US US Politics General - Discussion of President Biden and other politicians

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Nottafed said:
I want to do a quick summary but I am out of the house. Both Mayor Pete and Alex Soros were meeting with Zelensky today. A coincidence, I am sure.

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Buttigieg makes surprise visit to Ukraine​

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made a surprise visit to Ukraine to meet with government leaders to discuss the county’s economic recovery, the Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.

Buttigieg will discuss efforts to “return Ukraine to economic self-sufficiency,” including supporting investments in transportation infrastructure that will “return to private-sector led growth,” the department said.

He is also set to announce the appointment of a senior-level adviser in Kyiv who will provide the country will technical assistance and “share best practices on infrastructure project delivery.”

Robert Mariner, who has experience working for the U.S. Air Force and Navy on transportation, will be selected for the role, the department said. Mariner served at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, as a transportation counselor.

Buttigieg said he is in Kyiv to “deliver on a top ask” by appointing an infrastructure adviser to the country.

“From the time Russia launched its full-scale invasion, I’ve kept close contact with my Ukrainian counterpart about impacts to global supply chains, particularly port and rail infrastructure,” the former Indiana mayor said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Mariner will provide technical assistance to help with the country’s rebuilding efforts, he said.

“It’s one of countless ways the U.S. continues to stand with the people of Ukraine for the long haul and ensure its connection to the world,” Buttigieg explained.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink also posted a photo with Buttigieg at a train station in Ukraine.

“Our message today is clear: the United States supports Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Brink wrote on X.
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Andriy Yermak discussed with American businessman Alexander Soros the restoration of infrastructure and investments in the Ukrainian economy​


Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak met with American businessman and philanthropist, chairman of the Open Society Foundations, Alexander Soros.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Roman Mashovets, Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office Daria Zarivna, Vice President for Advocacy and Communications at Open Society Foundations Laura Silber, and Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation Oleksandr Sushko.

The parties discussed opportunities for developing the Ukrainian economy. In this context, they noted the importance of reconstruction and restoration of infrastructure, as well as the implementation of investment projects.

The participants emphasized the importance of seizing Russian assets and transferring them to rebuild Ukraine, as well as increasing sanctions pressure on Russia. In particular, Andriy Yermak emphasized the need to continue working to block the ways in which the aggressor country circumvents the existing restrictions and to impose sanctions against Russian military-industrial companies engaged in the production of missiles and drones, which then attack Ukrainian civilian and infrastructure facilities.

Special attention was paid to the situation on the frontline. The Head of the Presidential Office outlined the current needs of the Ukrainian defense forces. In the context of support for Ukrainian defenders, the interlocutors exchanged views on the development of the veterans' movement in our country and support for veterans' organizations.

"We are pleased with the desire of American entrepreneurs – friends of Ukraine – to help our country prevail in the war of aggression unleashed by Russia. We appreciate their contribution to this victory," emphasized Andriy Yermak.

Daria Zarivna briefed the participants on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Bring Kids Back UA plan to return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia in the occupied territories of our country. She emphasized that this strategic plan is in line with the Ukrainian Peace Formula's provision on the release of all captives and deportees. The Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President also spoke about the crimes committed by Russia against Ukrainian children in the occupied territories.

Andriy Yermak also held a separate bilateral meeting with Alexander Soros.
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Sniperwoof said:
getting rid of asylums
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i hate to keep sperging on this but Reagan did not close the asylums. John F Kennedy started the process with the 1963 Community Mental Health Act, which began the process of replacing asylums with community mental health centers. as the federal government promises to foot the bill for warehoused nutjobs, states start to cut funding to expensive psychiatric centers

a second strike comes when medicare and medicaid are created in 1965 under Lyndon B Johnson. "Mentally disabled people living in the community are eligible for benefits but those in psychiatric hospitals are excluded. By encouraging patients to be discharged, state legislators could shift the cost of care for mentally ill patients to the federal government." states are further incentivized to defund state-run hospitals

in 1981 Reagan is elected and cuts federal funding for these community mental health centers, putting the bill back on the states. these mental health centers shut down

how are these defunded community mental health centers different than psychiatric hospitals? they had very little inpatient facilities and were meant to be a hub that the mentally ill could go to for support and then go back to...somewhere? they were not meant as a direct replacement for psych hospitals. they were the "send a social worker instead of the police" of the 1960s. their entire purpose was to have as many previously contained crazies out on the street as possible

this was also compounded by antipsychotic drugs being discovered in the mid-1950s and being considered a miracle cure for mental health issues, especially the "big ones" like schizophrenia. think back to the numerous articles of schizos you've seen in the news, the ones where they cut their parent's head off. you know what you always hear? "off their medication." it turns out even when crazy people have pills to stop them being crazy, without containment and supervision they can just stop taking them. and they often do

in the timeline above, yes, Reagan did sign a California bill to prevent forced institutionalizations, contributing to the homeless problem you see today. but with the civil rights movement and anti-asylum sentiment (One Flew Over A Cuckoo's Nest was published in 1962, btw) asylums were on their way out

they were just never replaced with anything. like the CMHA article mentions 90% of state hospital beds have disappeared since 1963 and never come back

edit: here's a handy graph to help illustrate the above
inpatients.jpg
 
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dustbuster said:
Ah, another useless boondoggle.
Anyone who actually uses trucks for their work can list off the many factors which would disqualify an electric.

Take your pick of low hanging fruit, including:
range (alone, or when impacted by high-load hauling)
charge times
durability issues
explosion risks (seriously, just a pin-prick to one of those cells and BOOM)
propensity to become useless in extreme terrain and/or weather
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What's annoying is that all of those problems are exclusive to battery electrics. If they would be rational for one second and make a diesel-electric with a big generator under the trunk, that thing would be far superior to electric AND gas trucks - and be relatively inexpensive to buy or run.
 
