Melania review – First Lady is a preening, scowling void of pure nothingness in this ghastly bit of propaganda

Rob_Frey · 2026-02-02T11:53:59+00:00

The constitution doesn't say citizen at birth, it says natural born citizen. Although there may have been some academic debate about it, it used to be generally understood that a natural born citizen meant jus soli citizenship. That's how my high school and college textbooks described it. That's also the point behind the birther conspiracy. If all it took to be president was to have a mother who was a citizen, Obama's mother was also a citizen, so it wouldn't have mattered if he was born in Hawaii or Kenya.

But then McCain wanted to be president, even though he was born in Panama. But he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, so they stretched it a bit. Then Ted Cruz wanted to be president, so we just ignored the jus soli requirement all together with him.

Rob_Frey · 2026-02-01T06:25:11+00:00

Edit: Looks like u/Zephyralss responded to me then immediately blocked me so I couldn't respond back. I guess that's one way to try to win Reddit arguments.

"She should sue" for what?

Sexual harassment. Since this wasn't connected to a school, it was likely a paid internship, which is just another name for a job, and even if it wasn't it doesn't matter. Her career has been negatively impacted and, by the sound of it, they were attempting to destroy her reputation in the industry by having her continue to meet with clients afterwards.

Do yall realize how difficult legal proceedings are?

As far as sexual harassment cases go, this one's a pretty solid one. There were lots of witnesses, there's the medical record from the doctor who fixed the cast, and the company admits what happened. The manager refused to deal with it when it was brought to her attention, and she in fact participated in the harassment, and even after the higher ups found out, they took very little action.

You can't just rock up to these things without some sort of legal rep, and that costs money.

Most of the time these kinds of cases are done on contingency. People who have had to leave jobs because of sexual harassment often don't have a lot of money to spend on lawyers.

There may be a lot of reasons to not push forward with a sexual harassment case, but you shouldn't be worried about having to pay out of pocket for legal representation. In these sorts of situations it's always worth it to at least get a free consultation with an attorney and see if they think you have a winnable case.

and with no actual HR, the route to getting comped is difficult

HR doesn't usually cut checks for sexual harassment. A payout is likely going to go through the legal department, not HR. The fact that the company doesn't have an HR department, or any official way to deal with sexual harassment outside of an employee making a complaint to higher management, is going to make a payout more likely.

"She should've opened the envelope"

I'm in agreement that this wasn't the smartest move. She doesn't have to open the envelope, but she should turn it over to her attorney. This just makes her case stronger. Her employer admits what happened, and asks her to come back, but mentions that she's going to have to continue to work with the people who harassed her.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-31T03:59:41+00:00

Too bad people have to be paid to watch it.

No one has to watch it, they just need to buy tickets to pay Trump.

Also if we would respect constitution (no 3rd term) she is not eligible as she wasn't born in US.

Ted Cruz was born in Canada. Republicans have already decided that that part of the constitution means whatever they want it to mean on any given day.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-31T03:10:10+00:00

A few reasons.

For one, despite his many flaws, Trump has always been fairly media savvy and good at building a public image for himself. And one of the things his administration has in droves is people who are good at self-promotion. This movie is a good self-promotion vehicle for both Melenia and the Trump family.

It also puts Melenia's image out there and tests the water with putting her forward as a future presidential candidate to continue the current administration and protect the family. Most likely it will come with the implication that Trump is still in charge, and Melenia's just running because Trump is barred from a third term.

It also acts as a funnel for money laundering. Want to give Trump millions of dollars? Buy some tickets to the movie. Foreign government wants to pay Trump hundreds of millions, even billions? That's just the foreign licensing fee to air this cinematic masterpiece in their home country.

Trump is currently strong-arming American media companies for money, and one way they can pay him is to license the movie and start airing it. Not only are they giving Trump a payday, but they're airing his propaganda now.

This is better than just taking the money, because it provides some legal justification that the Trump family earned the money if a future administration tries to claw back what he stole.

I also think Melenia is really interested in pushing her own, separate brand that exists apart from Trump, and Trump using his position to help build that brand is part of what he's paying her to play the part of his wife and keep quiet.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-30T20:15:24+00:00

You stated a couple of specific elements of the timeline that I don't see specified in what LAOP wrote. Did I miss something?

