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hayden_horn

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Posts posted by hayden_horn

  1. Quote

    NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO — Minutes after he was deported from the U.S., Francisco Narciso walked into a bus station to purchase a ticket home.

    As he paid his fare, a stranger approached.

    "Do you know how things work here in Nuevo Laredo?” the middle-aged man asked.

    “Come with me. We can do things the hard way, or the easy way.”

    Narciso refused. The man raised his shirt and Narciso saw a gun in his waistband.

    "If you make a move, I will blow your head off right here, and no one will say a damn thing,” the stranger said. “We own this place."

    Narciso was kidnapped, beaten and threatened with death. He was released five days later, only after his girlfriend in Ohio paid nearly $4,000 in multiple ransom payments. Over two recent days in Mexico, he gave his account of his ordeal to The Dallas Morning News and The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. Fearing for his safety, he asked that his location be kept secret.

    His kidnapping is an increasingly common occurrence along the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly the Texas-Tamaulipas region, immigrants rights groups say. Narciso and other immigrants deported by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement have become easy prey for violent criminal groups desperate for money. The gangs hold the deportees until their relatives in the U.S. pay thousands of dollars for their release.

    Between January and June 2017, the U.S. deported more than 31,000 Mexicans through the states of Tamaulipas and Coahuila, according to Mexico’s immigration service. The states are considered the most dangerous crossing points into Mexico, so perilous that the U.S. State Department regularly issues travel alerts and warnings for Americans. 

    A bridge connects Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. Couriers for Mexican drug cartels are moving tens of billions of dollars in profits south across the border each year, a river of dirty money that has overwhelmed U.S. and Mexican customs agents.(Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
    A bridge connects Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. Couriers for Mexican drug cartels are moving tens of billions of dollars in profits south across the border each year, a river of dirty money that has overwhelmed U.S. and Mexican customs agents. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
    Carlos Spector, a longtime immigration lawyer in El Paso, criticizes the practice of sending deportees to the region. “This is willful blindness on the part of the United States and binational conspiracy on the part of both countries,” Spector said.

    Mexican officials, including congressional leaders, say they have long expressed concerns to their U.S. counterparts about Tamaulipas and Coahuila, and have pressed the U.S. government to transport migrants to safer locations in the interior, ideally Mexico City.

    “There is growing debate in Congress on the need to do more to protect them,” said Sen. Marco Antonio Olvera Acevedo of the state of Zacatecas, the source of millions of Mexican immigrants to the U.S. “We need to find other places less dangerous to deport them.”


    Aurora Vega, head of communications for the Mexican immigration services, said the issue of migrants like Narciso falls to state security authorities in Tamaulipas. A spokesman for the security Cabinet of Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca said the issue is of top importance, but jurisdiction lies with federal authorities.

    “This is a delicate issue, as it’s a very profitable business for criminal organizations,” said the governor's spokesman, Luis Alberto Rodriguez.

    Numerous requests to ICE to discuss the policy have gone unanswered.

    On the afternoon of June 14, Narciso, 30, left work and was headed home in Mentor, a town outside of Cleveland. As usual, he was careful behind the wheel. His girlfriend reminded him daily that any traffic infraction could spell deportation for him.

    But on that day, Narciso’s vehicle was rear-ended. He ended up in a hospital with head and wrist injuries. Local police issued him a court date to show up with proof of his driver’s license. They warned him that ICE agents were likely to show up to ask for proof of legal status. A policeman took a picture of Narciso as he lay in bed.

    When the police left, his girlfriend, who is a legal resident, begged Narciso to flee Ohio with her and their children and belongings. She feared that immigration agents would be waiting for him and her family would end up divided. Narciso ignored her pleas.

    "I said I wanted to obey the law and would go to my hearing and explain everything," he said. "Maybe they would show mercy."

