You is all a bunch of poofs!

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

More on The Unbearable Unwokeness of Capital Punishment at WEIT:

https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.co ... ed-killer/

I agree with Jerry.

I used to, also. I bought the Left’s argument that life without parole is a worse punishment than execution. But, as usual, they lied. They really didn’t want to lock them up forever, they wanted to let them go:
https://www.newyorkupstate.com/news/201 ... _york.html
That’s just from a four month period in 2016 in NY State.

And the very first case confirms why I agree with Jerry:

-- Sammy Swift, 59, convicted of beating Stephen DeLuca to death in 1994 during a robbery. Swift was sentenced to 20 years to life. Swift had his conviction overturned in 2008, after a Cayuga County judge ruled that new DNA evidence raised doubts about blood evidence linking Swift to the murder scene. But a year later, a state appeals overturned that ruling and reinstated the conviction. Swift plans to continue to try to overturn the conviction even though he's out of prison, said his former lawyer, Joseph Sapio. Swift is living in Cayuga County.

[MarcusAu]

I agree with Jerry.

My opinion is in concordance with that of Phil.

[MarcusAu]

All SJW public policy is grounded on the false concept that humans are, if not inherently good by nature, then at least tabula rasa thus ever malleable/redeemable.

If this were so then it would be difficult, if not impossible for them to make generalisations on the basis of race.

I think most of their definitions exists in a quantum state - where the veracity cannot be determined until the race, gender and sexual proclivities of the person talking - and the audience they are talking to are all nailed down. The usefulness rather than truth of their construction is what matters. Any stick to beat a dog.


Lewis Carol comes to mind...

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all."

[Hunt]

I agree with Jerry.

And you're entitled to that opinion. (I thought that way once, too.) But the SJWs at WEIT consistently strawman the pro death penalty argument, while excoriating and slandering any who support it. Also, forced to venture outside their ideological groupthink bubble for the first time, they are shockingly bad at defending their theses.

I used to, also. I bought the Left’s argument that life without parole is a worse punishment than execution. But, as usual, they lied. They really didn’t want to lock them up forever, they wanted to let them go:
https://www.newyorkupstate.com/news/201 ... _york.html
That’s just from a four month period in 2016 in NY State.

All SJW public policy is grounded on the false concept that humans are, if not inherently good by nature, then at least tabula rasa thus ever malleable/redeemable. The current rage among the far left now is 'restorative justice', whereby criminals, even sadistic rapists and murderers, meet with their victims (or surviving family members), listen to how much their crime hurt them, and PAFF! experience a damascene moment, renounce crime, and do community service like picking litter as recompense. It's completely batshit crazy.

The far left (whatever that is, perhaps SJW left) doesn't really know what they want. They have little contact with the real world. What opinion they have on the situation "one the ground" is given to them by NPR and academia. So we have bleeding heart liberals who think psychopathic serial killers can be redeemed thru empathy, but also that a hapless drunken juveniles like Brock Turner should be raped in incarceration for ten years to life. The SJW left has no conception of what actual justice looks like. Confront them on this and they look at you with a blank stare, or the online equivalent.

_I_ do believe in redemption and rehabilitation. The Shawshank example, obviously dramatic, is true. People do change. People are sucked into situations were murder happens, and they are not entirely beyond redemption. Shit happens, and it has little to do with Jerry's--irrelevant to my mind--ideas on free will determinism. To relegate all murderers to lifetime incarceration is wrongheaded, to my mind. I know many people disagree, and I know that I might disagree too, if a loved one was taken.

That being said, there are some people who, barring execution, should be incarcerated for life. There really are people beyond redemption, and we shouldn't bother trying. That doesn't mean we should torture them with inhumane accommodations. You don't torture an animal that kills (though often they're put down); you shouldn't torture a human who kills. This distinction about knowing right from wrong is ultimately a religious qualification. I'm not entirely sure some murderers don't "think" they're doing the right thing, to them.

The trick is separating the two, those who can and can't be redeemed.

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

I agree with Jerry.

My opinion is in concordance with that of Phil.

And my opinion is floating in an indeterminate state because I don't have all the answers having become much more ignorant with age.IMO the death penalty has as much to do with the value of maintaining or eroding a sense of the sacredness of life as it has to do with justice and crime rates. It's a bit like gun rights where you have to balance the value of lowering the overall death rate against the right of the individual to self defence. Statistics are not everything, there are effects on the "national psyche" to consider.

