BruceVC

This post really made me laugh, Gorthfuscious you should quit your ERP consultancy job and become a stand-up comedian

Yes I know what you said, my point about comparing homosexuality to animals is what other people I have had this debate with have mentioned and raised as a justification for a statement like " homosexuality is unnatural because you dont see it in the animal kingdom " It wasnt directed at you

I accept and understand that not all us have connections and friendships with the LGBT community and that leads to misunderstandings For example any argument that makes comparisons between the animal kingdom and LGBT is always going to be deeply flawed. For example someone could argue " you dont see homosexuality in animals so that makes its unnatural " ...this is spurious and false for several reasons that include you do see homosexuality amongst animals, just google it more relevant is why would any human make any comparison to any animal and the animals behavior ? I am not a monkey or dog and human beings have several advanced intellectual traits and characteristics like superior intelligence and the ability to rationalize things and make decisions not based on animal instinct. For example you dont ask your dog or hamster what shares or bonds are a good investment so why would you be concerned with the sexual orientation of any animal,.....this should be irrelevant to your own though process and decisions there are plenty of examples of heterosexual couples being terrible parents and failing as parents. There is no valid reason or evidence that same sex couples cant raise children in a loving and caring environment, yes some things may be different but these things are not enough to justify a view that says " its always better to have heterosexual family units having children"

Agreed but this Du Pont disgrace needs global citizens to be aware of it

But Gorthfuscious you must watch this movie.....its really troubling and concerning. And I would like your informed opinion on the reality of the message and outcome from this movie We live in an era where science and medicine are at an unprecedented level of advancement and we can cure so many diseases and we know so much about the human body yet we also have more cases of cancer and other ailments than ever seen before. I use to think this was primarily due to diets but it could be directly related to this Du Pont appalling scandal

Not only that Australia is an island, how do you manage birds flying from closer land masses like Asia? How would you know which birds are local and which birds are foreign invaders

Unbelievable the actions and anarchy we still see with Antifa, at least people were arrested so thats something All the US states need to come down on these types of violent protests and the more people are arrested the less we will see people thinking they can act with impunity

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/11/8801601/dark-waters-true-story-dupont-chemical-spill-lawyer As some of you may be aware I dont support conspiracy theories and sweeping statements about the private sector being corrupt and responsible for all the inequality and woes in the world but this is different I watched a movie last night called Dark Waters and as the link explains its all about a USA company called Du Pont that for decades has been using carcinogenic chemicals in most of their kitchen products that all of us use and apparently still use They reckon that 99 % of all citizens globally have these chemicals in our bodies I recommend people watching this movie and I am looking for any opinions around how true this is and what should be happening going forward But its scary how Du Pont knew how dangerous these chemicals were and how they caused numerous problems like birth defects and how many people died in West Virginia due to long lasting issues due to cancer related causes

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