US US Politics General 2 - Discussion of President Trump and other politicians

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Should be a wild four years.

Helpful links for those who need them:

Current members of the House of Representatives
https://www.house.gov/representatives

Current members of the Senate
https://www.senate.gov/senators/

Current members of the US Supreme Court
https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx

Members of the Trump Administration
https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/

 

[tehpope]

I watched JD's speech. He knocked it out of the park. He should buy his speech writer a large steak and a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

 

[( ◠‿◠ )]

 

[UnidentifiedFlyingOrchid]

Really late but holy shit you are correct on this. I was at the store the other day to get pancake stuff for my kids. And for some reason I decided to look at the label of the aunt Jemima (or whatever the fuck name they changed it to) syrup. My entire life I was under the assumption that bottled syrup has real maple syrup in it but with some additives. It’s just corn syrup with shitloads of sugar and food coloring. So I lubed up grabbed my ankles and bought a very small bottle of real syrup for 14 dollars. Kids loved it so it was worth it guess.

I agree, maple syrup is delicious. It is unfortunate that most people eat imitation "pancake syrup". It is understandable that many people see a huge price difference and go without the "luxury".



Top 2 are "pancake syrup" and the bottom is maple syrup. These are cheap options from Walmart and Amazon. I didn't plan this, but the price per ounce roughly doubles between them (8.7¢, 16.5¢, 37¢). The "name brand" Log Cabin™ doesn't appear twice as expensive as the Walmart store brand because they both are $3.ish and the log cabin's chimney and flattened bottle design (lack of depth) disguises the fact the store brand has 50% more product. Store brand might even be manufactured by the same corporation and deliberately made to taste worse to push consumers "upbrand".

The real maple syrup will cost $12 or more. In this case I'm showing a deal for 32ozs. Often stores will charge that price or more for less product, because maple syrup is a "luxury". I'm sure there is maple syrup sold at $1/oz in WholeFoods.

This is all probably sounding like some mom-blog, but what I'd like to highlight is the US food system is all kinds of fucked up. Food is hyper-corporatized and profits are made by deception and marketing. Regular people don't have hours of free time to study everything like an autist, like I do. They buy there food locally from the options presented to them. "Local" is a corporate grocery store that uses psychological abuse to sell unhealthy slop.

Local should be a robust agricultural sector optimizing bringing their market good value. RFK Jr has an unenviable task with wrestling with "Big Agriculture". I hope he manages to be as effective as Trump and DOGE seem to have been so far.


Not to powerlevel, but wholesale bulk prices of maple syrup are roughly 25¢/oz. Like a lot of my food, the maple syrup I eat comes in mason jars exchanged in case loads. State Fairs and agricultural festivals are not only fun, but a good way to learn about who actually makes real food nearby. Farmers notoriously suck at marketing and being visible on the Internet.

P.S. maple syrup comes in grades. Everything is "Grade A" for marketing reasons. It is based on color. Darker is stronger flavored and thicker. Springtime when the temperatures are above freezing in the day and below at night is harvest time. Light colored syrup early in the season, dark at the end. Prices are usually lowest right after the peak of the season.

 

[Amelia Troonheart]

Finlands President is in a bromance with JD Vance. He said watching the Munich speech brought him back to being a young lad at University in South Carolina reading Locke and Hamilton.

Overall a pretty reasonable response without completely slobbering over JD. Comparing him to Locke and Hamilton makes me a bit proud of JD!
What I find interesting is he said the EU is the most united he's seen it in his 30 years (of politics? interest in the topic?)
He lists off their being united on Russian energy, on brexit, on covid, on the Russo-Ukraine war.
I wonder if "the EU being united" he means the governments of the various countries being united, or the actual people?
Because I know a shit ton of Europeans who are extremely unhappy with the mass migration, zero carbon goals, push for veganism, and limits on free speech in favor of protecting migrants and not offending non-whites.
I would be very interested to know what exactly he meant by that.

 

[The Ugly One]

I'm sorry, no. The Fasces was a symbol of imperium, Constitutional executive authority within the Roman Republic (It was probably Etruscan in origin), and later the Empire. The number of Lictores carrying Fasces in the train of an person signified the amount of authority they had. The sticks and axe directly represented the authority to have someone beaten with the sticks or beheaded with the axe. The harmony and unity shit was a later idea attached to it in the Renaissance. Though tbf the conquering emperor thing is squewed too, so you're both wrong imo.

We live in the United States, not the Roman Empire, so to understand why the fasces is in American iconography, including the Lincoln Memorial, you need to understand what it meant and still means to Americans. The fasces in American iconography is typically used to emphasize unity, sometimes accompanied with the motto, e pluribus unum, "out of many, one." The USA was founded hundreds of years after the Renaissance, so it shouldn't be surprising that its modern meaning is based more in "harmony and unity shit" than Bronze Age imperators chopping off people's heads. Note that it is featured prominently in House of Representatives, not the Oval Office. Symbols can and do change meaning over time in new contexts.

 

[Glowing In The Streets]

Chat, is this real?
View attachment 6987546

Me on the right

 

[Amelia Troonheart]

Regular people don't have hours of free time to study everything like an autist, like I do.

People could avoid a lot of shit by avoiding products with more than five ingredients and any that use corn syrup, or seed oils. This would weed out 80% of the horseshit and takes a two second glance at the ingredients label to check.
I also don't think 12 bucks for maple syrup is a big deal. Do people really eat pancakes that often?
I eat them maybe once a month if that. They're more of a treat than an actual breakfast in my opinion.

 

[Soycast Guy]

People could avoid a lot of shit by avoiding products with more than five ingredients and any that use corn syrup, or seed oils. This would weed out 80% of the horseshit and takes a two second glance at the ingredients label to check.
I also don't think 12 bucks for maple syrup is a big deal. Do people really eat pancakes that often?
I eat them maybe once a month if that. I usually eat eggs and bacon, or some Greek yogurt with fruit.
Even the higher protein pancakes I make don't keep me full as long as more normal food so I don't eat them frequently.

People shouldn’t be having a ton of maple syrup anyway. A teaspoon is fine, maybe a tablespoon. Anything more is too much. High sugar stuff like that should be consumed in moderation.

 

[behindyourightnow]

They live in a reality completely driven by legacy media. They aren’t dumb, but seem to be unable to see a broader picture. This is made even worse when they start getting mighty about shit like the Nazis, yet pretty much prove that no, Hitler would be able to do “xyz” in this day in age. A common one I see is anything with China. Even though that nation literally has camps, the same anti-Nazi people could not give two shits, but muh Russia….

They are forced to redirect all the concerns they have about any foreign power towards Russia, because Russians are white. You can't be too concerned about China or Chinese power, because that's racist. Same with any other nonwhite country.

And yet these people are compelled to focus on foreign interference, because the alternative is accepting that their ideas aren't really that popular domestically, and that the majority of Americans disagree with them. There must be shadowy foreigners working in the background, but they must all be Russians because mistrusting any nonwhite foreigner is racist.

The exception is Elon Musk, who as a white South African also fits the "shadowy-but-white foreigner" mold. All the platitudes about how "no one is illegal" and "immigrants are just as American as you and me" go out the window as soon as he comes up: Musk has white skin, so they're allowed to call for him to be denaturalized and deported, and label him a dangerous foreign influence even though he's an American citizen.

 

[quaawaa]

America beat Canada at hockey:

 

[Yandex Captcha Solver]

SUFFAH CANUCKS
Can't win a Stanley Cup
Can't win a national match
Imagine being 2nd in your nation's sport
The equivalent would be if the Montreal Expos won multiple MLB World Series

 

[LiquidKid]

A couple ice hockey players from the United States and Canada got into a fight with one another right after the game started.

View attachment 6987304

It all happened after a large percentage of the sellout crowd at a center in Canada loudly booed the U.S. anthem. A number of fans also booed every time a U.S. player was shown on video screens during pregame warmups.

I thought this was the entire reason why people go to see hockey?

 

[Clobber3]

Everyone welcome Canada as our 51st state!