    His only crime, he explained to her, was having crossed the border without papers in 2005 to install roofs. He had lived long enough in the U.S. that he felt American. He returned to Mexico for Christmas several times, crisscrossing back into this country after the holidays, each time paying $1,800 to $2,500 to smugglers..

    When he and his girlfriend fell in love and decided to form a family, she asked him to make one promise. No more traveling to Mexico or surrounding states to work. In 2010, he had been deported from Pittsburgh after a car accident. Plus, now they had a daughter and were raising two other children from his girlfriend’s previous relationship.

    Narciso quit his roofing work and said goodbye to Mexico. Since 2012, he worked at a wax factory, settling for a routine that took him from home to work, with occasional trips to the grocery store. Then his world crumbled.

    As his girlfriend feared, ICE agents, dressed in street clothes, arrested Narciso outside the courtroom July 13.

    “I was shattered into little pieces,” he said.


    He was deported to Mexico nearly two weeks later. On his journey, he met another deportee also from Ohio, and together they pooled their resources after ICE agents dumped them on the bridge July 25. Francisco counted 43 other men and women deported with him.

    They were greeted on the Mexican side by immigration authorities who told them they had two choices. If they had money they could make their way to one of four bus stations to buy a ticket home. Or they could be transported to a migrant shelter. Most headed for the bus stations.

    After the gunman escorted Narciso out of the bus station, he looked for his fellow deportee, but he was nowhere to be found. Other customers waiting for their buses, taxi drivers and a parking attendant all simply looked the other way. So did the employee who just sold him the ticket.

    Four SUVs pulled up and the gunman ordered Narciso inside. Narciso saw his companion and another deportee sitting scared inside the SUV.

    They drove to a parking lot of a shopping center popular with Texans. Suddenly, three other vehicles pulled up near them. A man brandishing an assault rifle, the apparent leader of the group, got out of the car and took command.

    Nuevo Laredo has four bus stations where deported immigrants say criminals prey on them and kidnap and hold them for ranson.(Alfredo Corchado/Staff)
    Nuevo Laredo has four bus stations where deported immigrants say criminals prey on them and kidnap and hold them for ranson. (Alfredo Corchado/Staff)
    "The man looked at everyone and asked: 'What is your name? Where are you from and you better not [expletive] lie to me. I have no tolerance for liars. I will kill you if you lie,'" he said.

    One by one, the prisoners introduced themselves and the captor’s questions continued: Where were you born? Where did you live in the United States? What jobs did you do? Did you have family back in the U.S.?

    "If you do everything we ask of you, you may live," the man said. "If not, we'll kill you and throw you out like garbage. Your choice. Understand?"

    They were transferred to another vehicle and taken to a house on the outskirts of Nuevo Laredo.

    “This is the Mexico I'm returning to?” Narciso recalled asking himself.

    They were thrown into a small room. Seven men, including Narciso, were guarded by two armed men. He said the guards were always smoking marijuana and seemed high much of the time. They talked in grisly detail about the people they had murdered.

    One of the guards asked about the wrist brace Narciso wore and seemed concerned that he was deported even though he had been injured in the car accident. The concern quickly faded. He was instructed to get money from his family.

    Narciso contacted his girlfriend and put her on speaker phone. He told her to send $3,000 through MoneyGram to the kidnappers within 24 hours.

    His handler told her if she didn’t comply, they would dissolve Narciso in acid or mutilate him beyond recognition. She borrowed the money from friends and relatives and sent it. New demands were made: She sent $200 more, then $400, another $200, for a total of $3,800.

    One day, Narciso said, two of the men in the room were taken away. A day later, the captors showed the remaining men a newspaper that showed a pile of bodies found in the city and were told “this is what happens if you don't cooperate.” He glanced at the newspaper but was too terrified to determine if the prisoners he saw the day before were among the dead.

    The prisoners were fed ground meat on buns. The guards bragged that they sometimes cooked the bodies of rival gang members or immigrant hostages and fed them to prisoners.

