Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Tapes of Stone conspiring with Wikileaks leaked
How ironic: Leaking on Wikileaks. Stone is caught in the act of treason before the election. All of which contradicts his lying denials.
Fake plot against Mueller exposed
There was an attempt to bribe women to claim Mueller sexually harassed them but Mueller exposed it. This is just like how Mueller is going to expose the Dump Crime Family for what it is: Traitors, liars and thieves. Coming soon after the midterms. See more here.
Colbert on Dumpler's caravan fear mongering
The cheapest trick in the fascist playbook. He provides a good idea for Halloween decorations or even a scary costume. I also appreciate his masculine sexual metaphor for Dumpler. Much needed LOL funny relief for some seriously sick shit.
Dumpler's executive order to end birthright citizenship
Yes, the Presidunce thinks he can override this Constitutional right by an EO. It will be overturned in district and appeals court, then the Supreme Corp will confirm it. Kavanaugh will pay back his benefactor several times over.
From ecology to brain development
The above is the title to a new, free Frontiers book
subtitled “Bridging separate evolutionary paradigms.” I thought it would
be of interest to this group. I can be found here, then scrolling down. From the Introduction:
“The nervous system is the product of biological evolution and is shaped by the interplay between extrinsic factors determining the ecology of animals, and by intrinsic processes that dictate the developmental rules that give rise to adult functional structures. This special topic is oriented to develop an integrative view from behavior and ecology to neurodevelopmental processes. We address questions such as how do sensory systems evolve according to ecological conditions? How do neural networks organize to generate adaptive behavior? How does cognition and brain connectivity evolve? What are the developmental mechanisms that give rise to functional adaptation? Accordingly, the book is divided in three sections, (i) Evolution of sensorimotor systems; (ii) Cognitive computations and neural circuits, and (iii) Development and brain evolution. We hope that this initiative will support an interdisciplinary program that addresses the nervous system as a unified organ, subject to both functional and developmental constraints, where the final outcome results of a compromise between different parameters rather than being the result of several single variables acting independently of each other.”
“The nervous system is the product of biological evolution and is shaped by the interplay between extrinsic factors determining the ecology of animals, and by intrinsic processes that dictate the developmental rules that give rise to adult functional structures. This special topic is oriented to develop an integrative view from behavior and ecology to neurodevelopmental processes. We address questions such as how do sensory systems evolve according to ecological conditions? How do neural networks organize to generate adaptive behavior? How does cognition and brain connectivity evolve? What are the developmental mechanisms that give rise to functional adaptation? Accordingly, the book is divided in three sections, (i) Evolution of sensorimotor systems; (ii) Cognitive computations and neural circuits, and (iii) Development and brain evolution. We hope that this initiative will support an interdisciplinary program that addresses the nervous system as a unified organ, subject to both functional and developmental constraints, where the final outcome results of a compromise between different parameters rather than being the result of several single variables acting independently of each other.”
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Conservative media framing and the Pittsburgh shooter
The shooter acknowledges that he likes their framing of the caravan as an invasion and justified killing using that frame. Such media is complicit in the killing.
Reich: The truth about the economy
Is this the economy you are living with? Tired of broken promises? How did it get that way? Who is in charge of Congress and the Blight House? Do you want that to change? Vote them out and vote in progressives who care enough about your life to actually help you with it.
Pox's Shep Smith counters Pox's own caravan lies
As usual, one of the few sane voices at Pox Views is juxtaposed with the insanity that is that channel.
Anti-Semitism increasing in the US
Since Dumpler became Presidunce. Correlation? Causation? Seems obvious to me.
Colbert on the Pittsburgh massacre and MAGA bomber
He tells stories of love and hope, of those that are banding together to help in the situation. Then there's Dumpler, who instead lied about another tragedy at his rally, and then focused on his bad hair day. And then there's his response to the MAGA bomber, once again calling the media an enermy for reporting facts. And this is seriously our leader?
NOW is the time to speak out and do something
If you wait much longer you won't have that right, and could get killed for expressing it. No bullshit.
Dump's fascist playbook
According to this article, Dump enlists common fascist ploys like playing the victim while being in complete control of the country. Instead he shifts the blame to actual victims and inflames his base to hate them. He also blames the press an a enemy for merely reporting the truth about his own behavior. The author explores the precise parallels with Nazi Germany and we get further down that road by the minute.
Monday, October 29, 2018
Silverman and Booker at the drive-thru
Funny skit that includes orders for veggie burgers with some side surprises.
Schmidt: "We've arrived at this dark hour because of Trump"
This former Repugnantan said: "We've arrived at this dark hour because of Donald Trump. He didn't mail the bomb, and he didn't put the stickers on the envelope, but he created the atmosphere where a sick person, a criminal, somebody like this terrorist would actualize Trump's clear intent" (3:08). See the rest of the video for much more.
Dump's holocaust is happening right now
And yet we don't acknowledge it, or maybe even know about it. Excellent analysis by Theo Horesh in this FB post. A few edited clips follow. See the link for much more.
"But what if he were already carrying it out, and we were watching it unfold right before our eyes, and yet, somehow, mysteriously, we did not notice a thing? [...] The United Nations reports eight million Yemenis are on the brink of starvation this very moment, and another 10 million are threatened with it by the end of the year, due to the blockade of their ports by Saudi Arabia, which is starving the country, with British and American arms and logistical support."
"And yet, even as American involvement intensifies, under the most hated administration in at least a century—which is strongly opposed by close to half the country—the vast majority of Americans have nothing whatsoever to say about this vast and imponderable crime against humanity. We are turning away as genocide breaks out again."
"But what if he were already carrying it out, and we were watching it unfold right before our eyes, and yet, somehow, mysteriously, we did not notice a thing? [...] The United Nations reports eight million Yemenis are on the brink of starvation this very moment, and another 10 million are threatened with it by the end of the year, due to the blockade of their ports by Saudi Arabia, which is starving the country, with British and American arms and logistical support."
"And yet, even as American involvement intensifies, under the most hated administration in at least a century—which is strongly opposed by close to half the country—the vast majority of Americans have nothing whatsoever to say about this vast and imponderable crime against humanity. We are turning away as genocide breaks out again."
Asymmetrical polarization: The Repugs are unhinged
The Repugnantan Party is much further to the extreme while the Dem Party has consistently been more middle of the road. This video shows that both sides are not equally unhinged: The Repugs are. And this is supported by diehard conservatives.
A national reckoning
Morning Joe is right: We are at a crossroads where we either return to democracy or we devolve further into fascism. It's time to vote and get involved in the political process before it's too late.
Facebook purging alternative media
It's
part of that false equivalency that both sides are equally to blame. In
reality it's fact versus fiction and both sides of that are not
equivalent.
Are you 'at' a level of development?
This is in response to Mark Forman's FB post telling you he can determine which level your ego is at. Since there is ongoing debate about this I thought I'd provide
empirical research by some leading developmentalists who use stage
models. Therefore you can't brush it off as a green meme antipathy to
levels. Well you can, but not reasonably.
