classicrawker

Went to Normandy France a few weeks ago with my wife to tour the DDay sites and finished with the American Cemetery there....this was taken with my phone..

At the end of the day they blow tapps as they take down the 2 American flags flying over the cemetery.....It was a very powerful emotional experience  and gave me  a new appreciation for the sacrifices those brave men made for our freedom during WWII

Gary Sanchez crushes a HR over the scoreboard today..........man it is going to be fun watching him, Judge, and Stanton hitting tape measure shots this year.....I can't remember the last time I was so excited for the season tot start

https://www.mlb.com/video/sanchezs-mammoth-two-run-homer/c-1878656983

6 minutes ago, Iron MikeyJ said:

I actually covered this in an earlier post, lol. But that's ok. I was born Catholic, yes. But fell away during my teens and actually turned to Witchcraft and other occult practices. (I go more in depth in the other post, I'll copy and paste it). 

After my son was born I felt a STRONG pull to get my son baptised. So I went to the church for THAT reason, and that reason only, tbh. But then something began to change, I felt the Holy Spirit and the God's Grace. I couldn't ignore it, it's THE MOST POWERFUL experience I have ever felt, it's hard to explain. Similar to falling in love or birth of a child. I still get feelings from the Holy Spirit from time to time. Also Confession, is an EXTREMELY powerful sacrament, I can't describe the Grace I felt afterwards. Similar to being on drugs, the. But stone cold sober. Quite remarkable really. So yes, I VERY much have felt God in my life. So it's not a blind faith for me, it's a breathing, living force. Which the closer I get, the more I get attacked spiritually from the "other side". Been a week full of that, I'll tell ya...

More in a bit, when I get a minute.

Sorry to make you repeat yourself IMJ as I only skim this thread and don't read most of the posts as I am trying not to piss in the cornflakes of those who believe.....no need to repeat yourself and waste bandwidth......Based on the passion you have shown in your posts I had a feeling you were "born again".....I don't mean this in a negative way just an observation as I have met others with your passion and they were always born again...

More power to you if your faith brings you happiness....sounds like in your case it has been positive......I just hope your faith does not cloud your judgement and prejudice you against those who don't fit or follow the Catholic church's doctrines, i.e. being gays is evil etc...........If you truly beleive in Jesus then live and let live..............

1 hour ago, Iron MikeyJ said:

Yes to all, but some are worse than others. Like abortion is the worst. In pure thoughts about your neighbors wife being the least. Contraceptives CAN be allowed, but only in very specific circumstances. Some things are considered MORTAL or grave sin, while others are venial or minor sins. Think of it like crime, murder is worse than speeding.

With all due respect it is hard for me to fathom this kind of blind faith thinking letting the teachings of the Catholic Church rule your life.....................it is why I eventually came to the conclusion that organized religion is basically BS and just a tool for the church to try to control peoples lives and I became an athiest................

Don't get me wrong I have no issue with someone being religious as long as they don't try to force their beliefs on others.........

Just out of curiosity, have you always been this devoted to the Catholic Church's doctrine or were you were born again at some point?

32 minutes ago, Iron MikeyJ said:

They are ALL scriptural based, not just "Catholic teachings". Well maybe not ALL, but MANY of these anyways.

I COULD go in depth with them, but to be honest I'd rather not. I feel some of you may take offense.

I'll say this GOD defines what is moral, it's ALL in the bible.

So are these immoral  or not? You seem to follow the teachings of the bible so tell me if what I wrote are immoralities in your eyes based on the bible and your faith.................

1 hour ago, Iron MikeyJ said:

I was saying that while IT is possible to beg for mercy. It IS better to act out of love your whole life, and have faith, and DO good works. That's the preferred method. 

Again you mention "have faith" so if I don't have faith I will need to beg for mercy and forgiveness from God on judgment day if I want to get into Heaven? sorry to belabor the point but I am just trying to understand what you are saying.

Yes but who defines what is moral?

Is Homosexuality immoral?

Sex before marriage immoral?

Use of contraceptives immoral?

Having sexual thoughts about your neighbors hot wife immoral?

Is abortion immoral?

Because those things are verboten by the Catholic Church and their teachings

6 minutes ago, Iron MikeyJ said:

It's not based on fear or begging. Don't get that message crossed. It's based on love. 

But you said us atheists could beg God to let us into heaven on judgement day...........

On 2/5/2018 at 7:46 PM, triad said:

Greta van Fleet.  Heard them on the radio for the first time today.  Of course, I usually listen to books on CD, so I'm probably late to the game. 

