BLASPHEMER!!

The only good thing to ever come from the Religious Right is the following four videos, where they supplied new dialogue to some old Jesus movie. (#4 is my favorite.) My only objection is that they wuss out on their explanation: instead of just saying "we had fun doing this", they feel the need to say "we are doing…

Jesus would eat at Sheetz.

Fred Clark over at the Slacktivist blog talks lots about how American Christianity is what it is basically to justify slavery and other racial injustices. Worth a read:

I think you're reading him right. At the same time, it's certainly possible to envision a police force that isn't monstrous, so is there any way to reform what we've got into a police force to be proud of? I linked to an article about Chris Magnus earlier; he seems to have some working ideas, for example forcing his…

Part of the solution is the cops realizing it's safe to de-militarize. It's very likely that the high urban crime rates — which peaked in the early 90s and have since gone down and stayed down — had everything to do with lead emissions from gasoline. Those crime rates aren't going to go back up and the police can…

If that's the only way from here to there, there's no fixing the system, is there? If the solution is for individual good cops to attack the system until they win, that's like expecting mosquitos to attack a can of Raid until they knock it over.

Yes. That's why Kim was so furious with Jimmy when Chuck revealed the address switcheroo to her: he put her in a no-win situation. If she does the proper thing she looks guilty and possibly destroys her career; if she hides what she knows she is guilty but maybe saves her career.

The consensus seems to be that the photos demonstrate Chuck's instability, but I don't think that's it — if it could have brought Chuck down earlier, we would have heard about it earlier (like when he went to the hospital after stealing the newspaper).

What's more, Black Manta killed Aquaman's son back in the 1970s. I say that is the precise moment that DC Comics went off the rails, deciding that shock value deaths are more important than keeping your stable of characters in good working order so you can tell good stories about them. Yes there is sometimes value…

The illness is rooted in his conscience: he believes practicing the law is a sacred responsibility, but he knows he is failing to live up the standards he holds others to. The electrical disease is either his conscience making him feel terrible, or (more likely IMHO) his subconscious resolution to his wanting to…

Okay, but if she's breaking arms left and right by accident, how long until we conclude that she's basically indifferent to causing pain and harm?

What would it take for there to be "good police"? Is there any path from here to there?

Making Dick Malverne forget Supergirl's secret identity (and nothing else) seems like the least bad option. But this assumes that J'onn is principled in the use of his powers, and if selective mind-wiping were available in the real world, I'd be much more against it.

Fair enough, I can imagine some situations where negotiation is the right way to go — this episode was chock-full of situation where brute force wasn't the solution. But a skilled heroine who properly assesses the situation via x-ray vision and waits to make her move … I'd put my money on her over most negotiators.

All true. I wish more people would be aware that this hypothesis exists and either firm it up or tear it down. It's a pretty compelling hypothesis — it seems to fit everywhere, and the ramifications are pretty huge (such as, we can probably stop looking at crime solutions like we did in 1992 because those high crime…

Speaking of, it turns out the high urban crime rates in the 70s, 80s, and 90s had everything to do with kids growing up in air polluted with leaded gas emissions. The EPA started phasing out leaded gas in the 1970s and finished by the 1980s, which led to fewer urban kids growing up mildly brain-damaged, i.e. poor…

"Also just to take it to a shallow place, I liked the scene where underwater Chyler Leigh took off her pants, so thanks, show!"

"Quick, Trent! We know you're Megaton Man! Just go save her while there's still time!"

Here's what I think of Maggie complaining about Supergirl resolving the hostage situation: