Ig Nobel Prize flees US for Switzerland after 35 years over safety concerns

The Ig Nobel Prize, which satirizes its more noble namesake, is moving its award ceremony to Europe following concerns about the safety of those attending the US event. The event's founder said that the awards could not ask scientists and journalists to attend unless the event was moved elsewhere. The Ig Nobel Prize has been …

[Bebu sa Ware]

"concerns about the safety of those attending the US event."

I guess it was either Zurich or Tehran.

In Zurich it's only the clocks that are completely cuckoo.

[Eclectic Man]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

https://www.cuckoocollections.co.uk/blogs/blog/the-history-of-the-cuckoo-clock

"It is believed that during the 18th-century farmers in south-western Germany started making cuckoo clocks using logs from the Black Forest. This is widely believed to be the time and the place of the birth of the cuckoo clock. The story goes that during the winters, farmers would put their time to making these musical cuckoo clocks which could be sold to earn a living whilst their farms lay dormant." (My emphasis)

Sorry, the fallacy that the Swiss invented the cuckoo clock is widespread, including a line in the movie 'The Third Man', spoked by Orson Wells as 'Harry Lime'.

[KittenHuffer]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

But when you talk about South-Western German Cuckoo Clocks everyone is all "What you talking about Willis?"

[Rich 2]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

I bought a cuckoo clock from Germany many years ago. I always thought they were German in origin.

It used to drive any gusts we had absolutely nuts! We (me and family) learned to switch off from its hourly (actually it might have been quarter hour?) cuckoo. Guests were not so lucky and would inevitably stop the pendulum at some point in the night :-)

[The Organ Grinder's Monkey]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

Ref cuckoo clocks, this was a great place run by two absolutely mad brothers:

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

There's a wonderful 30 minute documentary on them & their museum here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001741l

[The Organ Grinder's Monkey]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

"It used to drive any gusts we had... "

If you have regular gusts...

[Philo T Farnsworth]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

Obligatory Welles:

Holly, I'd like to cut you in, old man. There's nobody left in Vienna I can really trust, and we've always done everything together. When you make up your mind, send me a message - I'll meet you any place, any time, and when we do meet old man, it's you I want to see, not the police. Remember that, won't ya? Don't be so gloomy.

After all it's not that awful. You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long Holly.¹

One of Orson's better performances.

Sadly, he began to drink a bit too much wine before it was time.²

As he was one of my favorite directors of all time, it makes me a bit sad to even post that.

"Rosebud."

______________

¹ YouTube: Orson Welles | Cuckoo Clock Speech

² YouTube: Orson Welles Drunk Outtakes for Paul Masson Wine Commercial

[FIA]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

² YouTube: Orson Welles Drunk Outtakes for Paul Masson Wine Commercial

And for completeness here's a pair of flutes talking about it.

PS. Thanks... I've been meaning to YouTube it since listening to that podcast...

[BartyFartsLast]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

South Western Germany is only one Steve McQueen from Switzerland so it's not an entirely unlikely scenario to imagine the Swiss also had a hand in it.

[MyffyW]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

If I recall correctly, Steve McQueen didn't actually get to Switzerland. He got in a bit of a tangle at the border.

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

Steve McQueen didn't actually get to Switzerland. He got in a bit of a tangle at the border.

I did too. We (4 blokes on bikes, two English, two Dutch) wanted to go into Switzerland from either Germany or Italy (can't remember - it was a fair while ago). I was on a Honda CBR900 (aka Fireblade) which had a non-standard exhaust. Wasn't too bad at lower revs but howled at bit at higher revs (12k upwards). One of the others also had non-standard pipes.

We presented our passports at the border and got told to go to one side and wait.

Which we did, for an hour or two (couldn't leave - they had our passports)

Then a couple of border guards came over to us, handed back our passports and said "entry denied".

When pressed, they mumbled something about "unapproved modification to your motorbikes" and then very firmly stood in the exit that lead to Switzerland.

Ho hum.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "concerns about the safety of those attending the US event." - clocks

That's (genuinely) a real shame for you and your mates on what I'm sure would have been a really great road trip, but I'm afraid I have to say that I am quite pleased at the actions of the border guards there. Motorbikes or cars that have been adapted to be deliberately very noisy really are very rude and antisocial things, so it is quite good that the guards ensured that the decent citizens of Switcherland could enjoy their day in peace without undesired noise disturbance.

(I'm sure I'll get downvoted for this, but the increasing erosion of peace and quiet in modern life (see also rude inconsiderate wankers playing "music" on speakerphone on public transport, or even in cafes and pubs) is the sort of thing up with which I shall not put, etc)

[TimMaher]

Re: "South West German clocks”

A long time ago, I worked for Kienzle.

Nuff said.

[tonique]

Re: "South West German clocks”

Offtopic but I have to!

Kienzle! I'm still using a Kienzle alarm clock I bought in 1993 in Kassel, when I was 18. It still works fine.

[cipnt]

They don't make them like they used to

[Kevin Johnston]

Re: "South West German clocks”

The first wristwatch I ever had was a Keinzle Markant I got as a birthday present. Never realised just how good it was and sadly treated it as most teenagers would

[Ace2]

So much winning!

[MiguelC]

One thing he got right, though, is that we're all tired of it

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Can you just imagine the tariff on ten trillion Zimbawean Dollars...

[b0llchit]

A significant convoy of trucks with Roubles riding on Papiermark paved roads?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you know, you know...

$6.37 in Canadian Tire money.

[CountCadaver]

Re: If you know, you know...

Actually I think the Canadian tire money will be worth more than many currencies soon the way things are going....

[katrinab]

"One year, a little girl was tasked with stomping on stage to shout "Please stop, I'm bored!" whenever a winner went on for more than a minute."

That happened more than once. It was very much a tradition when I first started following them. The little girl in question will have grown up by now.

[Paul Herber]

Such a shame that there are one or two people in the world who haven't grown up ...

[Uncle Slacky]

IIRC every year a (different) eight-year-old girl is recruited to do this.

[Jason Bloomberg]

The Ig Nobel Committee

Terrible people. They have treated America so badly. So, so badly. Everyone says so. Terrible people. Some say terrible people. The worst. The Annals of Improbable Research is Fake News. They can try to hide in Zurich with Europe's weirdos and commies but we'll get them. That's right Pete, isn't it? Terrible people.

[PB90210]

Re: The Ig Nobel Committee

Will he think differently once they have awarded him the Ignobel Peace Prize for his efforts in solving countless wars (no, really, you can't count them!) and solving the Middle East problem... then there is the Economics prize for solving inflation and his pioneering work on Tarrifs and how to implement them.

Not forgetting RFK's work on medicine...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, PLEASE!!!!!

I'd love to see the truths he posts after that!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The Ig Nobel Committee

and of course he cured cancer (and covid) that time - possibly with a combination of strong light and drinking Domestos....

