Republicans cannot be considered an american party at this point. Whats left is MAGA and the coward republicans refusing to stand up to MAGA. This is why its vital to vote blue, regardless of candidate in 2024.

Biden has said less than zero about Ukraine for many months. I'm starting to believe he is too impaired for the huge power he holds.

Nope, the Catholic group against abortion has HUGE power! Right wing to the hilt

A word about USA Latinos and Catholicism: the great majority of Latinos here are of Mexican descent. Whether they know it or not in the current generations, the attitude towards Catholicism has gone back and forth and probably affected their parents or grandparents view of it. Although originally aligned with the rich and oppressive, Wiki says: "during the long presidency of Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911) the liberal general pursued a policy of conciliation with the Catholic Church; though he kept the anticlerical articles of the liberal constitution in force, he in practice allowed greater freedom of action for the Catholic Church." So they have both traditions in Latin America - and hence the United states, which is sort of an extension of Latin America

Have y'all seen the current ad on social media threatening GOP to all line up behind Trump - or else? Thinly-veiled threatening

Your English is perfect

Your English is 500 times better than my Ukrainian, you and your people deserve so much better

No problem. My friend.

This evangelical Christian from America agrees!

And this Catholic from the Czech Republic agrees, too! 😊

And this Scottish Catholic as well! 🇬🇧🇺🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇦🇪🇺

👍👍👍

Sorry that it is hard for me to vote either of these two evils this November… just stay at home watching two evils duel.

@yisheng8829 What is evil about Biden, Black Epyon? What legislation do you not like? Chips and Science Act? Roads, bridges, rural internet, lead pipe replacement? What is the evil of which you speak?

@@yisheng8829 Because all that's necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing. And you are doing nothing, which is contributing to the problem while having a wank and convincing yourself that you did a good deed.

@@yisheng8829 I'm in UK, but from my pov voting for a party and leader on the basis "repugnant, but least repugnant of the available options today" is a morally defensible approach.

@@yisheng8829 you can only make a better world by voting against the worst evil

Did you get a close look at Jonathan MS Pearce’s face? It’s not clean-shaven; & I really don’t see what the condition of their facial hair has to do with the content of their hearts and minds?? 🤔 I just don’t get anyone’s objection to beards, since God made men naturally to grow beards. All the fathers of faith in the Bible; the Biblical prophets; sincere, observant Jews of all time periods; the apostles & all Early Church fathers had beards, because Christianity was an outgrowth of an observant sect within Judaism. I know different hairstyles for men have been popular often on throughout history, and there certainly were plenty of kings, prophets, teachers, professors, presidents, & Ministers of all types who have had beards. Have you never had any grandfathers or male leaders that you respected who actually had natural facial hair? If not, that’s an extremely odd and foreign experience to me! 🧔🏻‍♂️🧔🏼🧔🏽‍♂️🧔🏿‍♂️🧖🏻‍♂️👨🏼‍🦰👴🏼

I think there are a few other disconnects between Catholic and Protestant views of faith. Speaking from a Protestant perspective, we don't believe in papal infallibility, because all humans have and do fall short of the glory of God, save the only one who was God incarnate. In that vein, we also believe that a pope is a somewhat pointless position as each person of true faith has the ability to speak with God directly via the Holy Spirit. Indeed, God will hear anyone's prayer, including that of the most egregious sinner, if uttered from a position of faith. There are also a lot of trappings of Catholicism which caused the original schism that led to the Protestant Reformation. We generally don't believe in a purgatory and certainly disagreed with the sale of indulgences. Although I don't think indulgences are practiced in Catholicism anymore, are they? There are other points of theology and practice on which we differ but I certainly don't know them all. That's not to say that Protestants are correct in every respect either. Only that interpretations of scripture have diverged over the generations. Indeed, there are many branches of Protestant faith that differ significantly in their interpretations. Like Calvinists versus Arminians. It's not only Protestants that have a somewhat stereotypical view that Catholics "pray to Mary." I remember being in a gift shop in Crete and as I approached the counter with my purchase, the girls working there were having a very animated conversation in Greek. The girl who finally turned to me and realized I was American said to me in English, "Sorry, we were just talking about a recent wedding. Have you ever been to a Greek Orthodox wedding? Are you familiar with the Orthodox Church?" I replied that, no, I hadn't been to a Greek wedding and that I wasn't very familiar with Orthodoxy. I told her I was Protestant and that there is not a lot of Greek Orthodoxy in the US. I asked her if it was anything like Catholicism. She replied adamantly, "No! We pray to Jesus Christ, not Mary!"" I realize that doctrinally, Christ is the Saviour for Catholics as much as He is for any branch of Christianity, but there seems to be a perception of the worship of the Holy Mother whether it's true or not.