See Stein's study of graduate students in integral studies at JFKU. E.g., this from p. 8 is interesting: "Also examined was the relation between Integral Life Practice and Lectical Level. Level scores were neither correlated with with any meditative, body, or shadow practices, nor the number of Ken Wilber books read." The following indicates that knowing the model itself does not generate higher order understanding. "There are clear developmental differences in the ways in which individuals in this sample understand integral theory and practice" (15). One area of the study was significant: Those who stereotype individuals, or worse cultures, within a particular level or color is antithetical to higher cognitive complexity, and if fact inhibits it (18).
"It follows that individuals never operate at any single level of development. Instead, they operate within a developmental range – a series of levels that vary with task, domain, context, emotional state, and so forth. Given such dynamic variation, there can be no broad-based stages of development. It is thus not helpful to think of a person or a person’s abilities as being 'in a stage' of development. Development does not move through a series of fixed steps; development operates more like a constructive Web" (Mascolo, 6).
This work questions the notion that one integrated worldview (or center of gravity) governs all our thoughts and actions, let alone that these worldviews evolve in a stage-like fashion. Therefore at any point in time one's worldview might indeed be a mixture from the so-called worldview stages, with any given one, or combination, manifesting depending on the context.
See Stein's study of graduate students in integral studies at JFKU. E.g., this from p. 8 is interesting: "Also examined was the relation between Integral Life Practice and Lectical Level. Level scores were neither correlated with with any meditative, body, or shadow practices, nor the number of Ken Wilber books read." The following indicates that knowing the model itself does not generate higher order understanding. "There are clear developmental differences in the ways in which individuals in this sample understand integral theory and practice" (15). One area of the study was significant: Those who stereotype individuals, or worse cultures, within a particular level or color is antithetical to higher cognitive complexity, and if fact inhibits it (18).
"It follows that individuals never operate at any single level of development. Instead, they operate within a developmental range – a series of levels that vary with task, domain, context, emotional state, and so forth. Given such dynamic variation, there can be no broad-based stages of development. It is thus not helpful to think of a person or a person’s abilities as being 'in a stage' of development. Development does not move through a series of fixed steps; development operates more like a constructive Web" (Mascolo, 6).
This work questions the notion that one integrated worldview (or center of gravity) governs all our thoughts and actions, let alone that these worldviews evolve in a stage-like fashion. Therefore at any point in time one's worldview might indeed be a mixture from the so-called worldview stages, with any given one, or combination, manifesting depending on the context.
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Carpool karaoke with Michael Buble
The latest in Corden's popular series. I'm not a Buble fan but enjoy their funny interaction and feel sympathy for Buble's son's cancer challenge.
Markets Not Capitalism
Good review of this book, some of which is below. See the link for more.
"Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists.
"Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power.
"Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists.
"Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power.
Pox's Smith and Wallace argue over Dumpler's violent hate speech
Smith asks if Dumpler's rhetoric contributed to the MAGA bomber and Wallace makes false equivalencies with a Sanders supporter that shot up some Repugnantans. Sanders has never incited violence while Dumpler does so often and repeatedly. And Wallace refuses to even comment on Dumpler's hate speech at all, instead redirecting the conversation to there being no direct causation. But there is indirect causation by using fighting words, which is indeed a crime and well defined here.
Silverman: How are Dumpler and Jesus similar?
She does manage to come up with a few while noting they are really nothing alike.
Suspicious package sent to Dumpler
A funny one from The Burrand Street Journal. I'm sure the Repug wingnuts will find this equivalent to sending pipe bombs.
The White House has confirmed that a package addressed to President Trump was intercepted this morning by Secret Service, after the contents were deemed "very suspicious." Books, including several copies of the Bible and "How to use Twitter for Dummies", were discovered as well as over a hundred extra-small condoms.
Given that the President had just received his weekly Amazon delivery of 10,000 copies of Art of the Deal, the package immediately drew suspicion, according to a Secret Service spokesman.
“We were suspicious once we saw the condoms,” he told CNN. “Once we saw the books we knew no way in hell this was for Trump.”
Alarm bells were first raised in the White House mailroom when the
package was scanned. “The President ordered books? To read?” recounted
one White House employee, who asked to not be named. “I’ve never even
see him read anything not issued by Playboy Magazine and in those cases,
he’s generally not doing a lot of reading.”
Those suspicions were compounded when the President unexpectedly wandered into the mail room and began querying the package himself. “Who the hell ordered 100 crappy water balloons addressed ‘For the next Stormy’?” he reportedly asked. “And why would anyone need so many water balloons during a storm? Strange!”
The White House has confirmed that a package addressed to President Trump was intercepted this morning by Secret Service, after the contents were deemed "very suspicious." Books, including several copies of the Bible and "How to use Twitter for Dummies", were discovered as well as over a hundred extra-small condoms.
Given that the President had just received his weekly Amazon delivery of 10,000 copies of Art of the Deal, the package immediately drew suspicion, according to a Secret Service spokesman.
“We were suspicious once we saw the condoms,” he told CNN. “Once we saw the books we knew no way in hell this was for Trump.”
Those suspicions were compounded when the President unexpectedly wandered into the mail room and began querying the package himself. “Who the hell ordered 100 crappy water balloons addressed ‘For the next Stormy’?” he reportedly asked. “And why would anyone need so many water balloons during a storm? Strange!”
When the FBI is free to do their job
It's amazing what they can do. Perhaps when Dems take the House we can have the FBI do a real investigation into Kavanaugh and Dumpler.
Lakoff: Hate speech is not free speech
From his FB post commenting on his article here.
"When hate is physically in your brain, then you think hate and feel hate, and you are moved to act to carry out what you physically - in your neural system - think and feel. Like violence, hate speech can also be a physical imposition on the freedom of others. That is because language has a psychological effect imposed physically — on the neural system, with long-term crippling effects.
"Language neurally activates thought. Language can thus change brains, both for better and worse. Hate speech changes the brains of those hated for the worse, creating toxic stress, fear and distrust — all physical, all in one’s neural circuitry active every day.
"Hate speech imposes on the freedom of those targeted by the hate. This internal harm can be even more severe than an attack with a fist. Since being free in a free society requires not imposing on the freedom of others, hate speech does not fall under the category of free speech."
"When hate is physically in your brain, then you think hate and feel hate, and you are moved to act to carry out what you physically - in your neural system - think and feel. Like violence, hate speech can also be a physical imposition on the freedom of others. That is because language has a psychological effect imposed physically — on the neural system, with long-term crippling effects.
"Language neurally activates thought. Language can thus change brains, both for better and worse. Hate speech changes the brains of those hated for the worse, creating toxic stress, fear and distrust — all physical, all in one’s neural circuitry active every day.
"Hate speech imposes on the freedom of those targeted by the hate. This internal harm can be even more severe than an attack with a fist. Since being free in a free society requires not imposing on the freedom of others, hate speech does not fall under the category of free speech."
