The belief that many Americans receiving government support are malingering, that they could and should be working but are choosing to be lazy, is a classic zombie idea.... It has, after all, been proved wrong by experience again and again.
After Clinton's welfare reform (which I think has been since undone) people went out and got jobs.
We can add my ex-wife to the list of people who could and should be working but choose to be lazy.
I waited several minutes and it didn't show up even after hitting "refresh", then I came back 50 minutes later and it was here. I'd thought you did something.
It was the post with "Big picture the human brain is a pattern matching device"
His cancer isn't related to his mental issues, but it's possible both of those are related to something else.
The use of automobiles and paperclips aren't related to each other but they're both related to economic growth (PPP and so on). Similarly (Discovery of) Autism and Vaccines aren't related to each other but they're both related a child's age.
Big picture the human brain is a pattern matching device and we should expect people to see faces in clouds and other worthless connections.
Are we not allowed to wonder if Biden was actually running things?
We're in "end of Reagan's 2nd term" territory. The President's core staff knows there is a serious problem and is "shielding" him. He's in charge and running things but he's also a lot less functional than he used to be so his minions pretty much do their own thing.
It's not a "conspiracy" if you're open about it and the reasoning is obvious.
Biden was very old when he was running for President the first time. Ergo the people who insisted he pick a Black Female VP though this would result in a Black Female President.
Having said that, the people in the White House shielding the President were probably motivated more by their own jobs and loyalty to the President than Team Blue identity politics.
The Conspiracy Theorists are engaged in spin and assuming super-competence rather than incompetence.
With the benefit of hindsight, the people who pointed out Biden had serious mental issues were correct. Which means shouting them down and gaslighting them was the wrong move.
A full primary would have resulted in much stronger candidate than Harris. The media certainly beclowned themselves, first by pretending Biden had no problems and second by pretending the Harris was strong.
I assume the people keeping mum about Biden's various health problems were mostly interested in keeping their jobs and/or denying reality.
The people forcing Biden to have a Black Female VP were "hoping" she'd be next, but that was open and obvious enough that I wouldn't call it a conspiracy.
I'm surprised "a routine PSA test isn’t recommended past age 70" because my family's experience has been it's a cheap, easy, great indicator and super aggressive cancers can be caught super early. If your score increases by 5x in a short amount of time, 5x a very small number is still a small number.
I have multiple family members with this. You can (and SHOULD) take a blood test every year at his age which tells you if you have this cancer and how bad it is.
The PSA test measure the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. So basically you should know you have cancer when you have just a few cells, and you should know how aggressive it is by the speed of the increase of your PSA level.
Biden most certainly should have known he's had cancer for years, maybe even decades. Long before he's hit this point he should have had his prostrate removed.
They're using the USA as the example on how things should work.
The USA has a lot more resources and a lot less on the line. We fight optional wars far away from our own cities. Sometimes we give up and leave rather than make a bigger body count.
None of that has anything to do with Israel. WW2 is a much better comparison.
More importantly, Israel isn't going full out (especially by WW2 standards). Afaict, Israel is trying to follow the actual rules of war, however Hamas isn't.
Hamas not following the rules SHOULD mean Israel gets a pass on issues created by Hamas' various crimes.
For example Hamas using ambulances as troop carriers means Israel gets a pass on killing people in ambulances if it suspects that they're a troop carrier.
First, presumably the things that are normally illegal or banned are still illegal or banned so no, unlike in the Hunger Games they won't be killing each other.
2nd, humanizing immigrants would be a good thing. Game show logic suggests half of the contestants will be very attractive and so on.
So this could be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on who is running it.
The Gulf Kingdoms' leadership hate Hamas (i.e. the Muslim brotherhood) and correctly view it as a proxy for Iran. Their people don't like the war and Israel, but they don't write checks big enough to matter.
We should expect much anti-Israel rhetoric from the Gulf States but no actual action, including bribes to go easy on Hamas.
How much aid did we give Japan and Germany during WW2?
It's a war. The normal ethical rules of war mean Israel shouldn't be sending fuel, funds, and food to Hamas. What Israel should be doing is letting the civilians flee the war zone and get aid in other places.
