Pattern Ghost

My understanding is that Ant-Man will be a "heist picture," presumably with the shrinking being used to sneak into and out of high-security facilities. While he will no doubt fight a critter or two while shrunk, I doubt it will be a major focus of the character or the film.

Look, we all know there are some folks who doubt Robot Sea Monsters despite all the evidence...
but I refuse to believe in Texas!

I was assigned to Berlin from 1988-1990. I also spent time in Frankfurt and a few other places in the West for various reasons. (Training, vacationing, etc.) Things have likely changed, but my very first impression of German police was seeing them at the train station (not so much the airport that I can recall), toting around submachine guns . . . and hoping they didn't have a reason to use them in that crowded/enclosed space. In general, I didn't see a lot of patrol cars. Hardly any the entire time I was there. But I also did a few concert surveillance details, and there was always a huge police presence (these in Berlin, before the wall came down). I'm talking about motorcycle cops on standby in the stadium, and huge riot vans on each corner, with a few cars to boot, in a perimeter around the concert.
 
In Berlin, we ran a joint police desk with the German police. Berlin was kind of odd, because at the time we actually had some jurisdiction over the Berlin civilians (still WWII occupation army at the time), so we had the joint desk. For practical purposes, we never really bothered with the civilians, but we were supposed to do ride-alongs with our German counterparts and vice versa. One time I took Frank with me. Frank must have been seven feet tall and about half as wide. At one Volksfest, we had a guy who didn't want to leave the beer tent at the end, and got in Frank's face. I watched Frank pick him up by the lapels and throw him at least ten feet right into a large trash can. That guy wasn't small, at least my size, which was about 180 at the time.
 
Anyway, Frank has me pull over a local for failure to stop. He collects the fine right there . . . then buys lunch with it.

It does seem shockingly crass.  I suppose we should be happy he didn't forward the jokes to his former girlfriend's family.
 
I've known too many people whose lives were screwed up by alcohol.  I wouldn't expect prohibition to work, but I really don't understand the cultural fixation with drinking.  At all.

@ The "Young Turks"-clip: First, yes - police who is not investigating crimes, that is not acceptable.
 
But am I the only one who is reminded of "Sesame Street" when watching the clip: The guy and the gal keep repeating their argument over and over and over and then some more times AGAIN:
 
"The cops are not doing their jobs! They are not doing their jobs! The cannot do their jobs not! I am outraged at theim not doing their jobs and they should be fired! They should be fired because they don't do their jobs! Did I mention that I am mad because the cops don't do their jobs? Because they don''t!"
 
What is this show? Are the people who watch the show really mentally retarded or have the attention span of a gnat that the "hosts" (journalist they can't be!) have to repeat everything at least twice in each sentence and then the other has to say it again - for 6 minutes!?!
 
A pain to watch (I got the fisrt 4 minutes then I had to close the video). But now I really know what the meaning of the word "redundant" is ...
 
It seems to be a new style

It feels like there should be a large explosion in the background. It's that kind of walk.

I just glossed over what you wrote. You and I fundamentally have a different idea of what trials are for. Apparently, you are fixated on their use for Public Relations and think that a trial will meaningfully change public opinion. I think you are wrong on both counts. I don't believe in show trials and I believe confirmation bias says a trial wouldn't have changed anyone's mind.
 
As to the particulars of the case, you are doing a very good job at ignoring WHY Brown was shot. Brown was shot because he wrestled and punched with a cop while the cop was in his car. He didn't get shot because he was big or black or because of cigarillos. Even witnesses who thought the cop was wrong agreed there was a fight at the cop car.
 
If you start winning a fight with a cop he will use his gun to keep you from using it.

The first is an example of why I didn't comment on the second to Frank.

The Rose is probably going to post 30 more of these in the next week.  I would advice that the best thing (the best interest for you and him) you can do is just ignore the links for the time being. 

Don't kid yourself. The us vs. them thing goes both ways. It's a vicious cycle that isn't going to be broken any time soon,  IMO.
 
This isn't to excuse the officers in any of the three cases mentioned here. I think they all could have been avoided. The Ferguson officer should have called for backup, the NYC officers should not have gone for the neck area in their dubious technically-legal choke, and the police who shot the kid with the Airsoft gun should have approached with more caution (and backup if they thought he was armed). 
 
