I reluctantly admit I think my wife is right.

[Muhammed]

I threw a birthday party for my wife the other day. One of the attendees began speaking about a man she employees to work around the house (her husband died 5 years ago) to do odd jobs. Nice guy, I know him, he is a trump fan. She told us about how she had corrected him on a factual matter concerning politics. Referring him to the Snopes website for future reference. A debate ensued among the party attendees as to the efficacy of doing so. IOW, would being proven wrong change his mind about anything? Changing Beliefs - The Science PT

I said it is a worthwhile endeavor to confront someone with a misinformed belief. Most of the other folks there agreed with me. My wife dissented. After giving it further thought, and reflecting on my experience here, I'm coming around to her way of thinking. Why?

I just got in to a debate (by way of emails) with a friend of over 60 years about trump firing McEntarfer (he is a huge trump guy). The BLS lady. I sent him this cut and paste.......

Erika McEntarfer, the fired B.L.S. commissioner, is a highly respected economist with extensive experience in the production and analysis of government data. But she does not make policy in the way that someone like Powell does. Nor does the commissioner traditionally even make the particular numbers that the B.L.S. releases. Instead those numbers are produced by the 2,000 nonpartisan career staff members who work in the agency, in this case compiling the survey responses from the more than 100,000 businesses that report their employment to the B.L.S. every month. The numbers are finalized before they get to the commissioner, a political appointee but one who often serves across administrations. The role is much more about managing and overseeing the agency and making long-term decisions.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08/01/opinion/thepoint#bls-commissioner-trump-fire-erika-mcentarfer

.........explaining why the firing was misguided. He responded by sending an article about Hillary Clinton, written by Matt Tiabbi, about why she should be in jail.

My takeaway is none of the evidence provided about how the labor stats are compiled has changed his mind about whether McEntarfer deserved to be fired. It's not something he is willing to consider. I suspect my friend's around the house worker reacted the same way when his belief was challenged. He will use the sources of info he relies on to reinforce his false belief and disregard the factual info on Snopes. And so it goes.

Snopes is a disinformation outlet.

 

[Mashmont]

No it did not. The market was already collapsing when Fannie and Freddie were allowed into the market. They didn’t start subprime lending until late in the process.

Who Was to Blame for the Subprime Crisis?

From lenders to buyers to hedge funds, when it comes to the subprime mortgage crisis, everyone had blood on their hands.

www.investopedia.com

The market collapsed because of subprime lending and selling derivatives. The deregulation of Wall Street.

Derivates work fine until bad loans get defaulted on. Democrats insisted on unqualified colored people getting loans.

 

[konradv]

You guys sound like the life of the party.

The Communist Party

Spoken like a true fascist.

 

[Billiejeens]

Derivates work fine until bad loans get defaulted on. Democrats insisted on unqualified colored people getting loans.

Knowing the loans wouldn't be repaid.

 

[Billiejeens]

Spoken like a true fascist.

Comrad lies

 

[konradv]

Comrad lies

TRIGGERED!!!

 

[ThisIsMe]

The problem being one side is lying 100% of the time so the billionaires who control right wing media can continue to receive massive tax cuts.

They’ve convinced Relublican voters that the Democrats and the mainstream media are lying, evil and criminal, with absolutely no evidence or corruption charges to show for literally hundreds of investigations of Democrats since Nixon was forced from office

Republicans have been demonizing Democrats just to stay in power. By every economic measure you can make, the nation thrives when Democrats are in office and the economy collapses every time a Republican is in the White House.

These are FACTS not feelings.

BOTH sides lie, BOTH sides demonize the other. Lets not pretend otherwise.

 

[konradv]

BOTH sides lie, BOTH sides demonize the other. Lets not pretend otherwise.

You’re going to ‘both sides’ MAGA fascism?! Grow a brain.

 

[berg80]

Snopes is a disinformation outlet.

I can see why you'd feel that way since it routinely debunks the lies you believe in.

 

[ThisIsMe]

You’re going to ‘both sides’ MAGA fascism?! Grow a brain.

