Comments by "Ficus-lovin\x27 Capybara N\x27 pals • 🌟 • 25 yrs ago" (@YourCapybaraAmigo_17yrsago) on "The Grayzone" channel.

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  54.  @TheHedgehogsDelimma  you're right, I think the Taliban are terrible, and I've explained why. I can't be 100% pacifist in all situations; all I can do is try to do my best recognizing all the complexities and the true forces of savagery or exploitation that contribute to a bad geopolitical situation; not to mention local domestic issues within the US. All I can do is my best, man. I just want to know the truth. I think it's pretty true by now that the US occupation of Afganistan produced immoral war crimes, and I would never stand by that, but most conventional US service-members bought the hype they were told and believed they were serving a greater good. To the extent that the Taliban was kept at bay did give many people a chance at a better life. I see now the fatal flaws from the beginning were an immoral and relentlessly corrupt and neoliberal economic agenda that could only bring limited tangible gains for the people at best- so that's a problem- but keeping down violent extremists matters too. Based on all my knowledge so far, in the regions where the Taliban were removed, both women and men could be free to live more or less normal lives. Now that's all gone, thanks to several factors, at least for the immediate future. But I would NEVER support that thru drone strikes or willful and irresponsible disregard of civilian life. The ends never justify the means for me. So I can now clearly see how gross the core flaws in the system were, and there was plenty of corrupt and immoral neolib/corporate/business interests in this mess, but also some of what I believe were sincere and decent ones too, mostly from at least some of the military commanders in the field. Plus, the CIA were allowed to get involved and that's never good. They only bring terror, death and torture. They never should have been allowed to touch the soil, but all past presidents either didn't care what they were doing, or were afraid to oppose them. So yeah, it was a clusterFuck, but it didn't have to be. There were good people of conscience that wanted to help build a better Afghanistan but I can only assume they were ignored. Just because most of the US actors were scubags or clueless or exploiters that doesn't make the Taliban the good guys now by default does it?? They're still cultists, they're still screwed in the head. They still deny the humanity and equal rights of women. They're still primitives who wish to be totalitarians. I just heard they assassinated a pregnant female police officer in one of Roha province (I might not have that name exactly). So this is all shit. I would really like to see a free and stable Afghanistan, I guess given the corruption and amorality of my govt it's not got going to be us who creates that. Of course I want regions to be able to govern themselves but not if extremists and subjugators are in charge! China just wants to do business, I doubt they'll have interest in removing the Taliban. It would have to be Russia. I'm still learning more, but it sounds like before my immoral and illogical idiot gov got involved in the 80s, they were doing good works there. That's all I want to see. Putin is a thug but if he or others from the gov could bring legitimate positive developments, civil order, and opportunities for the region as they tried to do in 1980, yeah, I would want to support that. I believe all the extremists should be destroyed or removed. They keep the country in the Dark ages and they keep millions of women and sometimes others from accessing basic skills, education, work, and even healthcare. It's like if all the crazy "white Taliban" took over here in the US, which they are hard at work trying to do, starting with removing reproductive rights/bodily autonomy. This is obviously a big problem for those of us here on the Left who don't like fascism and see this as oppression.
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  58. Well, yes. You hit the nail on the head. Whether it's due to allegiance to Wall Street and corporate imperialism, or their own crazed obsessions, the Pentagon wants permanent war, served up hot or cold, including coups. Obviously, this is unsustainable, not to mention immoral and criminal. Putin is no doubt a stone cold thug, and other heads of state could be ultra-corrupt, but thay doesn't make the Pentagon's overall agenda morally acceptable.. 1T every year now goes to the Pentagon. That's 53% of the US's (my country's) total national budget. I'm not against having a military, and some BUT THIS IS ACTUALLY FUCKNG NUTS. This is ongoing madness. Up to 80% of the population here as some level of unmet needs. THAT IS ALSO APPALLING and REALLY pisses me off. Until we get a Congress and/or president that wants to oppose the Pentagon and what they represent, and isn't afraid to boldly come out publicly doing so; if one wants to pursue an even slightly less predatory agenda towards the rest of the world and will take action towards such ends, then I don't know how this will change. It seems clear now that JFK was wanting to do this- not to totally disarm and mothball every gunboat and plane- but to seek the beginnings of a better and mutually beneficial agenda based on non-violent cooperation with Russia, Vietnam, and throughout the world, including deescalating tensions with Cuba. Well that was enough to get him marked for death from powerful interests within the Pentagon and possibly some collaborators in the public (elements of some mafia have been implicated over the years. The allegations are interesting but I'm not sure if they are true or not). I don't know if Jimmy Carter has any personal desires to try to push for more diplomacy and a turn away from militarism. Nixon was ultra-corrupt and murdereous and