[anthonyhegedus]

Re: The Ig Nobel Committee

It is quite amazing. A hate-filled warmongering psycho wanting a peace prize, and an anti-vax, anti-science, conspiracy-theorist in charge of health.

While they're at it, they could put a religion-obsessed fox new personality in charge of defence? Oh wait...

[PB90210]

Re: The Ig Nobel Committee

"A hate-filled warmongering psycho wanting a peace prize, and an anti-vax, anti-science, conspiracy-theorist in charge of health..."

Someone pointed out just the other day that the first thing they did was ditch DEI to 'ensure only the right people' got the jobs... only to fill just about every post with the least suitable candidate possible

Oh, and not forgetting his first term promise to 'drain the swamp', which he did, only to refill it with Thames Water's finest effluent...

[Guido Esperanto]

Re: The Ig Nobel Committee

You're assuming he'd know an Ig Nobel is a massive piss take.....

[Roland6]

Re: The Ig Nobel Committee

Quite the opposite, remember he accepted the FIFA Peace Prize - sole recipient…

[Green Nigel 42]

Re: The Ig Nobel Committee

Correct, they ae nasty peole, very nasty.

[bazza]

The little girl speech limiting strategy worked absolutely fine. One winner found that she could not be bribed even with hard cash. The moment was hilarious! A true giant of science!

[Anonymous Coward]

America's reputational loss will be long lasting

It seems like everyone is counting the days until America's dementia-riddled president loses the midterm elections. At minimum, Trump won't hold the House of Representatives. There's a possibility he'll lose the Senate, too, though that's more probable in 2028. Legislatively, he'll be a lame duck in less than a year, though his expansion of executive power still allows him to do considerable harm ruling by decree.

In less than three years, this Trump nightmare will be over.

The lasting damage to America's international reputation will endure. Foreign opinions of America and of Americans are plummeting. Foreign leaders cannot rely on America as an ally or partner. Foreign citizens are horrified by the poison which has infected the American culture and the American soul.

Even when the proximate cause -- Trump and his supporters -- are out of power, the voters, the cable news networks, and the social networks which put him there will remain. Trump isn't something which "just happened to us." He's something we did to ourselves. His values will endure. The risk of another Trump happening will remain.

This reputational damage to America will take decades, at minimum, to heal. Welcome to End Stage Rome.

[abend0c4]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Trump won't hold the House

That rather depends on who can be barred from voting.

[Flocke Kroes]

Re: restricting voting

If that doesn't work ICE will be deporting democrat congressmen until the remaining ones fall into line. Trump fully intends to be president for life. The only up side to that is it may be less than three more years.

[LogicGate]

Re: restricting voting

Everybody expects...

...The Revenge of the Hamberder!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

Indeed.

South Dakota has just passed a law where anyone can challenge anothers citizenship. That will make a lot of people stay at home and not vote because they don't want the hassle.

That will soon transfer to other RED states in time for the November Mid Terms.

There are parts of MAGA/HEritage Foundation that want to remove the rights of women to vote. Then it will be for non-whites, then only property owning white males who are members of the right set of churches. WASP rules!

If you think that can't happen here then just watch Farage and pals. They'll follow whatever the true leader of the party, Trump tells them to do.\

[DS999]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

This just needs to be turned around on them. White democrats need to widely challenge the citizen of white republicans and bury the verification system under the load. If they "streamline" the process by not following the same letter of the law procedure for every white person as they do every non white, then make sure every journalist and network is aware by shouting it from the rooftops. And suing the state's SoS (or whoever is in charge of the election process) for good measure.

I can't help thinking that Trump's election interference act he wants passed would really backfire if instead of applying the citizenship check to only NEW registrations, it applied universally and everyone had to re-register. Democrats are more likely to hold a passport than republicans (by more than 10%) and poor people (of which white poor people are a large part of the MAGA base these days) are less likely to have a copy of their birth certificate (not that I understand why that's proof of citizenship since it isn't that hard to get a copy of someone ELSE'S birth certificate)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

>Democrats are more likely to hold a passport than republicans

But his SAVE act puts the Federal govt in charge of elections so he can choose the people doing the checking and in which districts the checks are "more stringent"

[MachDiamond]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

"not that I understand why that's proof of citizenship since it isn't that hard to get a copy of someone ELSE'S birth certificate"

That's been severely clamped down on. It used to be a dodge to get the birth certificate of a child that died young for the year you want and use that to get "papers". Death certificates didn't get paired with them way back when. Now, children in the US must get a Social Security Number for their parents to claim them on their tax returns. If the child passes away, the SSN is part of the ID and the death certificate will propagate through the systems.

I need to get some death certificates for a legal issue and there's two flavors where I am. One is complete and can only be ordered by family and attorneys directly involved with the person or their estate. The ones I will get have some information redacted and will be stamped "Informational" or some such. I have to show ID which will be recorded when I apply to get the documents.

All the best dodges are being shut down or have been for some time now.

[DS999]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

You don't need to get the birth certificate of a dead person. That's an old dodge and as you say they've tightened it up but that's hardly necessary if all you want is to register to vote under someone else's name and commit the fantasy mass voting fraud MAGA believes exists (but has never presented a shred of proof of in any court despite having 5 1/2 years to do so)

The "proof" you need to get a birth certificate of a living person is pretty trivial to fake. You just need a need a few documents that are exceptionally easy to forge, like utility bills or a signed tax return. I mean, does anyone think a social security card would be difficult to forge? It would be way harder to make a counterfeit $1 bill (or heck a counterfeit penny) than a fake social security card. With all the mass hacking over the past couple decades getting valid name/SSN combos is the easiest thing in the world - and the number even tells you where they were born so you know where to get the birth certificate. Heck you could probably get AI to cook you up fakes that would easily fool a county records person in seconds.

There was a case near where I live recently where someone did exactly this - not to register to vote but to get a job under someone else's ID. The guy was a citizen with no legal trouble but he hadn't graduated high school and decided he wanted a better paying job. So he stole the ID of someone halfway across the country, got a high paying job in IT eventually working his way up to IT director making $250K. He was caught after a decade because the guy whose ID he stole got in trouble with the IRS for not paying taxes on the other guy's salary, and HE ended up in jail for months because they thought HE was the identity thief Eventually it was cleared up and made the news (how I heard about it) but it shows how fragile the system around birth certificates / social security numbers is.

[fxkeh]

"make sure every journalist and network is aware by shouting it from the rooftops. "

Cute of you to think journalists still report on things not sanctioned by their fascist billionaire owners.

[SundogUK]

Re: "make sure every journalist and network is aware by shouting it from the rooftops. "

Cute of you to think journalists still report on things not sanctioned by their woke billionaire owners.