But to claim that the police are somehow "safe" from harm is disingenuous. Police officers have deal with violent people day in and day out. You seem to have no idea how warped some people truly are (which isn't a bad thing), or how many of them we cycle in and out of our prison system continually.
 
I had a recent discussion with a young officer who came out in response to a noise complaint I made a couple of years ago. This is in a town of about 100,000, just north of Tacoma. So, very much more a suburban than urban setting. While I was standing next to him telling him what was going on, he kept edging away from me. The first time, I thought he was sliding over to get a better view at the area his partner was in. The second time, I got the clue something wasn't OK, so I asked him about it. He said that he was trying to keep a safe distance. Keep in mind, he's talking to a middle-aged white guy, who was the one who called in the complaint. I asked him if he had a lot of problems with that, and he said that he got jumped by people he was interviewing all the time. Granted, we had our share of spillover knuckleheads from Tacoma, but that was a bit surprising to hear.
 
Now, this kid was honestly fearful, and hadn't been on the job long. Someone had already failed him in his training, because he wasn't projecting any kind of authority, just fear. He should have politely and firmly asked me to stand back if he wasn't comfortable with the distance. Nobody had apparently given the kid any training in interpersonal communication skills. As an MP, do you know what my first level of force was on our use of force continuum? IPC: Interpersonal Communication. Now, given that law enforcement duties were only about a quarter to a third of what we actually were trained on and did, why is it that so many civilian police are so lacking in this area?
 
Take that kid a few years down the line: He hears about the Lakewood shooting of four officers, he gets into more scrapes with the local knuckleheads, etc. His training isn't from carefully developed protocols, but by the school of hard knocks and by jaded veteran cops who have also been to that same school. He'll either leave the job or harden up. He may be jumpy like the Chicago cops who came on too strong and killed the twelve year old.
 
The us vs. them mentality is founded in an unfortunate reality, and that is the reality that there are a whole crapton of "Them" out there. Even if only ten percent or five percent of the people you contact in a day are criminals, and only five or ten percent of those are in the "Them" category -- the don't-give-a-F***, YOLO, violent with no regard for common sense but a whole lot of hate for "the Man" category -- then your average officer is still going to run into those types on a very regular basis.
 
The root problem here is the damage done to this country by slavery, by the dehumanization of a people as an attempt to keep them in chains, and by all that followed. There's no easy solution to the us vs them mentality that exists on both sides, because it's a hugely complex problem that's rooted in the origin of our country.
 
What we do need is to give our police better training, and better guidance. We also need to give them solid mental health support: It's a very rare person who can deal with the crap police have to deal with day in and day out and not be changed by it.  We also need to filter out the worse elements as well. There are plenty of people who take the job because of the authority. Habitual abusers of authority should be fired, not reprimanded. Police unions can't be allowed to dictate disciplinary policies. Unions can play an important role in making sure that such policies aren't abusive, but shouldn't be allowed to put up a wall against any discipline of a member by an employer, which happens all too often with police and teacher "unions" in this country.

So can we at least agree that Al Sharpton is a tapeworm upon American society?

Eh, nevermind. Enjoy the view from your high horse.

I think it's better for armed robbers to have a little fear. And I didn't say it needs to be of the police. I have absolutely no sympathy for violent felons, nor do I think they should ever feel safe in plying their trade.

Please don't lower yourself to putting words in my mouth. My post didn't go anywhere near there. We're done here.

Please don't lower yourself to putting words in my mouth. My post didn't go anywhere near there. We're done here.

Okay, the following is a complaint from an overly entitled child who doesn't seem to understand thing one about capitalism:
 
"What are you going to say to that? Ooh, I bet I can guess this one, too: “If you don’t like it, don’t buy it.” But my individual choice not to buy Grand Theft Auto until they make this change has affected absolutely nothing over the years. I never bought a copy of any GTA game—not since my experiences seeing the third one at my friend’s house. And my decision has not affected Take Two at all."
 
 
Just because you don't like a game doesn't mean the game should not be sold or that the game publishers should somehow magically adjust everything to fit you. This is a level of narcissism that is far too rampant in our society. Just because I don't like or buy Apple products doesn't mean I should expect them to somehow cave to my one personal demand.
 
