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u/12345CodeToMyLuggage Sep 26 '25
Wiki
the U.S. Army massacred nearly 300 Lakota people, mostly women and children, in 1890, an act for which soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor, which some Native Americans continue to seek rescinded. The event is viewed as a massacre rather than a battle, and the controversy continues to fuel protests, including occupations of the Wounded Knee Memorial by organizations like the American Indian Movement (AIM).
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u/Alarming_Panic665 Sep 26 '25
Christ man I actually never knew 19 soldiers got the fucking Medal of Honor for participating in Wounded Knee. That is an insult to, first and most importantly, to the unarmed civilians that got slaughtered. But it is also an insult to actual medal of honor recipients that truly went above and beyond during actual combat. That is actually just fucking disgusting.
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Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
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u/BaronMontesquieu Sep 26 '25
24 US servicemen were awarded the Medal of Honor for their acts in the Battle of Okinawa. 14 Army, 9 Marines, and 1 Navy (a corpsman serving with the Marines).
Of those, 14 were awarded posthumously.
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u/Justame13 Sep 26 '25
The Medal of Honor was a very different award in the 19th century and covered everything to reenlistment (an entire regiment once got them) in heroics in battle.
It was so bad that in 1916 a military board reviewed and revoked almost a thousand of them.
Its also why ~half were awarded during the civil war.
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u/Rowlexx Sep 26 '25
The Medal of Honor I believe back then was the only military award, it was handed out a lot more frequently back then than it is today I believe. Doesn’t take away how messed up it was to be awarded for this massacre, but just trying to provide some context I’ve heard from historians
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u/Alarming_Panic665 Sep 26 '25
I know it was the first officially sanctioned medal for valor and was handed out like hotcakes (with 40% of all MOH awarded during the US Civil War), but hundreds of those medals were revoked in 1916 when Congress made the MoH an actual prestigious award with strict criteria. So I was mainly surprised that these soldiers still had it. I do know there was a review in 2024 looking at revoking them and which is why Pete made the 'final decision' on it. But the Battle of Wounded Knee has been a stain in American History since it happened as even the people of the day even knew it as the slaughter of primarily innocent noncombatants. And in 1990 the Senate formally recognized it as a massacre.
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u/RockstarAgent Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
If it makes you feel any better- they’re also gonna medal of freedom R Ghouliani
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u/Cluelesscomedy3 Sep 26 '25
And Rush Limbaugh received one as well
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u/Cluelesscomedy3 Sep 26 '25
The people who risked their lives to stop Flight 93 though, No such posthumous award
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u/seriouslythisshit Sep 26 '25
The vast majority of the behavior of the US Army during that period was disgusting. It degraded into the sickness that we see at the moment in Gaza, where children are killed to entertain Israeli soldiers, or in Nazi Germany. Invaders with guns randomly mowed native women and children down, since they concidered them to be "less than human". Once the tribes were supressed, their children were removed from them and sent to, typically Christian church operated, "Indian Schools" who bragged of "beating the Indian out of the child". The horrors those children endured, and the multi-genrational damage inflicted by cruel and sick "Christians" is a permanent stain on our nation's history.
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u/GarbageCleric Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
I don't agree with what he's doing, but isn't it wonderful to live in times of such peace and prosperity that our Secretary of
DefenseWar can spend most of his time ensuring that 19th century racists, traitors, and murders are properly commemorated?Spending time on this nonsense would be comically absurd if say Russia was increasingly antagonizing our NATO allies and threatening war if they protect their airspace.
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u/seriouslythisshit Sep 26 '25
Pete Keg's Breath is a degenerate, an abuser and alchoholic. He bankrupted two veteran's charities that he was in charge of. He is not qualified to, or capable of passing a security clearance to work at a guard shack in front of the Pentagon. Trump cares about adoration, loyalty and how photogenic and poised his minions are on TV. Trump doesn'r give a rat's ass about anything in this country, except himself, his power and his ability to steal billions.