Anyway, I like what I'm hearing!  Bought their latest EP.  

Great new rock band.....very retro 60/70's vibe for me....Two GvF shows at the Boston HOB sold out the same day they went on sale ....and a number of their show this tour sold out.......we may finally have a Rock band to revive the genre again...hope they don't flame out......

Original  1973 TMOQ label Rolling Stones "Welcome to New York" bootleg 1 lp vinyl from MSG, NYC 7/26/72 concert. 

It is only the second half of the concert and legend has it the tape for this boot was purchased from a Stones associate and are the mixes  for an aborted official live album from the 1972 STP tour. It sounds multitrack so the legend may be true.........sounds so good it could be an official release IMHO.......

2 hours ago, soon said:

I find cost analysis arguments to be lacking.  Not that I am in support of TSA checkpoints at schools.  Or gun ownership.

One side says: school childrens lives arent worth stripping our (supposed) 2nd amendment rights for.

Other side says: school children's lives aren't worth that expense.

But the fact is that the budget factor isn't a genuine argument, its meant as a hurdle to the line of reasoning of the gun people/NRA/Trump.  Id suggest that both sides insincerity is apparent to all and both are a barrier to real change.  Both abandon morality in hopes of a appealing to different groups 'bottom line.'

Never said it wasn't worth the expense just that it is impracticle and you are basically raising an army of underpaid school guards, giving them guns and placing them in the schools. The problem is the easy accesibilty of guns. Instead of masking the cause with brut force solutions eliminate it  by sensible gun laws and banning the sale assault rifles. 

You can't solve this problem by putting an army in the streets..... well you could but then we are one step closer to becoming a police state.......you need to eliminate the cause..........easy access to guns.....

2 minutes ago, Kasanova King said:

Yes it would be.  But if you knew it would potentially save your child's life, it's a no-brainer. 

And people freak out about the thought of TSA Agents and security checkpoint in schools but over the past 20 years there have been 100x more incidents of terror in schools than on airliners.  Think about that for a second. 

As Downzy stated the sheer number of schools needing protection would be prohibitive especially if you propose more than one TSA person per school...doing a Google search shows there are morre than 90K elementary schools alone and that does not include Middle and High Schools, Colleges and Universities...I agree Trumps idea to arm teachers is ludicrous but your plan would be cost prohibitive as you would need to hire several hundred thousand Agents.  The TSA has a hard enough time manning our airports with semi qualified people so where are they going to get a couple of 100K qualified agents to carry guns no less in our schools..........The TSA employs about 47- 50K people currently at a cost of approximately $7.6 billion back in 2012..what you propose is adding a couple of 100K agents which would cost 4-5 time that amount.............

1 hour ago, Dazey said:

I realise that. My wife and her family are Texans so I spend a lot of time over there and I actually love going to the range when I’m visiting.  I just think there’s a middle ground between a total ban on one extreme and utter insanity on the other. 

At least ban sales and private ownership of  AR15  Type Rifles that use large capacity ammo clips...you could regulate them and  allow shooting ranges to rent these types of rifles to people to shoot at the range.  I know some ranges around here do rent guns for shooting a their ranges and I believe you can even rent a machine gun to shoot.

I understand it would be difficult to ban all private ownership of guns but sensible background checks for pistol sales  do not really infringe on peoples rights I think and nobody needs an AR15 for personal protection or hunting.....

Watched Lewis Black's comedy special last night and got a laugh from these bits

2 hours ago, KiraMPD said:

What's this 'Dickey Amendment' thing all bout? CDC can't research gun violence? How the fuck did that ever pass? 

It was an amendment tacked on to an omnibus spending bill, by surprise surprise, a GOP Congressman Jay Dickey after lobbying by the NRA.

President Obama tried to get it repealed the next year, as  110 Democrats in Congress signed a letter calling for it to be rejected the next year but the effort failed........

Our politicians are wussies and too afraid of the NRA and losing their local elections should they stand up for tighter gun control........

1 hour ago, Padme said:

The NRA, WTF???

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/politics/wayne-lapierre-cpac-speech-nra/index.html

The man has no soul of conscience, but Karma is a bitch and he will pay for this someday........

Always thought this clip from the movie " The Book of Eli" summed up the Catholic religion pretty well for me and the use of the Bible by the church to try to control peoples lives.

For those not familiar with the movie plot the world was damaged by some unknown  catastrophe  and most of the bibles were burned by the survivors. In this scene the local strong man, Gary Oldman, has been searching for a bible so he can use it to control people like a televangelist and expand his power.

