PopeBeanie

Davis wrote:

China has no military presence in most of the Middle East or Central Asia.

That could be part of the answer. Strong Western influence and military in their home turf is one reason they publicly justify jihad, and can motivate jihadism with a visibly present enemy.

I also think Ivy has a point. Jihadists at some point have to choose…[Read more]

tom sarbeck wrote:

No previous president has ever had the imagination to require us to do that, so Trump is furthering our educations.

Tom, I second the positivitism!

Unseen wrote:

Do you see “victim’s fault” in there anywhere, PB?

Nope!

And I genuinely appreciate this very relevant discussion.

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

If you thought Scott Pruitt was bad, wait until Andrew Wheeler really gets going.

This is a tragic comedy now, where people who say government is corrupt and damaging get elected, and then make it more corrupt and damaging, often by premeditated intent.

Unseen wrote:

One major reason for discriminating against women, especially in businesses too small to be subject to fairness in hiring laws is a result of #MeToo.

This sounds too much (to me) like framing the issue as if it’s the victim’s fault. Like, “How were you dressed when you got raped?”. Or it refocuses the issue as a reverse…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:

at what juncture does the government have sufficient standing and interest to intrude in hiring and and promotion matters.

Recently I’m thinking that there’s too much negative impact on small companies, and too much litigation necessary to prove and “remedy” alleged gender bias… but “affirmative action” as a solution can be…[Read more]

Investment in the future means “profits this quarter to raise all boats”. Well yeah, all boats will actually rise, over decades. What pisses me off is how interest groups–religious like creationists and pro-lifers, corporate lobbyists, most libertarians and many conservatives are wearing blinders that block out real science for their own…[Read more]

Davis wrote:

if a puddle that formed in a hole could think […]

Douglas Adams! Now say Hail Mary 42 times.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/70827-this-is-rather-as-if-you-imagine-a-puddle-waking

Davis wrote:

Others say every quantum event creates a new universe (I think that would multiply the amount of universes every plank-second by more than a google. Which would quickly lead to a google-google universes in less than one Earth-second.

I like your math on that, so I agree. I hope those pseudo-scientists eventually fork off to a…[Read more]

Yikes, consistent with my first two observations, as practiced by most Muslims, most of Islam is a cult!

(I’ve always thought of North Korea as a cult.)

My mother used to tell me I “analyze too much”. I’ve thought about this accusation, and understand where it’s coming from. (Get the irony there? Oh, some of you not getting it, never mind, no…[Read more]

• Living quarters or neighborhoods intentionally separated from other quarters or neighborhoods
• Reverence and high allegiance toward one specific person who dominates the group

Simon Paynton wrote:

I have heard that the debt crisis in Europe and the US is like a ticking time bomb, and the worst crisis on the horizon.

Steve Bannon has been predicting this as a global crisis, and it has energized his apocalyptic view of how we should be hunkering down and preparing for global war. He’s responsible for a lot of the…[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:

The only president that got impeached in my lifetime was Clinton. I thought he was great, LOL. Trump is not the problem. He is a symptom. All the anti-Trump rhetoric is off target. He did not elect himself no matter how bad the voting system may be.

And didn’t Clinton’s popularity go way up after the impeachment?

(I may overuse…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:

He seems to make a career out of sailing just this side of the legal line but never actually crossing it.

His loyal minions do the dirty deeds and take the legal hit, giving their mafia-like boss plausible deniability. Making every cabinet member publicly espouse loyalty is just the tip of the wannabe-authoritarian iceberg.…[Read more]