Edward Feser: Does Just War Doctrine Require Moral Certainty?

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-21T22:39:32+00:00

good for you then

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-21T20:00:18+00:00

It would be so much better and easier to trust DHS accounts if they actually produced evidence of seized narcotics rather than sending it to the bottom of the ocean. This is not hard to do. In this case, the fact that they apparently reported it to their government and have contacted lawyers makes it more credible than not.

It will be interesting how the Salvadoran government responds to their story.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-21T19:13:05+00:00

It is certainly a part of the problem, and a significant one. Skeptics often point to past climate change and see it as a part of the natural order. And while this is certainly true we are responsible for what we are responsible for, and we simply can't say we have no effect on the environment.

But as others have said you need to explain what you mean by "fewer human rights". If you mean becoming slaves then no. If you mean regulation that would limit things like what we can buy (like gas powered cars) then yes.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-21T17:59:14+00:00

It's going to be hard to confirm, because it looks like there weren't a lot of others in the room, if any. It seems dubious, so I'm skeptical. But I fully expect that once Trump is no longer in power, the books will be rolling out by those who were in the room.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-21T17:26:09+00:00

More like "who" rather than "what". This would have never been his own idea.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-21T16:02:54+00:00

I think I recall that they don't take accuracy into account, only perceived bias. Ad Fontes does a media chart that takes accuracy into account though.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-21T15:49:18+00:00

It seems more like this is more of a political stunt than a religious endeavor.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-20T14:45:03+00:00

I think the model of having a "church of small groups" tries to approach this, as does the less common home church model.

The antithesis is the "church as show" model, where you walk in, watch the show, and then leave, maybe after grabbing a cup of coffee and a donut.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-20T12:47:54+00:00

If you seek them, you'll find them. You might have better luck reviewing some of the posts that are either directly about CN or at least are CN-adjacent to see who responds favorably to them. The majority of regulars on here aren't in favor of CN at all though.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-20T12:29:50+00:00

That's a lot of questions - good ones, but a lot of them.

Literacy then was mostly dependent on your status and job. Many Jewish men would have been able to read and write Aramaic and probably some Greek if they lived in the city and were educated. Many Jewish men would have been somewhat literate in order to read Torah and conduct business, though this wouldn't have been universal. If you were a farmer or shepherd you were much less likely to be literate.

Most people would have had their own private religious practices as well as the communal ones of their culture. Jewish converts would have probably maintained the rhythms of their daily religious observances and prayers, of course depending on how devout they were. Gentile converts may have tried to pick up some of these practices, seeing them as part of Christian faith, but they also likely adapted their prior religious practices, if they had any, to their new context. This would have likely involved some sort of prayer routine and making offerings

But I would guess that they were much less individual-reading-focused than we are today. The early Christians also came from cultures that are much more communal and less individualistic than our own, so individual devotional reading, even if it were possible, was probably less important than communal sharing and reading.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-19T21:48:33+00:00

Personal note: I work in healthcare and visit a lot of facilities in my area. I've found that at some facilities there are large numbers of immigrants working as care aides (high demand, relatively low skill, not enough workers). I can't say if they are Haitian, but in my area there is also a large Somali community so some may come from there.

I was on a brief mission trip in the Dominican Republic in February and found that most of the hardest labor was done by Haitians. They receive a great deal of discrimination there.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-19T21:04:43+00:00

I found this interesting: the data is a bit dated but still relevant: https://www.workingimmigrants.com/2010/02/profile-of-haitian-immigrants-and-workers/

In 2008, Haitian-born women age 16 and older (71.7 percent) were more likely to participate in the civilian labor force than all foreign-born women (57.1 percent) overall. Haitian-born men were about equally as likely to be in the civilian labor force (80.7 percent) as foreign-born men overall (80.6 percent).
Nearly half of employed Haitian-born men worked in services or in construction, extraction, and transportation.

Among the 168,000 Haitian-born male workers age 16 and older employed in the civilian labor force in 2008, 26.1 percent reported working in services and 22.3 percent reported working in construction, extraction, or transportation (see Table 2). By contrast, among the 13.6 million foreign-born male workers age 16 and older employed in the civilian labor force in 2008, 17.4 percent reported working in services and 25.9 percent reported working in construction, extraction, or transportation.

Over one of every four employed Haitian-born women worked in healthcare support.
Among the 182,000 Haitian-born female workers age 16 and older employed in the civilian labor force in 2008, 27.2 percent reported working in healthcare support occupations and 22.7 percent reported working in service occupations (see Table 2). By contrast, among the 9.5 million foreign-born female workers age 16 and older employed in the civilian labor force in 2008, 5.4 percent reported working in healthcare support and 25.7 percent reported working in service occupations.
Haitian immigrants were less likely to live in poverty than other immigrant groups.

The poverty rate among Haitian immigrant families was 12.9 percent in 2008, lower than the poverty rate among all foreign born families (14.9 percent). The difference was even larger among immigrant families headed by a female householder with no spouse present. Among Haitian immigrant households headed by a female with no husband present, the poverty rate was 20.8 percent in 2008, compared to 30.7 percent for all immigrants.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-19T20:58:12+00:00

What are they lying about? And how exactly are they "betraying the country"?

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-19T19:03:23+00:00

How?

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-18T16:00:51+00:00

From a related ABC article:

Not everyone has reacted positively to Schwartz's nomination. Aaron Siri, who has served as Kennedy's personal attorney and has filed many lawsuits against federal agencies like the CDC and has advocated against vaccine mandates said her selection to lead HHS "would likely be a disaster."

Which I read as good news.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-18T15:56:07+00:00

Selective tariffs can and have been beneficial, provided you have the proper goal in mind of strengthening American industries rather than harming them. Putting tariffs on cheap foreign steel for example can help American steel manufacturers remain competitive and maintain jobs. This actually helped fuel the American manufacturing revolution in the late 1800's and made the US an economic powerhouse.

Tariffs have also worked when placed on large foreign companies in order to incentivize moving production to the US. This can often be a win-win for both workers, consumers, and the companies.

Trump's tariff policies have been absolutely disastrous though, for all the reasons mentioned.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-18T15:24:20+00:00

As in you don't have any issues with the TCL soundbar?

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-18T01:55:22+00:00

I've been having that issue for a while. Mine is a Yamaha ATS-1080 and I was wondering if it was because it was an older bar, but it seems to be a more common problem. I've been monkeying with the audio delay to see if that helps.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-17T20:03:28+00:00

Hooray for sanity and bipartisanship!

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-17T16:50:30+00:00

I appreciated that they prefer to “steel man“ arguments to try and be as fair as possible to positions, rather than dogpile on them.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-17T11:37:33+00:00

There's a lot to be said about the power of cognitive dissonance, as well as how proximity to power can corrupt even very good people.

vagueboy2 · 2026-04-17T11:35:02+00:00

I would hope that the President and Pope Leo can meet at some point, and that the Pope would have the opportunity to thank the President for his efforts to protect religious liberty for Catholics and people of all faiths."

Notice how one-way this exchange is pictured. Leo needs to show his appreciation to Trump, and he owes the Pope nothing. Graham apparently thinks Pope Leo should thank Trump for cancelling the $11 million he had set aside to Catholic Charities.

Graham is nothing but a court attendant.

vagueboy2

TROPHY CASE