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

That being said, there are some people who, barring execution, should be incarcerated for life. There really are people beyond redemption, and we shouldn't bother trying. That doesn't mean we should torture them with inhumane accommodations. You don't torture an animal that kills (though often they're put down); you shouldn't torture a human who kills. This distinction about knowing right from wrong is ultimately a religious qualification. I'm not entirely sure some murderers don't "think" they're doing the right thing, to them.

The trick is separating the two, those who can and can't be redeemed.

True. The psychopath is said to know right from wrong, but I think it is more accurate to say that they know what will get them punished and what won't.

[mordacious1]

I_ do believe in redemption and rehabilitation. The Shawshank example, obviously dramatic, is true. People do change. People are sucked into situations were murder happens, and they are not entirely beyond redemption. Shit happens...

Shit does happen. The Shawshank guy was a teenager and was committing an armed robbery, innocent people got killed. His fault, but I think THOSE type of guys can be rehabilitated. But he most likely wouldn’t have gotten the needle for that today, unless a cop was killed. Usually the DP applies to heinous murders, rape and brutal torture killing of a child, for example. That kind of sicko can’t be rehabbed. That being said, iff the Left can ensure that they won’t let these brutal killers out again, I’m okay with life behind bars...but they broke that contract by letting these guys out:
https://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/parol ... ks-outrage

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

It's very hard to rehabilitate a dead person. It's also very hard to retcon an execution when the executed was innocent after all.

[Lsuoma]

Also hard if they are guilty.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

The far left (whatever that is, perhaps SJW left) doesn't really know what they want. They have little contact with the real world. What opinion they have on the situation "one the ground" is given to them by NPR and academia. So we have bleeding heart liberals who think psychopathic serial killers can be redeemed thru empathy, but also that a hapless drunken juveniles like Brock Turner should be raped in incarceration for ten years to life. The SJW left has no conception of what actual justice looks like. Confront them on this and they look at you with a blank stare, or the online equivalent.

At the end of the day, the far left's obsession with incarceration & capital punishment is about race. They think 'systemic racism' and cheap pot busts are at fault for the preponderance of blacks in prison and on death row, despite the fact that only 15% of prisoners are doing time for drug offenses (with many of those plea cops where the other more serious charges were dropped), and that blacks commit 1/3 of all violent crimes, including half of all murders.

It really is a mass mental illness whereby they believe that no white can ever do any good, and no black or brown can ever do any wrong.

_I_ do believe in redemption and rehabilitation. The Shawshank example, obviously dramatic, is true. People do change. People are sucked into situations were murder happens, and they are not entirely beyond redemption. Shit happens, and it has little to do with Jerry's--irrelevant to my mind--ideas on free will determinism. To relegate all murderers to lifetime incarceration is wrongheaded, to my mind. I know many people disagree, and I know that I might disagree too, if a loved one was taken.

We shouldn't rely too heavily on Stephen King novels for insight.

I favor 'one-strike-you're-out' indefinitely for all felonies -- until you've proven you've rehabilitated. That could be a few months or never. Along with expanded rehabilitation programs and grades of incarceration.

The trick is separating the two, those who can and can't be redeemed.

The Hare Psychopathy Screening is considered very reliable when conducted by trained professionals.

[KiwiInOz]

Good talk on narcissists. The title is a little screwy. It's about both male and female narcissists.

Very interesting from what I could get out of it. I was distracted by his amazing ass.
He really shouldn't wear tight jeans if he wants to be heard.

You may be suffering from hypersexualization.

Nah. He's just slut shaming.

[mordacious1]

If the Left is concerned with race, then they’d keep these people incarcerated. Half of all murder victims are Black males. When they let these murderers out, they don’t go to Andrew Cuomo’s neighborhood, or Gavin Newsom’s, or even Jerry Coyne’s. They go back into the Black communities where many of them came from. If they murder again, it will be those people who will suffer the consequences.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

If the Left is concerned with race, then they’d keep these people incarcerated. Half of all murder victims are Black males. When they let these murderers out, they don’t go to Andrew Cuomo’s neighborhood, or Gavin Newsom’s, or even Jerry Coyne’s. They go back into the Black communities where many of them came from. If they murder again, it will be those people who will suffer the consequences.

They seriously believe that most cons are in for smoking blunts. And those are the lucky ones, who weren't simply shot with their hands up for the crime of wearing a hoodie while black.

