The problem is not that CNN broadcasting fake new. It is that they are broadcasting rude but accurate reports about what a total disaster Trump is as president. Last nigh they threw in a few comments about Steven Bannon's failings as well.
It was great fun to watch, but the White House won't have liked it.
On the basis that Trump is perfect and infallible.
I don't think that even the Pope is infallible.
Of course you won't. You insist on being spoon-fed on pro-Trump propaganda and gag on anything that gets close to being accurate or realistic.
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Bill Sloman, Sydney (but in Honolulu at the moment, with direct access to CNN)
My experiences are _mostly_ similar to those of George, with similarily biased sample - english speaking refugees from Iraq. Those speaking english were either members of the elite during Saddam's reign (maybe 1/3 of those I've met), or have been in contact with US troops ( 2/3 maybe). In the latter group there were translators and scouts, but even more there are more ordinary people who have just done business of some sort with americans in Iraq. The latter are also particularly prone to get into attention of religious militas, which I guess explains their large fraction among asylum-seekers.
There seem to be quite a number of non-relious people who do not want to get involved with the hostilities between the Shiites and Sunnis. One young guy I met had rather traumatic earlier background, and when his uncle arrived to pressure the boy to join an armed group of some sort, his mother told him to flee. A few months after I met him for the first time, he had learned that his mother had been mugged by his uncle as the mother refused to tell where the boy had fled to. She got a broken leg, I don't know whether she got to hospital.
Another guy I met had worked as a clothes salesman in Iraq, he had been pretty succesful and had been able to save and buy a rather nice car. Then some militiamen started suggesting that he should donate the car for the 'good cause'. The guy kept telling the militamen to go away and stop harassing him, until one day he blew a fuse and told them to f*ck off, using some religion-related terms he should not have used. The militiamen told they'll come back next morning, but over the night this guy fled. This guy has a very positive attitude to everything, a great sense of humour and a great collection of stories. I find it easy to believe he has been tremendously successful as a salesman. I have hard time understanding how can he keep up the attitude. I mean, some months ago he learned his brother (who had stayed in Iraq) had gotten shot, and he felt he is at least partially responsible. He is also under a risk of getting deported.
A different kind of story is with R, who is a former business owner from Mosul. He had started as a construction worker with a certain special skill, and he soon started hiring workers and expanding his business until he had ~50 employees. His business is now completely demolished by DAESH, as is his former (judging by photographs, a rather nice) home. It seems there are no social safety networks by the state of Iraq, and ones future and safety depends on the family and relatives. Once you get cut off your relatives, you really are on your own. The situation is not helped by the fact that people arriving from Mosul area are often suspected to be DAESH agents. They are particularly unwelcome in the Baghdad region which is predominantly Shiite nowadays, and where there is a risk to get harassed by a random Shiite paramilitary patrol, and this may be fatal. Mosul has been mostly Sunni, but the designation often refers to your tribe, or network of relatives, rather than actual religious inclinations. There seem to be religious extremists, but also quite secular people.
I'm sorry I'm omitting details, but Iraqi people seem extremely well networked, and if some one of them get recognized, what they have done or said even here in Finland may mean danger to their relatives who have stayed in Iraq.
There is also always the question whether these people are telling fake stories and I am gullible enough to believe them. Still, as far as I can tell, these stories are genuine. The stories seem coherent, and they are supported by photographs I've been shown, and news I have read elsewhere. I know there have been 'illegals', agents who KGB has planted to foreign countries, with so carefully forged histories that they have gone undercover for decades. I understand that DAESH is also developing quite formidable capabilities, but still knowing this, these guys I've met appear trustworthy by my judgement. Besides, the people behind the terrorist attacks in Brussels, Nice and elsewhere were nothing like these refugees, their getting radicalized was known in their neighborhoods, also intelligence agencies were already watching them.
The clothes salesman guy likes our dog a lot and keeps caressing her. He also does not mind eating pork. This is completely different from another moslem acquaintance of mine, a former neighbor who is an engineer from India. He arrived here originally in business, many years before the current refugee crisis. When he visited our home for the first time he cringed away when our dog approached, and he was careful that his daughter did not touch the dog. I learned that a dog is a filthy animal according to Islam, so ever since I locked our dog to another room whenever he or his family visited us. I was also careful to serve halal-butchered meat (or vegetarian food) when they visited us. Regardless of his stricter obeyance to the islamic rules, he is a very likable person. Very active, too. He has founded three businesses since he arrived, and he is running as a candidate in local politics under the conservative party here. He also frowns on 'uncontrolled immigration' :) .
