Allen Stairs
@allenstairs.bsky.social
Retired academic philosopher, non-retired philosopher. Phil of sci, dabbler in QM, phil of religion, politics, bad puns.
When news stories refer to Trump as "the President," they're following long-standing practice, but it makes me wince -- not just because I want him not to be President but because it conveys a respect that he thoroughly does not deserve. "Trump" will do just fine, thx.
August 27, 2025 at 11:03 PM
When news stories refer to Trump as "the President," they're following long-standing practice, but it makes me wince -- not just because I want him not to be President but because it conveys a respect that he thoroughly does not deserve. "Trump" will do just fine, thx.
Jig at the End of Time: some words and 2 minutes worth of peculiar music.
pasot.substack.com/p/jig-at-the...
pasot.substack.com/p/jig-at-the...
Jig at the End of Time
Even less philosophy than in the previous post.
pasot.substack.com
August 27, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Jig at the End of Time: some words and 2 minutes worth of peculiar music.
pasot.substack.com/p/jig-at-the...
pasot.substack.com/p/jig-at-the...
Reposted by Allen Stairs
The upward redistribution of wealth over the past 50 years has shifted $80 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%.
That’s $80 trillion that would have gone into the paychecks of the working class.
The greatest trick of all is trickle-down economics.
That’s $80 trillion that would have gone into the paychecks of the working class.
The greatest trick of all is trickle-down economics.
August 15, 2025 at 11:01 PM
The upward redistribution of wealth over the past 50 years has shifted $80 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%.
That’s $80 trillion that would have gone into the paychecks of the working class.
The greatest trick of all is trickle-down economics.
That’s $80 trillion that would have gone into the paychecks of the working class.
The greatest trick of all is trickle-down economics.
The spectacle in Alaska makes Neville Chamberlain look like man with a spine of steel.
open.substack.com/pub/lucid/p/...
open.substack.com/pub/lucid/p/...
The Make Russia Great Again "Summit"
A spectacle to legitimize Kremlin geopolitical aspirations in Europe and beyond
open.substack.com
August 16, 2025 at 10:42 AM
The spectacle in Alaska makes Neville Chamberlain look like man with a spine of steel.
open.substack.com/pub/lucid/p/...
open.substack.com/pub/lucid/p/...
Anne Applebaum on the State Department's latest entry in the race to the moral bottom.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Trump Has a New Definition of Human Rights
State Department reports portray Germany as more oppressive than El Salvador.
www.theatlantic.com
August 13, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Anne Applebaum on the State Department's latest entry in the race to the moral bottom.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Trump makes you long for the days of dignified leaders like Silvio Berlusconi
August 13, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Trump makes you long for the days of dignified leaders like Silvio Berlusconi
Second District Police Station, DC, last night. Guessing the bike was assigned to an FBI agent doing their new duty and who had no doubt collared a dangerous doobie smoker in the parking garage of the grocery store up the road. (Photo: Cathrine Nelson)
August 12, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Second District Police Station, DC, last night. Guessing the bike was assigned to an FBI agent doing their new duty and who had no doubt collared a dangerous doobie smoker in the parking garage of the grocery store up the road. (Photo: Cathrine Nelson)
I live in DC. Trump has far more use for a second rectum than DC has for a fascist takeover of the police department.
August 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
I live in DC. Trump has far more use for a second rectum than DC has for a fascist takeover of the police department.
Id or ick? (Both, of course.)
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/o...
Opinion | President Midas’ Terrible Touch
www.nytimes.com
August 9, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Id or ick? (Both, of course.)
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/o...
There’s a branch of the multiverse where the Senate Republicans had the decency and the spine not to put Emil Bove on the Federal bench.
Unfortunately, it’s not this one.
Unfortunately, it’s not this one.
July 31, 2025 at 10:55 PM
There’s a branch of the multiverse where the Senate Republicans had the decency and the spine not to put Emil Bove on the Federal bench.
Unfortunately, it’s not this one.
Unfortunately, it’s not this one.
A finger exercise in philosophy of religion: what’s up with nondoxastic views of faith?
pasot.substack.com/p/can-you-ha...
pasot.substack.com/p/can-you-ha...
Can You Have Faith if You Don't Believe?
What follows is about religious faith, but it’s not just intended for an audience of people who see themselves as having faith.
pasot.substack.com
July 28, 2025 at 8:30 PM
A finger exercise in philosophy of religion: what’s up with nondoxastic views of faith?
pasot.substack.com/p/can-you-ha...
pasot.substack.com/p/can-you-ha...
