CHOULO19

It's really hard to break down a team playing this defensively. We need better movement and more runs into the box.

Wishing for an early goal to make things a lot easier here. Come on you blues!

It's the main game on beIN so there should be English streams.

No, no. You're fine. It's just that Fernando gets his news from a parallel dream universe of the extreme right. The strike actually targeted medium range missiles that were being delivered from Iran on their way to Hezbollah.

Try 20th century France. Our constitution was written by the French when they colonized us after the first world war based on their own constitution at the time and it has all sorts of weird laws that no one has bothered removing since. This one is originally based on the bible so the Church here has been fighting for some time against having it removed even though the cases where it has been actually used are very rare.

Sheesh, it was a joke. This is off topic but many animals commit suicide including micro-organisms. Penguins commit suicide when they are depressed. They walk away from the sea alone into the ice-desert where they are bound to starve to death. Can't remember what animal (dolphin iirc) can actually will their self to die when they want to commit suicide. Anyway, penguin suicide was mostly a joke but what I meant that even in animals with complex communities sexual orientation is never an issue. Only in human societies. Of course human sexuality is fluid. That's scientifically proven. But even more scientifically certain is that no conversion therapy we have even tried has managed to affect it even hormone therapy, which was my point. Hormone therapy for underage children is a whole different debate that has absolutely nothing to do with conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is proven to harm. If you're above 18 and you wish to harm yourself, you're free to do so. But underage children cannot give consent to be harmed. Up until last week it was legal in Lebanon to rape a woman as long as you marry her afterwards. Legal does not equal moral or right. I don't know nearly enough about gender dysphoria to debate this but I trust/hope that decisions on hormone therapy are not take lightly. But on any the difference is that hormone therapy actually works and achieves its desired purpose.

We desperately need to raise the tempo here. We're giving them way too much time to adjust.

It was more of joke about him getting cleared so late. But he's making mistakes and poor choices that have little to do with tactics. I think we could use a second striker on even more than a creative passer in midfield.

Maybe it would have been best had Luiz been ruled out of this one today...

WBA defending well so far. Can't afford to concede the first goal here.

Are you suggesting that Kante should make more mistakes leading to goals?

Sorry, I didn't realize we were talking about baby Tarzan here! Of course how you feel about your sexuality is dependent first and foremost on your community. We are not born with preconceived notions about sexuality, we're born with sexual instincts. Homosexuality is common in thousands of animal species. You don't see gay penguins having high suicide rates. That uncomfortable feeling about sexuality is a product of human society. Hormone therapy has absolutely nothing to do with this pseudo-science. Transgender people undergo hormone therapy to change their appearance and body shape. If anything, hormone therapy is even further proof that sexuality and even gender identity CANNOT be changed with 'treatment'. Conversion 'therapy' is harmful. It has been proven conclusively to be ineffective and harmful. There is a major scientific consensus about that fact. I would advise you to read the finds of studies into conversion therapy or even the opinions of medical organizations of it.

How the hell is the answer to a child feeling uncomfortable with himself to "do unfounded science experiments on them" rather than "educate their community to become more accepting and loving of them"?! The problem with parent's 'rights' to put their kids through homosexuality 'treatment' is that all the methods have been thoroughly studied scientifically in the 70s and 80s and conclusively debunked. It's basically mental torture. Families don't have the liberty to abuse their kids, even if it 'consensual' by the kids. That goes for sexual, physical and even mental abuse.

I absolutely, 100% support Nathaniel in pushing Aguero down. Great to see him standing up for his teammates.

I was most happy for Willian on Saturday because he's been really struggling on the pitch since his mom passed away. Great to see him regain some form. We will definitely need him to be on his top game this month.

Just DON'T get complacent!

Almost felt bad for Pep. He must have had some awful Torres flashbacks from Eden's goal!

Guys, I have some bad news. I will not be able to see this live, so our chances of winning are practically zero. We have not won a single broadcast match that I have missed in years! Sorry about that...

One thing is for certain, we'll have to perform better than we did against Tottenham if we want the points here. I honestly would bite your hand off for a point right now. It's not pessimism, but rather maths and probability. We're well due to drop points in the league.

There was also the European Super Cup against Bayern where we lost on pens. But I'm guessing that's officially a friendly.

Had to watch this in a cafe in a meeting so missed quite a lot of it but it looks like we were lucky to come out of the first half level. Felt we controlled the second half much better. Not a world class performance by any stretch, but an incredibly important 3 points to give us some breathing space for next week. Don't think we could have won it without Pedro's moment of brilliance, so went for him for MOTM.

Yeah, I remember that. Late 2013, I think, when were top of the EPL for a week or two in Jose first season back.

I did read it, but I just didn't think it was relevant to the point we were discussing. Yes, everything about us, including our minds, did evolve through natural selection which is not exactly self-interest but it does overlap with it more often than not. So you can certainly make the argument that even our morals and highest values are ultimately derived from self interest. But I don't think that is the same thing we are talking about because even if you define that as 'selfishness' it is NOT conscious. It's not even sub-conscious. It's built-in and its root never comes into our decision making process. So, when you see someone who desperately needs help, you help them not because it is ultimately in your self interest to promote a culture where people in need of help are given it because you or someone you love might need help in the future, but because empathy is built into your brain and your instinct is to help. Similarly, you don't think that there are finite resources on earth which is already over-populated and has surpassed its carrying capacity and that the growing global energy demand is unsustainable without causing an environmental meltdown so it is in your self interest and the interest of your children that there are less humans on earth so you should let that person in need suffer and die. Note: My boss is currently sitting across me giving me the "I know you're not typing something work-related" look, so I'll continue this post when I get home

Don't deny that we have evolved to live as part of communities, that we are programmed to prioritize the common good, that altruism is built into our morality, that what sets us apart as a species more than anything is a capacity for compassion and empathy for much more than just fellow humans, and most importantly that millions of ordinary people around the world commit incredible acts of selflessness every single day! That's not to say that humans don't have selfish tendencies, of course they do. But human brains are a mix of all sort of different and often contradicting motives. But what you take as a given, that the prevailing tendency in humans is selfishness, is not only easily disproved by simply looking at the overall trajectory of human societies it is also a belief that only started to be wide-spread post capitalism** and even 200 years would have been considered ridiculous. Sorry but I'm fed up with people using that shitty argument to try to justify targeting the weakest and most vulnerable among us and all sort of acts and positions that we ALL realize go against our shared moral codes. **In fact, even if you read Adam Smith (which no body actually does, especially capitalists) his "invisible hand" is an argument of why modern day international corporations would not be allowed in a free market because he thought that corporations would decide against being that selfish; undoubtedly a stupid argument since corporations are not humans (despite what US law says), but it does show what sort of mind frame he had.

NO one prefers facts to curses, Tomo...