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Michelle Styles's avatar

Over here:

4 Palestine Action members have been charged over the damage to Brize Norton. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/03/four-charged-raf-brize-norton-damage-palestine-action/ or https://archive.ph/wMhzp

The House of Commons voted to proscribe Palestine Action along with two other groups. 26 MPs (the usual suspects really) voted against. But really if a group starts attacking military bases, they have crossed the line into terrorism. FAFO Several people were arrested for protesting the move. It will be debated in the House of Lords today and should become law on Friday. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/02/diane-abbott-leads-rebellion-banning-palestine-action/ or https://archive.ph/6saSe

Henley has started. There is test cricket on Edgbaston. And a Liverpool football player Diogo Jota died in a car crash over the border with Portugal. A Lamborghini tyre burst when he was attempting to overtake another car. His brother was also killed. Jota was recently married... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/03/diogo-jota-dies-car-crash/

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Hurray on the proscription! Now if they would only proscribe the Islamic Relief Fund everywhere and as well as CAIR here in the US. Watched a UAE official in an interview advise the west to get rid of IR as it is a fund to front Islamic rerror groups. The more I dive into all this, the more 'radical' my thinking has become. Oh dear, am I perhaps becoming 'islamophobic"? Silly me.

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JBell's avatar

"Islamo-wizened"?

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Islamo wised up for sure. I got curious about the exact definition of phobia and when I googled it this unbelievably long word popped up which is the word for a phobia of long words! I had to laugh.....

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

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Brian Katz's avatar

😵‍💫😵‍💫

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

I may steal Islamo-wised-up in the future.

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Bruce Miller's avatar

Writing from Hungary where the Islamic hordes repeatedly subjugated and oppressed the nation. Until they were finally vanquished at the gates of Vienna and thrown back to the sandy hellhole from which they slithered in the 600s. When will we ever learn? They will never cease their war on Christian Civilization, this time by stealth immigration, with the assistance of the usual fools and idiots. When will the West awaken to this threat?

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

The Leftists seem determined to embrace the threat. I saw recently where some are claiming that Muslims were NATIVES of Spain, and Europeans 'genocided' them.

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Bruce Miller's avatar

Yep. More lies from the mouths of the serpents.

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Michelle Styles's avatar

There is a difference between being against political extremism wherever one finds it and having a phobia about a particular religion.

UAE in particular have been banging the drum about the dangers posed by Iran and Iranian inspired terror groups which operate under the guise of religion.

The current definition of Islamophobia which certain people in the current British government are trying to push is unworkable. No religion should be above critique.

There has been too much of 'don't say this' the Greater Manchester Police currently estimate that they have over 1000 suspects in the grooming gang inquiry. As Casey's review pointed out most will be Pakistani men with a large subsection of other Middle Eastern men as well. People need to be able to say this and investigate why without being labelled racist. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/greater-manchester-police-grooming-gangs-8vvtm80p6 or https://archive.ph/y8AVS

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

I agree and have always tried to seperate the extreme from the moderate. However I think that at this point the extreme has in a very real sense taken over the moderate. Folks much more conversant than I on Islam, specifically Muslims, have pointed out that Islam is very much a political religion, meaning that many if not most Muslims believe they should not live under a non-muslim government. Apparently there are different interpretations of Islamic doctrine on this, but the one rising to ascendency in the west, and pushed by the extremists, is that all good muslims should strive to infiltrate and overthrow and change the government of any non-muslim county they live in. So while the moderate Muslims might not blow things up, they are still likely to try to change the government of the country they find themselves in. Thus the push towards Sharia law in the west, which may be fueled and led by extremists, is at least tolerated and/or actively supported by a majority of so called moderate Muslims. So while I was sorta kinda joking about the islamophobia thing, I am growing more concerned about the majority of Muslims in the west, not just the extremists. Aayan talked about the shift she saw just in her time in America whereby most muslims were moderate when she first came here, but these last two decades have become increasingly radicalized. Nonie Dawish points out something similar in her experience, whereby mosques in the US are run now by the extremists.

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Brian Katz's avatar

This is the beauty of what Mohammad did back in the 7th Century. He created a religion that has a political component. Then the Arabs marched up the Arabian peninsula and conquered the Middle East and some other countries. The rest is history.

Part of their belief system has him ascending to their heaven, but the place of such ascendency is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where the two Jewish temples rest in the ruble. Why ? So from that point forward the site of the two Jewish temples is now a holy site for Islam, erasing the Jewish claim. They won’t even allow excavation under the site, because it would prove their false narrative, that there was no Jewish temple at that site. When excavation took place south of the Temple Mount to find King David’s city, his palace, his tomb, etc… the Arabs revolted to block the excavation. But the digging in fact continued, under some Arab houses, to prove that all of the relics of King David were in fact there. This is the political aspect of their religion.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Thanks for those interesting if rather troubling facts. Not sure if this is true or not, but I get the feeling that Islam, as the younger sibling, is quite jealous of Judaism and even Christianity. I have heard some say that Islam stole a lot from Judiasm and then twisted things around to suit their own purposes. I am not educated as to the actual facts of the matter, but it would explain alot.

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Brian Katz's avatar

I don’t know much about the theology, so I can’t add to this.

But I do know that jealousy can cause a lot of trouble.

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Dave Slate's avatar

Brian Katz wrote: "He created a religion that has a political component."

