Thanks, yes, that’s the 3 second summary. Lots of foreign aid never does anything for the intended recipients and can actually prolong their suffering and deprive them of meaningful work while keeping the POS small coalition ruling class in power. It basically provides a free pass for the shitheads to keep them in power and is a way to buy loyalty to policies beneficial for the lending nation, but not for the recipient nation.

I didn’t…sorry. I’ll delete my comments.

Not really. It’s easy enough to find at the library, Libby, or PDF via Google search. Probably even archive.org has it. My question was intended for the author, anyway. I still recommend everyone find and read that book, though.

Edit: sorry for being snippy. I haven’t eaten in 42 hours and I was about to be sedated for a medical procedure and my blood sugar is low and the book itself is really worth a read and I was worried I wouldn’t do it justice with a brief rushed summary.

Curious to hear your thoughts about Chapter 7 of The Dictator’s Handbook by Bueno de Mesquita and Smith.

Thanks, yeah, that is what I meant. I’ve been without food for 40 hours to prep for a medical procedure, so my thought processes are a little janky today.

And there’s always the entitled dietcrat in every thread of life. I was just trying to help anyone who might be interested in paying less for something that can be a little like an egg AND have some more health benefits. Guess it is pretty hard to look up information online on how to make substitutions in a diet and gosh darn do stores make it almost impossible to find the necessary ingredients, tucked away in the produce department. But you do you and enjoy paying your higher prices and then whinging about it when you could be doing something else.

Puppetrump

By the time the population at highest risk is able to vote, Trump and RFK Jr will be too old to be alive. Unless the voting-eligible parents make the obvious connection between MAGA policy and the well-being of their kids, there won’t be any repercussions to the ruling elite for sick and dead children in rural Texas. Based on shit I saw along rural roads and on FB before I completely abandoned that platform, “Jesus has this,” so no need to worry, I guess.

Have been eggfree for about 7 years. There are viable substitutes. Tofu can be prepared as a good egg substitute. It’ll never be exactly the same, but you get used to it. I like it because no chickens were treated like shit during its manufacture.

Egg him on, so to speak? Ensure everyone is aware of the egg on his face? Can’t make an omelette without cracking a few eggs, by the way.

It was never about egg prices for them, either. They just used that as their excuse so they didn’t have to publicly admit they just really like bigotry and hate.

I like to think of it as Canadish.

You have lucky kids :)

Sorry, but unless you REALLY want to be a parent, parenthood can be its own special kind of hell. Subtract social support, or even exacerbate it with a society unafraid to be hostile or cold toward children, or, more likely, parents, in public spaces, and it’s a recipe for childlessness. While the children can, and do, offer special and genuine comfort and joy, they also bring a relentless onslaught of tedium and obligations. Some people live for it and can’t imagine a life without it, and good for them, but others, especially the reluctant parent to an enthusiastic, or perhaps just momentarily naive, partner, have trouble living with it. It’s hard for me to fathom what a single reluctant or resentful parent must feel.

If a society wants net positive reproduction, it really needs to step up its incentive and support structures, otherwise the responsibility of producing for the most naturally self-centered beings in existence within a selfishly competitive society just isn’t worth it. Just my own cynical opinion as a reluctant, and probably pootly suited, parent. And I don’t at all intend to sound judgy toward children for being self-centered; I recognize it’s a normal stage of development, which does help take some of the edge off of it as a recipient.

I have next-to-zero basis to judge a sinocentric view of reproduction or child rearing, as I’m in a completely different part of the world and whose time in China is better counted in hours than days or weeks.

Free to pay.

Honest question - are Canadians generally fine with normal US citizens with no untoward agenda still coming to visit and shop in Canada? I love partaking in the cuisine, a museum, and a library in a relatively nearby border town. Especially the more ethnically-diverse cuisine, because shitty generic Americana fare gets tiresome. Canadian Tire is fun, too, although I do secretly wonder why it’s not Canadian Tyre. Curious to know if US plates on a car in Canada generate a negative response nowadays.

Also, I’m sorry about the reality for which I felt the need to ask this question.

Rubio told Sikorski: “No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink. And say thank you because without Starlink, Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now.”

In fact, Russians are already on the border with Poland because the Russian region of Kaliningrad lies on Poland’s northern border.

“Say thank you” - Marco

What is it with MAGAsites demanding thanks from everyone?