AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION. 2021 APA Meeting Recordings.

Dear DAVID,

 

As a reminder, session recordings from the 2021 APA meetings held earlier this year are available to meeting registrants via the virtual meeting hub, and will be accessible for one year following each meeting.

 

Effective July 1, registration rates for the 2021 APA Eastern, Central, and Pacific Division virtual meetings will be reduced to $10 for members and $20 for non-members. This will allow those who didn’t attend sessions live to register at low cost and view session recordings.

 

Additionally, groups and individuals wishing to publicly post/share recordings of sessions they sponsored or participated in may now request authorization to do so. In order to receive authorization for public posting of a session recording, the requester must submit documentation showing that all those who actively participated in the session (that is, anyone appearing on screen or via audio in the recording) are willing to allow the recording to be shared publicly. To request a recording, please submit the required documentation to me by email.

 

I look forward to seeing you at future APA meetings!

 

All the best,

 

Amy Ferrer

Executive Director 

BREAKING DOWN THE MUELLER REPORT...EXONERATES NO ONE, ANSWERS NOTHING.

 

The introduction addresses the nature of the RUSSIAN INVOLVEMENT, AND POSSIBLE "COLLUSION" WITH THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN.

TEXT FROM THE REPORT:
"As set forth in detail in this report, the Special Counsel's investigation established that Russia interfere~ in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations. First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents. The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign. Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."
END TEXT.

How can we make sense of this? At one point, the report comments about the contacts between the TRUMP CAMPAIGN, AND THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT: "The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign."
Yet, at another point, it seems to exonerate the TRUMP CAMPAIGN with the following: "...the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."

Further Down, we see the reasoning used in evaluating any CRIMINAL LIABILITY THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN MAY HAVE, INVOLVING THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS ACTIVITIES TO INFLUENCE THE OUTCOME OF THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. IT IS HERE THAT WE FIND OUT HOW MUCH OF A "WITCH HUNT" THIS INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN. THE TRUTH MAY SUPRISE YOU. 

TEXT FROM THE REPORT.
1) "In evaluating whether evidence about collective action of multiple individuals constituted a crime, we applied the framework of conspiracy law, not the concept of "collusion." In so doing, the Office recognized that the word "collud[ e ]" was used in communications with the Acting Attorney General confirming certain aspects of the investigation's scope and that the term has frequently been invoked in public reporting about the investigation. 2) But collusion is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law. For those reasons, the Office's focus in analyzing questions of joint criminal liability was on conspiracy as defined in federal law. In connection with that analysis, 3) we addressed the factual question whether members of the Trump Campaign "coordinat[ ed]"-a term that appears in the appointment order-with Russian election interference activities. Like collusion,4) "coordination" does not have a settled definition in federal criminal law. We understood "coordination" to require an agreement-tacit or express- between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference. 
5) That requires more than the two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other's actions or interests. We applied the term coordination in that sense when stating in the report that the investigation did not establish that the Trump Campaign coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." 

END TEXT.

THE NUMBERS 1-5 ABOVE CORRESPOND WITH THOSE BELOW, IN GIVING A BASIC INTERPRETATION OF THE MEANING OF THE ABOVE TEXT.

1) THE POPULAR TERM "COLLUSION" HAS NO BASIS IN LAW, THE LAW REGARDING "CONSPIRACY" WAS USED.

 2) JOINT CRIMINAL LIABILITY WAS DETERMINED BY THE FEDERAL LAW REGARDING "CONSPIRACY."

3) DETERMINED WHETHER OR NOT MEMBERS OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN "COORDINATED" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS INTERFERENCE ACTIVITIES.

4) THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL COUNCEL DECIDED THAT TO ACCUSE THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN OF "COORDINATING" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, THERE WOULD HAVE TO BE AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN BOTH BODIES, "TACIT OR EXPRESS." 

5)"That requires more than the two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other's actions or interests."

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? A MEMBER OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN COULD HAVE ENGAGED IN "CONSPIRITORIAL CONDUCT" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT AND/OR AFFILIATED INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS, BUT IF IT WAS NOT DONE AT THE EXPRESS ORDER OF THE CAMPAIGN ITSELF, with the approval of the Russian Government, NO CRIME WAS COMMITTED.

CUTTING THROUGH THE NOISE, HERE IS WHAT IT MEANS: THAT NO ONE IN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN IS EXONERATED. BY THIS VERY NARROW DEFINITION, ANY INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP IN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN COULD HAVE "CONSPIRED" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, OR ANYONE WORKING ON BEHALF OF THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, AND AS LONG AS THERE WAS NO EXPRESS AGREEMENT AMONG BOTH THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, THE FINDING WOULD BE THAT OF NO "COLLUSION" OR NO "CONSPIRACY."