Next, while I have no desire to play GTA or any violence simulators it is disingenuous for the author to single out sex workers as somehow being extra put upon. They aren't. GTA and the like allow you to kill sex workers, that is right. Do you know who else they allow you to kill? EVERYONE! There is nothing special about the treatment of sex workers in the game than any other group. But the author knows that she can't make a case against the game on legit grounds so she is trying to drive up sympathy by pointing out how sex workers can be killed. 
 
Next, the author doesn't seem to understand the mechanics of the game, either. She says "[sex worker's] deaths have no in-game consequence". Well, guess what, that isn't true. If you kill any character, sex worker or not, in a public manner there are consequences. If you kill any character in a secluded place, there are only a few consequences at best. It isn't singling out sex workers but rather treating them the same way it treats every character in the game. 
 
Next up "I could link all day long..." Then do it. The problem is that there have been no credible studies that actually link in game violence with real life actions. If anything we have evidence to the opposite since violent crime has gone down year after year despite in game violence becoming more frequent, more gory, and more 'real' every day. But why should the author be expected to actually prove harm when she can just say it does. 
 
As to the actual Australian Petition: it was a worthless battle to wage. Target decided to take a game that has already been on selves for a year, that is likely not sold in any large quantity from them, and not directly sell it any more. Ten to one they bundled them all up and just sold them to another retailer at cost who would sell them. So they still made money while probably losing a few bucks in sales. 
 
As to the actual game itself (GTA in all its iterations): they seem like awful games. I really can't fathom why people would ever want to play such horrible trash. But then again, I find myself hard pressed to ever do any of the 'bad' actions available to me in any games. Heck, I find role playing anything less than a classically good or lawful neutral character to be uncomfortable. But those are my tastes. I know them and shop with an appreciation towards them. I encourage everyone to do the same. And I hope that enough people will have similar tastes to me such that only awesome games will get made. But I don't feel so entitled as the author as to assume every company must subscribe to my sensibilities. 
 
La Rose. 

Please don't lower yourself to putting words in my mouth. My post didn't go anywhere near there. We're done here.

Don't kid yourself. The us vs. them thing goes both ways. It's a vicious cycle that isn't going to be broken any time soon,  IMO.
 
This isn't to excuse the officers in any of the three cases mentioned here. I think they all could have been avoided. The Ferguson officer should have called for backup, the NYC officers should not have gone for the neck area in their dubious technically-legal choke, and the police who shot the kid with the Airsoft gun should have approached with more caution (and backup if they thought he was armed). 
 
But to claim that the police are somehow "safe" from harm is disingenuous. Police officers have deal with violent people day in and day out. You seem to have no idea how warped some people truly are (which isn't a bad thing), or how many of them we cycle in and out of our prison system continually.
 
I had a recent discussion with a young officer who came out in response to a noise complaint I made a couple of years ago. This is in a town of about 100,000, just north of Tacoma. So, very much more a suburban than urban setting. While I was standing next to him telling him what was going on, he kept edging away from me. The first time, I thought he was sliding over to get a better view at the area his partner was in. The second time, I got the clue something wasn't OK, so I asked him about it. He said that he was trying to keep a safe distance. Keep in mind, he's talking to a middle-aged white guy, who was the one who called in the complaint. I asked him if he had a lot of problems with that, and he said that he got jumped by people he was interviewing all the time. Granted, we had our share of spillover knuckleheads from Tacoma, but that was a bit surprising to hear.
 
Now, this kid was honestly fearful, and hadn't been on the job long. Someone had already failed him in his training, because he wasn't projecting any kind of authority, just fear. He should have politely and firmly asked me to stand back if he wasn't comfortable with the distance. Nobody had apparently given the kid any training in interpersonal communication skills. As an MP, do you know what my first level of force was on our use of force continuum? IPC: Interpersonal Communication. Now, given that law enforcement duties were only about a quarter to a third of what we actually were trained on and did, why is it that so many civilian police are so lacking in this area?
 
Take that kid a few years down the line: He hears about the Lakewood shooting of four officers, he gets into more scrapes with the local knuckleheads, etc. His training isn't from carefully developed protocols, but by the school of hard knocks and by jaded veteran cops who have also been to that same school. He'll either leave the job or harden up. He may be jumpy like the Chicago cops who came on too strong and killed the twelve year old.
 
