat]

I expect that of McCain, disappointed in Cruz, though.

[Rhywun]

The linked article includes Flake and makes no mention of Cruz.

?

[Troy muy grande boner]

So non-transgender = normal? WTF is cisgender? The Orwellian double speak used to normalize freaks is appalling.

[jcw]

The phrase "Orwellian double speak" does not mean what you think it means. You should go read 1984 and think about which side you would be on and which side the "freaks" would be on.

[Citizen X - #6]

Troy seems to be taking the existence of transgender people kinda personally. I wonder how many "women" with prominent Adam's apples he's inadvertently gone home with.

[SIV]

Besides your mom?

[Citizen X - #6]

That doesn't even make sense. Men who have become women don't get a uterus and can't give birth, thereby becoming anyone's mom. You'd know this if your sexual knowledge extended past which part of the chicken is the hole.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Both roosters and hens have cloacas. And womb transplants may become a thing. Maybe your mom was just a pioneer.

[BYODB]

RE: Southpark's Mr. Garrison's shock when he realizes that the transition surgery doesn't actually give him a period or the ability to bear children.

[mad.casual]

The phrase "Orwellian double speak" does not mean what you think it means.

Wow! I... just... wow.

And the fact that you follow it up with a call for more introspection... magnifique!

[Crusty Juggler - Hero]

In Trump era, life feels like 'Dunkirk'

I don't want to make irresponsible analogies. Trump, though a dangerous, cruel, uncaring, unethical, bigoted, fascistic demagogue isn't Hitler. Our situation in the Trump presidency, however frightening and disturbing isn't equivalent to World War II. Yet, I can't remember a time when so many of us have felt as if we were Londoners nightly seeking safety in air raid shelters during the Blitz, our grandparents sitting by our radios listening to FDR give one of his "fireside chats" or (often scared) soldiers fighting the Nazis.

Apt comparison.

[Citizen X - #6]

That's a lot of words to say "I'm resisting becoming aware of my lack of any sense of perspective."

[Eric Bana]

Spot on.

[Troy muy grande boner]

So life isnt really as bad as wwii but it feel like it because these people are fucking pussies?

Jesus fucking christ, it isn't like they are fucking hanging fags from lamppost. No one is making the transfeeaks were a star of David. They get use whatever bathroom they want... What the fuck more can society give them? Reparations for nature's cruelty.

Hey, freaks, get over your first world problems and go to Alleppo. They probably justifiably feel like it is wwii.

[Griffin3]

Visited France last summer during one of the multitudinous, overlapping strikes. Many stores and train stations only had one bathroom open. Everyone filed in and out, did their business, without fuss. Kinda throws the whole transgender thing into perspective.

Of much greater import, not only are there no paper rings for the toilets in France, in many places the toilet SEATS are considered an optional luxury. Nothing like cold porcelain to wake you up in the morning. And, ugh ... no matter how hard you scrub it with 1/2-ply paper.

[Citizen X - #6]

There's a reason that no cultural stereotypes exist about French people smelling good.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

No one is making the transfeeaks were a star of David.

Transfreaks are pissed because nobody really gives a shit anymore except for a few leftover pulpit-bangers in the deep South; their entire self-worth is based on people actively hating them and they simply can't tolerate being tolerated.

[chipper me timbers]

^This

[BYODB]

There are only two kinds of people in this world that I can not stand:

People who are intolerant of other people's cultures...

...and the Dutch.

[loveconstitution1789]

Trump is literally Hitler, so...

[Eric Bana]

Can't you read? The commenter doesn't make irresponsible analogies. Trump clearly isn't Hitler, but everything feels almost exactly like when Hitler was trying to dominate the world. I mean, people in London literally fearing for their lives because they might have been bombed to death by war planes almost every night? THAT's WHAT IT FEELS LIKE EVERY NIGHT WHEN I GO TO BED!!!!

In all seriousness, it will be good when the Trump presidency is over and people see that nothing that bad happened (except maybe an economic recession, which I wouldn't pin on Trump). TDS indeed.

[Rhywun]

I really think a lot of people need to step away for awhile from whichever idiotic social media that's rotting their brains.

