Go back and watch Season 1, Episode 1. It's all literally revealed right straight out of the gate under Winterfell in the crypts. :)

Yea, I started watching GOT a couple weeks ago.. I wasn't well versed on who was who and what was what..

I am 2 episodes away from being all caught up.. Then I'll have to wait with everyone else to find out what happens in Season 8... I think I'll rewatch from Season 1, now that I have a (somewhat) firm grounding in GOT...

Thanx for your insights..

so...... by NOT saying that donald DIDN'T support the nazis and klansmen, we were all secretly saying that he DID support the nazis and klansmen?

this fallacy is called ad ignorantium, or "argument from ignorance." in this case it certainly suits you ;p

JL

Wanted to ask...

Was the baby Jon??

I intentionally wrote my predictions so as not to reveal anything. What do you think? I told my SO who Jon Snow was right straight away (I had to play catch up during Season 2, which didn't take long). So we're watching, and I looked over and told him and listed all the clues... Episode 1, Season 1 where they all but announced his parentage during a conversation in the crypts at Winterfell between Eddard "Ned" Stark and Robert Baratheon. Seriously. Go back yourself and watch the first episode of the entire series, pay attention, and see if you don't immediately know his parentage in hindsight. All too easy. What was hard was waiting year after year until it was finally revealed.

Which would mean that Jon Snow is actually not a bastard, that he is a Stark by blood...

Also revealed in Season 1, Episode 2 when the last thing Ned tells Jon when they part -- Ned for Kings Landing and Jon for Castle Black: "You are a Stark. You might not have my name, but you have my blood."

If this is true, this would beg the question, why would Ned try to pass him off as his bastard son instead of his nephew by blood??

Go back and watch Season 1, Episode 1. It's all literally revealed right straight out of the gate under Winterfell in the crypts. :)

Taking a trip down memory lane can be fun..

And quietly working in the background to protect our democracy, ignoring all the distractions from 45 and the alt-right, Robert Mueller turns over some more stones and pretty ugly things crawl out:
http://www.chrisweigant.com/2017/08/14/terrorism-is-terrorism/#comment-107844

Apparently, the "ugly things" had NOTHING to do with Russia Collusion... :D

I was wrong.. I *DID* find a commenter who condemned those who said, in essence, SILENCE GIVES ASSENT...

"Silence gives assent."
Not wanting to give assent where it is not due, I am compelled to condemn all the condemning.
-Don Harris, http://www.chrisweigant.com/2017/08/14/terrorism-is-terrorism/#comment-107854

Congrats, DH... You are the exception that emphasizes the rule...

That sounds like the author of the post is saying SILENCE GIVES ASSENT...

This genie can't bet stuffed back in the bottle. And no one believes him anyway because we all know he's lying. He's a white supremacist himself and is rapidly reaching the point where only other white supremacist/nazis support him.

His "presidency" is over. He'll still be there for awhile but his presidency is over. At this point its unsalvageable. It's now a matter of how ugly the process of getting rid of him is going to get and how many people are going to be hurt or killed. This weekend was his Katrina, only, as will all things Blotus, turned up to 11.

And I just throw this one out there because it's funny as hell.. :D

In other words, people complained that he didn't condemn the Nazis..

In still other words, people stated that his silence meant he supported the Nazis..

In shorter words, Silence Gives Assent..

So, since we agreed that people here said that President Trump should have spoken sooner and by not speaking sooner, it meant he supported the Nazis...

In all your readings, did you find ANY comments from ANYONE telling those people that, just because President Trump didn't speak sooner, that does NOT mean President Trump supports the NAZIs...

That was my whole point..

If you find a comment like that, a comment that states "Whoa now.. Silence does NOT give assent, people!!" or words to that affect, I'll be happy to concede I was wrong..

You're welcome. Can't wait to see how it ends.

Want to hear some of my Game of Throne predictions?

Awesome predictions.. :D

Wanted to ask...

The flashback scene that Bran had when he saw Neds sister dying after giving birth.

