State of the Union - pre/post election & whatever...

[President Chelsea Clinton]

Anyone remember that we were going to get out of Afghanistan?

Fake news!

Yeah. I'll probably be dealing with it too, after I take over from President Tom Hanks.

[McKinstry]

Anyone remember that we were going to get out of Afghanistan?

I think that was supposed to happen after Mexico paid for the Wall.

Or maybe right after Obamacare was replaced with something much better covering more stuff for much less cost.

[Guest]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8mduTEvnU0

[General Apathy]

Oh, but their only purpose is to defend counter protesters!
https://revolutionaryabolition.org/political-framework/

What we find the need to articulate here is that the political situation in the US–while increasingly violent and volatile, and rapidly developing–is a clear continuation of the policies that have been enacted since the Civil War. Essentially, the Civil War never ended. The struggle against chattel slavery, from neighborhoods demolished by the ‘war on drugs’ to the prison-industrial apparatus, and resistance to US expansion across the continent is the same war being waged today in another form. The primary question, then, is how do we organize to abolish slavery, and stop the expansion of the slave-project?

The State, in complicity with white supremacist organizations, has done everything in its capacity to ensure that the relations of slavery were entrenched in US political, social, and economic life. In doing so it ensured that its slave populace, and other targeted populations, would remain in bondage, trapped in its carceral apparatuses. In reaction to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the rise of a black man to the height of its political machine, coupled with the decline of US imperial power in the 21st Century, hegemonic power birthed the only logical solution to preserving its dominant grip: a fascist movement to take control of the State. The ascendance of Donald Trump to power is the natural outcome of the white supremacist state.

It is in this context that a revolutionary political movement must reawaken. We cannot just rely on the movements of the recent past. We must look at the beginning of the struggle against slavery to properly orient our actions, while also adapting models from the successful revolutionary projects of our own time.

History will judge the decisions we make today, and the targets of our ire have never more clear. Will we standby and watch as the State continues to confine millions in its detention camps? Will we allow another Mike Brown or Akai Gurley to be murdered in cold blood? Will we permit the ethnic cleansing of thirteen million people through industrial-scale deportation? As Mumia Abu Jamal exclaimed about Tamir Rice, “When a child dies, adults don’t deserve to breathe their stolen air.” Will we deserve to breathe while knowing that millions of people are still enslaved in our midst? Our historical mission is clear. We must burn down the American plantation once and for all.

You can buy your very own (We really aren't peace loving defenders, we just want to) Burn Down the American Plantation:
Soft-Cover Book

Burn Down the American Plantation lays out the entire political framework of the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement. This soft-cover book is 5x7 inches and 96 pages of revolutionary history, theory and logistics

$12.00 USD Paypal accepted.

Oh, and this "we're only defenders" is also "and we really aren't alt-left because there isn't one"

[Guest]

Remember, if you respond and reply to him, or engage with him in anyway, he'll only carry on.
Ignore him.
No matter how provoked and inspired you feel to comment. No matter what killer put down you think you've got.
He thrives on attention.
If you want to get to him, then ignore him.
Completely blank him.
Be strong.
And know that it winds him up something rotten. You win by ignoring him.

[Monkeyborg]

I win.

[General Apathy]

Anyone remember that we were going to get out of Afghanistan?

I sure do. Posted pre-election in various threads in various places and stand by the following.

Unless in response to an attack where short term immediate action is needed (and would require congressional approval to continue) we don't engage militarily unless there is an actual US interest, and the following are true.
1. We can clearly define why we are there.
2. We can clearly define our objectives.
3. Those objectives must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. As such we will know when we have met our objectives.
4. We will have plans in place in case "ground truth" changes and adjustments need to be responded to
5. We will have exit criteria for our departure
6. We will have an exit strategy such that we don't leave the remnants of a bull in a china shop as we did in Iraq nor a vacuum as we did in Libya.
7. Once we commit, we will remain committed to those objectives and be willing to pay the price in blood and money to achieve them. If not, you shouldn't be doing this anyways.

While not dictating to the military how to approach things, many instances can be dealt with quickly with overwhelming force, and when true, that may bring the quickest resolution.

If we only get "stuck in" under those circumstances, we are far less likely to get stuck in, or to get stuck like Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby from "Song of the South" (1950's Disney)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oAPWPsgR9g so remniscent of how we've done military intervention far too often.

And yes, the entire "Song of the South" is full of racial stereotyping you'd expect from the '50s. But this particular event is IMHO well illustrative of US foreign policy as seen most recently in Afghanistan

[General Apathy]

Remember, if you respond and reply to him, or engage with him in anyway, he'll only carry on.
Ignore him.

1. You couldn't. You lose.
2. Ignoring the post doesn't change the truth of it. You lose again.
3. Frothers members don't need Bill NLI "Guest" accounts to tell them how to suck eggs. They already know everything you posted you self-important schmuck. You lose again.
4. +1 Monkeyborg for the ignore, -1 for the truth of the post. We're tied.

[Guest]

Remember, if you respond and reply to him, or engage with him in anyway, he'll only carry on.
Ignore him.

1. You couldn't. You lose.
2. Ignoring the post doesn't change the truth of it. You lose again.
3. Frothers members don't need Bill NLI "Guest" accounts to tell them how to suck eggs. They already know everything you posted you self-important schmuck. You lose again.
4. +1 Monkeyborg for the ignore, -1 for the truth of the post. We're tied.

Reply to yourself not logged in.
That gets around "Ignore".

[rebelyell2006]

He's back after an absence. Did the neighbor's dog finally escape?