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Income must have been going up? "By the time inflation started to surge, both productivity and pay had been stagnating for well over a decade.Real wages grew by an average of 33% each decade from 1970 to 2007; but they are now back at the level they were at in 2005, according to data from the Office for National Statistics, ONS (Times, 2023)." https://www.economicsobservatory.com/why-has-it-taken-so-long-for-stagnant-pay-to-become-central-to-uk-politics

The past and future of NHS waiting lists in England The NHS elective waiting list in England was already growing pre-pandemic, as growth in demand for care outstripped growth in the service’s ability to provide it. The waiting list doubled in a decade from 2.3 million ‘incomplete pathways’ (where the patient has been referred but is waiting for treatment) in January 2010 to 4.6 million in December 2019. Waiting times also increased over this period, particularly the longest waits. https://ifs.org.uk/publications/past-and-future-nhs-waiting-lists-england

Demand for private healthcare hits record high in UK Demand for private healthcare has soared to record levels in the UK as patients increasingly turn away from an NHS beset with chronic backlogs, data published on Tuesday showed. There were 898,000 admissions to private hospitals in 2023 — more than any year since records began in 2016 — according to the independent Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), an organisation paid for by private providers that tracks treatment data. This represented a 7 per cent rise in the number of times that people opted for private treatment since 2022, when the figure stood at 836,000. https://archive.ph/6342s https://www.ft.com/content/a4f07a08-b7e9-4330-9915-c2640edf7866

Thanks for the falsehood. Solar Mini Grids Could Power Half a Billion People by 2030 – if Action is Taken Now The deployment of solar mini grids has seen an important acceleration, from around 50 per country per year in 2018 to more than 150 per country per year today, particularly in countries with the lowest rates of access to electricity. This is the result of falling costs of key components, the introduction of new digital solutions, a large and expanding cohort of highly capable mini grid developers, and growing economies of scale. Solar mini grids have become the least-cost way to bring high-quality 24/7 electricity to towns and cities off the grid or experiencing regular power cuts. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/09/27/solar-mini-grids-could-power-half-a-billion-people-by-2030-if-action-is-taken-now

So much nonsense here but my favorite comment of yours is "Trump is not beholden to big tech.". Why do you think that Vance, a protege of Peter Thiel, a die hard supporter of technocracy, got to be Trump's vice-presidential candidate? Vance won the Senate nomionation and election in Ohio thanks in large part to huge financial support from Thiel. A mole hunt, a secret website and Peter Thiel’s big risk: How J.D. Vance won his primary The former Trump critic leaned on a super PAC and his billionaire patron to put him in position for Trump’s all-important endorsement https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/03/jd-vance-win-ohio-primary-00029881 Trump is now campaigning on an offer of government support to cryptocurrencies. Wealthy industry donors fuel Trump’s conversion on cryptocurrency The former president called cryptocurrency “a scam” and a “disaster waiting to happen” during his term in office. https://archive.ph/GuZ5N Trump proposes strategic national crypto stockpile: ‘Never sell your bitcoin’ Former President Donald Trump said that if he were returned to the White House, he would ensure that the federal government never sells off its bitcoin holdings. But he stopped short of proposing a formal federal reserve of digital currency. “For too long our government has violated the cardinal rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart: Never sell your bitcoin,” Trump said during his keynote speech at this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, the biggest bitcoin conference of the year. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/27/trump-bitcoin-conference-harris.html

Or maybe you don't really get out to places where the air is really clean so you don't have a clue what unpolluted air is really like.

It just shows how degraded your standards for air pollution are that you consider the current level in a populated area like Chiang Mai "fine". Here's the current reading for Chiang Mai's air pollution level: "PM2.5 concentration in Chiang Mai is currently 2.2 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value" https://www.iqair.com/th-en/thailand/chiang-mai

Well, there is a phenomenon called Cargo Cultism where the locals worshipped airplanes as magical bringers of goods from the outside world. So your misplaced belief does have precedents.

So, you're seriously claiming that the air pollution in Bangkok comes from agricultural burning? And even in Chiangmai, unlike in the rest of the world, vehicles burning diesel and petrol don't create pollution? That's positively miraculous!

Thank you for your thoughtful and fact-filled analysis.

And an empty one, to boot.

