Tuur said:

Like it or not, Trump isn't objectively unpopular.

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From The Economist:

'The president's net approval rating is -18%,
down 1.3 points since last week'.

I believe that's the lowest since...well, for ever. So what descriptive would you use to preface '....unpopular' if not 'objectively' (although the fact that he is unpopular is an objective fact)

Drastically? Overwhelmingly? Incredibly?

Me, I'd go 'Undeniably', but it's your call.

The pre-Reformation Hail Mary in the Latin West was similar to the Orthodox version, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you...". "Pray for us sinners" was added after the Reformation.

Landon Caeli said:

The Amazon layoffs are targeting corporate employees only, and it's because theyre being replaced by generative AI, not because of lack of sales, or the economy.

You can't blame Trump for technological advances.

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Yes, and that is even worse than layoffs because of low demand. The reason being is that those folks are unlikely to ever get called back. While Amazon and lots of tech investment is good at the macro level, it is not going to a large segment of the economy and the productivity gains are going to the few at the top and their investors. Sure some have small piece of Amazon stock, but nothing like those at the top. I do not begrudge them, but I that is the reality of all Ai.

stevevw said:

There has been ongoing debate about who is the best guitarist with the likes of Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan ect. Who do you think is the greatest guitarist. I think all the above are great each in their own way.

But I am also interested in other guitarist not as well known who may even be better. Even Youtubers or buskers. Whoever. I love the guitar and not just lead but also rythm, bass and all sorts of stringed instruments. The Banjo is great as well.

In recent years I came across Derek Trucks. He is actually the nephew of the late Butch Trucks, drummer for the Allman Brothers. So he grew up around the band and that era of blues and rock guitarist.

Derek plays the slide guitar which I love and think of Gilmor in classic songs like the Great Gig in the Sky. Its great because not only is the note played but all sorts of notes inbetween are bent into each other. Its almost like a violin and yet he still comes back to classic blues rock guitar.

Enjoy.

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Check out Guthrie Govan! Login to view embedded media

essentialsaltes said:

Unless you can document that 'they' claimed H. sapiens was among them, this is irrelevant to your initial claim.

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James Hansen predicted that burning all existing fossil fuels "would make most of the planet uninhabitable by humans"... I know most of the planet is not all the planet, so I guess Gates built kind of a strawman, but even then, sources say we've already burned half of earth's supply, and all we've seen so far are a couple tennis court size islands go underwater.

Tropical Wilds said:

I have linked numerous sources that show he is objectively unpopular. You said I only think that because of the circle I run in (despite you knowing nothing about the circle I run in). You say he is popular, and you know him to be because the people you talk to like him.

Sounds like to me the person who’s basing their opinion on their circle is you, not me.

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Considering I post on CF, kind of hard to justify the latter claim. As to the former, assuming the cited polls are even partially accurate, they, too, show that Trump isn't objectively unpopular, only that a percentage of the US population dislike him. Even then, the existence of a single person who likes Trump would be sufficient to show the fallacy of objectively unpopular. Just as, if I claimed Trump was objectively popular, your own dislike of Trump would be enough to show the fallacy of objective popularity.

What we have is the situation that we always have: Some like a person; some don't. We can argue about polls and percentages all day long, yet it remains more than a few do like Trump. A tacit admission of this can be found right here on CF whenever something bad happens in a red state and someone invariably chortles that they got what they voted for.

Like it or not, Trump isn't objectively unpopular. Neither is he objectively popular. That's the way of things. And neither claim of unpopularity or popularity has much to do with remodeling the White House.

jacks said:

Well as long as we are speculating...

Trump could divorce Melania, marry Elon Musk; (thus gaining Canadian citizenship) and become Prime Minister of Canada.

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And then join the US. Sounds like a plan!

I think that Al Dimeola is perhaps the greatest guitarist. I once saw him live and at the time he had a marimba player, Philippe Saisse? (After the Chick Corea era). Sometimes he would play in unison, and it was totally amazing. No Marimba but here is a sample. Look especially at the 4:45 mark. Login to view embedded media

Landon Caeli said:

Is it safe to say then, that the climate change emergency, was science fiction?

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No. Because someone you appear to trust said:

'“...climate change will have serious consequences — particularly for people in the poorest countries...'

And said it in the very article to which you linked. But hey, the consequences to you might not be so serious, so if you're ok and it's only going to affect all those poor people then what's the problem?

As a Catholic of English descent, I am fascinated by this! My great-great grandparents came from England and were Catholic, even though many ancestors of mine in England were Anglican.

9Rock9 said:

So, I want to explore political philosophy and how it relates to Christianity.

Ideally, our faith should inform our politics, but not the other way around. Yet, this unfortunately not the case in reality. I don't intend to turn this into a finger pointing game between the left and the right, I just want to explore options here.

Should the government enact policies that reflect Christian policies?

One could argue yes, since a Christian government could provide a moral foundation for an otherwise secular society and arguably improves everyone's lives. On the other hand, one can say that the government would just bastardize Christianity and use it as a weapon for social control.

