BruceVC

Turkey is a good example of a state moving from secularism to a more religious state but its far removed form Saudi Arabia and its religious conservatism. And its unlikely it will end up the same as Saudi Arabia

I am glad they not going to execute Joe, only in Australia would they consider killing a pigeon that had somehow flown all the from the USA ( if Joe had indeed flown from the USA which now we know he didnt ) due to the "biosecurity risk" ...what does that really mean? And how do you enforce such a law with wild animals that would naturally migrate to the Oz Continent

That is interesting, I would never have thought Obama would have pardoned more people than Trump but to be honest I never followed any of Obamas pardons

What a nice, pleasant inauguration. I wasnt glued to the TV as I have been cooking but it went off very well, I liked the poet. She did a good job and the artists sang well Well done Biden and well done USA for this peaceful event, it was important for all Democracies around the world

Refugee camps are a necessity in many cases but what do you mean by concentration camps are a necessity ? Because you have to keep people and combatants imprisoned during most wars but the conditions can still be humane ?

Why do you assume I thought everything was perfect and civil before Trump showed up? I have been following the US political machinations since 9/11. There is no Democracy in the world where you dont have different degrees of dichotomy and tension between the various political parties. That is normal and to be expected But Trump added a new level of friction and created a different type of political divide in the USA, Trumpism was unique and we havent seen anything quite like it

Yes I was reading an article that highlighted how pardons are relatively common but are this number of pardons common and also the actual people being pardoned ? Some of then deserve to be incarcerated

Nice that Pence is at the inauguration of Biden, its important that Republicans who want a political future in a normal and " healthy " US political environment recommit to the decorum and etiquette that use to exist before Trumpism The decorum matters, it always has and the Trump theater showed me what can happen when you decide it doesn't matter or is irrelevant

Secular means none religious, so a secular Constitution means the Constitution does not base its laws and rules on a particular religion. Like most of our Constitutions Pidesco can confirm what the original question meant but I think he is asking what would be the reason a person doesnt support the rights of LGBT, is it based on a religious view or a non-religious view. And he wants to know what would be the actual reason you or anyone else dont support LGBT rights Its a good question if that is what he is asking because there are different ways a person can respond to why anyone doesn't support LGBT rights in a modern Democracy where human rights are part of the Constitution, LGBT rights like womens rights and religious freedom are all part of human rights. So it becomes inconsistent if you say " I believe in womens rights and support a non-racist society " but you dont support LGBT rights Obesity is also an issue in SA, its one of our many health problems we deal with as a society

Maybe you can share your definition of secular and what you mean by the question in the interest of clarity? English isnt everyone's first language and if you want to have a debate on a forum that has members from all over the world I find that helps

Nightmare Wakes looks excellent, a pity we dont get Shudder in SA

Dont joke but for some journalists not talking about Trump anymore is going to be a weird new reality for them

One thing I am definitely not going to miss is the endless discussions on certain news channels like CNN about " what Trump said " and " can you believe what Trump said " I am utterly exhausted by these topics and look forward to the change going forward

Why would we be happy or lucky with women not wearing skirts and high heels ....what if a women wants to wear a mini-skirt with boots or high heels to work? Personally I love seeing a liberated women confident with wearing a skirt ? Gorthfuscious we mustnt dictate to women what we think is acceptable, remember part of gender equality is we must respect their choices

Oh and another important distinction between countries like Uganda and the ME Most countries in the ME have never claimed to be Democracies or have Constitutions that support human rights. Uganda claims it is a Democracy with a Constitution that includes human rights. Also Uganda is part of the African Union which does have a charter where human rights are suppose to be protected and are suppose to be mandatory This is based on the historical reality of Colonialism where black people were discriminated against through racism ...but for some African countries racism is bad but homophobia against your own black citizens is okay So you can see the inconsistency ?

