While people are bickering over a border, I'm just waiting for Sleepy Joe to go to war with Iran and blow up the Middle-East to salvage his chances at this election. — Tzeentch

Are you predicting Biden will go to war with Iran before the election? Are you also predicting this would help his chances of getting elected?

Trump is promising a "perfect" border solution. Reminds me of his criticism of the (imperfect) Iran nuclear deal- he promised to get rid of it, and get a better deal. He succeeded only in getting rid of it.

Dec 5, 2023: House Speaker Johnson is insisting on sweeping border security changes in a deal for Ukraine aid

And now...

Jan 26, 2024: Speaker Mike Johnson calls Ukraine-immigration deal ‘dead on arrival’ in House
"Former president Donald Trump criticised the potential agreement being brokered in the Senate on his Truth Social site. The former president said “we need a Strong, Powerful, and essentially “PERFECT” Border and, unless we get that, we are better off not making a Deal"

It appears to me that Trump wants the "border" problems to persist, because it's to his political benefit.

I'm reading Robert Saplolsky's, "Determined - A Science of Life Without Free Will". I read some good reviews, but I'm finding the book extremely disappointing.

He spoke. You don’t like what he says. — NOS4A2

He defamed Carroll, and many other women who have accused him. And you're right, I don't like him doing that. What an odd thing to criticize.

As Carroll's attorney noted in her closing, less than 24 hours after the previous verdict, costing him a mere $5M, Trump again defamed Carroll. His disrespect for the verdict is just one manifestation of his general disrespect for the rule of law. At last, he received a tangible,well-deserved consequence for his behavior.

26 women are lying, while Trump's denials are beyond reproach, since he is always so careful to tell the truth. :lol:

Yes, it's totally irrelevant that Trump has sexually assaulted multiple women. Technicalies in the law should have protected him, and his right to degrade his victims. He's a celebrity! He's entitled to grab pu**ys whenever he pleases!

$83M awarded to Carroll in her defamation lawsuit against Trump. The amount he was ordered to pay in the first trial clearly wasn't enough to shut him up, but this time I think it's going to. Not a word about Carroll in his post-verdict angry tweets; just the crazy claim that it's all BIden's fault.

Words send us in circles. But for me, my definition of essence includes our biological makeup, which drives primary functions and attitudes, and, we obtain a large part of our essence from the way we have been treated by others. Some have a loving and caring essence, some don’t because of our upbringing. — Rob J Kennedy

Consider Rob J Kennedy at 10AM yesterday. Rob had a set of unique set of properties unique from all others. This includes Rob's genetic makeup which mutates over a lifetime, as well as his mental makeup - shaped by his lifetime up to then. Today, at 10 AM, Rob J Kennedy was a day older, with another 24 hours of experiences. Are there essential properties that Rob has on both days? What about on all the days of Rob's lifetime?

So there's two extremes regarding individual essence:
1) every property is essential to being that individual at that point of time; There are no accidental properties
2) No properties are part of an individual's essence - there is a "bare identity" (also call haeccity). Every acquired property is accidental. This would even exclude the set of properties that we regard as "humanness".

Personally, I choose option 1. The other extreme seems absurd, and choosing something in between seems arbitrary. So I challenge the notion that essence is even a useful concept, except for use in some thought experiments where we stipulate some fixed set of properties to analyze consequences.

if we consider biology as a part of our essence (I'm not stating that it is), doesn't essence precede existence as our biology is determined before birth? — Rob J Kennedy

Define essence. In particular, are you talking about the essence of "humanness", or what constitutes an individual's essence (that which makes that individual who he is).

Mr Trump will be in middle of a rally or debate, in full harangue, and despite being in excellent physical condition and of serene disposition... — 0 thru 9

ROFLMAO!

I predict just before the presidential election Biden will declare war, possibly with Iran. — jgill

If Biden were to declare a war, it would probably improve (isolationist)Trump's chances.

I do. I’m not making a case; I’m just sharing my beliefs — NOS4A2

You should join a religion forum.

Sure. And you believe the facts are so obvious that there's no need to present the evidence and reasoning.

It was far worse. They tried to frame the democratically-elected president for treason and waged a years-long coup based on Clinton campaign conspiracy theories that reached the highest echelons of the intelligence community and the administrative state. The riot on J6 was just their Reichstag moment. — NOS4A2

Oh my. I used to think you were a rational human being.

That is the way the US views this — ssu

That is not the way everyone in the US views it.

Yesterday, I received a disturbing email from my Senator (the less crazy of two from Texas):

Anti-Israeli rhetoric has spread like wildfire across social media. It's taken root on elite college campuses and even in some parts of Congress.

This past weekend, we saw the latest chapter in ‘blaming the victim’ as protesters gathered in our nation’s Capital to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

They carried signs that said, ‘Free Palestine,’ and ‘Let Gaza live.’ They accused Israel of being an apartheid government and outrageously went so far as to say the United States was supporting genocide.

I find it deeply disturbing to see this view shared by so many because it's completely divorced from reality. These protesters have the entire problem completely backward.

Hamas is not a victim. Hamas is the aggressor in every possible sense, along with its state sponsor, Iran.

But war is not just a battle of brute force – it's also a contest for public opinion.

Hamas goes to great lengths to shift the narrative and build sympathy, and it’s deeply disappointing to see how many Hamas sympathizers are trying to gloss over the truth.

We have a responsibility to call out and correct the falsehoods that are spreading across our country. We have a responsibility to make sure the American people understand who is the aggressor and who is the victim.

We have a duty to stand with our ally Israel as it roots out terrorism, just as so many stood with us on 9/11 when we were in Israel’s shoes.

For Texas,
John [Cornyn]

Don't envy the Americans when they are having to choose between Trump and Biden... and an option of a middle finger vote with voting somebody else. — ssu

The vast majority will have no problem making a choice between these two. A small percent will be disenchanted and either cast a vote for a non-viable candidate or not vote.

Do you think the same is true in reverse? Are you able to grasp Trump's accomplishments? — AmadeusD

Let me first clarify what I meant. I think intelligent Trump supporters could potentially grasp that certain things that Biden's done would be considered positive accomplishments by Biden supporters (or by liberals). That doesn't mean these Trump supporters would agree these are positive accomplishments.

And indeed, in reverse,I have some understanding of Trump deeds that would please Trump supporters. First and foremost: his judicial appointments -particularly SCOTUS, which resulted in the Dodd decision.

It's a very different question regarding what I regard as a positive accomplishment of Trump's, or Trump supporter's view of Biden's. But I'll bite on Trump: 1.USMCA improved upon NAFTA. 2. He forced the exit from Afghanistan. That's all that comes to mind, but there could be more, but the damage he did is (IMO) overwhelming.

1. The first half is relevant to the below - the latter half is my saying I don't think either your position, or theirs, is accurate to the actual state of affairs — AmadeusD

Still not clear, but I'd like to understand what you believe I'm getting wrong.

2. I was making fun of Trump's supporters - I do not think they would comprehend what's at hand

I'm an optimist. I like to think that there are some Trump supporters who could grasp why some would be pleased with Biden's accomplishments- even though they disagree.

Good information. Thanks for the article.

I do not think they would comprehend these things, and I also rest on the fact that both your position on theirs is probably not accurate. — AmadeusD

It was, in fact, the indictment you seem to be avoiding, of his followers ;) — AmadeusD

Please clarify both these statements. I have no idea what you're saying.

Technically true, but an indictment for his mishandling of national security documents was highly likely before he announced.

August 22, 2022 - Mar-a-Lago search warrant executed
November 15, 2022 - announced candidacy.

My understanding is that delegates are committed by the time the convention rolls around. I guess they could vote to change that rule, but I doubt they would - since (by and large) they believe Trump has been treated unfairly.

I think he's doing a quite exceptional job. — Wayfarer

And in this, consists a claim that is entirely incomprehensible to anyone who disagrees. — AmadeusD

It's true that everyone who thinks Biden's done a bad job is not likely to comprehend why anyone would think he did a good job. However, it's certainly comprehensible to anyone who examines the record.

Personally, I consider Trump the worst President in history, but I can comprehend the things his supporters find appealing.

Although there's a chance he'll be tried this year, there's very little chance the appeals will be completed. So I looked up the law on incarceration for Federal Crimes when there is an appeal pending. It appears to me that he'd be incarcerated after a guilty verdict is reached, as long as the prosecution actually seeks incarceration. So he could potentially take the oath of office from prison, and then his first official act would be to pardon himself. Still, it remains to be seen when any of the trials will actually start.

This appears to be the relevant law: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/3143 :

... the judicial officer shall order that a person who has been found guilty of an offense and sentenced to a term of imprisonment, and who has filed an appeal or a petition for a writ of certiorari, be detained, unless the judicial officer finds—
(A) by clear and convincing evidence that the person is not likely to flee or pose a danger to the safety of any other person or the community if released under section 3142(b) or (c) of this title; and
(B) that the appeal is not for the purpose of delay and raises a substantial question of law or fact likely to result in—
(i) reversal,
(ii) an order for a new trial,
(iii) a sentence that does not include a term of imprisonment, or
(iv) a reduced sentence to a term of imprisonment less than the total of the time already served plus the expected duration of the appeal process.
If the judicial officer makes such findings, such judicial officer shall order the release of the person in accordance with section 3142(b) or (c) of this title, except that in the circumstance described in subparagraph (B)(iv) of this paragraph, the judicial officer shall order the detention terminated at the expiration of the likely reduced sentence.

Then it seems you have some level of trust in the system.

From an external perspective, yes, but I don't see how this solves the problem that if it is possible for an uncaused event to "create" time, then such events should be multiply realizable — Count Timothy von Icarus

An initial state isn't an event, because an event is something caused by a prior state of affairs.

I'll add more theory, to give us a scenario to discuss. From a perspective external to the universe, there is no elapse of time. Sounds weird, but this is consistent with the Page-Wooters mechanism. These physicists theorized that the elapse of time is a consequence of quantum entanglement experienced within a quantum system, but to external observers there is no elapse of time. This has actually been experimentally verified to a degree. The universe (internally) evolves strictly in accordance with a Schroedinger equation, so there's no basis for claiming thngs should be expected to pop into existence uncaused.

Re: multiple realizability: The initial state could possibly produce multiple causally isolated universes, each of which has time elapse internally, but from the perspective of Universe A, Universe B is inert - and vice versa. (Actually, causal isolation implies other universes are undetectable, so this is fudging a bit).

No. It is a very real possibility, consistent with some interpretations of quantum mechanics. Some cosmologists have proposed models based on this.

Under such models, nothing "begins to exist" in a sense that implies popping into existence, because there is no earlier state of affairs into which something pops. Rather, it entails an initiation of change, which "creates" time - as a relation between states of affairs.

If this is the case, and things can start to exist, for no prior reason (they are uncaused), then why don't we see more things starting to exist at different times? — Count Timothy von Icarus

Not comparable. An initial state did not "begin to exist" within a state of affairs in which it previously did not exist. An initial state simply implies there is no prior state of affairs.

Fair point, there is potential for federal crimes, in addition to state crimes. However, DOJ investigated the allegations Trump made and informed him they found no crimes. Neither had state officials. Any beliefs Trump may have had were based on internet rumors. If Trump was going to play the role of investigator, as you imply, he needed to apply the same standards as police or FBI: predication was needed. Internet rumors do not suffice.

Your defense of Trump depends on assuming he's irrational and incompetent, neither of which get him off the hook for crimes, and both of which demonstate unfitness for office.

Given that he was the victim of the biggest scam in American history, the Russia hoax, — NOS4A2

As you know, the only hoax was the one perpetrated by Trump. It is appropriate to investigate crimes, and crimes were committed, including crimes by Trump during the investigation. Barr blocked charging Trump with those crimes, but they were well documented by Mueller.

Meta-laws are an unnecessary complication. It suffices to say that naturalism entails the fact that natural law accounts for all events in the world. Our knowledge of natural laws is incomplete, and often only approximation, but we don't need another layer of laws to account for this.

Naturalism is a metaphysical theory, and many of us embrace it, because it seems the simplest account of reality. Clearly, the natural world exists, and it's not at all clear that anything unnatural exists.

If naturalism is true, then miracles are impossible. If a true miracle were found, this would falsify naturalism. But how could one ever establish that one occurred? Refer to Hume.

I am openly not straight and being insulted for it doesn’t bother me because I’m not ashamed. — AmadeusD

I'm 70 years old, and retired. During my working career, I worked for a time with a guy who would fondly reminesce about his high school days, when he and his buddies would "beat up qu__rs for fun". He also referred to certain co-workers this way- always in private.

Words represent concepts. His concept of "qu__rs" was not the same concept gays have. His concept entailed perversion, disgust, and inferiority- so that it was right to treat them this way. I was disgusted by this man, and can't help but associating the Q word with this attitude. When a gay person uses the word, they aren't implying the same concept.

Similarly, when African-Americans speak the N word to each other, they do not have the same concept behind it as do white supremicists.

I would say you're an anti-theist, and a deist. — AmadeusD

I disputed this over many posts. Finally, I got it across to you:

Then you're not a deist. — AmadeusD

Relativist: "[Belief that a nonpersonal, non-interactive creator exists is consistent with deism as typically defined. I do not believe this, so I do not call myself a deist] And yet, you apply that label to me."

Im done. I've been over this three times now and you've outright ignored it to ascribe to me a claim which i have not made — AmadeusD

Yes, you did. See the bolded statement, above.

And of course, as is evidenced by the transcript, he’s looking for fraudulent ballots, the ones that were shredded, and so on. That’s entirely within his purview because he is expected to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” — NOS4A2

Still embracing those fraud myths, I see.

