The spice must flow at a cartel controlled trickle.

It is a cherry picked headline. Here is another from the AP that gives a different story: “Middle East latest: Israel plans an extended occupation of Syrian buffer zone”

I see you haven’t visited a fuckcars corner of the Internet.

In that vein, revolutions have as much of a chance to end poorly as to end well. Look at what is happening in Syria right now. There are a lot of players. The ideal arrangement would be peaceful power sharing inside of a democratic framework, but there is every chance that Assad will be replaced with another violent authoritarian regime.

It looks like the type of visas that are usually used for vacations give you 180 days per stay and last for 10 years. From what I’ve heard, they’re either fairly easy to get a hold of or ridiculously hard depending on your country of origin. In other news, everything in the US around visas and immigration is fuuuuuuccccckkkkked.

Go from Wales, Alaska near the Bering Strait to the southern tip of Florida. You have traveled 4,580 miles (7,370 km) in 14 states and provinces. At no point were you not in a jurisdiction that was predominantly English speaking.

Mandarin Chinese may have the most number of native speakers, but English has the most number of total speakers, and those speakers are spread much more widely around the world.

The US is a business, economic, and geopolitical powerhouse. So was the British Empire.

I’m not saying that every other language should crawl in a hole and die. I’m currently taking a crack at learning Spanish. But there are pretty solid reasons why Americans make assumptions, even if they are erroneous sometimes.

I think it really means “I don’t understand” and they are just projecting that onto their kids.

Joe didn’t deliver, and Kamala didn’t promise anything new.

Joe delivered the Inflation Reduction Act. It invests hundreds of billions of dollars into various climate initiatives over 10 years. That includes renewable generation, grid storage, EV, and nuclear generation. Then there’s infrastructure investment, which included much needed investments in transit and intercity rail.

So based on your 38 days, that would be March 12th (2020-02-03 + 38 days), no? And Biden was indeed declared the winner on a March 12th, but that was in 2024. It took until April 8, 2020 for Bernie to decide to drop out.

Bernie Sanders won 3 out of 5 primaries that occurred before the DNC called it for Biden in 2020 with Buttigeg picking up 1 other.

I’m not sure how to parse what you’re saying. As far as DNC rules are concerned, they “call” it once all primary races are held.

In 2016 Sanders won 23 races and was at 43% of the popular vote despite extreme pushback by the DNC. He was democratically supported cause he had people voting for him. Democratically.

The Democratic primary uses proportional representation, so candidates don’t win states, they win delegates. Hillary Clinton got 55% of the popular vote, Bernie Sanders got 43%. There are no two ways to slice it, Bernie lost that election by the rules of a democratic election by a sizeable margin. Meanwhile, Hillary was dealing with getting hacked and Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi. And you’re forgetting the often adoring coverage that was played to audiences on the left about Sanders.

The selling point for Kamala wasn’t anything in particular about her. She’s the VP and was the only obvious choice. There was no appetite for a contested convention, which was the alternative. It was always going to be an uphill battle, so in a sense she’s also a sacrificial lamb.

If you’re referencing Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020, he wasn’t “democratically popular” in either race. That simply is not supported by polling or election results. He was well behind Clinton by all metrics. Then in 2020, he was briefly “winning” because several similar candidates were splitting the center-left lane. The moment the center-left lane narrowed, Sanders’ lead evaporated.

It’s SOP for candidates to more or less clear the field for an incumbent president. This is partially because of a perceived effect from a strong primary challenger weakening an incumbent. So Democrats were just doing what both parties have been doing for the last half century.

The change from Biden was in response to clear reactions from the US electorate. The electorate saw Biden’s debate performance and was not impressed. There wasn’t time to run a process, so Kamala was the obvious choice given a non-ideal situation. But the electorate got what it wanted in terms of an option that wasn’t elderly.

I was really frustrated with my state legislature in Oregon. They put ranked choice on the ballot this year, but it was poorly written. These things are hard to revisit once passed, so I eventually decided to vote it down. Hopefully they’ll put it on in 2 or 4 years, but better written.

Staple crops aren’t just your cheap empty calories. Legumes, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, soybeans, onions, and some very healthy grains are all staple crops. Even the humble potato is fine, though many preparations of it are unhealthy. Take this soup:

• Lentils
• Carrots
• Onions
• Celery
• Potatoes
• Beans
• Vegetable broth made from the odds and ends
• Herbs & spices

I was trying to get myself prepared for realistic disaster scenarios. For us, that is earthquakes and cold snaps. And in my mind, realistic means how do I both ready myself and work with my community?

So I got a book on prepping. The titled seemed innocuous enough. Unfortunately, it was one of the crazy bug out into the woods and go eat squirrel stew sort of prepper books. Totally worthless for anything practical. The best thing I can say for it was that it was an e-book, so it didn’t cost much.

And let’s hope he lives to see her elected.

I just looked this up. The idea is called an ethnic religion, where a religion is closely tied to an ethnicity as opposed to universal religions like Christianity or Islam. It’s far from the only one, but it is the one that has the most mind share, at least in the West.

Meh. Net worth can be volatile in the upper echelons of wealth. It’s often based on volatile assets. He’s still giving away plenty. I’m seeing a budget of $8.6 billion in 2024 for the Gates Foundation.

Also, his wealth doesn’t need to be spent within his lifetime to remain true to the pledge. The Gates Foundation can continue functioning long after his death, much like other foundations like the Carnegie Foundation.

Look at all our WONDERFUL job creators amassing their dragon hoards!

I’m not sure who is doing the calculations here, but the latest estimates I’m seeing for Gates have him down a bit for the year. He also is down after is divorce from Melinda, which included splitting off a good chunk of money for her own personal and philanthropic use.

YOU CAN HAVE MY COBOL ON COGS WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS.