USCE 2023: Please let them shove a camera up your butt

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USCE 2023: Please let them shove a camera up your butt

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Edge & Christian: May 20, 2001; Earth-1145 is truly the best!
A world of singing, magic frogs,
high adventure, no shitposters

Edgar Allen Ho posted:

Didn�t that happen with Captain America for real? Like during the red scare he became this virulent anti-communist far right Cap. Then when they dropped a lot of the content codes the writers had Real Cap come beat that guy�s rear end as an impostor, and explain that that behaviour is unamerican?

It's weirdly more complicated than that, and Commie Smasher Captain America could easily have become a forgotten footnote if it weren't for comic nerds getting writing jobs in the 1970s.

Captain America debuted in 1940 just as the superhero comic was really taking off in the popular imagination. He continued to be popular through World War II, but with the end of the war, superhero comics (not just Nazi-punchers, but superheroes in general) took a hit and other genres (crime and horror in particular but also romance, funny animals, Archie, etc.) became more popular. So in the late 1940s, they started throwing poo poo at the wall, and Captain America fought gangsters and magical beings and aliens. In 1949 his book got retitled "_{Captain America's} WEIRD TALES" and he didn't even appear on the cover of the last issue, in favor of a spooky monster. Then the book got canceled.

It got revived in 1954 as CAPTAIN AMERICA, COMMIE SMASHER which lasted all of three issues and the character disappeared for a decade. Captain America was not being published at the time of the Comics Code Authority being initiated, and for what it's worth he'd dropped so far off the radar that Frederic Wertham doesn't even mention Captain America in his book Seduction of the Innocent.

When Marvel proper kicked off in the 1960s, they eventually folded Captain America back into the new "Marvel Universe" by revealing that he'd been frozen in a block of ice near the end of World War II and upon being unfrozen joined the Avengers. This is still the character's backstory across the comics, films, cartoons, everything.

By the late 1960s/early 1970s, Marvel had expanded out and hired new writers and editors who weren't veterans of the industry going back to the 1940s (Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Bill Everett, Steve Ditko, etc. etc.). These new writers (Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, et al) were decades younger, and fans who grew up reading the comics described above. They decided they needed to address why Captain America continued to appear in comics from 1945 to 1954 if Steve Rogers got frozen in a block of ice before WWII ended.

So across the 1970s various writers introduced characters who [secretly, retroactively] pretended to be the "real" Captain America across the the period where Steve Rogers was now revealed to be frozen and presumed dead. They also started adding ersatz Buckys, Red Skulls, and other characters to the lore in order to explain how they were running around in a period where they were dead or in hiding.

Most of the Fake Captain Americas were just C-list patriotic heroes who actually did appear in 1940s comics, but as "The Patriot" and "The Spirit of '76" and filled in to keep wartime morale up, or were inspired to punch out gangsters and aliens by Steve Rogers. But the Commie Smasher Captain America was revived and revealed to be a brand new character who was a militaristic/jingoistic Cap superfan who took up the mantle to smash commies in the 1950s and then turned back up (along with his own "Bucky") after Steve Rogers was back, mad that the "fake" (original) Captain America was UNAMERICAN for his pro-Civil Rights stance and various other things that count as Unamerican Sins to a Bircherite Captain America. The real Captain America and the Falcon beat them and repudiated their politics, but every so often he pops back up and is even more radicalized about The Real America and Steve Rogers beats him up again.

Over the decades this has turned into a truly demented series of revisions where there are multiple Captains America, multiple Red Skulls, clones of the original or ersatz Red Skulls, characters plucked from other timelines and dimensions and plopped into stories in order to make sure that unpopular comics from like 1948 'fit in' to the Marvel Universe. Thankfully few if any of these retcons ever play a major story role anywhere outside of the janitorial stories that establish them, though William Burnside (the "Commie Smasher" Cap) is one of the most enduring ones, and it's speculated he's part of a current storyline as a different false-flag jingoist hero.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 05:46

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# ? May 26, 2024 16:37

Fister Roboto: Feb 21, 2008

the_steve posted:

One thing I've noticed during my years of being entirely too online is that everybody thinks that they are the plucky underdog rebel.
You can be the motherfucker in Stormtrooper armor with your boot on the neck of everyone else, and still be telling yourself "Yeah, I'm sticking it to the Empire."

I mean, nobody wants to see themselves as the oppressor. It's an understandable thought process, whether it's a cynical attempt to garner sympathy, or their last shred of humanity causing cognitive dissonance.

This is also why so many right wingers love Rage Against the Machine.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 06:57

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Oh, fascists love to see themselves as oppressors, just they'll also believe themselves to be the plucky downtrodden underdogs at the same time. Kinda the opposite end of :umberto:

where they are the natural master race of the universe and also peace-loving simple people forced to be violent by their cruel oppressors. Just they can't say that part out loud most of the time without consequences. Reminded of the Christian fascist couped into power in Bolivia who proudly spoke about how she'd actively destroy the native religion, who is currently in jail whining and eating Burger King.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 07:29

zoux: Apr 28, 2006

The partyless losers at NR are putting on a cope masterclass. Where's that poll unskewing guy from '12?

https://twitter.com/jonathanchait/status/1696854181015867409

# ? Aug 30, 2023 14:09

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Whatever God/programmer of the simulation/alien being is writing the script for Elon Musk's character arc is getting a little too on the nose.

The National Highway Transportation Administration was analyzing Tesla's Autopilot and safety software as part of their ongoing investigation into Tesla autopilot safety.

They found a hidden mode called "Elon Mode" that is only available to people with the $15,000 Full Self-Driving Beta subscription. The "Elon Mode" setting disables "nagging" features like requiring you to keep your hands on the wheel during autopilot, reminding you to buckle up when the car is in autopilot, and a feature that makes the autopilot start slowing down in advance of a yellow light instead of trying to blow through it before it changes.

quote:

Tesla ordered by auto regulators to provide data on 'Elon mode' Autopilot configuration

Tesla has received a special order from federal automotive safety regulators requiring the company to provide extensive data about its driver assistance and driver monitoring systems, and a once secret configuration for these known as "Elon mode."

Typically, when a Tesla driver uses the company's driver assistance systems � which are marketed as Autopilot, Full Self-Driving or FSD Beta options � a visual symbol blinks on the car's touchscreen to prompt the driver to engage the steering wheel. If the driver leaves the steering wheel unattended for too long, the "nag" escalates to a beeping noise. If the driver still does not take the wheel at that point, the vehicle can disable the use of its advanced driver assistance features for the rest of the drive or longer.

As CNBC previously reported, with the "Elon mode" configuration enabled, Tesla can allow a driver to use the company's Autopilot, FSD or FSD Beta systems without the so-called "nag."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a letter and special order to Tesla on July 26, seeking details about the use of what apparently includes this special configuration, including how many cars and drivers Tesla has authorized to use it. The file was added to the agency's website on Tuesday and Bloomberg first reported on it.

In the letter and special order, the agency's acting chief counsel John Donaldson wrote:

"NHTSA is concerned about the safety impacts of recent changes to Tesla's driver monitoring system. This concern is based on available information suggesting that it may be possible for vehicle owners to change Autopilot's driver monitoring configurations to allow the driver to operate the vehicle in Autopilot for extended periods without Autopilot prompting the driver to apply torque to the steering wheel."

Tesla was given a deadline of Aug. 25 to furbish all the information demanded by the agency, and replied on time but they requested and their response has been granted confidential treatment by NHTSA. The company did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Automotive safety researcher and Carnegie Mellon University associate professor of computer engineering Philip Koopman told CNBC after the order was made public, "It seems that NHTSA takes a dim view of cheat codes that permit disabling safety features such as driver monitoring. I agree. Hidden features that degrade safety have no place in production software."

Koopman also noted that NHTSA has yet to complete a series of investigations into crashes where Tesla Autopilot systems were a possible contributing factor including, a string of "fatal truck under-run crashes" and collisions involving Tesla vehicles that hit stationary first responder vehicles. NHTSA acting administrator Ann Carlson has suggested in recent press interviews that a conclusion is near.

For years, Tesla has told regulators including NHTSA and the California DMV that its driver assistance systems including FSD Beta are only "level 2" and do not make their cars autonomous, despite marketing them under brand names that could confuse the issue. Tesla CEO Elon Musk who also owns and runs the social network X, formerly Twitter, often implies Tesla vehicles are self-driving.

Over the weekend, Musk livestreamed a test drive in a Tesla equipped with a still-in-development version of the company's FSD software (v. 12) on the social platform. During that demo, Musk streamed using a mobile device he held while driving and chatting with his passenger, Tesla's head of Autopilot software engineering Ashok Elluswamy.

In the blurry video stream, Musk did not show all the details of his touchscreen or demonstrate that he had his hands on the steering yoke ready to take over the driving task any moment. At times, he clearly had no hands on the yoke.

His use of Tesla's systems would likely comprise a violation of the company's own terms of use for Autopilot, FSD and FSD Beta, according to Greg Lindsay, an Urban Tech fellow at Cornell. He told CNBC, the entire drive was like "waving a red flag in front of NHTSA."

Tesla's website cautions drivers, in a section titled "Using Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability" that "it is your responsibility to stay alert, keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times and maintain control of your car."

Grep VC managing partner Bruno Bowden, a machine learning expert and investor in autonomous vehicle startup Wayve, said the demo showed Tesla is making some improvements to its technology, but still has a long way to go before it can offer a safe, self-driving system.

During the drive, he observed, the Tesla system nearly blew through a red light, requiring an intervention by Musk who managed to brake in time to avoid any danger.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/30/tesla-ordered-by-nhtsa-to-provide-data-on-elon-mode-for-autopilot.html

# ? Aug 30, 2023 14:13

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

So when you combine nobody at the wheel with no safety oversight it's called Elon mode?

# ? Aug 30, 2023 14:16

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

MixMasterMalaria posted:

So when you combine nobody at the wheel with no safety oversight it's called Elon mode?

Literally, yes.

The writers are getting a little lazy and too ham-fisted with their metaphors in the scripts for this season.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 14:20

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Edge & Christian posted:

It's weirdly more complicated than that, and Commie Smasher Captain America could easily have become a forgotten footnote if it weren't for comic nerds getting writing jobs in the 1970s.

Captain America debuted in 1940 just as the superhero comic was really taking off in the popular imagination. He continued to be popular through World War II, but with the end of the war, superhero comics (not just Nazi-punchers, but superheroes in general) took a hit and other genres (crime and horror in particular but also romance, funny animals, Archie, etc.) became more popular. So in the late 1940s, they started throwing poo poo at the wall, and Captain America fought gangsters and magical beings and aliens. In 1949 his book got retitled "_{Captain America's} WEIRD TALES" and he didn't even appear on the cover of the last issue, in favor of a spooky monster. Then the book got canceled.

It got revived in 1954 as CAPTAIN AMERICA, COMMIE SMASHER which lasted all of three issues and the character disappeared for a decade. Captain America was not being published at the time of the Comics Code Authority being initiated, and for what it's worth he'd dropped so far off the radar that Frederic Wertham doesn't even mention Captain America in his book Seduction of the Innocent.

When Marvel proper kicked off in the 1960s, they eventually folded Captain America back into the new "Marvel Universe" by revealing that he'd been frozen in a block of ice near the end of World War II and upon being unfrozen joined the Avengers. This is still the character's backstory across the comics, films, cartoons, everything.

By the late 1960s/early 1970s, Marvel had expanded out and hired new writers and editors who weren't veterans of the industry going back to the 1940s (Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Bill Everett, Steve Ditko, etc. etc.). These new writers (Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, et al) were decades younger, and fans who grew up reading the comics described above. They decided they needed to address why Captain America continued to appear in comics from 1945 to 1954 if Steve Rogers got frozen in a block of ice before WWII ended.

So across the 1970s various writers introduced characters who [secretly, retroactively] pretended to be the "real" Captain America across the the period where Steve Rogers was now revealed to be frozen and presumed dead. They also started adding ersatz Buckys, Red Skulls, and other characters to the lore in order to explain how they were running around in a period where they were dead or in hiding.

Most of the Fake Captain Americas were just C-list patriotic heroes who actually did appear in 1940s comics, but as "The Patriot" and "The Spirit of '76" and filled in to keep wartime morale up, or were inspired to punch out gangsters and aliens by Steve Rogers. But the Commie Smasher Captain America was revived and revealed to be a brand new character who was a militaristic/jingoistic Cap superfan who took up the mantle to smash commies in the 1950s and then turned back up (along with his own "Bucky") after Steve Rogers was back, mad that the "fake" (original) Captain America was UNAMERICAN for his pro-Civil Rights stance and various other things that count as Unamerican Sins to a Bircherite Captain America. The real Captain America and the Falcon beat them and repudiated their politics, but every so often he pops back up and is even more radicalized about The Real America and Steve Rogers beats him up again.

Over the decades this has turned into a truly demented series of revisions where there are multiple Captains America, multiple Red Skulls, clones of the original or ersatz Red Skulls, characters plucked from other timelines and dimensions and plopped into stories in order to make sure that unpopular comics from like 1948 'fit in' to the Marvel Universe. Thankfully few if any of these retcons ever play a major story role anywhere outside of the janitorial stories that establish them, though William Burnside (the "Commie Smasher" Cap) is one of the most enduring ones, and it's speculated he's part of a current storyline as a different false-flag jingoist hero.

This goes a way towards explaining why the (very bad) Disney+ show was so concerned with MIC Captain America being recruited in opposition to Actual Captain America.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 14:25

Randalor: Sep 4, 2011

MixMasterMalaria posted:

So when you combine nobody at the wheel with no safety oversight it's called Elon mode?

So did he come up with this himself or are the Tesla engineers hoping he takes the bait and leaves the obviously suicidal mode named after himself on?

# ? Aug 30, 2023 14:38

Edgar Allen Ho: Apr 3, 2017; by sebmojo

Fuckin lol if Tesla engineers Stauffenberg Elon in his own mode

# ? Aug 30, 2023 14:44

Edge & Christian: May 20, 2001; Earth-1145 is truly the best!
A world of singing, magic frogs,
high adventure, no shitposters

Name Change posted:

This goes a way towards explaining why the (very bad) Disney+ show was so concerned with MIC Captain America being recruited in opposition to Actual Captain America.

That show was actually based on an entirely different ersatz Captain America introduced in the mid 1980s, which was part of a larger storyline about the Reagan administration being mad that the Avengers weren't cooperating as much with the US government as they'd like and were flirting with working under a UN charter (which they later did), so Reagan declared that Steve Rogers had never formally been discharged as a soldier and either needed to work exclusively for the US Army or surrender the government's intellectual property (the costume and shield). Rogers refused and gave up being Captain America, and Reagan's administration recruited an ex-soldier/professional wrestler/right wing superhero formerly known as The Superpatriot to become the Official Government Sanctioned Captain America.

After the new Captain America started killing people he decided were 'domestic terrorists', got doxxed by actual right wing terrorists who then murdered his parents, Reagan got temporarily turned into a snake monster, and then it turned out one of his cabinet members was the Red Skull in a cloned Steve Rogers body, the US government gave everything back to Steve Rogers.

But yeah, given that his name is "Captain America" and he is a walking American flag, there have been a lot more "who is Captain America, and what America does he represent?" stories across the decades than "who is [Spider-Man/Green Arrow/Plastic Man, and what [Spider/Arrow/Polymer] does he represent?" or whatnot.

Edge & Christian fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Aug 30, 2023

# ? Aug 30, 2023 14:51

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

The grants and rebates from the IRA that would allow homeowners to get 100% rebates on the purchase and installation of heat pumps, electric stoves, energy-efficient windows and doors, insulation, and new electric panels go into effect shortly (the rebates are administered by the states, so the exact time they become available this year will vary slightly depending on your state).

Florida is the only state that is outright refusing the money and residents will be unable to get the free appliances and upgrades. Contractors, businesses, and retailers will also not be eligible to get the tax credits or rebates for selling or installing the appliances either.

Florida is also declining the money for an IRA provision that would provide free solar panels for low-income homeowners.

- Florida, South Dakota, Kentucky, and Iowa are all turning down money for a program that provides free pollution mitigation upgrades to power plants and offers incentives to convert coal power plants to cleaner options.

- Florida, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and South Dakota are all turning down the money for free solar panel installation and tax credits.

- Florida is the only state turning down the money for consumer rebates.

The Florida State Energy Department actually wanted to take the money and applied for it, but the Florida legislature and DeSantis intervened to explicitly ban them from taking the money. Florida could still theoretically change course later and doesn't forfeit all the money until next year. Some people suspect that Florida will ultimately accept the money after the Republican primary is over and just delay Floridians' access to the money by a year instead of forfeiting it entirely.

https://twitter.com/politico/status/1696802804910768415

quote:

DeSantis tells Biden: Keep your IRA money

President Joe Biden is offering one of his White House challengers hundreds of millions of dollars to spend in his state. The only problem: that opponent is refusing to take it.

The Inflation Reduction Act makes Florida eligible for some $350 million in energy efficiency incentives. But Gov. Ron DeSantis has rejected the funding and other measures, creating the most prominent blockade by any Republican governor against Biden�s economic agenda.

And there�s nothing the White House can do besides hope he changes his mind.

The rejection has the potential to create significant ripple effects, politically and economically, in the coming months. As the president and his Cabinet members go around the country boasting about the IRA, rebates for energy-efficient purchases � the majority of the funding that DeSantis has refused � have played a particularly prominent role. That�s not just because they underpin the administration�s climate agenda but because they provide direct rebates to consumers.

The IRA allows governors the authority to block a handful of its programs, and with it, the power to blunt the political impact of legislation that some Democrats believe will be a key factor in the 2024 election.

Through a veto of his legislature�s request, DeSantis turned down $5 million to set up the rebate program for consumers who buy energy efficient appliances and retrofit their homes. It also effectively blocked $341 million to fund the program because the state would need the administrative money to apply for the program, according to people familiar with Florida�s budget process. However, federal Energy Department rules allow a state to accept the second pot of money even if they don�t take the first.

The governor also rejected $3 million in IRA funds to help the state fight pollution and rebuffed the Solar for All program which would have paid to help low-income people access solar panels. DeSantis also vetoed $24 million in grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

So far, DeSantis is the only governor to signal that he will block the energy rebates. But on the smaller sums of money, he has company. He�s one of four to turn down pollution mitigation funding from the IRA. The others are the Republican governors of South Dakota and Iowa, and Kentucky�s governor, who is a Democrat. The states that haven�t applied for the solar fund are all led by Republicans. They include Florida, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The Biden administration has explored ways around the energy rebate blockade but has come up empty so far, according to federal and state officials. The IRA was written in a way that requires the rebates to go through a state energy office. Unlike many federal laws, there is no federal fallback option or way to circumvent an obstinate governor.

That leaves the Biden administration hoping Florida will reconsider � and that the IRA funding doesn�t snowball into a political litmus test for GOP governors as Obamacare�s Medicaid expansion, and the Obama administration�s high speed rail funding, did a decade ago.

So far, the White House hasn�t publicly hit DeSantis by name over the rejection of funds, perhaps in hopes that he changes his mind before time runs out next August.

�It�s unfortunate that some officials are putting politics ahead of delivering meaningful progress for hard working Americans,� said White House spokesman Michael Kikukawa. �Despite this, President Biden and his administration are working with cities, counties, businesses, nonprofits, and other entities in the Sunshine State to ensure Floridians benefit from the lower costs and stronger economy delivered by his agenda.�

There�s reason to think Florida wants the funds: the state�s energy office requested them and the state legislature approved it before DeSantis vetoed a grant for the program.

�It�s clear from Administration conversations with Florida�s state energy office that they want the rebate funding,� said an administration official granted anonymity to speak freely. �After all, that�s why the request for accessing the administrative funding was in the budget line DeSantis vetoed in the first place � because the state energy office asked for it.�

Administration officials expressed confidence that Florida residents will ultimately get access to the rebates � even if they have to wait until after the Republican primary concludes or, at worst, the presidential election.

Republican governors used their opposition to high speed rail funding and Medicaid expansion dollars during the Obama era to showcase their fiscal conservative bonafides and the extent of their opposition to a Democratic president. In that vein, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem�s spokesman Ian Fury said that she �absolutely believes that the federal government�s wasteful spending, much of it at the behest of President Biden, is the single largest cause of the inflation crisis that our nation finds itself in.�

But Democrats believe the situation is different now compared to a decade ago. DeSantis� decision could serve as a line of political attack: with another hurricane looming amid possibly the hottest summer on record, the governor is placing opposition to Biden over helping Floridians weatherize their homes, and helping protect them from pollution or buy energy efficient appliances.

�He�s senselessly making the state more vulnerable,� said Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.), who is on a House panel that works with the White House on implementation. �A lot of other states that are majority Republican haven�t been this foolish.�

The DeSantis administration did not return repeated requests for comment.

Administration officials expressed confidence that Florida residents will ultimately get access to the rebates � even if they have to wait until after the Republican primary concludes or, at worst, the presidential election.

Republican governors used their opposition to high speed rail funding and Medicaid expansion dollars during the Obama era to showcase their fiscal conservative bonafides and the extent of their opposition to a Democratic president. In that vein, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem�s spokesman Ian Fury said that she �absolutely believes that the federal government�s wasteful spending, much of it at the behest of President Biden, is the single largest cause of the inflation crisis that our nation finds itself in.�

But Democrats believe the situation is different now compared to a decade ago. DeSantis� decision could serve as a line of political attack: with another hurricane looming amid possibly the hottest summer on record, the governor is placing opposition to Biden over helping Floridians weatherize their homes, and helping protect them from pollution or buy energy efficient appliances.

�He�s senselessly making the state more vulnerable,� said Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.), who is on a House panel that works with the White House on implementation. �A lot of other states that are majority Republican haven�t been this foolish.�

The DeSantis administration did not return repeated requests for comment.

The Florida Democratic Party plans to put public pressure on DeSantis to reverse course. Party Chair Nikki Fried said many people don�t yet know about the fallout of the veto. Still, she doubts DeSantis would reverse course. �He is not one who admits that he made a mistake or changes his course,� she added.

Soto is urging the administration to work with local officials where it can. The climate funding, for instance, can go to localities instead of a state. Three Florida cities have taken it up.

�My main goal is to get the money to Florida so my advice to the White House has been work with the local government and go around the state in every way possible,� he said.

The administration does not have a work around option when it comes to the rebates program, however. That program is supposed to help consumers cover part of the cost of projects such as insulting homes, installing a heat pump or upgrading to Energy Star appliances. The administration projects that the $8.5 billion program will save consumers up to $1 billion in energy costs and support an estimated 50,000 jobs in construction and other sectors.

Half of the money is supposed to go to households with incomes at or below 80 percent of the area median income. White House climate and energy adviser John Podesta said rejecting the rebates is a disservice to low-income households.

�Governors who are interested in servicing those communities would be well advised to kind of take that money and put those programs into effect, and then make those rebates available,� Podesta told reporters recently.

Other states are eager to take their piece of the money Florida has rejected. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) has asked the Energy Department to send Florida�s money to his and other states. Rhode Island �could utilize additional funds that Florida�s Governor may not accept for purely partisan reasons,� Reed wrote to the Energy Department.

In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who is up for reelection this fall, has applied for �a number of federal grants,� according to John A. Mura, spokesman for the Kentucky energy and environment cabinet. But, �local governments are best situated to apply for and administer the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant funds,� he said.

Florida�s rejection of IRA money is not absolute. The state has accepted other pots of money, including $3.75 million to support urban tree canopies and access to nature, $209,000 for pollution control and $78.7 million to several state and local entities to protect against climate change � a fund that is made up of the IRA and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 14:59

Judgy Fucker: Mar 24, 2006

Why would Nevada be turning down money for solar panel installation? I understand the performative politics behind the other states refusing money (shocked Oklahoma isn't one of them), but Nevada is the odd state out there.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:06

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

I do wonder how much it takes til Florida ceases being a functional state.

Judgy Fucker posted:

Why would Nevada be turning down money for solar panel installation? I understand the performative politics behind the other states refusing money (shocked Oklahoma isn't one of them), but Nevada is the odd state out there.

Someone played too much New Vegas and is going on about orbital superlasers. Though actually not sure how the state government is going since the establishment devs ran off with all the money and started a government in exile.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:07

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

Edgar Allen Ho posted:

Fuckin lol if Tesla engineers Stauffenberg Elon in his own mode

You joke but this is getting closer than you'd think- a few days ago Musk did a livestream from the driver's seat of a Tesla, during which he had to stop the car from running a red light. He also threatened to drive to Mark Zuckerberg's house while live, and showed off Zuck's address (which tbf is already public info) but chickened out.

(If you're wondering when the fine for using a cell phone while driving, which is very clearly illegal, kicks in, well, according to the PAPD an extended video of a person using a cell phone while driving is insufficient evidence to conclude he was using a cell phone while driving.)

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:08

zoux: Apr 28, 2006

https://twitter.com/RebeccaARainey/status/1696877371113066718

Currently you aren't owed time-and-a-half for overtime if you make more than ~$36k, the Biden proposal would raise that threshold to $55k.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:09

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Judgy Fucker posted:

Why would Nevada be turning down money for solar panel installation? I understand the performative politics behind the other states refusing money (shocked Oklahoma isn't one of them), but Nevada is the odd state out there.

New Republican Governor demonstrating "true conservative credentials" and helping out the local non-renewable energy industry.

Nevada giving up free money for solar panels is a bonkers idea. One of the worst places to pass on that and would have been worth a lot of money for homeowners there.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:13

Paracaidas: Sep 24, 2016; Consistently Tedious!

zoux posted:

https://twitter.com/RebeccaARainey/status/1696877371113066718

Currently you aren't owed time-and-a-half for overtime if you make more than ~$36k, the Biden proposal would raise that threshold to $55k.

This is a step up from Tom Perez' proposal under Obama ($47,476) that was struck down by the courts for being too large a change. That said, I know many companies proactively reviewed classification and chose to make otherwise exempt employees nonexempt to get ahead of implementation back then so it'd be unsurprising to see similar happen before courts take this up (which they absolutely will)

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:14

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

Randalor posted:

So did he come up with this himself or are the Tesla engineers hoping he takes the bait and leaves the obviously suicidal mode named after himself on?

My guess is that Elon hated his car nagging him about keeping his hands on the wheel, so he requested the engineers disable it for him, personally, and they named it Elon mode because it's the mode for Elon.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:16

Judgy Fucker: Mar 24, 2006

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

New Republican Governor demonstrating "true conservative credentials" and helping out the local non-renewable energy industry.

Nevada giving up free money for solar panels is a bonkers idea. One of the worst places to pass on that and would have been worth a lot of money for homeowners there.

Curious if the legislature could override (or supersede I guess, I doubt this is a veto) the governor. Evidently Dems do have a 2-to-1 margin in their Assembly, but aren't quite there in their Senate.

Because yeah, turning down money for solar panels in loving Nevada is definitely bonkers.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:16

Aztec Galactus: Sep 12, 2002

Paracaidas posted:

This is a step up from Tom Perez' proposal under Obama ($47,476) that was struck down by the courts for being too large a change. That said, I know many companies proactively reviewed classification and chose to make otherwise exempt employees nonexempt to get ahead of implementation back then so it'd be unsurprising to see similar happen before courts take this up (which they absolutely will)

I'm not really clear on how this is going to have a different outcome than the previous attempt

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:18

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Dubar posted:

I'm not really clear on how this is going to have a different outcome than the previous attempt

The previous court ruling wasn't over the amount of money they raised it to specifically. It was because the Obama rule just changed the regulation to "You make at least ~$48k" and the court argued that it made the job responsibility requirements set by congress irrelevant and could end up covering people that congress explicitly made exempt from overtime rules.

We'd have to see what the final Biden administration rule is, but if they narrowly tailor it to make sure it can't possibly include anyone working in a "bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity," then the dollar amount would be fine.

The argument against it will be that by raising the limit to $55k you will inevitably pick up people who "shouldn't" be getting overtime and the rules are too vague to cover that many people.

Edit: According to this AP article, they also are trying to shape the new regulation around the previous court ruling, so there are some other differences from the Obama rule that they are trying to make sure withstand legal scrutiny and it isn't a 1:1 retry.

quote:

A senior Labor Department official said new rule would bring threshold in line with the 35th percentile of earnings by full-time salaried workers. That�s above the 20th percentile in the current rule but less than the 40th percentile in the scuttled Obama-era policy.

https://apnews.com/article/work-lab..._source=Twitter

Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Aug 30, 2023

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:22

Main Paineframe: Oct 27, 2010

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Whatever God/programmer of the simulation/alien being is writing the script for Elon Musk's character arc is getting a little too on the nose.

The National Highway Transportation Administration was analyzing Tesla's Autopilot and safety software as part of their ongoing investigation into Tesla autopilot safety.

They found a hidden mode called "Elon Mode" that is only available to people with the $15,000 Full Self-Driving Beta subscription. The "Elon Mode" setting disables "nagging" features like requiring you to keep your hands on the wheel during autopilot, reminding you to buckle up when the car is in autopilot, and a feature that makes the autopilot start slowing down in advance of a yellow light instead of trying to blow through it before it changes.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/30/tesla-ordered-by-nhtsa-to-provide-data-on-elon-mode-for-autopilot.html

To be clear here, the hidden mode isn't actually officially called "Elon Mode".

The random techie (not the NHTSA) who found the hidden mode buried in the software jokingly referred to it as "Elon Mode" in a tweet, and reporters have universally adopted the phrase since it fits the narrative.

It wouldn't be surprising that this hidden "FSD with no nag features" mode would only be available to people who've purchased FSD. However, it's not actually available to anyone except for Tesla hackers who dig around in the car's firmware looking for debug modes and test features they can enable via minor code changes.

When an article seems so on-the-nose that you'd think it'd been written by a fiction writer, it's always good practice to double-check and make sure it's actually accurate. Not only that the article itself is accurate, but also that your own interpretation of it is accurate.

Randalor posted:

So did he come up with this himself or are the Tesla engineers hoping he takes the bait and leaves the obviously suicidal mode named after himself on?

It's a testing mode that wasn't completely removed from the production builds. It's not actually called "Elon Mode" - we've just entered the phase of the Elon narrative where people hate him so much (for good reasons) that they no longer care whether things that portray him negatively are actually true or not.

Main Paineframe fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Aug 30, 2023

# ? Aug 30, 2023 15:46

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Main Paineframe posted:

To be clear here, the hidden mode isn't actually officially called "Elon Mode".

The random techie (not the NHTSA) who found the hidden mode buried in the software jokingly referred to it as "Elon Mode" in a tweet, and reporters have universally adopted the phrase since it fits the narrative.

It wouldn't be surprising that this hidden "FSD with no nag features" mode would only be available to people who've purchased FSD. However, it's not actually available to anyone except for Tesla hackers who dig around in the car's firmware looking for debug modes and test features they can enable via minor code changes.

When an article seems so on-the-nose that you'd think it'd been written by a fiction writer, it's always good practice to double-check and make sure it's actually accurate. Not only that the article itself is accurate, but also that your own interpretation of it is accurate.

It's a testing mode that wasn't completely removed from the production builds. It's not actually called "Elon Mode" - we've just entered the phase of the Elon narrative where people hate him so much (for good reasons) that they no longer care whether things that portray him negatively are actually true or not.

You're correct that the term "Elon Mode" didn't come from Tesla directly (although the CNBC article doesn't actually clarify this) and is just what it is commonly referred as, but it isn't just a debug feature that has been left in there forever. It was installed in a recent software update.

quote:

Tesla is allowing some drivers use its Autopilot driver-assist system for extended periods without making them put their hands on the steering wheel, a development that has drawn concern from U.S. safety regulators.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has ordered Tesla to tell the agency how many vehicles have received a software update making that possible and it�s seeking more information on what the electric vehicle maker�s plans are for wider distribution.

�NHTSA is concerned that this feature was introduced to consumer vehicles, and now that the existence of this feature is known to the public, more drivers may attempt to activate it,� John Donaldson, the agency�s acting chief counsel, wrote in a July 26 letter to Tesla that was posted on the agency�s website.

https://twitter.com/AP/status/1696900862814114133

Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Aug 30, 2023

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:05

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

This will be an interesting test to see if partisanship/messaging can actually significantly move people on their opinions of popular and easily understood policy that they previously supported.

It also seems like there is no advice you can give that is dumb enough to get you fired for being a campaign strategist, but maybe they are on to something and I will look silly if they are able to move popular opinion on this policy among Republicans and some independents.

They might be able to successfully create a sort of parallel association like they did in 2014 when people in Kentucky were overwhelmingly opposed to "Obamacare," but moderately in favor of "The Affordable Care Act" with a "Plans to lower prescription drug prices are good, but government price controls are bad."

https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1696716683954500047
https://twitter.com/michaelcburgess/status/1696615732262392016

quote:

�Go after it�: GOP strategists say Republicans need to hit Biden on drug pricing

As President Joe Biden touts the first 10 drugs subject to Medicare price talks, Republicans are searching for their own message that would resonate with voters on the downsides of his signature domestic achievement.

Piggybacking on the pharmaceutical industry�s strategy, Republicans are working to persuade Americans that the Biden plan will stifle innovation and lead to price controls, several strategists say.

�If they want to run their campaigns based on keeping the profits of the drug companies high, welcome,� Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told POLITICO. | Julio Cortez/AP Photo

As President Joe Biden touts the first 10 drugs subject to Medicare price talks, Republicans are searching for their own message that would resonate with voters on the downsides of his signature domestic achievement.

Piggybacking on the pharmaceutical industry�s strategy, Republicans are working to persuade Americans that the Biden plan will stifle innovation and lead to price controls, several strategists say.

�The price control is a huge departure from where we have been as a country,� said Joel White, a Republican health care strategist. �It gets politicians and bureaucrats right into your medicine cabinet.�

However, the effort to reframe the drug price debate comes as Democrats prepare to run on the issue up and down the ballot next year against a Republican Party unlikely to cede any ground with campaign attacks and more likely to focus on the border and inflation.

A new poll from nonprofit KFF shows that 58 percent of independent voters trust Democrats to lower drug costs compared with 39 percent of Republicans.

�If they want to run their campaigns based on keeping the profits of the drug companies high, welcome,� Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told POLITICO. �Why don�t they go for it and see how well President Biden does because people are going to understand that seniors want to see less expensive drugs.�

Nevertheless, Republicans are strategizing the best message to counter the first Medicare drug price negotiations.

�Republicans have to figure out how to go after it,� said Joe Grogan, a Republican strategist who served as a domestic policy adviser for former President Donald Trump. �They go after it by taking it head on: it is killing clinical programs, fundamentally restricting the amount of treatments.�

Grogan said the negotiations process can stifle innovation by demanding makers of the selected drugs accept a final negotiated rate or leave Medicare and Medicaid, which can amount to 40 percent of total revenue depending on the drugmaker.

�Company after company is making changes to commercial strategy due to the fact they have to anticipate government price-setting and basically [the] extortion that price dictates,� Grogan said.

Some companies have said they are pulling back funding for certain clinical programs. Eli Lilly, for example, blamed the IRA for nixing a $40 million cancer drug due to the negotiations program, according to a November report in Endpoints News.

Grogan added that drug companies could decide to no longer fund clinical trials that search for new uses for a drug already on the market.

�It is not negotiating the prices, it is price-setting and companies are responding to kill programs that are no longer going to be profitable in a high-risk business to bring to market,� he said.

But the question is �what do Republicans want and [what is] the alternative here?� asked White.

Congressional Republicans slammed Biden�s Tuesday drug price announcement, saying they will impose crippling price controls.

�I hope that our colleagues on both sides of the aisle can come together to mitigate these devastating effects and advance consensus-based, market-driven solutions to access and affordability challenges,� said Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

But White conceded that right now Republicans �don�t have a plan that cuts with voters or resonates with voters and stands as a clear contrast to what Democrats are offering.�

The Republican-led House is working on bills to reform pharmacy benefit managers, which some GOP lawmakers say act as middlemen that do not pass on discounts negotiated with drugmakers to patients.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running second behind Trump in most polls, signed into law his own bill to regulate PBMs in the state. The DeSantis campaign did not return a request for comment on Tuesday�s announcement.

�That is a gimme, it seems to me. PBMs are everybody�s favorite villain these days,� said Joe Antos, senior fellow with think tank American Enterprise Institute.

So far, most 2024 campaigns have not put forth detailed health care policy plans and have been largely mum on drug prices specifically.

One of the exceptions is the frontrunner: Trump.

He promises to revive an executive order he issued while in office that mandated the federal government pay the same price for pharmaceuticals as countries overseas. The Biden administration pulled the order in 2021 after a federal judge struck it down.

�We�ve been ripped off by everybody for so many decades. We are tired of it. Not going to happen,� Trump said in a video on his campaign website.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has made general statements on improving transparency and competition to lower costs. He also proposed reviving Operation Warp Speed, the federal program created to expedite Covid-19 vaccines, but for new drugs.

Strategists say that candidates will need to explain their vision for health care as the campaign shifts into high gear. Except for abortion, health care was largely missing from the first GOP presidential candidate debate in Milwaukee, Wis., last week.

�There is an opportunity and an obligation on the presidential campaign,� Grogan said. �The Trump indictments have dominated so much of the debate, but there will be a necessity to flesh out economic visions.�

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:20

Sir Lemming: Jan 27, 2009; It's a piece of JUNK!

Crunch Buttsteak posted:

From what I have been able to gather, conservative Trekkies completely miss all of the idealistic post-scarcity speculative fiction aspects and settle on "man, it would be really cool if I was a commander and had a group of people who had to do whatever I told them to do".

The original Star Trek, despite being pretty progressive in many ways (relative to its contemporaries of course), definitely had heavy implications that America = The Federation, where we've already solved all our problems, and now we should go around fixing other cultures. The specifics of how we solved all our problems were understandably nebulous, and ultimately not that important to most of the stories they told. Certainly it seems that Gene Roddenberry subscribed to some pretty liberal ideas about how to get there, and TNG got a bit more explicit about that. But the thing is, even conservatives like the results of progress. They like America winning. It's when you start suggesting more changes that you run into problems.

Now, I do think the current conservative movement is going farther than this and actively seeking to undo anything with a hint of progressivism, and is more more willing to see "wokeness" in things they used to be okay with. But for a while, I think you could've called Star Trek mildly conservative in its posture.

DS9 was the point where the franchise really addressed this blind spot. It tackled the rift between people who wanted to constantly re-evaluate their culture and see if anything else needed to change, and people who stubbornly insisted that their culture was already perfect. That's the overwhelming theme of the show and it examined it not only in the context of the Federation, but also Cardassia, the Ferengi, the Klingon empire, and the Dominion.

Sir Lemming fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Aug 30, 2023

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:20

bird food bathtub: Aug 9, 2003; College Slice

Ghost Leviathan posted:

I do wonder how much it takes til Florida ceases being a functional state.

Well I imagine a good, solid whack with a hurricane while there are no more major national insurers left in the state might be an instigating event. Looks like the DeSantis plan of "Just hope there are none" might pull them through today's hurricane, but that's at best getting an empty chamber in Russian Roulette. Hit a major metropolitan area in the state with a biggun' and things could start trending towards the cool zone.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:23

zoux: Apr 28, 2006

Another little win: Dems win a special election for county auditor in Warren Co, Ohio, which is just NE of Cincinatti and contains many of its rich exurbs. The former auditor, also a D, resigned and recommended that the county board of supervisors name as a replacement her long-time deputy and fellow D Kim Sheets. The board instead gave the job to a construction contractor named David Whipple with zero government experience but lots of thoughts on the integrity of the 2020 election. County Dems flipped out and put together a petition drive that resulted in a special election for county auditor, and Sheets crushed Whipple by a 2-1 margin.

https://twitter.com/DMRegister/status/1696718139294109815

Again, not a huge deal, OH county auditors don't even have anything to do with elections, but it's always great to see some minoritarian panel of dickheads get their asses handed to them by the electorate.

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

It also seems like there is no advice you can give that is dumb enough to get you fired for being a campaign strategist, but maybe they are on to something and I will look silly if they are able to move popular opinion on this policy among Republicans and some independents.

https://twitter.com/PhRMA/status/1696504301726638561

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:25

skylined!: Apr 6, 2012; THE DEM DEFENDER HAS LOGGED ON

Judgy Fucker posted:

Why would Nevada be turning down money for solar panel installation? I understand the performative politics behind the other states refusing money (shocked Oklahoma isn't one of them), but Nevada is the odd state out there.

