East Germany had pre-k that cost something like 10% of the minimum monthly wage per month per child and sometimes provided on-staff medical and dental care. It had free kindergarten that is now considered to have been more rigorous than the modern German equivalent. And it had a literacy rate of 99% as opposed to the…

2007's great! There’s a movie about a French rat in a restaurant, those Freaks and Geeks kids made a couple of great movies, and an oil baron’s drinking milkshakes. Democrats won a majority of governorships and state legislatures, and took the House and Senate last year. Mad Men just started on AMC and that Don Draper…

Martin actually said the opposite. He said if you planned your story so that the butler did it, and some internet commenters figure out the butler did it then it’s a mistake to change it, because it turns early forshadowing into a dead end, requires retconning, and the story just gets too messy.

They’re a negotiating tool.

They were intended to bring the Chinese to the bargaining table and to force them to implement structural changes that would solve those issues.

Is it accurate to say that there’s no reason? Chinese IP theft and forced tech transfers in order to enter their market are well documented, as are other government-led efforts to distort their economy.

I actually would be interested in seeing a rational argument for staying out of WWII. Can’t say that I ever have read one.

Considering everything that progressives want would necessitate higher taxes and ensuring that companies actually pay said taxes, wouldn’t ensuring that China conforms to trade norms be a net benefit for all these people?

I’m not sure it’s worth that much worry. High school isn’t a great place to form political opinions to begin with. I tend to associate that age and level of development with pretty selfish outlooks on the world, which is why I think libertarian or Randian viewpoints are popular. Now they just get variations on those…

Wildlands was as jingoistic and facile as the average person’s understanding of a real world conflict, and I can’t help but think that there’s a real missed opportunity there.

It’s worth mentioning that this is basically the Russian stance on climate change.

It’s always a fucking real estate scheme with that guy.

What kind of ass kicking is it really if you get to keep your job, get to keep doing what you’re doing, and then get to go back to the private sector where you can collect your check afterwards?

Guys, were Ryan Gosling’s eyes always that close together?

He was working on his autobiographical monologues, he’s Westeros’ Spalding Gray.

I think the zombie thing usually has to do with cause and method of transmission, where the term is used more often in the context of the reanimated dead.

The “doesn’t offer anything new here” complaint is a really common, and in my view misguided way of critiquing games because it elevates novelty above more important factors for most consumers. Uncharted and the Tomb Raider reboot are good examples of this. Releases in both series were criticized in this manner, all…

Over/under on Kavanaugh getting Time’s “Man of the Year” when he writes the opinion gutting abortion?

Did Squee make the cut?

Yeah, I just got done doing a writeup on the process for the OP.