    Narciso vomited. He had no way of knowing if he was eating human flesh, but said he could not take another bite. After that, he ate only bread and tortilla shells.

    On the evening of July 27, a guard walked in and said, 'We decided you're not going to live anymore." Narciso protested, saying his girlfriend had paid a ransom.

    “Yes, but no one gets out alive,” the man replied.

    He asked when they would kill him and the man responded, "Any day now."

    The next day, the guard told Narciso he could make one last call to his girlfriend, but she would need to send another $200, and this time to a different account, apparently as a way for the guard to make money on the side. Narciso’s girlfriend complied.

    On July 29, Narciso awoke to a surprise.

    The guard walked in and said his girlfriend came through with the $200. He said the gang was going to allow Narciso and the other man to live.

    The two were driven to another house where five people were being held captive.

    Narciso said the gang members took down their identifications, the names of family members and friends, and then photographed them, just in case they went to authorities. Then they took them to a bus station and bought them tickets to Monterrey, about two hours away.

    Today, Narciso says he has another reason to be scared. Less than a week after his release, he learned that his eldest brother was murdered in Mexico. According to local newspapers, the man was shot 21 times by a hit man on a motorcycle. Narciso said he did not know if the man's death had anything to do with his captivity or the publicity following it. He had been estranged from his older brother for many years since their parents separated.

    A brother consoles Francisco Narciso, who was kidnapped after being deported to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Another brother was murdered recently. (Alfredo Corchado/Staff)
    A brother consoles Francisco Narciso, who was kidnapped after being deported to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Another brother was murdered recently.  (Alfredo Corchado/Staff)
    Since his ordeal, he has remained indoors. The one time he left the house, he walked only a few feet before he saw a stranger and retreated inside in fear.

    He’s so afraid, he said, he can’t even think about trying to sneak back into the U.S. through Nuevo Laredo or another border town.

    “Maybe that’s what the U.S. government really wants,” he said.

    He paused and wiped away tears as members of his family consoled him.

    “But my home isn’t here anymore,” he said. “I don’t know that I have a country anymore. My life, my future is with my family, and they’re back in the United States.”

    https://www.dallasnews.com/news/mexico/2017/08/27/willful-blindness-deportees-becoming-easy-prey-gangs-along-us-mexico-border

    now this guy isn't a DACA, but this is the reality we face when we deport folks to mexico. we KNOW that they are going into a wild west third world hell, and we don't care. sad.

  2. 6 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

    Three manufacturing companies in Arkansas say they need an exemption from the Commerce Department from President Trump's new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports or they will be forced to close.

    Arkansas Online reports that three tire-cord manufacturers, Bekaert Corp., Kiswire America and Tokusen USA, have jointly requested an exemption from Trump's tariffs, specifically on "grade 1078 and above wire rod for tire cord." The three companies argue that U.S.-based steel producers are unable to manufacture the quality their company needs.

    "Stated simply, U.S. wire rod producers are incapable of producing grade 1078 and above wire rod to produce tire cord because that grade of wire rod must be produced in basic oxygen furnaces to achieve the strength, cleanliness and other properties to draw the wire rod to tire cord dimensions," lawyers for the three companies told Arkansas Online.

    http://thehill.com/policy/finance/391185-three-arkansas-companies-say-theyll-close-if-trump-doesnt-give-them-exemption#.Wxn2QRC381U.facebook

    it's amazing that these are the people who sowed the wind. guess what? you get to reap what you sowed, red states! 

  3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5821593/DACA-recipient-19-escorted-Mexico-ICE-month-graduation-murdered-three-weeks-later.html

    Quote

    A teenage DACA recipient was about to graduate high school when ICE came after him.

    Instead of walking with his graduating class, Manuel Antonio Cano-Pacheco, 19, was escorted to Mexico and just three weeks later his throat was slit.

    Cano-Pacheco, who has a one-year-old son, was brought to the US without a visa when he was three and qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program which protected him from deportation.

