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Trump plan for peace in Ukraine leaked; calls for Ukraine to cede additional territory, cut military forces. US Ukraine envoy to leave role

What? Wasn’t the county of Germany obsessed with efficiency and time management?

Moving on…. ;)
To quote part of a joke by Jimmy Carr regarding the trains.

"Yeah, but think of where they were going!"
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Average consumer now carries $6,329 in credit card debt. 'People are stretched,' expert says

Average Credit Card Balance By Age
Generation Z (18 to 27 years old)$3,456
Millennials (28 to 43 years old)$6,932
Generation X (44 to 59 years old)$9,557
Baby Boomers (60 to 78 years old)$6,754
Silent Generation (79 and older)$3,428
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Two National Guard soldiers shot in Washington DC

Zohran Mamdani Dragged on Twitter/X for Passive Statement About Murder of National Guard Member Sarah Beckstrom | The Gateway Pundit | by Mike LaChance Zohran Mamdani Dragged on Twitter/X for Passive Statement About Murder of National Guard Member Sarah Beckstrom | The Gateway Pundit | by Mike LaChance

Many noticed that the X comment from Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, in response to the news of Beckstrom’s death, was seriously lacking in some fundamental things.

I’m devastated to learn of the passing of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, a member of the West Virginia National Guard. She was only twenty years old. As families across the nation come together today to celebrate Thanksgiving, let us take a moment to think of those in West Virginia who have been plunged into unimaginable grief.

He didn’t mention anything about Beckstrom being killed or murdered. He didn’t mention it was allegedly by an Afghan national who yelled, “Allahu Akbar.” He didn’t mention that the police are alleging it was an ambush and are investigating it as possible terrorism. He didn’t mention Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe.
Neither did he didn't mention that the suspected shooter worked as a CIA operative during the war. That he lived quietly in the Pacific Northwest, then drove more than 3,000 miles to Washington, D.C., where he shot the two National Guardsmen in a relatively quiet part of the District near the White House.
He didn’t mention that the shooter failed to cooperate with police, just as someone trained in CIA protocols and somehow, inexplicably, he failed to mention this man had been granted legal asylum by the Trump administration this past April.
Perhaps he didn't mention any of those things, or the things on your list, because none of them are comforting to the family agonizing the loss of child.

Lord have mercy.
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Progressive government is the antithesis of a biblically based republic.

The existence of other countries or not is not a matter of science or pseudoscience. You should stop using that those terms as you aren't using them correctly.

No but the idea that the universe centers around one country is.

And Steve answered, and the answer was "Charlie Kirk". As I posted earlier, it is a dubious notion that he was "killed for believing in God".

And I answered too, and you eventually revealed that you were never actually open to discussion by saying it was impossible to truly know someone else's motive

You are rather quick to evaluate things (and people) you don't know. You've been on this board for a couple weeks. have a little humility.

I've been given no evidence to the contrary on any of my claims

I already explained this.
Not at all.

I've made that suggestion to him, but he keeps writing longer and longer replies.


It's his thread. You seemingly follow this guy around wherever he goes.

I didn't say it had completely failed.

Never said you did.

That isn't a determination of science. Do you know what science actually is?

Yes, I understand what science is. Some of science's branches include anthropology, genetics, and sociology. For example, higher melanin production and hair phenotypes are all measurable factors in determining someone's race.

What makes you think I am a "progressive"? Did I say I was?
You certainly argue like one.

I'm tired of individually debunking each of your claims though because every time you get something factually wrong like denying the existence of the sexual revolution or the persecution of Christians outside of America you just flat out ignore it instead of conceding
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Trump to pardon Ex-Honduras President Guilty of Drug Trafficking and conspiring to import cocaine into the United States

Trump Announces Pardon for Honduran Ex-President Convicted in Drug Case

President Trump announced on Friday afternoon his intention to grant “a Full and Complete Pardon” to a former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was found guilty by an American jury last year of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States in a sweeping drug case.
The pardon announcement came in a pair of social media posts by Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly weighed in on that country’s upcoming election on Sunday. He had already endorsed a candidate, a former mayor from the conservative National Party named Nasry “Tito” Asfura.
....Mr. Hernández received millions of dollars from trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico and elsewhere, including from Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo, who was a Mexican drug lord and the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. In return, prosecutors added, Mr. Hernández allowed vast amounts of cocaine to pass through Honduras on its way to the United States." NYT
In other words he is pardoning a ex president who was found guilty of doing the same thing he accuses the Venezuelan president of doing. To me, the pardon power needs to be amended and removed from presidents.
Im curious if Maga Republicans are ok with this. It has been documented as to his egregious patdons:

