All Purpose Politics and News Thread

[DaveP]

CBC Radio just reported breaking news that a Russian warship has fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel. I'm not finding anything online just yet.

[DaveP]

BBC just posted a news alert with few details. Turkish boat is a fishing vessel apparently.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35087050

[GoJays]

Mark Bonokoski is an opinion columnist.

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/12...-duped?ref=yfp

[DaveP]

Mark Bonokoski is an opinion columnist.

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/12...-duped?ref=yfp

Good column. I'm probably going to feel stupid for asking, but who's Virginia?

[Natalka]

^ Wow, what a great column.

Trudeau's tax changes were supposed to be revenue-neutral. He was told by economists that there was no way they could be - and so they were right.

"The government admitted this week that its "middle-class tax cut" and corresponding tax-hike for the "one per cent" won't offset each other, as the Liberals promised during the campaign.

Instead, the "middle class tax-cut" is going to cost the government $600 million more than promised, and the tax hike on Canada's richest "one per cent" is going to bring in $800 million less."

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thehouse/doe...icit-1.3359129

And it looks like the budget won't balance itself, even after three years of deficits Trudeau promised - because those deficits are getting much larger than predicted:

"...the Liberals look to be already in the hole by about $15-billion — 50 per cent more than the Liberal election platform promised either of the first two deficits would be"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/morn...mise-1.3354938

[GoJays]

Good column. I'm probably going to feel stupid for asking, but who's Virginia?

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" is a phrase from an editorial called Is There a Santa Claus?. The editorial appeared in the September 21, 1897, edition of The Sun and has since become part of popular Christmas folklore in the United States. Wikipedia

[Patty Smyth]

But we are Patty. Canada especially, but America too. Nobody in Canada has ever been angered by my religion or lack of religion. Nobody has ever asked. It's not important to them. I live my life, they live theirs. That's the way it should be.

But in the Middle east, North Africa and South Asia hundreds are dying every day, in the name of religion.

It's brutal, it's horrific and, yes, we are more civilized.

It's interesting that you feel that way. I personally don't see it. I see regression actually.

[madchives]

haven't read back a gazillion pages,,

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you

personally i get sickened by what people do in the name of a religion
(my great grand mother a protestant traveled through the catholic area
and was shot upon, my great aunt had ammonia bombs dropped on
their home,,,, in ireland)

but yes virginia there is a santa, of course
perhaps he could take the donald up the pole,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[GatineauGirl]

personally i get sickened by what people do in the name of a religion

Me too. I keep hoping that the increase in knowledge (thanks to the internet) will lead to an increase in common sense. (Peace is common sense to me.)

[Patty Smyth]

So far this is all I could find on the Russian shooting of the fishing vessel.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35087050

[Darth Penguin]

personally i get sickened by what people do in the name of a religion
(my great grand mother a protestant traveled through the catholic area
and was shot upon, my great aunt had ammonia bombs dropped on
their home,,,, in ireland)

It's not religion that's at fault, though. It's how a small percentage want to use religion as a cudgel to force every-one to worship their twisted version and by default, them.

Using religion to subvert society and then basic needs like the Taliban did, scares me. Boko Haram are going the same way and I can see Daesh wanting to do the same...

At present the only Christian group that's got me worried is the Lord's Resistance Army(LRA)...

[Patty Smyth]

It's not religion that's at fault, though. It's how a small percentage want to use religion as a cudgel to force every-one to worship their twisted version and by default, them.

Using religion to subvert society and then basic needs like the Taliban did, scares me. Boko Haram are going the same way and I can see Daesh wanting to do the same...

At present the only Christian group that's got me worried is the Lord's Resistance Army(LRA)...

and the republican party

[Darth Penguin]

and the republican party

HOPEFULLY...there's enough checks and balances in the USA electoral system that makes the most extreme on both the left and right to stop a theocracy in the veins of the Gilead Republic

[MortgageQueen]

It's not religion that's at fault, though. It's how a small percentage want to use religion as a cudgel to force every-one to worship their twisted version and by default, them.

Using religion to subvert society and then basic needs like the Taliban did, scares me. Boko Haram are going the same way and I can see Daesh wanting to do the same...

At present the only Christian group that's got me worried is the Lord's Resistance Army(LRA)...

If you went one step further, you could say it's not "really" a religion per se. It's a tool (as you say) to accomplish their goals . . . which in just about every historical era example of religious conflict involves the unending voracious appetite for power.
None of the above (posted) examples actually involve even the shadow of the Biblical or Koran religion. . . . just groups of people hiding behind a ridiculous and deceitful facade.

[gryphon]

Remember when in October this year Trudeau called the idea of (Conservatives) using refugees for photo-ops "disgusting"?