MountingSuspicion

I'm not losing sight of anything. My comment wasn't off topic because it was a response to your comment, not the post. I wasn't supporting him or Elon/DOGE. I don't know why you're taking issue with my comment. I imagine we agree on more than we disagree on, I was just adding context. If you didn't want to talk about it, then I'm not sure why you brought it up.

I'm pretty sure it comes from his twitter handle or something like that. I think it's more irrelevant/childish humor and less serious than it's made out to be. Plenty of people refer to each other by their online handle, and I don't think it's intended as a "nickname" in the conventional way. I have a friend whose UN is basically "dragonslayer42069" and people call him dragon. I don't think he chose that name so his nickname would be badass or anything. I think he thought it was funny when he made it and people just happen to refer to him as dragon. Plenty of memorable vulgar UNs on microblogs and forums are just there for some immature fun.

That's fair. And tbh, she might have been cool with it, but I'm pretty sure lying has always been viewed as bad, so lying to a monarch who is "chosen by god" seems like a big no-no, even if for some reason they managed to not mentally classify it as "bearing false witness against a neighbor".

Honestly, I think a flat tax is just fine if the rate is 100%. The taxes can be used to cover UBI plus universal health/child care and room and board for everyone. See how into flat taxes he is then.

/s but his idea is also bad

I don’t know much about her or her family life, but kinda sad that she spent her life theoretically devoted to the church and then her brothers go around committing sins in her name. I'm not religious, and imho get that bag or whatever, but it comes off as a pretty cold thing to do.

Yeah, honestly, most blogs have a "skip to recipe" button. By now basically everyone knows why they do it (to keep their work from being ripped off), so I really don't mind the mild inconvenience of clicking an extra button. They're taking the time to share their expertise with the rest of us, I'm fine if they make sure they get credit for it.

I hate when people talk about getting out of jury duty. If you think the system is bad, jury duty is on of the few ways you can actually have a direct personal impact on it.

You're right on counts 1 & 2, but people have been referring to it as a buy out, so I'm just using that term colloquially, and the fact it's illegal doesn't change the fact that tens of thousands of federal employees are expecting/planning on quitting, since it effectively worked as a mass resignation.

Regarding point 3, I bring it up because essentially by stopping government employees from being paid, it's going to encourage people that were willing to hang on, to be less inclined to do so, depending on the length of the shut down.

Kinda feels like you didn't read my comment, because I already mentioned that stopping government work will not stop DOGE from dismantling the government. I'm not saying one or the other option is definitely better, but I'm sure it's something they're considering. If the government employees aren't there, there's nothing stopping musk et al from barging in and confiscating documents or electronics. Clearly it hasn't stopped them so far, but at least there are people there witnessing it and documenting it. If the shutdown happens and people just start leaving, it definitely makes DOGEs work easier.

I think there's legitimate concern that if they do that, they play directly into R plans. Currently tens of thousands of federal workers have taken the buyout, and the Rs are trying to dismantle every agency and encourage workers to step aside, stand down, and go quietly into that good night. Agreeing to a shutdown means the workers aren't going to be paid, and though the government has generally done back pay, I think it's a real concern that it's not going to happen this time. A lot of good people will be forced to leave to keep food on the table. Who does that really benefit? Elon and his ilk/their cronies aren't doing it for the pay, so they can get a skeleton crew to overtake these now empty agencies, and maintain it's for the good of America, while "spending gets sorted out".

Honestly, I feel bad for all the kids involved. Can you imagine their kids growing up knowing that they weren't enough to the point where their parents would murder for another? They were probably viewed as commodities. And that poor little girl. Her family did all this to get her a safer, more stable life, and now she's worse off for it. The whole situation is disturbing. I wonder what is wrong with these people.

Why does it matter if scholars don't think something is written by the apostles? Mark is not considered an apostle and people seem fine with him having his own sections. Even so, is the Bible not the word of god? Do we need entire history departments dedicated to tracking down who wrote what to declare what parts of the Bible are "real"? Isn't that in itself an issue? Also, plenty of obvious issues with the New Testament even if you only take from books by apostles theoretically written close to their own time. Enjoy Matthew 15:21-28 where Jesus refuses to help a woman's sick daughter because the woman was not Israeli/appropriately Jewish and refers to her and non-Israeli/jews as dogs. He eventually helps her once she says “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Cool dude I'm sure, provided you were from the right place and followed his exact religion. Gee, I wonder if that reminds you of anyone?

I agree that basically all religion is bad, but for what it's worth, in the story Eve knows she shouldn't eat the fruit, and she isn't tricked, she's tempted. Those are different things. It doesn't make god any less of a jerk, but mistakes like that can sometimes make people disregard a whole argument because they think you don't know what you're talking about.