Palestinian police vow crackdown on LGBT events

[Neko-koku]

What's your opinion on LGBT events then?

Well I support freedom of speech and assembly. Even if I am not a big fan of the political points and aesthetics such events often espouse, it is not my right to ban things I disagree with politically.

This is the PA becoming more of a dictatorship.

Which means we need and alternative to BOTH the PA and Hamas if we actually want a free Palestine.

What can such alternatives be?

[Novus America]

Well I support freedom of speech and assembly. Even if I am not a big fan of the political points and aesthetics such events often espouse, it is not my right to ban things I disagree with politically.

This is the PA becoming more of a dictatorship.

Which means we need and alternative to BOTH the PA and Hamas if we actually want a free Palestine.

What can such alternatives be?

A good question. Honestly having the West Bank go back to Jordan might be best.
Jordan has problems but is still much better than the PA or Hamas.

[Neko-koku]

What can such alternatives be?

A good question. Honestly having the West Bank go back to Jordan might be best.
Jordan has problems but is still much better than the PA or Hamas.

Right. And Gaza to Egypt?

[Ordenstaat Burgundy]

A good question. Honestly having the West Bank go back to Jordan might be best.
Jordan has problems but is still much better than the PA or Hamas.

Right. And Gaza to Egypt?

Let the Gazans stay under Hamas. They voted for them and now they deserve to live with the consequences of doing so.. As for the West Bank it should go back to the Jordanians rather than letting the Israelis continue to infest it with their illegal settlements.

[Gormwood]

Relative Privation and Negro Lynching fallacies in a single package. How nice.

[Novus America]

A good question. Honestly having the West Bank go back to Jordan might be best.
Jordan has problems but is still much better than the PA or Hamas.

Right. And Gaza to Egypt?

Probably. Egypt is bad, much worse than Jordan, but still better than Hamas.

Perhaps an autonomous territory under Egyptian supervision.

[Crockerland]

Well if we assume Christianity to be factually accurate, the Bible explicitly tells us why Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, and it was not due to homosexuality:

Ezekiel 16:49-50
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

If Christianity is factually accurate then pretty much all modern humans deserve to be exterminated for not being about to starve to death.

But for just one dollar a day, you can donate to Greenpeace, and through their anti-GMO programs, assure that each year more and more people will avoid sin by starving to death.

Though I think in this case, the fulness of bread is likely only an issue thanks to its connection to the failure to strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Well if we assume Christianity to be factually accurate, the Bible explicitly tells us why Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, and it was not due to homosexuality:

Ezekiel 16:49-50
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

What does "abomination" mean? Some people assume that it means "male homosexuality".

Sure, if you're going by the Stephen Breyer-Ruth Ginsberg method of interpretation, where you ignore the text and just say whatever you want and claim your opinion to be the authoritative interpretation of the text. Simply reading the text and applying it as it is written would not result in this conclusion. Within the same book of the Bible, Ezekiel describes heterosexual acts as being an "abomination" as well:

Ezekiel 33:26
"Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbour's wife: and shall ye possess the land?"

Ezekiel 22:11
"And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter."

Additionally, Ezekiel refers to usury as an abomination, in Ezekiel 18:13
"Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him."

The only reason to believe abomination is used here to refer to being gay, would be if you had already decided prior to reading this verse that Sodom was hated for being gay, IE: if a homophobic preacher, or a hate group such as the Westboro Baptist "Church" told you as much beforehand. If you took someone who had never heard a word of Christianity, from some isolated south American tribe, taught him English, and told him to read the book of Ezekiel and tell you why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he would never tell you it was because there were gay people there, that is not a conclusion that can be drawn from the text.

[Ordenstaat Burgundy]

Right. And Gaza to Egypt?

Probably. Egypt is bad, but still better than Hamas.

Not really. IT's still a backwards cesspit run by a fundamentalist military dictator. As I said it would still be better to just let the Gazans deal with life under Hamas. I mean if you're stupid enough to elect a terrorist group into office then you should be willing to deal with all the insanity and suffering that comes with it. They made their bed, so let them lie in it.

[Neko-koku]

Probably. Egypt is bad, but still better than Hamas.

Not really. IT's still a backwards cesspit run by a fundamentalist military dictator. As I said it would still be better to just let the Gazans deal with life under Hamas. I mean if you're stupid enough to elect a terrorist group into office then you should be willing to deal with all the insanity and suffering that comes with it. They made their bed, so let them lie in it.

