Name:	MAJ USA RET -	Reply
Subject:	Peace with the Taliban
Date:	3/6/2020 10:54:39 AM

We have just signed a “Peace Agreement” with the Taliban. It is highly likely that the Taliban will use this “peace”, however long it lasts, to regroup, reorganize, rearm, and recover. The meaning of “Peace Agreement” has a very different connotation with Muslims… especially when dealing with “infidels” (us). Google “taqiyya.”

“As usual, for the complete truth, one must turn to scholarly books written in Arabic. According to Dr. Sami Mukaram, an Islamic studies professor specializing in taqiyya, and author of the only academic book exclusively devoted to it, ‘Taqiyya in order to deceive the enemy is permissible.’               https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6587/carson-taqiyya-dissimulation

In the history of Islam, periods of peace have been extremely brief. They are unable to effect domestic peace within their sovereign boundaries. They are unable to effect peace within their religious tenets.

Islamic societies DO NOT respond to democracy. The Geneva Conventions are merely amusing.

* * * * *

On 07NOV18, I submitted the following to the Lake Martin Forum:

“Therefore, my premise is that we should meet their expectations when we strike preemptively or in retaliation for the harboring and or exporting of terrorism. If they ignore our diplomatic warning… we should exact selective and meaningful destruction of infrastructure… while avoiding carnage.

“Our military strategy should be - in the middle of the night - to simultaneously drop EVERY significant bridge (halt all motorized transportation) and simultaneously demolish EVERY power station and switchyard (turn off utilities). This aerial/cruise missile campaign MUST be followed by dead silence on our part. No occupation… no nation building. ISLAM UNDERSTANDS THIS PERFECTLY. I predict we would have to do this only once (do you remember Muammar Gaddafi?)”

* * * * *

We have given the Taliban the carrot. We have “walked softly.” They should be reminded that we also have a “big stick.” Promise them “no boots on the ground”… just falling bridges and darkness… followed by abject silence.

We may not be able to contain them, but we can keep them in the Stone Age. We should make it very profitable for them to become civilized.  They need to respect boundaries.

- LMF Curmudgeon

Name:	lucky67 -	Reply
Subject:	Peace with the Taliban
Date:	3/6/2020 10:56:11 AM

cannot be trusted--EVER ! just take away their camels, donkeys & Toyato trucks & they're paralyzed

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Peace with the Taliban
Date:	3/6/2020 11:57:54 AM

Muslims have been at war since the 6th century and for anyone to think that signing a peace agreement will change that is fooling themselves.  And I don't think the Trump administration is fooling themselves.  They are going to give the Taliban the opportunity and all the incentive in the world to behave.  And if they don't then I am all for the solution above. 

The reality is that if we can't make them change their behavior we have to default back to making them understand that the cost for attacking us is so incredibly high that they will take their mischief elsewhere.

Name:	johndoe -	Reply
Subject:	Peace with the Taliban
Date:	3/6/2020 3:13:38 PM

"Muslims have been at war since the 6th century"

And Christians haven't?

A little world history refresher appears to be in order.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Peace with the Taliban
Date:	3/6/2020 5:03:48 PM

No one is fooled.  It's just a face-saving way for us to leave Afghanistan.  We can say we signed a peace agreement.  Trump knows that Afghanistan is costing us a fortune, both in $$$ and in lives, and we really have made no more headway than we did when we started.  They will never bend to a centralized, democratic government because that is not what the people want.  Trump will be able to say, in time for the election, that he ended the war in Afghanistan.  

Name:	Carlson -	Reply
Subject:	Finally, I can say I agreed with you. Lol
Date:	3/6/2020 6:44:02 PM

It's time to leave a war that will never end until God stops it!  