Its because its true...

 

[konradv]

Its because its true...

Thank you, I’ve been waiting for more board members to realize MAGA is fascist.

 

[DGS49]

Basing your understanding of the facts on the premise that 2,000 "non-partisan government employees" have compiled the numbers is...shall we say...questionable. I guarantee you that 90% of those 2,000 government employees are Democrat voters, if not registered Democrats.

I would want their conclusions to be corroborated by another source.

 

[marvin martian]

I threw a birthday party for my wife the other day. One of the attendees began speaking about a man she employees to work around the house (her husband died 5 years ago) to do odd jobs. Nice guy, I know him, he is a trump fan. She told us about how she had corrected him on a factual matter concerning politics. Referring him to the Snopes website for future reference. A debate ensued among the party attendees as to the efficacy of doing so. IOW, would being proven wrong change his mind about anything? Changing Beliefs - The Science PT

I said it is a worthwhile endeavor to confront someone with a misinformed belief. Most of the other folks there agreed with me. My wife dissented. After giving it further thought, and reflecting on my experience here, I'm coming around to her way of thinking. Why?

I just got in to a debate (by way of emails) with a friend of over 60 years about trump firing McEntarfer (he is a huge trump guy). The BLS lady. I sent him this cut and paste.......

Erika McEntarfer, the fired B.L.S. commissioner, is a highly respected economist with extensive experience in the production and analysis of government data. But she does not make policy in the way that someone like Powell does. Nor does the commissioner traditionally even make the particular numbers that the B.L.S. releases. Instead those numbers are produced by the 2,000 nonpartisan career staff members who work in the agency, in this case compiling the survey responses from the more than 100,000 businesses that report their employment to the B.L.S. every month. The numbers are finalized before they get to the commissioner, a political appointee but one who often serves across administrations. The role is much more about managing and overseeing the agency and making long-term decisions.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08/01/opinion/thepoint#bls-commissioner-trump-fire-erika-mcentarfer

.........explaining why the firing was misguided. He responded by sending an article about Hillary Clinton, written by Matt Tiabbi, about why she should be in jail.

My takeaway is none of the evidence provided about how the labor stats are compiled has changed his mind about whether McEntarfer deserved to be fired. It's not something he is willing to consider. I suspect my friend's around the house worker reacted the same way when his belief was challenged. He will use the sources of info he relies on to reinforce his false belief and disregard the factual info on Snopes. And so it goes.

The Snopes website??

LOL, you people are hilarious.

 

[marvin martian]

Basing your understanding of the facts on the premise that 2,000 "non-partisan government employees" have compiled the numbers is...shall we say...questionable. I guarantee you that 90% of those 2,000 government employees are Democrat voters, if not registered Democrats.

I would want their conclusions to be corroborated by another source.

This is like the 51 "non-partisan intelligence officials" who signed a letter claiming Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation.

 

[ThisIsMe]

Thank you, I’ve been waiting for more board members to realize MAGA is fascist.

No, thats not what it was saying. I was saying that both sides demonize the other

 

[konradv]

No, thats not what it was saying. I was saying that both sides demonize the other

I’m not interested in wishy washy both-sidesism, when we’re f@ced with fascism. Pick a side or get out of the way.

 

[JohnDB]

I threw a birthday party for my wife the other day. One of the attendees began speaking about a man she employees to work around the house (her husband died 5 years ago) to do odd jobs. Nice guy, I know him, he is a trump fan. She told us about how she had corrected him on a factual matter concerning politics. Referring him to the Snopes website for future reference. A debate ensued among the party attendees as to the efficacy of doing so. IOW, would being proven wrong change his mind about anything? Changing Beliefs - The Science PT

I said it is a worthwhile endeavor to confront someone with a misinformed belief. Most of the other folks there agreed with me. My wife dissented. After giving it further thought, and reflecting on my experience here, I'm coming around to her way of thinking. Why?