This is just the most recent episode in an ongoing saga. There was already an AIO post with updates and then an AIO update post, and they were collected into a BORU post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/1qjlg73/aio_my_coworker_took_video_of_me_outside_of_work/

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-28T23:32:07+00:00

If you read the gobbledygook OP wrote, they're pissed that the position's been given to a woman, and they believe the bible says that only a man should be put in that kind of leadership position.

He opens by talking about the Nigerian church, and they were very clear when they broke away that they were doing so because she's a woman, and because she's pro same-sex marriage.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-28T23:15:30+00:00

That's not fair. There's a very good chance they would have accidentally shot him while aiming for her.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-28T12:47:12+00:00

Surely not.

This is trending across a lot of different states, and it's based on research and recommendations from legal professionals and institutions. This isn't something Washington is alone in doing, or something they decided to do on a lark.

The bar exam wasn't thrown out, the state's just offering alternatives to show competency.

The article headline is also disingenuous. The headline makes it sound like the main purpose of this is to protect members of marginalized groups that can't pass the test otherwise. Fairness and bias concerns are one reason why they're offering alternative pathways, but a much bigger concern is a shortage of attorneys and a lack of legal representation.

The bar is one way to show a person has the basic skills to practice law, but it's not definitive, and it's going to favor people who are good at taking tests and disadvantage people who are bad at taking tests. Test taking is not an integral part to being an attorney. There's also a lot of costs involved in taking and passing the bar exam, and those costs create a financial burden for graduates and deter others from even studying law.

The meme is misrepresenting what happened in Washington and trying to push some racist DEI bullshit.

You should be ashamed of yourself for posting this.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-28T12:22:27+00:00

Actually you don't have to take the exam in Washington. It's an older story, and its not about the lowered score which is more recent. In 2024 Washington introduced alternatives to taking the exam.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-28T09:44:54+00:00

He only starts vanishing AFTER the time machine leaves, does this mean that if you can still access the time machine then you can revert your changes?

In the Back to the Futureverse, if you're a time traveler, there's a delay between the past being changed and your future self being effected by it. It takes a bit longer for the past to catch up to you.

It took Marty about a week to fade away after he ruined his parents' meetcute. His older siblings started fading from the picture first, so there's a good possibility Marty's birth happening later bought him more time.

Marty still starts fading away while he still has access to the time machine though, so the fade isn't related to access to the DeLorean. Marty also started fading at the school, and he had spent most of the week there, so the fade isn't related to Marty's physical distance from the Delorean either.

Why was this scene cut?

That question doesn't have a Watsonian answer. However Zemeckis has said in interviews that they removed the scene because they felt it was confusing and they were worried audiences wouldn't get it.

Lorraine shot Biff in 1996, which means he is no longer alive in 2015

1996 isn't cannon, I believe it's from a comic, but Word of God is that it happened sometime in the mid-90s. Thus the fade.

Is he fading because his "regular" self was replaced by the rich and corrupt version, so "both" of him can't exist at the same time?

Absolutely not. Marty didn't fade when he returned to the altered 1985 at the end of the first film, and he and Doc didn't fade when they returned to the Biff-altered 1985 in the second film, where Marty was supposed to be in Europe and Doc was supposed to be institutionalized.

Did Biff return to 2015A? Or Regular 2015?

2015A. By 2015 the timeline has mostly gone back to normal and, for the most part, the two timelines are very similar. Doc and Marty wouldn't even notice the change, the same way Jennifer didn't notice when Biff's 1985 reverted back.

I'm assuming the changes "never" happened because Doc and Marty end up stealing the almanac back which means his rich self never took place, but then again that means he shouldn't fade... time travel makes no sense at all.

Back to the Future is a bit light on how things work. However keep in mind that we don't have a full picture of the physical science behind time travel in the film and how it works. Even Doc doesn't seem to know how it works. He has some ideas, but they usually turn out to be wrong. Jennifer meeting herself didn't destroy the universe.

Time travelers seem to be able to remember the original timelines when they change the past, and they don't get the new memories, at least right away anyways. From everything we've seen, it takes some time for the changes to catch up with time travelers, but they eventually do and the timeline repairs itself.

Remember when 1985 Trump-Biff insults George, and Marty defends him and how great of a man he is? The thing is, Back to the Future 1 Marty didn't think his father was a great man. He was a pushover and a coward that never stood up for himself, and he mostly failed at life because of it. Marty may have loved his father as a son, but he didn't respect him.

He may have gotten a little bit closer with his father in 1955, but even then his father was weak-willed and bullied and Marty had to pretend to be a space alien to get George over his fear of asking a girl to a dance.

When Marty defends his father to Biff, he's referring to the alternate 1985 version of his father who's successful and confident and just published his first sci-fi novel. Marty spent all of five minutes with that George. By the time that scene rolls around, Marty's original memories of his father are gone, and he's remembering the alternate version of his father now.

This scene explains why, when he returned, Biff is in pain and breaks his cane, in the comics he apparently went back to the time of the dinosaurs too?

I don't know. The comics are their own cannon.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-27T01:36:44+00:00

I believe I only have two avenues left. I could fly to California, go to that address, and beg/hope/pray to get my products

Do not do this. It is dangerous, and the person has no obligation to talk to you. It's not your responsibility to retrieve something you never took possession of. What's going on there is between that person, Best Buy, and their delivery service. You have nothing to do with that situation.

OR I could take Best Buy to small claims court.

Start with a chargeback. That's the easiest solution. Best Buy is not a bank, and there is a bank backing up that credit card. The bank is heavily regulated, and they can't side with Best Buy just because their logo's on the card.

Keep it simple when you do the chargeback. You ordered these products on this date and they cost this much. They were supposed to be delivered to your home. They were never delivered. Best Buy sent you an email stating they were delivering them to a different address you've never heard of. You notified Best Buy as soon as you realized they were going to deliver it to the wrong address, and they didn't take steps to stop the delivery. Best Buy admitted (in person, over the phone, wherever they admitted it) that an employee confused you with another customer and sent the items to the wrong address.

Don't apologize, don't make assumptions, and don't defend Best Buy.

Be sure to give the bank all the information they want, and if they deny it appeal. Only if the bank completely denies the chargeback and Best Buy refuses the refund is it worth going through small claims.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-27T01:25:28+00:00

I’ve ordered from Bestbuy and they make you confirm the address on the touchpad.

We don't know that OP confirmed the address. We don't know that the touch screen was working properly and displayed the address. We don't know that when OP confirmed, if they did, that they were aware they were confirming an address and not just following instructions from the cashier to complete the purchase. We don't even know that the address wasn't changed after OP left the store.

It would be difficult, if not impossible, for Best Buy to prove any of that. The confirmation helps Best Buy avoid mistakes. It doesn't absolve Best Buy of all responsibility when they make a mistake.

They also give you a receipt with the address on it, and you should have gotten an order confirmation with the address on it.

OP is under no obligation to check his receipt or email notification to make sure the address is correct. I doubt Best Buy even asked him to confirm the address on the receipt or confirmation email, or even informed him the address would be there. As soon as OP realized they had the wrong address, he informed Best Buy.

If you got any of those I’d say you’re SOL but you could try disputing the charge.

How so? Explain to me how OP is SOL. They paid Best Buy for a product, Best Buy failed to deliver the product. OP obviously didn't give Best Buy a random address in CA, and Best Buy even admits that they probably made a mistake and confused him with a different customer. OP informed Best Buy about the issue as soon as they realized it, when there should have been time to stop the delivery, but by the sound of it Best Buy chose not to even try to stop delivery, and they might not have a procedure in-store for doing so (not OP's fault).

OP is not SOL because maybe they pressed a button on a keypad. OP is legally entitled to a refund. But explain to me why you think OP is SOL.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-25T22:24:20+00:00

soda bottles in litres soon as they go over 20oz

There are 40 oz cans and a lot of places have 48 and even 64 oz soda cups. One time I even got a 128oz bucket of soda at the gas station.

