We have a new commenter on TBP who goes by the name of Solutions Are Obvious and he has asked me to submit an article. Welcome to The Burning Platform SAO.
By: Solutions Are Obvious
The US higher education system is broken. In many cases, it produces individuals with useless degree purchased at outrageous cost. The system itself is an infestation of ultra liberal professors, spineless administrators and a student body that becomes more and more radicalized and detached from reality the more courses they take.
The higher education system is the incubator for the anti white, anti male, anti Trump, pro freak, pro censorship, anti gun, pro socialist, anti conservative, pro unlimited immigration, pro free everything mentality that pervades what purports to be the evening news. It infantilizes young adults to produce a steady stream of victims and mental midgets completely unprepared to meet the real adult world. In short, it produces the Democrat voter.
All is not lost, however. By and large, STEM graduates are less affected by the SJW mental aberration as their critical thinking abilities are necessarily on a higher plane to be able to cope with a curriculum that is more than just opinion. STEM fields have empirically based phenomena to comprehend and must use known tested methods of reasoning and logic to handle the problems and situations a particular field is called upon to investigate. Although STEM students are typically forced to sit through nonsense classes and regurgitate what the instructors deem critical information, they instinctively know its BS and promptly forget it once the class is over. They’re typically not permanently scared.
The problem lies with the ‘Basket Weaving’ majors where no proof of anything is required or even possible as it’s all just opinion and supposition. The Humanities / Social Sciences / Liberal Arts courses offer an easy path towards a degree, many of which are absolutely worthless. It’s actually a shame that some of them do lead to living wage and beyond employment options that end up producing many of the fraudulent professions society is encumbered by like Economics, Psychiatry and other specializations that can’t prove anything past common sense.
I’ll concentrate primarily on what to do to eliminate only the most egregious fraudulent degrees that are currently plaguing society.
The concept of tenure needs to be eliminated. No one should be guaranteed a livelihood by managing to hit some arbitrary mark and thereafter have no responsibility for doing a good job as reviewed by their employer. The education profession needs to get rid of the dead wood clogging the system and consuming resources.
All higher education facilities should be mandated to provide their graduates with job opportunities via an employment agency owned and operated by the institution, not a contracted for service. The schools should be totally responsible for finding each graduate a position in the degree field of study for 5 years post graduation.
If the institution is unable to place a graduate, then the former student is entitled to a full refund of all tuition paid for a proven obviously useless degree plus 5 times tuition paid for the waste of time involved and to provide the former student with a funds cushion to get retrained in something with a future. In the case where a graduate is unemployable for no reason the school is responsible for or where there is a dispute over responsibility, a 3rd party would be called upon to make a judgment.
If this were implemented, Gender Studies, Recreational Science, Hospitality Science, Museum Curator, Drama Studies and similar courses would disappear overnight from most campuses along with the faculty that teach the classes. The schools know these are for the most part BS courses and know that the chances of someone getting employed with one of the basket weaving degrees is so low that it would be financially too risky to offer the course.
Gone would be the professors teaching these nonsense courses. Gone would be the lenders to provide the student loans, guaranteed by the Fed Gov which steals the funds from the general public. Gone would be the students mentally or some other way incapable of STEM degrees with no option but to consider vocational training or learn how to say – ‘Do you want fries with that’. Gone would be the windfall profits higher ed facilities have enjoyed in recent decades. Gone would be the unsustainable building boom for facilities completely unrelated to teaching but used as enticements to attract low IQ students easily dazzled by shiny objects. Gone would be the nonsense classes STEM students are now forced to take. Gone would be the environment were the purveyors of bullshit get to indoctrinate the latest crop of weak susceptible minds.
Some may claim this violated free market principles. I would counter that the advancement of institutionalized fraud is not in the society’s best interests. If a student were to sign away his/her rights to compensation and effectively opt for today’s environment, then that would absolve the institution of responsibility. The free market would be restored as long as informed consent is involved.
In addition, it should be obvious that no one should be able to get an advanced degree in a field that can’t prove it’s basic precepts. As mentioned previously, something like Economics is almost entirely BS. Economists can’t prove anything past common sense and can’t even provide a proper postmortem after an economic catastrophe. Likewise, Psychiatry has not a single empirical test for the hundreds of conditions listed in their DSM. Psychiatry is opinion masquerading as science and is simply an outlet for Big Pharma to push their mind altering poisons. The large majority of mass shooters have been on prescription only psychoactive drugs.
Other fields that I generally refer to as the ‘story telling’ professions should likewise be reigned in. Paleontology, Anthropology, Cosmology, large portions of Geology and many more fields are largely based on a plausible story as their foundation, sans evidence. Absolute proof for their assertions is impossible and consequently it should be impossible to get a degree above Bachelors in these disciplines.
No one should claim to be an expert (PhD) in a field that is based on opinion. In the off chance that something like Climate Science might someday actually be able to provide proof of their assertions, it, as an example, should be able to produce Bachelors graduates that can attempt to further the field but would no longer be able to fool the public into thinking they know what’s going on due to their bogus PhD pedigree.
Solutions Are Obvious
Agree, solutions are obvious.
Implementation of such solutions are lost on me.
And now we are back around to the likelihood and ability to implement your suggestions no matter how obviously necessary and reasonable they are.
Hate to be a realist but good luck with that one at the ballot box anytime in the next 20 years short of outright revolution or societal collapse and rebuilding from the foundation up.
My faith is in Jesus alone to drain the swamp of our current civilization and it won’t be pretty but it will be conclusive.
The first step is to identify the problem. The next is to explain it so that the average person can comprehend it.
Once awakened to a new concept or idea that someone else expressed a person might realize that they’ve had an inkling something wasn’t quite right but couldn’t properly organize their thoughts on the matter. They are somewhat surprised that someone else had similar concerns.
Then time passes as the subconscious processes new information to organize it and place it where it fits in their own thinking patterns.
Eventually, some people will find the new concept or idea reasonable and will start reevaluating their world view in light of their new understanding and realization that they are not alone. This leads to a dissatisfaction with the status quo and many times an organized effort to change it.
“New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!” – Arthur C. Clarke
You are completely missing the whole spiritual aspect of this.
The demonic or reprobate side of it where reason or kogic need not apply.
The heart has to be fixed first so the mind may follow.
Otherwise all is in vain.
Apart from another immediate great spiritual awakening there just isn’t enough time to turn this around on a large scale before it all goes completely sideways.
Too late. I am no scholar but 11-7-19 and 11-10-19 are the dates to know.
I’m an atheist. You can believe in a ‘spiritual aspect’, but I live in the real world where there are no ‘demonic’ beings just sociopaths that control the levers of power.
My heart has no cognitive ability, so I’ll stick with my brain for guidance.
All is in vain if you assume that you are powerless and it takes some mythical entity to save us. From my perspective, your defeatist attitude is part of the problem.
That will be an interesting intellectual debate you and I shall have on another day. I’ve traveled your road before Damascus, and as a fellow engineer (EE). Perhaps I’ll add it to an article I’ll pen.
I was a Saul before I saw the Light: The Spiritual World is as Real as the nose on your face, and the Gospels are the closest Faith to the Truth.
There is no Magyck Skye Daddy.
Good morning AOC.
It’s OK to call you AOC, isn’t it? I think we’ve become best buds by now, having gotten to know one another, so I’ll stick with the familiar AOC. That’s not to confuse you with that crazy bitch in Congress. I just want to make that clear.
I apologize for inserting this comment here because I wanted to avoid this appearing on a deeper level that’s more difficult to read. I really think it’s great that this site is a free speech zone. That way we can have a chat; just the two of us. I hope no one is listening.
It took me till this morning to regain my composure after that diatribe you hurled against me. What with all the bad language, name calling, female body parts and the threat to stalk me, I was really shaken up. Oh yeah, I was shaking in my boots, so to speak. I even looked up the symptoms of PTSD but luckily I’m OK, so you needn’t worry.
Since you have a permanent avatar, I suspect you have some deserved elevated position on the site, so I tried finding your articles to get to know about you better. I discovered the gentleman known as Stucky has his own section. I tried finding and searching for your entries but the search results yielded nothing.
I looked at your avatar and it looks like a coat of arms. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate if it was a big dick pissing since it appears your job is to piss on anything you don’t like. I guess you were goaded into responding as you did by the poster that intimated you were some kind of badass. You should have been more prepared; seriously.
Metaphorically speaking, you were like Mr. Magoo jumping on your trusty steed, forgot your armor, half naked, balls to one side and mistakenly picked up a bent twig instead of your lance. After your attack you probably felt the victor. From my perspective, using a different metaphor, what I saw was a small girl pummeling me with puny fists so I just let the poor dear vent.
The member ‘M G’ made mention of me having attained ‘post’ level and the ‘comment number rating system’, so I thought I’d check the most recent 100 pages on the site to see where my article fell. I was surprised to learn my article scored the fifth highest in comment count and that was for my first article. Pretty good, don’t you think?
What does it actually entail having attained ‘post’ level? Do you know?
It only took 11 lines of BASH code and 5 minutes of my time to politely ask the site for statistics and it complied. I set an arbitrary limit of 100 but could just as well interrogate all 2500 page. I can upload the code for your inspection if you like. That way you’d know I can speak at least 1 computer language; you’re such a skeptic. Just so you understand, I didn’t hack the site, as I get a significant amount of money to hack sites and no one paid me. I used to do that with the site owners permission as part of a penetration testing service I provided. I always wear a white hat. I just happen to know how to ask for information most others have no knowledge of.
I do apologize for causing you the doubling of your future toilet paper expense as I believe you now have a second asshole.
Can we call a truce and be friends? Seriously! Protracted battling over nonsense serves no purpose. It should be obvious that I’m armed with some significant wordsmith capabilities and if you insist on future confrontations I might actually approach the state of annoyance. That would be such a waste of time and I might just ignore you.
So, what do you say? Truce?
Again you missing the whole point.
I have great hope in the future, just not in mankind’s ability to fix it but to destroy it.
My hope is in Jesus’ abililty to change individual hearts or souls, and minds by grace through faith in Him, the soon rapture of the church and His second coming.
The main difference in you and I is simply where our hope is placed.
Good societies rely on unofficial social trust- and truthful documentation that isn’t sold to strangers out the back doors of Courts and Government Buildings.
The corrupt Divorce and Restraining Order Judges are often dirty and sell documents or even decision to the highest bidder. Men and women are both involved. The poor person almost always loses. Trust me on this: #metoo was a trap from day one. There will be justice for those who abused that trap to villify GOOD MEN.
Are you with me on Thursday and Today being the big days?
Hey .22. I hope I’m not overstepping boundaries. It seems you’re going through a really tough situation. You’re a smart guy. Keep your cool and things will work out. Most of us are rooting for you. I empathize with your duress.
(And I think I am getting the point re: the dates. But is it really a turning point? Not sure.)
And if I’m wrong on all counts…well…..I’d be happy to be wrong.
What’s so special about today ???
A 2000 year old Jewish zombie is not going to swoop down from the sky and rescue you. It is delusion.
SAO.
“I’m an athiest” “My heart has no cognitive ability, so I’ll stick with my brain for guidance”.
NUFF SAID.
VANITY, MY FAVORITE SIN.
I didn’t understand your comment upon first reading. The second pass also offered no enlightenment, so I looked up the word ‘vanity’ in the dictionary to make sure I understood its meaning:
1. excessive pride in or admiration of one’s own appearance or achievements.
I fail to see how using ones intellect is vanity. Care to elaborate?
BTW – The concept of ‘sin’ is a control mechanism readily accepted by those with no self confidence. I, of course, think its bunk.
Should have had children. You would be a different person imo.
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain
Life definitely takes on a radically new meaning when you have children.
Sin is simply missing God’s best for us intentionally or unintentionally.
Both individually and corporately.
He has given us all we need. His word, the bible, His Spirit, and each other.
He does not wish to control us, thus free will, but to love and guide us.
The choice is ours, and choices do have consequences.
“When you understand why you don’t believe in other people’s gods, you will understand why I don’t believe in yours.” –
Albert Einstein
“Throne and alter were twins–two vultures from the same egg.
To attack the king was treason; to dispute the priest, blasphemy.
The sword and cross were allies.
Together they attacked the rights of men; they defended each other.
The king owned the bodies of men, the priests the souls.
One lived on taxes collected by force, the other on alms collected by fear.
Both robbers, both beggars.
The king made laws, the priest made creeds.
With bowed backs the people carried the burdens of one, with open-mouthed wonder received the dogmas of the other.
The king said rags and hovels for you, robes and palaces for me.
The priest said God made you ignorant and immoral; He made me holy and wise; you are the sheep, I am the shepherd; your fleeces belong to me.
You must not reason, you must not contradict, you must believe.” – Robert G. Ingersoll
If you truly knew my God and His magnificent grace and love for His creation, for us, I believe you would understand and follow Him.
Sadly I believe your faith in intellectualism and self rule has blinded you to His greatness and your need for him.
You cannot rightfully conclude that God does not exist or is bad or apathetic because He allows evil men to choose to do evil works in His name.
God grants free will to all, both the righteous and the evil, just as He grants salvation by grace through faith or condemnation by unbelief to all.
He allows the rain to fall and the sun to shine upon everyone, both believers and unbelievers alike.
The sin or evil in this world is a product of individual choices made by individual people not God.
Ultimately one day we will all be held accountable to Him for all our individual choices.
Especially the one to believe or deny, Jesus, His only begotten Son.
What I see of god is a smarmy pope sitting in a castle in the Vatican surrounded by gold and pedophiles while his ‘flock’ is living in squalor as these morons contribute to his life style.
Just a cursory glance at modern religious festivals reveals many underlying similarities that clearly have their origin in astronomical events.
For example, Horus of Egypt was born of the virgin Isis-Meri on December 25th in a cave with the birth being announced by a star in the East and attended by three wise men.
Mithra, Sungod of Persia, was born of a virgin on December 25th, and was considered a great travelling teacher and master.
Krishna was born of the Virgin Devaki (The Divine One), his father was a carpenter, his birth attended by angels, wise men and shepherds, and he was presented with gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Prometheus of Greece descended from heaven as God incarnate, to save mankind. Prometheus was crucified, suffered, and rose from the dead. The list goes on.
It should be noted that The Sun ‘dies’ for three days on December 22nd, the winter solstice, when it stops in its movement south, and is ‘born again’ or ‘resurrected’ on December 25th, when it resumes its movement north. In some areas, the calendar originally began in the constellation of Virgo, and the sun would therefore be ‘born of a Virgin’. The sun is the ‘Light of the World’, and its rising in the morning is the ‘Saviour of mankind’. The sun’s ‘followers’ or ‘disciples’ appear to be the 12 months or the 12 signs of the zodiac (constellations), through which the sun must pass.
It is difficult to ignore the role of the heavens in mythology and its close relative, religious symbology.
You are confounding institutionalized/organized religion with faith. This is also what I used to do. All it leaves one with is anger, bitterness and frustration because all human institutions end up rotting from within. (Many humans do as well, but that’s a different conversation.)
The faith of atheism is interesting and quite tempting for many in academia. In fact, when I look back on what I was, it’s no wonder atheism resulted in the deaths of more people than any other faith or organized religion. It’s hard to hold yourself accountable for anything when you think Man is king. Putting aside Biblical quotes about pride, it’s a matter of simple deductive reasoning to see how arrogance and power lead to disaster for all involved.
What I’ve found, though, is that it’s highly unlikely to dissuade someone from a belief system they hold dear. It takes life to do that, regardless of the choice in said belief system. For instance, if one was molested by a priest, it’s not uncommon to see its derogatory effect on the individual’s faith. If one was born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth, it’s difficult for them to adhere to anything greater than self; they haven’t experienced enough trial by fire.
What it really boils down to is this: We all have faith in something, even if it’s as simple as my belief that Marcus Aurelius and not some impostor authored Meditations.
If you like, you can take a crack at explaining how the Jesus story has been repeated numerous times in the past with different names at different times and essentially the same story. What about the Jesus story being a metaphor for how the sun works on those crucial dates? Is this just coincidence?
You’ve probably also run across the other questions I asked and none of the believers have even taken a shot at answering. I suspect it’s because they can’t. Can you?
BTW – trying to create an institution of atheism is as weak as water. You’re going to have to do a whole lot better than that.
You’re having trouble focusing. Please focus. 🙂 Take Christianity out of the equation. Gotta start small and that’s a can of worms.
Atheism is absolutely a faith – a belief – that there is no God. There’s nothing weak or strong about that statement. It’s an objective truth. Let’s keep the thread in the convo below if you don’t mind.
Love your commentary SAO, but believing is not about a Marxist human pope, but a personal relationship with God and his son, just you and them. That’s it. Take organized religion out of it. You may think you can do it on your own, but eventually you can’t.
https://crossexamined.org/whats-wrong-with-the-zeitgeist-movie/
Zeitgeist is fake and gay and so are you.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant comment.
