You also have a constitutional right to bear arms, I take it quite a few folks around here have some quibbles about that too.

I'm glad you agree that your earlier comment ("but free speech is about thegovernment censoring what you can and cannot say, not a private business firing you because ypu say deeply offensive and bigoted things") was nonsense.

What is illiberal and closed-minded? Charlie Hebdo: punching down at poor immigrants, or bravely criticizing violent religious fundamentalists?

Complete and utter nonsense - the definition of free speech is:

So if I work for some local TV station in Alabama (or Indonesia, whatever) and say "Being gay is a-okay!" on the air and it starts raining complaint calls, would you also say "Freedom of speech doesn't protect you from the consequences - you're not being arrested, you're not being interrogated by the secret police -…

1) This argument of yours might as well be directed at Rainbow Kite as at me: all I did was point out the wider context of the crusades and the various conflicts between Islam and Christianity over the centuries, so as to prove how simplistic it is (as Rainbow Kite did) to claim that Christianity has been 'invading…

Oddly enough for a post that begins with "it's more complex than that", I find your comment rather simplistic. The era of Christian crusades pales in significance to the centuries of Islamic warfare and conquest of Christian lands before and after the crusades. From the occupation of Spain and Portugal to the colonial…

…by mistake?

Awww man, that sucks :(

I have never understood why Avery Brooks basically disappeared after DS9. He's such a charismatic, powerful actor - I hope there are still some meaty roles on a few good prestige dramas in his future.

Luke Cage was pretty entertaining sure - but Mike Colter putting the lead (as in 'leaden') in 'lead actor' didn't do the show any favors. Between his lack of charisma and wooden acting and some serious pacing issues and weird storytelling choices, Luke Cage was for the most part okay-to-good - just like Iron Fist. In…

Having just binge-watched the entirety of Agents of SHIELD (after bailing after the first season years ago) I have to disagree with you: Agents of SHIELD has become a really good, entertaining show, much better than the bland crap peddled by the CW.

What are you talking about, Iron Fist and Luke Cage both were somewhat flawed, yet mostly entertaining shows.

5 Charisma is being generous…

Even if that were true (which it isn't), then that still says nothing about liberalism itself. You seem to conveniently ignore that there are many capitalist liberal democracies that are not (former) global hegemons like the US and the UK and that have prospered in all the ways I have enumerated above without ever…

No, but there have been Politburos in avowedly Marxist countries (right here, in the universe you 'currently' live in even!), so to say that there have never been 'Marxist elites' as you did is demonstrably untrue.

The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference. Most people are indifferent towards Iran, because Iran is just a regional power with little global clout whose horrors are mostly confined to its own citizenry and neighboring countries, whereas the US is the economic, military, cultural and political center of the…

Yes, how silly of me to interpret your pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah comments as being pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah. How dare I take umbrage at your support and understanding for violent, fundamentalist anti-semites, eh?

First of all, I'm not American, I'm Dutch - but if I had to choose to live in either Iran or the US, I would choose America in a heartbeat. As would most Iranians, considering the steady stream of talented young people leaving that country.

What I would call that? A rather facile attempt to defend and excuse the crimes of a fundamentalist gang of antisemitic terrorist thugs that have killed thousands of innocent Lebanese, Israelis and others over the years. What wonderful bedfellows you keep - you must be so proud!