Was the baby Jon?? Which would mean that Jon Snow is actually not a bastard, that he is a Stark by blood...

If this is true, this would beg the question, why would Ned try to pass him off as his bastard son instead of his nephew by blood??

Sorry I can't post them. :)

Another one EM. Same drill.

http://tinyurl.com/yxmvdsjx

Look how she is touching poor Joe. You think she got his permission? I doubt it. I wonder if he felt violated when she invaded his personal space? Is that legal?

Watch your kneecaps, Joe! ;)

If you liked that one, I got another one for you. Apologies but you're going to have to click a link for this one because it's a picture.

http://tinyurl.com/yyycdndz

It's Bernie's hoe with her hands all over a President, and that garden tool doesn't look the least bit upset about the physical contact. I wonder if she got his consent before she put her grimy hands all over him? Do you think she thought about her obvious invasion of his personal space?

Watch your kneecaps, Bubba! ;)

Re: "No one on this blog ever thought . . ."

You gotta be kidding me, or more likely, yourself. neilm hoped, but he was more realistic than you girls. At least two of you all but promised me that he was a goner. You KNEW he got "something of value" (the infamous Hillary-ious "dirt"), and you KNEW that it was against the law, ergo, you KNEW he's a goner!

Finally, two plus yrs later, the collusin delusion had a collision with reality, and now you're backpedaling at top speed.

The primary process is designed to weed out the candidates, and Lucy Flores is nothing more than Bernie Sanders playing gardener with a really big hoe. Watch your kneecaps, Joe.

Democrats need to stop eating their own and/or allowing them to be eaten, and Bernie needs to stop trying to reinvent the Democratic Party in his own image.

As you were. :)

I'm well aware of how traumatic it must be for you.

Traumatic? *shakes head* If you really believe that, then you're not remotely "well aware" and demonstrably remain firmly in the clutch of the throes of delusion.

However, believe it or not, fact of the matter is, I could easily tolerate PRESENT SILENCE "on the subject".

That would be easier to believe if you'd stop spewing the same bullshit over and over. No one on this blog ever thought the POTUS was going to be removed from office based on multiple reasons:

* the makeup of Congress
* the rules of removal
* history and the fact that none ever has
* current longstanding directives of the DOJ regarding indictment.

As for those persons not currently serving as the POTUS, all bets are off since the same rules don't apply to them. As I have stated many times: they'll either cooperate with the SCO or "some of them are going to prison," which has already happened multiple times and more on the way. Count on it. :)

http://www.chrisweigant.com/2017/08/page/2/

so, having conclusively disproved the claim that someone here was hypocritical about this fallacy a year and a half ago august (and even if they HAD been, which nobody was), we're back at the ex-siletio fallacy. no matter how many times somebody might make the assertion that silence equals assent, it is still fallacious and false.

You're welcome. Can't wait to see how it ends.

Want to hear some of my Game of Throne predictions?

No? THEN DON'T READ THIS!

I think Daenerys Targaryen isn't the sister of Rhaegar Targaryen; I think she is Rhaegar's daughter. I also think that Tyrion Lannister isn't a Lannister at all, and I think Gendry isn't the bastard son of Robert Baratheon; I think Gendry is the son of Robert and Cersei... the one who supposedly died at birth... except he didn't actually die.

I have more theories, but those are quite enough to make me sound crazy. :)

"You could say that..."
"I *DID* say that.. Would *YOU* say that??"
-MY COUSIN VINNY

:D

Yep..

How do you like yer Dumbocrats now???

Biden is toast.. Doesn't matter if he is Kavanaugh'ed or Franken'ed...

He's toast..

Sorry to say...

He would have really made the primary campaign interesting...

Oops. That wasn't supposed to happen, was it! Hard to keep up the oppo research pouring into the internet these days. OMG, another one complaining because he rubbed her nose? Is this real?

A perfect example of a Party slave...

But I have to wonder.. If this were true, why would she do damage to Biden that would favor Trump??