The Supreme Court is partly captured and partly unwilling to look at the facts on the ground. Not so for KBJ. She is the only Justice with a consistently clear-eyed view of what's actually happening.
contrarian.substack.com/p/undaunted-...
contrarian.substack.com/p/undaunted-...
Undaunted in calling out the worst Supreme Court in modern times
KBJ won’t allow accept its pretense of impartiality
contrarian.substack.com
July 11, 2025 at 12:54 PM
The Supreme Court is partly captured and partly unwilling to look at the facts on the ground. Not so for KBJ. She is the only Justice with a consistently clear-eyed view of what's actually happening.
contrarian.substack.com/p/undaunted-...
contrarian.substack.com/p/undaunted-...
From the blog on Social Security site. (Also in my email.) A government agency shilling for the Dear Leader.
America still exists. Whether it will exist in more than name for much longer is another matter.
blog.ssa.gov/social-secur...
America still exists. Whether it will exist in more than name for much longer is another matter.
blog.ssa.gov/social-secur...
Social Security Applauds Passage of Legislation Providing Historic Tax Relief for Seniors | SSA
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is celebrating the passage of the One Big, Beautiful Bill, a landmark piece of legislation that delivers long-awaited tax relief to millions of older Americans...
blog.ssa.gov
July 4, 2025 at 11:14 AM
From the blog on Social Security site. (Also in my email.) A government agency shilling for the Dear Leader.
America still exists. Whether it will exist in more than name for much longer is another matter.
blog.ssa.gov/social-secur...
America still exists. Whether it will exist in more than name for much longer is another matter.
blog.ssa.gov/social-secur...
Stunning. We're well in the depths of evil here.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
Vance: Medicaid cuts in Senate tax bill 'immaterial' compared to ICE increases
Vice President JD Vance said cuts to Medicaid and budget impacts in the Senate tax bill don't compare to the importance of ICE spending.
www.usatoday.com
July 1, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Stunning. We're well in the depths of evil here.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
Two things I’ve often seen from folks annoyed with a newspaper: seeing anything on the Op/Ed page as the position of the paper itself and being mad at the paper for opinion pieces (not editorials) that the person disagrees with. Kind of misses the point of an Op/Ed page.
June 18, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Two things I’ve often seen from folks annoyed with a newspaper: seeing anything on the Op/Ed page as the position of the paper itself and being mad at the paper for opinion pieces (not editorials) that the person disagrees with. Kind of misses the point of an Op/Ed page.
Reposted by Allen Stairs
In case you care: there are still lots of op/ed pieces in the Washington Post that are not at all Trump-friendly. And there’s still lots of reporting that (rightly) makes Trump look bad. What did Bezos change? The policy on _editorials_, which amount to the paper itself taking a position.
June 3, 2025 at 6:17 PM
In case you care: there are still lots of op/ed pieces in the Washington Post that are not at all Trump-friendly. And there’s still lots of reporting that (rightly) makes Trump look bad. What did Bezos change? The policy on _editorials_, which amount to the paper itself taking a position.
Reposted by Allen Stairs
Reposted by Allen Stairs
Universities far-and-wide should form a mutual legal pact - similar to Article Five of NATO ("an attack on one is an attack on all"). This way, one school doesn't face bankruptcy.
Similar to Ben Franklin's "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately".
Similar to Ben Franklin's "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately".
May 31, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Universities far-and-wide should form a mutual legal pact - similar to Article Five of NATO ("an attack on one is an attack on all"). This way, one school doesn't face bankruptcy.
Similar to Ben Franklin's "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately".
Similar to Ben Franklin's "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately".
Reposted by Allen Stairs
Reposted by Allen Stairs
TRUTH.
Don’t forget kidnapping and disappearing people.
That too.
Don’t forget kidnapping and disappearing people.
That too.
Raskin: This is a gangster state. This is not basically a legitimate government that is sometimes doing corrupt things. This is an essentially corrupt enterprise. It's like watching The Sopranos. Every day, they get up and they try to figure out how to plunder and pillage the people
May 31, 2025 at 1:30 PM
TRUTH.
Don’t forget kidnapping and disappearing people.
That too.
Don’t forget kidnapping and disappearing people.
That too.
Donald Trump has made at least one thing clear: if you’re going to have an authoritarian ruler, you should make sure it’s someone who knows their ass from their elbow.
May 30, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Donald Trump has made at least one thing clear: if you’re going to have an authoritarian ruler, you should make sure it’s someone who knows their ass from their elbow.
