They want us to be afraid 🇺🇦🌻🇺🇦❤️🇺🇦🌻🇺🇦

Purplerays

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“They want us to be afraid.
They want us to be afraid of leaving our homes.
They want us to barricade our doors
and hide our children.
Their aim is to make us fear life itself!
They want us to hate.
They want us to hate ‘the other’.
They want us to practice aggression
and perfect antagonism.
Their aim is to divide us all!
They want us to be inhuman.
They want us to throw out our kindness.
They want us to bury our love
and burn our hope.
Their aim is to take all our light!
They think their bricked walls
will separate us.
They think their damned bombs
will defeat us.
They are so ignorant they don’t understand
that my soul and your soul are old friends.
They are so ignorant they don’t understand
that when they cut you I bleed.
They are so ignorant they don’t…

View original post 38 more words

Where It All Needs to Start

Uninterestedness, self-centredness, self-assurance, lust are characteristics of all times. But as time goes by, it is important that man pays more attention to how he lives and how he relates to the environment, the other creatures that the Creator has provided for man.

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Read also

“We must think critically…” to check what to nurture and leading yourself towards love – guiding to a place of courage and compassion, generosity and hope, joy and kindness and forgiveness and integrity.

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Preceding

Looking forward to a year full of Kindness

Kindness to Yourself

Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist

You know, this stuff didn’t start with Trump. The greed, the racism, the me-firstness, the bullying, the dishonesty, the corruption, the mean-spiritedness – that stuff has been a part of our society and politics for a long time – the only difference in the last couple of years is that it’s come out in the open – people almost seem proud of their hate and greed and dishonesty now. And to see all of that being played out in front of us – in the open – is disheartening, yes. But… here’s what gives me hope: It seems to me that if there’s been a rise in acts of hatred, there’s also been a rise in acts of kindness in the last couple years – people seem, to me, to be more conscious and deliberate about kindness.

And that’s where it all needs to start, doesn’t it? The healing and…

View original post 35 more words

When fear leads

“Fear is the path to the dark side.
Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering.”

– Yoda

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Wanneer angst leidt

Unfortunately fear isn’t too many stops away from hate

Unfortunately fear isn’t too many stops away from hate and when we are really scared our ignorance can lead to some pretty extreme standpoints on issues we never really felt too strongly about before.
~ Grounded

It is simply impossible!

Related articles

• Why are you afraid?
• Being aligned with above

Purplerays

“You cannot love while hating,
progress while oppressing,
come together in disunity,
build while tearing down,
give while withholding,
overcome while in fear.
It is simply impossible!”

~ Iyanla Vanzant

Text & image credit: https://web.facebook.com/DrIyanlaVanzant/

View original post

Coming together in dark days

A few hours before I shall light the first candle at nightfall I shall look at the 1st day of Chanukah but also shall see how many come to celebrate a feast, they also call the feast of light, but has its main day on the birthday of the goddess of light, December 25. Lots of heathen but also lots of Christians shall have little candles in their decorated trees.

In my home the coming days there’ll also be some light, spiritual and literal, to have me thinking of the wonders of the Most High. The Eternal Being have been for ever, having made us in His image, has always been prepared to be there for those who want to be with Him. These present times there may be lots of darkness, violence and hate against each other. The heavenly Creator never created the human beings to go fighting against each other. Those people who claim to be lovers of God, be it Jews, Christians or Muslims, should all feel united under the same umbrella of their Divine Creator. Especially in these darker and colder days of the year we should make more time to come in each others warm houses to feel the generous warmth of solidarity.

It is in those darker days when we do not have to go to work, but can enjoy some free time, that we should bring up remembrances of how we and our ancestors grew up. We must become aware of how our minds get filled with lots of stuff as we grow from baby to adult, and how we are modelled by it. Growing up we come to certain believes and want to follow certain ideas. The beliefs we create are part of what forms our being, but they are also based on our genetic heritage, what other’s tell us, and what we accept as fact based on our experiences.  (Which explains why siblings can be alike or different and also why some twins raised in separate home turn out to have similar tastes and beliefs.)

English: The Byzantine army under Nikephoros Phokas captures Halep (Berrhoea), Syria, in February 963. Ελληνικά: Κατάληψη του Χαλεπίου (αρχαία Βέρροια) της Συρίας από τον βυζαντινό στρατό του Νικηφόρου Φωκά, Φεβρουάριος 963. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The day that Byzantine troops led by Nicephorus Phocas, who had lead an expedition against the Saracen Emirate of Crete, and stormed Chandax and wrested control of the entire island from the Muslims, in 961 defeated Moslem forces and seized Aleppo, we once more have a picture of a destroyed Aleppo and a ruined city of Mosul.

As the 10th century temporary turn of events could not have been good for the Jews who had been living in Aleppo since Biblical times because it was the Moslem conquest of the city in 636 that removed the disabilities placed on the Jews by the Byzantines. Lots of times the Jews had to face difficulties and many generations had to suffer under persecution, like the ones who found themselves squeezed out of the major cities and ports into the area known as White Russia on  this day in 1791 when Great empress of Russia Russian Yekaterina Velikaya, also known as Catherine II (the Great) created the Pale of Settlement.

When tonight I, like the Jewish troops with General Sherman, who kindle the first light of Chanukah in Savannah, GA. in 1864 (24^th of Kislev, 5625) I’ll try to remember the good thing which happened to the Jewish community and the many signs which proof that they are a special blessed people. The world shall have to know that the Jews are the Chosen people who have been promised to reside in a Holy Land. This Holy Land may perhaps be something lots of people will not like to see realised, but the world must know that the Plan of the Most High Maker shall become a reality.

In the ancient books is being told of that Great Plan. Not only Jews know of it; Christians and Muslims are also told about the prospects believers in God may expect. In the Torah the Most High calls people to share the news of a Messiah, a liberator for all. Generally lots of Jews look perhaps at a different Messiah than the Messianic Jews and Christians. Though perhaps because many of the Hebrew people forgot about their Creator, it can well be that This Holy Creator made His call also clear to the goy or goyim. For that reason Christians and Jews should look at each other, know their roots, know their common writings, and should learn from each other how to prepare themselves for the day that Messiah may come or return to this earth for finally bringing to Jerusalem full glory, as the capital of the Kingdom of God here on earth.

Jewish wedding in Aleppo, Syria, 1914. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Though thick-skinned the Jews always tried to find a way to survive, never loosing their faith in their Maker and the hope in the promise made to him by their patriarch Abraham. Christians and Muslims today should also know that the Most High spoke about a terrible time, when more natural disasters would come over man, but also where children would come to stand up against their parents, and religions would come to fight against each other. We may well see lots of signs described in the Holy Scriptures as being the sings of the Endtimes.

Not having the pretension to be a spiritual leader or rabbi, but looking at the Torah, I can only come to the impression we have arrived in times that those who really love God should come together, unite and should come to spread the Good News. Lovers of God should spread the love and message of peace. Together they should become strong to help each other in the coming difficult times. By helping each other to come to understand each their way of life and come to see the religious teachings having to grow to a point where they shall be in line with God His teaching and not keeping any more to human dogmatic teachings.

Perhaps not regularly writing here, nor on my own site, I am honoured that I am allowed to share some thoughts from the Holy Scriptures and that I hopefully may show some ways Jews see the world and hold their religion high. By bringing also some news from the Jewish site I do hope this shall shed some light on present and future events and shall bring some more mutual understanding between the different religious groups our world has created .

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Please do find my introductions to my site

• About Immanuel Verbondskind – עמנואל קאָווענאַנט קינד
• First blog post
• A beginning by the 2016 Chanukah celebrations

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Additional reading

1. Roman, Aztec and other rites still influencing us today
2. Holidays, holy days and traditions
3. Germanic mythological influences up to today’s Christmas celebrations
4. Solstice, Saturnalia and Christmas-stress
5. Pagan Holidays
6. The imaginational war against Christmas
7. Objects around the birth and death of Jesus
8. With child and righteousness greater than the law
9. Continues Syrian conflict needing not only dialogue
10. To freeze the fighting in Aleppo
11. Old texts saved behind a wall at the Mar Behnam monastery

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Further related articles

1. Living Beyond Our World
2. Chankkah
3. Chanukah/Hanukkah/Chanukkah?
4. Hanukkah the Feast of Dedication. Is it Biblical?
5. Frum or Krum: Using the Shamash on Chanukah
6. Toldos – Generations
7. Happy Chanukah, Y’all!
8. Holiday Traditions – Chanukah
9. Our Style: Happy Chanukah!
10. Good News Friday
11. Gut Shabbes and Freilichen Chanukah!
12. Wrapup 2016
13. Kislev and Chanuka
14. Menorah graces front of Jewish Institute for Chanukah
15. Celebrating Chanukah 2016
16. The Reform Movement’s Rick Jacobs Has no Understanding of Tolerance
17. A Jewish Buddhist at Christmas/ Chanukah/ Solstice Time
18. Heading Home for the Holidays
19. The “holidays”
20. Of Grandchildren, Chanukah, and Christmas
21. This Chanukah: New Dedication
22. Kitschy Chanukiahs? Yassss
23. The Heart Knows More Than the Mind Can Tell
24. The Sort-Of True Meaning of Hanukkah

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Related articles

• Dozens rally against “Islamophobia” and the mistreatment of Muslims
• White nationalists target Jews in small Montana town
• Some of Britain’s top universities are becoming no-go zones for Jews, Baroness Deech claims
• Chanukah, Trump and David Friedman
• Twas the night before….
• World War On Christmas
• I awoke to my lawn covered in ornaments, and I don’t even celebrate Christmas
• Jeremy Corbyn is turning a ‘blind eye’ to anti-Semitism in his Party, Theresa May warns
• Holiday Dread: Christmas Trees
• Indonesian Christians on Edge at Ahok Trial

Darkest just before dawn

Marcus Ampe when looking over the happenings of 2016 told his public that when we should have to choose a colour for 2016 it probably would be ‘black’. Even the darkest black colour you might find.

Certainly here in Belgium and neighbouring countries we have seen many black moments caused by people living very close to us. Hundreds of people who lived in cities like Brussels (Molenbeek district), Verviers, Charleroi, Mons, just to name some of the most mentioned living quarters of those who killed many in Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt and further away many cities in Syria. A so called liberation of human race was on their lips by causing so much agony in name for their sort of Islam which has nothing to do with real Islam, a religion which has ‘salam‘ or ‘peace‘ in its name.

2016 may have been the year where Bad came over Good and brought with it Hate over Love. Though many still may believe in

Good over Bad. Love over Hate. {When it looks like hate is winning}

May we really believe that

“Good always wins”?

When we look around us it seems just the opposite. Those who do not mind to swindle and do whatever they can to make themself rich without taking care of others, seem to win. Marcus Ampe warns us for the political scene which is changing drastically almost everywhere in the world, not for the good. He warns for the populism which is going over Europe and the United States as a virus. As a Christadelphian he likes to look at what is prophesied in the Bible and by looking at that sacred book is not at all surprised of what is going on. In his eyes we can follow the notated signs of those old writings and see that we are heading to a third World War, though it may still many years before us. He likes to compare the last few years with the 1920ies and showed us also how the present days are very much related to the 1930ies, which should sincerely worry us.

He does not speak of an apocalyptic change like certain Christians may do, but likes to warn us to prepare ourselves and our kids for the coming period where very right wing politicians may gain lots of votes and even come into power.

Perhaps Jyoti Chauhan Singh, an Indian lady who reads Tarot cards and came to live in the United States, perhaps thinks on similar lines, saying the same as Mr. Ampe that

it is happening in every corner of this world. People around the world are bringing this change by their votes, by their say, and by their actions. Be it Brexit or current US election, or stimulated political environment in my home country India. This change is too much. Too much for us to handle and accept, and to adapt to. {When it looks like hate is winning}

Is that not the danger we shall have to face in the coming months?

Are not many politicians going to make use of and are going to instigate people against others and nourish the fear many already have?

For Mrs. Chauhan Singh the present President elect in the States was

not elected against a virtuous leader. It was not the fight between good vs evil. It was just bad and worse fighting with each other. You guess which is worse and which is bad. But, it was never a winning situation for USA, no matter who would have won. {When it looks like hate is winning}

speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on February 10, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I do not know why Clinton would have been so bad, because honestly her stupidity about the e-mails was not really a criminal act, like so many Americans would like us to believe. If they consider such stupidity already a crime or sin than the many frauds and bankruptcies of Donald Trump which many Americans never seemed to have remembered or noticed, would be “cardinal sins and death penalty crimes”

We also may notice that many people seem to have some nostalgia to some times they had it better, though at those times they ware hoping for better times and for having more material richness. But as we could know beforehand all those modern gadgets they can have today are not making them more happy. The opposite today lots of people are more lonely and feeling poverty more harsh than years ago, though we may see less poverty stricken people. Less tramps on the streets.

With a smiling or is it a sarcastic face Mr. Ampe may tell us that many people would love to go back to a time they are imaging there was, but which has never been so. Mrs. Chauhan Singh alsy pointing to the same fact

With this election, Americans have spoken very clearly that they want to bring back ‘good old days’. Doesn’t matter if those good old days are going to be good for rest of us or not. They want to go back. They want someone with traditional values, traditional promises. Although seeing the lifestyle of elect president I hardly think he is an epitome of traditionalism. {When it looks like hate is winning}

Mr Ampe analysed some body language of Mr. Trump and showed us how clever that man must be playing with his public. This cleverness should make us even be more alert. He also compare certain tactics with the way how Erdogan managed to come in his dictatorial position today. How he was patient enough to go from mayor of Istanbul, even having spent some years in prison after his mayorship to come stronger and more radicalised out of it, imposing the traditional Muslim values and going in against the civil state of the old creator of a dream state Turkey.

We shall have to wait and see  to know how Donald Trump is going to use his power and how Marine Le Pen is going to drive her wedge through France which seem to be the under the spell of Muslim extremism and Islam fear.

Mr Ampe, like Mrs. Chauhan Singh seems to do also says we may not loose hope and contrary to how lots of people are concentrating on their own self, we should look more to others and try to come up for the weaker ones.
Mrs. Chauhan Singh writes

Losing hope is never an option. If we are given this result, we must be hopeful that there must be something good coming out of it. Give him a chance. He has already shocked all of us; he may surprise us too. Do not lose hope. Instead hope for him to change his ways, his words, and his actions, for the betterment of this country. {When it looks like hate is winning}

One of Mr. Ampe his main teachings, also as a retired teacher of ballet history, is that we should learn from history and that we should make others aware of possible traps lots of people in the past did not notice but became victim of. According to him by knowing the past we can avoid the same mistakes, which have been repeated so many times, because people did not know their history.

We always shall look at things and would love to see things changed. Man is not easy satisfied.

One also can wonder when  our world evolves if/ when and how many people would be ready for such changes, and if they are for the better or for the worse. In most cases lots of people are just not ready for the changes taking place.

Problem is not in these major changes but our inability to accept them. {When it looks like hate is winning}

One might also ask whether we shall be able to find enough people who shall be really wanting to pursue peace. To find enough people who really want to “raise awareness that peace in itself,” and willing to take steps with which to motivate others to go that track of peace making is something we should go for. Too many may be very confused and may not be sure which dreams might be the best for them. Though according to Mr. Ampe we should come to work together towards mutual peace and to the broadcasting of hope and positive thoughts, trying to take away the confusion there is today and putting right the wrong ideas about some people, religions and ways of life. He believes the change must come from each of us and that we are responsible for the evolution of the day. According to him, we ourselves are to convey the message and have even to adopt a certain attitude and should form a shining example. According to him, there also should be peace as a base in our own daily lives.

This peace will also make the connection with the other and this will be like a snowball effect to be implemented on this world.

