So there is no image, no medium upon which it appears, and no little perceiver to look at it. None of that exists when we physically examine the biology. Upon further examination we find that the biology is in direct contact with its environment, the perceiver in direct contact with perceived, no gap between them.

I don’t think the concept of wage slavery adequately describes the relationship. The employer has never forced me to work against my will; I have never been bound to conditions without my consent; i am payed for my services; If I don’t like the conditions I can leave. There just isn’t enough slavery involved there to call it that.

What image? If someone is to proclaim that an image exists between the perceiver and that which is perceived he should be able to produce this image, or at least describe the medium it is appears upon. But he cannot.

So why should we insert this image into our discourse it those who assert it is there are unable to produce it or even point to it?

You're right; there is not much one can say to the man who loves his employment that can convince him he should hate it. I think this is true of all relationships.

Employees are happy or not with the relationship to varying degrees, sometimes loving it sometimes hating it, but there can be nothing wrong with the arrangement so long as it is one of voluntary contract and both parties hold up their end of the bargain. This is why I cringe whenever critics declare that one party to this contract deserves public scorn while the other deserves public protection.

The principle of voluntary cooperation, wherever found, but especially in trade, is morally sound. The involuntary and coercive cooperation produced by the regulatory and legal institutions are not.

We do not need to evoke images to describe the difference between how the dog sees and how the human sees, is what I meant.

The way the dog sees the bird is different. Since the biology of a dog is different than ours, it interacts with the world differently than we do. We do not need to insert some image between that which sees and that which is seen.

Nor is it my invention, that you can't have absolute freedom in a society in pretty much anything without that freedom starting to interfere with the freedom of others. It's not that complex to understand that if we just gave everyone total freedom of speech with no restrictions, then some could and would use that freedom to remove other peoples freedom of speech. The simplest way would be just to yell over them. Or starting to spread harmful lies about those they want to silence. Or maybe they would simply join and make a total shitstorm of every conversation the people they want to silence are having. The options are endless.

We should be careful not to ascribe the word “freedom” to activities that seek to prohibit or interfere with freedom. For example, yelling over people, heckling them, defacing their writing, or otherwise attempting to impede someone’s speech with your own is censorship, not free speech. The principle of free speech demands that you do not engage in such activity, even if it manifests as some form of expression. When your intention is to impede or suppress someone’s activity with your own you are engaging in the opposite of freedom.

The solution has already been put into effect: the liberation of women. The birthrates are already falling worldwide, so any proposed solution is probably stupid, arbitrary and totalitarian.

I never said you can perceive visually through your entire body.

No I cannot.

If beliefs were arbitrary we might believe things that were probably false, like the world is made out of cheese. But they’re not arbitrary; we believe things for certain reasons.

Right, it’s the etymological fallacy. A genius, then, is literally a tutelary spirit. Far from wisdom, it’s poor thinking.

Blindsight is essentially when a person doesn't perceive anything in front of their eyes due to brain damage, yet better than chance they can "guess" what is there somehow. Surely all of our knowledge isn't gained strickly from perceptions from our senses? Perhaps we can gain knowledge from things we can't even perceive is there?

One perceives through other organs besides the eyes. He perceives through his entire body.

By their own admission, there was a shadow campaign to alter state election laws and systems, securing hundreds of millions in public and private dark money to do so. They got social media companies to suppress “misinformation”, such as Hunter Biden’s escapades, which turned out to be true. They coordinated with the same activist groups who for that whole year destroyed many cities through the country. They convinced millions to vote by mail for the first time. All of this was intended to preserve election integrity from Trump’s withering criticism, which they absurdly labeled an “assault on democracy”. Instead of protecting the election, though, they worked behind the scenes to fundamentally alter it.

Given all this, I see no problem in crying foul and contesting the election, which Trump and his campaign did.

I cannot tell if that’s the CNN or the cocaine speaking. At this point they’re one and the same.

The only thing abnormal about it was the preconceived notions, led as they were by the silliest of media blunders ever perpetrated. The surprising thing is even distant foreigners who pride themselves on being above American tribalism were so easily duped by the Clinton propaganda machine. I’m still trying to figure out how such a person may benefit from being the unwitting participant in Clintonian propaganda, but I can never reach any conclusion.

Clinton, eh? I don’t understand the whataboutism but it’s not surprising given that you fell for and helped propel a conspiracy theory for a few years. Finnish meddling, I suppose. If there was an American civil war I already know which side you’d take.

Why ask me?

You said the riot was incited to keep him in power. Surely you know if anyone has been charged with inciting the riot, and their intentions to keep him in power.

It wasn't.

Was anyone charged and convicted of inciting a riot or insurrection?



Your definition says nothing about halting democratic processes, though, so I'm not sure what that has to do with anything.

Trump was in power on the 6th.

Were the riots outside of the Whitehouse in 2020 an insurrection, then?

Do you believe it was a violent uprising against the government?

They didn’t need to fabricate conspiracy theories to do it. All they had to do was get Clinton alone with an intern and give him a microphone.

Right, “an attack on democracy”. A no more fatuous string of words can be uttered.

The only insurrection and coup attempts were the activities of the deep state and anti-Trump forces in both parties and in the media, who spent the majority of their time trying to stifle, discredit, and remove Trump from office during his presidency, the will of the people be damned. Right now they are actively attempting to prohibit him from running again. So much for democracy.

The notion of “incitement” is magical thinking. Such a view of the nature of man and expression represents an overestimation of the power of speech. This is also true with any assumption like the one that expression can “bring about change”, even if the most rousing homily could never move a feather, let alone anything of greater significance.

