General John Kelly: "He said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law."
We've had terrorist attacks here, Les, that last ones were in San Bernadino and Charleston, So. Carolina. We've got foreign and domestic terrorists here.
Ahab, Trump has already talked about using waterboarding today. He's exactly the wrong temperament for this sort of tragedy. He'd be a disaster as a president.
Shaw... I am not sure how we deal with continued terrorist acts like these. One cannot deny that the great majority of these acts are committed in the name of Islam, albeit, by the extremists, but by those favoring that religion, nonetheless.
Generally speaking, we see nothing like this from the followers of other major religions worldwide. Yes, there are exceptions, but I am speaking broadly.
Perhaps this is their goal, but it is getting harder everyday to not expect a response. Certainly the response of many of the GOP candidates is a "bridge too far" but perhaps the unwillingness of Pres Obama to address an obvious link is just as far in the other direction.
Is there no middle ground between patrol and secure their neighborhoods and Islam is a religion of peace so we have no quarrels?
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called on authorities to “patrol and secure” Muslim neighborhoods in the United States.
“We need to immediately halt the flow of refugees from countries with a significant al Qaida or ISIS presence,” Cruz said in a statement. “We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized. We need to secure the southern border to prevent terrorist infiltration. And we need to execute a coherent campaign to utterly destroy ISIS.”
--------- Lost on Cruz is the fact that the attacks in Europe have been committed by North Africans with a generational history in Belgium and France as imported cheap labor and assimilation has been difficult especially in Belgium due quite substantially to economic neglect.
Cruz (and Drumpf) would act in haste from hatred and try to create the same situation here. Right now we have our hands full with gun loon mass shootings and don't really need the brown shirt patrols.
I don't know what the answer is for this continuing carnage by the extremists in the Muslim religion. But I don't see how having President Obama call it radical Islam will do anything to stop the terrorists. I do think that if he were to go non-stop calling out the horrors of radical Islam, there are those in this country who would themselves be radicalized into taking out their anger and frustrations on ANY Muslim. This is how many humans respond to fear and terror. They lose all perspective and decide that all people of the same religion are terrorists and therefore feel free to attack and kill. This is not unheard of in history.
I understand completely why the president would not want to encourage retaliation against the millions of peaceful Muslims who live in this country. You and I have seen how irrational people attacked anything that remotely looked "Muslim" after 9/11. Sikhs with turbans were attacked and murdered, for example.
The Muslims who live and work where I live are decent, peaceful people, and I'd hate to see any of them or their families attacked because of ignorance and fear, or because the POTUS talked about Islam -- all of Islam -- as something that must be wiped out.
You certainly know that certain people on right wing blogs want all Muslims gone -- even American citizens whose faith is Islam. That's crazy, psychotic talk and a recipe for mayhem and murder.
I'm with Ducky on this. Do we really want to "patrol all the Muslim neighborhoods" as Cruz suggested, thereby implicating all Muslims as terrorists?
Years ago in American history, when southern Italians were newly arrived here in America, some of them were gangsters, anarchists, and really bad felonious characters. As a result of lumping all Italians as undesirables and thugs, 11 innocent Sicilians were hanged in New Orleans for a crime that they did not commit and for which they were found not guilty. It didn't matter to the mobs who only knew that Sicilians were crooks and killers, so they went to the jail where they were being held in protective custody, dragged them out, while law enforcement looked the other way, and hanged all 11 of them.
Why would we want keep repeating these sort of irrational mistakes?
Dave: You don't see religious violence from Christianity so much any more because most people in the West aren't fervently religious any more. Back when they were, there were things like witch-burnings, the Crusades, the Thirty Years' War, etc.
The fanatical Christians that remain have sometimes committed attacks on places like abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood facilities.
Militant Hindus in India commit a great deal of violence and thuggery. Our media don't report on it much because it doesn't affect us.
To me, it is so nihilistic that I have to think the roots of something so heinous are elsewhere. The terrorists goal is terror, no more no less and the more we can be clear headed the better.
I was talking to a neighbor who is Muslim after the marathon bombings and she expressed gratitude that she felt safe in the neighborhood. Muslim or Mexican immigrant, the more we can do that the better.
I always liked Castro myself. Power to the people. If the U.S. had not set up the trade embargo, his little experiment probably would have had a much better chance of working. Oh well, I suppose it was for the best.
