It is the loss of their spirit and the potential of such in this world that I mourn. May such a time come when such sacrifice is needed no more, but, til that day comes I will poor one and drink to that spirit!
Memorial Day always brings the following words to my mind…
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
I have this framed and mounted on my wall right in front of me as I write this, along with the DOI, BOR, and USC.
(BTW, where’s the other, longer comment I posted here a couple of hours ago? Moderated into the Phantom Zone again, WordPress?)
For reasons unknown I too have been targeted by the I presume automated moderator and later some of the posts appeared. Hang in there…And awesome you having the address, etc. displayed.
I’ve had several posts that went thru, then disappeared several days later.
TTAG seems to be modifying content days after the fact.
Agreed. Here’s an excellent piece posted today on ZH to that very point:
Both my grandfathers served in WWII. One in the U.S. Army, the other in the Army Air Corp as a B-17 instructor and pilot. The latter was a veritable “greatest generation” type of man’s man…chief engineer at a major aerospace company, hunter, rifle marksman, etc. He never accepted excuses and saw any of life’s hindrances as a challenge to be accepted and overcome. He was tight-lipped about his service (which he regarded as a duty to be met) until he suffered a stroke in his final years, whereupon he began telling us stories of things he’d seen and experienced. Things during his early 20s. Things that would make most young men today cower in fear and roll up into a fetal position, yet he and his brothers-in-arms had no choice but to roll forward. The one that always comes to mind is when he was flying a bombing mission in Europe and was near the target, and encountered flak. A shell detonated close enough to the cockpit that the shrapnel pierced the windows and literally exploding his co-pilot’s head seated only two feet next to him. After a short moment of shock, he had no choice but to wipe the gore off the instrument panel and complete the mission, then fly his plane and crew home.
The things many battle-worn men have seen…part of me wishes we would experience such a crucible again to slap our younger selves back into adulthood…but the other part knows it’s hell and exacts its toll…
A great piece. 👍
Patton was buried with his men from the 3rd Army in Luxembourg. Many of them didn’t have living families etc. It was his wishes to stay with his men. He is the only General buried on foreign soil.
Not 100% sure, but i think brig. gen. Teddy Roosevelt Jr. is burried in Normandy.
He is. Died 36 days after the landing.
Yes, he was buried in Normandy following a heart attack. But as you pointed out Teddy Jr. was a Brigadier General and not a full General.
Patton died of a car accident. He broke his neck and lived just a couple days afterwards.
One of the greatest generals this country produced. He was sorely missed in the postwar BS.
Also Korea in my opinion…
God bless all of them.
Sorry for those that have lost family and friends, sorry for our currently serving that have lost brothers and sisters in arms. I wish all TTAGers have a safe holiday. If packing today remind yourself that it was those that gave up everything to ensure the Bill of Rights meant something.
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
John F. Kennedy January 20, 1961
2015… “unless it takes too long, costs too much, is just too hard, or we loose interest…”
Yes, and those were the Democrats talking like that back then. How far….
bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” January 20, 1961. Pre-Vietnam. I do not recall many people saying that by 1973.
-Barrack Hussein Obama- There, you forgot to add that.
“unless it takes too long, costs too much, is just too hard, or we loose interest…”
You mean when Donald Trump negotiated the surrender treaty with the terrorist Taliban?
He initially wanted to negotiate with the terrorists at camp David, but saner minds prevailed and he backtracked from that decision.
Look at the comments miner, the comment was in 2015. 7 years ago and we’ll before Trump. Maybe just calm down a bit and stop conflating everything in the universe with Trump.
I live and breath the color Orange.
Everything has an Orange hue to me.
When I see the actual color Orange, my heart races, my breath shortens, my vision narrows, and my mind goes into overload.
I had to stop watching my favorite television show Barney & Friends because the six-year-old Hadrosaur, Riff, is….Orange.
Still haven’t provided any citations for that (dubious) allegation, have you, MajorStupidity??? Look, we all know you’re a partisan, ignorant jackwagon, you don’t need to prove it regularly. Just take the “L”, admit YOUR boy, Senile Joe, the Serial Child-Groper, dropped the ball and f***ed up the Afghan withdrawal in epic style . . . almost like the INVERSE of Dunkirk, eh???
You can’t blame that clusterf*** on Trump, without outing yourself as an uneducated, partisan liar. Oh, I’m sorry . . . didn’t mean to point out the obvious of your approach to EVERYTHING political.
Well Lamp here is an anti-union president I am proud of.
Even today this noble man is working to protect us from weapons.
“Joe Biden on Monday suggested he wants to ban “high caliber” 9mm handguns in remarks to reporters on the South Lawn.
“And they showed me an x-ray – he said, ‘a 22-caliber bullet will lodge in a lung and we can probably get it out.. and maybe save a life. A 9mm bullet, blows the lung out of the body,’” Biden said of his trip to Uvalde, Texas.
“So the idea that these high caliber weapons — There’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection, hunting – and remember, the Constitution, the 2nd Amendment was never absolute” said Biden.”
see a doctor, your TDS is showing a full year later!
TDS… No such thing to a Marxist agitprop such as myself
“I do not recall many people saying that by 1973“
In 1973 it was “Peace with Honor“
“Peace with Honor” was a phrase U.S. President Richard M. Nixon used in a speech on January 23, 1973 to describe the Paris Peace Accords to end the Vietnam War.”
Isn’t it interesting, it was Republican Richard Nixon who resigned to avoid impeachment who negotiated the surrender treaty with the North Vietnamese.
And it was Republican Donald Trump who was impeached twice that negotiated the surrender treaty with the terrorist Taliban.
History may not always repeat, but it often rhymes.
I thank them and their family’s for allowing me the freedom to celebrate this great day with my own family. Godspeed and God bless them all!
He makes a good point.
thank you for the ultimate sacrifice so my family and I can sleep each night under a blanket
of freedom…
Patton was wrong. I think you can do both.
Fat Jack. Little Ski. Moonman. Jeff. Mac.
Same thing me and some of my brothers did this morning. We started it a few years ago, just saying the names of our dead out loud. Great tradition.
Thanks. That’s a tradition I will start myself. Because I think about them Often. Foshee. Kerry. And one whose name I can’t remember. But I still remember him.
I prefer the old Hebrew proverb. Say not in grief “He is no more”, but live in thankfulness that he was.
Beautiful sentiment and philosophy.
I’ll take both, thank you.
Thank you for your ultimate sacrifice. May we stop these sacrifices for insane Asian adventures.
I will say on this day of remembrance that many countries have had many soldiers who died and suffered for a cause that they and their governments believed in. Some of the causes may have been valid and noble, many were not. One of my most memorable documentaries of war was Vietnam in HD which had a sign at the top of the hill stating “Hamburger Hill. Was it worth it?” I think the best we can do as a nation is to try and select leaders that will be thoughtful and ask “Is this war worth it?”, before we commit the next generation of young people to battle.
Iraq was overwhelmingly voted on by ALL sides. Democrats pushed Vietnam. The American sheep wanted a p##sy like Barry Soetoro-and now we are about to reap the whirlwind Tom…I’m just glad my first-born son escaped the middle east unscathed.
“How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” From the same era, I forget who.
Better to do our very best not to make such a mistake, so we don’t have to ask.
Those that died will not be forgotten. These heroes lived and died not for political votes, but to ensure the others on deployment with made it home to enjoy that freedom with their families. The heroes answered the call so that others would not have to and became more noble than us in the process.
Today I took out the flag the draped my fathers casket. Was the first time I jad done so, was the best sad feeling I have ever had! He is the greatest man I’ve met. I give thanks for all he and others did to protect this great country! !
