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Dr.Device

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  1. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from TrickstaPriest in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    There's debate about everything, including whether or not the Earth is flat, so I don't find the existence of debate meaningful.
     
    An individual can be subject to multiple jurisdictions. Almost all of us are. I'm subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, the state of Texas, and the city of Austin. If I were in the military I'd also be subject to that jurisdiction. If I travel to England, I'm subject to the jurisdiction of that country, but still subject to the jurisdiction of the US (unless I go through the complex process of renouncing my citizenship). The amendment does not say subject exclusively to the jurisdiction of the US. The argument that being subject to another jurisdiction somehow means they aren't subject to US jurisdiction is entirely specious.
     
    Besides which, to argue that these children are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US is to argue that their parents also are not. If they are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US, then they are not bound by its laws. If that were the case, US law enforcement would have no authority over them. 
     
    Children of anyone with diplomatic immunity have always been excluded for exactly that reason. They, in fact, are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US. That's what diplomatic immunity is.
  2. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from Lawnmower Boy in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    But the law changed with the passage of the 14th amendment, which is quite explicit that those children are citizens.
  3. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from pinecone in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    There's debate about everything, including whether or not the Earth is flat, so I don't find the existence of debate meaningful.
     
    An individual can be subject to multiple jurisdictions. Almost all of us are. I'm subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, the state of Texas, and the city of Austin. If I were in the military I'd also be subject to that jurisdiction. If I travel to England, I'm subject to the jurisdiction of that country, but still subject to the jurisdiction of the US (unless I go through the complex process of renouncing my citizenship). The amendment does not say subject exclusively to the jurisdiction of the US. The argument that being subject to another jurisdiction somehow means they aren't subject to US jurisdiction is entirely specious.
     
    Besides which, to argue that these children are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US is to argue that their parents also are not. If they are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US, then they are not bound by its laws. If that were the case, US law enforcement would have no authority over them. 
     
    Children of anyone with diplomatic immunity have always been excluded for exactly that reason. They, in fact, are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US. That's what diplomatic immunity is.
  4. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from Lawnmower Boy in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    There's debate about everything, including whether or not the Earth is flat, so I don't find the existence of debate meaningful.
     
    An individual can be subject to multiple jurisdictions. Almost all of us are. I'm subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, the state of Texas, and the city of Austin. If I were in the military I'd also be subject to that jurisdiction. If I travel to England, I'm subject to the jurisdiction of that country, but still subject to the jurisdiction of the US (unless I go through the complex process of renouncing my citizenship). The amendment does not say subject exclusively to the jurisdiction of the US. The argument that being subject to another jurisdiction somehow means they aren't subject to US jurisdiction is entirely specious.
     
    Besides which, to argue that these children are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US is to argue that their parents also are not. If they are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US, then they are not bound by its laws. If that were the case, US law enforcement would have no authority over them. 
     
    Children of anyone with diplomatic immunity have always been excluded for exactly that reason. They, in fact, are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US. That's what diplomatic immunity is.
  5. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from Cygnia in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    But the law changed with the passage of the 14th amendment, which is quite explicit that those children are citizens.
  6. Like
    Dr.Device reacted to DShomshak in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    Confounding variables are the bane of social arguments based on statistical analysis. Do single-parent households cause poverty, incarceration, sexual abuse, etc? Or does poverty cause higher incarceration rates and incidentally make it harder for families to stay together? Or are these all epiphenomena of something else? The correlations do not necessarily show that you can solve these other problems by pressuring parents to stay together.
     
    Liberalism is a package deal. Poverty is declining worldwide along with homophobia, institutionalized misogyny, racism, and many other social evils. The connection between free markets and, say, religious tolerance is that it all begins with the liberal assumption that individuals matter more than traditional elites, taboos and social structures. Once you apply this idea in one part of society, it spreads. For instance, women freed from chattel status start their own businesses, increasing the society's net capacity to generate wealth.
     
    I will grant you, many contemporary American progressives seem to have forgotten that free markets are a liberal idea -- free people to seek their own benefit instead of locking them into traditional caste occupations, and give them access to property instead of elites locking up all the wealth -- but economic, political and social liberalism do go together and reinforce each other. On this I'll also recommend Acemoglu and Robinson's Why Nations Fail, which discusses this in detail. One of their major arguments is that attempts to combine free markets with social and political restrictions are doomed to fail: Either the authoritarian political system chokes the economy into eventual stagnation and decline, or the wealthier population demands social and political liberalization.
     
