Scattershots – 17apr2019 (updated 19apr19)

George Rebane

RR readers may recall that the two necessary pillars on which science rests are Occam’s razor and falsifiability.  The former selects the simplest theory that explains observations, and the latter requires every theory to contain propositions that, the subsequent falsification of which, will either negate or restrict the applicability of the theory.  Religions are belief systems that require compliance to neither.  Today progressivism is a secular humanist religion that has many belief tenets (propositions) which cannot be falsified.  Currently two of the more often cited are 1) Justice Kavanaugh is a sexual predator, and 2) candidate Trump conspired with the Kremlin in order to win the presidency.  Daily statements from the lamestream, progressive activists, and the Democratic leadership confirm that there neither is nor can be nothing that will change the verity of these tenets.

Apropos to the above, the asymmetry of the Left and Right in about every dimension of behavior in the public forum is familiar to most Americans.  It is denied by the Left that always seeks to attribute equally reprehensible actions from the Right anytime something obviously atrocious is carried out by the Left.  However, their ability to cite evidence – in either frequency, intensity, or participants – to back their claims is woefully lacking.  Today the rise of alt-Left socialism, as espoused by Democrats like Sanders, AOC, Warren, Harris, …, concerns the more established party leaders.  These leaders seek to discount their more radical brethren by identifying them as just the Left’s version of the Tea Party, the group they and their lamestream identify as being equally rightwing radical.  But again, there is no evidence presented; it is just a religious belief.  My recent invitation for local leftwingers to remedy this deficit (here) continues to be met with silence.

Free speech is dying at hands of corporatist giants on the internet.  Conservative leaning outlets like Daily Caller, Daily Signal, and Breitbart are being censored by social media giants and even banned as references on information sites like Wikipedia, as they, including Fox News, are accused of being hateful and sources of ‘fake news’.  There is no evidence for that; in fact, the evidence is exactly the opposite especially as concerns major stories that have dominated our attention for these last years – e.g. Trump’s Russia collusion, DoJ corruption, the glories of nationalized healthcare, and global warming.  Instead, outlets like CNN, MSNBC, NYT, and WaPo are being glorified (e.g. awarded Pulitzer prizes) for being demonstrable sources of fake news.  For example, it was they who kept spreading the collusion lie for over two years, and even today are doing their best to keep it alive.  They have done untold harm to the administration of Trump the candidate and then as the sitting president.  And by extension they have harmed America in our efforts to effect policies foreign, domestic, national security, and in world trade.  Being a progressive leftwing news outlet means never having to say you are sorry.

[18apr19 update]  ‘Afghanistan is our longest lasting war’ seems to be repeated more and more these days for purposes unknown or hazy at best.  In reality, it turns out to be a propagandized meme without moment.  The ‘war’ started in 2001 with our defeating the Taliban who had then been ravaging the country for some years while supporting Islamic terrorist organizations in the land they governed.  Over these last 18 years America has sacrificed fewer than 2,500 lives in conducting what at best can be called a simmering counter-terrorist operation.  To put this number in perspective, during this period over 9,300 Americans have been violently killed in Chicago alone.  And that number is multiplied several times when we include other bastions of our progressives’ prize-winning policies in cities like Baltimore and Los Angeles.  (It is there where we should concentrate our efforts to save American lives.)  During real wars in the 20^th century, America lost more than all of Afghanistan in one day as we assaulted the beaches of Europe and the Pacific.  The reality is that there will be an ongoing price that our military and their families must needs pay if we are to remain the world’s peace keeper and white hat hegemon.  Our overarching and abiding concern should be that such ongoing sacrifices will be made wisely, and only as the last resort to serve our country’s legitimate national interests.

[19apr19 update]  The climate change hysteria has developed all the trappings of a cult. I gave my Occam razor and falsifiability arguments above, and did not here make their connection to global warming strongly enough (although in previous posts this point has been much emphasized).  The cult connection has been detailed in a piece, ‘Climate Change and the Ten Warning Signs for Cults’, posted on Russ Steele’s blog (here).