I think that just about every religion has a political component. Religions tend to promote rules about how people should live, and that leads religious institutions and their members to try to use political means to align the laws with their beliefs. An example: the Catholic Church has long opposed the use of artificial contraception (e.g. condoms) to prevent pregnancy, and has sometimes succeeded in the U.S. and elsewhere in making the sale of condoms prohibited by law. Whether those laws are actively enforced is of course a different matter.

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

One of the victories of the Enlightenment was to reject the political ascendency of religion. No religion should be enforcing religious law on a secular population.

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B.'s avatar
7dEdited

"When excavation took place south of the Temple Mount to find King David’s city, his palace, his tomb, etc… the Arabs revolted to block the excavation."

Quite double-edged. When I helped dig up David's City one summer under Yigal Shiloh -- I still have my "diploma" tucked into an old pot handle -- Hasidim gathered above the area to protest because they said we were digging in a Jewish cemetery. We had to have guards.

But that cemetery had been excavated by Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and before her others including Pere Roland de Vaux in I think the 1800s.

It was tiresome.

And one of the neatest experiences I've ever had: classes in biblical archaeology at Hebrew University for a couple of weeks, and then digging for the rest of the summer.

I must have been in David's dining room. I uncovered some pots (broke one, sadly), a comb, and about a million olive pits.

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Brian Katz's avatar

Wow, that’s really cool.

Good for you.

Fascinating.

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Mary Cook's avatar

RMW excellent analysis.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Thank you. I find it really helps to write these things out so I can get more clear in my own thinking!

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Mary Cook's avatar

I, as well, find that writing down thoughts is a positive coping mechanism. Keep them coming! I always enjoy your comments.

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Bruce Miller's avatar

If there were moderate Muslims, they'd be demonstrating against the lunatics and bombers. But they are not. Wonder why?

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Jen Todd's avatar

Death

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Exactly. Some are protesting quite vigorously but they either die or escape to a democratic country and look over their shoulders the rest of their lives.

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

The sneaky thing they've done is to position Islam--a religion--as a RACE (which it is not). This allows them to shrug off all criticism of Islamic culture and beliefs as 'racism.' It also allows them to attack critics as 'racists' who should not be heard at all.

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Bruce Miller's avatar

Islam is not a religion. It is a death cult whose slavish followers bow to the filth of the Satanic Verses. Stop pretending otherwise.

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

Now, now, Bruce--Islam *does* have a religious element. I learned about it in World Religions the first time I was in college, many moons ago. Separated from all the cultural and political baggage, it isn't an outrageous religion: prayer, fasting, almsgiving. The requirement to go to Mecca if at all possible is the most extreme element.

But it is very, very difficult to separate the religious practice from its cultural and political baggage. Mohammed's followers went to war with each other over political power very soon after his death. There was only a brief period--the so-called 'Golden Age'--when Islam existed more as a religion than as a political entity. The growth of extremism, with strong political and cultural elements, has been constant since the 18th century.

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Brian Katz's avatar

Nah, social media gives us access to everything.

And there just happens to be a lot of stuff on this topic, all bad apparently.

Have you seen any good stories about Islam ?

Where someone was a Good Samaritan? Or anything like this ?

Not I.

The UAE is very good about this topic, cleaned house along time ago.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Yes. The reasonable Muslim voices I have heard have mostly had to flee their homelands.....

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

You assume there are reasonable Muslim voices. I’ve never heard one. After 9 11 they gaslit us saying don’t engage in Islamophobia but never a condemnation of the act of 9 11

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Brian Katz's avatar

Yup, they won’t.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

I have heard several reasonable Muslim voices, but they are all under attack in various ways including death threats. Here is just one of those voices I have listened to.

Dalia Ziada--Egyptian Muslim advocate for democracy and peace with Israel had to flee for her life and go into hiding after Oct 7 because she spoke out strongly against Hamas and urged Egyptian authorities to support Israel in neutralizing Hamas.

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Bruce Miller's avatar

The reasonable Muslim voice of Hirsi married an Englishman and converted to Christianity.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Yes some have. But others have remained Muslim and under constant threat because they have tried to create peace.

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Mary Cook's avatar

One of the Five Pillars of Islam is Jihad. Jihad is supposed to be the spiritual struggle within ONESELF against sin. This practice has morphed into a FIGHT against the enemies of Islam. There are Muslims who practice the peaceful version.

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Brian Katz's avatar

It seems to me that all of the radical practices have a religious under tone or “hook”. Do this bad thing and you will be viewed as good under our belief system. Hardly on parallel with other religions whose basic belief systems are to do good in exchange for nothing.

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madaboutmd's avatar

At my family's 92 yo manufacturing company, they hired a number of Somalian immigrants about 10 years ago. HR adapted a room with rugs for prayer time but that wasn't enough. They wanted to be able to step off the assembly line, away from the team to pray whenever they deemed it necessary. There are designated shift break times but instead demanded to leave the shift whenever they wanted. So, of course, CAIR threatened a law suit. The company spent a lot of money defending the rules that applied to everyone, Muslim or not. It was eventually dropped but the hubris of an organization to suggest that one group should be treated differently than every other employee is beyond absurd.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Wow. What a testament to the craziness.

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NCMaureen's avatar

Whatever happened to Braveheart? . True, a Scot, but maybe the Brits could take a little inspiration.

