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A comment on Some insects I found inside dried Turkish figs from Trader Joe’s. Parent comment

Re:Some insects I found inside dried Turkish figs from Trade... by classified on Thursday February 02, 2023 @04:43AM (#34624339)
As the saying goes, "The U.S. are a bank disguised as a country". Money is the only thing that matters.
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Re:Some insects I found inside dried Turkish figs from Trade... by SeanLuke on Thursday February 02, 2023 @08:44AM (#34626373)
There is no such saying.

The quote, from John McCain, is "Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country".

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Re:Some insects I found inside dried Turkish figs from Trade... by asoneth on Thursday February 02, 2023 @10:00AM (#34627381)
> There is no such saying.

I mean, there clearly is now because people have been saying it. I was curious about the origin and the first instance I see online is a line from Ed Harris in the 2017 movie Geostorm:

"I'm turning the clock back to 1945, when America was a shining city on a hill, not just a bank disguised as a country."

Though it's certainly possible there were earlier formulations.

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Re:Some insects I found inside dried Turkish figs from Trade... by SeanLuke on Thursday February 02, 2023 @10:32AM (#34627913)
That's not what a "saying" is. Googling "bank disguised as a country" reveals a microscopic number of citations. It is not a thing.

The Geostorm quote appears to be just crappy writing, ripping off the famous McCain quote.

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