FIFY

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "make sure every journalist and network is aware by shouting it from the rooftops. "

I didn’t realise David Ellison and family are woke; who would have thought Trump would have associated with woke billionaires…

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "make sure every journalist and network is aware by shouting it from the rooftops. "

Ah yes, one of the resident right wing muppets is here.

[R Soul]

Re: "make sure every journalist and network is aware by shouting it from the rooftops. "

journalists still report on things not sanctioned by their woke billionaire owners

Lord Rothermere? David Ellison? Rupert Murdoch? Jeff Bezos? Baron Lebedev?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: "make sure every journalist and network is aware by shouting it from the rooftops. "

They are woke. They believe that Italian-Americans and even the Irish are "white"

[Slant Four]

WASP rules?

White Arsehole Slimey Pricks?

[TimMaher]

Re: WASP rules?

How many WASPs does it take to change a lightbulb?

Two. One to mix the dry martinis and one to call the electrician.

I think that was in Mad Magazine. A generation ago.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

To deny everyone other than white males who own land is what the Founding Fathers put in place when the USA was born.

The 'Originalists' in the Supreme Court will love this especially as those on the left of the majority would also be barred from being a judge.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

Only problem is a certain VERY hard right judge would be removed on the basis of his skin colour then.....

[BebopWeBop]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

Rees Mog (ex member for the 18th century in the UK Parliament) admitted that their attempts with photo id failed - it was the elderly cohort (taditionally Tory voters in greater numbers) who stayed away from the polls).

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

Plan B - only painted portraits will be acceptable as ID

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

Plan B - only painted portraits will be acceptable as ID

Would they accept the preliminary sketches?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: That rather depends on who can be barred from voting

Only if you're an Archbishop

[MachDiamond]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

"That rather depends on who can be barred from voting."

Funny how an ID is required for all sorts of things such as buying tobacco or alcohol and also to receive public benefits. Some stores want to see an official ID when paying for a large purchase with a credit card. Driving requires a government issued license. International travel, a passport.

Being asked to show a government issued photo ID to receive a ballot to vote is not going to disenfranchise anybody than can walk about without excessive drooling! Most, if not all, US states will issue a state ID to somebody at no cost if they can show they are poor as long as they can produce a birth certificate and/or otherwise show they are who they say they are. Some of the more liberal states don't even do much checking, going by some news reports, when issuing commercial driving licenses.

[Claude Yeller]

Re: But can everyone get that ID

"Being asked to show a government issued photo ID to receive a ballot to vote is not going to disenfranchise anybody than can walk about without excessive drooling!"

Except, you have to ensure everyone can and will get such an ID in time. Which is most definitely not done.

Also, an ID requirement puts a tax on voting. It is illegal to put a tax on voting.

[MachDiamond]

Re: But can everyone get that ID

"Except, you have to ensure everyone can and will get such an ID in time."

The point went whizzing past. To function in the US, one needs to ALREADY have an official ID so there isn't the situation of not being able to get an ID quickly enough. I'll also point out that election days are known years in advance. Where's the rush? Poor planning if there is.

The nomenclature is a "test" not a tax. There's no requirement to own land, be male or have a high school diploma/college degree. All that has been required is to be a citizen (not that well enforced) and over the age of 18. An official ID and better checking when registering to vote is just making sure the citizenship part is in place.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: But can everyone get that ID

> The point went whizzing past. To function in the US, one needs to ALREADY have an official ID so there isn't the situation of not being able to get an ID quickly enough. I'll also point out that election days are known years in advance. Where's the rush? Poor planning if there is.

More precisely: have had at some point.

IDs expire. Addresses change. Names change.

One can get by for quite a while with an outdated ID, no problem, even more so when not driving.

Eventually, getting it updated becomes a thing. But people don't do that just to vote. It's not worth the time.

The point of the law is to advantage people whose paperwork is always in order because it's a statistically safe assumption that a certain slice of the population doesn't have their paperwork up to date at any given moment and won't update it ahead of when otherwise convenient/possible just to vote.

[SundogUK]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Yup. Practically every other country in the world requires ID to vote. In the US, 90%+ Republicans and 60%+ Democrats support the SAVE act, yet the Democrat leadership hate it. I wonder why?

[SCP]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Perhaps because the vast majority of US citizens who, through poverty and other social deprivations, will struggle to get or engage with such ID are believed to vote Democrat and that there is no real evidence of substantive voter fraud (and certainly not to the extent that election results are demeaned by such as 'sanctioned' gerrymandering).

It is also the case that it is not only the disparity in the effect of the law but also that it is likely to be the selective enforcement of the law that will be discriminatory. There is also the chilling effect that other recent events will already have on voting by some demographic groups of US citizens. For example, if ICE happened to be (or were believed to be) conducting operations in certain areas at the time of elections.

[LogicGate]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

I seem to remember that in the last 2 elections, most identified election fraud /tampering was performed by MAGA Republicans, usually in an atempt to prove election fraud / tampering.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Most deliberate voter fraud is committed by people who hate taxes and lie about their primary residence being in a state with no income taxes. The intent is to avoid taxes; the vote cast in the wrong place is just the follow-through.

Even then the motive isn't corrupting an election. It's simply money. The chance of one vote making a difference is practically zero, which is why basically nobody takes that risk themselves for the sake of election. If they're going to lie like that, it's so that New York's taxman leaves them alone and believes they spend most their time at their Florida vacation home.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Let's approach this from a different angle: how accurate are government ID databases?

Are addresses current? Do voter registrations match post-marriage names? Does everyone have a filing drawer filled with things like birth certificates and court documents? How many Americans have passports?

The Republican Party has spent decades preaching about the harmfulness of excessive government red tape.

That's exactly why they want more government red tape in voting (but less in seemingly everything else).

Non-citizen voting and fake ballots are not a problem.

The only "fraud" problem which happens with enough regularity to be concerned about is when a legal voter submits a ballot for the address where they used to live. But that's usually not intentional fraud, just a non-updated address. When does it become meaningful fraud?

Look no further than the 2000 presidential election, which was decided by 537 votes in Florida. Now, Florida has no state income tax, which gives voters from states like New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts significant financial incentive to lie about their primary address to avoid state income taxes. They do it to cheat the taxman; casting a ballot in the wrong place is just follow-through on pretending where they live most the time. Guess which party disproportionately hates income taxes.

But again, people aren't faking their address for the sake of voting. When they fake it intentionally, it's for taxes. When it's unintentional, it's just not updating it after a move.

Practically nobody intentionally casts a fraudulent ballot for the sake of casting a fraudulent ballot. The reward, the chance their vote makes the difference, is infinitesimal and not worth the risk.

[Roland6]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

> how accurate are government ID databases?

Well there are two types of “government databases”.

The voter register/electoral roll/database only really needs proof of residence - to match the declaration made when a name is added/updated to a local roll. So my young adults could register both at home and at their university address. Obviously, when voting they needed to produce a relevant id document that matches the local register. Hence in theory if they had wished and spent some hours travelling they could have voted twice.

