It still is, it's a standard for imaging devices. Honestly aside from it being annoying, it was and is a decent attempt at a standard for scanners coming from an era of driver standards as a pipe dream. Try that with printers, ever. And also a nightmare.
I'm going to neg on my own comment, I don't trust Snopes anymore, but many news services also discredited what I mentioned. So at this point, because we know their reality is mutable and transient, who knows if it really happened or not. I'd still bank on yes, but I have no actual evidence to back it up.
The national weather service is defunded and not even sending out weather balloons anymore, and is losing access to a military satellite used for hurricane detection. (Facts.)
So, there aren't hurricanes anymore, just freak random storms that come out of nowhere for some reason. We did it everybody! /s
The real problem will likely end up being that civilians can't own the firepower the US military/police have, legally. No full auto, no giant drums, no grenades, no missiles, no fighter jets. Even if it were a "well-regulated militia" one fighter/bomber could take them all out, and be marketed on some made up news articles as, "we stopped the terrorists, you're safe now."
If it really came down to it, such a battle would be very one-sided, so it would have to be more strategic guerilla tactics.
Oh, and the SS just got a huge budget increase, so that won't help. (As seen above.)
There were already talks in the p2025 circles about ceasing civilian firearms in some fashion and then allowing "permits" at some future time for "loyal" gun owners. Wouldn't be surprised if they'll still try it.
Have you seen American history? We will do anything we can to not have to pay for labor. Even after slavery, using gray area immigrants has been commonplace for well over a century. Anything to save a buck.
The best outcome at this point would be to build machines that can harvest all the various unique crops to break the cycle, we may even be technologically advanced to finally do it, if we don't destroy ourselves first.
How do other countries handle food harvesting labor? I'll research in parallel, but curious, I've never actually thought about that question before.
Don't sweat that either. While it likely plays into their game, as long as you can use the stuff anyway, just cease buying it for extended periods. "It is better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." --Abraham Lincoln, probably
It is a tough balancing act trying to stay ahead of nonsense, especially with covid shortages still in recent memory.
I hear that, and in parallel, mostly essentials only, minimum amount of purchasing for months now. Not paying a dime into their precious "economy" if I don't have to. Remember too, something attributed to Eisenhower that he said to have heard from a soldier, "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything." So don't kick yourself if you think you maybe didn't plan for a certain thing. Just be ready to adapt.
I've looked at food storage as less, "preparing for a shortage" and more, "a few things I like and regularly use to cover the spread as I pivot to whatever is available." Temporary comfort during (insert random crisis here) to give some time to adapt. Keeps it from being a full on prepper living in a bunker, while keeping enough essentials on hand to cover supply chain hiccups.
Make sure you have at least one alternate communications option available, ham radio, GMRS, Meshtastic, FM radio, whatnot. The voice radios are great for talking between cars on camping trips, or for other similar reasons. The text meshes in some markets are really starting to take off, weather channels, groups for this and that, and coverage is really improving. Pretty much don't need a cell phone at this point.
It was an example. Many states have myriad requirements for perceived safety. There is also obviously the argument that, hey, the Federal government is ignoring laws and the Constitution so F it and change the parts to enable full auto and acquire big mags. Missile drone probably still wins, but maybe other countries start helping at that point.
I'm the first to call out the larpers, but another angle. There are people that own, train, and do not support tyranny. Think about it, though. Would these people just suddenly randomly choose to use lethal force at the expense of their own life, to defend millions of others that are sitting on their asses in and outside America, doing nothing? Would they just walk up to a group of ICE weenies and blow them away? That would not only end their life, but put their entire family, friends, loved ones, community at extreme risk, let alone being the powder keg the Stephen Millers of the world angrily masturbate to.
Not to mention they'd be using a 10 round larper AR-15 that can only do semi-auto fire, versus possibly the strongest military force on the planet that has fighter jets, grenades, and missile-laden drones, and has already been illegally deployed in US cities on US soil.
Everyone on this planet is responsible for stopping this. Not just the few with semi-elevated defensive measures.
I'm looking forward to 10 years from now, when this new novelty called, WRITING YOUR OWN SHIT (and reading it!) comes back into prevalence, and everyone thinks it is such an original idea.
(If we, or the Internet, are all still around then, anyway.)
Especially when it involves modems. Qualcomm had a vice grip on them for so long, and still mostly does, so there's little competition, and no good competition. They make great modems, but they're also a US military contractor and can't truly be trusted. Competition, is also generally good.
American governmental culture fetishizes over the military as a concept in general, while calling out other nations that fetishize over their militaries as bad. Singing the national anthem about bombs bursting at sporting events like that's something to be happy or proud about. The tour of "hey it's military week, everyone dress in fatigue-adjacent colors and some random service members get paraded about" that happens every year. Rich politicians saying poignant words on solemn days thanking service members for their service, to then be whisked away by their security patrol and fleet of bulletproof vehicles to go back to their caviar swimming pools, never having had to even consider, really consider, killing a person, or losing a limb, friend's blood spattered across your face.
America is built on advertising. Unique thoughts need not apply. You're told what to buy, where to buy it, who to hate, who to love, where to live. You're never given any programs to back any of that up. Abortion is bad because it kills children, yet after those children are born, they can just die homeless with no medical care. We are to love our troops while treating them like detritus. We support them with a parade after a mission, then they're on their own. If they die on an "important" mission, well, they're heroes. That term alone, hero. America uses the word hero when we don't want to feel bad that someone volunteered their life for something we were too cowardly to do ourselves.
9/11 first responders, as another example, that Jon Stewart spent a good chunk of his life trying to make the government honor their own deal, and even now, the government is still trying to undo it. People who, of the ones that lived, are already going to have shorter more complicated lives. We don't even have the decency to let this handful of humans live as comfortable (not lavish, without pain) as they can, given what they tried to do to save so many people while buildings and airplanes are crashing down around them. We currently hate the immigrants that pick our food, clean our businesses, lose limbs in meat packing plants, so we can enjoy a $5 hunk of beef at the supermarket, while their children build our cars, so much so that we are willing to violate the Constitution to "get rid" of them in the most cruel way we can think of.
If we even actually followed through on caring about soldiers. If the VA was a temple of success, and veterans actually received proper treatment, care, housing, instead of being abandoned to die in the streets. If the government did one actual thing to back up their claims, instead of market spin. That'd still be a disappointment because we'd be a military-state, but at least it would be truthful, and people would join just the military for the promise of a good life. Instead, it is just a flimsy sham from every direction, trading souls for caviar swimming pools for the few.
About the only thing we are truly consistently good at in the USA is hate, and it has been that way for a long time.
It still is, it's a standard for imaging devices. Honestly aside from it being annoying, it was and is a decent attempt at a standard for scanners coming from an era of driver standards as a pipe dream. Try that with printers, ever. And also a nightmare.