Comments

[Don Bessee]

A touch of sanity in Laguna Beach -

The Laguna Beach City Council initially approved the American flag lettering for its police department. But after some accused the department of being too aggressive and militaristic, Tuesday night the council voted again.

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/04/16/laguna-beach-american-flag-police-cars/

;-)

[Don Bessee]

No jihadi I don't want your money or to be associated with you in any way -

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/campaign-donations-from-ilhan-omar-rejected-by-at-least-2-dems

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Re: Free speech is dying at hands of corporatist giants on the internet and the Illiberals.
Illebrals in Congress, media, and social media...

Perfect case in point: Ilhan Omar’s comments about “some people did something” concerning the biggest attack on US soil and loss of American life since Pearl Harbor. Any criticism of her comment, no matter how measured and reasoned, was immediately met with a firestorm of denouncement and the screams of racism. The Enemy of the People went off on how the Terrorist Republican Hate Machine was unleashed on the poor freshman Congresswoman. It was to inflame hate and racism to trash Omar because she is a Muslim, immigrant, woman, and POC. And of course it was Trump dividing us and evil vitriolic despicable Fox News (Satan) inflaming their base into frenzied outrage with the sole purpose of endangering her life.

Trump purposely put a clip of 9/11 of Twitter to try to kill her! He wants death threats. Nazi! Take it down, Mr. President. Take it down. Never say “Never forget!” Hater! Divider Hate speech! Oh, the Addicted to Outrage Machine was in high gear.

That’s how the Left squashes free speech. The goal is to silence. When criticism (words) become synonymous with physical violence, then it must be silenced. No criticism allowed. It’s violence. It trying to kill someone. Don’t go there. No not go there, period.

I got a kick out of a conservative lady getting suspended from Twitter. She writes for an fairly well known on-line conservative site. She reposted a Dem Congressman’s words he said on the floor of the House. Just reposted his exact words on Twitter. Her account got suspended for violating community standards. No exposing them for who they are. No saying what they say. No exposing them as stupid or hypocritical. That’s not inclusive, roflmao.

[Bill Tozer]

“You're a threat to the Democrat narrative.” Shortly after he asked which type of conservatives and free thinkers they would come after next, eventually becoming “Anyone who disagrees with the #Democrat Narrative #censorship” as momentum builds for the “#2020Elections”

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/techwatch/alexander-hall/2019/04/17/cartoonist-banned-instagram-mocking-intersectionality

[scenes]

re: The Internet and politics.

I can't say that I predicted the current world of monopoly and paywalls combined with the politics of the executives and employees. Given the malleability of people and the overwhelming force you can bring via social media, news sites, and schools, my money is still on Paul and the Blue Mob in the long run.

Book recommendation o' the day:
https://www.amazon.com/Age-Surveillance-Capitalism-Future-Frontier/dp/1610395697

You won't agree with all of it, but there's more here than your typical technology screed.

[scenes]

related to internet free speech issues:

https://www.projectveritas.com/2019/04/16/debanking-chase-bank-says-moral-character-a-reason-why-they-dont-do-business-with-those-types-of-people/

[Gregory]

Science doesn't rest on a pillar made of Occam's Razor. Science would stand as it is without Occam's Razor at all. It isn't necessary.

I doubt Newton, in Principia, made even one reference to Occam.

However, the Razor does speed things up quite a bit.

[George Rebane]

Gregory 340pm - Expediting correct conclusions and moving on are fundamental to the celebrated progress of science, and hence science. And note that I made no claim that those two pillars are a sufficient defining basis for science, just necessary. I have a feeling that we will not agree on this assertion.

[Gregory]

Occam's Razor does not cut to correct conclusions, and a lot of good science took place before Popper ever brought falsifiability to the foreground.

You also then muddy the waters trying to use scientific arguments for the politics and religion embodied in modern progressivism... where you use"falsifiability" instead of "challenge". You wrote, " Today progressivism is a secular humanist religion that has many belief tenets (propositions) which cannot be falsified".

The most common progressive tenet that cannot be even be challenged in polite progressive company (assuming there is such a thing) is anthropogenic global warming, George, I thought you knew that.

