domain:shapesinthefog.substack.com
TitaniumButterfly
1hr ago
Oh yeah, edited to be clear I meant Obama.
faceh
1hr ago
Yeah.
Although I think I'd couch it as "Wait until you're actually committed to each other in truly demonstrable ways, OR wait until marriage."
There was some real idiocy in thinking we could separate out the emotional components of sex from the act itself.
TitaniumButterfly
1hr ago
Has more to do with ancestry, not parentage. High-quality parents put out low-quality children from time to time. Degradation actually happens pretty quickly. Much less often, but still sometimes, two low-quality parents whose own parents were higher-quality put out a higher-quality child. Better to evaluate someone's grandparents than his parents if predictive power is what's desired.
BreakerofHorsesandMen
Sweet Sejenus
1hr ago
Was it dead center average by modern standards?
I’ve lost the studies and to be honest I don’t remember how they were coming to these conclusions, but I have heard that there is evidence that testosterone levels have been dropping over the last 60 years or more.
So it may be entirely possible that he is dead center average in 2025, and also that he is significantly less “masculine” than a dead center average man in 1950.
Maybe one of the Motte’s more organized posters will see this and can chime in with the statistics.
faceh
1hr ago
That song is unironically a banger if all you want is a party jam. Should pair well with Ye's recent hit single "Heil Hitler," although the vibes are very different.
For the purpose of federal law, unless theres' been intervening changes to the law or caselaw, 302s don't count, because they're not adversarial or judicial hearings and often run ex parte. They do count for state law, though.
The mental defective side of the bar has been used very widely, if not consistently. And some places will ingest someone who comes to them voluntarily as if they weren't willing (or even treat a voluntary admission as involuntary without undergoing the normal procedures), though thankfully that's one of the few places that courts have been willing to push back on.
But otherwise, yes; federal regulations require that it be involuntary.
I will caveat that many states have separate rules that trigger on voluntary commitment, or don't even require commitment at all (hey, Hawaii!). New Jersey is one such state; applications for a purchase permit require applicants to complete a consent to mental health record search form. While the statute only specifically prohibits giving permits to people with a voluntary or involuntary current committment (no, I don't know why), both state courts and police generally treat it as a blanket prohibition, along with many inpatient procedures. T.B. here isn't even getting to that point, so he can't challenge it, either.
hydroacetylene
1hr ago
Hé just said New Jersey did ban people from owning a gun for voluntary interactions with the mental health system?
Lykurg
We're all living in Amerika
1hr ago
The variation could at least be semi-realistic, to be in keeping with the original idea. Longer/no rounds, ground that really sucks to be on, 2v2, etc.
BurdensomeCount
—Your em dash is showing...
1hr ago
There is also a constitutional right to a jury trial in the US. However for civil cases I believe you still have to pay a jury fee to request one. The fact that something is a constitutional right doesn't mean the government can't make reasonable requests to the person who wants to exercise that right; in much the same way here, 13 weeks (3 months) of once weekly lessons (2 hours) is just 26 hours of gun practice before letting the person keep their gun at home as they wish. That's not excessive at all.
hydroacetylene
1hr ago
The average person does not understand this.
Hadad
1hr ago
All very likely true, but it remains so that driving isn't a constitutional right.
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
1hr ago
Not so. New Jersey makes voluntary admission to an inpatient mental health program cause for denial of a firearm permit. They also ask on their firearms form for ANY interaction with a mental health professional:
"Have you ever been attended, treated, or observed by any doctor or psychiatrist or at any hospital or mental institution on an inpatient or outpatient basis for any mental or psychiatric condition?" If yes, give the name and location of the doctor, psychiatrist, hospital, or institution and the date(s) of such occurrence
They're not asking for your health.
erwgv3g34
1hr ago
It would be, if the constitution was written today. Much of the bill of right was in responses to specific abuses by the British government, e.g. the third amendment exists because of the quartering acts. If the founders had witnessed the way the current government controls people through threatening their driving licenses, which are functionally required to participate in modern society anywhere outside of New York City, they would have surely included an amendment guaranteeing the right to drive.
Hadad
1hr ago
I'm sure there's old people who wept for Trump, too, but Obama's religious significance was a core part of his campaign and presidencies; the left worshiped him.
Any claims of MAGA "cultism" fall on deaf ears without a good explanation for why MAGA -- who routinely argue with Trump, even publicly -- are cultists without addressing the Obama elephant in the room.
Even Biden, to a lesser extent, but mostly due to relation to Obama as VP.
FtttG
1hr ago
not even "we decided to live together in a polycule
My understanding is that Scott is still polyamorous even after getting married.
hydroacetylene
1hr ago
Trump has grandchildren that are probably turning out ok themselves, too. It’s a contrast to Elon Musk’s ki
FtttG
1hr ago
I'm constantly reminded of Tom Hanks' son Chet as a reminder for how far the apple can fall.
Look, someone had to tell us it was a white boy summer.
hydroacetylene
1hr ago
But the bit of the interview about a Trump dynasty is explicitly about the idea of Eric and not Don Jr being the politician.
The obvious move is senator, here- is there a safe red state senate seat opening up? Eric can presumably establish residency wherever he wants and most people are voting for a replacement level party-line voter for senate.
When Obama was elected I met an older white woman who wept tears of joy and said he'd come to do the work of Christ.
BurdensomeCount
—Your em dash is showing...
1hr ago
Yes, but it is necessary if you ever want to drive the car. A compromise here could be that yes you can keep the gun reversibly modified so that it can never shoot (to look scary or whatever) but if you were to ever attempt to remove the modification to use it without a proper licence the law will come down upon you like a ton of bricks, just like how with driving (but much more severely).
In the UK we have the exact same problem. Still no gun necessary.
Pepper spray though is a good alternative (and honestly needs to be more widely available here).
Or equally you can have some sort of emergency gun licencing scheme where you get to have your gun early provided you can prove you have committed to taking lessons and passing your test and there is a genuine need like the case you mention, with a large and serious penalty if then you abandon your lessons without passing but don't hand the gun in.
BreakerofHorsesandMen
Sweet Sejenus
1hr ago
It seems fairly effective in East Asia, France, and Sweden.
It’s not perfectly effective, as it is fighting significant headwinds, but it is effective.
Hadad
1hr ago
As for the "political dynasty" stuff, what makes Trumpism so unique is the cultism,
The cultism, indeed. Imagine thinking a President was practically the Second Coming, and deifying him in art, or admitting that you wept with joy when he was elected. That'd be crazy.
Well, okay, so that was Obama, not Trump, but still. Pretty crazy! Or do you perhaps mean something different by 'cultism'?
I think it’s the decline of social trust coupled with the decline of religion. People no longer have the sort of bedrock idea that things are “true and right”. They think that society is full of cheats and liars, that everyone is lying to them, that the political class either doesn’t care about them or hates them, that there’s no person or group out there that actually cares about the country, and that essentially you can’t fully trust anyone or any institution. You also don’t have religion in an organized sense. You might vaguely believe, but it’s not a bulwark of truth where you can trust that you have it right.
In that situation a person who promises to fucking fix it is a relief. It’s how humans evolved. And whether or not it works, humans evolved to hand power to a guy who promises he can and will fix it. Even if you don’t agree with him, it’s a relief to finally put down th3 burden of having to worry about costs going up, crime, corruption, housing crisis, and wars. Trump or Obama have it, go back to grilling and watching baseball and living life.
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