I don’t think he can do it now either, my question was really an attempt to find out where you actually stand, and the section of yours I just quoted only muddies the waters more. You’re a Bernie supporter, you’re a Trump supporter, and now you’re considering a third party if it came to Trump vs. Bernie because of “core principles” regarding party rules that apparently outweigh the actual governance of the nation.
OK, whatever.
Too many damn verses. Thanks though, I didn’t know about that one.
That’s the human approach to Christianity in my experience, though some pick the better lessons and some pick the worse lessons.
A little food for thought from Psalm 73:
For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
And from Psalm 10:
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
Trump certainly does know how to puffeth!
Most of those smooth-voiced underwriting announcements are for local station underwriting, not NPR.
It is really hard to gauge how independent Democracy Now! is compared to NPR in terms of corporate interests. They have appalling financial transparency - no links to their 990 filings, audited financials or even a list of major donors. Their website claims they only get contributions from listeners, viewers and foundations, but their IRS filings are very clear that they get revenue from from syndication of their program - which of course ultimately is paid for by corporate underwriting and government donations at public radio stations.
I suppose if you mean “contribution” to mean only cash gifts, then Democracy Now! has no corporate financing links, but considering their program is syndicated on DirectTV which is owned by AT&T, they must be taking money directly from corporations. Plus their website clearly says they take matching gift donations from companies as well as donations of services and products. I’m not entirely sure how those don’t count as contributions from corporations.
The lack of listing major donors is really troubling though. It means you can funnel money from one foundation to another to hide the source of money and no one would know because 990s are so poorly digitized. A quick scan shows me that the Schwab Charitable Fund which gave them $205K in 2011, the Tides foundation which gave $80K in 2013 and the Wallace Global Fund which gave them $250K in 2011. There might be other donations, but it really isn’t easy to track them.
As far as Pacifica is concerned, they doesn’t even make national radio programs anymore. Even if they did, they are so ideologically slanted that it would be hard to use them as a benchmark for what unbiased coverage amounts looks like.
So he bit into the apple knowing full well that he oughtn’t? If anything, that’s worse than being deceived.
My personal take is that since Adam and Eve hadn’t already possessed the knowledge of good and evil, then they couldn’t be held responsible for their actions or punished for them. They were children left alone to play near a dangerous tree. It might as well have been poison. A responsible parent doesn’t punish a child because they stuck the child in a room with poison and without supervision. First sin was a setup. If god were a parent, he’d have his children taken by family services.
Not if you listen to it.
They have appalling financial transparency
You’re basing that assessment merely on their website? I’m also wondering why you think they should have the same level of transparency as npr and pbs – are they positioned as public services beholden to the public interest the way those two are?
Why? Who do you think might be giving them money? What do you think they might be hiding?
What? Last I heard, they make Democracy Now.
What makes you say they’re ideologically slanted?
I don’t know what “most” means here, and anyway, a lot of them aren’t local. Also, did you somehow miss this?
A corollary from overthinking Genesis:
Anyone who believes “do the right thing” and “follow God’s orders” are the same thing hasn’t read the Garden of Eden story closely enough.
After all, they knew what obedience and disobedience were: they bit into the apple knowing that they were being disobedient, and then gained knowledge about good and evil. The implication is that they’re not the same thing.
If someone tells you that something is evil because “God says we shouldn’t do it,” that’s something you can bring up.
Children of a certain age understand obedience and disobedience, but still disobey. Sometimes that means they touch the stove and burn their hand after they’ve been told not to touch it, but that’s hardly a capital punishment-worthy offense.
It’s like the issue of knowledge relating to the existence of god and the “choice” of heaven and hell. If people knew for a fact that god existed and heaven and hell were real and fully understood the implications of eternal damnation, no one in their right mind would disobey god and if they did, they could be said to not be in their right mind and not punishable for the offense. (And this is where a Christian theologian or apologist would mention that god’s ways are not man’s ways and “the Lord works in mysterious ways”, i.e. “I don’t have an answer but I can wave away your concerns with pithy nonsense.”)
I’m basing that off of the low rating on Charity Navigator and also comparing it to NPR and PRI who go way above and beyond in terms of providing financing information including, in NPR’s case, breakdowns of where member radio stations get their money and in PRI’s case, individual names of donors.
