Soccer, sports and politics (R)

I heard your dad went to a restaurant and ate everything in the restaurant and they had to close the restaurant.

 

I already do that.

 

I can imagine how a culture of POCs that routinely gets bashed over human rights stuff by nations with Trump as a former POTUS couold over react from time to time and ask the wrong people the right questions.

Folks get tired of that shit and make errors.

Never mind my analogy. I'm not a professional.
It was a dumb move by folks who get paid not to make dumb moves.

 

1. We have very different opinions on the theory of progressive taxation. That's fine. I'm not entirely sure a Gulf oil state is going to win any contests on equal distribution of wealth, though, even against the United States.

2. On paper we do. In reality we don't, and this is fair.

3. I don't think a case can be made that this is better.

4. I think you're insulting my intelligence.

5. Fair. The United States may have one of the very worst health care systems in the world.

I do feel it's relevant that Americans can advocate for the US to adopt any and all of this under a system of free expression and (something distantly resembling) representative democracy. I have a voice in changing American policy, even if a small one what with scale and everything. So this is why I usually have a blanket statement about free and fair being equivalent to better, no matter how crappy our health care is.

 

This isn't actually true. US law requires a charge within 48 hours of arrest, or the person must be released. You're probably thinking about the period between being charged and the start of a trial. US law also requires a timely trial, but the definition of "timely" is fuzzy and being imprisoned for years before trial does happen, but is very rare.

Freedom of speech is a good thing. So I'm not sure I'd count this in Qatar's favor. Particularly in how Qatar implements this law to punish people for doing things that are completely innocuous in other countries, ie, rare a shirt with a rainbow on it, get stopped by Qatari police and threatened with arrest if you don't remove it.

This is more a matter of reporting. Qatari law blames the woman for a number of violent crimes against them.. Get raped, the woman is charged with sex outside of marriage. Get violently assaulted, the woman shouldn't have offended the man. etc. etc. This is particularly true among non-Qatari women. As a result, it is no wonder that women don't report violence against them.

 

My productivity today has been terrible. At least this thread has been tiresome enough to convince me to get some work done.

 

Good...I need a 4th for a match I'm reffing. You just have to stand between the benches but you don't have to do anything.

 

I’ve tried to be respectful despite knowing that I’m likely the only one with my views in this thread.

Qatar has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, including rates of assault, rape and murder. The US is nowhere near.

I agree with you that the level of public discourse, especially political freedom, is way freer in the US than Qatar. But that is only one part of a healthy society.

 

Don't worry about hurting my feelings.

 

Looking forward to US v Iran. May the best team win!

 

I’m thinking of how Saifullah Paracha, a green card holder for over 20 years, was held without charge for 18 years.

35 others are still held at Guantanamo, most of whom have been cleared to be released but the US still won’t let them go.

Anyway I know that most of us have an important football match to watch in a few minutes (aside from one poster who is boycotting it and whose viewing options are subsequently limited to watching Simpson’s re-runs instead). So I’ll leave this for another time.

 

It's also a lie.

At no point does the Koran, Torah or Christian scriptures explicitly condemn lesbianism. It simply isn't condemned. (Romans 1 in the Christian New Testament is debatable, but the context and phrasing raises legitimate doubt).

The only explicit references in the Koran I know of to male homosexuality is the story of Lut (Lot) related to Sodom. Yet, that story only became a condemnation of homosexuality after the 1st century AD. Prior to that, it was about social inhospitality (the men of Sodom attempting to rape angels who were visiting the city; Ezekiel 16:48-50 makes it clear that it was about treatment of people, not homosexuality). It was the Christian book of Jude, based on the Watchers Tradition incorporated in 1 Enoch, that transformed it to be primarily about sex - but again it was the attempt to have sex with angels, not homosexuality. It was after this time that it evolved into a story about homosexuality, which the Koran then includes, given when the Koran was written.

I'm guessing the Koran also does not explicitly condemn men (married or otherwise) having sex with an unmarried woman, such as a slave. Certainly the Hebrew scriptures do not.

I'm guessing the Koran also does not explicitly condemn having sex with children. Certainly the Hebrew and Christian scriptures do not.

I am trusting @Umar to provide specific explicit references for the Koran to indicate where I am mistaken. I admit I do not know the Koran very well and I am basing my assumptions on how worldviews work and that Middle Eastern worldviews were very similar.

 

Was planning on taking a half day of work but saw the forecast calling for heavy snow this morning so I just took the whole day and good thing cause I would have gotten jack done at the office.

 

Why do you hate America?

 

Is there any country that counters worse than the US? Watching a fine counter by Iran, way better than any I've seen from the boys in white. (Admittedly I do not watch much USMNT, but what I've seen this WC hasn't been impressive.)

 

You could have challenged him on #5, too. Not that U.S. health care is anything to be excited about; but there are a lot of families in e.g. Nepal suffering the consequences of Qatar's unwillingness to provide health care to its slaves.

 

Holy fvck - are those vuvuzelas?

 

I'm not sure about worst.. But the US does lack that final pass and quality shot on goal that a lot of WC teams have.

 

I'm not familiar with Qatari's health system at all, so I didn't have any knowledge base to challenge his assertion.

 

Sure. Final ball is the hardest to make in soccer. But for me it's the poor first pass that is more striking for this team.

 

But the reasons are always so clear -

"Don't do it."
"But why?"
"Because we say so."
"But why?"
"Are you questioning us? If so, we might have to kill you."
"But can you explain why it is wrong?"
"We don't have to."

Both parents and children know how effective such conversations are.

And going back to Umar's splitting hairs, the Koran in the Lut/Sodom story accuses the men of lusting after other men, implying the lust is in itself wrong. Having a strong sexual desire (lust) for another person is not a behavior, so Umar's attempt to say that the behavior is condemned but not the orientation is simply misleading, if not dishonest. Strong sexual desire for another individual (lust) is part of an orientation, not behavior.

 

Meh? In this game, I'm not sure the US will really have that many counter attack options. Iran is pretty much playing with 9 men behind the midfield line.

Side note.... Gggggoooooooaaaaaaaallllllllllll!!!

US 1 - 0 Iran

Pending VAR, of course.