dogs4thewin said:

There is no such thing as free anything it is paid for one way or another.

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But its more fair imo that people in necessity could have access to healthcare.
I heard people have died because they were denied basic treatments if that is true, that is bad

It has been announced that Hamas has accepted President Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan, “with conditions.” The headlines, as well as Trump himself, heralded it as a turning point: hostages would come home, the war would end, reconstruction would begin. In reality, Hamas has not agreed to the plan at all, but framing their response as agreement has bought them more time and leverage as they try to retain control of Gaza.

The Trump plan is fundamentally a roadmap for Hamas’s removal: full release of hostages, disarmament, exile of leadership, and reconstruction of Gaza under moderate Arab and U.S. supervision. Its underlying logic is simple: peace and security can only come when Hamas is dismantled.

Yet in their official response, Hamas redefines the deal. They say they will “release Israeli hostages … according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal, with the necessary field conditions.” Meaning that they agree to the numbers of hostages and terrorist prisoners to be exchanged. As for those “necessary field conditions,” they are undefined — leaving room for negotiations and delays.

Trump’s plan demands that all hostages (living and dead) be freed within 72 hours of Israel’s public acceptance. Israel accepted the plan early in the week. Yet Hamas waited days and then inserted conditions. Among them: hostage release only after Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza, as stated by senior Hamas figure Musa Abu Marzouk on Al Jazeera on Friday.

That demand is incompatible with the Trump framework. The plan does not call for an immediate Israeli exit; instead, it ties withdrawal to security milestones. Israel would withdraw gradually as a new International Stabilization Force (ISF) assumes control, leaving a final perimeter until stability is assured.

Here is the crucial point: the ISF has not even begun to be formed. No members have been named, no command structure agreed upon, no deployment timeline established. In other words, the security mechanism that is supposed to replace the IDF’s presence does not yet exist. Meaning that it will be months, at least, until the IDF surrenders security control of any of Gaza it currently holds. Any suggestion that Israel withdraw beyond the bare minimum needed to facilitate the release of hostages is not only premature — it contradicts the plain text and intent of Trump’s plan.

Clause Six of Trump’s proposal offers Hamas a stark choice: disarm and commit to peaceful coexistence, or leave Gaza under safe passage. Either way, Gaza must become demilitarized. But Hamas leaders have publicly rejected that premise.

Now the real test lies with Israel, the U.S., and Arab guarantors. They must refuse to renegotiate the essential terms — or risk this deal becoming yet another temporary ceasefire in disguise. There must be clarity: no loopholes, no language that allows Hamas to remain armed or in control.

Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf states are especially critical. They have influence over Hamas. If they genuinely intend Gaza’s normalization and peace, they must enforce — not water down — the terms. They must insist Hamas release all hostages, lay down all weapons, and depart power.

The negotiation is not with Hamas as an equal partner. It is a demand for surrender written in diplomatic language. If we treat Hamas’s conditional “yes” as a breakthrough, we will find ourselves back at war again.

Israel 365 News

timewerx said:

I still have a desk job and a little depressed too. I did used to spend a lot of time with video games but lost interest and ran out of energy for it eventually, I think you just grow out of it. I think some if not with video games are obsessed with other silly and probably more expensive hobbies.

That's why I'm a little surprised that mid-aged men would still be hooked to video games

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We used to play a bingo game together and my mother joined in and it was fun. My daughter and I were on a team and the competitions were fierce. But it was evident by the level of time and spending the app was monopolizing people’s lives. The spending was out of hand and well into the thousands and I remembered a quote Yuval Harari made at WEF that encouraged me to quit.

He acknowledged their purpose was distraction and a method for killing time for useless people. And while that’s horrible to say he was telling the truth and I saw the same in financial circles. I told my daughter we’re supposed to invest in these tools not partake and we stopped.

I’m not opposed to board or card games or video to some degree within reason. An hour or so of play is fine. But when you’re losing most of the day that’s a problem.

~bella

I finally had a chance to work on my personal curriculum yesterday and I’m finalizing it and making adjustments. It’s a recent trend designed for edifying pursuits that improve our knowledge and person. Unlike previous iterations it isn’t dominated by aesthetics or Herculean tasks (which have their place) and the likelihood of continuance is great. I’ve included a couple of videos if you want to learn more or try it yourself.

