#POTUS Lists

[deadpresidents]

Who are the youngest and oldest vice presidents

At the time of their Inauguration? Here's the list of the Vice Presidents' Age at Inauguration, from youngest-to-oldest:

AGE AT INAUGURATION: NAME OF VP [Administration] 36 years, 42 days: John C. Breckinridge [Buchanan] 40 years, 11 days: Richard Nixon [Eisenhower] 41 years, 353 days: Dan Quayle [G.H.W. Bush] 42 years, 128 days: Theodore Roosevelt [McKinley's 2nd VP] 42 years, 256 days: Daniel D. Tompkins [Monroe] 42 years, 352 days: John C. Calhoun [J.Q. Adams/Jackson's 1st VP] 44 years, 232 days: Al Gore [Clinton] 45 years, 26 days: Aaron Burr [Jefferson's 1st VP] 45 years, 346 days: Schuyler Colfax [Grant's 1st VP] 48 years, 243 days: Calvin Coolidge [Harding] 49 years, 15 days: Walter Mondale [Carter] 49 years, 56 days: Millard Fillmore [Taylor] 50 years, 72 days: Spiro Agnew [Nixon's 1st VP] 50 years, 98 days: Martin Van Buren [Jackson's 2nd VP] 50 years, 340 days: John Tyler [W.H. Harrison] 51 years, 150 days: Chester A. Arthur [Garfield] 51 years, 189 days: Hannibal Hamlin [Lincoln's 1st VP] 52 years, 105 days: Henry A. Wallace [FDR's 2nd VP] 52 years, 146 days: Lyndon B. Johnson [JFK] 52 years, 237 days: George M. Dallas [Polk] 52 years, 274 days: Garret A. Hobart [McKinley's 1st VP] 52 years, 297 days: Charles W. Fairbanks [T. Roosevelt] 53 years, 131 days: James S. Sherman [Taft] 53 years, 174 days: John Adams [Washington] 53 years, 238 days: Hubert H. Humphrey [LBJ] 53 years, 325 days: Thomas Jefferson [J. Adams] 56 years, 65 days: Andrew Johnson [Lincoln's 2nd VP] 56 years, 92 days: Kamala Harris [Biden] 56 years, 138 days: Richard M. Johnson [Van Buren] 56 years, 223 days: George H.W. Bush [Reagan] 57 years, 132 days: Adlai E. Stevenson [Cleveland's 2nd VP] 57 years, 227 days: Mike Pence [Trump] 57 years, 247 days: William A. Wheeler [Hayes] 58 years, 355 days: Thomas R. Marshall [Wilson] 59 years, 189 days: Charles G. Dawes [Coolidge] 59 years, 335 days: Dick Cheney [G.W. Bush] 60 years, 145 days: Gerald Ford [Nixon's 2nd VP] 60 years, 257 days: Harry S. Truman [FDR's 3rd VP] 61 years, 16 days: Henry Wilson [Grant's 2nd VP] 64 years, 102 days: John Nance Garner {FDR's 1st VP] 64 years, 292 days: Levi P. Morton [B. Harrison] 65 years, 178 days: Thomas A. Hendricks [Cleveland's 1st VP] 65 years, 221 days: George Clinton [Jefferson's 2nd/Madison's 1st] 66 years, 61 days: Joe Biden [Obama] 66 years, 165 days: Nelson Rockefeller [Ford] 66 years, 331 days: William R.D. King [Pierce] 68 years, 230 days: Elbridge Gerry [Madison's 2nd VP] 69 years, 38 days: Charles Curtis [Hoover] 71 years, 57 days: Alben W. Barkley [Truman]

[wherepond]

Trump unhinged solipsist

Top of MAGA priority list (?) Trump changes Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of Satan America

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump’s disastrous weekend as his cognitive decline accelerates even more.

[afloweroutofstone]

The Trump administration accidentally included the conservative editor of The Atlantic in a group chat where they were discussing, in great detail, the US bombing campaign in Yemen

In all, 18 individuals were listed as members of this group, including various National Security Council officials; Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East and Ukraine negotiator; Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; and someone identified only as “S M,” which I took to stand for Stephen Miller. I appeared on my own screen only as “JG.”

...I had very strong doubts that this text group was real, because I could not believe that the national-security leadership of the United States would communicate on Signal about imminent war plans. I also could not believe that the national security adviser to the president would be so reckless as to include the editor in chief of The Atlantic in such discussions with senior U.S. officials, up to and including the vice president...

At this point, a fascinating policy discussion commenced. The account labeled “JD Vance” responded at 8:16: “Team, I am out for the day doing an economic event in Michigan. But I think we are making a mistake.” (Vance was indeed in Michigan that day.) The Vance account goes on to state, “3 percent of US trade runs through the suez. 40 percent of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message.”

The Vance account then goes on to make a noteworthy statement, considering that the vice president has not deviated publicly from Trump’s position on virtually any issue. “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”...

At 8:27, a message arrived from the “Pete Hegseth” account. “VP: I understand your concerns – and fully support you raising w/ POTUS. Important considerations, most of which are tough to know how they play out (economy, Ukraine peace, Gaza, etc). I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what – nobody knows who the Houthis are – which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.”

The Hegseth message goes on to state, “Waiting a few weeks or a month does not fundamentally change the calculus. 2 immediate risks on waiting: 1) this leaks, and we look indecisive; 2) Israel takes an action first – or Gaza cease fire falls apart – and we don’t get to start this on our own terms. We can manage both. We are prepared to execute, and if I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should. This [is] not about the Houthis. I see it as two things: 1) Restoring Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest; and 2) Reestablish deterrence, which Biden cratered. But, we can easily pause. And if we do, I will do all we can to enforce 100% OPSEC”—operations security. “I welcome other thoughts.”...

The account identified as “JD Vance” addressed a message at 8:45 to @Pete Hegseth: “if you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.” (The administration has argued that America’s European allies benefit economically from the U.S. Navy’s protection of international shipping lanes.)

It was the next morning, Saturday, March 15, when this story became truly bizarre.

At 11:44 a.m., the account labeled “Pete Hegseth” posted in Signal a “TEAM UPDATE.” I will not quote from this update, or from certain other subsequent texts. The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility. What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.

The only person to reply to the update from Hegseth was the person identified as the vice president. “I will say a prayer for victory,” Vance wrote. (Two other users subsequently added prayer emoji.)

According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 p.m. eastern time. So I waited in my car in a supermarket parking lot. If this Signal chat was real, I reasoned, Houthi targets would soon be bombed. At about 1:55, I checked X and searched Yemen. Explosions were then being heard across Sanaa, the capital city.

[gacorley]

There’s some common threads I see in the anti-voting posts going around, and I feel like I need to discuss some of them. Let’s start with the biggest one:

Voting to punish evil. I see lots of variations of this. Biden is supporting Israel, therefore we can’t vote for him. Is there any viable candidate who would stop the genocide? I don’t think the anti voting crowd actually cares. They are appealing to moral feelings rather than political strategy, because strategically, you have to realize that voting is not going to change foreign policy, and that change has to be pushed by other means. It’ll probably be something in the long haul.

Democrats should run someone else. First of all, this is a shit strategy. You don’t primary your president in the second term unless your party is falling apart. This may come from people from countries where replacing the head of government is easier, but the POTUS is the de facto party head. Also, going to the lack of thought to the goal — do you know someone willing to primary Biden and able to win who would do the things you want?

Biden hasn’t done anything anyway. This is just a way to bat away pro arguments. There’s plenty of lists of progress on lots of things. Student loans, insulin price caps, regulations, anti-trust.

Putting the entire Palestinian genocide on Biden. I’m not saying there’s not culpability there, but understand that the entire US government is in support of Israel, on both sides. It was a miracle we got a handful of Senators to call for investigations. We should cut off aid, absolutely. Who’s running to do that? And keep in mind that Israel chose to engage. US officials would have liked a more limited response, not out of care for Palestinians, but because they know from experience that it will come back to bite Israel in the form of newly radicalized Hamas recruits.

Liberals just have no hope for change. This is a new one. Just some idea that people are stuck in a rut and that’s the reason the two party system exists. The two party system is a mathematical consequence of the way we vote. There is reason to hope for change. The change, though, whatever means you choose, will take decades. Keep working at it. The hope is not that this election will fundamentally change things. The hope is that many small political actions over the years will push things forward.

Funnily enough, I haven’t seen a whole lot of third party promotion, just lots of this rhetoric aiming to punish. When voting, ask yourself:

Is this problem I have with this candidate something that the other candidate would be better on?

Are there other political actions I can take that will help?

What things can change with a different President or Congress, and what needs to be pursued by other means?

Withholding your vote as a punishment isn’t really going to help. Biden doesn’t know who you are or why you are not voting for him, and there is no one with a chance of winning that will do everything you want. But you have other means. Protest, organize, donate, build up alternatives, advocate for a different system.

Vote to give yourself space and get a little bit. Do other things to keep things moving.

[hedwig221b]

Hey hey my lovely hedwig! I was wondering if you have any good bodyguard Derek fic recs for me to devour

Your recs are the best btw, top tier🏆

Aw, thank you! I present to you this feast

Where the Shadow Ends by Green

Derek goes undercover to Delphi to figure out what's wrong with the oracle. He doesn't mean to fall in love.

Strike Softly (Away From The Body) by qhuinn (tekla)

Derek is a bodyguard and Stiles his spoiled, resistant client.

Voice of Rage and Ruin by Qayin

Derek is hired as a bodyguard to this kid, Stiles. And the thing is, Stiles seems completely harmless, but everyone keeps telling Derek how he needs to be careful. Stiles is a nogitsune, a human possessed by a powerful deity of chaos and void, and not only does other people want him for his power, but he could potentially hurt others; and then it’s Derek’s job to protect those people — from his client.