Pox Views on incivility
I
watched some of Pox Views Sunday this morning. They are equating Dump's
direct calls to violence with peaceful liberal protest and saying both
sides are responsible. This is not just a difference of opinion but a
degeneration into madness. And that Pox is trying to make this false equivalence is proof positive that they are complicit in the violence that results from explicit, violent, hate speech that issues out of Dumpler's mouth by the hour.
We progressives needs to continue to strongly and adamantly condemn it peacefully, as well as continue to confront Repugnantan politicians peacefully in public, as well as peacefully continue to protest en mass publicly, which is our right of protected speech under the Constitution of the US. Hateful, violent rhetoric such as Dump's on the other hand is using fighting words to incite violence which is not only vilified by the Constitution but is illegal and deserves legal prosecution. There is no comparison. Those that make one are conspiring in a crime and obstructing justice.
We progressives needs to continue to strongly and adamantly condemn it peacefully, as well as continue to confront Repugnantan politicians peacefully in public, as well as peacefully continue to protest en mass publicly, which is our right of protected speech under the Constitution of the US. Hateful, violent rhetoric such as Dump's on the other hand is using fighting words to incite violence which is not only vilified by the Constitution but is illegal and deserves legal prosecution. There is no comparison. Those that make one are conspiring in a crime and obstructing justice.
Who lights the matches and accelerates the flames?
It's obvious to anyone with half a brain. But alas, Dumpsters don't even have that half. And the Dumpler elite apologists in Congress and on Pox Views, who do have at least a half, know it so lie to them in order to keep them ready to ignite at the slightest provocation. Sick, despicable bastards. Vote them out and impeach the traitor!
Saturday, October 27, 2018
The rat race
Why I retired and quit the insanity; it's a never-ending race that only ends in death and despair.
Alt fright and swipe left
Maher on why Halloween scares Repugnantans. They're already scared enough so why add to it? Very funny. After scaring the Repugs he also lambasts snowflake liberal PC, which ends up defeating its own purposes and causes them to lose elections.
Fighting words
Continuing this post, since the word stochastic might be too highbrow and thus too elite, an
easier phrase is inciting by 'fighting words,' which, by the way, is a
legal crime. But apparently not for the Presidunce according to
Kavanaugh and other Repugnantans supposedly committed to law and order. They are a bad f___ing joke that we pay for. Vote these criminals out and impeach Dumpler and Kavanaugh. That is our commitment to law and order.
Good government
An in-depth dive into government with lots of stats and graphs. One conclusion.
"Simple correlations based on cross-country data suggest that by and large, people who live in countries with relatively large governments, as measured by the share of GDP devoted to government spending, are better educated, healthier, safer, and generally more prosperous. They also tend to enjoy greater personal freedoms."
"Simple correlations based on cross-country data suggest that by and large, people who live in countries with relatively large governments, as measured by the share of GDP devoted to government spending, are better educated, healthier, safer, and generally more prosperous. They also tend to enjoy greater personal freedoms."
The real takers
They do though have great ad departments that convince poor white folk to misdirect their anger at poor people of color and immigrants instead of on them, the real takers causing their misery. We progressives need to help them learn the real cause and focus it there. Sanders and Warren for example do a great job at this.
Obama: Who are we?
A scathing commentary of Dumpler and the GOP who lie through their teeth. It's not only sad but dangerous when these Repugnantans have lost all commitment to truth and reality. But it is right out of Goebbel's playbook, and consistent with their complicity with and commitment to fascism.
Friday, October 26, 2018
Pictures of the MAGA bomber's van
And he is a giant Dumpster as suspected, no doubt motivated by Dumpler's violent hate speech. See more pics here.
Kimmel on Dumpler's hate speech hypocrisy
Dumpler gave a speech about being civil and Kimmel shows where the hate speech comes from: Benedict Donald Dumpler.
Palast on Democracy Now re: GA voter purge
And Palast with civil rights orgs are suing Kemp over it. There's also a clip of Abrams in the Gubernatorial debate (6:45) responding to Kemp over the latter's past and present voter purges.
Gillum nails DeSantis' racism
During their Florida Gubernatorial debate Gillum calls out his racism by showing he is supported by, and encourages, known racists.
Dumpler uses non-secure I-Phone
And spies are listening in according to intelligence reports that told him so. Dumpler is once again conspiring with the enemy because he knows they are listening and continues to use it.
The inevitable result of Dumpler's violent speech
But nooooo, that can't be the result, can it? When coming from the Presidunce of the Divided States, yes it can and it is.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Reich: The next economic crash
In this short video he analyzes why the economy has crashed before and will again. The same conditions that created the previous ones are happening again, with Dumpler and Repugnantans leading the way.
Dumpler's lies increasing in frequency and severity
As documented here. Dishonest Dumpler.
"We have quantified it. And so, in 2017, he averaged 2.9 false claims per day. As of now, it's 4.5 false claims per day. So, it's more than five per day in 2018. And it's escalated even further as we have gotten closer to the midterms. So, every successive month, June, July, August, and September, set a new record for the president's false claims. So over time, he's getting more dishonest."
"We have quantified it. And so, in 2017, he averaged 2.9 false claims per day. As of now, it's 4.5 false claims per day. So, it's more than five per day in 2018. And it's escalated even further as we have gotten closer to the midterms. So, every successive month, June, July, August, and September, set a new record for the president's false claims. So over time, he's getting more dishonest."
Oregon: All eligible voters automatically registered
Quite a distinction with the Repug States suppressing registration and purging voters. It's not a matter of right v. left but democracy v. oligarchy.
"Gov. Kate Brown signed a first-in-the-nation bill to automatically register all eligible Oregonians to vote when they obtain or renew a driver's license or state identification card. Those who are registered through the new process will be notified by mail and will be given three weeks to take themselves off the voting rolls. If they do not opt out, the secretary of state's office will mail them a ballot automatically 20 days before any election."
"Gov. Kate Brown signed a first-in-the-nation bill to automatically register all eligible Oregonians to vote when they obtain or renew a driver's license or state identification card. Those who are registered through the new process will be notified by mail and will be given three weeks to take themselves off the voting rolls. If they do not opt out, the secretary of state's office will mail them a ballot automatically 20 days before any election."
Dump blames the media for the bomb threats
Can you believe this idiot? He's just further inciting his Dumpsters to commit more violent acts. This is seriously sick shit. Vote this clown out.
"U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed media outlets for stirring up anger and hateful political rhetoric as another suspicious package reportedly similar to package bombs sent to Democrats this week was found in lower Manhattan."
"U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed media outlets for stirring up anger and hateful political rhetoric as another suspicious package reportedly similar to package bombs sent to Democrats this week was found in lower Manhattan."
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Reich: Is Dumpler a traitor?
Yes, yes he is. And that the Repugnantans not only won't do anything about it but actively go along with it means they are too.
Real middle class wages went down after tax scam
If you're middle class your wages actually went down when factored with inflation. So once again you've been betrayed by Dumpler and the Repugnantans. But someone benefited. Guess who?
