Justice Kennedy Retiring

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Comments

  • RoleModelsinBlood31
    RoleModelsinBlood31 Austin TX Posts: 6,242
    brianlux said:
    PJ_Soul said:
    brianlux said:
    my2hands said:
    my2hands said:
    dignin said:
    MAGA
    Exactly, we need to go back to when women and minorities couldn't vote. When your wife stayed at home barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. When you could just dump your trash in the nearest river. When you could send the boy to go work in the coal mine to earn support the family. The good old days when america was great!
    Not that far back, how about say, the 80's ? MAGA
    The 80's really sucked ass for an awful lot of people. 

    That was when wages began to stagnate, the "middle class" started to disappear, and the area we now call the Rust Belt started to get really rusty and then decay.  America has never really been great unless you are/were a wealthy (wealthy, not rich, there is a difference) white man.
    OK, the 70's work for you? The 60's ? Let me guess, it has always sucked in this nation.. MSCGA (Make the Supreme Court Great Again)
    Pretty obvious you're 100% white male
    Hey what’s wrong with being a white guy?
    Nothing, unless you have zero understanding of history and lack empathy for others. 

    The obvious point is America was NEVER great... not the 60's or 70's, not now, not ever. Maybe one day, but that seems to be a very distant future right now
    Don’t be so negative.  It’s not just America, it’s the world.  The world is an awful place, but it’s gotten amazingly better in just the last 50 years.  If everyone was as negative as you’re being right now there wouldn’t be many people who cared to live their lives at all.  Here’s a cool article that made me think about overpopulation and the world as a whole a bit more:

    https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Max-Roser-three-facts-everyone-should-know

    Stay positive, nothing gets achieved when you’re grumpy and negative.
    dont fall into the “I’m a liberal so I’m mad at everything” bullshit.  You can have hopes and be positive regardless of political leanings.
    It looks to me like Bill Gates is rather naive when it comes to population.  Let's look at the "facts":

    Fact #1: Since 1960, child deaths have plummeted from 20 million a year to 6 million a year.
    The natural mortality rate for humans is 40%.  I recently was told this by a science professor who teaches at a large, well known university on the east coast.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing anyone's child to die but the reality is, our wonderful medical advances have done little to stem over-population.


    Fact #2: Since 1960, the fertility rate has fallen by half.
    Gates says, "When the fertility rate is close to 2 children per woman, so that every couple is on average replaced by about two children, population growth is slow."   First of all, the key word here is "when".  It hasn't happened.  And secondly, since when does women having 2 children reduce population?  This is naive in the extreme.  Think about it.  A twenty five year old woman has two children.  When they turn twenty five, they have two children making 4 total.  The first mother is still alive.  Now we have a population of 7 (from one). When the 4 children have two children, that makes 8 new children and, at 75, the original mother is probably still alive- totally population, 12 to 13.  See what I mean?  Totally naive.

    Fact #3: 137,000 people escaped extreme poverty every day between 1990 and 2015.
    That's great!  OH, but wait.  That's 25 years.  How many people have been born into poverty in that amount of time.  Over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day.  In the last 25 years, imagine how many people became trapped by poverty.  Far more than the mere 137,000 who escaped.

    The world is getting better?  Wishful thinking.



    I could not agree more.
    You would argue against irrefutable facts from an oxford economist though.  They’re not from bill gates, he didn’t create the stats.
    I never said that those statistics were false.  What I'm suggesting is that you read the statistics with some critical thinking and draw realistic conclusions.  Gates failed to do this.  What I posted in reply to those facts are simply more facts.

    I appreciate your desire to find the  silver lining.  Of course we all want things to get better.  But deceiving ourselves with misleading facts will not make things better.  A more logical approach would be to look at the situation truthfully using critical thinking and some basic logic and then say, "OK, we're in a mess.  How can we make this better".  Really make it better, not just look better.
    Fair enough, I appreciate the response. I wasn’t posting that to stay an argument, people on here are just quick to attack.  I was posting it like you said to see the silver lining.  I totally agree things should be better, wasn’t suggesting they’re good enough by any means. 
    I'm like an opening band for your mom.
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,669
    brianlux said:
    my2hands said:
    my2hands said:
    dignin said:
    MAGA
    Exactly, we need to go back to when women and minorities couldn't vote. When your wife stayed at home barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. When you could just dump your trash in the nearest river. When you could send the boy to go work in the coal mine to earn support the family. The good old days when america was great!
    Not that far back, how about say, the 80's ? MAGA
    The 80's really sucked ass for an awful lot of people. 

    That was when wages began to stagnate, the "middle class" started to disappear, and the area we now call the Rust Belt started to get really rusty and then decay.  America has never really been great unless you are/were a wealthy (wealthy, not rich, there is a difference) white man.
    OK, the 70's work for you? The 60's ? Let me guess, it has always sucked in this nation.. MSCGA (Make the Supreme Court Great Again)
    Pretty obvious you're 100% white male
    Hey what’s wrong with being a white guy?
    Nothing, unless you have zero understanding of history and lack empathy for others. 

    The obvious point is America was NEVER great... not the 60's or 70's, not now, not ever. Maybe one day, but that seems to be a very distant future right now
    Don’t be so negative.  It’s not just America, it’s the world.  The world is an awful place, but it’s gotten amazingly better in just the last 50 years.  If everyone was as negative as you’re being right now there wouldn’t be many people who cared to live their lives at all.  Here’s a cool article that made me think about overpopulation and the world as a whole a bit more:

    https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Max-Roser-three-facts-everyone-should-know

    Stay positive, nothing gets achieved when you’re grumpy and negative.
    dont fall into the “I’m a liberal so I’m mad at everything” bullshit.  You can have hopes and be positive regardless of political leanings.
    It looks to me like Bill Gates is rather naive when it comes to population.  Let's look at the "facts":

    Fact #1: Since 1960, child deaths have plummeted from 20 million a year to 6 million a year.
    The natural mortality rate for humans is 40%.  I recently was told this by a science professor who teaches at a large, well known university on the east coast.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing anyone's child to die but the reality is, our wonderful medical advances have done little to stem over-population.


    Fact #2: Since 1960, the fertility rate has fallen by half.
    Gates says, "When the fertility rate is close to 2 children per woman, so that every couple is on average replaced by about two children, population growth is slow."   First of all, the key word here is "when".  It hasn't happened.  And secondly, since when does women having 2 children reduce population?  This is naive in the extreme.  Think about it.  A twenty five year old woman has two children.  When they turn twenty five, they have two children making 4 total.  The first mother is still alive.  Now we have a population of 7 (from one). When the 4 children have two children, that makes 8 new children and, at 75, the original mother is probably still alive- totally population, 12 to 13.  See what I mean?  Totally naive.

    Fact #3: 137,000 people escaped extreme poverty every day between 1990 and 2015.
    That's great!  OH, but wait.  That's 25 years.  How many people have been born into poverty in that amount of time.  Over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day.  In the last 25 years, imagine how many people became trapped by poverty.  Far more than the mere 137,000 who escaped.

    The world is getting better?  Wishful thinking.



    Wow...those are startling facts.
    How so?

    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • Go Beavers
    Go Beavers Posts: 9,618
    fife said:
    KC138045 said:
    fife said:
    brianlux said:
    Now as for the SCOTUS issue, yes, we are royally fucked.  Yes, this country has royally fucking reamed itself into the ground.  R.I.P America (for now).
    To be honest, you should take the (for now) out cause you are going to be fucked for a very very long time.  say bye to abortion in many states, say bye to gay marriage in many states, you want money taken out of politics?  sorry not going to happen. 

    America is beyond fucked.
    I may be wrong or just naive but I don't set this happening.  I really hope not anyways.
    oh, that is exactly their plan. you can bet on it. 
    This seems like such a trivial thing to want to overturn.  The conservative goal is to overturn Roe vs Wade?
      Conservatives have been begging for this for decades.  its a part of their cultural war
    Yup. And this is what conservative Christians have been using to justify voting for trump the sleeze. They are doing back flips about a changing scotus. 



