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    GeorgeGeoffersonLivesHamilton Nolan
    11/16/15 1:43pm

    I shouldn’t be shocked, but the utter quickness with which the media war machine was turned on has stunned me. The questions for Obama at the news conference today were absolutely shameless.

    Media: “Mr. President, why are you being such a pussy? Why aren’t you bombing ISIS?”

    Obama: “We are, and have been literally for months.”

    Media: “Well, why aren’t you personally marching on Raqqah with the entire United States Army carrying a death ray?”

    Obama: “LOLwut?”

    Media: “Mr. President, why won’t you take this opportunity to shit on the refugees fleeing Syria? The GOP governors are doing it. Why won’t you say “fuck them” on national television? Also, how does Kobe’s ass taste?”

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      Sobchak SecurityGeorgeGeoffersonLives
      11/16/15 1:49pm

      Tell me more about this death ray of which you speak. Sounds like a pretty good idea.

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      Lawrence IpsumGeorgeGeoffersonLives
      11/16/15 1:52pm

      excellent synopsis, george.

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    Alex W LivingstonHamilton Nolan
    11/16/15 1:43pm

    This is one of the better articles on the situation in Paris that I have read.

    People are saying that we need to halt immigration from the Middle East, that we need to monitor Mosques, that we need to send troops to Syria. All bogus ideas. If anything we need to take in more refugees from Syria. We need to hear their plight, their stories, we need to understand their purpose and their identity. We need more mosques and Muslim cultural centers in the US. Since 2001 Muslims have had to live in fear of reprisal from racist white Christians here in the United States. We need to finally welcome them and let them know this is their home. And sending troops anywhere is always a bad idea, let alone to the Middle East.

    I have been discriminated against. I suspect most non-white people have. It’s not fun, it doesn’t feel good, and it absolutely affects the way you are able to see the world. It’s limiting. America needs to forgive and forget. 9-11 was not a terrorist attack or a religious attack it was retribution for American occupation of the globe. The unfortunate circumstance in Paris gives us the opportunity to respond correctly this time, to finally open our arms and our borders to other people.

    Xenaphobia is no laughing matter. Our Xenaphobic tendencies bit us on 9-11. Let’s not have that happen again.

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      இலங்கை தமிழர்Alex W Livingston
      11/16/15 1:49pm

      Copy-pasting an earlier comment:

      French culture gave birth to Satre and Macaroons, but also to genocide and colonial pillaging (and that’s not even going into the current iteration of neocolonialism and racism, or the holocaust in Africa the Belgians committed).

      When white people talk of “Western culture” there’s a sudden, collective amnesia about it’s more abhorrent aspects. It’s a symptom of a white supremacist narrative where white = civilizing influence over non-white savages.

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      Jordan-Sargent-Outs-Gay-Men-for-MoneyAlex W Livingston
      11/16/15 1:53pm

      “9-11 was not a terrorist attack”

      lol this fails by any definition of terrorism and makes yours one of the most comically noncredible gawker comments I’ve seen in awhile

      I like your expression “xenaphobia” though and picture a frightened lucy lawless

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    A House In VirginiaHamilton Nolan
    11/16/15 1:44pm

    My favorite news bits this past wkend: Frustrated news anchors trying to identify the Paris they know from the flood of random B-roll of Parisian city streets (it indicates a visceral level of concern).

    Least favorite: “what does this mean for America?” Were any Americans killed?” SO NOT NEEDED.

    I am terrified of the dookie the Rightwing POTUS candidates are going to spew toward the French, about the French, etc.

    Amurrkans are NOT known for being savvy or respectful when discussing the French.

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      KingofSarcasmaA House In Virginia
      11/16/15 1:50pm

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      A House In VirginiaKingofSarcasma
      11/16/15 1:53pm

      riens compris, desole

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    cepalgHamilton Nolan
    11/16/15 1:47pm

    One recalls the famous Stratfor briefing indicating that the chief desire of Al Queda, in the aftermath of 9/11, was to draw the US into a nice little quagmire with which to bolster flagging anti-Western sentiment in the Middle East.