I’m certain we’re all enriched by the massive effort you put into your post.
Read some historical analysis:
I’m just wondering what you have to say to people who do believe in other people’s gods?
I try not to think of impossible things, so haven’t given your question any though but ‘doubly delusional’ comes to mind.
Maybe you didn’t intend that to be funny but it made me laugh just the same.
We been really busy down here possum proofing the chicken houses… one Barred Rock down this morning! And, now? The early blizzard I predicted!
My son is one of those “cold? who is cold?” types.
We have been prepping the hunting grounds, so out of pocket. this thread has brought out some interesting debate. Am thinking SAO is not what we’d hoped. tsk tsk…
Maybe you got so caught up in other people’s stories about what God is that you became absolutely positive that you ‘know’ God is mythical. With God it is more about what is inside you not what is outside. God is the law, it is much like the concept of the yin and yang. The two oppossing forces intrinsic to reality that as one is simply NULL. God being null doesn’t mean it doesn’t have it’s place in comprehending or processing reality because while the oppossing forces express into nature as null (or not) there is great power raging and tempering within the null. Much like the vacuum energy density containing more electromagnetic energy in a cubic centimeter of vacuum than all the mass in the observable universe, that great energy is mostly cancelled out from being out phase. What hapens if we shift those phases into coherency? Energy/mass appears from the vacuum! Divine law can be seen as the law that shapes nature, it is beyond the mortal observable nature but it effects can be seen to manifest INTO nature. It is like an uncollapsed wavefunction collapsing, the uncollapsed existing all possible scenarios simultaneously but when collapsed constructs a definite measurable observable.
Disregarding God means you have limited your understanding to less than the WHOLE, a subset of everything. It is like trying to do math without ZERO.
A quantifiable disadvantage to atheisists and manifested by athesists is observable within modern ‘justice’. The oath taken before a court was once single in the US but relatively recently became two. “I do so solemnly swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God”. The new oath, constructed by courts because atheisists refused the acknowledgement of God. – I acknowledge under penalty of perjury as defined in [statutory code # of jurisdiction] that everything I say is true and correct… The atheisist cannot see the quantifiable disadvantage here but those under agency of God can! Notice that in the origonal oath, God being null, there is no acknowledgement of any subject matter jurisdiction bestowed upon the court which means that, since one had the right to face their accuser, an accuser would have to invoke the jurisdiction of the court and face you with their allegations of perjury, where that accuser would be liable for any false prosecution/accusations. In the second oath, the atheisist’s oath, the one who takes the oath has already granted subject matter jurisdiction as being their own accuser should anyone find any perjurous testimony.
The difference while may seem subtle is actually an ENORMOUS DIFFERENCE and a quantifiable DISADVANTAGE for the atheisist. The biggest noticeable difference here is that not being in the spirit and agency to God that the atheisist DOES NOT KNOW THE DISADVANTAGE. THE ATHEISIST IS IN A STATE OF CONFUSION DERIVED FROM BEING DECEIVED. The deception is that negative side of the yin/yang forces being unleashed from divine law into nature-it is the collapsing of the wavefunction. That negative force derived from deception is what can be considered a ‘satanic’ or ‘demonic’ force. The satanic or negative force works through the ego of being so sure that you ‘know’, the God force is to NOT KNOW, TO NOT COLLAPSE THE WAVEFUNCTION, TO SIMPLY STAY NULL. Let the other side unleash the power of divine law (manifest into nature) upon themselves. To realize it is TRUE without the need to KNOW is FAITH.
Nobody.
Well done.
Solutions are Obvious,
Free will is a gift just as is your intellect. Pride comes before the fall, just ask Lucifer.
Luciferianism is real BIG on worshipping yourself, your illuminated reasoning skills, and the misplaced pride and stoked ego requisite to believe you can be your own God.
The gift thingy gets us all caught up. We think if I do this , this and that, then I’m good ..
Grace and Faith, that’s it.
Are you sincerely seeking THE TRUTH? How many times have you read the Bible. Challenge yourself. Read it twice. God will change you. Consider the empirical evidence …. all around the globe, people that are sincerely looking for the one TRUE God are leaving their religions and turning to Christianity. The MSM tries it best to suppress this truth, to no avail.
SAO.
It’s a line repeated often by Al Pacino from the Devils Advocate.
To think the brains functions can be separated from the heart, gut, and spiritual realm is vanity/Haughtiness.
If you ever kiss and you tremble at your knees, and you think that it was caused by a chill or by a breeze. Get yourself a shovel and dig yourself a hole, cause there’s no romance in your soul.
“Who’s your little Hoosier” by the Hoosier Hotshots.
Sin is caused by no self confidence?
The belief in sin is caused by a lack of self confidence – IMHO.
I prefer Rupert Sheldrake’s Morphic Resonance to explain what some prefer to call spirituality. I’ll grant there are things we don’t understand but I’m not ready to ascribe that lack of knowledge to mysticism.
Graham Hancock felt spirituality after taking ayahuasca which contains DMT. That some hallucinogenic can conjure images isn’t difficult to understand.
Whatever floats your boat.
Just don’t waste your time preaching at me because I’m immune. However, if you have god’s phone number of email address, please let me know.
The belief in Sin isn’t derived from the lack of self confidence it is from the heartfelt understanding or conviction that our issues/problems are often much bigger than ourselves and we cannot ultimately save ourselves from them.
Only an all knowing, all powerful, all present, all loving and perfectly just higher spiritual being can.
Obviously you haven’t yet reached that realisation.
My hope is that you are truly not that immune to it.
I wouldn’t waste my time preaching to anybody. You asked me to explain my comment. Your anger and shallowness are showing through.
Anger? Annoyance maybe, but anger, absolutely not.
To me, discussions about gods, spirits, demons, angels, etc are an opportunity to skewer the believers by placing in front of them things which they studiously ignore. Their belief system would be shattered if they entertained evidence that maybe, just possibly, they’re being duped by the frauds in the god business.
What did you make of my revelation (do you like that word) about previous incarnations of the Jesus myth featuring differently named character with essentially the same story? Don’t ignore the question – refute it if you can.
How about the research on how the Flavians were the originators of Christianity as practiced today, largely unchanged since their day. I think they would get a real hoot if they could know how their political scam has survived well beyond the time it could do them any good. Have you any research to be able to counter the Flavian to Christianity connection? Speak up.
How about all the missing books of the Bible? Why were only some included and of those why are there contradictions?
You see, I’ve probably done more research into this whole god thing than you have, and I’ve concluded it’s just a story used by primitive people to help explain things they didn’t then understand.
Sadly It’s true that self proclaimed christian’s doing evil things in the name of christ have done more damage to the true gospel message than everything else combined.
Trust in God alone. Not His self proclaimed messengers doing really bad things.
Do you believe in the concept of evil?
I suspect, given your phraseology, that I don’t, as I feel you’re referring to some sinister force in the universe controlled by some intelligent malevolence.
Now, being literate, I know what the common meaning of the word is and yes, there are some really evil people around (Hillary), evil institutions (Federal Reserve), evil intent (Patriot Act), evil concepts (war), all sorts of evils.
OK. Focus for a second and let’s not word wrap the page or get haughty. 🙂
We’ve established that you believe in evil, based on your second paragraph. Then obviously you believe in good, right? Let’s boil it down to the lowest common denominator.
No, you focus.
I’ve answered all the questions put to me and haven’t gotten my questions answered after multiple requests to multiple poster and even restatement of the questions.
So, I’m on strike till I get some answers.
You’re up.
I’m not interested in discussing Christianity. I’m interested in unpacking your mindset and seeing why you have faith in what you have faith in. It’s interesting to me.
We can get to Stoicism and Christianity if you’d like later, but we have to start small and work our way into it like good engineers, and divvy up a big conundrum into smaller, bite-sized chunks.
Don’t group me in with anyone else. Focus on OUR conversation. Or don’t, which will answer the rest of my questions. 🙂
Peace and love, my friend.
I don’t have faith in what I have faith in. I don’t have any faith in anything. I’m faithless.
Since I asked you to answer those questions I posed and you apparently refuse to do so, I’ll take door number “Don’t”.
You said you were an atheist, right? So it is objective truth to assert that you have belief (faith, if you will, as outlined in https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/belief) in the non-existence of a god or gods. Ergo the origin of the word “atheism”.
I understand that you want to discuss Christianity. I am a Christian (by the literal definition of the word) with hints of Stoicism and have acknowledged that. I would love to do that with you once I have unpacked where YOU stand so as to make logical sense of it. Only then may we have a neutral meeting of the minds.
I realize this may not be palatable to you and that is fair enough. I respect that. Perhaps one day when we can limit the conversation to atheism vs theism, then we can proceed.
Welcome, BTW! 🙂
S.A.O.
You say you don’t have faith in anything, that your “faithless” .
I disagree. In reading your own words it is evident you have faith in your reasoning ability that you have consciously and subconsciously used to develop your established “worldview”.
I think your discussion with A.O.C. would be eye opening for many of us here.
TBP has a lot of very wise commentary and unbelievable personal experiences.
Stick around
I’ll debate with anyone on any topic I deem worth the effort, but I refuse to submit to some bogus psychological exam or be harangued about god and similar nonsense.
As soon as someone starts making references to scripture, religion, etc as part of their argument about any topic, I know they have no rational retort but their ‘brethren’ will consider the evasion and lack of intellectual capital as a winning strategy.
In other words, you’re scared to debate someone on your own beliefs. I’m not. Prove to me you have the sac you claim Trump doesn’t have.
You claim you’re an atheist. Why did you RUN AWAY like the Brave Sir Robin? Why not stand like a man on the continent your forefathers fought for? If you die, it’s not like you have anything to lose. You have no offspring, no continuation of your DNA. Your money turns to dust or bits and bytes. Everyone will forget you and you them as the worms eat you.
Sorry, what you deem “worthy” means a hill of beans until you earn respect here. If you plan on frequenting this site, you’d better grow a bigger set of nuts and step up to the plate, instead of just fishing for marketing potential and bragging on coding in 22winmag languages. You have guys like Llpoh and HSF on this site who have forgotten more than you will ever know. None of that means diddly-squat where the world is heading in this Fourth Turning.
You can’t prove your god exists. I can’t prove a negative that he doesn’t. Arguing over this is pointless, so I won’t.
Trying childish tactics doesn’t work on me.
If you want a debate on something real, bring it on. Debating about fairies is plain stupid.
You’re a coward man. You run from debates and you run from your homeland. No thanks, I have nothing at all to discuss with vaginas and will be there to call you out every time when you puff up.
SOA.
So far you’ve been a master of obfuscating who is in love with himself. I still think you are a liberal.
SAO.
I neither said nor implied all the words you just put in my mouth.
Sin and Devil are Ideas or concepts not owned by any religion. You also assume wrongly that I don’t know about or read “Other” books of the Bible. I never said anything about the bible.
Have I any research to counter the Flavian to Christianity Connection? Speak Up. I never brought it up nor insinuated it into my simple statements.
You are so wrapped up in yourself you have flown right up your asshole. Get a window in your stomach so you can see where you are going.
Your anger and possibly even hatred of Christianity is showing through. Not uncommon with Atheists. In that state you can’t use your Goddess of Intellect. You fight like a wife trying to get a confession from Hubby by changing the topic and accusing him of crimes real or imagined util you get a signed confession. Oh wait, that’s what Liberals do.
At least you gave me a good chuckle.
While reading your rant I got the mental image of you jumping up and down with steam coming out of your ears and had to smile.
In a week or so, review our conversation and then look up ‘psychological projection’. It may surprise you.
SOA
There you go again. Making it up due to lack of anything of substance. You are the only one jumping up and down. Get that window installed before you drive anywhere. You are certainly no conservative. You argue like a liberal. Look at how much ink you’ve expended because I said two words that made you come unhinged and forget your original article.
Pacino’s character would say “Vanity, my favorite sin” each time his target was seduced into thinking too highly of himself.
You have exposed your shallowness repeatedly over just two words. It’s been fun owning you for the last 8 hours.
ts;dr
SOA..
Welcome to TBP. You don’t seem to be a bad sort. It just seemed that you were trying to just plop down here with a bunch of credentials without enduring the boot camp phase. We are no respecter of persons here. Most things written here are tried by fire. Most of your ideas aren’t unsound as much as too late. We are on the verge of becoming a poverty stricken has been in world politics and finance. Our A-bombs will allow us Hangers on status at the hotel lobby bar but not much more.
You certainly gave us something to do today. A look at the comment counts of the rest of the days fare will attest to that.
The best way to find out what we believe is to have to defend it.
Not how well we defend it but how hard.
Flea, don’t get worked up by him. His conclusion is that there is no god or gods and that it is indisputable. Axiomatic if you will, because if it were merely theoretical, he’d acknowledge the self-evidence of its faith-based premise. But if it were axiomatic, it would mean he could prove a negative, which as you know is not possible unless…you yourself are a god or THE God! 🙂
Not worth the time to argue it with anyone because the only way any of us will know is when we croak. Our life experiences form us. It is what it is. Basic propositional logic 101 ends up meaning ZIP in a political, religious, or faith-based debate if one cannot engage his executive functions and turn off his emotions. No way, in 99.9999% of the cases!
AOC.
Who’s upset? He is that’s for sure. An unwashed hillbilly said two words and he went completely off topic for 8 hours, foaming at the mouth over a long list of things I never mentioned.
I’ll cut him some slack though, Atheists are frail creatures and I wouldn’t want to be the one him to have an aneurysm. He never answered Maggy’s question of where the two original molecules came from that created all this. I never could when I was an Athiest. When it got that close I changed the subject.
You are correct, it’s not worth the time to try to convince anyone.
The fact that he went to great lengths to accuse me of it says to me that he know he’s kidding himself.
I didn’t mean you were getting upset, just frustrated. Sorry about that. Two passages from Meditations always stood out to me. My 11 year old son is reading it now, so they’ve raised good comments from him.
Book IV 4.
If our intellectual part is common, the reason also, in respect of which we are rational beings, is common: if this is so, common also is the reason which commands us what to do, and what not to do; if this is so, there is a common law also; if this is so, we are fellow-citizens; if this is so, we are members of some political community; if this is so, the world is in a manner a state. For of what other common political community will any one say that the whole human race are members? And from thence, from this common political community, comes also our very intellectual faculty and reasoning faculty and our capacity for law; or whence do they come? For as my earthly part is a portion given to me from certain earth, and that which is watery from another element, and that which is hot and fiery from some peculiar source (for nothing comes out of that which is nothing, as nothing also returns to non-existence), so also the intellectual part comes from some source.
Smart guy, n’est-ce pas? Further on, he discusses in his words the nature of infinity.
Book V 13.
I am composed of the formal and the material; and neither of them will perish into non-existence, as neither of them came into existence out of non-existence. Every part of me then will be reduced by change into some part of the universe, and that again will change into another part of the universe, and so on forever. And by consequence of such a change I too exist, and those who begot me, and so on forever in the other direction. For nothing hinders us from saying so, even if the universe is administered according to definite periods of revolution.
He talks several times about the nature of the soul, of self-control, of prudence and temperance and tolerance.
I have yet to meet an atheist who could hold a candle to this man’s philosophy or ability to reason. Think about what he possessed, what he ruled over, what wealth of treasure and women he had at his disposal. Yet he was humble, kind, wise, judicious – a philosopher king with no equal mind in his age.
AOC.
For nothing comes out of that which is nothing. Amen.
“… why are there contradictions?”
Easily explained. Different times, different audiences, different instructions.
Just lost a point there.
This is true. You will not convince an adherent of the Christian faith of any value in adhering to the atheistic faith; or vice versa. It is what it is and the debates usually go nowhere. The Limbic system gets too engaged in conversations of faith, religion, and politics. I wonder if it’s not related to our childhood experiences and how deeply ingrained experiences leave indelible marks on us. Fight/flight/freeze and so on.
However, everyone including yourself could demonstrate more grace in the conversations and keep them above the belt. Implying that millions of people are “delusional” is not going to go very far.
Wow… that’s amazing! You’re as immune as you choose to be.
It’s my time. I’ll do with it what I will.
Romans 1:20 KJB… “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”
Christ died for you. He was raised again that your soul might live forever. There are no excuses for failing to understand this most basic life fact. You’ll learn that the hard way, if you so desire.
Good evening GCP. Missed you
?
You appear to be a man of considerable intellect. Do you have an open mind? spend some time listening to Chuck Missler. He has a wide range of videos on youtube. Chuck blends the science of our universe with the Word of God. Give it a try. Great way to spend your time. Nothing to lose either.
Like Donkey said, if you haven’t seen the hand of God in a child’s face, the love of a good dog or the comfort of the Savior’s presence when all hope is lost, well I feel sorry for you. Alternatively, evil is manifested in many things that occur and you would have a deeper understanding of what you are up against by including the spiritual.