"As the U.S. Labor Department reported, between the second quarter of 2017 and the second quarter of 2018, the real wages of American workers actually declined. Indeed, the second quarter of 2018 was the third straight quarter―all during the Trump administration―when inflation outpaced wage growth. The last time wages grew substantially above inflation was in 2016, during the Obama administration. Consequently, by August 2018, as the Pew Research Center reported, the purchasing power of American workers’ wages was at the same level as in 1978. Why did the Republican promises go unfulfilled? A key reason for stagnating wages lies in the fact that U.S. corporations used their windfall derived from the slashing of the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent under the 2017 GOP tax legislation to engage in stock buybacks ."
"As the U.S. Labor Department reported, between the second quarter of 2017 and the second quarter of 2018, the real wages of American workers actually declined. Indeed, the second quarter of 2018 was the third straight quarter―all during the Trump administration―when inflation outpaced wage growth. The last time wages grew substantially above inflation was in 2016, during the Obama administration. Consequently, by August 2018, as the Pew Research Center reported, the purchasing power of American workers’ wages was at the same level as in 1978. Why did the Republican promises go unfulfilled? A key reason for stagnating wages lies in the fact that U.S. corporations used their windfall derived from the slashing of the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent under the 2017 GOP tax legislation to engage in stock buybacks ."
Colbert: Dumpler lies about the caravan
Dump opened his mouth so we know he's lying. More fear and lies from our fascist leader.
Yale professor compares Dump and Hitler
Continuing the last post, see this piece, where Yale professor Timothy Snyder, where he said:
"In my world, where I come from, it’s the 1930s. Picking out a group of your neighbours and citizens and associating them with the worldwide threat, that’s the 1930s. And what we have to remember with the 1930s, we think of Hitler and Stalin as super villains. But they’re not, they could only come to power with some form of consent."
"It was the fascists who said, ‘everyday life doesn’t matter'. 'Every detail doesn’t matter. Facts don’t matter. All that matters is the message, the leader, the myth, the totality’. We should be thinking about the 1920s."
"In my world, where I come from, it’s the 1930s. Picking out a group of your neighbours and citizens and associating them with the worldwide threat, that’s the 1930s. And what we have to remember with the 1930s, we think of Hitler and Stalin as super villains. But they’re not, they could only come to power with some form of consent."
"It was the fascists who said, ‘everyday life doesn’t matter'. 'Every detail doesn’t matter. Facts don’t matter. All that matters is the message, the leader, the myth, the totality’. We should be thinking about the 1920s."
Dumpler
It's fair to make such comparisons when they are factually true. Act now America before it's too late, meaning vote out his enablers in Congress and vote him out in '20.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Holons of a different order
Continuing this post, we
can also conceptualize container schema differently, i.e., where a
so-called smaller holon is not subsumed in a larger one but in which
they share a space-between as Edwards calls it. It offers an entirely
different approach to hierarchy because the interacting holons retain
their autonomy. They structurally couple and create another holon
altogether instead of one being subsumed or nested in the other.
This is especially significant when you take into account basic categories, which are in the middle of typical taxonomic hierarchies. That is, a hierarchy does not start with the most particular type which is subsumed into the most general type. Those two abstract ends of the spectrum are literally tied together by the basic category in the middle, the most concrete and thus the most closely interactive with the world. Hence this hierarchy is in effect from the middle up and down so that the very nature of hierarchy is entirely different than the typical one. Hence hier(an)archical synplexity.
I discussed this at length and in depth in both the states/stages and real/false reason Ning threads.
This is especially significant when you take into account basic categories, which are in the middle of typical taxonomic hierarchies. That is, a hierarchy does not start with the most particular type which is subsumed into the most general type. Those two abstract ends of the spectrum are literally tied together by the basic category in the middle, the most concrete and thus the most closely interactive with the world. Hence this hierarchy is in effect from the middle up and down so that the very nature of hierarchy is entirely different than the typical one. Hence hier(an)archical synplexity.
I discussed this at length and in depth in both the states/stages and real/false reason Ning threads.
Another of Dump's lies debunked
No one can keep up with his lies because every time he opens his mouth they fly out like explosive diarrhea. But let's address this humdinger.
Transviolet - Undo
I always find the most creative ways to destroy myself
Yeah, I can turn me down better than anybody else...
I've been undone a lot before you
Yeah, I can turn me down better than anybody else...
I've been undone a lot before you
Colbert on mid-term racism, fear and lies
Dump's winning strategy with idiots. The rest of us know better and need to get out to vote. The situation is far to dire to have fearful idiots deciding the fate of not only our country but the planet.
The problem with the developmental holarchy lens
From Lakoff and Johnson, Philosophy in the Flesh, Chapter 1:
“For the sake of imposing sharp distinctions, we develop what might be called essence prototypes, which conceptualize categories as if they were sharply defined and minimally distinguished from one another. When we conceptualize categories in this way, we often envision them using a spatial metaphor, as if they were containers, with an interior, an exterior, and a boundary. When we conceptualize categories as containers, we also impose complex hierarchical systems on them, with some category-containers inside other category-containers. Conceptualizing categories as containers hides a great deal of category structure. It hides conceptual prototypes, the graded structures of categories, and the fuzziness of category boundaries."
“For the sake of imposing sharp distinctions, we develop what might be called essence prototypes, which conceptualize categories as if they were sharply defined and minimally distinguished from one another. When we conceptualize categories in this way, we often envision them using a spatial metaphor, as if they were containers, with an interior, an exterior, and a boundary. When we conceptualize categories as containers, we also impose complex hierarchical systems on them, with some category-containers inside other category-containers. Conceptualizing categories as containers hides a great deal of category structure. It hides conceptual prototypes, the graded structures of categories, and the fuzziness of category boundaries."
Monday, October 22, 2018
Hartmann: Repugnantan history of election fraud
They cannot win based on values and the issues, hence they've been cheating for a long time and they're doing it again. He elaborates in this Alternet article. Check in with Greg Palast to see how Repugs are cheating in your State and what you can do about it.
Ocasio-Cortez on the voice of moral clarity
Interview with Cenk Uygur. When candidates believe in and are willing to fight for we the people this is what we get: real representation. Vote!
Updated Dem Party autopsy
See it here. A few excerpts:
"The Democratic Party has implemented modest reforms, but corporate power continues to dominate the party. [...] the reality of corporate leverage over the party remains largely intact. [...] More than one-third of Senate Democrats joined the effort to weaken Dodd-Frank, many of whom were recipients of significant banking donations. In the House, 33 Democrats joined most Republicans to pass the measure."
"On the front of addressing young voters, the Democratic Party still isn’t offering a bold vision that can excite a demographic known for not showing up much on election day.[...] Missing is a focus on the bread-and-butter issues that can materially affect young people’s lives, such as redirecting resources from our bloated military toward popular programs for free college education and Medicare for All."