    The underlying principle of terrorism is that when you cannot harm your enemy, you must force him to harm himself.

    Millions of people are fleeing ISIS and what it represents, repudiating them in the most fundamental way imaginable.

    And in reaction to this attack, we scream no: you must return to where you came from, where you will live, and work, and fight, and die for ISIS.

    Because we are afraid you might work for ISIS, we really need to give you no choice but to work for ISIS.

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      Sobchak Securitycepalg
      11/16/15 1:51pm

      This is literally the reason OBL bombed the twin towers. He didn’t even fuck around trying to hide it. He just wanted us to go to war in the Middle East and fuck it all up for a couple of decades.

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      cepalgSobchak Security
      11/16/15 1:53pm

      Eh, there was some attempt to hide it. Official Al Queda PR was all about how this was the first step in a grand crusade against the Great Satan. Captured internal Al Queda communications eventually confirmed the Stratfor analysis that no, actually, this was the mother of all recruitment stunts, and the way that Al Queda higher-ups downright cackled when Bush launched the invasion of Iraq is sobering as all hell.

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    The Noble RenardHamilton Nolan
    11/16/15 1:53pm

    A) Fuck Bill Bratton. He is literally the worst thing de Blasio has done in New York City. He’s a police sycophant and a totalitarian control-freak who’d like to lock up all minorities who look at the cops funny.

    B) Fuck the Republican governors. They have absolutely no control over refugee resettlement, so they get to grandstand about this issue in a way that won’t mean they have to change any policy positions, and they can freely distort the facts with little political repercussions. Here’s a fun fact; the refugees are already going to be subject to rigorous security screenings before being admitted to the US.

    C) Fuck Ted Cruz. He’s come out and said that we should reject all Muslim Syrian refugees but we should provide “safe haven” for Syrian Christians. So much for the values our nation was founded on.

    Finally, even if terrorists were sneaking in with the refugees (which is still unsure, a fact that Republicans are pleasantly ignoring right now), that is not an argument to stop all refugees. We have a fundamental belief in modern post-Enligtenment society; better to let ten guilty men go free than lock up one innocent man. Well, the corollary applies to the Syrian refugees. Better to save 5,000 at the potential cost of allowing one terrorist to enter (who may still get caught), than to turn around 5,000 for the sins of one.

    We instituted the modern Refugee conventions because of the disgraceful way the Western world reacted when Jews began fleeing the Holocaust and were turned away, only to be slaughtered in the millions. We turned them away here in the US because we’d hit the immigration quota for that year, and because those fleeing were often poor and thought of as undesirables who would burden the State. We must not forget the lessons of WWII and the Jewish refugees. We bear, as a species, the incredible moral burden of protecting the weak from the predation of the strong. This was the one of the great realizations to come out WWII and the creation of the United Nations. To throw that away out of fear and xenophobia would be catastrophic.

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      CakeisbetterthanPieThe Noble Renard
      11/16/15 1:58pm

      Please run for president. John Oliver as your running mate.

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      The Noble RenardCakeisbetterthanPie
      11/16/15 2:03pm

      I’m too young and he’s too British.

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    ErzhikHamilton Nolan
    11/16/15 1:45pm

    I’d rather we refuse taking in thousands of refugees, than have my family blown up or gunned down in a cafe somewhere one day. Can that happen even if we don’t allow Syrian refugees in? Yes, absolutely. But the risk increases tenfold if you allow refugees in. Call me an asshole, but millions of people would agree with me. Including what is now 5 states that declared they will not allow Syrian refugees in. Even pro-democratic state like Massachusetts will now not allow Syrian refugees, so it’s no longer about republicans doing what they do best. This is now about common sense. You stop taking in refugees until you figure out how to screen them.

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      citizendefargeErzhik
      11/16/15 1:47pm

      Ok: You’re an asshole.