[katamari Damassi]

At the end of the day, the far left's obsession with incarceration & capital punishment is about race. They think 'systemic racism' and cheap pot busts are at fault for the preponderance of blacks in prison and on death row, despite the fact that only 15% of prisoners are doing time for drug offenses (with many of those plea cops where the other more serious charges were dropped), and that blacks commit 1/3 of all violent crimes, including half of all murders.

It really is a mass mental illness whereby they believe that no white can ever do any good, and no black or brown can ever do any wrong.

It reminds me of a few years ago there was a piece written by a white woman who was doing aid work in Haiti, and she was violently raped by a Haitian she had been working with. She didn't blame him, but instead blamed white males for the rape, because racism and oppression made that man a rapist.

[katamari Damassi]

So Melissa McEwen at Shakesville has called it quits after 15 years. She's thrown tantrums in the past when she has threatened to quit because her small cult was sufficiently sycophantic, but this time is different. She's not angry this time. She recently took a month long break from the internet and found she's enjoyed life more. She took down her twitter and patreon accounts. Of course in her farewell post she makes herself out to be a huge martyr for feminism. It'll be interesting to see how long this lasts; she's been an outrage junkie and attention seeker for such a long time, but who knows? She seems more at peace and maybe she's in a mentally healthier place now. I wish her well.

I don't know where I'm going to go for feminist cringe now.

[Keating]

Kill everyone at birth. This satisfies the pro-abortionists, and the pro-death penalty. If it's mandatory across the board, then we don't have to take the risk that they might be guilty. Guaranteed to completely solve the problem in a generation.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Completely off topic, but anyone watched Godless? That was fucking good.

[mike150160]

There's a topic?

[Matt Cavanaugh]

I started watching American Gods, but it sucked beyond belief. Neil Gaiman really is afflicted with negrophilia.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

There's a topic?

There are three.

Four if you count Tuvok's fantasies of rare, horrific diseases afflicting Peez.

[KiwiInOz]

I panicked briefly when I saw the headline about French musician killed by bear in Canada.

[KiwiInOz]

I started watching American Gods, but it sucked beyond belief. Neil Gaiman really is afflicted with negrophilia.

I'm quite enjoying it, and some of the episodes with Ibis, Anansi, Baron Samedi, and of course Shadow Moon, were beautifully cinematic.

[Bhurzum]

Completely off topic, but anyone watched Godless? That was fucking good.

Fantastic show!

Jeff Daniels is amazing in the show and really sinks into the role, very believable psycho character.

https://i.imgur.com/b44JtfX.jpg

Good recommendation, Phil.

[Bhurzum]

A wee example...

"The same god who made you also made the rattlesnake"

Tattoo material right there!

[MarcusAu]

"The same god who made you also made the rattlesnake"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDSLSk76WKo

[Bhurzum]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDSLSk76WKo

"all things scabbed and ulcerous..."

Nurgle is pleased!

[KiwiInOz]

Just watched episode 1 of Wu Assassins on Netflix. It's proof that diversity is no cure for corniness.

[Tigzy]

Speaking of Netflix, I recently binged on all three seasons of The Last Kingdom - and it is fucking excellent, even if the protagonist, Uhtred of Babbababbaeeuurgh occasionally sidles into Marty-Stu territory. The portrayal of King Alfred is fantastically good: physically weak and sickly, as history records, yet fiercely intelligent, cunning as all fuck and nursing a piety that sometimes borders on fanaticism. Considering it started out as a BBC series, it's quite astonishing to see no BAME folk in Anglo-Saxon England at all. Maybe Chiwetel Ejiofor was just asking for too much money to play Alfred, or something.

[Bhurzum]

No reason...

[MarcusAu]

Even less of a reason

Words: John Lennon (based on a 1971 Rolling Stone interview)
Sung by Tony Hendra (the manager in Spinal Tap).

[Bhurzum]

Sung by Tony Hendra (the manager in Spinal Tap).

That was actually quite moving.

8/10 - would play again.

[AndrewV69]

All your carbon taxes belong to us?

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

All your carbon taxes belong to us?

Hypocrisy and sanctimony aside, at least GT isn't as pig ignorant on the underlying issue as the conspiracy-theorising naysayers. If anything, climatologists have been a bit reticent of late in expressing how alarming they think the situation really is. Poking fun at the sanctimonious celebs is really just another way of negating the seriousness of the issue. If PJW really wanted to expose some AGW related lunacy he would be directing some snark this way:
https://youtu.be/DRBfM709Yqc
How do you get to be this ignorant? By studying Robotics at MIT apparently. What is it about engineering that attracts the Dunning-Krugerites?

