Ten oz

The Alex Jones thing has been going for a few weeks now. This thread isn't specifically about Trump and or Google.

Over the past several weeks media personality Alex Jones has had various social media accounts shut down. Alex Jones is broadly viewed as a right wing pundit. Claims of political bias and censorship of right leaning views have been made regarding Alex Jones's situation. Now today Trump has claimed that Google's search algorithms are political bias. I have seen and heard various arguments regarding this. How do members of this forum view the issue? I personally think all the arguments about freedom of speech, inappropriate censorship, and people being to PC are nonsense. Figures like Alex Jones can (and do) have their own websites where they say what they want. They can sell publish, sell swag, post videos, and etc. Twitter, YouTube, and etc are not obligated to them a platform. As for Google one can filter their searches however they choose.

It is an imperfect process though. Innocent people have been found guilt. Besides a person can only be murdered once. Life can come to exist indefinitely.

We have still never seen it happen. Our own relative view towards our own understanding not withstanding we haven't verified. So how can we know how close we are to understand how? Our confidence is measured against nothing. When we find other types of life or able to record life coming to be we will know more than we do today.

In my opinion it comes from the way we are raised. If one grows up in a society that teaches woman should be subservient to men one will most likely habor some version of that belief. Additional once something is accepted as true one takes on the burden of proof to prove otherwise. Proving negatives isn't possible. I am familiar with Dawkins. My take on his view is that he seems to let sleeping dogs lay. Jesus has long been believed to have been real and Dawkins doesn't have evidence proving otherwise nor does he care to research the matter. So his position is a bit flippant.

I disagree. For all I know other life currently exists here on earth and we (Humans) haven't discovered it yet. All I can infer is that we are not aware of any other life. Either way I feel it counters the Fermi Paradox.

We (Humans) have yet to replicate creating life despite seemingly knowing the conditions which were necessary here on earth for it. So I think it is fair to say we don't yet fully understand the process. So it is useful when people attempt to limit extraterrestrial life to our limited understanding of life. *Not implying you are doing that. All life on earth has DNA and represents just a single type of life. I have never felt the Fermi Paradox is a true paradox. We consider Earth's conditions to be good for life and yet life only created here on earth a single time. To me that implies the probability for the creation of life is low even when conditions allow for it. If the probability were high I would expect to see more than one type of life on Earth. Rather all life is cellular DNA based evolved from a single source(s). I am open to there being life out in the universe which is different than what we can currently imagine. Perhaps we are already inundated with the evidence of their existence but just haven't identified it yet.

I do not believe, not even a little, that Trump's supports would have give 2 sh!ts about the whether or not the flag was at half mast. Last week Trump's personal Attorney for the last decade pled guilt to felonies and implicated Trump in campaign crimes. Also Trump's former campaign chairman was found guilt of multiple felonies. Trump's approval rating hasn't moved. Trump has openly criticized McCain in the past, Trump's aides (Kelly Sadler) dismissed McCain as "dying anyway", and won't be attending the funeral. I will be very surprised if Trump doesn't attack McCain on tweet this upcoming weekend. Trump loves the attention he receives on cable news and McCain will be stealing away too much of it this week.Trump will most definitely criticize Obama's eulogy of McCain and probably cry foul about the positive manner that the fake news media handles the various eulogies and contrast it against the unfair treatment he receives. Messing around with the flag at the White House was just the an initial flirtation. More is coming.

In most the polling I have seen throughout my life the majority of people polled claim they vote for the person or the policies and not the Party. In my opinion John McCain is a good example of why I feel that is a lie. In 2016 McCain got 1.35 million votes winning re-election over his Democratic opponent who receive 1.03 million (Green Party candidate got 140k). Same election in Arizona Trump got 1.25 million votes to Clinton's 1.16 million votes (no 3rd party on the ticket). As people McCain and Trump were very far apart. Their policies were 180 degrees from each other. Despite that damn near everyone who voted for McCain in 2016 also voted for Trump. McCain had long been for immigration reform which included pathways to citizenship for undocumented and a guest worker program. Trump central battle cry was "ball the wall". No pathways for undocumented and guest worker programs. Trump was for torture, McCain was against torture. McCain had long advocated for reforming DOD spending and supported Gate's efforts to reign it in under Obama, Trump advocated to make it rain on DOD with record budget increases. Trump personally berated McCain as a member of the swamp he sought to rid the country of. McCain served AZ for for 31yrs. As he is mourned today in AZ what's his legacy to those who elected him I wonder. The indifference that belies the sort of person who'd vote McCain and Trump in the same ballot easily extends itself to ignoring indictments and guilty pleas. Following blistering criticism from lawmakers in both parties and veterans groups, President Donald Trump announced Monday he had signed a formal proclamation that would give Sen. John McCain his full honors. In a statement, Trump said he'd signed the proclamation keeping the White House flag at half-staff through the Arizona Republican's interment, scheduled for Sunday. https://www-nbcnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna904061?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fwhite-house%2Fw-h-flag-back-full-staff-after-mccain-s-death-n904061

I could be wrong but I do not recall previous admins citing different protocols for the White House itself.

This is the tragedy of McCain's career. He partnered with snakes who ultimately considered him disposable. He compromised on torture, immigration, and endured attacks on his own character in service to a party which repaid his efforts by spitting on his legacy. McCain was a hero and great man yet as a contradiction to both served terrible masters.

I agree. Palin wasn't the catalyst. Still took someone to lean into it though. McCain corrected the record on the birther stuff. Mitt Romney almost went there with the whole Benghazi "acts of terror" stuff but pulled back. Palin was the most visible candidate for a meaningful national position who embraced it.

No doubt. Either way though Palin and the Tea party laid the ground work and push a lot of nonsensical talking points into the popular political sphere. McCain was against it but sadly allowed his campaign to be its launching platform.

Palin was the prototype. She attacked to media, knew nothing, hated fact checkers, appealed to bigots, considered education bias, and on and on. Palin and the tea party laid the ground work for Trump's B.S. tone

This is how I feel. McCain played ball an increasing amount post the 2000 primary chasing his presidential aspirations. It was unfortunate.

I would agree 100% if not for Sarah Palin. The selection of Palin makes me doubt how much control over the rest of his admin he would have had. That said McCain with a reasonable running mate would have been and excellent choice.

The response would be denial but a large portion of the population. Many don't believe in climate change or evolution and things like anti vaccine nonsense is catching on. There are growing numbers of people who aren't sure if the Earth isn't. Until aliens come down to earth in a spetical too great to be ignored many will continue to deny they exist and many more will claim not to be sure if they exist for the sake of being netural on the issue. People will not broadly accept the words of scientist on the matter in my opinion. To be honest if I were a scientist will empirical proof of alien life I would probably just keep it to myself. People don't accept those things which they choose not to. I would not sacrifice the rest of my life arguing about it.

This is tragically how McCain ended the last half of his political career. In the 2000 GOP primary Bush's campaign got very nasty and attacked McCain's wife, daughter, and his military service. It is the reminiscent of those attacks that Trump taps into when he repeatedly has criticized McCain over the last couple years. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about Vanity Fair did a decent piece on it. The cliff notes can be found on Wikipedia. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2004/11/mccain200411 Despite McCain's brutal treatment by fellow Republicans he made nice with Bush. One of the main Carrot's Bush used to solider McCain along of immigration and leaving a clear path to nomination for McCain in 2008. There was a quid pro quo in place were Bush promised to support McCain's immigration reform policies and that no one from his administration would run in 2008. A uncomfortable arrangement obvious to all in 2004 during the swift boating of John Kerry who was a fellow war veteran and personal friend. McCain softy condemned the false attacks on Kerry's service in a few interviews, conceded that he agreed with most of Kerry's platform, but still rallied alongside Bush. Often speaking just before or after those who were pushing the swift boat narrative. Meanwhile his quid pro quo turned out to be fools gold. Bush did support McCain's immigration reform but Republicans in the Senate never allowed it to come up for a vote. McCain saw a couple different versions of his bill shut down in the Senate by his own party. Then in 2008 Bush's admin did clear the field however it hardly even mattered because the situation was so bad no Republican had a shot to win. McCain was given the nomination, saddled with Sarah Palin, and sent out to lose. All the energy and money went into cultivating the Tea Party movement which Palin was the Princess of for a time. McCain was a great man. Over the life of his public service career he was very principled and accomplished. However he did not end his career well. He spent the last 18yrs taking more abuse and personal attacks from within his own party than from outside of it. The bulk of his final legislative achievement came with cooperation from Democrats at the disgust of his own party. By 2016 & 2017 McCain was openly ridiculed by the Republican base. It is sad. It makes me angry that daft dodgers like Bush (his Nat. Guard was a way to avoid Vietnam) and Trump blustered their careers at the expense of McCain's reputation without consequence. It also frustrates me that McCain was an enabler to them. Ultimately he played ball too much in the second half of his career and was taken advantage of.