only too happy to prolong and escalate the Vietnam War. Every admin since, including every Congress, have been the absolute lapdogs of the Pentagon, willingly or unwillingly; I think overall, with few exceptions from a few principled congresspersons, VERY willingly. So that brings us to now. Who will make the first move to oppose the Pentagon? To demand a return to diplomacy and a beginning of dismantling many of the 800 US bases that exist throughout the world??? The answer is we don't know. The last major opposer was JFK, and we all know how they responded to that. I believe most Americans who follow world issues want to pivot to peace, but the Pentagon wants death, war, destruction and coups. Let me clear, I'm not totally against any or all militant aggression or defense, but it should be limited and only as a last resort. Also the CIA should be smashed to 1000 pieces (just as JFK claimed he wanted) and scattered abroad. All they do is evil, and leads to more violence and harm and extreme poverty abroad. I honestly don't know when this will end. Congress could defund the Pentagon any time they want, by any amount they choose, but they don't want to. They are all bought by the bribers and lobbyists to keep upping the ante on the budget every single year. People could stop paying their federal taxes if they owe any, and I wish they would, I will be; but not enough people will do so in order to make any kind of real difference in the yearly national treasury. Most people are wary of breaking the so-called law and risking being put in the crosshairs of Big Brother, especially if they have a family or a small business. It's understandable. At this point in time, I am honestly unsure what it's going to take to force Congress to reduce funding to the Pentagon, to take some of their power away from them, to end the CIA, and to prioritize diplomacy and a scaling back of the entire war machine. All educated voters here who can get past nationalist propaganda want this, but Congress and the POTUS, no matter what corporate-owned party is in power, of course, so far has refused. I don't know what it's going to take to break this logjam. I hope not another world war.
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  64. I like Jon and to his credit, he actually made modest criticisms of the I/P conflict last night, much more than I expected. I would say he's willing to speak in a slightly more left-leaning manner while on camera than your average well-known neoliberal, which in today's climate is rather impressive and refreshing. Still, whether he honestly feels any differently internally or not, he'll never go further while on camera and that's disappointing - but not too disappointing because I always expected as much . Whether it's his choice or the choice of comedy central's network bosses, his criticism of DC's actions and agenda will always remain watered down at the very best. I was actually pleasantly surprised he was able to get the words out tho that Palestine has the right to actually be free and sovereign, & that Israel is committing active genocide. MUCH more than I'd thought I'd hear from him on a semi-mainstream platform honestly. So I give credit where it's due but while I personally like the guy and know he has a good heart, I just keep my expectations very very managed around him. He's a nice guy but I don't think he's capable of the awareness necessary to be a full truth teller on these issues, that takes a particular ability to see which most in privilege just don't have, maybe they can't have it, idk. Until people get over their long-indoctrinated childish need to feel patriotic to the gubmint (as opposed to the general population) they'll never stop whitewashing DCs crimes in their head (and that's if they don't outright embrace them as part of some modern version of manifest destiny right.)
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  88.  @ZIGZAG12345  agree. The hypocrisy is something else. It's almost funny. Well they play verbal games for each other on the congressional floor. They don't think anyone from the public is watching, and for the most part, they're right. Few people have the time or desire to follow Congress closely- I still don't as much as I'd like. I choked on my tongue when whoever that was had the gall to say Russia didn't want to provide healthcare and other goods to it's people. I couldn't believe he had the nerve to say that out loud. I think that was Adam Schiff??? Yeah Adam, are you on drugs??? THIS IS AMERICA. THE LAND OF A TOTAL LACK OF UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE (only for veterans and only those with above a certain level of rated disability). THE MOST POVERTY IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD. MOST STUDENT DEBT. RENTS OUT OF CONTROL FOR MANY PEOPLE. FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION EVERYWHERE. In other words, an ongoing capitalist hellscape. Unbelievable. The nads on these guys. Hypocrisy is not a word these people acknowledge, for clear reason. But most uninformed people will fall for it who may be watching, (and ofc they (Congress and state reps) know this), bec they just don't know any better, or they have been consuming the kool-aid from the dominant media. These reps are so owned, and they have their playbook well rehearsed and always at the ready. Criticizing other nations for human rights violations, imperialism, political prisoners, political targeting of dissidents, and not providing for the material needs of the non-rich????? Huh. You DON'T say. Well god none of that dirty business transpires on these utopic shores! God I can't The amazing hypocrisy- Let's take a tour of the US govs more colorful history of domestic crimes shall we? Start with the MOVE bombing and carry on with Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Leonard Peltier, and Mumia Abu Jamal. That's just the beginning.
