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Google officially changes the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Maps

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Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨return2ozma@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2025/02/10/google-gulf-of-mexico-america-maps/78394410007/

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  • Fleur_@hilariouschaos.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Using google maps from Australia it’s label like “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”

    I think the Australian government should call it “gulf of fuck-knows” and see if google adds another title.

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  • Bwaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Well. O. K. Then it’s my not the 'USA" that did this anymore. It’s to be called “North Mexico” now. Fair’s fair.

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  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Cancun Texas! Have you guys been? Its beautiful! Just a short flight across the golf of America and located in southflorida…Flucatan.

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  • ArtVandelay@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Google can officially gargle deez nutz

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  • DarkFuture@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Next president, assuming there is one, will just change it back to repair relations with our allies.

    Even if it never gets changed back, it’ll be a generation before people actually start calling it that. No one alive now is going to give a fuck about the Gulf of America or call it that.

    Hey conservatives, not that you’re intelligent enough to figure out how to get on Lemmy, but if by some miracle one of you reads this, why is Trump doing this and floating invading our allies and annexing their territories instead of lowering the price of groceries as promised on day 1?

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    • MojoMcJojo@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You eat your Freedom Fries and you like it

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  • RxBrad@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Genuinely curious… How does Google handle other oceanic naming that isn’t agreed upon Worldwide?

    Google Maps view of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica

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    • toddestan@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Generally, Google shows the appropriate name based upon where you are located. So for everyone outside of 'murica, it’s still the Gulf of Mexico.

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      • Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        They said that but it’s a fat lie.

        Image

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  • mRbLUE@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Would be shame if google are snowed under with reports the name is wrong :-)

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    • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Just tried: the ‘report an issue’/‘suggest an edit’ button doesn’t appear when The Gulf of Mexico is selected.

      It does for other locations, but not for the Gulf.

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      • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Report an issue through the base report feature

        Open maps > your profile picture > last option on the list

        You can directly reference and include a screenshot of the map

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      • Pika@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        It’s because people already Mass reported it so they disabled the ability for it

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  • GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    This whole thing is extremely cringe. There isn’t any other way to put it. Trump. His executive order. The compliance. It’s all cringe.

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    • Eagle0110@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Though to be fair cringe is like right in the very blood to Google anyway so what would you expect…

      I mean, just look at how they often respond on their bug tracker platform of most of their products and how they try to justify their endless streams of questionable design decisions, that seems to be characteristic of them at this point lol

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  • cmhe@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Interesting discussion about this on the OpenStreetMap forums.

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  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    And you’ll see Amerida right at the bottom of the picture, that’s the capital of Floricatan in the country of America… Have you guys noticed how our country’s name is not America? I would be a fucking retard if I named something “of America” when my country’s name isn’t America. As an example, all Mexican coins say “estados unidos mexicanos” or something like that. But the country is Mexico. Mexico is in America, but they don’t say “mexico of America”, because they are not fucking retarded.

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  • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Time for a repeat comment: Organic Maps does everything Google Maps does (except traffic conditions), and is FOSS. Please encourage places to contribute business information to Open Street Maps.

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    • brb@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I just tried it and found three dealbreakers instantly.

      1. It doesn’t have my address (I know I could add it but who knows what else it’s missing)

      2. It couldn’t find any public transport routes in my area

      3. There is no satellite view

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    • IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      The traffic conditions is huge tho

      Just last week, that philly plane crash, I saw exactly where the roads are closed and which roads are congested.

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    • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I use Google maps mostly to find out where things are, and unfortunately OSM does not have as many places as Google Maps. I can add one or two places I notice are missing (even though the phone interface isn’t that easy) but Google Maps consistently has better information, so I mostly use organic maps for when I already know the address or already know the location is in its database.

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    • moakley@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I’m all for swapping apps, but Organic Maps doesn’t even have my home address. And I live in a major metropolitan area.

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      • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        My test search for the UPS store up the street sent me 4km away. So…not great.

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      • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Add it to OSM?

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    • TimboSlice@discuss.online ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Just swapped apps. Thanks for the suggestion!

