Saint Albert

Fantastic news!

I certainly get the impression that the club is the last to find out that their player is planning on leaving for another club. It's not my favourite part of things. Right now there seem to be two conflicting lines of thought on VVD - the first that his family is settled here and he agreed to give Saints another year after getting the captaincy. The other is that he is pretty much half way out the door to Chelsea, with City also sniffing around. Neither of these conflicting alternatives would surprise me but I'd be shocked if he ends up with Everton.

Yoshi was my MOM, but am very happy with the team's performance in this game particularly the 1st half. If I was a W.Brom supporter I'd be angry with their first half performance particularly the way their midfield stood off the ball. We were missing almost half of the first team and this performance & win is a credit to the coaches and the players. Great to see FF standing tall. Tadic was influential and set up Clasie's great finish on the goal. It takes a bit of character to come in after missing so many starts, not even making the squad at times, and produce a performance of that quality. I continue to enjoy Redmond 's progression this season, and Puel looks to be vindicated in his decision to start Stephens, who at least to my eyes is turning into a good'un.

I refer you to my original post. You seem to have moved the goal posts on me, again. My original comment was "Significant portions of the Muslim population worldwide support views that are wholly incompatible with western countries," hence the world view references in my subsequent reply to your post. The views of individuals from the nations referred to in the polls on things such as terrorist organisations, Sharia law, freedom of speech, LGBTQ rights and the status of women are relevant given the international nature of communications nowadays, the international nature of open messages issued by terror organisations, and immigration and refugee claims from those nations to western countries. I don't recall raising the metaphorical finger at UK Muslims specifically, and that was an odd comment for you to make given that in the same post you placed significant emphasis on my reliance on opinions from worldwide sources, that you consider to be irrelevant. And yes I would like to see this conversation happen with all organised religions including the Catholic church. I also said originally "If we continue to blame this on lone idiots, the sole bad apple, and do not at least have a conversation about popular views that help to incubate extremist and isolationist tendencies, we will still be talking about this problem decades into the future." This seems to be pretty close to what you are getting at in your second paragraph. A conversation is required. I am advocating for nothing more than having a conversation, especially as the ISIS problem was created by the second Iraq war. And yes I agree that short posts on footy forums will achieve precisely nothing to resolve a highly complex international issue.

I certainly agree with you that the polling produces variable results and can be unreliable based on its methodology. Unfortunately, many polls report a significant support for terrorist organisations worldwide beyond the de minimis amount cited in the one poll that you mentioned: http://www.pewresearch.org/files/old-assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf#page=60 http://www.pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/ http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-publics-share-concerns-about-extremist-groups/ And yes, I certainly agree that non-Muslims can commit atrocities based upon religion, extremism and/or hatred, but that is a statement of the obvious, isn't it. We were discussing a lone wolf attack by an isolated radicalized Muslim convert, and I gave another example of a lone wolf attack by an isolated radicalized Muslim convert in Canada. If you would like to play the old-fashioned game of bait and switch, I certainly agree that the attack by an apparent white supremacist in PQ was obviously every bit as odious and evil as the attack in London, and the attacks in Nice and Paris, and the attacks in Germany, and Belgium and in California and Florida. Certainly non-Muslims have done some horrible things in the recent past and they will unfortunately continue to do it. Dylan Roof is another example, and I’m sure there are more. Of course, in the cases of both the PQ attacker and Dylan Roof, it will have been important to assess the role played by extremist ideology and organisations in their attacks (like other countries it has a disturbing presence in Canada), just as it is important to examine the role of extremist ideology in last week's attack. I run the risk of repeating myself, but ISIS puts out propaganda and information on how to commit terrorist attacks. ISIS have made public their advice to radicalized individuals to use vehicles to commit mass murder on soft targets. These are the methods used by many of the recent lone wolf attackers, which suggests (but does not by itself prove) that they got their ideas and inspiration from organized terrorists. That’s all I was trying to say. From a public security standpoint, it is very dangerous to look at last week’s event in a vacuum. Re the prevalence of extremism in France, it may also have something more to do with the history of North African colonialism, the relative ease of passage through French borders of both extremists and weaponry (I recall that there was a significant Belgian influence in the Paris attacks), and the marginalized socio-economic status of a large population of Muslim young adults.

