Or maybe people are just mostly fucked up by nature, and id rather rely on deterrence than their supposed inclination for good.
I agree with you on the first part. But studies have show you can bias people to get better behavior out of them rather than to let them default in their Hobbesian basic instincts.
The former is a pretty cynical police state for anyone to want to live in, whereas the latter has at least the possibility of not appealing to people's most toxic tendencies.
1.) When it comes to the left, I definitely don't trust their version of science. They don't even want their version debated. They are the catholic church of the Galileo days; any dissent is heresy.
2.) Both NK & CN is despicable. CN just so happened to cost the world A LOT more money and collapse. Perfectly reasonable to blame them.
3.) Let Europe figure their own shit out. What is the point in sending them so much over NATO? If Europe is fine with Russia taking Ukraine back then so be it. In any case, I'd be curious to know what % of the population in Ukraine might actually want to be a part of Russia again (if any). Going to war with Russia is mental. Sucks for me, I could get activated to so it is what it is.
4.) Why remove all genders rather than have a separate league? I know some sports (martial arts, for example) mix genders if the person is good enough for a tournament, for example.
5.) Case closed.
6.) He is and rightfully so.
7.) Manchin & Sinema et al - don't agree with them usually, but may they hold the line. Agree on moderates. You need them to keep the stupid political pendulum from swinging too far
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I agree that vaccines work, but I don't think anyone should be forced to take it if they don't want to. Nothing should be mandated. Masks can be worn, but at each person's discretion, not mandated. My wife and I got the vaccine, I got the third one as well (wife has not). We don't want our kids to get it yet either. Kids are the least likely to get effected by COVID. Both my kids have already had it WHILE BEING MASKED and both were fine after 24 hours. Plexi glass walls and masks in a classroom for kids is setting them back. Again, as I responded to Swag - I don't trust the "sceince" from liberal politicians anymore. They have lost their minds.
3.) Truckers were called heroes for a year (same for nurses, first responders, etc). When these mandates kicked in (in US & Canada) suddenly truckers weren't allowed to go into the grocery store to use the bathroom if they didn't show proof of vaccine (lol). Many restaurants wouldn't let people in to eat without papers. Then their businesses came for them - vaccine or termination. "Sophisticated" people love to shit on rednecks, working class, low/un-educated people but at the end of the day hardly any of them can change their own oil, do their brakes, go out and GET their own food, etc. I don't agree at all that these extreme measures have been necessary. Countries in Europe have had more relaxed measures and are doing just fine. I understand completely in the beginning when not enough was known about C19, but now it is, which is why you see that states and countries kept things light compared to others. You should do some research on migration IN the US over the last 2 years and see where people went and where they left.
6.) Good point about Dave. Agree - channel this energy on people that said things like not wanting his kids to "grow up in a racial jungle" or "Well I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black."
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Get out of cities.
1) There's truth in what you say about the science thing. At some level, I know there are people who are just looking for a cudgel in the endless wars. But there are also limits to doubt and suggesting crackpot alternative theories. Yes, the Bakersfield doctors should be allowed to voice questions or doubts. But when four million people start sharing their video and it leads to people tuning out all other evidence, that's the highway to QAnon and Jewish Space Lasers.
So some of that rigid orthodoxy -- the Catholic Church and Galileo heresy - is born of a frustration and the demonstrated negative outcomes that if you leave some scientific doubt, which there always is, some vocal people will build mountains on it. And the way we humans work, we go apeshit for snake oil cures and unsubstantiated rumors over stuff that's rationalized: it just isn't as interesting enough to share.
And a society that is jacked on voodoo isn't necessarily a good one.
2) You do realize that planes flew into the Twin Towers not because of a Jewish conspiracy, but because there are other nations that make the exact same claims about the U.S.
3) I'd buy the debate that a geographic third of Ukraine wants to go full Russia and the rest does not.
4) 538 published an interesting history of women's Olympic figure skating, documenting the origins of gender-segregated sports and how it has evolved over time. To the degree that you can have the Special Olympics, why not have a trans Olympics? There's been a Gay Games for decades.
Re: vaccines, remember that the US mandates were essentially testing mandates:
Problem is some people are so selectively worked up about being "forced" to do anything, putting on seatbelts or following traffic safety laws can be construed as authoritarianism.
When it comes to mask mandates, I know a lot of people who will argue that it only provides an incremental probabilistic benefit. Well, we've known that about SARS-CoV-1 since 2003 when everyone in Asia masked up, and SARS-CoV-2 hasn't exactly been radically different. There's really no news here. Everything in life is a matter of incremental probabilities. Which is why we wear seatbelts or motorcycle helmets or put infants in car seats. There is nothing new here.
The trouble if you leave mask wearing to individual preferences, you will have two businesses next to each other where the staff ask patrons to wear them and their neighbor doesn't. We would undoubtedly have had more confusion, offended people, shootings, fisticuffs, etc., as a result. And it's just a friggin' mask. Some people think they're living
The Man in the Iron Mask. It's comically tragic. And for all the complaints that democratic governors are lifting mask mandates, this is not the first time they have done this in the past year, so let's not freak out.
3) Truckers were front-line heroes. Which makes them all susceptible to infection. So if there's going to be anybody who probabilistically should be tested for Covid, it's going to be the trucker and not the accountant who has been phoning it in via remote work every day. And I am sympathetic to their situation... for example...
I still don't get why Elon Musk is a folk hero supporting truckers when the guy is more actively working to put truckers out of work and add $200 billion to his self-worth as a result. I have never fallen for Bill Gates' charm offensive and always felt he was a slimy douchebag, even if I don't think he's putting microchips in vaccines. But Elon Musk is doing far worse to truckers but is not only getting a free pass, he's being heralded as a hero to their cause.
But as front-line workers, there are reasons people in hospitals have mandates. And yeah, most truckers are vaccinated in Canada and what is getting all the attention is an argumentative minority that's effectively on the losing side.
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Trudeau sounds more like Hitler than Trump
And those Daily Wire posts from Bill Maher... I've made my claim before about the emptiness of hypocrisy hysteria. But I'd like to point out that Daily Wire makes a meal out of telling us how celebrities are idiots and whatever they say is elitist nonsense (agreed) .... but then do a 180 when it's like Bill Maher here and they agree with his points.
That and good for Ben to build his own movie company to compete with Hollywood. But let's be real that Ben needs a new swimming pool and that has little to do with any blue state cause. That's the Ben Shapiro Cause.