Quotulatiousness

September 2, 2016

Vikings beat L.A. Rams 27-25 in final preseason game

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 11:45

In a game where neither team played their starters for any significant stretch, the key to the result was turnovers, with the Vikings scoring most of their points as a result of Ram turnovers. Unsurprisingly, the game wasn’t telecast outside the two teams’ local areas, so I followed the play on Twitter.

Given the quarterback situation in Minnesota and the need to ensure that 36-year-old Shaun Hill was healthy for the regular season, the starter for the Vikings was Joel Stave and he was backed up by recently waived-then-re-signed Brad Sorenson. C.J. Ham and Jhurell Pressley got most of the work at running back, and the starting wide receivers were Jarius Wright and rookie Laquon Treadwell.

The Rams opened the scoring with an early touchdown that the Vikings didn’t answer until nearly the two-minute warning with a Blair Walsh field goal. On special teams, safety Jayron Kearse recovered a muffed punt that put the Vikings on the Rams’ 19 yard line. Midway through the next series, Joel Stave left the game with a reported hand injury (although he was also put through the NFL’s concussion protocol) and was replaced by Sorenson.

On the next series, Stephen Weatherly recovered a dropped snap by Rams quarterback Jared Goff to give the Vikings great field position near the goal line. Unable to punch the ball in, the Vikings settled for a second Walsh field goal to move the score to 7-6 before the half.

On the next series, Toby Johnson dived to intercept a tipped Jared Goff pass and puts the Vikings back in potential scoring position.

Jhurell Pressley takes a Sorenson pass 28 yards for the Vikings’ first touchdown of the night.

The Rams opened the scoring in the second half with a field goal to cut the Vikings lead to 13-10, but on the ensuing kickoff, Jhurell Pressley put on a great effort to return the kick 106 yards for a touchdown. He may not make the 53-man roster but he’s almost certainly going to make the practice squad (or some other team’s roster) based on his work tonight.

On yet another special teams play, Jayron Kearse hit the Rams’ punt returner forcing a fumble that tight end David Morgan was able to recover on the 6-yard line. C.J. Ham ran the ball in for the final Vikings score of the night. I almost shut down my Twitter feed and went to bed at this point, but the Rams did their best to make the game interesting, scoring a touchdown and two-point conversion to move the score to 27-18 in the fourth quarter. They added another touchdown with less than two minutes in the game, but that was their last chance to score. Given that the Rams gave up five turnovers, the score was amazingly close at the end.

Romania Joins The War I THE GREAT WAR Week 110

Filed under: Europe, Germany, History, Military, WW1 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Published on 1 Sep 2016

After more than two years of carnage, the war is still growing as Romania joins the war. The moments seems right to them as the Russians steamrolled the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Eastern front this summer. But can the unproven and under equipped Romanian Army really seize the moment? The German High Command wants to make sure that Romania regrets joining the Entente and sends two of their best generals: Erich von Falkenhayn and August von Mackensen.

The hijab, the burka, and the burkini

Filed under: France, Law, Liberty, Religion — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Daniel Greenfield explains the role of the hijab, the burka, and other “traditional” Islamic clothing for women:

Does it matter what Muslim women wear to the beach? Arguably the government should not be getting involved in swimwear. But the clothing of Muslim women is not a personal fashion choice.

Muslim women don’t wear hijabs, burkas or any other similar garb as a fashion statement or even an expression of religious piety. Their own religion tells us exactly why they wear them.

“O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies that they may thus be distinguished and not molested.” (Koran 33:59)

It’s not about modesty. It’s not about religion. It’s about putting a “Do Not Rape” sign on Muslim women. And putting a “Free to Molest” sign on non-Muslim women.

This isn’t some paranoid misreading of Islamic scripture. Islamic commentaries use synonyms for “molested” such as “harmed”, “assaulted” and “attacked” because women who aren’t wearing their burkas aren’t “decent” women and can expect to be assaulted by Muslim men. These clothes designate Muslim women as “believing” women or “women of the believers”. That is to say Muslims.

One Koranic commentary is quite explicit. “It is more likely that this way they may be recognized (as pious, free women), and may not be hurt (considered by mistake as roving slave girls.)” The Yazidi girls captured and raped by ISIS are an example of “roving slave girls” who can be assaulted by Muslim men.

Muslim women who don’t want to be mistaken for non-Muslim slave girls had better cover up. And non-Muslim women had better cover up too or they’ll be treated the way ISIS treated Yazidi women and the way that Mohammed and his gang of rapists and bandits treated any woman they came across.

That’s what the burka is. That’s what the hijab is. And that’s what the burkini is.

And this is not just some relic of the past or a horror practiced by Islamic “extremists”. It’s ubiquitous. A French survey found that 77 percent of girls wore the hijab because of threats of Islamist violence. It’s numbers like these that have led to the French ban of the burka and now of the burkini.

When clothing becomes a license to encourage harassment, then it’s no longer a private choice.

On the other hand, Daniel Pipes says the burkini poses no threat and should not be banned:

France has been seized by a silly hysteria over the burkini, prompting me to wonder when Europeans will get serious about their Islamist challenge.

For starters, what is a burkini? The word (sometimes spelled burqini) combines the names of two opposite articles of female clothing: the burqa (an Islamic tent-like, full-body covering) and the bikini. Also known as a halal swimsuit, it modestly covers all but the face, hands and feet, consisting of a top and a bottom. It resembles a wetsuit with a head covering.

Aheda Zanetti of Ahiida Pty Ltd in Australia claims to have coined the portmanteau in 2003, calling it “smaller than a burka” while “two piece like a bikini.” The curious and sensational cross of two radically dissimilar articles of clothing along with the need it fit for active, pious Muslim women, the burkini (as Ahiida notes) was “the subject of an immediate rush of interest and demand.” Additionally, some women (like British cooking celebrity Nigella Lawson) wear it to avoid a tan, while pious Jews have adopted a variant garment.

[…] the burkini poses no danger to public security. Unlike the burqa or niqab, it leaves the face uncovered; relatively tight-fitting, it leaves no place to hide weapons. Men cannot wear it as a disguise. Further, while there are legitimate arguments about the hygiene of large garments in pools (prompting some hotels in Morocco to ban the garment), this is obviously not an issue on the coastal beaches of France.

Accordingly, beach burkinis should be allowed without restriction. Cultural arguments, such as the one made by Valls, are specious and discriminatory. If a woman wishes to dress modestly on the beach, that is her business, and not the state’s. It’s also her prerogative to choose unflattering swimwear that waterlogs when she swims.

QotD: H.L. Mencken’s beliefs

Filed under: Government, Liberty, Quotations, Religion — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 01:00

I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind — that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.

I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.

I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty and the democratic form is as bad as any of the other forms.

I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.

I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech — alike for the humblest man and the mightiest, and in the utmost freedom of conduct that is consistent with living in organized society.
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.

I believe in the reality of progress.

I — But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.

H.L. Mencken, “What I Believe”, The Forum 84, 1930-09.

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