Although my Che Guevara tee-shirt I bought in Berkeley is only two years old, it seldom raises many eyebrows here on the west coast. I doubt anyone would even notice it if I wore it tomorrow. Of course, I don't wear it to work.
A suggestion for Cruz. Once we've secured the Muslim neighborhoods, issue crescent moons that must be worn by Muslims at all times. Better to keep an eye on them. Frank Gaffney can decide what color the moons should be. What's the downside?
Dave: "Is there no middle ground between patrol and secure their neighborhoods and Islam is a religion of peace so we have no quarrels?"
Yes, there is a middle ground: Let us refrain from allowing ourselves to be suckered by appeals to bigotry and hate mongering and the kind of dog whistle politics that motivates the rabble.
Point One: "Radical Islam" is not Islam; it's a byproduct of Western colonialism and military misadventures in the Middle East, a violent counter reaction to successive interventions by Western powers. The U.S. created ISIS when we overthrew Saddam, destabilized the country, and triggered a civil war between Sunnis and Shia.
Point Two: Terrorism is not new to Islam. How quickly we forget European terrorism committed by such groups as ETA, the IRA, Red Brigades, and the Bader-Meinhof Gang, as examples. Terrorism is a form of asymmetrical warfare; it's also waged by misfits who are themselves on the fringes of society (see next point).
Point Three: Europe does not have a tradition of assimilating immigrant populations in the same manner as Americans do. Witness the difference in quality of life when comparing American Muslims versus European Muslims. American Muslims are more fully integrated (i.e. many have become doctors, lawyers, small business owners). In contrast, European Muslims live in ghettos and on the fringes in their adopted countries. Disaffected European Muslims have criminal records long before they became terrorists.
The term "Radical Islam" is frankly a "cheap hit point" scored by demagogues. I would like to think we are more analytical and thoughtful than to sink to this level.
15 comments:
Let me guess ,White Christian Militia?
More terror by Islamic extremists?
More likely to follow. The future looks bleak indeed.
It's only a matter of time before we are hit here, at home in the USA.
No one is safe from the growth of Islamic terror worldwide.
Our thoughts are with the people of Brussels.
May the bastards responsible suffer a terrible fate.
Horrible! My heart breaks for the dozens dead and injured.
I fear that anti-Muslim hate crimes and anti-refugee rhetoric will reach a fevered pitch after these attacks.
Anon, no, not this time. But it happened in Europe, not here in the U.S.
We've had terrorist attacks here, Les, that last ones were in San Bernadino and Charleston, So. Carolina. We've got foreign and domestic terrorists here.
Ahab, Trump has already talked about using waterboarding today. He's exactly the wrong temperament for this sort of tragedy. He'd be a disaster as a president.
Of course, my memory is not gone yet Shaw.
Guess I should have specified by saying
.. hit AGAIN .
Shaw... I am not sure how we deal with continued terrorist acts like these. One cannot deny that the great majority of these acts are committed in the name of Islam, albeit, by the extremists, but by those favoring that religion, nonetheless.
Generally speaking, we see nothing like this from the followers of other major religions worldwide. Yes, there are exceptions, but I am speaking broadly.
Perhaps this is their goal, but it is getting harder everyday to not expect a response. Certainly the response of many of the GOP candidates is a "bridge too far" but perhaps the unwillingness of Pres Obama to address an obvious link is just as far in the other direction.
Is there no middle ground between patrol and secure their neighborhoods and Islam is a religion of peace so we have no quarrels?
Not to be outdone by Trump ---
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called on authorities to “patrol and secure” Muslim neighborhoods in the United States.
“We need to immediately halt the flow of refugees from countries with a significant al Qaida or ISIS presence,” Cruz said in a statement. “We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized. We need to secure the southern border to prevent terrorist infiltration. And we need to execute a coherent campaign to utterly destroy ISIS.”
---------
Lost on Cruz is the fact that the attacks in Europe have been committed by North Africans with a generational history in Belgium and France as imported cheap labor and assimilation has been difficult especially in Belgium due quite substantially to economic neglect.
Cruz (and Drumpf) would act in haste from hatred and try to create the same situation here.
Right now we have our hands full with gun loon mass shootings and don't really need the brown shirt patrols.
