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maninblack

Burnt Ends
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Posts posted by maninblack

  1. Anyone care what the Constitution has to say about our airstrikes tonight? The War Powers Act. Oh well, Hamilton is a hero because of a damn musical, which I suppose is appropriate. The separation of powers, a cornerstone of our Constitution, is crumbling. I was hoping Trump would resurrect the Legislative Branch as a place where laws are debated and passed and the body that decides when war starts. If there was a clear and present danger - what is required for the President to launch a military attack - it's time to tell the citizens of this nation the nature of the clear and present danger. And then Congress needs to act. The President is an emergency room. Congress determines whether we are at war and the scope of our involvement. It's time for Congress to get in the game. 
    As the son of a disabled vet (WWII, Korea, and Vietnam), I only saw war as the proud son of Dad who still had an intellect, but no real ability to use his body. It changed me for the better. I never saw him wear a uniform. I saw them, but I didn't know what any of the decorations were. The ribbons were a mix of Army Air Corps and then USAF. He didn't wear a uniform and he spent most of his adult life overseas. He didn't talk about his work for the military. We talked about football, women, and political theory in practice. Perhaps that is what he talked about at work. He survived the great depression in the dust bowl - with his Dad working for Phillips. He met my Mom in Sweetwater and then volunteered for the Army and was sent to the CBI theater. After WWII, he shuffled around the world until Korea and that horrible war. Vietnam was a meat grinder.
    War should never be taken lightly. I hope the President's message to Russia and Iran makes cooler heads prevail, but the switch to Bolton from McMaster signaled a change in direction. McMaster understands how wars can be lost. Hopefully the Pentagon learned the lessons taught by McMaster and will give the President good advice on the dangers of entering a war where there are no good guys. Syria is a circular firing squad.  
    To those who served, thank you. To those with sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, family, and friends in harm's way around the world -  they are admired (and so are you). To everyone in harm's way, take care of those around you. And let us know what you need to protect yourself to accomplish your mission quickly without unnecessary bloodshed.
    Anyone know what the Mission is?

    Letter in 2013 to Obama and 2018 to Trump

    2013 signers: 119 Rs, 21 Ds
    2018 signers: 15 Rs, 73 Ds

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    • Like 1
  2. Again, I was pretty onboard with this until the “what, we’re so innocent” bit. If you are a true isolationist, at least it’s an ethos, but you have to own the results. The Brits and the Frogs signed up for this, you are aligning yourself with Putin here.

    By saying we shouldn't bomb Syria I'm aligning with Putin is like saying I'm siding with North Korea because we shouldn't bomb them either.
  3. Never once did I advocate invading Iraq or Syria.
    Do you believe Assad deserves to die?

    Yeah probably. I'm under no illusion that he's some awesome guy.

    The reason I asked you that question is Saddam did all the things you accuse Assad of and yes he deserved to die for his crimes against humanity. That said invading Iraq, even if it had been originally sold on the pretense he was a bad guy, led to more loss of human life and a still destabilized country.

    If you want to argue that folks who commit crimes against humanity deserve to die I'm down with that. Typically, a lot of people have to die to make that happen though and we have a lot of stink on us too.
  4. You can disagree with whether or not we should be involved. That question has been discussed and answered pretty well by Pods. 
    Even if your conspiracy theory is right, which I’m glad to see you trust Russian media but not the US, this isn’t he first time. Assad has committed multiple war crimes. You literally asked why Assad deserved to die. That’s white knighting. He deserves to die for numerous other war crimes he has committed. 
    And yea, maybe the guy murdering children isn’t a logical actor.

    Do you believe we should have invaded Iraq?
  5. Nope, we should not, in a vacuum. The issue is that Assad has no compunction about killing every Syrian he can. As with everything else in the ME, there are no right answers. That said, the moral argument for attacking Assad is pretty solid.
    the whole “no evidence” bit is something you haven’t fully answered. Either Assad has a history of gassing his people or he doesn’t- the preponderance of the evidence is that he did.

    If he kills every Syrian then there won't be any more Syrians to rule. He has to keep a few around.

