SpankyMcFarland
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Posts posted by SpankyMcFarland
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On 1/20/2024 at 3:34 PM, WestCanMan said:
Oh look, more baseless insults.
You could be replaced with a turd-flinger bot.
The accusation that Trump is a liar is baseless? What sort of people am I corresponding with here?
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3 hours ago, blackbird said:
Actually, it is fairly easy to show that is not correct. Almost all religions of the world are false, but there is one truth that the Bible reveals to mankind.
So you believe you profess the only true religion in the history of mankind? Doesn’t that sound unlikely? As one writer put it:
“I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” —Stephen F Roberts
Now I don’t dismiss religion lock, stock and barrel - the fact that every culture has had at least one suggests it played a key role in human groups - but I wouldn’t be playing favourites and naming one as the winner.
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12 hours ago, blackbird said:
As the article I quoted says, your beliefs are based on what the Catholic Church calls "tradition". In other words the inventions of men.
All religions are the inventions of men.
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16 minutes ago, taxme said:
No confusion here. Haley is just as bad as Pelosi was. Two peas in a swamp pod. They both like to pretend that they care about America, but in reality, Haley is just another deep state operative, that would like to keep the swamp in Washington, up and running. Haley is toast and she knows it. All that keeps her going is the deep state cash that keeps flowing into her useless campaign coffers in trying to defeat Trump. The elite globalists are in a state of panic. 🤣
If Republicans want to make Biden’s age an issue they would be far better off choosing Haley.
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1 hour ago, Nationalist said:
Putin has an approval rating of 80% in Russia. They have an election this spring. Guess who's gonna win.
Approval ratings mean nothing in an authoritarian state where he controls the media.
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Haley drew attention to the age of both Trump and Biden tonight. Trump made some howlers in recent speeches, eg confusing Haley with Pelosi and trailing into gibberish about forts. He repeats the same line multiple times too. If anybody can tell him anything, they should advise him to cut the speeches in half at least.
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On 1/20/2024 at 5:38 PM, WestCanMan said:
- 1920 The Jerusalem pogrom of April 1920 of old Yishuv.
- 1921 Jaffa riots in Palestine.
- 1922 The government of Yemen, under Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din, re-introduced an Islamic law entitled the "orphans decree". The law dictated that if Jewish boys or girls under the age of 12 were orphaned, they were to be forcibly converted to Islam, their connections to their families and communities were to be severed, and they had to be handed over to Muslim foster families.
- 1929 The ancient Jewish community of Hebron is massacred by local Muslims over rumors that the Jews were planning to seize control of the Temple Mount.[19]
- 1929 18–20 Jewish residents of Safed were brutally killed in the 1929 Palestine riots.
- 1936 The Bloody Day in Jaffa refers to various violent attacks on Jews in Jaffa by mobs of Muslims.
- 1938 Arab rioters rush into the Jewish Kiryat Shmuel neighborhood, killing 19 Jews, 11 of whom were children in the 1938 Tiberias massacre.
^That's^ not to say that Europe was a happy home for Jews, it was arguably worse because the massacres were wayyy bigger, but that's only because the populations were so much bigger on account of the fact that they were less welcome in the ME.
Were the 1800s "medieval times", jackass? 1900s?
Keep in mind that it has been 1000 years since the Jews were allowed to pray at Temple Mount.
If they're gonna exist as humans with any kind of dignity and safety, they need a homeland. The Gazans and the Palestinians in the West Bank can live as muslims in any one of 20+ sovereign muslim nations where they can discriminate against Jews as much as they want. It will be like the good ol' days.
Are you an open borders type of guy? I presume you understand the potential for trouble when massive numbers of foreigners are allowed into a country with no consultation whatsoever with the people of that country? That is what happened under the British in Palestine. And lots of Arabs were killed too, obviously.
If the British were so concerned with the plight of European Jews, why didn’t they take them in Britain, a country far better able to absorb such numbers than Palestine? You think Russian Jews wanted to make ‘the desert bloom’, as the nonsense went, over living in London? The truth is that Palestine became a refuge of last resort because no Western country or empire would take anywhere near enough of them.
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1 hour ago, blackbird said:
I don't swallow that. They were the power in the western world through the centuries.
The RC church hasn’t been at the centre of power since the appearance of the nation-state. Since 1800, of the great powers only France and Austria-Hungary were Catholic and France had a decidedly ambivalent approach to any religion in the running of the state.
