Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

I guess history is forgotten […]

James, you might find something of interest (and an inkling of understanding, of my interests and viewpoints) in this recent paper…
Try it! You might like it!

A period and a question mark!? Well, it's a start…

What we choose today affects tomorrow--sounds a lot like both law and life, eh?

[…] the conservative legal movement’s adoption of originalism was no mere happenstance or relationship of convenience. It is, rather, founded on shared philosophical premises: a belief in the value of the past, the duties of the present, and the delicacy of a legal regime founded on both. Originalism, properly understood, has endeavored to preserve — and where necessary, restore — that regime in the face of relentless scholarly criticism, political attacks, and the ever-present desire to break free from
the constraints that prevent us from doing what we will.
(emphasis added)

I'm not sure you will understand my point, even with the underlining…
But put it in another context: Scientific consensus… Can you not see the difference? And why they must be different…?

The illusion of free will is great indeed

The cosmic blink of an eyelash of time that I have to be sentient in this crazy universe is fleeting […]

What is the task?

Perhaps that is the question I should have posed…

I presume you think there is no such thing! (But you don't really think it; you just react as you've been conditioned to do; and you'll reply, again without choice — a martinet.) When, I'd ask, did you "enlist" in this cause?
(Think back, James! When was your world so rocked, so shocked, that you decided that the best response was to absolve everyone of responsibility?)

The task, sir, is to be optimistic, for it is only the optimists who achieve anything in this godforsaken world.  Relying on a god absolves responsibility for all fools and idlers.

Define achieve.

Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky is one of the five things that happened in 1995 that Campbell believes opened the door to the future. The others are the O. J. Simpson trial, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Dayton negotiations that settled the Bosnian war, and the rise and fall of the Internet browser Netscape Navigator.

Quote from: The New YorkerClinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky is one of the five things that happened in 1995 that Campbell believes opened the door to the future. The others are the O. J. Simpson trial, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Dayton negotiations that settled the Bosnian war, and the rise and fall of the Internet browser Netscape Navigator.

Was 1995 a year of excessive (American) history?

Quote from: The New Yorker

Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky is one of the five things that happened in 1995 that Campbell believes opened the door to the future.

Quote from: jax on 2015-04-01, 12:43:08

Quote from: The New YorkerClinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky is one of the five things that happened in 1995 that Campbell believes opened the door to the future. The others are the O. J. Simpson trial, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Dayton negotiations that settled the Bosnian war, and the rise and fall of the Internet browser Netscape Navigator.

The world is not prepared for American history... too much dense. Besides, it gives us vomits.

The Portuguese government said on Monday that it would split the bank, Banco Espírito Santo, into two. The bank’s branches, customer deposits and healthy assets are being spun off into a new entity called Novo Banco that will receive a capital infusion of 4.9 billion euros, or about $6.6 billion, from bailout funds the government and central bank control. The remaining part of Banco Espírito Santo will hold the bank’s loan portfolio and will be wound down over time. Shareholders and some creditors of the banks are expected to lose most of their money as part of the plan.

Banco Espírito Santo’s financial problems can be traced to dubious loans the bank made to prop up other businesses that were controlled by the bank’s parent company. Last week, the bank reported losses of €3.58 billion in the first six months of the year largely because of those loans. This was not merely a failure of the Portuguese officials who had the primary responsibility for supervising the bank. The European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund share some of the blame because they have been intimately involved in Portugal’s economy and financial system for the last three years after lending the country €78 billion to help it get through a financial crisis. In May, the three organizations said “bank capitalization has been significantly strengthened” in Portugal, which suggests that they were overly optimistic about the progress that had been made.