The other databases are more to do with benefits, where it probably isn’t in your interest to have multiple accounts.

I hope the UK continues to keep the voting separate to the tax, pensions, health and police databases…so people are incentivised to vote where they reside rather than where it helps support some tax avoidance fiction

.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Don't underestimate how many voters don't have a current "relevant document" for addresses and aren't willing to produce one just to vote, especially if their address isn't up to date in another database (or they just exist outside typical notions of "permanent address").

There really isn't a good solution to the residency verification problem. Attempting to verify addresses and keep them up-to-date for general government purposes gets bureaucratic and intrusive very quickly. The notion of a "permanent, fixed address" also doesn't work for many people who might be living with others, traveling between short-term rentals, digital nomads, people who don't want to be publicly doxxed on a voter roll, or a lot of people who just don't get mail (and might not want their mail going somewhere they won't be shortly).

The discouragement caused by mail function then tilts the election more than the fraud by discouraging an even greater number of voters. Permanent mail-in voting (in some places) can potentially make the fraud problem worse when election authorities maintain allegedly "permanent" addresses for voters and automatically mail out mail-in ballots to past addresses of those who voted by mail in the past. See the problem with addresses supposedly verified by receipt? Blank ballots end up in a mailbox which the voter doesn't check anymore. Sending in someone else's ballot is a tempting fraud scenario, because who's gonna check and how can police prove it? That can be solved if voters have to send photocopies of ID, but how many voters don't have a copier and are willing to go find one just to vote?

Voters could perhaps be registered, without address, and made to request a ballot to a specific address immediately before every election. That solves the wrong address and loose ballot problems, but at the cost of bureaucratic hassle which makes many potential voters not bother, thus tilting the election more than the relatively small amount of fraud it's meant to solve.

That's why there really isn't a good answer to "solve" the fraud problem if politicians declare "solving" it to mean zero. Casting a legal vote already isn't worth someone's time. Seriously. What are the chances your vote will change the election outcome which, in turn, then benefits your life? It's practically zero. Committing a very serious crime to submit a bogus vote which also probably won't matter is just a really dumb thing to do with a terrible cost/benefit ratio, which is why people rarely do it.

Unfortunately it's just very tough to convince a large segment of the public that voter fraud tilts elections less than anything which could be done to stop it. These people don't care, don't understand, don't want to see the truth, or just can't conceive of why people don't bother to vote.

[MachDiamond]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

"I hope the UK continues to keep the voting separate to the tax, pensions, health and police databases…so people are incentivised to vote where they reside rather than where it helps support some tax avoidance fiction"

All those databases are converging. In the US, that's why there's a Department of Homemade Security. It's to collate data from law enforcement and other governmental departments to root out terrorists (or anybody they decide they don't like).

Ballots are meant to be secret which is why mail-in voting is problematic. The ballot needs to be confirmed to have come from a registered voter and there's their votes too. When voting in person, after your name is found on the roll and struck out, you are issued a ballot from the top of the stack and no notation is made which serial number you were issued. (I watch that closely). Once the boxes are ticked, it goes in a box with everybody else's shuffling the deck a bit more. I have all of my selections noted when I arrive so it's only a matter of ticking the boxes while others make their decisions while in the booth and that is another shuffling factor. To make the vote secret/private, all of the checking for eligibility must be done elsewhere.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

So much for America claiming to be a democracy!

[Dan 55]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

In less than three years, this Trump nightmare will be over.

We just need to hope the dementia patient doesn't press the nuclear button by accident or when he has a tantrum when he's voted out (if people can vote him out by then). Remember the East Wing got demolished after a supreme court ruling and the Iran operation is really called Operation Epstein Distraction...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Lets just hope we don't get another dementia patient for three-in-a-row.

[Snake]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

With dementia patients voting for the main dementia patient, whilst they toddle away in their old homes, things won't change until we can finish whisking them away to the afterlife.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Lets just hope we don't get another dementia patient for three-in-a-row.

Did Biden every say anything as mental as "They have dead people walking around with no legs"?

Biden was old. Trump is demented. These are not the same things.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

We just need to hope the dementia patient doesn't press the nuclear button by accident

The Pentagon may well have replaced that with a Fisher-Price activity set just before the fuckwit got into the Oval Office

[hittitezombie]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Arms Control Wonk Blog/Podcast contributor Dr Jeffrey Lewis wrote a book called "The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against The United States" which fictionalized a nuclear excange between the US and DRNK. In that book, Trump tries to use the button, and the soldier protecting the 'football' punches him. Fun chapter.

The rest of the book was very depressing.

[DS999]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

hope the dementia patient doesn't press the nuclear button by accident

I think there's legitimate worry he might press it DELIBERATELY to avoid having Iran become an endless war - they aren't going to stop attacking US and allied forces just because Trump says "ok we're done bombing them" and stands down. They know they can hurt him by keeping Hormuz closed and taking gas prices in the US through the roof.

Meaning his only choice other than a nuke is ground troops or effectively surrendering by making a deal to give them something in exchange for getting them to agree to stop attacking - and hoping he can convince his base that was a "win" rather than another TACO.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

I doubt his base knows about TACO. It's all wins. Massive wins. The biggest.

[simonlb]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

The biggest. The bigliest.

FTFY

[HereIAmJH]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

I think there's legitimate worry he might press it DELIBERATELY to avoid having Iran become an endless war - they aren't going to stop attacking US and allied forces just because Trump says "ok we're done bombing them" and stands down.

We are creating a new generation of terrorists. And nukes won't solve that.

On a brighter note, this takes me back to the 80s. And Genesis's video of 'The Land of Confusion'. Let's hope Donny doesn't need to call the 'nurse'.

Back to Fallout, for the fun side of nuclear war.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

>We are creating a new generation of terrorists.

Isn't that the plan ?

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

It will be known as The Epstein Nuke.

[SCP]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Surely the Quark Bomb (formerly know as the Johnny Cyclops Bomb).

This current remake of the classic ITV TV comedy is even less funny than the film version.

[BartyFartsLast]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

He and his truth henders can spin a deal as a win, " the best deal, only I could make such a great deal" but the spectacle of US service personnel coming home with a flag draped over them and greeted by a baseball cap wearing yob is rather more difficult to spin so his choices are nukes or deal.

Also, bear in mind the Venn of deprived areas where military service is seen as a valid way to make a better life and red votes is quite strongly coincident.

But, the number of tech bros building survival bunkers and compounds as well as the resurgent trade in domestic nuclear shelters is rather alarming.

(And having seen the kind of people who are building themselves shelters, I'm going outside to get a tan if it all kicks off)

[PinchOfSalt]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

I think there's an assumption that energy prices going up is a problem.

I suspect that he has enough interests in that sector to ensure that he personally gains from this situation since that's far more important to him than the effect on anyone else.