[George Rebane]

Gregory 440pm - I stand by my words Gregory. You are raising red herrings (e.g. claiming that Occam "cuts" to "correct conclusions", the timing of Popper's teachings) which are beside the points that I made - including the implication of my ignorance in your last paragraph (which I covered in the second item above).

[AVMan]

,,,Focusing on The American Invasion of Afghanistan in terms of military lives lost is ignoring the $1 Trillion wasted on BS that could have been used here at home to BUILD THAT WALL!!!

[Paul Emery]

Scenes writes:

"my money is still on Paul and the Blue Mob in the long run. "

Thanks for the support Scenes. I'm really making progress here.

[fish]

Posted by: Paul Emery | 20 April 2019 at 11:42 AM

Thanks for the support Scenes. I'm really making progress here.

An inability to recognize when one is being mocked.......an indicator for age related dementia.

So which is it Palooka......are you lying about scenes statement or are you just not getting it?

Lying or senile? Which is it?

[Todd Juvinall]

FISH the left have no funny bone. That is why when Trump said hey Russia if you find those emails give them to the press which we know was a joke but they took it to Mueller as a fact to investigate.

[Gregory]

Fish, is that an inclusive or an exclusive OR?

[fish]

Posted by: Gregory | 20 April 2019 at 12:36 PM

I wrote it as exclusive. Since it's Palooka, I suppose it could be both.

[Paul Emery]

Just quoting word for word Todd. You figure it out. This is such a hoot. I visit here for comic relief.

[George Rebane]

re ToddJ 1222pm - While expressed in the manner of a jest, I continue to believe that Trump's proposal was not a joke. All reasonable Americans would have wanted and still do want Russia to release all of the purloined emails it has about our politicians. If Russia already knows what's in them, what possible reason would we have to deny our own knowledge of the same?

[fish]

Posted by: Paul Emery | 20 April 2019 at 12:43 PM

This is such a hoot. I visit here for comic relief.

Sure you do Punch....sure you do.

[Gregory]

The joke was that the illegal email server was off line and dismantled at the time... it was physically impossible for anyone to hack it.

That Russians might have in the past was funny as hell to me at the moment of the joke (I literally LOL'd), but Chinese military and Macedonian teenagers in their parent's basement is my bet.

Idiots of all political persuasions have no sense of humor to speak of when it comes to themselves.

[scenes]

P. Emery: ""Thanks for the support Scenes. I'm really making progress here."

It ain't support, it's merely a realization of the power behind the Blue Throne. When you own media, schools, big banks, 17 intelligence agencies, and KVMR, there's a certain might and inertia there.

It's fun to pretend that you folks aren't just tools of GoogleCIAChase, but it's obvious what the truth is. The Mueller investigation was driven by the same nomenklatura that brought us the Shah of Iran and the USS Maddox incident.

The pussy hats are just a ruse.

[scenes]

fish: "An inability to recognize when one is being mocked.......an indicator for age related dementia."

To be fair, I'm actually fairly serious. It's obvious where institutional power in this country is and Mr. Paul is four square in their corner. Always bet on the favorite.

The political genius of Donald Trump is that some guy with a mic and a twitter account and a small team joined up with what's left of traditional America and actually won the Presidency. Too little, too late? Dunno.

As an aside, Paul's dementia is a real possibility. God knows how many times he's said 'Putin cuddler' or posted one poll after the other. I've had some friends find themselves in the embrace of Alzheimer's and looking back, they had a strong tendency to repeat themselves...some sort of stimulus always resulted in the same output. It ain't pretty.

[scenes]

GeorgeR: "All reasonable Americans would have wanted and still do want Russia to release all of the purloined emails"

People do tend to forget just what the Russians (or Bulgarians or Chinese or Black Hat hackers in Florida) released. If I were a Democratic official, I'd be pissed too. Any of these leaks are threatening my iron rice bowl.

Whether you run the DNC or are the CEO of a Sierra 'Business' nonprofit, the spice must flow.

