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[Shadowlord]

RedKing, yeah, that's what I figured, but I hadn't looked it up, so... 

In other news, Boutros Boutros-Ghali died. The Washington Post published an obituary for him that was written by a journalist who died two years ago. Of course, that's not really as amazing as it sounds, since they write these things ahead of time and just update them as needed, so they can publish them immediately.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/boutros-boutros-ghali-un-secretary-general-who-clashed-with-us-dies-at-93/2016/02/16/8b727bb8-d4c1-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html

It mentions Bill Clinton basically scapegoating the UN for a US-run operation that lost American soldiers, and then blaming him in particular for refusing to go along with GOP financial "reform" demands for the UN, which led to him being unable to win a second term due to US opposition, and the US more or less replacing him with Kofi Annan.

[mainiac]

which admittedly does leave me open to the risk of accidentally strawmanning.

You are not allowed to say such things on the internet.  Shame on you.

[Loud Whispers]

https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00033085
https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=2016&cid=N00033085&type=I&newmem=N
https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2016&cid=N00033085&type=I&newmem=N

Looking at the three tables and America's MRE providers Wornick, Sopakco and Ameriqual, they have not made any donations on the par with financial / legal / republican / energy lobby groups, or at all as far as I can tell

Though this note in the footer is useful:

The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

So maybe there is more to this, though the only thing I can currently find is a $6k donation under the category 'misc defence.' Is that our MREs?

*EDIT
Looking at MRE heating instructions cracks me up for some reason, like you can hear the soldier on the other end losing it

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dave use your head, just put it on a rock or something! (Not your head)

[RedKing]

I found some records of Ameriqual making some decent-sized contributions, but it was pretty much all to the Indiana GOP (where they're headquartered).

Ok, so Ted Cruz is not in the pocket of Big MRE. Big MRE doesn't even really have pockets. More like one of those Hello Kitty fanny packs. But in camo. And dehydrated.

So I'm gonna switch gears and say

<puts on Alex Jones mask>

Ted Cruz is a pawn in the shadow war between Big Wheat and Big Corn. Think about it, he was the only GOP nominee to openly oppose ethanol subsidies in Iowa, a direct attack on Big Corn. He's anti-immigrant, and you know who eats a lot of corn? Mexicans. You know who grows a lot of wheat? CANADA. But Canadian wheat production is falling, while Canadian corn production is growing. The Elders of Gluten knew that the only way they could survive would be to get one of their minions elected President and force out all the corn-eating Latinos, while simultaneously using government power to enforce increased wheat consumption by forcing the US Army to eat bread.

WAKE UP WHEATLE

<takes off Alex Jones mask>

Wow....this thing smells like whiskey and sweaty pork rinds inside.

[PTTG??]

Bernie now has an establishment endorsement.

[Baffler]

To be fair, making gluten free versions of things is more expensive (some of that is health nut price inflation, but wheat is cheaper than whatever pseudograin they use instead simply because it's produced on a scale orders of magnitude larger) and having both creates a lot more work for the producers and supply chain people. There's a very small number of people with a gluten allergy, so just excluding them from the military is probably the easier choice. In Cruz's mind.

[Strife26]

Rock or something is one of the most fundamental of martial tools.


There's so many ridiculously fun things that can be done with the flameless ration heater.

There's currently combined vegetarian/halal/kosher mres, I believe. Making them gluten free too would probably be annoying.

[RedKing]

Obama giving a press conference about the SCOTUS vacancy now.

[Dutchling]

is the hand thing new? i never noticed him doing it before

[smjjames]

Bernie now has an establishment endorsement.

Not sure if the guy would be considered 'establishment'. Doesn't seem to count towards http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-endorsement-primary/

@RedKing: We should assume then that Cruz is either being an idiot (wrong definition of carpet bombing and not knowing it's a war crime for one) or attempting to play into the same anti-establishment and 'lets stop being so politically correct' line that Trump plays all the time.

is the hand thing new? i never noticed him doing it before

The waving his hands around? He does it all the time.

To be fair, making gluten free versions of things is more expensive (some of that is health nut price inflation, but wheat is cheaper than whatever pseudograin they use instead simply because it's produced on a scale orders of magnitude larger) and having both creates a lot more work for the producers and supply chain people. There's a very small number of people with a gluten allergy, so just excluding them from the military is probably the easier choice. In Cruz's mind.

Probably. Though with the recruitment problems they're already having, it might not be worth it.

[RedKing]

Yeah, I'm assuming "gluten-free" = "one of those hippie liberal things" in Cruz's minds that he thought would get a good chuckle.
But it's a hell of a lot more fun to go down the rabbit hole with it.

[Frumple]

but wheat is cheaper than whatever pseudograin they use instead simply because it's produced on a scale orders of magnitude larger

... isn't the "pseudograin" usually defaulted to when avoiding wheat... rice? There could definitely be scale things going on behind the scenes, but last I noticed the store prices rice actually tends to run lower by unit than just about anything made of wheat. There's not a particularly huge price difference, regardless.

Most of the price differential with stuff marketed as gluten free is just price gouging, so far as I'm aware, with a small side of there being smaller/additional production lines. But mostly just ripping people off.

[Amperzand]

In my experience as a baker's son, gluten-free products are a pain to make, especially if you want them remotely enjoyable.

[RedKing]

In my experience as a baker's son, gluten-free products are a pain to make, especially if you want them remotely enjoyable.

Amperzand confirmed for Illumiwheatie.

[mainiac]

Say what you will about the Illumiwheaties, they know the secrets to an amazing breakfast.