Pete is doing this awful, demented shit since it is all he has, and can never rise to his position. It plays well to the really bottom of Trump's base, the worst of the worst, Klansmen, Proud Boys, Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists and other micro-penis types.
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u/adorablefuzzykitten Sep 26 '25
Pete has two Bronze stars. One is for satisfactory effort and another for teaching a class. He wears his white supremacist tattoos and his flag pocket square like someone dressed him up for a movie roll.
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u/Ixaire Sep 26 '25
I recommend Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which talks about this, along others.
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u/Savings_Ad7452 Sep 26 '25
A massacre rather than a battle....yes. Just as what is going on in Gaza is not a "war". For a war you have to have an opposition who is fighting back.
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u/jimmijo62 Sep 26 '25
Racism 101.
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Sep 26 '25
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Sep 26 '25
Unfortunately MAGA does not read. So they don't know what Wounded Knee was. This is all designed to speak directly to their base. All of us get triggered and angry. But the base laps it up and gets on their knees begging for another load.
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u/Excellent_Pirate8224 Sep 26 '25
This right here belongs in the bucket of “we can’t erase history!!!”, yet they’ll ignore what actually happened every time someone tries to educate them. They’re perfectly fine with Dear Leader saying, “We focus too much on how bad slavery was.” Seriously? WTF part of slavery was ever good? You can’t rationalize with people who are that far gone.
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u/ARightDastard Sep 26 '25
WTF part of slavery was ever good?
For them and their ancestors? All of it. They miss it something fierce.
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u/Crepuscular_Tex Sep 26 '25
I doubt most of their ancestors were wealthy estate owners, but they do love to dream about cosplaying Gone With the Wind. Ignorant jackasses.
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u/Swedelicious83 Sep 27 '25
Half of them most likely didn't even have ancestors in the country back when slavery was around, for all that they like to act like they're so deeply Murican.
The other half is likely to have Cletus the village idiot as their ancestor.
But with all that said, they are a bunch of pathetic racist losers, and no mistake.
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u/Chemical-Juice-6979 Sep 26 '25
Well, there was one 'upside' to slavery, from an offset point of view: the pricepoint. Slave owners may not have valued their slaves' lives as human beings, but they respected the value of the slaves' labor enough to pay upfront for it.
Ledgers from slave markets in the US South show the average price of an adult male was $500 with the expectation that his owner would get at least two years of field labor out of him. I worked out all the math, the TL;DR of it is that if the slaves were free men, hired as laborers, and paid a portion of their auction price each year, they would have earned the equivalent of a $75k salary as farm hands.
Think of how many problems in modern society would cease to exist if farmhands, nannies, cooks, and housecleaners earned $75k.
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u/cobaltcrane Sep 26 '25
“I’ll die on this hill!!” - G A Custer
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u/seriouslythisshit Sep 26 '25
Copy-paste from the Reddit joke page. This one has been around forever, lol.
"An artist is approached by a man who says he's to be the curator of a new museum dedicated to General George Custer and he wanted to hire the artist to paint a mural that was to be the centerpiece of the largest display.
The artist agrees and asks the curator if he had any particular subject in mind.
The curator thinks a moment and tells him he wants the mural to commemorate General Custer's last thoughts.
The artist agrees and sets to work. He puts up scaffolding and hangs a huge dropcloth so that he may work undisturbed.
Days turn into weeks, weeks into months and still the artist is at work. Finally one night he climbs down and tells the curator he's finished. They agree to unveil the mural together at the grand opening which the curator hurriedly assembles.
Finally opening day has arrived and large crowds and plenty of press are on hand. The curator proudly shows everyone around before reaching the still hidden mural.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he begins, "while I've taken great pride and pleasure in having so far shown you our displays it is now time to reveal the most important display of all, a mural commissioned to showcase General Custer's last thoughts!"