Yes, Hitler and many Nazis were born Catholic but they were running a country that had been stridently anti-Catholic under Bismarck. Hitler had strong support among working class Protestants.
I brought up Luther just to illustrate that Christian anti-Semitism is a widespread phenomenon not confined to any particular denomination.
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1 hour ago, blackbird said:
You seem to be trying to shift the blame for anti-Semitism away from the Catholic church even though they are by far the largest church in many European countries and especially for most of the past 2,000 years.
No. What I am saying is this: the whole of Christianity and Europe had a problem with anti-Semitism, not just Catholics but Protestants and Orthodox Christians too.
1 hour ago, taxesanddeath said:How can you implement the 2-state solution when one of the parties keeps yelling from the river to the sea🤔
Both sides say it. Only one side actually did it.
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2 hours ago, blackbird said:
Yes, I agree that Luther was an anti-Semite, but that doesn't change the fact he was correct in what he believed and stood for in the Reformation.
Well, he certainly wasn’t correct on the Jews for starters.
2 hours ago, blackbird said:Not sure what you mean "the Catholic Church can hardly be blamed". The Catholic church was the power that existed for over a thousand years behind the anti-Semitism. The anti-Semites throughout Europe were Roman Catholic people down through history.
What I mean is you can’t blame the Catholic Church for all the other acts of anti-Semitism in Christianity, eg Russian Orthodox Church, Luther et cetera. Indeed, such madness persists in Russia to the present day. How many Catholic priests would get away with an accusation as outlandish as this?
QuoteOn Monday, flanked by the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church at a press conference in Moscow, the influential Russian Orthodox Church Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov—who is closely linked to Vladimir Putin and serves as the titular chair of the commission charged with investigating the execution of the last Czar, his family, and retinue—called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Nicholas II in Yekaterinburg. He was particularly interested in finding out whether the slain monarch was killed in a ritual murder, reviving a widely held belief in the former Soviet Union that the Jews assassinated the Czar in a dark religious ceremony essential to ushering in Bolshevism. That theory had long been domain of ranting conspiracy mongers and eccentric babushkas, but now it appears to be taken seriously by the state itself: Following Shevkunov’s comments, the powerful Investigative Committee, Russia’s equivalent of the FBI, quickly announced that it would take part in such an investigation of alleged ritual killing. Needless to add, Russian Jewish community leaders were outraged.
2 hours ago, blackbird said:Luther and the anti-Semites were just the way the world was for the past 2,000 years. Nothing particularly unusual about Luther being that way. That was the way practically everyone was.
That’s a very poor excuse. Luther made things much worse for Jews in Germany, a problem that persisted for many centuries afterwards. For all his other faults, Cromwell was famous for his philo-Semitism and welcomed them. Where did many Jews go after the Reconquista in Spain? To the Ottoman Empire. Things weren’t ideal there but they were much better than in Catholic Spain.
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56 minutes ago, BeaverFever said:
Sorry aren’t tou conservatives the ones eho supposedly get upset whenever someone screams “racism” simply because they couldn’t have their way? I’m not just an anti -semite but “a die hard anti-semite” just because I believe that international law, not the bible applies to territorial claims? You’re a joke.
The right is just as woke as anybody when it suits them but young people aren’t as easy to intimidate by accusations of anti-Semitism as older people.
7 minutes ago, blackbird said:God gave them the land in perpetuity whether you believe it or not.
What does that statement mean to an atheist?
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1 hour ago, blackbird said:
For at least a thousand years before the Reformation, the Catholic Church ruled the western world with an iron fist. It was basically the only church around. All others were outlawed. There was no such thing as denominations until after the Reformation and even then they only came into existence in a few countries in northern Europe and the UK in the last few centuries. I don't know if you are even aware, the priests controlled everyone's life in communities. They knew everything that was going on and everyone was expected to be obedient to the Church.
Perhaps you are not aware of that. There were no such things as other denominations because it was illegal in most countries until the Reformation. Then things started to change in some countries. But only gradually. There was a hundred years war in Europe that wiped out a large part of the population of Europe following the beginning of the Reformation in the 1500s.
I am aware of that. Do you agree about Luther? The record is hard to deny there and the Catholic Church can hardly be blamed for it. Instead of turning the page on such hatreds he doubled down on them.
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4 hours ago, blackbird said:
Canada is a failing state. It has a small population but a large land mass. Trudeau and other politicians have inflated their idea that Canada is some kind of great power in the world while they neglected and diminished Canada's military. Canada is far more insignificant a country in the world than Trudeau and liberals think. Canada does not occupy an important position on the world stage.