Biden says he never meant to make women feel uncomfortable
https://apnews.com/a2a11e7e88fb42738773321a1485d2c0

Perhaps the apropos meme is that Biden is being Franken'ed...

My mind is well and truly blown away... WOW...

What!!!???? No Santa Claus!!!????

"I don't care WHO you are, that right thar was funny as hell, I tell yooo waaat!!"
-Larry The Cable Guy..

I believe I used that EXACT quote a bit ago to describe those who STILL think that collusion is there.. :D

Have no fears about bothering me with future "silence on the subject". I'm well aware of how traumatic it must be for you.

However, believe it or not, fact of the matter is, I could easily tolerate PRESENT SILENCE "on the subject".

Admit it..

Russia Collusion was not the slam dunk ya'all were hoping it would be, eh?? :D

Obvious to you and those who share your social constructs..

Not obvious to one who's grounded in the physical reality..

However, be that as it may, my apologies for misunderstanding what you were meaning..

Say, what!? He's going to close the borders between the states!?

Oh, Michale, I was obviously talking about internally displaced people due to severe climatic impacts who will begin to migrate to utopia's like where CRS appears to live. Heh.

Hehehehe These are a hoot... :D

The problem with excessive drinking is the hangovers that follow.

Ya'all know what that's like, eh? :D

Another "It's funny cuz it's true" moment..

https://media.townhall.com/Townhall/Car/b/cb032919dAPR20190329024510.jpg

You would have thought Democrats would have figured that THIS should be Plan A.

heh.. It's funny cuz it's true..

Chris Hayes did not point out that AOC had just proven Rep. Inglis’s point. Literally one sentence after arguing “we’re not calling anyone names” she called the Tea Party xenophobic, white supremacist, and puppets for billionaires. Her entire answer was shrill name calling and the crowd’s reaction was really applause for themselves. They’re better people than those deplorables who call people names.
https://hotair.com/archives/2019/03/30/aoc-not-tea-party-left/

A well made point to what I have been saying for years..

The Hysterical Left is becoming EVERYTHING it accuses the Right of being..

This is not up for debate: Your interpretation of statutes doesn't change them even a tiny bit. Everyone who commits an offense by definition is not necessarily prosecuted for the perpetration of that particular crime, and then there is also the facts we've discussed ad nauseam about the longstanding DOJ directive regarding the indictment of a sitting POTUS.

Also, just to state the glaring obvious, let's imagine the SCO's office did find evidence of crimes committed by the President of the United States who literally has his "finger on the button" -- just to use a figure of speech because obviously that's not how it works. Setting aside all the heretofore mentioned written rules of the DOJ we've already covered multiple times, do you honestly believe the freakin' Attorney General would advertise a listing of criminal offenses of the POTUS and his associates via bullet list in a summary letter? Um... nope!

Regarding this ridiculous spew of yours wherein you claim repeatedly that information received from foreign nationals wouldn't qualify as a "thing of value," you should interpret my future silence regarding your thoughts on this issue as me not giving a shit what your uninformed opinion is. :)

Joe Biden's Al Franken problem

In Biden's case, there is not just photo evidence, but video evidence of him acting creepily among younger women as VP. His antics of rubbing women's shoulders at events, sniffing their hair, and pecking at them has been the subject of YouTube compilations for years. There's also a photo of Biden planting his nose in the hair of actress Eva Longoria at the same fundraiser in which Flores said he took liberties with her.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/joe-bidens-al-franken-problem

Excellent comparison...

It's not that what Biden did was outrageous..

It's that, in this hysterical zero-tolerance atmosphere that Democrats have created, the most innocent of gestures or actions could prove fatal to political careers...

I am sure Democrats didn't plan on the vast majority of casualties to be fellow Democrats..

Certainly, Hoisted By Their Own Picard... :D

It's still a young incident. The fallout likely hasn't been fully realized...

Do you think it should disqualify Biden from running for POTUS??

As to the incident itself, it was obviously traumatic enough for the woman to stick with her for all these years...

