trentmkelly/rationalwiki huggingface dataset:
Too big to fail

{{economics}}
"'''Too big to fail'''" is a descriptor assigned to banks or other large corporations<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190603142758/https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/too-big-to-fail.asp "Too Big to Fail," ''Investopedia''. Updated April 
30, 2019. Accessed July 17, 2019.]</ref> which have such a wide and deep investment in the international stock market that, were any of these institutions to go under, a chain reaction would result that would undermine and potentially [[Nuke|atomize]] the world economy. A more truthful phrase would be "too big ''to be allowed'' to fail".

The term originates from [[Congress]]ional hearings in the 1980's related to the [[Ronald Reagan|Savings and Loan scandal]], but became popular as a kind of [[meme]] when Andrew Ross Sorkin used the phrase as a title of his non-fiction accounting of the 2008 crash and the [[TARP]] legislation program the American Treasury executed to prevent a cataclysm.

==Derivatives==
*Too Big to Jail - a popular phrase at [[Occupy Wall Street]]
*Too Big to Put on Trial - [[Elizabeth Warren|Senator Elizabeth Warren]], of the Senate Banking Committee, at a hearing in 2013<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxhyUAWPmGw Senator Elizabeth Warren's First Banking Committee Hearing]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Great Recession]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{stub|economics}}

[[Category:Economics]]
[[Category:Neologisms]]
[[Category:Political terms]]

Categories: Economics, Neologisms, Political terms
Tooth Fairy

[[File:Smiling girl holding up baby tooth.jpg|right|thumb|165px|I'm gonna get me some cash!]]
{{folklore}}
The '''Tooth Fairy''' is 
{{wpl|Francis Dolarhyde}}
 a mythological (or perhaps metaphorical) fairy-like creature that takes the fallen-off milk teeth from children and gives them money in exchange.

==The story==

The myth usually consists of the following.

*Child loses their baby tooth.
*Child is told to put their tooth under their pillow.
*During the night the tooth is replaced by a coin or maybe even a bank note if the child is very lucky.

This is said to be the work of the Tooth Fairy. This is a fairly solid explanation, as you sleep on your pillow, how could someone reach in and take the tooth without waking you up! It must, therefore, be [[magic]].

==The Tooth Fairy as a symbol==
The Tooth Fairy story is basically a simple piece of mythology told specifically to children to entertain young minds and convert a painful or frightening experience into something fun and exciting. It's generally seen as harmless fun, on par with [[Santa Claus]] and not some heinous and dangerous practice.

Because believing in the tooth fairy requires child-like [[logic]] and thinking, the Tooth Fairy has been developed into a kind of insult: e.g., "you'll be saying the Tooth Fairy did it next" to display incredulity. It is also often invoked by [[atheist]]s in some ''[[reductio ad absurdum]]'' arguments; e.g., "[[Atheism#Atheism_as_an_organized_religion|if atheism is a religion]], not believing in the Tooth Fairy is also a religion".

===Tooth fairy science===
The nature of the tooth fairy is generally known and understood by Western adults; for this reason it has been adopted as a useful metaphor for studies into the fundamentally unverifiable, under the label "tooth fairy science", coined by [[Harriet Hall]] of the [[Science-Based Medicine]] project who described it thus:

{{cquote|You could measure how much money the Tooth Fairy leaves under the pillow, whether she leaves more cash for the first or last tooth, whether the payoff is greater if you leave the tooth in a plastic baggie versus wrapped in Kleenex. You can get all kinds of good data that is reproducible and statistically significant. Yes, you have learned something. But you haven’t learned what you think you’ve learned because you haven’t bothered to establish whether the Tooth Fairy really exists.|||Harriet Hall, MD<ref>[http://www.skepdic.com/toothfairyscience.html Tooth fairy science], SkepDic</ref>|}}

Examples include studying the effects of [[acupuncture]], [[chiropractic|chiropracty]], and [[homeopathy]], all of which are based on [[bullshit|fundamental premises that are provably wrong]].

==See also==
*[[Santa Claus]]
*[[Easter Bunny]]
*[[Tooth Fairy Project]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Folklore]]

Categories: Folklore
Tornado in a Junkyard: The Relentless Myth of Darwinism

{{crenav}}{{title-italics}}
'''''Tornado in a Junkyard: The Relentless Myth of Darwinism''''' is an anti-evolution book written by [[young earth creationist]] James Perloff and published by Refuge Books in 1999. The title is a reference to [[Hoyle's fallacy]].