Just a wild guess but the electric companies nationwide broadly are against rooftop/distributive solar because they want the money to build out their own plants to charge people for them forever at similar rates they charge for carbon-based electricity generation. At least, in Georgia, this has been a major issue with GA Power lobbyists influencing our access to rooftop/distributive solar, or any effort to get proper net metering in place.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:30

Medullah: Aug 14, 2003; FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

zoux posted:

https://twitter.com/PhRMA/status/1696504301726638561

When you have nothing with your current Scrabble tiles

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:37

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

bird food bathtub posted:

Well I imagine a good, solid whack with a hurricane while there are no more major national insurers left in the state might be an instigating event. Looks like the DeSantis plan of "Just hope there are none" might pull them through today's hurricane, but that's at best getting an empty chamber in Russian Roulette. Hit a major metropolitan area in the state with a biggun' and things could start trending towards the cool zone.

To be fair to DeSantis, he is going to get federal hurricane aid money and take it. Denying the citizens of Florida federal money for free appliances, home upgrades, and other rebates isn't going to impact what kind of damage or what the cleanup efforts from the hurricane look like.

It's a very dumb decision that just punishes low/mid-income people and businesses in Florida for no reason, but it's not really going to impact the major problems that Florida has in any meaningful way.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:38

Shrecknet: Jan 2, 2005

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

This will be an interesting test to see if partisanship/messaging can actually significantly move people on their opinions of popular and easily understood policy that they previously supported.

It also seems like there is no advice you can give that is dumb enough to get you fired for being a campaign strategist, but maybe they are on to something and I will look silly if they are able to move popular opinion on this policy among Republicans and some independents.
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1696716683954500047

I'm sorry, I must be educated stupid, but is this an article suggesting the Republicans attack Biden for keeping drug prices low?

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:41

Quixzlizx: Jan 7, 2007

zoux posted:

https://twitter.com/PhRMA/status/1696504301726638561

You can put that tweet in Urban Dictionary as the definition of "u mad."

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:44

Medullah: Aug 14, 2003; FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

Shrecknet posted:

I'm sorry, I must be educated stupid, but is this an article suggesting the Republicans attack Biden for keeping drug prices low?

Yup, the argument against government control of prescription drugs is that the high prices in the US pay for all the research that big pharma does that they "don't profit from" in socialized health care countries, so the only way they'll keep working on new drugs is with YOY record profits.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:44

Judgy Fucker: Mar 24, 2006

Shrecknet posted:

I'm sorry, I must be educated stupid, but is this an article suggesting the Republicans attack Biden for keeping drug prices low?

No, not exactly. The article isn't suggesting Republicans do anything, it's reporting how GOP strategists are suggesting Republicans attack Biden for "stifling innovation" and "price controls," which are red scare-ish bogeyman dogwhistles. The government trying to tell our enterprising pharmaceutical companies what they can charge for their drugs is communism, which is bad.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:44

Main Paineframe: Oct 27, 2010

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

You're correct that the term "Elon Mode" didn't come from Tesla directly (although the CNBC article doesn't actually clarify this) and is just what it is commonly referred as, but it isn't just a debug feature that has been left in there forever. It was installed in a recent software update.

https://twitter.com/AP/status/1696900862814114133

Not quite. It was discovered recently, but NHTSA's letter makes it clear that they don't know when it was added or how long it's been there. In fact, that's the very first thing they ask in their letter asking Tesla to provide extensive information about this mode.

Shrecknet posted:

I'm sorry, I must be educated stupid, but is this an article suggesting the Republicans attack Biden for keeping drug prices low?

No, the article is covering the fact that GOP strategists are suggesting the Republicans attack Biden for pushing disastrous government price controls that'll destroy the medical industry and drag our healthcare down to third-world levels. Or so they say, anyway.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:45

zoux: Apr 28, 2006

Quixzlizx posted:

You can put that tweet in Urban Dictionary as the definition of "u mad."

I like the implication that my doctor and I are making sure that the prices of these drugs reflect the true R&D costs before prescribing them.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:50

Byzantine: Sep 1, 2007

Original Star Trek also has the problem that it's still a product of the 1960s and what was progressive then has either faded to background noise or had re-evaluation. The miniskirts are a good example - in 1966-1968, the miniskirt was a symbol of female sexual liberation, the backlash against them for being objectifying didn't happen until the 70s after Star Trek was off the air. What was meant to be a sign of future feminism now looks like the kind of gender politics conservatives like.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:51

Tony Phillips: Feb 9, 2006

Quixzlizx posted:

You can put that tweet in Urban Dictionary as the definition of "u mad."

Yep and Amen.

I was paying out of pocket for an Xarelto Rx for a cat and filling a script for ten 10mg tablets ran about $170. Said 10 pills would last 40 days.

Depending on what you're treating, typical human doses can be 20mg a day, possibly 15mg twice a day. 30 10mg tablets? $550+ for the month.

And without looking, I assume there are 1000 drugs that make this sound cheap.

gently caress them.

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:53

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# ? May 26, 2024 16:37

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

The Politico article notes this and I have said this a few times, but I am legitimately surprised that there is basically no official healthcare or TAX policy platforms from any of the Republican candidates. Promises of big tax cuts seem like an easy lay up for an applause line in a stump speech. Previously, a signature tax cut plan was the first thing they put out (9-9-9, Bush tax cuts, Trump tax cuts, flat tax, fair tax, eliminating the income tax, Romney's idea to raise taxes on the 47% of "takers," etc.)

The only major policy specifics they have released are about transgender minors and immigration.

Trump and Vivek get bonus points, I guess, for technically having a detailed policy about reforming the federal government civil service and public sector workers, even if that is entirely about Trump exacting revenge on the deep state and removing potential points of accountability.

DeSantis doesn't even have an official policy page on his website.

Edit: Trump doesn't either. His website is just one page for fundraising and signing up for a mailing list (lol).

Edit 2: Mike Pence is the only "major" candidate I can find that even bothered to put a policies page up and it only has 4 sections:

- Ending inflation
- Energy Expansion
- Expanding Federalism
- Day 1 Executive Orders

Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Aug 30, 2023

# ? Aug 30, 2023 16:53

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USCE 2023: Please let them shove a camera up your butt

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