10 Comments

I'd like to see the wars end and an end to all combat soldiers. Pushing the idea that women need to be on the front lines dying equally and termininating lives equally is really sick. Both war parties are pathetic.

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Yep, 100%, but at least eh Republicans don't pretend to be progressive on this issue.

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Ike was right. "War Is A Rackett". Free Palestine.

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It takes a strange mentality for a woman to join the military when the brutality and sexual abuse is well known.....

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And what mother would want to kill another mother's child.

I know many counter-recruiters who became pro-recruiting when O'Bomber was "elected."

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Verdad/Truth. Coincidentally concluding the reading of #SinclairLewis’ insightful #ElmerGantry (1927) I was, when notice of your more concise & equally eloquent article appeared on my screen. And doubting coincidence generally, I believe it synchronous to see that your beloved son Casey was killed 36 years to the day, April 4th, 2004 after the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior’s assassination in ‘68 by our imperium’s #MastersOfWar’s corrupted Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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Jan 15Edited

Over the years, probably since childhood, certain items from popular culture stick in my mind as universals-- i.e., I find them applicable to diverse, and often grave or grim, circumstances. For instance, this Marx Brothers vignette:

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GROUCHO and CHICO arrive at a delapidated rural building.

GROUCHO: Is this a barn or a stable?

CHICO: If you look at it, it's a barn; if you smell it, it's a stable.

GROUCHO: Let's just look at it.

-- "Monkey Business" [1931]

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I share your criticisms of war, and warrior culture that necessarily glorifies war. As you discuss, the pressure to open military service to women and non-heterosexuals arose, or was derived from, the civil rights movement. It was and is promoted in the name of "equal opportunity" and the righteous breaking down of spurious barriers and "glass ceilings" put in place by a bigoted self-serving overclass.

To apply this to the Marx Brothers dialogue, if you look at it, it's "equal opportunity"; if you smell it, it's a deal with the devil. 👿

Those who uncritically accept, or revere, the existence of the armed forces are constrained to insist that military service is generally commendable, honorable, and virtuous-- a win/win for the nation as a whole and the individuals who serve.

Accordingly, they naturally devolve to the binary choice of "Let's just look at it." 😠

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I attribute Trump's picks for Sec. of Defense and State as him keeping his friends close and his enemies closer. I'm sure nether is thrilled with the last-minute agreement struck by Trump's envoy but they'll go along with it to keep their jobs.

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Hegseth isn't a loyal Trumpster?

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I’ll say he is. I don’t see him as pulling a Bolton and upending the bosses apple cart for the sake of a foreign ideology.

He knows what side of the bread his butter his on. Same goes for little Rubio.

Trump’s highest ranking sycophant.

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