you posted search results. do you have a specific essay you're referring to?

not that it matters, the powers that be will delete this thread before you've had your second cup of coffee. 🙄

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window

@Ninapearl I posted that link because all of his writings are worth reading. Brilliant mind.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK thank you. 🙏

( I don’t drink 2c so hopefully it will stick around)

Yes, consider the hurricane that just came in at Destin FL, It did more damage in South Alabama than on the coast, trees/powerlines, and very little at Gulf Shores, Alabama, BUT they canceled the Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores which brings in a huge amount of money to the area.

I used to consider myself a libertarian when I was younger, and I still firmly believe that our government has grown way too big. But where I’ve come to see a flaw in Bastiat’s ideals is that his theories are based on a world where everyone plays by the exact same rules. In today's global economy, we have to compete against foreign governments that aggressively invest in their own R&D and tech development, and we simply can't afford to take a backseat.

The space program in the 1960s is a prime example. Bastiat would have argued that forcing taxpayers to fund the race to the moon was unjust because it substituted a politician's grand ambitions for a family's immediate needs on Earth. But realistically, there was no short-term profit to be made in space back then, meaning private venture capitalists never would have stepped up to absorb that extreme risk from scratch. If the U.S. had followed a strict libertarian approach while the Soviet Union poured state funds into space travel and we would have been left completely vulnerable. Not that I believe landing on the moon was all that important, but by taking that massive gamble, the government built the foundation for the entire modern world. The extreme demands of the Apollo program forced the rapid maturity of microchips, advanced computing, GPS, digital cameras, and global telecommunications. If we had refused to play that game on principle, the U.S. wouldn’t have been the early developer of the tech we enjoy today—we would have handed the keys to the future to the Soviet Union.

The British tried global empire, remember the”sun never set on the British empire” . It did not work.

I believe we should protect our embassies, but quit being the world police. Pull ALL our troops home. Focus on defense. Focus on space. Welcome everyone here that wants to come, fingerprint and dna them, but welcome them. Go back to the Statue of Liberty quote.

Tax EVERYONE at the same gross rate, no deductions.

Free medical care.

Get rid of the wana-be-dictator.

ETA: Eliminate the ICE Thugs

@maddie260 you beat me to it. The uncontrolled greed ,billions and billions of dollars....how much do these people have to have before they say enough? And the horrible damage to the world that they are leaving for their heirs. There is no way to measure any of it.

I do believe U.S. military presence in some countries serves as a deterrent to certain neighboring ones with bad intent.

@carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 I agree another reason that the current removal of troops from our Allies is a method of destruction . Destroying our current beneficial relationships in order to form a ” new order” which will destroy our economy in so many ways. c

Sounds like the argument for planned obsolecence...

"Get rid of the wana-be-dictator."

We did. We got rid of two in recent years. One forced large parts of the US workforce to get a v@ccine against their will-or be fired! Another one..."Hussein" Ob@m@-forced millions of people against their will-or to be monetarily penalized-to get on on an insurance plan and who also lied to everyone about being able to keep their doctors. Thankfully, our great leader now...came in and fixed it where people at least, weren't forced to partake.

OMG!

OllieJane, did you ever hear of Typhoid Mary? She worked as a cook and was identified as the vector for spreading typhus, though she herself didn't get the disease. They quarantined her to prevent her from spreading the disease any further. They finally let her go with a promise that she'd never work as a cook again. So when released she went to work at a hospital as a cook where she continued to spread the disease. They finally quarantined her up where she remained until her death. She is thought to be responsible for at least 3 deaths and nearly 60 people who acquired the disease.

What would you have done with her?

@Annie Deighnaugh @OllieJane is our lesson : as taught by

the Greco-Armenian mystic and teacher George Gurdjieff. [1, 2]During the 1920s at his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in France, there was an old man who was incredibly rude, loud, and argumentative. He routinely pick fights, insulted everyone, and made life absolute misery for the other students. [1, 2, 3, 4]Eventually, the students couldn't take it anymore and complained to Gurdjieff, demanding that the man be kicked out. To their immense relief, the frustrating man packed his bags and left for Paris. [1]However, Gurdjieff did something completely unexpected: he went after the man, begged him to return, and actually paid him a monthly salary just to stay at the institute. [1]When his shocked students asked why on earth he would bring back someone so disruptive, Gurdjieff gave a lesson that perfectly sums up his philosophy on inner growth:

• The "Yeast" Analogy: He told his students that the irritating man was like yeast for bread. Without him, the community was too comfortable

IMO, lily summed it up best - that's exactly what I exclaimed when I read that non-sense 🙄

They walk among us...

annie...your little story (again, wrong analogy) doesn't hold water. Typhoid Mary was a proven chronic carrier. Also, another little problem here...the covid v@ccine never stopped transmission and...you also left out that natural immunity from prior infection was strong protection. So, forcing millions who already had recovered or even judged the risk themselves isn’t targeted quarantine of a known carrier. It was forced by a true authoritarian/dictator whatever you want to call him...under threat of losing your job. So anyone here talking to me about our great leader being a wannabe dictator...it doesn’t compare.

