Yeah, corral them all in one target on the East End of the Mediterranean where they’ll be safe.

How’s that working out for the Jews, Jake?

There’s nothing “indefensible” about believing it’s indefensible to use starvation as a political tool.

Tell you what: I won’t use Al Jazeera as a source if you won’t use Jerusalem Post.

How do you distinguish between people and sources like me who decry the actions of the Israeli government and people who simply hate Jews. It appears to me that, to you, there’s no difference.

You’re much more tribal here in America. People really like labels and grouping terms. Maybe it’s because you had to invade the land you live in, and had to manage indigenous peoples, so it’s a Cowboys a…[Read more]

@Jake I disagree with your perception of ‘lefties’. Perhaps we have a different interpretation of the definition of ‘lefties’.

I am a leftie. In my world view, equity is better than equality, women should be in charge of their own fucking bodies, we should…[Read more]

I think you’re posting in the wrong thread. This one’s about two cuisines.

The ideology of extremist Islam allows for terrorism and targeted assassination.

The ideology of the State of Israel allows for the subjugation and extermination of the Palestinians.

Not much to choose between them.

@Jake I like the weirdness.  I met someone who has sound synesthesia and listens to music whilst she watches colours dance.

It’s a fun oddity

“tumbless toppers”? I think you meant “topless tumblers.” Sexist!

We revere our pets because we have a relationship with them. I may name my cat or dog on the way home from the shelter where I adopted them. Even so, the name is incidental. You can certainly have and love a cat or dog or any other pet without bothering to even give them a name.

I call my cat “Squeaky” and I talk to her frequently but…[Read more]

Naming pets is not the cause of our love of them, it’s an effect. I would think that to be obvious. Apparently not, because one hears the “If we named (species), we wouldn’t eat it.”

It’s the role we let our pets assume in our lives that has us loving them and wanting to protect other’s pets and pet species as well through an unconscious…[Read more]

Isn’t it strange how the U.S. doesn’t have a “Muslim problem” but Europe does?

In France, young Muslim men have a hard time finding work and earning a living. Acceptance is low. Combine this with the lack of resources applied to help assimilate Muslims by teaching them the local language and giving them the kind of rights American Muslims…[Read more]

Interesting.

There seems to be some connection between bird navigation during migration and using quantum entanglement to “read” the magnetosphere. Of course, HOW they use this sense is a matter for more research.

I agree, malicious (and nonsensical) prosecution which any reasonable judge, I would think, would toss out of court even before it goes to trial as a perfect example of abusing the justice system.

Okay, but what is the motive for prosecution? What damage needs to be addressed?

After that, perhaps we could discuss the original topic.

People sometimes have a sense of foreboding that, say, something bad is happening to a loved one.

That aside, I’m not sure how anyone short of the lady depicted in the original post would know what the pigs are thinking. They could easily be reacting negatively to the circumstances of their transport. Being in a crowded pen that vibrates…[Read more]

Let’s bring this to an end. To my mind, gambling is the only reason there’s a horse racing industry and the presence of a profit motive is the main driver behind the race horse deaths. Take the money out of it, and the motivation to overdrive the animals will be greatly reduced.

However, like eating meat, horse racing is one of those…[Read more]

An idiosyncrasy is a “peculiarity or oddity of behavior or attitude.” What makes liking meat or treating some creatures differently from others “idiosyncratic” when it is so universal? As for the horrific conditions, our own lives involve horror, especially here in America where I very likely may die a horrible death because I simply can’t…[Read more]

Probably the #1 thing we could do to reduce the human footprint is to drastically reduce the number of humans down to somewhere what it was when those Siberians walked across the ice bridge into North America.

Blaming meat eating on Christianity is overthinking it. People were eating mammals, birds, and fish long before Abraham. Even in…[Read more]

I watched an OK Netflix movie the other day, The Mother starring Jennifer Lopez. It’s about an ex-special forces operative (JL) who winds up in the underworld of illegal arms dealing. She turns on her boss in the gang when she discovers he’s also doing human trafficking. She turns him in and he does time. When he gets out, he kidnaps the…[Read more]

Of the two, I’ll take RFK Jr, though I really wish Mark Kelly (the ex-astronaut) would run.

Biden seems dead set on getting us into a shooting war with China. If it turns out to be Biden vs. Trump in 2024, I can’t rule out a Trump win, even if he would be running from a prison cell.

But don’t worry, with the current “Censorship Industrial…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
@jake Concrete example of demonizing the enemy: We hear regularly on the Mainstream Media about Russian atrocities in contravention of The Geneva Conventions, sometimes with blurred out video, showing them supposedly killing Ukrainian captured soldiers and civilians. Anyone caring to go outside the mainstream can easily find videos,…

[Read more]

Concrete example of demonizing the enemy: We hear regularly on the Mainstream Media about Russian atrocities in contravention of The Geneva Conventions, sometimes with blurred out video, showing them supposedly killing Ukrainian captured soldiers and civilians.

Anyone caring to go outside the mainstream can easily find videos, blurred…[Read more]

If AI doesn’t kill us off first, we humans will kill ourselves off.