"Roughly 68 percent of House Democrats and 85 percent of Democratic senators voted for the record-breaking 2019 military budget. [...] It’s noteworthy that most of the major prospective candidates for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination — including Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Jeff Merkley — voted against the most recent Defense Authorization bill."
"The Democratic Party has implemented modest reforms, but corporate power continues to dominate the party. [...] the reality of corporate leverage over the party remains largely intact. [...] More than one-third of Senate Democrats joined the effort to weaken Dodd-Frank, many of whom were recipients of significant banking donations. In the House, 33 Democrats joined most Republicans to pass the measure."
"On the front of addressing young voters, the Democratic Party still isn’t offering a bold vision that can excite a demographic known for not showing up much on election day.[...] Missing is a focus on the bread-and-butter issues that can materially affect young people’s lives, such as redirecting resources from our bloated military toward popular programs for free college education and Medicare for All."
"Roughly 68 percent of House Democrats and 85 percent of Democratic senators voted for the record-breaking 2019 military budget. [...] It’s noteworthy that most of the major prospective candidates for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination — including Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Jeff Merkley — voted against the most recent Defense Authorization bill."
Reich: Dump has betrayed the working class
It cannot be any plainer to see that Dump lied to and betrayed you on this. Is your economic life any better? Did the tax scam for the rich help you? If not, he and the Repugs are the only ones to blame given they control all of our federal government. If you still believe them, please see a doctor for that illness. Oh yeah, you can't because Dump promised you a better healthcare plan and instead gave you a worse one. Everything is this video can be fact-checked as accurate. That is, unless your illness prevents you from accepting facts too.
Cruelty is what motivates Dumpsters
This is sick, not a normal human functioning that can be rationalized via moral intuition theory. From this piece:
"The
cruelty of the Trump administration’s policies, and the ritual
rhetorical flaying of his targets before his supporters, are intimately
connected. As Lili Loofbourow wrote of the Kavanaugh incident in Slate,
adolescent male cruelty toward women is a bonding mechanism, a vehicle
for intimacy through contempt. The white men in the lynching photos are
smiling not merely because of what they have done, but because they have
done it together.
"Taking joy in that suffering is more human than most would like to admit. Somewhere on the wide spectrum between adolescent teasing and the smiling white men in the lynching photographs are the Trump supporters whose community is built by rejoicing in the anguish of those they see as unlike them, who have found in their shared cruelty an answer to the loneliness and atomization of modern life."
"Taking joy in that suffering is more human than most would like to admit. Somewhere on the wide spectrum between adolescent teasing and the smiling white men in the lynching photographs are the Trump supporters whose community is built by rejoicing in the anguish of those they see as unlike them, who have found in their shared cruelty an answer to the loneliness and atomization of modern life."
Tax churches
Since they are after all rabidly involved in public policy, tax them. It would pay for a lot of needed services for the needy, something they claim to promote. How about you put your money where your religion is?
"If religious organizations (ie. churches, synagogues, mosques, etc.) were taxed like for-profit agencies, it was found that this could generate upwards of $71 billion per year in tax revenue. [...]
Ultimately, tax exemptions for churches violate the separation of church and state enshrined in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution."
"If religious organizations (ie. churches, synagogues, mosques, etc.) were taxed like for-profit agencies, it was found that this could generate upwards of $71 billion per year in tax revenue. [...]
Ultimately, tax exemptions for churches violate the separation of church and state enshrined in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution."
Metaphor for old white guys deciding female reproductive issues
I.e., they hate women and vote against their rights. You know, keep them bound and gagged in the kitchen or in the bedroom where they belong. Go Kavanaugh!
Another look at moral foundations theory
Continuing the last post, the abstract from this paper:
"Moral foundations theorists propose that the moral domain should include not only ‘‘liberal’’ ethics of justice and care but also ostensibly ‘‘conservative’’ concerns about the virtues of ingroup loyalty, obedience to authority, and enforcement of purity standards. This proposal clashes with decades of research in political psychology connecting the latter set of characteristics to ‘‘the authoritarian personality.’’ We demonstrate that liberal-conservative differences in moral intuitions are statistically mediated by authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, so that conservatives’ greater valuation of ingroup, authority, and purity concerns is attributable to higher levels of authoritarianism, whereas liberals’ greater valuation of fairness and harm avoidance is attributable to lower levels of social dominance. We also find that ingroup, authority, and purity concerns are positively associated with intergroup hostility and support for discrimination, whereas concerns about fairness and harm avoidance are negatively associated with these variables. These findings might lead some to question the wisdom and appropriateness of efforts to ‘‘broaden’’ scientific conceptions of morality in such a way that preferences based on authoritarianism and social dominance are treated as moral rather than amoral or even immoral—and suggest that the explicit goal of incorporating conservative ideology into the study of moral psychology (in order to increase ideological diversity) may lead researchers astray."
"Moral foundations theorists propose that the moral domain should include not only ‘‘liberal’’ ethics of justice and care but also ostensibly ‘‘conservative’’ concerns about the virtues of ingroup loyalty, obedience to authority, and enforcement of purity standards. This proposal clashes with decades of research in political psychology connecting the latter set of characteristics to ‘‘the authoritarian personality.’’ We demonstrate that liberal-conservative differences in moral intuitions are statistically mediated by authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, so that conservatives’ greater valuation of ingroup, authority, and purity concerns is attributable to higher levels of authoritarianism, whereas liberals’ greater valuation of fairness and harm avoidance is attributable to lower levels of social dominance. We also find that ingroup, authority, and purity concerns are positively associated with intergroup hostility and support for discrimination, whereas concerns about fairness and harm avoidance are negatively associated with these variables. These findings might lead some to question the wisdom and appropriateness of efforts to ‘‘broaden’’ scientific conceptions of morality in such a way that preferences based on authoritarianism and social dominance are treated as moral rather than amoral or even immoral—and suggest that the explicit goal of incorporating conservative ideology into the study of moral psychology (in order to increase ideological diversity) may lead researchers astray."
Neural correlates of post-conventional moral reasoning
The abstract from this article:
"Going back to Kohlberg, moral development research affirms that people progress through different stages of moral reasoning as cognitive abilities mature. Individuals at a lower level of moral reasoning judge moral issues mainly based on self-interest (personal interests schema) or based on adherence to laws and rules (maintaining norms schema), whereas individuals at the post-conventional level judge moral issues based on deeper principles and shared ideals. However, the extent to which moral development is reflected in structural brain architecture remains unknown. To investigate this question, we used voxel-based morphometry and examined the brain structure in a sample of 67 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. Subjects completed the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2) which measures moral development in terms of cognitive schema preference. Results demonstrate that subjects at the post-conventional level of moral reasoning were characterized by increased gray matter volume in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, compared with subjects at a lower level of moral reasoning. Our findings support an important role for both cognitive and emotional processes in moral reasoning and provide first evidence for individual differences in brain structure according to the stages of moral reasoning first proposed by Kohlberg decades ago."
