A place for civil discussion of the events of the day for Tidewater residents without the limitations imposed by media forums.
I have long believed that science will eventually prove the existence of God.
That’s a somewhat crude way to put the matter. What I really mean is that nature seems to offer evidence that it was created and that we will someday be able to describe this observation in a scientifically rigorous way, perhaps even a testable (or falsifiable) one.
I see the conversation in the video as advancing along lines such as these.
A lot.
First, setting loose a process to remove CO2 could get away from us. If CO2 drops below 300ppm, agriculture could not support more than about half of us. Get it below 200ppm and everything dies. We have a much wider margin for error for higher CO2 than lower.
But just as bad, screwing around with albedo has even narrower margins, and we’re overdue for another glaciation anyway.
It is foolish to turn on any large scale tweaking of albedo that we can’t quickly turn off, because that is a positive feedback loop that has existed in the past, and it ends with 2 miles of ice over Detroit.
In order to avoid any accusations of proposing a First Amendment violation, I would like to suggest that the Fox News glitterati triumvirate of Carlson, Hannity and Ingraham be removed from Fox News’ prime time line up and move them to a more appropriate venue: FOX Network. Alongside such entertaining shows as The Masked Singer, The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, and the like. Based on their behind-the-scenes discussions, they don’t belong on a news network.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/media/fox-news-stars-executives-court-documents/index.html
Not to mention the brass being too concerned about stock prices and “the brand” than actual reporting. Plus, Hannity demanding one of their own reporters be fired for having the temerity to do her job and fact check statements by the previous administration.
The supposed party of personal liberty, AGAIN, wants to get between doctors and their patients.
Someone please tell me the madness will stop. I probably won’t believe you, but some reassurances sure would be nice.
In recent weeks, this forum quoted several experts who believe Ukraine is doomed, and Russia is winning before our very eyes.
All these experts struck me as lightweights but I don’t like quibbling, and prefer not to quibble with the distinguished host.
One of these pundits is a retired colonel, Macgregor, I think. Shouldn’t we be able to assume he knows what he’s talking about?
Two problems. Last week General Milley held a press conference and announced, “Russia has lost ‘strategically, operationally and tactically.” Well, doesn’t that settle that?
The other problem is more subtle. It seems to me that all the positive comments on Macgregor’s last post are remarkably uniform, what the opera world calls flackery. E.g., “How refreshing to hear someone talking truth and not the common BS that’s all over the mainstream news. Good interview & talk!”
It’s almost as if there’s a massive agitprop campaign to convince us that Russia is winning.
So far I’m not convinced. And the more ominous question for me is what’s left of Russia at this point, win or pyrrhic victory?
I suggest that Peter Zeihan is a more informative expert than the ones you have. Anyway he’s more interesting. Or just look at combat videos that surface daily. Or find a complete list of Russian losses so far, military equipment and personnel. They knew the first week that they had miscalculated, but they weren’t able to find a graceful exit.
The main thing I’ve learned from this war is that every country’s first duty is not to have a psycho dictator, like Putin. That’s what Communism is really all about, operationally speaking, finagling some lunatic to the top. Turned out Putin was so nuts he did not know how corrupt his army was, or how well-prepared Ukraine was. Imagine that — the head of the KGB doesn’t know diddly. That’s actually funny if you don’t live in Russia.
NB: my special focus is K-12 education and why it’s gotten so bad. The Education Establishment aims very low. Traditional notions of scholarship, research, precision, and truth are mangled, as we see in war reporting. Biden lies every day as does the New York Times. I’m worried that the educational system in general is now so enfeebled, we might not recover all the ground we have lost. Education connoisseurs may enjoy my podcast Let’s Fix Education.
Michigan State shooter should have been in prison
Once again, someone who should have been prosecuted, wasn’t, and goes on to do great harm.
Maybe use the laws we have before making new ones that only make it harder for the victims to defend themselves.
The latest study shows that 97.8% of mass shootings occur in places where citizens are not allowed to be armed.
Maybe disarming good people while letting bad people roam free no matter what they do isn’t the best approach.
Easy Peasy Hypocrite test : Anyone claiming these facts don’t deserve as much or far more Congressional scrutiny as Hunter Biden’s laptop is a hypocrite.
Pop Quiz : Who said “I saved his ass.”
(a) Trump speaking of MBS after he blocked efforts to sanction him for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
(b) MBS speaking of Trump after investing BILLIONS in the Trump family’s mismanaged investments.
(c) All of the above.
Read the piece to find the answer.
And, lest we forget, there is this :
As part of his campaign to win the MAGA-Republican nomination for President in 2024 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a big show of rejecting the College Board’s AP African-American History Course for high school Seniors. What is the word for such blatant race-baiting grandstanding? Deplorable maybe?
Well, the College Board is as mad as Hell and isn’t going to take it anymore. They have issued this open letter in response where they say . . .
“We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies “lacks educational value.” “
Birtherism worked for Trump. Looks like DeSantis wants to play the same ugly and divisive game.
One of the earliest and ugliest images of the rise of fascism in Germany was the drooling mobs glorying in the burning of books on May 10, 1933.
https://www.visitberlin.de/en/book-burning-memorial-bebelplatz
Not to be outdone, MAGA darling Ron DeSantis has passed a law in Florida that will keep unsuitable books out of school libraries. So far more than ONE MILLION books have been blocked as unsuitable. This is just one of them because it describes the discrimination that Roberto Clemente encountered and fought against. We can’t have our kids learning about that!
This story reports two different improprieties. One is federal efforts to violate freedom of speech. The other is federal employment of private, non-profit companies to perform tasks that government cannot or should not perform on its own.
I don’t know which is worse.
Apart from that, some people say that disinformation is dangerous and — because of the danger — it is good to prevent it. There are a number of problems with this way of thinking.
For example, there are problems of definition: How can we know which information is good and which is bad? Who decides, and how can we know their motives are honorable? There are also problems of performance: How should we organize to prevent disinformation? What should the rules of operation be? How will disputes be settled?
I subscribe to the theory that open debate and social tolerance for dissenting views is the best approach, but I think my subscription is in the minority today, as the story indicates.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 