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LT's avatar

Donald J. Trump is the modern day version of St. Patrick, driving the snakes into the sea. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

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Aimee Smith's avatar

Who did St. Patrick starve (Gaza and Syria) and bomb (Yemen) and jail for speaking the truth (Mahmoud Khalil)? Sadly, Donald Trump is using the faith the America First movement has put in him to target Israel's enemies and put Israel first. I don't think it is helpful to Israel in the long run either. Living by theft, terror, deception, exploitation and genocide will produce backlash after backlash. (If you are not aware of how Israel has done this, you should research things like Plan Dalet, Irgun, Hagganah, The Lavon Affair, the Nakba, All Patriots should really read Alison Weir's heavily referenced work called "Against Our Better Judgement" about how deceivers managed to get into positions of power in the US to use it to create the state of Israel to the detriment of the indigenous Palestinian inhabitants. Weir also wrote an excellent article about the racist extremist sect of Talmudic Judaism that Trump aligns with and his son-in-law and daughter belong to. https://www.unz.com/article/why-is-the-us-honoring-a-racist-rabbi/ There is much truth to the expression, "the devil is in the details." Do not uncritically accept the claim "is the only democracy in the Middle East" any more than you should uncritically accept the claim "vaccines are safe and effective.") If we live according to Christ's teaching, we can have peace. Did St. Patrick return to Ireland with hatred and vengeance in his heart for his exploitation and bondage? Or did he return in peace to bring Christ's message of love and respect for our fellow human beings?

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LT's avatar

Ummm, maybe you should take a break from geopolitics today Aimee, and have a Guinness instead? Just sayin’. 🍀

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Aimee Smith's avatar

Well, you started it by comparing a flawed compromised leader with St. Patrick. Just sayin'.

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J. Livingston's avatar

Send us a copy of your ground rules Aimee so we have adequate trigger warnings. Thnx

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Aimee Smith's avatar

I am not the one who is triggered. I am not the one telling others what to do. Just sharing my perspective. Is that somehow inappropriate in a comment section? Am I the one with unspoken rules? Seems like projection on your part.

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J. Livingston's avatar

Who started what, Aimee?

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LT's avatar

I’m down for a Irish Car Bomb at Dargan’s!

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Thomas John's avatar

That's an off comment? I'm guessing you're a few into the celebration.

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Pat Fish's avatar

I'm quite fond of the hagiography of saints, and there is an interesting detail omitted in this text. Patrick records that when he was trying to return to England and was initially turned away from the ship he watched as a brace of Irish Wolfhounds were fractious and unwilling to be loaded. Mine weigh 150-180 pounds, so you can well imagine a pair who are determined to resist could be hard to convince. Patrick went to the captain of the ship and said he could calm the beasts, in exchange for passage. And so it happened that he walked the dogs up the gangplank and kept them calm throughout the voyage.

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Brian MacIsaac's avatar

Thank you for the history update. I had heard his story before, but was due for a refresh.

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CarsAreBasic's avatar

Nicely done.

Have a great St. Patrick's Day.

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J. Livingston's avatar

Thanks for the background information about this very familiar saint- beyond our own current popular version. I understand there was no mention of driving the snakes out of Ireland which is in the popular lore, and used for comic effect today on Babylon Bee. Nice to be taken back to the origins story.

When visiting in Ireland I was also chided by a local about Americans making such a big fuss about leprechauns. I didn't dare tell him about wearing green and getting pinched. Looks like much Irish lore got lost or enhanced in translation, when traveling across the sea. Meanwhile, it is such a gorgeous and uniquely varied island to explore. Even the Irish potato famine has multiple versions, depending on who is telling the story.

But indeed, the Irish monks did "save Civilization" dutifully copying ancient texts in their very remote and austere abodes, which at that time was a pretty forlorn island. Now it is just achingly pretty.

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Thomas John's avatar

" Irish monks did "save Civilization"" That's a bold claim. But I'm getting more and more used to those.

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Polly Frost's avatar

On St. Patrick's I always listen to Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl sing Fairy Tale of New York. Okay it's a Christmas song, but it brings out the Irish in me.

Shane: “I could have been someone.”

Kirsty: “Well, so could anyone.”

Doesn't get more real than that. RIP Shane and Kirsty.

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Nancy Freeman's avatar

St. Patrick was definitely not a Republican .

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Aimee Smith's avatar

Nor a woke, grudge nursing Democrat.

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Nancy Freeman's avatar

To Aimee Smith….Far far better to be an intelligent concerned AWAKE Democrat, than a self-serving greedy Republican with your head in the sand up to your arse while your democratic freedom is being turned into a Putin-state, all for the personal pleasure of the uneducated felon in the W.H. Stick around…..he’ll get around to deporting you too on some false bit of stupid self-aggrandizing idiocy. Just remember: he’s a convicted felon, never even went to college, a bad businessman who has a string of bankruptcies, 3 wives who hate him…..WAKE UP YOU IDIOT REPUBLICANS….You are losing your freedom.

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Aimee Smith's avatar

But the democrats also ignored the 1st amendment, weaponized the justice department, enacted experimental gene therapy jab mandates, opened the border wide, and armed Israel's genocide and continued with the neocon Israel First project of vanquishing any country in the Middle East that does not submit to Israel. So, while I agree with your concerns about Trump, when are we going to stop pretending one of these two corporate Israel First parties is great and it is the other one that is bad for America? Neither party is willing to expose the abuse of bulk warrantless electronic surveillance that Snowden and Binney warned us about. Neither will expose the use of blackmail, spying and campaign finance by the pro-Israel lobby to control out government and make us all subject to Israel's whims. Both are willing to justify the expansion of the AI 5g mediated surveillance infrastructure that will enslave us all. D's says we need to spend all this energy making this system to save energy for the climate. Ha! R's to compete with China. Ha! I am sure we are all idiots about many things. But all of us can see through some of the scams. Let's pool our knowledge and work together!