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  128.  @Flike245  it's because I know them I'm 40 and a 9/11 era US vet. I was in the early campaigns twice in the region, tho not in the ground. Not slaughtered necessarily, I'd settle for removal. You don't have the experience with this issue that I do. You're acting like they're the good guys. I guess you just don't know who they are and what they want, which is a fundamentalist ultra cultist theocratic dictatorship. I've explained in other comments why they are only good for themselves and bad for everyone else. Even if they never kill anyone, they STILL have no right to rule; as they refuse to recognize the equality and humanity of women and respect their rights, first of all. Most are illiterate with no education and doubtful ability to manage ordinary govt functions, last time they held power they immediately cancelled all access to everything secular such as all entertainments and sports activities. I'm not sure if they restricted access to libraries. Basically they steal everyone's rights, just more from the women then men. Yes. For those reasons, in my mind, they deserve two options, surrender or death. You go try to live with/under them for five minutes, and I think you would see how extremely oppressive and totalitarian it is. But feel free to do your own research, you don't have to take it from me. And I don't buy for 5 seconds they have changed, like some are claiming. That's deeply laughable, just a ploy for the gullible. They want to live like a stone age savage, which I wouldn't mind, but then they ALSO want to force everyone else to do it too, which I most certainly DO mind and is wholly unacceptable and why I didn't want us to leave unless and until they could be fully neutralized once and for all. Now maybe for corrupt reasons that was never the goal from the Pentagon, no doubt bec they intended to use and did use them to do some of our dirty work for us namely against ISIS. Honest to God I don't fucking know why were always trying to outsource our fucking battles. If we have a states enemy then let's engage them, but this cowardly bullshit of beefing up someone else to do our fighting for us is nonsense. But I guess now ISIS and the Tali-fascists have their own beefs going back years, so I guess even without us there they would still be fighting each other. Bottom line, setting IS aside, after all that time and money, it's disgusting just to let it fall right back into Taliban hands. I believe most Afghans have no desire to live under the Taliban and if that's true then I support removing or neutralizing them and I don't know why this wasn't done more thoroughly at any point in the last 20 years. As to who they are, they like to do forced marriages with girls as young as 13 or 14. They consider them "adults" at age 14. Pedophilia is rampant in Islam, and it all started with their "prophet" who according to all reports got married to a 9 year old when he was around 50. Sick huh? I'm not saying all Muslims agree with pedophilia, Bec I know that's not true, but clearly many do for precisely this reason. Yeah, these people don't deserve the mean labels I give them. Sure. Nobody's bad in the world, just misunderstood. Right. I wish that were true.
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  144. Not a landslide - just a loss. Reagan's false victory in '80 was a landslide, this was just a loss. Let's not be ridiculous! As usual both candidates were jokes. Kamala was saying all the right things, but I have extreme trouble believing she meant any of it. Looks like I wasn't the only one. Still, Trump empowers Nazis and crazies and human Filth , not to mention he purposely ignored PR after Hurricane Maria, and didn't have any problem with the kids in cages at the border and the human rights crimes that precipitated, so anyone who would vote for him deserves a nine-iron to the face by my hand. Trump is an absolute idiot and a raging moron and dangerous because of the filth he attracts but there are a lot of incredibly stupid people here who are easy to influence who's racism and inner worthlessness overpowers any of that and they still choose him. I have zero respect for DC anyways; I see them as hostile occupiers who need to be removed. They're hateful irrational psychopaths who have no purpose for existing other than to provide muscle to protect multinationals on Wall Street, and I think that's pretty sad. They have no relevance or purpose towards the average citizen, and only exist to steal from us via bogus federal court cases and the IRS. It's Lunatic Central as far as I'm concerned, and other than social security which is PATHETICALLY and insultingly insufficient, (same for Medicare) - I have zero use for them. They could shut down and the world would be infinitely better off- so would the rest of us, esp if the individual states actually stepped in to take over providing welfare to those who need- which they won't unfortunately. So for now we're stuck with the lunatics in DC. Isn't that nice? It doesn't matter who's so-called in charge. The faces change; the hateful destructive policies remain- both abroad and domestic.
