Great point. Many of the issues this country faces (especially in the rust belt) have been exacerbated by the loss of jobs. The simplistic explanation is that unions got too powerful, and wages & benefits got so high that corporations decided to leave. Initially they moved to southern states without unions, and then…

This is one of those choices forced on ! by our binary metaphysics: (1) throw W under the bus, or (2) embrace him despite the catastrophe of his presidency. ! tried for a long time to take the middle road, but it just confused people. In the end, you can’t fight city hall or your metaphysics (unless you are Robert…

I was not trying to make an argument, just ask questions...

Do you have to prove the defamatory statement had an actual negative effect on the person’s career or life?

“I actively hate her more than I do Palin, which I never thought would happen”

I’m wasting valuable minutes of my life trying to determine where Christie and Trump fall on the dick-asshole spectrum...

I am most afraid of (and for) people who: care about the state of our country, are serious about the primary process, do a lot of research, go to a bunch of town halls, and still end up choosing between two candidates who do not represent their interests...

It’s not just Republicans. Democrats are generally better, but somehow cannot seem to get to the polls in mid-term elections...

There is a strange perception in America that heads of corporations are ‘brilliant’ because they show a profit. It’s obvious they believe it, even if all the real work is done by subordinates. Of course, when you are surrounded by sycophants 24/7, that can affect your thought process. Still the idea that running a…

Building Boulder Dam took 5 years. By one estimate, the border wall would require 3x the concrete, 2.5 million tons of steel, and will span 2000 miles. The logistics of this endeavor are unbelievable. Even if Trump was President for 8 years, this wall would not be completed—and knowing modern bureaucracy, it would…

I would caution you against underestimating the potential for poor human behavior. You are correct that *everyone* wouldn’t go out and murder someone, but there would still a dramatic increase in the number of murders. Every bank would be robbed. Stores would be looted. And so on. It would not be a nice place to…

I know—and it’s the SC confirmations that I care about most. However, I recall that things weren’t quite as gridlocked when the Democrats still had the Senate...

“There’s no point in championing a fighter if the fighter does not share your goals.”

Apparently the NIMH is researching some type(s) of behaviorism treatment for autism—that’s about as “out in the open” as it gets...

“There are two choices for SCOTUS appointee...”

Just to be clear, I’m not trying to justify it in any way...

It may be quite possible for someone to get their degree and become board certified based on ‘accepted’ practices, but later shift to ‘less accepted’ practices. Board certification can last 10 years for some medical disciplines (I don’t know about psychology), so that’s plenty of time to make a shift. I don’t think a…

It is important to understand that psychology is not a hard science—it is based on theories of the mind, and accumulated anecdotal data. There are various ‘schools of thought’—at least one of which believes that people can be ‘conditioned’ to respond differently to stimuli (behaviorism). Thus, given that ‘unnatural’…

It’s a interesting problem: Bernie is liked more, but his programs are liked much less—Hillary is liked much less, but her programs would probably be more palatable (in general) to non-Tea Party Republicans. In the end, I believe both would be obstructed equally, *unless* one of them has much better down ballot…

Bernie does attack Hillary’s association with Wall Street. Hillary believes this is a smear on her character—as if Bernie is claiming that she has been influenced in some way. Bernie only implies that it “appears suspicious” when people take lots of money from special interests, but he is careful never to actually…