The us vs. them mentality is founded in an unfortunate reality, and that is the reality that there are a whole crapton of "Them" out there. Even if only ten percent or five percent of the people you contact in a day are criminals, and only five or ten percent of those are in the "Them" category -- the don't-give-a-F***, YOLO, violent with no regard for common sense but a whole lot of hate for "the Man" category -- then your average officer is still going to run into those types on a very regular basis.
 
The root problem here is the damage done to this country by slavery, by the dehumanization of a people as an attempt to keep them in chains, and by all that followed. There's no easy solution to the us vs them mentality that exists on both sides, because it's a hugely complex problem that's rooted in the origin of our country.
 
What we do need is to give our police better training, and better guidance. We also need to give them solid mental health support: It's a very rare person who can deal with the crap police have to deal with day in and day out and not be changed by it.  We also need to filter out the worse elements as well. There are plenty of people who take the job because of the authority. Habitual abusers of authority should be fired, not reprimanded. Police unions can't be allowed to dictate disciplinary policies. Unions can play an important role in making sure that such policies aren't abusive, but shouldn't be allowed to put up a wall against any discipline of a member by an employer, which happens all too often with police and teacher "unions" in this country.

I just read an interview that said they got permission to make Skye who she is at the very beginning, so I doubt the all normals team was ever a mandate. Her powers could still be fairly low-key, though, keeping the show at street level more or less.

Nope. She's not even making me budge on my position. Setting up a tier system and hoping for no abuse is naive at best. I don't claim to know European priorities, but here in America, better stream for pay would go to things like commercials and cutting rivals who couldn't keep up with payments off. It would become legalized extortion by the providers.
 
You want to really speed up the internet all around? Encourage better and quicker infrastructure with faster connection (Something that many companies in the US ALSO fight tooth and nail)

I forgot to mention, when my wife and daughter and I watched a recent episode of The Flash on Comcast's On Demand, they showed their message that the fast-forward was disabled.  My daughter said, "Can we pause for a moment and appreciate the irony that we can't fast forward during an episode of The Flash?"

That video looks like it's censoring the actual shooting. I saw the uncensored footage, and it did look like his hand went for his waistband.
 
EDIT: The second video matches the one I saw. Just before he goes down, he reaches for his waistband.
 
IMO, they came in hard and fast, probably shouting at the kid to drop the gun before they got out of the car, the kid got confused by the noise and lights and sudden appearance of the vehicle, and reached for the gun to show them it's not real. The "shock and awe" tactic they used wasn't really called for (IMO) when the kid was just sitting there quietly, and I think it led to him getting confused and doing exactly the wrong thing to do when an amped up, amateurish cop shows up.
 
The problem here is that those officers weren't in control of their emotions. They got the call of a kid waving a gun around. Then they assumed that they were acting on good information, despite the fact that their training and past experiences should have shown them that eyewitnesses are unreliable at best. So, they went in with the intent of taking down some kid with a gun instead of the intent of finding out what the situation was. Even had they been right, it was foolish to make that approach with just one unit.
 
At the end of the day, the officers created the situation and shot a confused boy. However, I think criminal prosecution is highly unlikely. Shooting someone who is reaching for a gun isn't going to put any police officer in jail, regardless of their blunder of an approach to the situation. I sincerely hope that they are taken to the cleaners in civil court, to the extent that the city both screens and trains its officers better and that both their careers are permanently ended.

Not at all. If someone is pointing a weapon at you or drawing a weapon, you simply shoot them. Doing otherwise would be foolish. That said, there are situations where someone is armed but not immediately threatening someone's life, and where police have been able to talk them down or take them down without killing them. But in general, if an officer's life is under immediate threat, there won't be any warnings.
 
Not supporting the officers in the case under discussion, mind you.

Not at all. If someone is pointing a weapon at you or drawing a weapon, you simply shoot them. Doing otherwise would be foolish. That said, there are situations where someone is armed but not immediately threatening someone's life, and where police have been able to talk them down or take them down without killing them. But in general, if an officer's life is under immediate threat, there won't be any warnings.
 
Not supporting the officers in the case under discussion, mind you.

The sad thing about that headline for me is the word 'shocking' ... The Feds may find it so, I find myself depressingly unsurprised.