Steve Dustcircle

Palestinians in Israel (as citizens) have more legal rights than those in most Arab nations and generally have more economic opportunities than Palestinian refugees in Lebanon or Syria. There are about 2 million Arab Citizens of Israel .

Many Arab countries have hosted Palestinian refugees since the creation of Israel in 1948 and subsequent wars.…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
She was living in a “safe” country when I knew her.

That’s good to know.  She was courageous.  I was afraid of what might happen to her.

We were in contact once. She was living in a “safe” country when I knew her. I have no reason to suspect that she does not continue to live a ‘normal’ life. I can only imagine her walking with her head held high, as befits her character.

jakelafort wrote:
It is awesome you are not an ideologue.

Ideology is antithetical to free thinking.

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Many Muslim women still need permission from male relatives for the little things……. like marriage, travel (in some cases), choosing what to wear, gaining an education, speaking, singing, reading and even getting certain medical procedures done. But apart from that……

This paper, from the (weirdly virus-r…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Remember Nessrriinn from the old TA site?

Was she the lady from Saudi Arabia?  What happened to her?  Is she in prison, for being normal?

Remember Nessrriinn from the old TA site?

jakelafort wrote:
So the daughter pipes in that she was amazed at university that the first thing she was taught was that we should not judge Islam for these practices. The daughter goes on to describe it as a betrayal of human rights.

Do you have this video?  Of course, I deplore making excuses for the medieval abuse of women.  I would be i…[Read more]

Many Muslim women still need permission from male relatives for the little things……. like marriage, travel (in some cases), choosing what to wear, gaining an education, speaking, singing, reading and even getting certain medical procedures done. But apart from that……

jakelafort wrote:
Tell me Simon if you are okay with the cultural relativism that protects abusers and punishes the abused.

No, I’m not OK with beating women, or for making excuses for it.  Do people really do that?  Can you find evidence of a “lefty” defending abuse of women by Islam?  I’m not denying it happens, but I’ve never seen it in the fl…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
But one thing i will touch on is how wrongheaded it is to decide that morality is always relative and that we should not judge others who make us retch and puke purple and green chunks because of their vile norms.

Put it this way, different people value different norms and goods, and some of those norms/goods are incompatible…[Read more]

Moral Purity rocks!!

Democracy dies in dumbness and stupidity.

“Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses.” – Plato

The above link has a good article on Bonhoeffer.

Hmm, let’s see. Here is the playbook.
Step 1) Destroy the ability of the Social Security Administration and Medicare to function effectively.
Step 2) Point to this as a reason to end it. My hero!

I can’t think of any Mexican immigrants that threaten me. I can think of a South African immigrant who is actively trying to destroy my retirement…[Read more]

Regular table salt often contains anti-caking agents (like sodium ferrocyanide or calcium silicate), which are synthetic additives. These could further disqualify a product from being labeled as “organic.” But even if unrefined sea salt is used, it can never be labeled 100% Organic…..salt is a mineral so can never be called an organic compound.

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Women’s bodies are moralized more than men’s, study finds.

Thank you for posting this.  I haven’t seen it anywhere else, and it’s enabled me to answer a number of long-standing questions in research on morality.  Namely, about moral purity, “harmless harms”, and “moral dumbfounding”.

Moral purity means obser…[Read more]