So Patton was fulfilling the “lived” part of his quote when he personally led a cavalry charge with sabers drawn into an unarmed crowd of Bonus Army campers. Then when his former orderly from WW1 (who was decorated for saving Patton’s life) confronted him, Patton insulted the man and ordered him to be taken away.
Thank you TTAG for posting a quote from a narcissistic blowhard who had a more broken moral compass than the Germans he fought against. At least Guderian and Rommel disregarded some of Hitler’s more brutal orders. No doubt Patton would have followed them to the letter.
The Bonus Army demanded taxpayer money that was not theirs, in the Great Depression when nearly everyone was short of money. To pay the demands of the Bonus Army, Congress would have had to increase taxes on a populace already struggling. To give you a specific example, my grandparents had to really struggle and worry to pay the taxes on their farms. My paternal grandfather go out after dark and pace the road thinking about how he was going to pay the tax on his farm.
The tax on his farm was $17.00.
Actually the Bonus Army demanded payment that was theirs by law, albeit a few years earlier.
Perhaps the Chinese learned from Patton with their own armed charge into Tiananmen Square.
Well that is like saying Social Security is yours, but good luck trying to collect all of it in one lump payment at any given time or will it to anyone you want.
Well yes, the social security money is technically yours, the government simply put it in a lockbox that Congress uses to cook the books.
In any case, charging cavalry into a peaceful unarmed gathering is unforgivable.
SSgt Daniel Fannin. 27 April 2013, Afghanistan.
My dad drove a Dodge Powerwagon ambulance across Omaha beach and across Europe. He recalled that his captain said “This is the most important thing you will ever do in your life.” Dad was among the men who liberated a concentration camp and saw bodies stacked like cord wood. Dad’s no longer with us but I know that he was welcomed into heaven by an honor guard that included George Patton – and Stone wall Jackson, Dwight Eisenhower,Norman Schwartzkoff, and probably George Washington (USA army service number 1).
My brother served in the Big Red One in Vietnam. He came home with a bronze star, two purple hearts, PTSD and major Agent Orange health problems.
I did my Nam time on board the cruiser Newport News. I had a fight with prostate cancer three years ago but I’m still going and plan to be around for a long time.
To the sorry trolls who criticize everything that this country has stood for and the sacrifices that have made, I ask them to consider what the world would be like if the Nazis and Japanese had won. We Americans may not be perfect, but we are a lots better than anybody else.
I am proud of my service for this country. As I’ve said on this site I continue to serve the people of my county as a deputy sheriff. If anybody is offended or upset by what I’ve done or my family has done they can kiss my #ss on high noon on a Saturday in Wal Mart parking lot with a brass band to draw a crowd.
It’s typically those who didn’t have the balls to put on the uniform. And now have a guilt, and debt, they can never assuage.
God bless America and her hero’s that have fought for her in every one of this great nations wars, past or present. For all our faults, and our achievements, we are by far still the greatest nation to ever grace this planet. We are still more free, and more powerful, because of the great men and women that serve the cause of liberty. Here’s to another 240 years of this great country.
As always, the more florid and grandiose the rhetoric becomes, the more detached it is from reality.
In Soviet Russia people were given full-time jobs to write this sort of drivel.
So the service of my father, my brother, and myself is “drivel”? Why are my opinions and views of what this country stands for less important and less valid than yours? I’m truly sorry that you are so filled with hate and cynicism and you are so full of yourself that you believe the rest of us are wrong. I’ll be waiting for you at Wally world this Saturday.
Drivel is harmless, your “service” is worse than drivel because you spilled blood for politicians.
I’m curious what your full time job is. I was an Infantry 0311 USMC grunt and later a platoon sergeant with Golf 2/24. After that, a crew chief at Dumbar Armored. I’m now a full time police officer. You sound like you live in your mom’s basement.
That’s easy, I was forced by government threats to help pay permanent welfare queens like you. Soldier to cop, never a single day spent contributing to the private economy (i.e. the non-murder-or-theft-based economy). Pathetic.
Wow Riddance, you sound like a real badass. I bet you couldn’t impress a mall security guard. This “welfare queen” worked 13 hours today while you were eating your mommies leftover brownies and posting all your “epic” judgements on those who actually take risks in life. Have fun changing your screen name to something else while the adults finish their conversations.
Why would anyone want to impress a mall security guard? Also, why are you denigrating Paul Blart? At least he has the decency not to steal money from motorists or toss people in a government cage for smoking a plant.
By the way the value of work is not a function of the hours worked. I figure Marxist economics has been proven to be a dead end for some time, but here it is again…
I smell lil D again.
Just remember, good men died to preserve your right to freely speak your disparagements.
Thanks to the people I served with. And thanks to the people who came before me to make a path for me and others to follow to personal victory.
“The worst part about Memorial Day is that not a single second is spent remembering the real (unwilling) victims of these boneheaded US government wars…”
We have the other 364 days a year for that. Would that we did a better job of it. I hope shortly to see effective issues advocacy, trenchant analysis, investigation and perhaps even a campaign for office under the banner “Good Riddance.”
Which diminishes the choice to serve not at all – the best, least bad option, perhaps, but the honor is in the choosing, (vs. demanding that there be better options, for example.) Letting ones self off the hook because those other guys aren’t perfect, and there are no clean choices is way too convenient.
It is up to the rest of us to do what we can to make the government’s choices better, and ultimately worthy of what they cost.
Meanwhile, we can spare a day out of 365 to remember the people who stepped up. I know of no more powerful way to motivate thinking better about what we allow to be done in our name.
Sadly, this being on the public interwebz I really ought to respond for the sake of later conversations with folks other than “Good Riddance.”
I made a mistake: Don’t wrestle with pigs. You get dirty and the pig likes it.
So, here’s the extended disclaimer in which I try to remove some of the poo…
As much as I may agree in part with some of the issues raised by Good Riddance, this isn’t the way to go about it if the idea is changing minds or the state of the world. Once you have their attention, and a seat at the table (even a kiddie booster chair), tantrums don’t advance anything. Offer solutions in the situation at hand. At some point “consciousness raising” becomes extortion. People know when that’s the case, and don’t like it. We’ve been there from the get go with this “discussion.”
Lucy Van Pelt (Peanuts cartoon – ed) once famously issued an ultimatum. Having observed the state of the world to be not to her liking, she proclaimed that it had all better be fixed by the time she got out of third grade, or she was *not* going to put up with it. That’s still funny.
Denis Leary has an old bit about stoners making plans. “First I’m gonna get a bunch of money. Then…” That’s still funny too.
Neither Lucy nor Leary’s stoner were solving much – that’s the point.
My analogy of Vegan at a BBQ was on point – snotty self-righteous disruption rarely convinces anybody of anything. Also, both Vegans and Cross-Fitters think they are every bit as right as Good Riddance thinks he is. And the people they seek to convince – so they say – also think they are right, eating meat for example. So, throwing a tantrum at the other guy’s club meeting is a great way to convince them … Oh, wait. The other thing. It’s a great way to convince them you are a jerk, who only looks down on them, and is willing to extract summary penalties to get your way, under the guise of “raising issues” or similar. It’s extortion., like spewing anti-military invective in a Memorial Day thread, for example.