I’m using a seasonal approach and a notion template to keep track of things. It isn’t perfect and I’ll probably buy one instead. But for the moment it’ll do. As for the rest, the sky’s the limit. You can focus on anything and grouping them in categories is easiest. I have four at the moment but six is probably best and I’ll add them tomorrow. The activities you have in mind are distributed to the groups with resources in tow and a schedule follows.

The neat thing about this is the reemergence of stimulating discourse that doesn’t involve politics, religion or debates. Not that they’re bad but they’ve become a source of contention in this space and it’s nice to see people focusing on other subjects. I look forward to reading more and challenging myself. The weather is cooling and I enjoy Russian novels in that setting and Dickens in the winter.

I’m reminded of the scene in Pride and Prejudice where Bingley is chided for his lack of discrimination on accomplished women and his sister corrects him. We don’t have a similar standard today but renaissance women are on the rise and accepting the mantle. I expect we’ll see a rekindling of cafe society and the intelligentsia. We’ve been on this trajectory for a while and we’ve found our sweet spot.

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BPPLEE said:

I have heard something similar, that those who seem to get saved and then turn away were never truly saved in the first place

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Hello @BBLEE, that seems to be true according to the Bible. Along with three of the four kinds of "soils" in Matthew 13, there is this,


And @Clare73 has already shared the following passage.

God bless you!!

--David
p.s. - there are other verses/passages too, of course. A couple of Chapters in the Book of Hebrews come quickly to mind.

But so often…

A U.S. senator has introduced legislation banning judges from considering an inmate’s self-declared gender identity when determining prison sentences and prohibiting trans-identified men from being housed in women’s prisons amid outrage over a light sentence given to a man who now claims to identify as female, after he attempted to assassinate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced the Preventing Violence Against Female Inmates Act on Wednesday. The legislation would prohibit the Bureau of Prisons from putting female inmates in danger by housing trans-identified male inmates in women's correctional facilities and would withhold federal funds from states that fail to comply.

“Prisoners should be placed based on their biological sex, not on what they choose to ‘identify’ as,” Cotton said in a statement published Wednesday. “Documented cases prove that men — including men who ‘identify’ as women — in women’s prisons put female inmates at increased risk of sexual assault. My bill decreases the risk for women by ensuring men and women are separated in federal prison.”

Continued below.

Gallant electricians yelled “Everybody, leave!”

YBODY

fhansen said:

A person of faith certainly must desire to fulfill the law but Jesus railed against law-abiders who obeyed for other, legalistic, reasons, such as the Pharisees who He called whitewashed tombs, clean on the outside while filthy on the inside in Matt 23, or like Paul in Phil 3 calling the righteousness he excelled at as a Pharisee garbage. Grace must precede and accompany and compel everything regarding this matter.

Otherwise, what do you consider the difference between the old and new covenants to be? What did Jesus accomplish? What is reconciliation between man and God all about? Why was Paul so excited about the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith, not the law, in Phil 3:9?

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The Hebrew word "yada" refer to intimate relationships/knowledge gained through experience such as with Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew (yada) Eve, she conceived, and gave birth to Cain. God's way is the way to know (yada) Him and Jesus and embodying His likeness through experiencing being a doer of His character traits, which is the narrow way to eternal life (John 17:3). For example, in Genesis 18:19, God knew (yada) Abraham that he would teach his children and those of his household to walk in God's way by being doers of righteousness and justice that the Lord might bring to him all that He has promised. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know (yada) God, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the goal of the law is to graciously teach us how to know God and Jesus, which is His gift of eternal life.

The problem is that someone can go through the outward motions of obeying God's law while neglecting to be a doer of the character traits of God that it was graciously given in order to teach us how to embody and thus neglecting to know God and Jesus. For example, in Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that tithing was something that they ought to be doing while not neglecting weightier matters of the law of justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Jesus saying that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them does not leave room to interpret Philippians 3:8-9 as saying that God's law is rubbish and we just need to focus on knowing Christ instead. Rather, Paul has been obeying God's law, but not while being focused on knowing Christ, so he had been missing the whole goal of the law and that is what he counted as rubbish.

Character traits are not earned as the result of our works, but rather they are embodied through our works, so God's law was not given as a way to earn righteousness or God's other character traits, but as instructions for how to embody them. We embody what we believe to be true about God through our works, such as with James 2:18 saying that he would show his faith through his works, so everyone who is a doer of the same works as James believes in Jesus. In other words, the way to believe in God is by walking in His way. For example, by being a doer of good works in obedience to God's law we are embodying God's goodness, which is why our good works bring glory to Him (Matthew 5:16), and by embodying God's goodness we are also expressing the belief that God is good. Likewise, the way to believe that God is a doer of justice is by embodying His likeness through being a doer of justice, the way to believe that God is compassionate is by being compassionate, the way to believe that God is holy is by being a doer of His instructions for how to be holy as He is holy, and so forth. This is exact the same as the way to believe in the Son, who is the radiance of God's glory and the exact likeness of His character (Hebrews 1:3), which he embodied through his works by setting a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to God's law, and it by this faith alone that we attain righteousness and the other character traits of God.