I grew up assuming that Jesus had been a real person. I assumed that there was definitive historical evidence Jesus had existed. I never really questioned it until one day a friend of mine challenged me to list the historical evidence. To my surprise I was unable to find any. Not only couldn't I find any but among scholars who insisted Jesus had been real there was universal agreement that no definitive evidence existed. My initial thought was that Jesus must have been an amalgamation of different prophets and that the true catalyst for Jesus's story probably was someone very similar but who went by another name. Over time though I have come to realize that Jesus's story as that of different people molded into one doesn't actually fit. The story of Jesus is too similar to the story of other god incarnates (human form) like Horus and Krishna. Strip away the similarities and there isn't anything left. There doesn't seem to be anything original in Jesus's story. Jesus's appears to have been modeled after other deities.

John McCain was possibly the last of a class of politicians who followed before they led. His pragmatism was born from having been on the receiving end of policy. It is something greatly missing in politics today where most politicians merely have ideas about govt but never actually worked on the ground as an employees within govt. Sadly the days when we could expect politicians to have previously served in the Military, DOJ, EPA, Education, or some other department of govt are long gone. McCain's insight and perspective will be greatly missed. Unfortunately McCain allowed himself to be exploited in the latter parts of his career. As the Republican party shifted toward absolutism centered in race baiting and fear mongering McCain was too much the good solider. Despite his known objections to Bush in general and the execution of the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq in particular McCain campaigned for Bush and held his criticism calculating it was the best way to secure his own Presidential aspirations. Very similar to the error Hillary Clinton made during the same period. Then in 2008 McCain folded to pressure and tapped Sarah Palin as his running mate. An inexcusable choice. The Maverick was too timid toward the loudest extremes in the Republican base. It was all for not as he lost the election and those extreme voices turned on him anyway in support of a man like Trump who openly mocks McCain and his service. It is a shame the way McCain's career ended. In my opinion McCain should have just declared himself an independent after the propaganda filled 00' GOP primary. Sadly McCain spent the last 18yrs of his career fighting all the wrong side despite seemingly knowing better.

It is more than that. Tribalism is playing a big role too. Various groups of people feel they are more so the rightful heirs to the country than others and as a result feel their views should matter more. It isn't so much people with low ability are overestimating their abilities much as they overestimating their place in society, entitlement. Brexit and Trump's election heavily featured immigration as a means to ratchet up the sense of entitlement various groups within the populations feel regarding their own heritage and traditions. When one feels it is their inheritance or place in the world to have preference whether or not they are the smartest doesn't matter. The feeling is that its "my country and I will do want I want to do". The New Australian PM appears to fit the model. Scott Morrison is a deeply religious anti immigrant advocate.

Western styled govts seem to be experiencing major political shifts at a time of relative calm and stable economics. Not just calm and prosperity but the major shifts don't even reflect the majority citizens. In the U.S. Trump lost the popular vote and has consistently held stronger disapproval ratings than any first term President in history. In the UK Brexit has remained a 50/50 proposition at best. I am not an expert on Australian politics but GDP and unemployment have been moving in the right directions over the last few years and Malcom Turnbull had a typical apprval rating among citizens. Major shifts in Politics are normally caused by something like war, economic depression, human/civil rights issues, etc and pushed majority support. How is some much sh!t being stirred in the absences of a catalyst or majority support? Not for nothing Australia too has been victim of Russian propaganda:

For the second time this month the United Nations has blamed the Saudi-led forces fighting in Yemen's civil war for an airstrike that killed children. There were conflicting reports about the death toll in the strike, which occurred Thursday, and about who committed it. But the United Nations top humanitarian official issued a statement blaming the attack on the Saudi-led forces, saying that at least 26 people were killed including 22 children and four women. https://www.npr.org/2018/08/24/641646100/children-again-pay-the-price-in-yemens-war-as-focus-shifts-to-accountability

What would be the difference? Look at how many Russian troll farms have been discovered in the U.S.. What people intend to do with data matters more than the physical location of a server. Ultimately having laws in place will enable the govt and citizens of those govt's to take companies like FB to court when laws are violated regardless of server locations.

Some tech companies are pulling out of Europe over this according to the article. On the surface that might seem like a bad things, business leaving or closing down, but data privacy is more important in my opinion. It is something that has gone unregulated too long and I am glad to see govts finally taking action.