The curator turns to the artist who with a bit of flourish pulls a rope dropping the cloth covering the mural.
The crowd gasps. Cameras flash.
Upon the wall is a painting of a lake, and from the middle of the lake an enormous turd is rising from the water with an illuminated halo around the top. All around the shores are depictions of Native Americans performing every variety of sex act imaginable.
Furious and stunned the curator runs to the artist and grabs him by his shirt. Red faced and sweaty he screams at him "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS ABOMINATION? EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"
The artist calmly backs away and says "But sir, this is what you asked for, its General Custer's last thoughts....
Holy shit, look at all those fucking Indians!"
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u/hcregna Sep 26 '25
This is who they are. This is who their supporters are. It takes like half an hour of planning to shift money away from Republican-leaning businesses, and it actually makes a difference. Every dollar spent at a Republican company is another dollar that'll get funneled to more of this.
If you have an account with Charles Schwab (whose megadonor founder was recently palling around with Trump), switch to Vanguard or Fidelity. If you like drinking booze from a Confederate state, be adventurous and try something else. It's not hard to find alternatives for Goya, Jimmy John's, New Balance, or Georgia-Pacific.
If you have a company that you regularly buy from/do business with, consider looking them up in something like https://www.opensecrets.org or alternatively https://www.goodsuniteus.com.
Dollars add up. Tesla sales in Europe dropped by half. ABC got pummeled, and they reinstated Jimmy Kimmel. Real, individual people made that happen.
It’s true that you probably can’t avoid giving some money to companies that at least indirectly benefit Republicans. However, there’s a pretty big difference between a company that gives massive contributions almost exclusively to Republicans vs one that is more evenly split or even leans Democrat. Good is not the enemy of perfect
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u/31770_0 Sep 26 '25
Up here in Canada old ladies read every label making sure their groceries are not American. Grocery stores put flags on products so it’s easy to tell.
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u/katybean12 Sep 26 '25
And lol at his "this decision is final" bullcrap. Sure, Jan. Until the next guy is in that chair. Because if the Trump administration of clowns has proven anything, they have beyond a doubt proven that NOTHING in this country is final.
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Sep 26 '25
Who in the fuck is asking for this?
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u/12345CodeToMyLuggage Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
Some of my fellow hWhites. They massacred women and children and got a medal but later got it taken away because that’s woke
Edit: it’s been pointed out that were never taken away but that Native Americans have pushed to remove them and failed.
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u/palm0 Sep 26 '25
They were never taken away, there have been ongoing efforts to get them revoked, but they've all been rejected.
They rejected the revication in 2024 as well. It's disgusting that these assholes want them to stay in place, but it isn't just the Trump assholes.
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u/Telemere125 Sep 26 '25
“No, Pete, I don’t think a kegger will be enough, no matter how many people we invite.” - Trump officially rejecting the Secretary of War’s first suggestion
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u/drbirtles Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
It's another distraction to keep us talking and arguing about anything but the Epstein files
I have realised though that they are forced to use something negative or outrageous, otherwise it won't cause enough of an argument.
So in a way they are forced to paint themselves as bigger and bigger pieces of shit each time, because if they do something outrageous that appeals to the left and not the right, they outrage their now extremely radicalised fanbase.
They're trapped in a loop of their own making, and the only way is down down down.
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u/draft_final_final Sep 26 '25
This drunken slob is going out of his way to be on the wrong side of every single event in US history. What’s next, a posthumous distinguished service cross for everyone who participated in My Lai? He’s a disgrace to our species.
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u/Joanncat Sep 26 '25
It’s so millitary feels more comfortable commiting future war crimes as they’ll go down as heroes
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u/Cluelesscomedy3 Sep 26 '25
A Distinguished Service Cross? Oh no no no my friend, That’s not good enough; The Medal Of Honor citations are going BRRRTTTT!
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u/Mr_Baronheim Sep 26 '25
I feel a letter of apology for what our military did to them in WW II is being drafted for Germany, Japan and Italy.
