Image Transcription:

An 8-panel Phoebe Teaching Joey meme.

The first panel is Phoebe from Friends saying “Russia”.

The second panel is Joey from the same show replying with “Russia”.

The third panel is Phoebe saying “has invaded”.

The fourth panel is Joey repeating back “has invaded”.

The fifth panel is Phoebe saying “Ukraine”.

The sixth panel is Joey repeating back “Ukraine”.

The seventh panel is Phoebe saying the completed phrase “Russia has invaded Ukraine”.

The final panel shows Joey proudly proclaiming “NATO just started a proxy war”.

    • negativeyoda@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, the US is absolutely capitalizing in it. Why wouldn’t you destabilize a geopolitical rival if they commit an unforced error?

      It’s just tragic that Russian and Ukrainian civilians are caught up in this shit that Putin started

      • luckyhunter@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        They destabilized themselves. Russian couldn’t win before all this aid showed up, now it’s just a cruel meat grinder. I would have preferred a income tax rebate for my portion of this aid being sent to bury people I’ve never met, in places I’ll never go.

    • TheDoozer@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This seems like a win/win/win. We have a huge stockpile of weapons we built up almost explicitly to fight Russia (if need be), and now it gets to be used against them. And it doesn’t cost any American lives, which would make it seem like we’re exploiting another country to fight for us. But we’re not, we’re actually helping them repel an invader, so we get to be the good guys while getting everything we want! If we stopped sending weapons, Ukraine would be screwed. So everybody wins except the Russian!

      It’s rare in this world that a situation like this comes along, and we should be able to feel good about finally being the good guys.

        • OwenEverbinde@lemmy.myserv.oneOP
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          1 year ago

          Firstly, we’ll save a lot more money than that by auditing the DoD like Katie Porter and Jon Stewart keep advocating for. I would much rather take my portion of a DoD audit on my next tax return.

          Secondly, would you like your next tax return to include shares in a Patriot missile system? Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t actually have any use for soon-to-be decommissioned weapons.

          Were you planning on overthrowing the bourgeoisie with your share of those missile systems?

          • luckyhunter@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I was thinking if taking my family out to dinner. Maybe vacation, I’m not too sure what my cut would be.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Given that you’re worried about income taxes, your cut is very small.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  That’s not how income taxes work (you already got paid a rebate for your dependents) and equality in taxation is not a thing you actually want.

                  • luckyhunter@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    I don’t care what you call it. I want a rebate, covid money, bailout, stimulus check, of my family share of all the aid sent to Ukraine, as of June this year that’s about $1,000 total and counting. That will cover a weekend trip to Big Sky this winter!

        • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Cool Id like to opt out of all the help you have recieved or will recieve. Please dont accept medicare or medicade.

          Also please stay off the of the portion of highways that I payed for.

          Thanx.

        • Imotali@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Then I call your debt to me for my portion of the taxes I paid for the highways you drive on, the social security you’ll claim when your older, and the 12 years of public education we paid for you and your children…

          What? Don’t want to pay that back? Then stfu and deal with it. Taxes are paid for the services rendered (education, medical expenses, highways, etc).

          After you pay for the services that money isn’t yours, it’s the government’s. You don’t get to tell other people how to spend their money. You choose to live in society so you choose to accept the services and their costs. The government uses this income, which is their money, and spends it how they see fit.

          Don’t like it? Too fucking bad. I didn’t think I would have to explain basic middle school economics to somebody who’s almost definitely a fully grown adult today.

          • luckyhunter@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            My roads are paid for by my fuel tax, my social security (which I’m sure will never come back to me) is payed by myself now to get back negative returns later in life, and I pay for my children’s education. I’d love to opt out of social security actually, they can even keep what I’ve paid in to date. You’ve contributed nothing to me actually, and the government isn’t someone else or a corporation spending profit, it’s all of us.

            • Imotali@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You’re just proving more and more you don’t understand tax theory and American economics.

              • luckyhunter@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                What part is wrong? my fuel isn’t taxed? I don’t pay SS tax? I don’t pay my kid’s tuition? I’d love to know what phantom taxes I can stop paying.

                • Imotali@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  You do realise that regardless of whether you pay tuition, public education taxes were still collected on the assumption your children would possibly go to public schools. Your taxes alone do not fund your SS. Your taxes alone do not fund the things you would have benefited or do benefit from in America.

                  That’s why they’re paid for with taxes. So you don’t pay as much.

                  But I guess literal taxation theory 101, the fucking bare basics of tax theory, literally the simplest of the simplest concepts in economics was too difficult to conceptualise for you that you needed it stated plainly.