Maybe convincing anybody isn’t the point. Sadly, I mostly agree with the motivating observations Good Riddance has made, as real things, part of the mix in deciding what to do as a nation, and as citizens. Any power one can use, including military, will also be misused, eventually by someone. This is kind of like the argument for the existence of guns, civilian gun ownership, driving cars and more. Do we put down this ability to do any of the goods this thing allows, to avoid the potential bads? No guns, and nobody gets shot with an accidental (“negligent” is better) discharge. Also, no desperate mothers in upstairs closets get to fend off marauding home invaders who have already not opted to leave with the stuff they took. So, choose.
Having a military is a dangerous choice. Paraphrasing Churchill, the worst choice in the world … except for all the others. If Riddance wants to propose an alternative that will work better, propose it, and demonstrate that it will work. Kind of like the proposal that we get rid of all the guns … then there’s no more violence, ever. Oh, wait, all the violence that happened to use a gun disappears (so no threats, no violence by other means, and no violence going forward because no more deterrent.) That’s crazy.
It’s like Mr. Riddance has borrowed the entire nonsense playbook from the anti-gun folks.
“Riddance” has said some very harsh things about US military members … on the occasion of Memorial Day. His counter-proposals are vague at best. So, the US acts a lot more like Switzerland (Which means what, exactly?) and … what happens? All of it. For real. Specifically, what happens? I do not agree with his conclusions, which are sparse. I think his presentation and choice of venue are appalling.
One suspects the frisson from daemonization of some “other” is the point, along with inviting others to the same “position” promising payoff of that same frisson. It was an old, old story before PA gun owners were identified as “bitterly clinging.” This is the appeal of shoving tiny nerds into school lockers to feel larger ones’ self. In the present non-conversation, there is way more energy in the name calling than thinking about how things might work out, so…
I am sorry for adding to the noise.
“As much as I may agree in part with some of the issues raised by Good Riddance, this isn’t the way to go about it if the idea is changing minds or the state of the world“
With this I must agree.
“The Swiss model is quite clear, and one that this nation used for many decades before the 20th century…”
Excellent.
You might elaborate a bit on what constitutes “The Swiss model.” A comparison / contrast with other models might be useful, for example: imperial mercantilism, a “Pax whoever-us”, and a global, class-based revolution resulting a new world order (or something), to start. You could toss in hegemonic revoutionary theocracy, reaction of former colonies of contracting empires, and the formalism of the Westphalian (sp?) model of nation-states followed by the goals and results of the League of Nations, with the UN as League of Nations II.
Then address how the world at large, and the US might fare with the US undertaking The Swiss model, while others undertake any of these others. For extra credit, consider The Swiss model undertaken by a nation in the midst of implacable hostile surroundings – would this work for a situation like Israel’s, too? (It doesn’t matter whether Israel is Bad and Wrong, a Shining Example of Goodness and Light or anything else. They are surrounded by implacable enemies consistently taking every opportunity to wipe them out, interrupted by occasional cooperations of convenience when Realpolitik dictates. So, everybody around you hates you to death, for whatever reasons. Lay down and die? Become a citadel, whatever that takes? Adopt The Swiss model, and hope that is sufficient? (Adopt The Swiss model, and know that will be sufficient – make the case.))
Next describe how the Swiss Model will & can work in the 21st century, as opposed to “many decades up to the 20th century.”
These may convince someone. Leaving a flaming bag of scorn-poo on their memorial day porch will only dirty up your position.
Is the US surrounded by “enemies that hate us”?
Why should the original foreign policy of this nation require any more defense other than the fact that the events used by the Progressives to justify moving this country into an aggressive global empire have already been proven to be nothing more than lies designed to enrich the politically connected?
You question the model of neutrality and commerce. The better question to ask is, why did we leave it?
Smedley Butler already explained the state of affairs. I’m sure the militarists here will just dismiss him as another “anti-military troll”. 🙂
Let’s not forget that our wonderful Federal government pulled out of Afghanistan after 20 years with nothing to show for it. One of our local boys died (shot in the head) for NOTHING. Let’s also not forget all the wars (Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.) where our government used our children as cannon fodder to enrich themselves and the military industrial complex. We have a wall in DC from the Viet Nam war that has over 50K of young men dead for no good reason. They died accomplishing nothing but enriching Bell helicopter company and lots of other military companies. My heart goes out to these families as I have no idea what it is like to deal with this type of tragedy.
….. take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flander’s Field.
RIGHT ON !!! Excellent quote – excellent post. My wife and I wish everyone a safe and blessed Memorial Day – 2022.
While we should mourn the warriors who died on the battlefield and honor those who served, we should not be blinded to the fact that some veterans are vermin. Timothy Mcveigh and Terry Nichols were veterans as was Lee Harvey Oswald. The veterans who are most eager to remind you that they are veterans are usually the veterans who are least worthy of respect.
The marijuana bootlegger who was given a free pass for shooting at my son cited the fact that he was a veteran as an excuse for the shooting as well as his illegal marijuana grow.
Veterans are human. With all the same frailties and foibles as any other group of people. Most will go through life with honorable intent and commit no crimes. A few will go on to do horrendous things. A few will commit the worst crimes against their fellow man. While many live out their lives just making their way as best they can.
Even a monster like Mcveigh served honorably. What he did afterwards should not detract from his time as a service member. But should be a reminder of how quickly any of us can loose that sense of honor and how easily anyone can rationalize the irrational.
Today I honor those who gave their lives in service to their country. Regardless of the idiocy behind the circumstances.
I’ve lost friends and family to war. I’ve lost friends and family to crime. Honor the lost brothers and sisters in arms. Remember those we have lost to other acts of violence. Offer thanks for those who stood between us and the evils of the world. And work toward our not needing to ask another generation to step up and die over political disputes.
Well said.
Much as when McCain died. I mourn the patriot he was and spit on the two-faced RINO he became.
And how many of those “heroes” would have lectured me about how “I was issued an AR-15 in the milluhterry and I know that no smelly civilian should ever be allowed to have one”.
You heard it here first, folks. Ol’ Brandon’s bringin’ back slavery!
I was getting a haircut the other day and a recruiter for the nasty guard was in there wooing a child over (small town rural Montana, and the child’s father was in the seat getting a cut) and as much as I wanted to scream “don’t fucken do it”, I just resisted until it was my time to get up and I pulled a Starship Troopers on the kid with the “The Army made me the man I am today” while making sure to lift my pant leg and show my below the knee prosthetic.
I hope he got the point. The redneck father was silent. Nobody said shit. Even left the same time just before them and they saw me getting into my vehicle in the handicapped spot with DV plates. Hopefully that kid doesn’t fight for our elitist politicians and their phoney wars. 2 good friends lost to suicide, 2 more wounded for life like me, and 1 KIA… all for fucking oil, drugs and politics – not a single fucking shred of “freedom”. Don’t thank me, just be smarter and don’t fucking join. Maybe the Air Force… lmfao.
Good points however the war in Iraq wasn’t for oil it was, no bullshit, over a stargate. I know it seems insane but it’s true. Factor in a few things and niether weapons of mass destruction OR OIL make sense. It was actually neither of these things. The proof is there when you look at north examples. Obviously everyone knows now there were no WMDs.
What people don’t know, is America never took a single barrel of Iraqi oil! How can this be!? Many if you may be saying. But it’s true. The facts are available online. ALL of the Iraqi oil went to Europe and China. During the course of the war, the US became the worlds number one oil producer due to fracking. So the US didn’t need oil from anywhere and you can’t tell me the big wigs in Halliburton and the government didn’t know this was going to happen.
So there were no WMDs and we were not there for oil. So why was the US there? Leaked documents provided by Wikileaks, the manning leak, and the McKinnon leak suggest the Saddam regime actually uncovered one or more pieces of alien tech, buried under the ruins near ancient cities in Iraq. This tech could’ve been weapons, an intact ship, or possibly even a star gate.