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Michelle Styles's avatar

Seriously? William Wallace? Maybe an inspiration to Scots but not to the English. And the SNP have totally blotted their copybook. They completely leaned into the Braveheart vibe to get elected.

Think Edward I -- Hammer of the Scots btw. Edward III also gave the Scots a good kicking.

Right now, you have the quiet courage of people like Maggie Oliver and Baroness Casey.

Sometimes you can only see the courage in the rearview mirror...

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Bruce Miller's avatar

And speaking of licking.....don't forget Eddie Two. Said he with a poker face.....

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Michelle Styles's avatar

Throws something.

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Bruce Miller's avatar

Laughing....call me the Pest from Buda.

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NCMaureen's avatar

As someone of Scots/Irish descent I see a lot more need for the likes of Wallace if Britain is going to not totally capitulate to Islam.

Have you been fitted yet for your burka?

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B.'s avatar

Thanks for this rundown. The world can be a weird place.

The MS-13 gang leader found guilty of the murders of two young high school girls and six others on Long Island in 2016 has been sentenced to 68 years without parole. It's reported that he has an IQ of 72, and that he's very, very sorry indeed for what he did.

It's really too bad about his IQ, but intellectual incompetence or emotional disability is no excuse for taking a machete to people.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Feeling quite bloodthirsty this am so when I read your comment, my first thought was he needs to be executed, not housed for life at the public's expense.

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Notes from the Under Dog L.'s avatar

This reminds me of the people wailing over naturalized citizens getting deported for committing crimes.

Why should we pay for their time in prison?

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ExCAhillbilly's avatar

Interesting legal strategy. I'm not a conscienceless murderer, I'm just not very smart. MS-13 is full of them.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

I doubt someone with an IQ of 72 is a leader. More likely fabricated by his bleeding heart pro bono attorney

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Brian Katz's avatar

Sure someone with an IQ of 72 can be a leader.

Of people with an IQ of 50.

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Alan's avatar

I picture an animated short where some guy in ancient Egypt sits on his butt all day and is constantly smacked in the back of the head by his wife to get him to get up and move their one piece of furniture back and forth. Every time he puts it in the wrong spot, he gets another smack, then eventually back to sitting down.

Cut to 1,000 years later and a bunch of scientists oohing and aahing over his bones, saying, “Look how the neck bones are bent. Look at his sit bones and how much he sat. Look at his arms, with strong back and forth muscles. This guy must have been a highly revered potter! I bet he invented the pottery wheel!”

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

That is weirdly humorous!

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Jen Todd's avatar

You're probably right. Human nature is human nature.

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Casey Jones's avatar

And I thought that I was warped!

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Alan's avatar

Ha! I always wonder when I see stories like this one what these peoples’ lives were really like and how wrong the people studying them are. If someone digs my bones up in 1,000 years, would they have a clue what my life was like? Probably not. Wouldn’t stop them from pretending they did, though!

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Notes from the Under Dog L.'s avatar

Saw one the other day where entwined victims in Pompeii were deemed “queer” because they died in each other’s arms.

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Alan's avatar

Definitely the first conclusion I would jump to. 🙄

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Brian Katz's avatar

Yup, many a man has those scars.

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Steve G's avatar

🤣🤣🤣🤣🎯🎯🎯

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DMang's avatar

😂

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Weird indeed. The LeGro case plays into where my own thoughts have been recently--the prevalence of sexual abuse and misconduct seemingly endemic to our modern world. Last nite I listened to a recent interview with Catherine Perez Shakdam, the Mossad spy who infiltrated the highest ranks of the Iranian government. She talked about the sexual assault tactics the Iranian regime uses to maintain control over people. She said the Iranian psychologists found that the threat of rape for women is more effective as a means of control than the actual act itself, whereas with men, threatening rape isn't an effective control but actually raping them and then threatening to rape their whole family is effective. All I could think was- what kind of sickness does it take to create a government agency to study and implement this kind of horror? But of course sexual abuse seems to be happening everywhere now with LeGro as only the latest of many.

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NCMaureen's avatar

And we thought just the Nazis were bad. Islam is the evil force testing humanity. I am prayerful about the return of some young people to Christianity. But the numbers are offset by the massacre of Nigerian Christians by these devils.

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Brian Katz's avatar

The killing of Christians by Islam is not covered in the West.

It’s a serious problem in the East.

Gatestone Institute covers these atrocities all the time.

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B.'s avatar

Iranian authorities rape women in jail before they execute them because it's sin to kill a virgin.

If I told that to Columbia University protesters, they'd say I am a pawn of AIPAC.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

A couple of months after Oct 7 I was ready to go to Israel and fight because it was obvious I couldn't undo the brainwashing all around me here. I am having those same urges again. Of course I cannot go as being crippled I would only be a liability. I thought the pro Hamas crap was dying down around here, but it has only burrowed in deeper imo. Catherine Shackdam sounded like she thinks much of the west is already lost, but she holds out hope for the middle east because so many there understand the danger of the Islamist doctrine, even if they are not particular fans of Israel, they do share a common enemy in the jihadists. Aayan also said that more leaders in the middle east are listening to her message than those in the west.