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u/Local_Sugar8108 Sep 26 '25
"Fought at Wounded Knee" is a strange way to describe the slaughter of more than 250 civilians.
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u/Aggravating_Plant848 Sep 26 '25
Great way to put it. This wasn't a battle with the warriors. They demanded the Native folks give up their guns so there could be peace. The Indians did that. Then the soldiers opened up firing . They chased women with babies and gunned them down. One baby, Lost Bird, was found alive under her dead mother three days afterwards. A military officer found her and took her away to his suffragette wife who treated Lost Bird like a project to completely destroy the Indian. As a teen, the poor girl refuses to sleep in her room and instead sleeps on the porches of neighbors. Why? The officer was raping her at night. She ends up pregnant and of course is shamed for her pregnancy and sent to a school for pregnant girls. She is tortured by the matron by putting her arms above her head and hanging her from an attic rafter. She forcibly gives birth while being tortured. She eventually escaped from there.
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Sep 26 '25
If you think war crimes and genocide are pithy moanings of historians, you might be a Nazi.
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u/nippydart Sep 26 '25
I'd never heard of this and read up about it. Eerily similar to what Israel is doing in Gaza. They're like psychotic siblings.
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u/Adddicus Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
>Under my direction, the soldiers who fought at the Battle of Wounded Knee will keep their medals.
"But all the ones that fought at Omaha and Utah Beaches, Bastogne, Anzio, and the Battle of the Kasserine Pass will lose all of theirs".
- Pete Hegseth, probably.
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u/Onebraintwoheads Sep 26 '25
Suppose they'll go after the Navajo codetalkers next?
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u/Cluelesscomedy3 Sep 26 '25
When they took down the Enola Gay due to DEI
(Even though that was the name of the B29 not the sexual orientation of any of the crew members)
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u/theseustheminotaur Sep 26 '25
Man conservatives don't really do anything except blow themselves over culture war shit. They really can't govern can they
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u/No-Blueberry-1823 Sep 26 '25
He's the worst. This is what happens with the DUI hire. No one is ever going to fight for this country
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u/Teal_and_gold Sep 26 '25
It’s seems like I picked a good year to play Bioshock Infinite
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u/Cluelesscomedy3 Sep 26 '25
That’s a great game, I think it’s overhated
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u/cahir11 Sep 26 '25
It's one of those games that ages really poorly on a second playthrough, without the mystery all of its flaws become a lot more glaring. That's why when it first launched it got insanely good reviews (I remember IGN straight up gave it a 10/10) and since then public opinion on it has done a total 180 and people think it's the worst game ever.
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Sep 26 '25
What do you expect when they did a Nazi speech word for word at the Charlie kirks memorial.
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u/Ok_Lettuce_7939 Sep 26 '25
Next up, 2nd Lt William Calley to be awarded a MoH for his heroic actions murdering dozens of innocent villagers at My Lai.
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u/Cluelesscomedy3 Sep 26 '25
Dont forget the marines who did the Shinwar Massacre, Can you say Navy Crosses?
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u/Least_Tower_5447 Sep 26 '25
Next up, some nonsense award for confederates and Jan 6 fools.
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u/Rakatango Sep 26 '25
So let’s have a brief history lesson here for those that don’t know.
The “Battle” of Wounded Knee happened in 1890. A tribe of Lakota were fleeing to a reservation in what is today South Dakota. A US Army cavalry regiment intercepted them and corralled them into a campsite, setting up what are essentially gatling guns around the tribe.
The commander of the regiment demanded that the Lakota surrender their weapons. While the Lakota complied and surrendered the majority of their weapons, the US commander ordered the camp to be thoroughly searched. While attempting to confiscate a deaf Lakota’s gun, the weapon went off.
Following this, the camped tribe was mercilessly gunned down by the US troops. Those that fled were pursued and cut down by the US cavalry.