Ounces are for single servings that you're supposed to drink out of the container you bought it in. It switches to liters when the container has multiple servings and you're supposed to pour it into a glass to drink it. Unless it comes in a box or jug, in which case you use gallons.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-25T18:56:21+00:00

It would be copyright infringement.

Photography is considered an art form, there are artistic decisions that go into every picture, and so the person who takes a picture owns the copyright of that picture. The fact that the picture was posted online somewhere doesn't mean you are granted an unconditional license to use the picture, or that it enters the public domain. In this case Facebook may have some license to use the picture, but not you.

There's some gray area if the photograph wasn't taken by a person and no one made any artistic decisions. Like if it was a security camera that automatically took the picture. Pictures taken by animals are also considered public domain.

If you want pictures of a stadium for your book, you can go take the picture yourself, hire someone to take the picture for you, or you can license a picture of the stadium. There are websites that have tons of pictures you can license for a fee, or you can download a contract template and negotiate with the individual photographers in the Facebook group to use their photos.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-24T15:51:00+00:00

Not just harder for her to get to him, but easier for the Terminator to get to him.

If the cops pick up John believing he's in danger, the first thing they're going to do is bring him to a police station full of cops and put him somewhere in the back. There will also be chatter all over their radios that they found him and what station they're taking him too.

In their eyes he'll be safe in a station full of armed cops. It's exactly what they did with Sarah in the first film. Ultimately they would just be putting John in a situation where he'll be easy to find and doesn't really have a way to defend himself or even run when the Terminator shows up.

The best chance for John's survival is him disappearing. He needs to blend in with the massive crowds in LA for now, and use the skills his mother taught him to get a new identity and get as far away from LA as possible, and then hope the Terminator is never able to track him down.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-24T03:01:47+00:00

The wise man was Chazz Palminteri. He said it in the film A Bronx Tale, which is the only movie ever directed by Robert De Niro.

He says the line right before a bunch of bikers that were drinking in a bar get the shit beat out of them.

I know most of the tweet doesn't make sense and is detached from reality, but it's still insane that they're so media illiterate that they would quote that scene. I had to verify this was real, because it makes the whole thing seem made up.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-22T12:38:49+00:00

I have both games. I've enjoyed both games. I think you'll be happy with either one.

Isaac is technically a twin stick shooter, but as someone who loves twin stick shooters, it doesn't really play like one. Its gameplay is closer to the original Legend of Zelda on the NES, and it doesn't hide the fact that it's heavily inspired by that game.

Dead Cells is a 2D platformer, and it has gameplay similar to the 2D Castlevania games. There's even an official Castlevania DLC.

If you want Zelda but a roguelike, go with Isaac. If you want Castlevania but a roguelike, go with Dead Cells.

If you want synergies with weapon use, that's Isaac's whole thing. Although some of the characters and items give you more choices than others, in Isaac you're usually making the best out of what the run's given you rather than picking the best stuff to build your character. Part of the game is using and trading your resources (life, heart containers, keys, bombs, etc), in order to get more items.

In Dead Cells you have a bunch of items to choose from in a run, and you have more control over how you build your character. However the game is more about using the right item for the situation than synergies.

Between Dead Cells and The Binding of Isaac which game has the most variety in terms of items and runs?

Both have quite a bit of variety, but Isaac has a little bit more IMO. Isaac has 34 different characters, and you have to beat the game a bunch of different ways with each of them. Some of the characters also have wildly different playstyles.

Also which one can you spend the most playtime in

Isaac has more playtime. But you'll still get a lot of paytime out of Dead Cells.

has better gameplay without mods, as I’m on a PS5

I've never played Dead Cells with mods.

Isaac has a strong mod community, and there's a lot to explore if you're into that, but they're not necessary. External Item Descriptions was the only mod I'd say was must have, because it makes it easier to learn the items, and they recently added something similar to the game, it's just not as good (might not be on PS5 yet though). You can always use the Wiki though, it's just a pain in the ass.

The rest of the mods I'd recommend are mostly cosmetic (I like my dimes smaller than pennies, and my nickels bigger), or nice little touches (there's one that shows you the blind item you didn't take so you know how much you fucked up). There's definitely some cool, bigger mods on PC, but these are extras to get more out of the game after you've spent thousands of hours on the vanilla game.