    However, after he was caught driving under the influence and convicted on a misdemeanor drug charge, he was stripped of his DACA status.

    Rather than face formal deportation - which bans return to the US for a number of years - he was granted Voluntary Departure and taken to Mexico at the Laredo, Texas border on April 24, according to the Des Moines Register.

    Three weeks later he was brutally murdered alone in a country he had never known.

    He was out getting food with an acquaintance of his cousin in Zacatecas, Mexico, a region riddled with drug cartel and gang violence, when both were killed and Cano-Pacheco's throat slit.

    The killers knew the acquaintance.  

    His death was 'a symbol of gang supremacy in a country plagued by violent drug cartels,' according to the Register. 

    In a statement released by ICE public affairs officer Shawn Neudauer, officers reveal that Cano-Pacheco was arrested at Polk County Jail in April 2017 following a misdemeanor drug charge. Around this time he was also convicted on a separate misdemeanor charge.  

    'ICE issued Cano-Pacheco a notice to appear before a federal immigration judge. Based on his criminal convictions, his DACA status was terminated making him amenable to deportation. After posting an immigration bond, he was released from ICE custody pending an immigration court hearing,' the statement said.

    'While awaiting his immigration hearing, Cano-Pacheco was convicted in Iowa of two more misdemeanors, including for driving under the influence. On April 10, 2018, Cano-Pacheco requested and was granted voluntary departure, "under safeguards," by a federal immigration judge. He returned to Mexico at the border in Laredo, Texas under ICE escort April 24,' the statement added.  

    goddammit, a double header. minor drug charge, DACA revoked, deported to a country he can't remember, brutally murdered. good job all around, america!

  4. this has got me thinking deeply today. you never really know what the guy next to you is carrying with him. that goes for the grocery store line, the stoplight, whatever. but you can be an agent of change for people you know. you can reach out and make that phone call to see how things are going. you can have a relationship that goes beyond social media or text message. call a friend today. call a friend every day. talk to people. i have not been doing enough of that, i think.

    • Like 3
  5. 9 minutes ago, OatmealRaisinCookie said:

    Sure, help your homosexual neighbor when they need help or serve them well and give to them selflessly, etc. this doesn’t mean you should encourage their sin or participate with them in sin.

    my son's class read this book called wonder. in it, there is a magnificent quote that i try to apply at least once daily. "if you have a choice between being right or being kind, choose kind."

    that's about as close to christ's message as i can imagine. choose kind. refusing business on account of "encouraging or celebrating sin" is not choosing kind. bake the fucking cake. it's the kind thing to do. 

  6. 2 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

    But he would serve homosexuals. That is what Jesus would do.

    to wit:

    Quote

    According to the Gospel, Jesus performed a final act of service for his Disciples, following the Passover meal. Arising from the table, He tied a towel about His waist and filled a basin with water. Then, one after another He washed the feet of each disciple, except Judas, who had already departed to betray Him.
    When Peter protested that Jesus was about to wash his feet, Christ admonished, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."

    After washing the Disciples' feet, Jesus explained what He did and why. "You should wash one another's feet," He told them. "I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." (John 13:1-17)

    The point Jesus was trying to make is already spelled out in the Scriptures, and needs little interpretation. We are to serve our neighbors, even if it means we must do things we might not like to do. Even if the work is dirty or hard, or even if we think it beneath us, we must still do our work. After all, Jesus Himself, the Son of God, washed the feet of His disciples. And we are no greater than Jesus, so surely we too should do the same.

    https://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=68009

    i added the emphasis. jesus did not tell the disciples to interview each person to discern their state of sin prior to washing their feet. he said "i washed your fucking feet, so you wash others' feet, because i'm your savior, and i'm willing to get my fucking hands dirty so you should be as well."

  7. yeah, it's the selective enforcement of morality that @Brisketexan points out is where i struggle. this baker bakes for the public. and WE ARE ALL SINNERS. he's weighing one sin more than another, and that's where i think the baker is full of shit and just thinks the gays are icky and doesn't want to bake for them.

