@Lawdeedaw

There's so much factually wrong here, I don't know where to begin. Let's start with this:

"That rape and mutilation has been going on for centuries but was significant in the Second Sino-Japanese War, a distinct war in and of itself."

Japan was in a state of almost complete isolation from the rest of the world between the years of 1633 and 1853. Even after the period of isolation ended, Japan was too busy for decades industrializing to be rampaging through China, as you suggest.

Japan DID eventually get involved in Chinese politics and in fact went to war with them in the First Sino-Japanese War... in 1894. There are no reports of atrocities committed by the Japanese military during this conflict. In fact, quite the opposite, Japan would release Chinese prisoners of war once they promised not to take up arms against Japan again.

The subjugation of Taiwan (which was ceded to Japan at the end of the first Sino-Japanese War but resisted Japanese rule) is a different story. However, accounts of what exactly happened are sketchy and most of the information we have is anecdotal. What can be gleaned from these anecdotes is that the Formasians put up a fierce guerrilla resistance campaign and that the Japanese tortured and killed anyone suspected of aiding the resistance. Still, it doesn't appear to have been on the same scale as the massacres which occurred during the Rape of Nanking.

As you mentioned, some of the most awful abuses were done during the Second Sino-Japanese War between 1937 and 1945 (the Rape of nanking occurred during this war). The abuse ended Japan's defeat in WWII.

What you can see here by doing the math, is that Japan's military abuses in China lasted a grand total of 50 years--from the subjugation of Formosa (Taiwan) to the end of World War 2--not "centuries."

Next, let's talk about misrepresentation. You seem to be implying that Japanese textbooks don't say that Japan is the aggressor in WW2 (or previous conflicts). As I pointed out in my last post, that is flat-out wrong. There is ONE textbook that was approved for use that whitewashes the history but that book has been ignored an not used by the vast majority of schools in Japan.

If you want to criticize Japanese textbooks, you could criticize them on the grounds that though they mention the terrible things that Japanese forces did, they don't go into a whole lot of detail. See this article for more information.

As far as Abe goes, what exactly has he said that is so terrible? Yes, he hangs out with revisionists. Yes, he has expressed his opinion that Japan should stop apologizing for WWII and start looking to the future instead of the past. Yes, he has said that the issue of "comfort women" should be re-examined in light of claims that some of evidence of their existence was fabricated. But these are not really radical statements by any means. And many people and newspapers do strongly and openly disagree with his statements, so this idea that Japanese people don't challenge him is completely wrong as well.

Yasukuni is a total clusterfuck of a situation. It is a shrine to ALL of Japan's war dead. This includes war criminals, but it also includes regular soldiers just doing their duty. In terms of Shinto beliefs, all of their souls now reside there. Basically, if you want to pay your respects to someone who died in military service in Japan, you have to go there to "see them."

Abe is a total dumbass (and the press let him know it) for going there because he knows already how China and Korea will perceive it, but on the other hand his going there does not mean in any way that he reveres the war criminals who are interred there. I have no idea what his personal views are but publically he has stated that he and his wife go there to remind themselves about the terrible toll war had on Japan the last time Japan engaged in it.

Finally, as for the link you provided, it was to a year-old opinion piece that lacks context. Abe made that statement at a time when it was revealed that some of the evidence of the existence of comfort women in Japan had been faked. It was later decided that the apology would not be changed. In fact, The Japan Times is reporting that it is likely that Abe will mention that "comfort women" had their human rights violated by Japan in his upcoming address on the end of WWII, so the comparison of him to Ahmadinejad is a bit far-fetched.

And so are Republicans and Democrats. The problem is dumbass voters who vote for pawns of lobbyists that actively work to undermine our country. And the only way to break that cycle is to elect the one motherfucker who flips them the bird. Ron did that. Dennis Kucinich did that. Bernie Sanders does that. It doesn't matter what side of the isle we vote--it matters that we vote out the special interests.

I'm very late to this, but...

It is definitely Thailand. Every city is a rat's nest of electrical cables, telephone lines etc. just like that. Construction is generally pretty haphazard, and public safety is rather low on the checklist...

I've lived in Thailand for the past 8 years, and speak Thai well enough to give a translation of the beginning of the video, which is pretty funny:
Guy 1: (pointing) Scary, isn't it?
Guy 2: (camera) Jeez, what asshole set this up?

That's a pretty close translation. The guy with the camera refers to the people responsible as "heeah", which literally means "monitor lizard" but is used colloquially as a slur somewhere between "asshole" or "mother f*cker". Thai uses animal words like that as insults in several other instances also, with a softer example being "kwai" which literally means "(water) buffalo", but colloquially is like calling someone a "stubborn dumbass". Sorta like "jackass" in English, but a bit more offensive.

Dumbass.


Should've waited until the cop went back to watching porn.

I suspect the FBI's reasoning for not considering it a genuine threat may be in part because the number of people who would actually go through with the kind of shit that she gets threatened with is statistically very small. Conversely, the number of jackasses on the internet who are willing to post all manner of vile garbage simply for their own amusement is HUGE. So that's why I have such a hard time taking the threats too seriously, that and people tend to focus on mass shootings and wind up greatly overestimating their chances of actually being involved in one. Seriously, you're way more likely to be run over while crossing the street by some dumbass texting while driving. Make sure to look both ways before crossing.