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ExCAhillbilly's avatar

I heard Konstantin Kisin say the same. I also heard that IDF unprovokedly attacked Gazan Civilians on October 7, 2023. This morning, AP reported 73 Gazan civilians (is there any such thing?) were killed waiting for aid. BBC says 100, Al Jazeera says 300, UN NEWS says 400 people waiting for aid. It's hard to find my inner right and wrong on this. It's also hard to continue to care after so many, many lies.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

No kidding. So very many lies for so very long makes it really hard to believe much of anything the media says. I do alot of deep research, but at the end of the day I have to go with my gut and it's saying Islamism has become much much more than just a shadow threat to the entire world. It's kinda wierd as I am neither christian or jewish but everything in me says that Israel must survive. I feel like we are getting very close to some kind of major determining 'battle' if you will and I do feel the gigantic islamic hot air balloon that has been growing at an alarming rate, beginning to deflate just a little from all the determined and dedicated people poking holes in it.

As far as the Gazan civilian casualties go, that entire tragedy is to be laid directly at the feet of Hamas, Iran, Qatar and the other Arab countries which have been complicit in supporting terror as well as keeping 'palestinians' in a state of constant refugee status to make Israel look bad. Far as I can tell, the IDF has done everything humanely possible to prevent the loss of innocent lives. If you haven't already you might want to listen or read Nonie Darwish- Egyptian raised in Gaza whose father was the head of the Egyptian Fedayeen in Gaza.

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ExCAhillbilly's avatar

I will check it out. I read a lot of Muslim women writers. I also read the Biblical prophets who wrote an awful lot about the suffering and eventual triumph of Israel. I was taught about the founding of Israel, the reasons for it. I was given a Bible on my 8th birthday by my beloved Grandma with maps in color of ancient Middle East. Palestine was what the Roman rulers of the World called it. It was a derogatory play on "philistine", same meaning today as yesterday. I don't know why people hate Jews. I am not Jewish, but enjoy learning about their traditions, history and culture. I read wisdom from Rabbis. I tried to understand Muslims too, after 9/11. What I learned was horrific and terrifying. Their intent is to conquer, convert and murder anyone who resists. There's a happy thought.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Nonie talks about being forced to learn and recite jihadist martyrdom poetry in grade school in Gaza back when it was controlled by Egypt. She remembers the other little girls crying because they were told they must become martyrs to the cause, by either birthing and sacrificing little jihadist children, or strapping bombs to their own bodies and suiciding while killing Jews, the enemy of Islam. Gaza has been a terrorist cesspool for a long time. It's best years, near as I can tell, were when they actually were 'occupied' by Israel!

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Brian Katz's avatar

Submission is their creed.

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James Roberts's avatar

My gut tells me the people who let their minorities (ethnic, religious and sexual) vote and serve in their government, and who have the greatest respect for the human rights of their citizens and visitors in their region of the world, are more likely to be right and trustworthy, than the people who don't.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

You've got a good gut!

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ExCAhillbilly's avatar

Hamas supporters say a lot of stupid things. I'd much rather be a pawn of AIPAC than the pawn of murdering rapist child killers.

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

Totally.

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Bruce Miller's avatar

Isn't it long past time to make Hamas supporters afraid? Very afraid.

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B.'s avatar

Of course.

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Casey Jones's avatar

The more one learns about the Religion of Peace, the more that there is to loathe.

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Alice Ball's avatar

That was always propaganda. Who could ever genuinely believe that a religion that includes jihad is a religion of peace??

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Casey Jones's avatar

In the CJian Style Guide, I have abandoned devices such as scare quotes, "/sarc, and (tm) in favor of gratuitous caps. You are, of course, correct.

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Alice Ball's avatar

Wonder why so many fell for that? And continue to today? Despite their lying eyes?

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Brian Katz's avatar

Barak Obama can.

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Current Resident's avatar

Remember, war is peace

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Heyjude's avatar

It’s important to remember that Islam is 600 years behind Christianity in its development as a religion.

Christianity is now a religion of peace, but 600 years ago some Christians perpetrated the Inquisition.

The radical Islamists have clearly stated their intention of imposing an Islamic Inquisition if they gain power. We would do well to believe them and not be misled by the claims of “a religion of peace”.

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Casey Jones's avatar

Very well aware of that. The Inquisition had no possible basis in The Book. The Islamic Book is a different matter. How do you have a reformation? Actually They HAD a reformation -- they moved toward Their Book!

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

In our brief lives, we don’t have time to wait. Islam as previously discussed here today, is an inherently political belief system that seeks total submission and conversion to a pre-medieval barbarism that oppresses women and gays, all under threat of the sword. I’ll fight that to my dying breath

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Heyjude's avatar

Agree. That was my point- not to be lulled into accepting the peaceful religion deception.

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Bruce Miller's avatar

It is more important to remember that the tenets of Christianity were always loving and peaceful, even if some of its adherents were not In distinct contrast, Islam is a lurid death cult of fatwas, jihad and blood. The Koran is rightly called The Satanic Verses.

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

Contrast early Christianity's embrace of unresisting martyrdom with the Islamic ideal of 'martyrdom'--dying in the process of killing 'God's enemies.'

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James Roberts's avatar

That's maybe a good excuse, at any rate ...

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Bruce Miller's avatar

The same kind of sickness that was, is and always will be used by socialist governments to control the people who were stupid enough to support or elect them.

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Eve-Alice Stoller's avatar

Thank you for this, I had not heard about this journalist. Can you link to her work on this specific topic?

