2014-1462 Palestinian civilians killed (495 children), 72 Israelis killed (6 civilians)

I don't know too many liberal democracies where millions of people are treated like prisoners and second-class citizens due to their background.

The data for group affiliation is going back to 1980 and I couldn't find more recent reports.

Here's an FBI statistical report documenting that only 6% of terrorist acts in the US were committed by Muslim extremists. That trails behind Jewish extremists (7%).

I personally don't mind if someone who murders their girlfriend with premeditated intent gets a long sentence.

No problem, I enjoy these discussions. If you did want to dig further into that sort of reading, I might suggest starting at St. Thomas Aquinas. because he's really the name when it comes to Catholic philosophy and was very concerned with the soul. Probably a book that discusses and explains it rather than the primary…

It can't increase the deficit after 10 years. Since it's a complicated bill we'll have to see how it plays out, but with a large amount of money going in and tax cuts put in there, I very much doubt that this will beat reconciliation and qualify for simple majority. If it doesn't get that, it's dead on arrival.

No problem, also sorry in advance for rambling. The Church would say that agency is contained within the soul, and although a person may be physically restricted from exercising that agency, the essence of their will still exists outside the body, separate and before our actions and experiences. One would not say that…

I just came upon this and if you are still curious, it depends on baptism. If your child is baptized, which I assume she is if you were asking about communion, she is saved. The Church teaches that we and our choices don't give us grace, God does. It is wholly free and undeserved. We can't make it or win it, but only…

Some victims may have been murdered more than once…

To be technical, the bans haven't been ruled on. They've been blocked, which means that they are likely to ruled against, but there hasn't been any litigation past the temporary blocks.

To be honest though, what was the alternative? Schumer locked the Democrats into the filibuster without compromise. Calls were made desperately on both sides but nothing could happen. And the nuke had already been deployed on all other appointments. There's no real line in the sand anymore, especially without…

No, he won't. Russia's role in Syria is about much more than just Syria. Putin is trying to expand Middle Eastern influence through Iran, and randomly switching to the Sunni side would piss off Iran hard. Iran is a very nationalistic country and betraying them like that would likely poison relations beyond repair.…

Dividing the awards is a remedy to segregated roles dominated by men, not a cause. That would be like saying that the NCAAP scholarship fund is only for black kids, therefore it's racist, therefore we can fix racism by shutting it down. Their scholarship fund exists as recognition that racism is a complex issue both…

My point is merely that there are clear divisions by sex in Hollywood. Not the validity of it. Changing the awards won't alter that, it'll probably just take recognition away from a lot of women. To me, it's like offense and defense in the NFL. One side isn't clearly better than the other, but MVP always goes to a RB…

It's easy to insult Pras, and obviously he is the least talented of the Fugees, but he certainly added substance to the group. His lyrics were always a strong change of pace from the more serious, abstract stylings of Lauren Hill and Wyclef. He pumped in humor, energy, and a simple grittiness. It's not lovely or…

Even in your example though, there's a problem. Shakespeare. A woman is not going to get the role of Hamlet or Romeo in a movie adaption, and if they did, the discussion would center around the gender-swapping.

DS9 gets stronger as it goes along. Season 7 start soon to stumble but the end is really great, serialized storytelling.

Absolutely. Plus term limits would make legislators unanswerable to the people in their last term, think of the position as a stepping stone and not a job, plus pour those people out into appointed positions as favors or else into lobbying. Not really the best way to "drain the swamp".

I think it's funny that whenever people blast 'establishment' politicians, they always talk about how the politicians can't get anything done because they are all too ideologically-impure and dispassionate to get things done. The problem is the exact opposite, where they all seem to be petulant children who refuse to…