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Preceding articles about overviews for 2016

Donkere periodes en het uitkijken naar vrede

From Guestwriters 2015 in review

Pokémon craziness

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Additional reading

1. Knife-trust in democratic sore back
2. Daesh hits heart of Europe
3. What Associated Press released on Wednesday 23 March 2016
4. Iranian media implicitly accuse Erdogan to have known of the Bruxelles’s attacks in advance
5. Hard questions
6. Terrorist attacks in brussels
7. Social media, sympathy & shocks
8. Europe unites to defeat terror
9. Silence, devotion, Salafists, quietists, weaponry, bombings, books, writers and terrorists
10. Declaration of war against Islam and Christianity
11. Is Europe going to become a dictatorial bastion
12. French authorities have shut down around 20 mosques and prayer halls
13. State of emergency and respect for human rights
14. Paris attacks darkning the world
15. Trump brand of migrant demonization
16. Trump brand of migrant demonization #2
17. Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks
18. Muslim Grooming (Rape) Gangs and Sharia
19. Amount of Muslims living in your country

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Further reading

1. Paris Attackers Had Already Appeared in the Islamic State’s Propaganda
   It has already been established that the on-the-ground leader of the Islamic State’s atrocities on Paris
2. Belgium knew in 2012 already that Paris suspects were plotting attacks
   Belgian authorities knew as early as 2012 that terrorists linked to the bloodshed in Paris were plotting attacks in the West. But little was done to disrupt the build-up of a network that subsequently became a cornerstone …
3. Fugitive Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam captured in anti-terror raid
   He was shot in the leg and arrested in a major police operation in the Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek
4. Paris Attacks Suspect Wounded, Arrested In Brussels Raid
   Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the deadly Paris attacks, has been wounded and arrested, following a raid in the Belgian capital, Brussels, after four months on the run.
5. Hollande Chairs Emergency Security Meeting — France Determining Next Move After Arrest of Suspected Terrorist Salah Abdeslam, a French…
6. Muslims in Molenbeek are on the side of Salah against the belgian police. Take in more muslim immigrants so we enlarge the Salah’s Fan…
   The so called refugees are all muslims, I don’t see why we should let them in. Now that we know the destructive attitude of freemasonry we also know we mustn’t let them do what they ask.
7. One Paris attacker buried just a day before his brother was captured in Brussels police raid
   Brahim Abdeslam, who blew himself up in November’s attacks, was laid to rest the day before his brother Salah was captured.
8. Top Lawyers of Belgium, France in Suspected Terrorists Abdeslam Case — Focus on European jihadists
9. How Recent European Terror Wins Led to Abdeslam’s Capture
10. ISIS Launches Coordinated Attacks in Brussels Airport and Subway
    Early reports from Brussels are that two coordinated attacks have taken place with the first being at the Brussels Airport Departure Terminal and the second within the Brussels Subway system.
11. J’accuse ! L’attentat que les services craignaient
    Avec colère suite aux événements de ce matin, j’accuse la Belgique d’avoir été attentiste depuis des années et de n’avoir jamais donné les moyens aux services de Renseignement de faire leur travail professionnellement pour tenter de prévenir ce genre d’attaques.
    … Outraged about the events of this morning in Brussels, I accuse Belgium of having endorsed a “wait-and-see” policy for years and having never giving to the intelligence services the means to do their job professionally to try and avoid this kind of attack. …
12. Leighton: Terror cells are a lot bigger than Belgium authorities anticipated
13. Terror attacks in Brussels kill at least 34, story developing
    Terrorist bombings at a subway station in Maalbeek and at Zaventem Airport have killed at least 34 people and injured another 170. Two bombs, at least one of which is believed to have been a suicide bombing, struck the …
14. Bombing in Brussels!
    Today, once again, Islamic terrorists have attacked the west. This morning, Brussels became the latest city to come under attack with a bomb detonating on a metro train …
15. Islamofoobikot pitävät terrorismin voimissaan
    Ennen kuin Brysselin terrori-iskuista oli kiirinyt tieto Suomeen, Helsingin Sanomat kirjoitti viime syksyn Pariisin iskujen tekijöiden jahdista. Belgiassa 18.3. kiinniotettu Salah Abdesalam piileskeli kuukausien ajan
16. Islamofoobikot pitävät terrorismin voimissaan
    Ennen kuin Brysselin terrori-iskuista oli kiirinyt tieto Suomeen, Helsingin Sanomat kirjoitti viime syksyn Pariisin iskujen tekijöiden jahdista. Belgiassa 18.3. kiinniotettu Salah Abdesalam piileskeli kuukausien ajan …
17. Het raadsel, Salah Abdeslam
    Op 13 november vorig jaar reed hij zijn vrienden naar de Parijse plekken om toe te slaan. Dood en verderf te zaaien, angst aan te jagen, het leven te vernietigen dat hij met hart en ziel haatte.
18. Del estupor al sopor: atentados jihadistas, habituación europea, y jamais vu liberal-progresista
    Creo que estoy progresando. Esta noche, alrededor de las 3am, fui despertado por el zumbido de mi teléfono celular que se encontraba recargándose, apoyado sobre la mesita de luz.
19. The Religion of Peace Strikes Again
    This morning we awoke to the news of a deadly terrorist attack in Brussels. Isis claimed responsibility for the bombings at the airport and the Metro station.
20. Why Belgium?
    ISIS has claimed responsibility for separate explosions in Brussel’s Zaventem airport and a central metro station that killed 34 and wounded over 200.
21. Don’t Blame Whitey!
22. Belgium’s approach to immigration and security again under fire
23. CAIR Cannot Be Trusted To Police Radical Muslims
24. Brussels
25. Molenbeek-Saint-Jean
26. After Brussels, Europe must abandon its safe space and face reality
27. Hidden in Plain Sight: Salah Abdesalam’s 120 Days on the Lam
28. Waking Up to the Brussels Bombs
29. Aboard the Eurostar to Brussels
30. Two belgian politicians elected in Molenbeek committed themselves to legalize Sharia in Belgium. That’s how Islam destroys Democracy when…
31. Molenbeek’s gangster jihadis – BBC News
32. Europe’s Muslims hate the West
33. CAIR Cannot Be Trusted!
34. Belgian Terrorism Suspect Salah Abdeslam Has Agreed To Provide Police With Full Information on Other Terrorists — “Turns Supergrass”
35. Brussels Suicide Attacks ‘Shocking But Not Surprising,’ Stanford Experts Say
36. The Muslim Problem and How Not To Solve It
37. Look at what I almost stepped in
38. We Are AfraidMerci, Thanks !Revolution: Jesus loves Every Jihadist
39. Perps of ‘Far-Right’ Hit-and-Run on Muslim Woman Were Muslims
40. Why Belgium is Ground Zero for European Jihadis
41. Een falend land, dát is het echte probleem, meneer JambonTerrorism From Brussels: A Report
42. Molenbeek and its cultural and creative dynamism – a (small) press review
43. A Close Look at Brussels Offers a More Nuanced View of Radicalization – The New York Times
44. «Il reste encore des éléments à neutraliser»
45. Europe: Suicide by Jihad
46. How Many Molenbeeks in France?
47. The truth about “no-go” Molenbeek
48. Open brief aan Jan Jambon door Selma Benkhelifa (advocate)
49. Getting Up Earlier.
50. Two Police Officers Attacked With Knife In Belgium, Unhurt
51. Knifeman attacks Brussels police
52. Tent Cities for questionable dwellers
53. L’Arc-en-Ciel presque au complet
54. Dec 16,
55. It has been an eventful year for me 2016
56. The Politically Correct Right
57. Bet you missed this #1
58. 2016- A Reflection
59. 2016 Recapped
60. Summarising 2016-Энэ оныг дүгнэх нь
61. 2016 in review
62. Christmas Countdown Blitz 2016 ~ Day 12
63. Not Goals. Plans.
64. Book Review: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
65. What India Searched in 2016
66. Saturday 17 December 2016 – Some famous people who’ve died in 2016
67. My 2016: August.
68. Movie Review: Rogue One (2016)
69. Things That Need To End In 2017
70. History tells us what may happen next with Brexit & Trump
71. Look East and Watch for the Light
72. Readjusting Expectations
73. revolutionary reflections | The Crisis in German Politics and the Rise of the Radical Right
    2016 has been a year in which right –wing and authoritarian agendas have been in the ascendant. With the French and German elections next year we will see if this trend continues.
74. Links for 16/12/16
    Black-White Earnings Gap Remains at 1950s Levels for Median Worker Donald Trump Should Know: This Is What Climate Change Costs Us How data maps are transforming the fight against malaria in Zambia South
75. Populist right – the mass appeal of “strict father” framing
    George Lakoff’s book, Moral Politics, popularised the idea that ‘rightwing’ politics stem from a particular moral worldview, which Lakoff called “strict father framing”.
76. What is Populism?
    Populism. It is everywhere in the news right now and it is one of those words that have so many vague meanings and yet describes itself so well. Populism is simply the revolt of the people against the political
77. Who do Western Australian populist voters second preference?
    Most draw support from across the spectrum when compared to the remaining small parties.
78. The Elites Are Fuelling A Backlash They Do Not Comprehend And May Not Withstand
    Accustomed to getting their own way and furious at being thwarted by mere democracy, the political elite are responding to recent setbacks by …The Future of Federalism in an Age of Populism
    Richard Eccleston, Helen Krever and Rick Smith explore the future of federalism in the 21st century.
    The two seismic political events of 2016, Brexit and the election victory …
79. The 3 Layers of Authoritarian Thinking
    There are three layers to unfreedom or authoritarian thinking that is sweeping the world today.
80. More than just populism: Renzi, the Italian Senate referendum and the perils of second chamber reform
    On 4 December Italians decisively rejected Matteo Renzi’s proposed constitutional reforms, which centred on reforming the Senate – leading to his resignation as Prime Minister.
81. Times of Uncertainty: The Rise of Far-Right Populism
    Uncertain times lie ahead. People have had their fill of neoliberalism and they’re looking for alternatives. So far, they’ve found dreadful ones. Trump was elected president of the US, Marine Le Pen
82. What is anti-establishment according to Donald Trump?
    People from Goldman Sachs, billionaires, top donors, Secretary of State from Exxon. It seems this is how the huge part of Trump’s administration will be established. What does it tell us about how Trump wanna
83. Policy corruption, vote buying and double standards
    The Constitution Drafting Committee has been hard at work hamstringing political parties to prevent them from ever “ruling.” Apart from simply being anti-Thaksin Shinawatra, the law is based on beliefs …
84. Cameron names his nemesis populism, but the Westminster set still refuses to accept that it was a rejection of self interest which was…
    As I stepped into the polling booth at a local church hall on the evening of 23rd of June and looked at the voting slip in my hands, the feeling that crossed my mind couldn’t have been further from the thought of
85. Why Did Trump’s Anticorruption Rhetoric Resonate? Three Hypotheses
    OK, I know I said in last week’s post that I would eventually get back to blogging about topics other than Trump, but not yet. After all, Trump’s election—a political and moral crisis on so many dimensions—
86. The Islamic and black populists of the Netherlands: a tyranny of the minority?
    DENK’s main representers. From left to right: leader Tunahan Kuzu, TV personality Sylvana Simons and co-founder Selçuk Öztürk. More than once, the Netherlands proved to be first in Europe to
87. The SNP is not like horror-show euro-populism. Mercifully.
    THE liberal Left hasn’t had much to celebrate recently, what with Brexit, Donald Trump and the rise of the alt-right. So there was understandable jubilation over the defeat of the far-right candidate …
88. On Populism
    It was Lord Acton who said power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But as citizens of a country and a nation, we have civic duties such as addressing corruption in government and empowering
89. Are France Next to Join the Nationalist Narrative?
    Last week saw Italy become part of the nationalist narrative in Europe after changes to their constitution were rejected. As a result the country’s Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi,
90. Brexit Britain turns against globalisation and modern technology, blaming it for low UK wages and inequality – The Independent.
    Post-Brexit Britain is in the throes of a major backlash against globalisation, blaming dwindling wages and rife inequality on the opening of the world’s economy, an exclusive poll
91. They Are All Populists
    ”Populism” is a loaded word and it is a rather strange one. It is used to express disapproval of certain forms of political activity, but unlike other such negative terms its basic reference would seem quite positive.

