Oh, I didn’t know that. Thanks for the correction.

That’s my point. I’m well aware that many countries have extremely repressive laws which force women to veil whether they want to or not. I specified I’m talking about Western countries. I’m not clear what you mean.

Thanks for the heads up.

I’d like to offer another perspective - maybe continuing to cover so extensively, even at a water park, was sun protection.

Yeah, I’m not disputing the Tea Party Right has created a very dangerous narrative. They keep trying to reject our reality and substitute their own, and insisting everyone should live there with them. The rhetoric is very inflammatory and divorced from facts. It would be a very interesting study to see how many of…

In Western countries it’s completely legal for a woman to go bareheaded but illegal for her to go topless. So in that respect, Western culture has a more oppressive double standard than Islam.

I love the webcomic Scandinavia and the World, which sometimes references Hetalia. It’s drawn by a Danish woman, who anthropomorphises countries to demonstrate how they relate to each other. It’s the cutest damn thing, with some very pithy observations thrown in.

Western woman are expected to maintain “modesty” by wearing bras and shirts, even though the men around them are free to go topless. It’s not just Islam that has one-sided modesty rules.

Of course he may be sick and evil, they aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s quite likely he had existing right-wing pro-life tendencies. Delusions tend to be shaped by the sufferer’s culture and beliefs. Very few white Americans suffer delusions of being possessed by the spirit of a hyena. People in the Middle Ages…

I didn’t see the new Ghostbusters, because it’s not my kind of movie. I wasn’t intending to comment on any specific remake.

I’m not going to organise a boycott of movies that don’t interest me - people can decide for themselves what they want to watch or don’t. Nor am I complaining that Hollywood does remakes and sequels - lots of people enjoy those things. The complaint is that Hollywood is currently only making remakes and sequels (of…

They do have some gender neutral titles and that’s good. They still have some male-centric titles and that’s bad. It’s not hard to change a few letters to be inclusive.

as though fear and intimidation will lead to more sympathetic coverage

My hot tip: forgedabout changing tables, wipes and baby baths. I had a stack of washcloths and a towel on top of the washing machine. I used cloth nappies, so it was lay the kid on the washing machine, dump the nappy in the nappy bucket, run the washcloth under the tap, use and dump in nappy bucket, new nappy. Quick…

I originally wrote this as a reply to an individual poster, but I’m seeing a lot of the same thoughts, so I’ll make it general.

He’s not trying to avoid trial or the death penalty, he’s screeching out confessions every chance he gets. As others have said, the standard is whether he is lucid enough to talk sensibly to lawyers and help them mount a defense for him. Numerous mental health professionals have examined him and found he isn’t.…

Western Australia has a species of small freshwater crayfish called jilgies that look exactly like that in captivity (but smaller). If their water is muddy they’re a muddy bluish-brown to match their surroundings, but in clear water they go a brilliant blue. You can buy them as aquarium pets and they’re hell fun. Much…

The stories are universal, because our reaction to stories relies on archetypes. The difference is in how the story is told. West Side Story is the same basic plot as Romeo and Juliet. My Fair Lady is Pygmalion. The Terminator is Frankenstein. Pretty Woman is Cinderella. The difference is they’re told in different…

Er...no. Caveman said they were mad that people had boycotted and trashed the movie out of spite, rather than giving it a go on its merits. They also spoke of a “hint” of a franchise. That indicates a hope that sequels will be made, not an expectation that they “have a right” to sequels.

Just realised I didn’t reply to your first question, “What makes you think that you can create a united military by introducing women and LGBT members into it?”. Sorry, I’m not ignoring it.