Live by social media, die by social media

A few days ago, I posted about a social media celebrity named Alissa Violet who claimed that she and her boyfriend, supposedly another online celebrity named Ricky “FaZe” Banks, were assaulted and ejected by the security personnel at a Cleveland bar called Barley House over the Thanksgiving weekend. They both posted their accounts, she showing a bleeding lip and a bruise over her eye, and their fans around the nation were up in arms and vowed to take revenge on Barley House, its security personnel, and any other bar patrons whom they felt had wronged their idols. These fans even threatened to come to Cleveland to carry out their threats but it seemed like they limited their attacks to bad Yelp reviews for Barley House and harassing and threatening online and by phone any person whom they could identify.
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Brilliant one-minute film about a prepper

‘Prepper’ is the name given to those people who take extensive precautions to survive in the case of a major calamity such as nuclear war breaking out or the US being invaded and taken over by (say) Costa Rica or electing a socialist lesbian of color as president. These precautions take the form of heavily arming themselves, creating well-stocked bunkers, and learning skills that will enable them to survive in the wild and live off the land.
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Is Donald Trump really going crazy?

Seth Meyers reveals the revolting things that Matt Lauer did and also discusses the possibility that Trump is nuts.

It is incredible that Lauer got away with that behavior so long. Like others, Meyers has noted the detail that Lauer had a secret button installed under his desk that would lock the door remotely. Observers seem to think that this was to prevent his target from escaping by running from the room. That may be true but I think it is more likely that it was to prevent others from accidentally entering and seeing him while he was making his gross moves on the women. This detail also raises broader culpability questions for NBC. I doubt that Lauer did the secret wiring himself. It had to be something that was requested through management and directed to the building manager to implement. How come no one raised any questions about the reasons for this strange request?
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Review: Godless (2017)

I just finished watching this Netflix mini-series. It is a western, a genre that I am partial to. The main arc of the story is similar to that of the classic western Shane where a mysterious gunfighter weary of the life he has led and seeking to escape his past arrives in a small town and takes a job as a hired hand on a family farm. But he cannot escape his past.
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Fun with mercury

In recent years, mercury has required a bad reputation as a toxic chemical that one should avoid. Back in the day when I was a schoolboy, mercury was the element that was the most fun. We would handle it with bare hands in science classes to measure atmospheric pressure and rejoice when a mercury thermometer broke and we could play with this fascinating liquid metal and its strange properties that would try to form itself into a sphere if possible and would slide over surfaces so easily.
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It’s good to be the king or, failing that, rich

Some may recall a post of mine from back in August that dealt with how the extremely wealthy people living along a private street known as Presidio Terrace in San Francisco failed to pay the appropriate taxes for it and the city went ahead and sold the street at auction to a couple of investors who planned to charge the residents for parking. Naturally, this caused an outrage.
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Can there be redemption for those who have behaved badly?

I believe that people can redeem themselves, that just because they have done something wrong at some point in their lives does not mean that they are beyond the pale and permanently unworthy of our regard and even friendship at some later point in their lives. Hence I try not to be too judgmental about others. Part of this is admittedly self-interest. In my own past, I have believed, said, and taken stands on issues such as race, gender, sexuality, and a whole host of other political and social issues that I now deeply regret and am ashamed of. All I can say in mitigation is that I did not know any better then. I like to think that over time I have grown, matured, and perhaps even become enlightened. I would hate to be thought of now as the person that I was then.
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Sleazy sting artists get badly bitten

Project Veritas and its head James O’Keefe are a sleazy right wing outfit whose mode of operation is to interview people in any organization that does not serve their agenda and then misleadingly edit their footage to make it appear that the organization is deceitful and unlawful. They recently tried to come to the aid of Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused by many women of pursuing them when they were teenagers, and engaging in sexual contact with a girl when she was just 14.
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The difficult road for ex-Muslims even in the US

It is hard for Muslims to renounce Islam. In 13 Muslim-majority countries such an act is punishable by death but even in other countries that are more secular, there is tremendous family and community pressure to stay within the faith. People who say they no longer believe can face being ostracized even by the members of their immediate families. Given the close-knit nature of Asian families and the strong deference expected to be shown by children to their parents, it is extremely hard for young people to do anything that might harm those ties.
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