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Related articles

• Attack on the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin: A Case of Mistaken Identity?
• Why We Need Revolutionary Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz More Than Ever
• DC Uses Tax Dollars to Install Art Honoring Hillary As ‘Beacon of Dignity and Guiding Light’
• Hillary Clinton’s Inaugural Address
• A former defense secretary reveals the US military’s biggest weakness
• Donald Trump, Peter Thiel beckon tech leaders to Trump Tower
• On This Day – 18th Amendment
• Russia blames IS recapture of Palmyra on US
• Happy President’s Day! What Our Forefathers Thought About Taxes
• Gratitude and You – The Transformative Power of Thankfulness

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Dissolve The Barriers You Created

Graduate of The Marketing Institute of Ireland, Brendan Dunne, according to himself

has a wealth of experience in business, and a strong belief in the following: “The best way to become inspired is to try and inspire everybody else. {Brendan Dunne about}

He is convinced that hate will only poison the mind of the person who uses it to accomplish any goal in life and that it has not redeeming qualities. {Hate Has No Redeeming Qualities}

He writes

Concentrating on hate with your conscious mind will send messages of hate to your subsconsious mind, and since your subconsious mind doesn’t have the capacity to hate, it will help you to mirror the characteristics of the person you are so hell-bent on hating. In the end you will end up just like the person or people you hate. {Hate Has No Redeeming Qualities}

When we want to go out into the world and meet different people we should know that it are we ourselves who shall create the borders and are the ones who can dissolve the barriers which mostly are there because of our prejudices.

When encountering others it is not that we always should expect everything they say or do against us.

You do not have to accept every insult people send your way because most of the time it’s not meant, they just happened to find a chink in your armour, one of your perceived weaknesses. {Do Not Accept Every Insult People Send You}

Dunne writes

You more than likely are sensitive about a subject to which they are indifferent. When they talk about the subject, you’re cringing inside thinking, how there they, they must know how I feel; and the truth is, they haven’t got a clue unless you actually tell them. {Do Not Accept Every Insult People Send You}

Best way to come onto good terms is always to be yourself and to be honest about yourself and your feelings, respecting all those who are around you, though they may totally different than you.

To avoid difficulties it is always best to know yourself well.

The way to avoid accepting unintended insults is to know yourself, and that means knowing your weaknesses and your strengths because;

“When you know and accept your weaknesses, nobody can use them to insult you.”

But you also have to be careful about your own past. Our guest-writer warns

“Don’t allow your past to crucify your present.”

The writer is also sure there are people in each group you would prefer to avoid but you shouldn’t avoid them because of their ethnicity.

The attitude you have towards those groups will not affect anybody within them but they may be doing yourself no end of harm by having negative thoughts constantly running around your mind.

We always should remind ourselves that

You are only limited by the limitations you impose upon yourself.

You have greatness inside of you, you have the ability to learn anything you want, you have the ability to change every aspect of your life if you choose to do it;
all you need to do is decide what you want to be, then
set in place the plans you need to make those changes happen.

+

Preceding articles

Go outside. Let the world in.

Are you right down in the dumps? Stop digging!

Tolerance Ends When There Is No Tolerance Shown Towards Us

Stabbed victim parent’s hope for less hatred and more tolerance

See the conquest and believe that we can gain the victory

May we have doubts

What would you do if…? Continued trial

Love and forgive this Friday

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Additional reading

1. Stopped Breathing
2. Are people allowed to have doubts
3. Subcutaneous power for humanity 4 Not crossing borders of friendship
4. A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses

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Related articles

1. Motto
2. Limitations
3. Purpose & Identity > Limitations.
4. Dealing with Limitations
5. Accepting Your Limits for Today
6. Plans, Goals, Dreams… Reality
7. If only I didn’t have to shower
8. Travel beyond where your passport has taken you
9. Summer hibernation
10. Self-Imposed
11. Beyond
12. Limit Yourself Kinda Sucks
13. Beyond Limitations
14. Show don’t Tell: Wait…what?
15. Hairy Stories.
16. Think About It Thursday: How Uncomfortable Are You?

Brendan Dunne😎

You are only limited by the limitations you impose upon yourself. You have greatness inside of you, you have the ability to learn anything you want, you have the ability to change every aspect of your life if you choose to do it; all you need to do is decide what you want to be, then set in place the plans you need to make those changes happen.

There’s a good possibility you will not need to learn anything, all you need to do is change your attitude towards yourself and in the process your attitude towards the world will change.

You change your attitude towards yourself by examining your current attitudes, if you wish to make real changes, you have to be real honest with yourself. Ask yourself those difficult questions;

Is the behaviour you share with your friends radically different to the one you show strangers?

Do you…

View original post 342 more words

Want to Stop the Contempt, Hate, and Violence?

Stop the Violence Movement (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Helping to come over the prejudices can also be to focus more on what you have in common and to look over the differences each person has from taking his or her own culture with him or her, and considering it such thing as a diversification but also as an enrichment of your own culture and environment.

*

To remember

• Many beliefs divide us … religion, politics race, sex, etc.,
• power to unite us = choice to respect … to value
• ramping up some brain power?
• Connecting the Dots … with The Respect Principle

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Preceding articles

Go outside. Let the world in.

Are you right down in the dumps? Stop digging!