Neither Here Nor There by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)

"Oh!” He turned to Stiles. “Is he your new bodyguard?” Derek saw Stiles stiffen at that, wondering why, but before Stiles could open his mouth to insist that, why yes, Derek was his bodyguard like the brat he was, Derek spoke first. “I’m Mieczyslaw Stilinski’s bodyguard.” The confused look that crossed Scott’s face now was kind of annoying. Scott looked at Stiles, then back at Derek, and then at Stiles again. “I see…?”

just once by stilinskisparkles

"I’m your bodyguard!” “Yeah, I know, and I get that you’re worried I am somehow living under the illusion you are Kevin Costner and I’m Whitney Houston, but Derek?” Stiles grabs his tie before Derek can stop him, pulls him close enough to murmur in his ear, “I can’t sing.”

We Gotta Hide What We're Doin' by CharWright5

As a Bodyguard within the Stilinski Rodzina, Derek's one and only job is to watch over the Omega son—and only child—of the Family's Head, Stiles, a task that is easier said than done some nights. It's just good that the Alpha knows the best way to punish the little troublemaker when his bratty behavior threatens to expose a secret that could get the Bodyguard killed.

reGuardless by raisesomehale

The president had been to the point when he explained to Derek the rules of the job. Stiles was in the room while these rules were recited: Never take your eyes off of him in public. That’s how he liked to dodge his last bodyguards. No more than an arm's length apart. He’s more slippery than you’d think. Escort him to and from appearances. Intervene in any situation that might tarnish the Stilinski image… The list went on and on. As did the games of chicken Stiles initiated to test Derek with these rules.

I Would (And Did) Take A Bullet For You by luvsbitca

Derek Hale is Prince Stiles Stilinksi's bodyguard. Then he gets shot and things change between them.

Complicated Is An Understatement by haletostilinski

Stiles is the 17-year-old son of the POTUS, and Derek is his bodyguard. For the past few months they've been together in private, and only in the last few weeks did they take it all the way. And it isn't just sex between them, they're in love. Which makes their situation a whole lot more complicated.

The Darkness Inside by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)

The sheriff watched him for a moment, then he sighed and turned slightly. He reached out to open a cabinet door beside him, and pulled out a shelf. It was on a track, so it rolled out of the cabinet fairly easily, and held a small CCTV. Derek frowned and inched his chair to the side a little bit so he could get a better angle. He was looking at a teenager, or someone at least young enough to be the same age as Scott. He was sitting on a bed in what looked to be a larger room, the area he was in surrounded by four glass walls, with his legs crossed and head tilted. He was also staring directly into the camera, as if he knew someone was watching. A creepy smile slowly slid onto the teen’s face, and he held up one hand, wiggling his fingers in a slow, eery wave. Derek felt his mouth run dry. He didn’t know who this kid was, but he didn’t like him. “Who is that?” he asked quietly. “That,” said the sheriff, “is my son.”

A Princely Knight by Dexterous_Sinistrous

He would stand by Stiles’ side, a constant shadow of protection until his death. A life for a life, one worth much more than an orphan turned thief turned royal guard could comprehend. In truth, Derek saw the one person he would gladly give his life for, because Stiles made this world better. ~*~ Or, Stiles is a prince and Derek is his knight.

[masterlist link]

[qqueenofhades]

I am FULLY ONBOARD the Harris/Waltz train, tho before this i was leaning towards Mark Kelly (AZ is a swing state! He's an ASTRONAUT!) If you want or have time, no pressure, but any thoughts on what makes Waltz a better pick?

I like Mark Kelly too, and since he's married to Gabby Giffords (having run for public office after she got shot and could no longer do so) he would have been an amazing pick in terms of supporting the first female POTUS. But he is a less charismatic public speaker than Walz (for whatever that's worth, but politics is a mess of Aesthetics and Vibes that matter as much and/or more than actual facts) and more moderate/conservative. He's been a great senator and picking him would defuse some of the BORDER IMMIGRATION BLAH BLAH!!! scaremongering that Republicans love to run on, but it would also leave open the possibility of losing a special election and other dangers with the Democratic senate that we really need to minimize. So Walz is a better choice for that alone, but also:

He really has serious progressive credentials as governor, even if he was a fairly mainstream Democrat (who flipped a rural red House district in Minnesota that Democrats have not been able to win again after he left) during his 12 years in the House. This is an INCOMPLETE LIST of what he was able to do in two years with a one-seat Democratic majority in Minnesota:

A Climate Action Plan that included:

Investing in energy infrastructure

100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 goal

Transition off of fossil fuels and onto clean energy resources

Building more electric vehicle charging stations

Providing funding to help workers acquire new skills through apprenticeship programs in clean energy fields