California law has prohibited buying or selling such magazines since 2000, but those who had them before were allowed to keep them.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/judge-blocks-californias-high-capacity-ammunition-ban

And THIS is why it's important that the SCOTUS remains as conservative as possible for the remainder of my lifetime..

Religion... The epitome of hypocrisy...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez falsely claims Republicans amended Constitution to kick FDR out of office
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-falsely-claims-republicans-amended-constitution-to-kick-fdr-out-of-office

The gift to Republicans that keeps on giving... :D

Yes! :D If ya'all will remember, I was a fan of Judge Barrett's to replace Justice Kennedy. But that spot went to Kavanaugh..

Imagine the world when the SCOTUS is 6-3 Conservative...

It warms the cockles of my heart.. :D

Silence could just mean it's not interesting because it's just a rehash of trading talking points and other nonsense.

And yet, during the Charlottesville debacle, President Trump's supposed "silence" meant ONE THING and ONE THING ONLY...

Funny how that is, eh?? Totally different standards for a guy the Left hysterically and irrationally hates..

Not if President Trump closes the border...

I didn't say Obamacare was declared unconstitutional..

I said it didn't pass constitutional muster..

And it hasn't...

It's going to the SCOTUS and it's fairly certain, what with Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, which way the court will rule this time..

Once again.. Ya'all lost.. Get over it..

AFFORDABLE Care Act

The very NAME proves it's a failure..

That's an AWESOME assessment...

Thank you VERY much.. I mean that sincerely..

"Amazing. Everything you said just now is wrong.."
-Luke Skywalker

So if you're watching the Games of Thrones series, you've seen the map of the area multiple times in a myriad of different ways. After Lord Commander Mormont informs the Night's Watch recruits which group they're in and Jon, Samwell, and others are made stewards, Maester Aemon then further makes individual assignments and tells one of them he is being sent to Eastwatch. Later in the series (right before the baby dragons are hatched), Lord Commander Mormont tells Jon that men outside Eastwatch had found four blue-eyed corpses and were wise enough to burn them. Fast forward quite a bit later in the series where Jon is asked by a wildling how many of the 19 castles guarding the Wall are manned. Jon informs that there are 3 and is asked to name them, which he does: Castle Black, Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and the Shadow Tower.

Meanwhile, after they're virtually wiped out by the green goop at the Battle of Blackwater, Stannis Baratheon and crew must ultimately hire a new fleet and ultimately travel to Braavos to the Iron Bank for funds where Davos Seaworth locates that dude in the baths (he tosses him a bag of gold coins). Sailing this fleet North from Braavos would quite naturally land this hired fleet at the Wall at Eastwatch… you know... "by the sea."

Do I know this with complete certainty? It's fiction anyway... so... I absolutely do not, but the perps did sail to the North by sea as per their usual modus operandi, and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea is where they would land beyond the Wall for easy access. :)

"Well, then get ready for a flood of refugees."

Not that I disagree with you, but isn't Climate Change rather far off topic from was supposed to be the subject at hand of Puerto Rican statehood? :-D

"If ObamaCare was such a good thing, why was it a failure and did not pass constitutional muster??"

1) Obamacare is NOT a failure, despite repeated Republican attempts to kill it. Having 20 million ADDITIONAL people having healthcare who didn't have it before is a SUCCESS.

2) Obamacare has NOT been declared unconstitutional YET. ONLY the individual MANDATE was struck down. Obamacare as a whole is still operating, thank you very much!

Well, then get ready for a flood of refugees.

this being the justice kavanaugh who (allegedly) held a woman down and tried to rape her, was so stone drunk he didn't remember, then when confronted with his actions years later issued a blanket denial and acted as if HE were the victim.

Oh yeah, 'cos as soon as I walked into this room, I felt like I was looking into a mirror.
~danny devito - twins

No one wants to talk about this..

Geee... I wonder why!!

BBBWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

And yet, you can't point to a SINGLE catastrophic prediction that has ever came true..

