# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 4) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 22, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678 "2025-02-22T21:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 183
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2026, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3641 "2026-03-15T22:05:48Z")
The AI running the simulation that we’re all in is running off its guardrails. Can it be rebooted? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2026, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3642 "2026-03-15T22:14:28Z")
I think we need to format the hard drive. God, don’t let Pete read that. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3643 "2026-03-16T00:12:22Z")
An AI is next of him taking on Ken Clean-Air System ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3644 "2026-03-16T01:44:21Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > This whole administration is obsessed with AI generated content. For them reality sux. AI is just amped up alternate reality, ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3645 "2026-03-16T05:45:23Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > This whole administration is obsessed with AI generated content. > > For them reality sux. AI is just amped up alternate reality, It is, after all, the only intelligence they have. Or, as I have been fond of saying: _Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity_. [Another Republican wants the government to murder a journalist.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/treason-gop-lawmaker-trashes-tucker-180124468.html) > [@](#): > > Rep. **Max Miller** (R-OH) called for **Tucker Carlson** to be prosecuted if federal investigators find out he has been a “traitor” and covertly working with Iran’s theocratic regime. > > Miller shared his blunt assessment of Carlson and the situation he’s in on Sunday, one day after Carlson claimed the Justice Department would soon charge him for [being an unregistered foreign agent](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/tucker-carlson-claims-doj-charge-011318753.html); Carlson said he was being targeted for “talking to people in Iran before the war,” which he said the CIA found out by spying on his text messages. > > The congressmen said that if Carlson is telling the truth — and if he really committed “treason” — he has to pay the price. > > “Everyone has always known Tucker is in love with himself and happy to sell falsehoods for attention,” Miller posted on X. “The Left excels at this, when Tucker fully joined them it was just sad.” > > He continued, “Now? Treason. If Tucker really worked with Iran against’s America’s interests, he is a traitor and should be prosecuted.” > > No charges have been made yet. > > Carlson on Saturday said he’d learned the CIA had recommended to the DOJ that he be prosecuted for his text messages leading up to the war on Iran, but did not offer details on who he was texting with or what those texts were about. The former cable news star also suggested “some” CIA workers could be targeting him because of his “views about Israel.” [Gingrich _wants_ the current war to go nuclear.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ex-gop-honcho-says-trump-222810675.html) > [@](#): > > Former House Speaker **Newt Gingrich** (R-GA) shared an explosive idea to re-open the Strait of Hormuz that has been essentially closed to shipping by Iranian attacks and mines. > > The narrow passageway is the conduit for [up to 30%](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=39932)of the world’s total oil consumption and 20% of global liquefied natural gas. > > Although he hasn’t been seen in public since becoming Iran’s new Supreme Leader, **Mojtaba Khamenei** [vowed in a written statement](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxg599655vo) to use the “lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz” to keep the enemy “highly vulnerable”. > > President **Donald Trump** has urged allies — like France, South Korea, Japan, and the UK — as well as China, to send warships to the Strait to police the area and keep it open for oil shipments. > > But Gingrich posited that it would be much better to open the Strait with a nuclear attack. > > “Instead of fighting over a 21-mile-wide bottleneck forever,” Gingrich wrote, “we cut a new channel through friendly territory.” > > “A dozen thermonuclear detonations and you’ve got a waterway wider than the Panama Canal, deeper than the Suez, and safe from Iranian attacks,” Gingrich wrote. He’s a genius! A stable genius! We are truly doomed since half of the country (evidently more than half) want these idiots in charge. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3646 "2026-03-16T07:29:46Z")
I’m going to run some AI back at’em. DEMENTO Don stumbles into dire straits. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ze2l3XBaBrc/hqdefault.jpg "The Strait of Hormuz") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze2l3XBaBrc) ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3647 "2026-03-16T11:45:19Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Hey, whatever floats your boat, but no need to advertise. OK? There is a whole genre of porn involving “twinks” search at your peril, it is underage/just of age male gay boys acting. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3648 "2026-03-16T12:11:17Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Miller posted on X. “The Left excels at this, when Tucker fully joined them it was just sad.” (emphasis added) Wow the overton window really has shifted. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3649 "2026-03-16T12:35:36Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > > “A dozen thermonuclear detonations and you’ve got a waterway wider than the Panama Canal, deeper than the Suez, and safe from Iranian attacks,” Gingrich wrote. > > He’s a genius! A stable genius! It was established by both Soviet and US experiments that civil engineering by nuclear explosion works very badly. The Earth is much bigger than you naively think and the cratering power of even hefty nukes is very small on that scale. The width of the Panama canal at the narrowest area is about 800 feet. The depth of the Suez is about 80 feet. Buried nukes of ~100KT each could blast such a channel at a rate of about one explosion per 600 feet of distance excavated. So with a dozen such explosions you could create a canal about 1 and 1/3 miles long. Call it a mile and a half for simplicity. If you needed a canal 30 miles long to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, you’re now talking about 20 times 12 = 240 nuclear detonations. And of course the Iranians could promptly mine that too, since a short bypass canal has to be near the Strait anyway. If you want a new canal way far away from the Strait, it needs to be dozens, if not hundreds of miles long. I have now put more thought and analysis into this idea than Gingrich did. I always respected Gingrich as a real thinker. An evil thinker, but somebody who could actually do homework and plan logically to achieve his evil ends. It’s obvious he’s either lost that, or he’s just playing to trump’s vanities. So much winning from these clowns. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3650 "2026-03-16T13:13:29Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > This whole administration is obsessed with AI generated content. > > **For them reality sux.** AI is just amped up alternate reality, Then they should blend in nicely, because every one of them also sux. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3651 "2026-03-16T13:23:58Z")
Not to mention the minor detail of the Hajar mountains, which will probably take more than a handful of nukes to knock down to sea level. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3652 "2026-03-16T13:29:39Z")
Didn’t Edward Teller have grand plans for using nuclear weapons to reshape the geography? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3653 "2026-03-16T14:10:49Z")
> **[Project Plowshare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare)** > > Project Plowshare was the overall United States program for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives and large non-nuclear explosions for peaceful construction purposes. The program was organized in June 1957 as part of the worldwide Atoms for Peace efforts. As part of the program, 35 nuclear warheads were detonated in 27 separate tests. A similar program was carried out in the Soviet Union under the name Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy, although the Soviet program c ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3654 "2026-03-16T15:01:18Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Wow the overton window really has shifted. If you’ve ever even hinted at a criticism of Trump, you’re officially on the left. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3655 "2026-03-16T15:24:03Z")
Yep. In their taxonomy there’s trump-adoring lickspittles and traitors worthy of execution. There is no in-between. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3656 "2026-03-16T15:33:48Z")
I must be so far left, the Stalinists would call me extreme (apparently). As is usual, though, in political discourse I consider myself centre left. The personal Overton Window at work. I’m way more left that the USA centre-left, but hey, different country, different continent. At least I am (and almost all of the members of the Dope) sufficiently self-aware to examine their political beliefs with some criticism. Our man Trump probably can discern binary “right/wrong” based on what he has been told by advisors, just as he can discern political “left/right”. Perhaps he can understand the concept of lightbulbs being either “on” or “off”. Roll on 2028, the next US Presidential elections. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3657 "2026-03-16T16:20:01Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > If you’ve ever even hinted at a criticism of Trump, you’re officially on the left. Not just “the left,” the radical commie fascist traitorist left that wants nothing more than to destroy America. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3658 "2026-03-16T16:21:38Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Not just “the left,” the radical commie fascist traitorist left that wants nothing more than to destroy America. Well, yeah, that’s implied of course. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3659 "2026-03-16T17:41:44Z")
As opposed to the Christofascist “patriot” right that IS destroying America. ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3660 "2026-03-16T19:22:18Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Didn’t Edward Teller have grand plans for using nuclear weapons to reshape the geography? He talked about Project Plowshare at a symposium I attended while in high school. That was about 1970 or so. One interesting thing he did is that he refused to take oral questions from the audience. Instead, we had to write our questions on paper and pass them to an usher toward the end of his talk. They passed them up and he read and selected the questions to answer from the slips of paper handed up. I had no idea why he did it that way, but it was extremely efficient and allowed him to answer more questions. Learning more years later, it appeared that he didn’t want any questions involving his actions against Oppenheimer that led to Oppenheimer losing his security clearance and having to leave his nuclear weapons work, thus giving Teller more opportunity to develop a hydrogen bomb. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=182) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=184)