Coded Logic

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Posts by Coded Logic

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  1

  Lock him up!

  by Coded Logic in

  1. social
  2. current

  in 2009 businessman frederic bourke was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for violating the us foreign and corrupt practices act.

  the fcpa explicitly states that when us companies and citizens do business overseas they can not profit off of corruption.

  even if you yourself are not doing anything illegal - if you're partner is bribing officials or misusing their power - as bourke's partners were in azerbaijan - than you're liable.. guess who else is doing business in azerbaijan (as recently as january)?

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  Coded Logic

  
  
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  Lock him up!

  by Coded Logic in

  1. social
  2. current

  in 2009 businessman frederic bourke was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for violating the us foreign and corrupt practices act.

  the fcpa explicitly states that when us companies and citizens do business overseas they can not profit off of corruption.

  even if you yourself are not doing anything illegal - if you're partner is bribing officials or misusing their power - as bourke's partners were in azerbaijan - than you're liable.. guess who else is doing business in azerbaijan (as recently as january)?

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  Coded Logic

  In 2009 businessman Frederic Bourke was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for violating the US Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act. The FCPA explicitly states that when US companies and citizens do business overseas they can NOT profit off of corruption. Even if you yourself are not doing anything illegal - if you're partner is bribing officials or misusing their power - as Bourke's partners were in Azerbaijan - than you're liable.
  

  Guess who else is doing business in Azerbaijan (as recently as January)? That's right, Donald J. Trump. And his local partner in the country was Anar Mammadov - a man with a long history of corruption and who has links to the Iranian National Guard.

  It's time to subpoena Trump's taxes. As with any corrupt leader - all we need to do is follow the money.
  
  http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/6/14827604/trump-tower-baku
  
  
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  102

  Any atheists here? Have you come to terms with your new reality?

  by kpop in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  alone, without my safety net of "god" being there to remember me when i die.

  after much consideration, examining science, history and using logic, i have come to the conclusion that there is no "god" at least certainly no loving, personal "god.

  " shortly before my final conclusion was reached, i read an excerpt from an expression attributed to marcus aurelius, .

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  Coded Logic

  Wow Crofty, call me biased, but I think you absolutely tore his argument to shreds. I especially enjoyed your analogy about knowing the earth isn't flat. This really goes to the heart of a lot of the reverse arguments from ignorance that SBF attempts to bring into his conversations - aka - we don't know everything therefore we can't say anything definitively.

  But, despite any bias real or imagined, I have to say truly a good job to both of you. You both consistently talked to each other instead of past each other. Also, very refreshing to see a lengthy discussion like this without it deteriorating into a series of ad hominen attacks. I hope to read more from you guys.

  At the end of the day I don't rate debates by winners and losers. But on how informative I thought the discussion was. Good job again! :)
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  102

  Any atheists here? Have you come to terms with your new reality?

  by kpop in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  alone, without my safety net of "god" being there to remember me when i die.

  after much consideration, examining science, history and using logic, i have come to the conclusion that there is no "god" at least certainly no loving, personal "god.

  " shortly before my final conclusion was reached, i read an excerpt from an expression attributed to marcus aurelius, .

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  Coded Logic

  There's a Sam Harris protégé right there: as verbose as he is unreflective and unaccountably certain of his views.
  -SBF

  
  I thought Theoretical BS was very concise and to the point in his video (the complete opposite of verbose). It's also clear he's put a lot of thought into what he wanted to say as he had multiple lines of reasoning to support his conclusions. And he even pondered over the reasons for his own interest in the subject (aka he was reflective). I'm also not sure why you're stating he's "unaccountably certain of his views" as his level of confidence in his claims was never addressed in the video.
  He's a very well spoken guy with the ability to make important and valid points. I don't understand why your making a personal attack against him.
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  102

  Any atheists here? Have you come to terms with your new reality?

  by kpop in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  alone, without my safety net of "god" being there to remember me when i die.

  after much consideration, examining science, history and using logic, i have come to the conclusion that there is no "god" at least certainly no loving, personal "god.

  " shortly before my final conclusion was reached, i read an excerpt from an expression attributed to marcus aurelius, .

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  Coded Logic

  You're an atheist!!! Ohh, that it!
  .

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Aq00yJSxo
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  128

  YOU MIGHT BE A J.W.

  by brandnew in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if getting ready means putting on a suit........ you might be a j.w.. if going out to the field has nothing to do with grass, baseball diamonds, or football ......... you might be a j.w.. please continue my friends.......i know ya got some.....; ).

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  Coded Logic

  If you you can readily explain the difference between hemoglobin, platelets, and plasma - but you have no idea what your own blood type is . . . you might be a Jay-Dub.

  If you own a washer and dryer at home - but you still go to the laundry mat every Saturday morning . . . you might be a Jay-Dub.

  If you can name, in order, every single book of the Bible - but you can't name Jesus' twelve disciples . . . you might be a Jay-Dub.

  If paying for your child's college tuition doesn't keep you up at night - but worrying about them playing with a Sparlock doll does . . . you might be a Jay-Dub.
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  236

  What did President Trump say about Sweden?

  by kpop in

  1. social
  2. current

  this you will never see on the mainstream media.

  before you comment watch the whole video.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqaigeqxqgi.