Direct state funding for transit

Money for rail

Tax credit for e-bikes

Permitting form to fast-track clean energy projects

And that was in addition to:

Codified abortion access in Minnesota

Guaranteed paid sick time and paid family and medical leave

Funded replacing ALL LEAD PIPES IN THE STATE

Free school breakfasts and lunches for all

Made public college free

Stronger labor protections

Drivers’ Licenses for All

Voting Rights Act to reverse recent court rulings that make voting harder, including restored voting rights to convicted felons

Banning medical debt from credit bureaus

The "Taylor Swift Bill" requiring all ticket "junk fees" be shown up front

Banning most "junk fees"

No book bans

Protection for tipped workers

Banned non-competes

Legalized recreational cannabis

Gun control, including increased penalties for straw purchases of firearms, expanded background checks and enacted red-flag laws, passing gun safety measures that the GOP has thwarted for years

Made MN a Trans Refuge State, and required health plans to cover “medically necessary gender-affirming care.”

Pay increase for Uber and Lyft drivers

Elimination of the so-called “gay panic defense”

A ban on “doxxing” election workers

A prohibition on “swatting” elected officials

In March, during the height of the Gaza/uncommitted primary protests against Biden, Walz said that young people should be listened to and they had a right to be speaking up and the situation in Gaza was horrible and intolerable, without directly slamming Biden or getting involved in the issue in a way to draw negative headlines. Regardless of what you think about any of it, that is a very deft way to handle it and pairs well with Kamala's better responsiveness on the Gaza issue overall. That was a big part of the reason why Gen Z/younger voters were very excited about Walz despite him being an "old" (actually the same age as Kamala but he has joked that teaching high school for 20 years will do that to a guy) white guy. If half the battle in politics is making the right pick to excite your core voters and reach out to new ones, then Harris nailed it. As I have said in earlier posts, there was just too much energy with young voters FINALLY checking in when Harris became the candidate, to risk introducing a big ideological split with Shapiro.

Aside from that: the most insufferable Smart White-Bro Political Pundits (TM) are big mad about Walz, many Never Trumper Republicans thought they were entitled to a "moderate" in exchange for oh-so-generously lending us their vote against Trump and not run the risk that we might end up with someone *gasp* progressive, and the regular MAGA Republicans are hysterical, which means they're terrified. It's also incredibly hard to paint Literal Midwestern Stereotype Dad (football coach, social studies high school teacher, military veteran, etc) as THE EVIL END OF AMERICA in the way they desperately want to do, though the fact that they're trying shows that they've got literally nothing. The fact that Kamala picked Walz against the PREVAILING WISDOM!!! that she had to take Shapiro (for whatever reason that might have been) is also a good sign, because by far the most genuine and extensive enthusiasm that I have seen from Democratic voters, especially those feeling burned out or disillusioned or angry with specific policy choices of the current administration, was for Walz. Having everyone excited for the pick beforehand, effectively using the "weird" line, and rallying behind the guy, only for her to actually go for him, is inspiring. It makes people feel like they're being heard and the Democrats have decided to win by being progressive, and not just endlessly Catering To The (Imaginary) Middle as they have always been told to do (and often done). That alone is MASSIVE.

Walz is tremendously funny, personable, has Democrats from AOC to Joe Manchin praising it (again, shocking), was right out the gate supporting Kamala, has already been majorly successful on TV, was by far the most progressive-on-policy picks of the VP finalists, is incredibly, hilariously wholesome and small-town Midwestern (he's the JD Vance that they wish JD Vance was), and is already sending ActBlue gangbusters with donations again. And when you're getting this kind of response on the Cursed Bird Hellsite, just:

Just. I don't know what's happening either. But let's enjoy it, and then work hard, because we gotta fucking do this and for possibly the first time this entire year, I really think we might. Heck yeah.

[rei-ismyname]

Prodigy becomes a supervillain

David Alleyn's mutation is passive telepathy - he absorbs information and skills by being in proximity to people. He's a very successful student across the board, but the absorbed information fading means he has to work twice as hard. He's also got major imposter syndrome.

He asks Emma Frost and Dani Moonstar for help and advice, and it's revealed he has a mental block stopping him retaining knowledge.

After some hemming and hawwing, it's decided they'll remove the block.

It works! He tests it on a Beast lecture, retaining all the information. Woo hoo.

Next he tests it for combat ability, beating Wolverine in a Magneto helmet up. So far so good. (Also, Dani Moonstar is taller than Wolverine. Most people are. Maybe she's meant to be in the background.)

Here's where shit starts going off the rails. David realises he's wasting his potential in school and starts making plans for meeting people to round out his knowledge base. Henry Kissinger, WTF? There's three war criminals on the list and most of the rest are uber capitalists. He should have made a better list.

His personality starts to get colder as he becomes more focused on his plans.

Such as curing AIDS and cancer at the cost of Elixir's life. Ends justifies the means.

Fast forward a little and he's POTUS. Somehow he figures nuking China will bring world peace (thanks Kissinger.) Dani tries to stop him and he kills her.

While he has the X-Men as his special forces and the Hellions framed as terrorists, people start to realise he's an evil motherfucker. He kills anyone who opposes him.

Psych! It was all a dream. Is it just me or is this terrible advice and super irresponsible of his teachers? They showed him his WORST FEAR, not the future. His fear is that he fundamentally changes as a person and becomes a murdering warlord. It traumatizes him and fucks up a bunch of social relationships and is presented as him learning something/being wise.

Is there no way to just remove a little bit of the block? Or just stay away from war criminals? Narratively, I get that they're never going to change the status quo to that degree, but maybe they should! I'm glad Prodigy has remained a character of focus and unsurprisingly he's an extremely ethical person. Or is he?

[beabaseball]

"I feel like people don't remember/too young to remember how bad it was under trump: [list of political actions]"

Trump would tweet shit at 3am and you'd wake up to people on the news discussing if it was being taken as an order or not. Everyone with Twitter got signed up for push notifications from the POTUS account so you'd be out doing yard work and someone would be like "Trump just tweeted that Mexico was gonna pay for the wall." You used to have YouTube backseat news bloggers who would talk about breaking news and developing situations and suddenly they were useless because by the time the video was up it was out of date. Videos posted a day before were suddenly completely useless because the situations had 15 additional events and had somehow turned fully upside down. These are the two years *before* the pandemic.

I'm not fucking doing it again.

[deadpresidents]

I know Biden is the oldest president ever but how active were former presidents after leaving office when they were Biden's age?

Believe it or not, only nine Presidents in American history have actually lived longer than Joe Biden is right now. President Biden turns 82 years old on November 20th and breaks his own record as the oldest person to ever serve as President every single day. And he's already one of the ten longest-living Presidents in history:

1. Jimmy Carter: 99 years, 285 days (as of July 12, 2024; turns 100 years old on October 1st) 2. George H.W. Bush: 94 years, 171 days 3. Gerald Ford: 93 years, 165 days 4. Ronald Reagan: 93 years, 120 days 5. John Adams: 90 years, 247 days 6. Herbert Hoover: 90 years, 71 days 7. Harry S. Truman: 88 years, 232 days 8. James Madison: 85 years, 104 days 9. Thomas Jefferson: 83 years, 82 days 10. Joe Biden: 81 years, 235 days (as of July 12, 2024; turns 82 years old on November 20th) Most of the ten longest-living Presidents remained relatively active during their post-Presidencies until close to their deaths. The major exception was Ronald Reagan, who largely withdrew from the public for the final ten years of his life after announcing that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994.

[istadris]

Trailer Analysis of Asterix & Obelix The Big Fight (Part 2) : New Elements

Part 1

Part 3

In the previous part, we have seen what elements of the Netflix will stay faithful to the original The Big Fight comic

But an adaptation can take liberties, especially for a different format than a 40 pages comic.

So what will be the fresh air brought to this story by Alain Chabat?

Let's find out!

Let's start with the most obvious additions : new characters.

While most are the Gauls we know and love, with a handful of Romans serving as interchangeable punchbags, and the specific characters of this album, we get to see some new faces.

First of all, the centurion (which I assume is named Potus, according to the cast list).

In the comic, the main Roman antagonists were Nebulus Nimbus (Langélus en vf), a loud and slightly dim-witted centurion, and Felonius Caucus (Perclus en vf), his sly and cunning advisor. Nimbus had authority and physical while Caucus came up with most of the plans and suggested underhanded tactis, but Nimbus was still wise enough to plot the demise of a too clever and ambitious advisor.

It seems both characters were fused into one, although he retains mostly Nimbus' aspects : a muscular and aggressive centurion who's in charge of the operation, but gets physically involved if necessary.

He is present in Caesar's audience room when the plot is seemingly kicked off, where he seems to fill the role of a bodyguard.

Next we have Metadata. And she's...interesting

She has the design of a Good/Ally character : young, pretty, with a soft voice and big innocent eyes. She seems to work as a scribe of some sort, with access to information about traditions like the Big Fight.

But she's also a Roman, and the one who gives Caesar the information about the Big Fight, so he's finally able to conquer the village of the indomitable and achieve his triumph. She's also shown traveling with Potus to Ceramix's village, probably to inform him of Caesar's plan and assert him. So she's, at least at first, on the side of Caesar & co. Which is logical : she's Roman, and she probably came up with the Big Fight idea because her boss' idea of a mosaic for Caesar's triumph was a terrible idea (I think she might have been confronted by Potus on the second shot below, before Caesar let her speak).

My theory is that she will change sides at some point, perhaps after befriending the Gauls or because Caesar has a horrible fate planned for them once Ceramix defeats Vitalstatistix.