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  166. Big business is always the demon. You can manage a nation for it's people, or you can manage it for the parasitical elite and big business, but you CANNOT do both. If you do it for the latter, the former will always suffer and this is where we are now all over the world. BIG BUSINESS IS THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM!!!! IT ALWAYS IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE UNTIL BROUGHT TO HEEL BY A GOVT!! We can't even do this in the US so I don't expect Peru's govt to do this. I hope they can at some point. Big Business is destroying and plundering the world and until govts stop being owned by them the world will suffer. It's that simple. It sure as hell isn't the fault of your local Mom and Pop. ITS BIG AND MEGA-BIG BUSINESS. IT ALWAYS IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERY PUBLIC EVIL ON THE PLANET GOES BACK TO THE UNHOLY DOMINATION AND DESTRUCTION THAT WORLDWIDE CORPORATISM AND BIG BUSINESS BRINGS. Until big business is crushed or greatly curtailed this WILL NOT CHANGE. Yes oligarchs suck but it's not just them, it's the giant business model that seeks to destroy the world and plunder the world for its resources until there's nothing left but a dried wrinkled husk and billions of dead bodies in its wake. I guarantee I don't need to be have I don't a super expert to know the specifics of Peru. It's the same story everywhere with slight variations. Multinationals and probably a few very rich people own the government and half the people live in poverty or some sort of financial insecurity. More than half in some areas. And the first directly causes the second. THE WORLD CANNOT EVOLVE AND MOVE PAST POVERTY AND VIOLENCE WITHOUT DESTROYING THE STRANGLEHOLD THAT BIG BUSINESS CURRENTLY HOLDS ON IT. Without a hard and fast limit to how big given enterprise can get this pattern will only continue. The dictatorship of big business causes social problems, social unrest, widespread poverty and the like. This leads to political problems like we're seeing in Peru and anywhere else you want to look. DESTROY THE DICTATORSHIP OF BIG BUSINESS AND MULTINATIONALS ON THIS PLANET AND WE END POVERTY AND LEAVE THE DARK AGES ONCE AND FOR ALL. There is no other way. Not one. We can have a prosperous planet for everyone, or we can have a planet where two thirds live in poverty and there is extreme wealth for a fortunate few who are business oligarchs.
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  197. I mean we never really had democracy here on the federal level, kind of sort of but not really, that was all a facade, but big ups and big thanks to this brave man for speaking out. I mean the feds are totally ruthless genocidal psychopaths- of course they're going to try to make example of Assange. To them I say good luck bec it sure as hell won't work. There will be fifty others after him. Ain't nobody scared of these fed satanic filth out here. Their only weapon is death and that's why I'm more than willing to die tomorrow for my values if that's what it has to be and so is anyone else that has real convictions. Sooner or later BRICS or somebody else is going to glass the hell out of DC and it won't be a moment too soon. They've long overstayed their welcome on this planet. Lol the only power DC has over anyone is fear. Well I'm not afraid to die literally the moment I put down this phone so what power could anyone ever possibly have over me? Or go to prison if that's what it has to be. And people need to hurry up if you want to start fighting these destructive animals, you better hurry up and lose your fear of death real fast or else they're always going to have something to hold over you. If people want to fight this insane bloodthirsty State, in whatever way they find possible, they better decide right here right now if they want to answer to fear or not, because if they do they might as well just forget about it. The only thing I wish this guest had done differently was be more be more forthcoming about Julian's conditions. What is he afraid of? Does he really expect his government to send thugs after him for simply stating the types of conditions Julian is being subjected to? I would hope Scotland hasn't gotten that bad yet. Either you speak out or you don't. I assume the conditions are quite poor but I would have like to have heard it from him.
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  201. Well the fact is City Hall as we know it shouldn't even exist. The moment you appoint a City Hall you the citizen have no more power. They will demand your money, your taxes, they will commit any crime against you of property or sometimes of violence; you are demanded to pay immediately or suffer and essentially you have no voice other than to vote every couple of years for a different crop or the same crop of dictators. Occasionally you get to vote on a local or state ballot on a few issues but the majority are still decided well behind the scenes or in halls where you have no voice. Only the voice of the 1% and the well-heeled lobbyists of the 1% are heard in the halls of politicians. The masses are ignored as irrelevant and worthless. This is democracy? Choosing a rotating group of ruthless or semi-ruthless corrupt dictators and being forced to pay for them or else?? Wow doesn't sound very democratic or liberating to me. Sounds like slavery honestly. Sounds like criminal abuse. But I'm just a hard Left libertarian what do I know?? I believe we have the right to be our own masters and anything short of complete direct voting on everything short of internal administrative matters is a rampant miscarriage of justice. So long as we continue to bend the knee to masters the masters will always shit right on our faces. How's that working out for us so far? Yes we can have a government that's necessary just for simple organization, but we don't have to have a city hall per se. We can have a "public center" of which within there can be a number of public administrators who suggest policies. This isn't the same as City Hall, which is essentially a hyper-corrupt small group on hire to the 1% interests within that particular locality. All the same public departments can exist as now, along with possibly more, and some current mandatory taxes can exist, while some don't. The key difference is that any policy or public change that is suggested or proposed by any public official must first be put to public ballot. Anything that gets more than 60% of the votes wins. Anybody can suggest a policy and anybody can suggest repealing a policy. Power isn't held by one or a few tiny corrupt set of grubby hands. Public voting can be held at regular intervals say every 3 months. This can easily work statewide and within the municipalities. For state policies they can set voting to a little bit less frequently say every six months. Honestly without this guys we are all little more than pseudoslaves to all the big money interests that operate behind the scenes.
