gas price anecdote
I've mentioned my family members who are doctors in Malawi. As if the USAID cuts weren't bad enough, here's a message from them this morning:
I recently heard a pundit say that if gasoline increased to over $5.00/gallon in the United States, people would riot in the streets. For context: since the war in Iran began, the price of gasoline in Malawi has increased to $15.00/gallon, with lines into gas stations stretching upwards to twelve hours. This in a country where the median Malawian lives on $2.00 per day, and one in four are food insecure. There has been a spike in families calling our pediatric cancer center saying they want to continue chemotherapy for their child, but they can't afford the transport, often over 12 hours, into the city. It's important to know how our politics ripple across the world into its most vulnerable communities.
Who cares?
sorry...fuck maga.
Where in their "Christian" theology does it say this type of shit is okay?
Pretty simple. Based on the Prosperity "Gospel," this
by BillyGoat 
, At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Friday, May 01, 2026, 09:45 (25 days ago) @ Grantland
has nothing to do with our policy. Those people are "heathens" and have not "earned" God's blessings in this material world through their "faith."
Now, excuse me while I take a Zofran.
Heading back to Eswatini Tuesday with another class
by ndphilo , A prison of my own design, Thursday, April 30, 2026, 08:36 (26 days ago) @ Jay
There was always some measure of pride in being able to talk about the role that USAID and PEPFAR were playing, not perfect by any means, but making a very real difference in the lives of many. The effects of what we have done, from those cuts to the war, are going to reverberate for years, decades, to come and cause so much suffering and death. And for what? It is a heartbreaking tragedy.
The Dems really need to start screaming from the rooftops
by BillyGoat , At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Friday, May 01, 2026, 06:41 (25 days ago) @ ndphilo
about the net impact of "DOGE." We didn't save any money. We didn't reduce the deficit. And we certainly didn't take the money we were spending overseas and spend it on Americans in need.
The out of pocket cost of the war, resulting in substantial impacts on US consumers has got to be the easiest talking point in history.
But there's also the money that has quite simply been lit on fire. Like the "rebranding" of the DOD.
But it's probably too much to ask for Dems to scream anything from the rooftops. Or even use a mild "outside voice."
Schumer and Jeffries need to go.
Both are feckless in positions of leadership. Jeffries recently said that impeaching Trump is not on the agenda should they take the House. That should be item #1.
Absolutely useless
Jeffries just voted AGAINST letting SNAP recipients use their funds on rotisserie chicken.
Now, as Joe Pera said, I don’t know why a rotisserie chicken is 5.99 and an uncooked chicken is 15.99 and i find it better not to think too much about it.
But I DO know that it’s probably the most protein/calories per dollar in the grocery store, and that taking food prep out of the equation helps people who are unhoused, or just crushed for time.
Jeffries and 12 other dems voted no. He should be run out of office, not just out of leadership.
I survived on rotisserie chicken in law school.
by San Pedro , More than 100 feet from Bob Davies, Friday, May 01, 2026, 09:24 (25 days ago) @ MattG
As you say, it's a shit ton of protein for cheap!
I hadn't heard about that
Ostensibly, what's the reason for voting that way?
He says it should be broader & allow all hot food
Always willing to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, especially if it means that we get to move forward with no progress being made.
hang on
This thing passed 384-35 and Jeffries knew that and was clearly not trying to kill it. I don't think Hakeem Jeffries hates hot chicken, but why single out hot chicken for SNAP purchases? Also this was a Fetterman bill that seems like a bone tossed to a certain segment of the industry. It seems stupid to me.
It had overwhelming bipartisan support.
Jeffries’ preferred course of action would NOT pass.
So - Why vote against the bipartisan bill? Every journey begins with the first step, and this was a net good.
Ultimately; this is just another example of Jeffries being tone deaf and picking dumb battles. He has been wrong OFTEN. He should not be the party leader.
not a big Jeffries fan, but this seems calculated
Reading up on this, it's truly a dumb, narrow piece of legislation. He obviously didn't whip votes against it but he knew it would pass anyway so it was a free no vote. It seems like a move by him to talk about the Meng bill which is much better.
You're correct.
by domer.mq 
, Friday, May 01, 2026, 12:04 (25 days ago) @ Jay
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Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick.
good luck, safe travels
Would be interested in a trip report when you get back, if you have time.
Definitely, will do.
by ndphilo , A prison of my own design, Thursday, April 30, 2026, 10:57 (26 days ago) @ Jay
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Read an article that this crisis will electrify the world
by irishoutsider , Thursday, April 30, 2026, 08:11 (26 days ago) @ Jay
There is going to be some significant pain in the short term, but the shock is changing things very quickly. The articles about Pakistan going electric with cheap Chinese solar panels have been going around. Also the speculation that UAE leaving OPEC is a signal of peak demand, they want to get as much out of the ground now while there are still buyers.
His attempted retreat to the 1950's hits another snag
by Jack , Thursday, April 30, 2026, 11:17 (26 days ago) @ irishoutsider
because this Wharton School grad doesn't understand a thing about basic economics.
No offense to Fordham…
But let’s all be honest, he transferred into Wharton. No way he’s getting in through the normal admissions process.
