@Jolly said in Hungry: Darn phag. lol. I’ll be at a scientific conference on macrophages in 3 weeks.

@Mik said in Bernie is concerned: Y’know,Copper, this is the first election cycle where that’s a real issue. Bushwa... I was assured by countless psychiatrists and psychologists that Trump was mentally deranged and should be removed from office.

The more important points - it’s moving beyond where it was 20 years ago… I worked at a “Home School Convention” back in the mid-2000’s offering music lesson programs and such. All of the curriculum on display were of two types. One had books titled “Why do we have 2 eyes, 2 arms, and 2 legs? Because God loves the number 2!” and the other was kind of a weird mix between Earth Mothers and Conspiracy Theorists. Today there are legitimate opportunities. as the homeschooling community and private schools grow, funding gets cut for the public schools which then feeds into more people going to private schools or homeschooling…Sooner or later you build more momentum towards school choice.

Amen.

I hope we look back on this in the future and collectively wonder what the hell were we thinking?

He's a hoot, because it's not an act. Try working with him. He's a politician, of course, but he's sharp as a tack (or at least he was 6 or 7 years ago) and he excels at budgeting and money matters.

@Doctor-Phibes said in US Federal Budget - Record Reduction in Deficit: @Jolly said in US Federal Budget - Record Reduction in Deficit: At a certain point, the numbers mean nothing. So why not increase the deficit? It wouldn’t make any difference, right? Just like Karl Rove claimed. It only hastens our day of reckoning.

@taiwan_girl said in Reagan Reacts: @Mik said in Reagan Reacts: @Axtremus said in Reagan Reacts: @Mik said in Reagan Reacts: Very. Some of his successors just look like midgets by comparison. Just the Republican ones. Reagan will not be able to get through the Republican primary today. Partisan hack. Mik, how do you think President Reagan transplanted with his thoughts and policies to modern Republican Party would do? I kind of think that Ax is correct. He would have trouble in primary, but maybe do well in the general election if he made it there. I don’t often agree with Ax, and I certainly don’t here. Reagan’s message was not so different at its core. But he was also president at a time when communications and journalism was very, very different.

Ah, many have probably not flown first class when it really was first class. It was great.

Yeah, I’m not liking it. Posted about it earlier today. Xi is consolidating his power.

Another one: https://twitter.com/OGdukeneurosurg/status/1583419077741096960?s=20&t=NFyQtQ6PiFb3LEklPXS1Uw

My guess is that the US is probably providing funding a the "Ecuadorean Ministry of Culture", who will then distribute the funds. My experience is that when receiving funds from a different country (for example, the US), the receiving country receives USD$XX amount, of which a certain % or $ amount going to the cultural ministry, who then distributes. With the US giving USD$ billions of dollars in foreign aid a year (which is a good thing), I am doubtful that the US foreign service has the time or manpower to monitor the aid to the level of USD$20K. (Of course, I have been wrong quite a few times in the past, so you many not want to accept my answer. LOL) Or, an alternative is that the US foreign ministry puts out an ad that they are awarding X number of cultural grants. Countries/groups applying for those will try and be as non-specific as possible, using words like "cultural enrichment", etc to maximize their chance to get the grant. Increasing how specific they are decreases the chance of getting a grant like that.

I thought this thread was going to go a completely different direction. RIP, sisters Simon.

@Jolly said in 80% Mortality: Are we talking about the Daily Mail or the New York Times? Which one of those is right up your alley?

Damn right we do.