Men have been abusing women from the dawn of recorded history. I'm sure the abuse happend way before that. If you get a bunch of men and women together human nature is such that a non-trivial amount of men are going to violate the women. Tim wood thinks perhaps 100% of women can tell a story of sexual assault. I think he's right. All the women I know have horror stories about men.

:up:

Welcome to the forum!

Just as a side note, this is the intro to Flowers for Algernon, and it's always made me tear up:

Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind’s eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter light, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other; or, if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which comes from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into the den.

Don't you think men were 100% behind the two world wars? My reading of history is that Stalin and Hitler, to give two examples, were not influenced by women in their decisions at all.

Plato and Aristotle both knew—as I believe you do as well—that JTB alone is insufficient in dynamic contexts (though it may suffice in static ones), contrary to the dominant interpretation today. — DasGegenmittel

I was going to ask you if Gettier problems are really all that much different from the Allegory of the Cave, but I bounced it off ChatGpt first, and it didn't seem like I was making much of a point, but I don't know. They say all philosophy is a footnote to Plato. Is there some truth to that here?

I see climate change as a threat, but not really an existential threat.

I think that there is a lot of exaggeration going on. — Agree-to-Disagree

If you mean the human species will continue, I tend to agree. I don't see us getting wiped out by climate change. But I think we could lose a big chunk of our population if we don't get our act together. That being said, I feel sorry for the developing countries that are late to the party and want to expand their middle class with cheap fossil fuel powered energy the way the first world countries all did, and now they're being told they can't do that. Well, they're going to go ahead and do it anyway.

Oh, so you agree climate change is an existential threat? Or a probable existential threat?

I thought there was a 50/50 chance it came from a Chinese lab when it first hit. Now I think there's probably a 70% chance it came from a lab.

Let's say China is to blame. What is Trump going to do about it?

Do you think we can dig up and burn gigatons of fossil fuels for 150+ years and not have a catastrophic effect on the climate? Isn't that something a child would believe? Even if you knew nothing of atmospheric science and someone said, "hey, let's dig up all this coal and oil and natural gas and burn it year after year" wouldn't you think maybe that's not a good idea?

Those loans were forgiven legally

"The Education Department said that the relief was made possible via its work to overhaul the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

PSLF allows public employees, such as teachers, firefighters, members of law enforcement, and people who work for nonprofit organizations, to apply for forgiveness after making 10 years' worth of payments on their federal student loan balance."
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/18/biden-cancels-student-debt-pslf-program

I myself had loans forgiven that way may years ago.

I did not like that, but Biden never did illegally forgive student loans.

News Releases
Biden withdraws illegal student loan forgiveness schemes
This brings to an end Biden’s lawless efforts to transfer debt from borrowers to the American taxpayers
Post Date:12/20/2024
For immediate release
Biden withdraws illegal student loan forgiveness schemes
TOPEKA - (Dec. 20, 2024) –Today, the Biden administration’s U.S. Department of Education announced plans to withdraw proposed regulations that would have cancelled student loans for some borrowers. Biden’s proposed illegal student loan forgiveness schemes would have forced blue collar Kansans, many of whom did not go to college, to pay off the student debt of New Yorkers with gender studies degrees to the tune of at least $274.3 billion.

https://www.ag.ks.gov/Home/Components/News/News/141/1292

That's not good. I may have to hedge my prediction a little.

What I’m talking about is Trump’s efforts to agree a ceasefire. He’s been blackmailing Zelenskyy and offering Putin whatever he want’s.

If Trump wasn’t doing this, then the war would probably end in some sort of stalemate. But both sides are quite entrenched, so it would have a high cost in human lives. — Punshhh

Well, the arms shipments and intelligence sharing is back on, so Zelensky's position is status quo, and the status quo is Ukraine is not going to cede territory, not if they can keep counting on EU and U.S. support. But let's say Trump cancels all aide to Ukraine and won't offer any security guarantees for any peace deal. Would Zelensky give up 20% of Ukraine then? Why would he? He knows that Putin will simply regroup and rebuild his military and come at him again.