We ought not to censor people for the simple reason we do not need to. We control speech, not the other way around.

I’m a registered independent. This party has yet to deceive me. If there is evidence of any insurrection I’ll be sure to doff my hat.

“Mostly peaceful protest”.

At worst, a riot.

Warren, who had received three shots of a coronavirus vaccine, added that she was experiencing only mild symptoms and was “grateful for the protection provided against serious illness that comes from being vaccinated & boosted.”

Booker said Sunday that he first felt symptoms the previous day and that they were “relatively mild.”
“I’m beyond grateful to have received two doses of vaccine and, more recently a booster — I’m certain that without them I would be doing much worse,” Booker said in a statement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/12/19/sen-warren-tests-positive-coronavirus-says-she-is-grateful-protection-vaccines-booster-shot/

More examples of fully vaccinated people with boosters spreading the virus. Now we know the claim that a vaccinated (and now boosted) populace will bring us out of the pandemic was a false promise. Politicians lied and people died.

There was no insurrection.

Of course. Only retired officers open their mouth ...and for a reason. Basically it's the Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that speaks on behalf of the armed forces in this kind of issues. And he has had to make points that usually one doesn't make. Like mentioning that the armed forces is there to defend the constitution and doesn't pledge allegiance to any person (like you do).

The retired Obama and Clinton-supporting generals weave media articles with their own fears in order to knit an anti-Trump narrative, which will surely become another self-fulfilling prophesy, like the Russia hoax and the insurrection hoax. There is no military involved here. It’s politics, and they’re trying to convince congress to punish their political opponents.

Hey, if you're a 36-year old mom and your 4-year old daughter is with the grandparents at another city for the weekend, you go with your husband to parrrty!!!

Not if you’re leading a country and should be avoiding contact with others, as your own government recommends.

In Canada you cannot vote for the leader of the country and the military pledge allegiance to the Queen of England. Yeah, it’s real great. At least In Finland your leader gets to go clubbing.

That's called doing their job.

They were retired.

The article is a trifle piece of deep-state dinner-theater, as are the others. But the generals finally get to the meat of the matter when they suggest odious state and military tactics to silence dissent and mutiny. It’s no good when the military meddles in politics.

It’s clear to me that these kinds of restrictions created a false sense of security among the compliant. But if the omicron variant is involved, it’s not clear social distancing measures would have stopped anything.

The omicron variant has been identified in two coronavirus cases in a Hong Kong quarantine hotel where scientists believe the virus spread through the air in a hallway.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/11/24/hong-kong-valve-face-mask-covid/

Cornell University reports more than 900 Covid-19 cases this week. Many are Omicron variant cases in fully vaccinated students

"Virtually every case of the Omicron variant to date has been found in fully vaccinated students, a portion of whom had also received a booster shot," said Vice President for University Relations Joel Malina in a statement.

As of result, the school has decided to shut down its Ithaca, New York, campus, where it has about 25,600 students. Cornell's overall vaccination rate among students is 97%.

[ … ]

The school has a mandatory vaccination policy for students, with exemptions for religious or medical issues. All unvaccinated students and many vaccinated students are required to take part in surveillance testing. Mask wearing indoors is compulsory.

Employees must be vaccinated by January 18. Ninety-seven percent of people on campus are fully vaccinated, the university says on its website.

"Cornell is not requiring members of our community to receive a booster at this time; however, as breakthrough cases continue to occur, we encourage you to consider receiving a booster," officials said.

An institution with a mandatory vaccination policy, compulsory mask policy, and surveillance testing has become a den of superspreaders. So what will they think of next?

For me it’s a matter of conscience. Weigh the good (the exposure of war crimes, transparency, knowledge of how the govt. spends our money, election meddling) with the bad (not sure what the bad is). If I ask myself if Assange deserves this treatment the answer is clearly “no”.

2. I noticed he's not in U.S. custody. So there's that. Here he'd be on easy street and he'd probably be out by now after community service; or found not guilty.

Manning was sentenced to 35 years. When the corrupt US justice system investigates, charges, and sentences someone under The Espionage Act, it is no joke. The history of the act itself is littered with free speech and human rights abuses.

By any moral measure, not only did Assange do nothing wrong, he was doing good. The United States government, it’s allies in Europe, are the bad guys in this affair.

This pre-print is interesting, though I wouldn’t know enough to dispute or confirm either way.

Evaluating the number of unvaccinated people needed to exclude to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmissions

Background:

Vaccine mandates and vaccine passports (VMVP) for SARS-CoV-2 are thought to be a path out of the pandemic by increasing vaccination through coercion and excluding unvaccinated people from different settings because they are viewed as being at significant risk of transmitting SARS-CoV-2. While variants and waning efficacy are relevant, SARS-CoV-2 vaccines reduce the risk of infection, transmission, and severe illness/hospitalization in adults. Thus, higher vaccination levels are beneficial by reducing healthcare system pressures and societal fear. However, the benefits of excluding unvaccinated people are unknown.

Conclusion

Vaccines are beneficial, but the high NNEs suggest that excluding unvaccinated people has negligible benefits for reducing transmissions in many jurisdictions across the globe. This is because unvaccinated people are likely not at significant risk – in absolute terms – of transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to others in most types of settings since current baseline transmission risks are negligible. Consideration of the harms of exclusion is urgently needed, including staffing shortages from losing unvaccinated healthcare workers, unemployment/unemployability, financial hardship for unvaccinated people, and the creation of a class of citizens who are not allowed to fully participate in many areas of society.