You can't point to a SINGLE model that has been factually accurate...

All you have is your subjective social construct..

Not a fact in the bunch...

Michale doesn't understand science. It is like arguing with a two year old about Quantum Dynamics - you're better just to pat him on the head and wait for him to get bored and find some other subject he can display his biases on. He is a "feelie", and does not have any truck with reality.

Reality is a complex, scary thing for Michale. When he comes in contact with reality his brain starts to have to deal with extreme levels of cognitive dissonance. This is why he goes on rants - it isn't directed at us, it is his way to try to convince himself that, despite all forms of reality to the contrary, he is actually more of an expert on climate science than everybody who has studied it in depth; that Trump never lies, but Obama couldn't tell the truth ever; that everybody who disagrees with him is only doing it to adhere to party political purity; and that guns can't be the cause of the massive discrepancy in gun violence in the U.S. compared to other wealthy nations, and many poor ones.

I look on his rants as the mental illness therapy my friend Michale needs to keep it together, but please don't mistake the need to publicly "take his meds" with anything sensible.

Not a SINGLE SOLITARY model has ever accurately predicted ANYTHING...

again, this inane argument stems from the failure to distinguish physical constructs from social constructs. predictive validity is one of the weaker methods of validating a hypothesis. since there's hard data available, predictive models are more to bhelp us respond.

And yet, that didn't stop you from screaming "RUSSIA!!! COLLUSION!!! RUSSIA!!! COLLUSION!!!" for the last 2+ years....

Working Group II Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability

Working Group II assesses the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, negative and positive consequences of climate change and options for adapting to it.

THE UN!!!!!!??????

BBBBWWWAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHQAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

The UN!!???

BBBWWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

Yer funny!!!

Actually, we LOVE global warming in Podunkia, please send more of it!

There were always going to be local "winners" and "losers" as the climate changes. We all know that, it is part of the predictions in the IPCC reports.

In fact, working group 2 of the reports addresses this:

Working Group II Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability

Working Group II assesses the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, negative and positive consequences of climate change and options for adapting to it.

https://www.ipcc.ch/working-group/wg2/?idp=676

Says the nimrod who has been screaming "RUSSIA!!! COLLUSION!!!! RUSSIA!!! COLLUSION!!!" for the last 2+ years... :D

Loser. Everybody here knows I've said from the start that the Russians are sufficiently smart to know Trump is such an idiot that he can't be trusted.

Since we're talking about Silence and Assent..

Biden faces new scrutiny from Dems over behavior with women
https://apnews.com/58cfe094174b4f3abd6ef66c90cbb004

Biden sexually assaults women and probably attended High School parties where he was the ringleader of a child rape ring....

Funny how ya'all are silent about that, eh??

Lecture Paula about how, just because she thinks Trump was silent about the Neo-Nazis, that doesn't mean that Trump agrees with them..

Go ahead.. I double dog DARE you....

And yet, when Paula and all the other hysterical Trump/America haters were spewing, "TRUMP WAS SILENT ABOUT THE NEO-NAZIS IN CHARLOTTESVILLE!!!! THAT MEANS HE AGREES WITH THEM!!!" you never said ONE word about how silence does not give assent..

Why is that??? Why were you silent???

Why didn't you lecture Paula et al about the fallacy etc etc???

You didn't want to rock the boat and disagree with someone who has the same "social construct" that you do..

Silence, indeed... DOES give assent..

In more ways then one..

this again? silence does not give assent now, has not given assent in charlottesville or any other city, and will not give assent at any time or place in the future. i provided a link to disprove that fallacy, and you responded by claiming that at some time in the distant past i assented to your fallacious argument by being silent about it. if you keep this up, i may have to reconsider stig's comment about you not knowing a fact if moe howard hit you over the head with it.

What are these electrolytes? Do you even know?
- They're what they use to make Brawndo!
But why do they use them to make Brawndo?
- Because Brawndo's got electrolytes!
~idiocracy

Of course the residents of Slobovia are going to say Well, what about the downside? Well, it's not all that bad. We still have EXACTLY the same number of hurricanes we've always had (zero), the same number of floods (zero), the same number of droughts (zero), the same number of forest fires (many), the same number of hot spells and cold spells, etc. etc.