I'd be surprised if the release clause bit is true.

I found this documentary on Netflix today. Worth mentioning it again in case someone has not seen it yet. It is compulsive viewing. Great drummer, and a completely interesting train-wreck of a person.

Ignore was the wrong word...Interpret may have been better. I was just trying to say that we should not dismiss attacks like this as isolated events tied exclusively to an individual attacker's personal criminal ideations. An ideology turned him from a village bully, petty criminal and general loser into a mass murderer.

Significant portions of the Muslim population worldwide support views that are wholly incompatible with western countries. A frightening array of surveys reveal popular support, or the support of a sizeable minority, for honour violence, for terrorist organizations, for not reporting suspected terrorist plots, for stifling free speech particularly where it concerns religion...I could go on. If we continue to blame this on lone idiots, the sole bad apple, and do not at least have a conversation about popular views that help to incubate extremist and isolationist tendencies, we will still be talking about this problem decades into the future. It is very dangerous to ignore actions such as last week's murderous rampage as merely the act of a deranged lone wolf, or simply a bad apple. The terrorist who attacked parliament in Canada a few years ago was a complete loser as well with a drug-related criminal record. Organized extremists through Internet propaganda and the influence of hate preachers prey on the stupid, the disillusioned, the weak, the disenfranchised. They weaponize anti social behaviour through indoctrination and turn a petty criminal into a mass-murderer. It is no coincidence that last week's individual used a mass-killing technique repeatedly advocated by extremist groups like ISIS.

I agree with this but I'm not sure that anyone should be required to disprove something that cannot be proven. Unfortunately there are widely-held Islamic beliefs around freedom of speech, gender equality, respect and equality for the gay community, and Sharia law that are incompatible with modern western society. The same can also be said for other religions, though. It troubles me when a liberal community that I always considered myself to be a part of bends itself into logical pretzels supporting the rights of a religious minority to openly discriminate against others. One of the popular symbols of the womens' marches here in N.America following Trump's inauguration was a woman wearing a Stars and Stripes hijab. Ultimately the Islamic communities in western countries expect and receive freedoms and benefits that most Islamic governments would not in a million years offer to religious minorities in their countries.

It probably says something about the lack of quality players available for the England team.

I think that Spurs have 10 league wins in a row at home, and we almost nicked a draw (probably should have with competent officiating). We looked great in the second half. Long and Boufal both had very difficult appearances as subs though. All in all a decent performance against a really strong team with a particularly strong midfield. I enjoyed the battle between Romeu and Wanyama. 6 points from 9 in the last three away games is pretty decent. Here's hoping Gabbiadini is ready to go after the international break.

I've liked him so far. He looks pretty comfortable with the ball at his feet and has had some decent moments, including the Watford game where he defended well to prevent a go-ahead goal right before our third. Yoshida has looked solid also. The problem is that neither of them are in VVD's league and that is the comparison that many (including I suppose me) make, but there are very few defenders in VVD's league and it is ultimately an unfair comparison.

Pleased with the second half performance. Disappointed with the refereeing. Worried about Gabbiadini.

Davis...ugh. Passes it to Jansen, and Romeu gets a yellow card bailing him out.

Phil Neville saying in commentary that he would take Boufal off and play with 10 men. It perhaps explains why he is no longer coaching.

J-Rod on for Redmond.

Long struggling with the offside trap. Tadic off for Boufal.

Wanyama got away with a naughty kick out at Tadic after Tadic fouled him.

Close range finish after Toby muffed it. Nice control to bring it down from his midriff and finished with his left.

Puel's son in law strikes!!!!

On NBC sports, the opinion was if the Davis foul on Ali was a pen, then so was the Davies foul on Tadic.

One-sided refereeing on the two pen decisions. Spurs midfield has been dominant, not giving the Saints players any time. FF made some good saves. Unfortunately Spurs full value for the lead.

Gabbiadini's reaction while he was getting treatment wasn't too promising- he gave the physio the universal hand gesture for "broken".

Looked like a pen to me when Davies kicked Tadic. When it's not your day...