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  202.  @richibucto1    that's right. For some reason everybody votes for the same people who don't give a shit about them, arrogant a-holes who could care less if they live or die. I don't know why this is but it is. Republicans or democrats in this country there all the same- two sides of the same corporate-party ass. They're going to take the money and they're going to serve the Money and whether it's local or at the state level or certainly in DC they don't give an F about the 99.5%. I mean it's rule by hyper-elite anytime they're in office. Once they get into office all their pretty promises go right out the window. Once the big money gets the governors in their pocket or local mayors it's over, because mayors have local Pigs in their pocket and governors have the national guard and State troopers so I mean.... There it is. Sure people can fight back and demonstrate and be willing to risk violence and all of that, but then you get all these psychopaths in those groups I just mentioned who are more than happy to kill their neighbors because somebody on high told them to. It's definitely asymmetrical warfare. Pretty sad. Imagine being willing to kill, harm, abuse, or brutalize literally someone who could be your happy neighbor who's never done you harm simply because some worthless amoral politician tells you to. All for corporate money lust. Crazy. But some people are wired to do that ig and I think that's really unfortunate. These people are dangerous. Mindless bloodthirsty automatons. I do think it is possible to elect politicians of conscience who care about the public and not elite money but it hasn't happened so far.
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  213. I appreciate all activists and those who risk their well-being and safety to demonstrate their beliefs, but speaking out against these assholes isn't going to change anything. They just don't care about the harm they cause. They are liberated from having a sense of ethics or conscience, they only care about themselves and elite money. It would be nice if for once we could get a real viable organized monetized capitalized genuinely Left party going in this country. It's a shame this hasn't been able to happen yet- and the ones we had of course were attacked and eventually broken up, but that doesn't mean that we have to let history be our determinator. We could start again anytime. I'm just curious how swine sleep at night. provided a protest isn't turning into an all-out violent riot, why do they feel the need to get involved? Do they not think that people have the right to have their own opinions and free will? I mean after all a free country right? We don't have to agree with the agenda of the current political structure???? Are they mad at people won't be passive slaves and drones? I'm honestly curious. I mean right to free speech and free thought is pretty much spelled out in the Constitution and even if it wasn't it's an obvious human right. Everyone else wants to claim muh freedom - except when they disagree with the viewpoint that some particular group is expressing. Pigs are just shameful and should be ashamed of themselves. Everyone has the right to oppose whatever the current political ideology is.
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  218. [long post] It would be one thing if our wars were just, and only defensive, but they aren't. Everyone connected to the US military machine should ask themselves exactly what agenda they are actually serving? Whose will they are actually carrying out? I understand needing a job, skills training, a path to college and everything else - but the problem is, nothing DC does is moral. It's all about maintaining a big stick in order to commit violence to any country that doesn't do our will- which is letting multinationals enter another nation and take its resources as they see fit. This is what tens of 1000s have died, gotten seriously injured and gotten serious PTSD for. And how many 1000s or millions of innocent civilians and noncombatants have died both directly or indirectly as a result of our coups, sanctions and military interventions????? Something like at least 10M at last estimate, some claim as high as 20M. Not exactly a noble purpose. All for the profits of big business, especially Big Oil. All for nothing, essentially. Are corporate profits worth 20M dead?? The rest of us don't even see much benefit from the end result of all these resource seizures. Sure we have oil- but it hasn't been all that cheap since the early 2000s, and it isn't now. Big business is hardly even taxed here. On those taxes alone we could easily provide for all the basic needs of everyone in the country. But DC and states don't do this. Isn't this interesting?? Could it be because they are owned by and serve these interests? So the only people who REALLY benefit from our imperialism is Wall Street and the weapons the military equipment industry. These DC snakes wouldn't even pay to cover the medical bills for a few thousand sufferers of toxic dump exposure post 9/11 until two years ago. And remember when they refused to help Gulf War vets in the 90s with Gulf War syndrome?? I will say overall the VA is getting better now and offers quality care, but that wasn't always true. It's a special evil and cruelty to deny basic covered care to veteran's. And they still don't ensure all homeless vets get housed and connected to the proper support services. There should be guaranteed federal housing and psych care for ALL vets who need it! People should think long and hard before serving THIS govt. They are definitely sociopaths and won't think twice about disposing of those once they no longer need them. Not to mention, why serve the financial interests of people who do nothing to help support