Be Excellent To Each Other

At least you have photographic evidence to show that a child did it without your permission.

I've got a photo like that, with bonus Movember action:


In finding that, I also found one of my favorite pictures of the Grimlet:

God, those pictures are huge! Sorry. Blame Trooper.

I notice that the Grimlet doesn't have a battery pack in that top picture.

Very wise.

Indeed.

You didn't have to resize them though, did you. Personal convenience triumphs all.

It's three mouse clicks to have the forum do it for you.

Not if you are linking to an image...

Well yeah it is, you just put the image url in the upload attachment box.

Not on OSX chrome you can't.

Can't on my dishwasher either.

*care*

I'd be interested in how many browsers let you put a URL in the image attachment dialog. For science purposes.
I know you can't on the mobile skin on chrome, or OSX chrome. Is it just a chrome thing?

You can in desktop chrome on Windows.

10 shot dead in Paris after gunmen storm satirical newspaper! Christ on a bike.

POTW

Jesus. Seems to be IS related?

They used AKs? Who walks around Paris with assault rifles?

[edit]Baddies, obv.

Team America?

The established patriarchy

So, Ched Evans will play football again. For Charlton which I think is near Manchester.

No. That is Oldham

Yes, depressing news. And Charlton is in London.

Details

It's a city in the South of England but that's not important right now.

So, about that - Ched has done his time (not what he was originally meant to do - he was released two years into a five-year sentence). He maintains he's innocent, but let's ignore that for the time and say that the lady in question was indeed too drunk to consent and he broke the law.

Presumably he's not deemed a danger any more - hence he's out of prison. I fully understand that what he did was wrong (the idea of "too drunk to consent" is a different discussion), but why shouldn't he be allowed to play football again?

Note that I don't have a deep understanding of him as a person - he might be an arsehole for all I know.

I think I agree with Grim...

Grim... doesn't really have a solid opinion one way or the other (yet).

I can see why a club wouldn't want him as it would be bad for them financially (oh no!) what with losing sponsors and all. But what is the reasoning of the people that are signing the petitions?

I think the thing is that football is not a normal job, say if he was a TV presenter then nobody would expect that he would ever be able to resume his career, it would be unthinkable, he would have to go and do something else.

I think the "footballers as role models" is the main argument. And how he is still saying he is innocent.

Here's a good summary of the case against him playing football: http://linkis.com/independent.co.uk/7o2Pg

As a footnote to that, the lady he raped has had to change her name and move home five times since the case because of continued abuse from Evans' fans. Some of whom are utterly demented. Take a look at some of the replies to this: https://twitter.com/hrtbps/status/552506886143377409

Note that his protestations of innocence aren't that he denies any of the facts of the case, it's that he denies that sleeping with a woman almost comatose drunk isn't rape.

Good summary of the facts of the case: https://www.crimeline.info/case/r-v-che ... dwyn-evans

If I was out having lunch with someone and someone I didn't know turned up and just joined in, I'd be pretty pissed off, let alone if I was mid-shag.

While that's properly shit, that's not his fault. Well, you know what I mean. I'm reading the other thing now, though.

Hello again! There are a a few misconceptions about Ched Evans which are detailed here: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/com ... 57849.html

In short:

- "He has served his time" - no he hasn't. He's been released on licence and can't go abroad, for example. He is still serving his time.

- "He didn't rape anyone" - the jury disagreed. The details show he had sex with an unconscious woman who could not consent who was procured by a friend from a kebab shop for that very reason.

- "He needs to be rehabilitated" - the first steps for this are acceptance and remorse for his crime. He is unrepentant and believes he has done nothing wrong. He has a website set up to protest his innocence. He hasn't stopped any of his supporters harassing the victim who has had to change her identity and move house on multiple occasions. The fact he's unrepentant is a worry - if he doesn't think he's done anything wrong (apart from infidelity) then what's to stop him reoffending, except his relationship? Also rehabilitation doesn't even necessarily playing football professionally again, it just means reintegration into society.