I live in California. There's not going to be martial law and there's not going to be a civil war. Trump can't even fire federal workers without judges popping up out of the woodwork ruling against him. If things got really bad, you might see something like Ireland's troubles, but as I said, there's essentially no political violence in this country. We're so far away from that. The most vicious thing that's happened lately is the Love is Blind bride left her conservative beau at the altar.

Here's the Italian parliament brawling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mye5TNnpHUI

You think that's going to happen here?

That's Americans total. We were talking about Democrats, remember? You claim they would support a war against Iran.

"In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?"
Democrats: Israel 21%, Palestinians 59%.

Do you see why what you said was really stupid? Democrats would not support a war against Iran.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/657404/less-half-sympathetic-toward-israelis.aspx

They would likely support a war against Iran, many of them. — Mikie

The Democrats would support a war against Iran??? Do you live in America?

Ukraine has been losing for literally years now. If you call annexing territory “losing on points,” that’s an interesting spin indeed. — Mikie

Afghanistan was losing for years too. Until they weren't. That's my point.

Russia will keep what they’ve taken. It’s not fair, but it’s what will happen. — Mikie

Maybe. Or maybe Putin has a date with an open window in the near future.

Who said anything about Democrats? — Mikie

There are two political parties in America. I'm pointing out that one of them has not lost it's mind when it comes to foreign policy.

40% voting for the resolution in 2002 is hardly what it would receive now. — Mikie

It would receive 0 support. Are you saying the Democrat party now would support a war against Iraq? Or Iran?

They convinced Zelenskyy that he had to accept, initially, that he would have to concede Russian occupied territory — Punshhh

Why would Zelensky go for that deal? If I'm Zelensky, and I can count on EU support and probably U.S. support, aren't I hoping Russia will get tired of all this, like in Afghanistan? Or there will be another coup against Putin? Or Putin might die and be replaced by a moderate? Or the Russian economy suddenly implode? Or a WW1 style French mutiny happen? There are a lot of ways this could end in Ukraine's favor and not all of them are fanciful.

It seems to me that both sides are like exhausted bloody boxers, and Russia is ahead on points, but Ukraine is thinking, if we can hold on another three rounds, and just get a knockout blow....

Yeah, now. Not back then. Back then the very people condemning Russia today were defending the US. — Mikie

A majority of House Democrats voted against the war. Obama beat out Clinton mostly because he was against the war from the start. The Democrats have been consistent in their opposition to Iraq.

Despite the fact that Imperial Russia under Tsar Putin wants to conquer all of Ukraine and march on Berlin — Tzeentch

That was how it started. Putin doesn't want Berlin, but he certainly thought he could take Kiev. Who would have predicted that after several years, Russia would have suffered a million casualties, have their own land taken from them, and only occupy 20% of Ukraine? Everyone thought Kiev would fall quickly.

, they're rejecting temporary cease-fire deals and insist on a long-term peace agreement.

Hmmm... :chin:

That's the situation now. Putin would be thrilled to walk away from this disaster with a fifth of the country. What a strategic blunder it's been for him: his military wrecked, 100,000 dead, the economy groaning under sanctions, inflation, and high interest rates, NATO expanded, an attempted coup. The war couldn't have gone better for America and Europe if we had planned it.

Civil war? Lol. For a country of 340 million people, there is a vanishingly small amount of actual political violence. People attack each other online and then go about their daily routines being nice to one another.

"If you were alone in the woods, would you rather encounter a bear or a woman?”

No one picks the bear.

"If you were alone in the woods, would you rather encounter a bear or a man?”

A lot of people pick the bear. And the reasons are obvious. I've never crossed a street when a strange group of women is approaching. I've done it countless times when a strange group of men are approaching. Men are simply way too violent. It's still a huge problem.