The Saddam regime refused to give these weapons up to the US who demanded them, and was supposedly going to try to either use them themselves, OR more likely, sell them to China and Russia for a hefty sum.
This US could not allow this tech to fall into its adversaries hands and so, the invasion was on.
Was it worth it? I’m not sure. Maybe you can tell me.
It ABSOLUTELY was worth it, for we are now the keepers of the top secret 9mm HighCaliber Project that has unleashed Thor’s Hammers from Hell in an easily transportable sidearm, which all of our enemies are atremble of after learning of their existence just TODAY !
Nah, it was the Ark of the Covenant. If Raiders is to be believed, it’s a pretty nasty WMD if opened in the wrong place.
“America never took a single barrel of Iraqi oil!”
Why would you think it was supposed to benefit American citizens? It was for the benefit of international oil companies. Prior to the invasion, they were shut out of Iraq. Post invasion, the country contracted with major oil companies to develop and run the oil fields. The U.S. spent billions on building the oil infrastructure after the invasion. Do you think that was supposed to benefit American citizens somehow?
“the big wigs in Halliburton and the government”
Halliburton ended up with at least $40 billion as a direct result from the war. A select few American and foreign contractors also raked in billions as a result. Maybe the invasion was for some secret weapon tech, but big corporate money wasn’t going to let a dream opportunity go to waste.
The best way we can honor those that served is be honest about why we’re always at war or at least enabling it, and not repeat past mistakes. It isn’t their fault this country is led by greedy scoundrels.
“Was it worth it?”
Ask the billionaires who profited from it, and ask the vets. You’ll probably get a different answer.
What the fuck did I just read. But yea, sounds legit. Definitely no investment/political motivation involved.
This being Memorial Day, how about we just leave it with
“May the LORD bless them and keep them; may the LORD cause His face to shine upon them and be gracious to them; may the LORD lift up His countenance toward them and give them peace.”
Amen.
Exactly
Americans would do well to closely studynbtheir own history more. The CIVIL WAR was fought forn two reason ONE to preserves the wealth and priviliges of the Souths Plantation Owners that at the time could only be maintained by SLAVERY, and TWO to preserve the rights a priviliges of the Rich and Influential MANUFACTURING moghuls of the Northern States . The rights of amn or men had sweet Fanny Adams to to with it.
It was the same with the supposed War of Independence which was fought to release the WEALTHY and already priviliged from the burden of TAXATION. The COMMON MAN who fought in that war were seldom had the income to pay taxes in the first place. Study you history more and you would find that the COMMON man resisted with FORCE if necessary against the Power of the Rich, Powerful, Influential amd mostly FREEMASON. The COMMON man also found just cause with AFRO-AMERICANS, the poor and landless and women and even on more than one occasion NATIVE AMERICANS none of whom had legal rights.
So what was the antidote to what was almost a full bodied REVOLUTION? Ther newly formed governmment of the United cStaes gave the poor and landless the PERMISSION to commit GENOCIDE against the Native Americans to acquire land by force from Native Americans as a RIGHT. SHORT VERSION the US government gave 160 Acres of land to each person of land willing to take place in a land grab by force they did NOT BLOODY WELL own first place. The BRITSH CROWN Had actually banned this practice as it did in CANADA.
The result has been the incalcation of that attitude in Modern America.
Before you quote the BRITISH EMPIRE realise that the BRITISH EMPIRE was above all things a TRADING EMPIRE and never a GENOCIDAL ONE. In fact a PEACEFUL Empire was the whole aim simply because killing and genocide is not conducive to successful TRADE There was never any kind say of genocidal intent in CANADA and both the French and the BRITISH gave legal address to the native population. NO active meber of the BRITISH EMPIT REever engaged in open warfare with another Empire member. Truly for a good proportioin of the world it was a case of PAX BRITTANICA.
Mind you it is also a fact the at the greatesr the resentments of Empire is to stop those members engaging in from internicine conflict. India was NOT a peaceful place before the RAJ and is not today engaged as it is in everlasting war between INDIA and PAKISTAN.
I make no apology for digressing because most Americans really do need to study their own HISTORY and engage in a little Critical Thinking when they do.
“Before you quote the BRITISH EMPIRE realise that the BRITISH EMPIRE was above all things a TRADING EMPIRE and never a GENOCIDAL ONE”.
The British Empire was a Globalized Monopoly of the British Royal Families imposed through the Practices of Government Controlled Economic Central Planning. The House Of Lords CENTRALLY PLANNED the Economy, Tax Policy was determined by the House Of Commons, and the Monarchy executed the Military and Police Powers of the Empire. The Courts SEGREGATED the Outlying Colonies from any redress, and that’s really what antagonized the American Revolution.
In short, the former Soviet Union modeled its Satellite State System off the British Empire, and the only difference was it was State-Athiest.
Your Propaganda also left out that many First Nation Natives fought as Allies of the American Colonies and later United States. The British Crown even made enemies with many.
But you’re STILL a damn SUBJECT begin lead around by commie socialists.
Save it cupcake. If it wasn’t for the US, Hitler would’ve eaten your mighty empire for breakfast. Britain stood 0 chance of fending off Germany without US help.
The US had nothing to do with defeating Germany. That was all Russia and they paid a heavy price for that…tens of millions died. The US entered the war a little too late to be the deciding factor. Lest I be accused of a Putin – lover…this was all before Putin was alive…
The Russians did not participate D-Day. D-Day wasn’t a staged show to earn Hollywood money. Our cemetery in Bastogne isn’t there for postcard decorations and there’s no Russians buried there neither.
The Russians fucking sucked in WW2. If it wasn’t for US sending them insane amounts of oil, trucks, parts, ammo, and guns Russia would’ve been conquered by the Reich too.
Russia is a stupid and weak country and always has been. Point to one, ONE war they won decisively without losing MILLIONS of soldiers.
They suck. Period.
‘………BRITISH EMPIRE was above all things a TRADING EMPIRE and never a GENOCIDAL ONE……. ‘
Sooooooooooo, there wasn’t a single casualty of the opium wars? 🤔
‘luo hou jiu yao ai da,’
Try again subject! You fail horribly with EVERY posted comment. 🤪
Today you get this:
The 22 caliber bullet will lodge in the lungs and we can get it out… A 9 mm bullet blows the lung out of the body.”
From the President. As part of a Memorial Day speech.
Let that sink in.
“Yesterday when I was a truck driver I could not even spell usurper, today I are one” – Joe Biden
Let that sink in
9 is bigger than 22 wise guy!
9,10, 11 skip a few 22. I’m rubber you are glue.
I can’t even.
How are their comments dated May 25 on a piece dated May 30?
Because it originally ran in 2015
It seems the flux capacitor is actually a working piece of equipment.
GOG BLESS AMERICA AND OUR CONSTITUTION….PERIOD….
Reverence and thanks for the sacrifices of all US military members……and their families….past, present, future, living and deceased. Thank you for signing on that dotted line “up to and including one’s life.”
I lean toward another Patton quote, “No son of a bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb son of a bitch die for his country.” Gen. George Patton, circa ~1944.
It is the loss of their spirit and the potential of such in this world that I mourn. May such a time come when such sacrifice is needed no more, but, til that day comes I will poor one and drink to that spirit!
Memorial Day always brings the following words to my mind…
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
I have this framed and mounted on my wall right in front of me as I write this, along with the DOI, BOR, and USC.
(BTW, where’s the other, longer comment I posted here a couple of hours ago? Moderated into the Phantom Zone again, WordPress?)
For reasons unknown I too have been targeted by the I presume automated moderator and later some of the posts appeared. Hang in there…And awesome you having the address, etc. displayed.
I’ve had several posts that went thru, then disappeared several days later.
TTAG seems to be modifying content days after the fact.
Agreed. Here’s an excellent piece posted today on ZH to that very point:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/memorial-day-lest-we-forget
Both my grandfathers served in WWII. One in the U.S. Army, the other in the Army Air Corp as a B-17 instructor and pilot. The latter was a veritable “greatest generation” type of man’s man…chief engineer at a major aerospace company, hunter, rifle marksman, etc. He never accepted excuses and saw any of life’s hindrances as a challenge to be accepted and overcome. He was tight-lipped about his service (which he regarded as a duty to be met) until he suffered a stroke in his final years, whereupon he began telling us stories of things he’d seen and experienced. Things during his early 20s. Things that would make most young men today cower in fear and roll up into a fetal position, yet he and his brothers-in-arms had no choice but to roll forward. The one that always comes to mind is when he was flying a bombing mission in Europe and was near the target, and encountered flak. A shell detonated close enough to the cockpit that the shrapnel pierced the windows and literally exploding his co-pilot’s head seated only two feet next to him. After a short moment of shock, he had no choice but to wipe the gore off the instrument panel and complete the mission, then fly his plane and crew home.
The things many battle-worn men have seen…part of me wishes we would experience such a crucible again to slap our younger selves back into adulthood…but the other part knows it’s hell and exacts its toll…
A great piece. 👍
Patton was buried with his men from the 3rd Army in Luxembourg. Many of them didn’t have living families etc. It was his wishes to stay with his men. He is the only General buried on foreign soil.
Not 100% sure, but i think brig. gen. Teddy Roosevelt Jr. is burried in Normandy.
He is. Died 36 days after the landing.
Yes, he was buried in Normandy following a heart attack. But as you pointed out Teddy Jr. was a Brigadier General and not a full General.
Patton died of a car accident. He broke his neck and lived just a couple days afterwards.
One of the greatest generals this country produced. He was sorely missed in the postwar BS.
Also Korea in my opinion…
God bless all of them.
Sorry for those that have lost family and friends, sorry for our currently serving that have lost brothers and sisters in arms. I wish all TTAGers have a safe holiday. If packing today remind yourself that it was those that gave up everything to ensure the Bill of Rights meant something.
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
John F. Kennedy January 20, 1961
2015… “unless it takes too long, costs too much, is just too hard, or we loose interest…”
Yes, and those were the Democrats talking like that back then. How far….
bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” January 20, 1961. Pre-Vietnam. I do not recall many people saying that by 1973.
Of course there’s this too:
JFK was one of eight U.S. presidents to have been lifetime members of the NRA.
http://www.nranews.com/home/document/jfk-lifetime-nra-member-second-amendment-defender
They were all politicians and would have joined NAMBLA if it would have gotten them votes.
National association of Marlin Brando look alikes?
Slowroll, don’t google it. Just keep it at that.
Pretty sure he was making a south park joke
NAMBLA is the North American Man Boy Love Association. Guess what their program is.
They have made the news a number of times in the last few decades.
https://www.nambla.org/
-Barrack Hussein Obama- There, you forgot to add that.
“unless it takes too long, costs too much, is just too hard, or we loose interest…”
You mean when Donald Trump negotiated the surrender treaty with the terrorist Taliban?
He initially wanted to negotiate with the terrorists at camp David, but saner minds prevailed and he backtracked from that decision.
Look at the comments miner, the comment was in 2015. 7 years ago and we’ll before Trump. Maybe just calm down a bit and stop conflating everything in the universe with Trump.
I live and breath the color Orange.
Everything has an Orange hue to me.
When I see the actual color Orange, my heart races, my breath shortens, my vision narrows, and my mind goes into overload.
I had to stop watching my favorite television show Barney & Friends because the six-year-old Hadrosaur, Riff, is….Orange.
Still haven’t provided any citations for that (dubious) allegation, have you, MajorStupidity??? Look, we all know you’re a partisan, ignorant jackwagon, you don’t need to prove it regularly. Just take the “L”, admit YOUR boy, Senile Joe, the Serial Child-Groper, dropped the ball and f***ed up the Afghan withdrawal in epic style . . . almost like the INVERSE of Dunkirk, eh???
You can’t blame that clusterf*** on Trump, without outing yourself as an uneducated, partisan liar. Oh, I’m sorry . . . didn’t mean to point out the obvious of your approach to EVERYTHING political.
Well Lamp here is an anti-union president I am proud of.
Even today this noble man is working to protect us from weapons.
“Joe Biden on Monday suggested he wants to ban “high caliber” 9mm handguns in remarks to reporters on the South Lawn.
“And they showed me an x-ray – he said, ‘a 22-caliber bullet will lodge in a lung and we can probably get it out.. and maybe save a life. A 9mm bullet, blows the lung out of the body,’” Biden said of his trip to Uvalde, Texas.
“So the idea that these high caliber weapons — There’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection, hunting – and remember, the Constitution, the 2nd Amendment was never absolute” said Biden.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1531304281646809090
That is a man I can stand behind!
see a doctor, your TDS is showing a full year later!
TDS… No such thing to a Marxist agitprop such as myself
“I do not recall many people saying that by 1973“
In 1973 it was “Peace with Honor“
“Peace with Honor” was a phrase U.S. President Richard M. Nixon used in a speech on January 23, 1973 to describe the Paris Peace Accords to end the Vietnam War.”
Isn’t it interesting, it was Republican Richard Nixon who resigned to avoid impeachment who negotiated the surrender treaty with the North Vietnamese.
And it was Republican Donald Trump who was impeached twice that negotiated the surrender treaty with the terrorist Taliban.
History may not always repeat, but it often rhymes.
I thank them and their family’s for allowing me the freedom to celebrate this great day with my own family. Godspeed and God bless them all!
He makes a good point.
thank you for the ultimate sacrifice so my family and I can sleep each night under a blanket
of freedom…
Patton was wrong. I think you can do both.
Fat Jack. Little Ski. Moonman. Jeff. Mac.
Same thing me and some of my brothers did this morning. We started it a few years ago, just saying the names of our dead out loud. Great tradition.
Thanks. That’s a tradition I will start myself. Because I think about them Often. Foshee. Kerry. And one whose name I can’t remember. But I still remember him.
I prefer the old Hebrew proverb. Say not in grief “He is no more”, but live in thankfulness that he was.
Beautiful sentiment and philosophy.
I’ll take both, thank you.
Thank you for your ultimate sacrifice. May we stop these sacrifices for insane Asian adventures.
I will say on this day of remembrance that many countries have had many soldiers who died and suffered for a cause that they and their governments believed in. Some of the causes may have been valid and noble, many were not. One of my most memorable documentaries of war was Vietnam in HD which had a sign at the top of the hill stating “Hamburger Hill. Was it worth it?” I think the best we can do as a nation is to try and select leaders that will be thoughtful and ask “Is this war worth it?”, before we commit the next generation of young people to battle.
Iraq was overwhelmingly voted on by ALL sides. Democrats pushed Vietnam. The American sheep wanted a p##sy like Barry Soetoro-and now we are about to reap the whirlwind Tom…I’m just glad my first-born son escaped the middle east unscathed.
“How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” From the same era, I forget who.
Better to do our very best not to make such a mistake, so we don’t have to ask.
Those that died will not be forgotten. These heroes lived and died not for political votes, but to ensure the others on deployment with made it home to enjoy that freedom with their families. The heroes answered the call so that others would not have to and became more noble than us in the process.