[SundogUK]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

J.D. Vance will be 48

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

When will his IQ reach that score?

[Casca]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

You mean it will rise to it?

[JLV]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Yeah, I regret that I won’t be around when the history books gell down to a collective verdict but I expect he will be one of the very worst most ineffectual leaders ever:

( obviously there have been worse though, but… )

- He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor. So it matters, and he will track more than worse ruler in Lichenstein. and this happening at a time when the USA is facing massive multi-generational challenges ( China, budget)

- Unlike say Hitler or Genghis Khan, his deeds are not driven by the logic of pure calculated evil, merely by narcissism and petulance. Nor is he completely insane or retarded like some kings. Merely narcissistic and petulant. Like a 12 year old running the most powerful nation on Earth.

- It’s not ( I hope ) going defined by massive military reverses, which happen in wars to half their participants. No, it’s a slow motion of obvious bad decisions because making them makes his “tribe” fawn over him.

- Once gone, it’s not like pulling a tooth. The impact of his decisions will go on for decades in squandered alliances, festering ignored crises, the nurturing of anti-reason, bigotry and deliberately turning the US’s back to science. Not to mention deficit and debt. Empowering religious extremism. Waste of blood and treasure. Lying has always been a (small) part of the

political landscape, but - in democracies- it often disqualified those caught out. Now it has been normalized. Ditto grift. Sexual crimes and affairs.

- He took away customs of good behavior thst papered over the - inevitable - flaws in most democracies’ constitutional frameworks.

[MiguelC]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

Roman senators found a way to end one emperor's career as dictator, though

[JLV]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

The problem is that killing Trump - as was attempted - would only cement his legacy through martyrdom. Nor is political violence good to democracy.

The only realistic way out for America is for him to so obviously and publicly screw the pooch somehow that most of his devoted followers disown him and the country loses its taste for his kind of politics.

A “you can’t handle the truth” Jack Nicholson moment. Or a Joe McCarthy overreach and meltdown? Invading Canada or Greenland?

5 years of this circus later, I really, really, wonder what it would take.

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

> The problem is that killing Trump - as was attempted - would only cement his legacy through martyrdom. Nor is political violence good to democracy.

Exactly. It's critical his failure must be recognised as his alone.

[Dan 55]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

Collective failure surely? Do we want JD Vance or Stephen Miller stepping into his toe-padded shoes?

[JLV]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

Neither have Trump's charisma, so they’d implode right away.

:-)

[Rich 2]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

The whole circus of idiots that lick the orange one’s arse every day should all be rounded up and locked up for treason/idiocy/whatever

[Eclectic Man]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

It is not "lick" it is "kiss", although they are equally disgusting, and frankly it should be beneath the dignity of the office of POTUS to use such a phrase in public.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTRw3liLa7E

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

"lick" not "kiss" is what would normally be used in UK English usage and this website used to be firmly UK orientated .... but in recent years, like much else in the world, it has become debased by American influence!

[hittitezombie]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

They are already running the show. Trump has severe dementia at this stage. He can't even get the Iran war story right.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

It's critical his failure must be recognised as his alone.

It should. But it won't. The Orange Fuckwit and his enablers will make sure of that. We're already far, far beyond the delusions of alternative facts and fake news. The MAGA loons will claim the so-called failure of Agent Krasnov was because he didn't nuke North Korea/Russia/Greenland/Canada/Vanuatu/Belgium. [Pick commie shithole country of the week.]

[Ian Johnston]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

But it isn't. Trump is only a useful idiot front man for particularly nasty right wingers behind the scenes. His mood swings, tantrums and tendency to appoint to high office only rather stupid young women with fake tan, fake breasts and lip fillers do precisely what they are supposed to do ... distract attention from the real powers.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

> But it isn't. Trump is only a useful idiot front man for particularly nasty right wingers behind the scenes. His mood swings, tantrums and tendency to appoint to high office only rather stupid young women with fake tan, fake breasts and lip fillers do precisely what they are supposed to do ... distract attention from the real powers.

While the politician-as-a-puppet is a common and often accurate political trope, it's dangerously wrong when it comes to Trump.

First, Trump is very much in charge and isn't the typical compliant order taker. That's a big problem given his malignant narcissism, frontotemporal dementia, and frequently irrational and self-destructive behavior. Underestimating his agency as a leader severely underestimates the damage he's capable of inflicting and the impact of institutional guardrails in limiting or stopping his harmful actions.

Second, the typical puppet is controlled by power brokers who pull the puppet's strings. Those puppetmasters, while harmful, nonetheless typically represent rationally-self interested entities (big business, etc.) which strong motives to preserve or strengthen their status quo.

While others very much do influence Trump, that can be almost anyone who gets access to him and knows how to flatter him. Trump has a strong tendency to do whatever the last person he talked to suggested. That vastly expands the universe of people and policies to be worried about. He's just as likely to do the bidding of a nutjob blogger or social media influencer as he is a major donor CEO.

Third, because he does act with so much agency, we must also be exceptionally wary about how his family and longtime friends fit into the equation. The typical puppet isn't listening to or enriching those forces to the same degree as their puppetmasters. Trump is way more driven by his personal relationships.

This situation is way more dangerous than the typical puppet (e.g.,, Speaker Mike Johnson) and people need to be warned about it for what it is and what it's capable of inflicting.

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

Technically in charge. But did you not hear him list those who had told him to attack Iran?

[Fred Daggy]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

Zaphod at least did it with style. And wasn't needlessly vindictive.

And Zaphod also ran a sucessful business, not like the Orange King of Miami. (The second-hand biro business).

[BartyFartsLast]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

No, we want the whole MAGA regime to own this so it's buried and shamed

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

... really, really, wonder what it would take.

Easy ...

That a mayority of US voters actually stop to think, reason and vote accordingly.

ie. not against their own interests.

For that to happen, you need an educated population.

One with capacity for critical thinking instead of ignorant half-zombies led by bible thumping zealots.

Not to mention getting rid of the US Electoral College scam, permanently.

There is *no* way that is going to happen within the next three or four generations, if ever.

.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

Popular uprising and invocation of sovietesque solution of interning said "embarrassment" in an asylum and then informing the populace that the strain of the job had caused a mental collapse and fractured his mind

[Dr Paul Taylor]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

Assassination was the usual way for Roman Emperors to leave office, though Senators had become irrelevant long before the end.

[Michael Hoffmann]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

Leaving our the rest of the story: Caesar wasn't emperor, but his assassination led to the civil war the *resulted* in the centuries of what we like to call empire, but was really a military dictatorship with a warlord calling himself princeps and then dominus.

[Robert Sneddon]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

The American Founding Fathers structured their government based on the old Roman Republic -- a prole Commons (the House of Representatives) and upper-class landowning Senators with an elected President/Caesar to run the state and be commander of the military, but like the Caesars not permitted to use that military inside the US unless invaded. E Pluribus Unum was based on the "fasces" ideal of the early Romans.