And there's this: China warns against meddling in Kazakhstan ahead of Putin meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping has kicked off a visit to Central Asia with a no-nonsense statement of support for the territorial integrity of his first host country, Kazakhstan. It sounded like an assertive statement of intent from Beijing, coming just before Xi meets Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in a face to face that the world is watching closely. Russian-ally Kazakhstan has been shaken by the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, while facing down saber-rattling from Russian nationalists angry at what they deem Kazakh disloyalty over the war. https://eurasianet.org/china-warns-against-meddling-in-kazakhstan-ahead-of-putin-meeting Probably because of considerations like this: Kazakhstan’s Border With Russia Is Suddenly an Open Question Again Moscow has long claimed parts of northern Kazakhstan. The country’s current turmoil makes those claims a lot more relevant—and troubling. Amid nationwide protests rocking Kazakhstan this week—which have already resulted in bloodshed, political turmoil, and the end of former dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev’s cult of personality—the country is going through an unprecedented shift. But as Kazakhstan continues to roil and as troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance, flood the country to “stabilize” the situation, one potential outcome is suddenly very relevant yet still overlooked: state fracture. Specifically, the potential for a revanchist Russia to use Kazakhstan’s domestic turmoil as a pretext to seize a swath of northern Kazakhstan, which Russian nationalists have long coveted and ethnic Russian populations in the region have long toyed breaking off from. https://archive.ph/KYS31#selection-971.0-979.370

He was preaching to the students that homosexuality is a sin. Clearly, preaching that to students who may be gay is going to harm his effectiveness as a teacher. That's the issue.

Hypotheses contrary-to-fact are a convenient dodge for those who have nothing in the way of actual facts to offer.

I decided to check on the date of that poll and it's relation to subsequent ones. Your evidence is even less compelling. You'll notice that the Gallup poll is all the way at the bottom of the graphic. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/approval/joe-biden/?ex_cid=abcpromo

Using one poll to support a claim against the findings of so many others is not so compelling a tactic for those of us interested in reality.

And that justifies cherry picking on your part?

He dropped his daughter for Kamala Harris? Are you accusing Douglas Emhoff of incest? And what is a photo of Prince Harry, Michelle Obama and whoever doing in your post?

cherry picking much?

You seem to have forgotten that the previous administration also cost taxpayers a lot of money? Double standards much? And it's pretty easy to diagnose what kind of sources you get your news from if you don't know about the resurgence of manufacturing in the US under Biden Biden’s massive manufacturing push is working and U.S. companies have already committed $200 billion to new projects The Biden administration’s efforts to revive U.S. manufacturing appear to be succeeding, with some business sectors plowing in almost 20 times the investment in new U.S. manufacturing projects versus only a few years ago. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-massive-manufacturing-push-working-221328463.html And the US did give crucial aid to Ukraine during the Trump adminstration. Granted that Trump tried to break the law by not sending the second wave of weaponry as authorized by a bill he signed into law. He tried to coerce Zelensky into investigating Biden in exchange for those weapons. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/16/trump-administration-broke-law-in-withholding-ukraine-aid.html

For a strict constitutionalist, you seem guilty of some pretty loose thinking, Who is proposing that Supreme Court Justices run for office? How would restricting a Supreme Court Justice to one term suggest that they would be elected? And for someone who claims to be an authority on the Constitution, you seem unaware, or at least unconcerned, that the number of seats on the Supreme Court is dictated by legislation, not the Constitution. So the Senate could change the law and put more Justices on the Supreme Court and any other Federal court. Given the Supreme Court's recent decision to largely exempt Presidents from prosecution for any criminal acts he may commit as long as they are committed on the pretext that they were part of their official duties, and Trump's explicit statement that the President should enjoy absolute immunity for any criminal acts he or she may commit, you really want to claim that the crisis is a manufactured one? And once again, I note the point raised by no one other than John Roberts himself, that when the Constitution was written, people, including Supreme Court justices, tended to enjoy a much shorter life span and a much shorter term in office.

You sure about that? https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/approval/supreme-court/ https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/

Deflecting much? The proper question to raise in this thread is this why are Chinese armed forces present in such far-flung locations?

Apparently, to your way of thinking, Chief Justice John Robert was, at least once upon a time, a Democratic leftist seeking openly to "Communize" and "Stalinize" the Republic and turn it into their vision of a Leftist Totalitarian Hell." Here's the quote from this Communist As now Chief Justice John Roberts once acknowledged while working as a White House attorney, “The Framers adopted life tenure at a time when people simply did not live as long as they do now. A judge insulated from the normal currents of life for twenty-five or thirty years was a rarity then, but is becoming commonplace today. The trend toward lengthening terms also heightens the risk that justices will stay on the Court after their capacity as jurists begins to decline.' https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/supreme-court-term-limits

Are Senators elected for life? If the electorate doesn't approve of what a Senator does, it has a chance every 6 years to vote them out. Does the electorate ever get a guaranteed opportunity to vote a Supreme Court Justice out of office? "Chief Justice John Roberts, Oct. 3, 1983: “There is much to be said for changing life tenure to a term of years, without possibility of reappointment. The Framers adopted life tenure at a time when people simply did not live as long as they do now. A judge insulated from the normal currents of life for 25 or 30 years was a rarity then, but is becoming commonplace today. Setting a term of, say, 15 years would ensure that federal judges would not lose all touch with reality through decades of ivory tower existence. It would also provide a more regular and greater degree of turnover among the judges. Both developments would, in my view, be healthy ones.” https://fixthecourt.com/termlimits/