[BYODB]

It's almost as if our media talking heads are huffing paint out behind the school bus barn then barging back into class screaming about the dangers of pigeons.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

On the other hand, if Trump labelled the DNC a terrorist organization, I'm not sure I'd really disagree with him. I might quibble that the RNC was left out, but the longest journey begins with the first step.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

She's being poetic.

[lap83]

"Though a dangerous, cruel, uncaring, unethical, bigoted fascistic demagogue isn't Hitler"

Yeah, at least Hitler liked animals

[Citizen X - #6]

Well, he liked dogs, anyway. He HATED cats.

[Rhywun]

He HATED cats.

That's literally worse than Hitler.

[Crusty Juggler - Hero]

Special ed teacher allegedly had sex with several students

After her first arrest, Ramos admitted having sex with the 18-year-old special ed student "a handful of times," beginning Dec. 23, 2016, until April 2017.

She said most of the time they had sex in her car.

A second special education student admitted on June 23 that he had also had sex with Ramos, police said.

He said in he had gone with Ramos to a Fairfield restaurant and that after dinner, the two had sex in Ramos' car in the parking lot, police said.

On another occasion in April, Ramos complained to the student that her husband didn't want to have sex with her and then took him to a Shelton eatery.

While there, Ramos and her student went into the restaurant's "electrical room," where they had sex, police said.

The electric room of a restaurant? God that's hot.

[Mickey Rat]

It can be, if the wrong fluids get in contact with the wrong equipment.

[loveconstitution1789]

How was that chick not getting any at home?

[Griffin3]

Where were these teachers when I was in school?

[Crusty Juggler - Hero]

Barefoot in the kitchen where they belong!

*awaits high fives*

[Eric Bana]

You were in Special Ed.?

[geo1113]

Only thing I can think of is the body doesn't do the face justice.

[KerryW]

"a handful of times"

Is this supposed to be a clue to the kind of sex they were having? (I didn't read the article.)

[Crusty Juggler - Hero]

Watermelon: The secret ingredient to the best guacamole

If watermelons don't scream "summer," we don't know what does. With a combination of delicious flavors, like avocados, lime juice, feta cheese, and watermelon, this quick Watermelon Guacamole recipe will add some fun to the season. Grab your favorite tortilla chips and take a dip into this sweet twist on the classic guac, as you soak up some sun!

Oh. Em. Gee.

[Memory Hole]

Holy guacamole and a jesus christ!

[loveconstitution1789]

Feta on Guac and watermelon? Fucking heresy!

[geo1113]

Not to mention cultural appropriation.

[Citizen X - #6]

Fun fact: "avocado" is the Spanish pronunciation of the Nahuatl word "ahuacatl," which means "testicle." The middle syllable of "ahuacatl" also became the "guac" in guacamole (and "mole" of course means "sauce").

"Guacamole" literally means "testicle sauce."

Fun fact #2: because of the close association between avocados and male gonads, Aztecs didn't let their teenage daughters leave the house during the avocado harvest.

[Mickey Rat]

So that puts a different spin on making fresh guacamole.

[Rhywun]

"Guacamole" literally means "testicle sauce."

What a coincidence that it literally tastes like "testicle sauce".

[Citizen X - #6]

Are you one of those sad mutants to whom cilantro tastes like soap? If so, my thoughts and prayers are with you.

[Rhywun]

Depends. I like it in salsas but on its own it's unpleasant. I never would have noticed except one day I got a pre-made salad for lunch and some idiot had swapped the romaine for cilantro.

[Tom Bombadil]

Rhywun, you really need to taste my testicle sauce. Really.

[Zeb]

I'm not judging, but can you guys take this to a private chat room?

[Zeb]

What a coincidence that it literally tastes like "testicle sauce".

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Mmmmm, criadillas

[WakaWaka]

"Meanwhile, a wide array of tech groups, web-policy wonks, sex workers, and law scholars have come out in opposition."

We're going to take down postings remarks that some pressure group considers 'hate speech'. This will inevitably lead to us censoring legitimate political speech to appease these activists.

Tech community: How 'woke'

We're going to treat the internet like a utility which will impose government regulations.

