Just as a comparison...would you say they are kind of like the Amish or maybe the Mennonites as compared to the mainstream Christian sects?
Meh, only in appearance and with self segregating lifestyles. They aren't fundies or anything. A great many of them hold normal jobs and do normal people stuff. Just don't ask them to go for a bite to eat unless it's kosher or hang out with you socially. A lot of Jews keep kosher. I don't.(see the smoked meat thread for proof). There's no hard and fast rules about how one should practice. I barely practice, but still consider myself Jewish. The only people to criticize how I practice or tell me I'm a bad Jew are Muslims, Jewish converts, and born again Christians.
Yeah, because feminists are always on the rag! AM I RIGHT?! (Rimshot) Seriously, though, on the subject of blood: I'm sure that y'all have been hearing about all of these blood drives being held around the country for the victims of the Orlando massacre; hell, one of my friends has been bombarding Facebook about a combination blood drive/vigil that she's putting together. Question: How much blood do they really need for 53 people? How much do you want to bet that a lot of that blood never gets used, and has to be disposed of? Remember when that happened after 9/11? I laughed my fucking ass off when that happened.
Here is a primer on how Saudi Arabia is responsible for Islamic Terrorism. I urge you to dig deeper, but make no mistake, the problem isn't inherent within Islam, like most faiths that some abuse, it is about the politics surrounding the faith. Hence, why the Founding Fathers here made sure state and religion were separate. All faiths are subject to the kind of the abuse that leads to this extremism, in fact, Catholicism did it for centuries, it was called 'The Crusades' and 'Spanish Inquisition' and 'Salem Witch Hunt' and on and on.
I know multiple Jewish people who keep kosher that aren't practicing along the lines of "generations of my ancestors kept kosher, my body is better suited that sort of diet". I don't know if that's necessarily true, but it's interesting. My hometown was heavily Jewish and the cultural aspect and identification far exceeds strict practitioners, in my experience. I know a lot of girls who haven't been to temple in years but are pretty hell bent on marrying a Jewish guy. Some of the archaic stuff is kind of fucked up, but modern reform Judaism is a pretty interesting and beautiful belief set when it comes to some traditions and communities, coming from a Gentile who grew up in a couple draconian Lutheran churches.
Anyone see Warren slam Trump? Damn. This is going to make Obama vs Romney look like kittens and rainbows. It would appear Trump's plan to make Mexico pay for the wall involves freezing or denying money transfers back home to impoverished families, and holding those assets as a bargaining chip. He'll also threaten to enact tariffs and economic sanctions that could devastate the Mexican economy. He's then going to cancel visas to stop Mexico's "release valve for it's poverty" and then make visa fees artificially high for Mexican visitors to the United States to help finance the wall, or as a last result in case the Mexican government holds out. For good measure he referenced the cartels to prove the US has the moral high ground. Well, he said he negotiates tough. Spoiler: How Trump plans to pay for the wall COMPELLING MEXICO TO PAY FOR THE WALL Introduction: The provision of the Patriot Act, Section 326 - the "know your customer" provision, compelling financial institutions to demand identity documents before opening accounts or conducting financial transactions is a fundamental element of the outline below. That section authorized the executive branch to issue detailed regulations on the subject, found at 31 CFR 130.120-121. It's an easy decision for Mexico: make a one-time payment of $5-10 billion to ensure that $24 billion continues to flow into their country year after year. There are several ways to compel Mexico to pay for the wall including the following: On day 1 promulgate a "proposed rule" (regulation) amending 31 CFR 130.121 to redefine applicable financial institutions to include money transfer companies like Western Union, and redefine "account" to include wire transfers. Also include in the proposed rule a requirement that no alien may wire money outside of the United States unless the alien first provides a document establishing his lawful presence in the United States. On day 2 Mexico will immediately protest. They receive approximately $24 billion a year in remittances from Mexican nationals working in the United States. The majority of that amount comes from illegal aliens. It serves as de facto welfare for poor families in Mexico. There is no significant social safety net provided by the state in Mexico. On day 3 tell Mexico that if the Mexican government will contribute the funds needed to the United States to pay for the wall, the Trump Administration will not promulgate the final rule, and the regulation will not go into effect. Trade tariffs, or enforcement of existing trade rules: There is no doubt that Mexico is engaging in unfair subsidy behavior that has eliminated thousands of U.S. jobs, and which we are obligated to respond to; the impact of any tariffs on the price imports will be more than offset by the economic and income gains of increased production in the United States, in addition to revenue from any tariffs themselves. Mexico needs access to our markets much more than the reverse, so we have all the leverage and will win the negotiation. By definition, if you have a large trade deficit with a nation, it means they are selling far more to you than the reverse - thus they, not you, stand to lose from enforcing trade rules through tariffs (as has been done to save many U.S. industries in the past). Cancelling visas: Immigration is a privilege, not a right. Mexico is