Hi there, !
Today Fri 05/24/2019 Thu 05/23/2019 Wed 05/22/2019 Tue 05/21/2019 Mon 05/20/2019 Sun 05/19/2019 Sat 05/18/2019 Archives
Rantburg
531698 articles and 1855974 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 59 articles and 155 comments as of 13:45.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
8-10 Somali Teens Armed With Hammers Attack Bystanders at East Bank Rail Station in MN
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 4: Opinion
5 19:00 Glenmore [1] 
6 21:12 Bob Jesing9847 [1] 
4 10:50 M. Murcek [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
3 18:57 Glenmore [1]
2 15:13 Skidmark [3]
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
3 11:36 Mercutio [1]
0 []
0 []
4 08:22 Skidmark [1]
0 []
2 13:01 DarthVader [1]
3 20:29 Slaise Fleans7293 [2]
Page 2: WoT Background
6 18:55 Rob Crawford []
4 15:09 Dron66046 []
3 18:58 Rob Crawford []
7 21:18 rjschwarz [1]
0 []
1 00:41 Raj []
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 []
0 [2]
0 [1]
0 [1]
1 15:21 Dron66046 []
1 11:39 M. Murcek []
1 15:52 Dron66046 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 [1]
0 []
Page 3: Non-WoT
12 16:22 charger [1]
11 16:20 rjschwarz [1]
5 15:32 Dron66046 []
2 08:51 Procopius2k []
3 15:50 3dc [1]
2 23:59 Skidmark []
8 17:50 swksvolFF [1]
22 17:48 swksvolFF [1]
3 10:57 M. Murcek []
2 12:11 NoMoreBS [2]
2 17:07 NoMoreBS [1]
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 []
2 01:40 SteveS []
1 08:34 Besoeker []
2 08:17 M. Murcek []
0 [1]
1 00:59 Raj []
Page 6: Politix
5 16:52 Raj [1]
8 15:57 3dc [1]
8 15:48 Skidmark []
Home Front: Politix
Bernie Sanders Criticizes Billionaire For Giving Money To Students Instead Of The Needy Federal Government
[Babylon Bee] WASHINGTON, D.C.‐Bernie Sanders's favorite pastime is calling out evil billionaires for their evilness. Sanders found the perfect opportunity to do this once again as billionaire Robert F. Smith announced he would be paying off the student debt of those who graduated from Morehouse College.

Sanders pointed to the egregious waste of funds as a perfect example of what happens when billionaires are allowed to keep their money.

"Why does this evil billionaire think he knows what's best for his money when clearly the incredibly efficient federal government could put it to better use?" Sanders said at a rally Monday. "This is just another example of corrupt billionaires hoarding their money instead of using it for the greater good by giving it to the government."

"We can't stand for it, we won't stand for it, and we will get this reversed if it's the last thing we do," Sanders said to cheers from the crowd. "His money is as good as ours."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 04:39 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is of course Babylon Bee satire, but I feel for the Morehouse graduate who worked his or her way through college and owes nothing.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 7:57 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder how the Morehouse student felt who dropped out of school to work so that he/she wouldn't have to take out student loans?
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Oftentimes, Sanders doesn't make a frickin lick of sense. Support this guy and you are following a nutjob down the road to ruin.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:04 Comments || Top||

#4  I know it is the BB, but I stand by my comments anyway.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/21/2019 11:04 Comments || Top||

#5  It may be BB, but the underlying story is real. At first I felt it was unfair to those (few?) who had found ways to finish without debt, but then recalled what Jesus said in Matthew 20:1-16; nobody's getting cheated, just some are getting a deal.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/21/2019 19:00 Comments || Top||


POTUS Questions ‘Very Strange' Fox News Pete Buttigieg Event
[Breitbart] President Donald Trump questioned Monday a decision by Fox News executives to host a town hall for Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

"What’s going on with Fox by the way? What’s going on there?" Trump asked. "They’re putting on more Democrats than you have Republicans, something very strange is going on at Fox folks, something very strange."

Trump commented on Sunday’s town hall with Buttigieg during a rally with his own supporters in Pennsylvania.

The president said that he watched the event but found it strange that moderator Chris Wallace allowed Buttigieg to trash network stars, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson.

"He was knocking the hell out of Fox and Fox just put him in. Someone is going to have to explain the whole Fox deal to me," he said.

