ozimoron

"Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" Until the GOP expunge the freedom party nutjobs and Trump, this is their fate.

I made no mention of the aircraft carrier. It's likely similar to the decision by Australia to purchase Collins class submarines. The objective was sound but the boat had serious flaws which made it useless. The F35 is not criticised for being useless so your comparison is not valid and of therefore of no value. The RTAF objective is based on sound reasoning as explained in earlier posts. A point basically established by detractors reliance on spurious claims of affordability.

Completely wrong. There is no correlation between occular visibility and radar visibility. This ship is no less visible to the human eye than any other ship. https://whitefleet.net/2017/11/26/what-is-stealth-explaining-low-observability-addressing-misconceptions/

Because of a general skepticism of conspiracy theories and general belief that high level professional (not political) decision making is rational.

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Well put.

You can bet that it has. That's the basis of science.

I believe that the worst doomsday scenario facing the US and, by extension, the world is the potential for the breakdown of civil society propelled by the abject corruption of the US Supreme Court. They are determined to create a government of mixed theocracy and oligarchy. It's truly an Orwellian scenario. There will be massive push back in some form or another. I would not suggest that it will be violent but think Vietnam war protests on steroids.

Stealth means radar, not occular visibility.

Even centrist GOP members are warning against overreach. Somehow they are painting the laptop story as being of greater import than the insurrection. It's just a deflection. The freedom party have nothing.

From an above linked article. Have the internet and social media created a climate where Americans believe anything is possible? With headlines citing now as the age of conspiracy, is it really true? In a word, no. While it may be true that the internet has allowed people who believe in conspiracies to communicate more, it has not increased the number of Americans who believe in conspiracies, according to the data available.

He didn't admit, he claimed. Yes, it helps to explain the otherwise mystifying delusions of conspiracy theorists. It's one thing to believe that JFK was assassinated by the CIA because the evidence has been withheld (possibly understandable) but another to believe the earth is flat. Trump was motivated by pure political gain in spreading conspiracy theories, not that he necessarily believes them but I wouldn't rule that out. He was simply exploiting useful idiots.

Narcissists Seem Drawn to Conspiracy Theories, But Why? Previous research shows that people identified as narcissists – those with an inflated sense of their own importance, a lack of empathy, and a need for attention – are more likely to be drawn to and believe in conspiracy theories. A new study offers up four reasons why, based on an analysis of earlier studies: feelings of paranoia, gullibility regarding claims about what is true or otherwise, the need for dominance, and the need for uniqueness. They can all play a part in establishing this link between narcissists and conspiracy theories. https://www.sciencealert.com/narcissists-seem-drawn-to-conspiracy-theories-but-why

They weren't my words. Your arguing against a Polish academic. Your contention that conspiracy theories and narcissism aren't linked is just your opinion. Got any evidence that's the case and she's wrong? Narcissism—a conviction about one's superiority and entitlement to special treatment—is a robust predictor of belief in conspiracy theories. Recent developments in the study of narcissism suggest that it has three components: antagonism, agentic extraversion, and neuroticism. We argue that each of these components of narcissism might predispose people to endorse conspiracy theories due to different psychological processes. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X22001051

Racists got to cut their nose off to spite their face? Could that be counted as a benefit? How about the right wing press made a motza pushing the leave vote?

And people experiencing anxiety or a sense of disorder, those who crave cognitive closure, may be even more reliant on those cognitive shortcuts to make sense of the world, says Marta Marchlewska, a social and political psychologist who studies conspiracy theories at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Another psychological factor that can lead to belief in conspiracies is what experts call “collective narcissism,” or a group’s inflated belief in its own significance. Marchlewska’s research suggests that collective narcissists are apt to look for imaginary enemies and adopt conspiracy explanations that blame them. This urge is particularly strong when narcissistic people fail, or members of their group fail. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/why-people-latch-on-to-conspiracy-theories-according-to-science

Conspiracy theories are dangerous even if very few people believe them https://theconversation.com/conspiracy-theories-are-dangerous-even-if-very-few-people-believe-them-189859

Remember Pizzagate? It was proof that conspiracy theorists are a danger to society and it probably hasn't gone away any more than flat earthers have gone away. This was very prophetic in 2019. If Trump’s embrace of the Ukraine conspiracy doesn’t sink his political future by leading to impeachment, it may nonetheless signal that his political future is bleak. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/10/21/why-americans-turn-conspiracy-theories/ and this In 1964, The New York Times said conspiracy theories had “grown weed like in this country.” https://theconversation.com/are-conspiracy-theories-on-the-rise-in-the-us-121968

So many descriptions are available to the dems now. The idiot party. The outlaw and disorder party. Just two.

It's not only wrong it's dangerous as the past few years have shown us.

The clouds move at the same speed as the Earth. Surely you understand that you would not see any movement under that circumstance? It's basic physics. Oh, wait...

You're trying to create a narrative / conspiracy theory that the Thais want the F35 for any reason other than to update their air force capabilities. I'm not creating anything. I invoke Occam's razor.

They don't need the weapons at this time. They want the skills.

The Thais have declared a strategy of quality over quantity. It's not for anyone on this board to make claims about Thailand's budget. Nobody here is qualified or has the information to do so.

None of those pilots fought in the Vietnam War. They were trained from scratch like all pilots. The Su-30 is not comparable to the F35.