totally dependent on the United States as a release valve for its own poverty - our approvals of hundreds of thousands of visas to their nationals every year is one of our greatest leverage points. We also have leverage through business and tourist visas for important people in the Mexican economy. Keep in mind, the United States has already taken in 4X more migrants than any other country on planet earth, producing lower wages and higher unemployment for our own citizens and recent migrants. Visa fees: Even a small increase in visa fees would pay for the wall. This includes fees on border crossing cards, of which more than 1 million are issued a year. The border-crossing card is also one of the greatest sources of illegal immigration into the United States, via overstays. Mexico is also the single largest recipient of U.S. green cards, which confer a path to U.S. citizenship. Again, we have the leverage so Mexico will back down. Conclusion: Mexico has taken advantage of us in another way as well: gangs, drug traffickers and cartels have freely exploited our open borders and committed vast numbers of crimes inside the United States. The United States has borne the extraordinary daily cost of this criminal activity, including the cost of trials and incarcerations. Not to mention the even greater human cost. We have the moral high ground here, and all the leverage. It is time we use it in order to Make America Great Again.
After following the accounts and reactions from Orlando for a day and half now, I am completely repulsed by this country. Everyone, left and right, is pointing fingers and arguing semantics. It's Trump's fault, it's Obama's fault, it's the patriarchy, it's the Muslims, it's the Christians, it's the liberals, it's the conservatives, it's a gun thing, it's an Islamophobic thing, it's a homophobic thing. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Everyone is trying to be the fucking victim. Meanwhile 100+ people are still dead and wounded. Were they targeted because they were gay? Absolutely. Does it fucking matter if he chose that bar because of his archaic religion or because he's just simply homophobic? No. Either way we've still got 100+ US Citizens that were attacked on US soil by some asshole claiming allegiance to a foreign power. And were going to sit and argue amongst ourselves about trivial bullshit? This country has become pathetic. Meanwhile:
While I'd never trust Gawker for their journalistic excellence, if this report is true then I called it on the weekend talking to my father: Orlando shooter was a regular at this gay nightclub, with a homosexual dating profile set up on Grindr. I'm 99% certain that whenever a brutal act of hatred happens it's because the perpetrator is a closeted member of the group he's killing.
Forgot the link: http://gawker.com/orlando-shooter-was-reportedly-a-regular-at-pulse-and-h-1781920316
Just read that my tattoos and medical history (because tattoos were done in a licensed, sterile environment, and medical history was so long ago with no long term effects) will not preclude me from giving blood when I go to Orlando in early July. Seriously people, don't send your thoughts and prayers and post about it on FB for likes and Internet points. Do something, or shut up.
If this is true, it certainly makes sense of him proclaiming allegiance to ISIS and then getting confused and also claiming allegiance to different groups who hate each other. Also ties in with the mother saying he wasn't very religious. I bet the FBI investigated him and just realized he was a shit talker because his dad was. I said something to my wife earlier that a lot of people are realizing their loved ones are gay at the same time they learn they're dead. So include the murderer's father in this. I hope the police find the father guilty of something and lock him up, or better yet deport him so he can get tortured for raising a gay son.
And the savior. I have not once heard a compelling comprehensive plan that has even the slimmest chance of drastically reducing gun violence in this country. There are some so called common sense initiatives we could institute. They might even help, but at best these would reduce the murder rate how much? Pick for yourself. 3% at the outer most limits? Biden even admitted, while he was pushing for new gun control legislation, that at best his policies would have the most marginal of effects. For damn near any of these crimes people can easily come up with an extremely plausible scenario where they still happen, requiring little creativity or much of any deviation from the killer's actual plan. Unless you think we can somehow afford first rate security everywhere, or that that would actually be a good thing. The other solutions are that it was gun control that caused this to happen in the first place. We need more guns for our gun problem and then cowboys united will stop half these crimes before they even happen. Not going to do jack shit either, especially when you account for the fact that these mass murders are a tiny percentage of murders overall. At this point I'm convinced there isn't a solution. At least not anywhere in the sphere of what's being discussed. American culture propagates violence. There's plenty of countries that are as heavily armed, or have no shortage of guns available, but don't come anywhere near our homicide rate. If the real problem starts anywhere, it's with the media. The way they celebrate these crimes and the paranoia they foster. Not to mention their eagerness to either be sympathetic to murderers or shift the blame entirely. Fucking borderline justifying their crimes. School shooter? Where were the parents? Why do we bully kids? Video games, movies, our failed educational system. Thugs in Chicago? Racism, poverty, police brutality. Yeah, they just want to open up the conversation and figure out how to fix things. They're the biggest fucking problem.