What? You don't like fundamentalism and dictatorship?

[Gormwood]

Probably. Egypt is bad, but still better than Hamas.

Not really. IT's still a backwards cesspit run by a fundamentalist military dictator. As I said it would still be better to just let the Gazans deal with life under Hamas. I mean if you're stupid enough to elect a terrorist group into office then you should be willing to deal with all the insanity and suffering that comes with it. They made their bed, so let them lie in it.

Maybe if Fatah actually aided the Gazans instead of sucking off Israel and enriching themselves they wouldn't have voted Hamas into office.

[Ordenstaat Burgundy]

Not really. IT's still a backwards cesspit run by a fundamentalist military dictator. As I said it would still be better to just let the Gazans deal with life under Hamas. I mean if you're stupid enough to elect a terrorist group into office then you should be willing to deal with all the insanity and suffering that comes with it. They made their bed, so let them lie in it.

Maybe if Fatah actually aided the Gazans instead of sucking off Israel and enriching themselves they wouldn't have voted Hamas into office.

Oh Fatah's no better. Actually I would argue that by kowtowing to the Israelis they're actually worse. Don't get me wrong, Hamas is awful but at least they didn't surrender to an avowed enemy of the Palestinian people and a regional menace.

[Neko-koku]

If Christianity is factually accurate then pretty much all modern humans deserve to be exterminated for not being about to starve to death.

But for just one dollar a day, you can donate to Greenpeace, and through their anti-GMO programs, assure that each year more and more people will avoid sin by starving to death.

Though I think in this case, the fulness of bread is likely only an issue thanks to its connection to the failure to strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

What does "abomination" mean? Some people assume that it means "male homosexuality".

Sure, if you're going by the Stephen Breyer-Ruth Ginsberg method of interpretation, where you ignore the text and just say whatever you want and claim your opinion to be the authoritative interpretation of the text. Simply reading the text and applying it as it is written would not result in this conclusion. Within the same book of the Bible, Ezekiel describes heterosexual acts as being an "abomination" as well:

Ezekiel 33:26
"Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbour's wife: and shall ye possess the land?"

Ezekiel 22:11
"And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter."

Additionally, Ezekiel refers to usury as an abomination, in Ezekiel 18:13
"Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him."

The only reason to believe abomination is used here to refer to being gay, would be if you had already decided prior to reading this verse that Sodom was hated for being gay, IE: if a homophobic preacher, or a hate group such as the Westboro Baptist "Church" told you as much beforehand. If you took someone who had never heard a word of Christianity, from some isolated south American tribe, taught him English, and told him to read the book of Ezekiel and tell you why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he would never tell you it was because there were gay people there, that is not a conclusion that can be drawn from the text.

Hehe. Literalism is usually actually much harsher than traditionalism.

For example the worst sin in Abrahamic religions is actually polytheism which is a fact most modern people in the West aren't aware of. Mandatory socialism also keeps people miserable & traditional.

[Novus America]

Not really. IT's still a backwards cesspit run by a fundamentalist military dictator. As I said it would still be better to just let the Gazans deal with life under Hamas. I mean if you're stupid enough to elect a terrorist group into office then you should be willing to deal with all the insanity and suffering that comes with it. They made their bed, so let them lie in it.

Maybe if Fatah actually aided the Gazans instead of sucking off Israel and enriching themselves they wouldn't have voted Hamas into office.

Actually Gaza was doing much better than the West Bank before Hamas took over.
But still Fatah is shit.
It is like choosing between cat shit and cow shit. Cow shit is slightly less disgusting because cows are herbivores but regardless it is still shit.

[Ordenstaat Burgundy]

Maybe if Fatah actually aided the Gazans instead of sucking off Israel and enriching themselves they wouldn't have voted Hamas into office.

Actually Gaza was doing much better than the West Bank before Hamas took over.
But still Fatah is shit.
It is like choosing between cat shit and cow shit. Cow shit is slightly less disgusting because cows are herbivores but regardless it is still shit.

The Palestinians are fucked either way. Their only choice is either a bunch of weak willed Israeli apologists/puppets or a bunch of brainlet terrorists who will only make things worse.

