Recent posts

#1

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Zoupa - Today at 12:18:46 AM

I dunno about you guys, but I love far-right think tank publications that cite articles from the same think tank a whopping 14 times (out of 43 references), along with sources such as twitter posts and frontpagemag.com (motto: Inside Every Progressive Is A Totalitarian Screaming To Get Out).

The author also penned such classics as "The State of Israel's Legal Right to Judea and Samaria", "The Gaza Aid and Starvation Fraud" and the always popular "The Clear and Imminent Legal Danger Posed to Israel by the ICC".

#2

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Razgovory - October 05, 2025, 11:11:20 PM

None of this tells me they are well tolerated by Hamas or the PA who also take their land without compensation, beat, rape and kill them.

What is your source for this allegation?  I have never heard of it.

https://jcpa.org/article/demographics-dont-lie-the-christian-population-in-pa-and-hamas-controlled-areas-is-declining/#:~:text=Besides%20the%20physical%20property%20desecration,into%20the%20general%20Muslim%20population.

Palestinian Christians report systematic employment discrimination, forcing many to leave their communities to seek opportunities elsewhere. Studies show Christians in the West Bank feel excluded from leadership positions, weakening their social influence.29 A 2022 study indicated a strong desire among Gaza's Christian population to emigrate, twice as strong as that of Muslims. This explains how the Christian population of Gaza dwindled from 5,000 people before Hamas took control to just 1,000 in October 2023. They cited economic and social issues, corruption, security concerns, and religious persecution since Hamas took control in 2007. Reports document violence and discrimination against Christians in Gaza, leading to a significant decline in population.30

Palestinian Christians have also encountered significant obstacles in housing and property rights, both purchasing and selling land. Even internationally recognized holy sites in the West Bank are threatened, vandalized, and desecrated by the PA without consequence.31

This has been a long-standing practice, with Fatah and Arafat's intelligence network intimidating and maltreating the Christian population in Bethlehem with extortion, and confiscation of land and property. They "left them to the mercy of street gangs and other criminal activity, with no protection."32 The PA's judicial system also does not ensure equal protection to Christian landowners. In Bethlehem, a Muslim family from Hebron took possession of the Christian Comtsieh family's land and built a business center atop it without permission. While the Comtsieh family initially won in court, the judge reversed his judgment with no due course.33 In January 2022, a large group of masked men carrying sticks and iron bars attacked Christian brothers Daoud and Daher Nassar on their farm near Bethlehem. The Palestinian courts have worked to confiscate the family farm in their possession since Ottoman times.34

Christian businesses are systematically boycotted and extorted, marginalizing Christian families and pushing them toward financial ruin, with many leaving for survival.35

#3

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Zoupa - October 05, 2025, 08:36:10 PM

NATO aircraft have started to patrol in Europe with their transponders switched off. I don't know what this means, but I'm guessing to keep the russians guessing?

#4

Off the Record / Re: Baseball

Last post by Baron von Schtinkenbutt - October 05, 2025, 08:03:33 PM

 

#5

Off the Record / Re: Baseball

Last post by Valmy - October 05, 2025, 08:01:31 PM

Ok Jays...we've had our differences over the years...but if you can finish these turds off I would be much obliged.

#6

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Admiral Yi - October 05, 2025, 07:56:38 PM

None of this tells me they are well tolerated by Hamas or the PA who also take their land without compensation, beat, rape and kill them.

What is your source for this allegation?  I have never heard of it.

#7

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Razgovory - October 05, 2025, 07:53:11 PM

I do not contest that the settlers are violent thugs; I am contesting the that Christian population is "well tolerated" in Palestine.  You don't drive out 80% of the population through toleration, a foretaste of a one state solution.  The Christian population in Israeli is growing on the other hand. 

People go where the economic opportunity exists.  Palestinian Christians in Israel are discriminated against, but can claim some protection from the Israeli courts. Palestinian Christians in the West Bank face having their land stolen by Israeli settlers without compensation, their houses and cars burned down, and their very lives taken away.  So those that can go to the Americas and Europe.

None of this tells me they are well tolerated by Hamas or the PA who also take their land without compensation, beat, rape and kill them.

#8

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by crazy canuck - October 05, 2025, 07:03:31 PM

Perhaps resources could be spent better than on catering to Apache attack helicopter parents who have the money to get their pre-school kids tested and accredited as gifted.  Maybe, that sort of assessment can wait for a couple of years.

#9

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by The Minsky Moment - October 05, 2025, 07:00:22 PM

The villanization of gifted programs is one of the thousands cuts that is making the left lose support.  Any individual cut may not add up to much, but take them all together, and you have some real resentment.  I imagine that if you're a parent who wants the best education for their child, and their child is qualified for a gifted program, but the gifted program is cut because it doesn't meet some diversity or equity criteria, you're not going view it as a good governance decision.  You're probably going to view it as a triumph of ideological dogma over good education outcomes.

Far better to completely gut public education entirely.

#10

Off the Record / Re: Baseball

Last post by Baron von Schtinkenbutt - October 05, 2025, 06:27:19 PM

BASEBALL STOOPID