Trump Thread 2.0

[z31maniac]

I'm saying both are truthful, that scenario 1 is true, but if it took place that scenario 2 is also a reality, because...

You cannot simply look to the numbers of folks in uniform and imply those are the numbers who will be fighting, it's nowhere near that high. Without getting into specifics I can tell you the number of rifles even available to non-combat arms types is terrifying low, it would be straight out of Enemy at the Gates "follow the guy with the rifle". I can't find concrete numbers, but including both Army and Marines you have somewhere in the neighborhood of 100k infantry troops. That's a lot of troops yes, but it's a still a 1:3250 ratio of troop to civilian. That's 2000 troops per state, thin those numbers out to protect places like air wings who couldn't protect themselves against a few dozen angry militia, and you've got a very bad situation for anyone in uniform.

Good points. I didn't consider just how many of the armed forces are there for logistical support and not actually on the front lines.

[frankenbeemer]

2. The assumption that small arms possessed by the US population would be an effective deterrent against the most powerful military in the world.




If the "government" wanted to impose true tyranny, martial law, whatever you want to call it, they wouldn't come with some half-assed 4% of the military, they would come with the majority of it. And it would be easy to crush whatever resistance, and the rest would fall in line.

Or they would never do it, and the point of the 2A is moot. Hence my earlier point about circular logic.

Indeed, only in recent months have we seen the brutal suppression of the Chinese student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. It should not surprise us that some NRA sympathizers have presented that situation as an abject lesson to those who unthinkingly support the prohibition of private gun ownership. "[I]f all Chinese citizens kept arms, their rulers would hardly have dared to massacre the demonstrators... The private keeping of hand-held personal firearms is within the constitutional design for a counter to government run amok... As the Tianamen Square tragedy showed so graphically, AK 47's fall into that category of weapons, and that is why they are protected by the Second Amendment." 95 It is simply silly to respond that small arms are irrelevant against nuclear armed states; Witness contemporary Northern Ireland and the territories occupied by Israel, where the sophisticated weaponry of Great Britain and Israel have proved almost totally beside the point. The fact that these may not be pleasant examples does not affect the principal point, that a state facing a totally disarmed population is in a far better position, for good or ill, to suppress popular demonstrations and uprisings than one that must calculate the possibilities of its soldiers and officials being injured or killed.

Sanford Levinson


University of Texas at Austin School of Law

Reprinted from the Yale Law Journal, Volume 99, pp. 637-659



Entire article here (worth reading even if the NRA won't like some of his conclusions):

http://constitution.org/mil/embar2nd.htm

[Massive Lee]

Interesting how this thread turned into another gun thread. Oh well. This is Murica.

But more on the subject is the dissolution of the Trump Foundation. ;-)

Can't wait to hear Trumpsters on this subject. ;-)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/18/trump-foundation-shutdown-lawsuit

Trump Foundation to shut down after lawsuit exposes ‘pattern of illegality’. New York attorney general says charity functioned ‘as little more than a checkbook to serve Trump’s business and political interests’

The attorney general had claimed the charity was used as a “piggy bank” to boost Trump Sr’s 2016 presidential campaign, violating rules that bar not-for-profit groups from engaging in certain types of political activity.

The suit claimed that up to $3m in such funds boosted Trump’s campaign. Among examples of improperly used funds is the allegation that the charity spent $10,000 on a giant painting of Trump himself.

[decay]

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/19/678150756/reports-white-house-intends-to-pull-u-s-troops-from-syria

we throw the kurds under the bus so often, they must have worked out the schedule by now

[parkerbink]

Where's Trump's MISSION ACCOMPLISHED carrier photo op?????

[parkerbink]

Whelp there goes the need for a wall...


'Disturbing' new tactics: Mexican cartels use ultralight aircraft to smuggle illegals into U.S.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/19/ultralight-aircraft-used-smuggle-illegals-mexico-u/

[R3Z3N]

Where there is a will there is a way. Just don't give up and let them get their drivers license legally in CA! ;-)

[parkerbink]

Looks like the boss is giving Trump a good eval this year!
Vladimir Putin Welcomes U.S. Withdrawal From Syria

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/world/europe/putin-trump-syria.html?emc=edit_na_20181220&nl=breaking-news&nlid=56370841ing-news&ref=headline

[parkerbink]

Adios Mattis.

Trump announces Mattis will leave as defense secretary at the end of February

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-announces-mattis-will-leave-as-defense-secretary-at-the-end-of-february/2018/12/20/e1a846ee-e147-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6b4e24ea0fa2

[decay]

"fuck you, i'm out" -mattis

[parkerbink]

"fuck you, i'm out" -mattis

Yup.


He said Trump deserves a Sec Def whose views are better aligned with yours.

[decay]

probably has something to do with how drumpf deployed a brigade-sized element of troops, during the holiday season, as a media show-of-farce.

i honestly wish he'd stuck it out, because he was a stabilizing influence in the current regime, but i get why he didn't.

[parkerbink]

I'm pretty sure Syria was the last straw.

[gwb72tii]

probably has something to do with how drumpf deployed a brigade-sized element of troops, during the holiday season, as a media show-of-farce.

i honestly wish he'd stuck it out, because he was a stabilizing influence in the current regime, but i get why he didn't.

It’s not our fight.

Interesting how you two left wingers now argue, in essence, for unending war.

[parkerbink]

It’s not our fight.

Interesting how you two left wingers now argue, in essence, for unending war.

Funny how you can't respond without derogatory characterizations.

Also, if we stop them there they don't come here, also, we are keeping Iran out & stopping them from helping Hezbollah, also, also, also, we guaranteed the Kurds we would not do this.