• BigPotato@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      DOD doesn’t want to pay upkeep and it was designed for roadside bombs in remote mountains not Iranian drones.

      Might as well give it to the cops, in case one of their supporters accidentally hits it while trying to bomb a women’s shelter or something.

      • Madison420@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        They’re specifically not to be used on roads because they don’t fit, rollover if sneezed at and destroy our roads but fuck it they’re police right?

        • BigPotato@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Hey, you can easily get them up to 50mph on an airfield runway and feel the death rattle telling you to slow down. It’s basically all operator error.

        • thetreesaysbark@sh.itjust.works
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          7 months ago

          I’m confused about the design. If it’s designed for mountain areas but is top heavy and rolls easy, isn’t that a major design floor for an area where the terrain is likely to be steep from left to right in parts?

          Maybe my idea of terrain in mountainous areas is wrong.

    • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      Is it “gifted” to them, or are they paying taxpayer dollars to purchase these war machines? When they’re turning our local communities into war zones, some of us might even question whether we should reduce their funding significantly if this is what they’re squandering our money on.

      Watch them cower inside of this vehicle, idling in the parking lot as a school shooter empties one magazine after another.

  • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I feel like these should be used as a sort of honey pot. If your police department buys one of these, fire everyone and start over from scratch.

    • Melonpoly@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I think these are handed down for cheap/free by the military. Not that a police department needs these types of vehicles.

      • ShunkW@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Precisely this. If the military donates it, they can get budget to get a new one.

        • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          DoD hardware for police usually comes with contracts that state they have to be maintained in working order, because the DoD can just take them back if there’s a military need.

          Effectively, it’s the PD paying to warehouse and maintain DoD equipment for them, as long as the DoD doesn’t mind the stuff getting used once in a while.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            The military will never want these back. In fact most of the stuff they give police is extremely obsolete from a military perspective.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              It’s a cover. The military is never asking for this equipment back unless they’re conscripting the cops to the front line in the Rockies because of the surprise North Korean invasion.

  • frezik@midwest.social
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    7 months ago

    Let’s say you’re a cop and you get a call: there’s a hispanic gay crossdresser armed with a .50BMG sniper rifle with explosive rounds reported on the roof of the KwikeeMart, and they’re threatening to shoot the Walmart across the street unless they’re called by their proper pronouns, black lives/matter. This situation calls for an immediate response with at least a MRAP, and that’s only because they don’t have the funding for an airstrike from an A-10.

    • Avatar_of_Self@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Yeah I mean they would need an MRAP to keep them safe while they wait for the shooter to finish up or run out of ammo. We’ve got to think of the officers and their safety.

      • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Operating an A-10, without firing its nose gun, runs about 19k-25k and hour. A full load of rounds is 1200. They fire at a rate of 3900 rounds per minute. The rounds, depending on the exact type, cost between 90 and 175$ per round. This also doesn’t include the cost of maintaining the gun which incurs a lot of maintenance because of all the heat, and forces, involved.

        • Tryptaminev@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          For real? Shooting the entire load of ammo is done in like 20 seconds? SO all those brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr memes should be more like brrr?

          • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            correct. the reality is that is fires in short bursts. the rounds are huge and include, DU and tungsten cores, incendiary loads, high explosives, and others. a one second burst of fire from the A-10’s GAU 8 Avenger Gatling gun is enough to destroy anything the rounds can penetrate.

      • Dragster39@feddit.de
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        7 months ago

        Didn’t police actually bomb parts of a town? But that might be from my limited knowledge about history

        • Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Yeah, the Phillie cops bombed an entire city block into rubble when they went after the MOVE group of fanatics. Coincidentally it was in a black neighborhood. What were the chances of that, eh?

          • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Please, anyone who reads this, stop posting links to the mobile version of Wikipedia. It doesn’t switch automatically on PC, and I see it happen all the time. Just take the half a second to remove the “.m” from the beginning of the link, save everyone else from the pain of having to be surprised by it and taking the time to do it themselves.

          • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Please, anyone who reads this, stop posting links to the mobile version of Wikipedia. It doesn’t switch automatically on PC, and I see it happen all the time. Just take the half a second to remove the “.m” from the beginning of the link, save everyone else from the pain of having to be surprised by it and taking the time to do it themselves.