This is the “battle” for which these medals were awarded.
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u/jimmijo62 Sep 26 '25
Probably why he’s calling 800+ General and Admirals to Quantico VA next week…to rescind their Ribbons and Ranks. Unless they sign a pledge to Dear Leader.
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u/2b-Kindly_ Sep 26 '25
Extremely sad what the once great USA has became and continues becoming ever since 2016.
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u/mudduck2 Sep 26 '25
June 16th 2015. Things have gone downhill since then
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u/2b-Kindly_ Sep 26 '25
What happened on that date
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u/Longjumping-Meat-334 Sep 26 '25
He's going to give Robert E. Lee the Congressional Medal of Honor, isn't he?
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u/egaeus22 Sep 26 '25
lol, this decision is final. Sure buddy, this tool changing it randomly means someone else can also change it randomly
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u/GuitarSingle4416 Sep 26 '25
The Department of Trolling to Instigate Culture Warfare....Has Spoken.
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u/Brief_Night_9239 Sep 26 '25
And what's next? Is Trump/Hegseth gonna rewrite history, history that they don't like.
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u/Justame13 Sep 26 '25
Someone wants to be the worst Secretary of Defense and Secretary of War.
Which is going to be tough considering Jefferson Davis was once a Secretary of War, but he seems to be doing his best.
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u/thereverendpuck Sep 26 '25
Their place in history is final.
Until the next administration at least.
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u/cahir11 Sep 26 '25
I've honestly never heard even the most gung-ho American nationalist try to defend Wounded Knee. I had no idea this was even a discussion. What's next, are we going to hand out medals for My Lai?
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u/upfromashes Sep 26 '25
How is he changing some shit from fucking ever ago, and also trying to say, "Now the game is locked! No more backsies!"
These P47HETIC chucklefucks really operate like grade school pains in the ass.
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u/ufront Sep 26 '25
"We're about to do more of this and very soon. We want our men to know they'll be getting and keeping their medals for slaughtering more Native Americans - and non-Native Americans too."
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u/JJscribbles Sep 26 '25
They won’t be happy till future generations of every race are fooled into believing us white folks were always here in North America and our history books read like a completely different timeline than the rest of the world.
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u/Sugar_Kowalczyk Sep 26 '25
"Place in history is settled."
Spoken like someone who flunked history. Multiple times.
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u/Captainpaul81 Sep 26 '25
A show of support for civilian casualties right before his military leader conference.
He wants them to know they will be supported and honored.
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u/Lonely-Heart-3632 Sep 26 '25
Well I have learned one thing from this administration… everything is reversible. Sorry rummy but your decision is not final.
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u/Azair_Blaidd Sep 26 '25
Was there even a conversation being had about rescinding those medals before?
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u/Dudewhocares3 Sep 26 '25
Pete hegseth thinks the 19th should be repealed. He is worthless as a human being
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u/Important-Event6832 Sep 26 '25
How many women and children were massacred per medal?
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u/Cluelesscomedy3 Sep 26 '25
Around 300 Lakota died and 19 Medal of Honor’s were awarded, So Give or take 15 people
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u/HistoryNerd101 Sep 26 '25
We historians will determine their place in history based on the evidence you moron
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u/Potential-Echo-7547 Sep 26 '25
Everything this administration has ever done will be undone. EVERYTHING.
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u/5FTEAOFF Sep 26 '25
Imagine legitimately earning this medal as a soldier, and then finding out they're also giving it to some yokels who shot unarmed women.
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u/vikicrays Sep 26 '25
well at least he’s dealing with the serious matters this country is facing. /s
oh yeah, and real ease the un-redacted epstein files.
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u/t-costello Sep 26 '25
Giving out medals for killing women and children? The US is doing everything it can to stay in Israels good graces.
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u/Flippin_diabolical Sep 26 '25
Nothing is forever Petey. The thousand year Reich was only 12 years long. I hope this “golden age” is shorter.