What about libertarianism? The Bible says to help the poor and needy. Yet, does that mean we should petition the government to do it, or is charity a personal responsibility for us as Christians, and thus we should not outsource it to the state?

Should there be a government? There are verses that seem to advocate for submitting to earthly authorities. Then again, many of these earthly authorities have, and sometimes still do, put innocent people to death. It can also be argued that the government has a monopoly on force and violence.

What are your thoughts?

I'm personally undecided, but that's why I made this thread. I want to see what others think to help me find out where I stand.

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Jesus Christ of Nazareth and His Gospel do not teach earthly governance because His Kingdom is not of this world. This decisively separates the Gospel—a message of salvation, spiritual transformation, and heavenly citizenship—from temporal political goals and nationalist movements. Jesus consistently refused to become an earthly king, resisted popular attempts to turn His ministry into a political revolt against Rome, and taught that His followers’ primary allegiance and focus must remain on the Kingdom of God, not on the kingdoms of men. Therefore, the core of Christ's teaching dictates a separation, meaning the Gospel should not be diluted or compromised by entanglement with human politics.
Blessings

Michie said:

It used to bother me. I think mostly because I’m a convert from Protestant Christianity and used to be horrified by a lot of it. Now? Not so much. It’s easy enough to find the truth of the matter but most do not. It’s their schtick and they got to stick to it I guess.

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Absolutely!

Sorry I don't post more often here. My introvertness extends to my online activities as well. The begining of this year was a huge fall for me, due to struggles in mental health, with home life and my church life. I shared before I ended up leaving my home church. I had guilt in doing so, thinking I had betrayed my brethren there. God had then reminded me about my prayers late last year, how I asked Him to remove me, if I was not suitable for the roles I had taken on, some of which was in a form of pastoral roles. My main issue came with how the elders where limiting God from working within the church. I had become aware they lacked much faith in God, especially when I would be given a chance to show how God was willing to use the church to reach out to thousands of people who went by the church each day.

I haven't rescinded my membership yet, so I get the weekly newsletter still. On Friday, I decided to take a look if they had found a new senior pastor finally, as it has been several years they've had one. I saw they had not. Then as I looked at the board of elders, I noticed there was a change. One of the new elders is a recent member in the recent years, who helped me with the live stream service once a month. There are things I had noticed about him, which I brought up to my friend, who is the music director. I recall clearly, my friend saying this person wasn't suited to be in a spiritual role for the church. I had originally thought about becoming an elder myself last year. I saw this as a clear sign, as my old church rejecting God's direction, especially His wisdom. I feel I'm at peace now, for leaving this church behind. I'm still seeking God for healing, and seeing where He wants me to serve with the gifts He has revealed to me last year.

That's....interesting....considering how inclusive the Episcopal Church has been for decades.

Odd.

Great actor! May God bless him abundantly!

May he rest in peace and rise to glory!

I wonder what John and Charles Wesley would think?

PloverWing said:

State and local governments have jurisdiction over what the public roadways look like, but I wouldn't think they'd have jurisdiction over the appearance of the front steps of a privately-owned building, unless there's some kind of public safety hazard.

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That's what I understand, too.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Shouldn't everyone be allowed to express their opinion? Hmmm...

Michie said:

Well it does not me either. I find their pov interesting but mostly laughable since the majority of the accusations are a lot of malarkey.

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Absolutely! Many just parrot what anti-Catholic clerics have been saying for centuries. It's not academic nor credible.

Servus said:

And it took 32 years which is ridiculous.

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There's been one man on death row for 40+ years. He's in Florida.

Trogdor the Burninator said:

Let's see the pathetic excuses from trump supporters for this one.

And before they repeat the lies being proffered by a DHS spokesnazi that "Figueroa's vehicle blocked agents and struck an unmarked government vehicle.", the video showing the Ice scumbags doing a U-turn in the middle of the road and hitting the victims car can be seen as plain as day in the video on the page.



That's what fascism looks like.

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I think there is more to the story than this. It could very well be that rhe agents believed she was blocking them in. You could see at the very beginning someone trying to prevent them from leaving by standing in front of their vehicle. You can't see whats going on behind their vehicle. The first time you see anything regarding rhis woman is when she drives around their vehicle and they hit her. Perhaps she was blocking them in. I don't know, I can't see.

It is a possibility they were completely in the wrong here and she wasn't actually intentionally blocking them and they over reacted. If thats the case then they should suffer the consequences of that over reaction. However, if she was blocking them intentionally that's a different matter. The fact that she wasn't charged with anything is totally unacceptable and in fact supports her story because I would think if she did they would charge her. So at this point im a big "I don't know what really happened" because we dont have enough information. But I'm leaning on her side since no charges were given.

And if the agents screwed up they should suffer consequences for it.

Michie said:

People publish that stuff all the time within Christianity. Catholicism is pretty much the number one topic of critique but it trickles down through all Christian sects from everything I have read.

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Yup. Since we are the largest and oldest Church, we get picked on the most. That doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

David Lamb said:

But there is no mention of Him becoming supreme God after the resurrection.

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He was already supreme, but He became Lord of all; and so Jesus became supreme as Lord by becoming Lord.