jakelafort

Enco, retaking what was once part of the territory of a sovereign nation and super power? I think so. And Kiev was the actual center of Russia before Lord Novgorod the Great and until the rise of Moscow. Putin has a fondness/nostalgia for the lore of Russian history so i am dubious about your assertion. Maybe it is or was all of Ukraine or maybe…[Read more]

Unseen, if those wars are not enough Chicago is a never ending war. More lobbyists. More killing. Guns, guns, guns!

We have to protect our vital interests in all of those places including Ukraine which is what? Guns, killing, profit.

By the way sports fans Gun Runner continues to be the super sire.

I still think a diplomatic solution ceding a small portion of Ukraine would have obviated the war. It also could have engendered cooperation and in turn set a precedent for handling similar affairs. The two sides had a natural point of cooperation in effectuating a massive migration within Ukraine so that ethnic and national sentiments align.…[Read more]

The chuffing hour and the hurricane power.

Robert, has the hurricane made much of an impact in your area?

I concur in re Michael. No shots, no intimations, just respectful.

There is a natural antipathy between fervent believers and atheists. Each side tends towards incredulity as to the stupidity of the former and the blindness of the latter.

Robert, on one level i agree with Hitch. On another it is the power of indoctrination and a good brain that is simply overtaken by indoctrination or mental illness. I am of the opinion that if you met Michael and he did not betray his religious obsession you would come away with the impression he is a sharp cat.

Michael, how is it you believe when you can’t or is it won’t give us the shining prophecy on a hill?

If I imagine myself filled with the recondite knowledge/information that has evaded the masses and even the cognoscenti-and how inspired i would be to divulge my evidence. Yet you offer zilch. Is it because you know that the prophecy you consider…[Read more]

Michael, not much of an answer to Beanie’s thoughtful questions.

How about one prophecy, your favority, that demonstrates conclusively or by a preponderance of the evidence the validity of the prophecy. Not some half-baked ambiguity filled with generous interpretation-something the objective person (yeah a fantasy) would decide for the plaintiff…[Read more]

Swami give us prophecy.

The march of folly makes me jolly.

Jolly balls.
Jolly rolls.
Jolly unfolds.

I’nat part of what deTocqueville bitched about in terms of democracy. Tyranny of the majority. Stupidity of the masses.

So ya it is a legit concern Robert raises. And goddamn does murica have a great many morons.

Perhaps the majority votes as to it’s intentions or policy objectives and an outside group is hired that effectuates the worker’s…[Read more]

Part of the monologue is stupid. Our youth and ignorance against mores of the past is just a bad analogy. I agree completely with his take that humans suck. As i have said a gazillion times whoever holds the power is the fuckor and whoever is without is the fuckee. Blacks no better than Whites. etc.

I do not accept cultural relativism. We should…[Read more]

Good answer Robert. At least it makes sense to me.

I would also have experts in each area of political debate to grill the candidates publicly. No advance notice of the questions either. It is the best way to cut through the bullshit. Get to see how they think on their feet with hypotheticals, get a sense of the depth of their knowledge and…[Read more]

Robert, you wrote…if you do allow for true demand-driven capitalist competition and really tax and disperse according to need you could flatten the wealth inequality.

I understand the concept of demand-driven capitalist competition. But i am not certain what you mean by disperse according to need. Would you elaborate?

*addendum

The other thing about jobs is the status conferred. No need to elaborate.

The value of the job to civilization does not necessarily align with difficulty of qualifying in terms of aptitude, intelligence or education. Nor does the compensation for a job necessarily align with its value to civilization. So like everything else in human affairs it is messed up. That humans tolerate a few people making decisions about war…[Read more]

Yeah why?

Well Russia has a history of being backwards. In war they were always behind in weaponry. Without Peter the Great their efforts to catch up to the west would have taken even longer. Serfdom lasted a long long time. The Romanovs were vicious. The Revolution was vicious. Communism sucked. The people are diverse. The land mass is massive.…[Read more]

Thanks Unseen.

Twas funneeee

Simon says: The subject has made an agreement with the experimenter. Agreements have normative force: instinctively we feel we should stick to them. This is the manipulation in my opinion.

I simply do not see it. Authority v. decency is how i see it. And that is how Milgram saw it. Here is what he wrote.

The legal and philosophic aspects of…[Read more]