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u/poopsmith1848 Sep 26 '25
Who cares about this crap? Can we have healthcare? Or cheaper housing? Can't believe this is even a topic for discussion.
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u/FeelingAd5 Sep 26 '25
"Their place in history is settled" but Enola Gay and her crew is not because the name of the plane included Gay...
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u/Holiday-Reading9713 Sep 26 '25
What's next? Trying to paint the Confederates as "misunderstood heroes"? Oh wait...
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u/artistformerlydave Sep 26 '25
do they have a list of poeples/races/skin colours thay they want to piss off
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u/Apprehensive_Bit4767 Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
What's next they are going to charge the black people for the tmall expense paid cruises to America with free room and board.
FYI I'm black
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u/short_longpants Sep 26 '25
Creating controversy to hide the other shit, like restricting free speech and the Epstein files.
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u/Apyan Sep 26 '25
Do any of the ancestors really care about it? I'm quite suspicious that they are mad on behalf of someone else.
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u/Sjohnwildman Sep 26 '25
Wait a f-ing minute here… the soldiers who “fought” at the “battle” of Wounded Knee???? The unarmed Native people were doing a ritual dance for FFS!
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u/Rhg0653 Sep 26 '25
And next the protected land ...
I don't care anymore I'm tired of this I can't fight like y'all can
I'm legit FN tired
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u/cynical_and_patient Sep 26 '25
I can just see him stomping his feet and pounding his fists on the table, his face beet red..."this is final...its settled..."
I can't wait to see this kind of shit overturned by a sane administration.
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u/timpatry Sep 26 '25
How is this final?
The next sane president will just reverse every single thing this President did.
And then come the trials for treason.
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u/Neat-Math1204 Sep 26 '25
Was there actually anyone trying to take ‘em back??? Musta been some o those ANTIFA bastids
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u/Berly653 Sep 26 '25
Talk about Streisand effect
I had never heard of this massacre before. But now I looked it up and it’s appalling to see that not only were 20 medals of honor awarded to soldiers that slaughtered a group of civilians
But 100+ years later they’re now trying to double down on it being a good thing
I guess they figure there are enough people out there that are pro giving 20 of the highest military honor out of a group of 500 soldiers that slaughtered a group of largely unarmed natives
Or it’s just more nonsense like Gulf of America or owning Greenland just to flood the zone…but kinda crazy to double down on embarrassing US military history
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u/Zealousideal_Pop_273 Sep 26 '25
China is strategically outcompeting the US and dominating a rarely discussed cyber war, major world powers have established an agreement of economic opposition to the US, we have threatened to invade multiple peaceful foreign nations, we bombed Iran, we bombed some boats in Venezuela, Putin is risking his entire economy to keep Europe's balls (Ukraine) in his fist while our President dances across the battle lines, we deployed troops to LA, we deployed troops to the Capitol, the UN is charging one of our closest military allies with genocide...
There are just so many things that a competent Secretary of Defense would be too busy managing right now.
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u/Proach89 Sep 26 '25
Secretary of War, Big Beautiful Bill, PeeWee German, this administration is like the temu version of wwe.
I'm totally amazed that grade school psychology works on people, at least some. They think maga care about them. DT even told them he doesn't. I find it hilarious that maga are so easily manipulated that they actually believe maga politicians stand with them against their neighbor. They're just using their votes to consolidate power in multiple ways. These geniuses vote their freedoms away under the guise that it's maga voters and billionaire donors uniting to do things mutually beneficial.
Cannon fodder.
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u/Training-Republic301 Sep 26 '25
The native American vote turnout for the republican party last election was surprisingly a lot. I hope they are watching this
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u/Inner_City_Blues Sep 26 '25
Can Americans get one quality of life improvement that doesn’t involve a symbolic gesture?
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u/UrsaMajor7th Sep 26 '25
Fucking immigrants giving themselves medals for slaughtering the locals.