Quote: the covid v@ccine never stopped transmission

The purpose was to make covid survivable once an individual caught the disease, not stop transmission.

Masks are used to stop transmission. They knew masks were effective during the influenza pandemic earlier in the 20th century.

You'll never change a rabid cultist's mind. Jim Jones cultists believed it till the end.

OllieJane, actually the analogy is apt and you didn't answer the question. What would you have done with her? Do you think infringing on her personal liberty to save the lives of others was necessary and appropriate? Clearly there are many who believe it appropriate to infringe on the rights of women with the state dictating what they can and can't do with their bodies around contraception and pregnancy.

Also, who repealed the vaccination requirements? Did that have anything to do with the fact that the disease, with widespread vaccination offering population protection, became far less fatal and dangerous to society as a whole? Or did the "dictator" suddenly decide to stop dictating on a whim?

I also suggest cutting the experts in both 45 and 46 administrations some slack in dealing with this disease as there was so much unknown about it and they were doing the best they could with they knew at the time about a disease that had never been seen before that ended up killing over 1 million Americans, 15 million worldwide.

My post is gone!

OllieJane, just wanted to comment on this: "judged the risk themselves"

And that's the heart of the problem. The risks aren't just for the individual, but for all the people they could be exposing and infecting. You see, clearly Typhoid Mary judged the risks for herself that she was fine and she was a cook, so that's how she made her living. There was no thought from her for the many others she'd be (purposefully or not) inflicting pain, suffering and even death upon.

@maddie260 can you repost? didn’t see it? I see your post from 3days ago near the top

A side note: While looking up the numbers I found this notification on the NIH website:

"Per Executive Order 14434, federal agencies are now using "Super Intelligence" (SI) in place of "Artificial Intelligence" (AI). You may see both terms across NIH content during this transition."

I looked up the EO and found

• Scope of the Change: The directive strictly mandates that executive branch departments and agencies use "Super Intelligence" and "SI" in place of "Artificial Intelligence" and "AI" across official web content, policy documents, non-statutory text, and public press releases.
• The Underlying Technology Has Not Changed: Section 3(a) of the order explicitly tethers the new terminology directly to the pre-existing statutory definition of AI under 15 U.S.C. § 9401(3). The rebranding does not reflect a change in software, code, or machine architecture; it is an administrative update to official government naming conventions

If you are highly ingrained in the tech world you know that there is a term SuperIntelligence or Artificial SuperIntelligence (ASI) that has been and is being used to describe a hypothetical, future tier of superhuman cognition that does not yet exist.

Changing the name of AI to SI when describing AI not ASI (Superintelligence (one word) vs Super Intelligence (two words)) feels to me like they are trying to trick us into believing that they are using something that does not exist instead of using something that many Americans fear (AI).

I don't like being misled or tricked into believing something that isn't true. It is even more offensive when my money is being used to pay for the deception.

It's just one more calculated distraction, IMO - and potential wedge issue, among many others. The tactic is to keep everybody arguing amongst themselves so the perps can continue their looting and pillaging.

What’s behind the curtain? Watch my hand!

The attempt to distract while all pieces are kept moving. It is just the old shell game all over again.

Annie, there are people who have been brainwashed by a movement in this country, and you cannot reason with them. It's a continual lesson in futility.

Feathers, there has been some small erosion in his support, even among 3x voters for him. I'm ever hopeful that enough cognitive dissonance will get them to change their minds. That eventually if you trigger their own thinking about issues rather than just spouting the taglines that have been fed to them, that some cracks will appear in their defenses, doubts will creep in and they may eventually change their minds. I know it's an uphill battle, but one that's worth the effort.

I also recognize that 20% of russia still adored stalin even after he slaughtered 10-20 million of their own people. So some will never be reached. But at the margins, maybe. I am ever hopeful. And I think dialog between the 2 sides is always better than none at all.

Hungary, Serbia and Brazil. The turn out in Israel is huge …. hopefully a great sign that a murderer is being kicked out. Next will be Venezuela - Machado is back ! Hopefully any acquiescence to the Rump was for show only .

We will get our country back. c

I wonder will we get all the monies back, tho?

BTW, it is interesting that Bastiat appears to have been advocating some very Libertarian ideas.

Yes he was for the people. Too bad that has to be called a political leaning name isn’t it? For the rights of people to be healthy and taken care of by their country.

In this country at one time it was the Republicans who fought for the rights of slaves . Then everything changed and it was the Democrats who supported the beliefs that everyone deserved a cared for life of health and well- being .

I don’t ascribe to the idea that our political parties should be so far apart as they are today on the issues of ” for the people and by the people”.

Humanity doesn’t see ” them and us”. We are one . c