The Imperial Presidency, Part 2

[Dartz]

Looks how many times they had to try to get Hitler, and who eventually did it for him in the end.

Anyway. It's an expression of the fact that more and more people are starting to feel like the ballot box is less and less likely to effect the changes fairly - when the system openly intends to take that ability away and make it as hard as possible. That's when the armalite gains in attraction.

[classicdrogn]

(Monty Python peasant voice) "It's only a difference of one letter!"

[Mamorien]

It's an expression of the fact that more and more people are starting to feel like the ballot box is less and less likely to effect the changes fairly

I don't know if it be* that bad in Ireland and other civilized countries, but here in Unistat, it's been shown by facts and figures that the effect of voter sentiment, however massive, on public policy is basically a rounding error, whereas the effect of major donor expenditures is immense and immortal.

* I like the present subjunctive and I cannot lie.

[robkelk]

This is how His Orangeness brings jobs to the USA: Spirit Airlines shuts down, blames cost of fuel due to Middle East war

The collapse of the first carrier due to a doubling in jet fuel prices during the two-month-old war will cost thousands of jobs. It is a blow to U.S. President Donald Trump, who had proposed $500 million US to save ​Spirit despite opposition from some of his closest advisers and many Republicans in ​Congress.

No U.S. carrier of Spirit's size — it accounted for five per cent of U.S. flights at one point — has liquidated in two decades. Spirit helped keep fares lower in markets where it competed against major carriers.

Not that the airline wasn't already having problems, but they were on track to get out of the mess they were in... before fuel prices doubled.

Spirit had reached a deal with its lenders that would have helped it emerge from its second bankruptcy by late spring or early summer.

But those plans derailed ⁠after the ⁠war triggered a spike in jet fuel prices, upending Spirit's cost projections ​and complicating its bankruptcy exit.

[Jinx999]

This is how His Orangeness brings jobs to the USA: Spirit Airlines shuts down, blames cost of fuel due to Middle East war

The collapse of the first carrier due to a doubling in jet fuel prices during the two-month-old war will cost thousands of jobs. It is a blow to U.S. President Donald Trump, who had proposed $500 million US to save ​Spirit despite opposition from some of his closest advisers and many Republicans in ​Congress.

No U.S. carrier of Spirit's size — it accounted for five per cent of U.S. flights at one point — has liquidated in two decades. Spirit helped keep fares lower in markets where it competed against major carriers.

Not that the airline wasn't already having problems, but they were on track to get out of the mess they were in... before fuel prices doubled.

Spirit had reached a deal with its lenders that would have helped it emerge from its second bankruptcy by late spring or early summer.

But those plans derailed ⁠after the ⁠war triggered a spike in jet fuel prices, upending Spirit's cost projections ​and complicating its bankruptcy exit.

And you may be shocked to hear that the Republicans are blaming Biden

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mkv2wddrey23

[Labster]

One of the things that I keep thinking about, because I'm a writer in ManaChara over on the other forum, is the relationship between fiction and reality.  Since we keep incorporating fictional characters in reality, the inverse question keeps being asked: How fictional is reality?

You might think that's a silly question, but it really isn't, because stories are how we understand our world.  There are deep implications about storytelling for theology, history, psychology, and of course politics.  Nationalism is essentially a form of storytelling, because nations are essentially grandfalloons, groupings of unrelated people with a largely fictitious story about its people, barely indistinguishable from Polandball.  The only real difference between the average Hetalia fic and a Vladimir Putin rant is the level of approval for gay sex.

So it's with this background that I want to discuss this news story: Trump Amplifies Proposal To Rebrand ICE As 'NICE,' Shares Federal-Style Logo Concept.

The final book of The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, has the big bad being a organization called N.I.C.E.  And of course, they're out to use science to conquer nature, and of course death.  And they have their own forces to run a police state, led by a corrupt inner circle, which brings us neatly back to Trump's NICE.  The symbolism here is so dumb and obvious that it's too strange to be true, and too strange to be fictional.  And, like most evil plans in the real world, it's simply moronic.  So why not rename it?  That would be nice.

[robkelk]

United Arab Emirates pulls out of OPEC

Mentioned here for a statement from the Secretary of the Inferior... er, Interior.

“The demand for power is going to go up and up and up,” U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told an Abu Dhabi oil conference in November. “Today’s the day to announce that there is no energy transition. There is only energy addition.”

He drew widespread applause from his Emirati hosts.

[robkelk]

U.S. to slap tariffs on Canadian mushrooms as growers warn of broader risks for agriculture

Because Canadian farmers getting the same tax breaks as American farmers apparently counts as an unfair subsidy.

If this happens, expect other countries to use the exact same reasoning against American farmers in five... four... three...

---

How much damage have Canada's booze bans done to the U.S. wine industry?

Let's put it this way: Put together, the countries that have increased their purchases of American alcohol are roughly sufficient to offset China's decrease in purchases... and China's decrease is only one-fifth of Canada's decrease. Numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.

[Jinx999]

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mlvaog4mjv2m

This is someone who nobody can take seriously. The only thing worth telling some like this is "Go to bed without any pudding."