IT BEGINS

In 2008 I wondered how long it would be before we reached this point, where even the thinnest of veils started to drop. We're almost there.

I believe I did use the ‘N’ word in reference to the current occupant of the Whitehouse. For this, I do not apologize — he meets and exceeds my criteria for such...While I believe the problems associated with minorities in this country are momentous, I am not phobic.

-a public statement by Wolfeboro Police Commissioner Robert Copeland, in response to resident who complained after he called Obama n----r in a restaurant.

He's worked with a lot of blacks in his life. ... He said some harsh words about Mr. Obama, and here we are. This woman, she's blowing it all out of proportion.

-Commission Chairman Joseph Balboni Jr. on why he won't ask Copeland to resign.

It was just overheard in a public place, but he doubled down in a public statement to a constituent without exactly repeating it. It's just short of an official or pundit calling Obama n----r on the record. A direct statement is the last line left. I think it will be crossed before 2016, and a lot of bigoted white guys will whine about the response with some bullshit about "free speech".

This isn't defending "free speech", but speech free from consequences (or even criticism). The idea powerful white men who can, and often have, harmed the targets of their bigotry should be free from others responding by saying they shouldn't have power.

These false free speech arguments often include"next time it might be us". The real issue isn't speech, but fear what was done to others will be done to you. It's the bully assuming everyone else would be as bad if they could. Thus the pretense that a white guy facing consequences for talking shit is the like a lynching, or a gay man losing his job just for being gay.

Everyone else already lives in a world where saying anything, let alone whatever the fuck you feel like saying, may lead to problems. Free speech means everyone can say an asshole shouldn't have power and everyone does, quite often, only occasionally with real impact. Considering many other groups face disadvantages without saying a word, rich white bigoted dudes can handle being responsible for what they say.

The Raid 2: A Review and Haloween Costume Prediction

The Raid was one of the best action movies I've seen in years. It had a propulsive setup involving one building and an arrest gone horribly wrong. It was essentially a dance film with bone crunching fight scenes, a showcase of Gene Kelley, Fred Astaire, Donald O'Connor and Bob Fosse brawling.

The Raid 2 is about 45 minutes too long because it is a full musical to the first film's dance recital. So there's more plot, characterization and build up to each violent set piece, some unnecessary. There's also a lot more blood and gore, including a scene of multiple executions as two secondary characters negotiate which struck me as being similar to a humorous patter duet and, like those numbers, it's skillful but not as clever as it's supposed to be.

Fortunately The Raid 2 inverts the weakness of many classic Hollywood dance films in which there are fewer big numbers as the plot develops. Here there's more action once the stakes are clear, right about the time this character appears:




Hammer Girl.

She and Batboy are on screen for 15 minutes at most, but holy shit. Holy fucking shit. She gets one solo and one duo and scenes are stolen. The pace picks up and it's like everyone else stepped up their game to match the sheer awesomeness of Julie Estelle. Even a car chase scene - which might as well be the waltz of action films - is lively and amusing.

So I can still recommend the film. I can also imagine more than a few couples going with low maintenance but high reference value costumes like this: