Hope the President does a good job for USA

[AGBF]

I will not feed a troll. The refugees who live in Gaza are not all terrorists, Dancing Fire.

 

[Matata]

https://www.theatlantic.com/interna...5/israel-palestine-embassy-legitimacy/560291/

 

[Matata]

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/f...th-solve-conflict-israel-180513082211016.html

 

[Matata]

 

[AGBF]

https://www.theatlantic.com/interna...5/israel-palestine-embassy-legitimacy/560291/

This is a great article. The author appears to have the thesis that the conflict between the Jewish and the Palestinian views on who has a legitimate claim to "Palestine" lie in whether the Jewish people have a claim to being considered more than a religion. And yet the article only touches on, doesn't stress, what I consider to be the roots of the current conflict: the concurrent rise of Arab and Jewish nationalism just after World War I. (And of course there was other nationalism as well...one only has to look to Turkey to see how what was once the Ottoman Empire was seized by national fervor under Kemal Atatturk.)

After all, the British had to issue both the Balfour Declaration to appease the Jews and sign The Sykes-Picot Agreement to appease the Arabs.

AGBF

 

[chrono]

He’s helping the Chinese workers. Where’s America First now?

 

[AGBF]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/opinion/jerusalem-embassy-gaza-protests.html

 

[tkyasx78]

I saw north korea doesnt want to ditch all its nukes...

Who could have guessed
On the other hand seeing as trump already got his lackeys to nominate him for the nobel prize, i guess he will have to get that peace prize for threatening more “fire and fury like the world has never seen”


Since Mr. Kim is a “very honorable person” lets hope our “very stable genius” resigns soon. We dont need any more trouble.

 

[Calliecake]

I wonder what drama the stable genius will start up tomorrow.

 

[tkyasx78]

He was supposed to release the financials today , i am betting he did/does both of the following
1. Lies a lot in them
2. Lies a lot about them when his lies are called out.
He is a big fan of gaslighting the nation, he will tell us it is our fault and then end with what did we expect when the nation knew he was a bad person... and voted for him anyway. the nation cant seriously expect him to start following the laws now. If they wanted a decent human they should have voted for someone else.

I wonder what drama the stable genius will start up tomorrow.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I'm late to the embassy discussion with its comments on the two Christian pastors. I am struck with someones interpretation of what Christianity is. Christian do believe that Jews cannot be saved unless they believe in Jesus Christ. That's been the way for 2,000 yrs. Its not hateful. They believe that for everyone. Many Christians also believe in predestination. God has a plan and Hitler is no different in following his plan. The reason Christians are so pro the embassy change is that it follows the prophesy for the second coming of Jesus Christ. All predestination. That's why pastors are there with their support.
Peace is elusive.

Annette

 

[Matata]

The reason Christians are so pro the embassy change is that it follows the prophesy for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

It never ceases to boggle my mind that there are so many people looking forward to death and annihilation for pie in the sky.

 

[Calliecake]

Rex Tillerson gave a commencement speech at the Virginia Military Institute. A major theme of his speech was about protecting truth.
Tikkerson said “If our leaders seek to conceal the truth or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom. A responsibility of every American citizen to each other is to preserve and protect our freedom by recognizing what truth is and is not, what a fact is and is not. When we as people, a free people go wobbly on truth, even on what may seem as trivial of matters, we go wobbly on America. If we do not as Americans confront the crisis of ethics and integrity on our society and among our leaders in both public and private sector and regrettably at times even the non profit sector then American democracy as we know it is entering it’s twilight years”

It will be interesting to see if Fox News reports on this tonight.



​

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

Callie- I was waiting to see what Tillerson might say after his time in office. I'm glad to see he understands the issue of our time. Truth. sometimes unpleasant, but necessary.

Matata-- I have been quite puzzled myself to realize the only issue that concerns Christians is abortion. Adultrey--OK--divorce--Ok Bear false witness--OK Steal OK(trump Univ) Kill-OK except for women who wish to end pregnancy. What do they gain??? Really hard for me to see.

Annette

 

[AGBF]

I have been quite puzzled myself to realize the only issue that concerns Christians is abortion.

Dare I say that these are only some self-appointed spokesmen for Christianity from the Evangelical Christian right and perhaps not the only people who have ever called themselves "Christians"?

