There's a DLC for Assassin's Creed III called The Tyranny of King Washington, exploring an alternate reality with a corrupt president. Not so wild a theory now
Trump is still an anomaly. It's been bad, but this is something else entirely. He is simultaneously the dumbest, most evil, and most corrupt President, and it's not even close.
He commits new acts worse than Watergate multiple times a week.
Maybe I do need to read up on US Presidential history, but as my knowledge stands right now I'd say that, aside from only two or three presidents, every leadership has been progressive in some form. Every one except Trump and a couple others has objectively improved something for the majority of the public. Mr. Orange is, if anything, proof of de-evolution.
I mean even Nixon gave us the EPA. I was not aware during Reagan, so I associate him with excellent jelly beans and hatred. Jelly beans are good, right?
Neo-liberalism has brought us here, it's designed to slowly ratchet us toward another authoritarian state. Because you cannot dare mar the sanctity of the "Free Market" you have to sacrifice at its altar everything else.
The funniest common combination I see on cars is the Gadsden flag (don't tread on me) and the thin blue line flag (support for cops). I don't know how to read that any other way than "I support cops targeting those people."
Yeah Bubba and his gun ain’t doing shit to watchdog the government. In fact I’m quite certain that the government is the only thing keeping Bubba from killing ME with his gun and moving into my house because he feels like it.
My daughter sent me a TikTok about the government using counterintelligence techniques against left wing groups. I sent her the wikipedia page on Cointellpro with the comment “Sadly this is not new”
Nothing about this is new. The authoritarianism, the concentration camps, the dispossessions, the witch-hunt of immigrants and people with a darker skin, the fearmongering, the robber baron oligarchs. We’ve all been here before. And not just once.
The truly astonishing cultural trait is that Americans keep on living in lalaland and pretend it isn’t happening, it never happened, and it COULD never happen cuz yada yada the Constitution and We The People and the second amendment.
Americans are one shortsighted bunch willing to swallow any and all propaganda.
I have a co-worker who fought in Vietnam. I showed him the thing about the Pentagon straight up admitting that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was bullshit, but he refused to accept it. Still feels that we had to fight that war because if we had allowed the communists to win, it would have meant that communism would have taken over the world ... even though we actually did lose that war.
Any time someone brings up the draft I remind them the last time the U.S. did a draft it was for a war that they lost, and justified due to things that never actually happened after the U.S. lost.
So basically the U.S. enslaved and sent tens of thousands of people to their deaths for no reason.
Draftees make horrible soldiers, especially in unpopular wars which, lets be honest, have been all of the US' military engagements since 1945. I think the military would rather do without them and the grenades that tend be dropped into the tents of sleeping COs.
My wife and I were talking about a draft for Iran and whether they would widen the age range they're looking for and try to draft me. I said that if they tried, I would promise them that if they handed me a gun that I would use it to kill as many high ranking American officers as I could because I'm much more dangerous than a pacifist or conscientious objector; I will actively sabotage a war that I don't believe in and that I'm forced to participate in. So I think they'd let me stay home. If you force me to give my life for a cause, I'm gonna be the one to pick the cause.
Depends how everything else is going. Probably at the point we have a draft to go to Iran, we'll already be an authoritarian state and your options are to go to to war or to ICE camp. You think Russians are volunteering to die in Ukraine?
But I'd be curious if that would have worked in Vietnam. I'm guessing they would just put a note in your file to subject you to as much abuse as possible or just kill you the way they did Pat TIllman. Conscientious Objector status is a really a sop to religion, otherwise I think a lot of people could qualify for it.
Well it largely never played out because western capitalists spilled so much blood making sure it wouldn’t. If people had been free to decide for themselves, many more countries would have gone communist, as it has better outcomes for the majority of people than capitalism.
I honestly don't think he has PTSD, doesn't seem the type. He spent the war riding around in an M48 tank so I don't think he saw any shit up close. More like a B52 pilot than an actual combatant.
Epstein was a Mossad agent. He was a cop, and thus is still alive. The night before it was announced Epstein killed himself, an anonymous poster on 4chan posted pictures of a body swap and said not to believe the official story. Comparing pictures of the body to Epstein reveals several differences, such as different earlobes, eyebrows higher up, and a more hooked nose. You live in clown world if you don't realize the Epstein files and Epstein's main role now is for counterintelligence purposes for the police state. Donald Trump is a cop. Hunter Biden is a cop. The Clintons are cops. Get with the fucking program.
Can I ask a serious question? Genuinely, how many people in all sorts of positions of power have offered Donald Trump something unscrupulous? Let's determine which percentage of that percentage watches Fox News or CNN or XYZ of whatever country; it doesn't matter because of the dazzle camouflage.
In WWI, the British Navy painted their ships all sorts of angled n abstract, black n white patterns that made them easier to spot but harder for an enemy to determine their heading, speed, and range. This basic principle of not needing to conceal something in order to protect it can be applied to other fields, and I tell you this as someone who had to be a "crackhead" because I wasn't good enough to be a "pothead," which is a "festival cop."
Y'know that guy riding the light rail or subway, maybe at the bus station or off in "that place" who is mouthing off, doing drugs, getting into fights, but is never arrested? Yea, they're never arrested because we are cops. Genuinely, sincerely; who are the millionaires in all countries that would sell their daughter for seven figures? The FBI knows who's stupid enough to proposition Donald Trump. Imagine who is stupid enough to proposition Hunter Biden about drugs? It's a POLICE STATE, mmk? There's strategy involved!
I fuck dogs on camera and make three figures, you think you're tough, boy? I ain't no jagermeier juggalo, but I can juggle, and I can say with renown certainty before my lord that my dick ain't never been in a dead being before, I think. There was one Easter, but everyone gets a gramma pass, y'know? At least we do, this side of the Mississippi, but you're speaking Aussie, which I understand because my handler in the CIA had an Australian girlfriend who gave him herpes. Fuck ain't counterintelligence work weird, bro. You got a light?
Theoretically that's what the 2A guns are meant to be for...
But doesn't really work out that way when the adversary is your own Government, who has access to very arguably the best armed police force and military in the world, and is more than willing to turn those on you.
The reason it doesn't work out that way is because we aren't organized. Yeah, sure, a lot of Americans are armed, but they're armed and alone. The intention behind the second amendment was that groups of citizens would form their own local militias and effectively be a distributed standing army ready to defend their liberty at a moment's notice, but the pervasive culture of individualism has twisted the second amendment into something else.
Eh, idk. There's at least a handful of notable Nazi militia group bust-ups in America's history. Like yeah, it was built by slavers, but there's different kinds of bad, and pro big state fascism is actually very very far removed from the ideals of the people that founded this country.
Only the leftist militia groups. The right wing ones were all given jobs with ice. It's not a coincidence there have been fewer nazi marches since ice started the hiring program.
My favorite weird thing about American culture is that it is so aggressive. Aggressive food (PopTarts, Big Gulps, etc), aggressive games (football), aggressive national anthem (literally about war), and so on. We are an oddly aggressive people.
Regarding the national anthem, you should look up a translation of the French national anthem. And it probably isn't the most metal/aggressive national anthem out there, since it's one of the very few I even know.
Edit: I couldn't help but add this snippet
Grab your weapons, citizens!
Form your battalions!
Let us march! Let us march!
May impure blood
Water our fields!
I got into a bar fight with a pop tart once. Super aggressive guy. He knocked a couple of my teeth out and gave me a nose bleed. By the end he had me pinned down, but I managed to break free and throw him into the nearest toaster. Savored that meal.
I once tasted a real proper tart. Served at the wake of a late boss at a golf club house. English tea times sometimes include simple jam tarts. Both envoke tranquil and enjoyability. All my experiences with the Pop Tart were under rush, duress, haste, a sugar-to-blood delivery system. One can tell easy when we (USA) aggravate the food. Like turning doughnuts into donuts. Or spell cheese with a 'z'.
I didn't say that's what it meant. I just wondered if they would think one was much more aggressive than the other. I do. More than one thing can be true.
The german one started out as a poem then song that was meant to unite states through their artists and academics. While the nazi abused it and skewed the meaning to be aggressive (germany above all other countries), it was initially about unity (Germany above whatever the princes of the individual states of the German Confederation want).
it’s easier to get a gun than a doctor’s appointment
A lot of times, it's cheaper too!
tipping
I don't think tipping is weird on it's own, but the default expectation of tipping, and the fuckery around wages that makes tips essential to earning "a living" instead of a nice bonus is definitely weird.
I see it as an extra "thank you" if someone goes above and beyond what I was expecting for a service. It's not something that should be given out lightly or something that is expected, but I also know that tipping is necessary for people in some jobs to make a living. It's not a fault of their own, but a fault of a system that saw a benefit they were getting, and was like "oh, we can just under-pay these employees and use tipping as leverage against them." Do I hate the tipping system in the US? Absolutely. Am I going to impose financial stresses (by not tipping) on the waitstaff at a restaurant in order to make a point about how badly they are compensated for their work? Absolutely not.
Considering that giving cash to someone under any other circumstances is considered tacky (even gift certificates/cards are more acceptable, and that's just cash with limits on where/how you can spend it), it is weird that tipping is so ingrained in our culture. And unsettling, to be honest...
If it were 20s or 100s it would be more insulting, you understand this, no?
If it's the difference between paying rent or not then it's a huge problem that the behaviour exists to enable that situation. If it weren't a cultural behaviour it would be called panhandling.
You know how Hitler rose to power by abusing a national emergency regulation? You know how there was worry of Trump doing a fascism, back when Obama handed over to the guy? You know how Trump literally announced beforehand that he'll do a fascism, when Biden handed over to him?
Both could've chosen to terminate the national emergency. Neither did so.
Having read the Constitution and Declaration of Independence as a kid (they were required reading in school), it seems to me that the flag should be pledging allegiance to *us*, not the other way around.
"I pledge allegiance to the the Flag of the United States..."
Unless you think the flag is a god, you're not pledging to a god, you're pledging to a piece of fabric, or to the design printed on that fabric. Which, honestly, is a lot weirder. How can one have allegiance to a flag? What about the opposite, is it possible to be disloyal to a flag?
Yes... Pledging allegiance... To a flag.... Representing a Republic... That exists by/for god...
I mean, I didn't look into it that much at first, I was in kindergarten FFS, but I remember thinking it was funny that God was mentioned in the pledge, and how he was also mentioned in the prayers at Grandma's church, and I thought I shouldn't lie and say the "under god" part since I didn't believe.
Doesn't necessarily need to. Would open the door to many other awful laws based on single cases. Found a single case of gay men sexually abusing children? Ban homosexuality act enacted. Some gamer shoot up a school? Gaming banned.
The UK might have banned consensual extreme pornography after one death, but it shouldn't be the norm. If anything, it should be seen as an infringement on human rights by anti-rights activists.
Quick search indicates 342 million people in the United States according to their census, i tried to find the total amount of American citizens but that statistics doesn’t appear easy to find, if we divide it in half and say 171 million US citizens who all potentially own 1 maybe 2 maybe 5 maybe 10 firearms, even if the laws were to change federally at any point do you think every citizen is going to comply?
Even the Canadian government struggles confiscating firearms from licensed owners, and that’s closer to 2 million firearms now prohibited, I can’t imagine how Americans would handle it.
Firearms are known to last over a hundred years and can be rebuilt, they don’t just magically go away when sales stop.
And as I mentioned in another comment, In the United States firearms don’t have to be registered, as far as I know this applies federally, may differ per state, how do you plan to track something with no traceability?
We are in agreement. If someone wants to buy a firearm in the US there are many ways they can do so to skirt government oversight.
But it would still good true that if you ban the sale of certain firearms, the number of people that own said type of firearm will go down over time. Simply introducing a barrier of entry is enough to deter at least some people from buying that specific firearm.
That to me is fine. I don't think we should overspend our resources trying to do this. Just start with the low hanging fruit with the highest roi.
I don't. I think there isn't enough popular support for a gun ban for success to happen and it would be a pricey boondoggle. Laws that don't have public consensus behind them have a poor track record. Look at prohibition or the war on drugs.
But it would not fail because of the size of the country. That's silly.
I played the storyline for Qube recently (10th Anniversary edition), and there was a hook that was supposed to be sad, but instead hit me as horribly American, plus a dash of victim blaming.
::: spoiler Spoiler
"So, I want you to know, I’m only reading this because you wrote it to yourself.
"It was three PM on a Sunday. You were upstairs at home. A teenage boy broke into your house. He thought you were away on vacation. You went downstairs with your gun. You shot him in your living room. Only he wasn’t trying to rob you. He was passing by and saw a fire in your kitchen. He broke in to try and put it out. He was young and stupid and probably should have thought of a better solution. But you assumed the worst. You assumed the very worst and you shot him. He was paralyzed from the neck down. He died seven years later, alone, at night, in Penrose-St. Francis Hospital…"
That was infuriating the whole way through. I don’t exactly want to recommend reading further, because it’s just a depressing story all around, but this was well written and provided the piece of information I was shamefully burning with curiosity about
Thank you regardless. That definitely is a sobering read. Poor Webb Haymaker, he tried..
It didn't have what I was thinking about, though.. Even though the country is completely in the gutter with gun crimes by civilians and law enforcement alike, it's at least nice to know that my initial assumption, that the Brady Bill the community helped enact probably was decommissioned, is in fact still active and enforced.
Honestly, I think he probably succeeded in helping a lot of people, he just couldn’t keep going forever. It’s absolutely tragic that he didn’t make it to meet his daughter though.
I’ve always been an atheist, but the older I get, the more I wish there was a traditional Christian afterlife (just with the moral values determining where people end up significantly tweaked). It would be nice to think he and Yoshi could be reunited and at peace.
