American Politics: Fiscal Cliffhanger

[Senkaku]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65689744

Musk has picked De Santis.

Thank god all his advisers are ultra-online freaks, this is going to be appalling but hilarious. What does our charismaless robot of a candidate need to dispel his reputation for being weird and socially aloof? An online event with an even weirder and more socially awkward billionaire! I’m sure Elon’s going to lean on his engineers to give DeSantis more Twitter reach during the primaries, though, which is probably bad news.

[San Lumen]

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... n-at-work/

Texas AG calls on GOP state House leader to resign, alleging intoxication at work

[Forsher]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65689744

Musk has picked De Santis.

Thank god all his advisers are ultra-online freaks, this is going to be appalling but hilarious. What does our charismaless robot of a candidate need to dispel his reputation for being weird and socially aloof? An online event with an even weirder and more socially awkward billionaire! I’m sure Elon’s going to lean on his engineers to give DeSantis more Twitter reach during the primaries, though, which is probably bad news.

If DeSantis is really getting in bed with Musk, between that and his Disney nonsense, can he really try and position himself as "Trump but without the drama"? It's more Trump with different drama.

Who am I kidding, the mainstream media still looooove Musk so it's a sensible play even before you consider that Musk has already demonstrated that he will use Twitter to help politicians win elections.

[San Lumen]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/truck-strikes ... d=99532518

Man who wanted to seize power struck White House barrier with truck, law enforcement says
The man was charged with five counts, including assault with a dangerous weapon.

[Senkaku]

Thank god all his advisers are ultra-online freaks, this is going to be appalling but hilarious. What does our charismaless robot of a candidate need to dispel his reputation for being weird and socially aloof? An online event with an even weirder and more socially awkward billionaire! I’m sure Elon’s going to lean on his engineers to give DeSantis more Twitter reach during the primaries, though, which is probably bad news.

If DeSantis is really getting in bed with Musk, between that and his Disney nonsense, can he really try and position himself as "Trump but without the drama"? It's more Trump with different drama.

I think the “Trump without the drama” was always a fantasy advanced by ex-GOP Lincoln Project types who sort of wanted that to happen tbh. The actual GOP has been on the “Kanye. Elon. Trump” diet of incoherent cultural resentment for a while, and that’s what helps power DeSantis’s retirement home legions too.

Who am I kidding, the mainstream media still looooove Musk so it's a sensible play even before you consider that Musk has already demonstrated that he will use Twitter to help politicians win elections.

It is worrying, just because of his money and Twitter’s power as a tool, but Elon’s really melted his old brand down since the Twitter acquisition in the eyes of a lot of the mainstream journalists who used to lick him up and down. I think CNN, given their attempt at pivoting right lately, will be a bellwether for how him throwing in with DeSantis will be received by the sorts of people/orgs who’ve been distancing from his personal brand but still adore his companies, and I don’t think it’s going to be received well. They’re going back to the well on Trump (see: town hall being him, not DeSantis), because charismatic insult comic narcissists just generate better ratings than pudding-fingered sociopaths or their autistic finance backers.

[Xind]

US states agree breakthrough deal to prevent Colorado River from drying up

I say we leave the alfalfa farms owned by the Saudis high and dry in particular.

This deal would not effect Saudi owned alfalfa farms they get their water from ground water not the Colorado river. If we were really serious about preventing the Colorado from running dry we should deploy shade balls on lake Mead and Powell. But no we would rather piss away Federal money on build new marina and boat ramps because the receding water level on these lake have made the existed ones useless. Never mind they going to rebuild again when the dropping water level make the ones they just build useless. But I guess people value a weekend fishing trip more than the rolling blackouts that will happen when lake Mead and Powell reach deadpool.

[Senkaku]

US states agree breakthrough deal to prevent Colorado River from drying up

I say we leave the alfalfa farms owned by the Saudis high and dry in particular.

This deal would not effect Saudi owned alfalfa farms they get their water from ground water not the Colorado river.

Maybe economic freedom is more important than having aquifers; I’m sure Central Valley almond farmers would agree, and they’re as American as apple pie!

If we were really serious about preventing the Colorado from running dry we should deploy shade balls on lake Mead and Powell. But no we would rather piss away Federal money on build new marina and boat ramps because the receding water level on these lake have made the existed ones useless. Never mind they going to rebuild again when the dropping water level make the ones they just build useless. But I guess people value a weekend fishing trip more than the rolling blackouts that will happen when lake Mead and Powell reach deadpool.

The upper basin states are also conspicuously not a part of this, which given the expansion of suburban communities in water-stressed regions of Utah doesn’t exactly bode well. (And as usual, fuck Sonora and Baja lol)

Shade balls on reservoirs the size of Lake Mead seems like one of the more ecologically questionable and plain ineffectual interventions I could imagine, though— they’re still not getting enough rain and snow long-term and taking too much water, so you’d end up with a few hundred million little pieces of plastic blowing around the desert after prematurely choking the last survivors of the river’s ecosystem. At some point just go full Paolo Bacigalupi and put the whole river in a straw, I guess? LA and Vegas can slurp while Phoenix sips and Tijuana blows away.

[Tarsonis]

What is alfalfa even used for

[Necroghastia]

What is alfalfa even used for

Animal feed, mainly.

[American Legionaries]

What is alfalfa even used for

'Tis hay!

[Arval Va]

What is alfalfa even used for

Texan food

[Ifreann]

What is alfalfa even used for

Animal feed, mainly.

[Xind]

The upper basin states are also conspicuously not a part of this, which given the expansion of suburban communities in water-stressed regions of Utah doesn’t exactly bode well. (And as usual, fuck Sonora and Baja lol)

It doesn't matter because most Utah's population is concentrated in is the Wasatch front. This metropolitan area is hundreds of miles away from the green river the tributary of the Colorado the runs through Utah. They get most their water from the streams and rivers that feed the Great Salt Lake which it shrinking and threatening to become America Aral sea. Although that mostly due surprise surprise Alfalfa farms rather the growth of Salt Lake City.

Shade balls on reservoirs the size of Lake Mead seems like one of the more ecologically questionable and plain ineffectual interventions I could imagine, though— they’re still not getting enough rain and snow long-term and taking too much water, so you’d end up with a few hundred million little pieces of plastic blowing around the desert after prematurely choking the last survivors of the river’s ecosystem. At some point just go full Paolo Bacigalupi and put the whole river in a straw, I guess? LA and Vegas can slurp while Phoenix sips and Tijuana blows away.

This study has shown that covering just fifty percent of Lake Mead surface area will save enough water to provide for five million people. That just lake Mead that not counting doing something similar to Lake Powell and the dozen of other smaller reservoirs along the Colorado.

What is alfalfa even used for

cattle feed

[Forsher]

If DeSantis is really getting in bed with Musk, between that and his Disney nonsense, can he really try and position himself as "Trump but without the drama"? It's more Trump with different drama.

I think the “Trump without the drama” was always a fantasy advanced by ex-GOP Lincoln Project types who sort of wanted that to happen tbh. The actual GOP has been on the “Kanye. Elon. Trump” diet of incoherent cultural resentment for a while, and that’s what helps power DeSantis’s retirement home legions too.

I'm not sure I have an opinion on where the "Trump without the drama" fantasy/theory comes from, but I mentioned it here because it was in the article. Which I suppose brings us back to my point about how the MSM just loves Musk:

Who am I kidding, the mainstream media still looooove Musk so it's a sensible play even before you consider that Musk has already demonstrated that he will use Twitter to help politicians win elections.

It is worrying, just because of his money and Twitter’s power as a tool, but Elon’s really melted his old brand down since the Twitter acquisition in the eyes of a lot of the mainstream journalists who used to lick him up and down. I think CNN, given their attempt at pivoting right lately, will be a bellwether for how him throwing in with DeSantis will be received by the sorts of people/orgs who’ve been distancing from his personal brand but still adore his companies, and I don’t think it’s going to be received well. They’re going back to the well on Trump (see: town hall being him, not DeSantis), because charismatic insult comic narcissists just generate better ratings than pudding-fingered sociopaths or their autistic finance backers.

I don't think he's melted his brand that much. Like, the dude constantly pushes alt right conspiracy theories (also: does anyone say alt right any more?) but none of the articles I've seen have the balls to call him what he is, i.e. a conspiracy theorist. Now, sure, I'm not actively going out looking for Elon Musk coverage so maybe there's a whole swathe of sane journalists I'm just not seeing (whereas you are), but here's an example of what I mean from The Guardian.

[Senkaku]

I'm not sure I have an opinion on where the "Trump without the drama" fantasy/theory comes from,

I guess I also didn’t account for Dems scared of how beatable they seem even to themselves, that’s part of it too.

I don't think he's melted his brand that much. Like, the dude constantly pushes alt right conspiracy theories (also: does anyone say alt right any more?) but none of the articles I've seen have the balls to call him what he is, i.e. a conspiracy theorist. Now, sure, I'm not actively going out looking for Elon Musk coverage so maybe there's a whole swathe of sane journalists I'm just not seeing (whereas you are), but here's an example of what I mean from The Guardian.

I just have a kinda lefty media diet and usually only get Elon stuff when it breaks through on Twitter, because of something he did on or about Twitter, so I probably am seeing more negative coverage about him than I would if I was consuming more tech/biz articles and cryptosponcon from the usual suspects (I think it was The Verge that had something notably awful about Tesla’s vaporware androids that I did notice recently). I think American journalists as a group are generally just quite loath to call any rich and powerful person a conspiracy theorist or whatever, I remember from like 2015-2017 it was a whole debate over whether it was okay to say Trump told a “lie,” or if softer/different words should be used.

Shade balls on reservoirs the size of Lake Mead seems like one of the more ecologically questionable and plain ineffectual interventions I could imagine, though— they’re still not getting enough rain and snow long-term and taking too much water, so you’d end up with a few hundred million little pieces of plastic blowing around the desert after prematurely choking the last survivors of the river’s ecosystem. At some point just go full Paolo Bacigalupi and put the whole river in a straw, I guess? LA and Vegas can slurp while Phoenix sips and Tijuana blows away.

This study has shown that covering just fifty percent of Lake Mead surface area will save enough water to provide for five million people. That just lake Mead that not counting doing something similar to Lake Powell and the dozen of other smaller reservoirs along the Colorado.

Well that’s nifty— it looks like they’re proposing floating solar, not just shade balls, and avoiding full coverage makes sense from both a recreational and ecological perspective. Realistically it’d probably mostly be saving the water to provide for more alfalfa farms and golf courses, not those five million people, but definitely seems like the kind of beneficial infrastructure project that a functioning political system would want to invest in.

[Bombadil]

I just have a kinda lefty media diet and usually only get Elon stuff when it breaks through on Twitter, because of something he did on or about Twitter, so I probably am seeing more negative coverage about him than I would if I was consuming more tech/biz articles and cryptosponcon from the usual suspects (I think it was The Verge that had something notably awful about Tesla’s vaporware androids that I did notice recently). I think American journalists as a group are generally just quite loath to call any rich and powerful person a conspiracy theorist or whatever, I remember from like 2015-2017 it was a whole debate over whether it was okay to say Trump told a “lie,” or if softer/different words should be used.

US media is absurdly deferential to people in authority, whether due to politics or money.

[Forsher]

I just have a kinda lefty media diet and usually only get Elon stuff when it breaks through on Twitter, because of something he did on or about Twitter, so I probably am seeing more negative coverage about him than I would if I was consuming more tech/biz articles and cryptosponcon from the usual suspects (I think it was The Verge that had something notably awful about Tesla’s vaporware androids that I did notice recently). I think American journalists as a group are generally just quite loath to call any rich and powerful person a conspiracy theorist or whatever, I remember from like 2015-2017 it was a whole debate over whether it was okay to say Trump told a “lie,” or if softer/different words should be used.

US media is absurdly deferential to people in authority, whether due to politics or money.

TIL the BBC and the Guardian are American.

(Those articles could've been written by Americans, admittedly.)

[Bombadil]

US media is absurdly deferential to people in authority, whether due to politics or money.

TIL the BBC and the Guardian are American.

(Those articles could've been written by Americans, admittedly.)

I wasn't commenting on the BBC or The Guardian, more your point on American journalists. Although..

Guardian US is the Manhattan-based American online presence of the British print newspaper The Guardian. It launched in September 2011, led by editor-in-chief Janine Gibson, and followed the earlier Guardian America service, which was closed in 2009.

Actually, at the time of posting I was watching an interview with some Republican senator on the debt ceiling and the reporter was just letting them talk, not challenging anything or following up a question, just blah blah blah..

[Bombadil]

Seems Ohio Republicans are jumping through incredible hoops to ensure abortion is limited to 6 weeks.

Ohio law means their constitution can be amended with a simple majority vote.
A ballot in the November elections has been proposed to enshrine abortion rights into the constitution
Knowing that will definitely pass, Ohio Republicans are proposing to raise the limit to a supermajority of 60%
They want to do this in special August elections
Special August elections in Ohio were made illegal recently
They don't care, they're going to have them anyway and let the courts deal with it
By the way, they recently changed the court laws to ensure Republican judges

The entire basis of the Dobbs decision was to return the decision to the will of the people. Seeing the will of the people goes against their actual wishes, Ohio Republicans are doing everything they can to ensure the will of the people is utterly ignored.

I guess those good upstanding Ohio Republicans are just standing by their deep moral values..

The former Ohio state house speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican party chair Matt Borges were convicted on Thursday in a $60m bribery scheme that federal prosecutors have called the largest corruption case in state history.

From March this year..

[The Pirateariat]

What is alfalfa even used for

My chinchilla ate it. This is also, as far as I know, is it's only use. Same with barley.

[Haganham]

What is alfalfa even used for

My chinchilla ate it. This is also, as far as I know, is it's only use. Same with barley.

Barley is used to make beer.
But yes. Alfafla is only useful for feeding your late chinchilla. I have no idea why it is still grown.

[The Pirateariat]

My chinchilla ate it. This is also, as far as I know, is it's only use. Same with barley.

Barley is used to make beer.
But yes. Alfafla is only useful for feeding your late chinchilla. I have no idea why it is still grown.

Ah, you see I'm more of a rum guy.

[Senkaku]

US media is absurdly deferential to people in authority, whether due to politics or money.

TIL the BBC and the Guardian are American.

(Those articles could've been written by Americans, admittedly.)

It’s all transatlantic empire, baby

[El Lazaro]

I don’t think this was posted earlier, but the authorities
believe the 30+ tons of missing ammonium nitrate probably leaked out the bottom of the train as a result of unknown damage before transport.

Not the most shocking of twists, seeing as stealing it would be like that Breaking Bad moving train heist x40, and you’d need two semis near their weight limits to legally haul that much in weight. This sounds like it would be an unnecessarily high-effort way for terrorists to get their hands on explosives ingredients to blow that much stuff up. Just can’t have fertilizer from Wyoming in the Mojave Desert, I guess?

[Zurkerx]

Seems Ohio Republicans are jumping through incredible hoops to ensure abortion is limited to 6 weeks.

Ohio law means their constitution can be amended with a simple majority vote.
A ballot in the November elections has been proposed to enshrine abortion rights into the constitution
Knowing that will definitely pass, Ohio Republicans are proposing to raise the limit to a supermajority of 60%
They want to do this in special August elections
Special August elections in Ohio were made illegal recently
They don't care, they're going to have them anyway and let the courts deal with it
By the way, they recently changed the court laws to ensure Republican judges

The entire basis of the Dobbs decision was to return the decision to the will of the people. Seeing the will of the people goes against their actual wishes, Ohio Republicans are doing everything they can to ensure the will of the people is utterly ignored.

I guess those good upstanding Ohio Republicans are just standing by their deep moral values..

The former Ohio state house speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican party chair Matt Borges were convicted on Thursday in a $60m bribery scheme that federal prosecutors have called the largest corruption case in state history.

From March this year..

I mean, politicians in general don't care about the people, but it's pretty clear Republicans are going to do what they want, and no Court will tell them otherwise. After all, they gerrymandered Ohio so it's not like they'll face any consequences.