Tech community: Sounds cool

We're going to start punishing people who operate sex pages

Tech community: YOU MONSTERS

I know it's not a perfect example and the first example doesn't even involve government, but this selective defense of freedom from our tech overlords makes me not care when they take a position on something.

[mad.casual]

I know it's not a perfect example and the first example doesn't even involve government

Ma Bell and DARPA would like to have a word with you about that...

[Rhywun]

I give it until the next (D) administration before it does involve the government.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Googol times this.

[CE]

Hands off my Internet, except to enforce net "neutrality" and prevent companies from offering different classes of service for different prices.

[Crusty Juggler - Hero]

People won't stop having window sex at an LES hotel and it's grossing out the neighborhood

"You see them having sex all the time, hands on the window," a tenant across the street from the hotel told The New York Post. "Not like I'm a peeping Tom, but from the corner of my eye, you can see this going on four times a week." Residents of 10 Stanton Street have been complaining of group sex involving all combinations of genders, along with regular masturbatory episodes?all going down by the windowsill. More than 47 noise complaints have been made by local tenants, many of whom worry that their children or grandchildren might see something they're not supposed to. I keep thinking of that Sex and the City in which Miranda flashes her gay neighbor across the window. This is just like that

It's not just like that...

[loveconstitution1789]

Yeah, New Yorkers complaining about something in their city is too risque for kids.

Americans are becoming real puritanical douches.

[Citizen X - #6]

Lc1789 is Lillian Kaushtupper? That makes a lot of sense, actually.

[Jerryskids]

Made me click the link just to find out what a les hotel is. It was not what I thought.

[Zeb]

How dare people have sex in hotel rooms!

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

many of whom worry that their children or grandchildren might see something they're not supposed to.

Might I suggest not raising your children in an urban area then?

If you do insist on raising your children in a puritanical urban area, might I suggest Tehran?

[Crusty Juggler - Hero]

B.C. boater called 'hero of the day' for spraying grass fire with his jet boat

A leisurely day of boating for a B.C. couple turned into an adrenaline-filled afternoon of improvised firefighting that left many who witnessed the spectacle heralding them as heroes.

Koyne Watson and Tasha Hunt used their jet boat's towering spray to help battle a grass fire off the banks of the South Thompson River just east of Kamloops, B.C. on Saturday.

The pair's fight against the flames prompted applause from other boaters in the river.

Hella cool.

[Griffin3]

"I just drove that boat and hung on to that horsepower," he said.
"We jumped it out of the water numerous times, we did a 360 [degrees] in it once, we were definitely hard on the boat for sure."

I bet you were.

[dantheserene]

G3- All the times he drove exactly the same way without a fire involved, people just called him a jerk or worse.

[Crusty Juggler - Hero]

A #Confederacy of dunces

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, producers and writers of the HBO hit "Game of Thrones," recently announced they would be taking on what has already become a controversial new HBO project: a series exploring what could have happened if the South had successfully seceded from the Union during the Civil War and slavery continued to exist in the Confederate states today.

When the pair announced the upcoming series ? titled "Confederate" ? neither they nor HBO foresaw or reacted well to the hysterical criticism it generated. Almost immediately, an online culture mob responded with the all-too-typical tripe and teeth-gnashing of venting and anger at any film, award show, or Netflix series that doesn't meet their self-proclaimed enlightened and august standards for the advancement of social justice.

The internet, tho...

[loveconstitution1789]

SJW's lock and load your veggie dildos!

[Citizen X - #6]

C'mon, Miller, don't besmirch A Confederacy of Dunces by associating it with the performative wokeness crowd! That is asinine!

[Crusty Juggler - Hero]

"I mingle with my peers or no one, and since I have no peers, I mingle with no one."

[Citizen X - #6]

-5 or 6 hot dogs

[Tom Bombadil]

I've started reading "A Confederacy of Dunces" again for the umpteenth time.

It occurs to me that every time I read a comment from Shreek, I automatically visualize him as Ignatius J. Reilly. It seems to fit perfectly with his dementia.

With that in mind, I will hereafter always refer to him as Ignatius and I hope you will all join me.