​@@prepper_nation_h I'm also a Catholic and I do have to correct a misconception you have about the pope. 1. We don't believe that you have to go through the pope to pray to God. We can all pray to God directly with no problem. The pope is not there to intercede between us and God. That's not his job. His job is as chief bishop. It's a pastoral/administrative/ruling kind of role. 2. Papal infallibility is also very misunderstood. It doesn't mean that everything he says is free from error. Not even close. The only things that are, are only things that are declared dogma and in matters of actual Faith. That's it and it's only been done about 5 times so the vast majority of the time, when the pope is just saying whatever, he can be as wrong as can be. Case in point: his views on Ukraine have been complete crap. He's not infallible on those things in the slightest so no, we don't think he's perfect or sinless or anything like that. Also, we don't worship Mary but I do agree that some Catholics can and do take it too far but that's on them and not on church teachings. And Greg is WRONG--us Catholics are Christians and many of us believe that we are here in the United States. He doesn't think so and he's also wrong about us too.

⁠@@racheldobbs2028 Thank you for your clarifying points! I appreciate everyone who has written in this thread. I have been Catholic, Conservative Protestant and now Anabaptist, & I do know people who truly love God with all their heart in each & many other types of Christianity. In my experience, there is much difference depending upon the leadership of each local congregation, and depending upon cultural/family traditions. In the last Catholic Church I was a member of, many people were involved in the Catholic charismatic renewal movement, were full of love and joy, regularly had wonderful Bible studies and tended to look more to the Bible and the Early Church for answers on how to live a godly & Christlike Christian life. But several other Catholic churches I attended were more old-fashioned, more formal and intellectual, followed a specific cultural interpretation or flavor of Catholicism, & focused much more on Mary than the Trinity. They looked more to family tradition, the written catechism and such writings as Augustine & Doctor of the Church St Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, or whatever they were taught in church school back when Mass was in Latin. People in these more old-fashioned churches were more attached to ceremonies and maintaining their community standing as having the appearance of being upright and respectable, while people in my last Catholic church desired more to praise and worship God, to pray and study God’s Word for guidance, and to put it into action by showing the love of God to others. We often did service projects and outreaches to poor and needy people. Some of us went on to become missionary nurses and doctors in very poor parts of the world. So I know from personal experience that not every local Catholic congregation is the same. In the last Catholic Church that I was part of, some of the brothers and sisters on staff were former hippies who were very approachable and easy to be real & honest with when talking about our own sins or struggles. They really encouraged us to give our whole lives to God, to live healthy lives for God & in service to others, to have accountability partners, to pray for each other in times of need/temptation, and to call them anytime. The group I spent the most time with there were largely college students (& some families with young children) in a university town, so many of us would be out of town for the weekend, but return to our dorms/apartments Sunday afternoon or early evening. To keep us included in the life of our church family, they often had candlelight mass for us on Sunday evening, singing praise & worship and scripture songs with a guitar or other acoustic instrument, sharing communion to each other all around a big circle. We often had weekend retreats that ended in a special way, such as going out to the beach or to climb a hill in the dusk of early morning, and celebrate mass on the beach or at the top of the hill during sunrise. We felt like a big family centered around Jesus! When someone shared a need in our group, people would get close to them and hug them or lay hands on them and pray for them. The head priest told me it’s not actually required to believe in purgatory, to pray to Mary & other saints and other such teachings- as long as we did look to faithful people in the Bible and in the past who had been true to God. He did teach us that these people were examples we should learn from. He was a very humble but wise brother, and sometimes when he and the other brothers were gone/traveling, one of the sisters on staff would lead our mass, and pre-consecrated hosts would be distributed. I received a much helpful, wise and Scriptural counsel from both brothers and sisters on staff in that congregation. They accepted us wherever we were, and they really consistently pointed us to Jesus as our role model for life. We even had fellow students who are from non-Roman catholic churches, and it’s there I learned that there are 23 kinds of Catholic churches around the world that are NOT Roman Catholic! And I learned that some of them have married clergy members,etc! I got to know people from some of these other types of Catholic churches, and it was eye-opening. So my time there really expanded my understanding of who is in the body of Christ. I know this is a very different type of Catholic Church than most people have experienced, but I really do think it was closer to the early church than most other congregations I have been a part of, until the Brethren church I’m in now. I also attended a liberal mainline protestant church for a time, and I do know there were sincere people there who really loved God and served people in the name of Jesus. But most of that Congregation did not seem to be very spiritually alive. In the end I realized that most of my friends there were more interested in showing off their new clothes at the “Sunday fashion show,” and trying to impress people of the opposite sex. Most of the people were only attending those churches because their parents, grandparents etc. had attended there for so many generations, or to look for a boyfriend/spouse rather than choosing to go there to learn how to be a follower of Jesus. I needed something more than that! It was after this that friends invited me to a Bible Study led by the Charismatic Catholics. So from my own experience and I know that God has His people in very many places, and that God is looking on their heart rather than their outward appearance or what the words say on the sign outside a church building. God alone knows who truly loves him with all of their heart. I also know several women who are staying in their marriages to unbelievers, because of the covenant promise they made when they got married. Some of these are in the more traditional, liturgical churches rather than Evangelical or Anabaptist. So I know that some of these women are staying in those churches because they don’t want to break up their marriage, they want to still keep their promises, and also be good mothers to their children. I cannot judge them based on which church they belong to. God alone knows who is trusting in him with all of their heart. I believe all of us who claimed the name of Christ should all accept each other where we are at, if we claim to be followers of Jesus. If we become friends, we will share our hearts and lives, we can encourage each other with scripture, and help each other keep our eyes on Jesus. So my experience has led me to believe that it doesn’t so much matter what the sign outside the building says, as the condition of each individual heart. God has his people all over the place, all around the world, even in places where every church is illegal!💙🙏🏼💛

