This is where I am, too. I'd prefer someone 20-years younger, but I think he has done quite well considering that we did not have a peaceful transition of power and that the previous president has done everything possible before and since to damage him. Trump's behavior as a former president has been unprecedented and I don't think Biden gets enough credit for steadying the ship.

Do you really want a less educated population? Remember that less education leads to higher poverty and crime rates. So the ROI on educating people is actually really good.

Nearly half the country believes demons exist. A sizeable chunk believe in QAnon and Pizzagate. A candidate for President believes 5G signals radiate our kids. And a bunch of people walked around Dallas thinking that guys nephew was going to rise from the dead and be Trump's running mate.

What are the advantages to not offering more education? It seems to only benefit those on top who have access to money. It limits competition in the marketplace and stymies innovation. And it costs us more money in the long run.

We've known about the problem since last Fall but still nada.

Top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken calls for Haiti intervention
It's great that Blinken is calling for this. Hopefully this means something will get done soon.

I think its understandable that US and UN don't want to (or shouldn't) lead this thing. But honestly, the US should get over it and do it. I guess Canada can take the lead. Or maybe France to help out her former colony. But they don't seem to want to and it's in our sphere of influence

Under the cover of UN approval, take over the country, declare martial law, free to use deadly force against any gang members or baddies, forget about any democratic Presidential elections for a while. Govern like we did in Japan and cede back power in 7+ years.

Yeah, it's nation building ... but I'd support it if (1) UN approval & some support troops (2) we went all in (3) let the Haitians know exactly how we'll rule & conditions for return to their self governance.

Let's really help this frakked up s***hole (beyond Sean Penn).

I don't know. Maybe the US should stay out of Haiti for a change. Most of these issues stem from our involvement and the idea that we can fix it is kind of silly.

No, and all you have to do is read what you literally quoted me as saying to see that.

You said education is important and then said we need to do away with college without really offering an alternative.

What's the plan to educate the population?

Timely article that provides more details on the impetus. Lots to unpack in the article. The article made it sound that Caribbean leaders were reluctant to support a prior intervention but is okay with one now (no real details on the politics).

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nat...277043698.html

So it sounds the latest proposal is a UN led force. Kagame is President of Rwanda. Seems he wants to help also which is great.


I'm hopeful but this doesn't sound "all-in" to me. But don't know all the details yet. Definitely better than nothing though.

Bye MTG.

Sounds like she needs new friends. Hopefully, she'll "calm" down and support McCarthy in the inevitable McCarthy vs Freedom Caucus fights (just out of spite).

Marjorie Taylor Greene booted from Freedom Caucus - POLITICO

So the latest "going to expose the Biden Crime Family whistleblower?"


Yeah not so much:


https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr...g-unregistered

Obviously because the Biden Crime Family has infiltrated several foreign governments to pay for his services specifically to entrap him.

(sarcasm, but I'm sure that it'll be the reaction of folks)

Yeah they want Biden to be even more corrupt than they are. Pretty sure we'll here how the "Deep State" is protecting Joe Biden sometime soon.



Edit: And that its all made up/lies

I agree with this. I was talking more from the angle of what I think we should do, not what I think we will do.


Do you have any specific ideas on how to integrate it more? I'm not really sure what that looks like.


Agree. Trying to be both is a great way to do neither well.



I don't have a completely clarified vision on what the result should look like. What I do know, to Edward's point, is that our current higher education system came into being around the time of the Industrial Revolution and served society well at that time. I don't think it does so any longer, for similar reasons that we don't do many other aspects of society the way we would have 150+ years ago. Urban planning is much different, we import and export goods in the global economy on a much larger scale, the ability to adapt with a much faster rate of technological change is important, what we think of as modern medicine was simply unknown then, on and on one could go.

As it relates directly to education:

- I don't think the Primary Education - Higher Education - Workforce Entry model makes sense anymore. Rather, continuing education throughout life is critical. Moreso in some professions than others for sure, but I think it's valuable to all people capable of being educated (the relatively small percentage who unfortunately are not is another matter), and so a system in which education happens alongside professional life as opposed to mostly preceeding it is more appropriate for the current rate of change that technological advance has presented us with.

- Memorizing facts is not nearly as important as it was, as we have devices that can give us all the facts and figures we want at our fingertips, and increasingly efficiently. The goal of education needs to shift to how to apply that knowledge.

- I don't think building grand complexes/compounds where students go, pay an exorbitant amount for living quarters/books/exploding administrative fees/etc. is appropriate in this world. There are practical exceptions for training for certain careers, but most general education at a minimum has no reason to need to happen in person. It can and should be done remotely. In this manner a much smaller number of educators can reach a much larger group of learners, as we already see happening in various forms of social media. There's no good reason why we can't get a lot more education done at a much lower price. Remote learning should IMO by the normative method.

I've personally learned more in my adult life than I ever did as a student simply because I sought it out in the age of the internet where so much information is available. There's also a lot of misinformation as well; I'm not suggesting a free-for-all. Education needs to move at the pace of technological advance, and the only way it can do that is to be a constant process. A traditional multi-year degree done immediately after high school is not appropriate to a dynamic society like this, but rather a more stagnant one that has long since been a relic of the past.

In the companies I've been to, "formal" continuing education is encouraged. There's basically 2 types (1) ethics, soft skills etc. (2) job related. For the former, the training is pushed out to me and I'm told to do them or else. For the latter, they budget at least 40 hours a year to go do related training like at a software vendor etc.

Also, younger/newer employees do get more training. It's not unusual to send those fresh out of college to a 2-3 week "boot camp".

I've been fortunate to be in companies that provide continuing education, and understand many other companies do/can not. I don't know what you envision as curricula and schedule (e.g. average 1 day a week, 1 day a month etc.). TBH, I would hate to go beyond what I described above unless its to learn a brand new skill like a different software package ... too much work already.


I was thinking about multiplication tables when reading this. I think there are "basics" and then there are more advanced stuff. Even if basics are covered by my calculator, its good to understand and able to do the foundational stuff without a calculator.

There's a lot of grey area here. I kinda agree but kinda disagree. I think it depends on the level of stuff one if memorizing.

In my experience, remote training can definitely occur for continuing education stuff. If we are in a college model for 18-22, I don't think it works near as well. Part of the college experience is also college life, interacting with others etc. One can certainly also remotely collaborate with other students, but I don't think it works as well. Definitely more remote learning but similar to the job model, I'd wat on-site also like a 4-1, 3-2 ratio.

I understand you are not advocating for but want to upend the 18-22 college model. I want to change it not upend it.

And yeah, the costs are way too much for non-Ivy league or private universities.

No doubt I've learned more in my adult life also, no argument there.

Bottom-line. Using the 80-20 model, I'm for keeping the 70 and changing the 30. I think you're more for keeping the 30 and changing the 70.

Brian: There's plenty of data that shows the traditional college student doesn't do well in remote learning environments. As you go from most academically prepared to least, that achievement gap grows. This is certainly true where I teach. I did a fully online asynchronous class last semester and the learning outcomes were definitely below the in-person class.

In terms of paying for room and board, a lot of schools have seen a significant increase in the number of commuter students. Look beyond the top tier of schools and the traditional model is already changing a lot.

The article stated personal data that could have been shared by the tax prep firms, but its not clear (to me, at least) if the stuff weren't somehow aggregated, anonymized etc.

Hard for me to believe these firms could believe that was okay. But Warren will figure it out. If truly personally identifiable data was shared, looking forward to the $10 check after a 3-5 year class action lawsuit.

Tax prep companies shared private taxpayer data with Google and Meta for years, congressional probe finds | CNN Business

Re: education. I know the conversation has centered higher education but I think the focus should be more on what we are looking for from primary/secondary education first. IMO if we can get a better model for primary/secondary education systems, there would be a greater benefit for the society and allow for the change in the higher education model to happen more organically.


I don't have any specifics but the first step has to be our society actually respecting and valuing the tech/trade schools and community colleges as legitimate institutions of learning. A friend of mine taught ENG101 at University of South Florida, University of Tampa and Hillsborough Community College all at the same time last year. Same syllabus, same book, same credit hours. USF costs $211 ($575 for out of state) per credit hour, U of T is $640 and HCC costs $104.39. But conventional wisdom is the students who went to the four year schools got a better education from those schools than the people who went to the community college got from them. Until that mindset changes that the tech schools and community colleges are not automatically and inherently less than, I don't think there is any way to integrate them more.