 

[los pepes]

America beat Canada at hockey:
View attachment 6987772

For Canada the day the United States National Hockey team graced their soon to be state it was the most important day of their lives. For us it was Saturday.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

America beat Canada at hockey:
View attachment 6987772

US clinched a spot in the title. Now it’s Finland and Canada fighting for a spot.

 

[Not Really Here]

People could avoid a lot of shit by avoiding products with more than five ingredients and any that use corn syrup, or seed oils. This would weed out 80% of the horseshit and takes a two second glance at the ingredients label to check.
I also don't think 12 bucks for maple syrup is a big deal. Do people really eat pancakes that often?
I eat them maybe once a month if that. They're more of a treat than an actual breakfast in my opinion.

A bereavement orange creamsicle cake was requested, there are exactly 5 ingredients in the frosting, if made from scratch. It takes like 8 minutes.

 

[Debbie Macomber]

View attachment 6987223
X (Archive)

"We Are Going To Fucking Kill You"

I thought, even before election day, that Trump's second term would have the same attitude as the Robert E. Howard (of Conan fame) story "By this Axe I Rule"

“Hear, people of Valusia,” he exclaimed, upheld by the wild beast vitality which was his, fired from within by a strength which was more than physical. “I stand here — the king. I am wounded almost unto death, but I have survived mass wounds. Hear you! I am weary of this business! I am no king but a slave! I am hemmed in by laws, laws, laws! I cannot punish malefactors nor reward my friends because of law — custom — tradition! By Valka, I will be king in fact as well as in name!
[...]
“But the law!” screamed Tu.
"I am the law!” roared Kull, swinging up his axe; it flashed downward and the stone tablet flew into a hundred pieces. The people clenched their hands in horror, waiting dumbly for the sky to fall. Kull reeled back, eyes blazing. The room whirled to his dizzy gaze. “I am king, state and law!” he roared, and seizing the wand-like sceptre which lay near, he broke it in two and flung it from him. “This shall be my sceptre!” The red axe was brandished aloft, splashing the pallid nobles with drops of blood. Kull gripped the slender crown with his left hand and placed his back against the wall. Only that support kept him from falling but in his arms was still the strength of lions. “I am either king or corpse!” he roared, his corded muscles bulging, his terrible eyes blazing. “If you like not my kingship — come and take this crown!” The corded left arm held out the crown, the right gripping the menacing axe above it. “By this axe I rule! This is my sceptre! I have struggled and sweated to be the puppet king you wished me to be — to king it your way. Now I use mine own way! If you will not fight, you shall obey! Laws that are just shall stand; laws that have outlived their times I shall shatter as I shattered that one! I am king!”

 

[The Last Stand]

I agree, maple syrup is delicious. It is unfortunate that most people eat imitation "pancake syrup". It is understandable that many people see a huge price difference and go without the "luxury".

I won't lie. The fake shit tastes better. Real maple syrup IMHO is too tart. If RFK Jr. can make it healthier, more power to him.

 

[curbside2]

In case you have some sympathy for the Feds:
View attachment 6987334
Source (Archive)

If you want to hate the feds, look no further than Jolly West. He was the psychiatrist funded with tax payer money to develop brain washing techniques. If that didn’t work he’d intentionally drive you insane with drugs.

Jack Ruby was employed by the CIA and used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald before anything damning came out.

Jolly West was then sent in to scramble Ruby’s Brians. They assigned a psychiatrist (who lived halfway across the country) to Ruby that specialized in mind-control, killed an elephant with LSD, and ran experiments for the CIA’s MKUltra project. Makes total sense.

Anyway, Jack Ruby was left alone in a cell with Jolly West and his fed goons and they went to work. A once sane man by all that knew him, Ruby completely lost his mind.

 

[majob]

In serious response, read "The Art of the Deal" for gods sake.

Treat the other person with a modicum of respect and civility. Go out of your way to be polite at the start of a negotiation. This makes them relax and makes them more amenable to your proposals. And it also means that when you begin applying pressure, which should be done sharply and suddenly, it forces them on the back foot from the whiplash.

It's sad that people have forgotten that basic courtesy works. As the saying goes, "You get more flies with honey, than vinegar"