I saw a post on Facebook and am passing it along for your reaction. I'm not asking whether you think the eight points below are good or bad, right or wrong. I have only one question for the purpose of our blog: ARE THEY TRUE? Perhaps more to the point of this blog, are they the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I don't think these eight statements lend themselves to comments like, "They are true for me, but not for you," or "These are my truth, but they may not be your truth." These are factual statements: they are either true or false, or perhaps partially true and partially false.
This brings up another question: Can we actually KNOW whether or not these statements are true? It would probably be more true to say, "I believe these statements are true" or "I believe these statements are not true." If that is the case, and our view of these statements is a belief or an opinion, on what evidence is our belief or opinion based?
The politics of these statements will likely be the subject of many rants and arguments; I hope we can focus instead on the process of how we come to truth.
Here are the eight statements, copied and posted by a friend of mine with no attribution to any media source:
Last week's federal government in review:
1. Trump fires all Obama-appointed Ambassadors and Special Envoys, ordering them out by inauguration day.
2. House brings back the Holman rule allowing them to reduce an individual civil service, SES positions, or political appointee's salary to $1, effectively firing them by amendment to any piece of legislation. We now know why they wanted names and positions of people in Energy and State.
3. Senate schedules 6 simultaneous hearings on cabinet nominees and triple-books those hearings with Trump's first press conference in months and an ACA budget vote, effectively preventing any concentrated coverage or protest.
4. House GOP expressly forbids the Congressional Budget Office from reporting or tracking ANY costs related to the repeal of the ACA.
5. Trump continues to throw the intelligence community under the bus to protect Putin, despite the growing mountain of evidence that the Russians deliberately interfered in our election.
6. Trump breaks a central campaign promise to make Mexico pay for the wall by asking Congress (in other words, us, the taxpayers) to pay for it.
7. Trump threatens Toyota over a new plant that was never coming to the US nor will take jobs out of the US.
8. House passes the REINS act, giving them veto power over any rules enacted by any federal agency or department--for example, FDA or EPA bans a drug or pesticide, Congress can overrule based on lobbyists not science. Don't like that endangered species designation, Congress kills it
We - progressive, liberal, libertarian, and conservative - need to all wake up to what is actually happening to our beloved country.I look forward to your comments.
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ReplyDeleteOkay, also here are some things related to what John said. I looked some things up. Nietzche said, "Since there is no God to will what is good, we must will our own good. And since there is no eternal value, we must will lthe eternal recurrence of the same state of affairs." Of course, Hitler used that logic. A=A: The Law of Identity: Something is what we say it is. The Law of Non-Contradiction: A is not non-A. If an atheist believes God does not exist, and a theist believes God does exist, both cannot be true. It is either A or non-A, but not both. If we ask if we do exist, then we do. Relative truth=trust is subject to the holder of truth, such as differing views on morality. The Gravity Test: I like this one the best: If one believes that he can fly, and he goes to the top of the Eiffel Tower and jumps off, and he flies, that is subjective truth. If he falls to the ground and dies, that's objective truth. And, the one I believe is best: The earth was a sphere even when it was thought to be flat. 4+3=7. Thanks to John for provoking further thought.
ReplyDeleteOkay. I deleted my first comments. I realized I made a mistake, and I couldn't edit it. These comments came before my research stated below. I am not one for "I think..." when we are talking about facts. Facts are either true, or they are not true, but they are not both. If all of these things happened, as Dave listed, then they are fact. How do we know? Check sources. This man doesn't cite sources. Doesn't mean he is without fact or false. I would need to go through all 8 statements, verify them, and then comment as to whether they are true or false. Now here's one of opinion: "Trump threw someone under the bus for...xyz, and then said..." Okay. Trump did not literally through someone under the bus. That's a euphemism. But did he do what the phrase means: make statements that denigrate the person's or entity's integrity. He may have. That one is a matter of opinion. Someone said to me, "Melanie, Rita through you under the bus, what do you think of that?" That actually happened, and it was my boss saying it. Answer: "Okay. Is she right? Do you think she just tarnished me as a professional, because I don't think she did." Then he can respond by making his own statement of opinion or fact: She said you were a poor Executive Director and she was "running the place." 1. She was not "running the place." She wasn't even closely qualified to do the job. 2. I am a poor Executive Director. Is she qualified to make that statement? She thinks it's true. I don't. That's opinion.
ReplyDeleteFalse:1,3,6, &8 (1 He has no standing yet;8 was passed in Oct, 2015)
ReplyDeleteTrue: 2 & 5 (with opinion modifier), 4, 7.
Basically the lack of date causes one to use the date at the top to indicate "recent activity," say in the last several days. However the use of "in the last week may prevail" for most of us. That said research needs to be done to catch the bias of the reporters or the one who compiled the list, and possibly edited it.
For this site the "whole truth and nothing but the truth" would render the "List" FALSE, while allowinf foe a few to be true.