THIS IS A TRAVESTY. IT LITERALLY GIVES INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS A FREE PASS TO HAVE COMMITTED ELECTION FRAUD, AS LONG AS THE "LEADERSHIP" DID NOT FORMALLY APPROVE IT.

House votes to establish select committee to investigate January 6 attack on US Capitol.

POLITICS.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Thursday that Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson will chair the select committee, and that he will be joined on the body by GOP lawmaker Liz Cheney of Wyoming. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted 222-190 to establish a committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger were the only two Republicans who voted in favor of the committee. The creation of this 13-member select committee comes after the Senate blocked plans for an independent commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection in May.

ONCE AGAIN, HOUSE DEMOCRATS LEAD THE WAY. HOUSE REPUBLICANS? WHEN YOU WORK FOR PUTIN, FASCISM AND TREASON ARE OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE. JUST BE GLAD THAT IN 1941 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WAS NOT THE PARTY OF DICTATORS AND TOTALITARIANISM, (UNLIKE 2021),  WITH THE GOAL OF HAVING EITHER THE SWASTIKA OR HAMMER AND SICKLE FLAGS FLYING ATOP THE U.S. CAPITOL.

THREE OF A KIND.

VNAKS - tomorrow's event and a call for proposals.

 

Dear David McDonald, Three quick items from NAKS: (1)   Tomorrow (June 30) at 1pm-3pm Eastern we have a "Classic Format" VNAKS talk by the Head of the Kantian Rationality Lab in Kaliningrad, Thomas Sturm (Barcelona).  His topic is "The Unity and Uses of Reason" and his commentator will be Saniye Vatansever (Bilkent). Huaping Lu-Adler (Georgetown) will chair this session.  More info here:  https://northamericankantsociety.org/VNAKS (2)  There is a conference that may be of interest next week in (virtual) Potsdam on "Language and Aesthetic Judgment in Kant."  Details here:  https://www.uni-potsdam.de/fileadmin/projects/phi/Dokumente/Language_and_Aesthetic_FFP_copy.pdf (3)         Call for Proposals: VNAKS VNAKS is well underway and so far there have been good crowds and lively discussions. We are planning to continue (with some recesses) through Summer 2022, or as long as there is sufficient interest. We invite NAKS members to propose sessions for the Fall 2021, Spring 2022, and Summer 2022 series. Each proposed session must have a unifying theme. It can use any of the following formats: Format 1: Two speakers on a unifying theme (from different perspectives); no commentators. Each speaker gets a little under one hour (up to 30 minutes of presentation time, followed by Q&A). Format 2: Two speaker-commentator pairs with a unifying theme. Each pair gets a little under one hour (25min/speaker, 10/commentator, 5/response, followed by Q&A). Format 3: A panel of three speakers with a unifying theme (20-20-20, followed by Q&A for all the panelists). Format 4: Incubator-style poster sessions: four speakers with a unifying theme (10-15 min talks followed by 15-20 min Q&A). Other formats, including "Choose-Your-Ideal-Commentators," may also be possible upon request.  Proposals should specify each participant’s institutional affiliation and status (PhD candidate, post-doctoral researcher, lecturer, and so on). Please include all participants’ tentative titles, making it salient that the session has a unifying theme. We suggest that you model your proposal on similar sessions already listed on the VNAKS webpage.   Eligibility: All participants included in the proposal must be NAKS members. If you are not sure whether someone is a NAKS member, you can check our member directory. You can always encourage a non-member to join NAKS. No one can take part in VNAKS as a speaker/commentator/panelist more than once. See the VNAKS webpage to see who is already part of the ongoing series. Each participant must have a track record of working on the proposed theme. The person who submits the proposal can recommend themselves as a speaker/commentator/panelist (the application form will not reveal the identity of the person who has submitted the proposal).   How to apply: please fill out this application form.  The proposals are due on August 1. They will be blindly considered by a panel composed of members of the Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees. Notification: end of August. (4) It is time for us to start organizing NAKS sessions at the 2022 APAs and we would welcome suggestions and nominations from members.  For Eastern and Central, the primary contact person is Andrew Chignell.  For the Pacific, the primary contact is Huaping Lu-Adler. The "North American Kant Society" is a 501(3)(c) non-profit organization, registered in MO. https://northamericankantsociety.org/