==Overview==

The book claims that only variation within species occurs and rejects [[macroevolution]] which Perloff defines as "one animal type turning into another".<ref>[http://www.marianland.com/perloff001.html Tornado in a Junkyard by James Perloff]</ref> Perloff employs all the standard [[creationist]] arguments such as claiming Carbon-14 testing is inaccurate, [[mutation]]s are all harmful and there are no [[transitional fossils]]. He also [[quote mine]]s and lies about many scientists such as [[Stephen Jay Gould]] on the fossil record and attempts to discredit evolution by [[poisoning the well|linking it]] to [[nazism]] and [[racism]].<ref>[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:6lQBCyNlx4MJ:homb.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Tornado-in-a-Junkyard-review.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiPO8siTjAu2VAEQnsmYM7jFQehz2ODG5wdifs--YYfEr1rbEH1M7MOlOrEEjwN5hX_4WnqAk92yG3jCx8JIglBPJqBOjzyL59F7jB3HMRfeRfrU3C6gGjRgrxpiI95LUniDiYP&sig=AHIEtbQCK1u-Y7TGIZX8853i4s8r4HSySw Book Review]</ref>

==Science==

It is an anti-science book. Perloff claims to be a free-lance writer and has no science education or qualifications.<ref>[http://creationresearch.org/magento/index.php/books/tornado-in-a-junkyard-the-relentless-myth-of-darwinism.html Creationist Website]</ref> Perloff is known for using dishonest arguments and his book is not taken seriously by the scientific community.<ref>[http://mattcbr.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/perloff-another-who-doesnt-seem-to-have-a-clue/ Perloff: Another who doesn’t seem to have a clue]</ref> The book is nothing more than debunked creationist arguments regurgitated in an attempt to seem original. It has been described as one of the worst creationist books as it is filled with hundreds of random quote mines.<ref>[http://sensuouscurmudgeon.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/the-worst-creationist-book-ever/ The Worst Creationist Book Ever]</ref>

==See also==
*''[[Darwin, Then and Now, The Most Amazing Story in the History of Science]]''
*''[[The End of Darwinism]]''

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{crebox}}

[[Category:Creationism]]
[[Category:Religious books]]

Categories: Creationism, Religious books
Toward Soviet America

{{Communism}}{{title-italics}}
'''''Toward Soviet America''''' is a book written in 1932 by William Z. Foster, the noted satrap of [[Joseph Stalin]] who as General Secretary purged the [[Communist Party USA]] of anyone dissenting from whatever party line Stalin was promoting that week.

==Contents==

The book, as might be expected of a Stalinist work, contains copious amounts of [[denialism]], lies and [[bullshit]], whitewashing the Soviet situation and characterizing reports of unpleasant facts about that country as "lies of the anti-Soviet propaganda campaign."

Of particular interest is the section in which Foster, following the then-current Soviet line, drops the usual pretense that communists consider themselves on the same side as liberals, blasting them and the non-communist left (who had the audacity to suggest that Stalin was some sort of dictator) as being "social fascists," thus anticipating in some measure the later claims of [[Jonah Goldberg]].

In a hilarious passage, the practice of science under communism is described as:

{{cquote|The working class ... has no interest to degrade science into a subtle system of propaganda, but on the contrary to give it the freest possible development.}}

He also somehow managed to keep a straight face while squawking about non-anthropogenic famines in non-communist countries, while pointedly and repeatedly denying [[Holodomor|the one his patron created]].

==Cold War reprinting==

The book was reprinted in 1961 by the House Un-American Activities Committee, with a foreword by its chairman Francis E. Walter,<ref>http://cgi.ebay.com/1961-TOWARD-SOVIET-AMERICA-Communist-Takeover-BOOK-1eDJ-/320613026591</ref> as an "expose of the evil communist conspiracy." However, the book was just a tiny bit outdated by then, with Stalin dead for some years and the Soviet Union in the midst of the [[Khrushchev]] Thaw. We're sure that was a totally honest mistake on the committee's part.{{lie}}

It appears that two parts of the book's agenda to which the HUAC specifically objected were equality for women and African-Americans.<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=TzwkYyAqZqMC&pg=PA152</ref>

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==

* [http://www.archive.org/details/towardsovietamer00fostrich The book]

[[Category:Books]]
[[Category:Communism]]
[[Category:Denialism]]

Categories: Books, Communism, Denialism
Townsend Plan

{{Economics}}
The '''Townsend Plan''' was a proposal by Dr. Francis Townsend, a retired medical doctor, during the [[Great Depression]] for an old-age pension in the [[United States]].  For a few years it spawned a popular movement, but with the passage of [[Social Security]] the Townsend movement lost most of its steam.

