tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447603865959500290.post8620087484394117430..comments2024-03-28T02:54:46.537-04:00Comments on The TOF Spot: Random Thoughts on the Orlando JihadTheOFloinnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14756711106266484327noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447603865959500290.post-29647514658214698952016-07-05T01:29:42.321-04:002016-07-05T01:29:42.321-04:00But the Irish and Germans also followed a similar ...But the Irish and Germans also followed a similar religion and culture as the descendents of the original colonists, compared to, say, Syrians.<br /><br />Do you think Syrian Muslims would compromise their religion and culture in order to live in Western culture, or at least become apathetic regarding the conflicts? It does seem like the Islamic world has some kind of spiritual strength, unlike the West: I'm not sure if enough Muslims would choose materialism and liberalism over Islam, at least in the "of the boat" generation.<br /><br />Christi pax,<br /><br />Lucretius Lucretiushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00685308727148242500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447603865959500290.post-16429344025216644712016-06-30T14:35:21.006-04:002016-06-30T14:35:21.006-04:00Yeah, they used to say that about the Irish. Yeah, they used to say that about the Irish. TheOFloinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14756711106266484327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447603865959500290.post-48434099178070513562016-06-30T14:28:58.700-04:002016-06-30T14:28:58.700-04:00Trump supporter here. Sometimes it's about pre...Trump supporter here. Sometimes it's about preserving what we have left of civilization rather than worrying about mere jobs, even though those jobs also have a non-economic value in cultivating virtue and should be reserved for citizens first or foreigners who are at least not so likely to raise terrorist offspring.<br /><br />Some of us are more concerned about the so-called equal needs and abilities of all barbarian nations, or the speculation that liberal governance turns anyone in the world into Westerners who will faithfully preserve our traditions (that irony) when we aren't the majority here anymore. Muslims aren't the only problem but they're the most explosive one.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447603865959500290.post-84056696633997211582016-06-24T10:06:57.760-04:002016-06-24T10:06:57.760-04:00Trump may not be an ideal candidate or even a '...Trump may not be an ideal candidate or even a 'good' solution to any of these problems. In fact, there may be little difference (to someone like me) between a Trump and a Clinton administration besides court appointments. But, there has never been an ideal candidate for either party. I thought Romney was a terrible candidate whose religious views I don't trust and whose political history was noxious. I still voted for him. <br /><br />The reality is that our election system ensures that only two candidates are viable. It is always a case of lesser evils, and Trump is clearly less evil (in a policy relevant way) than the toxic Clintons. Robertnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447603865959500290.post-48780995036676476602016-06-23T14:15:33.786-04:002016-06-23T14:15:33.786-04:00What a wonderful set of observations. Gave me som...What a wonderful set of observations. Gave me something to think about. David Griffeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06629314279592541401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447603865959500290.post-4593879936781282262016-06-23T07:22:41.205-04:002016-06-23T07:22:41.205-04:00I agree that Trump is a terrible candidate and com...I agree that Trump is a terrible candidate and completely unsuitable for the office of president. I am merely responding to the anonymous poster above who is providing a caricature of Trump supporters, either to project his/her own prejudice or because he/she fails to understand what actually motivates Trump supporters.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447603865959500290.post-31734231902200061492016-06-22T19:37:11.461-04:002016-06-22T19:37:11.461-04:00In my now-countless conversations with Trump suppo...<i>In my now-countless conversations with Trump supporters, defenders, and rationalizers, I find I agree with many of the arguments they make for Donald Trump right up until the point they say “and therefore Donald Trump.”</i><br />—Jonah Goldberg, <i>National Review</i><br /><br />Trump is not in any way a solution to any of these problems, not least because he himself has <i>been</i> one of those "high-donor corporations who want cheap labor" (I believe <i>his</i> illegal workers were mostly from Poland).Sophia's Favoritehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02871625814389904112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447603865959500290.post-10143128641423100352016-06-22T12:20:53.006-04:002016-06-22T12:20:53.006-04:00I'm not a Trump supporter, but it doesn't ...I'm not a Trump supporter, but it doesn't seem like you know any at all. Trump fans' xenophobia is mostly comes from fears of increased crime, whether from rape/murder/robbery committed by illegal aliens to acts of terrorism. In some ways this is a rational xenophobia in that illegal aliens do, in fact, bring more crime and strain social services. To the extent they fear job loss, it isn't from losing jobs to immigrants so much as it is to lower cost international competition. The anger comes from the failure of the government to enforce its own immigration laws. This failure appears more and more like a deliberate act by one political party to change the demographics of the country to its favor and by the other party to appeal to high-donor corporations who want cheap labor. They are also upset because of the administrations silly attempts to obfuscate that radical islamism is a motivating factor in terrorist attacks both here and abroad. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447603865959500290.post-16967808207338425862016-06-22T12:07:48.054-04:002016-06-22T12:07:48.054-04:00Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. It&#...Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. It's like the Know Nothings back in the 1850s who told the same story about the Irish and German immigrants coming to take away good Anglo-Saxon jobs. They were Catholics, too; so they didn't understand freedom and democracy. <br /><br />Now all the diners hereabouts are run by Greek immigrants and the dry cleaners by Koreans! All but one of my doctors is from India or Indian communities in Africa. <br /><br />When the Irish came over, they would get established and then send money home for their parents or brothers to come over too. This is what my grandfather's grandfather did. There were so many Irish working on the DL&W that the shanty town by the Washington NJ rail yards was called "Dublin." So has it always been. The golden door always did have a lamp beside it. I have ancestors who fled famine and revolution in Ireland and Germany, politics in France, and just plain old poverty. (My wife's immigrant ancestors had the good sense to come over before there was a United States or on one line before the ice caps had melted entirely. So YMMV.) <br /><br />A colleague was picked up by a driver at the Metropark train station a few years back. When they reached the corner at the top of the hill, the driver pointed at the Sikhs operating the pumps and complained, "They are taking jobs away from us Americans." The driver was from El Salvador. <br /><br />Of course, if you look around you'll find auto assembly plants for Japanese cars in places like Tennessee and Ohio. Up the Valley here there is a plant making Japanese cameras and another making colonoscopes. And so on. I don't hear anyone complaining about Americans taking away Japanese jobs. Or about the Canadians, for that matter. There's a plant making Fords in Canada. <br /><br />There simply aren't enough muslims coming to the US to make a difference in the jobs picture. If someone starts up a shop selling cell phones, whose job has he taken? There was no shop before that.<br /><br />At one time, there was a complaint that the vast majority of children in the public schools here in town did not speak English. They spoke German. That eventually changed, as the superintendent of those days (1854) predicted. So geht's im Leben, doch? TheOFloinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14756711106266484327noreply@blogger.com