  8. 16 minutes ago, Longhornmaniac8 said:

     

    I have as much evidence to support my claims as you do (i.e., 0), but I don't think people who are mentally ill enough to be considering suicide would stop and think "is this the moral thing to do?" before carrying out the act.

    actually, i would argue that many do actually ask this question and somehow land at a "yes."

  9. 4 minutes ago, Longhornmaniac8 said:

    This is an honest question, and it's not directed at you specifically: Who gives a fuck if it's moral or not? It doesn't change a thing. I'm certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that shaming people considering suicide (or posthumously if the deed is done) and telling people it's immoral is the exact wrong way to combat it.

    As you said, be patient and kind with one another. I 100% agree with that. Framing the discussion as one of morality or shame is the absolute wrong way to go about it.

    The morality aspect should be as far from this discussion as possible. We will lose more people if that gets injected into the discourse.

    yeah, i think it raises a question of whether or not a concept of morality can exist in an irrational mind. i don't think it does. mental illness is not really all that concerned with morality.

  10. 2 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

    DM now making the link to undefeated explicitly.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5821039/Anthony-Bourdain-died-suicide-age-61.html

    I will say, if you have to go, this is as good a last meal as any.

    4D0D597000000578-5821039-Bourdain_s_last

    holy fuck, a quote from that DM article:

    Quote

    Just two hours before the news of Bourdain's death was announced, Argento posted a photo of herself to her Instagram story, wearing a 'f*** everyone' t-shirt showing Bourdain's idol Sid Vicious. She wrote on the image: 'You know who you are'. The image was later taken down. 

     

  11. 3 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

    Jeez. People need to swallow their pride and get help. Leave such wreckage behind with their families after a suicide.

    just unfortunate 

    this represents a fundamental misunderstanding of what people who are suicidal are going through. i hope you take some time to ruminate on the topic, learn a little bit more about it, and come back to the thread with a more enlightened take.

    • Like 4
  12. so, my wife wants to take my sons fishing this summer, but she's pretty amateur, and she wants to stay close in. she is planning on taking them in the morning to maybe red bud isle. is that a decent enough spot, or is there anywhere anyone might recommend in or near austin?

  13. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-finds-ancient-organic-material-mysterious-methane-on-mars

    Quote

    NASA’s Curiosity rover has found new evidence preserved in rocks on Mars that suggests the planet could have supported ancient life, as well as new evidence in the Martian atmosphere that relates to the search for current life on the Red Planet. While not necessarily evidence of life itself, these findings are a good sign for future missions exploring the planet’s surface and subsurface.

    The new findings – “tough” organic molecules in three-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks near the surface, as well as seasonal variations in the levels of methane in the atmosphere – appear in the June 8 edition of the journal Science.

    Organic molecules contain carbon and hydrogen, and also may include oxygen, nitrogen and other elements. While commonly associated with life, organic molecules also can be created by non-biological processes and are not necessarily indicators of life. 

    “With these new findings, Mars is telling us to stay the course and keep searching for evidence of life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, in Washington. “I’m confident that our ongoing and planned missions will unlock even more breathtaking discoveries on the Red Planet.”

    “Curiosity has not determined the source of the organic molecules,” said Jen Eigenbrode of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who is lead author of one of the two new Science papers. “Whether it holds a record of ancient life, was food for life, or has existed in the absence of life, organic matter in Martian materials holds chemical clues to planetary conditions and processes.”

    Although the surface of Mars is inhospitable today, there is clear evidence that in the distant past, the Martian climate allowed liquid water – an essential ingredient for life as we know it – to pool at the surface. Data from Curiosity reveal that billions of years ago, a water lake inside Gale Crater held all the ingredients necessary for life, including chemical building blocks and energy sources. 