The pride/vanity you show by denying the existence of your own soul, spirituality and both God and evil is simply an unwillingness to look objectively at reality. As science progresses seems to me that the evidence of God is stronger….glad to see other eggheads are catching up.
As a solution to the University “problem” the simplest answer is to cut off the money, all of it. No grants, kill the student loan program and let the chips fall where they may. Administrators are rational actors (even if motivated by evil in some cases) and apply reduced resources more responsibly. Over time the schools that produce students worthy of being hired will win. Nothing magical about that.
Focus on the river of money.
Anyone who doesn’t recognize the presence of The Creator hasn’t spent enough time outdoors.
Nothing comes from nothing.
Agreed. Even when I went though my (shameful) rebellious phase, it was impossible to be in the countryside and conclude the vast beauty was not intelligently designed. As the Bible states, we all will be shown our moments of conscious rebellion against our Creator.
As a solution to the University “problem” the simplest answer is to cut off the money, all of it.
This right here. There’s no reason to over-complicate things or to go tyrannical in the other direction. Cut off the money and there’s nothing for the moochers to mooch.
Marty.
As science progresses it seems to me the evidence for God is strong. Amen. I bet the intellectuals are sorry the DNA door has been opened.
No such thing as atheists. Nature is your creator god and scientists are your priests. I was there once…
Okay. So I am reasonably confident you have an open mind. Go to the youtube channel … A Call For An Uprising. Watch just a couple of days’ worth of videos. TODAY would be an excellent time to start. Then please get back to us with your sincere opinion there are not demonic forces at work.
I watched a short piece of today’s video showing 666 on the clock radio and the Disney building, etc. I though the announcer was rather clever in his use of terminology.
I believe there are satanists, but no Satan, just as there are Christians and no Christ as some kind of god. If there was a real person that modern man refers to as Christ, then he was just a guy, probably a trouble maker that gave the gov’t of the day a lot of problems and they got rid of him. I place no real importance on that story.
History has many variations of the Jesus story using different names at different times but the gist of the story is largely the same. I made mention of the similarities in one of my posts.
I was curious about this topic several years ago and researched it. I discovered many things I never knew before and one particular one was the Council of Nicaea in 325AD. That’s where the HMFIC of the day got together to decide what to put into the bible and what to leave out. That told me the bible was a political document concocted by a cabal and represents nothing more that the propaganda they wanted disseminated to the believers.
I also discovered the Flavians. Another political intrigue story that historians have pieced together about early Christianity.
I contacted a Jewish organization to ask them lots of questions via email and they were very forthcoming with answers. That’s when I realized there was a difference between Judaism and Zionism. They gave me their slant on how things were 2000 years ago. They were Jewish anti Zionists with a vengeance.
I’m not unacquainted with Christianity having attended St. Mathias Catholic grammar School & Church. By the time I was in 6th grade I stopped attending services. That didn’t go over well with the nuns and priests as well as my mother. My father never talked about religious issues and later in life I realized he doesn’t care about it. He’s not an atheist, he’s an I don’t give a shit.
Candidly, the short piece of video I watched is cringe worthy. There’s no way I could sit through it just as there’s no way I can sit through a modern Cosmology lecture. I simply don’t agree with those stories.
Now you’ve been pleasant in you contacts and is why I’m replying. I don’t bother much with rude people as those conversations usually degrade quickly. Why someone would think that name calling would enhance a conversation is beyond my comprehension.
I trust you have good intentions. You have done your duty by me. I hope we can agree to disagree.
We are going to have to role(that’s for EC) around in the mud with the mudsuckers if we ever hope to make a change, imo. We have to “get in their faces” at holiday time.
“Some people have to do something.”
I’m steering clear of mudsuckers, but I did come across a neat old Poster and copied photo if what the ditch near my father’s farm once looked like. It’s cool as hell..
Why did he build his house in the river? ?
Houseboat maybe?
been waitin 24 hours fer the answer & all i can figger is he had too much shine–
unless mg wants to correct me ?
Red.
I asked her again 10 minutes ago, still no answer.
SAO, did not Ben Franklin warn us, dat once the citizens
can vote their own subsidies – the Republic is lost.
The Republic was lost once the word ‘democracy’ entered common usage.
I’d like someone to show me the word democracy or any of its derivatives in the founding documents for the USA.
I’m sure you’ll find 100% agreement with the posters here concerning democracy.
SOA, irrespective either system can be subject to failure.
What is perhaps even more important are ethos, morals
and virtue.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/republic-government
deToqueville I think – although likely many have commented on this clear reality.
Seems to me this is the case for both bad AND good, new ideas.
Damn! Whàt else have you got?
“Hate to be a realist but good luck with that one at the ballot box anytime in the next 20 years short of outright revolution or societal collapse and rebuilding from the foundation up.”
Revolution, of one kind or another, and collapse, slow or fast, are baked in the cake. The ballot box will be irrelevant. Repairing the foundation and rebuilding IMO are the only acceptable option. Probably there will be no alternatives.
I keep my faith in Lord Jesus. He rides with me on a bicycle built for two, but expects me on the front seat to peddle as vigorously as I can, no matter how idealistic, unrealistic, decades-long, or hopeless the plan may seem to me. Or no matter that an atheist helped conceive it. If He likes the cause, He ensures that I enjoy the support of natural law along the way.
As a starting point, I find SAO’s ideas worth discussing. My 2 bits.
For sure, Lars. He has carried me through more bullshit than I care to remember. Most of the time I wasn’t even aware of it…some of the time I overtly denied Him. It’s taken a litany of experience to get to where I am today.
Hug a Mormon if you dare.
They/I are treated as the lowest of the low.
Great men are nothing without solid, healthy, trustworthy women behind them
Any sensible person should be jumping for joy.
That is my opinion.
I am not an LDS Church official and I speak only for myself on this issue.
Welcome SAO. Your assessments are spot on. The push for universal (mandatory) pre-k is really frightening. It’s not enough to damage mature brains, but get them while they are developing will seal the deal stunting any mental, intellectual growth. Our society is screwed unless this can be challenged and overcome. I look forward to reading more insights from you.
Make parents responsible for the children they produce, their preparation for school, their commitment to school, etc. and more will be done by them at the pre-K age without the need for more theft and force (mandatory pre-K). That will happen by SAO’s previous suggestion of getting government 100% OUT of the education business. Once a parent knows that they are both responsible and empowered when it comes to education, things will change. Not overnight of course. We didn’t get this screwed up overnight……but things certainly won’t change UNTIL parents are put back into the driver’s seat.
“parents” did not want to be in the driver’s seat … that’s why we are where we are.
{further rant redacted} (hint: we do NOT live in a Constitutional Republic, we live in an expanding — soon to be global — DEMOCRACY)
horses, … carts, … things of that nature
carry on
Well, forcing the mothers to work sort of affected that …
I didn’t say they wanted it…but we better make it happen.
I wasn’t trying to dismiss your comment. In fact, I wholeheartedly agree with you.
The author has some good ideas to solve a particular problem, but there’s a bigger problem standing in the way of solutions to the education problem. That bigger problem is that most Americans don’t see a problem.
And there are a great many people with a vested interest in maintaining that “bigger problem” — from political elites, to educational elitists, to established political and educational bureaucrats, to parents themselves.
There are other problems as well. Ones that have solutions. And still, that “bigger problem” stands in the way of those solutions too.
I guess what I’m saying is that we can figure solutions to many of the nation’s problems here, but we can’t implement them because that “bigger problem” remains.
And no, … I don’t have any great ideas for solutions to that “bigger problem”, so feel free to ignore my comment. I just didn’t want you to think I was opposed to what you said. I’m definitely not.
You have to start somewhere, and putting an end to the brainwashing of young impressionable minds is essential to forming a consensus.
Agreed. But when/why did parents give up responsibility in the first place?
Money, stuff, bigger Mcmansions.
convenience, too…
All that Mary Christine and MG said, but … in a nutshell …
promises.
Promises and faith in the promisors (who never had anything but nefarious intent from the beginning … this has been building for a long time).
Think..
There you have it. Faith in the Promisors with nefarious intent. My parents and all my many aunts and uncles were all born between 1890 and 1930. They all had absolute faith in the government as did their children. I was involuntarily red pilled at 20 or I might still be in that group.
Nefarious is an underused word when describing the con job done on the public. Too bad PCR doesn’t use it as often as insouciant.
See Bee,
While I dont discount otber factors mentioned, economucs played a big part. In the 50s-60s a man earned enough to pay for a house with less than 2 years salary. It now takes about 6. His one salary even allowed for an annual2 week vacation. The big squeeze came and that no longer worked plus feminism told wonen they were more than lowly housewives ( not my perspective).
I’ve mentioned this before but I’ll say it again.
The PUBLIC has been so thoroughly indoctrinated into believing that Education is a natural “right” provided to them by the Constitution that they would go apeshit to defend the status quo and protect their perceived entitlements.
My solution would involve no longer making school “compulsory ” , but since most citizens fail to understand that the Constitution doesnt give us our rights, rather we are born with these God-given “natural rights” , they believe “free” Education should be provided by the NANNY STATE .
Making school no longer mandatory would give the parents more authority that the State has usurped.
Many would lose their jobs and major disruptions would be unavoidable, but necessary .
Pipe dreams, I know
Florida State “workers” want a raise because their average salary is only about $47,000 (plus great benefits). Commie Tallahassee TV stuck the microphone in a half dozen faces (all Black) for comments and their English was horrible but I understood that they all say they have great responsibilities, their professional (FAMU) degrees are underutilized and they were underpaid. Just damn: commie Tallahassee obviously has easy good paying state jobs for clearly dumb people with undoubtedly the easiest gotten Black college degrees in America. I hope FSU football failures continue to be a Spotlight on commie Tallahassee.
It’s not only state workers, but the federal government as well.
For most federal jobs, a “college degree” is required. For many of the jobs, a “degree” in the particular field one is applying for is not required. Any “degree” will do. Even “basketweaving” degrees are acceptable.
The “college degree” has become the “gatekeeper” to many jobs since the courts ruled that aptitude testing was illegal (discriminatory against certain minorities) and could not be used to determine suitability for a give job. Look up “Griggs v. Duke Power” for the relevant ruling outlawing aptitude tests.
‘The “college degree” has become the “gatekeeper” to
many jobs since the courts ruled that aptitude testing was
illegal (discriminatory against certain minorities) and
could not be used to determine suitability for a given job.
Look up “Griggs v. Duke Power” for the relevant ruling
outlawing aptitude tests.’
Thanks for refreshing my memory with that citation, Anarchyst.
Had this exact discussion with my daughter and SIL last
weekend. Simply giving them some historical context
between now and when I was a lad (1960s) about how
unnecessary a degree was then unless going into one of
the professions, and that all other jobs (and
promotions) were pretty much determined by taking an
exam for that particular job.
But given the extraordinarily high failure rate of
Kneegrows on those tests (and the refusal to accept
the fact that a low IQ was always the cause)
the SJWs of that day began to invent ‘reasons’
for that failure: things like‘invisible’ or
‘unconscious’ racism, and continues to
this day with nonsense like ‘white privilege’.
And that math is racist, i.e., 2 + 2 only equals 4 for
Whites and Asians. For black or brown folks, it
may be some other number, depending on the day
and their feelings.
(Of course most of ‘white privilege’ actually
consists of having a triple-digit IQ and being
raised by married biological parents.)
Altitude tests were not outlawed. That decision said that the tests need to relate to the job – ie the tests need to test aptitude for the job, not just IQ tests.
Stuck, is that you ?
Is who Stucky? SAO is a new poster and he asked me to submit this.
Are you aka Da’ Judge…. just a hunch.
BTW, I’ve never heard of SAO . Is that another alter ID ?
I sniffed around SAO a bit to see if I smelled any dialectual anomalies or linguistic tells. I think SAO is a legit noobe!
Let Initiation begin!
At first sight yesterday, I thought SAO might have been LLPOH.
Maybe he is that rascal Lenny’s older, cerebral, Godless brother?
Once burned…twice shy…
Easy lad, steady on. Not related, even to the Lenster.
And not quite so tactful… has waded right in with a couple folks.
TS,
I just checked back.
Ok…I was waiting for you after that…as he went deep into haughty, and even deeper into smug…you know what Judy Tenuta says…
IT COULD HAPPEN!
This guy says, “I’m perfect for you, ’cause I’m a cross between a macho man and a sensitive man.” I said, “Oh, a gay trucker?”
Judy Tenuta
This thread has consumed my Saturday and early rise this morning. And helped define my thoughts. Why I keep coming back.
I am tempted to retort but my meditations are still enjoying the banter. Carry on.
That was not meant to be offensive if taken that way. SAO if pragmatic. I see LLPOH having a high level of pragmatism as well. SAO to a fault.
In other words he (?) is Strategically As Ordered. You know – Right-On-Time 🙂
But, following so soon after your valiant attempt to feed the big dog down under some newbie chow, it would be less strategic than premature.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Glad you did this… I saw one comment I considered posting, but there was too much formatting work.
😀
Who broke higher education….hmmm.
Ground Zero
The Children of the Devil. The same people who are keeping it broken.
SAO – I followed your previous comments and banter with Donkey and for the most part, agree with your ideas, but once again, implementing them will be difficult until we have a dictator.
A more palatable solution to the student loan crisis would be to make the college/university the guarantor of all loans. If the student cannot find employment in his/her chosen field, the university would be responsible for making the loan payments until such employment is gained. This would incentivize the institution to better screen students and to offer degrees with a usefulness to society. By making them make the payments, it prevents some student from getting his degree, failing to get the job of his dreams and once the loan is repaid, viola the job appears.
BTW – Under 0bama, the federal government took over the student loans system and now not only guarantees the loans, but originates them, as well.
True dat.
There are numerous avenues one can imagine towards fixing the higher ed system. Nothing gets fixed until there’s a general consensus that there’s even something broken to begin with. I tried to make the case that the system is broken and offered one path to change; yours is another.
I knew when I wrote the article that the common lament would be how to implement any solution. At present, the population is really powerless because they are disorganized and have absolutely no voice in this grand and glorious representative democracy. (spit)
Implementing any solution for any identified problem is currently impossible unless there’s a way to bypass the traditional choke point. The party system is fully in control of all the mechanics and the party system is owned outright by moneyed interests. The party system needs to be destroyed and there is a way to do it.
I previously hinted at something I’ve thought about for years on how to coerce the political parties into addressing real concerns versus the ones they want to focus on which frames the political debate. I believe its possible to neuter the party’s ability to control the narrative within one election cycle using tech, my background. It would also make the MSM and political polling organizations irrelevant if it could catch fire.
I considered writing an article on it but that would give early warning to the enemy. Again, implementing it is the problem as it would need a few million in seed money to produce but would probably generate billions annually, world wide once it got off the ground.
This site has a certain audience. If my banter is deemed credible either via an article or my comments, then maybe I can get my idea in front of someone with the resources to make it happen. Till then, maybe I’m just peeing into the wind and we’re all wasting time on this site, but if I believed that things couldn’t change I wouldn’t be here.
Welcome SAO and good thoughts. I’m a product of the higher ed system, starting with primary school in MA in the early 70s, then off to the West for a run up the science ladder at UCSD/UCB, specifically biochem.
In my opinion (i’ll get back to this word in a bit), the major failing of the current US ed system is the shift away from teaching reasoning skills to simply requiring obedience and memorization. The shift started a long time ago. Primary school was so incredibly boring and in fact un-natural for me it is a wonder i made it through.
It took 2 years of working for a living afterwards and reminding myself that i was a pretty good nerd to get the courage to go back to “school”. The STEM path, then as now, offers a challenge to those who choose to use their natural gifts and today the variety of paths through this wonderland is astounding.
So now we have a situation where the ability to reason and access facts as tools to improve one’s understanding of the world is actively discouraged. It’s not an accident and this technique has been used for thousands of years to control populations.
What is needed before any meaningful change in the education system can happen is for market forces to act to de-value the current offerings. This would require that first, people need to understand the dangers of “beliefs” and the value of “views”.
It all starts when we form an “opinion” (i promised to get back to this), based on some observation or (egads!) indoctrination. If we are observant, then most indoctrination can be set aside and we are free to develop “views” based on reasoning our way through a collection of facts.
The value of this approach, aside from the obvious, is that when new facts become available, and we process them with reasoning skills, rather than obediently ignoring them, voila, our views may actually change to fit the new facts.
The alternative is to allow an initial opinion to become a belief. Such obedient beliefs are much more difficult to change than fact-based views. It does not take a college degree to learn to use our natural gifts, it takes one to beat them out of us.
“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” – Albert Einstein
“… a theory built on questionable assumptions should never be the basis for new theories.” – Stephen Smith
In the STEM fields or STEM related fields, there are also problems. Today, we have physicists that have no lab experience. They invent new subatomic particles because some arcane math tells them this is fact. It’s not fact! It’s BS till its confirmed by empirical testing. The new ‘fact’ is assumed and we’re off to the races piling the next theory on top of the previous untested one. It end up with the LHC and billions spent on a hunch.