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Rainbow Medicine-Walker's avatar

She's easy to find. Multiple books on Amazon and you tube interviews. Just Google her name. Out the door to escape fireworks so no time to link direct............

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Eve-Alice Stoller's avatar

Thank you!

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NCMaureen's avatar

And Diddy essentially walks. See what money can buy?

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JBell's avatar

That was my first thought, also. Megyn Kelly was furious!

I think letting the jurors go for the weekend - not sequestered - left them open to influence.

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Jen Todd's avatar

Where were all the MeTooers screaming and demanding justice?

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Casey Jones's avatar

The essay I cite is VERY eloquent on that question.

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Jen Todd's avatar

I'll take a look.

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Orwell’s Rabbit's avatar

And by “influence” you surely mean “being paid off”…

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Casey Jones's avatar

That story is curdling in my gut. First, it was pretty clear to at least some local reporters that the prosecution did a great job characterizing (if that's the right word) Mr Diddy; proving the actual specifications of the more serious charges, not so much. Eve Barlow ("Blacklisted"), a normally excellent observer and reporter of such things, did an essay that (to me) kinda sidestepped the elephant in the room: the choices that many women make for reasons not adequately explained. This is distressing to me, at least, if such an eloquent voice can't do it, who can? The other thread that wouldn't lie doggo is that this is activity that Would Not Happen other than amongst the uber-wealthy Popular Kids. That, to me, is the money angle.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

Sorry. I heard some of the testimony from the women. They left him and then went back. They wanted him. He paid their rent and they wanted that. Based on what I saw I wouldn’t have convicted him for sex trafficking.

He was never charged with assault. He was never charged with drug possession or dealing all which were easily proven.

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Casey Jones's avatar

That was pretty clear from the local reporting. Where I get stuck (speaking of stuck, here goes my neck) is that no one argues that a 70s IQ and other such factors are no excuse but being a woman excuses submission to all manner of... stuff.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

No being a woman doesn’t excuse anything. But these women had the ability to walk away or say no. But they wanted the career he could promote or the apartment he paid for or the wanting of him. They admitted it either on direct or on cross. People make choices. These women did and then now regret it, of course the one regrets it after being paid off to the tune of $20 million.

That guy is a pervert and a sex creep. But those women willingly went along at the time. And the male prostitute, who did it like 12 times, said the woman was totally into it.

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Casey Jones's avatar

No disagreement! But try saying so...

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

Didn’t I just say it?

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Mary Cook's avatar

All you need is for one juror to have a shadow of a doubt. Cassie and Jane (anonymous) repeatedly went back to Diddy again and again. They wanted that lifestyle and what it provided; drugs, freak offs, money, opportunities, and recognition, until they didn't. The defense had text messages from these women. "I can't wait until the next freak off!" It didn't surprise me that their testimonies wouldn't hold up under cross examination. They provided more than a shadow of a doubt for the jurors. Diddy is currently still paying Jane's rent! Diddy is a disgusting, vile, sorry excuse for a human being. You can't call "foul" afterwards, when you were an active, willing, participant numerous times.

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

This is why we’re taught in law school that juries are inherently unpredictable and best avoided, as the attorneys in the Idaho murder case decided. As to Diddy, our society is so depraved and decadent that for half his audience, wife beating and orgies are aspirational. God knows what he did to Justin Bieber but he looks screwed up for life. Bottom line: a terrible person but prosecutorial overreach and the women’s consent made it an easy verdict.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

He should cut that itch off from rent.

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Brian Katz's avatar

The fact that they went back to him created the sliver of doubt needed to acquit.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

More than a sliver. A chasm. Mack truck could have blown through.

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

He was convicted on the Mann Act. That’s how they got Chuck Berry

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PH's avatar

I agree. The trial was bs imo.

If he’d been on trial for actual crimes such as abuse, then yes, he is clearly an abuser.

But RICO, etc. nope. Doesn’t work.

And truly at the end of the day, I just don’t care!!!! Who gives a crap what uber-rich people do? As far as I’m concerned we don’t inhabit the same world.

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Casey Jones's avatar

Now THAT'S a bottom line to which I was close but hadn't quite reached. Upon reflection, the only reason that it had any head space at all is because of the radio exposure. Never actively sought it.

A meaningful Independence Day to ya!

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234's avatar

He's not going to walk. He'll get a lighter sentence, but the fact is these women stuck around and kept returning for some reason.....that weakened the prosecution's case. In addition, RICO was an overreach and had no chance of sticking. Unfortunately he'll be back.

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

It's a re-do of O.J. Simpson, sans the murder.

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NCMaureen's avatar

Like Trump quipped, some women really do want rich men to grab them by the P——

Diddy was acquitted, which means when women want it, there’s no crime in men obliging. Right??

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Notes from the Under Dog L.'s avatar

The Uber story. I have a weakness for that kind of thing. Studies have shown that blacks score high in narcissistic traits. Note the rigidity about the open windows "in case passengers get sick." It's the middle of the day, and the passenger is not drunk. This self-serving idiot couldn't close the windows and turn up the AC for a thirty-minute ride? Seriously?

But it's the lack of impulse control that interests me most. Note how quickly it escalates into doing something objectively stupid: putting the passenger out at the side of the expressway. Risking litigation. Over keeping the windows open a crack. Then spraying the passenger -- inside the vehicle? With pepper spray.