The plan was mathematically suspect.  The proposed pension was $200 a month, to be funded by a 2% national sales tax, which wouldn't come close to covering the proposed pension for every senior citizen. To get around this, it relied on a requirement that the entire $200 be spent immediately, where it would be taxed at 2%, and claimed the plan would pump so much money into the U.S. economy it would [[woo|automagically]] generate all the tax revenue needed to fund it, and get the U.S. out of the Depression all at the same time. (This is called [[Ben Stein|something-d-o-o economics]]).  It was opposed by [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] for this reason, but its popularity may have propelled the passage of Social Security as a more workable, mathematically sound<ref group=note>This is disputable, but at least Social Security has survived this long.  The Townsend Plan had all the soundness of a [[pyramid scheme]] and would have collapsed within a few years if enacted.</ref> plan in its stead.

Francis Townsend sought out some strange alliances trying to get the plan passed by Congress.  He first appealed to the Roosevelt administration and was rebuffed.  He then allied his movement with the 1934 campaign of former [[socialist]] Upton Sinclair for governor of California, then a couple of years later in an alliance with the [[antisemitic]] [[Roman Catholic]] "radio [[priest]]" [[Father Coughlin]], in support of a short-lived third party called the Union Party, which only ran candidates in the 1936 election and disbanded shortly thereafter.  Despite Social Security filling the need for an old-age pension, the Townsend movement continued well after Francis Townsend's death in 1960 into 1978, when the National Townsend Plan closed its doors leaving only state chapters, and beyond, albeit with minuscule and aged support by then.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/23/archives/townsend-plan-once-the-hope-of-thousands-is-near-death.html "Townsend Plan, Once the Hope of Thousands, Is Near Death"], ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Herman Cain#The 9-9-9 Plan|The 9-9-9 Plan]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Economics]]
[[Category:Great Depression]]
[[Category:United States history]]

Categories: Economics, Great Depression, United States history
Trans-science

{{scinav}}
'''Trans-science''' refers to questions that can be asked of [[science]], but not answered by it; questions that "transcend" science. Alvin M. Weinberg coined the term in 1972.<ref name="Wein">Weinberg, Alvin M. "Science and Trans-science." ''Minerva'' 1972, 10(2), 209-222. An illegal copy may be found [http://www.quantamike.ca/pdf/Weinberg-Minerva.pdf here]</ref> For example:
{{cquote|Let us consider the [[biological]] effects of low-level [[radiation]] insults to the environment, in particular the genetic effects of low levels of radiation on mice. Experiments performed at high radiation levels show that the dose required to double the spontaneous mutation rate in mice is 30 roentgens of X-rays. Thus, if the genetic response to X-radiation is linear, then a dose of 150 millirems would increase the spontaneous mutation rate in mice by ½%. This is a matter of importance to public policy since the various standard-setting bodies had decided that a yearly dose of about 150 millirems (actually 170 millirems) to a suitably chosen segment of the population was acceptable. Now, to determine at the 95% confidence level by a direct experiment whether 150 millirems will increase the mutation rate by ½% requires about 8,000,000,000 mice! Of course, this number falls if one reduces the confidence level; at 60% confidence level, the number is 195,000,000. Nevertheless. the number is so staggeringly large that, as a practical matter, the question is unanswerable by direct scientific investigation.<ref name="Wein"/>}}
The concept was later extended to problems of [[chaos theory]] and non-linear systems.<ref>Brook, Harvey. Letters to the editor. ''Minerva'' 1972, 10, 484-486. </ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{stub|alternative medicine}}
[[Category:Skepticism]]

Categories: Skepticism
Transference

{{Psychology}}
{{sources needed}}
'''Transference''' is the [[psychological]] phenomenon where people project their unconscious hates, loves, and conflicts onto the world (and people) around them.

A good example is someone hating another on sight because they look like their ex-spouse.