That's fair, but I'm not convinced this is insurmountable. Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my knowledge these are not long-term assessments. I also think that when you're talking about higher education, you're talking about adults and either they are self-motivated or they aren't (I was one who wasn't, and I had some good professors, but I was unreachable at that point in my life and it wasn't because I wasn't taught well, I wasn't willing to learn).

The point about commuting is well-taken, but I would say things are getting worse overall on balance, not better. For example, the increase in the already-obscene number of administrators which I can't see any other way than incompetent and just plain wasteful.


Sure, but the basics should be covered years before a person gets to this point. We're not talking about elementary school or junior high, we're talking about college/university and up.


I don't think there's anything essential about 'college life. Interacting with others is great, esp. those of different backgrounds/cultures. There are also lots of ways to do that. To the degree that this is involved in the education system, it's a side benefit and shouldn't be the primary goal.

To your other points, I don't at all like the idea of relying on companies to make it happen. Companies are going to value education of their employees at different levels and for different reasons, but if it's a national priority to have good education and I think it should be, that kind of ad hoc approach doesn't really work.


In general I view this the same way I view nation-states as an obsolete construct or the global economy being inevitable making it impossible to hoard/monopolize/produce all key resources in any one part of the world, etc. I'm very open to their being much better ideas to the basic outline I posted, but I am convinced that they way we do it now is as outdated as the telegraph as a form of communication or the horse-drawn carriage as a method of transportation. Great in their time. No longer a good way to do things in modern society.

Yes, the multiplication example was primary/secondary education. I would still propose "memorize facts" is still generally important & needed at the college level. If your supposition is there is too much memorization required, I'd agree but think of the non-Maths like medical, history etc. A good amount of memorization is needed.

A side note - I opened another tab and typed in "how much memorization in ..." and it autocompleted "medical school". A little creepy.

We'll agree to disagree on this. Using my example of onsite vs remote work, I view in-person collaboration & interaction as essential (e.g. 4-1 or 3-2 ratio).

This is an interesting point. I had assumed our continuing education discussion was primarily from job/work related whereas you are proposing otherwise.

TBH, not sure how to assess what "post-secondary but non-college, and not necessarily work related" continuing education would look like. I like the theory but unsure how that would work in a practical manner.

I'm not sure I like this but think I like it. Having made payments for 20-25 years is a significant bar and shows pretty good faith.

To be more fair, Biden should do something for those that have been making payments for private student loans also. I think I read private loans are 8-10% of total so another $4B from somewhere. Not sure what he can constitutionally do though.

I'm sure there'll be a challenge here. The article doesn't go into on what grounds Biden can do this.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/14/bide...borrowers.html

Nice Yellen in China story.

I don't remember eating "Yunnan" specific Chinese food. There's a couple places in Atlanta China town, going to have to check it out.

Mushroom diplomacy: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sets off culinary craze in China | CNN

Dude. How did I not know there was an Atlanta Chinatown? If I had read this about two hours earlier, I would have hit that for lunch with my son.

Errrr … Buford Hwy just south of 285.

I know Buford Highway is covered in Asian restaurants, but I never knew there was a Chinatown Mall. Mostly because I can't read any of the signs on that strip. I have always wanted to stop and try some stuff out there, but I'm overwhelmed by the number of places and most don't have English signs off the road to even know what they are.

Heck, just drop in anyplace that looks interesting. There’ll be someone that knows English and English menus.

We're on a nice little mountain vacation this week, so I was driving through rural NC and Virginia. And I saw a very well done homemade sign talking about how Biden is in the pocket of China and the Cartels. Someone put a fair amount of time into making the sign.

And I just don't get how Joe Biden inspires this much rage. AOC, I get. Obama I get. Hillary I get. But Biden is just a normal old white guy. Where's the motivation to hate him so much?

He eats babies
Grooms kids
And if I recall correctly only had a short period of time left to turn America into Venezuela according to the people that wanted me to vote for trump during the last election.


I keep waiting for their mea culpa if we do not become Venezuela but I’m sure they’ll move the goal posts


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The Freedom Caucus bravely stopped Biden from his plans.

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He's the face of the other side. And the other side is an existential threat to life as we know it and evil. That's about it.

If I was a Dem running in 2024 (or here in KY, this year), I'd run all the GOP 2020 ads about how the country was going to be burned to the ground if Dems were elected. And then show the country actually burning while Trump was in office. Remember how we used to live that daily chaos? Funny how things just went back to normal, huh?

Yeah everything is a battle of good vs evil. That's the basis of Q, it's offshoots, and one of the foundations of MAGA.

Jesse Watters mom calling into his show was amazing.

https://www.newsweek.com/jesse-watte...-holes-1813554

Joe, no rush in getting this guy back. And certainly don't trade him for anything much.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66233797

That sounds like someone who is defecting more than it sounds like someone who has been detained.

EDIT: I also don't want to leave out the possibility of him hoping to commit suicide by North Korean soldiers' gunfire

Agree it sounds more like defecting. Guessing not very well thought out defection that'll he's regretting just about now.

When he eventually gets out, hope he writes a book on the pros & cons of socialism vs capitalism. He should be an expert by then :)

how does a guy only 2 years a soldier qualify for a horse???

and it doesn't sound like a defection. It sounds like a smartass american who thinks he can go wherever he wants to own thelibs or somethin

It is also possible the guy has had a mental break. He is at the age where bi-polar or schizophrenia usually shows up. It could be anything from defection to just trying to run away from charges.

Considering he was laughing while he did it I don't think it was the former

I think he was looking for a non-extradition country to visit. NK was just conveniently close by.

But I guess it's possible he just wanted one last look at the border before he came home.

I read more. He was thrown in jail for kicking a south korean police car for 2 months. He was then going to be sent home to face more discipline in texas.

Sounds like a complete moron so making a run for the border fits that profile. Now he'll get to stamp both N and S Korean jail onhis bingop card...or maybe he's collecting for a free sub.

One article said he was "whisked away by a van" in N Korea....yeah he's fucking toast. NO one will ever see him again :)
They gonna interrogate the hell out of him

I miss Rodman. Hope he goes to visit the crazy kid, its been a while. Not necessarily to try free anyone but just to say hello.

Wonder what the crazy sister thinks of Rodman, guessing she's not a basketball fan.

lol

I think I'm going to be as invested in this story as I was in the missing sub story

You don't think someone who has suddenly been acting out in strange ways and then fled into an oppressive hostile territory laughing could possibly be having a mental break? I don't have enough information to really gauge, but what little that has been given it sounds exactly like a mental break to me. It sounds like he has gone out of control and is directly acting against his own best interest without consideration of the consequences.

It reminds me of a friends daughter. She was on track to get her PHD in education, and had never been in trouble in her life. Then she suddenly got arrested for taking a swing at a police officer because she thought he was trying to steal her child (she didn't have one). She calmed down, seemed fine for awhile, then disappeared for three months. When they finally found her, she was living in her car 1,500 miles away and hadn't showered in two weeks because "they" were trying to kill her.

May we all find someone who loves us as much as the GOP loves trying to make the American people care about Hunter Bidens private life.

So you think he was a Jan 6 insurrectionist then... :)
:banana:

I doubt NK care that much. Sure it will be cute to have an American soldier on TV and get to have talks with U.S. officials to secure his release. Him being whisked away has more to do with them not knowing what the hell to do with him as he ran through the DMZ. If they were not going to shoot him, the next best option is to whisk him away.

When I mentioned defection, I meant it in the strictest sense. I don't think this is another Edward Snowden. I doubt he has anything of real value to provide the North Koreans and I don't think the North Koreans expect anything other than a showpiece. I think that this is a kid who made the conscious decision that he was abandoning the possibility the military discipline he was facing at Fort Bliss would end in a military jail and/or a dishonorable discharge. He made the conscious decision to book a tour to the DMZ and the conscious decision to run across the border. I would be shocked to see him willing wrapping himself in the NK flag for example but hey I have been wrong before.

Nice, thanks for being one of the first.