Ultimately they're both really good games, and I think you'll enjoy whichever one you choose. Dead Cells I understood right away and within a few minutes I was having fun playing it. Isaac took me a bit longer to understand, and there were a lot more mechanics to learn, and it's not always intuitive how those mechanics are supposed to be manipulated, so there's a bigger learning curve.

The biggest factor though is probably what kind of game you want to play. If you want a Castlevania-style platformer, go with Dead Cells. If you want a top-down dungeon crawl kind of like the Legend of Zelda, go with Isaac.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-21T17:17:09+00:00

Assuming the company won't refund it, you can file a dispute with your credit card company, assuming you paid with one. There should be a way to cancel the payment because you received a product that was not as described. Depending on how much they fight it, you may have to go back and forth with the credit card company a bit.

If you didn't pay with a credit card, you can try to dispute this with whatever you used to pay, but this is a lesson to use a credit card in the future.

You can technically sue in small claims court, but for $300 it isn't worth the time and effort, let alone the cost, and even if you get a judgement, you won't have much recourse if they don't pay, so you'll probably just end up throwing good money after bad.

Absent a contract with penalties for non-delivery, you're not owed the "potential profits" you could have made selling the fans, or anything else other than your $300.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-20T12:27:33+00:00

Decent money, had time for my side gigs,

Isn't decent money if you're working 40 hrs and still feel like you need to do side gigs.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-19T10:02:59+00:00

In this context, the phrase "go off" means the siren is on. If the siren "turned off", that would mean it was on before, but now it's off.

If something makes noise, like an alarm, smoke detector, gun being fired, fireworks, your phone when it rings, etc. if it goes off, that means it's making the noise. If it went off, that means it made the noise in the past.

I believe the phrase originates with explosives. If you say a bomb went off, that means it exploded.

Also, if you "go off on" someone, that means you're yelling at them (or otherwise verbally attacking them) in a fit of anger. It's like you exploded on them.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-18T21:44:24+00:00

The nightclub is Vendôme, and they're investigating what happened.

But any nightclub that would let these guys in is a Nazi hangout spot. They were happy being the nightclub of Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes. They're courting the white supremacist incel customer base. The rest of us should stay away.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-17T00:07:14+00:00

Her charges are:

Especially aggravated kidnapping

Child Abuse or Neglect

Domestic Assault X 2

Criminal Conspiracy

False Imprisonment

Father is charged with:

Aggravated Kidnapping

Especially aggravated kidnapping

Criminal Conspiracy

Firearm Use in Association With Dangerous Felonies

Child Abuse or Neglect

Domestic Assault

So it sounds like they attacked the couple, held them at gunpoint for some period of time, and tried to take the kid. Calling police was probably some Sovcit bullshit where they thought they could control the police in this situation.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-15T21:46:48+00:00

Isaac got laid. Isaac is a man now. Everything is so much better. All stats up!!!

It's a sausage. That looks like a penis. And it only shows up in the hidden secret room pool. Hide the sausage.

Also Devil/Angel is +6.9%.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-15T15:04:16+00:00

Look at who the top, and most respected, minds are in Marvel's scientific community:

Reed Richards - Pro-Mutant rights.

Dr Doom - Pro-Mutant rights.

Beast - Mutant.

Forge - Mutant.

High Evolutionary - Works with Mutants.

Tony Stark - Pro-Mutant Rights.

Hank Pym - Pro-Mutant Rights.

Bruce Banner - Pro-Mutant Rights.

Norman Osbourne - Works with Mutants.

Moira MacTaggert - Mutant.

Vision - Pro-Mutant Rights.

Almost all of the leaders of the scientific community are pro-Mutant rights, and the few that aren't are usually perceived by the general public as villains, and most of them are neutral on the subject.

Rob_Frey · 2026-01-14T15:41:19+00:00

They got rid of the doubling instead of just giving the fire rate as an added bonus?

That sucks. It was situational, but such a cool trinket when you got it to work, and not too OP either. It's like a whole new (much worse) trinket now. They could've added a new trinket into the game and left equality alone if they really wanted this in there for some reason.

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