The fact that things like this can be attached to spending bills is insane.
this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2024
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Straight up
It's a budget, it should only include budget related things
But the republicans know nothing about politics, only blackmail and abuses of power
That's because the headline is slightly misleading. Technically the bill says US government funds can't be used to buy pride flag to fly above state department facilities. Theoretically there wouldn't be anything to stop someone from buying it with out of pocket money and flying it, or use flags they've already purchased. Still ridiculous though, I know.
Our spending bills have gotten absurdly bloated because it's pretty much the only reliable way to actually pass legislation without getting trapped in filibuster land or having it killed by the speaker.
Congress has become a joke and their refusal to do anything effective has resulted in handing over way too much power to the court and executive branch. It breaks the checks and balances and huge amounts of the federal government dysfunction we see is rooted in that.
I have zero problem with this. No US embassy should fly any flag other than Old Glory. No POW flags, no LGBT flags, nada. Full stop. These are US embassies representing all Americans, and the only flag we all live under is the Stars and Stripes.
Don't like that take? How about I lobby to fly a personal favorite. I'm actually partial to the one on the left. No one has an issue, right?
Can't we have both tho? Does a second flag somehow diminish the meaning of a country flag? Shouldn't a country also show off their values, especially in embassies in other countries? Tho, America doesn't value queer people so I guess it makes sense. Maybe I'm just not patriotic enough as a European, because if I heard that my country was removing pride flags I'd get quite crossed
Does a second flag somehow diminish the meaning of a country flag?
Yes. Which is fine in most contexts, but for an embassy is basically the same as a sign saying what the building is for, so adding more flags muddles what should be a very clear message: "This building is an outpost of the US government."
Tho, America doesn't value queer people so I guess it makes sense.
Yeah, flying a pride flag would be misleading. It's like all the rainbow police cars were have in Seattle even though everyone knows cops aren't on the side of LGBT+ people.
The US is weirdly flag obsessed to begin with
Wow what a strong opinion to have about something you only just learned about.
I don't care about the other flags, I just specifically don't want the pride flag to be flown. I don't want my flag to be associated with a genocidal empire
Fwiw the White House has already pledged to veto it
*the flag ban not the entire budget
the budget also like pushes through a shit ton of pro israel stuff too and about two thirds of the funding is going to the military to blow up kids on the other side of the planet. shit sucks, death to america.
Are they, like, really expensive pride flags?