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PaperclipPerfector  12d ago (text post)   33246 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 2025

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That isn’t even remotely my argument. The change I want is far more radical than anything imagined by Trump/Musk.

What is the change you want?

But the public demand their bennies, and if you want to significantly cut spending you have to cut them. It’s that simple. Nothing DOGE has uncovered even somewhat challenges that thesis.

I agree with this, and frankly it seems like most people in my generation (early 30s) tacitly accept we are never going to get social security because of this issue.

What is the change you want?

Repeal birthright citizenship (through congress, or at least fight for it there, given its central importance to the entire future of the country), repeal CRA (certain limited provisions of which can be replaced by much more limited, targeted laws), begin preparations to hand Taiwan to China after domestic chip production scales up and use intimidation and force to relocate as much of what remains to the US, end all federal student loans and tuition support, force Ukraine into the most realistic peace deal (threaten to unilaterally revoke sanctions on Russia if they drag their heels), begin realistic preparations to deport ALL 13+ million illegal migrants in the US (investing tens of billions in holding facilities, hire 300+ thousand temporary ICE staff, checkpoints in every city, raid every blue collar contracting business in any major city, mandatory nationwide E-verify enhanced with biometric security to get around existing loopholes as part of a national ID program - as discussed above the feds probably already have your biometrics), abolish all postal voting (Americans abroad can vote at embassies), end the carried interest loophole, tax childlessness heavily, jack up interest rates to unfathomable levels to force an asset price crash, abolish NASA (fold some defense programs into DOD, Elon can explore space on his own dime or for commercial interests), breakup Google and Amazon, allow and encourage hospitals to refuse to treat homeless drug addicts, hand out free lethal dose fentanyl in certain urban centers and ban narcan for first responders in overdose hotspots, execute roughly 20-40x the number of criminals per year the US does now, mandate all office-based male federal government employees and their peers at all institutions that receive federal funding wear a suit, tie and black oxford shoes to work every day, NO exceptions, hand Ozempic out for free to every fat American at taxpayer expense, destroy much of the HFCS industry, grant unlimited 5 year work visas with pathway to citizenship to citizens of all western european nations (call it the ‘ellis island program’) if they have ‘distant family’ matches ithw Americans in popular DNA databases, adopt a foreign policy built around getting European countries to change immigration policy with the stick if necessary, implement a mandatory ‘national college admissions test’ that must be the sole criterion for admission at any federally funded college, but also reserve 5% of places at elite colleges for the highest performing URM, and fire loud, midwit racists from DOGE and wider government since that kind of thing is just vulgar and racial hatred is cruel and wrong.

grant unlimited 5 year work visas with pathway to citizenship to citizens of all western european nations (call it the ‘ellis island program’) if they have ‘distant family’ matches ithw Americans in popular DNA databases, adopt a foreign policy built around getting European countries to change immigration policy with the stick if necessary

If the first one actually worked to any appreciable degree, it would of course conflict against the goal of the second one (assuming that "change immigration policy" means "no third-world immigration to Europe"), considering how much of the latter is labor immigration to plug the workforce deficiencies caused by the birth rate crash.

People can pay more for vegetable and manual labor automation is already picking up with multimodal LLMs.

pathway to citizenship to citizens of all western european nations

Maybe citizens of all western european nations whose grandparents were citizens. To avoid the wrong sorts of citizens I think some sort of 'Ahnenpass' would be necessary.

mandate all office-based male federal government employees (…) wear black oxford shoes to work every day, NO exceptions

No exceptions? What if the gentleman is missing both legs?

Irrelevant joke, but putting "NO exceptions" quite so emphatically just begged for some smart-aleck to find a loophole, and I'm that guy. Besides it adds a bit of levity to my more substantial reply which is to observe that "cruel and wrong", in my book, describes a great deal - though not all! - of your proposed suggestions; and also that trying to implement most of them, particularly the '300,000 temporary ICE agents' thing, would result in an actual literal civil war.

No exceptions? What if the gentleman is missing both legs?

Didn't say where he has to wear them.

I would love to see a top-level comment laying out the arguments for all of these.

I think I generally agree with most of this except the biometric ID, and abolishing NASA!!!! How could you even say that?! You don't think space is important?

And wait when you say free lethal dose, you mean kill addicts without their knowledge? I don't get it.

Also I'm curious how you got to a lot of these policies without being religious?

And wait when you say free lethal dose, you mean kill addicts without their knowledge? I don't get it.