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Hypocrisy and sanctimony aside, at least GT isn't as pig ignorant on the underlying issue as the conspiracy-theorising naysayers. If anything, climatologists have been a bit reticent of late in expressing how alarming they think the situation really is. Poking fun at the sanctimonious celebs is really just another way of negating the seriousness of the issue.

That's the big problem with Greta the Assburger and the rest of those climate virtue signalers -- they only succeed in serving as low-hanging pinatas for denialist shit-for-brains like PJW.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

I usually find Piers Morgan grating, but he nails it here:

Piers Morgan: Populism Is Rising Because Liberals Have Become Unbearable

[KiwiInOz]

I was all in favour of deinstitutionalisation, but I am reconsidering this having listened to the Chosen One's latest offering. And no, I'm not talking about GT.

[KiwiInOz]

Hypocrisy and sanctimony aside, at least GT isn't as pig ignorant on the underlying issue as the conspiracy-theorising naysayers. If anything, climatologists have been a bit reticent of late in expressing how alarming they think the situation really is. Poking fun at the sanctimonious celebs is really just another way of negating the seriousness of the issue.

That's the big problem with Greta the Assburger and the rest of those climate virtue signalers -- they only succeed in serving as low-hanging pinatas for denialist shit-for-brains like PJW.

Someone has to do it. The numpties will beat the messenger regardless of who it is (although David Attenborough probably gets a pensioner pass).

[KiwiInOz]

Speaking of numpties, flat earthers have infested LinkedIn. Someone posted a video of Space X's returning stage and the comments about CGI and reversed video were a wonder to behold.

Sometime I wonder if I am the only sane one in this sanatorium.

[KiwiInOz]

I usually find Piers Morgan grating, but he nails it here:

Piers Morgan: Populism Is Rising Because Liberals Have Become Unbearable

There's a bit of a feedback loop going on, and it's a race to the bottom rather than a virtuous cycle.

[KiwiInOz]

snip

https://youtu.be/DRBfM709Yqc
How do you get to be this ignorant? By studying Robotics at MIT apparently. What is it about engineering that attracts the Dunning-Krugerites?

Fuck me. The lunatics really are in charge of the asylum.

[AndrewV69]

Speaking of numpties, flat earthers have infested LinkedIn. Someone posted a video of Space X's returning stage and the comments about CGI and reversed video were a wonder to behold.

Sometime I wonder if I am the only sane one in this sanatorium.

:o :o :o

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[MarcusAu]

Sometime I wonder if I am the only sane one in this sanatorium.

Best to check. Ask yourself for a second opinion.

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

I usually find Piers Morgan grating, but he nails it here:

Piers Morgan: Populism Is Rising Because Liberals Have Become Unbearable

There's a bit of a feedback loop going on, and it's a race to the bottom rather than a virtuous cycle.

One of the more convincing explanations of the economic roots of populism I've seen. Perhaps he underplays other socio-political aspects but he knows his economics and he's entertaining. From watching some of his other talks I'm getting the impression that policy-makers and an awful lot of the financial world understand jack shit about fundamentals. He makes what looks to me like a good case that they mistake laws applicable to transient implementations of capitalist systems for universals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGuaoARJYU0

[Bhurzum]

Kaitlin Bennet speaks with another lefty...

These people are bat-shit crazy.

[Keating]

Sometime I wonder if I am the only sane one in this sanatorium.

Best to check. Ask yourself for a second opinion.

At some point you have to look at the numbers. It seems far more likely that you're the crazy one, rather than everyone else being crazy and you being the only sane one.

[Keating]

It's like the short horror story:

The last human on earth sat in a locked room. There's a knock at the door.

[Lsuoma]

I usually find Piers Morgan grating, but he nails it here:

Piers Morgan: Populism Is Rising Because Liberals Have Become Unbearable

There's a bit of a feedback loop going on, and it's a race to the bottom rather than a virtuous cycle.

One of the more convincing explanations of the economic roots of populism I've seen. Perhaps he underplays other socio-political aspects but he knows his economics and he's entertaining. From watching some of his other talks I'm getting the impression that policy-makers and an awful lot of the financial world understand jack shit about fundamentals. He makes what looks to me like a good case that they mistake laws applicable to transient implementations of capitalist systems for universals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGuaoARJYU0

I've been watching a few MB videos, ever since I came across him at nakedcapitalism.com (which is, BTW, a fine site itself). I find the vids both informing and entertaining.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

I'd say the simplest explanation for the rise of populism is that the elite have made no effort to hide the fact that they despite and don't give a damn about the rest of us.