"Going back to Kohlberg, moral development research affirms that people progress through different stages of moral reasoning as cognitive abilities mature. Individuals at a lower level of moral reasoning judge moral issues mainly based on self-interest (personal interests schema) or based on adherence to laws and rules (maintaining norms schema), whereas individuals at the post-conventional level judge moral issues based on deeper principles and shared ideals. However, the extent to which moral development is reflected in structural brain architecture remains unknown. To investigate this question, we used voxel-based morphometry and examined the brain structure in a sample of 67 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. Subjects completed the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2) which measures moral development in terms of cognitive schema preference. Results demonstrate that subjects at the post-conventional level of moral reasoning were characterized by increased gray matter volume in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, compared with subjects at a lower level of moral reasoning. Our findings support an important role for both cognitive and emotional processes in moral reasoning and provide first evidence for individual differences in brain structure according to the stages of moral reasoning first proposed by Kohlberg decades ago."
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Dump's inciting violence again
This time at a rally in a Montana rally, praising the Repug candidate for body slamming a reporter. This on top of his making excuses for the Saudis executing a US resident reporter by bone saw while alive. Dump obviously feels the same way about reporters but instead of ordering their demise he instead uses poisonous rhetoric to inflame his voters to do the dirty work for him. Such incitement is, by the way, a crime in itself. But it's just one more of increasingly mounting crimes he commits by the day and which Repugs refuse to hold him to account. The Mueller report will be no exception, even if it confirms Dump committed treason and obstruction of justice. Vote these scumbags out!
Female voters grade both Parties
The demo of this 5-woman panel of suburban women in Minnesota's 3rd Congressional district is an independent turned Dem, 2 women who previously voted for the Repug incumbent now voting for his Dem challenger, a conservative Dem and a staunch Dump supporter. They rated both parties poorly because they don't feel either is representing them. It does seem though that the Dem Party they are complaining about is the establishment, not the progressives. The latter will give them something to sing praise about. See the video below for more specific issues. Listen up liberals if you want to win.
Colbert interviews Joe and Mika
That takeaway: We do not need Saudi Arabia for anything. And continuing a relationship with them degrades our standing in the world. Of course with Dump as Presidunce that too degrades us. So vote out his Repugnantan lackeys in the mid-terms and Dump in '20. Make America Great Again with those actions.
Your healthcare depends on this
Don't leave it up to apathy or voter suppression.. Vote! And make sure you're registered before you vote.
The truth of Repug cuts to Social Security
The fact of the matter is that they've stolen our money and want to steal more of it, ultimately all of it. Are you going to let them?
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Borowitz: Huckabee Sanders to help Saudi Arabia lie
Borowitz does it again:
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Donald
J. Trump has dispatched the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee
Sanders, to Saudi Arabia to provide what the White House on Thursday
called “essential lying advice and assistance.”
According to the counsellor to the President Kellyanne Conway, “The President was not happy with the quality of lies coming out of the Saudi royal family, and who better to fix that than Sarah Sanders?”
Sources close to Sanders said that the press secretary was “horrified” during her first meeting in Riyadh to discover that the crown prince’s lying skills were “rudimentary at best.”
“The absence of a free press in Saudi Arabia means that M.B.S.”—Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—“has had virtually zero experience lying to reporters,” Sanders reportedly told one of her aides. “The learning curve is going to be steep.”
In perhaps her most withering comment on the state of the Saudis’ lying, Sanders said, “These clowns could never have gotten Kavanaugh confirmed.”
According to the counsellor to the President Kellyanne Conway, “The President was not happy with the quality of lies coming out of the Saudi royal family, and who better to fix that than Sarah Sanders?”
Sources close to Sanders said that the press secretary was “horrified” during her first meeting in Riyadh to discover that the crown prince’s lying skills were “rudimentary at best.”
“The absence of a free press in Saudi Arabia means that M.B.S.”—Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—“has had virtually zero experience lying to reporters,” Sanders reportedly told one of her aides. “The learning curve is going to be steep.”
In perhaps her most withering comment on the state of the Saudis’ lying, Sanders said, “These clowns could never have gotten Kavanaugh confirmed.”
Reich's message to Millennials
The power to determine elections is in your hands. You'll be engaging with issues that directly affect your lives. Also check to make sure you're registered to vote, as Repugs are trying to purge you. Vote!
Russian social media propaganda
According to a criminal complaint by federal prosecutors see below. It is not coincidence that these are Dump and Repugnantan talking points too, since they are colluding with them to commit treason.
"Some messages appeared to praise President Trump or his policies and went after his opponents or fellow Republicans who disagreed with him. Posing as Americans, the Russians warned that threats of impeachment could be a prelude to civil war."
"Borrowing a favorite political theme of conservatives and some members of the Trump administration, the Russians promoted the message of widespread voter fraud, arguing that stricter voter identification laws were needed to prevent Democrats from falsifying election results."
"The Russians accused Mr. Mueller of bias, falsely claiming he had close ties to the Democratic Party and a history of scandals during his tenure as F.B.I. director."
"The Russians sought to portray The New York Times, CNN and other media organizations as untrustworthy and deeply biased against the president. They picked up on Mr. Trump’s favored term of 'fake news,' accusing the mainstream media of deliberately spreading lies about the president."
"Some messages appeared to praise President Trump or his policies and went after his opponents or fellow Republicans who disagreed with him. Posing as Americans, the Russians warned that threats of impeachment could be a prelude to civil war."
"Borrowing a favorite political theme of conservatives and some members of the Trump administration, the Russians promoted the message of widespread voter fraud, arguing that stricter voter identification laws were needed to prevent Democrats from falsifying election results."
"The Russians accused Mr. Mueller of bias, falsely claiming he had close ties to the Democratic Party and a history of scandals during his tenure as F.B.I. director."
"The Russians sought to portray The New York Times, CNN and other media organizations as untrustworthy and deeply biased against the president. They picked up on Mr. Trump’s favored term of 'fake news,' accusing the mainstream media of deliberately spreading lies about the president."
Palast sues GA Sec. of State Kemp for voter suppression
Here's the story with a copy of the suppression analysis and a copy of the filed complaint. This is how we fight back against Repugnantan criminal voter suppression. Continue to check your voter registration and vote these criminals out.
And Dump still believes the Saudis
Now they're claiming it was a fist fight gone wrong, when it has been documented that 15 hit men were seen entering the building with a bone saw. And Dump says he believes the fist fight story. Jesus f___ing Christ.
A Cherokee defends Warren
Continuing this post,
then there's this statement by the leader of the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians, Principal Chief Richard Sneed, who also gets it right:
"The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is a sovereign tribal nation with the inherent authority to determine our own citizenship. Senator Elizabeth Warren does not claim to be a citizen of any tribal nation, and she is not a citizen of the Eastern Band. Like many other Americans, she has a family story of Cherokee and Delaware ancestry and evidence of Native ancestry. [...] But Senator Warren has not tried to appropriate Cherokee or Delaware culture. She has not used her family story or evidence of Native ancestry to gain employment or other advantage. She has not tried to claim a treaty or trust obligation, or seek the protection of the Indian Child Welfare Act. On the contrary, she demonstrates respect for tribal sovereignty by acknowledging that tribes determine citizenship and respecting the difference between citizenship and ancestry."
