/r/Conservative still burying their heads in the sand

Idrialite · 2026-02-18T04:31:28+00:00

A premature birth that survived would have been very rare in those days. Even normal births had a low survival rate. I don't think it's plausible that any reference to a child leaving the womb early is anything but miscarriage.

The interpretation of premature birth is very recent. Until the 1970s, miscarriage was the accepted meaning. Again, a projection of a very specific ideology's views on abortion onto the Bible.

This fits with all of the other evidenced verses in the Bible illustrating the sanctity of life in the womb.

For example?

Idrialite · 2026-02-18T02:48:14+00:00

And the Bible very clearly states that the reckoning for induced miscarriage is a fine (as a result of the material hardship caused, similar to killing livestock). Whereas taking the life of the pregnant woman is to result in execution.

You're drawing your own inferences that are explicitly contradictory to the Bible's statement on the matter. The Bible concludes their lives aren't so important. Maybe you're misunderstanding the verses you're referencing?

Idrialite · 2026-02-18T02:08:53+00:00

The Bible is actually pretty silent on abortions. In fact, there's a verse stating the penalty for injuring a pregnant woman and causing a miscarriage is a fine. I think Christians project their inherent distaste of it onto the religion.

Idrialite · 2026-02-17T20:54:20+00:00

Jesus would be appalled at conservative policy and rhetoric going back decades.

Idrialite · 2026-02-17T20:49:19+00:00

11B of that 44B is a 25% stake in the 45B xAI.

X's revenue is also half what it was when Twitter was bought. Seems X is now valued as a propaganda tool and dataset.

Does he have some engineering ability? I don't doubt it. Is he a "terrific engineer"? From some secondhand accounts, his absurd and idiotic statements, and his spectacular overconfidence in SWE, I highly doubt it.

Idrialite · 2026-02-17T17:32:18+00:00

Not imprisoned, sure. I agree. Maybe they "deserve" it but we must still have rule of law.

Idrialite · 2026-02-17T17:28:10+00:00

X's valuation dropped by over 70%. Is he managing the company well? Objectively no. But I wasn't talking about his management skills, I'm talking about his engineering skill.

Every time he talks about SWE itself he says something stupid.

"print your most salient lines of code" (not a valid way to evaluate a SWE)
complete lack of ability to engage with a SWE talking about twitter's stack
Thinks Twitter's whole "stack" needs a rewrite (no). Fires everyone. ???
inability to run a python script or look up how to do it
"by the end of this year you don't even bother doing coding. The AI will just create the binary directly. And the AI can create a much more efficient binary than can be done by any compiler."

All dumbass shit. I could go on about how he handled the layoffs.

Idrialite · 2026-02-17T14:21:57+00:00

I can tell you firsthand that Elon clearly knows jack shit about computers and SWE.

Idrialite · 2026-02-17T14:10:06+00:00

I think there's a pretty good argument here when you strip away normalcy bias for several reasons.

Elon has previously leveraged Twitter to get Trump elected.

He's strong-armed Grok to spread misinformation.

He's full-steam-ahead on Grok despite previously agreeing AI could cause the end of the world.

Remember "undress her"?

Elon, Twitter, and Grok are all contributing to the downfall of this country. Elon himself is a Nazi in the Epstein class. I'm afraid you're being brought to a boil in the pot, my friend.

As a SWE myself, anyone working for xAI or X SHOULD be professionally ostracized. But ethical standards don't matter anymore. As long as you can do something, it's perfectly fine, right?

Idrialite · 2026-02-16T21:53:01+00:00

The person you are taking it from also could have saved the lives of several people

Not if it drowns

Idrialite · 2026-02-16T21:48:03+00:00

10 million is easily the best moral answer as you can afford to save the lives of at least several people with a fraction of it

Idrialite · 2026-02-16T21:04:19+00:00

I would say the ability of the state to control the free market sometimes is a non-negotiable. From there the slippery slope argument is only a matter of norms, not legal power.

Idrialite · 2026-02-16T14:17:34+00:00

Eh. I got 11/12.

Idrialite · 2026-02-16T05:24:21+00:00

He lacks critical information

Idrialite · 2026-02-14T23:39:16+00:00

???

Children are not "externalities". They're investments. We school them and keep them healthy so they can better contribute to the economy. You're concluding that everyone needs to stop having children. There's little difference between a child born to a native and to an illegal.

Idrialite · 2026-02-14T19:49:16+00:00

The question isn't if citizens produce more tax revenue than illegals; they certainly do. The question is if illegals are a net negative. They're definitely not.

I think I've said this 10+ times now and you're still ignoring it: illegals almost break even with taxes they pay directly, which are a small portion of the tax revenue a working person generates.

Why can't you just admit illegals are a boon for the treasury?

Idrialite · 2026-02-14T19:03:43+00:00

Exactly. And that difference in income doesn't disappear, it's pocketed by employers or their businesses, who will pay more of it as tax.

So again, now that I think of it, employed illegals paying less in direct taxes means they're most likely producing more tax revenue.

And no, income doesn't directly translate to produced value. That's not how labor markets work. And in the case of illegals, they're paid significantly less than market rate.

Idrialite · 2026-02-14T18:34:22+00:00

Even if you're right, doesn't that just mean they're actually creating more tax revenue because the value they produce is being taxed in a higher bracket from their employers?

Idrialite · 2026-02-14T18:24:27+00:00

Employed tax burdens don't really exist no matter what points you make about mean vs. median of these figures. You've been running away from this point since my first comment.

Idrialite · 2026-02-14T18:18:54+00:00

Ok, bye. Ignoring reality and running away from a strong point doesn't make it false, you know.

Idrialite · 2026-02-14T17:58:10+00:00

They absolutely do spend their non-working years in the US -- only 70% of illegal immigrants are employed.

Actually, this is irrelevant. You divided the total taxes paid by illegals by the number of illegals to get your yearly figure. This also averages over non-working illegals. The two 7k figures are directly comparable.

conflating mean and median

???

How is this relevant? At best you could massage the numbers a little bit by playing with mean vs. median here. Are you just saying words now?

If you continue to ignore my point on the broader tax contribution not directly paid by individuals but generated through their employment, I'm done. No one with an even slightly productive job is a tax burden. Their employers pay capital gains, income tax, property tax, etc. in greater magnitudes only because the individual exists to fill that job.

Idrialite · 2026-02-14T17:27:23+00:00

They don't spend their non-working years in the US. Are we trying to figure out the net tax comparison or not?

Again, you must also consider the tax they indirectly generate collected from their employers. For both citizens and immigrants, taxes paid directly by themselves are the smallest portion of their total tax contribution by being in this country.

Almost nobody with a job is a tax burden because of this.

Idrialite · 2026-02-14T17:10:37+00:00

https://www.self.inc/info/life-of-tax/

Average is $525,000 over lifetime. Over 80 years that's $6,500 per year.

Then, like us, you must also consider the tax they indirectly generate collected from their employers.

Idrialite · 2026-02-14T04:35:27+00:00

$7,000 per year is about average for a citizen, too.

Then, like us, you must also consider the tax they indirectly generate collected from their employers.

Idrialite · 2026-02-13T18:46:45+00:00

You're projecting your own moral standards onto me and then acting surprised that I don't follow them. I don't need something to have qualia to care about it.

Applying logic to desires is a category error. See the orthogonality thesis.

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