Actually, we LOVE global warming in Podunkia, please send more of it!

And in anticipation of the obligatory comment I'm bound to get from the Democratics (as in "You're too dumb to understand the difference between "climate" and "weather"), I will respond in advance, OK, you tell me the difference! It ain't all that complicated. Is it not true the weather is the means by which climate manifests itself? How hard to grasp is that???

Not a SINGLE SOLITARY prediction of catastrophe has EVER come to be...

Not a SINGLE SOLITARY model has ever accurately predicted ANYTHING...

So, let's look at the FACTS and REALITY..

Your hysterical OH MY GODS, THE WORLD IS ENDING IN 12 YEARS!!!! is 1000% bullshit..

THAT is the reality...

Your totally bupkis and utterly impossible and ignorant NEW GREEN DEAL is completely and utterly 1000% bullshit...

THAT is the reality...

Says the nimrod who has been screaming "RUSSIA!!! COLLUSION!!!! RUSSIA!!! COLLUSION!!!" for the last 2+ years... :D

Just remind us of your understanding of climate science one more time, briefly please, so we can all judge your grip on reality.

Just remind me again how President Trump colluded with the Russians to win the election...

For that matter, remind me again how Hillary will win the election and Trump will NEVER be POTUS??

I just want to judge your grip on reality..

Or, in YOUR case, lack thereof... :D

You can't win, Neil.. I have FACTS on my side..

And all you have is your conspiracy theories, your social construct and your pud in yer hand.... :D

But you are not talking about facts.. You are talking about social constructs.. Which is nothing but whatever any said person feels it is at any given moment..

It's vaporware... It's the antithesis of facts and reality..

I am perfectly happy with the physical reality (IE facts) and leave ya'all with the metaphysical, the social constructs...

In other words, ya'all have the mind's eye of reality..

And I have the physical factual reality..

What's not to love?? :D

In essence, you are completely agreeing with me because "social constructs" are formed by ya'all's ideology.

You never disputed this. Silence gives assent.. As ya'all established at Charlottesville..

Ya'all will always have your social constructs...

And I'll always have physical reality...

It works out great.. :D

no they're not, and i've said the exact opposite of what you're saying i've "conceded." your points have absolutely no validity because they're based in claims of fact that aren't factual.

JL

Than be drowned in the mire and muck and subjectivity of social constructs..

If only. You live in a conspiracy bubble where your "facts" are decided by you on a "do I like it" basis.

Just remind us of your understanding of climate science one more time, briefly please, so we can all judge your grip on reality.

I would rather be ruled by cold objective facts and the physical reality...

Than be drowned in the mire and muck and subjectivity of social constructs...

Except MY points are valid within the physical reality.. JL has conceded as much...

It's only when one looks at them thru the filter of The Matrix.... Thru the skewed prism glass of Party slavery, do they look invalid..

The only thing we can do is wait to see the entire, whole, complete report.

If Barr had released the synopsis that said Trump was guilty as hell, would you need to see the whole entire complete report??

No... You would support it whole-heartedly without reservation..

So, please.. Don't insult my intelligence by trying to make believe you still have a chance to pull some shred of dignity out of this...

You lost...

If Barr had mis-characterized any portion of Mueller's report, Mueller would have spoken up..

You are only prolonging the agony and the damage to the Democrat Party by clinging to some hope that up is down and white is black...

Then we will ALL know what's valid & what isn't.

We already know.. You simply can't accept it because your social construct is too damaged to bear another defeat at the hands of the physical reality...

And you sound different? You make points that sound valid, but have no more substance.

The only thing we can do is wait to see the entire, whole, complete report.

Then we will ALL know what's valid & what isn't.

Validity (or lack thereof) is ALSO determined by WHICH people say it is..

