The prohibition was one of many side issues included in the mammoth $1.2 trillion package to fund the government through September.

The prohibition was one of many side issues included in the mammoth $1.2 trillion package to fund the government through September.

    • skulkingaround@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      8 months ago

      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.

    • Ranvier@sopuli.xyz
      0·
      8 months ago

      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.

  • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    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?

    • doubtingtammy@lemmy.ml
      0·
      8 months ago

      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

    • Crow@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      0·
      8 months ago

      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

      • lolcatnip@reddthat.comEnglish
        0·
        8 months ago

        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.

        • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
          0·
          7 months ago

          Huh, I thought an Embassy was meant for diplomacy. A big part of diplomacy is soft power which means making nice with other countries. If a country is having a festival of some kind, it’s nice to say “yeah America supports your festival because we’re friendly people like that.” This makes people in that country like the US a little more and furthers US interests in a small way.

          I feel like your approach is to take a somewhat undiplomatic approach to how US Embassies are run.

  • GarfGirl [she/her]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    0·
    8 months ago

    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.