On the Nature of Things | Forum

Interesting reflections on the shootdown by the invaluable Peter Hitchens:

"A Plea for Restraint on the Ukraine Tragedy"

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/ ... agedy.html

It's only risky to be derisive of other people's identities really. You ought to know that's not the case. 1) There is a growing body of "controversial" topics in America, about which it is impossible to speak in public without an extreme degree of caution, for fear of having one's career...

Lessons learned from Grantland’s tragic story on Dr. V by Lauren Klinger and Kelly McBride | Poynter.org Published Jan. 22, 2014 2:23 pm By editor-in-chief Bill Simmons’ own admission, ignorance was the biggest mistake Grantland [sports and pop culture site] made in reporting and publishing the sto...

If you look specifically at Maths achievment, and do pairs study matching for income and other variables (which I did) you'll see that even rich-as-Crassus US counties severely lag in Maths their peers in many parts abroad. US maths education is too undemanding, probably because badly educated math...

I have no doubt that America is dumbing down and that the school system needs to be tweaked. But let's not exaggerate the failure of public education here. The article claims that Americans are lagging behind on two leading international tests, but only named one of them, the most recent PISA (2012)...

Mr. P, Thanks, but I am aware of the fundamentals of supply and demand. You got charts? I got charts too: http://www.swcollege.com/bef/policy_debates/increase_minimum.html ... While minimum wage increases generally receive substantial public support, economists have generally relied on the above ana...

Typhoon wrote:Reads like a selective case of banning for thee, but not for me.

Not really. For example, my ideological sympathies notwithstanding, I think Ibrahim should be perfectly free to spout his nonsense from the rooftops, whereas I would most likely object to the sight of a nude Tea Partier.

The free expression of ideas of course does not include such things as pornography (not an idea), public nudity... Why not? Endo, Thank you for taking the trouble to actually read what I wrote. Well, I suppose it's debatable. In a strictly American context, I understand "freedom of speech"...

Our case study continues. I have selectively bolded within the following quotes for emphasis: (1) Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:40 am [...] I've always simply taken it for granted that free speech, the free expression of ideas, no matter how repugnant or offensive, is absolute . It's a natural, God-given right...

For the benefit of the forum at large, I'm going to juxtapose a few quotes here in what I hope will be an instructive fashion. For clarity and readability, I have had to truncate some of the posts, indicated by the following: [...] Otherwise I have not edited these posts in any way. Feel free to che...

I’m not speaking to Ibrahim anymore since he refuses to apologize for his craven smear against me. People who do such things are beyond the pale of civilized discourse and simply must be ignored. Why shouldn't the issue be whether or not people should be hauled in front of tribunals at all. For the ...

Liar. I said that Levant was cleared and did not object to this. Though his tirade about the Roma was obviously racist, it was not criminally so. ... Liar. I did not state that I thought Steny's article was criminal. Though Steyn is obviously a racist, he was not criminally so. I am trying to have ...

Curious to learn why you think so.

Ibrahim, The majority of your points boil down to this core issue: How does it threaten democracy or your liberty to be prevented from dehumanizing a marginalized minority group? It's amazing to me that we even have to have this conversation. Perhaps there is a fundamental difference in cultural val...

Ron Unz, "A $12 Minimum Wage: Transforming Policy Idea into Political Reality" The Unz Review | DECEMBER 4, 2013 As most readers have no doubt already heard, early last week I filed the text of an initiative that would raise California’s minimum wage to $12.00 per hour, a figure far higher...

Is this thread about a proposed merger between either the US or Canada and Jamaica or Costa Rica? Are people making false statements about the laws of Jamaica and Costa Rica? The point was simply that Canada also has its problems with press freedom, at least according to Reporters Without Borders w...

According to the rankings already posted by Col Sun Canada ranks higher in terms of press freedoms than the US, and doesn't tend to do things like jail whistleblowers for life or pursue them across the globe. Steyn and Levant complaining about the racism landing them in tribunals than never ended u...

Guys, upon clicking back to page 2, I'm seeing a post by Doc (Tue Dec 10, 2013 5:40 am) in which both of the following sentences appear: Hate speech laws are inherently anti free speech. (Around halfway down) And: Hate laws are inherently free speech. (Near the bottom, second-to-last sentence) The w...

Well put. The main issue with secrecy and government intrusion in private lives in the US is that it is open ended at this point. There has been both in the past, in times of war, but the current situation is open ended. I mean win is victory over a dispersed terror group actually victory? Indeed. ...

I think it's fair to say that both countries have their issues with freedom of speech and of the press. In Canada, which currently ranks behind Jamaica and Costa Rica in terms of press freedom, pundits who offend Muslims, publishers who print Muhammad cartoons, and stand-up comics who put down lesbi...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Infinite_jest_cover.jpg David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest (1996) In the novel's future world, the United States, Canada, and Mexico together compose a unified North American superstate known as the Organization of North American Nations, or O.N.A.N. (...

This story has it all: right wing media hysterics, racism, Mark Steyn. I overheard the local talk radio station warning people about this just last week. My reflexive "'sprobably bullsh_t" reaction turned out to be right. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christandpopculture/2013/11/the-knocko...

Mr. Perfect wrote:When I see any common sense in support of a minimum wage increase I will report back here immediately.

I see an abundance of it in the Unz article.

Economists left right and center in their textbooks simply do not agree with you. Doubtless. But what do we do when economic dogma runs contrary to common sense? "Raising American Wages...by Raising American Wages" A simple remedy for income stagnation BY RON UNZ • The American Conservati...

YMix, Indeed. The blogger Steve Sailer (whom Ibrahim calls his favorite racist movie critic) has been documenting this for a long time. This is another fault line in the conservative movement in America: between the globalist, open-borders, free-trade, free-market-is-always-right crowd - allied with...