And can you help out on student debt? Don't know how big your endowment fund is and no idea how many of your graduates & never-graduated have debt payment challenges ... but your annual list price of $66K implies you have a share of the problem.

Yes this is more what I think too. And the conscious decision part is why I don't think he was mad as a hatter. Granted there may be some ptsd stuff.

edit: i just read this update
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/19/asia/...ntl/index.html
he's punched people and kicked cop cars before it seems.

What the heck is Kissinger doing in China?

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/20/chin...n-beijing.html
Not sent by Biden.

100 years old, still looking decent.

"Partisanship might have permanently changed how we grade presidents"

You don't say.

yeah. No president in our lifetime will ever hit above 50%.

I'm sure Lincoln has thoughts about this.

Since there are no details good or bad, all I can say is good on Kissinger. I am sure he didn't fly over to China via coach and have the issues the average American you have for such a trip. I also don't care if it is patriotism, ego, goodwill that made him go over there. I am pretty sure nothing short of the Chinese leader's finger hovering over the nuclear button would have gotten me on any vehicle to take me to China to for any talks a month plus after my 100th birthday. Some other diplomat has to have gotten friendly with China since 1971.

Agree, I don't see how it could hurt. I was just curious as to why (and intent!). You'd think Joe asked him to go but they denied it. So either China asked him to come so he can convey a special message back to Joe (but then Yellen and Blinken were just there), or he decided to visit one last time himself (but then that is curious timing).

We'll find out soon enough.

Hope he has a great time there and get a chance to eat some authentic food (and maybe hallucinogenic mushrooms).

I hope he doesn't eat food over there that makes him violently ill and he dies a miserable death. Would truly hate to see that happen.

I can definitely see how it could hurt. I think we could all see a world where a Republican diplomat (let's use Jim Jordan for this example) or an Democrat diplomat (AOC) goes to China without the authorization of the administration of the day who is not aligned with their party could be problematic. I am not going ascribe that scenario to Kissinger at this point. I hope he has gone there on behalf of the administration and not to just do his own thing. Either way, the idea that Henry Kissinger is still an option in U.S./China relations in 2023 is a problem IMO.

Biden admin has said they did not send Kissinger so I'll take them at their word.


IMO Kissinger is pretty irrelevant in world politics stage now. Even if he was a closeted commie or MAGA, and started saying negative things about Joe or US, no one in the non-China sphere would pay much attention.

Best case is Xi asked Kissinger to come so he can be an trusted but informal messenger to Joe. Get a message to Joe, do it privately not publicly so Joe doesn't "lose face" or get attacked by MAGA.

But then Kissinger wanting a last hurrah, public adoration (and try the Yellen's mushrooms) is also possible.

It's just an interesting situation ...

Don't know how successful it'll be for Joe, but I like it.

Opinion: Marjorie Taylor Greene gave Joe Biden an early Christas present | CNN


Here's the tweet

https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/...384435713?s=20

For those that don't know, TSMC is the Taiwanese company that makes a bunch of semi-conductor chips. It's one of those companies that are strategically important to the US and if China ever invades Taiwan, a company that US (supposedly) threatened to bomb its manufacturing facilities so China doesn't get it. So very important.

Read below article and thought "great job Joe", bringing strategic manufacturing back to the US ... slowly but surely.

TSMC Postpones Mass Production at Arizona Fab to 2025 | Tom's Hardware
Heck, I don't know why the visa needs "ongoing negotiations". Joe just needs to say okay. We want a good chunk of the foundry here in Mexico, US or Canada.

So many things like this don't get highlighted enough.

AL legislators ignored a SCOTUS order to create a second majority black congressional district.

I don't understand how this bill helps the conflict of interest. As I read this bill, it is (1) no stock trading at all and (2) no blind trust. Because I did not see any wording to the contrary (and I may have missed it) this implies its okay for our lawmakers to trade ETF/Mutual Funds.

Senators introduce bipartisan ban on stock ownership for executive and legislative branch office holders and their families | CNN Politics

Lawmakers can influence "sectors" like Tech, Financials, Real Estate etc. And there are ETF/Mutual Funds focused on those sectors. Sure they may not be able to trade individual stocks but they'll just now influence the "sectors".