The difference between the the Mosaic and New Covenant is that the New is based on better promises and has a superior mediator (Hebrews 8:6), but it still involves following God's law (Hebrews 8:10). The way to believe in what Jesus spent his ministry teaching by word and by example and in what he accomplished through the cross is by repenting and becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to God's law (Matthew 4:15-23, Titus 2:14). The reconciliation between God and man is about embodying His likeness through being a doer of His characters traits.

Yes, I think it does.

bèlla said:

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Monday establishing "ICE-free zones" on city property.

City property — including parking lots next to Chicago public schools, libraries, parks and city buildings — cannot be used as staging grounds for raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, under an executive order signed Monday aimed at what Mayor Brandon Johnson called President Donald Trump’s “forceful display of tyranny.”

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Wow! I wonder how that would play out in the Supreme Court?

The Australian Federal government used troops during the first months of covid to greet people at the airport and take them to a hotel for quarantine. I for one was relieved - as this was back in the early days when there was no vaccine and we did not know how our health system was going to survive the exponential growth of the disease and consequent flooding of our hospitals. That can happen so fast that soon we could have family members dying of simple things like kidney stones, or a broken leg that went gangrenous, simply because there were no hospital beds left to treat these simpler matters!

But that was when our police force WAS overwhelmed trying to deal with those recalcitrant members of our population. And Aussies were generally more respectful of the need for lockdowns than Americans raised with their 'bill of rights' and the 'right to free movement' taught to them from a young age. (I'm ALL FOR human rights - but against a Bill of Rights in this respect. But that's another lengthy matter!)

But in the USA? I'm not sure how your Federal vs State laws overlap and contradict each other in jurisdiction matters like this.
It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out!

Good luck!

Earl

bèlla said:

Sometimes the government surprises me.

The Department of Homeland Security has shared a montage of ICE raids alongside clips and music from the Pokemon theme song, as the Trump administration continues to ramp up its hardline stance on immigration. In the compilation of footage, which was posted on Monday (22 September), enforcement agents can be seen arresting individuals, whilst clips of the popular anime show are interspersed throughout. The one-minute video, captioned with “Gotta Catch ‘em All!”, ends with Pokemon cards showing the people arrested and their alleged crimes.

~bella

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About THIS administration? That surprised you?

Gracious Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus,
I pray that you would relieve the stress that Ave Maria's fiancé is going through right now. When his head is clear, please help him to develop better communication habits for when he is suffering from stress and pain. Help him to understand that Ave Maria is trying to be there for him in his hours of pain and stress and that he doesn't have to constantly perform romance in front of her to be accepted.

And dear Lord, please be there for Ave Maria as well. Some of the human beings you have made, when they are in distress, they need to talk. When someone else is in distress, they need to talk. And some of us, when times are difficult, communication is yet another burden on a too-full mind. Lord, you know well how much I like to withdraw and think and write when I am suffering. You also know how much my boyfriend likes to talk when he is suffering. Help these two to come to a communication balance that works for the two of them, that does not leave either one hurting or overwhelmed.
In Christ's Name,
Amen

Bro.T said:

What you don't understand is Paul talks about two different types of death, Paul talks about two different types of laws, and you have to learn to separate between the laws and death that Paul/ talks about. Many people reads Paul's writing all the time and not understand what laws Paul is talking about. God had Peter to clearly warn people about some of Paul’s writing. (2Peter:3:15-16) (v.15) And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; (v.16) As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Now let us take heed to this warning, we can’t ignore all the bible and just concentrate on a hand full of verses out of the writings of Paul. Because some of Paul’s writing is hard to be understood.

