Contradiction of consequence It always is fun to point out contradictions. Here is your contradiction for today: Donald Trump has openly admitted his favorable views of Vladimir Putin. On one level this is understandable. Russian policy under Putin is masculine. Trump respects backbone, clarity, unambiguous stands on issues, and also thinks that America and Russia have many of the same global interests like containment of Islam. The USA and Russia, while it would be incorrect to take this literally, are -in some sense- at war with Islam. This is the case because Islam has declared war upon America and Russia -plus against the West more generally. And there are shared interests in energy, finance, immigration, and so forth. However, what about social issues? And these issues matter a great deal to both the United States and Russia. Indeed, Trump went to lengths to make it clear to one and all, during the Republican National Convention, that he supports homosexual "rights." Moreover, two people vetted for the post of Secretary of State, Mitt Romney and Rex Tillerson, are on record as favoring homosexual freedoms to do as they please. Mitt Romney said so as early as 1994 when he boasted that his views were even more pro-homosexual than those of Ted Kennedy. Tillerson was president of the Boy Scouts of America from 2010 to 2012. Although official BSA policy did not change until 2015, it was Tillerson who did the most to change that policy -to admit openly homosexual boys into the Scouts- which finally had the results he sought a few years after his tenure. Here is the contradiction: Putin, hardly a secret, is opposed to toleration of homosexuals. Indeed, there have been a series of new laws passed in Russia in the past few years that have done much to curtail homosexuals in that country. A big part of this has to do with the position of the Russian Orthodox Church, in common with eastern Orthodox churches more generally, plus other Christian groups in Russia, including the Baptists. These groups are strongly and sometimes vehemently critical of homosexuality. Putin has also invited Paul Cameron of the Family Research Institute to give talks to various Russian leaders and officials, which Cameron has done. Which is to say that Putin's policies toward homosexuals is partly "informed" by an American expert on such matters by someone whom Trump, if asked, would doubtless denounce. Uhhh, hasn't anyone noticed these things? For your consideration Billy R.
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