  • Go Beavers
    Go Beavers Posts: 9,618
    jeffbr said:

    In 18 Months, Abortion Will Be Illegal In 20 States

    CNN's Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin Says:
    I think sometimes we talk about the Supreme Court too much in abstractions, about dignity and who is qualified and who is not. Let's talk facts. Let's talk about what America is going to be like that's different. You are going to see 20 states pass laws banning abortion outright. Just banning abortion. Because they know that there are now going to be five votes on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. And abortion will be illegal in a significant part of the United States in 18 months. There is just no doubt about that. And that is why these seats matter so much because -- one of my favorite lines about the Supreme Court was by Justice Robert Jackson who served on the Court in the 1940s and '50s. He said "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final." Somebody has the last word and here it is the Supreme Court and Roe v. Wade is doomed. It is gone because Donald Trump won the election. And because he's going to have the chance to appoint two Supreme Court Justices.

    I agree with Toobin. We're fucked. Gay rights, civil rights, reproductive rights, immigration, speech, etc... Thank goodness Ginsburg has no plans to retire until Drumpf is gone. I just hope her body can keep up with her mind.


    Have you seen her work outs? I’m opposite and hopes her mind holds up. Some of those other younger judges aren’t looking so fit, though. 
  • jeffbr
    jeffbr Seattle Posts: 7,177
    jeffbr said:

    In 18 Months, Abortion Will Be Illegal In 20 States

    CNN's Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin Says:
    I think sometimes we talk about the Supreme Court too much in abstractions, about dignity and who is qualified and who is not. Let's talk facts. Let's talk about what America is going to be like that's different. You are going to see 20 states pass laws banning abortion outright. Just banning abortion. Because they know that there are now going to be five votes on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. And abortion will be illegal in a significant part of the United States in 18 months. There is just no doubt about that. And that is why these seats matter so much because -- one of my favorite lines about the Supreme Court was by Justice Robert Jackson who served on the Court in the 1940s and '50s. He said "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final." Somebody has the last word and here it is the Supreme Court and Roe v. Wade is doomed. It is gone because Donald Trump won the election. And because he's going to have the chance to appoint two Supreme Court Justices.

    I agree with Toobin. We're fucked. Gay rights, civil rights, reproductive rights, immigration, speech, etc... Thank goodness Ginsburg has no plans to retire until Drumpf is gone. I just hope her body can keep up with her mind.


    Have you seen her work outs? I’m opposite and hopes her mind holds up. Some of those other younger judges aren’t looking so fit, though. 
    True enough. I know she wants to stick around. She hired 4 staff through 2020, so she's planning on keeping her seat. She's battled and beat colon cancer. Then battled and beat pancreatic cancer. She's had a stent in her coronary artery for several years but seems to be pretty healthy at this point. She's definitely a warrior. She even has an action figure now, lol. Kind of a judicial superhero.
    "I'll use the magic word - let's just shut the fuck up, please." EV, 04/13/08
  • Bentleyspop
    Bentleyspop Craft Beer Brewery, Colorado Posts: 11,517
    Guess I have to restart my plan to charter planes  to Canada so women can get safe legal abortions.
  • Bentleyspop
    Bentleyspop Craft Beer Brewery, Colorado Posts: 11,517
    edited June 2018
    :anguished:
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,669
    What the hell is going on here?  How much worse do things have to get before they get better. 

    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • mace1229
    mace1229 Posts: 9,892
    edited June 2018
    brianlux said:
    my2hands said:
    my2hands said:
    dignin said:
    MAGA
    Exactly, we need to go back to when women and minorities couldn't vote. When your wife stayed at home barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. When you could just dump your trash in the nearest river. When you could send the boy to go work in the coal mine to earn support the family. The good old days when america was great!
    Not that far back, how about say, the 80's ? MAGA
    The 80's really sucked ass for an awful lot of people. 