[Paul Emery]

Wanna count how many times Don has said "rancid Russian Dressing"? Do a search on this blog. To make it easy use this link. three full pages worth. Boring Don has nothing else to say. This is so much fun. Keep it up.
https://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/.services/blog/6a00e54f86f2ad883300e54f9a78f48834/search/page/2/?filter.q=rancid+russian

[scenes]

"Wanna count how many times Don has said "rancid Russian Dressing"? "

Kind of defensive, aren't you? Maybe Don has Alzheimer's also? You guys can keep each other company when the nurses clean you up once a week. We'll let you keep the Ann Coulter doll for special days.

Hey, at least it's a break from busily stenciling fake "stinkass" signs in the KVMR break room.

[Ozz]

Paul 2:38
Reminds me of a while back one of the lower level ruminants could hardly write a post without referring to the 1st grade refrain, "liar liar pants on fire." It was like he longed to be thought of a seven year old.

[scenes]

"It was like he longed to be thought of a seven year old."

High Irony Alert!! Danger!!

[Don Bessee]

The minuet of the ignorant @238 & 258. Wallow in it boys you own it. You forgot the pantsuits on fire part! A little dab will do ya.....

;-)

[Don Bessee]

Lets have a giggle after suffering through the dour trolls and tube socks -

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/bbq-business-selling-pro-lgbtq-shirts-standing-for-liberty-guns-bible-trump-and-bbq-sell-out-despite-backlash-212629985.html

;-)

[Ozz]

"RR readers may recall that the two necessary pillars on which science rests are Occam’s razor and falsifiability. "

Please don't attempt to put words in our mouths or sway opinions by using the conversational phrase "as you may recall." As you will recall, It is one of the oldest debate leads in the book. It is like starting a lie with, "To be perfectly honest".

FYI, the "two pillars of science" are: Observation and Logic.

[George Rebane]

Ozz 504pm - Observation and logic? With an appropriate set of axioms, observation and logic can be the foundations of ANY belief system (including religions). At what schools of science did you study and learn such things Mr Ozz?

And putting 'words in your mouth' is beyond my ken, you do more than an adequate job of that yourself in conveying the direction and depth of your thought. In any case, you don't tell me what I can or cannot write on this blog; that 's called pissing in the wind.

[Paul Emery]

George writes:

"All reasonable Americans would have wanted and still do want Russia to release all of the purloined emails"

Are you not encouraging partisan profit made from stolen material? If someone breaks into someone's house and steals a bunch of documents is it ethical or to desire and encourage publicly their release to the public if you profit in some manner from the information? Is it ok to use stolen material as evidence in a trial for example?

Webster defination of purloin:

steal, pilfer, filch, purloin mean to take from another without right or without detection. steal may apply to any surreptitious taking of something and differs from the other terms by commonly applying to intangibles as well as material things.

[Don Bessee]

And I will raise you a pentagon papers decision @559 Brainiac.

;-)

[Ozz]

George 5:47
"observation and logic can be the foundations of ANY belief system (including religions)"

I'll take the bait. Demonstrate the logic behind by the tale of Noah getting two of every animal into his boat.

"Observation and Logic" is the answer to the SAT question, "what are the two pillars of science?"

[Paul Emery]

So Don you are saying it would be OK for me to obtain stolen material about you and your personal life and distribute them around Nevada County. Careful what you say because there are those that claim to have information about you that you would not like to have distributed.

[George Rebane]

PaulE 559pm - you definitely didn't understand my 1247pm. And apparently you want Russians to be the only ones to have incriminating evidence of wrongdoings by American politicians, evidence that should not be available to the American voter. OK, I understand your priorities.

Ozz 617pm - It is axiomatic to Judeo-Christians that God the creator has the ability to control matter, energy, time, and space at his pleasure. Given that, it is perfectly logical that God then created the space on the ark and gave Noah the time to fill it with every one of Earth's critters. Given its politicized history, the SAT is far from being the definitive repository of knowledge in ANY domain. Next question.

[Don Bessee]

So you are acknowledging that the pentagon papers ruling does apply. Thanks for the clarification oh great pony tail of ignorance.

;-)

[Paul Emery]

George

You are encouraging the release of stolen material pure and simple. How you find that ethical is beyond me and makes me sad.