In April, Trump also questioned Fox News for hosting a town hall for Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"So weird to watch Crazy Bernie on Fox News," Trump wrote. "Not surprisingly, Bret Baier and the ’audience’ was so smiley and nice."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 04:09 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Likely FOX moderators to upcoming Buttigieg townhall event.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 4:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Mr. President you are the only choice for president. The Dims have a clown car full of perps suspects ... uh ... candidates.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 05/21/2019 10:29 Comments || Top||

#3  The Murdoch boys have lefty wives I’m told.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/21/2019 12:15 Comments || Top||

#4  The Murdoch Boys™ want to stay invited to all the best parties. Another example of the how children would squander their grandparents' work by socializing rather than working hard.
Posted by: magpie || 05/21/2019 12:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe Shep and Butt are 'buddies?'
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/21/2019 19:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Dem-monics know Americans do not watch Clinton News Network. Just like they have to import third world followers in massive numbers, they have found a way of RINO'ing the FOX.
Posted by: Bob Jesing9847 || 05/21/2019 21:12 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Moderate Muslims’ dilemma
[DAWN] THE Easter bombings in Sri Lanka once again turned a spotlight on the challenge of global jihad, terrorism and Islamophobia
...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do...
. Moslem scholars and community leaders from across the world have condemned the attack, dissociated themselves from the perpetrators and defended Islam as a religion of peace.
We can see that.
Many Moslems are constantly feeling like they need to apologise. Still, they continue to face a backlash and stereotyping of their community. The fear of reprisals combined with growing Islamophobia compels Moslems to insist that these acts have nothing to do with their faith. This urge to separate religion from the violence committed in its name is well intentioned and understandable, yet counterproductive.
If the two are one, separating them really is counterproductive.
It is true that these Death Eaters do not represent the overwhelming majority of Moslems, who oppose terrorist groups like the holy warrior Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS), the Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
, and Al Qaeda. However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things...
it does not necessarily mean that they have nothing to do with religion. They may not represent the Islam that moderate Moslems know and follow, but their actions are inspired by their own version or interpretation of it.
Still, we seldom hear of Lutherans blowing things up, or even of Lutherans oppressing other Lutherans. Catholics do it a little more often, but not usually in the name of Catholicism. I never even heard the words "radical" and "Buddhists" in the same sentence until the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army managed to set off the backlash in Burma, though there were a few monks who set fire to themselves to protest the Ziem regime in Saigon in the early 60's. They didn't do it in the name of Buddhism and none exploded.
Here, it is worth emphasising that, as a Moslem, I strongly believe that the Moslem belief is no more ’violent’ than those of other religions. Neither is religion the only cause of such violence. Instead, violent extremism is a complex phenomenon with multiple driving factors including injustice, identity crisis, bad boy ideologies, and socioeconomic reasons. Their salience varies across time and space. There is no clear profile or single causal pathway that can define the process of radicalisation.
Yet still, you never hear of Mormons chopping non-believers' heads off. I've never even heard of them beating anybody up.
Similarly, there is also no denying that colonialism, Western military interventions in Moslem countries and support to authoritarian Moslem rulers have played a role in the rise of Islamic bully boyz and bandidos snuffies in the Moslem world. To summarise, it is often a combination of politics and bad boy interpretations of Islam that produces the vitriolic narrative and rampage that most Moslem countries face today.
I'll admit that the former Belgian Congo teems with people who treat each other in ways that cause me to gag. And there was that whole Rwanda thing, and the Serbs slaughtering Croats, Bosnians, and Kosovars, and vice versa. So it's a tribal thing?
The problem is that while Moslems almost always talk about the politics that creates terrorism, and rightly so, they are reluctant to discuss the role of radicalised interpretations in inspiring terrorist violence. Interventionist Western foreign policies alone do not explain the origin and sustenance of terrorist groups like Taliban, Al Qaeda and IS. These groups derive their sustenance mainly from obscurantist ideology that views the modern nation-state as a system of kufr and affirms the inherent right of Moslems to rule. The desire and motivation to kill and be killed comes from a sincere belief in the notion of achieving paradise through ’martyrdom’.
So maybe the root cause of the terrorism that we've been seeing for the past fifty years or so stems from the Moslem tribes of the world trying to kill the non-Moslem tribes of the world. And the Sunni tribes trying to kill the Shiite tribes, and the Hanafi tribes trying to kill the Sufi tribes, and the Salafist tribes trying to murder all the non-Salafists?
In Moslem-majority countries, a small segment of Moslems do recognise the challenge posed by radical interpretations of religion and disputes a literalist reading advocated by fundamentalists. Koranic verses, they argue, are often misinterpreted and quoted out of context. There are, however, two points which must be considered in the debate.
Which two points are those?
First, these debates are restricted to the drawing rooms and private gatherings of a tiny liberal, secular and left-leaning class that is often insulated from the rest of society which is generally conservative. Publicly, most Moslems are reluctant to openly engage in a debate regarding religion. Those who do so often pay a huge price.
In Pakistain they're accused of blasphemy and killed.
Second, the lack of an authoritative hierarchy in doctrinal interpretation means that any Moslem can interpret religion the way he or she likes. While making Islam more egalitarian and democratic, this also makes it easier for bully boyz to promulgate their literal interpretations despite opposition by a large majority of Moslem holy mans and scholars.
Protestanism doesn't have a hierarchy either, but it's been quite a few years since Anglicans and Presbyterians blew each other up. I think I'd stick with the tribe theory.
Moderate Moslems cannot be blamed for not engaging in open public debate because most Moslem countries lack the environment required for discussing sensitive issues. The countries where there is space for critical debates are the relatively advanced democracies of the developed world. However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things...
in almost all such countries, Moslems are also a minority
Is there a reason for that?
and often the victims of hatred and prejudice inspired by Islamophobia.
My definition of Islamophobia may read like smart-assery, but it's the result of several years of research, and I haven't seen anything to make me doubt its accuracy.
Consequently, conscious of their minority status, moderate and liberal Moslems in these countries hold back their views on religion for fear of being seen as abettors of Islamophobia.
And they don't express their views on religion on Moslem majority countries because they'll be killed?
The rise of right-wing nationalism in Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and America has only reinforced their concerns.
Right wing nationalism was pretty much a dead concept until Moslem colonization began in earnest. Or did I miss something?
Diaspora Moslems fear that even pointing out that militancy might have something to do with a certain interpretation will feed into Islamophobia. The nuance about particular interpretations, the argument goes on, would gradually disappear in the public debate and Islam as a religion and Moslems as a group would be criticised. These are legitimate concerns and it is, therefore, not surprising that diaspora Moslems scholars and intellectuals are at the forefront of the ’IS-has-nothing-to-do-with-religion’ school of thought.
Even though the argument's ridiculous on its face.
The real challenge for Moslems is to be able to have these difficult conversations in a way that does not lead to more Islamophobia or buttress the West’s Orientalist and stereotypical view of Islam and the Moslem world. Media, scholars, journalists and governments in the Moslem and Western world have a responsibility to assuage these fears and ensure a safe space where such conversations can be held.
I'm not sure why we have the responsibility. Would the Moslem world have just as much a responsibility? Shouldn't they take responsibility for "scholars" who're unacquainted with concepts like reciprocity, cause and effect, and logic? I'm required to tolerate your religion, but you're not required to tolerate mine because yours says mine if wrong? Oh, but of course!
Moreover, they should also not mistake this as an acceptance that an bad boy version of Islam is the only or main source of terrorist violence.
True. Perhaps the entire religion is damned by its penchant for violence and tyranny.
Instead, the discussion about addressing other important drivers of violent extremism should continue. Defeating violent extremism requires a holistic strategy that should simultaneously address its social, economic and political causes. Reclaiming control of theological interpretations should be just one bit of the wider strategy.
Define a problem widely enough and you lose any hope of solving it.
Moderate Moslems must understand, deconstruct and delegitimise the bad boys’ version of Islam rather than denying the existence of their interpretation. By denying any link between faith and the violence carried out in its name, Moslems foreclose all public debate on different interpretations and help bad boy Moslems get away with their context-less versions.
Posted by: Fred || 05/21/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists

#1  Moderate Muslims’...

Moderate Muslim's ... there, fixed. Headline implied thee was more than one.
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/21/2019 8:19 Comments || Top||

#2  "Moderate Muslim"

That's the Muslim that does not actually participate in beheadings, but watches approvingly and applauds.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/21/2019 8:24 Comments || Top||

#3  actually a fair number of moslems are coming to the view that extremist Islam is an existential threat to non extremist moslems

most of them resist the problem that extremist Islam may be the most authentic Islam
Posted by: lord garth || 05/21/2019 9:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Muzzizm is incompatible with everything, including itself. No easy fix for that.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/21/2019 10:50 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
28[untagged]
8Govt of Iran
3Sublime Porte
3Govt of Pakistan
3Houthis
2al-Nusra
2al-Shabaab (AQ)
1Govt of Qatar (MB)
1Govt of Sudan
1Hezbollah
1Govt of Iran Proxies
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Moslem Colonists
1PLO
1Commies
1Islamic State
1Salafists

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2019-05-21
  8-10 Somali Teens Armed With Hammers Attack Bystanders at East Bank Rail Station in MN
Mon 2019-05-20
  Houthi's launch IRBM at Mecca!
Sun 2019-05-19
  Islamic State in West Africa Forming ‘Jihadist Proto-State’ in Nigeria
Sat 2019-05-18
  Drone strike kills notorious ISIS leader and his fighters in East of Afghanistan
Fri 2019-05-17
  Fighting grips Hodeidah port, complicates peace moves
Thu 2019-05-16
  F-16 with live ordinance crashes in Riverside CA.
Wed 2019-05-15
  Iranian ballistic missile platforms in Basra city directed towards the Gulf, Exxon evacuating, German mil. trainers evacuating
Tue 2019-05-14
  The Latest: Norwegian Tanker's Hull Punctured off UAE Coast
Mon 2019-05-13
  Gunmen kill six during Catholic mass in Burkina Faso
Sun 2019-05-12
  Security guard killed as terrorists storm Pearl Continental Hotel in Gwadar: ISPR
Sat 2019-05-11
  B-52s in Al Udeid AB Qatar
Fri 2019-05-10
  U.S. revokes citizenship of Portland mosque's imam for ties to ObL
Thu 2019-05-09
  Rotherham abuse scandal: 40 arrests made in last two months
Wed 2019-05-08
  Pompeo suddenly in Iraq
Tue 2019-05-07
  400-strong Christian mob attacks Muslim shops in Sri Lankan town hit by Easter bomb

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
54.226.155.151
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (12)    WoT Background (21)    Non-WoT (20)    (0)    Politix (3)