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  Coded Logic

  
  

  This is Rizwan Farook. His co-workers at the Department of Public Health described him as being a really nice guy. He liked to work on cars and regularly played basketball with his friends. When reporters interviewed his neighbor they said he was a great guy and had helped them mow their lawn just one week earlier.

  Seemingly out of the blue, Farook and his wife went on a shooting rampage in San Bernardino. Fourteen people were killed and another twenty-two were wounded.

  What wasn't known until later was that two years earlier Farook, a life long Muslim who went to Mosque every week, decided he wanted to get serious about learning the Quran. So he memorized it. The whole thing. And somewhere along the way in his studies he became radicalized.

  This wasn't a mental illness. This wasn't a man who was mad about US foreign politics. This wasn't someone who lost a child and was seeking revenge. This was a man who sincerely believed that committing jihad was the best way for him and his wife to get into paradise.

  And his story is NOT unique among jihadists. The men who flew the planes into the World Trade Center were doctors and engineers from good families. Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, had a degree in biochemistry and went on to get his M.D. before turning to terrorism. Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez was an electrical engineer who killed four US marines and a Navy sailor in the Chattanooga shootings. Etc. Etc.

  
  

  Jihadist are often people who are well integrated in their communities with no prior mental health issues. They aren't crazy killers who happened to be Muslim. Rather, their middle and upper middle class american's who became radicalized by a dangerous ideology and carried out terrorism in the name of their religion.
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  4

  Interesting Opening statement in a public talk

  by Da.Furious in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on sunday we had a talk, don't remember the title, but something about having zeal in our ministry and we are the best and have the truth stuff.

  the interesting this was the opening statement.. the speaker started: we may have seen on the tv or knew about the tv evangelizers, they have lots of energy in preaching on the tv and they ask for donations by text showing on the screen and their talk is based on asking for money.. then he moved on to talk how our organization is truly supported by god...... the thing that shocked me as related to the ignorance the speaker had.

  haven't he watched the jw.org tv channel?

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  Coded Logic

  Hahaha, sad thing is - you were probably the only person in the whole building who caught that. JWs are trained NOT to make critical evaluations of the bORG. Obey. Obey. Obey
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  20

  Round and round the not so marigoround

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i find most theist arguments to be either confused or dishonest at best.

  and most of them i regard with mild annoyance.

  but there is one track of thinking that is so stupid it really gets under my skin: when, in order to try and prop up "faith", people try and tear down reason and critical thinking.

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  Coded Logic

  I'm not sure what you mean when you say consciousness arose out of nothing. Nor that it has no purpose. As best we can tell, consciousness is an emergent property of brains. The more complex the brain (e.g. fly vs dog) the more self aware the creature is. And I'd also point out that brains are immensely useful. Being able to make sense of our environments and make predictions about the future is hugely beneficial to an animals survival.

  More importantly, even if we do presume the existence of a God, I still don't see how that sheds any light on the nature of consciousness except to kick the question back further: Why do god's have consciousness and how did their consciousness arise out of nothing?

  ...

  Concerning Rowan Williams' pig analogy, I find it more than a bit problematic. We know a pig's foot print because we have prior experience with pigs feet and their foot prints. And even if we came across an unknown creatures foot prints we could still make educated guesses about that creature by comparing it to other creatures foot prints.

  But with gods we have no prior knowledge. We can't tell the difference between God inspired life and non-god inspired life. God created universes and non-god created universes. God formed consciousness and non-god formed consciousness.

  If Rowan William's can't tell me what types of legs a creature has - much less if it even has legs - how can we determine what kind of foot print such a creature might leave? If Rowan Williams' can't tell us any aspects or properties of a God - how can we go looking for the effects of such a god?

  . . .

  Lastly, I'd like to point out that the problem of evil is really only a problem for Christians who claim God is all loving and all powerful. And it's a HUGE problem. One that, rightly for the ages, atheists have been bringing up again and again because it's just so absurd. Saying it's "nothing new" in no way diminishes how utterly devastating this problem is to mainstream Christianity. It'd be a bit like saying "talking about Jupiter's moons orbiting the gas giant is nothing new against geocentricism. The Heliocentric's have been point this out for hundreds of years."

  Well yeah! Of course they have! Because it shows how demonstrably false the teachings of the church that the earth was the center of the universe was. Likewise, the problem of evil shows how demonstrably false many Christians belief that an all loving and all powerful god exists is.

  (P.S. The Bible saying something is "incomprehensible" in no way excuses it from it's demonstrable falsehoods. Christians don't get to say "God is incomprehensible" therefore humanity really did begin six thousand years ago with Adam and Eve despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary. Or, the sun was formed after the earth - or God is all loving and all powerful - or any other nonsense in the Bible - simply by appealing to the incomprehensible.)
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  Round and round the not so marigoround

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i find most theist arguments to be either confused or dishonest at best.

  and most of them i regard with mild annoyance.

  but there is one track of thinking that is so stupid it really gets under my skin: when, in order to try and prop up "faith", people try and tear down reason and critical thinking.

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  Coded Logic

  Alright, so not a single definitive statement we can make about gods or the supernatural.

  Are there any well founded - although provisional - statements we could make about the gods or the supernatural?

  (as a side note - would you not be comfortable making definitive statements about synthetic propositions [e.g. there are no married bachelors]? Would you not be comfortable making definitive statements about analytical propositions [e.g. apples do not grow from blue coral reefs]?