Today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “alas”, derives from this article in Canada’s National Post (click on screenshot):
I’m surprised that they made a joke about global warming rather than religion, though!:
Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ Dunning-Kruger
May 8, 2019 • 10:30 am
The more you know, the more you realize how little you know. We’re all just following Socrates in realizing that.
I am a science teacher in Norway and in my classroom a poster with this text is on the wall:
“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt” (Bertrand Russel)
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.” Charles Darwln.
I’ve got to remember that. Highlights the problem with quite a bit of philosophy (especially of consciousness and religion) nicely.
-Ryan
Indeed, the same goes undoubtedly for climate change (Senator ‘snowball’ Inhofe?).
Not to mention the Denier in Chief. Maybe we could replace the name ‘Dunning-Kruger’ phenomenon with the ‘Trump’ phenomenon? 🙂
I have some reservations about GMO’s, but that has more to do with the aggressive persecution of farmers who, unwittingly or not, have these GMO crops on their fields.
I am much more for the ‘Borlaugh’ stance, who offered his golden rice at no unreasonably increased price.
I suspect most politicians are a different kind of science denier than everyday citizens. They choose their position because it serves their political and/or economic interests to do so. Same for many climate change deniers who work for fossil fuel companies.
Right. It’s a vicious circle. Ignorant voters elect a politician who caters to their ignorant opinions (that’s the definition of democracy) in order to win reelection. Voters remain ignorant and reelect the politician. The only way to break the cycle is leadership. That’s pretty rare.
A big part of the problem is – many people, smart or dumb, don’t critically examine there sources of information. To many, Fox News appears fair and balanced. Trump sounds like a paragon of truth, justice, and the American way. Blatant logical fallacies can be missed if you’re not paying enough attention. Not much you can do to educate people who already know everything.
Especially since we are worse at evaluating our own opinions for logical fallacies than others’.
-Ryan
That’s undoubtedly true. So, kids should be schooled in logic and the need for vigilance regarding one’s own credulousness.
We know in pretty good detail that Trump was a huge loser, over one billion dollars during the period 1985 to 1994. Not surprising that someone such as this would have trouble with global warming. I saw the other day where one of the republican faithful was praising the advantages of the ice melting in the Arctic by noting the new routes this opened up.
I wonder if Trump really lost money over that period or simply hid his gains by some cheating mechanism. I am surprised that the coverage of the NY Times reporting have not mentioned this possibility. I have not read the NY Times report though.
Well, I am not a tax expert so defining loses and or gains on tax documents is not my thing. But I am pretty sure the people at Times who have been working on this stuff the past two or three years know what they are printing in the paper. I saw one of them on TV last night and she was pretty knowledgeable. By the way, they do not get all of this information on Trump from the IRS or from IRS leaks. In fact they won’t tell you where all they got it but it comes from other firms and institutions that Trump did business with during those years. When people like Trump go to banks or other institutions for loans or to do business they have to share or show financial records. The journalist find this stuff in these places.
I recall on one year of his taxes he claimed something like $53 million income from interest. Now, this is a staggering amount of interest income for anyone, regardless of your wealth. They could not say where this came from because they did not have the IRS schedules on this claim. This is an example of where they are still in the dark because they do not have the actual IRS records.
But, loses are loses as they show them. His loses were greater in some of these years than any other American. It is not the record of a smart business guy that he pretends to be. It is a record of a first class bullshitter who gets bailed out by daddy and moves on.
I am not disputing the Times reporting. How would they know if Trump was cheating on his taxes? Obviously you can’t easily discover cheating from tax info. That’s why it is cheating! And, as you say, they are in the dark without more information about his holdings.
I am also not saying that Trump is really a good businessman regardless of losses on paper. My guess is he is a cheat and, therefore, not a good businessman.
Additionally, Susanne Graig, NYT investigative reporter was the person I saw covering this on TV. She said they have a pretty good picture of that 10 year period and also, most of those loses are loses. There is some depreciation but most of it is lose. The lose can be his and also the bank or loan origination. What is needed, she said are the taxes in more recent years – exactly what the Congress is attempting to get. Because she said the most important thing is, where is his money coming from. Remember, daddy died in 1999.
Here’s an MSNBC discussion that, toward the end, mentions that he’s a major league tax cheat and they wonder if these losses the NYT is reporting are real:
https://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/david-cay-johnston-trump-is-a-criminal-level-tax-cheat-59139141969
Yes, I agree that tax fraud is number one on Trumps to do list. So, if in fact, he was ever being audited, they would discover this. Our tax audit system may also be a fraud. He paid no taxes at all in 8 out of 10 of these years. He also gave nothing to charities and so forth. So getting his taxes now, that the house is attempting to do is kind of important. Go back and see what they did with Nixon. He was a tax cheat as well.
I agree. The Dems have to pursue this even if impeachment is not in the cards.
In a tweet, Trump said that is exactly what he did, although he didn’t characterise it as cheating.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1126078422797602816
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1126078423816921092
Yes, there’s always a bright side. Central Park will make an excellent boating lake one day.
Tax reports have been uncovered by the Times which refer to a couple of decades ago. Also, in the news, New York State is right now working through some legislation that would allow public disclosure of tRump’s state tax records. Maybe tRump is really beginning to come unstuck. He’s been pretty immune to criticism up ’till now.
Reminds me of the “Encyclopedia of Ignorance” .Dozens of great essays by dozens of great minds doing fascinating work on the frontiers of their specialties.(Meant for this to be tagged to comment #1 above re: Socrates.👴
Only seven (7) mentions of “Trump” so far in the comments – TDS, anyone?
Meh. ALL of those references are in a sub-thread that discusses a specific issue having to do with Trump.
Nice try at poisoning the well though.
ALL of those references are in a sub-thread that discusses a specific issue having to do with Trump.
No they’re not. And now there are 15 mentions of Trump not counting the ones we just wrote. TDS.
It would be the elephant in the room if tRump *wasn’t* mentioned in this context. Sort of like having a conversation about serial killers without mentioning Jack the Ripper.
cr
I think that’s an especially appropriate simile.