Sunday School

[jakelafort]

Reg,

I am envious. My sis and bro in law vacationed in Ireland. The’re enthralled and may decide to retire there. My sis told me how much i would like to hike there. She aint wrong. He is an O’Solomon who had family there so there is some right of return or other, a zionist plot i suspect.

Robert,

It is funny how our intests broaden as we age. Watching birds (would have put me to sleep as a kid) is interesting and Florida is one of the better places to do that. Ireland/Scotland is a killer trip.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

I like Florida too. Like some birds, I have spent some winter migration time there too :-). Mostly in Panama City Beach.

Donegal in the very NW of the country has a surreal natural beauty to it. No. 7 is on my list this year. A friend of mine went there for a holiday about 15 years ago and is still there!! He was thinking about moving back to NC but then Trump……..I have walked 10K+ steps (fitbit steps) every day since 01/01/2018….so always ready for one.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

It is funny how our interests broaden as we age….

I find the broader my range of interests, the less complicated life becomes. When I am on a long walk or hike, at some point I remember that I am not just observing nature, but that I am part of it. It is not external to me. Of course, you already know what I mean 🙂

 

[jakelafort]

Donegal looks like a no fishing sign to an avid angler. Loop hikes are always good. Something about not setting foot on already tread land. I have in mind hiking the trail that goes along the Newfoundland coastline. It is around 190 miles and looks spectacular.

Every day? So you never get sick. That is impressive having that quotidian rythm. Since i quit law and got fit I don’t get colds and flus. Lyme disease 3 times. Covid recently. But yea i understand what you mean about nature.

[TheEncogitationer]

Reg,

Far be for me to interrupt the Lonely Planet/Conde Nast/Town & Country happy talk, but there were several thing earlier that you mentioned about the Euros that need addressing:

One, free expression necessarily includes offensive expression, and that includes hateful expression. Free expression would mean nothing if it were only freedom to be agreeable and nice.

One, anti-abortionists are free to express their views and persuade others to their views. What they are not free to do is threaten others and block others freedom of movement to seek the procedure.

Mere expression is not a threat to rights, only acts. This coming from JD Vance doesn’t affect the truth value of it.

[jakelafort]

Enco,

I assume you are an absolutist as to free speech?

I agree insofar as your take is speech directed at power. Not so when it is power intending to harm the defenseless, the vulnerable, the disenfranchised, and that sort of power dynamic. So if some antitheist burns a Quran the state ought not punish the antitheist for that expression. (or maybe they should lock the poor bastard before he is murdered by Muslims!) But if the Muslim Brotherhood burn in effigy a prominent figure in a Christian minority group and that occurs in the wake of a mini genocide of Christians by the champions of the religion of peace then it follows the state has a right to regulate that speech.

The offensive bit is true but it is too rudimentary and lacking in nuance. What is lost in stopping motherfuckers from terrorizing? Plenty is lost in having the right to speak to power.

[TheEncogitationer]

Jake,

The genocide could occur whether not the effigy is burned and that is what a State should act to prevent and what citizens should limit a State from practicing.

And, of course, as Californians will certainly attest, burning anything in an uncontrolled fashion is always dangerous, so there’s that angle. If anybody’s going to burn anything as an act of protest, have them do it in a grated fire pit with extinguishers on the ready and the Fire Marshall watching.

An interesting historical factoid here for both you and Unseen to chew on: The whole trope parroted in academia these days of Israel being an imperialist, racist, apartheid state had it’s origins in Soviet propaganda shortly after The Six Day War. It spread from there to the rest of the Socialist Bloc and the “Non-Alligned” Third World Bloc and to Western Academia and media:

Zombie Anti-Zionism–Tablet Magazine
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/zombie-anti-zionism

Aren’t you glad there’s still free expression to expose this to inqiring minds? You sure that Communism needs a college try in the name of being ” non-ideological?”

And Unseen, how does it feel to be a Soviet dupe and/or apologist?

[jakelafort]

Enco,

The issue of free speech is in essence a balancing of interests. On the one hand there is the individual. We all know in any variety of dictatorship that the state will censor the individual when the individual is critical of the state. That happens in Communist states. Happens in theocracies. Happens in North Korea. Happened with John Adams locking up political adversaries utilizing the Sedition Act. If the citizen can’t speak against the state then freedom is lacking. The state can go hog wild. So for obvious reasons political speech in USA is given the greatest protection. Pretty fundamental stuff. The nature of the speech is always at issue. So commercial speech is given the least protection and is most subject to time/place/manner restrictions.

But if the target of the speech is not the state a different standard applies. Unfortunately we have seen how some nations will protect the powerful against offensive speech. Ya know, blasphemy laws. Or in Sweden making it illegal to burn a Quran as unprotected hate speech. That is some lefty bs right there.

When the speaker is directing their speech towards not the mosque, the government, the church or some powerful politician then we have a different dynamic. Now the question is whether the state can intervene on behalf of the target. In some instances i say absolutely can and should. Failing to recognize how beliefs impact conduct is to be blind to reality. And sometimes it is as simple as the Westboro Church and leaving funerals attendants the fuck alone. Find a different place to harass ya assholes.

I know already about what you speak. I did not originally when Hamas attacked Israel. But after seeing the immediate reaction post oct. 7 and how insanely Jew hating, Hamas loving and fabricating of BS narratives were coming from universities and lefty protestors i looked into it. It is not only the Soviet Union that generated the current laughable lies but Islamists. (There was also direct Nazi propaganda adopted by notably grand mufti of Jerusalem but the Nazi shit spread throughout the middle east)

Did you watch the vid i posted about Al Jazeera? It is an arm of Qatar and it is utterly devoted to wiping out israel,killing Jews and promoting/spreading Islam. Three versions. One for western lefty’s. One for Arabic speaking and utterly open about its intent and filled with vile antisemitism just Like the Germans used. And never critical of Islamic states. Also one for children of Lefties. And their billions of dollars have paid off universities and have even infiltrated high schools. So that is why so many victims of Islam are calling guys like Unseen Useful Idiots. And what you will learn if you bother to listen to Middle Eastern folks is how universal the culture of wipe out Israel/kill the Jews is. I really think it is worse then the 30s in Germany and much of Europe and certainly eastern Europe. Knowingly adopting the lefty shit is in my opinion a despicable act. I can forgive ignorant college kids. But damn does Israel need its own champions to counter the BS.

Never ever thought of communism as non ideological. It is the very definition of ideological. Poster Child 1A. I was only indicating that it might be a useful transition for people who have suffered greatly so lets say 1 percent of the people are well off. 99 percent are starving. Just meeting basic needs. Communism has been tried more than enough. It has done enough harm. It is a horror show. And the problem with my hypothetical is that once it has begun it becomes entrenched and ain’t easy to dissolve.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

More on Al Jazeera journalism here.

[jakelafort]

That woman does what all of em do. Mindless repetition. She may fold under questioning to steal a line.

Congratulations to all of the brain dead parrots. Useful! Useful to whom or what?

Even if you can’t analyze your way out of a lean-to so that you accept every narrative from the lefty’s (genocide, apartheid, colonialist settlers) the Islamic nations are committing those to a much greater degree. So why the hyperfocus, maniacal fixation on Israel?

Oh and lest i forget a word that in and of itself has become dirty-zionism. Oh the connotations. “What are you, some kind of a zionist?” Jew is a word that is already the greatest single accurate/proper descriptor of a people that is in and of itself a dirty word. All over the middle east the greatest insult is to call someone a Jew. When something good happens in an Arab Muslim’s life they say a Jew just died.

Zionism fixation is another way to calumniate Jews/Israel without a parallel concept for the right to self determination of any other group. The obvious parallel concept ought to be the right of self determination for Muslims. Hmmm Lets see. Muslims became Muslims through conquest. They were colonizers. Not land up for grabs with two groups that had legit nationalistic claims and one group compromised and the other started a war. That is why Arabic is spoken all over the middle east. Do you suppose the indigenous peoples all spoke Arabic before the 7th century? Muslims in power (Islamic states) ALWAYS discriminate/persecute minorities. ALL minorities. Automatically apartheid states. Islamic states deny freedom to marginalized groups. They punish severely and execute gays, protestors, minority groups. Islmamic states indoctrinate their citizens. No freedom. None. Women are property and equivalent to garbage in Islamic states. Islamic states produce terrorism on a massive scale. Islamic states seek to dominate the world by causing conversion or islamization of the west.

And i was about to compare to Israel but why bother? ZIONISM mother fucking Jews dogs!

[jakelafort]

One good thing that recently happened in Azerbaijan. Baby steps. Actually this is a big step. Azerbaijan is on other side of Turkey so it is pretty far from Israel but Saudi Arabia has also taken steps to stop indoctrinating kids in schools the antizionism/antisemitism bs. And while i am guessing it is because the monarch is afraid of breeding more terrorism which threatens him it is still a positive.

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-842106

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Free speech in the United States is robustly protected by the First Amendment and it remains one of the strongest safeguards for expression in the country. In Europe (and I guess in the US too) there is an ongoing discussion about how various societal, technological, and cultural factors are influencing the practical exercise of the right to free speech. The constitutional right to free speech is not under legal threat here, but there are evolving standards that influence the practical exercise of that right. What constitutes harmful speech versus protected expression is a moving target, leading to debates about where the line should be drawn.

In Munich—and more broadly in Germany—the approach to free speech is shaped by a unique history, particularly in the aftermath of World War II and the Nazi era. While in the U.S. free speech is championed as nearly inviolable, Germany’s framework for free expression is more nuanced and includes limitations designed to prevent hate speech and extremist ideologies. I would question whether a figure like JD Vance, whose political rhetoric has at times been controversial, is the ideal spokesperson on free speech when the topic itself is defined and limited in different ways depending on historical and cultural contexts.

Munich isn’t just any city; its historical significance amplifies the irony of JD Vance speaking there. The city’s experiences have led to a public discourse where free speech is celebrated but not at the expense of societal harmony and accountability—a nuance that may not fully align with the more absolutist free speech arguments made in some American circles.

I went to visit a friend in hospital a few years ago, soon after Ireland voted to allow abortion. My friend had a miscarriage and was in bad shape going into the hospital. She was met at the gates by a gaggle of Catholics, some of whom turned “burn in hell” abusive signs towards her.

When I was leaving, I admonished them for what they did. They did not care and said something like “Ireland is still a catholic country, and we have freedom of speech”.  I asked to join them to say a prayer. They were a little taken aback but happy for me to do so. “Please Jesus, hear my prayer. Please send an angel to fuck me hard as I am not a bigot like these pig-dogs. Please Jesus, I ask this in your name”. Yeah, free speech bitches!! (channeling Jessie Pinkman).

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

BTW  – quotidian is one of my fav words. (but I don’t use it everyday!!).

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

“Unfortunately, there are two million terrorists in Gaza. Two million. Liri was in their homes, and the children—yes, even the children—are part of this. It’s not just those carrying rifles and wearing green headbands. The so-called uninvolved civilians are not uninvolved at all. And, unfortunately, we’re going to have to fight them all.”

[Strega]

Great link, Reg

[Author]

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