Today I took out the flag the draped my fathers casket. Was the first time I jad done so, was the best sad feeling I have ever had! He is the greatest man I’ve met. I give thanks for all he and others did to protect this great country! !
So Patton was fulfilling the “lived” part of his quote when he personally led a cavalry charge with sabers drawn into an unarmed crowd of Bonus Army campers. Then when his former orderly from WW1 (who was decorated for saving Patton’s life) confronted him, Patton insulted the man and ordered him to be taken away.
Thank you TTAG for posting a quote from a narcissistic blowhard who had a more broken moral compass than the Germans he fought against. At least Guderian and Rommel disregarded some of Hitler’s more brutal orders. No doubt Patton would have followed them to the letter.
The Bonus Army demanded taxpayer money that was not theirs, in the Great Depression when nearly everyone was short of money. To pay the demands of the Bonus Army, Congress would have had to increase taxes on a populace already struggling. To give you a specific example, my grandparents had to really struggle and worry to pay the taxes on their farms. My paternal grandfather go out after dark and pace the road thinking about how he was going to pay the tax on his farm.
The tax on his farm was $17.00.
Actually the Bonus Army demanded payment that was theirs by law, albeit a few years earlier.
Perhaps the Chinese learned from Patton with their own armed charge into Tiananmen Square.
Well that is like saying Social Security is yours, but good luck trying to collect all of it in one lump payment at any given time or will it to anyone you want.
Well yes, the social security money is technically yours, the government simply put it in a lockbox that Congress uses to cook the books.
In any case, charging cavalry into a peaceful unarmed gathering is unforgivable.
SSgt Daniel Fannin. 27 April 2013, Afghanistan.
My dad drove a Dodge Powerwagon ambulance across Omaha beach and across Europe. He recalled that his captain said “This is the most important thing you will ever do in your life.” Dad was among the men who liberated a concentration camp and saw bodies stacked like cord wood. Dad’s no longer with us but I know that he was welcomed into heaven by an honor guard that included George Patton – and Stone wall Jackson, Dwight Eisenhower,Norman Schwartzkoff, and probably George Washington (USA army service number 1).
My brother served in the Big Red One in Vietnam. He came home with a bronze star, two purple hearts, PTSD and major Agent Orange health problems.
I did my Nam time on board the cruiser Newport News. I had a fight with prostate cancer three years ago but I’m still going and plan to be around for a long time.
To the sorry trolls who criticize everything that this country has stood for and the sacrifices that have made, I ask them to consider what the world would be like if the Nazis and Japanese had won. We Americans may not be perfect, but we are a lots better than anybody else.
I am proud of my service for this country. As I’ve said on this site I continue to serve the people of my county as a deputy sheriff. If anybody is offended or upset by what I’ve done or my family has done they can kiss my #ss on high noon on a Saturday in Wal Mart parking lot with a brass band to draw a crowd.
It’s typically those who didn’t have the balls to put on the uniform. And now have a guilt, and debt, they can never assuage.
God bless America and her hero’s that have fought for her in every one of this great nations wars, past or present. For all our faults, and our achievements, we are by far still the greatest nation to ever grace this planet. We are still more free, and more powerful, because of the great men and women that serve the cause of liberty. Here’s to another 240 years of this great country.
As always, the more florid and grandiose the rhetoric becomes, the more detached it is from reality.
In Soviet Russia people were given full-time jobs to write this sort of drivel.
So the service of my father, my brother, and myself is “drivel”? Why are my opinions and views of what this country stands for less important and less valid than yours? I’m truly sorry that you are so filled with hate and cynicism and you are so full of yourself that you believe the rest of us are wrong. I’ll be waiting for you at Wally world this Saturday.
Drivel is harmless, your “service” is worse than drivel because you spilled blood for politicians.
I’m curious what your full time job is. I was an Infantry 0311 USMC grunt and later a platoon sergeant with Golf 2/24. After that, a crew chief at Dumbar Armored. I’m now a full time police officer. You sound like you live in your mom’s basement.
That’s easy, I was forced by government threats to help pay permanent welfare queens like you. Soldier to cop, never a single day spent contributing to the private economy (i.e. the non-murder-or-theft-based economy). Pathetic.
Wow Riddance, you sound like a real badass. I bet you couldn’t impress a mall security guard. This “welfare queen” worked 13 hours today while you were eating your mommies leftover brownies and posting all your “epic” judgements on those who actually take risks in life. Have fun changing your screen name to something else while the adults finish their conversations.
Why would anyone want to impress a mall security guard? Also, why are you denigrating Paul Blart? At least he has the decency not to steal money from motorists or toss people in a government cage for smoking a plant.
By the way the value of work is not a function of the hours worked. I figure Marxist economics has been proven to be a dead end for some time, but here it is again…
I smell lil D again.
Just remember, good men died to preserve your right to freely speak your disparagements.
Thanks to the people I served with. And thanks to the people who came before me to make a path for me and others to follow to personal victory.
“The worst part about Memorial Day is that not a single second is spent remembering the real (unwilling) victims of these boneheaded US government wars…”
We have the other 364 days a year for that. Would that we did a better job of it. I hope shortly to see effective issues advocacy, trenchant analysis, investigation and perhaps even a campaign for office under the banner “Good Riddance.”
Which diminishes the choice to serve not at all – the best, least bad option, perhaps, but the honor is in the choosing, (vs. demanding that there be better options, for example.) Letting ones self off the hook because those other guys aren’t perfect, and there are no clean choices is way too convenient.
It is up to the rest of us to do what we can to make the government’s choices better, and ultimately worthy of what they cost.
Meanwhile, we can spare a day out of 365 to remember the people who stepped up. I know of no more powerful way to motivate thinking better about what we allow to be done in our name.
Sadly, this being on the public interwebz I really ought to respond for the sake of later conversations with folks other than “Good Riddance.”
I made a mistake: Don’t wrestle with pigs. You get dirty and the pig likes it.
So, here’s the extended disclaimer in which I try to remove some of the poo…
As much as I may agree in part with some of the issues raised by Good Riddance, this isn’t the way to go about it if the idea is changing minds or the state of the world. Once you have their attention, and a seat at the table (even a kiddie booster chair), tantrums don’t advance anything. Offer solutions in the situation at hand. At some point “consciousness raising” becomes extortion. People know when that’s the case, and don’t like it. We’ve been there from the get go with this “discussion.”
Lucy Van Pelt (Peanuts cartoon – ed) once famously issued an ultimatum. Having observed the state of the world to be not to her liking, she proclaimed that it had all better be fixed by the time she got out of third grade, or she was *not* going to put up with it. That’s still funny.
Denis Leary has an old bit about stoners making plans. “First I’m gonna get a bunch of money. Then…” That’s still funny too.
Neither Lucy nor Leary’s stoner were solving much – that’s the point.
My analogy of Vegan at a BBQ was on point – snotty self-righteous disruption rarely convinces anybody of anything. Also, both Vegans and Cross-Fitters think they are every bit as right as Good Riddance thinks he is. And the people they seek to convince – so they say – also think they are right, eating meat for example. So, throwing a tantrum at the other guy’s club meeting is a great way to convince them … Oh, wait. The other thing. It’s a great way to convince them you are a jerk, who only looks down on them, and is willing to extract summary penalties to get your way, under the guise of “raising issues” or similar. It’s extortion., like spewing anti-military invective in a Memorial Day thread, for example.