Come to Bedford-Stuyvesant. Take a tour of the weaves dotting the sidewalk so many mornings after mass losses of impulse control.

It's high time the arbiters of what we can and cannot talk about relent on this matter. It does not help anyone to keep mum on this. Houston, we have a problem. And it's not "white supremacy," that is unless maintaining equanimity in a customer service capacity were some kind of tyranny.

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ExCAhillbilly's avatar

I was taught never to get in the car of a stranger. Now we have an app for that.

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JBell's avatar

🤣🤣

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

I saw that every time I enter an Uber to gauge the driver. About an hour south of my land in Victoria, an Uber driver killed a young girl so they won’t let them into my county.I only use them in big cities.

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JBell's avatar

🥲

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JD Cleveland's avatar

I used a lot of Ubers for business purposes (often for airport transportation) before I retired. My Uber experiences varied -- some were great, most were adequate or better, a few were weird, but I only had a couple that were really bad and truly uncomfortable. In both cases, the Uber driver was a relatively young, overweight, angry black female.

I understand that sometimes people just have bad days. As a grown-up and a professional, I simply chose to deal with the anger, defiance and "uncomfortableness" by gritting my teeth and just silently dealing with it -- including giving an adequate tip at the end; understanding that most Uber drivers really could make use of the extra cash.

Obviously, these experiences are anecdotal. But they follow a narrative that we (unfortunately) often see in today's society.

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Casey Jones's avatar

Had one from LaGuardia that was watching MMA while driving.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

Oh man. The worst cab ride I ever had was from the NY Athletic Club to LaGuardia. This guy stopped in the middle of the five lanes to pick us up. Horns blaring, people yelling. Then between traffic lights he sped to 60. So finally on the BQE he’s going so fast, changing lanes, missing bumpers by inches. Finally I say we have plenty of time you can slow down, which he did until we got to a toll. After that it was hell bent for leather again. On the radio was a story about the worst cab driver in NY finally losing his license to be a cabbie. We looked at each other after that

So we get to the airport. I told my colleagues I’d pay. I made sure he got our bags out of the trunk first and then I gave him like $25 for a $22.50 charge. He got in the car I blocked the door and said you didn’t listen when I asked you to slow down I want my change. He gave me the $2 and I was so pissed at his attitude I said I want the 50 cents. Two cops were looking and laughing and the two chicken men I was with were standing on the curb staring.

Mess with me creep

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Casey Jones's avatar

Folklore had it that the avenues in NYC had the traffic lights timed for 30 mph and that cabbies discovered that 60 and 90 also worked. That last is obvious sea-story BS; You might get one of the then-ubiquitous Checkers up to that speed but it wouldn't be any time soon. One thing to guffaw about such driving in a college dorm bull session and quite another to experience it as a sane adult!

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

We certainly didn’t experience that. It was 60, zero, 60, zero. We hit every light as I recall.

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

The cab to LaGuardia has to rank as a circle of hell experience on good days 👿

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Notes from the Under Dog L.'s avatar

What’s MMA?

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Casey Jones's avatar

Mixed Martial Arts.

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John Anthony's avatar

This puzzled me a short second as your reply was 20 minutes earlier than mine but I didn’t see it. Then I realized I probably hadn’t refreshed for at least 20 minutes!

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John Anthony's avatar

Mixed Martial Arts. Otherwise known as beating the crap out of each other.

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

Another symbol of the deterioration of our society. Imagine “the sweet science” combined with a no holds barred street fight.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

I had a ride from the Cloisters to an incorrect closed subway station. I got my money back from uber. You don’t get in fights with employees. You complain to the company later

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JBell's avatar

I got an upcharge from an Uber ride that charged my card $100.00 for car "clean-up", stating that I had vomited in his car. It took me almost 2 weeks of emails and photos (I am lucky that I had some of my day, that day) to get the refund! - Note: I also was refunded my tip!

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

Wow. I always prefer taxis who are licensed and bonded. They can’t pull that BS

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B.'s avatar

Yellow cabs for me except when friends insist on Uber or Lyft.

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

I rode in taxis a lot when I was kid. My mom didn't drive, and taxis were my dad's preferred transportation if we went anywhere without our car. I didn't love it.

I can't imagine getting into a random car where the driver had little or no accountability for getting me safely to my destination.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

Good point. In the future , which is later this month, I’m going to take. Photo before I leave. Although I’ve never had anything other than a pleasant driver except the idiot that left us off in the wrong place.

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Notes from the Under Dog L.'s avatar

Oh, would you elaborate on what happened?

In Bed-Stuy I have been frequently harassed by black women who try to edge me off the sidewalk, and when I sidle past them on the pavement, they start shrieking that I touched them, yelling racial epithets— while holding a child’s hand.

This is pattern recognition, folks.

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

Again, this sounds like such a strong determination to be 'oppressed' and a 'victim' that people go looking for trouble to feed their need.

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PH's avatar

Dog L, I’ve experienced similar. My old neighborhood was very black and lower income people.

Black men, no problem generally. They would move to one side so I could get by and sometimes even say hello. White men about the same, although usually not as friendly.

Black women however, nope, they are not giving an inch and I’d have to run in the street to get by. Generally accompanied by a very nasty look just daring me to say something to them.

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Brian Katz's avatar

Stoicism vs ghetto girl.