On 2/12/2018 at 3:03 PM, Len Cnut said:

Style is everything, without style you’re a geography teacher, without style you’re one of these fuckin Bumble-Bucket-Satriani wankers, lairyness is everything.

It dont matter if its uncomfortable, it looks cool!   Leather jackets aint comfortable, tight jeans aint comfortable, comfortable ain’t the point, looking like Eric Claptons bastard love child in drag is the point!

Beat me to the punch Lenny! I watched the Clapton documentary last night and Eric during his Cream days was the first thing that came to mind when I saw AslatIE's pic. All that is missing is an SG instead of a Les Paul

AslatIE please don't take my comment as a rip as I am not having a go at you...if you are going to be compared to any guitar player Clapton is not a bad model................think of it this way it could be worse.............you could have been compared to DJ Ashba........

8 minutes ago, downzy said:

Not for this Jans fan.

Maybe time to sell and rebuild for the Jays?

First day the Yankees took batting practice and the team opened the Tampa stadium an hour early so fans could watch Judge and Stanton take their swings. They estimate there were close to 1500 fans there just to watch them take batting practice. Judge hit 2 out and Stanton hit 4 but no HR Derby moonshots. Stanton  got a standing ovation from the fans when he left the cage which amazed him.......you're not in Miami   anymore Giancarlo!!..............

http://www.espn.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/97955/all-rise-giancarlo-stanton-joins-aaron-judge-for-first-round-of-bp 

In other news the Red Sox finally sign J.D. Martinez 5 years 110 Mill with opt out after 2 years.....it is going to be fun watching the Yankees/ Sox games again..............

Marquee 1987 

Perkins Palace 1987 

Ritz 1987.............I was at this concert........

L'Amour 1987....was at this one also.........

Israel has been making fresh from sea water for some time now

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/israel-proves-the-desalination-era-is-here/

First Yankee spring training game on the 23rd against the Tigers......really looking forward to this season......would love the Yanks to grab another quality starter but they have some internal options so ok with going into the season with what they have...I would pay  to see Judge and Giancola take batting practice......

JMO but future wars will be fought over fresh water access

18 minutes ago, Kasanova King said:

It's actually not.

But don't listen to experts on the matter. Smh.

 

And like I said, I'm not against better gun control.  The problem with the left is that they know little about guns, etc...so when they discuss gun control to the right it's the same nonsensical argument that the right has against climate change.  Do yourself a favor and educate yourself on guns before having a gun control debate.

 

So let me ask you this....is an M16 a hunting rifle? Because the  only real difference between the two is the M16 can fire short bursts with each trigger pull while the AR15 is single shot per pull unless modified.

Fun fact I heard on the History Channel, the reason the M16 was originally designed for short bursts was so the inexperienced US soldiers in Vietnam would not empty their clips too fast wasting ammo........

This  b.s. that an AR 15 is a hunting rifle was a diversion created by the NRA and gun makers  to justify their objection to a ban IMHO.  If you know the history of the AR15 it was not designed as a hunting rifle but rather to try to sell to the military and law enforcement......I am not against gun ownership by any means, and may buy a pump shot gun someday for home protection, but nobody needs an AR15 to hunt.....

1 hour ago, Kasanova King said:

And?  It would take about the same for a rifle as well.  They're made out of basically the same materials.

And the point is that you can modify regular rifles to mimic assault rifles...just like the Vegas shooter did.  

 

This video explains the differences between an AR-15, a hunting rifle and an M-16 assault rifle.  The guy basically says exactly what I said and that an AR-15 is much closer (in terms of the way it's made) to a hunting rifle than a real assault rifle.

 

And......the point is you implied the barrel of an AR-15 would melt down after several clips which is not true. Some one would have to fire hundreds of rounds continuously before the barrel got hot. That is more like an assault rifle than hunting rifle. It has the capability to fire lots of ammo before the barrel would fail.....

1 hour ago, dontdamnmeuyi2015 said:

 

Obama is now saying we need stronger gun laws. Well, what the hell did he do in the 8 years he was President? He didn't change any gun control laws.

 

Come on mate are you kidding? Do a little research before you make inferences Obama did little to try implementing  gun control............As Dazey said he was stonewalled by the Congress

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/jan/06/congress-blocked-obama-call-gun-control-mass-shoot/

That being said it can be controlled on a State level as Massachusetts has a ban on new AR15's  sales so you can't buy them here anymore and they just sent out a notice that bump stock are now illegal and you are supposed to  turn them in to the police here.