Dave,
I don't know what the answer is for this continuing carnage by the extremists in the Muslim religion. But I don't see how having President Obama call it radical Islam will do anything to stop the terrorists. I do think that if he were to go non-stop calling out the horrors of radical Islam, there are those in this country who would themselves be radicalized into taking out their anger and frustrations on ANY Muslim. This is how many humans respond to fear and terror. They lose all perspective and decide that all people of the same religion are terrorists and therefore feel free to attack and kill. This is not unheard of in history.
I understand completely why the president would not want to encourage retaliation against the millions of peaceful Muslims who live in this country. You and I have seen how irrational people attacked anything that remotely looked "Muslim" after 9/11. Sikhs with turbans were attacked and murdered, for example.
The Muslims who live and work where I live are decent, peaceful people, and I'd hate to see any of them or their families attacked because of ignorance and fear, or because the POTUS talked about Islam -- all of Islam -- as something that must be wiped out.
You certainly know that certain people on right wing blogs want all Muslims gone -- even American citizens whose faith is Islam. That's crazy, psychotic talk and a recipe for mayhem and murder.
I'm with Ducky on this. Do we really want to "patrol all the Muslim neighborhoods" as Cruz suggested, thereby implicating all Muslims as terrorists?
Years ago in American history, when southern Italians were newly arrived here in America, some of them were gangsters, anarchists, and really bad felonious characters. As a result of lumping all Italians as undesirables and thugs, 11 innocent Sicilians were hanged in New Orleans for a crime that they did not commit and for which they were found not guilty. It didn't matter to the mobs who only knew that Sicilians were crooks and killers, so they went to the jail where they were being held in protective custody, dragged them out, while law enforcement looked the other way, and hanged all 11 of them.
Why would we want keep repeating these sort of irrational mistakes?
Dave: You don't see religious violence from Christianity so much any more because most people in the West aren't fervently religious any more. Back when they were, there were things like witch-burnings, the Crusades, the Thirty Years' War, etc.
The fanatical Christians that remain have sometimes committed attacks on places like abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood facilities.
Militant Hindus in India commit a great deal of violence and thuggery. Our media don't report on it much because it doesn't affect us.
Religion is religion.
Is this really a question of religion, Dave?
To me, it is so nihilistic that I have to think the roots of something so heinous are elsewhere.
The terrorists goal is terror, no more no less and the more we can be clear headed the better.
I was talking to a neighbor who is Muslim after the marathon bombings and she expressed gratitude that she felt safe in the neighborhood. Muslim or Mexican immigrant, the more we can do that the better.
I always liked Castro myself. Power to the people. If the U.S. had not set up the trade embargo, his little experiment probably would have had a much better chance of working. Oh well, I suppose it was for the best.
Although my Che Guevara tee-shirt I bought in Berkeley is only two years old, it seldom raises many eyebrows here on the west coast. I doubt anyone would even notice it if I wore it tomorrow. Of course, I don't wear it to work.
At least my Bullwinkle Assassinated tee-shirt was a conversation starter.
A suggestion for Cruz. Once we've secured the Muslim neighborhoods, issue crescent moons that must be worn by Muslims at all times. Better to keep an eye on them. Frank Gaffney can decide what color the moons should be. What's the downside?
Dave: "Is there no middle ground between patrol and secure their neighborhoods and Islam is a religion of peace so we have no quarrels?"
Yes, there is a middle ground: Let us refrain from allowing ourselves to be suckered by appeals to bigotry and hate mongering and the kind of dog whistle politics that motivates the rabble.
Point One: "Radical Islam" is not Islam; it's a byproduct of Western colonialism and military misadventures in the Middle East, a violent counter reaction to successive interventions by Western powers. The U.S. created ISIS when we overthrew Saddam, destabilized the country, and triggered a civil war between Sunnis and Shia.
Point Two: Terrorism is not new to Islam. How quickly we forget European terrorism committed by such groups as ETA, the IRA, Red Brigades, and the Bader-Meinhof Gang, as examples. Terrorism is a form of asymmetrical warfare; it's also waged by misfits who are themselves on the fringes of society (see next point).
Point Three: Europe does not have a tradition of assimilating immigrant populations in the same manner as Americans do. Witness the difference in quality of life when comparing American Muslims versus European Muslims. American Muslims are more fully integrated (i.e. many have become doctors, lawyers, small business owners). In contrast, European Muslims live in ghettos and on the fringes in their adopted countries. Disaffected European Muslims have criminal records long before they became terrorists.
The term "Radical Islam" is frankly a "cheap hit point" scored by demagogues. I would like to think we are more analytical and thoughtful than to sink to this level.
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