    That was when wages began to stagnate, the "middle class" started to disappear, and the area we now call the Rust Belt started to get really rusty and then decay.  America has never really been great unless you are/were a wealthy (wealthy, not rich, there is a difference) white man.
    OK, the 70's work for you? The 60's ? Let me guess, it has always sucked in this nation.. MSCGA (Make the Supreme Court Great Again)
    Pretty obvious you're 100% white male
    Hey what’s wrong with being a white guy?
    Nothing, unless you have zero understanding of history and lack empathy for others. 

    The obvious point is America was NEVER great... not the 60's or 70's, not now, not ever. Maybe one day, but that seems to be a very distant future right now
    Don’t be so negative.  It’s not just America, it’s the world.  The world is an awful place, but it’s gotten amazingly better in just the last 50 years.  If everyone was as negative as you’re being right now there wouldn’t be many people who cared to live their lives at all.  Here’s a cool article that made me think about overpopulation and the world as a whole a bit more:

    https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Max-Roser-three-facts-everyone-should-know

    Stay positive, nothing gets achieved when you’re grumpy and negative.
    dont fall into the “I’m a liberal so I’m mad at everything” bullshit.  You can have hopes and be positive regardless of political leanings.
    It looks to me like Bill Gates is rather naive when it comes to population.  Let's look at the "facts":

    Fact #1: Since 1960, child deaths have plummeted from 20 million a year to 6 million a year.
    The natural mortality rate for humans is 40%.  I recently was told this by a science professor who teaches at a large, well known university on the east coast.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing anyone's child to die but the reality is, our wonderful medical advances have done little to stem over-population.


    Fact #2: Since 1960, the fertility rate has fallen by half.
    Gates says, "When the fertility rate is close to 2 children per woman, so that every couple is on average replaced by about two children, population growth is slow."   First of all, the key word here is "when".  It hasn't happened.  And secondly, since when does women having 2 children reduce population?  This is naive in the extreme.  Think about it.  A twenty five year old woman has two children.  When they turn twenty five, they have two children making 4 total.  The first mother is still alive.  Now we have a population of 7 (from one). When the 4 children have two children, that makes 8 new children and, at 75, the original mother is probably still alive- totally population, 12 to 13.  See what I mean?  Totally naive.

    Fact #3: 137,000 people escaped extreme poverty every day between 1990 and 2015.
    That's great!  OH, but wait.  That's 25 years.  How many people have been born into poverty in that amount of time.  Over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day.  In the last 25 years, imagine how many people became trapped by poverty.  Far more than the mere 137,000 who escaped.

    The world is getting better?  Wishful thinking.



    Not that I care a lot about what Bill Gates says, but I  would agree with fact #2.
    Having 2 children doesn’t reduce population, but makes the growth stale.
    Assuming that every woman is a couple of 2 people (the analogy says from 1, but it’s really 2 people. Never heard of 1 woman reproducing by herself) if they are replaced by 2 children it balances out. The math discussion that attempts to disprove that also completely ignores older generations. When she is 25 then we can assume her great-grandparents have died, of which there are a total of 16. By 50 the grandparents and 75 the parents.  So that breakdown of parent, grandparent, etc will cancel out

    Post edited by mace1229 on
  • mace1229
    mace1229 Posts: 9,892
    brianlux said:
    my2hands said:
    my2hands said:
    dignin said:
    MAGA
    Exactly, we need to go back to when women and minorities couldn't vote. When your wife stayed at home barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. When you could just dump your trash in the nearest river. When you could send the boy to go work in the coal mine to earn support the family. The good old days when america was great!
    Not that far back, how about say, the 80's ? MAGA
    The 80's really sucked ass for an awful lot of people. 

    That was when wages began to stagnate, the "middle class" started to disappear, and the area we now call the Rust Belt started to get really rusty and then decay.  America has never really been great unless you are/were a wealthy (wealthy, not rich, there is a difference) white man.
    OK, the 70's work for you? The 60's ? Let me guess, it has always sucked in this nation.. MSCGA (Make the Supreme Court Great Again)
    Pretty obvious you're 100% white male
    Hey what’s wrong with being a white guy?
    Nothing, unless you have zero understanding of history and lack empathy for others. 