    The upshot is that when anyone seems to be defending Traditional Order, of any sort, I have my doubts. I think the evidence is pretty strong that breaking Traditional Orders usually produces more good than harm.
     
    Dean Shomshak
     
     
  7. Like
    Dr.Device reacted to Iuz the Evil in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    I'm honestly not that worried about the number of youth raised in single parent homes. 
     
    Bunch of other metrics on how we treat children strike me as compelling, aside from an apples to oranges comparison to when women were one step removed from chattel to their husbands due to economic and social pressure. I don't think the idyllic 1950s were all that fantastic for women, actually. 70 years ago was a pretty dark era if one was not a white male, in good health. And the further back you go, objectively the worse it gets. 
     
    I'm pretty good with not going back to that, it wasn't a great look for society. YMMV
  8. Haha
    Dr.Device reacted to Starlord in In other news...   
    This car doesn't have seat warmers or a rear camera...
     
    ...and this car doesn't have WiFi hotspot or a water sensitive windshield...
     
    ...but this car is juuuust right.
     
  9. Like
    Dr.Device reacted to Bazza in Avengers Endgame with spoilers   
  10. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from RDU Neil in Avengers Endgame with spoilers   
    As hard as it may be to believe, you are not the universal arbiter of importance. I'm not saying they needed more screen time. I thought Shuri being in the battle made perfect sense, and I don't have a strong opinion on Mantis. If all you're saying is that it wouldn't have made sense to spend more time on them away from the battle, given their place in the story, I have no problem with that. But to just flat say that the characters are unimportant is dismissive of the people out there who do care about those characters. Those characters are important to them, and their view of the movie matters just as much as yours.
  11. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from RDU Neil in Avengers Endgame with spoilers   
    They are not important to you. You aren't the only person the movie was made for.
     
    And as far as Shuri being combat capable goes, she's a princess in a country where rule can be determined by martial prowess. It's pretty likely that she has extensive combat training.
  12. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from Ternaugh in Avengers Endgame with spoilers   
    As hard as it may be to believe, you are not the universal arbiter of importance. I'm not saying they needed more screen time. I thought Shuri being in the battle made perfect sense, and I don't have a strong opinion on Mantis. If all you're saying is that it wouldn't have made sense to spend more time on them away from the battle, given their place in the story, I have no problem with that. But to just flat say that the characters are unimportant is dismissive of the people out there who do care about those characters. Those characters are important to them, and their view of the movie matters just as much as yours.
  13. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from Ranxerox in Avengers Endgame with spoilers   
    As hard as it may be to believe, you are not the universal arbiter of importance. I'm not saying they needed more screen time. I thought Shuri being in the battle made perfect sense, and I don't have a strong opinion on Mantis. If all you're saying is that it wouldn't have made sense to spend more time on them away from the battle, given their place in the story, I have no problem with that. But to just flat say that the characters are unimportant is dismissive of the people out there who do care about those characters. Those characters are important to them, and their view of the movie matters just as much as yours.
  14. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from drunkonduty in Avengers Endgame with spoilers   
    As hard as it may be to believe, you are not the universal arbiter of importance. I'm not saying they needed more screen time. I thought Shuri being in the battle made perfect sense, and I don't have a strong opinion on Mantis. If all you're saying is that it wouldn't have made sense to spend more time on them away from the battle, given their place in the story, I have no problem with that. But to just flat say that the characters are unimportant is dismissive of the people out there who do care about those characters. Those characters are important to them, and their view of the movie matters just as much as yours.
  15. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from Cygnia in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    People keep saying stuff like this, trying to equate the two parties, but I never see any actual coherent point by point comparisons.
     
    If it can be done so easily, please show us how. 
     
     
  16. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from drunkonduty in Avengers Endgame with spoilers   
    Tony built that gauntlet. I'm sure once he was in physical contact with it, his armor's shifting/reforming capability was up to the task.
     
    Also, the movie was great.
  17. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from Hermit in Avengers Endgame with spoilers   
    Tony built that gauntlet. I'm sure once he was in physical contact with it, his armor's shifting/reforming capability was up to the task.
     