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James Roberts's avatar

I suspect they had no functioning AC but wanted the premium money for the Uber comfort ride. No one would willingly drive in summer in Atlanta without AC on, if they had it.

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Davey J's avatar
7dEdited

This actually makes sense. A/C is busted but they keep taking the premium rides for the higher fare hoping nobody calls them out for it........ but when they do, its war time to try to cover it all up

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BD's avatar

The worst uber drivers I've had have been in Atlanta. A lame, lame city.

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

That was the thing that stood out to me: these two women appeared to be determined to butt heads from the moment that the Uber arrived and was not 'as ordered.' A sensible person would have contacted Uber and complained *at that moment*--and requested another driver to come--instead of getting into the unsuitable vehicle. Both women were itching to fight from start, so it's not surprising that that's where it lead.

Why accept a ride request if you're not willing to provide the conditions the rider requested? There's no way that could end well. At the very minimum, you'd get dinged by a complaint--something that will likely cause decreased income in the future.

Could it be that the determination to 'be oppressed' and see oneself as a 'victim' is such a driving force that it changes all of one's interactions with other human beings?

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Notes from the Under Dog L.'s avatar

This is a potent example of the narcissistic pathology so prevalent in this population, although no group is exempt from narcissism.

Narcissist seek opportunities to be perceived as victims. Both were lashing out at their “oppressors.” The driver shouldn’t have taken the job in the first place, but seemed determined to make her passenger miserable, for “power” and control.

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PH's avatar

One of my personal favorites is the black person crossing the street when I’m in my car.

I swear, as soon as they see that the driver is a white person, they slow down and saunter across the street as slowly as they possibly can.

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Notes from the Under Dog L.'s avatar

I believe it.

In Chicago in the 80s, subway fare was paid to a (black) person in a booth, who would take her sweet time counting out change, especially if the train could be heard approaching. Every. Single. Time.

They salivate over inventing roadblocks. You can bring your passport, birth certificate, seven pieces of mail with your address on it, and still, somehow, that's not enough ID to get a new license -- which they tell you after you've waited four hours to be called up to the desk.

My favorite is picking up packages at the USPS in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. The line is out the door because they are so slow. Finally, an hour later, you get to the window, hand them the slip, and they disappear -- for thirty minutes! Then they finally return to tell you that they couldn't find the package. Come back tomorrow! Do they think I'm on welfare, with all the time in the world?

Heaven forbid one should notice these things.

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B.'s avatar
7dEdited

Of course you have heard about the mayhem in places such as Kings Plaza, Coney Island, and various New Jersey amusement parks, a couple of which had to shut down. Teenagers gather in public places specifically in order to misbehave.

And lately in the Village: On Sunday, Pride Parade night, two teenagers were shot near the Stonewall Inn.

It was determined that the shooting was not the work of an anti-gay conservative from elsewhere -- one's first thought -- or even of a New Yorker sick of late-night noise.

It was black teenagers pulling a weapon on rivals -- the usual.

Their lack of self-restraint won't be improved by freezing rents, making public transportation free, confiscating billions from billionaires, or "seizing production."

Who are their single mothers?

You get more of whatever you subsidize.

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Casey Jones's avatar

The dog days of summer aren't supposed to be until August?

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

July is always the hottest month. By august we’re sick of the heat and feel like dogs.

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Casey Jones's avatar

Ya drove me to Mr G. Seems I Heard Somewhere that the dog days referred to late August which, being a Very Slow news period, tended to have "man bites dog" stories. If that's so, it didn't make the Wiki-pee cut; in fact the origin is astrological and dates to antiquity -- and includes July because of the rise of Sirius. Hoist on me own petard, I am...

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Brian Katz's avatar

🤣🤣

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Louisa Enright's avatar

Cool front here in SC. Finally some rain too.

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ExCAhillbilly's avatar

Suicide by blunt force trauma while in a cell. I have no more outrage to give.

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Steve G's avatar
7dEdited

It’s possible. Detainee “high dives” headfirst off a toilet or top tier of a bunk bed. They will also run headlong into the door. Certainly not saying that’s what happened in this case but it does happen.

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Billiamo's avatar

An acquaintance committed suicide in his jail cell by hanging himself from the sink.

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

How? Did he audition for the 7 Dwarfs? Just kidding. Sorry for your loss.

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Billiamo's avatar

My understanding is that he was in a kneeling or sitting position and simply let the noose he'd fashioned and tied to the faucet choke him out as he leaned away. In extreme circumstances the urge to die can be strong.

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

Damn. I thought they took away shoelaces and sheets etc to prevent that exact issue

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Billiamo's avatar

He wasn’t assessed as a risk. We were all shocked. Of course, there’s a very long backstory, which doesn’t in the least diminish or explain away the tragedy. He was survived by a wife and young daughters.

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

One would have to be very determined in order to overcome one's reflexes. But this guy was another devotee of the 'all human beings ought to die' cult, so that may have warped his mind to the point that he managed to do that.

Still couldn't help being skeptical.

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ExCAhillbilly's avatar

I knew an LA County Sheriff (a female) who was in therapy after a detainee pulled out his own eye and ate it. Truth can be stranger than fiction, but I highly doubt it at this point.

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Faith Ham's avatar

Apropos to nothing, I posted this on that other site. Traveling over the Fourth, so happy Freedom Day, y’all!