    The obvious point is America was NEVER great... not the 60's or 70's, not now, not ever. Maybe one day, but that seems to be a very distant future right now
    Don’t be so negative.  It’s not just America, it’s the world.  The world is an awful place, but it’s gotten amazingly better in just the last 50 years.  If everyone was as negative as you’re being right now there wouldn’t be many people who cared to live their lives at all.  Here’s a cool article that made me think about overpopulation and the world as a whole a bit more:

    https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Max-Roser-three-facts-everyone-should-know

    Stay positive, nothing gets achieved when you’re grumpy and negative.
    dont fall into the “I’m a liberal so I’m mad at everything” bullshit.  You can have hopes and be positive regardless of political leanings.
    It looks to me like Bill Gates is rather naive when it comes to population.  Let's look at the "facts":

    Fact #1: Since 1960, child deaths have plummeted from 20 million a year to 6 million a year.
    The natural mortality rate for humans is 40%.  I recently was told this by a science professor who teaches at a large, well known university on the east coast.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing anyone's child to die but the reality is, our wonderful medical advances have done little to stem over-population.


    Fact #2: Since 1960, the fertility rate has fallen by half.
    Gates says, "When the fertility rate is close to 2 children per woman, so that every couple is on average replaced by about two children, population growth is slow."   First of all, the key word here is "when".  It hasn't happened.  And secondly, since when does women having 2 children reduce population?  This is naive in the extreme.  Think about it.  A twenty five year old woman has two children.  When they turn twenty five, they have two children making 4 total.  The first mother is still alive.  Now we have a population of 7 (from one). When the 4 children have two children, that makes 8 new children and, at 75, the original mother is probably still alive- totally population, 12 to 13.  See what I mean?  Totally naive.

    Fact #3: 137,000 people escaped extreme poverty every day between 1990 and 2015.
    That's great!  OH, but wait.  That's 25 years.  How many people have been born into poverty in that amount of time.  Over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day.  In the last 25 years, imagine how many people became trapped by poverty.  Far more than the mere 137,000 who escaped.

    The world is getting better?  Wishful thinking.



    Now that I’m thinking about it, I must be reading #3 wrong. 137,000 escaped every day? That’s 1.25 billion over 25 years. One, that seems to be way too high of a numbered be accurate to me,  and if that is correct, how is that not great?
  • mace1229
    mace1229 Posts: 9,892
    8 years ago gun and ammo sales shot through the roof because they thought guns wouldn’t be for sale much longer. Many on the far right were freaked out.
    I see this very much the same. In 3 or 7 years we won’t see much difference than today. Probably most future decisions will sway conservative, but I doubt any previous decisions will be over turned.
    Thats my guess, as no one knows what will happen
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,669
    mace1229 said:
    brianlux said:
    my2hands said:
    my2hands said:
    dignin said:
    MAGA
    Exactly, we need to go back to when women and minorities couldn't vote. When your wife stayed at home barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. When you could just dump your trash in the nearest river. When you could send the boy to go work in the coal mine to earn support the family. The good old days when america was great!
    Not that far back, how about say, the 80's ? MAGA
    The 80's really sucked ass for an awful lot of people. 

    That was when wages began to stagnate, the "middle class" started to disappear, and the area we now call the Rust Belt started to get really rusty and then decay.  America has never really been great unless you are/were a wealthy (wealthy, not rich, there is a difference) white man.
    OK, the 70's work for you? The 60's ? Let me guess, it has always sucked in this nation.. MSCGA (Make the Supreme Court Great Again)
    Pretty obvious you're 100% white male
    Hey what’s wrong with being a white guy?
    Nothing, unless you have zero understanding of history and lack empathy for others. 

