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I think she's one of those secondary characters that really, really work. When you first meet her on Taris, she's already an ambitious, authoritative politician that isn't above twisting a few arms to get stuff done. Those traits are made more obvious as the story progresses, but as with the rest of the Trooper storyline (which everyone seems to hate for some reason), I felt it was possessed of a degree of nuance and verisimilitude lacking in some of the other character stories. I don't know, the timing, the tone, it really worked. The ability to stage a military coup and put Garza or even Malcom in charge would have been ****ing awesome, though. Impossible to implement due to the game being an MMO, but sweet nonetheless.

To a point, I'd agree. However, consider that they may not have the tools to look after their own well-being: litigating requires money, and money is precisely the thing these people will be left without if they sue their employer, as they are specifically barred from looking for a job while on a H-2 visa. When the choice is starving in your own country or accepting what amounts to seasonal slavery in a foreign country, you don't get to be picky about workplace conditions. Beggars can't be choosers. But beyond that, it boils down to this simple question: do you want to have immigration and labor laws? Or any laws at all, for that matter? (Y/N). If the answer is yes, you need to earmark an amount of what the state makes through tax collection to make sure these laws are upheld. If you don't want to have these laws, well... that'd be an interesting experiment. The argument that you are being punished in the form of taxation for stuff that has nothing to do with you directly isn't entirely without merit, but the rationale is that it's your part of the "social contract" that makes it possible for you to live in an orderly society, much like you have to pay for cops to uphold traffic rules even if you don't drive yourself. The issue at the root is that you are never given an option to opt out of said "contract".

a) Read the court documents linked in the article. As far as facts are concerned, it looks pretty solid to me. You have doubts the story is true... because? b) Think of it this way: due to the way a globalized economy works, immigrant workers in the US are going to happen legally or not, whether you want to or not. It's not about them "having a better time", it's about, among other things, making sure that those who make use of immigrant labor do not gain an unfair advantage over those who don't by breaking the law. Further, do you think that a slave trade can be run only by withholding passports and cooking books? Hello, bribery, extortion, influence peddling etc. c) No need for new laws, really. Just resources to make sure the laws already in place aren't being ignored left and right. A pipe dream, I know...

Yeah that's what I rolled. Going to give Adept a whirl for my Dragonfall playthrough. IIRC melee builds were rather weak compared to ranged in DMS and DF, but they rebalanced it for HK. I tried making a chromed street sam-troll abomination, and while effective (let's face it, combat isn't hard), it was never as effective as a certain melee companion you get. Maybe they've changed it since, been a while since I've fired up DF. That's what I did in HK. The advantage of pumping Charisma, other than obviously etiquettes, is that you can put extra karma you don't know what to do with into Conjuring, allowing you to cast Haste as a mage, for instance.

Well, yes. The whole "LOWEST PRICES OMG" thing is pretty much what I'm talking about, and the reason I avoid retail chains. When low prices are the #1 priority, you know that a) somebody's getting shafted, b) the produce is pure unadulterated ****, c) the retailer is selling at a loss to retain their large customer base at the expense of the competition, or d) any combination of the above. Sure, they cut ties with bad vendors really quick... only to pressure their new vendors to lower their prices using the huge bargaining power that a disproportionate market share brings. I'm perfectly happy to pay more (WAY more in some cases) to know where the stuff I put in my mouth comes from. Less money for hookers and blow but, hey, a clean(er) conscience. edit: my original question wasn't aimed at you, specifically, btw. Just being my usual snarky abrasive self.

Cyberware Affinity (new secondary stat in HK, Body dependent) grants you one extra Essence point at level 3 or so and another one at 7 IIRC. It's too much karma to dump on a stat if you aren't actually going full Jensen, though. Generally it is a very bad idea to install any cyberware on magic users. For each point your Essence is < 6, your spells cooldowns are increased by 1. Problem is, the game rounds down, so even if a datajack is just 0.5 Essence, that means you have an effective Essence of 5. Putting 6 karma into Cyberware Affinity would let you get away with the datajack as a caster, but it's only an option in HK. Decker/Rigger is the obvious combo if you want to spread out a bit, as there is no real advantage in any of the 3 campaigns to becoming an uber decker, sadly.

Nope. I make a point of avoiding chain stores. The point remains, even if neither of us buy our groceries there, many people do. Yeah, I don't know. All these "news" sites look the same to me, and they tend to blur together. I guess that, regardless of the story's merit (and that of the site at large), it's time to talk about immigration, what with elections around the corner and all.