This is why you must rightfully divide the word of God, you must find out where every thing fits because fit it does. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, (not man) a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Tim. 2:15)

Let's take a look at a perfect example of Paul/ talking about two laws in one verse. Let's go into Rom. 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sights for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The deeds of the law is referring to the animal sacrificial laws, all those sacrifices can never remove sins, so they could never be justified. Paul explains animal sacrificial law and Hebrews 10th Chapter. This is true because the blood of Jesus can only justify us. The animal sacrificial laws was added because people continue to sin, and the wages of sin bring for death. So instead of God killing people every time they sin, the Lord gave Moses a law to use, animals. So by the other law (Ten Commandments, Statutes and Judgement) is the knowledge of sin. Paul says in Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. You wouldn’t know what sin was if there was no law.

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Some interpreters of Romans 3:20 suggest that Paul must be speaking of two different laws—perhaps distinguishing between the ceremonial law and the moral law. But a closer look at the text shows that this is not the case.

First, the Greek text itself does not support such a division. Paul uses the singular nomos (“law”) throughout the passage. Both the phrases “works of the law” and “through the law” are singular. There is no grammatical shift to suggest that he has two different laws in view. Paul is treating the law as one unified whole.

Second, the immediate context confirms this unity. In Romans 3:9–19, Paul has just demonstrated from a series of Old Testament quotations that all people—Jew and Gentile alike—are under sin. Then in verse 19 he concludes, “whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped.” Here, “the law” plainly refers to the Torah as a whole, functioning as God’s covenant standard. Verse 20 follows directly from this point: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified.” Paul is drawing one conclusion from one law, not from two.

Third, Paul’s real contrast in this passage is not between ceremonial and moral law, but between law and faith. He makes this explicit in verse 21: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law…through faith in Jesus Christ.” The issue is not which kind of law could justify, but rather that no form of law-keeping justifies at all. Justification comes by faith in Christ alone.

Paul makes the same point in Galatians 2:16, almost word for word: “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” There too, Paul refers to Torah as a whole—circumcision, dietary regulations, and moral commands alike. He never divides it into two separate laws to explain justification.

Finally, we should note that Jewish thought at the time did not separate the law into “moral” and “ceremonial” categories. Torah was seen as a unified covenant given at Sinai, binding in all its parts. When Paul says “the law,” his Jewish and Gentile audience would have understood it to mean that covenantal law in its entirety, not two different systems.

In light of these considerations, Romans 3:20 does not refer to two different laws. Paul consistently uses “the law” to mean the Torah in its entirety. His argument is that no form of law-keeping—whether ritual observance or moral obedience—can justify a sinner before God. The law reveals sin, but it cannot remove it. Justification comes only through faith in Christ.

I’ve seen the body of St. Clare. I’d this the first time in centuries his body is being removed from his tomb? Wonder if he’s incorruptible or not.

Ave Maria said:

Hey everyone. Thank you for your prayers. Physical therapy for my knee is going well, and it is helping some, but progress is slow. I did get an injection in my knee yesterday to help with the pain.

As for everything else, I'm trying to decide whether I want to do online college or not.

I'm also going through a lot of stress with my fiancé and I.

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Continued prayers!

tdidymas said:

because there was clearly law and transgression before Moses.

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paul in my opinion mixes up "law" and "knowledge of transgression" and "law of moses" with the tree of knowledge of good and evil. and over the last half dozen years in various forums i point this out.. usually no one replies to argue he doesn't mix this up.

I think peter made the same mistake but it is not overt and to my knowledge, no one seems to be interested in arguing about peter and potentially James' positions, they would rather argue paul is correct.

So when Peter stands up at Pentecost and declares to the masses "God in former times over looked such matters but now commands everyone everywhere to repent"

well... God has always been commanding everyone everywhere to repent, and i seem to be the only person on the entire internet who has ever pointed this out (yes seriously, if you can find someone who has written some article to the effect that peter was wrong in declaring this, please link it to me) . its just a matter of.. repent to which law? the gentiles were not under the torah, but the ten commandments has always been.. pretty much self evident.

This is people are getting tired of ICE. Harassing non illegal people and non dangerous, that are having a good time. They seem more like a danger to good , more than bad people. This is more Trump fault. He like to harass Blue States. I know there are illegals in Red States.

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN said:

Some Trump supporters are starting to call this a Democrat hoax.

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Sure. What isn't, these days?

-- A2SG, the new MAGA go-to....call anything a democrat hoax.....

Baggy Pants and the Nitwits

Hentenza said:

The answer is no.

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You are saying no, you don't understand the difference between the 2 statements?

That was my simple question to you.

I am not asking whether or not you agree with the 2 statements, I am just asking whether you understood the difference

Servus said:

That hardly puts to rest that CNN is as left-wing as Fox is right-wing.

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That's not what I said though, is it?