    Also, the movie was great.
  18. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from Netzilla in Avengers Endgame with spoilers   
    Tony built that gauntlet. I'm sure once he was in physical contact with it, his armor's shifting/reforming capability was up to the task.
     
    Also, the movie was great.
  19. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from RDU Neil in Avengers Endgame with spoilers   
    Tony built that gauntlet. I'm sure once he was in physical contact with it, his armor's shifting/reforming capability was up to the task.
     
    Also, the movie was great.
  20. Thanks
    Dr.Device reacted to Pattern Ghost in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    Those accusations pre-date his Presidency by many decades. Here's a Vox article on the subject. (Note: Vox leans Left, but the point here is that this isn't a new thing.)
  21. Like
    Dr.Device reacted to Old Man in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    We know the republic is doomed when the voters are too feckless to even try and remove an openly corrupt and illegitimately elected executive.  When a thorough FBI investigation returns clear evidence of multiple felonies and a recommendation for impeachment and is met with "not a big bombshell", that's when we know America has given up.  Not with a bang, but a whimper.
  22. Like
    Dr.Device reacted to wcw43921 in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    The virtue--for lack of a better word--of having Mike Pence serve out the rest of this term is that while Trump may have a solid chance of winning a second term, the successor of a President forced to leave office in disgrace would not.  (Remember what happened to Gerald Ford after he took over for Nixon.)  Pence might not even decide to run, should he end up becoming President, and if he does--again, remember what happened to Gerald Ford.
     
    The important thing about impeaching Donald Trump, regardless of whether or not it succeeds, is that it sends a clear, resolute message to the rest of the world that not everyone supports this man, that not everyone shares his bigotry, his narcissism, and his hatred, that there are people in this nation and in this government that are willing to oppose him, not just with words, but with actions.  That there are still people in this nation who believe in the self-evident truths as written in the Declaration Of Independence, and the rights we have as human beings and citizens of the United States, as written in the Constitution and its amendments.  That there are still people willing to stand up for those rights, no matter who stands with them or who opposes them.
     
    Don't give up on us yet.  As a wiser man than myself said--"It ain't over 'til it's over."
  23. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from Netzilla in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    Maybe not for you personally, but if Hillary had been elected we wouldn't have concentration camps in my home state.
    We wouldn't have a serial sexual abuser as our latest Supreme Court justice.
    Our deficit wouldn't be skyrocketing at record pace from tax cuts that serve to concentrate wealth even more into the hands of the wealthiest.
    We wouldn't have a federal government that wants to strip me of the right to exist in public.
    We wouldn't be in the process of completely destroying the United States' status as a world leader.
    We wouldn't be in a trade war that serves only to stoke the ego of a petulant man-child.
    We wouldn't have the most corrupt administration since the Taft administration (and possibly ever).
    We wouldn't have a president who takes every opportunity to stoke the fear of other.
    We wouldn't have Nazis in the administration with the ear of the president.
     
    Exactly how would it have been worse under Hillary?
  24. Like
    Dr.Device got a reaction from csyphrett in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    Maybe not for you personally, but if Hillary had been elected we wouldn't have concentration camps in my home state.
    We wouldn't have a serial sexual abuser as our latest Supreme Court justice.
    Our deficit wouldn't be skyrocketing at record pace from tax cuts that serve to concentrate wealth even more into the hands of the wealthiest.
    We wouldn't have a federal government that wants to strip me of the right to exist in public.
    We wouldn't be in the process of completely destroying the United States' status as a world leader.
    We wouldn't be in a trade war that serves only to stoke the ego of a petulant man-child.
    We wouldn't have the most corrupt administration since the Taft administration (and possibly ever).
    We wouldn't have a president who takes every opportunity to stoke the fear of other.
    We wouldn't have Nazis in the administration with the ear of the president.
     
    Exactly how would it have been worse under Hillary?
  25. Like
    Dr.Device reacted to Pattern Ghost in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    Yeah, I'm not sure how this even came into that discussion. AFAIK, everyone from the doctor on down in the clinic is specially trained and these are private practices anyway. So, it's not like anyone's being forced to participate in the GCS process. Which only leaves people not wanting to provide routine or emergency care that's not related to the process.
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