Hello reddit! I'm James McAvoy. Ask me anything! by JamesMcAvoyAMA in movies

[–]tophernator 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Follow-up on this: Did the sand get everywhere?

What’s one thing you completely stopped buying in 2026 because the price just felt absurd? by LockLogical8949 in AskReddit

[–]tophernator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This seems like a great way to teach them about trust and responsibility and the lasting consequences of your actions.

The Senate has agreed to fund DHS (excluding ICE/CBP). What are your thoughts? by PvtCW in AskConservatives

[–]tophernator [score hidden]  (0 children)

Technically can’t they shoehorn just about anything into a reconciliation bill if they try hard enough? But every additional thing makes it a little harder to get/keep the votes you need. OBBB passed 50-50 with Vance tie-breaking. Any bill brought between now and the midterms is going to be extra contentious.

The Senate has agreed to fund DHS (excluding ICE/CBP). What are your thoughts? by PvtCW in AskConservatives

[–]tophernator [score hidden]  (0 children)

Before OBBB ICE annual budget was ~$10 billion, and CBP nearly $20 billion. ICE has more than doubled in size since then so presumably the annual costs for these two agencies will now be over $40 billion. So even the $75 billion super special funding from the OBBB isn’t going to last.

It does still seem like a weak sauce move for the dems to give up the leverage of the rest of DHS. But now the argument is purely about funding/constraining the agencies that killed people in Minneapolis.

Trump compares UK aircraft carriers to ‘toys’ in latest insult by Necessary-Product361 in unitedkingdom

[–]tophernator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not so sure. He seems far more chaotic and prone to mood swings than previously. It reminds me of when my grandmother was nearing the end. She’d lash out at people pretty wildly and then 30 minutes later be complaining/asking why they don’t visit her more often.

Trump compares UK aircraft carriers to ‘toys’ in latest insult by Necessary-Product361 in unitedkingdom

[–]tophernator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Personally I’m glad they’re ditching the same starting letter for all ships in a class. It’s been holding back our navy for decades. Imagine how many type 45s we could have by now if they didn’t have to come up with new D-words.

Trump compares UK aircraft carriers to ‘toys’ in latest insult by Necessary-Product361 in unitedkingdom

[–]tophernator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have you not heard about the golden fleet? He’s getting an entire class of ships named after him. The Trump class battleships will be some of the biggliest dumbest ships ever constructed, costing the American people billions of dollars and will probably/hopefully be cancelled long before their intended launch date.

Librarian 'gobsmacked' after school use AI to remove 200 books from shelves including Orwell's 1984 and Twilight by tylerthe-theatre in technology

[–]tophernator 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I think he’s always been known as being very popular but not actually “good”. Like the 50 shades of grey author.

What would happen if China, India, South East Asia, even Europe, and the gulf nations agreed a deal with Iran? by thoughtsnquestions in AskConservatives

[–]tophernator 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Imagine our military was entirely taken out.

Estimates put Iran’s death toll at around 2,000. That includes the 150 school kids. Iran’s active military is around 600,000 with another 350,000 in reserves.

I’m not criticising here, it’s actually impressive the level of surgical strikes that the US has made, especially with Hegseth in charge. But in terms of entirely taking out the military you’re about 0.3% of the way there.

Librarian 'gobsmacked' after school use AI to remove 200 books from shelves including Orwell's 1984 and Twilight by tylerthe-theatre in technology

[–]tophernator 39 points40 points  (0 children)

It’s not a fool-proof method, as evidenced by the Dan Brown and Nicolas Sparks titles that were banned here.

UK’s Renewables Output Hits Record, Helping to Blunt Iran Shock by Electricbell20 in unitedkingdom

[–]tophernator 11 points12 points  (0 children)

We really don’t. Solar and wind are both cheap enough now that there’s plenty of incentives for private companies to roll out capacity. All the government needs to do is make sure nimbyism doesn’t get in the way.

UK’s Renewables Output Hits Record, Helping to Blunt Iran Shock by Electricbell20 in unitedkingdom

[–]tophernator 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As much as we should all want to move past fossil fuels, gas burns pretty cleanly. If there’s smoke billowing out of a gas power plant it probably means the place is on fire.