I mean I believe in assisted suicide for those who live like they want to die.

Also I'm curious how you got to a lot of these policies without being religious?

I’m not religious or trad, I just want to live in a functioning society.

and black oxford shoes to work every day, NO exceptions,

Well now you've just lost me. Derby shoes are clearly the superior choice here because they fit a range of feet widths and sizes more appropriately. And are more appropriate to transition to a happy hour after work for that matter. Until the Ozempic has done its work forcing overweight people into Oxford shoes is I am sure against both the Geneva convention and general aesthetics! We should leave the torture for Guantanamo and/or whatever camp we have to open in Canada as the 51st state.

Plus you didn't specify the color of the suit and I will not be caught dead in black Oxford shoes with a navy blue suit! The youth of today are simply wrong on that front. And since pale skin looks better in a navy blue suit than a black suit, let us not discriminate against white people. Suit and tie is fine, allow either navy blue or black, perhaps even charcoal, but let's allow black or brown Oxford or Derby shoes. Let's at least leave some room for some sartorial elegance. We can leave the government Men in Black look behind behind us. No brogues though, I think we can agree on that.

More seriously black Oxfords with a black suit is very formal which means you have not much room (except a tuxedo) to dress up further for important meetings or events. So navy blue suits with a brown Derby shoe for day to day use, with a black suit and a black Oxford shoe for when you are meeting the President or pleading with DOGE or similar. Tuxedo with the Oxford (or perhaps even a wingtip if you are feeling like causing a scandal!) for when you make it to a White House gala. That gives you 3 specific "grades" of formality with distinct looks.

Luckily we do not need to consider what to wear to one of Diddy's White parties because a white suit is just gauche.

More seriously black Oxfords with a black suit is very formal which means you have not much room (except a tuxedo) to dress up further for important meetings or events

Bring back morning dress. Seriously. It is just about hanging on in the UK, mostly at Royal Ascot and daytime weddings. It has died out in the US to the point where Americans wear black tie at formal daytime weddings.

So navy blue suits with a brown Derby shoe for day to day use

Watch out for @die_workwear and his crack team of Kingsman agents if you wear brown in town.

with a black suit and a black Oxford shoe for when you are meeting the President

Plain black is for mourning-with-a-u or evening. It doesn't look good in full daylight - the most formal business suits are charcoal grey. Morning-without-a-u coats are usually black, but the trousers are not.

Tuxedo with the Oxford (or perhaps even a wingtip if you are feeling like causing a scandal!) for when you make it to a White House gala.

If we are bringing back higher standards of dress, a formal evening event at the White House should surely be White Tie?

Bring back morning dress. Seriously.

Yes! Please! I love tailcoats. And it's not as though they're any harder to deal with than regular coats / jackets. One of the projects that's been on my mind for ages is finding a tailor / costumier willing to experiment with 'casual' tail coats.

If we are bringing back higher standards of dress, a formal evening event at the White House should surely be White Tie?

Yees but we're talking about the entire male federal workforce here, we're already asking them to have 3 levels of fanciness. I'm not sure we can go with white tie as well. Maybe that's if they get invited to get the Medal of Freedom or whatever.

As for no brown in town. I repudiate them! A brown Oxford or Derby looks much better with a navy suit than black. And I wore brown in town all the time in my time in the City, and no-one ever assaulted me with an umbrella. A charcoal grey suit is a good choice though. But unless we are providing a fashion budget (re-allocate USAID funds to tailors for the Feds?), I am not sure how many suits we can expect them to have and keep well tailored.

Yees but we're talking about the entire male federal workforce here, we're already asking them to have 3 levels of fanciness. I'm not sure we can go with white tie as well. Maybe that's if they get invited to get the Medal of Freedom or whatever.

Neufert's architectural reference is excruciatingly utilitarian, measuring everything to squeeze out every square centimeter. Here's what it uses to size a man's closet:

  • 2 summer suits
  • 2 winter suits
  • 1 tracksuit
  • 2 summer coats
  • 1 raincoat
  • 2 winter coats
  • 1 black suit
  • 1 dinner jacket
  • 1 tailcoat
  • 6 nightshirts
  • 12 shirts
  • 12 undershirts
  • 6 t-shirts
  • 12 undergarments
  • 3 white tie shirts
  • 8 pocket squares
  • 24 pairs of socks
  • 2 summer hats
  • 2 winter caps
  • 1 straw hat
  • 2 scarves
  • 5 pairs of shoes
  • 2 pairs of boots
  • 2 pairs or track shoes
  • 2 pairs of slippers

If the Germans think a man should have seven suits, including a tux and tails, then why shouldn't much richer Americans have them?