"The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is a sovereign tribal nation with the inherent authority to determine our own citizenship. Senator Elizabeth Warren does not claim to be a citizen of any tribal nation, and she is not a citizen of the Eastern Band. Like many other Americans, she has a family story of Cherokee and Delaware ancestry and evidence of Native ancestry. [...] But Senator Warren has not tried to appropriate Cherokee or Delaware culture. She has not used her family story or evidence of Native ancestry to gain employment or other advantage. She has not tried to claim a treaty or trust obligation, or seek the protection of the Indian Child Welfare Act. On the contrary, she demonstrates respect for tribal sovereignty by acknowledging that tribes determine citizenship and respecting the difference between citizenship and ancestry."
Friday, October 19, 2018
My discussion w/Mark Johnson, co-author Philosophy in the Flesh
Continuing this post, here's my email discussion with Mark Johnson, co-author of Philosophy in the Flesh, which he said I could share. The last part is on Haidt's work.
Me: I'm reading your book [Morality for Humans] and have some questions. You noted that moral deliberation is a capacity that goes beyond conditioned, intuitive responses. You described the process of this sort of deliberation. You even go so far as to say that within a wide, reflective equilibrium we can achieve broader, more comprehensive perspectives where we can value some behaviors as better than others. Granted there is no ultimate perspective for a universal valuation, nevertheless it seems that there is a developmental trajectory to this process.
Dr. Johnson: It has been pointed out to me before that some of what I'm saying agrees with Maslow's view. Not citing him is mostly due to my minimal knowledge of his position. I do agree that there are general hierarchies of needs, but I don't see them as necessarily providing a hierarchy of fixed values. ascending from lower to higher. Maybe that's Maslow's view, too -- I just haven't studied him. A neuroscientist with whom I'm currently working, how Maslow account meshes with the view we're developing.
Me: I'm reading your book [Morality for Humans] and have some questions. You noted that moral deliberation is a capacity that goes beyond conditioned, intuitive responses. You described the process of this sort of deliberation. You even go so far as to say that within a wide, reflective equilibrium we can achieve broader, more comprehensive perspectives where we can value some behaviors as better than others. Granted there is no ultimate perspective for a universal valuation, nevertheless it seems that there is a developmental trajectory to this process.
So
why do you not frame morality this way
like Kohlberg, for example, as higher
(broader, more comprehensive
perspectives) over lower forms or
morality like self indulgence or blind
inculcation into something like
slavery or wage slavery? It seems you
sort of do this when going through the
basic categories of morality, from
biological homeostasis to
interpersonal relations to social
interactions and institutions to
meaning, growth and self cultivation.
This seems to coincided with Maslow's
hierarchy of needs and Kohberg's moral
stages.
Again,
I take your point against reasoning
from fixed stages to specific moral
circumstances, but you certainly noted
per above that wide, reflective
equilibrium takes into consideration
perspectives not considered from less
inclusive perspectives, which
apparently requires considerable
training to develop.
Dr. Johnson: It has been pointed out to me before that some of what I'm saying agrees with Maslow's view. Not citing him is mostly due to my minimal knowledge of his position. I do agree that there are general hierarchies of needs, but I don't see them as necessarily providing a hierarchy of fixed values. ascending from lower to higher. Maybe that's Maslow's view, too -- I just haven't studied him. A neuroscientist with whom I'm currently working, how Maslow account meshes with the view we're developing.
Cohen, Dump's former lawyer, says to vote Democratic
"Because if not you're going to have another 2 or another 6 years of this craziness." He too is cooperating with the Mueller investigation.
McGahn out as Blight House counsel
Since he's out maybe McGahn is flipping too, since Mueller interviewed him for 30 hours?
Scary parallel
Dump's child abductions, and putting them in cages, is a step in this direction and we should be outraged into action before it gets to the Nazi point. If we let it go we will eventually get there, since we are frogs in this slowly boiling pot that gets hotter by the day with increasing atrocities.
Good meme on progressivism
I'm down with this definition, although I see it as a transition step on the road to the collaborative commons.
Moral fundamentalism is immoral
Continuing this post, another quote from the book which also applies to the belief in unmediated access to absolute, universal truths of any kind:
"The greatest sin of moral philosophy is moral fundamentalism, by which I mean the belief in unmediated access to absolute, universal foundational moral truths. Moral fundamentalism typically takes one or both of two forms: either it assumes that we have access to absolute moral principles, or it assumes that we have access to foundational moral facts (about what is good, right, virtuous, etc.). Fundamentalism is a sin because it (1) attempts to reduce the relevant complexity of human experience to simple abstractions, (2) denies the human necessity for interpretation, and (3) shuts off moral inquiry. These are three of the worst things a person can do when it comes to engaging in moral deliberation."
"The greatest sin of moral philosophy is moral fundamentalism, by which I mean the belief in unmediated access to absolute, universal foundational moral truths. Moral fundamentalism typically takes one or both of two forms: either it assumes that we have access to absolute moral principles, or it assumes that we have access to foundational moral facts (about what is good, right, virtuous, etc.). Fundamentalism is a sin because it (1) attempts to reduce the relevant complexity of human experience to simple abstractions, (2) denies the human necessity for interpretation, and (3) shuts off moral inquiry. These are three of the worst things a person can do when it comes to engaging in moral deliberation."
Inside Ted Cruz's brain
Colbert goes inside his brain during Cruz's debate with O'Rourke when Cruz had to pause to answer a simple question.
Reich: 3 easy fixes to Social Security and Medicare
Of course Repugnantans don't want to fix it but to privatize it for their own profit. These fixes will have to wait until progressives take over Congress and the Presidency. However with a House takeover they can at least stall the Repug agenda until '20. Then we can implement these simple solutions for the betterment of society at large.
Dump's next logical step on the press
At this point Dump only wishes he could do the same to reporters. It's up to us to prevent that. Vote!
Haaland on Warren's ancestry
Continuing this post on Native American spokespeople attacking Warren for claiming ancestry, compare with Haaland's FB post putting it in context. She's a Native in NM running for the US House and said:
"Our public discourse about Indian country should not come up just because one woman decided to find out more about her family history, rather, we should all care that so much of our history is repeating itself, and it shouldn't. We should make a difference now, because we can."
Which to me says that those Natives blaming Warren for her DNA test should instead be focused on the blatant racism of Dump and his ilk. And thanking Warren for bringing up the issue because she is a Native advocate who will enact laws to help them.
"Our public discourse about Indian country should not come up just because one woman decided to find out more about her family history, rather, we should all care that so much of our history is repeating itself, and it shouldn't. We should make a difference now, because we can."
Which to me says that those Natives blaming Warren for her DNA test should instead be focused on the blatant racism of Dump and his ilk. And thanking Warren for bringing up the issue because she is a Native advocate who will enact laws to help them.