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  • vodkasolution@feddit.it ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Also, report an error to google maps:

    Image

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    • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I can’t seem to do this from the phone app

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    • tias@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Obviously that’s not going to make one iota of difference. They’re an American company and they have been ordered by the president of the country to do this. They already do similar things in other authoritarian countries like China and Turkey, because anything else would risk the safety of Google employees.

      If you don’t like it, change to a non-American product and/or vote for a different president.

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      • vodkasolution@feddit.it ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I somehow have a feeling that being president of the USA does not mean you can do whatever you want and people have to follow… Google Map, for one, is a product of a private company, not a Federal Service of the USA - so if they want to call it “Gulf of Google”, they could!
        Then you’re right, they already protect/black out places and some places’ names, however the Gulf of America, like the Channel of Washington are just bs that in the worst case scenario will live 4 years. So it’s a joke and I like joking too

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      • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        The American president can only order so much. As of yesterday, the BGN has changed the name, but this affects Federal Government usage. Google as a private company could continue to use the common name if they wanted to.

        This is why Open Street Maps has a “name” field and “official name” field, for where these two aren’t the same. This is already the case for the English names “Saigon” and “Ho Chi Minh City” which refer to the same place in Vietnam.

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  • vodkasolution@feddit.it ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    UNITED STATES OF NORTH MEXICO
    I’m gonna start creating new pubs, bars and so on, everywhere I go, and call them Trump’s Mexican Deli, Donnie & Elon’s vacancy hotel, and so on. Please contribute (use an alternative google account)

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  • mrmule@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I’m currently in France, this is what I see. Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) Image

    What a f*cking joke 😂

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    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I’m in Canada, and Google maps shows me the same as what you are seeing.

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  • afronaut@lemmy.cafe ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I’m in the process of migrating my saved locations and addresses to Organic Maps. Bye Google.

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  • Opinionhaver@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I don’t honestly see a big issue with this. First of all: It’s called Gulf of America, not Gulf of USA. Considering it’s a gulf between south and north American continents it’s actually a more fitting name and in no way excludes Mexico.

    And secondly, you can just move on with your life and keep calling it the Gulf of Mexico and everyone will perfectly understand what you mean. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and telling you to adopt the new name. Same applies to Twitter and Facebook too for example.

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    • ubergeek@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Changing facts to suit a nationalist and fascist state, purely for jingoism, is appeasement.

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      • Opinionhaver@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        This doesn’t really have anything to do with facts, though. Names of people, objects and places change all the time.

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    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Nobody is holding a gun to your head

      Give them a few months

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      • Opinionhaver@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Allright. Let’s revisit this in 6 months to see what happened - or didn’t.

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    • Engywuck@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      +1. Couldn’t care less. My life will go on. I’m not going to use GMaps anyway.

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    • CitricBase@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      The “big issue” with this it that it is being done entirely to appease the vain whims of an egocentric wannabe dictator, and for no other reason.

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  • jaemo@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Cool.

    In not at all related news disabling Google maps on your Android device can often be a source of delight! I never knew how capable organic maps was and it has a very nice auto integration.

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  • thisphuckinguy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    What the fuck is this shit?

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    • DarkFuture@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      A born rich low IQ loser jerking himself off while we’re all forced to watch.

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  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives

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    • DarkFuture@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Bingo.

      Imagine getting every “alpha male” 2A nutjob violent conservative to realize who their actual enemy is.

      We’d get some actual positive change in an extremely short period of time.

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    • Mrkawfee@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      This is the way.

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  • ramjambamalam@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    That’s a weird flex by the United States of South Canada

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  • ramjambamalam@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    The change reflects Google’s policy of adhering to official government names for geographical locations.

    OK, so why am I seeing Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) from Canada?

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    • afronaut@lemmy.cafe ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      From the Wikipedia for Gulf of Mexico:

      While the Interior Department confirmed that the Gulf of America name was effective for U.S. federal agencies, on January 24, the change does not apply in an international context.

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    • Tattorack@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Same here in Europe.

      This is highly irregular for several reasons:

      Google adheres to official government positions, yes, but as far as I’m aware the American government hasn’t made the name change official yet. Members of the government have said that they’d do this, but I don’t think this idea has passed any process yet. So then why is Google “updated” their maps?

