INTERESTING TIMES

I think this may be part of the reason that so many people have defaulted to supporting tRump.  At a gut level he gets it, that somehow the religion of Islam is motivating some people to kill bunches of hedonistic rich oblivious Americans.  We are The Great Satan, after all.  Our women roam around half naked.  We drink alcohol and eat so much that we can't get out of our chairs.  The Muslims who hate us find plenty to hate.  And the teachings of the religion are harsh.  Unforgiving.  Granted, most religions have some myths and stories that motivate hateful actions.  Most religions have a few fundamentalists whose simplistic interpretations lead them to extreme beliefs and behaviors.  Islam has a lot of people like that.  I am certain that the followers of ISIL think that American Muslims who don't help their cause are apostates, no better than the rest of us.  So given that there are quite a few Muslims who think we all deserve to die, and several at least who've been successful at violently killing Americans, being afraid of Muslims sounds kind of reasonable.  If the Dems don't admit to this, and begin teaching Americans about how they've been attempting to quell the fears of peaceable Muslims in order to prevent religious based warfare, they are missing the boat.  Blaming the Pulse shooting solely on easy access to guns is missing the very important point that currently there are a lot of people with this religious background who are motivated to kill.  We need to study them, to understand them.  They are not necessarily insane, they simply live in a different reality dictated by a different culture.  There are also a lot of Americans who are not Muslim who share their distaste for gays, their disrespect for loose women, and their instinctive hatred of other races.  Maybe you should be afraid.

Just yesterday I finally stopped ignoring the Middle East and looked up a few things. Like who is Shia and who is Sunni. And who has nukes and where. And what exactly an Islamist is. It was....a useful exercise. Anyone else out there taking an interest in this juncture of history? I'm ready to be educated.

It just seems to me, after one *ok a fraction of one* day of looking into it, that the majority Sunnis in most of the Middle East have been supremely frustrated trying to deal with their less conservative, more secular Shia neighbors. And it seems clear to me that America has at least attempted to enact a separation of church and state, even though those words do not appear in the constitution. It was in the First Amendment to the US Constitution that Congress was to "make no law respecting respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". As wikipedia points out, lots of nations have this idea in their code, and there is a great range of shades of gray in its execution. Here in America we do fairly well, but nowhere near a perfect score. For one thing, the constitution has no control over the states and what local laws might be passed. Which may be how we have gigantic crosses along Interstate 5 in Washington State. Not so different from other places, where religion is supposed to guide personal and political life. Here we seem only able to elect Christian presidents. We like to think that we are above it, but we are surely not.

So I know I am rambling and I will call it quits. If you have an opinion about what is the crux of what is going on--in Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia or any other involved party, feel free to comment and tell me! I'm building a mind map.

**Created Syria tag.

...as a nonmember observer state...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/palestinians-certain-to-win-un-recognition-as-a-state-but-opposition-could-delay-independence/2012/11/29/25030e2a-39e6-11e2-9258-ac7c78d5c680_story.html?hpid=z1

While a resident at Walter Reed Medical Center, Hasan, a Muslim born in the United States to Palestinian parents, reportedly told colleagues he believed the United States was waging war on Muslims. He said Muslim soldiers shouldn't be asked to kill fellow Muslims.

In case you missed it, Hasan is the psychiatrist who shot 43 people at a military medical center. According to several docs on Medscape, he's not looking all that crazy in court, but rather highly effective as a terrorist. Plenty of evidence of careful premeditation has been presented. Like this:

The entire sale was odd, the gun salesman recalled, because Hasan took out his cell phone and videotaped the manager's demonstration of how to load the new pistol, remove its magazine and break down the weapon. Brannon told the court he'd never seen anyone make such a videotape. Hasan said that "he wanted to review it later."

Medscape is free but you have to create a sign-in to access the articles.

A short and sweet defense of Switzerland's decision to ban minaret building may be found here, on Huffington Post, by Joan Z. Shore.

This Washington Post story is particularly rich. First, the man with the guns was an Army major, and the location of the shooting was in a US military processing center in Virginia. Second, he was a psychiatrist and a doctor in the Medical Corps. Third, he was a devout Muslim, born of Palestinian parents in the US. Fourth, he was about to be deployed. Five, he disagreed with the US wars in the Middle East. Six, he opened fire with two handguns killing 11 military and police men and injuring another 31 before he was shot dead. Seven, there was the suspicion that other men were also shooting people but they were questioned and released. There are lots more details, but just that bit of info is ample food for thought. EDIT: Initially it was reported that the shooter was killed in the incident, but now they're saying he's alive and in stable condition. So we will know the motive, eventually.

http://www.newser.com/story/61047/young-jews-spew-racist-anti-obama-rants.html

The youth of Jerusalem are shown ranting and raving about Obama. It's ugly. I am a little surprised that the Jews are not more evenhanded and openminded, but they are not. They remind me of the white supremacists in the US.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/26/2455293.htm
Lots of Christains are mighty miffed, but once again I find myself agreeing with this man's criticisms of imperialist powers today, and with his hopes for the future of humanity.
( direct quotes from the ABC article )