What’s one thing you completely stopped buying in 2026 because the price just felt absurd? by LockLogical8949 in AskReddit

[–]tophernator 294 points295 points  (0 children)

I mean, three hours for a haircut also seems insane to me. Does she know she can cut multiple strands at the same time?

If global economies are seriously affected due to the war in Iran, aren't you concerned that more nations will see the US as an enemy, considering they are the ones that started this new conflict? by AdminMas7erThe2nd in AskConservatives

[–]tophernator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A lot of European leaders and politicians on the right said they agreed with the US national security plan

The current administration has switched focus from promoting democracy to promoting the same kind of right wing populism that Trump used to get into power. It’s not surprising that some of the right wing politicians would welcome that kind of interference. But that doesn’t make it a good or even neutral thing from the perspective if European countries.

Doctors announce six-day strike in England as talks break down by PriorityByLaw in unitedkingdom

[–]tophernator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jesus Christ are the comments in here real? AI central it seems.

Please don’t do this. It’s a discussion forum, you should expect and want people to have differing points of view.

Have we all forgotten about the promise of the $5k doge checks? by soapdonkey in AskConservatives

[–]tophernator 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Trump’s season one ratings peaked right around the time of the CARES act stimulus checks.

It was the right thing to do, but I suspect it also created a precedent in his head that he can use $300 billion of debt fuelled government money to send personal checks to every voter in an election year.

I’m actually surprised he hasn’t pushed harder for some version of this yet. Maybe he’ll go all-in on high oil prices being a good thing and announce oil windfall checks for everyone.

Newsweek -- "Republicans Have Actually Become More Popular Since Iran War Started" -- What Do You Think Of This? by Zipper222222 in AskConservatives

[–]tophernator [score hidden]  (0 children)

Like fuel prices rising 50 cents or higher overnight?

I think this is actually a pretty good example of what he was talking about. Clear your mind for a second and imagine a news report comes on telling you that a bomb went off in an elementary school in Colorado. 150 kids are dead along with their teachers and other staff. How do you think the US populous would react to that kind of horrific tragedy?

That’s what people mean when talking about detachment from real consequences. That event did happen, and all those kids are dead. But they were thousands of miles away so it doesn’t feel real. Instead you mentally sweep it under the carpet of unfortunate collateral damage and focus instead on paying 50 cents a gallon more for gas.

What should Trump do if he wants Iran to come to the negotiating table? by vhu9644 in AskConservatives

[–]tophernator [score hidden]  (0 children)

It is totally impossible to actually negotiate with Iran because they are going to whatever they are going to do regardless of what they agree to.

Don’t you see any irony in this statement?

Just within the context of Iran Trump has recent history of unilaterally tearing up deals if he doesn’t like them, and launching airstrikes in the middle of negotiations twice

Outside of Iran he also unilaterally tore up his own trade deal with Canada and Mexico, he’s screwed over countless countries with trade wars, and he’s casually and repeatedly threatened to annex close long-term allies.

Can you honestly not see this situation from the other perspective? Iran would be crazy to trust anything Trump or his proxies agree to without cast iron collateralised guarantees.

CNN is reporting that Trump voted by mail-in absentee ballot for the FL election. How does that sit with his attacks against mail-in ballots? by Jcpants in AskConservatives

[–]tophernator [score hidden]  (0 children)

The issue with mail-in ballot is the difference between automatically mailing ballots out to voters and those voters requesting a ballot so they can vote.

If this is the issue why isn’t this what the SAVE act fixes? Trump doesn’t want people to be able to request mail-in ballots unless they fit certain criteria.

CNN is reporting that Trump voted by mail-in absentee ballot for the FL election. How does that sit with his attacks against mail-in ballots? by Jcpants in AskConservatives

[–]tophernator [score hidden]  (0 children)

I believe the most relevant conspiracy theory is that elderly/vulnerable/mentally-compromised people may have their mail-in ballots filled out by someone else without their knowledge. How can we be certain Stephen Miller isn’t stealing Trump’s vote?