        • Thomrade@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Tulsa, I believe they bombed the black communities while attempting an ethic genocide.

  • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    IUD jokes aside, I think the way the cops are grinning is enough to say they don’t need it and they view it as a toy.

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Slightly too big to fit through a school hallway. Just big enough to wait outside in the parking lot. We’ll take it - TX police

  • Phegan@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I don’t understand how normal people don’t see this and instantly become radicalized

    • Demdaru@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Oh, me? Nah. Now, that car, damn that’s radical. Imma gonna enlist! :D

      No, really, why do you think they post these?

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I’m sure they do. But radicalized to do what? Wave a sign? Write an angry letter? Vote?

      Besides, excessively strident opposition to the police MRAP will get you labeled a tankie.

      • HessiaNerd@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        No, shilling for Russia will get you labeled as a tankie. Not wanting police to have what is essentially a light tank, will not get you labeled as a tankie. Don’t try to dilute the term.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          shilling for Russia will get you labeled as a tankie

          I’ve heard it aimed at anyone who is anti-cop. I’ve heard it aimed at folks advocating a general strike. I’ve heard it hurled at Palestine protesters. I’ve heard it aimed at people who won’t vote for Joe Biden.

          Don’t try to dilute the term.

          Way too late for that.

          • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            That’s just some stuff that you claim that you’ve heard. For the rest of us those are not the definitions. Tankie does not mean anti-cop at all, it’s a pro-authoritarian label for authoritarian communists.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              Tankie does not mean anti-cop at all, it’s a pro-authoritarian label

              It’s a “pro-Russia/China” label. You can be as authoritarian as you like without being a tankie. You just need to couch it as pro-NATO or pro-American.

              But any suggestion that Western censorship, trade sanctions, or militant policing is bad can get you tagged as a Russian Bot or Chinese Wumao.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I would love to believe you. But I’ve been called a tankie too many times in the last few months for the brave position of… “We shouldn’t be funding a genocide”.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              I don’t particularly care. But it does show how diluted it is already when Biden stans are using it to “other” anyone who won’t fall in line.

        • Lianodel@ttrpg.network
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          7 months ago

          Seriously.

          It’s like when you see a post about punching Nazis, and concern trolls show up to complain about people misusing and overusing the term. They don’t offer a correction, and they’re not defending anyone because no specific person or group of people was called out. They just saw a negative post about Nazis and fascists, got defensive, and tried to muddy the waters. A hit dog will holler.

          Also, obviously any term will be misused and overused, and I don’t know every context people are talking about. But, for my part, I see complaints about people being called “tankies” way more often than people being called tankies, and in situations like the above. And it’s usually accompanied by complaints that right-wingers are calling people tankies, something I don’t actually see all that often. What I see more often than that is the terminally online, gatekeeping left. So, is the problem coming more from actual conservatives, or from leftists that other ostensible leftists want to dismiss out of hand?

          I don’t know what’s in anyone’s heart, the specific people they’re talking about, or the contexts and personal experiences they’re talking about. I’m not going to assume bad faith. But, when I see people jump in to say “tankie” is a meaningless phrase, it just sounds like the same rhetorical game when people try to say “Nazi” and “fascist” have become meaningless.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        You won’t get labeled a tankie if you think the people’s police shouldn’t have one either. Then you get labeled an anarkiddie

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          You won’t get labeled a tankie if you think the people’s police shouldn’t have one either.

          If you’re going all in on the “Fuck the CCP! Fuck Castro! Fuck Vuvuzela!” memes, maybe. But you need to lean in hard. Never let them think your hate is less than pure.

          Then you get labeled an anarkiddie

          Sure. Everyone knows why we need the Good Kind of Cops.

          Proceeds to scroll through Nextdoor Ring camera porch pirate posts in earnest

          • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            I’m actually mixed on Castro. Venezuela isn’t communist. Neither is the CCP (I stand with the Chinese leftward opposition). And while we’re at it, the USSR shot the Soviets and killed the Revolution at Kronstadt.

            Vietnam though? I can respect Vietnam. I don’t always agree with what they do, but they’re really doing their best.

            It wasn’t the anarchists who keep doing dengist bullshit

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              Venezuela isn’t communist. Neither is the CCP

              They are very real and literal instances of Communist economic theory put into practice.