Hmm. You mean you don't buy seafood at Wal-Mart? What is wrong with Buzzfeed? (honest question. First time I've read anything there, and it does have a ton of links which seem to check out, except for one claiming a certain police sergeant being the current police chief, though looking the name up shows that he's a piece of work that likes to tase prisoners for kicks... seriously WTF is wrong with cops in the US?)

Public schools for instance pretty much work as Raithe described: they simply cannot handle gifted children, and more resources will usually be devoted to help kids that tend to fall behind the curve, if at all. However that's not necessarily a SJ thing, but rather the consequence of inadequate budgetary allocation, and the incorrect assumption that gifted kids will succeed on their own, by virtue of being endowed with greater potential. Is helping some better than helping none, considering that by doing so we are committing an injustice? I honestly don't know. Problem is that any measures to help out people who, for whatever reasons, objectively need help, are dismissed as "crippling the elite", "sharing misery equally" and many other anti-SJ mantras that used to be chanted to ward off pinkos not so long ago, though that may not have been Raithe's intent (he did say "half the time", to his credit). In its most extreme form, that sort of strawmanning involves taking the worst from the feminazi crowd, throwing in a bit of racial positive action for seasoning, calling it the "social justice" movement, and suggesting that anything aimed at correcting injustice* is wrong or dangerous by association. It rather pisses me off, but the mental knee-jerk reflex caused by labels that affects most people in both camps isn't going away anytime soon, I think. That said, I tend to agree with GD regarding social engineering, but mostly because those tasked with directing and implementing it tend to be morally and intellectually corrupt, self-serving ****s. Power corrupts, the hubris of leadership, what kind of person wants to rule over his peers and all that. And yeah, the holier-than-thou attitude doesn't help one bit either. And that's enough armchair philosophy for one post. Whew! *I think we can all agree that injustice is not cool? You guys wanna start calling yourselves Social Injustice Warriors?

So the whole thing is a publicity stunt huh? That's actually not so far fetched...

Ooops, I took it a bit literally. I owe you hereby 1000 internets.

Who said anything about obligations? Are you obligated to make irrelevant comments? Sure, the dude who feels punched in the gut ($20 says he hasn't actually ever taken a gut punch) can hire whomever he pleases. Still, firing her over the video is... silly. And what does it accomplish, exactly?

Er, but you haven't. You are simply repeating an axiomatic, fallacious statement for which you have offered no proof yourself ("the civil war in Syria was caused only by the Arab Spring"), and are demanding that Elerond proves a negative, which in this case is simply not possible as you can keep on raising the evidence threshold arbitrarily, as you have done already. That's not how proof works, bro. Try harder.

You do realize that Star Trek is a thinly veiled allegory for socialism, right?

Wow, just wow. So she's getting fired from an unrelated job because she made a vid that made fun of an issue that is increasingly becoming a modern day taboo. This is total bull****. We don't solve problems by stymying discussion about them, and comedians are going to step on people's toes as a matter of course. Poor taste is a tool of the trade. I stand by what I said before, she's not funny. But she certainly doesn't deserve sacking over this. Thoughtcrime is death.

n/m poor impulse control

Exactly. Do this and everything else takes are of itself. I consider myself to be in good shape, not just for my age but period. I don't exercise but I am very active, I do a lot of manual labor around my home like wood cutting, garden work, etc. I think I'm what you would call "farmer strong". I sympathize, but please understand, this is simply luck on your part. Your own experience is not sufficient to establish a general principle that can be extended to other people, which is compounded by the fact that it's based on something as unspecific as "moderation". Not trying to be an ass here, but that's not really helpful. As a counterpoint, I could use my own example: if I eat everything in moderation, I shed weight FAST. This is bad news because generally, less lbm = less strength. And I'm not even hardcore about training. Perhaps because what you view as "moderation" is different to my own idea. I have also met people who had weight problems and were honestly convinced that they didn't eat that much. They simply weren't aware of the mistakes they were making. Others thought they could offset their excesses at the table with more exercise. Ask anyone who's serious: the hard part isn't what you do in the weight room, it's what you have to do once you step outside. I'm thinking that you also probably have a good idea of what's healthy and what isn't, and especially what not to go overboard with. Odds are you also have access to high quality, satiating foods. Start changing parameters, and moderation just doesn't cut it anymore: you are going to need help to get your eating habits sorted out. (not a sales pitch in any way, just sharing a different perspective...)