You have literally ZERO evidence of that. In fact, it could be entirely the opposite. Maybe the violent aggressive asshole was trying to force his way into Silent Bobs lane and Silent Bob was having none of it.

I've certainly had it happen to me; where some dumbass gets annoyed at a perceived slight because they don't know the road rules and proceeds to act aggressively towards me.

My reaction is exactly the same as Silent Bobs. I laugh at them, and if it enrages them further... so much the better.

Side note: WTF is up with that window? Shouldn't it be laminated?

I just naturally assumed that if you'd do this you'd be smart enough to block off the road at the end-point. How in the hell did he expect to ever survive a head on collision, some of those turns were indeed blind, or so fast that they might as well have been (and it wouldn't have mattered, since the speed he was going wouldn't have allowed him to stop in half of those moments--half the time he'd end up flying into a large drop-off/ravine).

Cool video, but people like this do need to get cited, badly. Learn how to take a little more responsibility into their life. I'm sure they have no idea yet how screwed they can make their life, but no need to involve others (the bus doesn't really count ).

Like @serosmeg said and then @robbersdog49, I'm just fulfilling the role of posting the full-end of the "dumbass" comment...

Don't worry, someone will be along in a minute to tell us that it's perfectly safe and they can stop really well and it must have been the bus driver's fault and so on. They'll be a fucking dumbass too.

Dumbass

Total bullcrap, this is one of the reason sharks are being poached increasingly. Just as we started to come down on those numbers, idiots like you give the poachers a new reason. If this was attempt at sarcasm, know that there is a sarcasm button for it. Dumbass...

Orcas are very intelligent, fin removal is definitely deliberate.

Dude got what he deserved. Fumbling around like a moron and shamed himself on national TV and in front of hundreds of blind Apple fanatics.

Yes, you got a new phone. Woopie fucking do. It's a new fucking phone. Not a premiere to the next Star Wars movie. Is this what people have become now? Just some brainless zombies who don't know jack?

People need to start learning that there's more to a phone than just the dumbass Apple logo imprinted on it.

Just in case anyone thinks newtboy is being mean for no good reason, Lionfish have become a serious problem as an invasive species.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterois#Invasive_introduction_and_range

All because some dumbass didn't want them in their aquarium anymore.

Firstly, I wouldn't presume to know all of the accents in any country I've ever lived in, so I'm shocked you do. And yes, I know the difference between a rural Irish accent and a Dublin accent, although let's face it, if Gillen had put on a true rural Irish accent, most people would have had a hard time understanding it. Also, he is an eccentric doctor who probably puts on airs to seem more mysterious, sounds like a solid character backstory to me.

Secondly, in the trailer and movie, you actually hear a mashup of different actors' voices in the confessional to specifically cloud who might be the culprit. If you re-watch (say, by downloading it) it you might hear one voice at first and then another a few seconds later. While I do agree the identity of culprit may not drive the plot of the entire movie, it isn't irrelevant as every encounter with a new person has you wondering "is this the guy?"

As for watching it in a cinema, let's open up that discussion. Movie theatres are run by cheap dickheads and I am refusing to reward them by not going. Case in point: Popcorn is sold at 12.75x cost, pop at 4-6x cost, other fast food joints within the place are up to 3x more expensive than outside and you couldn't bring your own food if you wanted to because they won't let you. Tickets are more expensive than a cheap motel room. I have to sit in a room with 100 other people (who might have kids with them depending on the movie) who will no doubt find a way to ruin my movie-going experience. The theatre plays up to 30 minutes of commercials and trailers for things I could easily see at home on my own goddamn time. In some countries movies have intermissions like I am watching a five act Shakespearean play and not a dumbass Michael Bay movie, and then they play more commercials before they restart.

Movie theatres are dumb and should be reserved for those movies that deserve them, not just because you save money but also because every penny you don't give to theatre owners is for the betterment of society.

WTF?!? 30 min of sex "might burn off 85-150 calories!?! Not the way I do it, buddy! Try moving a little.
Peaking sexually is about how much sex you WANT, not how much you might get.
The study said men think about sex every 7 seconds ON AVERAGE, dumbass, that's different from 'every seven seconds'! That means if they think about sex 100 times in one minute, they're good for the next 12. A 'thought' doesn't take long for most of us. If you consider many teenagers spend months or even years thinking about sex, it gives them a lot of time later in life to think about other things and yet still 'think about sex every seven seconds on average'.
Can a newt get a *fail (I'm not talking to you, Sifty)

Yo, dumbass, the 300 were Spartan, not Roman or Trojan.
It's interesting to me that people still pay attention to this gay fish and his hobbit woman. What's up with that?
I'll admit some of 'his' music is OK, but I rarely like the lyrics and never his 'singing' or 'rap' (they can't overproduce it enough to make it 'good' to me), and I don't think he writes the music.
As a person, he's just a bad train wreck.