Some once respected fields are being converted into junk science. Take Cosmology for example. A Belgian priest invented the Big Bang Theory from nothing. He wanted to marry his religion with his infatuation with Astronomy, so he concocted Big Bang.
Thereafter, Hubble came up with the expanding universe by equating red shift to distance. Others jumped on the band wagon and today we have Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Neutron Stars, Pulsars and all manner of entities that defy any attempt at empirical investigation. They all rely on a gravity based view of how the universe works.
“No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.” – Albert Einstein
Along the way, Halton Arp, a protege of Hubble, identified galaxies that disproved the red shift equals distance idea. That should disprove the expanding Universe idea which should disprove Big Bang because Big Bang relies on running the expansion backwards to a singularity.
For his heresy, Halton Arp was denied telescope time and hounded out of the US.
During all this time, Plasma Physics had and has a completely different take on Cosmology relegating gravity as an afterthought and concentrating on electromagnetism as the prime mover.
EM is 39 orders of magnitude more powerful than gravity. A 1 with 39 0’s after it is a pretty big number. Plasma Physicists can explain what is observed without the zoo of made up entities required to keep Big Bang from totally collapsing.
Most people know about Big Bang but almost none know of the alternative Plasma interpretation as Big Bang is taught as the only possible way to look at things.
You can string together some coherent thoughts.
The only problem with intelligent plasma versus the big bang is that for atheism to be true for all eternity, it requires that initial little miracle or spark of intellect to get the whole random thing going.
I’m not being nosy; I’m the fruit inspector.
There is no ‘intelligent’ plasma, there is only plasma. Plasma does what it does no intelligence required. It’s an electrical phenomenon and it mostly follows electromagnetic principles until super high energies get involved.
Atheism has as much to do with Plasma as fish have to do with motorcycles – nothing at all.
I’m curious how you managed to associate the two as a coherent thought in your mind.
SOA
I thing Maggie was asking or telling you that pure Atheism can’t explain where the first minute “Thing” came from that then multiplied until we have the Universe.
You knew that and you obfuscate as well as any Alinksyite.
I could care less where the universe came from. No one knows and no one will ever know IMO.
I fail to see what atheism has to do with the universe. Seriously. I can’t imagine a connection.
There are two types of atheists:
A. The fools and liars who say they know all things with 100% certainty
B. The honest ones who admit there is much they don’t know.
The former are delusional and the latter, if they stay honest, must acknowledge at least the possibility of a creator existing in the realm beyond their understanding.
By the same token, religious adherents refuse to acknowledge the possibility of no creator existing in the realm beyond their understanding.
For example, the Bible’s Hebrews 11:1 says:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Question: If one side or the other was correct, how would they know for sure?
Indeed. The problem with the former is that society must be vigilant of them at all times. This is where the steady flow of psychopaths originate. No one can claim that Henry VIII was actually “religious”. His actions belie his mental stability.
The latter is to be commended in many ways for questioning everything with boldness; yet they haven’t taken the thought experiment to its very end. That’s just merely a matter of setting aside the time to meditate on the order of things, to work outside for a year or two.
In my personal experience, the most difficult step was to proceed from atheism to theism. That involves changing the very essence of who you are, to acknowledge you are not King of the World and to TRULY appreciate what humility is.
Love the upgrade in thought depth. I’m engaged in finding what is true, and it’s like what Michelangelo did with rocks. You start out with many randomly shaped rocks , pick one , then begin to remove all the unnecessary pieces to reveal the work.
The first thing is to lay aside any and all of other opinions about “what is”, and where it came from. Beliefs , everybody has one, are a cul de sac of the mind/thinking brain. But it works to prevent paralysis of daily action, and the truth is only important to the inquiring mind; one that would be bored with crossword puzzles.
Indeed! I find myself performing an Agile-based, iterative improvement of my mind on a daily basis. But it does require stepping back and observing neutrally. Survival instinct of humans does not lend itself to easily disengaging emotions.
Be careful, assfucker. I’m not always this nice.
Obviously, you are one of those this article talks about that is well trained in “opinions.”
Since I wrote the article, yes, I’m opinionated. So what?
I’ve put myself out there and expressed my opinion on higher education. What’s your take on it?
If you can come up with constructive criticism where I made a mistake in your opinion, share your insights.
If your article was really all that special, you wouldn’t be having to comment on it yourself so heavily. eh.
It is common courtesy to respond when asked a question, so I reply.
Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?
SAO,
You’ve shared your thoughts. Personally, I appreciate it and was happy to submit it for you. You’ve defended your thoughts admirably imo as well. Stick around if you like to mix it up martial arts style because you will find it.
I intend to stick around.
Growing up in New York gives one a hide as thick as a rhino’s.
You’ve gotten enough attention here to get your article propelled to “post” level and it is faring quite well in the comment number rating system here at TBP.
If your idea is in format ready for printing, send it to [email protected] and I’m betting you will get the opportunity to have it directly posted with links for folks to contact you for investment opportunity.
I gotta warn you… TBP readers are a hard sell.
I don’t know what ‘post’ level indicates but it sounds like an accomplishment of some sort. Thank You.
My idea is currently just in my mind. I can write it up over a few days to polish up the prose appropriately sans any heavy technical detail.
However, I don’t think publishing a description of the idea for the world to see is such a great idea. The aim is to develop the software and pop it up as a surprise and have the site go viral, which I suspect would happen. With enough attention, the political parties and their media lackeys wouldn’t be able to squash it.
I liken it to BitCoin technically in that the instantiation of the idea is a distributed app and multi node distributed site that has no real head to take down. What would work for the US would work just as easily for Germany, South Africa, Japan, anywhere candidates stand for election. The idea is on paper. The realization of that idea is lots of software, hardware, internet connections, programmers, etc.
I understand this is difficult for you to envision, but with the description in hand I think all would become clear.
Given the tenor of this site I think I can trust that my idea would be reviewed soberly by individuals like myself that want a change in the political process that forces it to become responsive to what people want and to hell with the political machine.
One of my favorite sayings is: “It’s easier to beg forgiveness than it is to ask permission.” What I have in mind isn’t asking permission from the establishment. Its forcing them to play ball on a field they don’t control.
Let me know if you’re still interested.
SAO
Will your idea create revenue? How long from paper to market? You asked if who was interested in what?
To market is at least a year after assembling a programming team and support staff. I actually want some other non technical minds collaborating on fleshing out the concept and direction quickly so that those designs can then be translated to code.
BTW – I was a software development manager for a major software house. I’ve written code in 22 programming languages. I don’t want to write code for this project as what’s needed are web developers and that’s not my specific area of expertise. I can smell programming talent from a distance as that’s what I’ve done my whole adult life and know what underlying technologies to use and which to avoid. The hardware required I can do in my sleep.
If it catches on, which would require some media exposure to get a minimal viewership, then I would expect it to rapidly spread by word of mouth resulting in millions of hits per month DEPENDING on if its an election year for something. If it not the right time for the US then it may be for Austria and if not Austria, then possibly Chile, … Once the basic code is up, any country, city, municipality that has an election cycle is a target. Local programming talent would be used to provide the proper local language translations and proper idioms.
The roll out should be timed to catch an election year in the US if possible. That would do the most damage to the entrenched parties. It doesn’t need to be a presidential run. Any significant election schedule will do. The US should be the first case before the D’s & R’s have time to react, and react they will. Rolling out elsewhere has logistics and other issues that need to be understood over time; too problematic up front.
Although I can’t properly describe a funding mechanism now, suffice to say that during a US presidential election year, the concept could bring in millions to hundreds of millions. I don’t know where the thing may top out. It’s largely population dependent.
World wide in any given year could be ten figures. That’s my and my wife’s estimation. She’s also a software geek.
My question concerning interest is if someone wants the document but not for general publication on TBP. I’d supply the idea to a small number of people that can lead to potential funding the up front costs – guess $2-3M. That figure is dependent on what the collaboration team decides is needed. The more bells and whistles the more cost.
There are lots more things to be decided upon, but first I want others to go over the general idea and tell me if I’m nuts or not.
You are suggesting your “idea” is one that can reach across cultural lines. If it is truly just an “idea” to read, I’ll read it and not share it. I will also tell you whether I think you are nuts. Let me go find my gmail account I don’t really use and I’ll share it in one of your comments somewhere else.
Jim Quinn is the Boss of TBP, but he has allowed almost any and all ideas that are reasonably presented to “air.” As I said, write it up and we’ll read it.
Well, some of us will read it. I can’t promise we will like it.
M G
What’s SAO selling?
I’m not selling anything. I’m offering to give up an idea in the hope that the idea could be turned into a product/corporation that would quickly be as well known as almost any name you’d care to mention.
Do yourself, and us, a favor… write it up and try to not present the philosophy without the idea. The two will get all mixed up here. Don’t feed the monkeys mixed messages.
I gotta open gmail and see what that email account is named… I found it. Look for it tucked in another comment.
2-3 million worth of code?
I would be interested in reading it.
A decent web developer will work near 6 figures in annual salary. To get it up quickly means many of them which leads to more mistakes and rewrites. By time it’s done, the code thrown away might be equal to the code that executes.
Support people aren’t free either.
Ha!
I’m going to copy that and send it to my rocket scientist son. It sounds like what he talks about now that he’s part of building Medical Skynet.
If SAO sends me something coherent, I’ll look at it and ask smart people I know. I’ll keep the general idea double dog secret (My security clearance doesn’t expire until 2021!) because I’m kind of trustworthy.
It’s a terrible trait.
The solution I mentioned was not mine, but one I have heard several times in the media. What has to happen is the Institutions of higher learning have to be made out as the bad guys, which I think we both agree they are. People need to know that Harvard is sitting on billions in trust money, but still charging out the wazoo for tuition. Many other universities are also very well off and should not be profiting off of the taxpayer’s money.
We have to get the word out, one bulletin board at a time and hope we start a brushfire of freedom.
Harvard or any of the rich institutions should be persuaded to spend some of their fortune by awarding scholarships as was done in decades past.
I don’t begrudge them their fortune if they acquired it honestly. However, since they turn out lots of the legal criminals (oxymoron, I know) their money is tainted and they should be investigated. They’ve got their squid like tentacles in as many deals as Goldman Sachs.
There should be no taxpayer money for them to profit from. The gov’t funding the loans is absurd. I’m sure the Commerce Clause has been tortured sufficiently and stretched on a rack to once again encompass this ridiculous idea.
Obviously I agree that getting people incensed about how higher ed is failing the society is a task worth pursuing.
Cash only … No Loans … Problem fixed.
Most around here know “solutions are obvious”. Implementing those solutions is where where the rubber meets the road and the area of lively discussion.
You didn’t mention my favorite BS degree, African American studies. Thousands getting degrees in which there are tens of jobs avaiable. What a disaster that one is. I would wager it has the highest student loan default rate.
Welcome, SAO. I saw the back and forth yesterday. It kept my mind off of having to put my old dog down.
I must say, I lurked for years and then commented for nearly a year before I got the gumption up to write an essay. I think you will fit right in here.
Overall, I agree with your assessment. Full disclosure, I never went to college except for a couple of college classes at the local community college.
Here is where I think we differ. You said “Psychiatry has not a single empirical test for the hundreds of conditions listed in their DSM. Psychiatry is opinion masquerading as science and is simply an outlet for Big Pharma to push their mind altering poisons. The large majority of mass shooters have been on prescription only psychoactive drugs.”
Yes, they are highly dependent on drugs and push them instead of trying other options. It is also true that the perpetrators of high profile mass shootings are on some kind of psychotropic drug. The field of psychiatry has been heavily politicized. You would still need people to specialize in some form of study of the mind/brain. It should be reformed and maybe renamed but not eliminated. Many so called mental disorders are actually physical problems such as thyroid disorders and hormone imbalances. People who cannot be helped because their problems are true disorders of the mind must still be treated.
One way to force the higher education system to reform is to starve it. This will never happen if the people who want to make college free for everyone.
I look forward to more essays from you. I find engineers to be rather interesting people. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be here.
I need to get ready to go out of town so any questions for replies I will have to get back to after we are on the road later.
One day, perhaps, we will be on the road at the same time and meet for lunch. I burned up the road enough for three years. But, I do get to the Bluff or the Cape once in a while. Sometimes St. Charles.
My son got sick of paying lakeside rent and moved into a crap apartment I won’t even visit. He says he intends to pay off that car and student loan by Christmas and never owe anyone another dime. That fruit didn’t fall too far, so I’m proud of him, in a way. On the other hand? He steps over homeless people to get from parking to his place. I ain’t going there.
MC, sorry about your dog. By nature they are more true than people.
Thanks, Over. It’s the peril of having pets, I’m afraid.
Dogs have a good grip on reality ,too.
There’s no doubt that there are people who are crazy / insane / nuts / off their rocker / … pick a term. Absolutely no one knows how to diagnose where this comes from. Even pointing to physical brain deformities or damage doesn’t guarantee a correlation between that physical condition and any particular ‘mental illness’. No one can properly define what a ‘mental illness’ is.
Psychiatry is a completely fraudulent profession. It almost disappeared about a century ago but was saved by Rockefeller money; oil money. Many drugs are compounded from petroleum products and Psychiatry was seen as an avenue to sell up stream high dollar derivatives of oil. Psychiatry should have gone the way of Phrenology but didn’t.
The most dangerous drug pushers in the society are Psychiatrists because the vast majority of their treatments involve drugs that alter brain chemistry. They may be able to tranquilize some behaviors but at what long term cost? No one truly knows how those drugs affect different people. Essentially Big Pharma is running an open air experiment on people classified as having mental conditions when those classifications are just so much made up gibberish as defined in the DSM.
To the best of my knowledge, what I stated in the article is true; not a single DMS ailment has an empirical test associated with it. It’s all a matter of interpretation, feel, instinct, bullshit.
It would be wonderful if some branch of probably medicine could start to understand why some people howl at the moon or, in general, do things the rest of us find strange, but Psychiatry has spent a hundred years conning us that they are the experts. They’re not.
I agree with you, but that trying to understand the mind is a valuable exercise. It is not science, but theories have come a long way in recent history, the difference being the theories don’t have experiments where the result comes out the same 100% of the time. That doesn’t mean some day they won’t get there. The correlations of IQ and personality traits with correlations to success in various occupations is getting stronger because models are getting better. This is already useful information not unlike looking at someones mouth, lips, or hands and suggesting what musical instrument they might be better taking up (if they were also musically inclined). I’m not talking about communists testing people and assigning jobs and pay for life. Those humanity classes are valuable, but I would agree mostly just as rounding out education and as highly populated majors are unjustified. Perhaps better career counseling and warnings as to the risks of a worthless education are easier but effective sells.
I’m sorry, but if you can’t prove it, its trash.
https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations
I’ll agree that trying to understand mental illness, for example, is a worthwhile effort, but until someone can conclusively show that understanding they need to shut up and get back into the lab. Experimenting on the real world when the consequences are unknown is my objection.
No one is going to convince me that Black Studies, Gender Studies and the bulk of the humanities/social sciences/liberal arts has any value at all until they can prove what they claim is true. Assertions, theories, speculations, hunches, SWAG (statistical wild ass guesses), etc are fine as long as they confine this mental masturbation among their currently ignorant peers. Don’t advertise some bogus claim using a PhD in bullshitology to impress the gullible.
Yeah!!! SAO getting mad. I love it. Seriously. My belief is most (well, maybe not most “types” of mental illness) “mental illness” is a form of manipulation and/or narcissism by the mentally ill. A.k.a, used as an excuse. For example bipolar individuals, imo, lack self control is all. How does one come to lack self control?
I agree, there is a lot of that, especially when some lawyer can convince a jury that Testicleese murdered Felopia while on drugs and was mentally incapacitated at the time.
I’d bet that the bulk of mental illness is cause by soaking the brain in alcohol or drugs over an extended period.
If it were up to me, any defense relying on mental illness would be an immediate conviction and handing the perp over to the family for whatever punishment they deem proper. I’m against capital punishment as the State obviously has no standing. I am in favor of declaring someone an ‘outlaw’ that denies them the protection of the State. Those outlaws should be dealt with by whomever wants to do the deed.
The remainder of the crazies, probably a small percentage, are suffering from some as yet unidentified ailment, be it a deficiency, unrecognized poison, whatever. I believe some real crazies do exist.
“…the State obviously has no standing.”
That’s a key point. Damages awarded to the victim of a crime, or his family in the event of a killing, should come not from the state – IOW not from the taxpayers which include to a minor degree the victim himself – but from the perpetrator or whoever might be willing to take responsibility for the perp. Jurors and victims, not state-employed legal agents, should decide upon the restitution and/or retribution.
Jurors, as independent 3rd parties, provide the verdict and monetary or other forms of restitution required in the more trivial cases. I agree.
