I don't know if there are any Christian nations left, but in the rest of the civilized world (use that term loosely) if someone throws someone off a building it's a crime. Even if that person represents the law or is sworn to uphold the law, even a police officer it's a crime. No way around it. If a cop did it there would be an investigation, an internal investigation, a state investigation, and possibly a federal investigation to see if the victim's civil rights were violated. No one in their right mind would consider it justice. Not in the press, not in the courts, no where.

However in sharia law it is that law that allows them to throw them off a building.

Just plain naive logic.

In other news, Trump pisses off Australia:

Trump has heated exchange with Australian leader, sources say - CNNPolitics.com

Hilarious. Thanks for the yuks.

And?

So it's OK for Australia to reject the refugees, permanently I take it, but it's not OK to temporarily suspend citizens' travel from seven countries?

Feeding the paranoia and fear. Thumbs up Donald.

Good lord. Samantha Bee is tearing the **** out of Trump brilliantly right now on the tube. Half comedy and half total truth. I love her.

An older bit:

Matthew 5:17 [Jesus speaking]

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

This is an old argument and unfortunately is not one I think holds much water. But it's actually illustrative of the larger point, that the overwhelming majority of religious people are not slavishly devoted to every word in their holy book. Part of the reason I'm not religious is the cognitive dissonance displayed there. It's either written/directly revealed by God or it's not.

Regardless, the majority of the alt-right's claims regarding Islam are provably false. And the ones that aren't (invocations to kill nonbelievers, the superiority of Islam over other faiths, Islamic eschatology) are found in Christianity. Since most alt-right proponents were raised as Christians or at least have been exposed to the faith and it's adherents their whole life, they intuitively understand that following a religion doesn't mean you follow all of that religion.

Some strong analogies in this thread. elphenor's 'faith as clothing' idea is quite accurate for, what I would very unscientifically estimate, 90% of 'believers'. And yes, TheBatlord, a pair of tennis shoes never motivated a suicide bomber. But as myself and others stated earlier, religious violence is most commonly used by people manipulated by those with aspirations for earthly power. Faith is a powerful motivator, but it's hard to directly tie it to violence. As you said, the WBC doesn't engage in mass murder, despite holding the same level of contempt and hatred for the majority of Americans (homosexuals and homosexual allies). Jihadists and WBC/Identitarians/Sovereign Citizens share the similar mindsets; ones easier to turn against their fellow humans. But, with few exceptions, the critical conditions for terrorist action aren't common in the West.

To reiterate, poverty, lack of cultural diffusion, lack of empowerment, and lack of opportunity create the ground for terrorists. It takes emotional manipulation to make a 17 year old shepherd strap a bomb to his chest and kill dozens of his neighbors. Religion is arguably the most powerful emotional impetus; a fact well known by the sadistic nihilists that lead ISIS, al Qaeda, etc.

Exactly. People arguing against this seem to think I'm implying Islam has nothing to do with the violence. What I am saying is the fact that Islam is being used as the fuel is secondary to the fact that it is their government and circumstances that are driving the whole thing.

We can have a theological debate all day, but targeting the religion will not fix anything. Emphasizing the religion will only reinforce the negative stereotypes the ignorant and uneducated among us feel towards ALL Muslims. We want people to rally around the right cause, which is to fight the oppressive government currently enforcing this theocracy on their people.

Good lord, this thread proves that you guys must have literally nothing else to do.

O please. You love it.

You play and write about video games.

Now that my agency has no clue how to do our jobs because of all these damn EO's, yeah..I have a lot more time right now.

I run my technology business from home and delegate and work on things wherever I happen to be at the time. MusicBanter is like a bad habit I just can't quit. :afro:

Says the guy who up until a week ago spent his days walking his cat.

:rofl:

Apparently 20 men were killed as well. Just thought I'd give a sh*t about them in your absence.

Definitely a **** move on our end but there's also the fact that ISIS regularly uses women and children as shields/soldiers.

:laughing:

The men are always guilty.

Of course they are. That's why the court never trusts them with the kids in custody battles.

Good lord. Be sure to click on Arnold's video reply. Priceless.

Trump at National Prayer Breakfast: 'Pray for Arnold for those ratings' - CNNPolitics.com

I'm not ignorant: you just don't agree with me. Maybe when you graduate with your liberal arts degree or whatever and live in the real world for a few years you'll be able to grasp the difference.

He insults you, you condescend to him. Serve, volley.

If he wants to act like a child, I'll humor him. If he wants to have civil discourse, he should lead with that instead of calling anyone who disagrees with him "ignorant". To that end, he should follow duga's example. We had a good back and forth going there for a bit.

Ya. When I finally grow up I want to be just like Duga. Seriously.

Happy to keep it going. You clearly put a lot of thought into your posts as well...mine are only as good as the person I am debating with.

I can teach you, my child.

You gotta love this mindset. "If I obviously know more than you, you're a child that knows nothing."

Not a good look for you, Ant.

Trump to take steps rolling back financial regulations - CNNPolitics.com

Holy flying ****!

"Some men just want to watch the world burn."

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

Yeah, let's insult the country you're representing. That's real smart.

So you approve of people leading a discussion with childish insults? That's lovely.

Comments people????

PENIS!@#$%^&&* i

TBH, I really don't understand what that means or the affect it will have.

As a 30 year old college student, I don't know anything about investments. The only thing I know is don't use credit cards and put as much in the bank as I can every month after I pay my bills.

I'd support the rollback if it would make it easier for startups and smaller companies to get reasonable loans from a local bank instead of having to seek private investment every time there's no physical collateral involved. It's so difficult for anyone to get off the ground these days in a lot of industries even with great credit unless you already have big-time established cashflow or have been in business for more than 5-10 years.

I hear use credit cards basically as charge cards so you can get good credit without accruing debt, but that's secondhand advice.

I just paid off my credit card, after racking up the bill from when I was living on my own.. I have one and it got me great credit(790ish), but I'm never spending beyond my means again unless it's an emergency.

Pretty much what you gotta do I guess. I'm basically terrified of credit cards and would be too scared to ever use one unless I could pay it off in one or two paycheck cycles.

You understand what led to the crash in 2007. You made that clear. There are those in the financial sector that need to be kept on leashes. Agreed? What Trump is about to do is to remove all of those leashes. I'm not focused on what it means to small businesses. I'm scared ****less about what it means to the entire US economy on a whole. I own a home and have a 401K that will be directly affected. As do millions of others in the US.

You always seem to speak from your own little bubble. Maybe look at the big picture for once.

I look at the big picture all the time: I'd just like to think others are smart enough to know that before they bother putting words in my mouth.

They're DISCUSSING Dodd-Frank because it needs tweaks. It isn't perfect and has also created additional entities that don't have anything to do with protecting the public's financial interest. It's possible the whole thing will get thrown out, but it looks like they're simply going to modify it in some way that better serves small businesses. Getting all up in arms when there's more to the story doesn't help anyone.

Trump orders review of Dodd-Frank financial regulations, suspends retirement advisor rule - LA Times

I didn't think Trump was going to actually go through with reversing TPP but he did it. Good on Trump with that one. Have to tip my hat where it's do.

Also, was the women's march because he stopped funding international abortion clinics or is it unrelated? Because I really don't think liberals get the law. It's a good thing in my book. Well, if I understand it correctly. It means that we are no longer spending money to abort babies in other countries, right?

Edit: Other than those two things he's destroying America or what ever.