impulse

Not meaning to be adversarial here, but how often do you really use that in real life? My take is that my smartphone is for casual shots. Works great. If I need serious photography or videography, I need to pull out the camera with lenses, optical zoom, a full range of controls, and more bells and whistles than a smartphone costing 2x what my DSLR cost. That's why I claimed there's no wrong answers. Some people may do serious photography with their phones... I'm genuinely interested in diverging opinions. (And more interested in why someone would choose a 40,000 baht iPhone than a 25,000 baht iPhone, staying away from the range war over Apple vs Android.)

Read the post I responded to. Here, let me do the work for you: Better stop replying with your maga visions, because they sound very foolish and uneducated. It gets old hearing how low information and uneducated I am. From lefties who have no clue what my IQ, education level, and finances look like. As I responded, there's a 95% chance I score higher in those aspects than they do. It's easy to look up where I fit on all 3 bells curves. There's this thing called the internet.

I think the more damaging reports will be the tax money that was spent to interfere with the US elections and support future Blue voters swarming across the border. The rest of the world will care more about the US tax money spent to interfere with elections in their country. And I don't blame them.

It's fixing to get good...

I'm not sensing they want to abolish it. It reminds me of Bush Jr when he reshuffled quite a few agencies after 9/11. It was a huge shake-up, but they were all agencies under the Executive Branch... Of course, W had a few advantages: 1) He was a uniparty insider, and a legacy at that. 2) He wasn't named Trump and 3) Americans were scare mongered into thinking there was a terrorist behind every tree and anyone who didn't get in line was a "threat to Americans" (Sound familiar?) Looks like USAID will just report to the Sec of State for some oversight, and won't be spending money willy nilly. I'm sure it will be fought out in courts at several levels and taxpayers will be hit with $billions in legal fees as one agency sues another (x 10). But I suspect that smarter MAGAs than me have mapped all that out. Trump learned from his last term.

Here's the smartphone I'd pay extra for... One where I can plug it into a standardized cradle and it takes the place of an NUC (mini computer), displaying on the big screen, taking input from a mouse and a keyboard. And there's compatible cradles and screens in hotels and Starbucks and airports and... Because no matter how powerful they get, the small screen and tiny little keyboard make them useless for most of the computing tasks for which I carry my laptop. And no matter how good the cameras get, I still need to edit the results (especially video) on a big screen. For one of those that would let me leave the laptop back home, I'd pony up the bucks. Or do they already exist? Edit: Just to clarify, I paid 17,000 baht for my recent laptop, so there's a limit to how much I'd pony up to leave it back home... Nothing like 40,000 mind you.

GSM Arena is a great site. Just be sure you specify which market. Because specs in one market (country?) are often different than specs of the "same model" in a different market. They have different Part Numbers, but they're marketed as the same model.

So you don't think he would have made more (a lot more) by toeing the Big Pharma line when he spoke? How many gigs and how much money did he miss because of his stance?

How can the topic not be "improving health care in the US" if we're discussing his nomination to be head of HHS? If the topic is RFK Jr sucks, then you'd have a point. That's what the OP is all about. I disagree. He'll be better than the fidiots who have given us high prices and poor results.

What you're really saying is "toe the line".

So you're happy with the spendiest (by far) health care system with mediocre (at best) results that led the USA with 4% of the world's population to 16% of the world's reported Covid deaths? And satisfied with the "don't look here" attitude when the rates of childhood autism (and other chronic childhood maladies) are spiking astronomically? I'm sure not happy with it.

I'm still hoping for input from posters that may be happy they spent the $$$. I recently had a Thai friend ask me if I thought he should repair his older Apple phone for 8,000 baht, or buy a new one for (I think) 24,000 baht. I conceded he was asking the wrong guy. Reading today, it seems Samsung has released the newest S25 (?) line in Korea, and the pre-orders are mostly around the top of that line. That's what led me to wonder if I must be missing out on something?

I think the Grassy Knoll was the start of the downward spiral(s).

And try to cultivate a sense of humor.

I just wanted full HD screen resolution, a well known brand (for a stable OS) and dual SIM slots for traveling monthly between China and LOS. I passed on NFC, an OLED screen, kick ass gaming, waterproofing and 5G. I'm trying to figure out what else I may be missing out on. I'm looking at the Samsung A16 as a backup/next phone. But I'm hoping that the A05s will last as long as the S2 did. It's still working 13+ years later and I use it occasionally as a video player. It's the last one I bought with a removable battery. If the A05s lasts as long, they'll probably have holographic phones or brain implants before I need to replace it.

I think the most telling statistic would be the percent of GDP consumed by the gub'ment back then, before we were funding illegals in hotels, generations of welfare families, and drag queen events in Lower Slobovia.

But it's not unconstitutional. The president has emergency powers that allow it. Within 45 days, he has to report to Congress what he's done and why. Then they can override his EOs. Or not.

You should have hedged that by shorting Moderna.

I was doing my best to not go there. I'll just say that I see their current situation as "intractable".

Honest question. I'm a cheap phone guy. My current phone is a Samsung A05s, which seems to do everything I need. Around 5000 baht (+/-). I'm wondering whether other people have found the extra features and speed of the higher end phones to be worth it, in their personal experience. No wrong answers... I realize it's a personal choice. I'd just like some (preferably polite) input from people who aren't as cheap as me, and sprung for the higher end phones. In fact, my favorite smartphone was my first, a Samsung S2 from 2011 or so. I wish I could find a phone that size with today's tech. They all seem to be going the other way, getting bigger and bigger. (I'd add that the S2 cost me around 4x as much as the A05s, and that's before factoring in 10+ years of inflation)

That's why Israel is in an intractable situation, since the British cock-ups after WW1 and WW2. Israel will still be fighting their neighbors in another 75-100 years unless something different happens. Good luck settling on what that "something different" would be.

The low information voters thought that Harris was a viable candidate.

You mean it takes time to wipe their social media accounts?

The president can stop the programs, and then he has 45 days to report to Congress what he has done and why. Then Congress can act to rescind, or not. How long has Trump been in office? Has it already been 45 days? Time sure flies when you're winning bigly. Probably drags by if you're losing. Edit: But I suspect at the rate that DOGE is uncovering malfeasance, enough will be revealed in 45 days that it would be political suicide for Congress to resist.

So you don't figure that putting a stop to spending US taxpayer money on drag queen story hours in Lower Slobovia would free up more money for worthwhile programs?