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Nancy Freeman's avatar

Thank you Ms. Smith for a concerned human response. No has ever advocated that any President was perfect. Basically however, the so-called “excess” spending of Democrats goes towards helping the needy; i.e.,USAID ( which comes back to help us ), scholarships, Medicaid, Medicare, etc. etc. One can honestly say the Dems. do not line their own pockets or look to be honored as a dictator . There is nothing you can say about this present admin. and the unhealthy A-licking of the Republican

Congress that is good for the American public. Just look at the number of discontented Americans who reject the on-going fiasco, who gather and march. Why did anyone expect less than his eagerness to become a dictator? His background and past life were obviously PROLOGUE . We all knew he was stupid, inept, anti everybody except women from Sweden, a pure unadulterated RACIST……AND YET NOT ONLY DID THE UNEDUCATED AND GREEDY VOTE FOR HIM……you are still defending him! Shocking. Shame on you.

I repeat, I truly appreciate the tone and suggestion of your note. Thank you.

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Aimee Smith's avatar

Dear Nancy, Trump did allow his son in law in Chabad Lubavich, an extremely Jewish supremacist sect, to profit handsomely on the Abraham Accords deal. Musk has a conflict of interest in being tasked with cutting waste, fraud and abuse while heading a company that gets astronomically large government contracts. However, the Clinton Foundation was notorious for claiming to help others while amassing a huge fortune for their own use. The Biden family all had to be preemptively pardoned for what? Looks like pay to play corruption in Ukraine and China involving Hunter and Joe Biden's brother, not tax evasion.

USAID and NED have been used to foment regime change operations and "color" revolutions throughout the world. They are part of the CIA. While you can no doubt point to legit helpful aid programs or even well meaning people in the compromised programs that have been cut, there seems to be conflicts losing their sustenance as well, which is good for women, children and other living things.

Both administrations have been involved in the genocide of Palestine, retention of the completely extra-legal Guantanamo Bay, persecution of Julian Assange, and attacking Yemen for imposing a blockade against Israel until they stop the most aggressive degree of genocide of the Palestinians.

So I suggest we all take a step back and think about what morality we think the US should be based on and how we can get a political class that feels pressure to live up to that morality. When we are calm, we can do our best reasoning. Sure, it is terrifying. COVID mandates were terrifying. Deporting law abiding permanent residents for protesting genocide is terrifying. Getting into nuclear war with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine or Iran is terrifying. But we can't do our best thinking when we are afraid. We need to refuse to be afraid and think what we can do as one small person in one place to work toward a sane, moral and healthy society. That is my view. We should support people, be they D, R or I, when they do good and speak up when they are violating important principles. I have been trying to stop wars for 25 years with no luck. The power of network media to dominant focus and understanding of conflicts has been taken over and exceeded by social media. How fast did everyone in the US become a Ukrainian Nationalist in 2002?! If we actually help to make an effort against the actions in our name with our tax dollars and in our own communities, I think we have to go a lot deeper than championing the least bad of the major two corrupted parties and name-calling the supporters of the other one.

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Nancy Freeman's avatar

Ms. Smith, I forgot to ask you: please enlighten me….HOW did the Democrats “ ignore the First Amendment “? Specifics please.

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Aimee Smith's avatar

Nancy, the Biden administration demanded that social media sites censor doctors and others who raised concerns about the mRNA injections and offered safer ways to treat COVID. They also claim to have pressured to remove "Antisemitic" and Islam related content. The Supreme Court claimed those bringing the case against the Biden admin lacked standing! Dr. Aaron Kheriaty was fired for refusing to get the COVID shot even after he had already contracted the disease. If you look as his writing, you can learn a lot about the case.

They Biden admin targeted anyone anywhere near the Capitol on Jan 6 and charged people even lawfully following police orders. They seem to have had operators inside escalating the event as well. There were legit political prisoners, some held for years in solitary on misdemeanors, in the wake of that abuse of justice and at least one took his life.

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Tom Fitzgerald's avatar

Ummmm. This is the version provided by the Church of Rome. Mis en garde.

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Nancy Freeman's avatar

Ms. Smith….you keep talking about Biden ( citing no specific words or verifiable actions of his ) as though YOU VOTED FOR TRUMP BECAUSE THE OTHER CHOICE WAS BIDEN. I keep pointing out that Biden was not a candidate, but believe me, I loved the man. He spent his whole life doing good for Americans. He was not perfect. Do you know anyone who is?

I wish you would stop talking about the CHOICES you had when you chose ( I suspect ) voting for you-know-who. BIDEN WAS NOT ONE. The fact you keep using his name to smear a lifetime of dedication displays how little support you have for choosing “ HIS IDIOCY “ as our Prez.

You never have a good word to say for trump….just bad words for the Dems…..hmmmmmm, I wonder why.

SO…..WHY DID YOU VOTE FOR THE WORST PRESIDENT WE HAVE EVER HAD? And is he not living up to that truth…..a.million times squared? I think you listened to crappy people, that’s why you displayed a lack of good judgement. In addition to Maddow doing extensive research for her programs……check out her qualifications. ( Oh yeah….she and trump were buddies when she met him at Oxford.) she also has excellent guests. Listen to her for a week, 5. Nights. I suspect you’ll fall in love with her intelligence, her extensive research, her truth-speaking.

For some reason your last reply is not showing up here….i guess Buckley has to read it first…..so I’m probably missing all of what you wrote.

Later then.

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