Responses to Radical Muslims and Radical Christians

Tolerance Ends When There Is No Tolerance Shown Towards Us

My two cents on the refugee crisis

Stabbed victim parent’s hope for less hatred and more tolerance

+++

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• Pokémon Go players outraged after maps shut down by game update | Technology | The Guardian
• I don’t care where you stand on gun legislation or LGBTA rights.
• The Father, the Son, and the semi-automatic assault rifle
• Senate Hearing: While Feds Scrubbed References To Islam, Terrorists Escaped Notice
• Twin Council talks budget, OKs body cam deal

CONNECTING THE DOTS WITH THE RESPECT PRINCIPLE

Many beliefs divide us … religion, politics race, sex, etc., … but the one thing with the power to unite us, even if we can’t yet love everyone, is the choice to respect … to value … all life and then use our heads and hearts to figure out how to live peacefully.

Remember, we know this now … only bullies, who are those the most frightened and/or broken, result to offensive acts towards themselves and others.

Science has also informed us we are only yet using a very small percentage of our brain’s ability, so instead of ramping up fire power, how about ramping up some brain power?

A simple way to start is “Connecting the Dots … with The Respect Principle” because the idea is logical, practical, and even compassionate and requires only one thing … that we stop treating some people as more valuable and others as less ……

View original post 68 more words

Mass Media’s Deception Causing Division

 

In Europe we constantly are bombarded by atrocious pictures of cruelty against blacks in a country which always shouts out loud to be the “Land of the free”.

When we see that police brutality toward people of colour and see how they often get away with it, has us having many questions about that equality in those states. Today it is not only the news media which bring pictures of things gone wrong. People themselves have handy tools by which they can register happenings on the spot. Today it is even possible to send it around on the internet in a few seconds. The whole world can witness it today on the spot.

Those who think they can fiddle with it are mistaken. False pictures soon will be dismantled. Pictures, videos, news articles, etc. are exposing the cruel actions of cops on blacks. However, this isn’t anything new it is now nearly impossible to hide or to deny it. It’s been going on for decades but now that technology has advanced, it’s being presented to us more now than ever before.

There may be lots of controversy between the “Black Lives Matter” movement versus the “All Lives Matter” movement but we all should know that all lives matters always. Always people should come up for others, no matter their skin colour or religion. The weakest should be taken care of first and most.

All who have faith in God should make work of it that what is now on the rise shall not escalate. They also should take care that it shall not become a propaganda that can potentially start a race war and bring martial law into effect.

We also should see that there is the continuing danger in those states that they are trying to push black people to their limit to further the current state of violence and division.

As a Christian, the author wishes for people to understand that race is simply a social construct designed to divide us. She also thinks that

If we truly knew all lives mattered, the hashtag “Black Lives Matter” would not have ever been created. It’s a shame that people have to be reminded that black lives are just as valuable and significant as everyone else’s. {Racial Injustice: Then vs. Now}

 

That shows how far away those Americans are from the Christian idea, though they proudly say they are a Christian, but often do very un-Christian things and love bearing and using weapons (something against the will of God)

It is also unbelievable that those who claim to be Christians still can take it that so many lives are taken, even in prison be it by electric chair or lethal injection. Which right is given to them or to any other man to take the life of an other human being?

Do those Christians know their Scriptures and are they not aware they should lead the way and show they all want to be “one in Christ Jesus.”

Never was it God’s intention that people would go against each other. Man itself made division and let hate being created in the minds of many.

The presented text may (here and there) have confusing the person of the first century with the Spirit Who was for ever, namely looking at Christ Jesus as if he is God.

It was the send one from God, the only begotten son of God, who showed us the Way to his heavenly Father and asked of his followers to apply his teachings in their life.

It is that attitude of Jesus every Christian should show to others around him or her. Being white or having a dark sin should not matter. Never may the difference in colour of skin trigger a different action than it would do for a person of the same skin.

In the United States of America, I am afraid we still see too much difference in attitude when a person is not white or from the same culture or when showing to be of an other religion (e.g. Islam).

That the media show certain pictures and can be misleading others is very true. But the pictures taken by phones and captured on the spot, place on social media, often speak volumes.

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Related

1. White Privilege (Is An Illusion)
2. Checks and Balances
3. Chat Away
4. Reading Series: The Help
5. Shuffle Along, or How a Musical Can Teach Us to Remember and Treasure Black Art
6. Made In Amerikkka – The Breaion King Arrest/Michael Jordan Speaks
7. Monitor Chosen To Oversee Ferguson’s Police, Court Reforms
8. This is not what Rosa Parks fought for.
9. What matters more?
10. #BlackLivesMatter
11. “When a young black life is cut short…It is a loss that diminishes all of us”
12. Manifesto of Motherhood
13. Mothers Of The Movement Endorse Hillary Clinton In Emotional Address
14. #MothersOfTheMovement Speak At #DNC
15. #BlackLivesMatter Cuts to the Heart of the Democratic Convention – Issie Lapowsky. 07.27.16. 3:09 AM
16. Calhoun College Controversy
17. What I’m learning from the Panthers, Essay #1
18. We gon’ be alright
19. So Much “Matters” in America Right Now
21. #BlackVotesMatter To The Democratic Party … And The Green Party
22. What I’m Learning about #BlackLivesMatter
23. Charges Dropped For All Remaining Officers In Freddie Gray Case
24. FBI Confirms ‘The Purge’ Is a Thing, Suggests Black People Stop ‘Freaking Out’
25. Marilyn Mosby Drops Remaining Charges Against Cops In Freddie Gray Case
26. A Deep Breath and the Fresh Air Fund
27. Diaspora Diaries: How do we justify burning a child alive?
28. Speaking to the Soul
29. Teen accused of plotting to blow up school takes a felony over probation
30. You represent more than yourself
31.  Mother Posts Facebook Video of Herself Brutally Beating Teen Daughter

Your Social Plug

Lately, in the media police brutality toward people of color has been plastered everywhere for the last two to three years more than it ever has been in a long time– pictures, videos, news articles, etc. are exposing the cruel actions of cops on blacks. However, this isn’t anything new. It’s been going on for decades but now that technology has advanced, it’s being presented to us more now than ever before.

The controversy between the “Black Lives Matter” movement versus the “All Lives Matter” movement has been on the rise as well.  The whole strategy behind pushing these movements and constantly showing it on media outlets is to push a propaganda that can potentially start a race war and bring martial law into effect. They are trying to push black people to their limit to further the current state of violence and division. Not only is this propaganda in…

View original post 349 more words

Paris Attack and Ranting

Quran, Mus’haf_Al_Tajweed. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The world may not forget that those who abuse the name of Allah, rape children and young women, murder innocent people of different faith groups including Muslims, burn Qurans (the most sacred book for any Muslim) destroy mosques (the holy place of prayer for Allah)

We, who are all created in the image of Allah, should know that it is man who became an adversary of Allah and by doing that also turned against his fellow-man.

When something happens close by it may shock us more than the events far from our bed. But we may not let us be blinded by hate or revenge for what touched us deeply and always look at everything in proportion.

Every decent person has to have respect for the other person around him or her and should not allow anti-social behaviour get them down or lower themselves to the same level as such criminals.

*

not forgetting what’s happening in the world + what happened + what media didn’t cover

• Lebanon: 43 killed by Isis + over 200 injured
• Baghdad Isis killed 19 people
• 7 people got their bodies decapitated
• Gaza: Last year 2,104 Palestinians killed by Israel
•  Syria: every single day for the past 5 years = gone through inhumane, terrible things
• Isis killed more than 100,00 muslims in the past 2 years

Muslims getting a lot of hate for the Paris attacks > they condemn all these terrorist attacks

Allah swt says in the Quran ” … Whosoever kills an innocent human being, it shall be as if he has killed all of mankind” Quran 5:32

If ISIS were muslims => why kill their own people? >=> Islam doesn’t allow this.

refugees nothing to do with this > terrorists burned down their camps => running from

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un (إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ) ‘Surely we belong to God and to Him shall we return

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Preceding: Don’t be Muslim

++

Additional reading

1. Wrath kills the foolish man, and envy consumes the covetous one
2. Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
3. Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks
4. Paris attacks darkning the world
5. Trump brand of migrant demonization #1
6. Trump brand of migrant demonization #2
7. Islamophobic hate crimes rise in UK following terror attacks
8. Europe and much-vaunted bastions of multiculturalism becoming No God Zones
9. Wrong ideas about religious terrorism
10. State and attitude of certain people to blame for radicalisation
11. The world Having to face a collective failure
12. What we don’t say about the refugee crisis?
13. Declaring a Jihad Against ISIS
14. Propaganda war and ISIS

+++

Further reading:

1. Politics: How Americans Are Using Microaggresive Terminology to Strip Refugees of Their Dignity
2. Refugees and the Ethics of Exclusion: Examining Ethics through Julie Bertagna’s Exodus
3. The disguise
4. Paris Attack Survivor’s Story Teaches A Powerful Lesson
5. Fear of the “Other” – Get Rid of It!
6. The song of Roland and the attack on Paris
7. Churches response to Radical Muslims
8. Some Thoughts on Prejudice in Wake of the Paris Attacks
9. Spike In Anti-Muslim Attacks Casts Spotlight On Government Policies
10. Emotional Muslim Survivor Recounts Shooting That Killed His Two Sisters In Paris Attack
11. Muslim Woman Called A ‘Murdering Muslim’ In Morrisons Supermarket
12. #IstandwithParis but also #IstandwithBeirut
13. Problematic Or Patriotic? Two Ways To Talk About Muslims
14. NaBloPoMo – Day 15 of an entire month of has the whole world gone crazy?
15. In regards to tragedy.
16. Every life is equal
17. A message to our students after the Paris Tragedy.
18. Don’t be Muslim
19. But they hate Americans
20. Applebee’s customer smashes Muslim woman in the face for speaking Swahili
21. Two Men Jailed For Assault In Exeter City Centre
22. Muslim Men And Kids In Double Digits

+++

Related articles

• Obama Regime Is Orchestrating Invasion Force of 200,000 Muslims
• Quran meet condemns IS
• Anti-terrorism officers nicked me in Sainsbury’s a day after my exams, medical student tells court
• Against Islam: Lying, Deceiving and Illogical Confusions
• Questions About Terror-linked CAIR’s Free Qur’ans
• Dallas Cair Director: “Muslims Are Above the Law of the Land.”
• Defense Minister visits army units in Daraa

Fahmida Aktar

RIP to all the people who got brutally murdered in Paris. My heart goes out to their families and communities of these individuals. What they went through was brutal and they did not deserve it.

BUT

that doesn’t mean everyone should forget what’s happening in the world.

Lets not whats happened in:

• Lebanon on saturday 43 were killed by Isis and over 200 injured. The media didn’t cover this?
• In Japan there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 which triggered a small tsunami
• In Baghdad Isis killed 19 people at a funeral! How disrespectful is that? Its at the point where they attack funerals?
• No one seemed to care when 7 people which included 4 men, 2 women and a 9 year old girl got thier bodys decapitated. How come the world isn’t going crazy over a child who got abducted and beheaded??
• Or how about Gaza? Last…

View original post 312 more words

Don’t be Muslim

With everything what is going on in Europe and the Middle East many who want to worship only One True God may think it is better not to become or to be a Muslim. For non-trinitarian Christians this might be a good thing to be able to welcome those who love the Divine Creator, the God of Abraham.

But fear is not always the right or good reason to change faith. When it is fear for God than it is very good to make the right choice going on the right path, following Allah‘s commandments and coming to an understanding of the sent one from Him.

All those who dare to call themselves Christian should be worried about the recent of Islamophobic reactions. The Parisian attacks did not help, neither the refugee crisis nor the Muslim community or Ummah.

Lots of people do forget under the victims were also non-believers, Christians but also Jews and Muslims. From several sites we do hear Jews and Muslims who are bullied, or have witnessed, or have been victims of racial crimes. Racial slurs, violent confrontations, verbal abuse; the full spectrum of hate crime has been on show.

We condemn every terrorist act but we also should condemn every antisocial behaviour. We must warn others and be careful not to become blind ourselves for what is really going on and how some may try to get more power in our society.

People should remember that those who call themselves Jew, Christian or Muslim should follow the Holy Scriptures. Torah (Law), Nebim (Prophets), Kethubim aleph (First Writings) Kethubim Bet (Second Writings or Messianic Scriptures = New Testament) and Quran or Koran condemn such violence and hatred. Those who are terrorising lots of people in the name of Allah are abusing the God’s title and God’s Name.

Too many people seem to be blind and deaf about Islam which says no to terrorism, It is up to the Muslim teachers, imams, preachers and followers of the prophet Muhammad to show the world that those terrorists are not representable for Islam and that the real Muslim faith is a very peaceful religion.

*

the writer her mind turns to her mum worrying about her every time she sees a post about an attack or abuse.

heart aches > anything happening to her +  anyone harming her + looking at her as someone other than who she is <=== loving, caring, selfless + humble human

cycle of violence numbes

here + Middle East + Asia = affected by violence

know people who have lost relatives in Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan. Iraq, Pakistan etc. etc. etc.

More Muslims are killed + affected by terrorist’s attacks than any other group of people

> unenviable position of being part of a group which is labeled both victim and perpetrator.

+

Preceding articles

What we don’t say about the refugee crisis?

Human tragedy need to be addressed at source

Real progress leaves nobody behind

Migration not something to fear

Human tragedy need to be addressed at source

Poster: Please help the refugees

 

++

Additional reading:

1. A world with or without religion
2. Sharing a common security and a common set of values
3. Migrants to the West #1
4. Migrants to the West #5
5. Migrants to the West #10 Religious freedom
6. Not true or True Catholicism and True Islam
7. ISIS cannot be presenters of the real Islam
8. Islamic State forcing the West to provide means for Kurdistan
9. Malaysia requires sole use of God’s title for Muslims
10. Shariah and child abuse – Is there a connection?
11. Where do we stand in the backdrop of Charlie Hebdo Massacre ?
12. Public not informed enough about Jihad terrorism in Belgium
13. Quran can convert to Christianity
14. Muslims should also Fear God
15. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path
16. Islam says it admires faith based on logic, what about the others

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Related articles

• Terrifying Video Shows Muslim Leader Admitting the True Purpose of the Muslim Refugees – Eagle Rising
• Here’s Where ISIS Horrifically Tortures Christians Till They Convert to Islam or Die
• Muslims and the West – September 18th, 2015
• Imam tells Muslim migrants to ‘breed children’ with Europeans to ‘conquer their countries’ and vows: ‘We will trample them underfoot, Allah willing’
• The New Threat from Islamic Militancy by Jason Burke review – important and impressive
• Imam to Muslim Migrants: Breed With Europeans To ‘Conquer Their Countries’
• Obama Throws Christian Refugees to Lions by Raymond Ibrahim
• Video Shows Muslim Leader Admitting the True Purpose of the Muslim Refugees
• Buhari needs God-fearing, patriotic ministers – Iman
• Eid Mubarak!

Hatred and hostility against God

“Recently, I have had a lot of conversations with atheists.
Many express a strong hatred of God.
I have been at a loss to explain this. How can you hate someone you don’t believe in? Why the hostility?
If God does not exist, shouldn’t atheists just relax and seek a good time before they become plant food?
Why should it matter if people believe in God?
Nothing matters if atheism is true.
– Don Batten

Preceding posts:

Summerholiday season time to read the Bible

Holiday making and dreaming

Home-stayers and their to do lis

Genre – Playing by the Rules

The Need to Understand Genre

Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything

Great things, Voice of God and terrors

University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Related articles

• Atheism
• You Christians are worried and freaking for some reason ?
• Does Christianity or atheism have the burden of proof?
• What I Know About Atheists
• Atheist Zealots
• Ontario teacher accused of Islamophobic tweets connected to post about imposing atheist beliefs on students
• Damn Fool Atheists
• Ken Ham says even atheists know truth about God but choose not to believe it
• Russia blocks atheist webpage over ‘insulting’ believers
• The New World Order: Does It All Just Boil Down To A Battle For Your Soul?

Too Young To Fight?

Hate against some other nation or love to take revenge may bring people a long way from human sense.

After two great wars, where so many countries were involved and so much blood was shed, still lots of people do not realise how ridiculous it is to have so much lives being offered for showing the ‘right for power’. Still today we can see that in many countries war is still romanticized and lots of people do find it an honour to have their sons going to war. Today in this world we can still find lots of child soldiers, and when it is not for the right country people find it horrible, but when it is for the ‘right country’ or ‘the right cause’ people find them heroes.
For sure it has to do with some form of making value judgements about the rightness of the cause , by our twisted minds.