Maybe convincing anybody isn’t the point. Sadly, I mostly agree with the motivating observations Good Riddance has made, as real things, part of the mix in deciding what to do as a nation, and as citizens. Any power one can use, including military, will also be misused, eventually by someone. This is kind of like the argument for the existence of guns, civilian gun ownership, driving cars and more. Do we put down this ability to do any of the goods this thing allows, to avoid the potential bads? No guns, and nobody gets shot with an accidental (“negligent” is better) discharge. Also, no desperate mothers in upstairs closets get to fend off marauding home invaders who have already not opted to leave with the stuff they took. So, choose.
Having a military is a dangerous choice. Paraphrasing Churchill, the worst choice in the world … except for all the others. If Riddance wants to propose an alternative that will work better, propose it, and demonstrate that it will work. Kind of like the proposal that we get rid of all the guns … then there’s no more violence, ever. Oh, wait, all the violence that happened to use a gun disappears (so no threats, no violence by other means, and no violence going forward because no more deterrent.) That’s crazy.
It’s like Mr. Riddance has borrowed the entire nonsense playbook from the anti-gun folks.
“Riddance” has said some very harsh things about US military members … on the occasion of Memorial Day. His counter-proposals are vague at best. So, the US acts a lot more like Switzerland (Which means what, exactly?) and … what happens? All of it. For real. Specifically, what happens? I do not agree with his conclusions, which are sparse. I think his presentation and choice of venue are appalling.
One suspects the frisson from daemonization of some “other” is the point, along with inviting others to the same “position” promising payoff of that same frisson. It was an old, old story before PA gun owners were identified as “bitterly clinging.” This is the appeal of shoving tiny nerds into school lockers to feel larger ones’ self. In the present non-conversation, there is way more energy in the name calling than thinking about how things might work out, so…
I am sorry for adding to the noise.
“As much as I may agree in part with some of the issues raised by Good Riddance, this isn’t the way to go about it if the idea is changing minds or the state of the world“
With this I must agree.
“The Swiss model is quite clear, and one that this nation used for many decades before the 20th century…”
Excellent.
You might elaborate a bit on what constitutes “The Swiss model.” A comparison / contrast with other models might be useful, for example: imperial mercantilism, a “Pax whoever-us”, and a global, class-based revolution resulting a new world order (or something), to start. You could toss in hegemonic revoutionary theocracy, reaction of former colonies of contracting empires, and the formalism of the Westphalian (sp?) model of nation-states followed by the goals and results of the League of Nations, with the UN as League of Nations II.
Then address how the world at large, and the US might fare with the US undertaking The Swiss model, while others undertake any of these others. For extra credit, consider The Swiss model undertaken by a nation in the midst of implacable hostile surroundings – would this work for a situation like Israel’s, too? (It doesn’t matter whether Israel is Bad and Wrong, a Shining Example of Goodness and Light or anything else. They are surrounded by implacable enemies consistently taking every opportunity to wipe them out, interrupted by occasional cooperations of convenience when Realpolitik dictates. So, everybody around you hates you to death, for whatever reasons. Lay down and die? Become a citadel, whatever that takes? Adopt The Swiss model, and hope that is sufficient? (Adopt The Swiss model, and know that will be sufficient – make the case.))
Next describe how the Swiss Model will & can work in the 21st century, as opposed to “many decades up to the 20th century.”
These may convince someone. Leaving a flaming bag of scorn-poo on their memorial day porch will only dirty up your position.
Is the US surrounded by “enemies that hate us”?
Why should the original foreign policy of this nation require any more defense other than the fact that the events used by the Progressives to justify moving this country into an aggressive global empire have already been proven to be nothing more than lies designed to enrich the politically connected?
You question the model of neutrality and commerce. The better question to ask is, why did we leave it?
Smedley Butler already explained the state of affairs. I’m sure the militarists here will just dismiss him as another “anti-military troll”. 🙂
Let’s not forget that our wonderful Federal government pulled out of Afghanistan after 20 years with nothing to show for it. One of our local boys died (shot in the head) for NOTHING. Let’s also not forget all the wars (Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.) where our government used our children as cannon fodder to enrich themselves and the military industrial complex. We have a wall in DC from the Viet Nam war that has over 50K of young men dead for no good reason. They died accomplishing nothing but enriching Bell helicopter company and lots of other military companies. My heart goes out to these families as I have no idea what it is like to deal with this type of tragedy.
….. take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flander’s Field.
RIGHT ON !!! Excellent quote – excellent post. My wife and I wish everyone a safe and blessed Memorial Day – 2022.
While we should mourn the warriors who died on the battlefield and honor those who served, we should not be blinded to the fact that some veterans are vermin. Timothy Mcveigh and Terry Nichols were veterans as was Lee Harvey Oswald. The veterans who are most eager to remind you that they are veterans are usually the veterans who are least worthy of respect.
The marijuana bootlegger who was given a free pass for shooting at my son cited the fact that he was a veteran as an excuse for the shooting as well as his illegal marijuana grow.
Veterans are human. With all the same frailties and foibles as any other group of people. Most will go through life with honorable intent and commit no crimes. A few will go on to do horrendous things. A few will commit the worst crimes against their fellow man. While many live out their lives just making their way as best they can.
Even a monster like Mcveigh served honorably. What he did afterwards should not detract from his time as a service member. But should be a reminder of how quickly any of us can loose that sense of honor and how easily anyone can rationalize the irrational.
Today I honor those who gave their lives in service to their country. Regardless of the idiocy behind the circumstances.
I’ve lost friends and family to war. I’ve lost friends and family to crime. Honor the lost brothers and sisters in arms. Remember those we have lost to other acts of violence. Offer thanks for those who stood between us and the evils of the world. And work toward our not needing to ask another generation to step up and die over political disputes.
Well said.
Much as when McCain died. I mourn the patriot he was and spit on the two-faced RINO he became.
And how many of those “heroes” would have lectured me about how “I was issued an AR-15 in the milluhterry and I know that no smelly civilian should ever be allowed to have one”.
Look at the gravestones and laugh.
May God bless the U S A.
Demented Despot with a nice FREUDIAN SLIP.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/05/30/joe-biden-on-memorial-day-the-constitution-the-second-amendment-was-never-absolute/
Guess the 13th ain’t absolute either, then?
You heard it here first, folks. Ol’ Brandon’s bringin’ back slavery!
I was getting a haircut the other day and a recruiter for the nasty guard was in there wooing a child over (small town rural Montana, and the child’s father was in the seat getting a cut) and as much as I wanted to scream “don’t fucken do it”, I just resisted until it was my time to get up and I pulled a Starship Troopers on the kid with the “The Army made me the man I am today” while making sure to lift my pant leg and show my below the knee prosthetic.
I hope he got the point. The redneck father was silent. Nobody said shit. Even left the same time just before them and they saw me getting into my vehicle in the handicapped spot with DV plates. Hopefully that kid doesn’t fight for our elitist politicians and their phoney wars. 2 good friends lost to suicide, 2 more wounded for life like me, and 1 KIA… all for fucking oil, drugs and politics – not a single fucking shred of “freedom”. Don’t thank me, just be smarter and don’t fucking join. Maybe the Air Force… lmfao.
Good points however the war in Iraq wasn’t for oil it was, no bullshit, over a stargate. I know it seems insane but it’s true. Factor in a few things and niether weapons of mass destruction OR OIL make sense. It was actually neither of these things. The proof is there when you look at north examples. Obviously everyone knows now there were no WMDs.
What people don’t know, is America never took a single barrel of Iraqi oil! How can this be!? Many if you may be saying. But it’s true. The facts are available online. ALL of the Iraqi oil went to Europe and China. During the course of the war, the US became the worlds number one oil producer due to fracking. So the US didn’t need oil from anywhere and you can’t tell me the big wigs in Halliburton and the government didn’t know this was going to happen.
