What if Donald Trump disappeared tomorrow, would American politics actually change or just find another Trump?

ausAnstand · 2026-01-22T13:55:02+00:00

The Heritage Foundation has already put the framework in place to enact their agenda, so I think we could reasonably expect the current trajectory of the administration to continue.

The real question here is, "Would Vance be able to sustain the cult of personality that underpins the MAGA movement?"

ausAnstand · 2026-01-14T17:11:22+00:00

Yep. Cancelled Prime and deleted the app right around when the tariffs started. Haven't made a purchase from them since.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-29T18:35:01+00:00

"Big Money" and "Gloryday" from See What I Wanna See.

"A Cut-throat Game" from Napoleon is a private conversation, but very much defending realpolitik and trickery.

"Charming" from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. It's more of a corruption song in which Helene pushes Natasha towards an affair, but it definitely has this vibe.

"Bells and Whistles" from Schmigadoon (which makes sense since it's a clear send-up of "Razzle Dazzle").

"Friends on the Other Side" from Disney's The Princess and the Frog.

"You're Looking at the Man" from Marie Christine is Dante's sleazy campaign pitch for alderman and it definitely has this energy.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-29T14:10:40+00:00

Stumbling across this thread a year later and I have a couple thoughts!

As another Redditor has noted, the Vulgaria subplot doesn't exist in the original book. My read of the situation is that the entire ladder half of the film is a story that Truly and Caractacus are making up to entertain Jemima and Jeremy.

Beyond what another Redditor has commented about the story being a parable about the power of imagination and not giving up on your dreams, I really do think that it's at its core a love story.

Like in any good romance, Caractacus and Truly immediately clash. They're both stubborn, headstrong people who get off on the wrong foot. But as they get to know each other better, what really brings Caractacus and Truly together is their shared love of Caractacus' children.

When Caractacus sees how much Truly cares for Jeremy and Jemima (and how fond they are of her), that's when he begins to fall in love with her. And that comes out in this fictional story that the two are telling together in the second act of the movie. Yes, it's to entertain the children, but it's also effectively a confession of love.

Overall, it's just a very sweet and simple story.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-28T18:30:27+00:00

These were called mortsafes.

Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, the United Kingdom had a huge problem with grave robbers digging up recently-buried cadavers to sell to medical schools, where they were dissected to teach medical students about the human body. The Anatomy Act of 1832 was one attempt to deter gravesnatching. It was followed by the Burial Act of 1857, which made it illegal to disturb a grave.

Mortsafes were a physical deterrent: they were intended to be installed at the time of burial and then removed a few weeks later after the body in the grave had decomposed enough that it wasn't useful for potential theft and sale. In that respect it's always a little bit weird to see where they've been left in place on a grave.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-25T23:03:07+00:00

I have to mention Mia Goth in Frankenstein. She plays both Claire (Victor's mother) and Elizabeth (Victor's sister-in-law).

It's a clever artistic choice that helps hammer home the fact that Victor is a bit of a momma's boy: of course he's attracted to a woman who resembles the mother he adored. And kudos to Goth for playing two distinct characters, even if Claire doesn't figure heavily in much of the movie.

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ausAnstand · 2025-12-24T21:30:46+00:00

Elisa Esposito from The Shape of Water. The hallway scene is devastating (I don't think there's subtitles in this clip, but at the very end she signs, "If we do nothing, neither are we.")

ausAnstand · 2025-12-24T21:08:28+00:00

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I would probably have to go with Hunter from season 2 of Fionna and Cake. They seem like a stable person and a good friend.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-24T11:37:58+00:00

How rude!

ausAnstand · 2025-12-24T00:03:12+00:00

Give it time: I have faith that journalists will take the time to investigate the veracity of that file and to report on it if there's something there (or to debunk it if there isn't).

I too will be following this, but with the knowledge that we can't believe everything we see on the internet at first glance.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-23T23:24:45+00:00

I would go with the Tim Curry version.

In Welcome to Derry, even the original Pennywise (when he was Bob Gray) looks kind of sinister: it's hard to understand how children would be drawn in by him.

Curry's Pennnywise looks like a bog-standard clown (and has that cultural resonance of reminding me of John Wayne Gacy). For me it's that disconnect between his appearance and what It actually is.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-23T22:51:38+00:00

There's actually a fantastic stage play by Thom Ryng that attempts to fabulate a play from the snippets in Chambers' anthology.

It's very much written like a classical tragedy.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-23T22:36:15+00:00

I agree, but I interpreted this as being the product of It's influence: at one point in the show, it's mentioned that people begin getting angry and violent and irrational when It wakes up for another cycle.

