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[LordBaal]

What if... Trump actually hired the hackers to rig the election and they instead went fucking around in all other places instead of do that and then went like, yeah what are you gonna do? Sue us? Present charges for breach of contract?

It is a good movie plot.

[Starver]

You'd have to overblow it in complexity. (Pre-Presidential) Jack Ryan[1]-esque figure would have to be personally asked to investigate the hack in many physical and implausible ways involving jumping off exploding buildings and being framed for something he didn't do, only to find out that he probably did do something bad, along the way (still not what he was framed for!) which he has to dramatically undo by blowing up more buildings while escaping them by skidoo (from the top floor, and the building's in Miami/Hong Kong/Dubai/wherever-suits-the-bankrolling) in order to either steal and/or destroy and/or duplicate and/or incrimminatingly plant some incidental McGuffin (despite it actually only being a McGuffin-level in-plot use, I still suggest the Nuclear Football, but in vastly more sophisticated form like Tony Stark's legacy of the "Edith" glasses... just because) upon his boss. Then discover his boss was set up and... perhaps at least one more level of misdirection to which (though the audience were not privvy to, save for plenty of Chokovian Guns) he (or she, obviously) has already handily set up contingencies and contingency contingencies to (but not the very simple ones that would have meant no buildings needed destroying). I suggest Michael Bay to direct (ultimately wishing to be credited as Alan Smithee), and use ILM's most over-aspirational rival for post-production effects, those that we can't grab from old film stock. There will be three mid-credit Stingers to wrap up half the loose ends remaining/tease a minor-character sequel-spinoff, but no post-credit one at all to save on cinema[2] overtime costs.

I think that's a detailed-enough Elevator Pitch (would require the Burj Khalifa, in fact, so Dubai it is then!). The rest can be hammered out by whoever they bring in to do the screenplay.


[1] I suppose these days it'd be Ethan Hunt (apparently the seventh MI film has restarted filming, but I'm sure I've not seen more than three of his, even by accident - still sore that they trashed the integrity of the original series) or whichever it is of Jack Reacher and John Wick (not seen either franchise, and so I get them mixed up in my head). I can't think of any pre-Ryan model of US-centric combo James Bond/Simon Templar/Modesty Blaise-ish persona established earlier in my mind than the Clancy books, so I'll stick with Ryan.

[2] Though it'll probably be 'released' on Disney±, at this rate.

[Starver]

...talking of films, do we imagine Trump aspires for his fledgling Space Force to have jurisdiction over the whole galaxy?

(And for the record, I'm sure that most fictional *Topias that have a service where the (usually faceless/anonymous) enforcers are called Guardians are of the Dis type.)

I'm not sure if he's avoiding the Space Command Is A Navy thing (or an Air Force, which I think they're functionally mostly splitting off from, but they also use adapted Naval terminology so it'd be hard to prise apart).

[Teneb]

...talking of films, do we imagine Trump aspires for his fledgling Space Force to have jurisdiction over the whole galaxy?

(And for the record, I'm sure that most fictional *Topias that have a service where the (usually faceless/anonymous) enforcers are called Guardians are of the Dis type.)

I'm not sure if he's avoiding the Space Command Is A Navy thing (or an Air Force, which I think they're functionally mostly splitting off from, but they also use adapted Naval terminology so it'd be hard to prise apart).

I mean, it's the USA. They think they have jurisdiction over the entire universe.

[MonkeyHead]

Plenty of hydrocarbons on Titan...

[LordBaal]

Well, it would be a shame if they dont take the oportunity to name themselves Guardians of the Galaxy and name Chris Pratt the commander officer.

On the other hand Imperial Guard would have been way more awesome, but I get they dont get any ships... so.

On the gripping hand, space marines would be better. And monstrous gene edited killing machines do are in perfect harmony with 2020.

[Starver]

A complete aside from absolutely everything, but I'm running through the details of various US counties.  Because. Maybe you'll see why later...

And so I've currently got this randomly sorted list which seems just scream personal names if you combine adjacent  county names, mostly just shaving off the "county" (or "borough" or "parish") but occasionall a little extra licence.

i.e.
Charlotte Manistee (Florida and Michigan)
Phillip S. McCracken (Arkansas and Kentucky)
Taney Halifax (Missouri, Virginia)
Craig Washington (Oklahoma and... in this instance... Idaho)
Brooke St. Louis (W. Virginia, Minnesota)
Lynne Somerset (Iowa (act. "Linn") and NJ)
Tripp Hopkins (SD, TX)
Pearl Magoffin (Mississippi, Kentucky)
(St.) Francis Throckmorton (Arkansas, Texas)
Thomas Hancock (Kansas, Missouri)
Fergus Gregg (Montana, Texas)
Tinian Perkins (somehow the Northern Marianas crept into this list, and then South Dakota)
Jackson T. Green (TN, TX)
...Howard Berrian, Juneau Goodhue, Johnson Box-Butte, Nottaway Van Zandt, Winn Brazoria, Menard Scioto, etc, but I'll stop now. (These aren't deliberately (mis)matched, I just pre-randomised the list to avoid accidentally dwelling on Alaska before Wisconsin, etc, and I actually skipped over some boring 'normal' names just there... There are impossible-looking combos, but not in this little stretch.)


But if I ever write that novel, I've sure got a load of ready character names (or nicknames... Granite Douglas, Hot Spring Jackson, Beaver Jenkins) with various and diverse suggestive plot-driving personalities.


Just thought it'd be a change of pace. But carry on carrying on!

[delphonso]

Johnson Box-Butte was my stage name.

[da_nang]

Oh boy, guess what's included in the Omnibus Christmas present.

[MrRoboto75]

either this or the federal government shuts down

[feelotraveller]

Oh boy, guess what's included in the Omnibus Christmas present.

Blackjack and hookers.

Inb4 they jail me for saying that.

[Lord Shonus]

Note that the proposed CASE system lacks any power to subpoena, making it impossible to use against most random people who are identifiable only as an IP address. It is also opt-out, meaning that you can explicitly refuse to participate in the process and thus forc it into the regular Federal court system.

[hector13]

either this or the federal government shuts down

Yeah, I think it was the deal that was made or nothing.

I wanted to lamp McConnell when I heard him chatting about common sense protections for businesses so they don’t get sued for coronavirus transmission linked to them, because Republicans across the land have been criticizing the actual common sense public health protocols that have been put in place literally the world over.

[da_nang]

I'd rather the government shut down and the people lay a literal siege on Congress to get the scumbags to pass a sensible bill than the pissy omnibus biscuit people are now getting.

[TamerVirus]

Typical pork barrel politics being passed in the dead of night with nobody being able to read the fine print.
Special interests win again!