In traditional Egyptian faiths/cosmology, spirits can join each other at the Field of Reeds -- in fact being with loved ones is a core concept of that afterlife too -- but the criteria for entry is simply the morals which we all live by: no stealing (selfishly) from others, no lying (with intent to harm), no murdering and no polluting the Nile (eco terrorism, desecrating the Gods and sabotaging the sole sustainer of life in the desert). Selfishness, greed, malice, and cruelty. Everyone who can prove their goodness gets in. Oh, and the alternative isn't endless torture, but a second death -- nonexistence.
I've always looked for an alternative faith system to Western ones -- I've never been a fan of oppression or rule via fear -- but the Egyptian faith is one of my favourites.
Maybe they're in the Field of Reeds. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking solace in an idea - even though I myself can't believe in them.
(I wanted to use a gif courtesy of BabyFarkMcGeeZax, but it seems my instance hasn't changed the 100MB default file limit and my client crashes. This'll have to do)
Following the killing, some argued that had Hattori been white, Bonnie Peairs may have not reacted the way she did. The Haymakers stated in an interview following the trial that had Hattori been white, they believed he would have never been killed, noting that Bonnie Peairs said that she first noticed that Hattori was "darker colored" than her.
I'm inclined to agree. Although the wife/instigator denies it, deeply learned/inherited societal racism affects nearly every relevant choice.
The 10th Anniversary edition was released around 2022, and rebuilt the entire game in Unreal 5 to closely match the style of Qube 2, with extremely HQ textures and lighting, redesigned levels (they took out the secret levels and dev photos, sadly) and a fully voiced plot! I only played this version but it seems a fantastic homage for fans of the original
25 years ago, I could see how they had a kind of rugged romantic working appeal back when trucks were four wheels, chassis, big engine, and two seats. They don't seem to make those any more, I only seem to see the giant luxury wanker variety.
Their constitution is a divine document, dictated by the elder gods which cannot be altered in any way (including the amendments, oddly enough) and which can solve any problem and contains every truth.
American civil religion is a sociological theory that a nonsectarian civil religion exists within the United States with sacred symbols drawn from the national history of the United States. Scholars have portrayed it as a common set of values that foster social and cultural integration. The ritualistic elements of ceremonial deism found in American ceremonies and presidential invocations of God can be seen as expressions of the American civil religion.
Actually that's incorrect in terms of the "cannot be altered". The constitution can be altered via a ratification by 38 / 50 states or 2/3rds of congress. With a supermajority being required, this would mean that the proposed amendment would have to be bipartisan.. Which means it's almost impossible to do, especially nowadays... Unless the country were to take a major shift left or right (or more likely the elections become rigged)
Last time this happened though was in 1992
thank goodness because if it was too easy, the "two terms" would have been amended already by the Party of Trump
No wonder he wants to "federalize elections." Just look what's been happening in Nicaragua since 2013 which has finally come to a head (although Ortega's judges just straight up nullified the term limit....
On paper the USA SCOTUS cannot do this since they can only interpret ...but they can take away teeth to enforce which they have done before.. they just can't straight up say "nah that' part of the constitution is nullified." Like what happened in Nicaragua in 2013
I mean, they've already reinterpreted parts of the Constitution to not mean exactly what it says. They can wordsmith their way around the 22nd amendment if enough of them find politically advantageous. I'm sure Alito has a draft ruling already ready to go.
Also the sort of person who shouts that the loudest, will happily go along with any suggestion that the amendments they don't like were a corruption of the true spirit of the Constitution and should be repealed.
I was just watching an old rerun of some generic tv drama, and a judge was signing a warrant, and saying "One day we're going to have to explain this to government sub-committee," and I thought, "IF that happens, and that's BIG IF, nothing will happen."
someone post all the major things the cia has done in the last 70 years by bullet point, much has been declassified and the fact none of the public is freaking out over the things they have done is maddening
I fruck out about it the first 10 or so times I found out about these things, but it doesn't hit the same after a while. This is just what the US is. I vote, I speak my mind, I engage in a little domestic terrorism, but ultimately I don't have enough power to change things in my lifetime. I'm crossing my fingers for an organized network of assassins with a conscience to materialize.
I tend to agree. I would just like if a certain type of person didn't have the kind of power that destroys the environment and worsens lives for ends that only serve to benefit that same type of person. How that happens doesn't matter to me, but assassins would be quick and final. Collective action from the people would make me feel better for the future though.
The most recent thing that I learned about was that the CIA secretly worked with Boris Hagelin when he formed Crypto AG in the 1950s to ensure that encryption devices sold to foreign countries were easy to break by American intelligence agencies. Then in the 1970s, the CIA secretly purchased Crypto AG and owned it until 2018.
Crypto AG sold devices to countries across South America, Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia. Basically, all of tge US's adversaries aside from the USSR and China.
There are so many, but one of the biggest is Project MK Ultra. They literally dosed people with LSD (unknowingly to the patient) and various other terrifying methods to try to figure out different ways of interrogation through human experimentation.
Project MKUltra began in 1953 and was halted in 1972.[3][4] MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects' mental states and brain functions, such as the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals without the subjects' consent. Additionally, other methods beyond chemical compounds were used, including electroshocks,[5] hypnosis,[6][7] sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, and other forms of torture.[8][9]
And as best I understand it, didn't even use proper scientific method to even make their study replicate to prove what they were doing worked to any extent.
Which isn't the worst part at all, but just shoves it waaaaaaaay further down the torture side and removes any scientific use at all.
Yep! Though Project MK Ultra was founded on Nazi experiments specifically:
During the early 1940s, Nazi scientists working in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau during World War II conducted interrogation experiments on human subjects. Substances such as barbiturates, morphine derivatives, and hallucinogens such as mescaline were employed in experiments conducted on Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish, and other prisoners of war.[22] These experiments aimed to develop a truth serum which would, in the words of one laboratory assistant to Dachau scientist Kurt Plötner, "eliminate the will of the person examined."[22] American historian Stephen Kinzer said that the CIA project was a continuation of these earlier Nazi experiments, as evidenced by MKUltra's use of mescaline on unwitting subjects, replicating previous Nazi experiments conducted at Dachau.[23] Numerous Nazi scientists would be employed by the United States government after the war as part of Operation Paperclip, with some figures such as Kurt Blome becoming involved in MKUltra.[24]
I am. Neither the CIA nor the Nazis followed the basic scientific method and the results are not reproducible. They were really just torturing people and using their goal of developing a "truth serum" as justification.
Japan had a similar unit that was torturing people under "scientific advancement".
No no no. We say two election cycles ago, the guy in charge did this. Or that old director of the FBI did this, after he dies and can't say fuck no the president demanded it.
The only weird part is that we unclassify anything. And that only happens when they're trying to buy some public trust.