Capitalism is the cause of climate chaos
It's time for capitalism to die and the collaborative commons to grow up. From this piece:
"Identification of the industrial age— capitalism, as the cause of climate crisis brings with it a host of related revelations. Capitalist wealth becomes a crude measure of its reciprocal in environmental devastation. The relation of wealth to political power makes timely and / or peaceful resolution improbable. Capitalist accumulation will hereafter be a measure of informed socio-pathology. The writing is on the wall. The American political ‘choice’ between the wealthy or their technocratic servants is a formula for environmental annihilation. The system crisis is a metaphor for the political crisis that makes resolution so intractable."
"Identification of the industrial age— capitalism, as the cause of climate crisis brings with it a host of related revelations. Capitalist wealth becomes a crude measure of its reciprocal in environmental devastation. The relation of wealth to political power makes timely and / or peaceful resolution improbable. Capitalist accumulation will hereafter be a measure of informed socio-pathology. The writing is on the wall. The American political ‘choice’ between the wealthy or their technocratic servants is a formula for environmental annihilation. The system crisis is a metaphor for the political crisis that makes resolution so intractable."
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Kimmel interviews Ocasio-Cortez
We need many more like her in Congress. We first need to get her in Congress. Vote.
Reagan tells the truth about social security
It has nothing to do with the deficit. McConnell is lying about that. The other truth is that McConnell and his Repugs want to raid the social security trust fund, meaning steal our money, for their own purposes.
What Democratic angry mobs do
This is considered violence to Repugnantans because it's more effective than actual violence.
Sam Bee update on voter suppression
This is happening all over and it is right in the open voter suppression because they know the Supreme Corp will let them get away with it. Democracy much? Apparently not.
Dump denies facts about Saudi bone saw torture/murder
This is seriously sick shit when our Presidunce tries to cover up torture and murder because he gets money from the Saudis.
Some Native and Democratic oversensitivity is why they lose
This is exactly what Democrats lose elections with their over
sensitivities that miss the point. Point being, Warren does have Native
ancestry and Dump is a racist. She never claimed membership in any
tribe. If you want to defeat Dump and his Dumpsters quit being babies
and responding to their narrative. Attack them, not Warren who will help
you receive the rights and benefits you deserve. Recall Maher's accurate comment on this.
Snopes fact check on voter suppression
The initial question is on provisional ballots, and whether you can request one if you've been purged from the voter rolls. It provides factual information on what to do if you need to case a provisional ballot. But the fact check does a lot more; it reports on all the voter suppression going on around the country, and what to do about it. Please pass this along, thanks.
Silverman on voter suppression in GA
Repugnantans cannot win without cheating and they know it so they cheat.
Colbert: Dump's science fiction
And it's not even science fiction, which is typically extrapolated from science fact. Dump is strictly idiotic delusion.
Universal healthcare works
And Sanders provides the facts about how it is working around the world. As usual Dump the idiot denies it after he earlier agreed with it, with video evidence. It's not only a matter of facts versus lies; it's a matter of family values. Do we believe in honesty and want to help families? Or do we lie to destroy their lives for our own profit? If you value truth and your family's health the choice is clear.
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Mark Johnson: Morality For Humans
His 2014 book titled above and subtitled Ethical Understanding from the Perspective of Cognitive Science can be found here. Here's an excerpt on moral deliberation:
"There is a temptation to regard reflective processes as merely after-the-fact storytelling meant mostly to explain and justify the intuitive processes that are doing the real work. [...] I am going to argue that there is, nonetheless, a key role for a process of moral deliberation that is more than just intuitive, nonconscious judgment, and also more than mere after-the-fact justification by principles. It is a reflective process of deliberation concerning which possible courses of action available in a given morally problematic situation would best harmonize competing impulses, values, and ends. It is an imaginative process inextricably tied to emotion and feeling, but it also makes possible an appropriately critical point of view (or what is today known as 'wide reflective equilibrium'). When a process of moral deliberation achieves a sufficiently broad and comprehensive perspective, we can correctly describe the outcome (in action) of such deliberations as reasonable" (89 - 90).
"There is a temptation to regard reflective processes as merely after-the-fact storytelling meant mostly to explain and justify the intuitive processes that are doing the real work. [...] I am going to argue that there is, nonetheless, a key role for a process of moral deliberation that is more than just intuitive, nonconscious judgment, and also more than mere after-the-fact justification by principles. It is a reflective process of deliberation concerning which possible courses of action available in a given morally problematic situation would best harmonize competing impulses, values, and ends. It is an imaginative process inextricably tied to emotion and feeling, but it also makes possible an appropriately critical point of view (or what is today known as 'wide reflective equilibrium'). When a process of moral deliberation achieves a sufficiently broad and comprehensive perspective, we can correctly describe the outcome (in action) of such deliberations as reasonable" (89 - 90).
The death of the invisible hand (job)
Article by David Sloan Wilson. The invisible hand job leaves us unsatisfied, i.e., with economic blue balls. Sort of like how Kavanaugh will now do to all of us from the Supreme Corp. Some excerpts:
"[Adam] Smith was critical of Mandeville and presented a more nuanced view of human nature in his Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), but modern economic and political discourse is not about nuance. Rational choice theory takes the invisible hand metaphor literally by trying to explain the length and breadth of human behavior on the basis of individual utility maximization, which is fancy talk for the narrow pursuit of self-interest."
"The collapse of our economy for lack of regulation was preceded by the collapse of rational choice theory. It became clear that the single minimalistic principle of self-interest could not explain the length and breadth of human behavior. Economists started to conduct experiments to discover the actual preferences that drive human behavior. [...] Actual human preferences are all about regulation. [...] Once the capacity for regulation is provided in the form of rewards and punishments that can be implemented at low cost, cooperation rises to high levels."
"Functioning as large cooperative groups is not natural. Large human groups scarcely existed until the advent of agriculture a mere 10 thousand years ago. This means that new cultural constructions are required that interface with our genetically evolved psychology for human society to function adaptively at a large scale."
"[Adam] Smith was critical of Mandeville and presented a more nuanced view of human nature in his Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), but modern economic and political discourse is not about nuance. Rational choice theory takes the invisible hand metaphor literally by trying to explain the length and breadth of human behavior on the basis of individual utility maximization, which is fancy talk for the narrow pursuit of self-interest."
"The collapse of our economy for lack of regulation was preceded by the collapse of rational choice theory. It became clear that the single minimalistic principle of self-interest could not explain the length and breadth of human behavior. Economists started to conduct experiments to discover the actual preferences that drive human behavior. [...] Actual human preferences are all about regulation. [...] Once the capacity for regulation is provided in the form of rewards and punishments that can be implemented at low cost, cooperation rises to high levels."
"Functioning as large cooperative groups is not natural. Large human groups scarcely existed until the advent of agriculture a mere 10 thousand years ago. This means that new cultural constructions are required that interface with our genetically evolved psychology for human society to function adaptively at a large scale."
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