Trump's Pardons Dishonor the Military - The Atlantic


https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/trumps-pardons-dishonor-military/602143/

bearister said:

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Trump's Pardons Dishonor the Military - The Atlantic


https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/trumps-pardons-dishonor-military/602143/

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This is what is meant when they say that our institutions are being stressed to the breaking point. There was consensus among our military leaders that pardoning soldiers who committed and were convicted of war crimes sends the wrong message to our troops and the countries they are stationed in. The pardons fundamentally alter the military judicial system which functions to guard against war crimes and maintain discipline among all service men and women. By issuing pardons to those tried and convicted, The Commander In Chief has given a nod to criminality. By issuing a pardon before a trial has taken place the Commander in Chief has disregarded the military judicial system making it an afterthought and these are yet more reasons why the Idiot in Chief is unfit to lead this country and is eroding institutions that are in place to keep the country safe and secure.

" Trump has held the same views about war crimes and torture for years and being commander in chief has not changed him. He believes that previous presidents have been far too eager to send Americans to war, but that once they've been deployed, these soldiers should be free to treat enemies brutally.

Trump's views on this subject flared up again last week. He clashed with Pentagon brass when he cleared three soldiers who have been accused or convicted of war crimes.
Pentagon leaders had privately argued that the president's intervention in these cases would undercut the code of military justice.
Trump has told advisers that the U.S. military became too politically correct under President Obama and that he wanted to unleash them to fight with "toughness," without these burdensome rules of engagement.

Trump's immutable views on this subject have put him at odds with Pentagon leadership more than once. From the outset, Trump disagreed with former Defense Secretary James Mattis over the effectiveness of waterboarding.
Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, captured the widespread concerns in a tweet earlier this year: "Absent evidence of innocence or injustice the wholesale pardon of US servicemembers accused of war crimes signals our troops and allies that we don't take the Law of Armed Conflict seriously. Bad message. Bad precedent. Abdication of moral responsibility. Risk to us." Axios

bearister said:

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" Trump has held the same views about war crimes and torture for years and being commander in chief has not changed him. He believes that previous presidents have been far too eager to send Americans to war, but that once they've been deployed, these soldiers should be free to treat enemies brutally.

Trump's views on this subject flared up again last week. He clashed with Pentagon brass when he cleared three soldiers who have been accused or convicted of war crimes.
Pentagon leaders had privately argued that the president's intervention in these cases would undercut the code of military justice.
Trump has told advisers that the U.S. military became too politically correct under President Obama and that he wanted to unleash them to fight with "toughness," without these burdensome rules of engagement.

Trump's immutable views on this subject have put him at odds with Pentagon leadership more than once. From the outset, Trump disagreed with former Defense Secretary James Mattis over the effectiveness of waterboarding.
Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, captured the widespread concerns in a tweet earlier this year: "Absent evidence of innocence or injustice the wholesale pardon of US servicemembers accused of war crimes signals our troops and allies that we don't take the Law of Armed Conflict seriously. Bad message. Bad precedent. Abdication of moral responsibility. Risk to us." Axios

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Trump has stated so many times a dark vision of America, and a stance that suggests we sink to the worst of other nations rather than be the shining example. This is simple projection of his personal values and rationalizations for his life as a "businessman."

His inauguration comment on American carnage, his snide "you think we are so innocent," these are less the educated assessments of an American historian and more the barely masked confessionals of a career criminal ("capitalist").

More shtt for the fan...

Of course Trump lied, it's impossible for him to do otherwise. But his lawyers were smart enough to use the correct language ("do not recall") so as to make it impossible to prove it's a like unless you can find contemporaneous evidence that he could in fact recall. Good luck with that.

There are much better crimes to impeach Trump for.

"I don't recall" dodges perjury but in a civil case the guy that does recall carries the day.

Additional:

The Russkie mind control drugs are taking their toll on Trump. Melania is hatching her escape. She is slowly lowering the dose (meth with mind control) and it's making Trump wobbly. Soon he will go off the rails and she will be free! FREE!

Yeah okay I'm half joking, guess what half.

Nance the former intel guy thinks it's all true, including Melania is a plant, a Russkie backed agent.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-hitler-mein-kampf/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/adolf-hitler-donald-trump-mein-kampf-bluffed-way-to-power-nazi-leader-germany-fuhrer-us-president-a7568506.html


https://blogs.berkeley.edu/2018/08/08/is-trump-intuitive-or-has-he-learned-from-hitler/

Behold leftists,



Wheeler Hall. Berkeley, CA November 20, 2019.

BearForce2 said:

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Behold leftists,



Wheeler Hall. Berkeley, CA November 20, 2019.

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The photo has a very Caravaggioesque quality.

Wonder if the photographer is left-handed???

Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review. Read the underlined.

"The Navy has been notified that the White House will not intervene to stop a disciplinary proceeding that could cost a SEAL his position in the elite unit, AP reports this morning.

The backstory: Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer "and the admiral who leads the SEALs have threatened to resign or be fired if plans to expel a commando from the elite unit in a war crimes case are halted by President Trump," the N.Y. Times' Maggie Haberman, Helene Cooper and Dave Philipps report.

Trump tweeted Thursday: "The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher's Trident Pin. This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!"
Why it matters: Gallagher is a Fox News favorite (including a "Fox & Friends" appearance this morning), and many at the Pentagon think Trump's intervention could undermine military discipline.
The Navy secretary said yesterday on the sidelines of a security forum in Canada, per AP: "I need a formal order to act ... I don't interpret [Trump's tweets] as a formal order."

Spencer told reporters that he has not threatened to resign.
Gallagher was acquitted of a murder charge in the stabbing death of an Islamic State militant captive, but a military jury convicted him of posing with the corpse while in Iraq in 2017." Axios

B.A. Bearacus said:

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That will be interesting. When is it?
EDIT: tonight, Sunday November 24, 6pm Pacific
"All The President's Lies"

B.A. Bearacus said:

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TIA mini stroke?

Fareed Zakaria discusses Trump's recent breakdown in discussions with Seoul over Trump's insistence that South Korea quintuple its contribution toward US soldiers based in that country.

The US currently pays $2.2B, while SK pays $0.9B. Trump wants the SK figure to go up to $4.7B.

Fareed points out that this is a bad $ deal for Trump because if those troops were pulled home, we'd have to house them somewhere and would thus get $0.9B less.

Chuckle.

Fired.

tRump has burned bridges with the FBI, the Intelligence Community and now the Military, the Triple Crown, and also the pillars needed to support tRump's Totalitarian State wet dream. If he gets removed by impeachment or the ballot, I'm not sure the tiki torch/weekend paintball warriors will be up to waging his threatened civil war.

B.A. Bearacus said:

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SHS states that T reads more than anyone she knows. Any Republican who believes that (and there are many) should be shot (with a tshirt canon loaded with shiit). Enough.

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It could be true, its just that Trump reads crap like Right Wing Conspiracy theories instead of anything based in fact or reality.

bearister said:

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tRump has burned bridges with the FBI, the Intelligence Community and now the Military, the Triple Crown, and also the pillars needed to support tRump's Totalitarian State wet dream. If he gets removed by impeachment or the ballot, I'm not sure the tiki torch/weekend paintball warriors will be up to waging his threatened civil war.

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Its not completely applicable to this situation, but I kind of hate the 'Resign in Protest' action. If you disagree with something, don't just quit and remove yourself from the situation, letting other people do the very thing you don't want to do yourself, stay and fight to prevent it from happening. Quitting to let someone else do that action is not all that different than doing it yourself.

golden sloth said:

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B.A. Bearacus said:

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SHS states that T reads more than anyone she knows. Any Republican who believes that (and there are many) should be shot (with a tshirt canon loaded with shiit). Enough.

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It could be true, its just that Trump reads crap like Right Wing Conspiracy theories instead of anything based in fact or reality.

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It could NOT be true -- unless she is only acquainted with illiterate backwoods inbreds.

The fundamentalist Christian faction of the country is vast, deep, and fuqqed!!
I used to be associated with it (part of, for 2 years??) and so this language and mindset in the Rick Perry clip above is familiar (and now repugnant) to me.

B.A. Bearacus said:

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SHS states that T reads more than anyone she knows. Any Republican who believes that (and there are many) should be shot (with a tshirt canon loaded with shiit). Enough.

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Why so many seemingly intelligent people kiss his ass is beyond me. There are so many WEAK people out there.

Stand up for something, will you???
There are very few people innTrunp-World like the Secretary of the Navy who are willing to stand up for something. He screens them out one way or another.

In my mi d, anyone who allows thenself to be screened IN to Trump-World is DISQUALIFIED.

I'm looking at you, Nikki Haley!!!
No way!

B.A. Bearacus said:

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SHS states that T reads more than anyone she knows. Any Republican who believes that (and there are many) should be shot (with a tshirt canon loaded with shiit). Enough.

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Once a LIAR, always a liar.