the bottom 70% in this country?? They're more than happy to take your death, but what about doing something for your life? The very fact 18yo are allowed to be posted to the front line is shameful. There should be an age limit, at least 25 years, for durect combat positions. And NO REPEAT DEPLOYMENTS, unless expressly requested by the servicemember and only after a mandatory interim period of 12 months. If the military REALLY cared about the young people in it and sll it's members, it would observe limitations like this and it wouldn't nickel and dime them once they get back!!! And they would keep base housing in safe and proper condition, my goodness the defense budget is 1T, and we cant maintain our base facilities?? Not to mention the lack of critical equipment at vital times in the field. With such a ginormous budget, how can any aspect of any part of this complex system be neglected??? Especially when servicemembers' lives depend on it!?! But that's exactly what happened during the first 3-5 years of the Iraq occupation. Donald Rumsfeld tried to defend it, almost implying the troops were weak and effeminate to dare complain about not being given the vital battle-ready vehicles and equipment they needed to stay alive. But that's what happens when you see all servicepeople as easily expendable and replaceable, as cannon fodder. Shameful. But that's how it often is among the top DOD brass and officials. If I felt the federal govt had a just or at least a defensible policy towards the rest of the world, I wouldn't oppose the military structure. But I do, and therefore I can no longer in good conscience support our massive military machine. It serves an immoral and indefensible goal. We have never liberated or saved a single people since the close of WW2. (With perhaps a small exception marginalizing the Taliban in Afghanistan. Thanks to our evil drones and special forces crimes, they wanted us out and of course who could blame them. Now thanks to Mike pompeo who cut a special deal with the Taliban, the talibs were able to take back over and that of course is bad for everyone in the region. Also Biden is evil and he stole all of the previous govts money that was in the Afg central bank - all 9B of it. Now most of the country is suffering or going hungry or flat out starving because they cannot access the money they had, since the talibs now have no way to pay anyone.) And this is made much worse by sanctions which are harming everyone in Afghanistan. It is truly evil what Biden and his people are choosing to do to the people of Afghanistan and have already done. He cannot claim the sanctions are in response to the Taliban because they were only able to take over in Kabul due to the troop withdrawal which was the worst planned and most rushed I've ever seen. Sanctions aren't going to do anything to the Taliban, but they will cause extreme hardship to millions of dirt poor civilians. Disgusting. So what DC does is cause mass death and hardship all over the world to absolutely powerless and innocent people. As regular Americans, we shouldn't tolerate this or voluntarily serve in any of forces used to enable these tactics, or to actively brutalize and intimate any other nation, usually comparatively poor and undeveloped nations. So for all these reasons, any thinking person of conscience should now oppose the USs military machine including it's service academies UNTIL the savagery against other nations and regions stops and moves to one of equal economic exchange and a just peace. There is nothing wrong with a defensive military apparatus, but that is not what we have. We are very much the aggressor and brutalizer and usually of completely innocent civilians. A moral power doesn't do that. We must stop killing the world and learn to respect all life and seek peace with all.
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  227.  @robertko5425  the Taliban are scum and savages. Either mentally ill, cult-brainwashed, or amoral. They kidnap teenage girls for forced "marriages"; they killed this woman's two sons for no reason on a report I was just watching, and she is hardly unique, took her two adolescent daughters, she's trying to find them now but has no idea where they are. I don't agree with most of what happened under the occupation, nor any of what the Pentagon has provoked and caused around the world in their bloodlust; but Pompeo basically gave Afganistan back to the Taliban by releasing 5000 of their members plus their top commander in early 2020, cut out our own so-called client govt in Kabul that had been our point of contact for 20 fucking years. Pompeo and Trump should be shot for this, or locked up on charges of crimes against the Afghan people. I know the Kabul govt had a lot of problems and I know a lot of Afghans were very sick of all their corruption and continuing sexist attitudes from some of them, but I highly doubt anyone wanted ruthless extremists to take over. Now things in the region are in turmoil, and only the stone age inbred savages aka Talibs in Afghanistan are happy. It's shameful. I'm so sick of these islamist PHYLTH and their cults of DEATH and slavery for women! ALL islamofascist evildoers and savages deserve death as far as I'm concerned. At this point the only thing that can help re-stabilize and liberate the region in Russia, their neighbor. To my knowledge they were actually doing good things in the region and bringing progress and development when they were there the first time, before the US so rudely forced them out for literally NO reason other than they were who they were- the USSR, and the US decided they were the enemy a long time ago. Honestly I find it all ridiculous, but I do hope Russia re-enters the region and makes short work of the Taliban so that country can know some peace and stability for a change.