It’s more about a sense of belonging in a group with a common identity.

I find the problem to be of too little information reaching the population of the United States and from what I've heard the rest of the free world. It's like the mainstream media has turned it's back in the horrific atrocities taking place within Ukraine. But the media skips over it day after day as it continues. Paying more attention to the likes of Marjorie Traitor Green.

You could try reading research or reading books.

That's why paying attention and focusing is important. If you feel overwhelmed step back, walk away from all of it for a moment, and center yourself. Then go back and only look at the actions not the words. Actions tell the truth words are all lies. If you are focused on all of the actions you will see what is really going on.

It actually takes a lot of effort to look beyond the loud voices and find the correct ones. Too much effort for some. I'm not sure many Americans have even figured out what they believe in, and whether it's worth living for. Highly moral/ethical people need to get their information from sources they have learned are moral and ethical. Some will listen to whomever promises them the most of what they value. It is what it is.

YES!!!! Absolutely agree.

"... they have proven they are not Christian..." absolutely. It's a contradiction in terms, like Communists promoting privatization or teetotallers selling whiskey, totally ridiculous. Note how radical and militant religion didn't help Christians all that much in history. Whenever Europe did manage to conquer bigger chunks of land, it was mostly for secular purposes. It's the same in Russia, all the "blessings" of tanks don't seem to be helping. They're losing them by hundreds and thousands.

Totally agree

American clumsy escalation management is poised to lead to nuclear war. Asshole politics!

The Republican party as a hole I've never felt comfortable with. But now that this MAGA cult has infested their ranks I find it hard not to totally agree.

​@@franksims6452I think he meant the ROC Russian Orthodox Church.

The electoral college is vital to US politics. We are a federal system and it serves an important role in preserving federalism. The US President is *not* the president of the people. He is the president of the states. People don't vote for the president. States do. The people of each state vote for the person they want their state to vote for. This is an important feature in preserving some sovereignty of each state to cast its votes in accordance with the goals of that state. The EC helps to stop the presidential race from becoming an extension of policy driven by the most populous and highly urbanized states. Small states have, per capita, a larger voice in national politics via the EC than they would have in a national popular vote. This is important because the federal government is the representative of 50 equal states of the union in global geopolitics and in setting domestic policy that can apply to all 50 states without prejudice. Small states really need effective means by which their concerns can be heard on the federal level. With the EC weighted as it is, candidates can not simply ignore the needs of small states without risking the loss of too many valuable EC votes.