I just got in to a debate (by way of emails) with a friend of over 60 years about trump firing McEntarfer (he is a huge trump guy). The BLS lady. I sent him this cut and paste.......

Erika McEntarfer, the fired B.L.S. commissioner, is a highly respected economist with extensive experience in the production and analysis of government data. But she does not make policy in the way that someone like Powell does. Nor does the commissioner traditionally even make the particular numbers that the B.L.S. releases. Instead those numbers are produced by the 2,000 nonpartisan career staff members who work in the agency, in this case compiling the survey responses from the more than 100,000 businesses that report their employment to the B.L.S. every month. The numbers are finalized before they get to the commissioner, a political appointee but one who often serves across administrations. The role is much more about managing and overseeing the agency and making long-term decisions.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08/01/opinion/thepoint#bls-commissioner-trump-fire-erika-mcentarfer

.........explaining why the firing was misguided. He responded by sending an article about Hillary Clinton, written by Matt Tiabbi, about why she should be in jail.

My takeaway is none of the evidence provided about how the labor stats are compiled has changed his mind about whether McEntarfer deserved to be fired. It's not something he is willing to consider. I suspect my friend's around the house worker reacted the same way when his belief was challenged. He will use the sources of info he relies on to reinforce his false belief and disregard the factual info on Snopes. And so it goes.

Ummmm
Just as an FYI:
Snopes tends to lean left when discussing politically charged topics.

That doesn't mean that what it said about the former BLS chief was incorrect.

 

[LAUGHatLEFTISTS]

I threw a birthday party for my wife the other day. One of the attendees began speaking about a man she employees to work around the house (her husband died 5 years ago) to do odd jobs. Nice guy, I know him, he is a trump fan. She told us about how she had corrected him on a factual matter concerning politics. Referring him to the Snopes website for future reference. A debate ensued among the party attendees as to the efficacy of doing so. IOW, would being proven wrong change his mind about anything? Changing Beliefs - The Science PT

I said it is a worthwhile endeavor to confront someone with a misinformed belief. Most of the other folks there agreed with me. My wife dissented. After giving it further thought, and reflecting on my experience here, I'm coming around to her way of thinking. Why?

I just got in to a debate (by way of emails) with a friend of over 60 years about trump firing McEntarfer (he is a huge trump guy). The BLS lady. I sent him this cut and paste.......

Erika McEntarfer, the fired B.L.S. commissioner, is a highly respected economist with extensive experience in the production and analysis of government data. But she does not make policy in the way that someone like Powell does. Nor does the commissioner traditionally even make the particular numbers that the B.L.S. releases. Instead those numbers are produced by the 2,000 nonpartisan career staff members who work in the agency, in this case compiling the survey responses from the more than 100,000 businesses that report their employment to the B.L.S. every month. The numbers are finalized before they get to the commissioner, a political appointee but one who often serves across administrations. The role is much more about managing and overseeing the agency and making long-term decisions.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08/01/opinion/thepoint#bls-commissioner-trump-fire-erika-mcentarfer

.........explaining why the firing was misguided. He responded by sending an article about Hillary Clinton, written by Matt Tiabbi, about why she should be in jail.

My takeaway is none of the evidence provided about how the labor stats are compiled has changed his mind about whether McEntarfer deserved to be fired. It's not something he is willing to consider. I suspect my friend's around the house worker reacted the same way when his belief was challenged. He will use the sources of info he relies on to reinforce his false belief and disregard the factual info on Snopes. And so it goes.

Stopped reading after Snopes.

 

[ThisIsMe]

I’m not interested in wishy washy both-sidesism, when we’re f@ced with fascism. Pick a side or get out of the way.

You apparently are not understanding the words that are coming out of my finger tips.

I was just making an observation that both sides do it, in accordance with the theme of this thread

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

I taught a grad seminar, and I gave certain instructions on factual evidence to support a written assignment.

Once again, the proof that critical thinking is used by many to prove a point than evidence a real fact.

Leave those in your family and circle of friends on the outer limits on real contact. They are not worth it.