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The Last Stand said:
I hate that guy.
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I wouldn't trust him beyond a secretary position, but he's saying the Trump stuff that makes the party have to debate it when Trump isn't there.

Christie afterwards just talks about Israel and and then Scott talked about being a black republican, and then the next questions is Ron sucking Israel's dick.
 
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Betonhaus said:
What's annoying is that all of those problems are exclusive to battery electrics. If they would be rational for one second and make a diesel-electric with a big generator under the trunk, that thing would be far superior to electric AND gas trucks - and be relatively inexpensive to buy or run.
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Luckily Dodge has just announced that exact truck (except it has a gas generator instead of a diesel one):

Range Sucks When Towing with Electric Trucks, but Not with the 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger​

The Ramcharger’s dual-electric-motor drive system is fed by a plug-in battery and a 3.6-liter V-6-powered generator to deliver a claimed 690 miles of combined range.​

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RAM
  • Dual electric motors give the Ram 1500 Ramcharger full-size pickup truck 663 combined horsepower and a maximum tow rating of 14,000 pounds.
  • Power comes from a 70.8-kWh battery that delivers 145 miles of unladen range, plus a Pentastar 3.6-liter V-6 hooked to a generator that boosts combined range to 690 miles.
  • This makes the Ramcharger a plug-in hybrid, but because the engine only generates electricity, this is a series hybrid with pure electric motor propulsion.
Pure electric pickup trucks have a problem: They're not particularly good at the towing and hauling missions that are the usual reasons people buy pickups. It's not the act of towing itself that's the problem, because the steady seamless pull of electric motors makes towing and hauling feel effortless. What's more, there's no transmission that must downshift to climb grades, no resulting high-rpm wail accompanied by loud cooling fans.

What's the problem? Bad things happen when a load is added, particularly the load of a trailer. Tow range is cut in half, or worse. Recharge times are double to triple the usual wait because you'll arrive close to empty and feel the need to fill to the brim because of the diminished range. When charging, you'll likely have to disconnect your trailer because pull-through fast charge stations are rare. Furthermore, fast-chargers are mainly sprinkled along interstate corridors, so options are limited if you want to tow your Airstream to some secluded off-the-grid campsite.

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RAM

Ramcharger to the Rescue​

The Ramcharger is designed to neatly circumvent all of this because it is not a pure electric vehicle. Not quite, anyway. Yes, it is propelled exclusively by a pair of electric motors: a 335-hp one powering the front axle and a 319-hp unit out back. When both are running at full chat, they combine to produce 663 horses of peak power and 615 pound-feet of maximum torque. In that sense, the Ramcharger is a pure electrically powered truck, and that brings with it all of the effortless towing smoothness of pure electrics such as a Ford F-150 Lightning or a Rivian R1T. (We pointed out to Ram that 335 hp + 319 hp is 9 hp shy of 663, but company reps insist that 663 is the correct maximum output.)

The difference is how those motors are powered. Up to 145 miles of pure electric range comes from a liquid-cooled lithium battery with 92 kilowatt-hours of gross capacity and 70.8 kWh of usable capacity. When the usable portion runs down and the system goes into what is known a "charge sustaining" mode, the necessary electricity then comes from a 3.6-liter gasoline V-6 engine that is hooked solely to a generator. This configuration makes the Ramcharger a plug-in hybrid, but the fact that the engine never directly turns the wheels and only runs the generator makes it a rarer bird: a plug-in series hybrid. This is a good thing because it operates like your average diesel-electric locomotive when running on gasoline. Last time we checked, train engines are particularly good at towing.

Flat Ground, No Load​

The 70.8-kWh battery is said to be good for 145 miles of combined driving. But electrically driven vehicles tend to deliver more range in the city and less on the highway because their powertrains are direct-drive and operate in just one gear. Expect highway range to be lower, city range to be better. The same applies to the 690 miles of total range, which is still subject to the same effects because the Ramcharger is always electrically driven.
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Betonhaus said:
What's annoying is that all of those problems are exclusive to battery electrics. If they would be rational for one second and make a diesel-electric with a big generator under the trunk, that thing would be far superior to electric AND gas trucks - and be relatively inexpensive to buy or run.
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The point is not to "solve" the problem (which they made up), but to use it to bring about their communist utopia.
Notice how this represents billions in federal funds, laundered into an ultimately useless project.
Every one of us is paying 100 bucks this year for that project to build useless shit that will only be purchased by other taxpayer-funded institutions like air ports, which are one of the few places where electric trucks could potentially be run (in on-off rotation for charging).

The Ramcharger’s dual-electric-motor drive system is fed by a plug-in battery and a 3.6-liter V-6-powered generator to deliver a claimed 690 miles of combined range.​

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Trucks right now cost $80,000 new and $55,000 used (for anything under 100k miles)
What's this abomination going to cost, and why would I want to pay for it when I'll have to replace its battery pack every 7 years?
 
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I'm at work watching republicucks competing who sucks Jewish cocks harder while at the same time being more genocidal than Netanyahu
PS:I would like to formally apologize to even suggesting DeSantis might be preferable to Trump.
I should probably also apologize for Kween Nikki jokes that got me temp thread banned or w/e
Now I just hate them all equally
 
mandatorylurk said:
Vivek did what I said he would, called out Ronna AND NBC.
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You're actually wasting your time watching it?
You have my salute for doing our dirty work for us that we might actually do something more productive and entertaining, like cleaning out our toilets.
 
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