monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

I think your option #2 is the likelty answer, though I suspect he would describe the actions & inactions of the current administration differently , i.e. misguided, inconsistent, contradictory, not inspiring conficence anmong our allies, encouraging to our potential enemies, largely ineffective.


Anyway I'm signing off for a little family fun. I wish everyone here a very happy Christmas and, if your prefer, a pleasant holiday season.

That's a very good question. I worry that our air force is still flying those B52s that I worked on over 60 years ago. Even with updates and improvements, I think we're behind other countries on aircraft development.
Also worked on B47s and B36s. I think back to those days with pride and satisfaction. My one year stint in Morocco is what got me started on world travel, so several good things came out of my service in the military.

I designed the 37th Aviation Depot Squadron patch while stationed at Walker AFB in New Mexico. It was a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base.
http://ericsusafpatches.nl/supporting%20units/squadrons-flights/squadrons-flights%201_50.htm

The interpretation of the patch are: a) we are ready 24/7, b) around the world, c) with conventional and nuclear weapons.

merry christmas to you and yours

That's very nice, ci. I've never designed a military patch but I did once make a door knocker that was shaped like a woman's breast with a big nipple ring.

This is the way really bad things begin. And part of that story is that stuff like this gets excused.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/article122618669.html

We have been talking about little bit about Muslims on this thread and I would like to add some input.

Muslim religion is a very interesting topic because it is a religion that is opposite of our culture. In a way, even allowing Muslims into this country is like asking "can God can make a hot sauce so hot he could not eat it?".

Being crazy, here's the conversation I am having with myself.

WHY ARE CONSERVATIVES SO SCARED OF MUSLIMS?

The religion itself is in many, many ways a contradiction of our core beliefs.

Verse 9:111 –

"Lo! Allah hath bought from the believers their lives and their wealth because the Garden will be theirs: they shall fight in the way of Allah and shall slay and be slain. It is a promise which is binding on Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur'an. Who fulfilleth His covenant better than Allah? Rejoice then in your bargain that ye have made, for that is the supreme triumph."

I see "kill people and die and you get to go to heaven"

Quran 9:5
"Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."

I see "Capture people who don't believe in YOUR God, or kill them. Unless they start believing in your God. Then it's ok." Actually I am almost positive that's what it means. Can anyone interpret this another way?

Quran 5:32
"We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or CORRUPTION IN THE EARTH, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind."

I think I corrupted earth a million times according to the quran.

Basically it's a religion that says **** all religions, if they don't believe in Allah, kill them. God wants you to kill people who don't believe. Not really an American ideal.


Oh and here's ANOTHER one.


Deuteronomy 20:10-17

10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.

11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

13 And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

16 But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee:

I see " In far off nations take over cities and ENSLAVE them if they want peace. Make them pay tribute. If they are not cool with that, kill the dudes. If the city is around here, kill them all."

WAIT
Deuteronomy 20:10-17
THAT'S THE BIBLE

I know.

I'm just wondering how many folks here have friends or co-workers who are Muslim.

I have a muslim/ agnostic friend.

Muslim/agnostic?
Seriously?

Yes. Friend/co-worker where I worked until summer. Also, in Vancouver we rented out a room to international students (in part to introduce my daughter to folks from elsewhere) and three of them were practicing Mulims (adherence to regular prayer time, for example).

I have a Muslim friend, Bashir Samma, who lives in Tanzania. He's a doctor, and so is his wife. I hadn't kept in touch with him for many years, and I knew he had health issues when we used to communicate regularly, but that was about 15-20 years ago.

My niece's mother, part animist, part muslim.

Many. Kind of impossible to live in a city like Toronto and not have Muslim friends/colleagues/neighbours.

I suppose you could really shrink your circle, but you'd really really have to work at it. Never shop. Never have a car repaired. Never have any computer service work done.

We had a Muslim-based sitcom going back to 2007.

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/little-mosque-on-the-prairie/

For the most part, they're a fairly mainstream part of Canadian society. Concentrated in the bigger cities - but everywhere - in the prairies - the maritimes - the far far far north. They're Canadian.

Well, he was raised muslim, spent time in the middle east, and is not 100% on his faith. He's definitely not afraid of alcohol or 420 at this point in life.

Different but - last night Set and I heard an interview with a Canadian politician who described himself as a Sikh atheist.

One out of ever 100 Americans is a Muslim. They've been around us and part of our communities forever. In Canada, they make up over 3% of our population.

But it profits some to cast them as vile, evil and dangerous. And those are the people who I despise utterly.

Absolutely. Nothing unusual in either case.

Now on the topic of Muslims, can I buy groceries in islamberg, New York?

I mean, since I am not a muslim. Would that stop me from going to a grocery store in islamberg??