Two hundred years later it's not that surprising that the US government has ended up being run by a singular Emperor given how it began.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor.

> The American Founding Fathers structured their government based on the old Roman Republic -- a prole Commons (the House of Representatives) and upper-class landowning Senators with an elected President/Caesar to run the state and be commander of the military, but like the Caesars not permitted to use that military inside the US unless invaded. E Pluribus Unum was based on the "fasces" ideal of the early Romans.

US Senators were originally appointed by US member states to represent state-level interests, and vetted accordingly by state legislatures.

That's quite like the Council of the European Union or the UN General Assembly. Structures like that are necessary to hold together many dissimilar governing entities in a large federation. The US is huge and highly varied.

Post-Trump, not everyone even wants it to hold together at the federal level anymore. Roughly 1/3 of the country now thinks we'd be better off having a "National Divorce" -- that is, blue and red states each going their own way and not living with each other anymore.

Direct Senatorial elections have turned Senate contests into yet more clownish slugfests among low-information voters arguing over the misinformation they get from Facebook and TV.

I'm not confident that today's Trumper-riddled state governments would appoint true, wise statesmen to the US Senate. But our current system clearly doesn't elect people like that. Would things be better if state lawmakers and a governor still had to find consensus on members of the upper chamber, on the people who represent them? Perhaps. I imagine at least some state leaders would choose at least somewhat responsible leaders to represent themselves in Washington, even if their own tenure is mostly playing our media-driven clown game with eyes always on elections.

[Dr Paul Taylor]

American "National Divorce"

You had your opportunity for that in 1861: the barbarian half of the country want to leave, but the civilised half fought a war to make them stay.

Slavery was not the original reason; if the South had been allowed to secede, economic sanctions could then have been used to force it to abandon slavery.

Now you (and we) are paying for that decision. Problem is, it set the principle that there was no right to leave, which the civilised states might want to exercise now.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: American "National Divorce"

> You had your opportunity for that in 1861

Still do.

> Now you (and we) are paying for that decision. Problem is, it set the principle that there was no right to leave, which the civilised states might want to exercise now.

Sadly so. While there's no existing "right to leave", a National Divorce wouldn't happen today without broad agreement from all sides. So, we can create a right to leave as part of the process.

The biggest point of disagreement between Blue America and Red America today will be which side is happier that the other is gone.

[TimMaher]

Re: “Pluribus”

Now that was a really weird series!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: ( obviously there have been worse though, but… )

[Citation required]

[VoiceOfTruth]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

>> The impact of his decisions will go on for decades in squandered alliances

It's not just Trump. Who remembers the abject nutcase Sarah Palin? It's a sad state of affairs that so many Americans think these people are suitable for any kind of public office, rather than being relegated to the 'really dumb as fuck' no-chancers.

[Dizzy Dwarf]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

There was no reason to strike out 'very worst'

[DJO]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

It's a painfully tautological construction so from a grammatical perspective he was right to lose it. However in some cases such mangling of the language can be justified to provide emphasis.

[spoofles]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

There is little reason to celebrate as the other party is no better.

There are major conflicts in their platform that cost them in the last election that need to be addressed.

George Washington warned against the divisive nature of political parties in his Farewell Address, believing they could undermine the power of the people and disrupt government functions.

He viewed parties as factions that might lead to violence and division within the country.

[Ace2]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

The duckfucking Trumpers have accomplished something at least - they got my trans kid banned from swim team. This is very, very personal for me. You can please take that both-sides-ism, engrave it on a rock, and then [edited out because you’re not worth it]. Thanks!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Ah yes, the old trope that the other side is just as bad.

[mevets]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

`In less than three years, this Trump nightmare will be over.` - That is what they said last time.

The government of the people, by the people and for the people.

It will take a lot more than a change of puppet to fix that hot mess.

[VoiceOfTruth]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

>> In less than three years, this Trump nightmare will be over.

Don't count your chickens just yet. Trump is already well into his warlord phase. He could find some way to hold on for a decade. Or more. Do not forget the idiot doctor who said Trump could live to 200.

The USA constitution has been shown numerous times to be meaningless. I can imagine the orange convicted felon suspending it, just to be on the safe side. All his cronies and supporters would support this - don't think they wouldn't. They see him as some messianic figure to whom normal rules do not apply.

>> Trump and his supporters -- are out of power, the voters

I have watched several videos of midwest farmers complaining about the loss of the Chinese market for soybean. They wanted support (socialised subsidies). And they still support Trump, despite him being the root cause of their woes.

[JustAnotherITPerson]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

I live in a farming state (so very red) and you are exactly right. Farmers are getting absolutely destroyed by Trump and his tariffs, and they know that's what's causing the problem, but they still support him. Americans need to realize that there is no going back; as soon as MAGAt squared away their morality towards CSAM (to them, it's perfectly okay now), it was over. They let us know, then and there, that they will NEVER back away from Trump. Ever.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

"Do not forget the idiot doctor who said Trump could live to 200."

If the good die young it's certainly possible for him to live that long. I hope not though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

If you believe that the current incumbent in the White House is anything other than the latest puppet in a long string of puppets that stretches back at least a century, then I feel sorry for your naivete.

A member of the blue team might win the top prize next time, but the direction of travel of the US will remain entirely unaltered.

As a wise man once said, if voting changed anything, they wouldn't let you do it!

[anonymous boring coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

Sure, "they are all the same" solves everything...

[Guido Esperanto]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

notwithstanding all of the above. Whilst America's enemies were numerous, it could be safe to say threats and actions were largely contained within borders.

Only now - this administration is disenfranchising it's allies - to the point whether even they are questioning whether "ally" is a valid term- AND if that wasn't bad enough....after ripping up an accord with Iran back in 2016 (which by all accounts Iran was actually sticking too)....America (or more pointedly Trump (alongside Israel)) have opted to kick a fucking hornets nest.

The tragedy here, is great IRE will have been stoked...and America won't feel THOSE consequences during a Trump administration, it may be 10 or 20 years down the line...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

The dead will still have died! Reputation be damned.

[MMlvx]

I *wish* Trump were a cause

Trump is a symptom, not a cause; which is too bad, because the forces he unleashed will take some time to run their course. The cause is a handful of wealthy psychopaths riding on our abject failure to reckon with our own moral duplicity dating back at least as far as the 1670s.

I guess moral duplicity is in general part of the human condition. I'm not sure ours is worse than any randomly chosen nation-state, but right now, it seems pretty bad. The amount of doublethink is mind-boggling, and I'm at a loss as to how to begin rebuilding (which might be premature anyway, since it looks like things will keep getting worse for a long time before we can start making things better).

