BruceVC

Its okay Gfted1, I can completely understand you finding comfort temporarily in the arms of other crewmen....Im sure everyone did it back then. No judgement from my side

Sharp_one you do realize if Germany collapses Poland will be following it shortly afterwards down the economic maelstrom The EU offers the best economic future for a country like Poland, there is no realistic better alternative

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/22/germany-faces-first-far-right-party-in-parliament-since-second-world-war Im not happy with the success of the AfD

Bennie who did your family generally vote for ?

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/german-election-results-urban-liberal-150900075.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/german-election-2017-polls-odds-tracker-will-angela-merkel-remain/ This is a very important election, thankfully its looking good for Merkel

I think the premise of the point that Antifa today in the USA is the same as Antifa from the past is not an accurate comparision Historical Antifa was opposed to fascist movements that wanted to control governments and were a real ideology that ended up ruling some countries But Antifa nowadays is opposed to some right wing views some people in the USA have, its not like Trump is a real fascist or practices real Neo-Nazism Maybe since here in Merica since our political system is a bit different wording and definitions, they look like brown shirts to me. I mean I can understand and appreciate punching a Nazi or a klans man in the face, but I can't agree or like mimicking brown shirts (the enemy) as the way to get to the face to punch if that makes any sense. Red can I tell you something interesting about these debates that occur in Western countries and both sides, left and right, at times seem to do this People ignore or forget nuance or the principle of " grey areas ", for example at Charlottesville there was violence from both sides....you could see it on any news coverage. But does this mean the fear of white supremacists isn't real or a concern? Of course it is but it would be inaccurate to label all the people on the right as neo-nazis or that they were the only ones involved in violence

I think the premise of the point that Antifa today in the USA is the same as Antifa from the past is not an accurate comparision Historical Antifa was opposed to fascist movements that wanted to control governments and were a real ideology that ended up ruling some countries But Antifa nowadays is opposed to some right wing views some people in the USA have, its not like Trump is a real fascist or practices real Neo-Nazism

Give TP 2 are watch because I want to see if someone else understands whats going on, no one I know in SA has watched it so I have no one to ask questions to I know I can find the plot on the Internet and what its all about but thats just the easy way to pretend I understood the narrative

I watched the last episode of the new season of Twin Peaks, firstly after about episode 5 I started enjoying the season despite initial criticism I had but I still think it has to have the most confusing and incoherent plot I have ever seen in any series I have ever watched I only understand about 45 % of the overall narrative, does anyone on this forum understand what the overall story is about, for example these are the types of questions I have What was the purpose of the " evil Cooper ", I assume he was in fact that evil entity they mentioned called June or similar? How can Laura Palmer be alive if she was killed in season 1 What is that weird dimension some of the characters keep going to Why did the " good cooper " become Duggie....or was he Who was that murderous hobo who killed the guy in the car Anyway I did enjoy the season but why make the story so difficult to follow?

I have never hated Trump even though I wanted Hilary to win. I want global economic stability, growth and sustainability, security and Western values and ideology to be replicated world wide so there is prosperity and better quality of life for all The USA is the foundation of these objectives so I dont want the USA president to implode and impact these objectives, Trump around most international policy decisions has been fine. Its his domestic policies that have been concerning and some of his tweets and public comments to be questionable, impulsive, petulant or demonstrate poor judgement

Okay I see what you mean, you could be right Except the ideology of ISIS is clear on certain things and what they believe. They dont consider themselves progressive in any way, they see themselves as a group who is actually following the Koran in its true, literal definition But the reality is they are selective about they believe about the Koran. All their atrocities they commit they justify in this way But the core belief of ISIS is strict adherence to there religious view of Islam...the idea of a progressive objective is irrelevant to them

As someone who has travelled extensively I was going to say " I can understand that sense of anxiety you may feel but you went to Iraq and survived that and that would require much more bravery and sangfroid " But then it occurred to me this trip to Alaska and any nervousness needs a different type of mental fortitude, also you are older now and married and logically different things would concern you that did not apply when you were in the marines And since a trip to Alaska would also make me scared, as Im not a very good outdoor person, I cannot offer you any normal constructive feedback

Uh huh. well, i judge Muhammad for making the brainwashing machine called islam but what may seem as a generalization on the people who follow that faith, is more of a comment on what that faith demands of them and how these demands force on those who come to the west a choice between compliance with their faith and casting off part of their faith for integration into a society that rejects most of what their faith asks/permits. ISIS acts exactly like Muhammad did, 1300 years ago. Which makes Muhammad a both progressive and pragmatic leader of his time. ISIS is not in any way progressive or pragmatic? They are an aberration of the Islamic scripture, they are utterly brutal and anachronistic. Their interpretation of Islam has no place in the year 2017 and the only way to address these concerns is to annihilate them. The good news about most ISIS fighters is there belief in martyrdom means they generally fight to the death which means its much easier to address the ISIS residual impact from countries where they are active in I must be misunderstanding you about saying "ISIS is progressive group"

But volo to be fair then that type of criticism about the bible is very unreasonable and also unintentionally you are demonstrating a form of inconsistency around the definition of what you say is wrong...let me explain If you not religious then why does it matter what any religious scriptures says about events in the past, its illogical to say " God kills children " if you dont believe in God? Also my understanding of the Old Testament is that some stories are parables and are not suppose to be taken literally?