    The obvious point is America was NEVER great... not the 60's or 70's, not now, not ever. Maybe one day, but that seems to be a very distant future right now
    Don’t be so negative.  It’s not just America, it’s the world.  The world is an awful place, but it’s gotten amazingly better in just the last 50 years.  If everyone was as negative as you’re being right now there wouldn’t be many people who cared to live their lives at all.  Here’s a cool article that made me think about overpopulation and the world as a whole a bit more:

    https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Max-Roser-three-facts-everyone-should-know

    Stay positive, nothing gets achieved when you’re grumpy and negative.
    dont fall into the “I’m a liberal so I’m mad at everything” bullshit.  You can have hopes and be positive regardless of political leanings.
    It looks to me like Bill Gates is rather naive when it comes to population.  Let's look at the "facts":

    Fact #1: Since 1960, child deaths have plummeted from 20 million a year to 6 million a year.
    The natural mortality rate for humans is 40%.  I recently was told this by a science professor who teaches at a large, well known university on the east coast.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing anyone's child to die but the reality is, our wonderful medical advances have done little to stem over-population.


    Fact #2: Since 1960, the fertility rate has fallen by half.
    Gates says, "When the fertility rate is close to 2 children per woman, so that every couple is on average replaced by about two children, population growth is slow."   First of all, the key word here is "when".  It hasn't happened.  And secondly, since when does women having 2 children reduce population?  This is naive in the extreme.  Think about it.  A twenty five year old woman has two children.  When they turn twenty five, they have two children making 4 total.  The first mother is still alive.  Now we have a population of 7 (from one). When the 4 children have two children, that makes 8 new children and, at 75, the original mother is probably still alive- totally population, 12 to 13.  See what I mean?  Totally naive.

    Fact #3: 137,000 people escaped extreme poverty every day between 1990 and 2015.
    That's great!  OH, but wait.  That's 25 years.  How many people have been born into poverty in that amount of time.  Over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day.  In the last 25 years, imagine how many people became trapped by poverty.  Far more than the mere 137,000 who escaped.

    The world is getting better?  Wishful thinking.



    Not that I care a lot about what Bill Gates says, but I  would agree with fact #2.
    Having 2 children doesn’t reduce population, but makes the growth stale.
    Assuming that every woman is a couple of 2 people (the analogy says from 1, but it’s really 2 people. Never heard of 1 woman reproducing by herself) if they are replaced by 2 children it balances out. The math discussion that attempts to disprove that also completely ignores older generations. When she is 25 then we can assume her great-grandparents have died, of which there are a total of 16. By 50 the grandparents and 75 the parents.  So that breakdown of parent, grandparent, etc will cancel out

    I agree, partially.  My math was wrong.  Let's try this again.

    Population, 2.  Man, woman.

    They have two children

    Population, 4. man, woman, two children.

    Two children each have two children.

    Population, 8.  Two parents, two children, four grandchildren.

    Yes, eventually the original two die off but in their wake leave a larger population. 

    Some articles I've read argue that the 2 child scenario will eventually reduce population.

    But now, again, let's use some critical thinking.  What is "eventually"?  And in an already over-populated world, how long can we wait for that (theoretical) eventuality?  Most scientists see us on a collision course with a major extinction event, the result of human activity that has driven planetary ecosystems out of balance. 

    But nature always wins.  Equilibrium or total annihilation will happen.  We can be passive or active in influencing what happens.  
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,669
    mace1229 said:
    brianlux said:
    my2hands said:
    my2hands said:
    dignin said:
    MAGA
    Exactly, we need to go back to when women and minorities couldn't vote. When your wife stayed at home barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. When you could just dump your trash in the nearest river. When you could send the boy to go work in the coal mine to earn support the family. The good old days when america was great!
    Not that far back, how about say, the 80's ? MAGA
    The 80's really sucked ass for an awful lot of people. 

    That was when wages began to stagnate, the "middle class" started to disappear, and the area we now call the Rust Belt started to get really rusty and then decay.  America has never really been great unless you are/were a wealthy (wealthy, not rich, there is a difference) white man.
    OK, the 70's work for you? The 60's ? Let me guess, it has always sucked in this nation.. MSCGA (Make the Supreme Court Great Again)
    Pretty obvious you're 100% white male
    Hey what’s wrong with being a white guy?
    Nothing, unless you have zero understanding of history and lack empathy for others. 