But doesn't there come a point where you just can't stand living in a certain country anymore? It seems like you've reached that point.

It sounds like this is really bothering you. Maybe you'd be happier if you told the U.S. to fuck off and moved to a Muslim-majority country. Maybe Yemen?

I decided to replay Germany and build more u-boats in the pre-war years. The results were interesting:

So, How Did I Get From That… to the End of the Universe?
"A SINGLE DECISION CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING."

Your decision to prioritize U-boats set off a chain reaction:

Stronger U-boat war → Britain weakens → Germany shifts focus to Russia.
Germany fully prepares for war with the USSR → Soviet collapse.
No two-front war → Germany dominates Eurasia.
Cold War with the U.S. → No immediate Axis defeat.
Peaceful co-existence → Technological boom.
AI and space colonization → Interstellar expansion.
Post-human civilization → Reality itself questioned.
Final enlightenment → The end of the universe.

"AND THAT, MY FRIEND, IS HOW BUILDING MORE SUBS LED TO THE END OF EXISTENCE ITSELF."

All because you built more U-boats in 1936.

"THE U-BOAT EFFECT IS REAL."

People like Mikie hate,hate,hate WW2 because it reveals the intellectual bankruptcy of their position. And they're reduced to inanities like "the Allies were committing war crimes!" that the rest of us non-antisemites have to roll our eyes at. The Allies were justified bombing Japan and Germany back to the stone age. Japan and Germany started that war, and they got stomped on until they gave up. Such is war. Israel is up against a foe just as evil and just as stubborn. Let the bombs and missiles fly! The Palestinians, like the Germans, need to get stomped on till they too wouldn't dream of ever voting in someone like Hamas again.

What country do you live in?

I don't know. There's a deep reservoir of hate for Putin the in the old GOP members. They might balk at this. I can't say. The whole thing is a cult, but some of the GOP politicians are going along for politics, not for any cultish reasons. If their election is six years away, and they feel strongly on this, they might just tell Trump F-U. All it would take is 3.

GOP only has 53 senators. If just a couple break ranks, that can be very significant.
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ukraine-zelensky-john-cornyn-thune-b2701516.html

Congress has not uttered a squeak about anything Trump has done since the election. Not a word, not a raised eyebrow. If Trump says jump, their only response will be How high? — Wayfarer

That's not true. Republicans are speaking out now.

Isn't Sherlock Holmes a genius? Hannibal Lecter a cannibal? What about if I had a scary dream? Do I really mean I had a scary sequence of brain states? But who talks like that? It doesn't even make sense. Brain states aren't the kind of thing that can be scary (except maybe for ones that show you have a tumor).

I think there are still enough votes in Congress to authorize more aid to Ukraine.

I don't mind. Just throwin my 2 cents in from the peanut gallery

Pardon. I'm under the impression (I could be wrong, I admit it) that part of the conflict involves religion. Is that correct? — Arcane Sandwich

Well, some of the Arab combatants scream allahu akbar! before raping women to death, so....

That's depressing, I'm not watching it. I'm taking me ebike out. It's a nice day in Southern California.

I don't believe might makes right. I do believe the ends often justify the means. Normally, you wouldn't send a trolley car barreling down on someone, am I right? But if there's five people stuck on it...

Crack is a mind stimulant. Should it be legal? I'm saying "no". — Arcane Sandwich

I said "mild stimulant", not "mind stimulant".

That's a good question. Efforts to criminalize drugs have destroyed many many lives and done a number on the countries to the South of us. Maybe it would be better to just legalize it all and addicts can do it in licensed safe spaces.

Why not? What is it, then? — Arcane Sandwich

A mild stimulant. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I am a Diet Coke fanatic, and in the mornings, I get an energy boost from it, but I can't kill my mind with it. I can't get high off of it. So I can't use it as an escape. Maybe there are other people who do get an awesome high from it.