I love how the US simply skips fascism and goes right back to medieval fedualism including witch hunts and book burning. — Benkei

Red states do that. Blue states like California and New York are quite different.

Why would Russia be able to win a war of attrition with the EU and America bankrolling Ukraine? Does Russia think the West will tire of arming Ukraine? I can see staying in before the election in the hopes that Trump wins, but if the Dems win, is Russia willing to fight an attritional war for another four years and another 60,000 KIA?

I bring up KIA because the Ukraine situation is becoming oddly similar to America's adventure in Vietnam. In both cases, you have a strong power taking on a weak country, with the weak country being supplied and funded by other strong powers. A proxy war, in other words. Eventually, the American public soured on Vietnam, and by the time we left, we'd lost just about 60,000 soldiers. At what point is the Russian public going to sour on Ukraine?

Do you believe the reporting that Russia has suffered around 60,000 KIA?

I was wondering why she picked Walz, but then I watched him speak, and he's very talented on the stump, very folksy and much better than she is, so I think I know their strategy now. The whole point of Walz is to take the focus off Harris. Democrats, for all their DEI talk, would be thrilled if Harris could morph into a liberal Mitt Romney-esque white guy. They didn't want her in the first place. Black women are risky in American politics. White guys are safe bets. Dems think Trump is an existential threat, and they want to beat him more than they want to check off racial boxes. They don't want risk. If they could get away with Harris and Walz trading places, they would do it in a heartbeat, but they're stuck with Harris.

They can't say he's against abortion. He just said he's agnostic and to leave it to the states. — fishfry

Actions speak louder than words (and who, outside MAGA, believes Trump anyway?). People will remember it was his judges that got Roe overturned and know he will pick the same kind of judges in the future.

As far as words go, Trump said women who get abortions should be punished.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n-SgCndBWE

Now, I have been convinced that the only difference between democrats and republicans is in words — Eros1982

There are commonalities to the two parties and major differences. Some of the major differences:
- gay/trans rights
- abortion
- subsidies for green energy (majority of Republicans reject the science of climate change)
- raising taxes on rich
- gun control
- environmental regulation
- border control
- immigrants' rights (Dems want amnesty/pathway to citizenship, Repubs want to deport tens of millions of people)
- healthcare
- education (Dems are for public schools, Repubs favor charter schools and vouchers for private school)
- minimum wage

Now, why is it that Biden struggled to get a lot of that done? In our system, if you don't have 60 of your people in the senate, the other side can filibuster and stop legislation, and it's very hard for either party to get 60 senate seats. The last time the Dems had 60 senators, they used their political capital to pass Obamacare, for which they suffered catastrophic losses in the next election.

some young women ask me what I think about Trump, before they make any other questions. — Eros1982

I do this too. It's one of the quickest indexes of character I can think of. If I find out someone is a Trump supporter, I keep my distance.

Lately, I have started thinking that something might be really rotten with schools and social media. It seems that females and males are targeted differently by education, models, ads, electoral campaigns, policies, etc., to come to this outcome where a brother may be "far-right" and his sister "anti-fascist". — Eros1982

I'm an elementary school teacher, and I can tell you the education system was not designed for boys. I incorporate a lot of breaks throughout the day because I know my boys need to get up and move. I've been criticized for this my whole career. I'm told I should teach "bell to bell", but I'm tenured, so fuck those people. I do what I want. My school even banned football, because it led to fighting. I let my boys do it on the sly.

So, I think right from the start, boys sort of know the education system is biased against them. But before I go any further, I want to see if you agree with me that support for someone like Trump is an aberration that needs to be explained. That to a "normal" person (however we define that) someone like Trump is loathsome and reviled.

In Asia and Africa there are countries where the suicide rates between men and women are different and there may be a few countries where female suicides slightly surpass those of men (maybe Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, but I am not sure on this). — Eros1982

In places where women have not reached parity with men, I would expect the suicide rate of women to be much higher. Who wants to live as a second-class citizen?

The suicide rate for men is four times higher than women. I think men are struggling to find their purpose in life these days. Society in first world countries has reached a point where women don't need men, but men feel like complete losers if they can't get a woman. So they go down these weird rabbit holes, and the rabbit holes are all conservative in nature, pining for a lost age where a man could have a factory job, a decent house, provide for his family, and the Mrs would have his slippers and martini ready when he came home.

Those words do not imply rules have been broken. You’re starting to spread disinfo now. — NOS4A2

"Cheating" does not imply rules have been broken? Please. You can troll better than that.

There's a mysterious "they" who ordered Hamas to attack Israel? Russia to invade Ukraine?

Do you have any evidence or not? I'm willing to change my views on presumed consent if I see something compelling along the lines of what you're saying, but so far you're just talking out your ass.

It's your claim. Can you back it up or not?

Mayo clinic says that's a myth. You have any evidence to back it up?

Speaking of organs, I believe there is a moral imperative to be an organ donour. — Lionino

Should the state consider you an organ donor unless you notify them otherwise (presumed consent)?

I am still not gonna eat the bugs, I will use AC, I will drive a car. — Lionino

:lol:

But what about governments subsidizing things like solar and wind energy? If the atmosphere is capable of coming completely unstuck due to GHG emissions, shouldn't we try and reduce those emissions a lot? And what about governments subsidizing lab grown meat?