Indeed, conspiracy or idiocy (or shortsighted greed, or blind adherence to market fundamentalism, pick your poison), the end result is the same. The only difference is the level of mustache twirling one suspects to be involved. Personally, and considering the abysmal average level of competence that people in positions of power have demonstrated throughout the ages, and the fact that there is no reliable method to predict and manipulate the economy and social dynamics -only now we are starting to see rigorous analysis of these fields- I'm more inclined to believe that it's the result of a myriad different factors than a classic conspiracy. Hell, there probably is a conspiracy, perhaps even several, each with its own particular petty goals, involved. But one cabal of Wise Men masterfully pulling the strings of it all? Yeah... if only. The one thing I'm missing in all this is the people. Yes, yes, the political elites and 1%ers are huge jerks, but where is everyone else? Why no "Occupy Brussels" to protest TTIP? Why no rioting on the streets to protest the fire sale of critical infrastructure to international investors? Why no mass demonstrations against imperial adventurism in Libya? Heh. edit: whoops, you already mentioned the thing with Greek airports. Clearly past my bedtime.

In fact, the motion to file charges of official misconduct has been taken by taken up with the KY General Attorney by Rowan County's Attorney's Office. A prosecutor from another jurisdiction will be appointed to handle the case. So yeah, sympathy will only get her so far. Regardless, your point leads us back to the root of the problem: a new law passed outside of KY by "a committee of nine unelected lawyers" (Scalia's words, not mine) and the expectation that local officials will all quietly acquiesce, even when it just so happens that they and the electorate they represent are largely against said law. Ah, beautiful, beautiful tyranny of the majority.

From what I gathered digging into the KRS*, she would also lose her position if she was convicted of a misdemeanor related to her functions in some cases, a felony in any case, and specifically, in the event of a conviction for malfeasance in office. So yes, unsurprisingly, there is a way to remove government officials who interpret or ignore the law when they aren't supposed to. Of course, going that route would undoubtedly take longer than simply throwing her in jail NOW to see if she breaks. That's due process for ya. "Contempt" is such bull****. *yes, I have way too much time on my hands

I'm not one to get my panties all in a knot over stuff people post on the internet, much less condone harassment, but well-meaning though it may be, that pic is indelicate and displays an amount of ignorance by the author, if it's to be taken at face value. Sorry, but that's how it is. The "excuse"? How about medication. Psychological problems? Hormonal disorders? Educational disadvantages? Poverty? Etc. Sure, the pic isn't necessarily judgmental by itself, but it does push people to judge themselves through an arbitrary, unscientific, external criterion, while hand-waving circumstances away as "excuses". I posted this on another thread, but it bears repeating: Is Obesity a Choice? Mind, that guy, unlike the "fit mom" from the pic, is an actual medical doctor dealing with overweight people regularly, and a natural bodybuilder and amateur triathlon competitor on top of it. Maybe he's on to something.

Political authority stems from law. Serbia is a signatory to the Refugee Convention of 1951, which protects refugees from penalties derived from their illegal entry into other countries. So, no, there is no authority that allows border guards to shoot people seeking refugee status. They cannot be forcibly returned either. Not to mention it would be a pretty ****ty thing to do. Everything else you wrote after authority isn't relevant to the issue of refugees, really.

Yeah, I saw that, one of the fitness/nutrition pros I follow on FB had attempted to troll the thread, and it showed in my feed. I wasn't offended (I'm an ED fan), but honestly, didn't find it funny. So a dumb broad whose only claim to fame is a fat shaming video and a wonderbra is burning up the internet. Sad, sad state of affairs.

No, mate. I mean more like over a 15 year period, where most are actually African (sub-saharan and Moroccan), South American, and Romanian, and an estimated half a million of illegals. Do the math. Or ask /pol/ to do it for you.

Not necessarily, sorry to rain on your parade. We've absorbed close to 7 million immigrants, and despite the unemployment rates and economic crisis, far-right parties are still niche at best, without parliamentary representation or significant street support. Propaganda and hate-mongering are a bigger factor in the rise of extreme political movements than anything else, provided that people at large have their basic needs covered. And by the time they don't, you have bigger problems anyway.