@@prepper_nation_hThe EC college is an outdated relic. So no.

The divorce rate in Russia is 73%, it's 45% in my Godless UK.

Do you mean the approval of marijuana/THC for medical purposes?

@@SalyLuz-hc6he Not only. Free marijuana for anybody.

There have also been direct RuSSian Orthodox Churches in Ukraine, at least in the past. And many people in Every Slavic country are still members/communicants of and listen to the Russian Orthodox Church through Radio, TV and Internet if not in person. 100% spot on about Old Church Slavonic- thanks for remembering til the end to mention it! What do you think of the Ukrainian church controlled by Moscow? I’ve heard several of the common people say they were confused about the difference, because both say Ukrainian in their name. Many Ukrainians have just gone to the nearest church, & only recently with the dates of holidays beginning to change, and the fact that the Moscow controlled church won’t do funerals for Ukrainian soldiers who died, won’t pray for Ukraine to win, etc more people are gradually figuring it out. I know many people who only go to church for a baptism, wedding or funeral, or possibly Christmas & Easter. I think it’s very sad that many nominal members of Orthodox churches in Ukraine are still hearing ruSSian propaganda at church!!

In 2017 Vancouver tried to block F.Graham from coming as he promotes islamophobia and homophobia. There was a letter from many Christian groups including evangelicals to prevent him from coming here. He managed to come anyway. Then UK cancelled all his rentals for a tour.... I check he got his lawyers involved and overrode that recently. As CEO of Samaritan purse he makes more than the head of he Red Cross in America. His salary is over 600,000. Meanwhile Greg Terry said there is no admin cost taken out of our donations. Imagine what could be done with 600 thousand. He also says keep anyone who is part of the LGBTQ out of your home as they bring in Satan or some rubbish like that. He also expressed admiration for Putin around the persecution of the LGBTQ community in Russia. People are rightly critical of the Red cross . I do not know why this group gets a pass. As I said to my Christian cousin some Christians are purveyors of hatred. Please be aware there is a Crimean Tartar who is Muslim who is minister of defense in Ukraine.

I was wondering that as well -- where on earth did he get his ideas about Catholics?

My Evangelical Militant Christian brother and his Catholic Militant Christian childhood best friend are bonded over a Christian Jujad to take back the Holy Land. These kinds of relationships can happen in NY and Arizona. The Midwest and South are much more clannish.

My Christian parents also state emphatically that Catholics are not Christian. They see them as living under a delusion, and I think they think they would not be saved.

​@@sherrillwhately7586Ohhhh my, seeing the term "Militant Christian" for the first time and I want to throw up. It's a contradiction in terms.

​@@agh0x01They might use a bit of an oppressive regime LOL The traditional Protestant church of Czech Brethren my family belongs to had a horrible relationship with Catholics for centuries. Then, Communists came and the relations slowly improved because we were all persecuted the same way. It was the Protestant congregation in cooperation with the Catholic parish who were the first to start re-igniting public activities and charities in my town after the democratic revolution in 1989.

I go for weak too… misguided and lacking the imagination to perceive the scale of the threat.

I think he largely understands the threat but is completely unable to do anything about it due to not having the trifecta in congress

​@@ATPGeoHas he considered closing those gates in order to unlock Ukraine aid? Or at least supporting the Ukraine aid bill that doesn't include his border related poison pill?

@@SiliconCurtain I don't think Biden is weak. I don't think he foresaw the Republican betrayal of Ukraine. I sure didn't. It was a shock to me. I am put off by both Gerdes and Greg now, especially after today. MAGA keeps seeping out of both of them here and there. Just little MAGA leakages.

@@ATPGeo Biden doesn't have his hands tied, He doesn't need congressional authority to send arms to Ukraine. It's called the presidential discretion. He could authorize atacms, F-16s, more tanks - and tell his people not to say nonsense like Ukraine shouldn't attack Russia. Furthermore, Biden is only a 20 minute geriatric shuffle from Congress, how is it that the guy in Florida has so much pull in DC? And sorry for the long reply, but the house speaker is one of the weakest house speakers we've seen, the margin of opposition rule is only one vote. In any other circumstance, the president would have more power in influencing Congress. We have bad leader ship in the US, Trump and Biden seem to have vying horrendous Ukrainian policies.