Dark, Eleronds post I quoted is probably the best way to make the point around why human rights, like LGBT rights, matter in a Democracy

Yes you are correct and as I have mentioned before I have worked and travelled numerous times to the ME and as you may recall I support the new alliances and way forward with the Gulf States, Israel and USA on one side and Iran on the other And its also true most ME countries have laws where its the death penalty for LGBT but I have had to learn to separate different countries laws but more importantly what is the countries overall role in the region and is the government delivering services and economic prosperity to its citizens? But I have never supported the discrimination you see in the ME against LGBT But sometimes in life their is a big picture and you have to chose your battles because the reality of world is sometimes their is a much more urgent precedent than just human rights and that precedent can have global or at least real regional ramifications. But later on you should address the human rights failures...just not now So going to back to the Uganda and ME comparison, Uganda's president hasn't delivered prosperity or quality of life for his citizens and the country is reliant on foreign aid. All of the Gulf states have working economies and the average citizen is happy with their leadership because these countries face greater external threats to their way of life So even through I dont support the Saudi's human rights record at all it is not the same as the failed political reality of Uganda. I dont want to create the impression I am a hypocrite on this type of matter as these countries have different political realties and how we judge and interact with all countries does matter as they not the same

Its a valid debate if we want to understand the difference. You are perfectly entitled to not support the rights of LBGT on a personal level But most of us live in countries where these rights are enshrined in our Constitutions and you dont have any right to discriminate against LGBT to the point where countries like Uganda made it illegal to be LGBT and members of these communities were murdered and arrested on the streets in Uganda because of their sexual orientation Thats wrong and should never be acceptable but I am not going to try to force you to accept the rights of LGBT because I cannot force you. But the laws of most of our countries prevent you from being killed or legally discriminated against if you LGBT I hope this makes sense ?

This is historically accurate, the horrendous reality of Shark Island did come after the SA concentration camps and in these camps their was deliberate and planned experimentation on the Herero people. This was not the case in the Boer War and what occurred under the British I am not trying to undermine the loss of lives of Boer and black women and children in the SA camps but it wasnt due to experimentation and mass killings so the definition should matter?

Plus most companies should have password policies that force you reset the your password at least every 6 weeks, that is a minimum password policy age in most banks I have worked at and best practice should be every 3 weeks So in other words users should expect their password to change and previous password history should be disabled

Yes but we should be more than capable of understanding the different political realties in different countries and how autocratic governments decide to ban or shutdown SM and how we respond Uganda is an example of an appallingly run African country which has demonstrated in numerous examples how the president, now in power for over 30 years, doesnt believe or support very basic human rights or freedom of speech. For example criminalizing the rights of LGBT community This is not the same as Trump and right wing groups being banned from SM. There is a distinction and the statement " What's good for the goose is good for the gander " clearly doesnt apply here Its about separating these decisions and what country they applied in. That does matter

https://store.steampowered.com/app/241620/Inquisitor/ I mentioned I am playing this game and its great fun and has a very compelling narrative, probably the best part of it because the actual gaming mechanics are a little frustrating until you get use to them and even then they not elegant. For example the combat can be difficult to plan properly against difficult enemies but to quote from Steam deep and involving tale of betrayal, torture, madness, and infernal damnation. If a gritty old-school open-ended isometric RPG is what you looking for, look no further. Inquisitor will provide you with hours of gameplay and a dark, involving story. The game is like that, I have just finished Act 1 and I ended burning several heretics and devil-worshippers at the stake. I dont know who else has played this game but I recommend it for the narrative and how it unfolds

But a country like Turkey is the same as Russia, China and many ME countries. They dont support or believe in freedom of speech so any excuse to clamp down on platforms like Twitter will occur This doesn't change the fact SM is part of the mechanism where people can express themselves in most countries that have freedom of speech enshrined in their Constitutions. But their is a limit to freedom of speech so what happened in the USA is not an attack on freedom of speech where Trump was banned from most SM platforms This was a direct consequence, and its understandable, how SM platforms were abused by various right wing groups and this contributed towards the Capitol violence on the 6

These pardons are just another example of abuse of power of the presidency from Trump

I have decided to embrace reconciliation and the reasonable objective of " healing the nation " . I am more than prepared to accept the new and more constructive opinions of the likes of McConnell and Lindsay Graham. These established Republicans supported Trumpism but this was more about political survival than flawed or dysfunctional ideology that was associated with much of Trumpism Trumpism is going to fade quickly IMO, especially with how Trump has been his own worst enemy by not accepting defeat and then the attack on Capitol just added to the damage done to most positive views of his political legacy But its best not to dwell on the past on all previous political developments and for me that means in the interest of uniting the USA I am glad the Republican establishment is slowly but inexorably distancing themselves from Trump As Biden said recently " dont tell me it cant be done, it can be done if we want it to "