* Changpeng "CZ" Zhao (Binance Founder): Pardoned after pleading guilty to enabling money laundering. The pardon followed his company's association with a Trump family crypto venture through investment.
* Ross Ulbricht (Silk Road Founder): Pardoned for a continuing criminal enterprise involving drug distribution and money laundering. The pardon nullified approximately $184 million in forfeiture and was backed by the crypto community.
* BitMEX Co-founders (Hayes, Delo, and Reed): Pardoned for Bank Secrecy Act violations. The clemency reportedly nullified $100 million in fines and financial penalties.
* Paul Walczak (Nursing Home Executive): Pardoned after pleading guilty to defrauding the government. The pardon canceled his sentence and $4.4 million in restitution; his mother is a significant Trump donor.
* Trevor Milton (Nikola Corp. Founder): Pardoned after conviction for securities fraud and wire fraud. He was a heavy donor to Trump's re-election campaign.
* Todd and Julie Chrisley (Reality TV Personalities): Pardoned after conviction for tax evasion and bank fraud. The pardon followed their daughter's strong public political support.
* Juan Orlando Hernández (Former Honduran President): Pardoned after conviction for drug trafficking. The pardon was issued just before a Honduran election while Trump backed his political party.
* Rudy Giuliani (Trump Attorney): Pardoned for charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, viewed as a reward for extreme political loyalty.
* Elliott Broidy (Republican Fundraiser): Pardoned for acting as an unregistered foreign agent (secret lobbying). He was a major finance leader and donor.
* George Santos (Former Congressman): Commutation of sentence was granted after conviction for wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds.
* Political Allies (Manafort, Stone, Flynn, Bannon): Pardoned for various crimes including fraud, lying to the FBI, and conspiracy, seen as rewarding political loyalty and protecting the President's inner circle.
* January 6 Defendants (1,500+ individuals): Granted a blanket clemency for charges related to the U.S. Capitol attack, viewed as a political act to reward his core base.
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The bible isn't against LGBT

There is a lot you did not quote from Romans 1.

“Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged natural relations for that which is contrary to nature, and likewise the men, too, abandoned natural relations with women and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing shameful acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper,”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭24‬-‭28‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Where does it qualify these evil people as just idolaters?




People often lift these verses out of their context. Romans 1 isn’t describing loving same-sex relationships—it’s Paul talking about people in the ancient world who rejected God and engaged in exploitative, idolatrous practices. The “unnatural” acts he mentions were part of pagan temple rituals, power-imbalanced relationships, and excessive behavior tied to idol worship. Paul’s point is about idolatry and excess, not about consensual, loving LGBT relationships.

As for Matthew 19, Jesus is answering a specific question about divorce, not laying out every valid form of relationship that could ever exist. He refers to Adam and Eve because that’s the story his audience shared, not to exclude anyone. Quoting this passage to deny LGBT people dignity is reading something into the text that simply isn’t there.

In short: these verses address idolatry, exploitation, and divorce—not modern LGBT identities or loving same-sex relationships.

Also, what reason would God have for hating LGBT people? Some people feel happy in relationships and it helps them in life. So why would God be against something that is good for those people?
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Foot washing?

I’ve done that personally - an elderly gentleman and veteran in his late 70s in a situation of poverty known to me.

However, from a liturgical perspective, it would be an embarrassment to the recipient to do that in front of a congregation, and there are real mystagogical and emotional benefits for all participants.

And also I would note, the fact that the boys of the church now have clean and (and mostly healthy, but this isn’t guaranteed; flat footedness and various disorders of the bone structure are unfortunately not uncommon) feet is a very recent phenomenon made possible by the improvement in the standard of living in the US and the Middle East in the late 20th century. So the idea that this ritual is hollow because the feet in question do not require being washed is a new concept, based on a very recent turn of events, and in my view it would be quite wrong to abolish this liturgy on that basis. For example, suppose there should be a collapse of our technological civilization due to some catastrophe? As it is, for reasons I will explain, there are two countries with substantial, in one case, a majority Oriental Orthodox population, where the conditions I mentioned do not exist, and abolishing this liturgy now would result in it not being done under such conditions, aside from the loss of mystagogical definition.

In the case of Ethiopia, I don’t know if they do this particular liturgy, although I should like to find out, but if they do, that country, which is home the largest Oriental Orthodox church, the condition of health and cleanliness would unfortunately exist only in the wealthier parts of Addis Ababa and certain other cities and in the diaspora, since Ethiopia and Eritrea (which became independent in the early 1990s in a war that followed the collapse of the Derg regime) have both suffered poverty, famine and in the case of Eritrea, a brutal and oppressive dictatorship, ever since the Communist Derg regime came to power in the 1970s, strangling the Christian emperor Haile Selassie*, and before that endured nearly a decade of oppression by the Italian fascist regime of Mussolini.

But if you want to find examples of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox priests and bishops who have done a lot for those in need, including washing their feet, our synaxaria is full of them, into the 20th century, for example, St. John Maximovitch of Shanghai and San Francisco. Likewise the Roman Catholics and many Protestant denominations have done superb work; Mother Theresa, an Albanian Catholic, comes to mind (Albania also has a large Eastern Orthodox population; the evil and stupid communist dictator Enver Hoxha tried to suppress all religions but as soon as his regime collapsed, the Christian faith reasserted itself; alas so too did Islam make a comeback). But Mother Theresa is far from the only example. Indeed the charitable operations of the Roman Catholic Church are the boast of all Christendom in my view; their charitable operations are more numerous, larger and better organized than those of anyone else.

* Haile Selassie it should be noted was opposed to Rastafarianism and attempted to convert the Rastas to Orthodoxy, sending missionaries to them, with some success. Nonetheless to the chagrin of all Egyptian and Ethiopian Christians you will find some Rastas who claim to be Coptic, which they aren’t (they only claim this because the Ethiopians were part of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria until the mid 20th century); both the Coptic and Ethiopian churches take a very dim view of marijuana use, and what is more, the Ethiopian church even strictly limits alcohol consumption; Ethiopian Orthodox Christians get one ration of a mild church-brewed beer along with bread at a few vigils throughout the year, before standing all night in prayer, that being the limit.
As always, thank you for your excellent and very enlightening reply. It seems that virtually every branch of Christianity has had and continues to have cults that shoot off from it, Rastafarianism being one of the better-known examples.
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