    The obvious point is America was NEVER great... not the 60's or 70's, not now, not ever. Maybe one day, but that seems to be a very distant future right now
    Don’t be so negative.  It’s not just America, it’s the world.  The world is an awful place, but it’s gotten amazingly better in just the last 50 years.  If everyone was as negative as you’re being right now there wouldn’t be many people who cared to live their lives at all.  Here’s a cool article that made me think about overpopulation and the world as a whole a bit more:

    https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Max-Roser-three-facts-everyone-should-know

    Stay positive, nothing gets achieved when you’re grumpy and negative.
    dont fall into the “I’m a liberal so I’m mad at everything” bullshit.  You can have hopes and be positive regardless of political leanings.
    It looks to me like Bill Gates is rather naive when it comes to population.  Let's look at the "facts":

    Fact #1: Since 1960, child deaths have plummeted from 20 million a year to 6 million a year.
    The natural mortality rate for humans is 40%.  I recently was told this by a science professor who teaches at a large, well known university on the east coast.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing anyone's child to die but the reality is, our wonderful medical advances have done little to stem over-population.


    Fact #2: Since 1960, the fertility rate has fallen by half.
    Gates says, "When the fertility rate is close to 2 children per woman, so that every couple is on average replaced by about two children, population growth is slow."   First of all, the key word here is "when".  It hasn't happened.  And secondly, since when does women having 2 children reduce population?  This is naive in the extreme.  Think about it.  A twenty five year old woman has two children.  When they turn twenty five, they have two children making 4 total.  The first mother is still alive.  Now we have a population of 7 (from one). When the 4 children have two children, that makes 8 new children and, at 75, the original mother is probably still alive- totally population, 12 to 13.  See what I mean?  Totally naive.

    Fact #3: 137,000 people escaped extreme poverty every day between 1990 and 2015.
    That's great!  OH, but wait.  That's 25 years.  How many people have been born into poverty in that amount of time.  Over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day.  In the last 25 years, imagine how many people became trapped by poverty.  Far more than the mere 137,000 who escaped.

    The world is getting better?  Wishful thinking.



    Now that I’m thinking about it, I must be reading #3 wrong. 137,000 escaped every day? That’s 1.25 billion over 25 years. One, that seems to be way too high of a numbered be accurate to me,  and if that is correct, how is that not great?
    I read that wrong to.  If it is true, that is great.  I'd like to see more references to verify this.  I tried to do the math but got bogged down.

    Brookings Institute findings indicate that poverty is indeed on the decline but not quickly enough.


    OK, fine.  Good!

    Oh, but wait.  We left something out.  Earth Overshoot Day.  We all know what that is by now (if not, Google it).  That day comes earlier every year.  That day cannot come earlier every year and have poverty reduced worldwide at the same time with disastrous results in the long run.  We cannot both eliminate poverty and strip the planet of resources with epic failure resulting.

    Critical thinking.  Consequences.  Without taking those into account, all arguments collapse under the weight of false assumptions.

    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • HughFreakingDillon
    HughFreakingDillon Winnipeg Posts: 39,758
    every set of parents will eventually die off. they all cancel each other out. it is just a matter of time. it doesn't matter that in a 100 year span they multiply, eventually it will even. the only way it's not even is if they have more or less than 2. we only had 2. so i'm Even Freaking Steven. 
    By The Time They Figure Out What Went Wrong, We'll Be Sitting On A Beach, Earning Twenty Percent.




  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,669
    every set of parents will eventually die off. they all cancel each other out. it is just a matter of time. it doesn't matter that in a 100 year span they multiply, eventually it will even. the only way it's not even is if they have more or less than 2. we only had 2. so i'm Even Freaking Steven. 
    I don't think you're factoring in that the generations overlap.  If the average life span were the same as the age at which people reproduce, and no one died of unnatural cause, that is the only way the number would stay the same.

    But I don't know how to precisely explain this. Dammit, where's a mathematician when we need one!
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • mace1229
    mace1229 Posts: 9,892
    brianlux said:
    every set of parents will eventually die off. they all cancel each other out. it is just a matter of time. it doesn't matter that in a 100 year span they multiply, eventually it will even. the only way it's not even is if they have more or less than 2. we only had 2. so i'm Even Freaking Steven. 
    I don't think you're factoring in that the generations overlap.  If the average life span were the same as the age at which people reproduce, and no one died of unnatural cause, that is the only way the number would stay the same.