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

Yes, of course you may dare say it, and you are right, they are only some of the "Christians", who are saying it. However, the Evangelicals have been building power in this country, and seem to be controlling the issue. At the moment they are the strongest and are also backed by the Roman Catholic church. Powerful adversaries to the choice movement.

Annette

Matata. I loved the caption of the bible vs guns. "I lived here 2000 yrs ago and now you must give me your house". For me, that is the Caption of the day.

 

[Matata]

I have been quite puzzled myself to realize the only issue that concerns Christians is abortion.

You forgot that they also care who is peeing and pooping in which restroom. LOL. They are welcome to their moral compass on abortion. What riles me is that more energy is expended trying to save the unborn from abortion than care of those children once they're born.

 

[AGBF]

Matata. I loved the caption of the bible vs guns. "I lived here 2000 yrs ago and now you must give me your house". For me, that is the Caption of the day.

I hate to keep arguing with you, Annette, but your posting is bothering me. First I took exception to what I perceived as an over-generalization about Christians. Now I am taking exception to what I perceive as an over-generalization about Israelis versus Arabs.

It was Matata who posted a very good article from "The Atlantic" that argued that there had always been a presence of a Jewish people in Palestine, an ethnic group, not just people who practiced Judaism. I rejoined her comment with my own about the rise of Jewish and Arab nationalism during World War I. It is oversimplifying the situation to imply that the Israelis simply claimed to have lived on a piece of land 2,000 years ago then returned from nowhere to throw the rightful owners out of their homes.

 

[AGBF]

I, also, hate the hypocrisy of caring more for "the unborn" than for living children. Evangelical Christians drive me mad. They have also driven me to give money to Planned Parenthood.

 

[Matata]

Evangelical Christians drive me mad

It's not just the evangelicals. It's christianity. It's religion. I find the current crop of evangelicals who are making headlines particularly loathsome but it seems to me they are turning into scapegoats for the rest of the christians who believe in the same god and follow the same book and are not as vociferous as their evangelical colleagues.

 

[AGBF]

I believe in evolution, Matata, so perhaps humans will change. I learned from team teaching with anthropologists, however, that humans in most societies and in most eras have created religions and treated their gods in similar ways. In ancient Sumer people tended to do the same things with their gods that modern Christians do with their God. I might say, "Good luck to you in changing human nature before evolution gives you a helping hand", but I am not sure I wish you luck. I loved to read Christopher Hitchens; he was a brilliant man. I am not against all religion, though. I think religion has played a part in much bloodshed, and therefore played a part in much evil, but I think that it is actually something upon which people pin their drives, like fanatical devotion to a specific sports team, more than being the actual root of evil. I think the root of evil may lie in man's inner drives.

Deb

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I said I liked the picture with the caption. Yes, it would be simplistic to use that as an explanation of the difficulties in the region. It expressed a view on the clashes with guns that are occurring due to the opening of the embassy.. I don't need to go through any exhaustive explanation of what I post. It was not meant for in depth study purposes. If you look for trouble or annoyance you usually find it.

Annette

 

[tkyasx78]

It is likely I am missing some of the posts , so forgive me if I am repeating or missing some ideas or topics.

I see a few here commenting on the embassy.I also heard that a fox news lady went on tv proclaiming trump moving 1 single embassy to jerusalem was some sort of biblical prophesy.

It never ceases to amaze me to hear the crass arrogance of some members of society.

There are just over 7,600,000,000 (7.6 BILLION) people on earth.
America has a comparatively paltry 326 million residents.

This is 4% of the population of earth. To swallow that a bible writer 2000 years ago took the time to prophesy that one single country which would hold only 4% of the earths population would move its small embassy 45 miles ( as if it takes some sort of hand of God to move an embassy ) ... well frankly, I’d sooner believe that aliens abducted elvis than a prophet was SO excited about a 45 mile move of a single countries embassy 2000+years ago that represents 4% of the population of 7.6 billion

I am not trying to insult religion. I believe it has a place in society. But before fox news proclaims trump as a modern messiah for an embassy move, it might be worth the effort to gain some persective. Not only for their own persective in relation to the country but as they a small part of a very diverse and populated world.

