frank

I think your assessments are based more on sentiment than on facts.

It will cost 10% more. So helping the economy wasn't the point. Yes. You still can't have stagflation with a labor shortage. That doesn't make any sen...

What's wrong with South American economies?

You can't have stagflation and a labor shortage at the same time. What could happen is an inflationary recession, where the US economy contracts due t...

It leads to inquisitions where heretics are rounded up.

Yea. Americans will just pay more for coffee. We're going to have that coffee though. We can't function without it. Yes, but they're like economics pr...

The US went through the same thing. My old hospital, which had struggled for a while, finally went under after the pandemic. It was bought out by a bi...

I think John Locke's point was that if we believe that the One Truth is discoverable by rational means, we'll never be at peace, because people come u...

What do you mean "down"?

It's been noted (by the reddit crowd) that tariffs can't bring in revenue and simultaneously increase incentives to manufacture in the US. Those are t...

As a longtime observer of American shenanigans, I can tell you that the first step is always to look on the surface. Look at what the president actual...

It's supposed to be Korean street food, but it's terrible. I don't know what they were thinking.

Why was he tiny? Did they shrink him in one of those shrinking machines?

Dictatorship

Time has a crooked shadow. --unknown

He said this 6 days ago: Speaking at a Republican Party dinner in Washington, Trump acknowledged the 104% rate for China "sounds ridiculous" but insis...

What do you think counts as acceptable justification for belief?

Having sound arguments is only one kind of acceptable justification for belief.

I missed that. Do you know when Trump mentioned it? That makes sense.

Having sound arguments is only one kind of acceptable justification. There are others. If you believe P without justification, your belief is irration...

I believe that time slows down (relatively) near a black hole. I don't have a sound argument for it, though. I just know that's what experts say. Most...

I don't think rational is a property of statements. It's about the way a person believes or behaves. You believe P rationally if you have a decent rea...

:razz:

:up:

Maybe once climate change sets in that area will become a center of civilization. The peripheral islands will be the Americana zone.

That's actually American.

Why does Hague think Trump expected China to back down? Based on everything Trump has said, I would assume he expected them to do exactly what they di...

If you had to put your sentiments about the present situation in a nutshell, what would you point to as your main concern? Is it: 1. US withdrawal fro...

I think when you get older you get more complicated. The young revolutionary is still in there, but he has to contend with the older person who realiz...

Yes, but you can support liberal values and be opposed to murder. Liberalism isn't about letting people do whatever they want.

That's not a problem for Americans. Most Americans have no idea how the US appears to other countries, and don't care. They're just sort of oblivious.

No, he said he wanted to. He did not say he was going to.

Nice correction. Well done.

No he isn't. The SCOTUS said "facilitate" the return. They left out "effectuate." You guys keep crying wolf. When the wolf shows up, you'll have nothi...

Jennifer was supposed to get room 100 as her office after she was promoted to supervisor of planetarium maintenance, but exactly at that point, some a...

Pork chops? When I die I'm going to haunt the moist towelette museum in room 100 at the Abrams planetarium on the campus of Michigan State University.

I said morality isn't based on rationality because it supports both good and evil. You said that if it supports evil it's being misused. I asked how y...

What tells you if it's being used or misused? A rational argument?

I kind of object the word "moist."

A pessimistic view is that capitalists need freedom to operate, so they champion liberalism because it diminishes religious and governmental interfere...

This is art by Kelly Boesch. https://youtu.be/oodUCBWpICE?si=ufWmJkqQ7T9GHLAf

I agree. Maybe a person works better as a whole: letting the mind temper the heart.

That may be true, but such justifications tend to be supremely rational. Rationality is not a guide to moral behavior. If anything, rationality is som...

This is the crux of the matter. There isn't just one kind of life. In some environments, you'll have to be racist to thrive. In other environments, ra...

It's also possible to rationalize disrespect for others in general. I think that's why morality isn't based on rationality. People naturally rationali...

I read this during a rainy November vacation on the east coast not too far from the setting of the book. Grey days looking out on a grey ocean, thinki...

In Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman, the main character says she has set herself beyond the pale. This is related to her taking hikes in the wood...

It was an hour ago.

They're going to have a labor crisis in a few months and all the immigrant stuff should subside. For a while.

If you could talk to your younger self, what would you say?