What's in the News? 2.0

[TheGlyphstone]

No - Onan's brother was 'wicked in God's eyes' (for unspecified reasons) and was struck down.  Then God invoked this tradition where, if a man dies without an heir, his brother gets his widow, and the first son is then the dead man's heir.  Onan was like 'I don't want to have a kid that's not going to inherit my family name, so I'm going to pull out.'  And then God was all 'Right then.  Bzzzzzt!'

(Also, I have to say that until I saw the word 'priest' in your 'Wat' post, I wasn't sure which incident you referred to - Beorning's, or Sara's.  This isn't a comment on your post, just the world in general.)

Ah, okay. Makes perfect sense.

[Kathadon]

There's a Biblical verse saying that abortion is fine, if forced upon a woman believed to have gotten pregnant from adultery.

So it's pro-abortion, but not exactly for the most progressive of reasoning.

Yeah.... nope. That is some God's judgment stuff there not "abortion". The Sotah is structured as a divine ordeal. And the myth that it was some kind of miscarriage medicine is just that. In the Sotah in Judaism cursed bitter water was just that, holy water mixed with dust from the Tabernacle. “The bitter, curse-causing waters,” contains the oath and the curses (magic) that accompany it, and ultimately determines the woman’s fate.

[Oniya]

The rabbis I've encountered are quite a bit more chill about the 'letter of the law' than the Christians that pound the Old Testament.  There's a concept called 'Pikuach nefesh', which states that 'when the life of a specific person is in danger, almost any negative commandment of the Torah becomes inapplicable.'  This does, in fact, cover abortions when the life of the mother is in danger.

[RedRose]

Contraception as adultery...  or does he mean will cause or encourage it?
I also don't see about IVF. I do know quite a lot of people who don't want donated eggs or sperm.

[Annaamarth]

Contraception as adultery...  or does he mean will cause or encourage it?

Encourage - because women can't control their urges.

I also don't see about IVF. I do know quite a lot of people who don't want donated eggs or sperm.

Those are the building blocks of life, and when you put the two together (or maybe before, depending on the theologian) you have a new life with a soul!  These things are sacred and it's wrong to play at God - these are meant to be His tools, not yours.

You should use prayer instead of IVF.


... Excuse me, I need to go drink a small glass of bleach to get this taste out of my mouth.  The perspective of the fundamentalists' perspective disagrees with me.

[RedRose]

Interestingly some ancient Greeks believed women couldn't control themselves and as such had to be set apart. I'm a big believer in "if IVF works it means whoever you believe in agreed with it" lol. But again I realize there are all types of point of views..

[Skynet]

Yeah.... nope. That is some God's judgment stuff there not "abortion". The Sotah is structured as a divine ordeal. And the myth that it was some kind of miscarriage medicine is just that. In the Sotah in Judaism cursed bitter water was just that, holy water mixed with dust from the Tabernacle. “The bitter, curse-causing waters,” contains the oath and the curses (magic) that accompany it, and ultimately determines the woman’s fate.

I can see that.

It still sounds like an abortifacient, albeit with supernatural trappings. The intent still reads the same to my reading.

[Skynet]

As a clarification, my last post wasn't intended to be curt or dismissive. Apologies if I worded it poorly.

[Annaamarth]

Former-President Bush speaks out against the current Trumpist Republican direction, demonstrates sanity.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/01/george-w-bush-anglo-saxon-donald-trump-republicans-texas-congressional-election

[Haibane]

This trial makes me ashamed to be a supporter of our police. There are truly some messed up cops out there, as there must be in all countries :(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-56979521

[TheGlyphstone]

Former-President Bush speaks out against the current Trumpist Republican direction, demonstrates sanity.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/01/george-w-bush-anglo-saxon-donald-trump-republicans-texas-congressional-election

He was still happy to do fundraising efforts for Trump and the GOP in the previous term though. Sanity only goes so far measured against party loyalty.

[Tolvo]

George W Bush will support butchering millions but he'll be polite as he publicly speaks and talks about how certain things are not acceptable. Reminds me of when McCain would speak out against Trump while voting roughly 80% in line with everything he wanted and actually supporting him but being like "Woah you shouldn't openly say this racist stuff. We're just supposed to support all the racist stuff in every way except openly saying it."

[Annaamarth]

Both of you make good points.

Just sayin' that reading that was a discordant moment for me.

[TheGlyphstone]

Both of you make good points.

Just sayin' that reading that was a discordant moment for me.

Ah. Was less so for me because I already knew Dubya didn't like Trump. He and his father both claimed they voted None of The Above in 2016.

[Blythe]

So as some in the USA might be aware, Republican Garofalo came under fire for an absolutely horrid remark during an interview about the 'good' in slavery. Of course, he backtracked immediately when called out, which will surprise no one. Still inexcusable on his part, and he's rightfully getting slammed for it.

And just when you think it can't get worse, another Republican named Martha Huckabay--this one yet another QAnon conspiracy spewing idiot-- comes to his defense in an unhinged racist political equivalent of 'Hold my beer, watch this!'

https://www.nola.com/image_d5a43426-aceb-11eb-9b9a-f36f9e3319a2.html

[Haibane]

Good heavens. How to basically totally misunderstand something and use a thousand words to prove it.

[Oniya]

Good heavens. How to basically totally misunderstand something and use a thousand words to prove it.

And dear gods, my fourth-grade teacher would have red-penned that thing so hard.

[Hades]

Because we can all use some light-hearted news I think, apparently Belgium occupied some French land thanks to the actions of a farmer who decided that the border stone that's been in place since 1819 was in the way of his tractor.  Who solved that by moving the stone several feet into formerly French territory and then never put the stone back.

[Beorning]

Because we can all use some light-hearted news I think, apparently Belgium occupied some French land thanks to the actions of a farmer who decided that the border stone that's been in place since 1819 was in the way of his tractor.  Who solved that by moving the stone several feet into formerly French territory and then never put the stone back.

Heh.

On a similar note, last year (IIRC) Poland kind of invaded Czech Republic. Because a group of Polish soldiers, who were supposed to keep post at a bridge over a small river between the two countries, decided to make camp inside a small shrine on the Czech side... Kind of humourous, but also kind of stupid - UE and NATO allies and all that, but soldiers just cannot move into a foreign territory just like that...

[Haibane]

I saw the Belgian/French border thing and thought it was comical. Sadly red tape must take precedence and the poor farmer must move the marker stone back so its in the way of his tractor again :(

I agree that thing about the unit of Polish soldiers is a problem and a bit more serious than an annoyed farmer. In places like the India-China disputed region such events are deadly serious and bloody (sad face).

[Haibane]

And now back to business with the bad news. Chauvin's legal team and demanded a second trial.... :(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56989757

[Kathadon]

The DoJ has asked for an 11% budget increase for 2021-2022. After this last year and their monumental failure on Jan 6th. Uhuh...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/us/politics/justice-department-budget.html

[Annaamarth]

At minimum,  that could be useful for running an internal audit. It takes money to make money.

Y'know... when it's spent right. Your skepticism is well-earned.

[Haibane]

Politicians acting like children again...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56984886

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57003069

So...just because your country's fishing boats cannot fish off X islands without Y permit you think its okay to threaten the innocent people living on those islands with cutting off their power?

I think this is a Trump-style rhetoric threat. Has Trump's way of acting rubbed off on previously sensible countries? Have we all plummeted to a lower level of diplomatic behaviour?

[Fox Lokison]

I would say the plummeting in these kinds of affairs was happening during Brexit. Lots of childish behavior from all shores at that point.