However, in a capital case where a life was involved, I believe the victims family has sole right to the disposition of the perp. The jury decides guilt or innocence and that should be the end of their task.
Candidly, I see no reason for prisons. It should either be restitution for the injured party or whatever the victims family wants. Declare the perp an outlaw and forget about him as far as the society as a whole is concerned.
The current system where the citizenry pays for the upkeep of a convicted murderer, for example, for decades is an absurdity. It adds insult to injury.
Agree.
Too right, SAO and Lars.
A great idea, but not a new one.
The Brehon Laws of ancient Ireland
focused almost exclusively on
forms of restitution rather than vengeful retribution.
That began to change in the late 7th
century as the Roman faction of the
Catholic Church gained ascendancy
in the West and imposed the idea of
Penitentials with their primary emphasis on punishment of wrongdoers rather than trying
to make those who were wronged
whole.
The Norman conquest of 1169
completed the process.
Donkey..
Right. Psychiatry has to create the disorders it claims to treat. Follow the money and you’ll find a Rockefeller behind every bush. They take simple resentments and turn them into disorders and diseases which funds a huge industry of drugs and witch doctors.
Boom
Flea,
Which Doctors are witch doctors…the ones who shove this shit down peoples throats.
Psychiatric SSRI drugs (Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors) – The common denominator
• Eric Harris age 17 (first on Zoloft then Luvox) and Dylan Klebold aged 18 (Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado), killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and wounded 23 others, before killing themselves. Klebold’s medical records have never been made available to the public.
• Jeff Weise, age 16, had been prescribed 60 mg/day of Prozac (three times the average starting dose for adults!) when he shot his grandfather, his grandfather’s girlfriend and many fellow students at Red Lake, Minnesota. He then shot himself. 10 dead, 12 wounded.
• Cory Baadsgaard, age 16, Wahluke (Washington state) High School, was on Paxil (which caused him to have hallucinations) when he took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage. He has no memory of the event.
• Chris Fetters, age 13, killed his favorite aunt while taking Prozac.
• Christopher Pittman, age 12, murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft.
• Mathew Miller, age 13, hung himself in his bedroom closet after taking Zoloft for 6 days.
• Kip Kinkel, age 15, (on Prozac and Ritalin) shot his parents while they slept then went to school and opened fire killing 2 classmates and injuring 22 shortly after beginning Prozac treatment.
• Luke Woodham, age 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others.
• A boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) in 1998 had a Zoloft-induced seizure that caused an armed stand off at his school.
• Michael Carneal (Ritalin), age 14, opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky. Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded..
• A young man in Huntsville, Alabama (Ritalin) went psychotic chopping up his parents with an ax and also killing one sibling and almost murdering another.
• Andrew Golden, age 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people, killing four students, one teacher, and wounding 10 others.
• TJ Solomon, age 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his class mates.
• Rod Mathews, age 14, (Ritalin) beat a classmate to death with a bat.
• James Wilson, age 19, (various psychiatric drugs) from Breenwood, South Carolina, took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school killing two young girls, and wounding seven other children and two teachers.
• Elizabeth Bush, age 13, (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania
• Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – school shooting in El Cajon, California
• Jarred Viktor, age 15, (Paxil), after five days on Paxil he stabbed his grandmother 61 times.
• Chris Shanahan, age 15 (Paxil) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman.
• Jeff Franklin (Prozac and Ritalin), Huntsville, AL, killed his parents as they came home from work using a sledge hammer, hatchet, butcher knife and mechanic’s file, then attacked his younger brothers and sister.
• Neal Furrow (Prozac) in LA Jewish school shooting reported to have been court-ordered to be on Prozac along with several other medications.
• Kevin Rider, age 14, was withdrawing from Prozac when he died from a gunshot wound to his head. Initially it was ruled a suicide, but two years later, the investigation into his death was opened as a possible homicide. The prime suspect, also age 14, had been taking Zoloft and other SSRI antidepressants.
• Alex Kim, age 13, hung himself shortly after his Lexapro prescription had been doubled.
• Diane Routhier was prescribed Welbutrin for gallstone problems. Six days later, after suffering many adverse effects of the drug, she shot herself.
• Billy Willkomm, an accomplished wrestler and a University of Florida student, was prescribed Prozac at the age of 17. His family found him dead of suicide – hanging from a tall ladder at the family’s Gulf Shore Boulevard home in July 2002.
• Kara Jaye Anne Fuller-Otter, age 12, was on Paxil when she hung herself from a hook in her closet. Kara’s parents said “…. the damn doctor wouldn’t take her off it and I asked him to when we went in on the second visit. I told him I thought she was having some sort of reaction to Paxil…”)
• Gareth Christian, Vancouver, age 18, was on Paxil when he committed suicide in 2002, (Gareth’s father could not accept his son’s death and killed himself.)
• Julie Woodward, age 17, was on Zoloft when she hung herself in her family’s detached garage.
• Matthew Miller was 13 when he saw a psychiatrist because he was having difficulty at school. The psychiatrist gave him samples of Zoloft. Seven days later his mother found him dead, hanging by a belt from a laundry hook in his closet.
• Kurt Danysh, age 18, and on Prozac, killed his father with a shotgun. He is now behind prison bars, and writes letters, trying to warn the world that SSRI drugs can kill.
• Woody __, age 37, committed suicide while in his 5th week of taking Zoloft. Shortly before his death his physician suggested doubling the dose of the drug. He had seen his physician only for insomnia. He had never been depressed, nor did he have any history of any mental illness symptoms.
• A boy from Houston, age 10, shot and killed his father after his Prozac dosage was increased.
• Hammad Memon, age 15, shot and killed a fellow middle school student. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression and was taking Zoloft and “other drugs for the conditions.”
• Matti Saari, a 22-year-old culinary student, shot and killed 9 students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine.
• Steven Kazmierczak, age 27, shot and killed five people and wounded 21 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax and Ambien. Toxicology results showed that he still had trace amounts of Xanax in his system.
• Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen, age 18, had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School – then he committed suicide.
• Asa Coon from Cleveland, age 14, shot and wounded four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon was on Trazodone.
• Jon Romano, age 16, on medication for depression, fired a shotgun at a teacher in his New York high school.
Missing from list… 3 of 4 known to have taken these same meds….
• What drugs was Jared Lee Loughner on, age 21…… killed 6 people and injuring 14 others in Tuscon, Az?
• What drugs was James Eagan Holmes on, age 24….. killed 12 people and injuring 59 others in Aurora Colorado?
• What drugs was Jacob Tyler Roberts on, age 22, killed 2 injured 1, Clackamas Or?
• What drugs was Adam Peter Lanza on, age 20, Killed 26 and wounded 2 in Newtown Ct?
EVERYMASS SHOOTING OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS HAS ONE THING IN COMMON…AND ITS NOT GUNS
https://www.naturalnews.com/039752_mass_shootings_psychiatric_drugs_antidepressants.html
ANTIDEPRESSANTS: MORE TOXIC TO LIVER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT?
https://www.hepmag.com/article/antidepressants-liver-25000-1355103308
Mark..
Right. Doctors(Debatable title) trained by and working for the Company , only diagnose and prescribe items sold in the Company store. A modern version of the old Coal Mines.
This is a rabbit hole with ties to Big Medical Companies.
Take it back a step. Why are parents (caregivers) allowing their kids to go on these drugs when the effects are listed and known? Unfortunately, Parents have been taught “learned-helplessness” too. The awakening is well past due.
My oldest daughter was diagnosed with…wait for it….wait for it…yep, ADD. We hesitantly started her on THE drug. She wouldn’t take it. We found the pills all over the her room on the floor. She pretended to take them. We decided if she didn’t want to take them, we would not force her. I am so glad we made that choice.
Her first 7 years of life were very chaotic. I won’t divulge the circumstances. I am confident her father abandoning her was the catalyst for most, if not all, of her emotional crying out for better. She’s doing well now with 2 kids. She is very lucky to be able to be a stay at home mother since she married into a family with big $$.
Donkey.
Always nice to hear a good story about those meds.
I was given Zoloft after my first heart attack due to acid reflux. It was in generic form so I didn’t know it was Zoloft. For three days I was unable to feel any emotions of any sort. I knew what I was thinking and knew that I should be feeling something. I looked up the generic name online and saw Zoloft. That was all I needed to know about those pills. I finally actually understood my buddies in the Psych ward.
Two years ago, they gave me some shit that put me in a whole different frame of reference.
Good for her!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt5OZJ1LrbQ
That one is older than you are.
Maggie.
That didn’t come out right. I meant to say you must have heard that on the golden oldies show.
My sister and I used to play act it out with crazy costumes to make our father laugh. He was a really good laugher.
I think the Japanese may have thought him insane and that may be why he survived at such a young age. He’s the nut waving and grinning when the US came to photograph the POWs and schedule pickup. Top Row Left. Waving and Grinning.
I figure this thread has about shot its wad.
Hubs and I went to see “Midway” and I gotta tell you, I loathe that Woody Harrelson so much for his liberal bullshit and that terrible blight on our entertainment culture “Natural Born Killers” for which he should be tarred and feathered. Doesn’t that self-righteous “do gooder wanna be” realize he set himself up as a glorified roll* model?
Asshole is hard to take as Nimitz. Just saying.
All in all? It is spectacular. Really. Touched my heart on this day.
I’m hard at work uploading a bunch of his old photos on my community page… 1300 of my closest hillbilly friends or so… when I start popping those images of old fogies like you when they were young and hot? Well, the hillbilly babes come running!
And guess what? A big part of my audience is from the mideast… soldiers looking for pictures of their grandparents. Once in a while, they say hello.
*For EC
Wow.
So, here’s my plan. Once I get all the people’s attention with all those fascinating OLD pictures, I’ll ask them about the Groyper thing and see if it really is widespread. There’s a crapload of people who like to see Dad’s photos… not all of them are old. They are, however, mostly rather odd, like him. LOL.
But, they seem to be smart. I think I’ll get a good reading on the new style of conservatism in the bootheel community.
That stuff all just functions as welfare. Nobody in their right mind takes it seriously.
If I weren’t on a phone I would do some point by point objections. I hate tiny virtual keyboards so if this thread is still going tomorrow afternoon I might be back. No guarantees, though.
Take your DV’s and shove them up your ass.
What is a DV?
TY MC…I don’t know why, but that really made me chuckle. BTW no DV’s from me.
I met my first college grad while washing cars in high school. He was an “arts” major. Washing cars with me. Later I met similar folks in the military. Then when I drove trucks I met many truckers who bragged about being college grads of some useless field. So I agree with the article. I think there’s an attitude out there about jobs that require the use of your hands, or that would make a person sweat or get dirty.
I think working in trades that don’t require years of formal schooling and insane debt is a better idea right now. plumbers and electricians make good money.
Changing higher education will never happen and so we must remove the MONEY !
If the administration of finance did not have a federal pipeline to a taxpayers pocket this all would collapse under its own weight .
The lending institutions get paid the schools get paid then when the student now hard core unemployable with a degree in Lesbian underwater basket weaving is hounded by the IRS .
The most effective and relentless collection agency on the planet !
If the lender and the school had to absorb the unpaid debt due to the inability of the graduates worthless degree while their skull full of four years of indoctrinated leftist mush convincing them of their alleged worth or value falls on its face this party would be busted yesterday !
On another note when you call a government agency you may discover employees that actually communicate in full sentences and can be held to account for the information they convey .
Our daughter graduated with a BSN in nursing that my wife and I paid for in full by depriving ourselves of things like cars new appliances etc… She was quickly hired by a prestigious hospital with a very lucrative starting salary and benefits . After the first couple paychecks we had a family sit down . Our little girl was quite dismayed when she realized she only saw about 72% of what she earned pulling 12 hour night shifts on her feet all night !
Now she knows what we working people bitch about so much LOL
I wonder with all this talk about forgiving college debt does anybody know where my wife and I go to be made whole . An extra $200K would be handy now LMAO… at least I can easily purchase a higher grade of bourbon now ! Did not have to baby girl took care of dear old dad and mom for the birthdays and Mother’s & Father’s Day
The greatest return on our investment , our daughter starting out well prepared for life’s challenges and true thanks from her heart to us . Talk about a high yield return …
Sounds like she had great parents….her “formal” education was secondary.
That sounds an awful lot like my story. Some time back while my daughter was in school she had said that college should be free. I told her to get to work on that and maybe in a couple of years she might have that accomplished. She thought for a moment and said “that would not be fair because she would be done with schooling and everybody else would get free college after she worked so hard”. I said “yup and after you worked so hard you would be stuck with their bill. Do you still want free college?”
If free college is a bad idea, why do the most worthy (high IQ, high effort, high G.P.A.) students get free rides?
Could free education for “worthy” students help or hurt America?
Just a question.
The problem with free for all is it lends itself to anyone for any major regardless of competency and market need or job availability for such.
Why should I pay for anyone elses college much less anyone regardless of market usefulness.
I didn’t mean free for all…just the worthy.
Who defines “worthy?” You? And who will be stealing the money to pay for this…and from who?
Being “worthy” doesn’t justify confiscation of other people’s money to pay for his education…if that’s what you meant. If family, friends, private entities, or the university itself voluntarily offer scholarship assistance to a student with promise, then our society is well served.
There are as many 150 IQ kids born in the Middle Class as in the Rich Class and the poor with 150 IQs should be educated; why not, the government is giving aid to the 80 IQ crowd like Halloween candy.
150 IQ kids are as rare as hen’s teeth. Most are White males BTW. As to who should be educated, before the insanity of “everybody should go to college” became de rigueur it was understood that college required an IQ of circa 116+ or more much as did the Gymnasium system of central Europe with well less than 10% of students ever being admitted.
Dan Kurt
Those people EARNED the money that paid for their education. IT WAS NOT FREE. The alternative “free” that losers like Warren and company are pushing, will be free to ALL, regardless of how little they give a shit about learning or working hard. Is the distinction between those two types of “free” that difficult to understand?
And who decides who is “worthy?” The worthless government? If left up to them, only those who suck at school would get the money. Scholarships that come from PRIVATE, VOLUNTARY contributions, should be handed out to whomever the donors wish the money to go to. In most cases, it is students who actually deserve it….and not just because of the color of their skin, etc. (though there are indeed many who hand it out just for such things – like the UNCF).
Mr. Liberty,
I only put forth the question of if it would be good for America to ensure the “worthy” got a free education. As to who will determine that? G.P.A, effort, accomplishments and a standard test…ya know, like the SAT or something.
But inherent in your question is two things – one, a subjective evaluation of “worthy,” and two, an implied theft from EVERYONE to pay for it all.
Removing the govt. from the school loan racket would eliminate the need for many of these overly complex solutions, which due to human nature would end up being co-opted after a couple of generations anyways. It would also shrink the size of financial institutions, albeit just a tad. Follow the money.
The free market would eliminate Gender Studies, unless the “degreed” prefers living on toast and tomato sandwiches.
What you’re proposing seems to me another side of the authoritarian coin when all that should be done is to shut down the system that’s overheating. If Congress continues to fund this bullshit, POTUS should refuse to sign the bill. This is a hill worth dying on.
My humble recommendation? KISS.
AOC.
Amen. Vain people create vain solutions to non problems. Follow the money. KISS.
Education system is not broken. It is doing exactly what it is intended to do manufacture dumb ass free shitters.
” It is doing exactly what it is intended to do…” which includes bankrupting the nation.
Nay, that’s the Federal Reserve’s job. Banker = looter
In addition, how many of the jobs in school systems are not necessary to the education process? Are huge salaries for admins justified? And the golden parachutes ? Voter approved bonds by ignorant voters and/or vote fraud encourage the continuing looting under color of law. Another abused government job creation program at the expense of the people.
BehindEnemyLines – Best handle I have seen in a while! I occasionally use Constitutional Cong that stems from the same attitude and reality.
I also agree with your post.
As a viable and needed impact on the discussion (coming from a former Apprentice Pressman and Photo Engraver) I would appoint Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs and Technical/Vocational training/education fame to run the Department of Education.
Mike Rowe is badass. Funny how a liberal arts major became so humbled in the process of seeing what jobs make the world run smoothly. And he’s spot on WRT apprenticeships.
Mark,
Watch this one.
AOC,
1,000 +
I was an apprentice 3 days out of a Vocational HS…and then again after the military in the same trade.
Ended up in a different field I stumbled across in a part time Christmas job I was born for, but Vocational & Technical HS instead of the PC fru fru la la bullshit useless educations too many were guided into, and went for decade after decade…was a path for many into a decent living and the middle class, back in the day.
Going back to that goes against want the Globalists want…too many ‘skilled’ blue collar apprentices who have the foundationb for a trade, real skills, value.
They just want useless eaters.
I’ve taken young bucks and turned them into some fantastic engineers using my philosophy of “mentorship”. I have my own way of doing things. These kids oftentimes were trained in completely different disciplines. One was a BBA and another just went to a software vocational school. Sure, they were greener than grads from good universities, but they also came without prejudices.