    “The Martian surface is exposed to radiation from space. Both radiation and harsh chemicals break down organic matter,” said Eigenbrode. “Finding ancient organic molecules in the top five centimeters of rock that was deposited when Mars may have been habitable, bodes well for us to learn the story of organic molecules on Mars with future missions that will drill deeper.”

    Seasonal Methane Releases

    In the second paper, scientists describe the discovery of seasonal variations in methane in the Martian atmosphere over the course of nearly three Mars years, which is almost six Earth years. This variation was detected by Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite. 

    Water-rock chemistry might have generated the methane, but scientists cannot rule out the possibility of biological origins. Methane previously had been detected in Mars' atmosphere in large, unpredictable plumes. This new result shows that low levels of methane within Gale Crater repeatedly peak in warm, summer months and drop in the winter every year.

    "This is the first time we've seen something repeatable in the methane story, so it offers us a handle in understanding it," said Chris Webster of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, lead author of the second paper. "This is all possible because of Curiosity's longevity. The long duration has allowed us to see the patterns in this seasonal 'breathing.'" 

    Finding Organic Molecules

    To identify organic material in the Martian soil, Curiosity drilled into sedimentary rocks known as mudstone from four areas in Gale Crater. This mudstone gradually formed billions of years ago from silt that accumulated at the bottom of the ancient lake. The rock samples were analyzed by SAM, which uses an oven to heat the samples (in excess of 900 degrees Fahrenheit, or 500 degrees Celsius) to release organic molecules from the powdered rock.

    SAM measured small organic molecules that came off the mudstone sample – fragments of larger organic molecules that don’t vaporize easily. Some of these fragments contain sulfur, which could have helped preserve them in the same way sulfur is used to make car tires more durable, according to Eigenbrode.

    The results also indicate organic carbon concentrations on the order of 10 parts per million or more. This is close to the amount observed in Martian meteorites and about 100 times greater than prior detections of organic carbon on Mars’ surface. Some of the molecules identified include thiophenes, benzene, toluene, and small carbon chains, such as propane or butene.

    In 2013, SAM detected some organic molecules containing chlorine in rocks at the deepest point in the crater. This new discovery builds on the inventory of molecules detected in the ancient lake sediments on Mars and helps explains why they were preserved.

    Finding methane in the atmosphere and ancient carbon preserved on the surface gives scientists confidence that NASA's Mars 2020 rover and ESA’s (European Space Agency's) ExoMars rover will find even more organics, both on the surface and in the shallow subsurface. 

    These results also inform scientists’ decisions as they work to find answers to questions concerning the possibility of life on Mars. 

    “Are there signs of life on Mars?” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, at NASA Headquarters. “We don’t know, but these results tell us we are on the right track.”

    This work was funded by NASA's Mars Exploration Program for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) in Washington. Goddard provided the SAM instrument. JPL built the rover and manages the project for SMD.

    For video and images of the findings, visit:

    https://www.nasa.gov/mediaresources

    Information on NASA’s Mars activities is available online at:

    https://www.nasa.gov/mars

    -end-

     

  14. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44395097

    Quote

    The US has reached a deal with Chinese tech firm ZTE that will remove a ban that prevented the company from buying parts from US suppliers, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said.

    The deal will involve ZTE paying a $1bn penalty and hiring a compliance team chosen by the US.

    ZTE will also be required to replace its management board within 30 days.

    The US had blocked ZTE's access to American suppliers, saying it had violated a sanctions settlement.

    China's President Xi Jinping asked the US to reconsider that punishment, which forced ZTE, the world's fourth-largest mobile phone maker and a major employer in China, to suspend major operations.

    Mr Ross said the fine was the largest penalty ever levied by Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security and pledged to continue monitoring ZTE's behaviour.

    The new deal will also see ZTE paying $400m into a holding account to insure against future violations.

    Tough on China?

    The decision to lift the ban has faced sharp criticism from US politicians, including from some Republicans, who view the telecoms company as a national security risk.