I am a big believer in "the normal rules apply". There is no "Jewish" exception when it comes to threatening random people, calling for genocide, supporting terrorism, and so on.
That also means Israel is expected to go to war over things we'd go to war over. And that after you're in a war, war time ethics apply.
The Protesters call for genocide, threaten random Jews, support terrorism, and occasionally shut down the college. That guy in the link occasionally makes social media posts where he says he doesn't trust Jews.
So yes, the "protesters" are crossing lines he isn't and engage in behavior well past "protest". That wouldn't require the Feds to do anything if the college administration weren't determined to shield them from law enforcement and allow them to continue because Jews don't count.
The mistake was hiring him. He's doing things which are NOT compatible with his current job/role nor even compatible with his current organization.
This seems to be a deliberate move on his part. His explanation on what he's doing and why changes with every conversation. He's a firebrand, not because he believes in anything but because he wants to start fires.
This is self promotion at the expense of everyone else and I seriously doubt he's actually interested in young/old issues (or even issues in general) even if he's framing it that way this week.
He got into this by promoting gun control above all else, but that issue has apparently been dropped. Then he did anti-old-age, but his written explanation on what he was doing and why dropped that.
He simply wants power and attention and is throwing a big stunt to try to skip up several rungs of power.
Firing him is a forced move, he's going to burn stuff down until he's happy with his current level of power and that's never going to happen.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/19/2025”
The belief that many Americans receiving government support are malingering, that they could and should be working but are choosing to be lazy, is a classic zombie idea.... It has, after all, been proved wrong by experience again and again.
After Clinton's welfare reform (which I think has been since undone) people went out and got jobs.
We can add my ex-wife to the list of people who could and should be working but choose to be lazy.
People respond to economic incentives.
"
I waited several minutes and it didn't show up even after hitting "refresh", then I came back 50 minutes later and it was here. I'd thought you did something.
It was the post with "Big picture the human brain is a pattern matching device"
"
NM or thanks.
"
I just made a post and it's not showing up. Please check the post-jail. Also I don't understand why it would be held hostage.
"
His cancer isn't related to his mental issues, but it's possible both of those are related to something else.
The use of automobiles and paperclips aren't related to each other but they're both related to economic growth (PPP and so on). Similarly (Discovery of) Autism and Vaccines aren't related to each other but they're both related a child's age.
Big picture the human brain is a pattern matching device and we should expect people to see faces in clouds and other worthless connections.
"
Adams might be joking about his life expectancy.
On “Joe Biden the Man Interrupts Joe Biden the Narrative”
I guess we have to read the book.
"
Are we not allowed to wonder if Biden was actually running things?
We're in "end of Reagan's 2nd term" territory. The President's core staff knows there is a serious problem and is "shielding" him. He's in charge and running things but he's also a lot less functional than he used to be so his minions pretty much do their own thing.
"
It's not a "conspiracy" if you're open about it and the reasoning is obvious.
Biden was very old when he was running for President the first time. Ergo the people who insisted he pick a Black Female VP though this would result in a Black Female President.
Having said that, the people in the White House shielding the President were probably motivated more by their own jobs and loyalty to the President than Team Blue identity politics.
The Conspiracy Theorists are engaged in spin and assuming super-competence rather than incompetence.
"
With the benefit of hindsight, the people who pointed out Biden had serious mental issues were correct. Which means shouting them down and gaslighting them was the wrong move.
A full primary would have resulted in much stronger candidate than Harris. The media certainly beclowned themselves, first by pretending Biden had no problems and second by pretending the Harris was strong.
"
I assume the people keeping mum about Biden's various health problems were mostly interested in keeping their jobs and/or denying reality.
The people forcing Biden to have a Black Female VP were "hoping" she'd be next, but that was open and obvious enough that I wouldn't call it a conspiracy.
I'm surprised "a routine PSA test isn’t recommended past age 70" because my family's experience has been it's a cheap, easy, great indicator and super aggressive cancers can be caught super early. If your score increases by 5x in a short amount of time, 5x a very small number is still a small number.
"
I have multiple family members with this. You can (and SHOULD) take a blood test every year at his age which tells you if you have this cancer and how bad it is.
