The Trump Presidency: Part 20

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A short guide to the collapse of the economy:
To understand why the world economy is in grave peril because of the spread of coronavirus, it helps to grasp one idea that is at once blindingly obvious and sneakily profound.

One person’s spending is another person’s income. That, in a single sentence, is what the $87 trillion global economy is.

That relationship, between spending and income, consumption and production, is at the core of how a capitalist economy works. It is the basis of a perpetual motion machine. We buy the things we want and need, and in exchange give money to the people who produced those things, who in turn use that money to buy the things they want and need, and so on, forever.

What is so deeply worrying about the potential economic ripple effects of the virus is that it requires this perpetual motion machine to come to a near-complete stop across large chunks of the economy, for an indeterminate period of time.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/upshot/coronavirus-economy-crisis-demand-shock.html
 
Somehow over the past few decades people in general have been encouraged to assign equal validity to their own ideas versus those of the experts. In part it is a total misunderstanding of the Appeal To Authority fallacy. A to A states that an authority's opinion in one area does not make them an authority in another. It does not state that the views of an authority in their own area are no better than those of a non-authority.

I don't remember whether it was on this forum or not, but I saw a 9/11 Truther confronted with an opinion, counter to his own, from someone who had experience with and education in the subject in question (where he himself admittedly did not); he handwaved it away with a blithe "appeal to authority fallacy." But there is such a thing as a proper appeal to authority- it's no fallacy at all when the appeal is to an authority backed by relevant expertise; it's more accurately called "a cite" in this case.
 
Trump is now calling himself a Wartime President - which actually isn't that far off the mark.

This crisis might very well be the thing that gets him a second term, even though his administration is largely to blame for the lack of preparedness.
 
That's why science doesn't have authorities, only experts.

"When we are discussing things, certain opinions have to be excluded. That is what it means to have an area of expertise." - Sam Harris

But again a half-way, poor man's understand of logical fallacies that a they learn only enough to badly apply them wrongly is another thing we need to fix.

It's like stupid people have had why they are wrong explained them so many times without getting that they think logical fallacies are just words you say when you disagree with someone.

See the defacto definition of strawman now being "You made my argument look bad."
 
I don't remember whether it was on this forum or not, but I saw a 9/11 Truther confronted with an opinion, counter to his own, from someone who had experience with and education in the subject in question (where he himself admittedly did not); he handwaved it away with a blithe "appeal to authority fallacy." But there is such a thing as a proper appeal to authority- it's no fallacy at all when the appeal is to an authority backed by relevant expertise; it's more accurately called "a cite" in this case.


The really annoying thing was, a lot of them would quite happily commit a real Appeal to Authority fallacy when it was in their interests. "Listen to this guy, he was a cop!", and then you realize he's just spewing the same BS, and nothing in it is in any way relevant to his being a cop.
 
Trump is now calling himself a Wartime President - which actually isn't that far off the mark.

This crisis might very well be the thing that gets him a second term, even though his administration is largely to blame for the lack of preparedness.

I was just thinking that that will be how he will exploit this Covid crisis- not so much the overt "cancelling elections" or anything like that, but the more insidious use of faux-patriotic language like "we're at war with an invisible enemy! (But it's really Chinese!) You need to patriotically stay the course with your Commander-in-Chief against this (Chinese!) enemy! Gobless Amurrica! (It's from China!)"
 
I don't remember whether it was on this forum or not, but I saw a 9/11 Truther confronted with an opinion, counter to his own, from someone who had experience with and education in the subject in question (where he himself admittedly did not); he handwaved it away with a blithe "appeal to authority fallacy." But there is such a thing as a proper appeal to authority- it's no fallacy at all when the appeal is to an authority backed by relevant expertise; it's more accurately called "a cite" in this case.

When I cited the professional judgment of one of, if not the, leading DNA experts in the world on the credibility of crucial DNA evidence in a case, not only did the other poster claim an Appeal to Authority, but insisted that expert was a "paid shill". In fact, every single bonafide expert that disagreed with this poster was labeled a "shill" or "bent". Thus is the ability of people to hand wave away that which they do not want to accept.
 
Trump thinks he is Maverick in Top Gun. "You don't think. If you think up there, you're dead." Worse than that he's Troi beating Data at Chess because "Chess isn't just a game of logic, but of feeling and intuition" AS IF THAT MAKES ANY GODDAMN SENSE.

You know, if Troi used her empathic powers to defeat another person, it could make sense. Chess depends on predicting what move your opponent is going to make, so if you can get that empathically, you have a huge advantage.

But how does that work with Data?
 
Trump Tweets

The DNC will have gotten their fondest wish and defeated Bernie Sanders, far ahead of schedule. Now they are doing everything possible to be nice to him in order to keep his supporters. Bernie has given up, just like he did last time. He will be dropping out soon! MAGA/KAG

95% Approval Rating in the Republican Party, 53% overall. Not bad considering I get nothing but Fake & Corrupt News, day and night. “Russia, Russia, Russia”, then “the Ukraine Scam (where’s the Whistleblower?)”, the “Impeachment Hoax”, and more, more, more....

....Also, according to the Daily Caller, leading Sleepy Joe Biden in Florida, 48% to 42%.
 
Trump Tweets

I will totally protect your Medicare & Social Security!

Hitler Tweets

I will totally not invade Poland!

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Elvis Tweets

I didn't do no drugs!

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White Star Lines Tweets

We provide enough lifeboats!

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John Hammond Tweets

Spared no expense!
 
Hitler Tweets

I will totally not invade Poland!

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Elvis Tweets

I didn't do no drugs!

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White Star Lines Tweets

We provide enough lifeboats!

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John Hammond Tweets

Spared no expense!

Trump to Ivana:

I take you to be my wife; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherish, and to be faithful to you alone, as long as we both shall live.

Trump to Marla:

I take you to be my wife; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherish, and to be faithful to you alone, as long as we both shall live.

Trump to Melania/Melanie:

I take you to be my wife; to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherish, and to be faithful to you alone, as long as we both shall live.
 
Trump Tweets

I want all Americans to understand: we are at war with an invisible enemy, but that enemy is no match for the spirit and resolve of the American people...

...It cannot overcome the dedication of our doctors, nurses, and scientists — and it cannot beat the LOVE, PATRIOTISM, and DETERMINATION of our citizens. Strong and United, WE WILL PREVAIL!
 
I don't really remember seeing or hearing about this at the time. In Googling I discovered not many links come up to media stories and most, like the one above, are from non-U.S. outlets. (The quote above is from Britain's Evening Standard.) An American president retweeted a photo of a murdered man's corpse and accused one of his political opponents of being all in on it? What the bloody hell? Robert De Niro was right: Trump's a whackjob. It's beyond shameful. No words.



Below is a screen cap with the graphic image blurred.



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It's not that different to Benghazi. There is just a gratuitous picture there as well.
 
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