I don't think Metadata's boss will play an important role, nor will Caesar's mother, who also appears in this show. Caesar's mom, in particular, feels more like a gag character about how even Julius Caesar has a berating mother criticizing his accomplishments.

There's also another centurion (decurion?) shown here and there ; I just expect him to be the centurion of the episode. You know, the one in charge of whichever Roman fort is starring in the story out of the four camps surrounding the village. And from the looks of it, he's just a Guy who's dealing with the madness of the Gauls and hoping for a quick mutation, but now has to go along with this new fancy plan of Big Fight.

Now, for the biggest change in the show : Julius Caesar.

In the original comic, he didn't appear at all. He was a ghost whose presence motivated the Romans into finding a way to finally subdue the Gauls, but otherwise had no direct impact.

This is clearly not the case in the series : not only is Caesar triggering the plot, by approving the Big Fight idea, but he even comes to the duel's stadium, determined to witness the Gauls's final defeat.

The stadium. As mentioned above, in the comic, the event of the Big Fight draws a traveling fair, which is mostly the opportunity for a gag about Asterix-world versions of rollercoasters and cotton candy stands (Ironically, this comic was written more than 20 years before the Parc Astérix, an Astérix theme park with many rollercoasters, was opened in France). The stage for the fight itself is just a boxing ring in the middle of a plain

Still, I wonder how his presence will impact the plot, outside of being, well, Caesar. There's a bit of an unspoken rule in the Asterix verse that Caesar does NOT get involved in the slapstick fights every other Roman is subjected to. EVER. If there is a battle, Caesar hangs outside on his white horse; if there is a duel, it's someone else fighting in his stead. The worse he can do is being present while a building crumble, or lose at a chariot race. But he's "allowed" to take decisions that change and impact the plot and characters, which might happen here. Which leads us to...

But in the show, the event is clearly meant with Caesar organizing it in mind : the arena is much bigger and intimidating, built right on the doorstep of the Gaul's village, reminiscent of the Circus of Rome with Caesar having the seat of honor to witness the defeat of his enemies. In Caesar's own words : a spectacular show.

One last detail specific to the show : the Gauls seem to have a council under a massive willow tree (with of course a brawl to close it off)

Obviously, this brings to mind the handful of times such a council was assembled in the comics, like in The Cauldron or Asterix in Belgium

So now, with all these elements, old and new, what story can be expected ? What themes will be explored? Are there any surprises left?

That will be explored in the next part of this analysis!

[originalleftist]

Ran across a Deppie post on Reddit, claiming Amber Heard's Instagram account had followed JD Vance.

They were of course spinning wild conspiracy theories, claiming it was some plot by her to get to Musk, etc. The usual bullshit.

Still, the basic claim seemed easy enough to fact-check. I logged into Instagram, checked Heard's follow list, and... yup. Vice President Vance.

Well, that was disheartening, to say the least. If she turned out to be yet another white person who went full Nazi, it wouldn't change my opinion of the trial- even bad people have rights, and can be abused, and her OpEd flatly wasn't defamatory by any reasonable definition. But it would have forced me to lower my estimation of her as a person considerably, and stop supporting her work.

Still, it seemed odd- Despite her past relationship with Musk (before he became openly fascist), her politics has been mostly Left-leaning for years, particularly on feminism and LGBTQ rights as well as voting rights. Vance seemed an out-character choice for her to follow.

And then it occurred to me.

A few weeks back I saw a post reminding people to unfollow the official POTUS, VP accounts, etc, because those accounts changed hands after the election. I checked my Facebook, and sure enough, I was unwittingly following the Orange Felon.

Heard followed Vice President Harris on Instagram. It got some mean-spirited media coverage gossiping about Harris not following her back. Sure enough, the Harris account is gone from her follows list. So, assuming she was following the official VP account, it may simply be that Amber Heard hasn't updated her Instagram follows since before Inauguration Day (she posts about twice a year now).

Which feels like a weird thing to know about someone I've never met, but also kind of humanizing, for lack of a better word- the sort of simple mistake that any regular person could make (myself included).

Anyway, this is your reminder for the day that:

a) You should check your social media post-election to make sure you aren't accidentally following Nazis now.

b) Most of what people say about Amber Heard is probably bullshit.

c) It never hurts to dig a little deeper with your fact-checking before jumping to conclusions. I could have just read the Reddit post, or hell just checked her Instagram page, and impulsively denounced her as a turncoat and a Nazi. I probably would have, if it had been someone else I hadn't spent the last three years publicly supporting.

(It also is possible, of course, that she's suddenly decided to follow Vance (and no other notable MAGA figures) for whatever reason. Vance is the top of her follow list, which might suggest a recent follow, but I really don't know how that works if an account you were following before changed hands, and Instagram's algorithm for ranking follows is... obscure. Nor would I put it past Meta to tweak the algorithm to boost Regime accounts, given how hard they've been sucking the Regime's dick lately (try posting the Felon's mugshot to Facebook if you want to see this in action- every time I do, Facebook falsely labels it an AI-generated image.))

