GOP2020: What Becomes Of The Collaborators Post-Trump?

gerritn said:

You mean don't respond to idiots and hope normalcy will prevail? Like we did in 2016?

Today, a community discussion board. Tomorrow, Ohio!

gerritn said:

GL2 said:
...and full of anxiety about the midterms. What if dems don’t at least win the House? 

Then conservatives will have nobody to blame in 2020

 You are obviously a "glass is half full" kind of person.

But, really, the political "expert" on CBS, I think his name is Salvano, said that if everything goes the Republican's way they will hold the majority by one vote! 218-217. Imagine if that happens. 435 members. On any given day how many might be out sick? What is the mortality rate?

The Republicans hold a majority in both Houses and Trump still blames the Dems. Do his "base" voters even know who is in the majority or how many seats there are in the Senate or the House?

BG9 said:

Red_Barchetta said:

GL2 said:
Brawling Jamal Rumbled With 15 Security Dudes

Saudi state media reported that Saud al-Qahtani, a close aide to the crown prince, had been dismissed, along with Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the deputy director of Saudi intelligence, and other high-ranking intelligence officials. The Saudi official said General Assiri had organized the operation and that Mr. Qahtani 

 So a couple guys got ‘fired’.  Kind of like the Pope ‘accepting’ Cardinal’s resignations. 

Yeah. Arabia is pretty rigid about murder. The punishment being beheaded.
When we should be seeing heads roll instead of 'retirements.'

 My understanding is that the Koran, in combination with Sharia law, encourage the killing of apostates.  JK has been described as both a traitor and apostate.  See https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/10/saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi/572830/

The penalty for apostasy is death.  See https://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/apostasy.htm

I think you have completely backwards about the killing of apostates.  Rather than being a strict penalty.  The Koran encourages the killing of such apostates (think of the threats against Salaman Rushdie to this day -0 thankfully such assassination attempts have never been successful).

RealityForAll said:

My understanding is that the Koran, in combination with Sharia law, encourage the killing of apostates.

Please Lord, G_d, Allah (whatever you prefer), please save us from amateur interpreters of the Koran.  

nohero said:

RealityForAll said:
My understanding is that the Koran, in combination with Sharia law, encourage the killing of apostates.

Please Lord, G_d, Allah (whatever you prefer), please save us from amateur interpreters of the Koran.  

My Sunday chuckle, after clicking RFA’s link (written by “Silas”):

Who is (behind) "Answering Islam" ?

Many people send us emails asking who we are, what are our qualifications to speak on Islam, what is our statement of faith, etc. 

Some say, that they love our site, and would like to recommend it to others, but cannot do so before they know who we are and what exactly we believe.

If you are one who seeks answers to these questions, we would like to ask you: What would you need these answers for? Why is the (usually acknowledged) quality of our material not enough for you? 

nohero said:

RealityForAll said:
My understanding is that the Koran, in combination with Sharia law, encourage the killing of apostates.

Please Lord, G_d, Allah (whatever you prefer), please save us from amateur interpreters of the Koran.  

 Majorities of Muslims in Egypt and Pakistan support the death penalty for leaving Islam

See https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/01/64-percent-of-muslims-in-egypt-and-pakistan-support-the-death-penalty-for-leaving-islam/

"[A]postasy should not be punished by death, as it is in Saudi Arabia, or with “rehabilitation,” as it is in Malaysia."

See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/opinion/mustafa-akyol-detention-malaysia.html

Places Where Apostasy is Punished by Death

See https://www.indy100.com/article/the-countries-where-apostasy-is-punishable-by-death--Z110j2Uwxb

And also see attached map.

RealityForAll said:

Majorities of Muslims in Egypt and Pakistan support the death penalty for leaving Islam

Majorities of American Catholics support the death penalty. What does that say about Catholicism?

See https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/politics/death-penalty-catholics/

And also see attached map.

What does a map of Muslim-majority countries that don’t punish apostasy with death look like?

DaveSchmidt said:

RealityForAll said:

Majorities of Muslims in Egypt and Pakistan support the death penalty for leaving Islam

Majorities of American Catholics support the death penalty. What does that say about Catholicism?
See https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/politics/death-penalty-catholics/

And also see attached map.

What does a map of Muslim-majority countries that don’t punish apostasy with death look like?

 Nice whataboutism about Catholics.  Why don't you address the citations that I have provided from the Washington Post and NYT regarding the death penalty for Muslims deemed to be apostates.  

When someone tries to say something about a religion by citing majority opinions in certain countries, “whataboutism” is one way to suggest the problems with doing so. If you’re not buying it, that’s your prerogative.

DaveSchmidt said:
When someone tries to say something about a religion by citing majority opinions in certain countries, “whataboutism” is one way to suggest the problems with doing so. If you’re not buying it, that’s your prerogative.

 It appears that you are acting, in this instance, as a Muslim apologist.

My second Sunday chuckle.

RealityForAll said:

DaveSchmidt said:
When someone tries to say something about a religion by citing majority opinions in certain countries, “whataboutism” is one way to suggest the problems with doing so. If you’re not buying it, that’s your prerogative.

 It appears that you are acting, in this instance, as a Muslim apologist.

It appears that you are acting, in this instance, as a Russian troll.