[Citizen X - #6]

Though almost as pompous, shreek is nowhere near intelligent enough to be Ignatius J. Reilly.

[Mickey Rat]

I am trying to imagine the train wreck the story will be since they will not have a prewritten plot to follow for this. Most of the decisions they have made to stray from Martin's storylines have been "meh" at best, incomprehensible at worst.

[mad.casual]

I am trying to imagine the train wreck the story will be since they will not have a prewritten plot to follow for this. Most of the decisions they have made to stray from Martin's storylines have been "meh" at best, incomprehensible at worst.

Having never seen a single episode of GOT, I can say the first sentence is true regardless of the second.

"There's no prewritten plot to follow." means we're going to get a shitty rehash of a Quantum Leap episode and not The Walking Dead or The Man In The High Castle. I predict Django Unchained will be both more pointed/culturally relevant and accurate.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

Most of the decisions they have made to stray from Martin's storylines have been "meh" at best, incomprehensible at worst.

Oh, I don't think anyone's really missed the Lady Stoneheart plotline or Tyrion's adventures in a traveling carnival. Arya's time in Braavos was poorly executed, IMO, but there was no reason to spend two or three seasons of her doing her Cat of the Canals thing just to stay within Martin's construction.

The biggest problem with GoT, as I've mentioned before, is Martin's editor completely failing to keep his narrative reined in. Now it's approaching Wheel of Time-levels of literary farce, when the whole series could have been wrapped up years ago.

As for a "the Confederacy won," series, anything that simply assumes the South would have kept slavery in perpetuity doesn't really understand the culture or economy of the US as a whole. Even if the South had won, slaves would have continued to escape, the North's control of the Upper Midwest and trans-Mississippi west would ensure the same dynamic economic growth through the rest of the 19th century, and the Confederacy probably would have fallen into its own Civil War within a generation or two because of its atomized political structure.

[Mickey Rat]

I was more thinking about what they did with Dorne and Jaime instead of Martin's plot. Substituting Sansa for Jeyne Poole (which made Baelish look stupid and strangely uninformed). The problem is not that Martin's story needed to be trimmed but what they substituted often made little sense or completely undermined characters.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

It would be interesting if they based it on turtledove. Good characters and very plausible alternate history.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

My first reaction when I heard of this was "So we get to see how slavery slowly becomes obsolete with technological advancement and everybody lives happily ever segregated without idiotic public accommodation laws?

[Mickey Rat]

Apparently, their actual notion is to show how the effects of slavery never went away.

[BYODB]

I just question why it would be that anyone could think that the South would have continued using slaves up until today. What, did the North never actually industrialize even up until today in this supposed 'other world'? Did the German's also win WW2, or did that just never happen?

Seems like another 'shocking' HBO show designed purely to rustle peoples jimmies. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I suspect their slant on it will make Django Unchained look like a masterpiece.

Honestly, I don't have any issue with the synopsis or the idea I just think HBO generally sucks and will inevitably trip and fall into their own asshole on any project they undertake.

[CE]

As if they were going to present slavery or the CSA in a favorable light....

And as if slavery would have persisted to the present day if the CSA had won the war, and not ended peacefully like it did in most other countries, due to changing moral standards and the economics of agricultural equipment.

[mad.casual]

to search for a genetic component to gender identity.

*peers into microscope*

Found it! Right there next to the 45th autosomal chromosome, there's a little one next to it... the little ones mean 'male'.

[Rebel Scum]

Venezuela's government has crossed the line and become a full-fledged dictatorship

I am shocked that a totalitarian ideology resulted, ultimately, in totalitarian government.

[Rebel Scum]

genetic component to gender identity

They'll be shocked to find that humans have chromosome composition that results in a sex/gender binary.

[Domestic Dissident]

Sen. John McCain has joined Ted Cruz and other senators in sponsoring a bill to punish web publishers and platforms for user posts, comments, and interactions.

Die and go to hell already, you old psychopath.

[CE]

Say goodbye to the Reason message boards then..... Everyone will be mandated to use a vetted CIA Casebook, er, Facebook account for all comments, which will be delayed pending approval by a social justice AI.

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