Relativist

That partisan lens works both ways: who's defending the partisan rant? I can understand his reaction to a false accusation (if it IS false) most of us...

So is Ford's, and all she did was speak what she believes to be true. Worst case for her, she is misremembering who did it. Worst case for Kavanaugh i...

I think much of his reaction is due to this hitting home. Imagine if every woman he ever behaved inappropriately with came forward. He wants accusers ...

I agree. What makes me sadder is that so many people are perfectly fine with his behaviour. Rewatching the video of Trump ridiculing Ford, I was focus...

That may indeed be portion of the motivation, but if you set partisan motivation aside - there's still good objective reason to extend the investigati...

I'm going to set aside political motivation. I see two legitimate reasons: 1) the belief that no relevant new evidence existed. 2) further enquiry was...

This is worse: "Trump went on stage at a rally in Mississippi Tuesday, mimicking Ford’s Senate testimony and attacking her for gaps in her memory. “I ...

In August, (pro-choice) Collins met with Kavanaugh about Roe v Wade, and was satisfied with his assurance that he would "respect" the prior precedent....

Those are historical reasons. Consider that exchanging gold for other stuff sets each thing's value relative to gold, which then establishes their rel...

" What makes paper bills valuable? " Inertia and social convention. It was originally a proxy for gold (and one could ask, what makes gold valuable?),...

This seems significant. Kavanaugh allegedly contacted friends to solicit support against the allegations of Deborah Ramirez, and he did this prior to ...

I agree 100%. Worst case, he's an innocent man wrongly accused who is unfairly denied a job. Sad from his perspective, but lots of qualified, deservin...

I agree with almost everything you said, but disagree that Kavanaugh is necessarily being hypocritical about polygraph tests. IMO, this article makes ...

False. Look back a couple pages. I commented on each of your items. You responded, "The main point she seemed false for me." So it was you who ignored...

I don't want to get ugly, but my issue with Proto is that he gave a list of reasons he believed Ford was lying. At least two people (Dfpolis and I) id...

We all do what we need to do to survive (and avoid paralysis), and I'm not judging anyone for doing that. But by that same token, I do what I do - and...

The thing I think is ridiculous is the notion that we can choose our beliefs based on the potential for benefitting, rather than based on our usual me...

It will be a referendum on Trump, and the Trumpublican party.

"we should at least be theists based around Pascal's wager and leave “what kind of theists” for another conversation." To cover more bases, you should...

Her claims are already vindicated by her credible testimony. Has any Senator accused her of lying? Even Trump didn't do that after her testimony (alth...

Did Kavanaugh lie about the meaning of "devil's triangle" and "boofing." Has anyone corroborated his definitions, by checking with other contemporaneo...

1. It is common for people with fear of flying to fly (see: this) 2. No one remembers every gathering they ever attended, not if there's a number of t...

Good catch, and I concede that as long as there are no universe-variables whose variability is continuous, then you're right.

Indisputable evidence of a clear violation of laws of nature would work. e.g.: regrowing a leg that had beem amputated.

Absolutely, Dems should nominate a woman.

It's being done, and with a 1 week deadline. From the perspective of political theater, Republicans look stupid for repeatedly saying they couldn't ma...

Infinite time doesn't necessarily ensure repeating. Assume repeated big bangs but the initial energy level at the beginning of inflation can be any re...

That is true only if there are a finite number of possible worlds.

While I favor a thorough investigation, I question how likely it is this would produce sufficient evidence to tip the balance one way or another. On t...

"His guilt or innocence is completely secondary to both parties concerns" Sad, but true - at least in the aggregate.

It's not silly. Confirmation only requires 51 votes in the Senate. Removal from office requires 67 votes.

I agree with much of what you say, but disagree with your assertion, "What is important here is not truth itself". Truth is the most important thing h...

Excellent points. A great topic for a new thread.

Agreed - and this means it is reasonable that we all perceive alike (or within a tolerance). We don't "know" but we have no good reason to believe tha...

I agree about humans, but this has nothing to do with my position. My issue is that we can't assume some set of properties is instantiated in a real w...

Agree, but note that what exists is an instantiation of the abstraction: a real world object that has the properties described by the abstraction. I'm...

I don't see how anyone could doubt that Ford actually was assaulted as she described. It's less certain that Kavanaugh did it because there's some pos...

It seems to me to be a reasonable epistemic justification for believing in some sort of god(s). In theory, it is a sensing of the existence of god(s),...

I don't think leaders change the points of view of the public, they just make it seem more reasonable to express their views.

"Everybody (bar none) misbehaves at times. Everybody (bar none) behaves unwisely at times. Everybody (bar none) has their own memory of what did or di...

That's beside the point. If Ford is telling the truth, then Kavanaugh is lying to Congress and that's sufficient reason to deny his promotion.

I don't know if he's guilty or not. I was just saying that reports of his being a virgin during that period don't carry much relevance to me with rega...

I see at least three camps of Trump supporters: 1) pragmatists, who don't like his personal behaviour but very much like most of the policies he is im...

That's self-contradictory. A beginning has no predecessor, or it's not the beginning.

His alleged behaviour is consistent with a virgin who has repressed his sexuality. I went to an elite, boys-only Catholic High School in Houston, and ...

Few people wold fit your definition of atheist, because it conveys a certainty that most would consider unwarrantable. In addition, it diverges from c...

Does anyone think the following are both true: 1) Bill Clinton deserved to be impeached and should have been removed from office because he committed ...

Arguably: no, they aren't real. For starters, look at this physically: it is impossible to determine a position with any precision smaller than a Plan...

I agree, but I also believe we have an innate capacity for morality - one that seems rooted in empathy - and such a capacity is consistent with natura...

Jesus could only have knowledge by acquaintance of that limited set of experiences that he had while he lived, so God cannot be omniscient in that res...