And then the main conspiracy nuts are going "Nyeh!", because it was about overthrowing a democratically elected government, and not rolling out communism (read: Obamacare).
americans are all talk no balls, its why they spend so much on military, they feel insecure without the biggest guns possible and still lose wars. its pathetic.
192 Comments
ExtremeDullard@piefed.social · 220 pts · 5d
They have guns up the wazoo to ensure no tyrant will ever rule them, and a tyrant rules them.
bloogoose@lemmy.zip · 93 pts · 5d
A coward with a gun is still a coward.
Rooskie91@discuss.online · 0 pts · 3d
Most people buy guns because they're cowards.
orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts · 67 pts · 5d
And the people yelling “come and take it” while waving “don’t tread on me” flags voted the tyrants in.
NoForwadSlashS@piefed.social · 9 pts · 5d
I guess it wasn't a threat after all and they were just shouting out their kink
lyralycan@sh.itjust.works · 35 pts · 5d
There's a DLC for Assassin's Creed III called The Tyranny of King Washington, exploring an alternate reality with a corrupt president. Not so wild a theory now
zarkanian@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 5d
I encourage you to read up on prior presidents if you think Trump is some kind of anomaly.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 5d
Trump is still an anomaly. It's been bad, but this is something else entirely. He is simultaneously the dumbest, most evil, and most corrupt President, and it's not even close.
He commits new acts worse than Watergate multiple times a week.
lyralycan@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 5d
Maybe I do need to read up on US Presidential history, but as my knowledge stands right now I'd say that, aside from only two or three presidents, every leadership has been progressive in some form. Every one except Trump and a couple others has objectively improved something for the majority of the public. Mr. Orange is, if anything, proof of de-evolution.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 4d
I mean even Nixon gave us the EPA. I was not aware during Reagan, so I associate him with excellent jelly beans and hatred. Jelly beans are good, right?
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 5d
Neo-liberalism has brought us here, it's designed to slowly ratchet us toward another authoritarian state. Because you cannot dare mar the sanctity of the "Free Market" you have to sacrifice at its altar everything else.
ignotum@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 5d
"don't tread on me" in the streets, "please step on me daddy trump" in the sheets
MrVilliam@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 4d
The funniest common combination I see on cars is the Gadsden flag (don't tread on me) and the thin blue line flag (support for cops). I don't know how to read that any other way than "I support cops targeting those people."
ignotum@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 4d
I love leopards that eat peoples faces, just don't eat my face
Signtist@bookwyr.me · 12 pts · 5d
All they had to do was teach them that tyranny looks like a bunch of brown people having jobs.
stickyprimer@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 5d
Yeah Bubba and his gun ain’t doing shit to watchdog the government. In fact I’m quite certain that the government is the only thing keeping Bubba from killing ME with his gun and moving into my house because he feels like it.
rumba@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 4d
The Tyrant started by lulling them first.
ExtremeDullard@piefed.social · 2 pts · 4d
If that's all it takes to silence the guns, then they don't deserve the guns.
xylogx@lemmy.world · 87 pts · 5d
My daughter sent me a TikTok about the government using counterintelligence techniques against left wing groups. I sent her the wikipedia page on Cointellpro with the comment “Sadly this is not new”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO
thefluffiest@feddit.nl · 49 pts · 5d
Nothing about this is new. The authoritarianism, the concentration camps, the dispossessions, the witch-hunt of immigrants and people with a darker skin, the fearmongering, the robber baron oligarchs. We’ve all been here before. And not just once.
The truly astonishing cultural trait is that Americans keep on living in lalaland and pretend it isn’t happening, it never happened, and it COULD never happen cuz yada yada the Constitution and We The People and the second amendment.
Americans are one shortsighted bunch willing to swallow any and all propaganda.
zarkanian@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 5d
I think what made COINTELPRO stand out was how weird it was (experiments with LSD, etc.)
ETA: Never mind, I think I'm getting that confused with MKUltra.
noxypaws@pawb.social · 2 pts · 3d
COINTELPRO: surveil and oppress and facilitate violence towards black folks for daring to not want to be quite so oppressed
MKUltra: jerk off dolphins while playing with acid
Stormy@thelemmy.club · 5 pts · 5d
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 75 pts · 5d
I have a co-worker who fought in Vietnam. I showed him the thing about the Pentagon straight up admitting that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was bullshit, but he refused to accept it. Still feels that we had to fight that war because if we had allowed the communists to win, it would have meant that communism would have taken over the world ... even though we actually did lose that war.
WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world · 36 pts · 5d
The "domino theory" of communism never played out the way they said it would. Just a waste of blood and treasure.
LodeMike@lemmy.today · 33 pts · 5d
Any time someone brings up the draft I remind them the last time the U.S. did a draft it was for a war that they lost, and justified due to things that never actually happened after the U.S. lost.
So basically the U.S. enslaved and sent tens of thousands of people to their deaths for no reason.
WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 5d
They then abolished the draft due to public pressure but a little bit later started selective service registration just in case
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 5d
Draftees make horrible soldiers, especially in unpopular wars which, lets be honest, have been all of the US' military engagements since 1945. I think the military would rather do without them and the grenades that tend be dropped into the tents of sleeping COs.
MrVilliam@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 4d
My wife and I were talking about a draft for Iran and whether they would widen the age range they're looking for and try to draft me. I said that if they tried, I would promise them that if they handed me a gun that I would use it to kill as many high ranking American officers as I could because I'm much more dangerous than a pacifist or conscientious objector; I will actively sabotage a war that I don't believe in and that I'm forced to participate in. So I think they'd let me stay home. If you force me to give my life for a cause, I'm gonna be the one to pick the cause.
The_Hideous_Orgalorg@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 4d
I think they would give you a new room, not much furnishings though.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 4d
Depends how everything else is going. Probably at the point we have a draft to go to Iran, we'll already be an authoritarian state and your options are to go to to war or to ICE camp. You think Russians are volunteering to die in Ukraine?
But I'd be curious if that would have worked in Vietnam. I'm guessing they would just put a note in your file to subject you to as much abuse as possible or just kill you the way they did Pat TIllman. Conscientious Objector status is a really a sop to religion, otherwise I think a lot of people could qualify for it.
Edit: Get out of the US if you at all can.
LodeMike@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 5d
Which is the same as the draft just renamed
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 12 pts · 5d
The military industrial complex needs its regular sacrifice every decade to keep the black heart pumping.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 4d
That's why the cold was was so good for the MIC. Constant threat.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 5d
Ha ha, I just looked it up: there are five Domino's Pizza restaurants in Vietnam.
FlyingCircus@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 5d
Well it largely never played out because western capitalists spilled so much blood making sure it wouldn’t. If people had been free to decide for themselves, many more countries would have gone communist, as it has better outcomes for the majority of people than capitalism.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 15 pts · 5d
It is very useful to have a permanent enemy that is both weak and omnipotent.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 5d
Well, my co-worker is weak but definitely not omnipotent.
rumba@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 4d
He's avoiding some of the PTSD by keeping his world narrative. Deep down, he knows, it haunts him at night.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 4d
I honestly don't think he has PTSD, doesn't seem the type. He spent the war riding around in an M48 tank so I don't think he saw any shit up close. More like a B52 pilot than an actual combatant.
rumba@lemmy.zip · -3 pts · 4d
He told you he drove both a Tank and a B52 in Vietnam?
HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.world · 48 pts · 5d
The Epstein Files will be released in 2126 to ensure that all guilty parties cannot face justice.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER
Impractical_Island@lemmy.world · -3 pts · 5d
Epstein was a Mossad agent. He was a cop, and thus is still alive. The night before it was announced Epstein killed himself, an anonymous poster on 4chan posted pictures of a body swap and said not to believe the official story. Comparing pictures of the body to Epstein reveals several differences, such as different earlobes, eyebrows higher up, and a more hooked nose. You live in clown world if you don't realize the Epstein files and Epstein's main role now is for counterintelligence purposes for the police state. Donald Trump is a cop. Hunter Biden is a cop. The Clintons are cops. Get with the fucking program.
SoloCritical@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 5d
A cop? What? I am certain that means something other than what I am thinking it means.
Impractical_Island@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 5d
Can I ask a serious question? Genuinely, how many people in all sorts of positions of power have offered Donald Trump something unscrupulous? Let's determine which percentage of that percentage watches Fox News or CNN or XYZ of whatever country; it doesn't matter because of the dazzle camouflage.
In WWI, the British Navy painted their ships all sorts of angled n abstract, black n white patterns that made them easier to spot but harder for an enemy to determine their heading, speed, and range. This basic principle of not needing to conceal something in order to protect it can be applied to other fields, and I tell you this as someone who had to be a "crackhead" because I wasn't good enough to be a "pothead," which is a "festival cop."
Y'know that guy riding the light rail or subway, maybe at the bus station or off in "that place" who is mouthing off, doing drugs, getting into fights, but is never arrested? Yea, they're never arrested because we are cops. Genuinely, sincerely; who are the millionaires in all countries that would sell their daughter for seven figures? The FBI knows who's stupid enough to proposition Donald Trump. Imagine who is stupid enough to proposition Hunter Biden about drugs? It's a POLICE STATE, mmk? There's strategy involved!
frostysauce@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 5d
U wot, mate?
Impractical_Island@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 5d
I fuck dogs on camera and make three figures, you think you're tough, boy? I ain't no jagermeier juggalo, but I can juggle, and I can say with renown certainty before my lord that my dick ain't never been in a dead being before, I think. There was one Easter, but everyone gets a gramma pass, y'know? At least we do, this side of the Mississippi, but you're speaking Aussie, which I understand because my handler in the CIA had an Australian girlfriend who gave him herpes. Fuck ain't counterintelligence work weird, bro. You got a light?
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 4d
I bet you have a favourite copypasta
Impractical_Island@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 4d
No, I have an educational art project that I've done for twelve years. Here's some of it:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QoeKMD5dwnWBB6gHOFgY4uKJOXKg8CPGDu-dE5UsisQ/edit?usp=drivesdk
Frettchen@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
No they are flowers. Or books. No clue what you are talking about
HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 4d
Seems to me they're doing a Pretend-to-be-Mentally-Ill rage-bait.
Solution: Downvote+Block
Th4tGuyII@fedia.io · 48 pts · 5d
Theoretically that's what the 2A guns are meant to be for...
But doesn't really work out that way when the adversary is your own Government, who has access to very arguably the best armed police force and military in the world, and is more than willing to turn those on you.
Schmoo@slrpnk.net · 30 pts · 5d
The reason it doesn't work out that way is because we aren't organized. Yeah, sure, a lot of Americans are armed, but they're armed and alone. The intention behind the second amendment was that groups of citizens would form their own local militias and effectively be a distributed standing army ready to defend their liberty at a moment's notice, but the pervasive culture of individualism has twisted the second amendment into something else.
thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 5d
Yeah, but they hunt down and destroy militia groups when we try to do that.
At least any of the ones that aren't Nazis. In the past they hunted those down too, but we let the foxes into the hen house so now they get to stay.
zarkanian@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 5d
The foxes were already in the henhouse, because they were the ones who built the henhouse in the first place.
thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 5d
Eh, idk. There's at least a handful of notable Nazi militia group bust-ups in America's history. Like yeah, it was built by slavers, but there's different kinds of bad, and pro big state fascism is actually very very far removed from the ideals of the people that founded this country.
edible_funk@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 4d
Only the leftist militia groups. The right wing ones were all given jobs with ice. It's not a coincidence there have been fewer nazi marches since ice started the hiring program.
zarkanian@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 5d
You're mistaken. There are armed militias. And they all support Trump.
knatschus@discuss.tchncs.de · 11 pts · 5d
Theoretically the 2A is for a big well organised militia to oppose outside powers and to ensure the US doesn't need a big standing army
zarkanian@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 5d
Yes, but most people ignore that part of the amendment.
0x0@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 5d
I'll just leave these here, in order or relevance: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BxvxbZGjlv4
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wNtxtuQxUz8
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QbXTDuwSVkk
sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world · 45 pts · 5d
My favorite weird thing about American culture is that it is so aggressive. Aggressive food (PopTarts, Big Gulps, etc), aggressive games (football), aggressive national anthem (literally about war), and so on. We are an oddly aggressive people.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 5d
Pop tarts are aggressive..?
Regarding the national anthem, you should look up a translation of the French national anthem. And it probably isn't the most metal/aggressive national anthem out there, since it's one of the very few I even know.
Edit: I couldn't help but add this snippet
Full lyric translation: https://www.thoughtco.com/la-marseillaise-frances-national-anthem-4080565
SethTaylor@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 5d
I got into a bar fight with a pop tart once. Super aggressive guy. He knocked a couple of my teeth out and gave me a nose bleed. By the end he had me pinned down, but I managed to break free and throw him into the nearest toaster. Savored that meal.
EDIT: I might have dreamt this.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 5d
My favorite comment today lol
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
No I was the toaster. That really hurt. You could have hurt somebody.
VicksVaporBBQrub@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 5d
I once tasted a real proper tart. Served at the wake of a late boss at a golf club house. English tea times sometimes include simple jam tarts. Both envoke tranquil and enjoyability. All my experiences with the Pop Tart were under rush, duress, haste, a sugar-to-blood delivery system. One can tell easy when we (USA) aggravate the food. Like turning doughnuts into donuts. Or spell cheese with a 'z'.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 5d
Cheeze is spelled with a z there because it literally isn’t cheese, it’s a vegan substitute.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 5d
That actually makes sense haha
vegafjord@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 5d
blood and soil
sheesh😬
Doomsider@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 5d
This checks out as the French are the second biggest arms dealer in the world.
sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 5d
Pop Tarts are super aggressive. In addition to being made of no natural foodstuffs, they are extremely flammable when in a toaster.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 5d
Haha well a lot of people are defining pop tarts as aggressive in different ways. Apparently I'm way too narrow in my interpretation of that word
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 4d
That others are also aggressive doesn't mean we are not.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 4d
I didn't say that's what it meant. I just wondered if they would think one was much more aggressive than the other. I do. More than one thing can be true.
whaleross@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 5d
Careful, that kind of talk may get you beaten up.
benjirenji@slrpnk.net · 9 pts · 5d
Shot, man, shot.