But volo what denomination are you, I thought you were agnostic like me?

I looked this up as Im not an expert on Old Testament history and yes I think you 100 % correct He is referring to Moses and the Jews leaving Egypt and how Egyptian children were killed....but even if that is correct its got to be one of the most unreasonable and unusual criticisms of a religion I have heard? We talking about events that happened thousands of years ago ?

volo what do you mean by " mass murder of children " ? In this in the Bible?

You probably put the most meaningful effort into these debates to position a reasonable and objective view of the Muslim diaspora and its integration into places like the USA and yet you often seem to be debating alone ....but I appreciate your consistency and it does matter as its the principle But there is a valid argument around uncontrolled or expected immigration from Muslim countries to places like the EU and the USA. There has to a better way of encouraging this than playing guilt trips or suggesting people are bigots when concerns are raised about integration and cultural acceptance And I am not saying this is what you suggesting but I hear this in SA when certain anti-Western commentators say things like " The EU must just accept all immigrants as they are rich and must share resources " " The USA are bigots because some of their citizens have real concerns about domestic terrorist attacks by lone wolf Islamic homegrown extremists "

Thats definitely not how I see her character She always wanted to be treated like her brothers and naturally she resented the fact she was suppose to be a lady and that excluded her from certain choices, like learning how to fight. When most of her family were murdered she wanted to avenge them and the training at the Faceless man society gave her that....its a brutal world they live in volo and obviously her objective is to kill certain people...but its a valid motive But who has she killed that didnt deserve it ? And you can see she had real love for her Dire Wolf so she isnt someone who lacks emotion or empathy

volo you understand she is driven by the fact most of her family were executed and betrayed? She is not some wanton, merciless killer with no conscience She wants vengeance and justice, I completely understand her motives She isn't a baddie and the Freys absolutely deserved the outcome they received as they were primarily responsible for the red wedding and Rob's killing

I cant say I have ever heard Muslims going around and saying " "Allahu Akbar" unless its in the context of some kind of terrorist attack or Jihad or military outcome But I am not really an expert on Arabic and dont really pay attention when people speak it ? It mean god is great, it is phrase which Muslims use in their five daily prayers they should do. Interestingly it is phrase which use predates Islam. I Interesting, but when its used in the context we are referring to its normally screamed aloud and only those words are used ...its definitely not used in a nice way ? It is used in several situations In prayer, as mentioned In times of distress In times of joy and gratitude Following births and deaths During the Eid Festival and the Hajj In west it is most commonly linked to Jihadists/terrorists who use it as their battle cry. It usage as battle cry by Jihadist/terrorists is probably inspired by fact Muhammad and his followers used it as their battle cry. So in sort it is used both in nice and in not nice way Fair enough

I cant say I have ever heard Muslims going around and saying " "Allahu Akbar" unless its in the context of some kind of terrorist attack or Jihad or military outcome But I am not really an expert on Arabic and dont really pay attention when people speak it ? It mean god is great, it is phrase which Muslims use in their five daily prayers they should do. Interestingly it is phrase which use predates Islam. I Interesting, but when its used in the context we are referring to its normally screamed aloud and only those words are used ...its definitely not used in a nice way ?

I cant say I have ever heard Muslims going around and saying " "Allahu Akbar" unless its in the context of some kind of terrorist attack or Jihad or military outcome But I am not really an expert on Arabic and dont really pay attention when people speak it ?

I can understand how sometimes it does feel like this but dont believe it, reasonable criticism and condemnation of Islamic extremism is perfectly normal and is what we should be doing.

Islam is indeed making progress, 200 years ago as 2133 correctly pointed out we did see a progressive Islamic scholar who wanted to separate religion from state....what would be ideal though is to see the same positive objectives in the year 2017, its just a thought and doesn't necessarily apply when was the last time christians killed a gay in public just because he is gay? somewhere in the muslim world they are probably killing one right now. all religions have some ****ty beliefs, but in this day and age only one has its followers act freely on them at the expense of any number of innocents. Lol. Are you for real? Wait, wait. That doesn't count because... they aren't shouting "God is great" while they do the deed, right? Oh please 2133, stop making ridiculous suggestions that Western countries have the same views around human rights and how minorities are treated compared to countries under Sharia law. Its not even in the same ballpark. There are many countries in the ME where its the death penalty for homosexuality. As in its legally institutionalized ..of course homophobia exists in all countries but in many ME countries its illegal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_in_the_Middle_East I encourage you to do some research before suggesting the degrees of legal discrimination against minorities are the same in Western countries and countries under Sharia law