    But I don't know how to precisely explain this. Dammit, where's a mathematician when we need one!
    If this was the beginning of time, then yes the population would grow due to overlap for the first 75 years. After that, they would die off as quickly as they are being born. But we’re already at that point with older generations dying off.
    But I don’t see how having 2 kids would reduce population. I guess if you factor in a certain percentage would never have kids, and a small number would die before having kids then yes the population would slowly decline.
  • NewJPage
    NewJPage Posts: 3,320
    mace1229 said:
    8 years ago gun and ammo sales shot through the roof because they thought guns wouldn’t be for sale much longer. Many on the far right were freaked out.
    I see this very much the same. In 3 or 7 years we won’t see much difference than today. Probably most future decisions will sway conservative, but I doubt any previous decisions will be over turned.
    Thats my guess, as no one knows what will happen
    The right was freaking out because that's what it always does. There has literally never been a push to ban guns. Sane people at the time said it was nonsense, just as sane people now are saying to v wade is toast
    6/26/98, 8/17/00, 10/8/00, 12/8/02, 12/9/02, 4/25/03, 5/28/03, 6/1/03, 6/3/03, 6/5/03, 6/6/03, 6/12/03, 6/13/03, 6/15/03, 6/18/03, 6/21/03, 6/22/03, 7/12/03, 7/14/03, 10/3/04, 10/5/04, 9/9/05, 9/11/05, 9/16/05, 5/16/06, 5/17/06, 5/19/06, 6/30/06, 7/23/06, 8/5/07, 6/30/08, 8/23/09, 8/24/09, 5/4/10, 5/7/10, 9/3/11, 9/4/11, 10/11/13, 10/17/14, 8/20/16
  • fife
    fife Posts: 3,327
    unsung said:
    fife said:
    KC138045 said:
    fife said:
    brianlux said:
    Now as for the SCOTUS issue, yes, we are royally fucked.  Yes, this country has royally fucking reamed itself into the ground.  R.I.P America (for now).
    To be honest, you should take the (for now) out cause you are going to be fucked for a very very long time.  say bye to abortion in many states, say bye to gay marriage in many states, you want money taken out of politics?  sorry not going to happen. 

    America is beyond fucked.
    I may be wrong or just naive but I don't set this happening.  I really hope not anyways.
    oh, that is exactly their plan. you can bet on it. 
    This seems like such a trivial thing to want to overturn.  The conservative goal is to overturn Roe vs Wade?
      Conservatives have been begging for this for decades.  its a part of their cultural war
    Are they racist or begging for abortion to end?
    Are they Racist for this?  did i ever say that?  no I am not saying that they are racist for this.  this about religion for many conservatives.
  • my2hands
    my2hands Posts: 17,117
    edited June 2018
    Anybody that thinks an outright assault on Roe v Wade and abortion rights isnt about to happen, I have a bridge to sell you
    Post edited by my2hands on
  • HughFreakingDillon
    HughFreakingDillon Winnipeg Posts: 39,758
    brianlux said:
    every set of parents will eventually die off. they all cancel each other out. it is just a matter of time. it doesn't matter that in a 100 year span they multiply, eventually it will even. the only way it's not even is if they have more or less than 2. we only had 2. so i'm Even Freaking Steven. 
    I don't think you're factoring in that the generations overlap.  If the average life span were the same as the age at which people reproduce, and no one died of unnatural cause, that is the only way the number would stay the same.

    But I don't know how to precisely explain this. Dammit, where's a mathematician when we need one!
    well I thought I was. Because if every set of parents in every generation started with 2 people, had 2 kids, and then those parents die off, the end result is a net 2. Overlap is moot. Because of course there will be fluctuations with that overlap, but it will always be a net average of 2. 

    I guess I'm not getting it. My simple mind is using this equation:

    2 (current parents) + 2 (new kids) -2 (current parents when they eventually die) = 2 people total
    By The Time They Figure Out What Went Wrong, We'll Be Sitting On A Beach, Earning Twenty Percent.