Cloning, once you have done it once, is a dead simple process, relatively. Figuring it out the first time was hard, but since Dolly (the first cloned sheep, born at University of Idaho) there have been high levels of publication on sheep cloning specifically.

Anymore, anyone who can parse reasonably complex instructions and has access to the kind of facilities any large animal vet might have could do this. It takes more money than I personally command but an even slightly well off person could afford it.

Keep sharing the tapes.

The purpose of a system is what it does, after all.

Don’t lump X with the boomers. We have had vastly different experiences.

I’m in agreement that churches need scrutiny, a lot more. But here is a church standing up for actual, biblically authorized Christian activity?

Your father is not coming on anything!

Maybe not. You will have the same number of tax preparers chasing less work. Through the magic of the Free Market™️, shouldn’t that mean pressure to reduce prices? We can only hope.

DO. NOT. FUCK. WITH. LIBRARIANS.

(they are organized and they will hurt you)

It’s like, their whole thing!

By any chance are you a fan of Strong Towns? If not they are very active in trying to kill Stroads

I mean, I just admitted to lying to pollsters at every opportunity in another post. I know I am not the only one who wants to watch the world burn. I want the polls to be unreliable!

Jump-humping is the preferred nomenclature

Oh, yes, dealing with the tension between the grassroots and the national party is a real thing to deal with. It may be true that the presidential primary is the only game right now in your jurisdiction, but there are frequently special or other off-cycle local elections, too.

I’d go so far as to say the presidential primaries are pretty pointless this time around, as the contest seems to be already set-up, regardless of primary results. Thanks for your insightful comment.

Gwynne Shotwell deserves quite a lot more credit for SpaceX than Musk. Someone has to keep the place running until the ketamine clears his system.

A ‘stern talking-to’

Excellent idea. That is more likely to be effective than waiting for it to happen nationwide first.

Are you aware of any local efforts to do that? I’d love to hear of them.

I would need to know your jurisdiction and I won’t ask you to dox yourself. For local judges, some states put out a voter information pamphlet. Your Secretary of State’s website may have resources too.

There are a few websites out there that keep track of rulings. chooseyourjudges.org seems to do a credible job. There are others.

I liked the suggestion in another comment of making research of local candidates a social activity because it is a lot of work. However, once you do identify the right resources for your local situation, it gets easier.

Best of luck! Even a half hours effort is more than most are willing to do.

Nothing to disagree with there!

That’s a great idea and I think I will suggest it to our local party as a theme for house parties that the more engaged volunteers can throw. People hate door-knocking and it’s not the most effective thing to do anyway, so we are always searching for more impactful activities.

I hate to say this, but ‘think of the children’ and include them if they are old enough to not be a complete distraction. My views on democracy were formed from very young listening to my parents discuss politics amongst themselves and others. My household was ‘divided’ politically in that my mother was a labor Democrat active in her union governance and my father an Eisenhower-type Republican who once ran for a county office unsuccessfully. Seeing them disagree about politics, but still have a generally loving relationship was extremely influential. You never know who is watching.

Oh, that sucks, but thank you for sharing the story. It is a very important lesson and the type of situation you describe is very, very common in US local elections.

We get fed hopium stories about how one person can make a difference, but those simplistic stories don’t usually explain how one person can make a difference. We only get to see the stories of exceptional leaders who are buoyed up by the invisible efforts of the people who made their own humble difference in their local area.

I happened to be in DC on an unrelated lobbying trip during the Bush II administration on the day they reauthorized the voting rights act in 2006. Jesse Jackson was wandering around doing photo ops as is the norm. What didn’t make it on to TV was the veritable army of formidable organizers who themselves were representing their own local constituencies. Mr. Jackson’s power and visibility was directly derived from the humble and tireless work of supporters, just like any other political figure.