“I would argue that they do. In fact, I’d argue that they *should.* When you’re dealing with a situation in which being wrong means a bunch more innocent people die, and you have no reason to believe you are wrong, you’re going to act to preserve life — which in this case, yes, means being willing to take it.”

You and I know that police training and police culture in the US are in dire need of reform. It would be hard for a prosecutor to make that case in a court of law, though. “Your Honor, we’re charging the defendant with attempted murder because c’mon... we all know that in this day & age, police are so unreliable and…

The whole “swatting = attempted murder” stance should be examined a bit closer. It’s basically an implicit admission that American police are badly trained, and likely to gun down whoever they find at the scene.

Yeah my Texas Board of Education-approved high school history book never mentioned any of this.

It meant more than “being a rebel” and it’s no coincidence that the flag had a resurgence in popularity at the very same time that civil rights movements were gaining momentum. It was a symbol of defiance against the meddling federal gubmint and those outsider agitators who wanted to repeal Jim Crow laws.

The First Order have no use for Rey unless she helps them exterminate the Resistance and dominate the galaxy. They’re not going to pass up a chance to deliver the killing blow so Rey can learn more about herself. Even if Rey somehow mind-tricked the entire FO into letting the Resistance get away, then she’d still be…

Why would Rey join forces with Kylo Ren? “Rey turning evil” makes zero sense from a character motivation standpoint. Why would Rey willingly go along with the First Order as they move closer and closer to wiping out Leia, Chewie, Finn, Luke, and everyone else in the Resistance? She just suddenly stops caring about…

That version of events sounds highly unlikely. You think Blizzard had a Valentine’s event on track for early-mid February, but due to some irate Mei fans griping in the forums, they scrapped them, went back to the drawing board, and in the span of less than a month, designed and created an entirely different event,…

My money’s on: wasting away in some Homan Square-type black site

I can not see them having a chance of maintaining a majority in any forum by alienating 50% of the voting population.

Another thing: Gear Loadouts. I really thought they’d incorporate this simple thing that has already been done by 3rd party web apps. Let players save specific loadouts. You have a stylish, finely tuned Warlock with all the right void perks, but your fireteam would have a much easier time with the prestige strike if…

Another hurdle is you have to reconcile the terms and conditions for both online communities, as well as the feature disparities. XBL and PSN are similar, but there are some crucial differences. How would a PSN player find their Xbox friend and invite them to the fireteam? Can they voice chat with one another? It’s…

That would require actual servers. Destiny PvP is still mainly peer-to-peer.

Waiting for the game to go on sale? Do people who haven’t even purchased the game really count as part of the userbase?

I’m actually glad they stuck with lesser-known but talented actors who fit the characters instead of relying on Snakes-on-a-Plane-style gimmickry just to please a small segment of players.

No. Right now no exchange or conversion service can handle a cash out of $400 million worth of bitcoin all at once. For a balance that big, it would have to be done piecemeal over a period of many months (possibly a year or two), you’d have to trust that whatever conversion service you went with was legit and not…

If things deteriorate to the point where the USD is rendered worthless, what makes you think the power grids and internet will be in good enough shape to handle the bitcoin economy?

I’m pretty germ-obsessive to the point where after washing my hands in the restaurant bathroom and, if necessary, using a paper towel to open the bathroom door, I make sure not to touch a sauce bottle or a menu with the same hand I’m using to eat the appetizer. I get sick very very rarely, while most of my…

Yes, if you’re surrounded by assholes.

There is if you prefer flying in/out of JFK, or if you want to fly nonstop coast to coast without the hassle of a layover in MDW or Denver.