So there were no WMDs and we were not there for oil. So why was the US there? Leaked documents provided by Wikileaks, the manning leak, and the McKinnon leak suggest the Saddam regime actually uncovered one or more pieces of alien tech, buried under the ruins near ancient cities in Iraq. This tech could’ve been weapons, an intact ship, or possibly even a star gate.
The Saddam regime refused to give these weapons up to the US who demanded them, and was supposedly going to try to either use them themselves, OR more likely, sell them to China and Russia for a hefty sum.
This US could not allow this tech to fall into its adversaries hands and so, the invasion was on.
Was it worth it? I’m not sure. Maybe you can tell me.
It ABSOLUTELY was worth it, for we are now the keepers of the top secret 9mm HighCaliber Project that has unleashed Thor’s Hammers from Hell in an easily transportable sidearm, which all of our enemies are atremble of after learning of their existence just TODAY !
Nah, it was the Ark of the Covenant. If Raiders is to be believed, it’s a pretty nasty WMD if opened in the wrong place.
“America never took a single barrel of Iraqi oil!”
Why would you think it was supposed to benefit American citizens? It was for the benefit of international oil companies. Prior to the invasion, they were shut out of Iraq. Post invasion, the country contracted with major oil companies to develop and run the oil fields. The U.S. spent billions on building the oil infrastructure after the invasion. Do you think that was supposed to benefit American citizens somehow?
“the big wigs in Halliburton and the government”
Halliburton ended up with at least $40 billion as a direct result from the war. A select few American and foreign contractors also raked in billions as a result. Maybe the invasion was for some secret weapon tech, but big corporate money wasn’t going to let a dream opportunity go to waste.
The best way we can honor those that served is be honest about why we’re always at war or at least enabling it, and not repeat past mistakes. It isn’t their fault this country is led by greedy scoundrels.
“Was it worth it?”
Ask the billionaires who profited from it, and ask the vets. You’ll probably get a different answer.
What the fuck did I just read. But yea, sounds legit. Definitely no investment/political motivation involved.
This being Memorial Day, how about we just leave it with
“May the LORD bless them and keep them; may the LORD cause His face to shine upon them and be gracious to them; may the LORD lift up His countenance toward them and give them peace.”
Amen.
Exactly
Americans would do well to closely studynbtheir own history more. The CIVIL WAR was fought forn two reason ONE to preserves the wealth and priviliges of the Souths Plantation Owners that at the time could only be maintained by SLAVERY, and TWO to preserve the rights a priviliges of the Rich and Influential MANUFACTURING moghuls of the Northern States . The rights of amn or men had sweet Fanny Adams to to with it.
It was the same with the supposed War of Independence which was fought to release the WEALTHY and already priviliged from the burden of TAXATION. The COMMON MAN who fought in that war were seldom had the income to pay taxes in the first place. Study you history more and you would find that the COMMON man resisted with FORCE if necessary against the Power of the Rich, Powerful, Influential amd mostly FREEMASON. The COMMON man also found just cause with AFRO-AMERICANS, the poor and landless and women and even on more than one occasion NATIVE AMERICANS none of whom had legal rights.
So what was the antidote to what was almost a full bodied REVOLUTION? Ther newly formed governmment of the United cStaes gave the poor and landless the PERMISSION to commit GENOCIDE against the Native Americans to acquire land by force from Native Americans as a RIGHT. SHORT VERSION the US government gave 160 Acres of land to each person of land willing to take place in a land grab by force they did NOT BLOODY WELL own first place. The BRITSH CROWN Had actually banned this practice as it did in CANADA.
The result has been the incalcation of that attitude in Modern America.
Before you quote the BRITISH EMPIRE realise that the BRITISH EMPIRE was above all things a TRADING EMPIRE and never a GENOCIDAL ONE. In fact a PEACEFUL Empire was the whole aim simply because killing and genocide is not conducive to successful TRADE There was never any kind say of genocidal intent in CANADA and both the French and the BRITISH gave legal address to the native population. NO active meber of the BRITISH EMPIT REever engaged in open warfare with another Empire member. Truly for a good proportioin of the world it was a case of PAX BRITTANICA.
Mind you it is also a fact the at the greatesr the resentments of Empire is to stop those members engaging in from internicine conflict. India was NOT a peaceful place before the RAJ and is not today engaged as it is in everlasting war between INDIA and PAKISTAN.
I make no apology for digressing because most Americans really do need to study their own HISTORY and engage in a little Critical Thinking when they do.
“Before you quote the BRITISH EMPIRE realise that the BRITISH EMPIRE was above all things a TRADING EMPIRE and never a GENOCIDAL ONE”.
The British Empire was a Globalized Monopoly of the British Royal Families imposed through the Practices of Government Controlled Economic Central Planning. The House Of Lords CENTRALLY PLANNED the Economy, Tax Policy was determined by the House Of Commons, and the Monarchy executed the Military and Police Powers of the Empire. The Courts SEGREGATED the Outlying Colonies from any redress, and that’s really what antagonized the American Revolution.
In short, the former Soviet Union modeled its Satellite State System off the British Empire, and the only difference was it was State-Athiest.
Your Propaganda also left out that many First Nation Natives fought as Allies of the American Colonies and later United States. The British Crown even made enemies with many.
But you’re STILL a damn SUBJECT begin lead around by commie socialists.
Save it cupcake. If it wasn’t for the US, Hitler would’ve eaten your mighty empire for breakfast. Britain stood 0 chance of fending off Germany without US help.
The US had nothing to do with defeating Germany. That was all Russia and they paid a heavy price for that…tens of millions died. The US entered the war a little too late to be the deciding factor. Lest I be accused of a Putin – lover…this was all before Putin was alive…
The Russians did not participate D-Day. D-Day wasn’t a staged show to earn Hollywood money. Our cemetery in Bastogne isn’t there for postcard decorations and there’s no Russians buried there neither.
The Russians fucking sucked in WW2. If it wasn’t for US sending them insane amounts of oil, trucks, parts, ammo, and guns Russia would’ve been conquered by the Reich too.
Russia is a stupid and weak country and always has been. Point to one, ONE war they won decisively without losing MILLIONS of soldiers.
They suck. Period.
‘………BRITISH EMPIRE was above all things a TRADING EMPIRE and never a GENOCIDAL ONE……. ‘
Sooooooooooo, there wasn’t a single casualty of the opium wars? 🤔
‘luo hou jiu yao ai da,’
Try again subject! You fail horribly with EVERY posted comment. 🤪
Today you get this:
The 22 caliber bullet will lodge in the lungs and we can get it out… A 9 mm bullet blows the lung out of the body.”
From the President. As part of a Memorial Day speech.
Let that sink in.
“Yesterday when I was a truck driver I could not even spell usurper, today I are one” – Joe Biden
Let that sink in
9 is bigger than 22 wise guy!
9,10, 11 skip a few 22. I’m rubber you are glue.
I can’t even.
How are their comments dated May 25 on a piece dated May 30?
Because it originally ran in 2015
It seems the flux capacitor is actually a working piece of equipment.
GOG BLESS AMERICA AND OUR CONSTITUTION….PERIOD….
Reverence and thanks for the sacrifices of all US military members……and their families….past, present, future, living and deceased. Thank you for signing on that dotted line “up to and including one’s life.”
I lean toward another Patton quote, “No son of a bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb son of a bitch die for his country.” Gen. George Patton, circa ~1944.
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