Monday, June 26, 2017

It's a big deal, if true

Via Instapundit:  Trump declines to host Ramadan dinner, breaking 20-yr White House tradition

Top voted comments at Insta:
President Trump restores the 206 year old tradition of not celebrating the end of Ramadan dinner.

10 comments:

AllenS said...

A man with a back bone.

edutcher said...

Saw that.

Made me smile.

edutcher said...

And the best is yet to come.

SCUS upholds Trump's ban.

Thank you, Neil Gorsuch.

ricpic said...

Trump's got the best instincts since Reagan. Maybe better.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Actually Ed, the court was unanimous about the travel ban.

edutcher said...

All the same, Gorsuch's presence made it a sure thing.

Methadras said...

All I see is a very bright future with Trump at the helm at this stage. I'm fucking pissed to no end at SCOTUS for not taking another anti-2A gun bill that directly affects us here in California and San Diego County. Gorsuch and Thomas excoriated the court for passing it up again.

Amartel said...

Great day at the USSC.
No word yet from Kennediva.

Leland said...

I would think 8 justices all agreeing would make it a sure thing. As it is Gorsuch was actually part of the minority decision. It was decided unanimously to lift parts of the ban's ban, but Gorsuch lost the argument of lifting all of the constraints against the ban.

Fr Martin Fox said...

I don't really care about an "Iftar" dinner at the White House, any more than I care about a Menorah; but eventually, it gets ridiculous. Do you have a Kwanzaa candlelabra in the days after Christmas? What about Hindu holidays? Then we move on to the Sikh religion, Buddhism, Jainism, etc. Where do you stop?

Seems to me there are three sensible rules:

1. The family that lives in the White House celebrates its own holidays as it wishes -- because that's where they live. So I don't know if the Obamas celebrated Kwanzaa, and I don't care. But I wouldn't expect Christians to celebrate the festivities of other people's religion; and I would think that the adherents of these other religions would prefer it that way. Jews don't particularly like Christians having Seders, for example, and I understand that.

2. If you want to pay respect to another religion, you can be gracious when hosting adherents of that religion. So, if it is Ramadan, don't invite Muslims for dinner before sundown; or, you can have a late dinner as President Jefferson did. If someone wants to call that an "iftar," so be it; for most of us, it's just being courteous.

3. Finally, if you do want to have some sort of religious observance as a sign of respect, arrange for someone who actually believes in that religion to do it. So, for example, I would imagine if they have a menorah this December, the Trumps will let Jared and Ivanka handle that.

And, of course, let's stop with all the fakey-fake happy talk. If you want to wish people well on their religious holidays, great. But please don't issue statements that make a mush of things.