Today children are also often sold into a kind of modern-day slavery. In Raqqa, where poverty is rampant, Isis persuades parents to send their children to the camps in exchange for money, according to Abu Ibrahim Raqqawi, the pseudonym of a 22-year-old man who lived in Syria until recently. He is the founder of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, a Twitter account and Facebook page.

In Iraq’s Mosul, which was taken over by IS gunmen in June, IS has replaced physical-education classes in local schools with martial-arts classes. A teacher in the city told Bloomberg that IS militants explained that “they need Mosul’s students to be the future soldiers of the caliphate.” Another Mosul resident, named as Abu Rawan, said that his 13-year-old nephew had been recruited by IS militants, who had given him a gun.

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To remember:

Commonwealth Military Cemetery at Essex Farm, near Ypres, Belgium: grave of V.J. Strudwick, killed in action January 14, 1916 at age 15.

Joe Strudwick: 6’1”, in all probability adult sized and willing to enlist; he said he was 19 and they either believed him or looked the other way. => not the lone child soldier of the Great War
his age was discovered before he reached the battlefield and he was de-mobilized.

Older men more likely to question validity of a war, more likely to have family responsibilities and less likely to unquestioningly volunteer for combat.

Young men romanticize war, older men know better.

Perhaps as many as 250,000 child soldiers, those not old enough to officially enlist, saw combat during the First World War. Probably more than that are serving today in conflicts around the world.

The United Nations has strict rules on military service for those under 18 that all member states are expected to follow.

+++

Related articles

• Video: South Sudan’s child soldier problem (bbc.co.uk)
  Children in the world’s youngest country of South Sudan are being forced to fight on both sides of a bloody civil war.

  The United Nations estimates that there are 11,000 child soldiers in South Sudan, where there has been a lull in the fighting, as peace talks continue between government, and rebel forces.

• Boko Haram Using Child-Soldiers , Women As Human Shields (newsdiaryonline.com)
  Nigerian troops are concerned about the use of women as human shields as well as children as child-soldiers by Boko Haram militants in their quest to weaken military operations. A top security source in the North-East disclosed that the terrorists recruit, rape and kill some of the young captives who are reluctant to join them in their dastardly acts. In most cases, children and teenagers are forced to be in the forefront in the battle against the Nigerian troops through ambushing and suicide bombing.
  +
  On several occasions the Nigerian military has captured  children who were forced to take up arms against the state with some of them behaving abnormally  due to indoctrination and inducement through the use of hard drugs.

  The security source said “we are being cautious in abiding by the rules of engagement even when we are aware that the militants recruit children for spying on us and pushing them to engage in hostilities against innocent citizens and the troops. “Most of the children, especially teenagers were recruited through abduction, kidnapping and enticement with money after which they undergo brainwashing and combat training. Those that are unwilling to cooperate are punished or summarily executed.”

• You: Afghan Parliament approves draft law to ban recruitment of child soldiers (nation.com.pk)
  The endorsement of the draft law by Afghan lawmakers comes as numerous national and international organizations criticized the Afghan government over recruitment of child soldiers. The draft law was sent to the Afghan parliament by the ministry of justice of Afghanistan around two weeks ago. Consisting of seven articles, the law was endorsed by the majority during the general session after review by parliamentary commissions.

  The law strictly prohibits the recruitment of children in security agencies, with one to seven years of imprisonment on violation. The Afghan Government reconfirmed its commitment with the endorsement of a ‘Road Map Towards Compliance,’ in August this year which laid down 15 measures to fully implement an Action Plan signed with the United Nations in 2011.
  

• Boko Haram using child-soldiers, women as human shields (dailypost.ng)
  “We have lost our men in the battle-field while we tried to avoid shooting children and teenagers who are forced to confront us. How do you expect us to arrest a child with a gun? Do we accord such an armed under-age combatant with the status of a child deserving of protection under the rule of engagement?

  “It may become inevitable that some collateral damages may be recorded if we get the order especially because Boko Haram elements were using civilians as human shields to continue to gain undue advantages in the current battle in the North East.

  “However, much as troops are determined to avoid collateral damage, it has become inevitable to be decisive with armed underage combatants and female suicide bombers with the situation degenerating by the day.

• Britain’s child soldiers: should the enlistment age be raised? (theweek.co.uk)
  Campaigners are taking legal action over the terms of enlistment for minors in the British army, accusing the Ministry of Defence of “exploiting” young recruits.

  Child Soldiers International (CSI) is calling for a judicial review over what it calls “unethical and unlawful age discrimination”. Their lawyers argue that soldiers who enlist at 16 are forced to serve for longer under army rules.

  Teenagers cannot see active service until they are 18, but all soldiers must be available for deployment for four years. So a 16-year-old who joins the army cannot leave until that are 22.

  “These young soldiers will be forced to put their lives on the line against their will during those two extra years, all because of a decision they made at 16 and later regretted,” said CSI director Richard Clarke.

  The latest move by the campaign group has reignited the debate about the enlistment age in the UK and comes as an independent survey found that 78 per cent of people believe it should be raised. “There is overwhelming public support in this country for a minimum enlistment age of 18,” said Clarke.

  The UK is the only country in Europe and the only country among the permanent members of the UN Security Council to recruit 16-year-olds into its armed forces. It is also just one of 17 countries in the world to do so, alongside North Korea, Pakistan and Iran.

• Isis Child Soldiers Used as Suicide Bombers and Human Shields (ibtimes.co.uk)
  Speaking to reporters at the U.N., he said the fighters “appeal” to some of the youngsters and that they have approved adept at “manipulating young men and children.” He explained that “they project an image of being victorious”.

  They impress upon the children the importance of fighting and dying for their faith. and offer the pledge that those who die in the fray will “go straight to heaven.”

  Not everyone is in favour of children going into battle. “What is striking for me is to meet mothers who [tell us], ‘We don’t know what to do,'” said Simonovic. “Our sons are volunteering and we can’t prevent it.”

  At the camps, the children who are barely bigger than AK47s, are taught how to fire and load weapons. According to Syria Deeply website, they are shown the best ways to behead someone, using dolls as practice.

  The effectiveness of child soldiers as fighters is obviously not as great as adults, so they are used in other ways. Chillingly, they have value as human shields and also to provide blood transfusions for Isis militants, according to Shelly Whitman, the executive director of the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative.

• Five Year Old Fighters and Girls Sold as Slaves – Videos Show Disturbing Evidence of Life in the Islamic State (breitbart.com)
  Charlie Winter, a spokesman for anti-extremist think tank The Quilliam Foundation said: “This video is yet more evidence of Islamic State seeking to indoctrinate children from a very young age in an attempt to entrench its hold over the region. Such footage is worrying, in particular because it renders apparent the fact that IS’ legacy will be long-term, even if it was to collapse tomorrow.”

  Another video documents men bartering over Yazidi slaves. Sitting on sofas in a living room, a man wearing a white cap turns to the camera and says “Today is slave market day. Today is the day where this verse – “… except with their wives and the (captives) whom their right hands possess, for (then) they are not to be…” today is distribution day, God willing. Each one takes his share.”

• ‘IS: The Next Generation’? Militants Recruit Children (rferl.org)
  Abu Usama is not playing at being an Islamic State militant. He is one of the extremist group’s child fighters. IS social media lauded him as the youngest fighter to guard the front lines in the Syrian town of Kobani, which IS has besieged.

  Over the past weeks, more and more reports have emerged with evidence that IS militants are providing military training to schoolchildren in Syria and Iraq.

  Other reports claim that the extremist group is also using children as young as 13 as fighters.

• Cubs of the Caliphate: ISIS Trains Boys to Go to Battle (nbcnews.com)

  Some graduates of the camps are used as human shields and suicide bombers. Other wee warriors man checkpoints, hoist heavy weapons and act as enforcers.

  Beyond the additional fighting power, analysts and experts say brainwashing young recruits is a strategic move aimed at ensuring the militant group’s longevity by providing a ready-and-willing next generation of jihadis.

random thoughts from lorne

The grave of V.J. Strudwick at Essex Farm.

When we visited the Commonwealth Military Cemetery at Essex Farm, near Ypres, Belgium, our guide pointed out the grave of V.J. Strudwick, who was killed in action January 14, 1916 at age 15. The official age to enlist was 18, for overseas service 19.

Recruiters though generally didn`t ask probing questions, and identification documents were not all that common in those days before drivers licences, when people may not have ever even seen a car. Joe Strudwick was in all probability adult sized and willing to enlist; he said he was 19 and they either believed him or looked the other way.