Nope. Democracy Now is just syndicated on Pacifica, but they are now a totally unrelated entity. They haven’t even shared broadcasting space since 2001. Goodman fought for a while to get it out of Pacifica and now Democracy Now is syndicated on way more radio stations including some NPR stations.
Pacifica? The station founded by Berkeley pacifists that were conscious objectors to World War 2? The one that Michael Moore thought was run by the completely nuts left? They clearly state they are dedicated to progressive programming on every radio station they own (well, I suppose there are only 5, but still).
I see. Do you consider npr and pbs ideologically slanted?
Thanks for the info about D Now.
My understanding was that the Eye of the Needle is a passage into a stable or corral - specifically made large enough for a person to pass through, but too small for a camel. They can still be found.
It saves on building gates.
And if that isn’t enough, there’s at least one conversation between Moses and God where God says he’s going to wipe everyone out, and Moses tell God that he mustn’t do that because it would be bad. So the same point, but the other way around.
My feelings on the issue of hell and damnation are:
Admin note: Couple of the more personal attacky comments hidden – keep it real yall
I’ll bite.
It is my view that actions speak louder than words. Trump is infamous for his bluster. There is no argument there. When I look at what he actually does in his life, I get the feeling he’d be a decent president.
On women, he actually hires more female executives than men
He’s said nice things about women as well,
“My own mother was a housewife all her life. And yet it’s turned out
that I hire a lot of women for my top jobs, and they’ve been among my
best people. Often they are far more effective than the men around
them.” - DJT 1987
Hillary on the other hand, is very ironically about as bad as you can get on the issue. For instance, as a lawyer, she defended a man accused of raping a 12 year old girl. She got him off on a technicality and even admits that she thought he was guilty and then laughs about the result. Actions like that speak louder than any words she muster for crowds during the election.
As for attacking terrorists families, that is definitely a rough subject. I have to begrudgingly accept that it would probably work. It likely wouldn’t even be a war crime if you say, bomb their homes while the terrorists are there with the families being collateral damage. We’ve actually been doing a little of that already! Trump is effectively spouting the popular Republican view of ‘Go in, get it done, get out’. That being said, I don’t like the idea of targeting non-militant families in a war of ideas. This is one of those issues where I have to compare to Hillary. As a business man, Trump always prefers a deal over hostile action, so I believe he’s likely to avoid more violence than the alternative. Hillary’s policies have directly contributed to drastically increased violence in Libya, Honduras, Yemen, Ukraine, Haiti, Palestine, Yugoslavia, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. You can see in the news every day where this is taking a heavy toll on all of Europe as refugees swarm into countries and cause further havoc. It’s a pretty low bar to do better on foreign policy than Hillary. I believe Trump can do that, even if he runs off at the mouth.
I can’t really offer any defense for the Obama birther thing beyond acknowledging that the strategy energized a lot of Republicans. Trump loves to make oddball attacks on opponents. He’s doing that Elizabeth Warren denying that she has 1/32 native America heritage. The attacks are often effective in that even responding to them gives them some life. What I can get behind Trump on is the whole anti-PC movement. I think people are getting too thin skinned in today’s world and the whole ‘safe space’ thing is just latest insanity caused by being overly PC. The birther thing was still crazy, but it at least it was a more harmless version of crazy compared to Hillary. I’d rather candidates say what they feel, even if it is a bit off. I appreciate the sincerity over carefully scripted words that betray a sordid past.
It’s rough, wild, election this time around. Bernie was the only worthwhile candidate, but between Trump and Hillary, I have to go Trump.
Much of a President’s power IS in the words he uses. That’s why Teddy Roosevelt coined the term “The Bully Pulpit.” Knowing how to hold one’s tongue is a critical part of the job.
A man who can’t contain his bluster, frequently spouts sexism and bigotry, or constantly uses his position to loudly peddle brazen lies and slander doesn’t belong in that job.
Nixon was a creep, a bigot and an advocate of many bad policies but he didn’t normalize relations with China by publicly ranting about “G**ks, Ch*nks and Commies.”
The producer recalls that, after the Tisches heard her mention to another customer where she worked, they denounced what they called the film’s incendiary rhetoric against the rich. They went on for twenty minutes, warning that such hateful attitudes could lead many wealthy New Yorkers to move to Florida, where the taxes are lower, and arguing that neighbors of theirs who spent millions of dollars on parties helped waiters and caterers.
“You say that like it’s a threat, but to me it sounds like a promise.”
