All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[ed2962]

Trump mocks the idea of blue ribbon committees at "his" rally, then forms one to look at school safety.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Saw this on Facebook earlier:

There are two types of Trump supporters: billionaires and idiots. Check you bank account and see which one you are.

[Gray Lensman]

There are two types of Trump supporters: billionaires and idiots. Check you bank account and see which one you are.

Sorry, but with the steel tariffs even the billionaires are slipping away. It's down to cowards and idiots.

[Tami]

A lot of conservatives are Evangelicals whose entire faith centers around the idea that because they believe they are auto going to heaven. It’s just a twisted way of saying “we’re better because we are part of our club”. At least I can kind of respect Catholicism because it actually requires you to work and be humble and serve and all the Jazz.

So many Evangelicals have a mindset that their faith gives them a license to do whatever they want morally (within reason) because they’ll be forgiven for being who they are and get a fast pass to heaven. You don’t see the same entitlement in other sects of Christianity and most other religions.

The Catholic Church is far from perfect, but at least it does instill in you a sense of right and wrong, of good and evil. A sense that, if you live a life in the service of others then heaven awaits. If you live your life in sin, without remorse, then the fires of hell await you.

It's damn scary, but at least it isn't turning religion into an entitlement package for a limited few.

[Tami]

After this North Korea insanity, I keep feeling, more and more, that Trump has been 'lucky' and his luck will run out soon. That he keeps walking into fire, expecting to come out unburned and smelling like roses, but one of these days his recklessness is going to prove to be really dangerous. For him as well as for others.

I think he's playing with fire like a kid who doens't know better. Just waiting for his luck to run out.

[Mecegirl]

I suspect you may never have read it closely!

There are..of course..some heart warming passages in the New Testament. But some parts of it..especially, but not exclusively, the Old Testament...are eye waveringly strange, and would certainly be regarded as socially repressive by most humanitarian liberals.

Those parts of the Old Testament are part of why the New Testament exists. After Christ's death believers are supposed to follow the tenets of the New Testament. The Old Testament is supposed to be regarded as a history book/cautionary tale. But as we can see they haven't learned the lesson. You can't legislate morality. And that is what most of the Old Testament was, legislating morality, mixing church and state. It didn't work. Even with all the harsh penalties(death in some cases) it just didn't work.

[Mecegirl]

I'm really hoping this is false. Don't want this fool in my city.

http://www.wjcl.com/article/sources-...arade/19398551

But if so I hope he gets an eyeful. St. Pats is no joke down here. Folks get wild.

[Carabas]

I'm really hoping this is false. Don't want this fool in my city.

http://www.wjcl.com/article/sources-...arade/19398551

But if so I hope he gets an eyeful. St. Pats is no joke down here. Folks get wild.

"Sorry, this content is not available in your region."
Well, that is something I never gotten before except some youtube videos.

[4saken1]

And that's what makes evangelicals dangerous because of their rampant religious mania and unshakable belief that God is on their side, so they can say or do anything stupid or disgusting that they want. It's also why they can casually dismiss Donald Trump's racism, xenophobia and misogyny because they believe he was chosen by God to lead the nation.

Faith is, essentially, the ability to believe something completely with absolutely zero evidence to support it. I believe that this is a big reason why the Republican Party has courted Christians so hard. It's easy to see how their faith has bled into their political beliefs as well. Republicans have as good as perfected cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias.

[Mecegirl]

"Sorry, this content is not available in your region."
Well, that is something I never gotten before except some youtube videos.

Ah.. Long story short Mike Pence is supposedly coming to Savannah Ga for St Patrick's day. He's rumored to be a part of the parade.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I suspect you may never have read it closely!

There are..of course..some heart warming passages in the New Testament. But some parts of it..especially, but not exclusively, the Old Testament...are eye waveringly strange, and would certainly be regarded as socially repressive by most humanitarian liberals.

The thing is if you actually read it, even if you agree with all the radical puritanical stuff, the central message is not to judge and to still treat people well.

[4saken1]

Those parts of the Old Testament are part of why the New Testament exists. After Christ's death believers are supposed to follow the tenets of the New Testament.

As a general observation, I find that the typical Atheist inadvertently follows the secular tenets of Jesus far more closely than the average conservative Christian.

[David Walton]

Faith is, essentially, the ability to believe something completely with absolutely zero evidence to support it. I believe that this is a big reason why the Republican Party has courted Christians so hard. It's easy to see how their faith has bled into their political beliefs as well. Republicans have as good as perfected cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias.

C.S. Lewis once defined faith as, "the art of holding onto things your reason once accepted in spite of your changing moods."

I very much like that definition. I'm a Christian, but not a fundamentalist.

Most of the fundamentalists I know personally are really good people, the kind who will talk tough about politics but go out of their way to help others at a moment's notice without any thought of reward.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Ah.. Long story short Mike Pence is supposedly coming to Savannah Ga for St Patrick's day. He's rumored to be a part of the parade.

Why Georgia? Red Grant's home state is Indiana and, as far as I know, there's no special election on the schedule in or near Savannah. So, did he just pick that city out of a hat?

[JBatmanFan05]

Interesting article from a Democrat perspective on the Democrat support for the banking bill:

Thus, the fact that so many Democratic senators are eager to help Mitch McConnell pass it – and that Chuck Schumer has made no discernible effort to dissuade them from doing so – raises the question: Have progressives really changed the ideological orientation of the Democratic Party, or does Wall Street still hold the deed to blue America’s “big tent”?
...
The reality is, there are exactly two reasons why Democrats are supporting this bill: Some of their well-heeled campaign donors really want it to pass, and virtually no one but those donors is paying much attention to it.

That last point is critical. In my view, it’s the key to understanding the tension between the Democrats’ leftward drift, and their right-flank’s stubborn support for Wall Street giveaways: Progressives have pushed the Democratic Party left on high-visibility issues; but on highly technical, regulatory matters – where public (and/or media) interest is inherently limited – it will remain very difficult for grassroots activists to exercise more influence over policy than than the party’s corporate donors, and their armies of lobbyists. And this challenge will be further exacerbated by the fact that those donors’ demands will often be “bipartisan” – which means that the mainstream media will reflexively frame them as sensible, moderate, and uncontroversial.

Now, if Democrats had full control of the government, progressives would almost certainly be able to kill anything resembling this banking bill. After all, only a small minority of Chuck Schumer’s caucus is bucking the base on it. But even a bill this wonky and low-profile is still more visible than much of the policymaking that’s conducted within the Executive Branch’s regulatory agencies – and it is, therefore, rather easy to imagine corporate America outdueling the left on that front the next time Democrats take power.

All of which is to say: Social democracy dies in darkness. This terrible bank bill is a reminder that the left will always have trouble outmuscling the Democrats’ Wall Street wing in policy fights that happen far from the media spotlight. One upshot of this is that the personal ideology of the next Democratic standard-bearer matters an awful lot. Progressives may have enough clout to force the next Democratic president to push major legislation that reflects their priorities, regardless of his or her own inclinations; but he or she is likely to enjoy much greater flexibility when it comes to cabinet appointments.

Given these realities, the case for the left to back a 2020 candidate who’s consistently evinced a personal, ideological commitment to combating Wall Street power (like, say, Elizabeth Warren) over one who’s only recently had their “come-to-populism” moment (like, say, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, or virtually every other rumored 2020 hopeful) seems strong.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...t-looking.html