MadBigote@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 5d
I believe all anthema are about war. Mexico's about the need to fight agains a foreign enemy invasion...
TerHu@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 5d
The german one started out as a poem then song that was meant to unite states through their artists and academics. While the nazi abused it and skewed the meaning to be aggressive (germany above all other countries), it was initially about unity (Germany above whatever the princes of the individual states of the German Confederation want).
LordCrom@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 5d
Have you seen George Carlin's bit on football vs baseball?
architect@thelemmy.club · 2 pts · 5d
Yea but also casual. Like we in our jeans and baseball caps leaning on a wall ready to fuck shut up at a moments notice lol.
sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 5d
Aggressively casual. 😉
toxicbubble@lemmy.world · 41 pts · 5d
we show you a price, then charge more at checkout
it's easier to get a gun than a doctor's appointment
tipping
pharmaceutical commercials
casually having the largest prison population in the world and pretending it's normal
violence on tv is okay, but no cussing or sexuality
NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 4d
Bytemeister@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
A lot of times, it's cheaper too!
I don't think tipping is weird on it's own, but the default expectation of tipping, and the fuckery around wages that makes tips essential to earning "a living" instead of a nice bonus is definitely weird.
Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 4d
Tipping is weird on its own. The idea that you are showing gratitude by pushing money on someone is gross at best and downright offensive at worst.
If someone tried to thank me with a hand full of change I'd tell them to fuck off.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
I see it as an extra "thank you" if someone goes above and beyond what I was expecting for a service. It's not something that should be given out lightly or something that is expected, but I also know that tipping is necessary for people in some jobs to make a living. It's not a fault of their own, but a fault of a system that saw a benefit they were getting, and was like "oh, we can just under-pay these employees and use tipping as leverage against them." Do I hate the tipping system in the US? Absolutely. Am I going to impose financial stresses (by not tipping) on the waitstaff at a restaurant in order to make a point about how badly they are compensated for their work? Absolutely not.
ReptilianCleric@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 4d
Considering that giving cash to someone under any other circumstances is considered tacky (even gift certificates/cards are more acceptable, and that's just cash with limits on where/how you can spend it), it is weird that tipping is so ingrained in our culture. And unsettling, to be honest...
mdurell@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
What if it was a small stack of 20s? 100s? What if it meant the difference between paying rent or not?
Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3d
If it were 20s or 100s it would be more insulting, you understand this, no?
If it's the difference between paying rent or not then it's a huge problem that the behaviour exists to enable that situation. If it weren't a cultural behaviour it would be called panhandling.
mdurell@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
I do not understand this. If anyone ever gives you a stack like that, feel free to 'insult' me by directing it my way.
cosmos8188@leminal.space · 1 pts · 4d
Tipping is the product of capitalism. Using it as gratitude, puts capitalism as superior.
Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 4d
I live in a capitalist country, and we don't have tipping
fnrir@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 4d
I think a more accurate shorthand for this would be "tipping culture"
trem@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 40 pts · 5d
One thing that, uh, amuses(?) me is that apparently there's still a national emergency from 9/11: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/09/03/2025-16941/continuation-of-the-national-emergency-with-respect-to-certain-terrorist-attacks
You know how Hitler rose to power by abusing a national emergency regulation? You know how there was worry of Trump doing a fascism, back when Obama handed over to the guy? You know how Trump literally announced beforehand that he'll do a fascism, when Biden handed over to him?
Both could've chosen to terminate the national emergency. Neither did so.
https://www.courthousenews.com/biden-extends-9-11-state-of-emergency-by-a-year/
rumba@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 4d
I never agree that both sides are the same, fucking far from it. But the left politicians are not without their shady AF shit.
possumparty@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 3d
that's because they're not left, at all.
Codpiece@feddit.uk · 38 pts · 5d
When you’re watching adverts and a snippet of a tv show interrupts you.
kadotux@sopuli.xyz · 34 pts · 4d
Yeah it's gotta be the daily allegiance to the flag -thing for me. That shit hella weird.
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 4d
Man that shit was hella weird growing up.
argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org · 5 pts · 4d
@kadotux @cm0002 @Bytemeister @merc
Having read the Constitution and Declaration of Independence as a kid (they were required reading in school), it seems to me that the flag should be pledging allegiance to *us*, not the other way around.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 4d
I stopped saying the whole pledge in kindergarten. Didn't seem right to pledge to a god I didn't believe in.
Pretty much stopped saying it all together after 9/11
merc@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 4d
"I pledge allegiance to the the Flag of the United States..."
Unless you think the flag is a god, you're not pledging to a god, you're pledging to a piece of fabric, or to the design printed on that fabric. Which, honestly, is a lot weirder. How can one have allegiance to a flag? What about the opposite, is it possible to be disloyal to a flag?
Bytemeister@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 4d
...for which it stands, one nation, under god...
Logarrhythmia@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
Huh, just checked the text and I was surprised to find that the god part was only added in 1954.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 4d
Yep, because soviet spies were godless heathens who can't/won't lie about their faith in order to sneak into the US.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 3d
It was an easy way to spot them back then. A bit like vampires and garlic.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 4d
Yes, god is mentioned as an additional clause, but you're pledging to the flag.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 4d
Yes... Pledging allegiance... To a flag.... Representing a Republic... That exists by/for god...
I mean, I didn't look into it that much at first, I was in kindergarten FFS, but I remember thinking it was funny that God was mentioned in the pledge, and how he was also mentioned in the prayers at Grandma's church, and I thought I shouldn't lie and say the "under god" part since I didn't believe.
rumba@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 4d
OMG this. Straight up indoctrination. And our parents were like Rah Rah, GOOOO TEAM!!!!
Shit looks sketchier the farther we get away from the previous world war.
lizzzy@feddit.uk · 31 pts · 4d
Gun laws not changing after every mass shooting incident
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3d
Doesn't necessarily need to. Would open the door to many other awful laws based on single cases. Found a single case of gay men sexually abusing children? Ban homosexuality act enacted. Some gamer shoot up a school? Gaming banned.
The UK might have banned consensual extreme pornography after one death, but it shouldn't be the norm. If anything, it should be seen as an infringement on human rights by anti-rights activists.
lizzzy@feddit.uk · 0 pts · 2d
Guns are unique. Every other country tightened gun laws when a mass shooting event happened.
ohshit604@lemmy.halstead.host · -3 pts · 4d
Quick search indicates 342 million people in the United States according to their census, i tried to find the total amount of American citizens but that statistics doesn’t appear easy to find, if we divide it in half and say 171 million US citizens who all potentially own 1 maybe 2 maybe 5 maybe 10 firearms, even if the laws were to change federally at any point do you think every citizen is going to comply?