Name:	MAJ USA RET -	Reply
Subject:	For John Doe – A History Refresher
Date:	3/6/2020 8:21:45 PM

Sir, you are correct, we Christians have a violent history. EXACTLY as do the Muslims, we extrapolated from the Bible that we had duty and permission from God to punish the Muslims… hence, the Crusades. At that time the keeper of the Bible was the Catholic Church. Few others could read… not even kings! The position of Pope could be bought by a rich family (e.g. the Medici). There were three of those violent incursions.

Later a Pope decided that the very professional and organized purveyors of the crusade expeditions, Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller were to be hunted to ground and dispensed with (read the history of the Masonic Lodge).

What about the Inquisitions? This pogrom easily qualifies as stomach churning violence.

With the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the subsequent publication (resurrection) of the Bible, the masses could decide for themselves what Christ believed and promoted. At that point, Christians began to evolve. The evolution of Christian thought and Masonic doctrine brought about the turning of (most) western cultures toward empathy.

Such was episodic (e.g. both sides in WW1 featured belt buckles which proclaimed “God is my Right”).

This empathy towards the humanity of one’s enemy(ies) culminated in the Geneva Conventions.

 Islam has not progressed to the point of empathy. Therein lies the contention.

 (I admit, this has been a very simplistic discourse… but then, I am far from the intellectual caliber of Will and Ariel Durant.)

-          LMF Curmudgeon

Name:	Carlson -	Reply
Subject:	For John Doe – A History Refresher
Date:	3/6/2020 9:55:16 PM

Wow, Major that was very well spoken!  Thanks

Name:	lakngulf -	Reply
Subject:	For John Doe – A History Refresher
Date:	3/7/2020 1:00:15 PM

Major is ......well major

Name:	johndoe -	Reply
Subject:	Actual history; no "refresher" needed here
Date:	3/7/2020 9:08:48 PM (updated 3/7/2020 9:09:43 PM)

"This empathy towards the humanity of one’s enemy(ies) culminated in the Geneva Conventions."

Which were flagrantly ignored by the Nixon admin and Dubya's team of torturers and mean absolutely nothing to the present admin.

Both religions teach contradictory concepts, e.g., chiildren and women as property, stoning adulterers to death, life for life and limb for limb, vs. loving one's enemies, welcoming strangers, listening to children, giving to the poor, etc. Devout followers of both religions have advocated inhuman practices - including slavery in the US. The Southern Baptist church did not formally apologize for its support of slavery until 1995.

People of all "religions" have been going to war for the entirety of recorded history. There is no evidence that they will stop any time soon....

Name:	phil -	Reply
Subject:	Actual history; no "refresher" needed here
Date:	3/9/2020 8:58:18 AM

Funny, you skipped Obama putting kids in cages and found no problem with Obama sending drones after everyone in sight - including an American citizen.

Guess those slipped your mind - or maybe you just wanted to put your own political spin on it by giving dims a pass and only listing republicans.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	For John Doe – A History Refresher
Date:	3/9/2020 10:12:04 AM

With all due respect to Maj, his history is mostly if not completely wrong about the Catholic Church and the Masons and the Protestant reformation. Wrong in the facts and wrong in the conclusions.  But very sadly his misunderstanding of history is not unique and he is not alone at having been fed anti-Catholic propaganda.

But I will concur with his main point.  Christianity, like Islam, like paganism, pretty much like all of society and humanity from thousands of years ago were violent.  That was the nature of humanity then, pretty much is today and for the most part Christianity turned away from violence centuries ago while Islam has not.  Islam remains in a pre-modern state and never evolved from what it was in the 6th century when it was created by a pedophile maniac. 

So no, violence by Christians thousands of years ago is not comparable to violence by Islam today.

Name:	MAJ USA RET -	Reply
Subject:	Simplistic Judgement
Date:	3/9/2020 10:56:51 AM

MM -

1 - You have mis-judged me.  I am not anti-Catholic at all... the Christian world owes the Catholic Church its survival during the "Dark Ages" (following the demise of the Roman Empire).

2 -  I clearly stated that the discourse was simplistic.  You should look up that word in the dictionary.  To tell you the truth, I had expected that someone would confuse my brief essay with the encyclopedic history of religion. I was right about that.

- LMF Curmudgeon

Name:	Carlson -	Reply
Subject:	MM which devil is more evil
Date:	3/9/2020 11:17:00 AM

Is a difficult if not impossible comparison.  Actually as a Catholic I did not read anything particularly offensive in the discussions.  The power of the Pope bestowed by some commenters is usually exaggerated but I will say the current pope should have exercised much more force and determination to recognize the sexual abuse of children by the clergy and stop it immediately (which he did not).  We have evolved into assigning task forces comprised of the inmates to solve life's problems.  

radical terrorists are especially evil and I would rather be dead than submit to their cruelty.  

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Simplistic Judgement
Date:	3/9/2020 12:28:10 PM (updated 3/9/2020 12:50:10 PM)

Maj:  The problem with simplistic is that it can send the wrong message.  Some simplistic responses to your points and I apologize if I took yours as an anti-Catholic post.  These are many of the same falsehoods spread by anti-Catholics of all stripes.  It does wear thin on me.  MM

Sir, you are correct, we Christians have a violent history. EXACTLY as do the Muslims, we extrapolated from the Bible that we had duty and permission from God to punish the Muslims… hence, the Crusades. At that time the keeper of the Bible was the Catholic Church. Few others could read… not even kings! The position of Pope could be bought by a rich family (e.g. the Medici). There were three of those violent incursions.

The historical reality is that the Crusades (there were many of them) were defensive in nature in response to Islamic conquests and not some "violent incursion".  That view totally ignores the historical fact that prior to the Crusades there were seven centers of Christianity...after them there was one, which was Rome.  The rest were overrun by Muslims.  The reality is that the Crusades were a losing proposition but they did preserve Christian Europe but lost all the rest of the Christian world.  The Catholic Church was more than the keeper of the Bible, it created the canon of the Bible and maintains it to this day.  You are right though that in the middle ages the Church and European governments were intertwined and that was something that needed to and did change.  I would point out that the largest Protestant break from the Catholic Church was actually implemented by a King (so he could get a divorce) and to this day the head of the Anglican Church is the King or Queen of England.  Nowhere in the modern world today is the Catholic Church as enmeshed with government as we see today in England.

Later a Pope decided that the very professional and organized purveyors of the crusade expeditions, Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller were to be hunted to ground and dispensed with (read the history of the Masonic Lodge).

This is absolutely false history.  The Templars were tortured by the government of France to admit to things that were false, retracted their confessions and then under threat of death retracted their retraction.  The Pope (Clement) had nothing to do with hunting them down although he did decide given the persecution by the French government to do what the Islamic invaders could not, disband the Knights.  The Knights were a threat to the government of France and had to be attacked and it was accomplished in a most despicable manner.  This had nothing to do with the Pope.

What about the Inquisitions? This pogrom easily qualifies as stomach churning violence.

If you read the history of the many Inquisitions, these were actually instigated by governments and not the Church and were in no way a pogrom like the Holocaust.  While the Church played a role, and it was not a pleasant one, the reality is that this intertwining of Church and State created the false impression that the inquisitions were Church inspired because the goverment used heresy as a crime with which to attack their real or perceived enemies.  In fact, many victims of the Inquisition requested examination by the Church as opposed to the government because of the hope for some basic fairness. I would recommend you watch a BBC/A&E special from 1994 called The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition.  It exposes the lies told about the reason and nature of the Inquisitions.

With the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the subsequent publication (resurrection) of the Bible, the masses could decide for themselves what Christ believed and promoted. At that point, Christians began to evolve. The evolution of Christian thought and Masonic doctrine brought about the turning of (most) western cultures toward empathy.

