I guess the idea is that being called Nazi made them sympathetic to Nazis, but that reading still ignores what they were doing to be compared to Nazis in the first place. The idea that the only recourse to being called racist is to become as racist as possible is a deflection intended to shame people out of calling…

re-watched Iron Man. It holds up. The most narratively satisfying film of the MCU—that happens when you wrap up all your plotlines, instead of just dropping one in the third act to pick it up in the sequel. Smaller scale than most superhero movies—the evil plot is smuggling weapons to terrorists; not even…

The Christmas That Almost Wasn't ends with Santa Clause literally begging children for their piggy bank money. And he takes it, and that's it—Santa Clause just straight up takes money from little kids.

Apparently, there's an argument going around that 'calling people Nazis led them to embrace Nazis!' which isn't how name-calling works. It's just an attempt to deflect blame and justify racist violence.

Yes, that's 100% what they're doing. They're a half-step from "ironically" calling themselves fascist.

False equivalency, and dismissing the white supremacists as an extremist fringe.

He seemed to be using "best regards" as a synonym for "sympathy," which it isn't, at all.

Qatar update: A mediator involved with Taliban-Afghan negotiations has called out
Saudi Arabia's claim that Qatar hosting a Taliban diplomatic office is a sign of support, pointing out that Saudi Arabia and UAE both lobbied to host Taliban-Afghan/US negotiations, and Saudi Arabia was rejected for being too close to…

White supremacists clocked Trump's lack of condemnation; at least one even interpreted "both sides" to be a slam on antifa.

24 already did the "shoot the bad guy's wife in the leg" thing.

Non pop culture news: Trump has threatened to attack Venezuela, I guess as a backup in case war with North Korea doesn't pan out. Maduro had been pushing conspiracy theories about the US plotting to undermine his government, so that plays into his "us against the imperialists" narrative, which previously hadn't really…

If it's worldwide, there's a lot to work with—Venezuela is in the midst of transforming into an autocracy, the Qatar blockade, etc. If it's US events…well, Congress is in session sometimes, and they do stuff, maybe.

Who won?

Well, he can hire them, so…

Yeah, the hair cut is odd, but also, he has such an odd accent—like, a robot trying to put on a midwestern accent.

Story of Ricky is pure goddamned insanity and I love it.

I've also only seen the second Elite Squad, and it seemed especially explicit in it's "shoot the crime away" theme. Which I guess is the under-lying thesis underneath every action movie with a cop as a protagonist—and most superhero movies as well—but Elite Squad seemed more thought out and conscious about it.

It's so devoted to the source material, the fact that it's worse makes it hard for me to get a handle on how good it may be on it's own terms. It just seems like a lesser version of a thing that already exists.

My favorite part of Taken is when the guy parkour leaps off a bridge, then gets hit by a bus.

I saw 300 in theaters, and as a teenager, I thought it was badass. I came across it on television a while ago, and…yeah, it does not hold up at all.