It was a young man’s war, as they generally all are. With age comes maturity; older men are more likely to question the validity of a war, more likely to have family responsibilities and less likely to unquestioningly volunteer for…

View original post 363 more words

Depression Is and When

Depression 1

depression is loving someone with nothing in return,
depression is slowly living instead of jumping head first,
depression is acknowledging the mistake but without learning,
depression is not trying, giving into your life’s curse.

depression is cutting and cutting thinking you cant stop,
depression is staying quiet thinking no-one will care,
depression is floating around with the desire to drop,
depression is ignoring the people who always seem to be there.

depression is trying to end the life you’ve been given,
depression is watching other people watch you,
depression is giving up instead of being hard driven,
depression is depression, do you feel it too?

Depression 2

depression
a state of agitated depression
now facing the depression
like a closed session
needing medical attention
making my agitated confession
depression my obsession
depression my only material possession
years of oppression before the recession
see the expression of my depression
depression leaving a facial impression
at it’s own discretion
like a rapper at a rap session
and a singer in a jam session
or a poet at the blog talk radio session
you can’t forget the internal impression
the repossession of my depression
it’s a new life i’m now facing without question

Depression 3

depression is the looks that lie
depression is the tears i cry..

depression is the mistakes
that one person makes..

depression is the sad song
where no one sings along

depression is where i have no friends
depression is the cut that mends..

depression…
just a feeling that gets everyone sad
and maybe to the point where you go mad

but depression is sad but true..
because it is my life without you…

Depression Is

depression is my life without you,
depression is the darkness taking over the light,
depression is the thoughts of suicide
depression is isolation from the outside world
depression is where no one loves me
depression is where i have no friends
depression is where everyone looks at me and rolls there eyes
depression is…….

Depression Is When

depression is when you hate everyone around
depression is when you don’t want to make a sound
depression is when all you want to do is cry
depression is when you feel like you’re dying inside
depression is when your thoughts wonder all the time
depression is when you can’t sleep even though you’re tired
depression is when you don’t want to go on
depression is when you can’t stop shaking outside
depression is when you hide who you are
depression is when you put on a mask to hide what you feel
depression is when you feel weak all the time
depression is when you give in to everything around
depression is when you don’t care what happens anymore

depression is just another day in my life

Depression Makes Me

depression makes me feel pain
depression makes me stupid
depression makes me feel low
depression makes me mad
depression makes me sad
depression makes me forget the world
depression makes me tensed
depression makes me lose self control
depression makes me hate everyone
depression makes me think over and over
depression makes me feel lonely
depression makes me think wild
depression makes me worthless
depression makes me sick
what does depression give me?
when it runs high…
it will make me die – rest in peace…

– Tashi Coote

Depression 6 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Related articles

• 10 Things I Wish People Knew About Depression (worldobserveronline.com)
  Depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain—a deficiency of either serotonin, dopamine, adrenalin or noradrenalin. Just because it’s an invisible illness, doesn’t mean it’s not real.
  +
  It can make you feel exhausted. It can make you hate yourself. It can make you self-harm. And worst of all, it can make you feel suicidal and drive you to carry out those thoughts. Depression is a word many people throw around carelessly (“I have to go to work on Monday, that is so depressing”), but when used in its clinical sense, it describes a debilitating, gut-wrenching illness.
• Different types of depression (tersiaburger.com)
  Clinical depression goes by many names — depression, “the blues,” biological depression, major depression. But it all refers to the same thing: feeling sad and depressed for weeks or months on end (not just a passing blue mood).
• Depression lies. (zerofoxgiven.wordpress.com)
  Depression is awful. It whispers in your ear. It rattles in your head. It steals your joy. It disrupts your sleep. It brings storm clouds to bright sun-shiny days. And it fucking lies. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad (hurtful) lies.
  +
  I wrote this as a “sort of” end when I started down this country path: And if you’re suffering from depression, please know that you’re not alone. I know how difficult it is to look for help, I’m there right now. (I hate asking for help. I hate talking about myself in any way.) Talk to someone. (For a great list of people who would love to help you, go here: Getting Help.) Take care of, and be gentle with, yourself. You’re only human, this is a terrible illness and the people who tell you that you have nothing to be “sad” about and should “buck up” are assholes (some of them mean well, they just don’t understand).
• Dealing with depression (confusedinfj.com)
  What we need more of is understanding, compassion, and just being there for our dear loved ones who suffer. Depression is just as debilitating as anything I can think of.
• Depression is Often Called the Common Cold of Mental Health (modvive.com)
  To the nonprofessional “mood disorder” sounds like a passing phase, however, depression goes beyond just a passing phase and right into a life-altering disorder. If left untreated depression becomes chronic, meaning it sticks around for a long time. Some studies predict that by 2020 depressive disorders will be a leading cause of disease burden second only to heart disease.
  +
  Heart disease, an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and substance abuse are just some of the health risks associated with depression. Untreated depression can lead to the most dangerous health issue, suicide. It is estimated that two-thirds of all suicides are linked to depression. This risk increases when substance abuse is part of the mix.
  +
  Whether you have the blues, the blahs, or something much darker, take that first step to get help. Go to your doctor. Find a counselor, your doctor or clergy can help with this. If you have a friend or family member suffering from depression do not close the door, reach out and help them. Go with them to the doctor; maybe even go with them to the counselor’s office.
• Somewhere Someone Loves Us: Depression Stories, Vol. 1 (powderroom.jezebel.com)Depression is like being in that well in The Silence of the Lambs. That light’s being pulled up and I just see the evidence of all the attempts to crawl out before, and in my head, it’s evidence that the cloud won’t lift. The weight on my chest is never going to let up; the pressure I can feel on my brain is winning.Of course, I know on an academic level that that’s just not true. Things will get better, and I’ll be happy again. In fact, I’m probably happy more often than I’m not. But even when I’m thinking clearly, I fear my depression, because it’s just so oppressive.
• Is Depression Just A “Rich Person” Problem? (thoughtcatalog.com)
  the National Alliance on Mental Illnesses says that 64% of young adults who are not attending or no longer attending college are doing so due to mental illnesses, and that 40% of students with diagnosable mental health conditions did not seek assistance because of the concern of stigma.
  +
  I am not depressed because I get too fixated on a concept and can’t see the other sides to any given situation (although I do have this problem as well). I am depressed because I medically lack the normal amount of serotonin that people need to be functional. No amount of therapy is going to make me better because all I really need is my daily 60 mg of Prozac.  I am disgusted when I have to spend time with people who lecture me on how depression is a fake disease.
  +
  Maybe one day people can be successful and public about their depression. But until we decide to actively alter our prejudiced and exaggerated attitudes about depression, that day will never come.Never forget what the impact of your words are on the people around you. We’re everywhere.
• Controlling Your Black Dog (canislupuspc.wordpress.com)
  I did this through a mixture of the following things. They worked for me but may not work for you.
  1. Education and awareness
  2. Music
  3. Identifying the cause and doing something about it
  4. Exercise.

  I will briefly explain each of the four stages and how it has helped and is still helping me to control my black dog in hope that somebody might benefit from it and begin to gain some control over their own black dog.

• Open Letter Re: This Morning Feature on Depression (madinamerica.com)
  Regarding Nicola, you again pushed the use of long-term drugs, saying it ‘gets you back to normal.’ Drugs cannot make you ‘normal’, as their very mode of action is to impair true normal brain functioning.  You are making yet another recommendation for drugs to correct an imbalance that has never been consistently found and shown to cause depression. Quite the opposite in fact: Research has shown that psychiatric drugs do indeed create ‘perturbations in neurotransmitter functioning’ thereby affecting normal homeostatic mechanisms that exist in the brain, which in the long term can cause permanent neural dysfunction (Hyman 1996). As a result, we feel Nicola would clearly have benefitted more from intensive talking therapy to explore her underlying fears and anxiety, and certainly from the support of caring friends and family rather than resort to long term ADs.The notion of a ‘chemical imbalance’ is now a fairly outdated view, and it is irresponsible and unethical to continue to indicate to the public they suffer from an imbalance where non has ever been consistently found and replicated within the peer reviewed professional journals.
• Confessions of a depressed comic (thesecretkeeper.net)
  Television, the news, media, fictional films and stories, distort how people are who suffer from depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, agoraphobia, panic disorders, the list is so long the DSM-5 has over 300 diagnoses. Before anyone judges anyone, be sure you are not amongst those who have their own mental condition in which to deal.