Yes, you might be right, I hope so. Greetings from a Czech who's actually proud of her country after long decades 😊

Yeah, that was kinda dishonest.

Agree

Inauthentic, disingenuous, insincere might be useful words 😁

Atheists noticed but who among the religious believes them

Gregory Terry advocates the Lutheran approach to God. The protestants believe that nothing comes between you and God . The role of the Priest or the Pope as an intermediary is a block to that undrstanding and so the Pope,s complex hierarchy of intermediaries from priests to cardinals and so on...is seen as a nonsense

Yeah, I am too. I'm a Catholic myself and we're definitely Christians. It sounds like to me that he's very ignorant of what we actually believe including what we truly believe about the priesthood, the pope, Mary, etc. He doesn't know what he's talking about there

@racheldobbs2028 Thank you for helping me feel less alone in my confusion. I am married to a Protestant (who admittedly is as lackadaisical as myself) and have loads of friends both Catholic and not who would be equally confused by this gentleman's statements. The last time I checked, Christians are people who believe in Christ and that the 10 Commandments are the best societal model around, even if it is aspirational sometimes. Every Catholic I know is fully aware that the Pope is a guy, and even can be a guide, but def. is not God (albeit he is a man we are inclined to respect). But this is not the Middle Ages. We agree with the same basic tenets, read the same book, and this business with intermediaries and Mary sounds like something someone would exaggerate to that silly degree to justify making us look like weirdos, which is not very love-thy-neighborly. With all the actual issues we have with the truly incompatible values of other groups, why in the world a Protestant would speak so harshly of a Catholic is beyond me.

@@christinamuzzu6414 You're welcome. I sent a message to him. I hope he reads it. This silliness about "Catholics aren't Christians" kind of thing needs to end because we definitely are and we have other things to deal with than this.

'something is going on there'.. Trumps brain going through the final transition stages as he makes his metamorphosis into a dictatorship..

It’s far too late in the cycle for new candidates.

Absolutely. Our American Studies professor here in Czechia kept telling us in early 2000's how backward we are, having more than two major political parties. I thought he was wrong but I wasn't sure why. Now I know. Multiple-party systems are less efficient but also less prone to polarization and more open to changes.

or a better educated population

Under the construction of the US constitution, it's nearly impossible for a third party to get any traction. We're set up is a winner-take-all system. The best example I can think of is the second time that Teddy roosevelt, himself a former president, tried to start a third-party called The bull moose party. Bull Moose Party in 1912. And the only got 20% of the vote and didn't carry a single state, because of the way our electoral system is set up at the presidential level. Modern Republican party was founded in 1854 and replaced the Whig party, which collapsed after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act because of slavery so the only way to get a new party, would be if there were a similar collapse of one of the major parties over a huge wedge issue. I don't see that happening anytime soon. The only other way would be to amend the Constitution in order to Institute a system which would allow for proportional representation. But that's an extremely High bar. That's where the Constitutions only been amended 27 times in 247 years.

​@@martavdz4972and your professor was mostly right. The weakness in multi-party systems, is that their notoriously unstable. Mostly because of the fact that multi-party systems require coalitions to govern. And because of the differing positions, it doesn't take much for a coalition to break up, thereby instituting an entirely new government without new elections or sometimes they just call elections early. Look at the mess in France. Where is in the United States we've only amended our constitution 27 times in 247 years, France is amended their constitution 24 times since 1958. For all of its other flaws, I still think a winner-take-all two party system has a lot more advantageous than a multi-party system. However, in a winner-take-all system like the US, it's nearly impossible for a third party to get traction. Third parties can always compete in elections, but they never get more than 3 to 10% of the vote. On the last time a third-party tried to run at the presidential level, they got 20% of the vote but they didn't carry a single state, because of our electoral system set up at the presidential level in the Constitution.

The problem is that our political system doesn’t accommodate third parties very effectively.

Yeah, I don’t know what he was smoking when he came up with that one.

@@grahamstrouse1165 To be fair, most evangelicals probably don't believe that Presbyterian's are Christian, either!

It's one of the historical mottos of my country: "St. Wenceslas, appeal to God for our sake." (ora pro nobis) But I'd never thought anyone NEEDS to appeal to God through saints.

Would be nice to see a random person in the audience ask him about it. For now, I'm content with having seen him feeling incredibly awkward after an old Siberian guy invited him to his village to taste a traditional meal - sort of reindeer haggis 😄