    Kidding aside when you want to be in the business of being the moral police then the list long and the death toll will be high. Personally, I don't want to be in that business and the US has plenty of moral turpitude that can be discussed as well.
    • Fuck You 1
  6. Yes, absolutely. Trump announced we were going to withdraw and Assad did this as a slap in our face on the way out. Dumbass should have waited a bit. I don't think he thought we'd react, but we did and we should. The attack was a direct challenge to the United States when it already looked like we were too weak to stay and guarantee whatever can be salvaged from this shitshow. If we continued to run after that direct challenge, it would have been an epic disaster for us in prestige amongst the Middle East and a huge PR boost for our enemies.  
    Whether we should have invaded Syria is moot at this point, because we are there. At this point, we need to stay and finish ISIS off. We should stay and guarantee a separated Kurdish region, but we won't. 

    Ok and I respectfully disagree
  7. I’d like to hear rationale for why you’re white knighting a war criminal who has murdered and tortured civilians. 

    People have presented plenty of arguments for why the United States military should be involved. You ignore it because you’re too busy carrying water for Assad and Putin.

    I'm not white knighting Assad and I have not ignored the arguments. I've rejected them. The logic behind the given story makes no sense. But hey maybe he's not a logical actor and just when he's about to defeat ISIS he uses chemical weapons roughly 5-10 miles away from the capital knowing that'll likely provoke a response. So the argument for striking Assad has boiled down to he used chemical weapons that harmed and killed civilians.

     

    My question back is if you believe that, do you believe the US should kill more Syrians by launching an offensive even though we were not attacked and no evidence has been provided up to this point?

     

  8. If the chemical attack was air dropped by barrel bombs of chlorine + sarin as reported by the media, that has to be Assad. No one else has the tech and local air supremacy that would be required to drop these bombs. 

    So if you do believe it was Assad, and it could have been, is it worth killing more people in Syria and potentially leading us into a larger war in your mind?
  9. It’s pretty remarkable the gymnastics happening here. MIB has been posting bullshit, carrying water for Trump, etc. for months and now he’s pissing on Trump for attacking Assad.
    One last time - Trump is human garbage and is likely trying to wag the dog. Assad is human garbage and deserves to die. I don’t give anyone credit in this situation, but all you do is hang onto conspiracies -why?
    I know we all thought we figured out the Illuminati when we were 18, but most of us grew up.

    You're definition of carrying water is funny.
  10. Again you fail to answer the question and choose instead to attack me. I'm not arguing that Assad isn't a bad actor but if you're going to argue he needs to die at the hands of the United States military I'd like to hear the rationale. Is that unreasonable?

  11. 10 minutes ago, VRHorn said:

    So, was the attack last year fake? Has he ever gassed his people? The increasing levels of conspiracy needed to white knight fucking Assad is just weird. Assad is a terrible dude and has been doing terrible shit for years. It’s not even remotely a stretch to drawn a line to the event that triggered this.

    The one person who pushes this narrative - fucking Putin. What is wrong with you?

    Here's what I said in post 212

     

    "I don't know who did it. There was no investigation. That said logic and history tell me it probably wasn't who we're being told it was. 

    Better question is even if Assad did do it is it worth starting a war over? Also, being a nation of laws as we pretend to be why is The President starting a war unilaterally without a vote from Congress who has that authority under the Constitution?"

     

    You're going to have to forgive me if I don't just take what Donald Trump and his administration say at face value. Especially when they're killing people in a foreign country that hasn't attacked the US.

  12.  A logical fallacy is posting that the mainstream media lied to start the Vietnam War, Desert Storm, or Desert Shield. 

    So your issue isn't that that the US government just engaged in a war of aggression but that I posted something criticizing the media's complicity in past wars. Got it.
  13. Right.  You just accused the United States of using a terrorist organization as a proxy to give us a reason to bomb women and children.  And anyone who doesn't see it needs to wake up.
    No offense, but it bothers me greatly that people as stupid as you exist. 

    Have you ever fought in a war?
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