Thought for the Day

[Stavros]

So they are going to transform the US with the Ten Commandments and a major reversal of 1960s 'Liberalism', to put GOD and the TEN COMMANDMENTS back into everyday life. Thus

"Josh Hawley, a Republican senator for Missouri, warned of a “radical anti-faith agenda” gripping the country. He said: “Who’s dividing America is the radical left and that’s why I say to you we don’t need less Christian influence in our society, we don’t need less Christian witness in our society; we need more in every part of government, in every part of society.”
To approving roars from the audience, Hawley added: “We ought to take the Pride flag out of schools and put the Bible back in. You know what? We ought to take the trans flag down from all of our federal buildings and over every federal building in America write the words, ‘In God we trust’. In God we trust. Amen.”"
In Trump we trust: religious right on crusade to make their man president | Donald Trump | The Guardian

But what does this mean in terms of the law? If there is to be a Nationwide ban on Abortion, on IVF, on Contraception -and for men as well as women- then what happens with regard to the Commandment not to Commit Adultery? Surely the logic of this 'Christian' politics demands that Adultery be illegal. Then comes the obvious question: the Punishment. So how about the Punishment of Adulterers in Plymouth Colony. Scarlet Letter anyone?

"Plymouth Colony never attempted to put anyone to death for adultery, although Mayflower passenger William Latham's wife Mary was hanged for adultery in the neighboring Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1644. In Plymouth Colony in 1639, Mrs. Mary Mendame of Duxbury was convicted of "uncleanness" with an Indian named Tinsin, and was sentenced to be whipped at a cart's-tail through the town streets and to wear an AD badge: which, if she was found without, would be branded onto her forehead. In 1641, an adulterous affair between singleman Thomas Bray and Mrs. Anne Linceford was discovered, and both parties were sentenced to public whipping at the post, and to wear the AD badge on their clothing. In 1658 the law was finally rewritten to formalize how it had been administered previously: it defined the punishment for adultery as two severe whippings, once right after conviction and once at a second time to be determined by the magistrates; and the individual would have to wear the letters AD "cut out in cloth and sowed on their uppermost garment on their arm or back." If at any time they were found without the mark within the jurisdiction of the Colony, they would be publicly whipped."
Crime — MayflowerHistory.com

DJT, watch and learn, for righteous fury is comin' your way.

[Stavros]

What if the Panama Canal runs out of water, and ships can't get through? It helps transport 6% of global maritime trade worth $3.34 billion a year -but would even a temporary closure cause havoc on the markets and raise prices domestically, in the US and elsewhere?

Panama Canal agency warns water shortage "is not over" (yahoo.com)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

If the Democratic Party thought the President Joe Biden wasn't up too the task of serving a second term?,than they should have started the process of looking for a replacement a year ago,someone who they think that can defeat Donald Trump in a general election. It is way too late for President Joe Biden to step aside and end his campaign for reelection,and go through the process of naming a new nominee. One bad performance in a 90 minute debate,doesn't erase all of the great work him and his administration has done over the last 3 1/2 years. The so-called political pundits and strategists needs to stop panicking and support their guy.

[broncofan]

I wanted to say that I got it wrong with respect to Biden's mental state. I didn't post it here but I'll be honest. I've often heard him speak and thought he did not sound good, but then would see him bounce back with a relatively clear and good performance.

Maybe there's some willful blindness, but there is also the issue of exponential decline at a certain age. What that age is might vary, from person to person, but it frequently occurs between the ages of 80 and 90. Someone who is suffering cognitive decline might be just as sharp on some days, and then start to have more bad days. Then at a point, they are never able to muster the energy and focus to perform at their best. It is this last progression that surprises people. From good days and bad to mostly all not so great.

[blackchubby38]

I wanted to say that I got it wrong with respect to Biden's mental state. I didn't post it here but I'll be honest. I've often heard him speak and thought he did not sound good, but then would see him bounce back with a relatively clear and good performance.

Maybe there's some willful blindness, but there is also the issue of exponential decline at a certain age. What that age is might vary, from person to person, but it frequently occurs between the ages of 80 and 90. Someone who is suffering cognitive decline might be just as sharp on some days, and then start to have more bad days. Then at a point, they are never able to muster the energy and focus to perform at their best. It is this last progression that surprises people. From good days and bad to mostly all not so great.

You weren't the only one. There were times when I thought that Biden looked and sounded fine. But there were other times I thought he would be lucky if he was going to make it to end of his first term in office.

