• PhilipTheBucket@ponder.catOP
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      29 days ago

      The tradition is that when someone’s young, dumb, and full of naivety, you get them all hopped-up on patriotic fervor and send them to go serve in the military shooting at some hapless villagers somewhere who never did anything to them, to make someone who lives in Maryland or owns shares in Raytheon a half a billion dollars richer.

      Sometimes they got wiser, but sometimes they wound up dying by the side of the road somewhere, so far from home they can’t conceive of the distance, and the wisdom came too late. Or they came back with no legs or a traumatic brain injury. Now we’re hopping those same people up on faux 1776 imagery and turning them loose on Ethel who’s volunteering at the senior center as a poll worker.

      I have to say I think this way is better, because it gives them a lot gentler chance at redemption and wisdom. That’s still contingent on the hope that it doesn’t actually work, and nobody chops up Ethel, but I think this way is better. I think.

      • ArtieShaw@fedia.io
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        29 days ago

        I don’t know, man. What does this Ethel chopping job pay? /s

        I just get the feeling that these kids aren’t the type who are worried about where their next meal is going to come from. Or in other words, they’re hobbyists and the military was never going to be an option.

      • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
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        28 days ago

        When some Aussies get out of school with their hopped up hormones and head full of stupid ideas they get a work visa and come snowboard or ski for a season in Whistler BC. Couldn’t Americans do that instead, not come to BC because we’d rather not have them, but go on a world trip to see the world and expand their minds.

        Seeing the world but not as a soldier might give them ideas larger than those that fit inside Trump’s head.

      • subignition@fedia.io
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        28 days ago

        Frankly I don’t like that tradition either, but I don’t see any realistic way that it ever changes.

  • Bluefalcon
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    29 days ago

    Bro is ballsy, stand your ground state. Your dumbass running around with a machete? Dumb rewards.

      • Bluefalcon
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        29 days ago

        If you’re going to be dumb, you better be tough. That kid doesn’t fit this.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        28 days ago

        Yeah but ballsy is where they intersect. Nobody says firefighters are ballsy, they’re taking measured risks and trying to minimize the harm they come to, they’re courageous. Ballsy is closer to asking a cop if they want to buy some meth.

  • cymbal_king@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    A guy campaigning for Republican candidates was getting arrested at my polling station (in a very blue area/state) when I went to early voting this weekend. Got into an argument with a Democrat and threatened them with a knife… I’m nervous about Tuesday

    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksM
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      29 days ago

      That’s the point, for you to be nervous. Most places don’t have any issues, but they’re screaming pretty loud about the few that do so people won’t vote. Please vote.

  • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksM
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    29 days ago

    We have to vote this election, don’t let this rhetoric stop you. It can’t go to SCOTUS or we’re fucked.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    Police arrested an 18-year-old wielding a machete with an 18-inch blade outside a polling station in Florida on Tuesday, who was part of a group of teenagers accused of intimidating Democratic supporters.

    The teenager, Caleb James Williams, was arrested after 4 p.m. when officers were called to the Beaches Branch Library in Neptune Beach.

    Williams was arrested on charges of aggravated assault for allegedly brandishing his weapon at two unidentified women, ages 71 and 54, and improper exhibition of a weapon, Neptune Beach Police Department said.

    Florida Not-a-Man

  • TammyTobacco@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    Dumbass 18 year old committing multiple felonies to support a dictator? He can rot in our fucked up private prison system.