• ohshit604@lemmy.halstead.host
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      17 hours ago

      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.

  • kadotux@sopuli.xyz
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    1 day ago

    Yeah it’s gotta be the daily allegiance to the flag -thing for me. That shit hella weird.

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      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
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        20 hours ago

        “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
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              13 hours ago

              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
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      24 hours ago

      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.

  • Themosthighstrange@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    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
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      20 hours ago

      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
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      21 hours ago

      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.

        • leg@leminal.space
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          20 hours ago

          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.

  • Zephyr@sh.itjust.works
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    19 hours ago

    Yeah most countries never admit to anything or declassify anything. It just disappears to time…

  • rumba@lemmy.zip
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    24 hours ago

    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.

  • terwn43lp@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    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

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      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.

      • Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        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.

        • mdurell@lemmy.world
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          19 hours ago

          What if it was a small stack of 20s? 100s? What if it meant the difference between paying rent or not?

          • Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world
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            8 hours ago

            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.

        • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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          22 hours ago

          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
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          22 hours ago

          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…

  • trem@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 days ago

    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
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      24 hours ago

      I never agree that both sides are the same, fucking far from it. But the left politicians are not without their shady AF shit.

    • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
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      2 days ago

      And the people yelling “come and take it” while waving “don’t tread on me” flags voted the tyrants in.

    • Ignotum@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      “don’t tread on me” in the streets, “please step on me daddy trump” in the sheets

      • MrVilliam@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        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.

    • lyralycan@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      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

        • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          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
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            2 days ago

            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.

            • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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              1 day ago

              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
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          2 days ago

          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.

    • Signtist@bookwyr.me
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      2 days ago

      All they had to do was teach them that tyranny looks like a bunch of brown people having jobs.

    • stickyprimer@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      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.

  • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    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.

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
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      24 hours ago

      He’s avoiding some of the PTSD by keeping his world narrative. Deep down, he knows, it haunts him at night.

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        22 hours ago

        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
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          21 hours ago

          He told you he drove both a Tank and a B52 in Vietnam?

    • WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The “domino theory” of communism never played out the way they said it would. Just a waste of blood and treasure.

      • Kairos@lemmy.today
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        2 days ago

        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
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          2 days ago

          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
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            2 days ago

            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
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              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.

              • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
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                24 hours ago

                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.

      • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        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.

    • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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      11 hours ago

      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.

  • HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    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

    • thefluffiest@feddit.nl
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      2 days ago

      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
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      2 days ago

      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.

  • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    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.

    • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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      10 hours ago

      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.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      20 hours ago

      And the founding fathers were divinely inspired geniuses who thought of every possible contingency, despite being a bunch of 20 year old rich kids.

    • dactylotheca@suppo.fi
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      24 hours ago

      American civil religion

      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.

    • DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      22 hours ago

      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
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        21 hours ago

        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.