Surprises coming for voters for the Leopards-Eating-Faces Party

The BBQ Pit
1401

As a point of Doper pedantry, this October the “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.” will be all of ten years old.

But the similar Aesop fable of the Frogs who Wished for a King had already been known for over 25 centuries.

The distinction being that they wanted a leopard to eat only someone else’s face, while the frogs wanted something of impressive terror instead of a perfectly useful log.

1402

There are only about 900 places on the internet where you can get a custom T-shirt printed. Make your own Bayeux tapestry at the link below, download/screenprint a file, and get a shirt made:

https://htck.github.io/bayeux/#!/

1403

Lately I’ve been thinking of Major ____ de Coverley and the demise of the Great Loyalty Oath Crusade:

… He started forward in a straight line, and the wall of officers before him parted like the Red Sea. Glancing neither left nor right, he strode indomitably up to the steam counter and, in a clear, full-bodied voice that was gruff with age and resonant with ancient eminence and authority, said:

‘Gimme eat.’

Instead of eat, Corporal Snark gave Major – de Coverley a loyalty oath to sign. Major – de Coverley swept it away with mighty displeasure the moment he recognized what it was, his good eye flaring up blindingly with fiery disdain and his enormous old corrugated face darkening in mountainous wrath.

‘Gimme eat, I said,’ he ordered loudly in harsh tones that rumbled ominously through the silent tent like claps of distant thunder.

Corporal Snark turned pale and began to tremble. He glanced toward Milo pleadingly for guidance. For several terrible seconds there was not a sound. Then Milo nodded.

‘Give him eat,’ he said.

Corporal Snark began giving Major – de Coverley eat. Major – de Coverley turned from the counter with his tray full and came to a stop. His eyes fell on the groups of other officers gazing at him in mute appeal, and, with righteous belligerence, he roared:

‘Give everybody eat!’

‘Give everybody eat!’ Milo echoed with joyful relief, and the Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade came to an end.

Replace “eat” with “job” and watch the fireworks.

1404

Someone nearby the Central Valley should put up a big orange banner saying

Trump’s solution to the drought was to piss away all our water into the ocean.

To make it more amusing, the banner should also have pictures of a a man, a woman, a camera, a TV, and an androgenous person. The last one should be in silhouette and androgynous.

1405

The military is dominated by the right wing, who hate California. They probably both knew it was a bad idea and enjoyed doing it to hurt us.

1406

While USACE does have military commanders, most of the workforce is civilian. And IMHO, while they are often inefficient, and occasionally stupid, they certainly are not evil.

1407

I’ve known a few who were quite decent people and at least a couple who were at least somewhat liberal, born and raised in San Francisco and Hawaii. I have actually never met an asshole employee of the USACE, though granted my exposure has been limited to a handful of them. I was at one time seriously considering going down that career track myself, back when I was still thinking I might become a field biologist.

1408

If they are right wing, then they are evil. The Right is what happens when you mash together an ideology to justify evil; something that’s obvious but not pointed out because it’s the ideology of the powerful, so everyone feels obligated to carefully pretend it has some sort of morally redeeming quality.

But it doesn’t. It’s cruelty, bigotry, irrationality and willful ignorance given a thin gloss of being an ideology to make it pretend like it’s something other than an incoherent mass of malice and stupidity.

1409

Assuming every employee of the USACE is right-wing and/or evil is idiotic. As I mentioned, my (limited) experience differed.

1410

What does it matter if they all are or not? What matters is that enough are, and the rest will go along with it. Just like the rest of our society.

1411

Forget it, Jake. It’s Der_Trihs town.

1412

A number of well-heeled farmers and international businessmen supporting Trump will be in for rude surprises. Identifying them will take a while. There are records for political contributions before June 30, 2024 and some for those up to August 31, 2024. But we will have to wait for more up to date data.

I found a couple of big farms that donated to Republicans in election cycles prior to 2024, but I don’t think that really applies.

For future reference, advanced search is here. Choose the 2024 election cycle and the relevant Name of Employer.

https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/advanced

I find it interesting that opposition to these tariffs tends to be from unions and industry associations. Individual companies appear to be attempting to keep their heads down.

To add context, I have read articles where they discuss how the tariffs affect their business, but they generally don’t advocate or oppose Trump’s tariff policies explicitly. So far. Maybe some will grow a spine.

1413

I doubt it. They’ll see some impact, yes. Trump will loot the treasury to make his supporters whole, and blame DEI for the inconvenience.

Honestly one of the most exhausting cope tropes out there is “Aha, Trump has contructed an exquisite pitfall for himself. Escaping this would require him not only to be the most corrupt and powerful men ever born, he’d also need the support of all 3 branches of government plus big business and the media.” Well.

1414

ISWYDT.

(The shared theme of politicians monkeying with Los Angeles’ long-distance water supply)

1415

I’ll be seeing some of them for the Super Bowl tomorrow, so I can roll the dice then — but if I’m 100% correct about how this is going to go, then the only ‘family trouble’ would be them coming away figuring they’re a heck of a lot smarter than me. Like, it’s not even going to be close. I mean, just picture it: at the right time in a conversation, I can slip in a casual ‘hey, can I ask you some questions about politics for a couple of minutes?’

“Sure!”
“You’ve said, in the past, that Biden is senile and out of it: that he’s been used by planners engaged in a conspiracy.”
“…I’ve repeatedly said that, yeah.”
“So, do you think Biden is senile and out of it?”
“…we just covered that. Yes, I do.”
“Okay. Do you think Biden is a cunning mastermind?”
“…no, I think he’s senile and out of it. I just told you that.”
“But some Democrats are planners and conspirators?”
“…are you not listening? We already covered that, too.”
“Do you think some Democrats are stupid and incompetent?”
“…yes! For example, Joe Biden!”
“So there are ones who are stupid, and ones who aren’t?”
“…obviously. You voted for Biden, right?”
“I did.”
“…well, I always figured you were one of the cunning ones.”
“Uh, thanks?”
“…but, now, you sound like one of the stupid ones.”
“I don’t think that’s accurate.”
“…well, let’s ask this bystander who heard the whole chat.”
“Okay, let’s!”

[impartial bystander agrees, because it’s true.]

“Well, let’s repeat this verbatim so other folks can weigh in!”

[everyone agrees, because it’s true]

If I’m wrong, then I get to come back here and relay something interesting. But if I’m right, then I have to sound like I don’t grasp the basic concept that’s repeatedly being communicated to me, despite me happening to know the whole story from the start.

Man, the sacrifices I make for the SDMB.

1416

What he’s really trying to do right behind them (Vancing The Love Seat) he’s unable, since his pathetic mushroom of a Pee-weenie is long beyond usefullness to anyone.

1417

It sounds as though you’ve analyzed this quite thoroughly. I’m sorry that you anticipate this direction of conversational development–but still hope it turns out differently.

We appreciate it! :+1:

1418

So: yes, they think that Joe Biden is stupid*, and that he got told what to do throughout his term; no, they don’t think he masterminded anything; yes, they think cunning criminal work got put in by smart Democrats; but, for a twist — when I didn’t even ask what crimes they had in mind — they didn’t rest upon having answered the question I did ask, but instead went on to cheerfully specify that Biden only won in 2020 because of cheating that was done by, again, smart Democrats.

*the exact word used, repeatedly, was “brain-dead.”

1419

I’m sure they had LOADS of evidence for said cheating… oh wait. “Trump said it”, right?

1420

They’ll pass the Make America’s Food Attractive To Every Republican Act. Make American FATTER Act.

Eating that third helping is your patriotic duty, Citizen.