He paid a smart kid to take the SAT for him --
his ADD is so bad that his sister had to do his homework for him. Dad pulled strings to get him into Wharton. He claimed to have graduated first except the school newspaper from his graduation year was unearthed and it showed all the young men (and they were all men) who made Dean's list there. He's not pictured.
There was a Wharton professor (since deceased) who every time Trump would come on TV would say "Donald Trump is the dumbest f**king student I ever taught."
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris both passed bar exams. So who's the "low IQ" among them and Trump?
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"It's our blood and bones and these whistles and phones against Miller's and Noem's dirty lies."
What offends me about this
is when I hear uneducated folks from this administration talk about how DEI is bad … Trump has literally been gifted more opportunity than any human being I know. His old man gave him the equivalent of $400 million and he’s still bankrupted a mindboggling number of ventures. Add on to that the Trump family wealth was greatly boosted by govt programs, much like Musk’s companies has been gifted a stunning amount of tax breaks/credits.
These guys are atrociously undeserving and there are good, hard working, intelligent and HONEST people in this country who deserve these opportunities way more than these liars and con artists.
Is it possible that James Bond movies helped lay the
by BillyGoat , At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Friday, May 01, 2026, 09:50 (25 days ago) @ Mark
groundwork for Trump?
I was conditioned to believe that the really dangerous people would be smart.
Though I suppose the better analogy here is that it's Thiel and Musk who are essentially Voldemort, and Trump is Pius Thicknesse.
We should call it what it is
by ndphilo , A prison of my own design, Friday, May 01, 2026, 09:34 (25 days ago) @ Mark
Corruption.
Our government, our system, has become deeply corrupt.
Imagine if the president of South Africa sued his own government for 10 billion dollars? Or if judges there were flying all over on private jets on vacations as gifts from billionaires. We would take it as conclusive evidence of another corrupt African government. Well, if the shoe fits…. We should call it corruption, loudly and repeatedly.
It is fucking bananas what has been normalized by this
by BillyGoat , At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Friday, May 01, 2026, 09:37 (25 days ago) @ ndphilo
edited by BillyGoat, Friday, May 01, 2026, 09:42
administration.
Say what you will about Bannon. "Flood the zone" works.
That's kind of stepping on the point I was making
by Jack , Thursday, April 30, 2026, 13:34 (26 days ago) @ atxND
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Wouldn't that be something?
The guy who thinks climate change is a hoax, who is paying companies not to complete wind farm projects, who has rolled back all the meager progress the U.S. has made in this area might be indirectly most responsible for helping usher in a renewable energy revolution.
He'll also be responsible for our retreat
from superpower status. Everyone assumed Ukraine would crumble in their war with Russia due to Trump's lack of support. Turns out they don't need us at all. The rest of Europe is figuring out the same thing. Any country that's fucking ignorant enough to elect a shit-for-brains troglodyte to its highest office *twice* cannot be counted on for support or even basic competence. And over time, the rest of the civilized world will figure out that they can manage capably enough on their own in most respects. "America First" will ultimately prove to be the biggest goddamn own-goal on the world stage over the past 75 years.
The super power suicide is progressing
just as Putin hoped.
Now, if along the way, someone could go full on French guillotine justice on the Epstein tech bros that helped fund our orange moron, we might finally settle back down, but until then … the blatant corruption is just as damaging as the completely incompetent leadership.
The problem for Putin
by Jeff (BGS) , A starter home in suburban Tempe, Thursday, April 30, 2026, 19:04 (26 days ago) @ Mark
Is that Russia is not the heir apparent. Long gone are the days where the world was split in two by the Iron Curtain. The big winners of America's step backward will be China, India, and possibly the EU/Germany.
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At night, the ice weasels come.
And Musk supported him.
by domer.mq , Thursday, April 30, 2026, 09:28 (26 days ago) @ BPH
My middle kid is a big nerd, and so are his friends, and they all talk about Musk committing the biggest self-own in history. No kidding. They were all laughing about it last night while blowing one another away in Valorant.
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Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick.
UK today was 95% renewable and had "negative" daytime rate
by irishoutsider , Thursday, April 30, 2026, 09:10 (26 days ago) @ BPH
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The tragic idiocy and evil of one man
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No kidding. And the idiocy of the folks who elected him.
by oviedoirish , Oviedo, Florida, Thursday, April 30, 2026, 07:59 (26 days ago) @ BPH
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Hard not to be mad at the NYT piece with the disaffected
Trump voters who now regret their votes. The American educational system has clearly failed my poor Franceska:
Franceska, 26, Wash., mixed race, independent, deckhand
We were made a lot of promises during the election. I know that it’s only been a year and a half, but I don’t think I’ve really seen much progress toward even moving toward what he said he was going to do, such as tax breaks or, let’s see, helping with the education system. I feel like he just defunded a lot of the education systems, the schools. I don’t know why he made so many promises.
I have one idea why he may have made promises that he had no intention of fulfilling…
I would like to know what promises he made...
by domer.mq , Thursday, April 30, 2026, 13:19 (26 days ago) @ atxND
about education other than the one about disassembling the education system.
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Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick.