In an impassioned and at times furious speech, departing Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley defiantly proclaimed that the US military does not swear an oath to a “wannabe dictator.”
It was a bitter and pointed swipe that appeared unmistakably targeted at former President Donald Trump, who has in recent days accused Milley of “treason” and suggested that he should be put to death for his conduct surrounding Trump’s bid in 2021 to remain in office despite losing the presidential election.
“We are unique among the world’s militaries,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator.”
deleted by creator
It’s more like a third that has an outsized influence due to gerrymandering and disincentivizing voters. Still, the fact that it is that many and Trump actually stands a chance of re-election shows what a dumpster fire the country is.
While I question the intelligence of the MAGA crowd as well, I feel like I have to constantly remind people that the other half of the people who would vote for him are really voting against neoliberalism, even tho they can’t describe it as such.
They’ll say globalism, they might even take a swipe at wall street or corporations. NAFTA, “Elites” etc etc.
They’re struggling just like everyone else due to late stage capitalism and they don’t care how it ends, just that it does.
Mind you theyre also statistically white and think they’ll be in the in group when our money becomes less valuable than toilet paper and weather it all fine, which is delusional.
There’s the haves and the have nots. Even security for the rich, after the walls fell, will still be servants, not equals.
I say all this so those inclined can see there is actually a good amount of material we all agree on, and if you can approach it without instigating their pearl clutch reflex, some can even be brought into the light.
deleted by creator
That’s not a solution and you know it. I feel ya my man, I do.
You don’t need sympathy for them. You don’t need to forgive anyone for them - you do that shit for yourself, so you’ll be free of the negativity of their weight and move forward clear of them.
Don’t let them define the limits of your virtues. Don’t let anyone tell you who you are (which is essentially the same thing). That’s for you to tell them.
Most are probably a lost cause. Not all, for sure. Look at them like you would a wounded animal and for reasons we don’t know they blame us. It’s much easier to understand and anticipate, therefore mitigate the pain they’re choosing to propagate. But over generations…we can teach their children tolerance. And patience. Hence their war on education (the ones showing up at PTA meetings, not the ones trying to loot the budget).
I’m one of the first to respond to fascist violence with violence. Fighting nazis is a great family tradition of mine, going back 80 years. I’m no Gandhi, MLK. I’m much more aligned with Malcolm and Hampton. I’ll let the Gandhi’s have the mic and lead from the ideals, but while theyre sheparding the high road, I’m defending on the low road.
I say that because if the answer is to just damn half the population, then you’ve got to put more effort into your answer. Or just do what I do, which is let others more eloquent elucidate. I don’t need to sway anyone’s opinions, hell sometimes I’m the last person who should have the mic. Knowing this is a strength, not a weakness.
What I do know is that Hate isn’t the way. Every spiritual or moral teacher in history has said the same thing. But I don’t need hate to fight, simply resignation to the task at hand, like putting down a wounded animal. If anything it makes me more cognizant in the moment.
deleted by creator
An attitude they share as well. Eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.
Ya gotta leave them able to see. And then show them you have the same capacity for cruelty, but only dole it harsh to the ringleaders.
deleted by creator
That attitude is illusionary and will get you nowhere, don’t forget that you and your radical group do not have any significant backing from society and that you WILL be arrested and put on trial if you attempt to take unlawful actions like violating a person’s bodily integrity or destroying property. The world doesn’t revolve around you, there are millions more reasonable people for each single one of violent radicals like yourself.
Shut up bootlicker
Yet you wrote a wall of text trying to do just that.
Malicious ignorance is the real pandemic.
It’s so funny to read this cause I’ve seen similar posts in conservative communities, only inverted.
That’s a great point. Seeing the current state of US politics this way might be the first step in steering it towards some sort of normalcy.
It’s a problem of the left being incapable of effectively communicating with the working class. Leftists are self obsessed and are seeking approval of of other leftists. They want to be lauded for being the smartest people in the room, and don’t actually care about the working class. They want to be congratulated (and sometimes well paid) for pretending to care about the working class
While leftists talk about the working class being too stupid to recognize them as the people they should put in positions of power, they don’t consider the possibility that no one trusts someone that assumes that they’re too stupid to understand what’s best for them. And when you consider how incompetent leftists are in communicating with the people they’re supposedly trying to help, who’s actually the stupid people in this whole thing?
Biden’s push in promoting unions and prosecuting anti-trust will help the working class and lessen the power of the corporations far more than anything all of the leftists will accomplish in their entire lives.