This is important in understanding extreme militant [[homophobic]] crusaders who later turn out to be [[gay]]. It's safe to say that they had some significant psychological baggage in the past that has made them think gays are bad (mmmkay). When they start having same [[sex]] urges, it often makes them hate and want to scourge those feelings from themselves, which leads them on a crusade to the world around them. It continues as they cannot resolve the conflicts within without confronting them, and the self-loathing they have as people cheer them on knowing they are living a lie. 

==See also==
*[[Ted Haggard]]
*[[Cognitive dissonance]]
*[[Reaction formation]]
*[[Doublethink]]


[[Category:Psychology]]
[[Category:Mental health]]{{stub|psychology}}

Categories: Psychology, Mental health
Transgender Reality

{{gender}} {{Sources needed}}
'''Transgender Reality''' is a [[TERF]] blog dedicated to spreading the notion that transgender people are [[homosexual agenda|"coached" and "recruited"]] into becoming transgender.<ref>https://transgenderreality.wordpress.com/about/</ref>  This is a psychological impossibility because gender is biologically imprinted in the brain during pregnancy.{{fact}}  Even if a [[cisgender]] person could be convinced that they were trans (let's say they're in a '''very''' suggestible and vulnerable state), they wouldn't make it far into transitioning before they started feeling the [[gender dysphoria|severe sense of wrongness]] that plagues transgender people as their gender stopped matching what their brain expected.<ref>https://genderdysphoria.fyi/en/biochemical-dysphoria</ref>

Claims of transgender "recruitment" are totally different from paranoid ravings about a [[Homosexual recruitment|homosexual conspiracy to seduce and "recruit" children]] because... um... because '''shut up''', that's why.

People who see themselves as gender non-conforming might be pressed into questioning their gender by online transgender communities.  Some of them might realize they are transgender, others will realize that they are non-binary, and others will still see themselves as cis.  It's better to help people question their gender and learn about themselves than to keep their identity repressed.

TL;DR: gender identity can't be imposed by "recruiters" in the minds of TERFs.  If you question your gender, you'll realize what was there all along.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://transgenderreality.wordpress.com/ The webshite itself]

{{stub|gender}}

[[Category:Internet hate sites]]
[[Category:Misnomers]]
[[Category:Propaganda]]
[[Category:TERFs]]
[[Category:Transphobia]]
[[Category:Webshites]]

Categories: Internet hate sites, Misnomers, Propaganda, TERFs, Transphobia, Webshites
Traumeel

{{altmed}}
'''Traumeel''' is a [[homeopathic]] product sold by [[Heel]] for use on inflammation from injury. It is based on the [[pseudoscience]] of [[homotoxicology]], and while it provides substantial income for Heel, it does nothing for the people who buy it and use it. The ingredients for Traumeel make you glad that they dilute most of them to the point of non-existence.<ref name=monograph>[http://www.biopathica.co.uk/Traumeel%20Monograph.pdf Traumeel: Product Monograph]</ref> It includes: ''Arnica montana'' ([[arnica]]), ''Calendula officinalis'', ''Hamamelis virginiana'' (witch hazel), ''Achillea millefolium'' (milfoil), ''Atropa belladonna'' (deadly nightshade), ''Aconitum naphellus'' (monk's-hood), "Mercurius solubilis Hahnemanni" ([[mercury]]), "Hepar sulfuris" (calcium sulfide), ''Chamomilla recutita'' ([[chamomile]]), ''Symphytum officinale'' (comfrey), ''Bellis perennis'' (daisy), ''Echinacea angustifolia'', ''Echinacea purpurea'', ''Hypericum perforatum'' ([[St. John's wort]]).<ref name=monograph/> This dilution level makes it almost entirely harmless (although this is often quoted as a positive thing for homeopathic medicines), so when Alexa Ray Joel attempted to overdose on the stuff, no one was surprised that she survived physically unharmed.<ref>[http://spotlight.vitals.com/2009/12/alexa-ray-joels-suicide-attempt-with-traumeel-harmless-says-dr-lewis-nelson Alexa Ray Joel’s Suicide Attempt With Traumeel – Harmless Says Dr. Lewis Nelson]</ref>

==Effectiveness==
Traumeel emerged as the primary cash cow of Heel after the [[FDA]] just about shut them down for pushing their [[quack]] products on people with terminal and chronic illness. Heel likes to point to Traumeel as a success because of the "[[Randomized controlled trial|randomized controlled trials]]" that show it is an effective cure for inflammation and injury. However, the literature that shows its efficacy is fraught with problems and points to continued fraudulent activities by Heel. 