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  229. Like you know one way or the other. You get your news from corporate MSM. Based on my knowledge, which if true, shows the Russian objective of taking on neo-nazis and violent hyper-nationalists in Ukraine to to be VERY rational. If you wanna claim the loonies in our govt are somehow better than anyone else's, go ahead, but learn about their LONG LONG list of human rights crimes first. Just look up "CIA abuses abroad" or "last 150 years of US foreign intervention". If I could post a link I would. And I'm not saying other govts are perfect, far from, most govts have committed wrongs, but none of the scale of ours, imo. Not based on what I know. Besides, 800 bases around the world??? That's just insane. Look it up. 800. Most are small refueling stations but many are not. This is nuts tho. There is no justifiable reason that I can think of to maintain a permanent presence in another country- other than to keep that country in a more or less secondary/subject state. I think the world is getting sick of this and has had enough. Most countries have a large ongoing movement from the local citizens towards their respective govt to close the US military base or bases in their country. Is it fair for ANY nation to believe they own the globe and to commit great violence against any other state that doesn't kowtow to it's wishes or allow itself to be exploited? I don't know what's wrong with those crazies who call the shots in DC, both elected and unelected. All they want is permanent violence and they are clearly pushing for WW3 rn with their continued exploitation of Ukraine as a tool to antagonize and provoke the Russian govt. Honestly it's just bizarre. Like I don't even know how they in their fevered minds think this is going to end. I can only conclude they want a third world war and a nuclear war. If not why not shut down all the foreign bases?? Why not seek peaceful cooperation?? Yeah because they prefer war and violence, provided they're not personally affected of course.
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  238.  @lynnjacobs9885     Well that's brilliant see I didn't know that cuz I really don't know much about Hawaii or Maui other than the broad strokes of how they were essentially kidnapped into being part of the United States. Well ty for telling me no doubt you're exactly right, what is good for cattle may not be so good for fire management. And if their money can control the political process then they get what they want everyone else be damned. Same story just a different damn day. And people do vote for all these crooks all the time because crooks are excellent liars and people just keep voting for the liars in both parties. I don't know why.... everyone thinks THEIR politician is the sole good guy amongst a sea of crooks. So everyone keeps voting for the same usual suspects always thinking oh no its the OTHER guy that's bad. What people forget is that with rare exception THEYRE ALL BAD!!!... and it is the height of naivete to pretend otherwise. (So what's the solution? Well a different actual people-first party for one that could help. But we can talk about that later.) I am now wondering because of all of this terrible news that has come out if the fire was deliberately started but even if it wasn't, the way that island has been land managed over the past 100 years clearly contributed to high fire conditions. When the big money is allowed to dictate public policy this is exactly what happens everywhere all the time. It's literally a crime because thousands or tens of thousands of people suffer because a few pieces of shit wanted things their way. Do you remember the big fires in Northern California few years ago that destroy the town of Paradise? Now I'm not a 100% certain but I live in southern California and believe those were started by negligent maintenance from PG&E. PG&E is essentially a criminal enterprise at this point which has complete legal immunity because they buy our governors. Doesn't matter which party, they buy them all. The parties are the SAME that's what people can't seem to understand. There's no politician whose Red or Blue in this country that serves us, well there's a few but it's very few and they're not enough to make a difference; the vast majority serve MONEY, not us, period end of story. Why can't people get this after last 150 years of this being true? That is why all these disasters keep happening. Look over the past 100 years of natural disaster I'm the US, I bet you'll find an underlying pattern because I have. All of them could have been avoided or greatly reduced in severity if local and state governments had managed even halfway ethically. But it didn't matter because they were bought and paid off and they didn't give an F about the public not a single F. So they mismanaged public resources for the big pockets and then when the natural disasters hit, The fallout was way worse than it had to be because all of the countermeasures weren't properly maintained or had been removed entirely, such as the mangrove wetlands outside of New Orleans which allowed Hurricane Katrina to become much worse than it would have been otherwise (and due to other factors such as delivered and obvious neglect of the city's levees). If we keep electing psychopaths and criminals and narcopath crooks and willfully terminally stupid dangerous lunatics, we're all going to suffer and I don't think we want that so I'm really hoping and praying something changes but you know, I mean it hasn't yet so I don't even know what to say at this point anymore. I'll be fine but it really breaks my heart to constantly see these disasters that for the most part don't have to happen , not to mention all the other mess that happens in politics.