[usgovsummary]

January 22, 2025

POTUS:

The President's and Vice President's speeches from the Starlight and Liberty Inaugural Balls were published

6 Fact Sheets regarding recent executive orders were published

Pardoned two police officers, Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky, who were convict for killing (Sutton) and covering up the deadly police chase (Zabavsky) of Karon Hylton-Brown in 2020. More here

Designated Ansar Allah/Houthis as a terrorist organization

The president had his first major interview. Discussed investigating Biden, disbanding FEMA, refusing aid to California, and brushed aside any security concerns regarding TikTok. More here

Federal health agency communication with the public has been paused

More details and the actual policies can be found here

SCOTUS:

Heard arguments for Barnes V. Felix. Regards a case involving "unreasonable" force used by a law enforcement officer.

Heard arguments for Cunningham v. Cornell University. Regards The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

More information here

Congress:

The 32 bills and 1 resolution were introduced in the Senate. Many dealing with abortion, the military, and commerce. Full list here

41 public bills and 5 resolutions were introduced in the House of Representatives. Many dealt with abortion and social security. Full list here

The House passed four bills. Two were electing members of committees and the others dealt with land. Full list here

More information here

[dosesofcommonsense]

I read BioClandestine because I enjoy his takes. Most of the time we agree; sometimes we don’t. This time, he’s spot on.

For those who don’t understand Trump’s methods, let me explain.

Trump is “highballing”.

It’s hardball tactics. When Trump wants to make a new deal with someone, he makes sure he has leverage, so he threatens them with the economic action via tariffs, or even military action.

Trump leads with an unreasonably high opening offer, and then he pulls back and comes to a more reasonable position, to make it appear that he has made concessions and that the opponent has gained something from the negotiations. When in reality, Trump got exactly what he wanted all along, if not more, while appearing to have compromised, because he started negotiations from the most extreme of the spectrum.

Imagine you’re trying to sell a hypothetical house. You would be okay with selling it for $500k. But do you list it at $500k? No. You list it at $750k, then when someone asks you to drop the price, you drop it to $600k, and they feel like they’ve got a deal, and you’ve actually made more than you were expecting. Aka, highballing. Trump is billionaire real-estate mogul from New York City. He has been doing hardball tactics his entire life.

Trump does the same exact thing as POTUS, just on a far more extreme and larger scale.

-threatens economic/military action

-puts enemy in bad position

-they are willing to give up more in deal

-Trump “compromises” but still gets what he wanted all along

He literally wrote a book about maximizing leverage and creating urgency to win negotiations. It’s called “Art of the Deal”.

Trump does not want war. He does not want chaos. He wants new deals that are beneficial for the American People, because we have been getting ripped off for decades.

That’s what’s going on. Trump is doing what he does best, making deals.

[terribleadventuresdotcom]

Getting this out now while it's still fresh. Sources are my own. Apologies for acronyms or unexplained terms. I am extremely tired and sad and my good friend Wikipedia has offered to water my plants while I go on vacation to A Dark Room With A Laptop And Disco Elysium.

On US spending cuts: Speaker of the House is making the rounds to various House tables, asking "How much do you think you can get?" This has no precedent in modern times, as Reps would typically get a number from leadership/committee mechanics—and there would be compromise mechanics in play, at least in some cases. Not so currently.

Also, there is almost 100% unification across the GOP board on essentially every topic and approach. There is no dissent—yet. Cracks may start to show down the road, but will that potential shift have any real impact?

Congress has 2 years of GOP control and will set the US budget for 2025, 2026, and 2027.

DOGE will cause material harm but is largely a smokescreen compared to the actual machinations inside.

In the crosshairs: Social Services Block Grant, SNAP, TANF, Head Start. What I mean here is that these categories are different from potential cuts to Medicare/Medicaid/etc: the items listed above are being targeted for total elimination. Additionally, rumors are circulating as to the possibility of redirecting certain grant dollars into school choice vouchers.

What you probably already know regarding federal departments: Dept of Education and Dept of Labor are also in the crosshairs. I won't re-tread this ground here. On that same note, DEI initiatives, committees, and sub-departments are being immediately and totally eliminated.

Orders are also being given that contradict the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yes, civil rights have been violated daily in the US before and after 1964, but there is no precedent in the last 60 years with regards to the Executive Branch launching a direct assault on the Civil Rights Act.

Finally, as much as it pains me to share this part...

...I'm pausing here because there's a flurry of attacks being launched, some substantial, some not, and it all becomes so much static after awhile. If you're reading this, please understand how critical this last part is.

The DOD and DHS have until April 17th to report back to POTUS on the viability of invoking the Insurrection Act, with all associated efforts being directed to USNORTHCOM.