[Gormwood]

Maybe if Fatah actually aided the Gazans instead of sucking off Israel and enriching themselves they wouldn't have voted Hamas into office.

Oh Fatah's no better. Actually I would argue that by kowtowing to the Israelis they're actually worse. Don't get me wrong, Hamas is awful but at least they didn't surrender to an avowed enemy of the Palestinian people and a regional menace.

Hamas also provided social and infrastructure assistance to the Gazans unlike Fatah, which won them to vote rather than the popular myth that "KEEL DA JOOZ" gave the Gazans simultaneous orgasms.

[Novus America]

Oh Fatah's no better. Actually I would argue that by kowtowing to the Israelis they're actually worse. Don't get me wrong, Hamas is awful but at least they didn't surrender to an avowed enemy of the Palestinian people and a regional menace.

Hamas also provided social and infrastructure assistance to the Gazans unlike Fatah, which won them to vote rather than the popular myth that "KEEL DA JOOZ" gave the Gazans simultaneous orgasms.

And the Hamas started a war that destroyed all the infrastructure!

Also this is like claiming people only voted for the Nazis based on infrastructure policies.

[Purgatio]

Oh Fatah's no better. Actually I would argue that by kowtowing to the Israelis they're actually worse. Don't get me wrong, Hamas is awful but at least they didn't surrender to an avowed enemy of the Palestinian people and a regional menace.

Hamas also provided social and infrastructure assistance to the Gazans unlike Fatah, which won them to vote rather than the popular myth that "KEEL DA JOOZ" gave the Gazans simultaneous orgasms.

People voted for Hamas because they believed Hamas would take a more aggressive and militaristic policy against Israel, not because of any of its domestic infrastructural promises

[Neko-koku]

Actually Gaza was doing much better than the West Bank before Hamas took over.
But still Fatah is shit.
It is like choosing between cat shit and cow shit. Cow shit is slightly less disgusting because cows are herbivores but regardless it is still shit.

The Palestinians are fucked either way. Their only choice is either a bunch of weak willed Israeli apologists/puppets or a bunch of brainlet terrorists who will only make things worse.

There is actually a good solution: Let them go to Latin America. Arabs do very well there.

[Purgatio]

The Palestinians are fucked either way. Their only choice is either a bunch of weak willed Israeli apologists/puppets or a bunch of brainlet terrorists who will only make things worse.

There is actually a good solution: Let them go to Latin America. Arabs do very well there.

They do?

[Neko-koku]

There is actually a good solution: Let them go to Latin America. Arabs do very well there.

They do?

Yep. From Carlos Slim to the Vice President of Venezuela. Palestinians would love Latin America where they would do very well.

[Purgatio]

They do?

Yep. From Carlos Slim to the Vice President of Venezuela. Palestinians would love Latin America where they would do very well.

Pretty sure this is immigrant selectivity factors at work

[Novus America]

Hamas also provided social and infrastructure assistance to the Gazans unlike Fatah, which won them to vote rather than the popular myth that "KEEL DA JOOZ" gave the Gazans simultaneous orgasms.

People voted for Hamas because they believed Hamas would take a more aggressive and militaristic policy against Israel, not because of any of its domestic infrastructural promises

Hey, we actually agree on something...

[Purgatio]

People voted for Hamas because they believed Hamas would take a more aggressive and militaristic policy against Israel, not because of any of its domestic infrastructural promises

Hey, we actually agree on something...

Don't get too surprised man, I'm sure it'll happen again

[Ordenstaat Burgundy]

People voted for Hamas because they believed Hamas would take a more aggressive and militaristic policy against Israel, not because of any of its domestic infrastructural promises

Hey, we actually agree on something...

Hell has frozen over.

[Gormwood]

People voted for Hamas because they believed Hamas would take a more aggressive and militaristic policy against Israel, not because of any of its domestic infrastructural promises

Hey, we actually agree on something...

Why Hamas Won

Most importantly, perhaps, Hamas acquired much of its political credit from its charity and social service networks. It built kindergartens and schools (that offer free meals for children), education centers for women, and youth and sports clubs. Its medical clinics provide subsidized treatment to the sick and the organization extends financial and technical assistance to those whose homes had been demolished as well as to refugees living in sub-standard conditions.

In other words, Hamas was elected not only because it is considered an alternative to the corrupt Palestinian Authority, but also because Israel created the conditions that made it an indispensable social movement.