You have said nothing to convince me that any social construct is valid over physical reality...

You sound exactly like Morpheus explaining the "reality" of The Matrix..

NONE of it is valid where it conflicts with physical reality...

please stop using words while you still don't understand what they mean.

you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means.
~inigo montoya - the princess bride

Which "people"?? Who decides what's acceptable??

in physical and social science, no one can decide if a construct is or is not "acceptable." what they decide is whether or not it's VALID.

validity in a construct means the extent to which it actually is what people say it is. the reason most people accept that gravity (britannica's example) is a valid construct is because physicists can PROVE it describes the relationships between large objects (e.g. planets) mathematically.

while mathematical proof is one of the strongest arguments in favor of a construct's validity, constructs can have differing degrees of validity for various reasons.

the reason the construct of "race" has some validity is mainly because most people accept that it exists. the reason its validity is limited is that it does not withstand scientific scrutiny in any other way. thus, race is purely a "social construct" because it exists solely as a function of what people think.

next: why one can't apply the same type of reasoning to racism and global warming without being horribly wrong.

JL

If ObamaCare was such a good thing, why was it a failure and did not pass constitutional muster??

I can assure you with complete sincerity...

It wasn't the Republicans that gave us President Trump..

It was the incompetence and malfeasance of the Obama and the Democrats and how they attacked and demonized anyone that didn't toe their Party Line... THAT is what gave us President Trump..

There is no party that gets everything right or everything wrong.

And yet, all we ever hear from you is how wrong the Republicans are and how always correct the Democrats are..

If I assume it's because you have a -D tatoo'ed on your forehead, it's because you have never said or done anything to dissuade me from that notion..

The real solution is to get the insurance industry out of the healthcare system, or at least 90% out, and to realize that "for-profit" healthcare is not viable in the modern world.

This isn't only about Trump - this is an indictment of the Republican Party that spawned then embraced Trump and all he stands for.

I've spend a lot of time reading about global finance and policy, and I believe that the vision the Republican Party had for the power of markets was their strongest message. This is not an area the Democrats have impressed me with, and it is important that one of our parties support fair markets.

We need two rational parties to push and pull on the issues and develop compromises. Currently we have hatred and stubbornness due to extremism, and frankly I see the Republican Party as the primary cause of this in the last 25 years.

Michale will immediately assume this is because I've got a "D" tattooed on my forehead, but he'd be wrong. There is no party that gets everything right or everything wrong. Obamacare is a good thing and it came out of a conservative think tank.

You're not hearing it from Trump..

You are hearing it, by default, from Mueller..

But the person you are hearing it from is immaterial..

It's not WHO you are hearing it from... It's WHAT you are hearing that you simply won't accept..

The fabric of your social construct is that Trump is an all around evil person and anything that says different is simply unacceptable to you...

Of course he knows it. He's always known it.

But his ideology forbids him from acknowledging this fact... This reality...

But we elected him anyway, and as the saying goes, "elections have consequences"! When we screw up, we live with the consequences.

In 40 years of dealing with legal cases from a business perspective I've never found any "climactic" (frankly, I'm pretty happy about that).

CRS - since I don't trust Trump to tell the truth, I simply want to see the report myself to understand what is in it. In particular, aside from the "collusion" claims that I've dismissed from the start, I'd like to see the Deutsche Bank and Russian mob money facts if there are any. And anything else that Trump doesn't want us to know about.

I suspect that a lot of the report will be "redacted" in an attempt to cover the asses of Trump and his family from some embarrassing, if not illegal, actions - particularly around the constant lying about "no involvement in any Russia projects".

Lastly, obstruction of justice is often a subjective decision that Barr made clear he'd block in his application letter for the role of AG, basically regardless of evidence because he believed the investigation should never have taken place. I'd like to see for myself the evidence for and against to make my own decision.

A few of us (and I think that includes you) suspected from the beginning that the Russian collusion thing was going to be the greatest anti-cliamactic event since the last time I tried to make love.

