Minimus -
Name calling is a poor substitute for an actual argument.
i think trump is an absolute idiot.
his tactics, however, are undeniably effective.
thought i'd just put together a short list of some of the things he does.
Minimus -
Name calling is a poor substitute for an actual argument.
i think trump is an absolute idiot.
his tactics, however, are undeniably effective.
thought i'd just put together a short list of some of the things he does.
If you don't think the sky is falling then I'm afraid you simply haven't been paying attention. Here are just a few of the things Trumps administration has done / is in the process of doing:
1.) Trump's administration has gutted the State Department and is severely curtailing the US' ability to respond to world events. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/29/state-department-purge-trump-foreign-policy
2.) Trump has put in charge of the EPA a man who doesn't believe in global warming. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/trumps-war-on-the-climate-begins/519159/
3.) Trump wants to cut funding to the the UN by over 50% which would cripple peace keeping operations all across the globe. http://thehill.com/policy/international/un-treaties/323781-trump-wants-un-funds-cut-over-50-percent-report.
4.) Trump wants to cut funding to the coast guard by 1.3 billion dollars which would allow illegal drugs and weapons to flood into the country like never before. https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/13/nearly-60-congressmen-have-called-trumps-1-billion-cut-to-the/21884818/
5.) Trump wants to cut funding to the TSA and FEMA by over 900 million dollars which would make already long airport lines even longer and severely inhibit our ability to react to natural disasters and provide funding to states declaring emergencies. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/us/politics/trump-budget-coast-guard.html?_r=0
6.) Trump wants to increase our nuclear arsenal which increases the risk of proliferation and increases the likelihood of other countries starting nuclear programs. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-exclusive-idUSKBN1622IF
7.) Trump is poised to start a trade war with our two biggest partners in trade - China and Mexico which could skyrocket the price of food and goods here in the states. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danikenson/2017/02/06/not-much-left-stopping-trumps-trade-war-with-china/#911126d4d1cc
8.) Trump has said he wont defend members of NATO which has greatly increased the threat of Russia to our European allies. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nato-jens-stoltenberg-russia-vladimir-putin-us-europe-allies/
9.) Trump as made of White House Press Office a bad joke and the office of the President lacks all credibility. When the wolves really do show up no one is going to believe Trump because he's cried wolf WAY too many times. http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/politics/sean-spicer-donald-trump-wiretapping/
10.) Trump is making health care unaffordable to the lower middle class but is giving huge healthcare tax breaks to the rich. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/critics-say-aca-risk-strategies-are-having-reverse-robinhood-effect/2016/01/13/e41cf574-b48f-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html?utm_term=.1de4c4e87bae
Anyone of these by themselves is cause for immense alarm. Instead of attacking liberals for claiming "the sky is falling" maybe you should try opening your eyes.
i think trump is an absolute idiot.
his tactics, however, are undeniably effective.
thought i'd just put together a short list of some of the things he does.
Ah yes, moving the goal post is something his sycophants do all the time! Completely forgot about that one.
I just hope we can get him out of office before he gets us into a shooting match with our sworn enemies (i.e. Australia)
i think trump is an absolute idiot.
his tactics, however, are undeniably effective.
thought i'd just put together a short list of some of the things he does.
I think Trump is an absolute idiot. His tactics, however, are undeniably effective. Thought I'd just put together a short list of some of the things he does. Let me know what you think I missed.
...
Whenever Trump get's into trouble he immediately starts lashing out at other people. Often through a combination of Red Herrings and Ad Hominens Attacks he gets people off topic defending themselves or institutions instead of talking about Trump's problems.
Anchor: Yet more reports of Trumps ties to Russia are coming out. And we've just learned -
Trump: Obama tapped my phone!
Anchor: Trumpcare is expected cut 20 million American's health care -
Trump: The CBO is the absolute worst and can't get anything right!
Anchor: Trump's national security advisor lied to congress while -
Trump: The media is all fake news!
#NewYorkTimesFailingBigly
etc.
Trump gets a lot of people to go out and do his dirty work for him. It doesn't matter how obviously stupid and post hoc their rationalizations are - they're out there getting Trump's message out.
I think this is the one a lot of us don't quite fully get: He (or she) who doesn't show up for the debate - loses.
If a white-nationalist-bigot-racist-xenophobe-homophobe-misoginist-add what ever else you like to the list - has a forum to debate you - YOU BETTER SHOW UP!
Because if you refuse to show up - that thirty minutes or hour - or six months of Trump surrogates on CNN and everywhere else - are going to spend the whole time making their case. While you're making no case at all. And anyone on the fence or near the fence is going to move into their camp.
We defeat bad arguments with good arguments. Not by assuming the high moral ground or by sitting debates out on "principle". When they go low - we go . . . we don't go ANYWHERE!!! We point out the garbage that is coming out of their mouths and explain why our ideas are better!!!!
(sorry, got a little side tracked there)
They say persistence breaks down resistance. But it's also true that resistance can break down persistance. Trump fights tooth and nail on every topic and refuse to yield ground no matter what. While this does have some obvious drawbacks (like he's sacrificing his administrations entire credibility just to change the topic for one twenty-four-hour news cycle) it also means people are willing to concede a lot more ground simply because they're so tired of sloshing through the muck.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_strategy
Alright, enough from me. What do you guys think?
when the arc made their recommendations to the society last year i genuinely thought we'd see some real changes.
oh sure, i expected a lot of feet dragging, double talk, and general nonsense - but at the end of the day i was certain the society would do what they legally had to and then run around claiming:.