But I would be wrong for prioritizing your kid over someone else's kid. — Ludwig V

Good point. I agree with that. But what would a consequentalist say? Suppose we have a crystal ball and we know that one kid will grow up to cure a kind of cancer and another kid will grow up to become a drug addict and die of an OD at a young age, and we have to save one or the other. Should we prioritize the cancer curer over the drug addict? What about deciding who gets a life saving organ? If the organ is an equally good match for a 70 year old and a 5 year old, who should get it? Shouldn't the five year old get it? What about if an organ is an equally good match for two 30 year olds, but one ruined his liver by drinking, while the other came down with a rare liver disease. Should the drinker get equal priority? What if he's sobered up, but also has a history of relapsing?

A problem would appear in the following situation: saving your child or two stranger's children. — LFranc

I'm still going to save my own kid. It's hard to see a scenario where I don't do that. And I don't think I would beat myself up for that either. I guess if the fate of an entire city were at stake, I might change that view.

Right. A moral theory that says it's wrong to prioritize your family is not going to appeal to too many people.

OK, let's stick with moral innocents. Suppose I'm faced with a choice of saving my child or a stranger's child. Am I wrong for prioritizing my kid?

I do not believe everyone is equally morally valuable and so his conclusions dont apply to me
— Ourora Aureis

May I hear some arguments about this please? — LFranc

OK, let's start with the obvious. Was Hitler as morally valuable (and what does that mean, exactly?) as Jonas Salk?

Indeed, I was hoping my son would turn out like Donald, but I'm sad to say he's a cuck who doesn't grab pussy or cheat on his wife. And from the way he talks, it sounds like he values relationships over money. Fucking pajama boy

Wait a minute. Didn't Trump appoint Chris Wray? Surely, you can't be saying one of Trump's best people is out to get him.

No, I believe in environmental change (not just the UUUUH IT IS GETTING HOT part championed by the automatic masses under their corporate overlords). — Lionino

What do you think of this analogy? Is it possible the climate is like a large spinning object, say a hydroelectric turbine, and that enough small changes to the balance of either can cause rapid catastrophic failure (failure of the climate here would be runaway rapid warming)? What kind of odds would you give to the climate being that way?

It's too much estrogen for men to handle. Need to balance it out with Scott Kelly, a man's man.

This concerns me too. A society where someone like Trump is favored to win the presidency is not a healthy society.

If physics could describe logic, then could an alternate universe with different physics describe a different logical order? It would seem that logic would be the same, no matter what kinds of physics are in play.

Yeah, that is bait to get people to do free work on your theory. — Lionino

It's not hard to get people here to do your philo work. You don't need to offer them money. Just say, "hey, I have this neat new ethical theory. Try and rip it to shreds." And engage honestly and without ego.

Yeah, that is bait to get people to do free work on your theory. — Lionino

:lol:

What's the general beliefs here regarding Trump's culpability for the infamous events of January 6? — flannel jesus

I don't think Jan 6th happens unless Trump gives the speech he gave right before.

Do you think climate change, in the form of global warming caused by human activity, is an existential threat to the biosphere that we should be taking seriously?

Do you think this is correct?

"Air temperatures on Earth have been rising since the Industrial Revolution. While natural variability plays some part, the preponderance of evidence indicates that human activities—particularly emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases—are mostly responsible for making our planet warmer.

According to an ongoing temperature analysis led by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the average global temperature on Earth has increased by at least 1.1° Celsius (1.9° Fahrenheit) since 1880. The majority of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15 to 0.20°C per decade."

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/global-temperatures#:~:text

The NYT argued Biden should step aside because he might lose to Trump, not for any democratic reason. — NOS4A2

There is no "democratic reason" for Biden to step aside, except maybe that 70% of Democrats wanting him gone, but that wasn't the Times' point. The NYTimes wants him out because he's in such bad shape:

"The president appeared on Thursday night as the shadow of a great public servant. He struggled to explain what he would accomplish in a second term. He struggled to respond to Mr. Trump’s provocations. He struggled to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his lies, his failures and his chilling plans. More than once, he struggled to make it to the end of a sentence."

Which was my point. This isn't just about polls. Biden is unfit.

What do you mean by "his party"? Liberal media like CNN, MSNBC, NYTimes is certainly a big part of the Democratic party.

His party is telling him to step aside because he’s doing bad in the polls, and for no other reason. — NOS4A2

No other reason? Do you think the NYTimes is telling him to drop out simply because he's "doing bad in the polls"? Biden is unfit to run. He's unfit to be president. The debate was horrifying.

Probably. But apparently there's some internal polling Democrats have that has convinced them Biden will not only lose, but cost them the House and Senate.

What's undemocratic about a candidate dropping out because of health reasons? Shit happens.

Nobody cares about Covid anymore. I doubt he even has it. I think he's holing up in preparation for dropping out this weekend. Maybe he'll say Covid convinced him he's too old to campaign.

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-clocks-july-2023-as-hottest-month-on-record-ever-since-1880/

Do you think NASA is wrong?