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: I *wish* Trump were a cause

I guess moral duplicity is in general part of the human condition

To quote the Bible: "the heart of man is desperately wicked, who can withstand it?"

And yes, that's one to debate with the "humans are intrinsically good" crowd. Because history proves that we are not.

[Rol]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

It took some time for the average Brit to get over their distrust of Germany following WWII, and I'm of the opinion America is in that exact same position. As I'm knocking on a bit, I very much doubt I'll be seeing the ice thaw between USA and the free world in my lifetime.

[Mimsey Borogove]

Re: America's reputational loss will be long lasting

This reputational damage to America will take decades, at minimum, to heal. Welcome to End Stage Rome.

When Trump first started running in 2016, my husband said, if they elect this guy, it'll take 100 years to fix everything he breaks.

Now it's looking more like 500.

[Phil O'Sophical]

At minimum, Trump won't hold the House of Representatives.

Impeachment incoming?

[MiguelC]

What for? He's had not one but two of those and look where it got him (and us)

[Anonymous Coward]

Impeachment incoming?

Be very careful with what you wish for.

The gods are very finicky about that sort of thing.

Have you actually given any consideration to what a J.D. Vance presidency might be like?

Right ...

I thought as much.

.

[45RPM]

Impeach him too. Trump isn’t the only criminal in the current administration.

[heyrick]

This is the guy that's convinced far too many people that a democratically held election was "stolen" and encouraged them to rise up (but without organisation and an end state it was a bit of a farce, but he forgave them all).

What do you think would happen if he were to be impeached? Having a cockwomble like Vance in charge might well be the least of the current problems...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sometimes civil war is necessary to root out to rot.

[heyrick]

And which side is more likely to have people with guns and people easily persuaded to fight for the "cause"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you actually given any consideration to what a J.D. Vance presidency might be like?

Like now, but without a war in Iran?

[Elongated Muskrat]

And without patronage from all the worst people in the US? At least some of them only follow the orange bawbag because of the cult of personality, and Vance doesn't have one

[abend0c4]

They're big shoes to fill...

[BasicReality]

Very much, we should have 8 years of it after this one, it'll be great times for this country. Finally getting on the right track again.

[Anonymous Coward]

Good little troll account.

[ITS Retired]

Go after Stephen Miller. Stop him and a lot of this criminality will also stop.

[Flocke Kroes]

Impeachment V3

Congress can impeach repeatedly but nothing happens unless the senate follows through with a conviction. That requires 67 votes.

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously. He's been impeached twice before. It's definitely happening again after Trump opponents control a majority in the House of Representatives.

But an impeached president is only removed if 2/3 of Senators vote in favor.

The end result will be that a demented narcissist remains in power, albeit even more angry and vindictive than before. A third impeachment will be seen by him and his loyal cultist followers as a conspiracy against their invented, grievance-driven reality. Trying to hold him accountable won't put guardrails on him; he'll just have another meltdown and go further off the rails.

[Anonymous Coward]

>But an impeached president is only removed if 2/3 of Senators vote in favor.

And does the senate have special forces commandos ? Nukes ?

Who enforces the actual removal - Hegseth ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Zurich, Switzerland

I'm so glad the author gave us a geography lesson. It was critical to our understanding the story. Just imagine the confusion and uncertainty if readers got the impression it was about the Zurich in Abyssinia.

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

Or worse: Zurich, Montana.

[IGotOut]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

Yeah just like Birmingham, Manchester, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Worcester and all those other totally unique names.

[Elongated Muskrat]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

And not forgetting New York, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, and of course, Trump and his sons.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

"Or worse: Zurich, Montana."

I don't know about that. One doesn't see headlines about anything coming from Montana, good or bad. Maybe something about the price of steak, but not much beyond that.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

It might shock you how many Americans have no clue where Zurich is.

Wanna take a wild guess why we got stuck with Trump in the first place?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

Of course they do. Trump pointed out that the bergers of Zurich would be speaking German if it wasn't for him

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

That only works IF you know which contry speaks german and WHERE that is exactly !!!

I am not too sure that knowing where Germany (Hint, Hint) is, is too well known in the US of A !!!

Europe can be generally pointed at ... then it get a little bit more difficult.

:)

[SCP]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

That only works IF you know which contry speaks german ...

It works if you know which canton speaks German.

[seven of five]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

easy: none.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

Although many Germans might suspect that the Swiss were taught German by someone like Trump

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

Europe can be generally pointed at ... then it get a little bit more difficult.

Most USians (especially of original UK stock) seem to know where England is. Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales they are a bit more fuzzy on (and they often don't realise that they are separate countries in their own right.

But then, I'm only vaguely familiar where Nebraska is. Somewhere north, up near Canada? I know it gets really cold there..

[Dave559]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

Surely every Reg reader knows where Nebraska is? ;-)

But I agree with you, my guess would have been similar to yours.

I only recently learned, thanks to Terrible Maps (or a similar account), that it's actually not quite as far north as we might have thought, and is the USA's only triply-landlocked state (you have to pass through 3 other states or provinces to reach the ocean from there).

[sanmigueelbeer]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

Wanna take a wild guess why we got stuck with Trump in the first place?

Because Trump promised to make Iceland, UK, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Wakanda the 51st state?

[Benegesserict Cumbersomberbatch]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

Showing us the flag was a big plus.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

el Reg is an American organ now and a large percentage of the readership are American too, so knowledge of geography should not be assumed.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Zurich, Switzerland

Nor humour or sarcasm

[R Soul]

Ignobel awards

Will moving to Switzerland make it easier to give President Fuckwit the Ignobel Peace Prize?

[FrogsAndChips]

Re: Ignobel awards

He won't get the joke and will think it's the real deal.

"I'm so glad you guys have finally given me the Nobel Peace Prize, I deserved it so much. I've already ended 8 wars and soon I will end the war with Iran as well, that'll be 9 wars which I've stopped, no one has ever done that before, certainly not Sleepy Joe, you remember Sleepy Joe? Thanks to Switzerland for taking over the Nobel Prize award, I think Denmark didn't like me very much, because they didn't want to sell me Greenland, so I had to take the prize from that Colombian girl, and she was so happy to give it to me. Such a beautiful prize, I'm winning so big!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ignobel awards

As I understand it, he wouldn't be eligible. IgNobles are supposed to be for real research that "makes you laugh, and then makes you think". Regardless of whether or not his actions might qualify for that, I don't think there is an equivalent IgNoble to the esteemed award that Fifa offers.

[Korev]

Abrahams said. "Switzerland has nurtured many unexpected good things – Albert Einstein's physics, the world economy, and the cuckoo clock leap to mind

LSD?

[Korev]

And who can forget the Eurovision Made in Switzerland song

[Doctor Syntax]

As I've ignored Eurovision for decades except for the New Year's Day* & Midsummer concerts there's no way I'm going to visit a link like that.

* And this year's offering was pretty weird.