It’s easier for me to “remove the green” than it is to “untrain” bad habits.
Mark.
Useless eaters make useful idiots, until they don’t.
Flea,
It seems to me the ‘guidance’ and the ‘funding’ into churning out the fru fru la la useless Collage PC degreed, and moving away from practical and needed Vocational HS grads while ramping up the numbers of brainwashed Snowflakes was just another ‘step’ in their ‘Long March’ of making more useless idots/eaters.
I think eliminating the American Vocational HS apprenticeship system was intentional.
The more I learn, the more I see TLPTB (Luciferian) hidden hands.
Totally agree. It’s despicable. Every time I have someone over to fix something in my house, I ask them to step me through every little thing so I can practice in my spare time. I had the last guy do some work on my graywater drain lines and figured out how to do it myself when I expand it.
I think it’s fun to learn about how shit works. Only thing that sucks about being in my crawlspace “learning” is how allergic I am to dust.
AoC,
Somewhere in this thread you posted about being raised Catholic (me two still have a fear of penguins).
I thought this was a good read, just passing it on.
This paragraph in the comment section from the author was interesting:
“People do get blue in the face because they cast their pearls before swine quite often. What really motivates them to keep doing that? Do they really think that those that hate God will listen just because they are able to give them the gospel?”
I’ll definitely read it, I read/watch most of what you post. Yeah, effing nuns…Sisters of Notre Dame for me.
AoC, Flea,
I like his blog…direct no nonsense opinions backed up with scripture, he wades deep into politics and prophecy and does not chew his cabbage twice.
I’ll talk with atheists but once the smug mocking, anger, or insults start I’m keeping my pearls out of their lost mud.
Mark; I was thinking that a bit ago.
I’ll talk with atheists but once the smug mocking, anger, or insults start I’m keeping my pearls out of their lost mud.
Yup. Pride goeth before the fall. I had to learn that the hard way. A lot of the folks who are atheists just haven’t had enough pain in life to force them to a crossroad…where you have to choose to get busy living or get busy dying. I came very close to getting busy dying, if you follow me.
And that’s probably a good thing. I don’t think many of them are made of the stuff to survive a rocky road.
AOC..
I couldn’t seem to finish dying thank God, or I would be in hell right now. The misery was so intense, I was hoping for death but it wouldn’t come. If not for that misery I never would have called out.
Mensa clubs are full of Atheists.
Aoc/Mark..
It doesn’t end with us guys either. I discovered how to get my late wife to rape me almost at will. Just wait for her to settle into her chair after supper and walk through the living room in nothing but a tool belt , boots and hardhat. Something about fixin stuff.
Men, it’s as simple as that. (response to Flea.)
LOLLLLL I spit salsa, thanks!
Better than what some have to spit.
AoC
Don’t know why I dropped in on this vid this morning, but outstanding. Very true to my life.
Was born, raised and have spent most of this life (55+ years) on the lunatic left coast. Should pack up and go but feel a need to hang around for a little longer.
Got it…I meant just being a liberity loving throw back American in 2019 puts U.S. all ‘BehindEnemyLines’.
All the crazy shit the government does is to do 1 thing…boost GDP. Growth at all costs else bankruptcy. The fact government took over the whole student loan bs is the affect (is that the correct spelling for this sentence?) of non performing debt has a minimal effect on the economy. It’s about the economy…it’s about $$ 24/7/365.
Major move to belief in socialism reviewed very well, with stats, causes for the indoctrination.
https://mises.org/wire/4-reasons-why-socialism-becoming-more-popular
Wow. You did so well on K-12 and failed quite miserably on higher education.
MONEY is at the root of BOTH problems, yet you completely ignored it here.
There is ONLY one PRIMARY reason why these pointless degrees you rightly rail against exist in the first place – the Federally-Guaranteed Student Loan Program (combined in part with the Fed’s inflationary policies, atrocious tax policies, accreditation protectionism, labor laws that impact hiring practices, etc.).
If colleges and universities could only charge what people could actually afford for schooling, they would be FORCED by the free market, to lower their costs or provide more subsidies/scholarships/work-study programs/etc. But thanks to Uncle Sam, virtually everyone can get nearly all the money they want in loans from banks who will never be on the hook for non-repayment. They could fund their own loan programs, but would then be forced to be accountable to themselves over the quality of the degrees they offered and the marketability of them as well – all good things. Some are even doing income sharing agreements with students, where payback comes as a percent of future income – even further putting the colleges on the hook for the quality of their product.
And if student loans still existed, just imagine a prospective student walking into a bank for a loan. They would be asked both their current financial situation along with their prospective major/degree. STEM folks would be given more money and lower interest rates, while some majors might be rejected out of hand or given seriously less money or higher interest rates. At the same time, colleges and universities would be forced to pare back pointless and unmarketable degree programs as nobody would be enrolling in them. Even tenure might fall by the wayside.
The biggest difference overall from your plans is that these changes would happen because of FREE MARKET pressures, not the violent, forced-based proposals you put forth.
And how did you miss how things like Psychiatry have gained such power over our society? – A: The government protectionist racket of the FDA/DEA drug complex, combined with state legislation regarding the practice of medicine, the AMA’s power over the entire medical practice, restrictions on numbers of medical schools, residency programs, and so much more that a free market would NEVER tolerate.
Always look to what government has done FIRST. They have a hand in EVERY segment of our society, and everything they touch turns to shit. Proper solutions, even if difficult to implement, will come first by getting government OUT of the situation and allowing the free market to address the REAL needs of consumers (versus politicians and lobbyists).
MrLiberty, you are right again as usual. SAO, you were on the right track two days ago with your comment (to Austin, TX: School District MANDATES Teaching Anal Sex to Children in Grades 3-8) when you said the following:
“Close all gov’t schools, sell off the properties and allow the free market to actually teach kids in private schools. Once parents can choose where to send their kids, any school not working as expected gets a market reaction known as bankruptcy. That can’t happen to a gov’t school with all their unionized teachers, overpaid administrators and politicized school boards.”
The complete solution is to go even farther, and not only close all government schools, but enact complete separation of education and state. I.e., government can’t mandate attendance, pay for schools, mandate curriculum, mandate graduation requirements, or have any other involvement with schools or education.
Your article here basically proposes more central planning to fix the current problems caused by central planning, which is the typical statist “solution”.
Yes!!!!!!!
End compulsory education.
Mr. Liberty,
I read many of your comments. You are steadfast in your thinking and it shows in every comment you make regardless of the topic.
Q: why haven’t you written and submitted any articles?
Maybe its time. Will need to put some thought into a good topic that will spark lots of debate.
I do not doubt it. It’s time you write an article imho.
Throw in something about the moon landing.
and redemption.
Maybe Flat Earth?
Am working hard out here. It is coming an ICE storm. I actually went out in shorts yesterday and now it is snowing and icy.
Mr. L.
Right you are. It was Rocky who pushed to have Psychiatry recognized by the AMA. Prior to that they were just Witch Doctors with Phd’s in Psychobabble.
“while some majors might be rejected out of hand” or maybe laughed out of the office.
I agree with you. At the same time, if we are to red pill the nation and not simply exist in our own little echo chamber here, we need to simplify the message. I’ve been lurking here so long that I’m learning from other posters how they make a profound impact by being concise.
I fail at it quite a bit. 🙂
Freedom doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker….sadly.
We can simplify the message, but sadly folks are used to having everything spoon-fed to them. As with comments from other posters about yesterday’s K-12 commentary, some want to see details down to the utter minutia as to how something will be implemented. Funny that they don’t worry about the minutia for anything that already exists, but need to have it for anything that will change…but that seems to be not just human nature, but also the 12 year brainwashing they were subjected to that made freedom scary, and government “solutions” all warm and fuzzy.
Sometimes it is also important to anticipate the inevitable questions and cover them, especially if they are routinely brought up in discussions. That can make the argument longer than one might hope for.
Freedom doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker….sadly.
It doesn’t. Nor does how we live our lives, or a good book on philosophy. Agreed.
You are hitting on one of my personal weaknesses, and that is lack of patience with people who are so indoctrinated to think uncritically that they question the “basics”. I want to beat my head against a wall when I have to explain 1 + 1 always equals 2, no matter how much they fight me on it.
You have an awful lot of good ideas IMHO…I’ve only disagreed once or twice or so. I don’t want to see your thoughts get lost in a tl;dr issue. 🙂 Especially when I am so burnt out saying the same type of shit over and over and over and…
AOC..
I enjoy your longer comments. Some people are gifted at providing the details behind a one liner. That not being my Forte I always appreciate it.
Meanwhile, back in Leftyville Santa Cruz, I see the “progressive” City Council is proposing to make all Federal type I drugs (of the organic psychoactive nature) legal and eliminate local law enforcement regarding such. The actual agenda document is a non-credited (i.e. plagiarized) copy of the same passed by the Berkeley City council by a 22 yr old progressive who represents the 7’th district (all of UC Berkeley of which he is a recent grad). Turns out he plagiarized it from Oakland (I don’t have that story of that origin, but). So anyway, our very own Leftist city council, elected by radical UCSC University students (18,000 in a city of 65,000), is copying a free for all in drugs policy from a similar city (Berkeley with UC Berkeley) copied from another cesspool of dependency Oakland.
Got me exactly how, but somehow this figures into your story here.
And why is restoring personal freedom and a sense of personal ownership a bad thing? How is ensuring that police resources are not wasted a bad thing? I will certainly agree that freedoms such as thing are a problem when handing out free shit to everyone who can’t take care of themselves, but on principle, the concept of personal freedom and liberty to put into your body what YOU wish seems very positive. Why conservatives are repulsed by the concept of personal freedom is a mystery to me as enforcement of counter laws only creates bigger government or diverts resources away from crimes with real victims.
I think the answer to that is that the only thing conservatives conserve is the progressive agenda.
You comment is painting with as broad a brush as mine….not that I disagree for most of the so-called conservatives I have known. But of course words like “liberal,” “conservative,” “progressive,” etc. especially in the US, do not have well-defined meanings that fully capture the political attitudes of even all that call themselves by these names.
Absolutely correct, my point if I can make it is that to be appreciative of the concept of personal freedom in the current times one really has to be a sort of reactionary.
Not Revolutionary?
I call us Radicals….because to the sheeple conformists personal freedom and common sense seem so radical!
Heck man, you and I probably disagree 1/3 of the time but you aren’t afraid to put it all out there. I don’t care what you call yourself, that goes a long way.
That works just fine.!
Splurge,
It’s because it doesn’t cost them anything plus I’d bet not too many drug addicts vote.
many more fields are largely based on a plausible story as their foundation, sans evidence.
Well wouldn’t it be nice if that could be done..
Religions are noticeably absent from that list.
I wonder why Donkey?
I do like this though…
It infantilizes young adults to produce a steady stream of victims and mental midgets completely unprepared to meet the real adult world.
Here is a story told to me by a co-worker this week.
Her cousin’s daughter, who is a recently graduated Occupational Therapist, was required to write an exam for her Professional Accreditation. Anyways it is apparently a tough exam to pass and takes about six to complete. Not everyone passes on their first try. So this girl has completed 7 years of Post Secondary Accommodations and you guessed it failed on first attempt.
No worries they say.
So she writes it again.
Fails again.
So they even allow them to write it a third time… for reasons.
So Drum roll…
She fails again.
That is when the problems start.
Because even the OT Professional Association of Nova Scotia has standards.
That should have been the end of it.
What happens next.
The parents hire lawyers to let her write again…
Of course the appeal is rejected.
But that ain’t even the end of it.
The latest plan is to redo 2 years of education in order to start process anew.
Amazing..
Haha, perfect meme.
I upvoted you, Rob… that’s a good one.
When I had my first major surgery, I was in the process of getting my thesis approved for a master’s degree. I tried to extend my thesis deadline, but after three or four more revisions of the brain drain, I finally decided Odin was trying to tell me something.
I told my thesis chair(s) I was no longer interested in completing my masters’ degree. Trying to do so was obviously destroying my brain.
There you have it. I will look away now.
Men of Christ do not upon walk the Earth except upon the backs and shoulders of women they have helped save and raised up.
Tomorrow is a special day for me, only for the luck having seen glimpses of Christ on Earth.
The last 109 years have been blackface, subterfuge, and obfuscation for all the reasons that should be readily apparent. Actually no, because that would rise or fall on the assumption you have free thought, literacy, and can register your opinion in voice and print, no matter how imperfect.
If the word of Christ ever mattered, it’s because you rode on the back of 100-some odd women, to be here today. You can thank Christ later, I already did.
https://imgur.com/WYwAYt5
How many times did I say Red State was always a good watch?
Arianna Arivanni is that you?
You could at least get my name right, dufus.
My memory ain’t what it used to be. So that is you posting as 22 win?
Well, h-e-l-l-o…
Long time, no castigate.
What’s the haps?
Lessen, ‘course, you’re a Lenny-derivative.
Nah, it’s me. Just messing with Anonymous. And no I’m not 22. He is ALL alone as himself. 🙂
AoC
Ah, a sheep in wolve’s clothing.
LOL I like that.
Worthless? Those chickenshit college degrees are the the best investment of time a young woman or person of color can make. Practically a winning lotto ticket. https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/almost-80000-california-retirees-receive-over-100000-pension-pay
Engineers… here’s my experience with engineers. Avionics, structural, hydraulics, pneumatics, automotive, ag equipment, etc.
Yup, that’s why I strive to be both when blessed with the time. Nothing is a substitute for personal experience.
TS, it’s AoC. Forgot I was fucking around last night as Irritati.
AoC
To be sure, I’ve dealt with some pretty awesome engineers, but they’re few and far between. They usually have about the same level of disdain for the morons that we, who were tasked with implementing said moronic effluvia, did.
From an Old Cow Doctor,
Your spot on but it will never happen peacefully.
IOW, make the Higher Education sector a means to an end instead of being the end itself? So sensible it sounds radical.
Which runs completely counter to what a “liberal arts” education was about in the 1700s and 1800s (and even early 1900s). A higher education was about expanding one’s knowledge for the sake of expanding one’s knowledge. Apprenticeships and the like were the way one actually learned skills for doing a job, etc. (excluding professions like law, medicine, dentistry, etc.) Face it…most degrees do NOT give one the skills one needs to do a job. They may provide some foundation (most of the STEM stuff), but even there, the day-to-day stuff comes from being there, taking direction, and being able to learn and think. Much of higher education stretches the brain so that more learning can happen after the piece of paper is received.
The real problem today is that colleges and universities are trying to do BOTH…and failing at both.
” Son, I’m proud for you to have passed your Private Pilot’s check ride today. Just remember, that it means that you have achieved an at best, minimum standard of competency. It is a ticket towards learning and being a better, more competent Pilot.”
For consideration perhaps the Massive crippling debacle of the student loan program has the same function as the military, TSA, and most of the other government funded programs. Get them off the unemployment role stats.
CONGRATS Sir, glad you nailed what I refer to as the “Ologists”.
Geologist, sociologist, paleontologist, psychologist, etc.
Study something for the sake of mental masturbation with NO commercial end in sight, especially without the next two levels of *work permits*.
Well known: B.S. & (MS = More s***) & (PHD = Piled higher and deeper).
The big deal now from one of my friends in a PHD program funded by the Department of Energy, to determine if prickly pear cactus plants can be used to make jet fuel, or gasoline. Just a hopeless sick joke effort.
He says the the biggest problem is for all the grad students to find the absolutely required, NEW, never studied problem, to do a thesis on, so there are now just more and more total B.S. thesis produced just to do one. Keeps the department heads in their $250,000 secured jobs until early retirement.
Late to the party and setting aside the theological concerns as addressed in this thread, it seems the lines of separation fall between truth and bullshit, reality vs. emotionalism, STEM vs Liberal Arts/social sciences, etc.
Walk onto any college campus today and you’ll find lots of these…
and these…
usually wearing turtlenecks or scarves and dark-rimmed glasses while exuding the latent hostility and haughty pride of those who have achieved their imaginary black-belts in politically-correct legerdemain.
So follow the money. Ease of credit has indebted entire generations now enslaved by fiat spun from thin air. Kids are coddled by schoolmarms and all you can eat buffets – seemingly free of charge…
Every whim satisfied in state-of-the-art facilities complete with rock-climbing walls and baskets of free condoms on every counter.
Is it any wonder why they grew up to vote for Bernie Claus amid dreams of unicorns flatulating rainbows over clouds of cotton candy?
Perhaps the real question is why it happened.
Welcome SAO
Why? You answered it in the first two sentences of your third paragraph – “So follow the money. Ease of credit has indebted entire generations now enslaved by fiat spun from thin air.”