This ties directly into the incredibly hard push for new DOD, CIA, and FBI leadership. If you've been wondering why they want *specifically those people in charge*, the possibility of Insurrection Act activation is partly why. And for your final kick in the pants, the Pentagon has been directed to dissolve the Civilian Protection Center.

This also dovetails with the ICE surge, and with future anti-environmental and energy plans (e.g. raids, protests, Standing Rock, etc).

Don't get distracted. Be there for each other.

Be tactical.

End transmission.

[clatterbane]

As news about insulin comes out, it's important to remember the COST of insulin has never been capped for anyone in the US. The COPAY has been capped for some people. Here's why that is an important distinction.

First of all, I'm not making this post to promote or denounce any specific party or person. I'm going to keep things as cut and dry as possible, and you can make up your own mind.

So, people have been talking about the "$35 insulin price caps" and if they're going to continue, if the new administration is going to strike them down, etc.

First things first- price cap vs copay cap. Copay caps just limit what qualifying patients pay in a given period of time. Price caps, on the other hand, limit what the insulin manufacturers can charge for the product. Both are good, of course, but copay caps are much more of a band-aid solution, whereas list price caps would virtually end the US insulin price crisis.

The difference matters because copay caps only cover qualifying patients. This usually left out patients on private insurance and uninsured patients. Additionally, the pharma companies still got their full price at the end of the day.

So, the price of insulin has never been capped in the US. The closest thing we've gotten is the insulin manufacturers' voluntary price reductions, which can end at any time, have no guarantees, and in some cases, didn't really pan out exactly like we all thought. This was clearly a move by the insulin manufacturers to avoid further legal action- basically they wanted to keep a hand on the wheel.

Second, no US politician has made serious progress toward a genuine price cap. This includes Trump and Biden and state-wide efforts. When politicians say, "We capped the price of insulin" or something similar, they're not telling the truth exactly. Whether that's out of malice or not is up to you, but what they should be saying is, "We capped the copay for some people". The media also tends to get this wrong, so if you see an article about "price caps," I encourage you to actually read the bill or whatever and not take their word for it.

Trump's (first term) executive order created a temporary program where some prescription drug plans could choose whether to cover some insulin products at no more than $35 a month. About half of medicare part D plans participated. This EO was pharma-backed and terrible for 340b programs. The Biden administration froze the EO

Biden's Inflation Reduction Act barred ALL medicare part D plans from charging more than $35 out-of-pocket for insulin products. Similar to the Trump action, but different in some subtle ways. Removing it is a terrible idea, but the Biden administration consistently and vastly overstated the effects of this. The layman would think the insulin price crisis is over, but that is very untrue.

At the end of the day, neither of those actions are as far-reaching as they try to appear. If you want to learn more about the two presidential actions, here's a pretty decent article about it.

So, if Trump stripped away the Inflation Reduction Act, that would be extremely bad, of course. However, please don't make the mistake that things are great already. It would take things from "bad" to "worse". These protections should be stronger and cover more people, not stripped away.

It seems I need to clarify. Losing the copay cap would be devastating. Many actions on the table for this administration would be devastating. We must defend the protections available and seek additional protections. POTUS cannot unilaterally lower the list price, but Congress can regulate it.

My only qualifications are that I'm an advocate who pays attention and has a lot of smart advocate friends who pay even more attention. But if you have any questions about this stuff, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

[duboisproposal]

Harvard Online Courses

After some eyebrow raising shit being thrown around from the (saddest most corrupt evil pos to hold the position) POTUS towards Harvard (something something Obama's daughter and Carney's child got in but Barron did not) Harvard has free online courses - (viral memes say these courses are new and a direct response but I'm not sure whether that is the case)

Course on Separation of Powers

Understanding the Constitution

Recognize a Dictatorship

How the Wealthy purchase politics

Pretty amazing right? Okay well I've been looking over the Harvard courses offered for free. The courses now available include

and

and

or

and while we are at it here is a short list of free Harvard courses that Look Really Cool To Me.

https://pll.harvard.edu/course/data-analysis-life-sciences-2-introduction-linear-models-and-matrix-algebra

https://pll.harvard.edu/course/data-analysis-life-sciences-4-high-dimensional-data-analysis

https://pll.harvard.edu/course/contractsx-trust-promise-contract

https://pll.harvard.edu/course/food-fermentation-science-cooking-microbes

https://pll.harvard.edu/course/fundamentals-neuroscience-part-1-electrical-properties-neuron

https://pll.harvard.edu/course/data-science-linear-regression/2025-04

and more free courses at https://pll.harvard.edu/catalog?price%5B1%5D=1&max_price=&start_date=&keywords=&url=. Free micro courses online are amazing. Coursera and edx will often offer courses and then use Dark Patterns to hide the 'audit for free' button- but generally getting an overview of this stuff from some of the best professors on the planet is such a charming documentary overview into some good stuff.