Then there certainly are completely different kinds of persons under the 'moslem' label. Those refugees I've talked with told that already in the refugee reception centers there were certain types who were spying on what other did, and kept on nagging whether their deeds are 'haram' or 'halal' (good or bad in religious sense). The clothes salesman guy also says he regularly overhears dangerous-sounding people, whom he can listen to as he understands arabic and because of his semblance he can sneek close to the discussing parties, unlike the authorities. He does not understand why such people can get residence permits but completely innocent-appearing persons get deported. The process seems quite random to him.
I agree that there is the rather serious risk of extreme Islam getting imported with some refugees, which I'd definitely prefer not to get rooted here. The danish documentary I referred to above was quite shocking. For instance, the rule that abandoning Islam in not allowed, to the extent of being punished by beheading, makes me feel sick: eg.
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There are milder conflicts, but still conflicts with our pre-existing society, like families not allowing their daughters to marry non-muslims. An extreme form of this leads to honor murders, which are intolerable of course. These may be enough reason to not accept moslem refugees at all, but what to do with such cases as the clothes salesman, or the boy being harassed to join the militia by his uncle, or the case of Malala Youfazai, the afgan girl whom the taleban shot to head because she wanted to attend school?
I don't think the refugee situation is as black-and-white as Kevin Aylaward or Cursitor Doom suggest.
... sums up quite succintly the status regarding immigrants in Sweden. Except for the statement that the swedish political establishment does not want to acknowledge the facts - I think they do.
The new topic in the news here is mr. Nils Bild, who appears in Fox under the title 'Swedish defense and national security advisor', even if swedish authorities say they don't recognize the person to have any official role.
tinyurl.com/gqn2v6f ( Dagens Nyheter )
His views may be acccurate or not, but he is just a layman and not an advisor of any sort. Actually, his mention of crime occurring
correct to me, much more so than the claim that there are 55 no-go zones in Sweden which the police does not dare to enter.
Oh, and the mandatory comment on what I'm designing nowadays: working on low-field MRI, the SQUID readout is somewhat tough to make in a simple way. I guess I'll effectively copy the old approach by R. Koch using a cryogenic matching transformer as clumsy as it is, to be able to move on with experiments. BF862's, I don't know what else would give me sufficiently low noise temperature in an easy way.
I have made no comment at all about the refugee situation, and specifically so.
I am pointing out facts about Islam in general, and noting that Islam is only propagated by Muslims.
Islam is fundamentally incompatible to western values. The ECHR has even made a ruling on this:
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"the European Court of Human Rights determined on July 31, 2001, that "the institution of Sharia law and a theocratic regime, were incompatible with the requirements of a democratic society."
"The ban was upheld by the ECtHR on February 13, 2003. Noting that the Welfare Party had pledged to set up a regime based on the Shari'ah, the Court found that, "a sharia-based regime was incompatible with the Convention, in particular, as regards the rules of criminal law and procedure, the place given to women in the legal order and its interference in all spheres of private and public life in accordance with religious precepts."[2] It considered that "sharia, which faithfully reflects the dogmas and divine rules laid down by religion, is stable and invariable."[3]"
Something Bill seems totally in denial off.
Most simply don't take the trouble to learn what Islam is *fundamentally* about. What its core values are.
Essentially, all clerics will confirm that Shari'ah is fundamental to Islam. Tats just the way it is.
About your reference to scholarly studies on Islam, this fellow...
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... has reputably calmed down the fears of ubiquity of militant islam in his book 'Handbook of Islam'. Unfortunately I haven't read it, but coincidentally I'm reading his book 'Mare Nostrum' right now, and it is eminently good. I didn't realize for instance that the spanish bullfighting has its roots in the ancient bull cult of Minos. Minotaur and all the dancing in front of the bulls you know. Fascinating.
None of the Muslims I've known has ever expressed any enthusiasm for it.
The core value of any religion is power for its priesthood. Everything else is window dressing. In modern societies, religious leaders don't get the power that they'd like, and think that god has given them. Tough.
Since they get to administer it, they do like it. In secular societies they know they aren't going to get it, and most of them have learned to live with this.
The Christian church used to have ecclesiastical courts. They don't have any secular power these days.
Thanks for that Mikko, there's a lot of fear being churned up in my country. I've never talked much about politics with the Muslims I've met by my over all impression, is they are very happy to live within the laws our the country.
Even though I'm an atheist, what might be wrong with hanging your hat on the Ten Commandments? They are the basis for most of rule-by-law. ...Jim Thompson
-- | James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | STV, Queen Creek, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at
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| 1962 |
Thinking outside the box... producing elegant solutions.
Sure, I am not saying anything about them one way or another. Just that there are some Christians that at least claim to base some of their morals on them.
As I said, it was hardly a controversial statement.
Hedge! Hedge! Go back in your burrow >:-} ...Jim Thompson
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| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| STV, Queen Creek, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
Thinking outside the box... producing elegant solutions.
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