The PSA test measure the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. So basically you should know you have cancer when you have just a few cells, and you should know how aggressive it is by the speed of the increase of your PSA level.
Biden most certainly should have known he's had cancer for years, maybe even decades. Long before he's hit this point he should have had his prostrate removed.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/12/2025”
Where the theory doesn't work you should change the theory, not insist that facts don't matter.
On “Weekend Plans Post: The Last Graduation”
We have a thousand plus in my kid's graduating High School class.
I think we're going to have them all walk across the stage. I'll moan about it in two or three weeks.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/12/2025”
That means people expect them not to go full out.
They're using the USA as the example on how things should work.
The USA has a lot more resources and a lot less on the line. We fight optional wars far away from our own cities. Sometimes we give up and leave rather than make a bigger body count.
None of that has anything to do with Israel. WW2 is a much better comparison.
More importantly, Israel isn't going full out (especially by WW2 standards). Afaict, Israel is trying to follow the actual rules of war, however Hamas isn't.
Hamas not following the rules SHOULD mean Israel gets a pass on issues created by Hamas' various crimes.
For example Hamas using ambulances as troop carriers means Israel gets a pass on killing people in ambulances if it suspects that they're a troop carrier.
"
it’s war logic hasn’t applied since World War II.
Russia v Ukraine (or Russia v anyone).
ISIS v anyone.
Various other Middle East Wars.
Various African wars.
Israel stands out as the exception in terms of our expectations.
"
Fair point. I did a more detailed read on them and they've been for and against ISIS (etc). A good summation is "it's complicated".
"
First, presumably the things that are normally illegal or banned are still illegal or banned so no, unlike in the Hunger Games they won't be killing each other.
2nd, humanizing immigrants would be a good thing. Game show logic suggests half of the contestants will be very attractive and so on.
So this could be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on who is running it.
"
Unfortunately, those definitions either assume Hamas won't behave like Hamas or they have special carve outs for Jews.
Under normal rules fought be normal countries, one side doesn't need to supply it's enemies. We didn't put in special ethics for Jews nor should we.
"
The Gulf Kingdoms' leadership hate Hamas (i.e. the Muslim brotherhood) and correctly view it as a proxy for Iran. Their people don't like the war and Israel, but they don't write checks big enough to matter.
We should expect much anti-Israel rhetoric from the Gulf States but no actual action, including bribes to go easy on Hamas.
"
U.S. troubled by Gaza humanitarian situation
How much aid did we give Japan and Germany during WW2?
It's a war. The normal ethical rules of war mean Israel shouldn't be sending fuel, funds, and food to Hamas. What Israel should be doing is letting the civilians flee the war zone and get aid in other places.
"
I am a big believer in "the normal rules apply". There is no "Jewish" exception when it comes to threatening random people, calling for genocide, supporting terrorism, and so on.
That also means Israel is expected to go to war over things we'd go to war over. And that after you're in a war, war time ethics apply.
"
The Protesters call for genocide, threaten random Jews, support terrorism, and occasionally shut down the college. That guy in the link occasionally makes social media posts where he says he doesn't trust Jews.
So yes, the "protesters" are crossing lines he isn't and engage in behavior well past "protest". That wouldn't require the Feds to do anything if the college administration weren't determined to shield them from law enforcement and allow them to continue because Jews don't count.
"
...just made a raging anti-Semite a refugee to the United States
By that Logic we can "prove" that Biden is a member of a M13 or whatever that gang is.
"
The mistake was hiring him. He's doing things which are NOT compatible with his current job/role nor even compatible with his current organization.
This seems to be a deliberate move on his part. His explanation on what he's doing and why changes with every conversation. He's a firebrand, not because he believes in anything but because he wants to start fires.
This is self promotion at the expense of everyone else and I seriously doubt he's actually interested in young/old issues (or even issues in general) even if he's framing it that way this week.
He got into this by promoting gun control above all else, but that issue has apparently been dropped. Then he did anti-old-age, but his written explanation on what he was doing and why dropped that.
He simply wants power and attention and is throwing a big stunt to try to skip up several rungs of power.
Firing him is a forced move, he's going to burn stuff down until he's happy with his current level of power and that's never going to happen.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.