Franklin the turtle is a Canadian creation beloved by generations of children, so when U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth turned him into a bazooka-wielding soldier in a social media post Sunday, many people were alarmed.

Hegseth's post featured a mock cover of a Franklin children's book titled "Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists." The image shows a smiling Franklin wearing a military helmet and vest and an American flag on his arm. He's standing in a helicopter, firing a weapon toward a boat carrying packages and a man holding a gun.

"For your Christmas wish list," he wrote above the post, an apparent attempt to make light of deadly U.S. military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

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[–] 49 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Wait, that was real? I only saw the screenshot on Lemmy and assumed it was a shitpost.

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  • [–] 25 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Oh, it was a shitpost. Directly from the DoD.

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  • [–] 15 points 11 months ago (1 child)
  • [+] 12 points 11 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    Quietly stacking courts and gerrymandering in Alabama or Oklahoma isn’t front page news, but will affect the lives of countless people in the future

    Big bomb go boom distracts from the machinations. Anyone who still has a shred of respect for their oath of enlistment should put a round through Hegseths forehead as punishment for war crimes.

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  • [–] 38 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    Kinda underlines what kind of people the current cabinet is. "Fun" people from the TV that have a "wonderful" 4chan mentality to global politics.

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  • [–] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Every new low in casual cruelty sets back the date when America will be trusted on the world stage a decade further out. I’m confident I’ll be dead before an American leader would be held in the same regard as other leaders on the world stage.

    My kid is growing up in this reality and distrust will be their generation’s default sentiment.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago

    The next installment is "Franklin is brought up on war crimes"… put it on your Christmas list!

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    Hegseth got the US flags oriented such that Franklin appears to be retreating.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago

    Whatever, a fucking punchable face.

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  • 9 comments in c/canada@lemmy.ca view that post
    [–] 35 points 11 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 32 points 11 months ago

    Jesus christ I thought the franklin thing was somone clowning on hegseth, not a post he actually made himself. Reality has become indistinguishable from satire.

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  • [–] 15 points 11 months ago

    I didn't know Franklin was Canadian. That's cool.

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  • [–] 30 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    "Narco-terrorists" isn't a thing that existed until Trump and Hegseth wanted to murder people on a boat with missiles from the stratosphere without involving any available legal system.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    Is that a Russian RPG 7?

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago

    Time to come destroy the white house again — oh wait. They just did it themselves.

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