Oh snap! I’ve been pronouncing ma-caw since forever. Where did I get that?!

The title looks like it could be read Mac-ac and Cheese

That’s not exactly wrong, but it’s not the only reason. I’ve never been particularly interested LGBTQ+ issues, and Contrapoints’s transition first was kinda like, “K, I’m glad I’m learning about this stuff, I guess, but I have other interests.” After all, what drew me to both in the first place were their philosophical analyses and how they applied it to social issues. They were important to me for how they showed me how philosophy can be used, as opposed to DarkMatter5555 (I think that’s his name. Also, add him to the list), who I also used to watch, but that dude never grew out of the same stale template of animating god and the angel and regurgitating the most basic atheistic ideas.

So, my purpose in watching them was to learn how to apply principles to reality with a little learning along the way. But when they started focusing in on their transition, I just dropped off.

Yes. As a black man, America has produced a long very involved legacy of which I’m proud being my heritage.

Sure, it was absolutely founded on treating people like as sub-human, and there are people today that are trying to return me to that state, but fuck them as they’ve been fucked for the last century and a half. I’ll be damned if I let them represent America.

Contrapoints and PhilosophyTube were two big ones. I’d still watch Carlos Maza if he produced anything, but he hasn’t in like two years, so…I’ll include him, too.

From Kagan’s dissenting opinion:

In recent years, this Court has too often taken for itself decision-making authority Congress assigned to agencies. The Court has substituted its own judgment on workplace health for that of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; its own judgment on climate change for that of the Environmental Protection Agency; and its own judgment on student loans for that of the Department of Education. See, e.g., National Federation of Independent Business v. OSHA, 595 U. S. 109 (2022); West Virginia v. EPA, 597 U. S. 697 (2022); Biden v. Nebraska, 600 U. S. 477 (2023). But evidently that was, for this Court, all too piecemeal. In one fell swoop, the majority today gives itself exclusive power over every open issue—no matter how expertise-driven or policy-laden—involving the meaning of regulatory law. As if it did not have enough on its plate, the majority turns itself into the country’s administrative czar. It defends that move as one (suddenly) required by the (nearly 80-year-old) Administrative Procedure Act. But the Act makes no such demand. Today’s decision is not one Congress directed. It is entirely the majority’s choice.

[…]

The majority disdains restraint, and grasps for power.

What do you need Project 2025 for when you have the unaccountable conservative majority on the Supreme Court?

The “solutions” to this are called theodicy and are definitely a fascinating rabbit hole. They’re all unsatisfying, but philosophically interesting

Still the both sides thing?

Biden is demonstrably better on policy. For example, he has them.

Trump doesn’t have any at all.

I’d probably fail

No one wants to hear about issues. They want to hear promises on issues, but they don’t care to actually know, let alone understand, the policy.

That’s because long ago America was in fighting shape against internal threats to democracy. Mike Tyson hit on the jaw isn’t going down the first, second, or even 10th time. But each punch wears down Tyson’s form, so too do the unconstitutional attacks against America. Trump’s administration made America stumble on the edge of the ring, holding onto our institutions like the only ropes between us and losing.

A hit like that again will knock America out cold. Guaranteed.

Probably the same people Barry Goldwater warned us of:

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them

Falling fertility rates have long been a concern for economists

Fuck economists and their concerns. That’s why we’re in the situation in thy first place.

That study is so old! It’s even worse now!

Oh okay. It’s driven by housing prices in HCOL areas. That people are house poor makes sense and is reasonable.

Okay, so like…the green skills are stupid.

These could be technical skills relevant to renewable industries (knowing how to preserve water systems or install heat pumps for example), or broader skills such as climate action planning, corporate sustainability, sustainable procurement, sustainability reporting and impact assessment

Corporate sustainability?! Come the fuck on.

I got one.

Boomers are desperate to be good people but the experience of a whole three generations after them said they are so underskilled they actually pose a ‘risk’ to democracy.

Exactly. That’s exactly what OP is saying.

What’s the roadblock? Oh, of course, corporate heavy-handedness against the government:

This year, a former Caltrans executive said she was demoted after raising concerns about a repaving project that surreptitiously widened 3½ miles of the freeway where the toll lanes were being proposed. That project removed bushes and paved the median, creating more space for lanes. State regulations demand environmental analysis, a public airing and mitigation before major freeway widening, but none of that occurred.

Surprise surprise!

It’s like a double negative in my head, and it’s very confusing

Huge fan of water, personally. I drink literally a gallon of it every day. Usually more.