) these new policies and procedures aren't really new we've always done them.
Why not just not just come out with a new big and beautiful brochure: How to keep Our children safe
It could have all the JW double talk and still get the job done, "Many families when learning about allegations of child abuse seek out the authorities . . . this would certainly be appropriate . . . and sometimes even necessary.
"While the elders in the congregation are here for our spiritual protection they are by no means meant to serve as "judges" over the land. We would encourage the bothers and sisters to leave criminal investigations in the hands of the authorities . . . give Caesar's things to Cesar but God's things to God."
I just don't get it. The main thrust of what the ARC is looking for isn't that hard.
when the arc made their recommendations to the society last year i genuinely thought we'd see some real changes.
oh sure, i expected a lot of feet dragging, double talk, and general nonsense - but at the end of the day i was certain the society would do what they legally had to and then run around claiming:.
) these new policies and procedures aren't really new we've always done them.
I can't help but wonder what Justice McClellan and Stuart Angus thinks of the whole affair. It must be as frustrating as it is baffling as to why the Society won't just do what needs doing.
when the arc made their recommendations to the society last year i genuinely thought we'd see some real changes.
oh sure, i expected a lot of feet dragging, double talk, and general nonsense - but at the end of the day i was certain the society would do what they legally had to and then run around claiming:.
) these new policies and procedures aren't really new we've always done them.
When the ARC made their recommendations to the Society last year I genuinely thought we'd see some real changes. Oh sure, I expected a lot of feet dragging, double talk, and general nonsense - but at the end of the day I was certain the Society would do what they legally had to and then run around claiming:
A.) These new policies and procedures aren't really new we've always done them
B.) JWs have the best practices and policies out of any group ever, aren't we great? Let's all pat ourselves on the back and go tell the R&F how awesome we all are!
But what I did NOT expect was to end up where we are today. After watching the ARC last night I can't help but feel deflated this morning. I had hoped the Society was finally going to get it's act together and start taking some concrete steps to prevent and address sexual child abuse. Instead, they've decided to do next to nothing and only tacitly update their policies and procedures. It's so sad.
The ARC has tremendous expertise and resources that the Society could tap into. Many organisations pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees for the type of council the ARC is giving to them for FREE! It's just so damn tragic to watch the Society squander an opportunity for long term change on the cheap merchandise of saving face today. They won't admit they did anything wrong. And they refuse to make the necessary changes to protect children from sexual abuse.
Saying they "abhor child abuse" means nothing when they do nothing to try and stop it. The Watchtower Society is truly a wicked system of things.
this is the email i have just sent to mr. stewart angus, who has been conducting the questioning of the jw leaders during the australian royal commission dealing with child abuse cases among the jehovah's witnesses, concerning the claims made that a jehovah witness who wishes to walk away from the organization can simply become inactive and avoid being shunned:.
dear mr. angus stewart,
i have followed with interest the videos of the arc regarding the jehovah's witnesses in australia.
Very well stated.
I too was considering writing a letter to the ARC - though my tack was going to be slightly different. I was thinking of writing something along the lines of someone who leaves and joins a different church could be disfellowshipped as well.
dear brothers and sisters,.
it has come to our attention that many you, especially in the developed world, have chosen to outfit your homes with artificial lighting.
while there is nothing wrong with husbands wishing to see more clearly while studying - or for sisters to want to add some extra lighting when cleaning the home - we need to be careful how we choose to use this technology.
Old Light: having the lights on at night is forbidden
New Light: since the days get longer and shorter during the winter and summer it is okay to use lights at night for short periods of time right before and after sunrise/sunset.
New-new light: lighting "fractions" are okay. Red bulbs, black lights, etc. Anything that isn't using the entire color spectrum.
New-new-new light: brothers and sisters must now start reporting their lighting cards clearly documenting when they have the lights on and off - especially in the bedroom.
dear brothers and sisters,.
it has come to our attention that many you, especially in the developed world, have chosen to outfit your homes with artificial lighting.
while there is nothing wrong with husbands wishing to see more clearly while studying - or for sisters to want to add some extra lighting when cleaning the home - we need to be careful how we choose to use this technology.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It has come to our attention that many you, especially in the developed world, have chosen to outfit your homes with artificial lighting. While there is nothing wrong with husbands wishing to see more clearly while studying - or for sisters to want to add some extra lighting when cleaning the home - we need to be careful how we choose to use this technology. Yes indeed, it is crucial for us to ask ourselves when is it appropriate and inappropriate to use artificial lighting!
For example, would it be acceptable to fully light our homes after sunset? Many in the world choose to extend daylight inside their houses by many long hours well into the night. But ask yourself, how would Jehovah feel about this? Consider, for a moment, the account in Genesis in which we learn that Jehovah made a division between night and day. He called the darkness night and the light day. Would fully lighting our homes at night show we respect this arrangement? Would using the night for daytime activities really be appropriate?
Consider too that many bad places in the world use artificial lighting - sometimes all night long - like casinos, brothels, harry potter conventions, etc. Surely we would not want to make our homes anything like these debase institutions of the world!
Of course, there are appropriate times and places for artificial lights. We know from the Bible that olive lamps were used to guide people through the night. So a little lighting at night is not necessarily a bad thing. So long as we are not disrespectfully trying to turn the night into day.
In conclusion, we know that Satan is ever trying to deceive us. He is even known as the "shinning one". Let us not fall prey to his traps and instead use discernment when using artificial lighting in our homes.
Sincerely,
The Governing Borg