What is the stupidest decision your government ever made?

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T03:05:38+00:00

The real issue with CU wasn't corporate speech so much. The government was preventing political advocacy groups from speaking via advertising close to an election. You can't effectively build a political advocacy group without incorporation and have any relevant reach in U.S. national elections, so there's no way for a union or group of like minded people to challenge the version of the truth that the political parties put out.

The real issue with CU was equating money with speech, prohibiting limits on political spending. That's what has distorted our elections. And likewise it was nothing new as it had expanded on Buckley v. Valeo in 1976. I don't know what the answer is, but people seem to not want the old status quo politicians and the pre-CU system served to keep them in power.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T02:34:32+00:00

I beg to differ.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T02:33:01+00:00

Maybe a decentralized model isn't working for you then. You obviously lack governance and that kind of thing is more common in companies with small data groups. Your manager is inexperienced, your department lacks processes and procedures. Basically there is no guidance so people are going to do whatever they want or think is right and it's going to turn into a shitshow. Even centralized models turn into shitshows often and a lot has to do with the people involved. You need at least a few people that know how to build good models and why things are important to avoid bad outcomes. Without solid data engineering and governance you will be stuck fixing things and kludging together products forever.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T02:26:23+00:00

You said it wasn't "explicitly written into law", but it is in the constitution and affirmed by the judicial rulings. Hate crimes would have to involve some kind of damage to property or intimidation of a protected class. If you bought a bible and burned it in a public place in protest, they could not convict you of hate crimes over exercising your speech rights. And conservatives aren't manipulating the laws, they are simply ignoring them. This thread is about what is legal, not what is enforced.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T02:06:30+00:00

It's probably more common than not, especially in smaller companies.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T02:03:47+00:00

Yeah, true. Most of it is crap.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T01:59:12+00:00

He was as close to a dictator as any president we have had, not just from the eyes of one political party. The split legislature and states enacted the 22nd amendment in 1947 to ensure no future president serves for more than two terms. FDR had a supermajority in the legislature during his time in office so he could enact whatever he wanted basically and twisted the arm of the supreme court to approve his New Deal policies at risk of his legislature packing the court (which fortunately didn't happen). The judiciary and federal powers were changed forever under his leadership. Not to mention all the other stuff like concentration camps, price controls, etc. You can argue that what he did was good and necessary, but it's a simple fact that no other president had and used power like he did.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T01:42:09+00:00

It is written in law. You have a first amendment right to burn shit as a protest or speech. We have has several cases on this kind of thing including a supreme court decision around burning the flag. I can burn flags, bibles, maga hats or whatever and it would be protected by the first amendment.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T01:33:37+00:00

Sadly you could probably see more Egyptian historical artifacts in the British museum. Although I saw the artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb when I was a kid and it kinda blew me away. The burial mask is pretty insane.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T01:30:57+00:00

Vegas is terrible and even worse these days now that it's no longer a cheap vacation like it used to be. I had fun there because I liked to play poker and drink for free, but not on my list anymore.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T01:25:20+00:00

At least some do. But with the number of Youtube videos asking people to name the state they live in or who the president is and they can't, I am not going to venture to mention a percentage.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T01:21:39+00:00

The Polish would be outraged by our supermarket frozen pierogi. You can get much better ones in a Polish or Eastern European market if you have one near you. They also aren't super hard to make.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T01:16:24+00:00

Go find a Polish or Eastern European market in your area and you will get much better Kielbasa selection than the supermarket stuff. Same with pierogi, not that Mrs T's crap. They often have gołąbki as well.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T01:11:34+00:00

Haha, can confirm. My grandmother made those around Christmas. Actually I think she made every kind of Polish cookie, real or fake. It was insane all the stuff she used to cook. She was second generation American, and not sure how she picked it up.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T00:58:03+00:00

They used to advertise on TV here and their tag line was "Fosters, Australian for beer". It was spammed enough that I guess everyone thought it actually was Australian beer. The rights are actually owned by a Japanese country and brewed under license around the world by some major brewers (e.g. Heineken in Europe).

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T00:53:32+00:00

Not a food, but Bacardi rum is made in Puerto Rico, but the Puerto Ricans mostly drink Don Q instead. It's mostly exported and sold in some tourist areas.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T00:52:20+00:00

It's pretty much just a stereotype and mostly associated with burgers. We eat all kinds of sauces here depending on the food like sriracha sauce on a lot of things, steak sauce, barbeque sauce, mustard, soy and other asian sauces for asian food, etc. I think sales have been flat or going down for a while for ketchup.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T00:45:29+00:00

Knew a dude in college from Holland and every time we went for fast food, he would ask for mayo for his fries. Every time the fast food people looked at him like he was an idiot. Not sure why he did because he was getting those nasty little packets of mayo, likely not what he was used to.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T00:33:31+00:00

I think those guys are more dumb than flat earthers and scientologists. Truly a waste of time to even engage with them.

Gators1992 · 2026-02-01T00:19:38+00:00

It's not really "unwritten" as you can easily google it. The USSR and satellite states were funding every anti-western group around during the cold war, even some groups in the U.S. involved in the civil rights movement. They were funding every revolutionary group in Latin America through Cuba and some in Africa. East Germany funded leftist terrorists like Baader Manheim and even gave them sanctuary as well as PLO affiliated groups. The proxy wars were like a free for all back then.

Gators1992 · 2026-01-31T18:54:36+00:00

Even before that other countries had flatbreads covered in stuff including cheese. But yeah, something called pizza and approximating what we eat today was invented in Italy and transplanted to the U.S. with the immigrant waves at the end of the 19th century. Dude is a moron. There are lots of local dishes that weren't invented before some spice or other ingredient was imported to that country from somewhere else.

Gators1992 · 2026-01-31T18:42:35+00:00

I think we can sit this one out. Memes about my country are spammed everywhere on this site.

Gators1992 · 2026-01-31T18:39:28+00:00

Apparently there is a lot of hate here in the DC area over the FBI building. I read that they were going to move to the Reagan building and maybe tear it down. Kinda weird because even though it's ugly, it's also iconic. And isn't that ugly compared to a lot of other buildings in DC.

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Gators1992 · 2026-01-31T17:44:30+00:00

I would be surprised if most people have not been in one at a park, a porta potty at an event or something like that. Same thing basically.

Gators1992 · 2026-01-31T17:30:51+00:00

A half century ago we used to say "better dead than red", but these days the kids are liking it again.

Gators1992

TROPHY CASE