No, it wan't in the President's official purview, because elections are managed at the State level. He had a personal interest, and would naturally be interested, but he had no legal role in the process of vote tabulation and certification at the State level. He had the right to litigate. He did, and he lost. Then he tried to illegally pressure Georgia officials, who had faithfully executed Georgia election law.

You and I discussed the call before, and you seemed to think the State had some obligation to prove to Trump that the vote was correct. They had no such obligation. When I pointed this out, you stopped responding. As usual.

My main point is that it's more impartial that a bunch of Senators. Their tendency is to vote with their party. No one is struck from the jury matter how blatant their bias. That's why they are not appropriate gatekeepers to criminal prosecution. It makes it border a reverse bill of attainder.

In a criminal case, both sides will actively attempt to choose jurors they deem favourable, or exclude jurors the deem unfavourable during voir dire. — AmadeusD

These attempts consist of strikes, so they aren't selecting favorable jurors, they are only eliminating unfavorable ones. This process of competing interests leads to a set of jurors less likely to favor either side.

Judges also identify reasons to eliminate jurors for reasons associated with partiality or prejudice. It's their duty to protect a defendant's 6th amendment rights. Convictions have been overturned on appeal when prejudice by jurors has been identified.

I don't think it is much possible to warrant a belief in non-existence, unless logically impossible. — AmadeusD

Out of all the things that could possibly exist, very few actually exist. So something that is merely possible, has a low probability of existing. That's sufficient reason to conclude that a mere possibility doesn't exist: you'll rarely be wrong.

we have no idea whether the aliens have cryo-stasis technology to overcome time constraints - so if we're entertaining that they exist I don't see why we would believe rather than posit, that they haven't visited Earth. Its logically possible, and we have no reason to entirely discount it. — AmadeusD

You only increase the viable distance, you don't make it infinite. And greater distances means more alternative destinations, making it less probable we'd be the target. I don't want to debate the plausibility of aliens here. My point is simply that my belief that aliens have not come here is warranted by my belief that it's extremely improbable - so improbable that it's not worth considering.

[The chances of finding one with the exact shape (down to the molecular level) are zero.]
They are not zero. It is logically possible. — AmadeusD

It's zero. There are no rocks on the moon with the molecular structure of a cabbage. If there were, it would be a cabbage, not a rock. You could loosen the exactness of the required likeness and match any probability you like. So instead, let's consider Russell's teapot: we're warranted in believing there is no teapot orbiting the sun between earth and Mars, even though it's logically possible, but grossly improbable.

As it is, I have merely no good reason to doubt. But i could not justifiably believe it, as i've never done anything by way of investigation on that. — AmadeusD

I simply suggest that if you have no reason to doubt she's human, then you actually DON'T doubt she's human and ergo you believe she's not an alien. We all believe lots of things, even though it's logically possible we're wrong. Believing x does not entail believing ~x is logically impossible. It just means we feel we have sufficient justification.

I do not [accept that there can be non-evidential warrant] — AmadeusD

Then your belief in ~ solipsism seems unwarranted. But regardless, we've identified another difference of opinion regarding warrant, and these differerences of opinion are far more relevant than semantics.

That you're using a word wrong, making your label incoherent. It's like saying "A glass table made of wood". — AmadeusD

That's your opinion, based on your own semantics, so it's irrelevant to me.

If you agree a Deist cannot claim God/s are unknowable
then that precludes the deist-entertaining from being agnostic, as it is incoherent to the deism concept. Not sure what's being missed here? — AmadeusD

Here's what you miss: If you agree a deist isn't agnostic, then you should agree I'm not a deist.

You say you're open to deism being true - which means you believe that God is discoverable.

No. I don't believe God is discoverable. You have a far too rigid view of semantics, and it's impeding you from understanding positions that don't fit neatly into your semantic framework.

Belief that a nonpersonal, non-interactive creator exists is consistent with deism as typically defined. I do not believe this, so I do not call myself a deist. And yet, you apply that label to me. So your definition of "deist" includes people who don't believe a nonpersonal, non-interactive creator exists. That seems to me a problematic semantics, but you are free to define terms however you like. But don't accuse of having a contradictory position simply because of the problematic defintions you've chosen.

Contunuing...I believe it's a live possibility such a being exists or existed (not merely logically possible). I believe this solely because it has some explanatory power (this is what makes it something more than logically possible), and I do not believe there's further evidence waiting to be discovered that has potential to change me position.

I contrast this "god of deism" with a "god of religion" - a personal and interactive God who reveals himself and provides us with an afterlife. I consider such a god to be merely logically possible. It has no explanatory power beyond what the god of deism provides, and it's considerably less parsimonious.

Seriously? You don't think efforts are made to select impartial juries?

I could get someone saying it's not always sucessful, but there's no question that the effort is made and the result is better than seating a jury that is knowingly biased.