I watched a thread devolve into drivel because some gay guy was saying that nobody else who wasn't gay could understand the depths of the impact of the shooting, and that it was worse than the holocaust. It's one big "no, I'm a bigger victim than you are" competition, when it should be, "all right boys, let's form a posse and go get the fuckers".
At the risk of not pissing off anyone... any solution absolutely has to start at the cultural level. Better access to mental healthcare and just better mental healthcare all around is a great first step. So is American's approach to fetishizing violence. In my opinion, Europe does it the right way. Tits and ass and dick and whatever every where. No one cares. It's the human body. It's natural. You know what isn't natural? Seeing a bunch of people (fictionally) killing a bunch of people in graphic ways and celebrating it. Death and gore and violence is supposed to be shocking because it isn't natural, and now we don't bat an eye when we see it. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I've never seen a pair of titties on the tv and thought "damn, you know what? That naked woman is really putting me in the mood to go murder a motherfucker!"
I'm not trying to jump on you here, but this isn't the problem either. Europeans watch Hollywood movies almost as often as we do. They play the same video games. Their films have just as much violence and hit as broad a range of genres. No important difference as far as that goes. The cultural difference is that they don't glorify thugs(except maybe soccer hooligans, but they brawl and don't kill quite as often). They don't celebrate revenge, either through vigilantism or in the judicial system. They don't have a bunch of wannabe tough guys walking around armed bragging "If you mess with me, I'll kill your ass." Their media will latch onto violent stories, but does not portray them in nearly the same way, and does not overwhelming inundate the audience with a juicy blood letting. Someone could find a story out there that suggests they're equally sympathetic towards people who commit violence, but based on what I've seen I disagree. The sentiment is very different. It's more along the lines of - this guy was a piece of shit, he needs to be brought to justice, we're not going to overreact and compromise our values. Norway experienced the worst mass shooting in recent memory. The public did not demand an overhaul of the judicial system or police force, and for good reason considering their recidivism is a fraction of our own. The hostility of our police force towards ordinary citizens is at odds with Europe as well, but only a symptom of the problem. It's not our desensitization towards violence. It's our emotional reaction towards violence and willingness to instigate it.
Chick-fil-A was criticized for Dan Cathy expressing views against gay marriage. But, he (and Chick-fil-A) have said they are not against gay people, and did not support any hateful actions. Since they are probably known by many as anti-gay, (and known for being closed on Sunday), I thought this was a compassionate gesture.http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/158700906-story Some of the Orlando Chick-fil-A employees came in on Sunday to make food, and they handed out free sandwiches and tea to those waiting in line to give blood.
Not so sure about that. They still give to anti-LGBT causes, they're just not public about it. Good for them for doing that in Orlando though. I've met many people who worked there who are nice, honest, hard working individuals. Most became employees because they just needed a job, and to a single person they all left because they the company paid them minimum wage and asked them to work their absolute tails off while the managers were allowed to be dicks. Awesome food, shitty company.
Careful. This club was having Latin Night when this happened. Nobody has confirmed that they were American citizens yet. I'm sure The Donald will have data on that in his next speech. EDIT: Not sure that this adds anything of value to the discussion because I am writing this from Guam but from talking to my wife, in Orlando, who has friends who lost a lot of friends; reports are that there was more than one gunman in the club. I haven't seen this written anywhere in the news reports and have no idea if it was true or not but this is coming third-hand from people who were in the club. Who knows what they saw, my guess is as soon as people realized there was shooting, everyone was running and not looking around to count the number of gunmen.
Politics really are nothing if not entertaining. Isn't this the same women who got where she is today by claiming to be an Indian? One fraud to another, I guess.