Faustian pact

Maizie,
You’ve got a kitten, how lovely. Our last cat, a Bengal rescue cat died last year and I really missed him during lockdown, but we made the decision not to to get another as we were travelling a lot and it wasn’t fair, despite our lovely neighbours who cared for him him when we away. Note past tense, we were travelling......

Thanks Maizie, I’ll take a look.

There's the thread about it here:

www.gransnet.com/forums/news_and_politics/1285981-Where-are-Starmers-famous-human-rights-beliefs

Right wingers are rubbishing people's fears but...

It's also strengthened by the bill to exempt the armed forces from prosecution for war crimes. (See army shootings in NI..)

The 'law and order' stalwarts don't really have much respect for the judicial processes of determining legality. They much prefer the 'shoot first, ask questions later' approach.

That’s interesting Maizie, can you tell me a bit more about the bill you’re referring to, I’m afraid I don’t think I know about it.

23 3The 'tyrannical government..

Apologies. The random numbers are the contribution of my kitten 'helping' me by running over my keyboard

rosecarmel

Its my belief that the right to carry arms was presented as a way for citizens to protect themselves from tyrannical government- But from where I sit, it appears guns might be used to protect such a government- And are on "stand by"-

Those that were planning to abduct the 2 Democratic governors thought the same .. And view the Democrats as a threat ..

23 3The 'tyrannical government' was the British government. The American war of Independence was fought on the American side by what was basically a 'citizen army' built from local militia groups. The fledgling republic needed to legitimise the carrying of arms. I have no doubt that they were worried that Britain might try to regain its colony by military means. I doubt if the Founding Fathers envisaged civil war or gun carrying nutters massacring fellow citizens whose beliefs they didn't share.

Although our route to it has been different, I suspect that the bill currently going through parliament, should they think it expedient, legalises potential armed defence of our own government against its citizens. As in the US, we have a great many very angry citizens who are aching to demonstrate against the current regime and a government which is openly working to frame demonstrators as 'illegal' and dangerous to the state.

Its my belief that the right to carry arms was presented as a way for citizens to protect themselves from tyrannical government- But from where I sit, it appears guns might be used to protect such a government- And are on "stand by"-

Those that were planning to abduct the 2 Democratic governors thought the same .. And view the Democrats as a threat ..

I agree with Whitewave, I think our culture is more European than American. I find the gun culture very strange, I don’t understand the need to have a gun in your possession.

I suppose I was thinking about more about films, language and tv series.

No, we are share far more in culture and belief with other European nations than we do with the Americans. Their language is diverging from ours as well.

In some ways America is the closest culture to our own
I think it has evolved far more than ours over the years.

I actually don’t think America is close to our culture. We have a language in common, but I think our culture is European.

What surprises me is how religious people are in America. A friend told me it was because there is so little state aid and people rely on the church to help them but I don’t know how true that is. How they can combine their faith with the right to carry firearms doesn't make sense either. In some ways America is the closest culture to our own but in many ways it’s totally alien.

There have been two evangelical pastors on CNN over the past few days who both supported Trump and now are supporting Biden , even though they are pro-lifers.

One said that a pact was made with Trump In 2016 that he would get the evangelical vote if he supported conservative judges, gun control etc. In effect they admitted a Faustian pact, as so much of Trumps rhetoric they admit does not stand well with their Christian faith like over immigration, white supremacy and racism but they were willing to support all that to get what they want.

I think they are beginning to understand what hey have done.

Oh, goodness. I read an article about that a few weeks ago but I didn't keep it.

As I recall it boiled down to the fact that he acknowledged they existed and made them feel recognised and wanted.

Strange, isn't it?

I gave up trying to understand how citizens vote in the USA after visiting three states in the run up to the last election. DH always likes a natter with a cab driver/bar tender/
or anyone to be honest, and some of their reasons were bizarre.

Crooked Hilary came up often.