Once the money starts flowing, everyone signs up to take some. The beast grows and grows, as do the vested interests who lobby congress and others to keep the gravy train rolling. EVERYONE KNOWS that if guaranteed student loans go away, higher education will be reduced to something with point and purpose and without all the fancy dining options, granite-countertopped on-campus apartments, and so, so much more.
Currently helping out a friend’s blind son who attends Kennesaw State University north of Atlanta. He lives at an off-campus apartment that is geared just for students. Granite countertops, the largest public pool in the city, big screen TVs and seating areas all around the pool, workout facilities that are bigger than most private gyms, and his own bedroom/bathroom. It is no wonder he wishes to stay in school as long as possible either.
Meanwhile my experience of shared rooms, shared bathrooms, crappy dining halls, and working to support myself through college, got me more than interested in getting out as quickly as possible. Oh, and he even has a free bus that gets him to and from campus every day.
Yeah, I forgot the free transportation. All the bases covered, just like Obama’s “Life of Julia”.
The fiat was/is the how and not the why, per se. It was all a trap. Bubbles bubbles everywhere. College loans to get them where they learn. Mortgages to get them where they live. And then car loans to get them when they go.
All fueled by advertising, lust, vanity, and normalcy bias.
Sadly, by the time they discover nothing was as it seemed, it will be too late. Shit happens? Or by design? When they learn they sold their birthright to bankers, what’s the difference?
“Sadly, by the time they discover nothing was as it seemed, it will be too late. Shit happens? Or by design? When they learn they sold their birthright to bankers, what’s the difference? ”
Sadly, you are correct. And the dumbing down just prolongs discovery.
These “perks” are the means used to love and obey your oppressor. Until they gotcha.
Think about it, though: they are analogous to a hotel jockeying for four-year contracts for business travellers working for a company with a book of blank cheques and no comptroller.
Well this jerkoff got his Masters degree to explain to the rest of us, that Whitey getting a degree is a waste of time and money. No shit Sherlock. Wake up and smell the obvious.
Another college is a waste of time article of interest.
Look, the basic premise is correct – the system is broken. But the solutions are far simpler than what is proposed in the article. For instance, the author says this:
“All higher education facilities should be mandated to provide their graduates with job opportunities via an employment agency owned and operated by the institution, not a contracted for service. The schools should be totally responsible for finding each graduate a position in the degree field of study for 5 years post graduation.”
Seriously, that is a proposed solution? Gotta find students jobs? Really? What next, I go down to the store and buy some bread, and they have to come toast it for me? I mean, since when does the world have to mandate against people doing stupid things? Stupid has to have consequences, and we need to stop trying to override that basic reality.
Here it is – simple solution. Get the government out of the funding of stupid degrees. End of story. System fixed. The govt is subsidizing students studying things they should not. Perhaps the govt might fund STEM degrees and trade schools, and nothing else. And only the most talented get the funding – say top 10% or 20% on standardised nationwide or statewide exams. Let the competition begin.
If the students are studying and are using their own funds, I could not care one iota what the hell they study. It is their money, and they can spend it on any damn thing they want, no matter how stupid.
This is what will happen if the governments – state and local – stop funding anything other than perhaps STEM and trade schools:
Market forces will kick in, and the stupid will stop. Colleges and universities will actually have to provide value. Parents will not be able to send their kids off to school on other people’s money, and will be forced to make wiser decisions, as will the students.
It is easy to be stupid with other people’s money, and it is understandable how many young people are unable to understand and foresee the burden of endless loan repayments when their black studies degree is worthless.
But when they have to work and save and spend their own money for an education, or spend mom and dad’s money, they will wise up fast.
But to do things like make a college responsible for finding a student a job is just taking responsibility from the students, which is where it belongs.
The markets should be allowed to function. Replacing one ill-conceived system – rampant student loans – with another like making colleges find students jobs – is asking for trouble.
Instead we need to make individuals responsible for their decisions. The current system is broken, as it funds people that should not be in college to study courses that should not be taught. So turn off the damn spigot and stop the money.
It is amazing how discerning those young people will be when they have to,spend their own money.
And there it is. Sound critical thinking and sound reasoning, based on the core value that practically everybody here says they believe in – you are responsible for your own decisions and get the gov. the fuck out of where it doesn’t belong. Still won’t happen, but this is bottom line. Something you, Llpoh, seem to consistently find.
Hey, there’s a country song in there somewhere.
Under a more normal state of the state, Llpoh, that would be the common sense position. But that fails to take into account the massive increase in lucrative government employment for women and minorities, using that college credential as the golden ticket, along with unlimited hiring preferences.. Look at the photos posted by Unco above. If not government work, where would these women fit into the economy? Daycare maybe. Cleaning motel rooms? Bookkeeper in some back office? A lot of government employment is just a more dignified version of welfare, or at the very least, a massive overpayment for the skills they offer. I think that was one of your 10 things the other day, overpayment of government employees. As long as that exists, and let’s face it, it exists, going to college is a smart investment for women and minorities, no matter the source of their student loans.
Star –
That’s also a bottom line – all of these ‘solutions’ are just exercises in what-if. Ain’t going to go away, ain’t gonna get fixed until there’s nothing left to fix. However that looks when it finally slides into home plate.
IMO, you have find the reason for why the system is the way it is.
For the purpose of GDP. Government funded debt can make GDP look good while hiding the negatives like individual debt defaults.
Donkey
Oh, I agree with your observations about the what and why. The difference, I’m thinking, is that I believe that the only musicians still playing are the ones on the deck of the Titanic. Whether through ignorance or stoic acceptance and resolving to finish well, I couldn’t say. Just my personal opinion.
And this is my lowest common denominator. I agree 100% with Charlie and Llpoh on the very simple solution. But even THAT is, unfortunately, tilting at windmills. It ain’t gonna get fixed! Not without a crash and burn. Govt. employment is frequently nothing but welfare transfer payments.
I’ve talked before about how much love I had for my Commonwealth of Virginia. But it has done a 180 since I GTFO in 2009 for good…I saw the writing on the wall. All of the Anglophiles from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York and New Jersey have swarmed NoVA like locusts and continue to push closer and closer to Richmond. They consume EVERYTHING, to the point where over 10% of VA GDP is government-related.
There is no way to convince these animals (i.e. outside of a monetary/sovereign debt crisis) to reduce the size and scope of govt.!
“If not government work, where would these women fit into the economy?”
Why not land a solid somewhat older WN husband when she’s in her late teens or early twenties, sex him every day, run the household, raise 3 or 4 rowdy kids, kick them out as soon as Dad says so, then start her own business, pursue her intellectual or artistic ambitions, and eventually overindulge all her grandkids?
Lars.
Right. And if they don’t like that choice, there is always the straw mat outside the town gate.
hahahahaha you’re on fire today!
Great post Lars. The road back to sanity as a country.
10 qualities of the modern proverbs 31 woman
https://babylonbee.com/news/10-qualities-of-the-modern-proverbs-31-woman
LLPOH,
“And only the most talented get the funding – say top 10% or 20% on standardised nationwide or statewide exams. Let the competition begin.
This is very similar to what I suggested. That and get the government out of the student loan business. Boom, done.
I refer this issue as the Baccalaureate Syndrome. As is often
stated – “follow the money.” It is no longer “higher education”
but rather indoctrination – as pronounced by Dennis Prager.
The explosion of taxpayer funds has produced another leftist
institution, which excels in the waste of resources and lives.
The average wage for “workers” at the University of Minnesota
is $62,000 per year + benefits.
In Maoisota, more state m0ney is spend on so called high ed
than the justice system !
Mike Rowe, has amplified this dilemma that America has hundreds
of thousands of indebted scholars because we got rid of school shop
and home economics.
This what we call progress under the Socshevik new order! [in the makings
since 1880-1900]
To stop the plundering and looting, simply destroy the Deportment [sic]
of Education. Oh “How dare you” will be the refrain!! Even the Repubcos
will fold their tents and go home.
What is badly needed are 1776 Conservatives. Nothing less will do to
save America from the Moveon.Soros and their ilk.
I’d take plumber over a PhD any day!
Bingo. I don’t want nor do I tolerate pseudo-intellectuals. They are wastes of flesh, if I may be so bold. Give me guys who follow my instructions on farming and who teach the community skills, like how to drill wells, plumb a latrine, snipe an intruder, and so on.
Who wants a pussy sitting behind a desk 24/7??? They’d be out of breath pushing a wheelbarrow up a hill!
AOC [not to confused with the radical in CONgress], I concur
entirely.
“Give me guys who follow my instructions on farming and who teach the community skills, like how to drill wells, plumb a latrine, snipe an intruder, and so on.”
This eliminates about 90% of the population. And those whom are
requested to push a wheelbarrow, would axe if it is self-propelled and
a battery operated.
“Who wants a pussy sitting behind a desk 24/7???” Those whom do not
want to sweat; need a desk and a title to boot.
All forms of employment are important, whether a COE or a janitor.
Hans,
I agree 100%. All work is important and contributes. Take away a layer of a company’s hierarchy and the whole thing crashes down.
I agree! I’m prepared for the incoming downvotes when I say this, but Dr. King was right: If you’re a street sweeper, be the best street sweeper. If you can’t be the tree on the hill, be a good shrub. Whatever you do, do it the best you possibly can.
Welcome to the grinder.
What you have presented is your thesis on higher education. What follows in the comments are the critique of your thesis (along with a healthy mix of personal criticisms). It is your job to defend your position and change the opinion of those that disagree with you. Unable to do that, but clinging to your thesis, you venture very close to falling in with the climate hoaxers who ignore criticism and think anyone who disagrees with them is wrong.
Lively debate is how policy decisions should be made rather than controlled by the highest bidding lobbyist. Don’t take it personal.
My critique comes from you list of musts and must nots. By what power does the government derive these abilities? Right now the government is already confiscating money from me at gunpoint to subsidize education. Now you are proposing the government also control the lives of those attending school? Seems to me a better solution, as was mentioned many times above, is to get government out and let the market control higher education.
Our system of higher education is no longer really what university was supposed to be. It has become a glorified vocational system with 4 years of indoctrination mixed in with very little teaching. My own undergraduate degree, Physics, was spent memorizing and regurgitating facts, figures, and methods in between mandatory “Liberal Arts” classes. I could have learned as much about Physics in 2 years as I did in 4 years at a major and respected university had I not been forced to take classes like World Religions and History of Cinema for several hundred dollars per credit.
Studying Physics at University rather than vocational school should have also focused on the theoretical aspects with opportunity to research regardless of what rabbit hole it lead to. For instance, while I was there 20-something years ago they were starting to think about quantum computing but as a problem. When components were shrunk to a certain degree where were the actual electrons? There was concern that they would be reaching the smallest size conductors in the near future. In the time since then, research has not only gotten past that problem but made it an asset as using the principles of uncertainty, among others, they have created computer systems that are like comparing a donkey to a ferrari in terms of computing power and speed.
You, and a few others, have mentioned being engineers. What research did you do at university rather than learn from others research? That isn’t asked as a degrading question but rather to stimulate thought between an engineering degree from university and what could be learned in a vocational setting. The same is true with a large majority of STEM degrees. Besides licensing agencies that require a number of years spent in college to join the club (BA, BS, etc) what could be learned in an apprentice/vocational setting that an engineer didn’t learn at university. The closest we have now is a degree in engineering vs a degree in engineering technology. I have friends with both and to a large extent they do the same job.
In my own career, I never worked a single day in the physics field. I graduated during the tech boom of the late 90’s and secured employment in that field. My cousin who was fairly high up at Ford at the time told me, “All the degree gets you is the interview. What you make of it is 100% up to you”. I’m sure there are many on here that have degrees they never used but are quite gainfully employed at a position where their degree got them an interview.
I studied engineering tech. I worked at University – Mechanical Eng dept while studying undergrad. I Invented, designed and built 3d printer – designed the optics, programmed the machine -motion controls to 500nm precision, auto-focusing, SLM and laser controls, 3d slicing algorithms all myself. When the professors and PhDs failed at photo curing polymer-derived-ceramics I stepped in and found the photocuring formulation and proved. Needed laser diffuser and sought help from laser physicists professors and post docs, the best they offered was 1% efficient so I invented a technique that got 75% efficiency. I went around University automating experiments for all branches of science and solved tons of problems. Single handedly brought in Texas Instruments as donating member to University. Then I dropped out. University Cops and administration attacked me for starting cannabis club (over 5,000 members) that got student gov to mandate a sign be installed in front of police station that said “stop arresting pot smokers” – yes it got installed:)
There are so many frauds and intellectual thieves at Universities that it is disgusting. I got berated by the engineering students when I said I never cheated on a test. Because they all said “Everyone in engineering cheats on tests” They got Masters degrees and I left without a degree. Now everywhere I have worked I solve problems the top scientists and engineers can’t solve. Only problem I have had is that I have now invented a stargate with no way to obtain the components necessary to build it. I found that reading books, tinkering with tech and tripping on lsd/mushrooms/master plants is much better for problem solving and new discovery than any University.
The solution to the University problem is the same solution for every other problem in the US -uphold Article 1 section 10 of US constitution -gold and silver coin only. Uphold that and the whole fraudulent sham blows up, every bureaucrat gets fired and executed, the bankers get charged with fraud, their assets seized, they get executed, freedom returns, the socialist parasites starve to death or get killed trying to steal from their neighbors, the swamp gets drained, dries up and we get to watch the criminal lobbyists flap around until they suffocate from lack of swamp to breath in.
Yea man, “uphold Article 1 section 10 of US constitution -gold and silver coin only.”
EyeBeSingle, interesting post.
Without honest money, nothing will work in the long run. No need to mandate PM’s. As with education, just keep government out. Let willing buyers and sellers use whatever currency or barter they mutually agree upon, whether bottles of moonshine, hours of labor, bushels of corn, electromagnetic impluses on computer chips…whatever works for those traders in the marketplace who lack access, especially during a transitional phase, to more traditional forms of money. In short order gold will, as always, emerge supreme. My 2 bits.
Lars.
Any medium. As a kid I remember all of our parents bartering all the time. Eggs for bacon live hens for potatos etc. Cash was dear and was needed for things like the electric bill. It was still normal till around 58 or so. I was too young to know much beyond that but I still remember. Everyone knew or could find the going rate for anything and base their barter on it. We had one Cop and one Dog Catcher for the whole township and the Dog Catcher was more important because there were lots of poultry farms lambs and calves for a pack of strays to feast on.
I remember my folks trading horses for tools and equipment, or a beef steer for a tractor, or fencing for lumber – very little cash flow and everyone was happy.
Fleabaggs,
My Pa and Ma worked more than 45 years together in their joint law firm in a medium-size midwestern agricultural town. Occasionally a younger lawyer would join them until he accumlated a self-sufficient client base. Though I didn’t fully understand why, and to my Mom’s chagrin, my father, it seemed, was always accepting cases from crony friends and referrals who had no cash, but offered tangible items in exchange for his representation in the court room ( though it was usually my Mom who cranked out the documents and such ).
In our colossal back yard or in the garage above the creek, I remember being fascinated by old farm tractors, flat-bed trucks, plows, cargo trailers, camping equipment, lawn mowers, an Indian motor cycle, sets of tools, encyclopedias, a ’38 Buick, paintings, sewing machines, a Cadillac El Dorado etc etc.
I also fondly remember an old hermitic, mostly illiterate fellow from the Missouri Ozarks, who was somehow being cheated out of a plot of land he had inherited and who thought Roosevelt was still president. He boarded with us for a week or so in order to refurbish some of my Mom’s furniture from the 1930’s – with astonishing skill BTW – while my Dad was rectifying his legal troubles.
Lars.
I remember an old man called the goatman who would sell a milk goat for 5 bucks but nobody had 5 bucks to spare for a milk goat when there were dairy cows all over. Lots of us still lived in tarpaper shacks. That was the happiest time of my life. When we finished building the big house we thought we needed to be white instead of shanty Irish the debt caused my parents to become paranoid of losing it and there was no more joy in mudville.
Appreciate your story, Fleabaggs.
In the early days our house was small, old and patched together, the road out front was unpaved, our furniture consisted of Marine Corps trunks, a couple of card tables, Navy cots, and an old buffet and hutch from my Grandma. But I barely noticed. My Mom cooked at home, and we always managed to eat well. Our neighbors were somewhat more “affluent,” mostly because they were older and were working steady jobs.
When my Dad bought me a used Schwynn balloon tire bomber, I stripped it down, and nearly killed myself once playing daredevil against my buddies – power-pedaling down the slope of an old dry pond bed, then up and off a makeshift ramp into the air, and crash-landing on hard dirt.
In the afternoons we rode our bikes freely for many miles outside town along dirt country roads, exploring wood patches, farm fields, muddy creeks, and prairie hills. No gears, coaster brakes only, no helmets, no shirts, no special shoes, no special equipment, no municipal-issued licenses, no adults, no hostile alien peoples to be wary of.