This is where your historical understanding goes far off the rails.  The publication of the Bible had nothing to do with the Protestant Reformation. It had to do with the invention of the printing press in the late 1400s and its much greater availablity in the 1600-1700's.  Stories about the Bible being chained in the Catholic Church to prevent people from reading it are lies.  At that time (prior to the wide availability of the printing press) the only way to reproduce the Bible was by hand which is why they were not only rare but chained up to prevent them from being taken.  They were very valuable and it took a very long time to create even one copy.  Even more so, the vast majority of people could not read so owning a bible would have been worthless anyway.  As people learned to read (many millions taught in Catholic schools I might add) then having a bible available in homes actually made sense.  When the printing press became more common the Catholic Church was actively involved in the publication of the Bible, the entire one, including the Apocrypha which Luther removed along with his other convenient edits to support his own particular interpretations.

Trust me, Protestants were no less violent than Catholics in pretty much every century.  The history of violence against Catholics in England beginning with the beheading of St. Thomas More and so on and the history of violence against Protestants by Mary Queen of Scots are both stains on Christianity....but once again it was more about worldly power than it was about faith and it was equal opportunity.  There are many other examples of violence by Protestants all the way to America.  So no, it wasn't the violent Catholic Church being shown the way by peace loving Prostestants.  They were peas in a pod and both evolved away from violence when they separated themselves from governments and the never-ending quest for power by politicians.

Finally, the Masons are not Christian, they are pagan and have embraced secular humanism and many people believe are anti-Christian.  They are most certainly anti-Catholic.  While they do seem to believe in the enlightenment they have  rejected the role of faith in our secular lives.  Regardless, their role in turning western cultures toward empathy is wildly overstated and pales in comparison to Christianity (Protestant and Catholic).  

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	MM which devil is more evil
Date:	3/9/2020 12:45:20 PM

What bugs me is the false statements and there were many in what he wrote.  While he may not be anti-Catholic he is regurgitating anti-Catholic propaganda based on fake history.  The Catholic Church has plenty of legitimate warts (like all institutions that are comprised of people) but I can't stand by when the false canards are presented as history.

As for the ongoing scandal in the Church regarding sex abuse there is plenty of blame to go around.  I first blame the men who suffered from same sex attraction disorders for infiltrating the priesthood and for their despicable acts against children, young adults and seminarians.  They have no place in the priesthood.  Second, I blame the hierarchy for allowing so many seminaries to be infiltrated by the gay mafia who advanced those sympathetic to their disordered passions and driving away men who would have been orthodox priests faithful to their vocation.  Third, I blame that portion of the hierarchy that failed in their response to the abuse allegations.  Many did so based on bad advice and many did so to protect the Church and prevent scandal.  Some meant well but based on bad advice did not do well and some were downright evil.  Regardless, each and every one of them needs to go away and needs to be replaced by orthodox Bishops and Cardinals.  For better or worse they lack the moral authority and need to resign from leadership.

And this gets to your point about the Pope.  As you know, the Pope is not a CEO of a company.  While he has significant moral authority, his organizational authority is very limited and most of it lies in Vatican City and not in Birmingham, Alabama or any other diocese.  In essence, all he can do is appoint and retire Bishops and Cardinals.  Once they are installed they can pretty much do what they want until they are removed.  Just look at the heresies being spread by the German bishops.  I am no fanboy of Pope Francis and I wish he were more aggressive in rooting out the gay mafia from the Church and more outspoken about the issue.  But other than making personnel changes there is very little he can directly do.

Name:	MAJ USA RET -	Reply
Subject:	wow!
Date:	3/9/2020 2:22:40 PM

Okay... I made it all up.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	No, you didn't make it up......
Date:	3/9/2020 2:29:40 PM

Someone else made it up and then passed it around and around and around and then it landed in your lap.  There is nothing new or particularly innovative about the false information you posted and you didn't even remotely have to make it up.  There are others that did that for you.  But when I see good people passing bad information along I feel compelled to respond and correct the record.  Like I said, nothing you posted was fabricated by you......that sad label goes to others whose motivations are suspect at best.