Where I really started to get concerned was when he traveled to Europe one time (I think it was when he went to meet with President Zelensky) and his wife went out of her way to talk about how Joe was fit enough to make the trip. Almost to point where she way saying she would like to see a younger person do the same thing.

[broncofan]

I like Joe Biden as a person, regardless of politics. I could feel how distraught he was when his son, Beau, died of brain cancer. I like that he challenged hedge fund manager and grade A asshole (I repeat myself) Bill Ackman to a fight when he thought Ackman had insulted his son's memory. I can also see his pain and empathy for Hunter, whose adult life has been riddled with difficulties, most notably addiction problems.

I feel bad that he is not going to be running for a second time because I think he has an intrinsic likeability. But I acknowledge that he is not the most likely person to win, and seems to have more difficulty expressing himself clearly than someone running for office should.

In a different thread I think filghy may have mentioned cult like behavior and I have to say I was surprised to see it among my friends who are supporters of Biden. Initially I was not sure whether his bad performance would blow over or whether he had another gear. As I saw testimonials come in, particularly George Clooney's op-ed, I started to think that what I saw was something people close to him have seen and knew would be a continuing problem. The reason the Biden fans' behavior seemed cult-like is that as new people stepped forward to say he should stand down, their response was always the same. Either the person recommending he step down, a person with no history of corruption, has been corrupted and moved to the dark side. Or this person has been duped by a well orchestrated media campaign to sabotage Biden because Trump will sell more newspapers. Every single time it was, "I used to respect her", or " I'm done with him now" or "I always knew he was trash (but never said it)". And these were mostly people who had long records of public service, clean records with respect to ethics.

It was sad to see. They are not convinced even now.

[filghy2]

It was sad to see. They are not convinced even now.

Biden standing down actually helps them because we won't see the counterfactual. If Harris loses they'll say that Biden would have won if he wasn't undermined by the media and disloyal Democrats. If she does win they'll say it was due to Biden and he would have won anyway.

[Stavros]

I don’t often go to Biergarten when I am here, but I was taken to one by a friend. An American I met there said the US is too sexist country to vote for Kamala Harris. I don’t know if this is true, and I would like to think Trump, as usual substituting reason for crude insults has demeaned himself in her favour with that three letter word, but the other insults - ‘DEI hire’ for example-keep coming, and will be added to as the weeks go on.

Yes, Harris has to do more to convince people she is the right one, but is the campaign now going to be about policy, or whether or not the US is ready for a female President?

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...-electionction

[Stavros]

This is weird - a conference in which Americans are urged to 'vote Biblically', with multiple references to the Old Testament, which I honestly believe is sort of Jewish, then this, from the 'Evangelists'--

"After Wallnau spoke, Bill Federer, an evangelist who has written more than thirty books weighing in on US history from an anti-communist and rightwing perspective, offered a brief and often intensely inaccurate, intellectual history of the US and Europe. During his talk, Federer dropped references to the villains of his historiography – among them Karl Marx, Fidel Castro, the German philosopher Hegel and, “a little closer to home”, the political theorist of the New Left, Saul Alinsky. The crowd, apparently already versed in Federer’s intellectual universe, groaned and booed when Federer mentioned Alinsky.

Federer also railed on “globalists”, tapping into the longstanding antisemitic idea of a shadowy cabal led by wealthy Jewish people who dictate world events.

“Globalists,” Federer said, “are giving money to LGBTQ activists to get involved with politics.”"
‘We have to be voting biblically’: the Courage Tour rallies Christians to get Trump in office (yahoo.com)

Note: Saul Alinksy was a political organizer, not a political theorist. As for Hegel being a villain of history- I guess one wonders if Federer even knows who he is. Maybe its a form of word tennis?

[Stavros]

The Telegraph offers this explanation for the ugly scenes in the UK following the murder of young girls in a dance class. The confrontations were sparked, in part if not whole, by the allegation the murderer was a Muslim, when in fact he is Christian, and also born here not an immigrant. The damage has been done. Behind this, according to the article, is a possibly autonomous Russian website which nevertheless seems to be part of Putin's 'information war' with the Democratic west. The aim is simple: create chaos or disorder to undermine public faith in politics, to use an open society against itself.

People believe what they want to believe, facts be damned. But in the end, with that tactic, we are all damned.

The obscure Russian-linked ‘news’ outlet fuelling violence on Britain’s streets (yahoo.com)