The solution to me is Blind Trust. Essentially, when you are in office, you leave it to an impartial team at Fidelity, Vanguard, Charles Schwab etc. and say something like "I want you to conservatively/aggressively invest over a 5-10-15-20 year timeline".

This just seems like a hollow bill with gaping holes.

I don't know where this should go, but the story is absolutely crazy.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/patrick...wburn-alabama/

Politico had good insight, opinion on why.

Why Kissinger Went to China — Again - POLITICO

No suggestion that US sent Kissinger. China sending a public (not secret) message sounds right. And it does sound like the 100 year old guy does want to continue to stroke his own ego. I googled and found net worth estimates ranging from $10-$50M. Doesn't seem that he needs to "work" anymore.

Speaker McCarthy said on Fox News that they are preparing to start the Biden impeachment hearings soon. He said the charges are "something we haven't seen since Nixon."
I'm sure this will be the first and they will come up some reason for the second before the election to even the score with Trump.

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Shit like this is why McConnel seems to have given up on taking full advantage of the 2024 senate map and only hopes they can squeeze out a majority.

BS impeachment hearings aren't going to sway voters to their side.

So you think the accusations against Biden will be "trump-ed" up?

Conservatives are fighting against renewal of PEPFAR and now the one thing Bush did right is at risk of being killed. Conservatives for death strike again.

The dude straight up had a mini-stroke while talking to reporters.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell begins his weekly press conference, freezes for 20 seconds, and then is escorted away by fellow Republicans. pic.twitter.com/mYdBaU0Acv

— The Recount (@therecount) July 26, 2023

That's scary as hell. They led him away but then brought him back out a short time later. How they didn't take him straight to a hospital I don't understand.

They just needed to reboot him. I don't think a hospital was necessary.

Sounds like a hiccup or two popped up. Article implies it was a sweetheart deal.

I'm sure he'll eventually get a deal. But no problem in making that idiot squirm a little more.

Judge declines to approve Hunter Biden plea deal for now - POLITICO

Send him to jail. Please.

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I don't really care, whatever.

However, this whole thing appears to have started with his iCloud account getting hacked while he was in rehab. The data was put on a hard drive, sold to someone with GOP ties, who got it to Rudy who put the who threw the drive in a laptop and started the "hunter's laptop" story.

This was a ton of work, countless laws broken, and god knows how much money spent to get a guy on some relatively minor charges.

There may be another laptop but the laptop with pics and emails was because he left it at a repair shop and didn't return to pick it up/pay for it within X date. The repair guy looked at the contents and eventually went to Giuliani.

I believe the "hacked" story was an early attempt to distance himself from the laptop. But I think most everyone concludes it was his laptop, those were his pics, and many, if not all, of those emails were his.

The drive to pursue was obviously wanting to get back at Joe. There's still a thread out there that Joe got some kickbacks but IMO highly unlikely. No doubt Hunter leveraged his connections (who wouldn't) but he's just a sleazy, piece of shit guy and that works against him (e.g. who would sleep with brother's widow less than 2 years after brother's death, and while still legally married). No problem if he is given a stiffer sentence than normal and sent to jail.

I don't think that it occurred to the founders that anyone would ever want to be doing these jobs into their 80s and beyond.

If it had, they might have set a mandatory retirement age of, like, 72 for federal judges, legislators, and the President.

If that had been in place from the beginning, no one would question it.

The average life expectancy around 1800 was like 35.

But that is misleading. The reason it was that low was because of very high infant and childhood mortality rates. I wonder if anyone has ever tried to alter that by determining what the expected life expectancy was after you hit the age of say 35.

That's true. I see something on Wiki about life expectancy from the 12th to 19th centuries as being 50-55 years old if someone survives childhood. If that combines men and women, I believe men would be slightly higher and women lower.

From what I know that's about right. It wasn't that rare to live into your 70s or so, but it still wasn't common. Stuff like smallpox obv., any random infection or minor illness could very much potentially kill you. I think I've mentioned this elsewhere, but I read a book on Lewis & Clark some years back and it's interesting that in that timeframe people would lead off letters talking about their health. These days we assume if you're in the prime of life you are healthy if you don't say otherwhise; prior to modern medicine it was the opposite. There was much less confidence in making long-term plans for your life, and death was just ... more expected. I think that has a lot to do with how much less accepted war generally is in modern developed countries.