              And while we’re at it, the USSR shot the Soviets and killed the Revolution at Kronstadt

              That’s ahistorical, if for no other reason than the full cohort of Communist policymakers in Russia weren’t hiding on a single naval base in four years after the October revolution.

              Might as well claim the CIA killed all Latin American Communists in Bolivia during 1967.

              It wasn’t the anarchists who keep doing dengist bullshit

              Anarchists repeatedly tried and failed to build working power bases, all during the 1920s. From Communes in Paris to Shanghai, from Sioux Reservations to Spanish Republicans, the fascist militaries absolutely demolished anarchist movements.

              Dengism, by contrast, secured the Chinese state from reconquest and expanded the Chinese economy to its modern apex.

              No anarchist government can claim to have ended domestic poverty, excised foreign landlords, harnessed nuclear power, or put a flag on the moon.

              Fifteen five year plans later, no other country is doing better.

              Vietnam though? I can respect Vietnam.

              Sure. They’ve been phenomenal. But they are following that same Chinese playbook. Harnessing foreign investment for domestic capital improvements and cancelling the dividends into a rising quality of life is a recipe for success.

              This is textbook Marxism.

  • Nougat@fedia.io
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    7 months ago

    This is a little town on the north outskirts of the Dallas metro area with a population of about 38,000. The reasons they need it are innumerable. /s

  • boatsnhos931@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Protect from IUDs?! intrauterine devices?? They sure are taking birth control seriously in Prosper boys…

  • collapse_already@lemmy.ml
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    7 months ago

    Looks like they are ready to violently suppress the rioting MAGAts when they riot after their criminal leader is imprisoned. What’s that? Those that work forces are the same that burn crosses? I guess they’re ready for any counter-protestors.

  • StaySquared@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Militarization of police.

    Can’t use military on U.S. soil against its citizens? Turn police into the military to be used against its citizens.

    • Donkter@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Also: does the US have less troops on the ground around the world than they usually do? Gotta find a new market for the military industrial complex.

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        7 months ago

        Don’t worry… terrorism will never end and wars will always find a way to creep back into our lives.

  • rekabis@lemmy.ca
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    7 months ago

    IUD?

    Intra-Uterine Device??

    How much of a threat is female birth control to these people??

  • 𝔼𝕩𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕒@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Police don’t but they often want a vehicle for SWAT related reasons, but SWAT trucks costs hundreds of thousands. Meanwhile MRAPs are “free”.

    Prosper, Texas is home to 40,000 people. In 2010 their population was under 10k. They have quadrupled in size and are near the DFW area, so it’s not really a surprise they took the 1033 offer for an MRAP. That said most of these decom’d heaps of shit are loathesomely expensive. “High Cost of Free MRAPs” by Strongtowns. Most MRAPs being given out are first and second gen versions. And for those first gens, they got sent to the front lines of the GWOT and got beat to shit while newer ones were tested and approved. These old models they’re “giving out for free” have tire drum parts never used on later versions, transmissions like that of an F650 with half the reliability, and are ticking time bombs of use. Most cities often estimate maintenance costs at $5k per year, until something actually breaks and they have to get a second MRAP to cannibalize to fix the first. (Hint - that’s why you often see them picked up in pairs or more)

    That’s before the optics. Petaluma, California has one and the police chief has even said “yeah it kinda has some bad optics sending police around in a former war machine”.

    If your city is wanting to pick one up, it’s because someone who has zero experience with them really likes the idea of a big scary diesel monster rolling up on drug houses, and hasn’t actually considered that if they can’t pony up thousands of tax dollars every 6 months to keep the moneymonster fed, the only place it’s gonna drive is into a storage shed.

    Edit: I should add that these vehicles are incredibly versatile and aren’t necessarily a bad thing for municipalities. With their ride height, sheer bulk, and high torque engines, Fire and rescue could probably make great use them in several cities. They make fantastic road clearing vehicles in the event of large accidents needing to move to the side of the road, or pushing debris out of the way. Additionally in flood prone areas they make very good rescue vehicles due to their ride height and “crew space” inside. They DO have value outside of terrorizing civilian populations, just that that’s all PDs will use them for.