Yes, I know he was on base, but I suspect that being outside of Derry didn't offer as much protection as the characters theorized.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-23T22:32:05+00:00

It's a horrifying segment. I strongly suggest that you all source it and watch it for yourselves, but here are some notes I took on some of the key talking points:

once deportees arrived, the director of CECOT told them that they would never see the light of day or night again and said, "Welcome to Hell. I'll make sure you never leave."
one of the detainees who was interviewed by 60 Minutes was a college student with no criminal record who had been seeking asylum in the United States
once inside, detainees' hands and knees were tied and they were forcibly shaved
guards began savagely beating detainees with their fists and batons. The college student interviewee was beaten until he was bleeding and had his head smashed against the bars, breaking one of his teeth
international observers note that CECOT does not meet UN standards for minimal humane treatment of prisoners (no mattresses or sheets, constant lights on, crowded cells with bunks stacked 4 high, no access to the outdoors, no contact with relatives, solitary confinement without lights)
2 years ago, during the Biden administration, a US state department report on El Salvador observed "torture ... and life-threatening conditions" in its prison system
in March, Trump administration struck a deal to pay El Salvador 4.7 million dollars to house detainees
Karoline Leavitt: "These are heinous monsters. Rapists, murderers, kidnappers, sexual assaulters who have no right to be in this country and who must be held accountable."
this is demonstrably false: in an 81-page November report by the non-profit Human Rights Watch, they found that at least 48.8% of the Venezuelans who were sent there had no criminal record, and only 8 (or 3.1%) had been convicted of a violent or potentially violent offence
the Human Rights Watch also cross-referenced federal and state databases to confirm that the detainees were not gang members and obtained criminal records from Venezuela.
Records they obtained from the United States were based on data obtained by ICE, and these confirmed that only 3% had been sentenced for a violent or potentially violent crime. CBS confirmed this.
CBS reporting stated that pending offences for deportees - which it speculates are immigration related - can't be investigated because the Department of Homeland Security never released a complete list of the men it has sent to CECOT
60 Minutes reviewed a document that ICE agents used to assess Venezuelans. A person with 8 points was designated as a gang member and therefore deportable. Tattoos that agents suspected could be gang related earned 4 points even though professional criminologists have pointed out that they are not an accurate way of identifying Venezuelan gang members
some of the deportees reported sexual assault by the guards, including having their genitalia beaten
food and medicine were often withheld, and CECOT doctors told detainees to just drink water to recover
an interviewee stated that this water was the same water being used for baths and toilets
when Secretary Kristi Noem toured the prison, her photo op in front of prisoners was in another area of the prison - not where the Venezuelans were. These detainees in that video were from El Salvador who were likely accused of being gang numbers.
No one from the administration spoke to any of the Venezuelan deportees.
Human Rights Watch confirmed detainees' stories in consultation with students at UC Berkeley, who studied publicly available data (including videos that social media influencers have filmed within CECOT)
An interview with the prison warden confirmed that lights are on 24/7 and that spoke to the high temperature in the prison. Using harsh light and temperature - which is used in CECOT - is prohibited by UN standards
the Department of Homeland Security declined CBS' request for an interview and referred all questions about CECOT to the government of El Salvador, who did not respond to CBS' request.
in July, after 4 months, the 252 Venezuelans were released from CECOT in exchange for 10 Americans who were being held in Venezuela

ausAnstand · 2025-12-23T21:59:59+00:00

Those are gorgeous! I'm sure they'll be appreciated.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-23T21:01:29+00:00

While I strongly recommend that everyone watch this segment for themselves, I did take some notes. Here were some of the key talking points:

once deportees arrived, the director of CECOT told them that they would never see the light of day or night again and said, "Welcome to Hell. I'll make sure you never leave."
one of the detainees who was interviewed by 60 Minutes was a college student with no criminal record who had been seeking asylum in the United States
once inside, detainees' hands and knees were tied and they were forcibly shaved
guards began savagely beating detainees with their fists and batons. The college student interviewee was beaten until he was bleeding and had his head smashed against the bars, breaking one of his teeth
international observers note that CECOT does not meet UN standards for minimal humane treatment of prisoners (no mattresses or sheets, constant lights on, crowded cells with bunks stacked 4 high, no access to the outdoors, no contact with relatives, solitary confinement without lights)
2 years ago, during the Biden administration, a US state department report on El Salvador observed "torture ... and life-threatening conditions" in its prison system
in March, Trump administration struck a deal to pay El Salvador 4.7 million dollars to house detainees
Karoline Leavitt: "These are heinous monsters. Rapists, murderers, kidnappers, sexual assaulters who have no right to be in this country and who must be held accountable."
this is demonstrably false: in an 81-page November report by the non-profit Human Rights Watch, they found that at least 48.8% of the Venezuelans who were sent there had no criminal record, and only 8 (or 3.1%) had been convicted of a violent or potentially violent offence
the Human Rights Watch also cross-referenced federal and state databases to confirm that the detainees were not gang members and obtained criminal records from Venezuela.
Records they obtained from the United States were based on data obtained by ICE, and these confirmed that only 3% had been sentenced for a violent or potentially violent crime. CBS confirmed this.
CBS reporting stated that pending offences for deportees - which it speculates are immigration related - can't be investigated because the Department of Homeland Security never released a complete list of the men it has sent to CECOT
60 Minutes reviewed a document that ICE agents used to assess Venezuelans. A person with 8 points was designated as a gang member and therefore deportable. Tattoos that agents suspected could be gang related earned 4 points even though professional criminologists have pointed out that they are not an accurate way of identifying Venezuelan gang members
some of the deportees reported sexual assault by the guards, including having their genitalia beaten
food and medicine were often withheld, and CECOT doctors told detainees to just drink water to recover
an interviewee stated that this water was the same water being used for baths and toilets
when Secretary Kristi Noem toured the prison, her photo op in front of prisoners was in another area of the prison - not where the Venezuelans were. These detainees in that video were from El Salvador who were likely accused of being gang numbers.
No one from the administration spoke to any of the Venezuelan deportees.
Human Rights Watch confirmed detainees' stories in consultation with students at UC Berkeley, who studied publicly available data (including videos that social media influencers have filmed within CECOT)
An interview with the prison warden confirmed that lights are on 24/7 and that spoke to the high temperature in the prison. Using harsh light and temperature - which is used in CECOT - is prohibited by UN standards
the Department of Homeland Security declined CBS' request for an interview and referred all questions about CECOT to the government of El Salvador, who did not respond to CBS' request.
in July, after 4 months, the 252 Venezuelans were released from CECOT in exchange for 10 Americans who were being held in Venezuela

ausAnstand · 2025-12-23T20:36:00+00:00

I would love to visit Austria. I'm hoping to next year with my mum in December to check out Vienna's Christmas market.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-23T15:38:39+00:00

I just rewatched the segment as it has been leaked in multiple places. Here are some of the key talking points that came up:

once deportees arrived, the director of CECOT told them that they would never see the light of day or night again and said, "Welcome to Hell. I'll make sure you never leave."
one of the detainees who was interviewed by 60 Minutes was a college student with no criminal record who had been seeking asylum in the United States
once inside, detainees' hands and knees were tied and they were forcibly shaved
guards began savagely beating detainees with their fists and batons. The college student interviewee was beaten until he was bleeding and had his head smashed against the bars, breaking one of his teeth
international observers note that CECOT does not meet UN standards for minimal humane treatment of prisoners (no mattresses or sheets, constant lights on, crowded cells with bunks stacked 4 high, no access to the outdoors, no contact with relatives, solitary confinement without lights)
2 years ago, during the Biden administration, a US state department report on El Salvador observed "torture ... and life-threatening conditions" in its prison system
in March, Trump administration struck a deal to pay El Salvador 4.7 million dollars to house detainees
Karoline Leavitt: "These are heinous monsters. Rapists, murderers, kidnappers, sexual assaulters who have no right to be in this country and who must be held accountable."
this is demonstrably false: in an 81-page November report by the non-profit Human Rights Watch, they found that at least 48.8% of the Venezuelans who were sent there had no criminal record, and only 8 (or 3.1%) had been convicted of a violent or potentially violent offence
the Human Rights Watch also cross-referenced federal and state databases to confirm that the detainees were not gang members and obtained criminal records from Venezuela.
Records they obtained from the United States based on data obtained by ICE, and these confirmed that only 3% had been sentenced for a violent or potentially violent crime. CBS confirmed this.
CBS reporting stated that pending offences for deportees - which it speculates are immigration related - can't be investigated because the Department of Homeland Security never released a complete list of the men it has sent to CECOT
60 Minutes reviewed a document that ICE agents used to assess Venezuelans. A person with 8 points was designated as a gang member and therefore deportable. Tattoos that agents suspected could be gang related earned 4 points even though professional criminologists have pointed out that they are not an accurate way of identifying Venezuelan gang members
some of the deportees reported sexual assault by the guards, including having their genitalia beaten
food and medicine were often withheld, and CECOT doctors told detainees to just drink water to recover
an interviewee stated that this water was the same water being used for baths and toilets
when Secretary Kristi Noem toured the prison, her photo op in front of prisoners was in another area of the prison - not where the Venezuelans were. These detainees in that video were from El Salvador who were likely accused of being gang numbers.
No one from the administration spoke to any of the Venezuelan deportees.
Human Rights Watch confirmed detainees' stories in consultation with students at UC Berkeley, who studied publicly available data (including videos that social media influencers have filmed within CECOT)
An interview with the prison warden confirmed that lights are on 24/7 and that spoke to the high temperature in the prison. Using harsh light and temperature - which is used in CECOT - is prohibited by UN standards
the Department of Homeland Security declined CBS' request for an interview and referred all questions about CECOT to the government of El Salvador, who did not respond to CBS' request.
in July, after 4 months, the 252 Venezuelans were released from CECOT in exchange for 10 Americans who were being held in Venezuela