      When Google adheres to official government positions, they are local. In example, when you’re in China and look up Taiwan, it’ll appear as part of China. In other countries it’ll appear as either an independent country or a disputed territory, depending on that government’s official position on the matter. What we DON’T see is something like “Taiwan (China)”, as Google supposedly has no intention on forcing the policies of one government upon another government, and as far as I’m aware the rest of the world hasn’t agreed to changing The Gulf of Mexico to The Gulf of America.

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      • rmuk@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Image

        If anyone’s interested, here’s what it looks like in Europe. The good news: this is the first time I’ve had to use Google Maps in a loooong time (ignoring embedded maps in other sites). OpenStreetMap is wonderful and there are some superb apps powered by it, including the ever-excellent Organic Maps.

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    • tal@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      If Justin Trudeau gets active on this, you can probably get it to Gulf of Canada (Gulf of Mexico) (Gulf of America).

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  • BombOmOm@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Apple still has it as Gulf of Mexico.

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  • the_doktor@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Send a complaint through the site. Flood them with complaints about how they are an evil corporation licking Trump’s boot and that it’s the Gulf of Mexico.

    Don’t let these damn corporations win.

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    • Railcar8095@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You do you, but that is literally yelling at a cloud.

      Stop using Google services altogether, delete your accounts. Block ads. That’s the only way to cost them some pennies.

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  • marcos@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Hum… Did they change the name of the North-America’s South-West like the Mexico president requested too?

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  • _lilith@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    What a great time to download Organic maps

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    • ouch@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      How does it compare to OsmAnd?

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      • oxf@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        OsmAnd is the Swiss army knife of Open Street Map frontends, but as I’m sure you’ll agree on (if you’ve used it), it can be a bit of a headache setting it up, as well as getting familiar with it.

        Organic Maps caters more to people seeking a pure alternative to Google/Apple Maps. It’s the layman’s alternative.

        If you’re a poweruser, and already familiar with OsmAnd, there’s no point in switching. But in terms of getting other, non tech savvy, people to switch, it’s a great recommendation!

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      • superkret@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Organic Maps has fewer features and settings and concentrates on what most people use the most.
        It is also much, much faster than OsmAnd.

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      • gedaliyah@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Also a great choice. I prefer organic maps for a variety of reasons (like ability to contribute to the maps), but a lot of people prefer OsmAnd. They are both very good.

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    • Junkernaught@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I love that it’s not google, and the UI is nice, but the lack of realtime traffic info is a real blocker for me

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      • gedaliyah@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        You might be interested in Magic Earth is is also built on OpenStreetMap but includes crowdsourced traffic data. If you are in a big city then it’s likely they have good data for your area.

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    • Sunshine@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It’s a massive upgrade in terms of aesthetics and privacy!

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  • Vanth@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Huh, do they really change names of international things when only one party says so?

    Denali/McKinely is one thing, it’s part of the US. But the Gulf of Mexico is a mix of US, Mexico, Cuba, and international waters. I wonder what they show Google Maps users who are in Mexico.

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    • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Naming things is complicated.

      It’s not really a case where some organisation has the authority to name something. Rather people just call something a name, and organisations adopt that name.

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    • VicksVaporBBQrub@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I found this paragraph…

      Can Trump change the name of the Gulf of Mexico? Maybe, but it’s not a unilateral decision, and other countries don’t have to go along. The International Hydrographic Organization — of which both the US and Mexico are members — works to ensure all the world’s seas, oceans and navigable waters are surveyed and charted uniformly, and also names some of them. There are instances where countries refer to the same body of water or landmark by different names in their own documentation.

      From this webpage… pbs.org/…/can-trump-change-the-name-of-the-gulf-o…

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    • marcos@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      They have clear rules for contested areas… that they follow in an as clear way as they user support rules.

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      • devfuuu@lemmy.world [bot] ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        That’s reassuring. We all know that google is the best at user support.

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  • gedaliyah@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Had to check.

    Image

    Slowly working towards a viable OpenStreetMap in my area. If you want to help, you can make a free account and begin editing: www.openstreetmap.org/user/new

    You can also contribute on mobile by using Street Complete or any number of great mobile apps that allow limited editing and full map features like Organic Maps

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  • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    (viewed from Canada)

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  • franzcoz@feddit.cl ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    This is stupid! I see both names displayed, at least. But still stupid.

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  • solrize@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    They are coming for our freedom fries next.

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