 

[tkyasx78]

since I mentioned religion I wanted to add I 100% agree with this wonderful jesuit priest with respect to illegal immigrants.




I want people to come legally. I dont support amnesty. HOWEVER these lawbreakers are NOT animals. They are overwhemingly desperate for a better life.
So instead of denigrating a group of people how about trump sit down with the reublicans and democrats work out a better policy and THIS TIME KEEP HIS WORD. Like a real president should.

He wants to be admired? Why not work to fix our system. He flat out lied about daca and sabotaged the republicans who believed he would keep his word in that meeting.

People ahould not come here without permission, but the ones who do are STILL HUMAN.

 

[AGBF]

I want people to come legally. I dont support amnesty. HOWEVER these lawbreakers are NOT animals. They are overwhemingly desperate for a better life.

I am very glad you brought up this topic, tkyasx. Trump and his White house deliberately want to separate immigrant parents from their children to, as (I believe it was) General Kelly put it, deter illegal immigration.

What kind of human being would punish helpless children by tearing them from from the only protectors they know, their parents, to "deter illegal immigration" of others in the future? Can you imagine the terror of a child wrested from a parent? I can. I used to have nightmares about that when I was little. In fact, I remember my mother telling me the story of a child who had been adopted by the biological child of a Catholic couple who had been adopted by Jewish parents. She knew only her Jewish parents. When the Catholic couple found out she had been adopted by Jews, they sued to get her back and were successful. The Jewish couple took her and left the state. My mother was horrified and I remember her-in an attempt to instill empathy in me-asking me how I would feel if I might lose the only parents I knew and be given to strangers. That was my first understanding of adoption. The bonds of love are formed with the people who raise you with love. Tearing a child from his parents is a crime.

Chris Hayes on his MSNBC show tonight said that anyone who continued to work with trump after he made a move to separate children and parents was beyond contempt (wording mine since I can't recollect his wording).

 

[tkyasx78]

I saw where they were going to steal the kids too. Saying the parents did wrong so the children will be forced to suffer . They want to put them in foster care or “wherever”


It makes me ill to think about it. If their bible is what they will be judged by at some future time, I hope they will be held to the account written ... in as much as you have done it unto the least of these , you have done it unto me.
I don't know but maybe instead of melania trying to “be best” she should have started with BE DECENT.

Religions aside what ever happened to basic humanity? I often feel like I am in that scene in poltergeist where the person screams “ what’s happening”
It is painful to watch my old republican party throw aside the values of family first to cover for and justify things that Should make a persons skin crawl.

 

[Dancing Fire]

He wants to be admired? Why not work to fix our system. He flat out lied about daca and sabotaged the republicans who believed he would keep his word in that meeting.

He did offer dreamers a path towards citizenship but the Dems. refused the deal which will cause them votes in future elections.

Sadly for those minorities who doesn't know better think the Dems. are on their side but in reality they are being used by the Dems. for votes.

Before Minorities go into the voting booth they should ask themselves the Q...Who was the last President to sign an amnesty bill? The answer is not a Prez. from the Dem. party. I feel bad especially for black americans who are being brainwashed by the Dem. party.

 

[missy]

People ahould not come here without permission, but the ones who do are STILL HUMAN.

Exactly. We are all human beings and deserve to be treated with dignity and kindness.

I usually cannot read the political threads here nor watch the news as it is all too upsetting but just happened to check in here this AM. What a sorry state of affairs we are in

 

[tkyasx78]

Exactly. We are all human beings and deserve to be treated with dignity and kindness.

I usually cannot read the political threads here nor watch the news as it is all too upsetting but just happened to check in here this AM. What a sorry state of affairs we are in

Pricescope has a wonderful function called the ignore function. It makes it so that this thread is pretty decent to read. I find the posters I read here have thoughtful points of view and appreciate their level headed discussions! The ignore function helps to use it so there is no member fighting or needless arguing!! It is a great way to keep the peace.
Just remember, If you are on another section of the forum and see the words " show ignored content" you can click on it, to see all members posts, and when you are on this thread you just NEVER click on that button.

 

[AGBF]

Tired of the Russia investigation? Why not look at Trump and China? How about Trump and Qatar?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/opinion/trump-china-bribe-national-security.html