Even the Canadian government struggles confiscating firearms from licensed owners, and that’s closer to 2 million firearms now prohibited, I can’t imagine how Americans would handle it.
Sabrinamycarpet@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 3d
Doesn't need to be confiscated. Just stop sales and the number goes down over time.
And before you start, you don't have to stop all sales. We can start with the ones that have potential to kill the most.
ohshit604@lemmy.halstead.host · 2 pts · 3d
Firearms are known to last over a hundred years and can be rebuilt, they don’t just magically go away when sales stop.
And as I mentioned in another comment, In the United States firearms don’t have to be registered, as far as I know this applies federally, may differ per state, how do you plan to track something with no traceability?
Sabrinamycarpet@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1d
We are in agreement. If someone wants to buy a firearm in the US there are many ways they can do so to skirt government oversight.
But it would still good true that if you ban the sale of certain firearms, the number of people that own said type of firearm will go down over time. Simply introducing a barrier of entry is enough to deter at least some people from buying that specific firearm.
That to me is fine. I don't think we should overspend our resources trying to do this. Just start with the low hanging fruit with the highest roi.
UntitledQuitting@reddthat.com · 4 pts · 4d
Yeah you’re right we should give up (?)
ohshit604@lemmy.halstead.host · 1 pts · 3d
I think the can of worms being opened is far greater than what people expect.
Bad_Ideas_In_Bulk@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
You don't have to have 1 dude do the whole job. You can just use an equal amount of people per capita as smaller countries have.
ohshit604@lemmy.halstead.host · 1 pts · 3d
If I’m not mistaken, not every firearm purchased in the US is registered. How do you expect people to find these firearms without traceability?
Bad_Ideas_In_Bulk@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d
I don't. I think there isn't enough popular support for a gun ban for success to happen and it would be a pricey boondoggle. Laws that don't have public consensus behind them have a poor track record. Look at prohibition or the war on drugs.
But it would not fail because of the size of the country. That's silly.
skisnow@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 4d
maybe you could ask every other country that's done it.
buran@lemmy.today · 0 pts · 3d
I don't believe it's a fair comparison, there are more guns in the US than people.
ohshit604@lemmy.halstead.host · 2 pts · 3d
lizzzy@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 1d
People in the uk handed there’s over voluntarily at each mass event
lyralycan@sh.itjust.works · 27 pts · 5d
I played the storyline for Qube recently (10th Anniversary edition), and there was a hook that was supposed to be sad, but instead hit me as horribly American, plus a dash of victim blaming.
::: spoiler Spoiler "So, I want you to know, I’m only reading this because you wrote it to yourself.
"It was three PM on a Sunday. You were upstairs at home. A teenage boy broke into your house. He thought you were away on vacation. You went downstairs with your gun. You shot him in your living room. Only he wasn’t trying to rob you. He was passing by and saw a fire in your kitchen. He broke in to try and put it out. He was young and stupid and probably should have thought of a better solution. But you assumed the worst. You assumed the very worst and you shot him. He was paralyzed from the neck down. He died seven years later, alone, at night, in Penrose-St. Francis Hospital…"
Kirp123@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 5d
You mean like that Japanese kid that knocked on the wrong door and got shot? The guy who shot him was acquitted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Yoshihiro_Hattori
idiomaddict@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 5d
That was infuriating the whole way through. I don’t exactly want to recommend reading further, because it’s just a depressing story all around, but this was well written and provided the piece of information I was shamefully burning with curiosity about
lyralycan@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 5d
Thank you regardless. That definitely is a sobering read. Poor Webb Haymaker, he tried..
It didn't have what I was thinking about, though.. Even though the country is completely in the gutter with gun crimes by civilians and law enforcement alike, it's at least nice to know that my initial assumption, that the Brady Bill the community helped enact probably was decommissioned, is in fact still active and enforced.
idiomaddict@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
Honestly, I think he probably succeeded in helping a lot of people, he just couldn’t keep going forever. It’s absolutely tragic that he didn’t make it to meet his daughter though.
I’ve always been an atheist, but the older I get, the more I wish there was a traditional Christian afterlife (just with the moral values determining where people end up significantly tweaked). It would be nice to think he and Yoshi could be reunited and at peace.
lyralycan@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 4d
In traditional Egyptian faiths/cosmology, spirits can join each other at the Field of Reeds -- in fact being with loved ones is a core concept of that afterlife too -- but the criteria for entry is simply the morals which we all live by: no stealing (selfishly) from others, no lying (with intent to harm), no murdering and no polluting the Nile (eco terrorism, desecrating the Gods and sabotaging the sole sustainer of life in the desert). Selfishness, greed, malice, and cruelty. Everyone who can prove their goodness gets in. Oh, and the alternative isn't endless torture, but a second death -- nonexistence.
I've always looked for an alternative faith system to Western ones -- I've never been a fan of oppression or rule via fear -- but the Egyptian faith is one of my favourites.
Maybe they're in the Field of Reeds. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking solace in an idea - even though I myself can't believe in them.
lyralycan@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 5d
(I wanted to use a gif courtesy of BabyFarkMcGeeZax, but it seems my instance hasn't changed the 100MB default file limit and my client crashes. This'll have to do)
I'm inclined to agree. Although the wife/instigator denies it, deeply learned/inherited societal racism affects nearly every relevant choice.
Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz · 10 pts · 5d
I had no idea qube had a concrete plotline, as far as I ever saw, you are immediately thrusted into the puzzles.
lyralycan@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 5d
The 10th Anniversary edition was released around 2022, and rebuilt the entire game in Unreal 5 to closely match the style of Qube 2, with extremely HQ textures and lighting, redesigned levels (they took out the secret levels and dev photos, sadly) and a fully voiced plot! I only played this version but it seems a fantastic homage for fans of the original
leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl · 23 pts · 5d
A huge amount of the population is truck-sexual.
skisnow@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 3d
25 years ago, I could see how they had a kind of rugged romantic working appeal back when trucks were four wheels, chassis, big engine, and two seats. They don't seem to make those any more, I only seem to see the giant luxury wanker variety.
leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl · 2 pts · 3d
thanks for the explanation!
i didn't quite get it the first time i saw the popularity.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 5d
Their constitution is a divine document, dictated by the elder gods which cannot be altered in any way (including the amendments, oddly enough) and which can solve any problem and contains every truth.
dactylotheca@suppo.fi · 7 pts · 4d
American civil religion
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3d
I've always thought of this as being very bizarre and I don't know if something similar has ever emerged in another country so far.
The US has birthed lots of very weird ideas.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 4d
And the founding fathers were divinely inspired geniuses who thought of every possible contingency, despite being a bunch of 20 year old rich kids.
rumba@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 4d
Applying bible rules to the Constitution.