Canada is divided internally and failing in many ways. It has a housing crisis, failing medical system, and half of the population think Socialism is the answer. The debt continues to grow under the NDP and Liberals. Canada is a haven for foreign agents. It is a disaster in the making.
How many failing states have you visited recently? Places without power, water, law and order? Canada is not one of them.
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1 minute ago, OftenWrong said:
And I am not pro-Israel specifically, though I am pro-peace.
Such is progress in international politics. Did Trump do the wrong thing again?
What's your guy doing?
"Joe the Bomber" Biden.
I’m just trying to explain a very basic point. A car company CEO can’t talk to himself or the teachers’ union to sort out a labour dispute. The parties involved have to reach a deal or else it is nonsense. I know the Palestinians don’t have good leadership right now, so why not park the big matters there and focus on confidence building measures e.g. freezing settlement activity in the West Bank? Otherwise there’ll be nothing left to negotiate which is what Likud wants.
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5 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:
The more Arab countries that are brought to sit at the same table as Israel and talk about peace and normal diplomatic relations, the better, yes? No? Oh, I see.
If you want a deal between A and B you really have to go to them for it. This ain’t 1917 any more.
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3 minutes ago, WestCanMan said:
I'll excuse your simple understanding because I'm awesome...
Palestine's "strength" comes from other countries' weapons and money.
If Palestine could be isolated then Israel could maybe one day have peace, if you believe that muslims would ever actually allow it.
Theoretically the needle moved fwd quite a bit, but imo it was all fake. Eventually Israel will burn no matter what.
With whom was this deal negotiated? Usually a bilateral matter is worked out out by official representatives of both entities. In this instance, it sounds like another stitch-up along Balfour Declaration lines where only party was at the talks.
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On 1/10/2024 at 12:27 PM, Perspektiv said:
This is what is concerning? Not that it’s a pig?
I’d say those concerns are mixed together. There is a visceral fear of receiving an animal’s organ that is understandable.
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5 minutes ago, BeaverFever said:
And finally the bloody Israeli-UAE war came to an end!
NOT
UAE and Bahrain have had secretly had friendly relations with Israel for a very long time Those countries are basically just banking entities moving other peoples dirty money around they’re not inter in much else
Meanwhile not a peep from you about Putin’s support for Hamas eh? Funny, that.
The Saudi-Israeli normalization under Biden that was just about to transpire prior to Oct 7 would have been far more significant but take your pick of Republicans, Russians, Iranians and Hamas supporters who are relieved that conveniently didn’t happen because of Oct 7
These unsavoury Arab regimes have no skin in the game. The only potential problem is explaining to their cowed populations what they are up to. -
17 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:
For all those who FORGOT or are OFFENDED by his lack of decorum, or the COLOUR OF HIS HAIR:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Accords
"The Abraham Accords are bilateral agreements on Arab–Israeli normalization signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on September 15, 2020. The official signing ceremony was hosted by the Trump administration at the White House. As part of the dual agreements, both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recognized Israel's sovereignty, enabling the establishment of full diplomatic relations. Israel's agreement with the United Arab Emirates marked the first instance of Israel establishing diplomatic relations with an Arab country since 1994.
The Abraham Accords were signed by the Bahraini and Emirati foreign ministers and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with American president Donald Trump as a witness.
Background: On January 28, 2020, the Trump administration unveiled its Israeli–Palestinian peace proposal in a ceremony at the White House. A component of the plan envisioned applying Israeli law to, or annexation of, roughly 30% of the West Bank. Etc.
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There was a chance, but now it's gone.
An Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal negotiated with whom exactly?
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2 hours ago, blackbird said:
Anti-Semitism - Definition, Meaning & Reasons For (history.com)
The established Church during most of the past 1,500 years, the Catholic church, has to shoulder the responsibility for the history of antisemitism as it was carried out by its members throughout the western world down through history. It appears to be a result of a disregard or rejection of what the Bible teaches. Many of our western leaders are part of that church, such as Trudeau and Biden. They are not knowledgeable about the Bible or the role their church played in it down through history. That is why they can so easily call for a divided Israel.
