volkris @volkris@qoto.org
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
Recent clutching at pearls over the shadow docket remind me of the sensationalized stories, misunderstandings, surrounding executive orders:
No, the shadow docket isn't the Court executing a power grab. The docket doesn't involve any addition or changed powers, just as an executive order doesn't allow a president any more power than he already has.
Instead, the shadow docket is simply a different way for the Court to implement its usual authorities more efficiently, for cases where the full argument procedure is wastefully involved.
Facebook is a service.
People don't get nothing back; they get the services that Facebook provides for them, the value that comes from the services.
You personally may not value Facebook's services, and that's fine, but it's silly to ignore that it does provide services that a whole lot of other people do value.
It should be all sorted, but no, we have a president threatening not to pay, and that's causing quite a lot of trouble.
This should be a matter of certainty. We should be able to rely on those payments, as per the 14th, but no, there is now uncertainty as to whether the president will follow through on his threats unless he gets his way.
What's false?
I'd be happy to bash Republicans too, but they're not currently at the center of this. Yes, the Rs shouting about default from the sidelines to push their own interests also deserve criticism.
Republicans and Democrats should be standing together to voice that Biden must pay the debts, holding him accountable for his threats to skip payments.
Why in the world would malice be involved? You think federal agencies are allowed to break safety and other laws so long as they aren't being mean?
That's pretty absurd.
The FDA's own documents show that they did not have the authority to use accelerated approval procedure. So yep, they only complained that the FDA broke the law in using the accelerated approval procedures illegally.
You're highlighting the breaking of the law in your effort to paper over it.
That's exactly what I'm pointing out to be false.
The Treasury pays the bills. The Treasury is part of the executive branch, controlled by Biden. Under the US system of government, it's up to the president to have the Treasury pay debt obligations... or not.
Congress can't default even if it wanted to. They don't have that authority since the Treasury isn't part of their branch of government.
So Biden has spent all these months threatening to have the Treasury not pay bills unless he's given more power to borrow.
It's a completely backwards spun story that relies on people not knowing how the federal government works.
I wouldn't use the term science that way.
I'd say #science refers to the application of a technique, the scientific method, to scrutinize proposed explanations and see if they really match what we observe in the world around us.
That's what makes scientific explanation distinct from other explanations for phenomena, the structured testing against observation.
One key value of the scientific method is the separation of the process from human bias. A hypothesis either is or is not consistent with observation, regardless of what the human thinks about it.
So in the end to inject morality into science is to undermine the whole value that science offers.
Republicans are the ones who voted for a debt ceiling increase to pay for all of this and avoid a crash to the economy.
In fact they're the only ones who have put forward and voted for a solution.
It's really funny to blame the only ones who have passed a solution for the problem others caused.
Well that's not true.
So much of the appropriations that are blowing past the debt ceiling right now came from the pandemic era appropriations bills passed by Democrats with Republican opposition, where Democrats didn't bother to include sources of funding for their programs.
They really have no grounds for pointing fingers at the other party that voted against all of that.
Republicans don't have authority to default. That is an executive branch function, and the executive branch is currently held by a Democrat.
Republicans in the House are the only ones who have so far voted to raise the debt ceiling...
It's pretty weird to blame the debt ceiling limit on the one people who have done something about it.
Wow, you two are both pretty far off in crazyville, but fortunately it really doesn't matter since the Treasury will be bringing in enough revenue to service its debts, so the president merely needs to follow the law and pay them out of what they Treasury is bringing in.
It has nothing to do with abortion or SCOTUS. That is getting really off point.
The Treasury will have the money to pay the debts, so it has to, and it is just ridiculous that we are putting up with a president threatening not to.
Republicans in the House are the only ones who have voted to increase the debt ceiling and get the US out of this mess.
It's really bizarre to accuse them of being the problem when they are literally the only ones who have voted forward a solution.
@Ruthie@mstdn.social
Citation needed
That's not how the federal budgeting works, though.
The Treasury has enough money to service the debts, so the 14th Amendment doesn't give the president any more power than It requires him to simply service the debts.
All of his threatening to default is simply illegal, honestly impeachable, given the 14th Amendment.
No, the Constitution, Article one I believe, specifies that Congress is given the authority to raise debt, so not only is the debt ceiling constitutional, it's constitutionally required.
The debt ceiling is just the term we used to refer to the amount that Congress has chosen to authorize to be borrowed.
It's not made up. It's right there in the text of the Constitution.
You forgot the option where we might be worried about it because the Democratic administration is threatening to default on debts despite the constitutional obligation to pay them.
I honestly am a bit worried about it.
They released it and voted it out of the House a couple of weeks ago.
volkris
boosted
@Gargron Hi, I post sexual content of an educational nature - SexEd for adults. Please can you tell me if there is a mastodon server that allows sexual content? Or is it like LinkedIn where all sexual references must be covered up? Thanks for your help! Jane
Well setting also matters.
I've been hearing conservatives correctly point out that this wasn't supposed to be a debate or interview, but rather a town hall, so why did the journalist keep trying to debate?
His steamrolling of the host reflected what a town hall is supposed to be, getting his answers out for the public to scrutinize, trying to get past her attempts to derail the event into something else.
There's a time and place for fact checking. This event was not that time or place, so the host just came across looking out of place.
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
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