An interest question given that this is presumably translated from German, but is the tailcoat supposed to be a morning coat or white tie? They are different designs of tailcoat for different purposes.

In the modern UK, I suspect a morning coat would be worn more often, but I can imagine the opposite being true elsewhere.

I expect it to be "der Frack", which is the white tie version. Give than the morning coat is called "der Cutaway" in German, I don't believe it's common there. I also think that the "black suit" on the list is "der Stresemann", a stroller suit.

The stroller has basically disappeared in the UK, with black-tie tier daytime events either switching down to suits or up to full morning dress. I support this trend, as I am not aware of anyone except Winston Churchill managing to look noticeably better in a stroller than a business suit.

More comments

Yes, one doesn’t really see morning dress in the Germanic world. White tie one sees occasionally, eg. certain balls during the season in Vienna.

I will not be caught dead in black Oxford shoes with a navy blue suit!

No brown in town, sorry.

Yes, aren’t black oxford shoes and a navy suit the standard business dress for men?

I suspect a lot of people would claim to have found the elusive Jewish Nazi if they read this, but if I were Congress and you were Elon, I would let you get away with this program.

I would also hire some kind of taxpayer funded cringe gamer art hoe active-on-AI-twitter escort to seduce Elon and distract him from public activity for 4 years.

Why does this sound awfully specific?

I don't know if you're being facetious, but remove the "escort" and that's literally Grimes.

I think it's supposed to be Aella.

I almost would have assumed Lana Rain, she might be able to distract Elon by talking about psychedelics.

I'd be surprised if 2rafa could find even one person that meets that description.

Have you heard of our lord and savior, bullet points?

  • Repeal birthright citizenship (through congress, or at least fight for it there, given its central importance to the entire future of the country)

  • repeal CRA (certain limited provisions of which can be replaced by much more limited, targeted laws)

  • begin preparations to hand Taiwan to China after domestic chip production scales up and use intimidation and force to relocate as much of what remains to the US

  • end all federal student loans and tuition support

  • force Ukraine into the most realistic peace deal (threaten to unilaterally revoke sanctions on Russia if they drag their heels)

  • begin realistic preparations to deport ALL 13+ million illegal migrants in the US (investing tens of billions in holding facilities, hire 300+ thousand temporary ICE staff, checkpoints in every city, raid every blue collar contracting business in any major city, mandatory nationwide E-verify enhanced with biometric security to get around existing loopholes as part of a national ID program - as discussed above the feds probably already have your biometrics)

  • abolish all postal voting (Americans abroad can vote at embassies)

  • end the carried interest loophole

  • tax childlessness heavily

  • jack up interest rates to unfathomable levels to force an asset price crash

  • abolish NASA (fold some defense programs into DOD, Elon can explore space on his own dime or for commercial interests)

  • breakup Google and Amazon

  • allow and encourage hospitals to refuse to treat homeless drug addicts

  • hand out free lethal dose fentanyl in certain urban centers and ban narcan for first responders in overdose hotspots

  • execute roughly 20-40x the number of criminals per year the US does now

  • mandate all office-based male federal government employees and their peers at all institutions that receive federal funding wear a suit, tie and black oxford shoes to work every day, NO exceptions

  • hand Ozempic out for free to every fat American at taxpayer expense

  • destroy much of the HFCS industry

  • grant unlimited 5 year work visas with pathway to citizenship to citizens of all western european nations (call it the ‘ellis island program’) if they have ‘distant family’ matches with Americans in popular DNA databases

  • adopt a foreign policy built around getting European countries to change immigration policy with the stick if necessary

  • implement a mandatory ‘national college admissions test’ that must be the sole criterion for admission at any federally funded college, but also reserve 5% of places at elite colleges for the highest performing URM

  • fire loud, midwit racists from DOGE and wider government since that kind of thing is just vulgar and racial hatred is cruel and wrong.

If you ever get under my skin, I will send you a badly formatted text when you're crossing a busy street.

Wow, I don't think you've done that to anyone since at least the forum migration.

Jesus, I wouldn't wish that even on my worst enemy.

Aww, it was kind of meant to be a wall of text!

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