Talking about people like McConnell ... if you had a heart or brain issue you were just almost certainly going to die. At that age, something like bronchitis or pneumonia one winter and you're gone, and thankful you lasted as long as you did basically.

because they are republicans and don't believe in hospitals

Nice, 91 years old and still working.

I assume her Chief of Staff is really the power behind her?

I don't know how many other states do this as well, but in 2021, knowing McConnell was obviously getting up there in years, the KY legislature passed a law requiring the governor to replace a US Senator with someone from the retiring (or dead) Senator's own party. Right now, of course, we have a Democrat Governor and everyone else in an elected position pretty much throughout the state except in Louisville is a Republican.

No big deal

Didn’t a state recently elect a person from one post and within a day or two of being sworn in they switched parties? Easy peasy

It’s just a label and meaningless because as we learned words and intentions don’t matter… only the legislation, I mean actions themselves, speak and nothing else.


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The KY Gov will have to pick from a list submitted by the KY GOP.

Under the same law the GOP gets to submit 3 options for the governor to choose from in the event McConnel retires.

Well we can pick and choose which led to follow nowadays anyways.


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Congrats Joe. Finally, right thing to do.

I really don't know why you didn't do this earlier (DNA paternity was established in 2019) and can't help but feel you, in this specific matter, did a shitty job and didn't meet my expectations for what you'd be as a grandfather.

President Biden Speaks Out on Hunter's Child, 4, with Arkansas Woman (Exclusive)
Weak excuse. No possible rationale I can think of for not acknowledging her once paternity was established. Definitely stay outside of the legal stuff but send a nice birthday card & present, small things etc.

Some pretty good survey poll results from Pew as of Jun 5.

(Sorry, unlike other images, didn't see a way to make it smaller)

Among Top US Problems: Inflation, Health Costs, Partisan Cooperation | Pew Research Center



Misc musings:

1. Inflation. I would have thought it'd be closer. I definitely feel better about inflation now but would have been more with the Rep/Lean Rep 77% then.
2. Work together. Nice everyone is aligned but I'd hope it would have been higher than 62-63%
3. Federal Budget deficit. Wish they had also surveyed National Debt

Misc musings:

1. Surprised at the big % for "Neither Party" category. Haven't looked at older Pew Polls but be interesting to see how each category changed in the past years
2. Foreign Policy. Seems weird people agree more with (I assume) Trump's FP than Joe's. I'd thought Joe would be the runaway winner here.

Not pretty looking for Joe.



Misc musings:

1. Hispanics. I've known this but still surprises me that Hispanics significantly support Rep more than Dems.
2. Postgrad & College grad. I wouldn't have thought that big of a difference. Is it finding a good job in these times? or student debt failure?

From what I understand of current GOP economic policy from their own words, it's defund the FBI and drag shows.

Drag shows are bad because reasons.

J Edgar Hoover does not approve

No free or reduced lunch for school children either. Fucking freeloaders.

Gold, Jerry, Gold.

I'm more agreeable to this new version of student debt reduction/forgiveness.

Biden launches new student loan income-based repayment plan | CNN Politics
Letting individuals making $125K benefit in prior version didn't sit well with me. And certainly not family making $250K. The above $32K and $67K version is better measured.

Interest free loan. Sure.

Wondering why they didn't go this route vs the initial approach leveraging the Covid pandemic.

Outstanding post!

:bowdown:

I believe Joe participating in phone calls is a new disclosure? I don't remember reading about it and not the 20 times.

I get Joe may not have formally discussed business dealings (e.g. contractual details etc.) but participation in actual calls increases the odds that he did listen in and was a party to some details (and not just niceties as mentioned below).

Still not a smoking gun though (e.g. show me the money trail to Joe, show me the relevant text, emails etc. to Joe). Unless Joe received some $, this is still a nothing burger and, at best, a blind spot for his frakking son.

Devon Archer debate focuses on Hunter Biden ‘illusion of access’ | The Hill