RealityForAll said:

DaveSchmidt said:
When someone tries to say something about a religion by citing majority opinions in certain countries, “whataboutism” is one way to suggest the problems with doing so. If you’re not buying it, that’s your prerogative.

 It appears that you are acting, in this instance, as a Muslim apologist.

 Are Muslim apologists Muslims who apologise, non-Muslims who apologise to Muslims, or, like Canadians, who apologise all the time anyway?

ridski said:

 Are Muslim apologists Muslims who apologise, non-Muslims who apologise to Muslims, or, like Canadians, who apologise all the time anyway?

I think I know the answer, but I’m waiting for polling results from Indonesia to confirm.

LOST said:

gerritn said:

GL2 said:
...and full of anxiety about the midterms. What if dems don’t at least win the House? 

Then conservatives will have nobody to blame in 2020

 You are obviously a "glass is half full" kind of person.
But, really, the political "expert" on CBS, I think his name is Salvano, said that if everything goes the Republican's way they will hold the majority by one vote! 218-217. Imagine if that happens. 435 members. On any given day how many might be out sick? What is the mortality rate?
The Republicans hold a majority in both Houses and Trump still blames the Dems. Do his "base" voters even know who is in the majority or how many seats there are in the Senate or the House?

 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/opinion/sunday/midterm-elections-republican-party-trump-senate-house.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

Love it when Americans criticize other countries and culture for their violent tendencies.

Look, I think any sane lib or con on this board and, I imagine, in similar conversations all over the country, who doesn't think there's a dire need for Never-Trump cons to step TF up. I hear lots of center-right cons who know what we've become under ever-increasing creep toward authoritarian rule.

Many of these folks talk coherently and realistically about what the country needs. Some even do confessions. I'm lookin at all of you Bushie/Boot/Kristol/Weekly Standard kinda folks who seem to be able to grin at the absurdity of it all. And maybe that's because of tax cuts, dereg, a booming economy if you've got investments, etc. 

But you know it's wrong. You know the great unwashed will not get raises, not be able to afford healthcare, and then kiss mobility goodbye. Meanwhile, the GOP will continue to  cut services, social programs, and education programs that could give them a leg up if they weren't convinced these programs should be cut.  So you might remain smug and sardonic, but you're consuming people, regardless of your degree of remove from the stink.

So step TF up and either break with your party, or break your party. It's the right thing to do.

So, it was all a terrible mistake.  A misunderstanding if you will.  The Saudi royal family apologized to the sons of Khashoggi.  I think we've all had times where we've had a little kerfuffle with somebody and they end up cut up and bagged.  Happens to me all the time - it's like my right hand and left hand have minds of their own.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/22/middleeast/jamal-khashoggi-death-saudi-arabia-intl/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/21/middleeast/jamal-khashoggi-international-pressure-builds-intl/index.html

Yes, it's nothing to go to pieces about.

Let's be honest, the Saudis have been bad actors for many years, both domestically (women's right anyone?) as well as internationally (9/11 anyone?). And no american administration has called them to task for it (including obama, bush, etc.). It's just that now with Trump and this crown prince guy, it's all a bit more unhinged.

I have never quit understood this. I know SA is a counterbalance to Iran (but so was Saddam, and that didn't really help him in the end) and we sell them some stuff, but is that really worth 9/11 and all the other bad things that wahhabism is bringing to the world?

Yet another reason to cut dependence on oil (as if global warming was not enough) - several oil-producing nations could receive a huge geopolitical downgrade and we would all be better off.

tjohn said:
Yet another reason to cut dependence on oil (as if global warming was not enough) - several oil-producing nations could receive a huge geopolitical downgrade and we would all be better off.

I agree, but how likely is that to happen with Republicans firmly in control of our destiny?

Maybe when more people wake up and realize that so many countries (e.g. China) are taking pollution and global warming seriously and are pushing solar power and electric vehicles and will end up stealing a march on the United States.  I can foresee a shock such as occurred in the 1970's when Japanese carmakers made huge inroads into the U.S. market because they had good quality economy cars which were much in demand when fuel prices skyrocketed.

Kinda reminiscent of what happened with American cars. We stuck with big piggie unreliable cars while Japan (and eventually others) saw the future. Decades later we trust Hondas and Toyotas more than domestic cars.

Looks like GL2 and tjohn had the same thought at the same time.

Great minds think alike.

LOST said:
Looks like GL2 and tjohn had the same thought at the same time.
Great minds think alike.

GL2 posted 22 minutes after I did and failed to credit me for the observation.  He gets an F for his contribution because it is clearly plagiarized.  I'm hurt and outraged.

tjohn said:
Maybe when more people wake up and realize that so many countries (e.g. China) are taking pollution and global warming seriously and are pushing solar power and electric vehicles and will end up stealing a march on the United States.  I can foresee a shock such as occurred in the 1970's when Japanese carmakers made huge inroads into the U.S. market because they had good quality economy cars which were much in demand when fuel prices skyrocketed.

The problem we have now is that about 40% of the population is motivated more by owning the libs than by doing the smart thing for themselves.  It doesn't matter if energy efficiency is smarter, better for the planet, or saves them money -- if they think that driving a big *** truck will induce liberal tears, it's a no-brainer for them.

"Rolling coal"

I'd like to formally apologize to tjohn for my delayed thought. The car/renewable comparison is entirely his.   

But seriously, if you need any further evidence that oil barons still control the GOP, this is it.