# Omnibus Stupid MFers in the news thread (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 5, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657 "2024-01-05T16:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 448
**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:** [October 21, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8941 "2026-10-21T14:13:19Z")
About 25 years ago, I was a train commuter so I paid attention to the stories of pedestrians struck by trains and remember one case from them of someone who had headphones on and didn’t hear the train coming. (Another one was someone who was wondering when his train was coming, so he stuck his head out to look down the track for it, only to be struck by an oncoming train coming from the other direction.) ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8942 "2026-10-21T14:22:00Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Another one was someone who was wondering when his train was coming, so he stuck his head out to look down the track for it, only to be struck by an oncoming train coming from the other direction. It’s why some transit train stations have gone to a sliding door system like elevators use. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8943 "2026-10-21T14:24:02Z")
And many transit systems now have a screen or display that tells you how long before the next train or bus will arrive, or provide that info in the smartphone app. Because I hated not knowing how long the wait was. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8944 "2026-10-21T15:08:35Z")
It’s kind of like those right-wingers who register and vote under fake names to prove how easy it is, then are shocked when they get arrested after confessing to crimes on YouTube. Unfortunately I’m not sure what Wedgewood did is illegal, but it should be. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8945 "2026-10-21T15:11:53Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > There’s no question that people will assume this type of thing is real. Most people aren’t seeing something like “Meridian Strategies shows [Candidate] 10% ahead of opponent” and digging for cites or emailing the company to ask how they came to that conclusion, they’re going to accept it at face value. If that changes how (or more likely, if) they vote, that’s a problem. It doesn’t matter if the poll was conducted according to gold-standard methodology! Anyone who looks at a SINGLE poll and “accepts it at face value” is dumb. You need to look at ALL the polls in a race to get a clear idea of what’s going on. That’s the message we need to be drumming into people’s heads, not “you can’t trust the polls!” ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8946 "2026-10-21T15:18:43Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > You need to look at ALL the polls in a race to get a clear idea of what’s going on. This is bullshit. Not YOU, you’re not bullshit, but the fact that anyone who wants to be informed has to do their own meta research by consolidating a variety of data sources into an uber data source from which they can then determine reality… that’s bullshit. The world shouldn’t be this way. We have a world of information at our fingertips and it’s all crap because the internet is a store when it should be a library. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8947 "2026-10-21T15:23:13Z")
No, you don’t have to do your own research, any more than you need to make your own vaccines in the kitchen sink. You can just follow Nate Silver or other reliable poll aggregators. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8948 "2026-10-21T15:34:58Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > It doesn’t matter if the poll was conducted according to gold-standard methodology! Anyone who looks at a SINGLE poll and “accepts it at face value” is dumb. You need to look at ALL the polls in a race to get a clear idea of what’s going on. The reason someone might look at this one poll and not others (or this one while discounting the others) is irrelevant. A vote by someone you consider to be dumb is worth exactly the same as the vote you make after spending hours or weeks or months processing all the information you can get your hands on. With that in mind, I’ll reiterate that if a company knowingly publishes fake poll data, they need to be investigated. If even to dissuade people from doing this in the future. > [@](#): > > That’s the message we need to be drumming into people’s heads, not “you can’t trust the polls!” Or even “ignore the polls and go vote”. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8949 "2026-10-21T15:37:24Z")
I certainly agree that this could influence the votes of many people, and that would be bad. I’m just saying that _we_ can choose not to be among those people. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8950 "2026-10-21T15:52:54Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > I’m just saying that _we_ can choose not to be among those people. I think we’re mostly on the same page here. My point is simply that we can choose not to be among those people, but not everyone will choose that. And for the people that don’t, they’re vote is worth just as much as everyone else’s. Here’s a blast from the past I dug up from a decade+ old pit thread for adaher. He was discounting single issue voters and I reminded him of much the same thing as I’ve been saying in this thread: > [@Adaher is a Big Giant RACIST](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adaher-is-a-big-giant-racist/716740/64): > > > [@Adaher is a Big Giant RACIST](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adaher-is-a-big-giant-racist/716740/63): > > > > There are literally dozens of issues and other considerations involved in choosing who goes to different offices. One issue voters are generally regarded as unserious. > > How can any voter be considered ‘unserious’? I mean, you can spend the entire election season weighing the pros and cons of every talking point, someone else can base his decision on a single issue and a third person can just walk in and vote with his eyes closed. All these votes carry the same weight. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8951 "2026-10-21T16:19:55Z")
Wow, there’s a name I haven’t missed hearing in a while! ---
**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:** [October 21, 2026, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8952 "2026-10-21T18:30:06Z")
Same. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2026, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8953 "2026-10-21T20:47:23Z")
There have been hit ads here about Hobbs, the Democratic candidate for governor, should be denied a second term because she wants to clear out the wild horse\* herds along the Salt River. I like horses but I’m not willing to hand the state over to the chief election denier (Andy Biggs) to keep tham. \*Feral, actually, but wild is what they claim. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8954 "2026-10-22T04:33:41Z")
**Jordan Elliott was released by Titans after pulling out gun in parking lot, coach Robert Saleh says** > Tennessee Titans coach Robert Saleh confirmed Wednesday that defensive tackle [Jordan Elliott was released](https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-titans-jordan-elliott-e17081f9e08be63cb7211383c521a796) after pulling a gun in the parking lot of the team facility… > > A person briefed on the incident told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Elliott had a gun in his car and went to the parking lot to retrieve it after a dispute with another player. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the incident is being reviewed… > > The NFL prohibits league personnel from taking a firearm to club facilities, stadiums and team hotels and on team planes or buses. [https://apnews.com/article/titans-jordan-elliott-gun-robert-saleh-da5c3af833515f549be25a313a05f106](https://apnews.com/article/titans-jordan-elliott-gun-robert-saleh-da5c3af833515f549be25a313a05f106) So he had a 2 year $8 million dollar contract and he will probably lose $4.5 million of this. This will likely lead to him being unemployable in the league and he otherwise probably could have played another year or two before retiring. So this incident probably cost him $10 million or more. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8955 "2026-10-22T07:01:42Z")
That’s the fighting spirit that every football team needs, though. They don’t want nice people who know how to handle interpersonal disputes without resorting to violence, they want tough guys who flash off at every opportunity. Now I realize where I’ve seen the Hegseth-type personality before – it’s every old-time football coach who doesn’t want sissies and weirdos on his team. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2026, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8956 "2026-10-22T07:30:39Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > That’s the fighting spirit that every football team needs, though. They don’t want nice people who know how to handle interpersonal disputes without resorting to violence, they want tough guys who flash off at every opportunity. It’s a bit of a challenge. To a certain extent you’re correct, but there’s a limit. When someone is so aggressive that they can’t be a team player, a strength becomes a liability. The same goes for confidence; a player needs to believe in himself, but when it turns into hubris it can lead to failure. But yeah, it’s not a coincidence that the NFL has a disproportionate number of players that get involved in violent crimes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657.md?page=447)