Independent researchers who have sought to test Traumeel were told by Heel that the only way they will offer any level of support is if they get prior review of the data before publication and have a right to refuse publication of data they don't like.<ref>Ernst, E., & Schmidt, K. (2004). Homotoxicology—a review of randomised clinical trials. ''European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology'', 60(5), 299-306.</ref> The few published studies by Heel that supposedly show an effect use extremely small [[sample size]]s, and often don't even include [[statistical]] analysis of the data to see if the positive "trends" are actually [[statistically significant]]. The studies are all sponsored by Heel and published in [[Pseudojournal|journals closely linked to Heel]] and these journals have little to no impact in the peer-review community at large. 

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Alternative medicine]]

Categories: Alternative medicine
Trent Lott

[[file:Trent Lott official portrait.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Lott]] 
'''Chester Trent Lott, Sr.''' {{lived|1941|}} is a former [[Dixiecrat]]<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Trent-Lott Trent Lott]</ref>-turned [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[United States Senate|Senate]] Majority Leader from [[Mississippi]].

In the early 1960s, Lott successfully led a campaign to keep [[African American|blacks]] from joining his [[fraternity]] at not only the University of Mississippi but its national chapters as well.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,399310,00.html Trent Lott's Segregationist College Days], ''Time''</ref>  In 2002, Lott issued an apology after receiving criticism for a statement in which he appeared to support the [[segregation]]ist position held by [[Strom Thurmond]] during the latter's 1948 [[President of the United States|presidential]] bid.<ref>[https://edition.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/09/lott.comment/ Lott apologizes for Thurmond comment], CNN</ref>

Lott unexpectedly retired after 35 years in [[Congress]] in 2007 at the age of 66. He's since reappeared as a [[lobbyist]] for a sanctioned company.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/09/02/former-senators-trent-lott-and-john-breaux-have-brand-new-gigs-as-russian-bank-lobbyists/ Former senators Trent Lott and John Breaux have new gigs. As Russian bank lobbyists], ''Washington Post''</ref>

==See also== 
*[[Chickenhawk]] 

==External links== 
*[http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/L000447/key-votes/ The U.S. Congress Votes Database: How Trent Lott voted on key votes], ''The Washington Post''

==References== 
{{reflist}} 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lott, Trent}}
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Chickenhawks]]
[[Category:Former segregationists]]
[[Category:Former United States Representatives]]
[[Category:Former United States Senators]]
[[Category:Fundamentalists]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:Islamophobes]]
[[Category:Lawyers]]
[[Category:Leftists who turned right with age]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]
[[Category:Shysters]]

Categories: Authors, Chickenhawks, Former segregationists, Former United States Representatives, Former United States Senators, Fundamentalists, Homophobes, Islamophobes, Lawyers, Leftists who turned right with age, Living people, Racists, Right-wing activists, Shysters
Triangulation

{{languagenav}}
{{Sources needed}}
'''Triangulation''' is a process in politics whereby a candidate tries to juggle their position(s) on issues so as to be located between all perspectives on it.  

This would describe a "moderate" position, except in this case the candidate has cobbled it together from focus groups and other means of "testing the water," rather than coming to think their position is logical and valid.

It can involve a lot of what is now called "flip-flopping" or "U-turns" on issues, as a candidate travels down the road of their career, and even in the course of a single election.<ref group=note>Often a candidate must run to the extreme fringe that turns out for party caucuses or primaries, and then head back towards the "center" for the general election. A sure fire tactic, until [[2016 United States Presidential Election|recently.]]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Hillary Clinton]] – learned it from [[Bill Clinton|Bill]] in pillow talk sessions
*[[Mitt Romney]] – It's a torturous path from [[Utah]] to governing [[Massachusetts]] to running in the [[Southern Baptist]] primaries!
*[[Rand Paul]] - Has zigged and zagged so many times it makes...
*[[John Kerry]] not look like a flip-flopper at all!
*[[Donald Trump]] - Trump maintained high favorables while he was still a blank slate. Many who didn't predict the arrival of [[post-truth]] thought that would change over the course of a general election with him as the nominee, when he became strongly identified with "Team Red" or "Team Blue". Back then, he was relying on tribalism and hyperbole to distance himself from 
reality
 establishment Republicans. Later he implemented that same hyperbolic, tribalistic policy in office.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

{{stub|Language}}

[[Category:Political strategery]]

Categories: Political strategery