How about an hour-long discussion on the absolutely humanity-altering idea behind the words: the government protects our inalienable rights. Period. Full stop. Until our founding, the people looked to the king and his agents, be they benevolent or tyrannical, to grant us our rights. With the Declaration and the Constitution, the little guy became the boss man. How else could riffraff like Franklin and Hamilton ascend to such great heights? I’ve taken to calling CT Destitution state because our leaders no longer believe in the opening line of our constitution:

“The People of Connecticut acknowledging with gratitude, the good providence of God, in having permitted them to enjoy a free government; do, in order more effectually to define, secure, and perpetuate the liberties, rights and privileges which they have derived from their ancestors; hereby, after a careful consideration and revision, ordain and establish the following constitution and form of civil government.”

Sadly, the people of CT don’t know or believe this declaration either. Dare I say it’s true for the rest of the country.

Words mean things. The words of our Declaration mean we’re free and the government is subordinate. It doesn’t have the answers. We do. I’d love to hear someone talk on what that would look like in 21st Century America,

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James Roberts's avatar

Unfortunately, words only mean things as long as people believe them. Or perhaps, they may be true, but are only effective so long as people understand them.

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JBell's avatar

Perhaps, most of the people do not know or understand the meanings of these words. That would be my guess.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

What a fulfillment of a stereotype. Two black women screaming and fighting in an uber. Then the higher status black woman tearfully claiming death threats while the lower status woman gets charged feeding more resentment no doubt. Sigh

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Steve G's avatar

Try living in the Deep South. The “angry black woman” plays out here on a daily basis.

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Unwoke in Idaho's avatar

Did bomber Daniel Park bam himself twice on the back of his head? Was Hilary seen in the area?

And WaPo Pham LeGro . I guess he won the Pulitzer for destroying Roy Moore, yet no charges against Moore were ever brought, Moore won $8 million in a defamation suit against someone else and this guy is going to really not enjoy prison. Maybe his part in the Moore persecution was a result of his experiences?

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Bruce Miller's avatar

No surprise that lefties are pedophiles - along with being deranged.

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

Look at his picture. Phenotype incarnate. Hungary for July 4th? Enjoy!

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Mary Cook's avatar

Uber incident. This type of behavior does not surprise me. Two black women "going at it" verbally, and then escalating into a physical brawl. I have seen this behavior over and over again. In the high school where I taught, weave was littered in the stairwells and hallways. The cause being an argument over "my man" or a "baby momma" incident. As adults, in the workplace, HR spends an inordinate amount of time dealing with "Do you want to take this outside?" type of issues. Black women are at each other's throats creating a hostile work environment. From what I have witnessed "The sisterhood of the traveling weave" get an F on impulse control.

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James Roberts's avatar

Htf does someone ram a vehicle and block traffic while wielding a firearm, for any period of time, and not face charges?

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Steve G's avatar

Mentally I’ll people usually do not go to jail but in most states there are involuntarily admission (to a mental facility)rules.

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James Roberts's avatar

Interesting, I thought we'd pretty much done away with mental health institutions. Glad to hear that's not the case, but they seem to be tragically under-utilized.

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

I think they’re reserved mostly for the criminally insane now. I had a case right before Covid where the sheriff wouldn’t bring the client from jail to court. The judge asked me to go over there and look into it. They had the guy strapped in a chair like Silence of the Lambs. Apparently he’d been raging but when I walked in became calm. I ordered a mental competency exam. The results were he could stand trial and the doctor’s report said “he really likes his attorney and looks forward to trial”. I guess crazy knows crazy but Covid hit so I recused myself from all cases and never heard what happened.

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JBell's avatar

Sounds like you dodged a bullet!

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

I strongly doubt whether this woman will end up committed to a mental facility. She'll spend her 72 hours in the psych ward and then be back on the street with her relatives unable to control her.

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John Anthony's avatar

I would like to say that I hate chuckling at the misfortune of others, but I apparently love to chuckle at their self-inflicted misfortune. This weirdly weird portion of the population who refuse to be normal seems to be growing exponentially. The act of a person self-labeling as a “normie” that I thought was clever trolling I now see as a cry of anguish by a group that is facing extinction.

I, normie.

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

Thought provoking perspective

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

My best friend and I were chatting about this yesterday with regard to the explosion of "Queer." It used to be that people with sexual fetishes knew very well that they were not 'normal' and kept them private except among others with the same fetishes. Now these people are determined not only to have everyone accept their fetishes as 'normal,' but to force people to *celebrate* them.

I have been slightly encouraged, though, that 'Pride' seems to have been rather subdued last month. Lots of LGB people denouncing the extremes to which the activists who run the Pride events have gone.

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Brian Katz's avatar

The CIA has pointed the finger at Barack Obama, James Comey, James Clapper and John Brennen as the origination of the Russia collusion story that ate up 2 years of Trump’s first term. So far no prosecutions though.

https://nypost.com/2025/07/02/us-news/obamas-trump-russia-collusion-report-was-corrupt-from-start-cia-review/

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PoetKen Jones's avatar

Until the CIA is swept clean or scattered to the winds, we won’t have real change. It’s been that way since November 22, 1963

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Brian Katz's avatar

Well, actually well before that but - YES. Allen Dulles had the means and the motive. And to make it even worse, he led the Warren Commission. Very convenient.

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