My guess is that our antagonism, justified or not, of adversaries will end us all. My guess is that ultimately a nuclear war with N. Korea will be the means to that end. Even if we don’t end up in a nuclear exchange with them, we can’t seem to do anything about the rogue…[Read more]

Human relationships can be a dreadful distraction and sometimes dangerous (especially for “the tender gender”). Speaking as a guy, a physically-attractive pleasure unit that would not distract, would satisfy my sexual needs, would not have a wandering eye, and would look 20 years old till the day I die would be tempting to say the least.

I…[Read more]

Good podcast. BTW, most people may not realize (by perhaps not paying enough attention) that McWhorter is a black man.

In short, alien godlike creatures in UFOs were the intelligence that designed humans.

Had more fun looking for the umlaut for my ë

Only 21 Assholes?

And i for one will not sit quietly as you and Enco hurl racial epithets and minimize their place and importance.

Jake I am not hurling any racial epithets or minimizing their place of importance.  Not by a long shot. I even said it in my post. The comment “ Maybe a lot of other things, but racist is not one of them” I also have deep resp…[Read more]

“Nite” and “night” are the same word except in spelling and the fact that one spelling is informal.

One of your better rhythmic rhetorics – could almost put it to a tune 🙂

Unseen: Your argument seems to be that determinism can’t be true because were it so, there would be no moral responsibility.

Not a clue where you got that notion.

Fine, I misunderstood. Put it in a correct or more correct one-sentence formulation for us.

Then…

Clarify. What is the difference between someone being responsible and being <…[Read more]

While not as impressive as America’s war production of tanks and planes, Russia exceeded the production of Germany several times over. Of course, they did it with slave labor, but hey, ya do what ya gotta do to win, right?

One of Putin’s biggest problems is the lack of enthusiasm for the war not only on the streets of his country but among…[Read more]

The conservatives talk like health care can be a “free market,” but how free can your choices be if (a) it’s an emergency or (b) your choices are opaque, or (c) too many (tyranny of choice)?

Health care isn’t subject to free market forces.

Cats do not want our approval. They want our body warmth, our strokes, and the food we give them. Plus, they want to be left alone a good deal of the time.

Unseen wrote:
@Enco @jake @robert So, I guess the consensus is that, yeah, sometimes war crimes are okay.

It would have been a much worse war crime not to drop the bomb, IMO.

I feel that a defending nation that has been violently attacked by an invader nation naturally has a softer moral standard because starting a war to gain territory, money,…[Read more]

So, I guess the consensus is that, yeah, sometimes war crimes are okay.

I don’t think there are any credible sex robots but there definitely are highly realistic sex dolls with mouths, vaginas, and anuses functional enough to be used.

Of course, why buy a sex doll or bot when warm-blooded sex is available from willing sex workers? Given the high cost of education in the U.S., there are attractive college girls…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
@jake – yes “she” is a real walkin’ talkin’ livin’ doll but she ain’t called Barbie. If consciousness is the manifestation of information processing then she is a lot less artificial that some of the….OKAY, I will stop there and retire to the dog house.

I wrote a song about that. I only sing to communicate it…[Read more]

If consciousness is the manifestation of information processing then she is a lot less artificial that some of the….OKAY, I will stop there and retire to the dog house.

Yes, people rebel against the feeling they are being forced or corralled into doing something. It’s all about perception..

Ethics are either relative in some respect, or else they are based on an absolute (Platonic ideal? Edict from the Godhead?). I am unaware of any third possibility.

If they are legislated, that is just a form of relativism. The legislature just chose what to sanctify according to their beliefs, whims, and/or prejudices.

If you’re not into…[Read more]

I totally get and support the notion that a woman’s autonomy over her body is paramount UNTIL a point in the pregnancy where a new life is far enough along that it is not her sole prerogative to determine the outcome.

If the baby is still inside her body it is still her sole perogative to determine the outcome with support of her partner (…[Read more]

It is just wrong to kill an infant. Infanticide a day after birth is more or less equivalent to one that is ready to pop.

I don’t think I have ever heard of a case where a mother was in a late third trimester abortion where they just decided they wanted to do it because they didn’t want the baby. That just doesn’t happen. It is almost alway…[Read more]

Belle, cuz i don’t think your position makes sense. At that point in the pregnancy it is a kid and the state ought to protect it.

Says who? Says you? In ALL cases?

Are you SURE about that?

What if they discover for example that the baby has its brain hanging out of his skull. She the mother be forced to deliver that? What if she d…[Read more]

Belle, for clarification of your position-does that change in the week before delivery?

um…no…why?

um…. Who said anything about slavery? So you don’t think that a message that basically says “don’t be envious of other people and think the grass is greener” is a bad message? Do you think we should all just be so consumer focused on “stuff stuff stuff” and just buying more stuff? Keeping up with the Joneses? Really? That’s a sure f…[Read more]

I’m starting to wish a Philosophy of Law course had been among my philo studies.

Is this ever discussed in law courses: Is having a right the default unless it’s abrogated or limited by law?

In other words, I have the right to buy mustard, engage in recreational sex, or wander near and far unless some law takes that right away or limits…[Read more]