SalmonTractor@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 4d
And can be ignored by the very same government whenever it chooses to do so.
DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 4d
Actually that's incorrect in terms of the "cannot be altered". The constitution can be altered via a ratification by 38 / 50 states or 2/3rds of congress. With a supermajority being required, this would mean that the proposed amendment would have to be bipartisan.. Which means it's almost impossible to do, especially nowadays... Unless the country were to take a major shift left or right (or more likely the elections become rigged)
Last time this happened though was in 1992
thank goodness because if it was too easy, the "two terms" would have been amended already by the Party of Trump
No wonder he wants to "federalize elections." Just look what's been happening in Nicaragua since 2013 which has finally come to a head (although Ortega's judges just straight up nullified the term limit....
On paper the USA SCOTUS cannot do this since they can only interpret ...but they can take away teeth to enforce which they have done before.. they just can't straight up say "nah that' part of the constitution is nullified." Like what happened in Nicaragua in 2013
NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 4d
I mean, they've already reinterpreted parts of the Constitution to not mean exactly what it says. They can wordsmith their way around the 22nd amendment if enough of them find politically advantageous. I'm sure Alito has a draft ruling already ready to go.
skisnow@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 3d
Also the sort of person who shouts that the loudest, will happily go along with any suggestion that the amendments they don't like were a corruption of the true spirit of the Constitution and should be repealed.
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 15 pts · 5d
Injured people trying to escape from ambulance crews.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 5d
We're at the accident site but the wounded seem to have vanished again. We'll try following the blood trails.
Tm12@lemmy.ca · 15 pts · 5d
Shoes on at home.
pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 4d
Don't associate me with those other animals
kamen@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 4d
If this phenomenon has made its way to TV and movies, there has to be at least some truth to it.
pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 4d
There is. I'm sure most Americans do shoes in the house, and I find that horrific
kamen@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
What do you think causes this difference in habits?
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 13 pts · 5d
I was just watching an old rerun of some generic tv drama, and a judge was signing a warrant, and saying "One day we're going to have to explain this to government sub-committee," and I thought, "IF that happens, and that's BIG IF, nothing will happen."
Themosthighstrange@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 4d
someone post all the major things the cia has done in the last 70 years by bullet point, much has been declassified and the fact none of the public is freaking out over the things they have done is maddening
Donkter@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 4d
Well yeah, the CIA has done horrible stuff in the 40s, and the 50s, and the 60s... And the 70s and 80s and 90s... And some stuff in the 00s.
But now? They probably learned their lesson.
leg@leminal.space · 5 pts · 4d
I fruck out about it the first 10 or so times I found out about these things, but it doesn't hit the same after a while. This is just what the US is. I vote, I speak my mind, I engage in a little domestic terrorism, but ultimately I don't have enough power to change things in my lifetime. I'm crossing my fingers for an organized network of assassins with a conscience to materialize.
Themosthighstrange@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 4d
people who are usually morally right, usually don't kill other people
leg@leminal.space · 2 pts · 4d
I tend to agree. I would just like if a certain type of person didn't have the kind of power that destroys the environment and worsens lives for ends that only serve to benefit that same type of person. How that happens doesn't matter to me, but assassins would be quick and final. Collective action from the people would make me feel better for the future though.
nelly_man@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
The most recent thing that I learned about was that the CIA secretly worked with Boris Hagelin when he formed Crypto AG in the 1950s to ensure that encryption devices sold to foreign countries were easy to break by American intelligence agencies. Then in the 1970s, the CIA secretly purchased Crypto AG and owned it until 2018.
Crypto AG sold devices to countries across South America, Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia. Basically, all of tge US's adversaries aside from the USSR and China.
urushitan@kakera.kintsugi.moe · 9 pts · 5d
Press releases before things are declassified: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM-e46xdcUo
The declassified documents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCT80HJWQ2A
notsosure@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 5d
Can you give examples of such cases? Really important once?
shittydwarf@piefed.ca · 28 pts · 5d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CIA_controversies
Fun fact: MKUltra produced the Unabomber
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 4d
CIA funded Al qaeda.
YaksDC@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 5d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study
A study on black men with syphilis, while hiding that fact and leaving them untreated.
AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 5d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat
Kind of the reason Iran is so terrible now
(And tons of other countries have similar stories)
velma@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 5d
There are so many, but one of the biggest is Project MK Ultra. They literally dosed people with LSD (unknowingly to the patient) and various other terrifying methods to try to figure out different ways of interrogation through human experimentation.
Source
Oni_eyes@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 5d
And as best I understand it, didn't even use proper scientific method to even make their study replicate to prove what they were doing worked to any extent.
Which isn't the worst part at all, but just shoves it waaaaaaaay further down the torture side and removes any scientific use at all.
velma@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 5d
They learned from the Nazis that way.
I think about the guy who killed himself after the CIA, his employer, dosed him with LSD without him knowing pretty often.
Oni_eyes@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 5d
And the Japanese
velma@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 5d
Yep! Though Project MK Ultra was founded on Nazi experiments specifically:
Oni_eyes@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 5d
Oh I thought you were referring to the whole "not reproducible and not following basic scientific method" part
velma@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 5d
I am. Neither the CIA nor the Nazis followed the basic scientific method and the results are not reproducible. They were really just torturing people and using their goal of developing a "truth serum" as justification.
Japan had a similar unit that was torturing people under "scientific advancement".
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 5d
The government brought crack into the inner cities to disrupt black neighborhoods
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 5d
vaguely waves around pointing at everything.
Drusas@fedia.io · 8 pts · 5d
They killed MLK Jr. Not sure if they've fully admitted it yet.
zarkanian@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 5d
I think I would've heard about that lol
notsosure@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 5d
Who is “they”?
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 5d
J Edgar Hoover's FBI afair
Drusas@fedia.io · 4 pts · 4d
The federal government, perhaps led by COINTELPRO (FBI).
rumba@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 4d
No no no. We say two election cycles ago, the guy in charge did this. Or that old director of the FBI did this, after he dies and can't say fuck no the president demanded it.
The only weird part is that we unclassify anything. And that only happens when they're trying to buy some public trust.
Zephyr@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 4d
Yeah most countries never admit to anything or declassify anything. It just disappears to time..
hOrni@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 5d
Yeah. That's the weird thing.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
Ice (in shops, in hotels, in restaurants, in vending machines, in gas stations... everywhere) and ice cold air conditioning.
doingthestuff@lemy.lol · 2 pts · 4d
And it's amazing
craftrabbit@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 4d
I think we could do a little trade with the air conditioning, because where I live every house is heated to like 24°C when it's below freezing outside
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3d
And then the main conspiracy nuts are going "Nyeh!", because it was about overthrowing a democratically elected government, and not rolling out communism (read: Obamacare).
Smaile@lemmy.ca · -2 pts · 5d
americans are all talk no balls, its why they spend so much on military, they feel insecure without the biggest guns possible and still lose wars. its pathetic.