[Anonymous Coward]

There should always be time for a coffee macchiato...

[kmorwath]

Just another show of ignorance, since cuckoo clocks origins are traced from the Black Forest, which is in Germany.

Swiss is still the maker of very expensive wrist clocks...

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>Swiss is still the maker of very expensive wrist clocks...

Cuckoo watches ?

[Korev]

> Swiss is still the maker of very expensive wrist clocks...

Swiss?

I can hear the inhabitants of Switzerland tutting into their Fondue already

[Doctor Syntax]

There seem to be so many folk round here who didn't get the joke.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, he forgot to mention SwissMiss Lucky Charms Marshmallows and double chocolate flavor hot cocoa mix ... better than 'em economic cuckoo whatchamacallits and patented cheese holes (individually wrapped) in my book! ;)

[CrazyOldCatMan]

patented cheese holes

Interestingly, the holes in cheese originally came about because of bad hygiene - specs of dirt in the cheese prevented the cheese forming properly, resulting in holes.

I suspect that nowadays it's done a little more carefully.

[jpennycook]

Please stop, I'm bored!

> One year, a little girl was tasked with stomping on stage to shout "Please stop, I'm bored!" whenever a winner went on for more than a minute.

I thought Miss Sweetypoo was there every year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAnVNXaa5oA

https://improbable.com/tag/miss-sweetie-poo/

[BasicReality]

America leads, the rest of the world becomes irrelevant.

[Phil O'Sophical]

I think you misspelled 'irreverent'.

[MachDiamond]

"I think you misspelled 'irreverent'."

Me in third row wakes up, still inebriated, raises his head, raises his hand:

"I resemble that remark"

[Casca]

Wow, I really hope you never leave your little world you have built for yourself.

[Elongated Muskrat]

Basic Reality? Basic down-vote collector, more like.

[Sparkus]

"look at Meeeeeee!"

I have a safety concern!

[MachDiamond]

Re: "look at Meeeeeee!"

"I have a safety concern!"

The safety meeting is next week, Clyde.

(if it isn't cancelled again)

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah

America, as we knew it, is done. Final.

There’s no coming back from this Trump disaster.

The US will be both a pariah and failed state well within 3 years.

Irrelevant and angry, but mostly with itself.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Nah

One would hope that it's mostly with itself, but they are projecting already.

[kvuj]

Re: Nah

> The US will be both a pariah and failed state well within 3 years.

Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is by taking long puts position on the SP500?

I believe America still has a lot of gas and I don't have the balls to short them and their unending pockets.

[Cliffwilliams44]

The Idiocracy!

The idiocracy of this world has gotten completely out of control!

By what reasoning do they believe they would not be safe in the US? Are they all planning to enter the country illegally? Are they planning to engage in terrorist activity? Do they think that by making jokes they will somehow be targeted? The current administration isn't the one who put a man in jail for posting a meme! (Nor did they arrest a comedian for making a joke! Is that why they didn't select the UK?)

Now granted, if you go walking around the wrong parts of Boston, NYC, Philly, etc. you will not be safe. That has nothing to do with who is in the White House and everything to do with who are running these cities!

So seriously, they can take their virtue-signaling bullshit to Europe! No one over here really gives a shit!

[Jonathan Richards 1]

Re: The Idiocracy!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton-valid-visa-detained-ice

[that one in the corner]

Re: The Idiocracy!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton-valid-visa-detained-ice

(You had a typo in the href)

[Jonathan Richards 1]

Re: The Idiocracy!

Ooops, sorry, and thanks for the correction.

[that one in the corner]

Re: The Idiocracy!

From one of the *other* tourists who was detained by ICE, quoted in that article:

>> She has a message for other tourists considering a trip to America: “Don’t go – not with Trump in charge. It’s totally out of control over there. There’s no accountability. They don’t seem to need a reason for detaining you.”

[Groo The Wanderer - A Canuck]

Re: The Idiocracy!

Reading my plethora of anti-Pumpkin Fuhrer posts, they'd find a reason to detain me, and rather than sending me back to Canada, would send me off to some shithole nation's prison system for the "crime" of saying that Nazism/Fascism has grabbed the US by the nether regions...

[blu3b3rry]

Re: The Idiocracy!

I made it very clear to my employer that I'm not travelling to the US any more, partly for the same reasons.

It's evident that no-one is welcome in Trump's USA. OP's nonsensical tantrum in response to the article more or less confirms this.

[Elongated Muskrat]

Re: The Idiocracy!

Oh, the irony of referencing Idiocracy and not realising it's about you.

Although Mike Judge, wisely, doesn't air his political opinions, he is clearly very much not a Trump supporter.

From the Wikipedia page about him:

In June 2016, before the presidential election in November, Etan Cohen told BuzzFeed that he and Judge would produce Idiocracy-themed campaign advertisements mocking Donald Trump's presidential campaign if given permission from 20th Century Fox to do so.

Yes, the article also states that this didn't go ahead, and they were planning to mock all of the political candidates, but I think that probably tells us more about their attitude towards your broken political system, and low regard for all of your politicians, rather than support for your particular viewpoint, which they may paraphrase as "ow, my balls."

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The Idiocracy!

Somewhat tricky to compare across eras, though, especially after there's been a reversal in voter education, voter IQ, and civic knowledge. It used to be Republicans who complained about the quality of the electorate and how many people just showed up to give them stuff or vote a slogan. Republican leadership used to fantasize about civic knowledge tests to weed out people who barely had a clue what they were voting on. That used to be an idea which would have heavily favored the professional class, the upper-middle class, the newsviewing class, the educated, etc. Those groups used to bias Republican.

Now it's reversed. These days, those restrictions would massively disenfranchise the low-information Trumpenproletariat. Ironically, Democrats' longtime position that everyone should cast a ballot, no matter how dumb or ill-informed, turns out to be a boon for Trumpism.

I think the message we need to take from Idiocracy is more societal than partisan. Low-information voters are everyone's problem, which is why America's terrible public schools, horrible state of civic knowledge, and toxic media culture are everybody's problem. But we're going to be stuck with stupid voters spoiling the system as long as it benefits one party over another or aligns with someone's ideology (rather than focus on functional outcomes).

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah!....Satire And The Nobel Peace Prize.............

Tom Lehrer is alleged to have left the satire business because

he thought that satire became impossible when Henry Kissinger

was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

He was absolutely correct all those years ago.

(1) POTUS demands the Nobel Peace Prize, and soon after.............

(2) POTUS starts an illegal war

Tom Lehrer.........you are sorely missed!

[PopsJon]

"emcee of the ceremony" - seriously?

I don't want to be a nerd but... I am a nerd, sorry!

I only just learned that an MC (Master of Ceremonies) can be written "emcee" but I don't think you can be "master of ceremonies of the ceremony".

I'll read it as "emcee of the event"!

There! Feeling better already.