I went through resistance training (POW interrogation stuff) when I was in the military and one of the things they taught us was if we were ever forced to issue a public confession under threat of torture to make up the wackiest ass story we could possibly get away with as a signal that we were under duress. This…

Did Obama do it anywhere similar to how Trump has? Uh, no. Actually go look at the history.

... I was going to say that the last paragraph of Ms Merlan’s piece was in somewhat bad taste, to turn this miserable event into a snipe at Trump (as someone else pointed out, it’s neither Obama nor his fault, and there’s very little sensible he can do about this - I’d be more worried that he’ll over-react, honestly),…

Ugh just uggggggh.

As someone who went to North Korea because they really wanted to visit North Korea, I hate when people line up to post this query in any article about North Korea.

A lot of people preach interference without realizing that South Korea would be absolutely fucked.

Someone needs to tell Trump that “reversing Obama did, because fuck that black guy” is not an actual policy.

Exactly. I watched his father’s press conference on Thursday, and he implied that Obama had done nothing and that Trump deserved all the credit. While I don’t know the behind-the-scenes machinations, I’m pretty damn sure that the only reason Otto was released was because he was near death.

Because he doesn’t give a shit. He and his admin. didn’t give a shit about the Warmbiers either.

NK wanted that kid out because they didn’t want him to die in their custody.

If he’s been comatose for a year, that’s plenty of time for the body to heal outwardly, hiding bruises and mending bones. Brains don’t just heal up like that, though.

I have had students who needed to get their page stamped every time they did a math problem, or who got a Fruit Loop every time they read a flashcard. It is uncomfortably close to training a dog sometimes, but it works, so when students need it, I do it.

So is your argument that because the people were born with a cognitive impairment that they are less deserving of help? Because they are wired to not care if they hurt someone, the rest is cultural conditioning.

Just, seriously. So much. The criminology class I’m TA-ing this semester, our first lecture solely consisted of making the students watch We Were Children (an IFB movie based on two people’s experiences of Residential Schools). Because colonisation, its history and its present, is so blatantly, evidently behind so…

As usual - hi, I’m a criminologist!

Cindy Blackstock doesn’t talk for her health. This is the result of generational trauma, a lack of services and complete and utter failing of FNNAC (First Nations and Northern Affairs Canada) to follow the Truth and Reconciliation Comission recommendations. This, right here, is the legacy of colonization.

That joke is never not funny.

Well, if you’d like to read about it further, there’s a straightforward article about the program on The Atlantic. The kids who managed to get into this program were the ‘worst of the worst’ in juvenile detention. They had already been exposed to the chemical high that bad behavior could give them and were experienced…

There isn’t really such a thing as a child psychopath, because antisocial personality disorder describes an enduring series of personality characteristics that aren’t solidified until postadolescence. It’s why the recidivism and remission rates for severe child antisocial behavior are all over the place. ODD sort of…

As a technical matter, Canadian First Nations/Metis/Inuit persons are never referred to as ‘Indians’, although I understand this is the legal terminology in the US.