"Released" or not, the "report" is not gonna bring about Trump's downfall, and by now, you KNOW it.

Based on your social construct (your ideological bent) I am sure this is true..

But based on objective physical reality, I am more often factually accurate than I am wrong..

Howz that Russia Collusion verdict workin' out for ya?? :D

Learning you'd been hopelessly lied to by Trump about these realities would put a dent in anybody's happiness.

You tell me.. You were hopelessly lied to by Odumbo.. Did that put a dent in your happiness??? :D

Oh, really? You've seen the report then?

Remember, Mueller can't indict a sitting President, that was Barr's role, and Barr wrote a cover letter for his resume saying that he wouldn't when applying for the AG job.

I think I'll wait and see what is in the report before I make any final decision. I've said from Day 1 that the Russians would not be stupid enough to trust any of the Trump family to keep their mouths shut, however that doesn't mean the family didn't try to set up a secret line of communication with Putin, or that the Trump Tower Moscow project wasn't used as a way to influence Trump's positions on key subjects (e.g. Crimea and sanctions, NATO, missile treaties, etc.). I'm not sure the Mueller report will cover these areas, and if not I'd like to see somebody looking into the possibility that the Russian oligarchs manipulated Trump.

Well I hope you are deliriously happy Michale, because for sure you are seldom right.

Are you still supporting the con man you were enthusiastic about in 2016? Or have you figured out Mexico isn't going to pay for the wall, the only people being locked up at Trump's associates, and, brace yourself for this one, Trump didn't have a better plan for healthcare that was going to be less expensive and much better and cover everybody including pre-existing conditions, etc.?

Learning you'd been hopelessly lied to by Trump about these realities would put a dent in anybody's happiness.

Re: "Everybody thinks you're slow-witted and detached."

Wrong - Your hoped-for saviour, Bobby 3 twigs, happens to agree with me, and that's gonna be the death of you, when you finally have to admit that I was right all along.

...argument.

It's akin to the "EVERYBODY DOES IT"

It's a ridiculous foundation..

In your opinion, based on your own social construct..

an idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society

OK, this one works for me too..

Which "people"?? Who decides what's acceptable??

With every comment you prove my point..

Social constructs are subjective and solely based on the perspective of those that adhere to them..

"God bless you" when some sneezes is a social construct that many in society would consider "acceptable"..

But it would be very offensive to others...

As I said.. Social constructs are subjective and based largely on the ideology of the individual..

Respect for the office of the President Of The United States is another social construct..

During the Obama years, such respect (the social construct) was acceptable to Democrats and abhorrent to Republicans..

Under President Trump, such respect (the social construct) is acceptable to Republicans and abhorrent to Democrats..

Of course there are exceptions to both, but by and large, the rule is sustained..

The long and short of it is a "social construct" is variable and subjective and is a lousy foundation for an argument..

... and then proceed to cite the definition of something completely different.

since my wife is feeding the one-year old now, i'll indulge you. if we're doing dictionary definitions, here's the correct one:

an idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society
~merriam webster

britannica goes a little further, and i'm snipping the key features here:

it is a mental construction.
[snip]
Any given construct derives its scientific value from the shared meaning it represents for different people.
[snip]
Constructs are hypothetical. They exist as concepts but not as tangible entities. Some constructs, however, become so familiar and ingrained in common use that most people assume their manifest existence. For example, it might be supposed that gravity can be shown by dropping an object to the floor. All that has been demonstrated in that case, however, is the falling of an object, not gravity. Gravity is a label for the hypothetical cause of the falling object, not the observable event.

next class is on construct validity.

JL

Actually, it's YOU who moved the goalposts, who tried to wiggle out because you were proven wrong..

Context, in this case, is a social construct and allows you to believe whatever you want to believe, facts be damned..

In the "physical reality" you said "Anyone who agrees with Stucki is stoopid." and then had to back-pedal when you were reminded that YOU agreed with Stucki the previous day..

'S ok, JM.. Like Balthy, I like you too so I won't twist the knife...... MUCH... :D