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

Kaitlin Bennet speaks with another lefty...

These people are bat-shit crazy.

Funny thing about the enabling and inspiring violence thing is that it sometimes works the other way round to that in which the Resistance claim. At the risk of inflaming Rabbit and Bear, I think Brive was correct in his conjecture as to the roots of recent so-called Right-wing violence in the West. It generally isn't when national leaders talk about a problem that the violence happens, it's when people perceive a major problem in their societies and nobody is talking about it or is allowed to talk about it. Intense frustration has to be released somehow and some people will blow violently. Problem on the Left is that loons genuinely believe that there is a Nazi problem and the authorities refuse to act. They're in a real tizzy over it, hence the rampant violence. IMO the reason they haven't gone full fertiliser bomb is that there are so many public figures and media outlets agreeing with them, which releases some of the emotion.

[ThreeFlangedJavis]

Caveat to last post. You also have a problem when politicians and media openly and explicitly call for violence against an identifiable group or knowingly lie about people in a climate where the lie is likely to get those people attacked (looking at you BBC).

[Hunt]

We're mentioned in PZ's latest missive:

https://web.archive.org/web/20190822125 ... -them-out/

Wherein he lashes out at all those who remind him of the wedgies he received in high school. Scumbags unite! BTW, Peez, might I note that Hong Kong is battling Chinese commies, who are about as far from Trumpkins and JW Campbell as you can imagine.

Really, was there ever a bigger dope born than PZ?

[Lsuoma]

Well, he certainly doesn't know how to spell Doctorow's first name - it's Cory, not Corey.

[MarcusAu]

“The sausage is a cunning bird
With feathers long and wavy;
It swims about the frying pan
And makes its nest in gravy”

[Matt Cavanaugh]

We're mentioned in PZ's latest missive...
Wherein he lashes out at all those who remind him of the wedgies he received in high school.

That really is what it's all about. Peez has failed at masculinity his entire life, so when he bombasts " it’s time to overthrow the old order. There will be great pain in the churn", he's fantasizing about toppling all the boys & men who ever were better at being boys & men than he (which he defines as "misogyny" and 'toxic masculinity'.)

What a sad, defeated creature PZ is. Even his impotent rage seems especially flaccid of late.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Forget about Shithole foreign countries, we have shithole cities. This depiction is no exaggeration:

[Matt Cavanaugh]

alternate link

Tucker Carlson: The left wants to run the entire US. Let San Francisco be a cautionary tale

[CommanderTuvok]

There's a topic?

There are three.

Four if you count Tuvok's fantasies of rare, horrific diseases afflicting Peez.

:D

[MarcusAu]

So...concerning free will...

...and the death penalty for people that kill...


...If I recall correctly (which I don't necessarily- see following wiki-link) - Charles Whitman - the Texas Tower shooter requested that an autopsy be performed on him after his death - to try and find the cause of his actions.

The autopsy found a tumor in his brain - but did not conclusively link it to his actions (more info in the link above).

It does raise the question as to what extent he was acting under his own volition - and if he had survived, whether he should have been put in prison, or a mental hospital or possibly just operated on and released.


In some cases - justice seems to be a polite fiction at best.

[Mookie]

We're mentioned in PZ's latest missive...
Wherein he lashes out at all those who remind him of the wedgies he received in high school.

That really is what it's all about. Peez has failed at masculinity his entire life, so when he bombasts " it’s time to overthrow the old order. There will be great pain in the churn", he's fantasizing about toppling all the boys & men who ever were better at being boys & men than he (which he defines as "misogyny" and 'toxic masculinity'.)

What a sad, defeated creature PZ is. Even his impotent rage seems especially flaccid of late.

PZ has been doing "now it's time to get serious and kick ass" schtick since at least the early 2000's on Panda's Thumb. Every couple months he does a new variant of "This time I am really serious! No more Mr. Nice Guy!"

In addition to being one the least scientifically productive Ph.Ds in the history of the degree, he perhaps is academia's biggest paper tiger.

[Bhurzum]

My inner-child just wet his pants with excitement!

Loved the original and spent many happy hours rewatching it with my kids, a really special movie in my collection. Hope to buggery they don't muck this up!