- "he should be allowed to work again" - of course. But being a convicted rapist means you legally can't work some jobs, and morally perhaps shouldn't work others. Footballers for right or wrong are idolised by young boys and it sends the wrong message in a sport which is deeply misogynistic and racist as it is.

There are others, but those are the main points. He is an unrepentant convicted rapist - he should not be playing professional football again as it currently stands. If he had shown contrition and admitted he'd committed a heinous act and encouraged his supporters harrassing the victim then I may hold a different opinion.

No, true. It is the background context about how people feel, though -- both those who support him and those who don't.

I think we'll all be glad when work picks up again.

So slow, so sad. I imagine the cold has addled your brains, what with you not having a coat and all.

At least I know how to use quotes.

Also, I was writing a lengthy post, you bast.

Setting everything else to one side, I'm not overly sure why a club would want to sign him. Team sports rely on teams, and it'll reflect on the other members of the team as to whether they accept him. I wouldn't even want to go near that particular potato if I wanted a cohesive team.

I think I feel uncomfortable over it as I feel he is being punished by the state, rightly, and by the mob, wrongly. It isn't for the public to pick up where the state has stopped u til they are satisfied. It seems to be more about retribution than justice now and bourne on the back of him being in a position of privilege, in the public eye.

(This can count as a reply to Myp, too).
Christ, that's hardly a balanced piece, is it? "I hate someone and this is why." They seem to get very confused between facts and personal feeling.

It does have some bits that don't make me sneer at it, though:
I wasn't aware of that bit, fair enough. But presumably the terms of his licence don't stop him from working, so that's not really a great reason - all you're saying is "he can have a job, but not this job", which is sort of the whole point. But it's certainly important to bear in mind.

This bit, however, is quite right: That totally makes sense. Young (and not young) people who think "I want to be just like him" would be a bad thing, and I would (and have) happily get behind that line of thinking.

The rest of the article was pretty terrible, though.

Oh wait, I was reading it from the point of view that it was an article about him being allowed to play football, when it was actually about misconceptions. I'm less sneery now I've learned to read.

That can be a fun topic for later on.

From what I've read about the trial she *was* comatose by the time his friend had finished and he was having his go.

Whilst Rape is Rape, and Rape is bad, I am slightly surprised at two aspects of this

- Evans is 'fighting to clear his name' and while he might well believe he is innocent, he has done the prison time inside that he won't ever get back and as previously acknowledged above, if he had put his hands up and apologised this wouldn't be quite the same issue today. He must be really really convinced, or really really stupid. He's a footballer so I'll go with the latter.

- Lee Hughes was [(almost certainly not - Ed) drunk when he killed someone in his car, and went into hiding for 36 hours before handing himself in to the police. There was an outcry when he came back to play, but nowhere near this. Yes, he admitted it, but still, he killed someone.

Lee Hughes is a good discussion to have (and amusingly enough, or not, he restarted his career at Oldham too). However, he admitted and showed remorse for what he had done, and he also dropped down three divisions (he was previously playing for WBA in the Prem). Also social media was not what it is now back in 2007, so of course the public outcry was not as fierce.

If you are trying to clear your name, you would not say sorry.

Also, I still feel little good has come of twitter

Neither does Gaywood

The question is why do you want to clear your name? The reasoning is obvious, no-one wants that mark against them, and they will ordinarily try and rid themselves of it (whether it is deserved or not). If I'd been incorrectly prosecuted for rape, I'd pursue it until the day I dropped dead.

But for Evans, the case that being a footballer is different in being a role model, is also a flipside on a personal level - your career is of a finite length and is directly affected by the allegation - and for Evans he had two scenarios to pursue

- Acknowledge guilt (correctly or otherwise) and be spat at as a rapist his entire life and get on with his career for a lower league team
- Claim innocence, get it overturned or otherwise, still be spat at as a rapist for his entire life regardless, and (potentially) not earn any money in the only career he's qualified to pursue.