Nothing to do with the Pentagon papers Don. Would it be ok with you to have private documents of yours distributed to the public?

[Ozz]

George-
By your standards, any illogical conclusion can be brushed off as a "miracle". End of argument.

[Don Bessee]

You can wiggle and squirm all you want but the fact is that madam liar liar pantsuits on fire stole the files that belonged to the people of and the archive of the United States when she secreted them in the bathroom server. She then bleach bited her server and destroyed all the phones and sim cards that had evidence of improper state secret handling.

There were never hers they were ours.

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Scenes @ 2:16 pm sez:

“The pussy hats are just a ruse.”

No, no, no. No pussy hats because it’s hurtful and offensive to males born with a stem on the apple 🍎 who suffer from a dysphoria that allows them to actually believe they are are females, Thus they feel excluded because they do not have a vagina and that observation conflicts with their logic that they are really women. We must be inclusive. Feeling over facts. No pussy hats. It’s hateful to non-born females.

Hmmm. Talk about observation colliding with logic. It’s not really that uncommon. There are some who actually tell themselves they are credible news directors. I can relate. When I used to drink, I thought, at times, I was 9 feet tall. Oh, the whoppers we tell ourselves that defy logic and observation.

[Don Bessee]

Talk about racist newspeak from snowflake land -

CARE Now had recently released a list of twelve demands in an open letter, which included calling on the school’s trustees to fulfill their “obligation to the well-being and safety of its students, faculty and staff” by separating minority students from the rest of the campus body in order “take steps toward becoming a more inclusive institution.”

“The College can work toward making the College a less harmful place for those of marginalized identities and to take steps toward becoming a more inclusive institution,” read the student newspaper, stressing the importance of looking toward “CARE Now’s leadership as we collectively examine how to combat institutional violence at the College.”

The student newspaper then attempted to justify its support for separating black students from white students via housing by claiming that minority students feel “tokenized” on campus, as there are too many white students within their immediate surroundings.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/04/20/williams-college-student-newspaper-endorses-racially-segregated-housing/

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Well, Don, it does sound like Williams College is a harmful place to the students’ growth and development if they promote segregated housing as a way to achieve inclusiveness and diversity.

[Gregory]

George, you just don't get it. If just anyone got ahold of stolen Clinton server files, they might let the Russians see them! They're the enemy, don't you know?

Doesn't really matter if you get it from the Russians... you can't let the have them!

Paul's situational ethics are for all seasons... Paul, weren't you agitating for the Mueller report to be released unredacted?

[George Rebane]

Paul, I wasn't "encouraging" anything, but explaining a possible reasonable basis for Trump's actions.

Ozz, I wasn't talking about my "standards" on anything, but attempting to explain to you the fallacy of your 617pm.

If nothing else, perhaps this exchange with both of you underlines the proposition of our polarization and the Great Divide - we have no middle ground upon which to even understand each other. We don't think the same way.

[Don Bessee]

OH MY! They think? It looks more like they just get the talking points for lefties from the fakenews team like good parrots. -

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Free speech

“It’s time to recognize the American culture war for what it is — a religious dispute — and incorporate it into America’s existing religious pluralism. A Christian no more “dehumanizes” a gay man when he believes in traditional sexual morality than a gay man “dehumanizes” a Christian for believing that the theology he’s based his entire life upon is nothing but an ancient fiction. A proposed limit to freedom of conscience is no more “dehumanizing” than a proposed limit to the reach of a public-accommodation statute.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/04/dehumanizing-speech-is-still-free-speech/

[Bill Tozer]

Re: update, Climate Change Hysteria takes on the trapping of a cult.from Russ’s blog

4. Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.

“I don’t want you to be hopeful, I want you to panic.”

8. Followers feel they can never be “good enough”.

“And yet there is no mystery about that, since the Swedish youngster has been exposed to their own message — fed the environmentalist doomsday gospel or, to be more precise, the ‘bad news’ — at school, when she was too young to assimilate it and put it into context, a problem made more acute by her Asperger’s syndrome. Even more damaging to infant minds, Greta and other Western children are given to understand that human beings — they themselves — are the problem.”

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/eco-gospel-according-saint-greta