United States Politics Thread 47

[Raphael]

Completely unrelated, rather not-family-friendly US political history question: I once heard or read somewhere that John F. Kennedy, back when he was President, once had an, as it turned out, extremely brief affair with a woman who later commented on that by saying something like, "Those were the most exciting [fill in a time span I keep forgetting here] of my life." In any case, the time span in question was really embarrassingly short. Does anyone know the exact quote?

(Yes, I tried searching the web for that quote, but I couldn't find it. That's why I'm asking about it here.)

[rotting bones]

I don't always agree with you, but I wouldn't have expected you to be actually willing to say something that stupid.

If they keep it up, "Quisling Prize" will be a nice insult. "Quisling" has entered the English language:

quis·ling
/ˈkwizliNG/
noun
a traitor who collaborates with an enemy force occupying their country.
"he had the Quisling owner of the factory arrested"

[Ares Land]

Completely unrelated, rather not-family-friendly US political history question: I once heard or read somewhere that John F. Kennedy, back when he was President, once had an, as it turned out, extremely brief affair with a woman who later commented on that by saying something like, "Those were the most exciting [fill in a time span I keep forgetting here] of my life." In any case, the time span in question was really embarrassingly short. Does anyone know the exact quote?

(Yes, I tried searching the web for that quote, but I couldn't find it. That's why I'm asking about it here.)

It's certainly apocryphal, but I think it was Angie Dickinson: 'the best twenty seconds in my life.'
I think every country has a version of that one. Here it was Chirac and 'five minutes, including a shower.'

[keenir]

I don't always agree with you, but I wouldn't have expected you to be actually willing to say something that stupid.

If they keep it up, "Quisling Prize" will be a nice insult. "Quisling" has entered the English language:

quis·ling
/ˈkwizliNG/
noun
a traitor who collaborates with an enemy force occupying their country.
"he had the Quisling owner of the factory arrested"

pretty sure quisling has been in the English language for a long while now. also, if you're going to use the Caps on the word, you need to Italicize it.
;p

[Lērisama]

I don't always agree with you, but I wouldn't have expected you to be actually willing to say something that stupid.

If they keep it up, "Quisling Prize" will be a nice insult. "Quisling" has entered the English language:

I'll say it slightly more explicitly then. I, at least, tend to frown on snide comments verging on conspiracy theories based solely on some people's nationalities just like I would frown on any snide comments verging on conspiracy theories based solely in some people's nationalities.

[Travis B.]

I don't always agree with you, but I wouldn't have expected you to be actually willing to say something that stupid.

If they keep it up, "Quisling Prize" will be a nice insult. "Quisling" has entered the English language:

I'll say it slightly more explicitly then. I, at least, tend to frown on snide comments verging on conspiracy theories based solely on some people's nationalities just like I would frown on any snide comments verging on conspiracy theories based solely in some people's nationalities.

I was going to hold off on joining in on calling rotting bones a troll... but things like this (combined with his comments elsewhere on here about how Christians are ostensibly more prone to genocide due to worshipping Christ on the cross) seem to imply it...

[rotting bones]

I'll say it slightly more explicitly then. I, at least, tend to frown on snide comments verging on conspiracy theories based solely on some people's nationalities just like I would frown on any snide comments verging on conspiracy theories based solely in some people's nationalities.

This is punching up. People in power are using their power to support others in power. It doesn't work against ordinary Norwegians because Quisling explicitly betrayed Norway to a foreign power.

[rotting bones]

I was going to hold off on joining in on calling rotting bones a troll... but things like this (combined with his comments elsewhere on here about how Christians are ostensibly more prone to genocide due to worshipping Christ on the cross) seem to imply it...

You're putting words in my mouth.

[Ares Land]

I was going to hold off on joining in on calling rotting bones a troll... but things like this (combined with his comments elsewhere on here about how Christians are ostensibly more prone to genocide due to worshipping Christ on the cross) seem to imply it...

You're putting words in my mouth.

I don't think you're a troll, myself, but I don't blame people for thinking so. We've argued for years now, so I can often (though not always) look past the style at the actual point you're making, but yeah, sometimes people are just bound to get the wrong idea. ("terrorism thread"? of course that comes across as trolling.)

[Ares Land]

Oh, also, the Nobel peace prize is Swedish, not Norwegian. That's a whole 'nother country.
It'd be nice to take a few minutes to look up stuff sometimes. You'd have learned that Quisling was hated by just about every Norwegian for his collaboration, was forced as head of government at gunpoint, which the reason why 'quisling' passed into common language.

[malloc]

Anyone else attend one of the No Kings protests today? I was genuinely impressed by the size of the one in my area. There must have been hundreds of people there. That is quite impressive given the overwhelming conservatism of Missouri and especially this county.

[rotting bones]

Oh, also, the Nobel peace prize is Swedish, not Norwegian. That's a whole 'nother country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Nobel_Committee

It'd be nice to take a few minutes to look up stuff sometimes. You'd have learned that Quisling was hated by just about every Norwegian for his collaboration, was forced as head of government at gunpoint, which the reason why 'quisling' passed into common language.

That's why it's a good insult.

[keenir]

Anyone else attend one of the No Kings protests today? I was genuinely impressed by the size of the one in my area. There must have been hundreds of people there. That is quite impressive given the overwhelming conservatism of Missouri and especially this county.

...thus demonstrating what we've been telling you: Trump has alienated and offended even conservatives and MAGA.

[keenir]

It'd be nice to take a few minutes to look up stuff sometimes. You'd have learned that Quisling was hated by just about every Norwegian for his collaboration, was forced as head of government at gunpoint, which the reason why 'quisling' passed into common language.

That's why it's a good insult.

because he was forced to do the job?

[Travis B.]

It'd be nice to take a few minutes to look up stuff sometimes. You'd have learned that Quisling was hated by just about every Norwegian for his collaboration, was forced as head of government at gunpoint, which the reason why 'quisling' passed into common language.

That's why it's a good insult.

because he was forced to do the job?

I think Ares Land meant that Quisling was forced upon the Norwegians at gunpoint, not that Quisling himself was forced to collaborate at gunpoint. Note, however, that in reality Quisling himself attempted a coup d'etat in Norway of his own initiative when the Nazis invaded, but even the Nazis did not really want him in power, because they wanted the existing Norwegian government to acquiesce to German occupation as had the Danish government, and only installed Quisling in power when the Norwegian government would not give into the Nazis' demands.

[rotting bones]

I don't think you're a troll, myself, but I don't blame people for thinking so. We've argued for years now, so I can often (though not always) look past the style at the actual point you're making, but yeah, sometimes people are just bound to get the wrong idea. ("terrorism thread"? of course that comes across as trolling.)

In my lived experience, this is the kind of speech most people find enjoyable. When liberals call them crazy for talking like this, they support the conservatives because the conservatives say they will let people be themselves.

[Raphael]

Taking a break from the important discussion of whether Norway is an inherently evil country, I'd say this story here serves as a nice illustration of both the current state of capitalism and the current state of US politics:

https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/17/con ... b-somehow/

(Tech business guy organizes staging of an event where a truck his company built is filmed rolling down a hill, sells this to investors as a video of a truck driving with a new innovative propulsion system, gets convicted of fraud, gets pardoned by Trump, and gets hired to run another tech company, this time one dealing in airplanes.)

(Capitalism: where achievers get rewarded and failures get punished!)

(Conservatism: the political camp dedicated to personal responsibility!)

[jcb]

Trump responds to the "No Kings" protests by posting an AI-generated video of him flying a fighter jet that drops (literal) shit on protesters.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugrn6DNAYEU

[rotting bones]

https://youtu.be/zdWrHb8b-c0

[Richard W]

https://youtu.be/zdWrHb8b-c0

Well, the framers of the US constitution did envisage slavery. An inalienable right to liberty has never been accepted.