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Posted
2 hours ago, crash_davis said:

Stupid enough that an Indian dude living in Canada can create an AI bot to manipulate them.

https://vancouversun.com/news/ottawa-man-ai-bot-maga

Singh’s accounts are part of an army of AI bots that have created an information ecosystem in support of Trump and the Republican Party on X. In the lead-up to last year’s presidential election, researchers at Clemson University identified a network of more than 680 AI-generated bot accounts on X that were pushing Trump’s agenda.

Singh, who moved to Ottawa in 2019 from Minnesota, claims he is not a propagandist, but a “technologist” who wants to show how AI can be leveraged for public relations. He said he would be open to working for campaigns across the political spectrum.

He added that he “does not discriminate” and that “the technology can help anyone.” But his known accounts have targeted progressive politicians and sought to aid conservative ones so far.

Fuck Canada GIFs | Tenor

Posted
2 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

We are a white trash nation 

The U.S. is the friend you invite to a tailgate because you know he'll get lit and jump off an RV onto a folding table. Then he'll jump up and head butt a tree.  After he wake up from knocking himself out, he pound Jager shots, rips off his fitted jersey and runs bare chested out into the parking lot where he's eventually tased by security.  

I mean, it's fun to watch and all but eventually it's cringey and then you remember that his wife is home with 3 kids and he's going to jail.

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Posted
14 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

The U.S. is the friend you invite to a tailgate because you know he'll get lit and jump off an RV onto a folding table. Then he'll jump up and head butt a tree.  After he wake up from knocking himself out, he pound Jager shots, rips off his fitted jersey and runs bare chested out into the parking lot where he's eventually tased by security.  

I mean, it's fun to watch and all but eventually it's cringey and then you remember that his wife is home with 3 kids and he's going to jail.

Oddly specific. 

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Posted
5 hours ago, HenryJames said:

At least the inside still looks nice.

 

IMG_9387.jpeg

Came here to post this picture I saw today. Gold shit everywhere. So fucking tacky.

 

IMG_0677.thumb.webp.dcd505a82fa48924048e81f4d981e376.webp

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Posted (edited)
9 minutes ago, Goofyboy said:

The dumbest fucking people. I’m glad I’m not Medium income. emoji2357.pngemoji2357.png
 

Maybe he means not small, like Trump's hand, and not large, like his narcissistic ego?

Edited by Macanudo
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Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Pig Bellmont said:

Masked and armored “ice agents” are going to bar people from entering Dem polling stations “to prevent illegals from voting” and polls will close and Trump appointed judges won’t order them open again. 

On a somewhat related note, I can't believe anyone votes on election day if they have the option not to.

I'm kind of shocked we still have early voting in Texas.

Edited by David Dennison
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Posted
56 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

I'm kind of shocked we still have early voting in Texas.

It will be voided, by "executive order" or some shit, before the 2026 election.

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Posted
48 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

On a somewhat related note, I can't believe anyone votes on election day if they have the option not to.

I'm kind of shocked we still have early voting in Texas.

I am as well, at least in urban areas. The GQP has been testing the electrified fence, and doesn't seem to realize SCOTUS has turned it off. If they were smart, and not just depraved, they would've rescinded early voting in the 10 largest counties, because reasons, and been prepared to fast track a challenge on that to 6 of 9. They'll eventually get there, or somewhere as nefariously effective. In that vein, I have no confidence that the 24th amendment would be enforced.

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Posted

I doubt they do away with early voting. I’d bet the numbers favor the republicans between both options. People with money tend to have more free time in their day with their work than poorer people.  If it was a democratic leaning voting option it would have been gone 20 years ago. The Republican Party will just continue to make it harder in low income areas in cities while easier for rich people and rural people. 

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Posted

Price controls.

Seems kinda socialistic.   I thought that was something the GOP was against.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-06/arkansas-governor-seeks-to-block-health-insurance-rate-hikes?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc1NDUyODg4NiwiZXhwIjoxNzU1MTMzNjg2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUMExEMVhHUEw0NUcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJBRTVERTA2NkY0MzM0RjhBQThFMjBGOUJEMDQ2NEMyNiJ9.97mjxZ9wMRreM9v5oK7V65kzGiEIwqNVrE_i4Wzc8Ks&embedded-checkout=true

 

Arkansas Governor Seeks to Block Health Insurance Rate Hikes

 

Quote

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she would oppose premium increases from health insurers including Centene Corp., an early sign of the political maneuvering that’s likely to follow instability in insurance markets.

Some companies are requesting average rate increases of more than 50%, according to the Arkansas Insurance Department.

Sanders appears to be pinning the blame for rate increases on insurers, while the hikes are in part due to uncertainty about whether congressional Republicans will allow financial support for Affordable Care Act plans to lapse.

 

 

Quote

Sanders, a Republican and one-time spokesperson for President Donald Trump, called on the state insurance commissioner to “reject these insane rate increases” and named Centene and Blue Cross Blue Shield in a statement late Wednesday.

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield said its rate request was in line with what other insurers nationally were seeking and cited rising costs for hospital care, surgeries and prescription drugs.

 

Spoiler

A representative for Centene didn’t immediately have a comment. The Arkansas insurance department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

People who get coverage through the ACA markets, also known as Obamacare, are likely to face steep premium increases next year. Some of the tax credits that insulate many people from the full cost of their premiums are expected to lapse, adding more uncertainty to markets where insurers already say expenses are rising faster than they expected. Democrats in Congress broadly support extending the Biden-era subsidies, while Republicans have opposed them.

If the tax credits expire and plans become more expensive, healthier people who have lower medical expenses will stop buying plans, leaving the insurers responsible for a sicker pool of patients, experts say. That means the cost of medical care per enrollee will increase.

Insurance companies’ proposed rates, which must be approved by state regulators, in many cases assume the subsidies won’t be extended. The federal government is also cracking down on fraud and improper enrollments which have distorted some state insurance markets, changes that are driving up premiums.

Nationally, ACA insurers want to raise premiums by a median of 18%, according to an analysis of state rate filings from health policy group KFF, more than double the rate last year. 

Insurers including Centene, UnitedHealth Group Inc., Oscar Health Inc. and Molina Healthcare Inc. have withdrawn or lowered their earnings guidance this year, as medical costs outpace projections. Plans are requesting 20% to 30% increases on average in Affordable Care Act marketplaces as they seek to recover profit margins, Barclays analyst Andrew Mok wrote in a research note Tuesday, with the largest increases sought by Cigna Group, Centene and UnitedHealth.

 

Posted (edited)
7 hours ago, Covri said:

Came here to post this picture I saw today. Gold shit everywhere. So fucking tacky.

 

IMG_0677.thumb.webp.dcd505a82fa48924048e81f4d981e376.webp

Surly architectural digest.  How would you decorate a plantation style white house ?  IKEA and Crate and Barrel 2?  Maybe some Michael Jordan Posters and Olen Mills?   Mitch Cumstein’s wife to the red decorator’s phone. 

Edited by Elvis
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Posted
26 minutes ago, Elvis said:

Surly architectural digest.  How would you decorate a plantation style white house ?  IKEA and Crate and Barrel 2?  Maybe some Michael Jordan Posters and Olen Mills?   Mitch Cumstein’s wife to the red decorator’s phone. 

Giant crab. Man, I miss that thread. 

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Posted (edited)

image.png.1cb0eb4c961565e917223f0d5fe73cbd.png

Ronnie looked down on all that he created and smiled.

ETA

This picture perfectly illustrates the United States today.

IMG_0677.thumb.webp.dcd505a82fa48924048e81f4d981e376.webp

Over-rouged like a desperate crack whore and gilded with the trappings of self-glorification. The figure head is too distracted to pay attention to anything else.

The envy of the world.

 

spacer.png

Edited by RomaVicta
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Posted
15 hours ago, Goofyboy said:

The dumbest fucking people. I’m glad I’m not Medium income. emoji2357.pngemoji2357.png
 

That looks like a completely serious chart that would get posted on the business board 

Posted
Just now, Chad Fuck said:


This. 100%.

I don’t think it was limited to the gop, but I appreciate the sentiment.

You know how we know the US is the biggest swinging dick in the world? Because you already know. We don’t have to show you.

Man, I miss those days.

I’m trying to think of the old Dem aesthetic. Kennedy cool and modern was for sure a thing, different a bit, and really tasteful. Think the AF1 livery. Clinton’s White House to me looked like a well-done tv set at the time. Of the moment, not ostentatious.

 

 

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Posted
10 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Price controls.

Seems kinda socialistic.   I thought that was something the GOP was against.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-06/arkansas-governor-seeks-to-block-health-insurance-rate-hikes?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc1NDUyODg4NiwiZXhwIjoxNzU1MTMzNjg2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUMExEMVhHUEw0NUcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJBRTVERTA2NkY0MzM0RjhBQThFMjBGOUJEMDQ2NEMyNiJ9.97mjxZ9wMRreM9v5oK7V65kzGiEIwqNVrE_i4Wzc8Ks&embedded-checkout=true

 

Arkansas Governor Seeks to Block Health Insurance Rate Hikes

 

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

A representative for Centene didn’t immediately have a comment. The Arkansas insurance department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

People who get coverage through the ACA markets, also known as Obamacare, are likely to face steep premium increases next year. Some of the tax credits that insulate many people from the full cost of their premiums are expected to lapse, adding more uncertainty to markets where insurers already say expenses are rising faster than they expected. Democrats in Congress broadly support extending the Biden-era subsidies, while Republicans have opposed them.

If the tax credits expire and plans become more expensive, healthier people who have lower medical expenses will stop buying plans, leaving the insurers responsible for a sicker pool of patients, experts say. That means the cost of medical care per enrollee will increase.

Insurance companies’ proposed rates, which must be approved by state regulators, in many cases assume the subsidies won’t be extended. The federal government is also cracking down on fraud and improper enrollments which have distorted some state insurance markets, changes that are driving up premiums.

Nationally, ACA insurers want to raise premiums by a median of 18%, according to an analysis of state rate filings from health policy group KFF, more than double the rate last year. 

Insurers including Centene, UnitedHealth Group Inc., Oscar Health Inc. and Molina Healthcare Inc. have withdrawn or lowered their earnings guidance this year, as medical costs outpace projections. Plans are requesting 20% to 30% increases on average in Affordable Care Act marketplaces as they seek to recover profit margins, Barclays analyst Andrew Mok wrote in a research note Tuesday, with the largest increases sought by Cigna Group, Centene and UnitedHealth.

 

At this rate, my guess is Trump is talking socialized Medicine by  next fall. Hell, he’ll probably call for repealing his own tax bill and a 45% tax rate just to gin up a fresh news cycle.

Posted
18 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:


This. 100%.

I don’t think it was limited to the gop, but I appreciate the sentiment.

You know how we know the US is the biggest swinging dick in the world? Because you already know. We don’t have to show you.

Man, I miss those days.

Yep.

The Kennedys and Bushes dressed well, and they had nice things, and they had taste (or could afford people who did).  Old Money isn't loud about it, because everyone in their circle has money, too.  It's expected.  So, you show it, quietly, with a nod and a wink, and maybe a little class.

Everything about Donald Trump screams New Money, like he's some street kid who won the lottery and he's been trying to buy his way into the Old Money Country Club ever since.  This is ironic, given how much family money he came from, but real Old Money would never surround itself with that much gold paint, unless maybe its dick didn't work.

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Posted
5 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

Yep.

The Kennedys and Bushes dressed well, and they had nice things, and they had taste (or could afford people who did).  Old Money isn't loud about it, because everyone in their circle has money, too.  It's expected.  So, you show it, quietly, with a nod and a wink, and maybe a little class.

Everything about Donald Trump screams New Money, like he's some street kid who won the lottery and he's been trying to buy his way into the Old Money Country Club ever since.  This is ironic, given how much family money he came from, but real Old Money would never surround itself with that much gold paint, unless maybe its dick didn't work.

I don't think his family money goes back beyond his own father, the slum lord. They didn't live in Manhattan.

I'm no maven of aesthetics, but I think the understated flows through the Puritans, Quakers, and American Protestantism in general from those early days. Not that Catholics are uniformly gaudy or not, it just wasn't seen as a reflection on their religious beliefs so much.

Of course, the aesthetic itself can be seen in Sparta, Stoicism, Zen, and other places embracing simplicity as a philosophy.

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Posted
I’m trying to think of the old Dem aesthetic. Kennedy cool and modern was for sure a thing, different a bit, and really tasteful. Think the AF1 livery. Clinton’s White House to me looked like a well-done tv set at the time. Of the moment, not ostentatious.
 
 

I think you can draw a direct line from the mid century mod sleek and simple lines straight back to the simple functional yet beautiful design styles of the puritans through the early days of the New Republic. It doesn’t have to be over the top to be functional and look good.

But there’s another thread for that.

We are definitely in Louis XVI neo baroque style. Maybe it’ll end the same way.
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Posted
48 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

Yep.

The Kennedys and Bushes dressed well, and they had nice things, and they had taste (or could afford people who did).  Old Money isn't loud about it, because everyone in their circle has money, too.  It's expected.  So, you show it, quietly, with a nod and a wink, and maybe a little class.

Everything about Donald Trump screams New Money, like he's some street kid who won the lottery and he's been trying to buy his way into the Old Money Country Club ever since.  This is ironic, given how much family money he came from, but real Old Money would never surround itself with that much gold paint, unless maybe its dick didn't work.

There's a saying in Middleburg, VA.  New money will never be old money.

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Posted
1 hour ago, RomaVicta said:

image.png.1cb0eb4c961565e917223f0d5fe73cbd.png

Ronnie looked down on all that he created and smiled.

ETA

This picture perfectly illustrates the United States today.

IMG_0677.thumb.webp.dcd505a82fa48924048e81f4d981e376.webp

Over-rouged like a desperate crack whore and gilded with the trappings of self-glorification. The figure head is too distracted to pay attention to anything else.

The envy of the world.

 

spacer.png

He is turning it into a fucking Fudruckers

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Posted
13 minutes ago, VABuckeye said:

There's a saying in Middleburg, VA.  New money will never be old money.

This is true. All the Texas oil people hated one aspect of New Orleans - no matter how much money they had - it would not magically allow them to join Comus or Momus or Proteus or Rex.  Nor a 100% guarantee to join the Boston Club.   The top end of New Orleans high society was not inclusive at all.

Now, none of that is a good thing, and it evokes bullshit nostalgia for a level of nativism and racism that is not healthy.   It apes more of a British class system thing.    

I did get a chuckle out of the old Volvo thing.   They were a fixture at many Garden District mansions.  Gaudy display of wealth is seen as uncouth by the wealthy, although it is the epitome of what poor people think of as rich.

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Posted
One of the genuinely good things about the old GOP WASP era was the aesthetics, tracing a direct line back to old Yankees’ Protestant aversion to showy displays of wealth. Like driving an old Volvo. A confident and wealthy America secure enough not to rub your nose in it. 
 
image.png.e73a14ca28b11e7ecaf502f2e141170b.png

Bottom line, “money talks, wealth whispers.” I’m a member of neither group, but have been around both of them plenty. Each has some negatives….but all in all…wealth. Go with wealth. They’ve been there before, they understand power, and how it is a long-term play. Wealth builds. Money tries to gorge, and takes stupid risks and makes foolish displays. It’s the contrast of “let’s run down there and fuck one of those cows” and “naww, son…let’s walk down there and fuck ALL of em.”
As a nation, we are a weird amalgam. We are power and wealth…but we aren’t one of the OLD great powers (UK, France). So we managed to walk our own path at the leadership level that acknowledges our newness but reflects our established power and wealth. We’ve chucked that, and gone full-on ostentatious new money gaudy compensating for not being “one of the old guard.”
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Posted (edited)

Trump has the taste of Richie Rich. Remember that this is how he decorated his NYC home, even down to having a odd murals on the ceiling. Look at all of this gold that demonstrates how successful I am.

 

gold.jpg

Edited by Nice Guy Eddie
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Posted
27 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:


Bottom line, “money talks, wealth whispers.”

That's the perfect way to say what I was saying earlier.

And Trump yells his money (while he's leveraged to the hilt).

Posted
2 hours ago, TexArcher said:

Everything about Donald Trump screams New Money, like he's some street kid who won the lottery and he's been trying to buy his way into the Old Money Country Club ever since.  This is ironic, given how much family money he came from, but real Old Money would never surround itself with that much gold paint, unless maybe its dick didn't work.

He's a poor person's idea of a rich person.

It's a simple statement, but it is a surprisingly thorough explanation of the current state of the country.

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Posted
1 minute ago, Chuckie Finster said:

He's a poor person's idea of a rich person.

This was someone's stand-up act, from I think before Dotard became president. 

How anyone could possibly take this cartoon of a person seriously enough to actually vote for him for President will never not be a puzzle to me.

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Posted (edited)
21 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said:

He's a poor person's idea of a rich person.

It's a simple statement, but it is a surprisingly thorough explanation of the current state of the country.

…and an ignorant person‘s idea of a smart person.    Trump’s sixth grade level communication style is a perfect fit for most of his fans.   There is a reason why he has overwhelming support of voters with just a high school education - and why the more educated a person is the less likely they are to vote for him. 

Edited by Gatorubet
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