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  248.  @layinlow77  thanks I'll look at it. Here's a comment I was gonna post right before yours came up.  @bryan s  it does seem horribly planned and I don't understand after all this fucking time what the true goal was. How could this not have been articulated ever?? Ok, to keep the Taliban at bay- but that's wasn't the primary mission, just a byproduct; and to the extent that occurred I'm glad; because in the regions it did women and Afghans in general were able to resume their more-or-less normal lives. But now we hear about these warlords who were hardly better than the Tali-fucks in many cases if not worse. I mean we really are the Evil Empire. We did a partial liberation if that, and we set up these pedophiles and demons to rule with just as much an iron fist as anyone else and when they begged us for help we did nothing?!? Fucking god. Not to mention the CIA-sponsored Afghan-staffed death squads and how many locals were terrorized by night raids both them and our US special forces. So we really are absolutely evil and while our individual soldiers and ground commanders may have wanted to do the right thing or a good thing, no doubt much of the Pentagon higher-ups clearly could care less. The totality of all this information is an serious fuck And I still didn't want to leave with a Tali-fuck takeover as that isn't acceptable to me either I guess like all these other good people are saying it really really WAS for no other reason than JUST to make the defense contractors rich, while 1000s of servicemen died or contracted PTSD and something like 50,000 or more Afghans died as a result of our involvement, either directly or indirectly. It is really hard for me to wrap my head around that kind of industrial level disvaluation of human life, but I guess it's part for the course for US empire. I know some of the military commanders legitimately had unselfish motives, at least I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on that, but clearly those at the very top, most certainly the CIA, very much did not.
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  255. I don't disagree with most of your statement but the Taliban are extremely bad news and if you don't think so, you're nuts and have eaten the insanely misguided "pro-taliban" propaganda that seems to be getting passed around at the moment. The US committed MANY sins while we over there and I don't want any of those minimized, and those who deliberately did wrong should pay, regardless of their station, but that doesn't make the Taliban good by comparison. They aren't good whatsoever. They'll never stop being nutfuck cultists who oppose every possible basic human right for women, and many of them are willing to be ruthless killers. Are you familiar with or do you remember Malala, the young Afghan girl who they tried to assassinate at age 16 because she refused to stop going to school? Yeah they did that and thats the kind of thing they do. I'm not saying every single one is willing to do that but most probably are. They support medieval-level punishments for minor infractions. Not only that I highly doubt they are going to be able to logistically manage anything. How can they?? According to all my information, they are all illiterate asf as they don't believe in secular education, only reading their fucking cult book. I have heard their economy is currently in tatters and half the population faces hunger, serious hunger, or food scarcity. I have zero faith they will be able to remedy this or if they will even care so long as it doesn't affect them. It is still my position that the Taliban should be removed or eliminated any rational means necessary. That doesn't make the wrongful or immoral acts that any US personnel committed while we were there or any of the willful unnecessary prolonging of the occupation acceptable; it just means both of these realities can be true at the same time.
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  271. I love how the local Pigs could have cared less whether it was ethically or morally wrong to assault or become aggressive towards peaceful protesters and demonstrators, their response had nothing to do with the ethics of it it was more just how they felt they would look to the public. They are here to serve whatever the politicians say regardless of how evil or corrupt or wrong it is. They want to be the muscle for politicians does it matter who's controlling those politicians doesn't matter if those politicians are becoming tyrants or destroyers or who's Will the politicians are defending they are just going to blindly be the street muscle that carries out what these worthless politicians demand. Such an easy way to live isn't it? These are the same people who would have never thought twice about committing massacres and mass murder as the Third Reich was coming to power. People have no rights when it comes to these people, these Pigs - and these pigs themselves are barely capable of forming coherent independent thought. I think they're all just reincarnated what-have-you from the middle ages who served a lord or king without a second thought. These people don't really give a flying fuck about right and wrong they want to serve their modern Lords no matter what. Man if this was before social media they probably would have already been in there. Such a shame that when the BLM protests finally blew over local politicians knew they could go back to business as usual and keep giving half of the funding in every metro area to the Pigs. When you're a narcissist and you are truly the only thing in your entire existence you care about, suddenly your decision-making become so clear and simple. Being a pig is the easiest job in the world. Never think- just rob, harass and worse if told to do it by anyone senior to you. It's the perfect job for somebody with no brain and no decency.
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