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      BigjackErzhik
      11/16/15 1:51pm

      Americans are already doing that to ourselves.

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    Funbags On HerHamilton Nolan
    11/16/15 1:41pm

    Do you think they will attack my florist shop in Costello, PA? Should I prepare?

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      RandyMagnumFunbags On Her
      11/16/15 1:51pm

      Well, they are NOW. Nice going.

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      SauceboyFunbags On Her
      11/16/15 2:10pm

      They’ll go for the Walmart first. Or last.

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    toothpetardHamilton Nolan
    11/16/15 1:48pm

    Then there was this freedom the little guys were always getting killed for. Was it freedom from another country? Freedom from work or disease or death? Freedom from your mother-in-law? Please mister give us a bill of sale on this freedom before we go out and get killed. Give us a bill of sale drawn up plainly in advance what we’re getting killed for... so we can be sure after we’ve won your war that we’ve got the same kind of freedom we bargained for.

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      Unatoothpetard
      11/16/15 2:13pm

      Johnny Got His Gun Quotes

      did anybody ever come back from the dead any single one of the millions who got killed did any one of them ever come back and say by god i’m glad i’m dead because death is always better than dishonor? did they say i’m glad i died to make the world safe for democracy? did they say i like death better than losing liberty? did any of them ever say it’s good to think i got my guts blown out for the honor of my country? did any of them ever say look at me i’m dead but i died for decency and that’s better than being alive? did any of them ever say here i am i’ve been rotting for two years in a foreign grave but it’s wonderful to die for your native land? did any of them say hurray i died for womanhood and i’m happy see how i sing even though my mouth is choked with worms?
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      toothpetardUna
      11/16/15 2:17pm

      remember:

      It will be you—-you who urge us on to battle you who incite us against ourselves you who would have one cobbler kill another cobbler you who would have one man who works kill another man who works you who would have one human being who wants only to live kill another human being who wants only to live. Remember this. Remember this well you people who plan for war. Remember this you patriots you fierce ones you spawners of hate you inventors of slogans. Remember this as you have never remembered anything else in your lives.

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    RobNYCHamilton Nolan
    11/16/15 1:52pm

    One is to demonize Muslims as enemies; to turn away needy refugees because they come from a country we fear; to cast aside civil liberties so that law enforcement and spy agencies can know everything about everyone; and to wage war in a fashion more merciless than those we decry as too merciless.

    Basically keep doing what we have been doing for the last 14 years but expecting a different result.

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      CakeisbetterthanPieRobNYC
      11/16/15 2:01pm

      Instability....incontinence...inability...intolerance...

      hmmm. Which “in-” word describes that again?

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      RobNYCCakeisbetterthanPie
      11/16/15 2:09pm
      GIF
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    RooseveltsRevengeHamilton Nolan
    11/16/15 1:57pm

    Here’s hoping that after 14 years to look over what we’ve done, that Americans can see what “we should be saving Syrian Christians” really means.

    We cannot simply go making war on entire regions full of innocent people and expect to actually stop terrorism. It only breeds more terrorism. It will only be defeated with compassion and defensive measures. Not attacks. We should go in there and get as many innocent people out as possible, secure the region, and then do nothing. Once these groups stop being inundated with more and more once-innocent people who’ve been the victim of a US led drone strike on their home killing numerous family members, they will die out. Attacking them in the midst of innocents they use for shields will only increase their power and voice.

    God forbid this attack spurs America to shift right and elect one of these absolutely insane republican candidates. WW3 would be on the horizon in months.

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      mind if I Slytherin?RooseveltsRevenge
      11/16/15 3:47pm

      Thankfully no. Our election isn’t for a full year from now - America’s empathy lasts for 3 months, tops.

      Now if this had happened in a major U.S. city and with less than 6 months to go, then maybe.

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      RooseveltsRevengemind if I Slytherin?
      11/16/15 3:55pm

      God I hope you're right.

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