For me it was an idyllic phase which faded away all too soon as my folks, acquiring success and material security, moved to a bigger better house in a more upscale area, and I morphed into an anxious, overly competitive academic over-achiever in a large sports-dominated urban public school system.
Lars
Sounds like my childhood. Mine was also an old Schwinn. A friend was the envy of us all; he had springs on the forks. By 8 we were miles into the forest all the time. Only pavement was the main hwy. Everything else was gravel or dirt track, or game trail.
When we were about 8 or 9 my cousin and I used to lay planks in the truck when it was backed into the loading ramp on the ranch. Into the bed we would go, just as hard as we could pedal, up the planks and jump over the cab. It was 6′ racks and about 10′ to the ground in front. We had a few epic wrecks!
Lars.
Haven’t heard the word balloon tires since the fifties. Remember the chains skipping when you stood up to peddle.
Lars,
When we moved here, we decided to buy an older house with land. For a single income family, it was either nice house in a shitty HOA, or a 40 year old fixer-upper (bigtime!) with 6.1 acres of land.
The choice for us was easy. We wouldn’t be able to afford it now, sadly. All of the Illinoisans and Minnesotans, liberals all, are swamping us.
Teddy or FDR? Just askin’ I’m in the Ozarks. That’s the hotel at Pilot Knob behind me.
“Without honest money, nothing will work in the long run.” We can’t have honest money without a (mostly) honest population. 20 years ago I could do business on a handshake. Today, that would be seen as an assault.
Honest people are critical. Nonetheless, hard money like gold and silver make it much easier for honest people to safeguard themselves against dishonest people.
For years now when I see a needed but potential barter items on clearance or a good sale price I buy 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, depending on what it costs, and just stash most (that I will probably never use in my lifetime unless TSHTF) in those $19.99 plastic trunks you can get at Wally World. Stash some of the ‘stuff’ in sealed plastic bags inside them, and stack the trunks in the barn.
Then when the trunks go on sale… I buy another stack of them.
If a barter period breaks back out I am going to be flush.
If not, my heirs are not going to have to buy a lot of ‘stuff’ for about a decade.
Mark, I hope when that times comes, you will consider adopting me. I clean up nice.
SeeBee,
Ha!
I have a plan for four other families, those old blood, love, and marriage ties…but a good sense of humor will always find a home.
Mark, Flea,
I was thinking of you guys today when I asked my wife to take a pic of the below saffron crocus. It’s our first of the year and God never ceases to amaze me with his goodness. Everyone told me middle TN is no place to grow saffron crocus. Heavy clay, very shallow rocky limestone, too humid, poor drainage, too alkaline.
When you garden like God does in the woods, well, “can’t” isn’t in His lexicon! I’ve turned this soil into some good stuff.
AOC.
Sure miss the seasons back east.
How could anyone look at that complex lifeform that came from a “simple” corm and not see God? Why was I so ignorant just 3 years ago?
Aoc.
Wow. In three years you caught on to what took me about 12.
Flea, mine was likely expedited because it wasn’t me who directly suffered. It was my daughter losing her hair (men never have appreciation for what hair means to a woman, and she is still bald but beautiful), my son getting kicked out of Catholic school for anger management (little shit is too damn smart for his own good), an oops pregnancy, my wife’s breast cancer, and my sister’s breast cancer. That was a shitty 2+ years, especially when I was an atheist managing an engineering team as sole breadwinner.
Sometimes I feel like the caretaker has it worse than the disease sufferer because we can’t fix them and we can’t take the burden from them. We’re powerless. I wasn’t used to feeling that way and I damn near reached my personal breaking point.
If what happened to you had happened to me, it would have taken me 12 years, too. You suffered a lot and everyone’s Cross is dramatically different. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. And yet some of us apparently are swords that are tough as shit to temper, but damn it, God will temper us.
AOC..
Hope they are ok now.
Thanks, they’re better, although I’d do anything to give my daughter my hair. I don’t need it. It’s hard enough being a kid as it is. My sister was HER2+, so we do think about recurrence. My wife needs another surgery here soon.
I keep beating the same drum in this thread, apparently. Marcus Aurelius talked about not despairing over what does or does not happen to you. It happens according to a divine plan. I think he’s right. Why borrow trouble?
I’ll post the articles Fox News and Cosmopolitan wrote up on them sometime. Woulda done it already if I weren’t so paranoid.
My wife has the amazing capability of not worrying about almost anything.
Her favorite saying is: “Don’t borrow sorrow from tomorrow.”
I just smile at her and nod while I’m cleaning one of my guns.
vive la différence
I wish you were my neighbor, LOL. That is a great saying. I think what it is for me, Mark, is that I feel now like I’ve been about as healed as these old scars will allow, and I’m ready for whatever the Father wants me to do. I’m at peace until the next crisis, LOL. I had a lot of childhood scars as well which I don’t like to discuss, but which also scarred over as best as they can.
I always ask God to guide my hands…you feel it in your gut what the answer is.
Wow! AOC, you said a lot in 3 short paragraphs. This is why I love TBP. You never know who will share a story that makes you want to cry and smile at the same time.
MC I agree, we should be very thankful to Jim. I sure am.
I would like to write an article about my thoughts and experiences over the last few years, but honestly I’d have to get over my paranoia.
Thanks AoC, me and Flea are two branches from the survivor tree…and there are many other limbs and trunks here.
Check this out (if you haven’t already) I have read it twice.
Dang it, that’s the name of the book you posted before! I couldn’t find it. Gonna add it to my AMZN order now.
BTW I read that link you posted. Here’s the key point for me and what turned me to atheism.
I came out of the false theology of Roman Catholicism to see false theology come to dominate Protestantism and now even many of those calling themselves Evangelicals or Pentecostals.
AoC,
The major problem with Catholicism in my Mick/Wop family was too many of the men confused it with God and walked away from Him, and too many of the woman thought it was God talking and embraced its legalism and works.
Legalism and works are the two crown jewels of the Vatican.
I was driven away as well but when Born Again stayed cleared of ‘joining’ any demoniation.
Wow Mark, that’s deep. I never thought of it like that…in my Mick/French family (my parents), that was exactly the situation.
Yea AoC, it became obvious to me most of the men confused the Pharisee Priests and a lot of demands for tithing with God…and most of the Woman confused tradition (family/Catholic) with truth.
But the kicker was none of them, I mean none of them were reading the Bible, just hearing selected verses on Sunday, often out of context. Plus the Pope, the Vatican, and Mary were worshiped (by the woman).
Everything was in Latin on Sundays…that no one understood…and all they knew was what they were told…raised into, and passed on by sending me to Cathloic school.
I had a wonderful boyhood and parents/family, but when it came to God I learned rebellion from the men (but it was really rebellion from Catholicism) and legalism, works, and lots of guilt from the woman.
I actually formerly ex-communicated myself in 1971 at 21.
I share a LOT of these same feelings and experiences. I have a question for you, sir. What do you think of Fatima? And if you acknowledge its truth, don’t you think we were lied to about the Third Secret?
AoC,
I believe an Angel of Light inspired Mohamad, and Joseph Smith, and that same created fallen Angel is behind Fatima and the Marian apparitions.
He and his dammed 1/3 are and will be part of the great Alien deception that the Vatican has long been working on confirming with their Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) on Mount Graham in southeast Arizona.
The Book of Enoch mirrors and reflects back many Biblical truths, tremendous confirmation on prophecy and great detail on the Nephilim.
Once I got my hands on it much was confirmed.
The vid link: http://www.thinkaboutit.online has many Enoch links I have poured over.
Mark..
Enoch confirmed a lot of things for me.
Mark.
Women seem to like legalism. They have the memory for it and I suspect but don’t really know that being less secure than men it gives them a better idea of whats allowable. Men will just go out and find out whats allowable the hard knocks way.
Flea,
Plus, all of the men were former military, every single one (I had a lot of uncles) and most WW2 or Korea combat vets.
Looking back now it is obvious two never got over their experiences, and lived hard lives because of it. It was always whispered about them both, on how they had changed after they came home.
The constitution only binds government hence the constitution and all statutes only apply to those persons working in that capacity. Those laws have no application whatsoever to the people nor do they claim to. That’s exactly why it is the solution. They are bound to it, don’t have it and committed capital crimes in their use of some debasing Thing other than gold or silver coin as tender for debts of that capacity. All employees of State Universities are State Employees hence they are actively in breach of Article 1 Section 10. The coinage act of 1792 makes it a capital crime to debase the currency hence making it a death penalty crime they are committing every working day. Uphold Article 1 Section 10 and they go bye bye while we will thrive. Prices will drop 90+% as soon as the hangings begin. Without the criminal parasites there will be an over abundance of everything. They should die for what they are doing, they are injuring everyone with their endless war on the United States – which is exactly why debasing currency has ALWAYS been a capital crime in every nation throughout history – it is an injury equivalent to warfare upon everyone in that nation.
Uphold Article 1 Section 10 and Hang them all!
The United States analyzed the reasons that prompted Russia to enter into a military conflict in Syria in 2015. In addition to the problem in the SAR, there are three more tension points where Russian interests are involved – Libya,
look from the USA: where Russia can send troops
Hey everyone, do you prefer Socialist Solutions Are Obvious, or someone who gave you several elements of today’s massive revelation weeks in advance?
Actually, who would simply trust me over SSAO based on my record thus far?
Sometimes people don’t think. I did for once. Thanks only to Jesus Christ and the LDS who helped make my life good and whole. Lying gets people killed. That is what 1910 was all about. Too much lying about GOOD MEN and GOOD MORMONS.
Not that killing for any reason (except self defense) is justified, but there is more to this story than meets the eye.
.22.
Socialist Solutions are Obvious. Perfect, just perfect.
winnie,
i believe i speak 4 many others when i say i don’t understand this comment,enlighten us rubes–
regarding the killings in mexico,as i understand it they were multi generational citizens w/bilateral citizenship so that they could live in mexico so as to avoid u.states marriage laws,why is that our concern?
mexicans shooting across the border, coming over the border illegally or shipping illegal products is our concern,not americans who moved to mexico years ago–
if i’m wrong,please enlighten me —
Tampa, go to The Still Report on YouTube and watch his latest titled Truth About the Mexican Massacre. It’s only 12 minutes. It will catch you up. I would link it for you but I’m still on my phone and it never cooperates with my attempts at links.
It’s been sucky few days. Put my dog down. Now I’m stuck in the medical gulag *(Fleabaggs) at the ER all afternoon with my husband who is having intestinal issues. Which is why I’m cranky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_tkc8IPGYc
Best to your husband Mary. Caught it last night.
What he said.
here’s the link,thanks 4 telling me about it–
however,the part pertaining to the murdered family should be irrelevant –they were living in mexico–
i suggested myself a week or so back that we send sf teams in to take out cartel members because of smuggling but this family was only nominally american & imo we should take no action b/c of this–
edit-forgot to say i hope your husband is ok–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_tkc8IPGYc
Putting a dog down is the shitiest thing anyone has to deal with. Pure of heart, loyal till the end. To save em from pain you have to kill them. To send them on, a big chunk of your soul has to go with them. You put one foot in front of another with a chunk of your heart cut out.
I hope his issues resolve without surgery!
I gotta tell ya, this sure generated some commentary, I will grant you that. Some of it really good debate!
Maggie.
And half of it just a weekend bring your own burger patio party.
BTW. Was that house in the canal on stilts?
It was floating. The workers for the dredges LIVED on the barges as they dug and cleared them out. Dad copied dozens of photos from the company hired to survey that land (he was copying photos BEFORE he went to Japan… one weird dude.)
Maggie.
Thanks. Me and Red can die now but we just had to know before we left.
Agreed, MG.
Let me just add that a colonoscopy is in the near future, like this week because the CT scan was showing a something, but we don’t know exactly what…oh boy! I’m glad its him and not me. Is that mean? Not that I want anything to be wrong. Of course I don’t. I’ve had far too much of my own poking, prodding, surgery etc. But you know the feeling.
Maggie..
Tampa, Donkey and Me are still wondering about the house in the canal. Is it on stilts or a houseboat?
flea,
i think she got drunk & forgot us–
Red.
I hope not. She was here this morning but never answered. Did you see that BB is back? He was on Death throes of a party.
no about bb but she finally sobered up,see above us a few posts–
“The schools should be totally responsible for finding each graduate a position in the degree field of study for 5 years post graduation.”
This policy will apply to trade schools too, right?
I don’t know where you are, but all over New England they are getting hired (snapped up) even before they graduate the trade schools.
Great article and I’m glad folks are finally paying attention. It’s not the GOP or the Dems, nor even the courts; the education system produces a worldview that is twisted. And no one wants to attack “education.” The truth is, the professors in the universities are our modern secular priests and prophets. It is a religious system all in all.
STEM Don’t use that $100 piece for a test, don’t use a chisel that way and take other people’s tools and leave them somewhere, ruined ANOTHER $100 saw blade, don’t talk to the other employees, and no you didn’t build that you executed Part of somebody else’s idea they turned into a reality and hired you on the way.
https://offgridsurvival.com/publicschoolhatecrimesagainstwhites/
OK…as usual, I’m way late to the party and don’t have sufficient time to read through all the comments and definitely not to organize all my thoughts. Welcome Solutions are Obvious, not a fan of the moniker, because it immediately connotes a lack of nuance…and nuance is really my bread and butter, as any of the nearly one dozen people who read my posts will attest.
So…
Of course the education system is broken, but LLPOH is completely correct that all that would need be done is to remove government money (and thereby remove virtually all of the waste and most of the corruption) from the process. Installing requirements to get graduates jobs, might–MIGHT–work OK in the short term, but it will cause disasters in the long–it will inevitably make room for all new forms of corruption and rent-seeking, as all such regulations do no matter how well conceived or how pure the motives behind them.
By the LLPOH: “It’s easy to to stupid with other people’s money” is definitely a keeper. I could easily see that becoming a whole series of memes.
Message received that you are an ATHEIST. Got it. You don’t believe in flying spaghetti monsters and all 4000 gods and all that spiel.
I don’t understand the term, however. You don’t seem to be a strict deterministic materialist, as I read into your comments on plasma cosmology and morphic resonance (more later). You seem more along the lines of the anti-religious who conflate concepts that ought not be conflated.
I’ve stated my logic on the topic numerous times here, but as you are a newbie, I am obliged to do so once more. The idea comes from Shopenhauer, I think, that all discussion/debate/philosophy everything ultimately breaks down into a semantic exercises. I see it all the time, where I can be having discussions with people and through subtle and diverging connotations of the terms, at some point we are not even discussing the same ideas anymore.
This happens in EVERY SINGLE atheist/religious debate i have ever come across….so the real utility of such has been rendered to zero.
Anyway, the point is that we must define terms before proceeding. This gives constraints to the arguments, at least for those genuinely seeking truth, and forces people to think about things in new ways.
The terms (concepts) that always are conflated are these: faith, religion and God. Vastly different, all one has to do is define the domain boundaries.
Faith is individual.
Religion is human…this tiny blue dot for all of human history (however long that may be, it is not really relevant to this conversation…but an interesting idea for another one.)
God is universal…for all time everywhere. I am not making an assertion here, just setting up a logical framework. If all parties could agree to these simple definitions, better discussions could be had.
To cosmology… I too have been introduced to the whole Plasma Cosmology/Electric Universe world and am fascinated. It was an easy sell, because I had already had major doubts about the fundamental assumptions of the Standard Model…we have to make assumptions of course, but we must also be able to question them–which as you say is a strict nono in the major Physics institutions.
One piece you may or may not have seen is the Russian experiment with plasma not just in a vacuum, but in zero-gravity (free fall).
This suggests that it is the LACK of gravity that allows the electromagnetic force to dominate even at long distances–which in turn allows for the shapes we see in the heavens. They make a miniature spiral galaxy and a very convincing miniature black hole.
Take a look:
That is a spectacularly interesting video, another rabbit hole to follow.And an excellent comment to lead in.
STEM fields have their issues to. Lots of unemployed technical people some with computer science and/or engineering degrees. Many four year public institutions need to be pared down to a bachelors only with the elimination of the education department. There also needs to be a review of the bureaucracy. It’s amazing how VP’s to the assistant VP there are in some of these places.
Also, end the federal guarantee of student loans.
A (negro) substitute teacher at Lehman High School in Kyle has been fired and charged after videos posted on social media appeared to show her fighting with a (white) student.
KVUE spoke with the school district and a student in the classroom, who confirmed that the video circulating on social media captured the incident. In the video, you can see the teacher punching the student multiple times, pulling her from her desk and stomping on her head. https://dcdirtylaundry.com/american-race-wars-two-viral-videos-show-black-popeyes-worker-and-black-substitute-teacher-snapping-into-extreme-violence/
The solution is incredibly simple. Get rid of federally subsidized loans and force students to get loans from private sources again. Let the lenders determine if the student’s path will allow them to repay. Then colleges will have to offer only degrees that have a future, won’t be able to jack up tuition for non-education related spending, etc.