Agree, LTG. Every woman I've worked with who sported the burka/hijab? Zero issues.

I don't think you addressed what I said at all.

If it is about our intervention in the Middle East in terms of killing civilians why can't we come to an understanding with them and have them disband once they have achieved their goal of stopping that?

Otherwise, it is safe to say that our intervention is not the cause.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I just provided 3 examples of historical evidence and you use some abstract theory concocted only by you to say it must not be U.S. intervention. The facts don't support it.

The best way to get them to stop maybe just maybe might be for the U.S. to remove military bases and stop overthrowing govts. Allow them to make their own choices and their own mistakes. I'm speaking entirely about U.S. Middle Eastern relations.

The U.S. has been directly responsible in the overthrow of 4 governments since 1950.

If the United States extricated itself from Middle Eastern affairs tomorrow there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the attacks against the U.S. would stop.

Let's not reconfigure this to demonstrate concern that frankly doesn't exist. We are not concerned about terrorist attacks against Middle Easterners. That was not the reason for overthrowing and occupying.

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Oh come on long term guy, the Iranians shout death to america because they hated the Brady Bunch. It had nothing to do with our support and subsequent shielding of a dictator. The middle east and Africa were never carved up by colonial powers, France and Britain. I mean Iraq is supposed to be one country as those borders were created by Alah himself.

The U.S. has military bases in only 140 countries. There's no way that could threaten the security of anybody. It would be highly unlikely that we would overthrow the governments of sovereign nations. Will never happen.

There is no cultural imperialism because Coke, McDonalds and Hollywood all stop coneviently at our secure borders.

I see absolutely no reason why any pious Muslim would feel threatened by America.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

You are both a thespian and a scholar. Either both or neither in this world of absolutes.

As long as the focus is on religion or culture we miss the point. It's about politics. Without Govt terrorists organizations cannot exist. You are exactly right.

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Well, of course I'm not. I value truth over everything else... in most situations.

But you also don't strike me as a guy who would speak truth in 100% of situations if it came at the expense of political expediency (that's not a slight - it's a compliment). In fact, I think I'm almost certain you're not that guy. You understand that in some situations, no matter how much restraint it takes, the degradation of how others view you is not worth always speaking truth.

I'm not worried about offending Muslims if offending Muslims didn't affect us. The reality is that it does, especially if it comes from the most powerful person/country on Earth. It seems as though there's an insinuation that not constantly stating that radical Islam is to blame for most terrorism equates to condoning terrorism, but reality shows us differently. The seething, mouth-breathing Conservatives can claim that Obama is weak against Islam with his words all they want... but his actions tell a much different story. And it seems to me that being a belligerent Muslim-hater like Trump (with words) is much less effective than continually announcing to the world that we are not at war with Islam while continually bringing "death from above." The words of leaders are important. It's not you and I spit-balling on a message board or me antagonizing my sister-in-law on Facebook. There are extreme ramifications to the words that leaders use. Just like you (I'm sure) have made the conscious decision to take the high road and allow your actions to speak for you (perhaps even recently), world leaders have been careful with how their words are perceived no matter how hard it is. And the U.S.'s actions almost certainly paint a picture that is much more vivid than calling out "radical Islam" incessantly would do.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

It's not a woman's choice though. If you think it is, you're kidding yourself as much as she is. It comes from a tradition of male domination of women and the sexualization of children. It's funny that people get up in arms about a dude checking out a nice pair of jugs and start caterwauling about "rape culture" and then in the next breath they apologize for this clear subjugation of females.

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Freedom is our Strength.

Of course all Muslims have some common beliefs, as do all Christians or all people of any faith. You're not choosing to belong to a group so you can have ideas that are opposed to said group's philosophies.

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Freedom is our Strength.

I had a Muslim student once tell me that in 20 years, my daughter would be wearing a hijab. "It's coming," he promised. I wanted to say !^%#&%!, but instead just nodded and muttered "Ok" and moved on.

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Why? Why the fuck would you allow that to go unchallenged? You sound like a beta male.

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Shoulda cracked that kid in the mush.

Then maybe branded him with a cross.

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1) He made a sufficient ass of himself in front of his classmates. They seemed to get the message my "Ok" sent.
2) You can get in trouble for doing that. I have not gotten in trouble for that specific issue, but I have seen it happen at both the high school and college levels to colleagues.
3) I have an anger management problem. A serious problem. Had I started in on the kid, it would have been hard to stop.

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I miss your old icon. That was the best one here.

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20 pages minimum....

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How dare you ...

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

So why all the attacks in other countries? Iraq, Somalia, any of the "stans", India, etc? There is a suicide bombing or execution everyday. I don't follow...anything closely enough to know about any of the motivations for the European attacks. It's not here yet. I'd like for it to not be here.

What ikhan?

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

This is the most eyebrow-raising take offered up in this thread on what dude actually said. And yes, it is certainly plausible, even reasonable. It seems to jibe with what he is shown saying in this video (0:55 in):

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016 ... ay-sot.cnn

It could very well be that in the second sentence, he is still talking about "Islamic Law" (whatever that is), and that when it comes to Islamic Law, the Shari'ah must be considered supreme. Right?

And if he is speaking in this way, isn't he still saying that the Shari'ah, and all the things it prescribes, should dominate Islamic Law, effectively arguing for Shari'ah Law in non-secular states? At the very least he is tacitly condoning it.

This is like deciphering the wording of the 2nd, and people still argue that "the right...to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" is describing the "well regulated militia" and not "the people".

Okay. I'm not trying to portray myself as a hardass. I'm not sure what I'd do when stunned with such a statement. But man... given time to think, I'd have a hard time not putting that kid in his place. Again, your reasons are legit. I'm just thinking out loud.

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Honestly not sure what your question/observation is.

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You seem to believe that Muslims or Islamic countries hate the US for military and political interference. If that is true why are there terrorist attacks within predominantly Muslim countries or places such as India?

Hurt fee-fees.

Seriously, freedom of religion is a core American value, so I understand why Americans, especially liberals, are loathe to take on a group based on their "faith". It's a lot easier to flagellate oneself over atrocities committed by the U.S. government. But if that's your viewpoint, you're not really paying attention. When these acts of terror are committed, the perpetrators aren't screaming out, "REVENGE FOR THE DRONE STRIKE!" They're flat out telling you that Allah's will for a worldwide caliphate will be done and your daughter will be wearing a burqa in twenty years. Now, I don't discount the fact that conditions, i.e poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and certainly U.S. intervention and militarism have driven people toward embracing a religion that causes them to take these actions. Christians aren't the only people that cling to their holy books and guns.

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Freedom is our Strength.

Then why aren't Indonesian Muslims screaming this and committing atrocities against Christianity? Why do Secular Govts and not Religious organizations account for most of the funding that they accrue?

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You keep saying that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... _Indonesia

Also, I'm pretty sure I read a large amount of ISIS fighters are from Indonesia.

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Freedom is our Strength.

Probably because it's true. American exceptionalist and manifest destiny types will never see the actions of America as the problem. Propaganda campaigns about religion fit into the narrative that is why they are promoted. If America leaves the Middle East tomorrow the campaign stops immediately.

The irony in all of this is that we keep complaining about an assault on Christianity even as military bases and bombs are being dropped on their countries. That really is quite the spin job.

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I've never mentioned an "assault on Christianity", although it really isn't too pleasant to be a Christian in any of these countries you keep defending. I suppose their policies toward native born Christians has something to do with U.S. militarism as well.

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Freedom is our Strength.

people who use terms like beta/alpha male are either omega males or first year english lit students.