Blackbird439 comments

If the surface of the water is clogged with cherry blossoms, this will inhibit oxygen exchange between the air and the water. Those carp are probably asphyxiating, which would explain why this carp appears to be gasping for oxygen at the surface of the moat (a classic sign of oxygen-deprivation in fish.)

There are all sorts of weirdos out there. I once heard of a guy in the States who committed suicide when he learned that the television series: Battlestar Galactica was going to be cancelled.

A gang of armed men have illegally seized a building and are defying the authorities. The police respond by trying to reach a peaceful resolution. WTF??? Do I see a double-standard here? In America unarmed black men engaging in minor misdemeanors are gunned down by police on a daily basis. But a gang of militiamen armed to the teeth and clearly breaking the law get a free pass. Just send in the SWAT teams and just shoot the hell out of everyone in the building. Kill 'em all.

The United Nations run the refugee camps for Syrians who are waiting for safe haven in other countries. These refugees are individually screened by the UN to determine their backgrounds, qualifications and security risks. Its the UN that determined that the majority of Syrian refugees were educated, middle-class people. Why do you think Angela Merkel wants Syrian refugees to come to Germany? She said that her country needed skilled, educated people and that the Syrian refugees fit the bill.

@Blackbird439 " the majority of Syrian refugees are educated, middle to upper-class professionals" could you reveal the source of this data?

Implying that Syrians refugees should take up arms and fight ISIS rather than seek safe haven is a bit delusional. The majority of Syrian refugees are educated, middle to upper-class professionals with no military background. How many dentists, accountants or civil engineers in America would take up arms if an invading army attacked their country? (an invading army that likes to slowly saw off the heads of their live prisoners with meat cleavers.) Most would probably flee to the Canadian border and apply for refugee status.

Given the number of mass-shootings in the United States (380 for 2015) its no wonder that Americans are super-paranoid; but their fixation on Muslims defies logic. More than 95% of the 380 mass-shootings this year were committed by non-Muslims. Most of them were committed by white trash, right-wing nutcases, Christian fundamentalists, etc, etc. Based on these statistics, I'd feel a lot safer standing in an elevator with a dozen Muslims wearing backpacks than I would in a shopping mall full of average, middle class Americans.

During times of economic upheaval, populations always gravitate towards fascism. Trump's loud rhetoric and hate-speech are highly reminiscent of people like Josef Goebbels and Adolf Hitler. Its a sad statement about America when Republican supporters favor Trump over all other candidates.

I think this entire poll is a bit bogus. I live in Canada and I bet if I asked 100 people if they would take up arms against ISIS, or if they would be willing to engage in live combat against an invading force, maybe one or two people would answer in the affirmative. I think you'd get similar results in any other Western country. Its easy to claim that you would fight for your country when responding to a stupid poll in the comfort of your home (and knowing full well you'd never be accepted into the army anyways.) Most people also claim in polls they would never cheat on their taxes.

Is there something wrong with honoring a nation's war dead? Sure, there are individuals interred there who were war criminals, but during times of war atrocities are committed by both sides. The thing is, the winner of the war gets to write history and white-wash their own war crimes. American war cemeteries are brimming with dead soldiers and officers who by today's standards could easily be categorized as war criminals. I don't see American politicians being condemned for visiting their own military cemeteries and paying homage to their fallen soldiers.

Pro wrestlers and television anchorwomen are chosen to run the country? Its getting to be as bad as it is in America. Perhaps they'll make Hatsune Miku the minister of technology next.

Seems we've been here before. When Jews fleeing the Nazi regime sought refuge in other countries, governments around the world shut the door on them. The argument being that the Jews couldn't be trusted, they had a hidden agenda, they wouldn't assimilate, they would undermine the society, culture and economy of any country they settled in. They were too alien, their values weren't like ours, they were swarthy, dirty and depraved, their religion was strange and threatening, blah blah blah. We just never learn.

It never ceases to amaze me how sanctimonious people can be; heaping abuse one two mothers who've just had their children murdered. Many Japanese women are single mothers working one or more jobs just so that their ingrate kids have roofs over their heads and food on the table. On top of that they may be doing all the shopping, house cleaning and looking after elderly parents. Can we reasonably expect them to also keep a 24-hour watch on their children as well? Kids these days are often more concerned with hanging out with their friends, surfing the net and immersing themselves in social media than they are with even talking to their mothers, let alone helping them. And lets put some blame where it belongs. These two kids were both seriously stupid even for 12 year old's.