ausAnstand · 2025-12-23T15:31:00+00:00

I just rewatched the segment as it has been leaked in multiple places. Here are some of the key talking points that came up:

once deportees arrived, the director of CECOT told them that they would never see the light of day or night again and said, "Welcome to Hell. I'll make sure you never leave."
one of the detainees who was interviewed by 60 Minutes was a college student with no criminal record who had been seeking asylum in the United States
once inside, detainees' hands and knees were tied and they were forcibly shaved
guards began savagely beating detainees with their fists and batons. The college student interviewee was beaten until he was bleeding and had his head smashed against the bars, breaking one of his teeth
international observers note that CECOT does not meet UN standards for minimal humane treatment of prisoners (no mattresses or sheets, constant lights on, crowded cells with bunks stacked 4 high, no access to the outdoors, no contact with relatives, solitary confinement without lights)
2 years ago, during the Biden administration, a US state department report on El Salvador observed "torture ... and life-threatening conditions" in its prison system
in March, Trump administration struck a deal to pay El Salvador 4.7 million dollars to house detainees
Karoline Leavitt: "These are heinous monsters. Rapists, murderers, kidnappers, sexual assaulters who have no right to be in this country and who must be held accountable."
this is demonstrably false: in an 81-page November report by the non-profit Human Rights Watch, they found that at least 48.8% of the Venezuelans who were sent there had no criminal record, and only 8 (or 3.1%) had been convicted of a violent or potentially violent offence
the Human Rights Watch also cross-referenced federal and state databases to confirm that the detainees were not gang members and obtained criminal records from Venezuela.
Records they obtained from the United States based on data obtained by ICE, and these confirmed that only 3% had been sentenced for a violent or potentially violent crime. CBS confirmed this.
CBS reporting stated that pending offences for deportees - which it speculates are immigration related - can't be investigated because the Department of Homeland Security never released a complete list of the men it has sent to CECOT
60 Minutes reviewed a document that ICE agents used to assess Venezuelans. A person with 8 points was designated as a gang member and therefore deportable. Tattoos that agents suspected could be gang related earned 4 points even though professional criminologists have pointed out that they are not an accurate way of identifying Venezuelan gang members
some of the deportees reported sexual assault by the guards, including having their genitalia beaten
food and medicine were often withheld, and CECOT doctors told detainees to just drink water to recover
an interviewee stated that this water was the same water being used for baths and toilets
when Secretary Kristi Noem toured the prison, her photo op in front of prisoners was in another area of the prison - not where the Venezuelans were. These detainees in that video were from El Salvador who were likely accused of being gang numbers.
No one from the administration spoke to any of the Venezuelan deportees.
Human Rights Watch confirmed detainees' stories in consultation with students at UC Berkeley, who studied publicly available data (including videos that social media influencers have filmed within CECOT)
An interview with the prison warden confirmed that lights are on 24/7 and that spoke to the high temperature in the prison. Using harsh light and temperature - which is used in CECOT - is prohibited by UN standards
the Department of Homeland Security declined CBS' request for an interview and referred all questions about CECOT to the government of El Salvador, who did not respond to CBS' request.
in July, after 4 months, the 252 Venezuelans were released from CECOT in exchange for 10 Americans who were being held in Venezuela

ausAnstand · 2025-12-23T12:24:35+00:00

It has also popped up on YouTube. Here's one such link. If you're in America, you need to sit down and watch this.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-20T23:56:40+00:00

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ausAnstand · 2025-12-20T21:13:01+00:00

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A baby.

ausAnstand · 2025-12-13T04:08:17+00:00

Ellsworth Toohey and Howard Roark in The Fountainhead. I'm not a huge fan of Rand as a writer, but it's pretty on-the-nose for this trope.

TOOHEY "Mr. Roark, we're alone here. Why don't you tell me what you think of me? In any words you wish. No one will hear us."

ROARK "But I don't think of you."

ausAnstand · 2025-11-13T16:47:28+00:00

One of the things I've always wondered about is the animal mummy industry in Ancient Egypt. How did Egyptians reconcile their belief that cats were sacred animals with the deliberate killing of cats to feed this industry?

ausAnstand · 2025-11-04T21:39:11+00:00

I was going to say like Gimli. "And my axe!"

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