    Senator Chuck Schumer, a leading Democrat, called on Congress to reverse the deal.

    "There is absolutely no good reason that ZTE should get a second chance, and this decision marks a 180 degree turn away from the president's promise to be tough on China," he said.

    ZTE is based in Shenzhen, close to Hong Kong, and was founded in 1985.

    It is China's second largest telecoms manufacturer and depends on US-made components for the production of handsets.

    The US banned access to US suppliers in April after finding ZTE violated a settlement reached after it admitted to shipping goods to Iran and North Korea, countries subject to US trade sanctions.

    this administration does not seem to ever stick to a decision. but this is very important on a global scale.

  15. 38 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

    Donovan also took a year off before the World Cup to see if he wanted to keep playing. 

    I don’t have a problem with Chandler telling Wood to rest and recover. Wood played all summer through injuries and went back to Hamburg and struggled through an injury filled season that killed his confidence.

    Gulati was useless but so is 99% of US Soccer. It’s a corrupt organization that really only cares about making money.

    i felt that there wasn't enough emphasis put on donovan's decision to take that sabbatical. i still vacillate on jurgen's decision to cut him, because of that. but in the end, i think he had to bring him to keep the squad's mentality up. however, the way it's described in the article as to how he cut the players: that's just a bullshit way of going about that. 

  16. 18 hours ago, Napoleon said:

    Klinsmann may have made many questionable choices, but he's largely responsible for the number of young players we have playing Europe. He personally used connections to get some of the guys looks and his push of "GO TO EUROPE IF YOU CAN!!" has driven so many more kids over there, and at a younger age (18) than ever before.

    PS- I haven't read the article yet, but I probably will soon.

    the article is really well done. it brings to the forefront many of the things that were posted about during in game threads. why is he playing that position? what is this formation? etc.

    here's a quote:

    Quote

    nside the team, the four-plus years of inconsistent tactics and messages began to take a toll. Players described routinely having to figure out positions in the tunnel on the way onto the pitch. “The thing that got talked about the least in the national team for five years was soccer,” said a source close to the team. When asked about the struggles, players articulated that it wasn’t any one issue but instead a compounding frustration, slowly rising in temperature, like a pot of water about to boil.

    i think that was apparent on the field, with players out of position in odd formations.

  17. 32 minutes ago, kevwun said:

    The whole rebellion that's not the rebellion vs the empire that's not the empire should have caused more concern after The Force Awakens in hindsight.  It got given a pass because it was a decent enough movie, but it was a dumb idea that got things going down the wrong path.  The lack of planning on Kennedy's and Disney's part is pretty damn astounding.

    this is what i don't understand. they could have gone in any number of directions, and i don't even have a problem with han and leia's happy ending ruined by a shit son. the characters in TFA are all alright, except snoke, who has a fucking stupid name and apparently a non-crucial premise for even existing. how do they not write out the while fucking story from the beginning in at least outline/storyboard mode?

    it would have been so easy to reframe the story with the empire being the new rebellion. instead, we get a "first order," which is the empire that's not the empire. they should not have been more powerful than the new republic (which they annihilate without really too much thought or care as story-tellers), but instead the remnants of the old empire that just won't die and actually uses terrorist tactics. i know that cuts close to the zahn premise, but that's because THAT ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE.

    and the whole snoke thing still kind of pisses me off. i don't mind that he gets killed by his own apprentice, actually.  but i have to know who he is, where he came from, and how he came to power in order to give any kind of a shit about his death.

  18. On 5/22/2018 at 4:40 PM, RomaVicta said:

    I don't consider it anymore important than Robocop which is another nice exercise in satire. Neither are immortal, but both make me laugh. They both also manage nice action sequences.

    Liking the movies or getting them should not be considered a badge of intellectual achievement. That's what makes me not getting Starship Troopers on the first go round both embarrassing and funny.

    i'll buy that for a dollar.

    robocop also has the best line: bitches, leave.

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