You and the guy you replied to worded it so well. I am a moderate and an unaffiliated voter so noticing the extremes is easy. Their alignments are similar but their tactics are different. The right knows how to talk to the working class which is their strength. Anytime I have voiced criticism about the extremist left there is no conversation or willingness to learn, just demeaning redoric. Mainly how stupid I am or how I should kill myself. I don’t blame them as I was once very liberal myself but noticed the fallicies and became more moderate as I got older. Their inability to humble themselves or try to understand someone else’s thinking prevents them from really bringing anyone over to their side. It’s a “Holier Than Thou” complex that makes them believe they are better than everyone, know better than everyone, and those who oppose them are inheritly evil. Unfortunately this is not how you recruit allies and not how the world work in general.
While previous OP are articulate in their posts they are way off by a lot. Framing liberals as elitists is pure propaganda invented by hate radio. The real issue is millions of minds have been poisoned by conservative rhetoric which is patently false. Conservatives don’t know how to talk to the working class, they know how to stroke fear and division for political gain.
Your words about extremist lefties is a great example of the kind of nonsense the conservatives have gotten people to believe. You are essentially entering the conversation already pre-loaded with bullshit rhetoric. People who are intelligent about the issues are turned off by this and don’t want to engage with you other than to tell you off.
The problem isn’t with them it is you. You have already bought into the horseshit of hate media. You are intellectually dishonest without even knowing it. You are another casualty of the division which is exactly what these fuckers want.
The issue with your statement is I don’t listen to or follow political sides. I just make my own decernments based on what I experience. Most political statements via the news or social media are propaganda for both sides so you have to parse the information to find the truth and I am not waisting my time on that. I base what I say on my experiences and interactions with the people of each party. Republicans have their issues and so do Democrats.
You are exactly the person I described in my earlier writing. Unable to listen and learn because you are stuck in your thinking and unable to see outside your box. I hope the irony isn’t lost on you. My family growing up was Republican and I was Democrat when I got older but ultimately noticed they were both very flawed and decided to become centrist and unaffiliated for voting.
People who are “intelligent” about the issues fall in the same boat as you. Unable to see past their own hubris and Holier Than Thou thinking to see that they have fallen for their parties propaganda to see that they have been indoctrinated just like Republicans have. Republicans and Democrats are just two sides of the same coin.
People are calling you out on your shit because there is no “extremist left.” It’s a conservative talking point (that’s false by the way) that they always use. At most, Democrats are essentially less extreme conservatives right now.
There is, however, an extreme right that has passed all these in 2023 alone:
"Over 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures, a record;
Over 220 bills specifically target transgender and non-binary people, also a record."
https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/roundup-of-anti-lgbtq-legislation-advancing-in-states-across-the-country
You’re not seeing “both sides.” You are quite literally just lying. Democrats at current are the most boring and careful party ever right now. They aren’t my ideal but they definitely aren’t “teh extreme left.” Please.
First I didn’t say the right wasn’t extreme and the fact you can’t see extremism in your faction shows your blinded to the truth. There are extremes on both sides regardless of what propaganda you want to believe or not believe. People aren’t calling me out on my shit since it’s just “kill yourself” or “Your and idiot” as retorts. These are the “intelligent” people you speak of.
I didn’t start this as a way to convince you that your rose colored glasses are skewing your view or that your perception is wrong because that is your perception and honesty it isn’t worth the work to change it for some random person on the Internet because that never works.
I was saying my perception and experiences with the people of the Internet and some irl have led me to see that extremism exists on both sides.
I am going to stop replying because I have already spent too much time on someone who really isn’t worth it, that isn’t just you, it is all political social interactions on the Internet. So I will leave you with this.
Any faction is corrupt or corruptible. There will always be propaganda for each one to indoctrinate those who have some aligning beliefs. Hell I fell for it for years as a registered Democrat. There are people who mean well in their own way on each side and those who mean to use those well meaning people for their own ends. On the other hand there are people who just fight for the sake of fighting. The people make it matter but in my experience they are the ones that hurt it the most by repeating the propaganda like it’s the bible, on both sides. Know that these interactions are truly pointless and a waste of time.
I wish you the best in your endeavors.
First, you are full of shit. The problem is clearly you and you are probably just trolling at this point so my apologies for feeding you.
Two sides of the same coin is such a tired rhetoric at this point. To say I don’t pick sides while regurgitating conservative talking points is almost comical. Pretending to be a Democrat from a Republican household is another bullshit red flag. Do try improving your material in the future.
well technically between a fifth and a quarter of America voted for Trump last time.
Democracy as usual. The real problem is that they either vote for personalities or for policies, while it should be both - a wrong personality plainly won’t deliver, a wrong policy is wrong no matter the personality.
People who were voting for him after Obama’s time voted against weakness, hypocrisy, establishment, general perceived progress slowing down (in the 90-s and early 00-s there were many cool things on TV, in computer industry, in space, in art etc, while during Obama’s years it was all the same, boring and corporate, and the Web among other things was enshittened in that time period).
Now the second time I guess it’s as good as protest voting, and some are really just stupid.