Firstly, I wouldn’t be singling out the Catholic Church alone there among Christian denominations although it certainly played a big role. One person who did try to stop the blood libel hysteria was actually a pope, Innocent IV.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libelUnfortunately, Martin Luther was fanatically anti-Semitic. Not a great start to the Reformation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_and_antisemitism
Secondly, the impetus for a Jewish state arose from the plight of European Jews, above all in the Russian Empire after the assassination of Alexander II in 1881. Fleeing the pogroms, a great wave of migrants headed west. It is curious that Arthur Balfour as Prime Minister oversaw the passing of the Aliens Act in 1905 which, despite his protests to the contrary, had the particular effect of preventing many of these refugees coming to Britain itself, not exactly what one would expect from someone often described as an ardent Zionist. It seems such ardour ended at the cliffs of Dover. Instead he offered a piece of Palestine to them in his infamous 1917 letter to another posh Brit whose text was finalized after extensive discussions with Zionists but absolutely none with Palestinian Arabs. We don’t know how serious the British were about this - at the time they were promising sun, moon and stars to everybody to save their hides in the Great War, including the Turks - but Balfour’s contempt for the wishes of the ‘existing non-Jewish communities’, as he described them in his declaration, seems to have been genuine enough.
QuoteFor in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country, though the American Commission has been going through the form of asking what they are. The four Great Powers are committed to Zionism. And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land.
It mystifies me how anybody can be devoid of sympathy for Palestinians watching powerlessly as their land was swamped by migrants, especially those who propose restrictions on immigration to Canada. Essentially, in their thirty years in charge, the British set up a situation where conflict was well nigh inevitable.
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I think a lot of people in North America are genuinely ignorant about Likud’s implacable hostility to a two state solution. There are two reasons for this. Party leaders in Israel took care not to emphasize it in their speeches and interviews in English and American journalists, anxious to avoid trouble, took care not to publicize it. Here’s the party platform from nearly fifty years ago:
QuoteThe right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel is eternal and indisputable… therefore, Judea and Samaria will not be handed to any foreign administration; between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty. —Likud Party Platform, 1977
Above all his predecessors, Netanyahu has played this game of ambiguity in English similar to the nuclear weapons policy. But now the mask is off. Why not divide Democrats over Gaza and help his buddy Trump if he can?-
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I think such activity is always with us. Politicians can’t help themselves and in the US they have to make a fortune to stay in the game. One of the worst for this is RFK Jr. who isn’t even an elected politician. He’s made a lot of money from his various crusades, esp. the anti-vaxxer stuff.
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14 hours ago, Army Guy said:
It does not matter if it is real or not...Nor does it matter what the scientist are saying, no one that matters is listening or doing anything that will make a difference any ways...Canada is by no means leading the charge here, not that would make a difference either...And convincing one side or the other on this forum is not going to make a difference...
In fact talking about it is not solving anything...my plan is to sit by the fire roasting some government supplied weed, and drink a good bottle of whiskey and watch it all burst into flames, or wake up the next morning and do it all over again...Anyone else want to come over?
But what about adaptation? Have you given up on that too? All regions of this country with trees face the threat of unprecedented wildfire frequency and severity. We have to take much more serious action to fight this ever growing threat. If we don’t the Americans will step in and make us do it. -
On 12/13/2023 at 3:47 PM, blackbird said:
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By definition, conservatives believe that there are values, beliefs, attitudes and ideas worth conserving. Hence, they wake up every morning with a sense of existential glee; they recognize that their society, whilst far from perfect, contains many tried and tested ideas worth preserving. Liberals and progressives on the other hand wake up with a dark cloud of existential doom because their society is apparently racist, sexist, transphobic, Islamophobic and ableist. Canada supposedly sits on stolen land. Capitalism is an exploitative system that rapes Mother Earth. We have less than 15 minutes to go because of the existential crisis associated with climate change. Hence, from the perspective of the Noble Progressive, we must dismantle the current system and fight for Unicornia, which lies just around the corner. How could one be happy when there is so much ugliness in the world?
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Gad Saad: Of course conservatives are happier — they believe society is worth it (msn.com)
I realize not all conservatives will agree with me about my source of truth, but this is my belief.
Any mature person should see the world and its past as clearly as possible. Human history is tragic and climate change is extremely serious, becoming more so each year. That doesn’t stop a person from marvelling at the beauty and preciousness of life. If anything, the fragility of our plight makes life even more valuable.
For all I know, conservatives in general may be happier by some measures. I doubt some of the ones who post here are happier, though. They show little sign of it.
As Kids, They Thought They Were Trans. They No Longer Do. (or why it's ok for parents to question)
in Federal Politics in Canada
Posted
I wouldn’t have a strong opinion on pronouns either way.