LiberalRetvrn
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User ID: 1892
LiberalRetvrn
1mo ago
I don't see how that's hard to believe at all. I trust Biden with the nuclear football infinitely more than Hegseth, Trump, Vance, or any of the people in that group chat. Biden may have dementia, but at least he was competent at one point, and at least he's aware of his limitations and would surround himself with advisers who can help him make the right decisions. I am genuinely and deeply concerned that immediate national security issues are being discussed in a group chat where random people are invited.
LiberalRetvrn
1mo ago
Maybe it's impossible, but I don't see the downside of trying. Even if Ukraine loses the war, funding them just means it will take longer and Russia's resources will be more depleted. If Russia is going to end up with more territory, at least we should make them suffer as much as possible for it.
LiberalRetvrn
1mo ago
How much aid would you provide? Weapons? Money?
I would continue the amount we've been providing for the last few years, since that appears to be working fairly well. I think spending $50 billion per year to kick commie ass with no risk to our own troops, and the opportunity to test out new weapons and strategies in modern warfare is a great deal for us.
No-Fly Zone? Air support? Troops on the ground? Nuclear umbrella?
Of course not. Any risk to our troops would negate all the advantages of the current situation.
What is the end-state your policy is aiming for?
To punish Russia for this invasion, and deter future invasions by Russia and China. I think the bare minimum is to prevent Russia from being rewarded for their aggression. They should not receive any territory, and if possible they should lose territory. Ideally they should also be economically and militarily crippled, so we have one fewer adversary to deal with.
Putin deposed?
That would be great, but I don't think it's likely.
Another way of putting it is, do you think your views on the Ukraine war are falsifiable, and if so, what evidence would be sufficient for you to consider it falsified?
Well I guess if Putin suddenly came to his senses, apologized, gave back the territory he stole, and submitted himself to a warcrime tribunal, maybe I would support a ceasefire. Or if the Ukrainian people decided they no longer wanted to fight. Otherwise, I don't see why anything should suddenly change.
LiberalRetvrn
1mo ago
Except that nobody has suggested sending American soldiers to Ukraine. Trump is the one planning to send Americans to disarm every land mine in Gaza.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
Well I didn't say you should care, just that I don't understand how Americans can care about Ukraine less than Israel or other countries that we spend billions defending. Obviously I don't expect religious red tribers to agree with my anti-religious views, but it seems like there should be some common ground in not wanting Europe to be overrun. As much as I'm frustrated by some of Europe's anti-free speech laws, it's still my ancestral homeland.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
You hate people like me. You'll harm us if you can.
Not at all. I do believe in religious freedom. I just don't want to be governed by religious values, especially ones from outside my culture. I take issue with the way Christianity spread throughout the world, often by force, and displaced traditional European religions and atheism, but I don't blame individual christians for that.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
Of course Europe is not a bastion against muslim extremism, but I think that's simply a failure of Europeans being too optimistic about letting in highly religious immigrants, hoping they would be converted to secular values. Russia, however, openly sides with dagestani warlords and invites them to rape and pillage Europe. If I had my way, Europe and the US would be completely rid of both christian and islamic oppression. That's not possible right now, but it could happen someday. Defeating Putin's barbarian orc army is a start.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
Russia is an authoritarian regime that doesn't respect secular liberal values, allies with muslim terrorists, and oppresses its own people. Anyone fighting such a regime, and preventing its incursion into Europe, is defending Western civilization.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
Well, as an American I care deeply about territorial concessions in Ukraine. I don't want russia getting one more inch of land. I want them to be taught a brutal lesson for their aggression. Ukrainian soldiers are fighting for my interests in a much more direct way than American soldiers have in any war since WW2. I don't understand how any American of European descent can care about Ukraine less than Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, or any of the other countries our tax dollars have been squandered on over the years.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
I'm embarrassed and disgusted. We should be the ones thanking Ukraine for doing the dirty work of defending Western civilization for us. All we've had to contribute is $120 billion in weapons that probably would have been thrown away. What an absolute bargain. I'm glad that Zelenskyy held his ground and didn't cave into their petty guilt-tripping bitchfest.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
The CDC says a quarter of high schoolers are LGBT
Except that the vast majority of those are "bisexual" or "pansexual", but are functionally straight in every way. Or nonbinary, but functionally not transgender in any way. It's probably a combination of kids wanting to feel special, and people who are 75% straight now choosing to acknowledge their 25% gayness because the option exists. Either way, it doesn't have any effect on society other than triggering christians.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
No, the alternative is a representative constitutional republic with checks and balances, which has worked for the US and other advanced countries. Direct democracy means that 51% of the people have unlimited power, which invariably leads to disaster. The average person is not smart enough to be making these kinds of decisions.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
Why should doge have access to any classified information? Does Musk have a security clearance? Did congress vote to create doge and decide what its powers will be?
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
People did vote for this, but they shouldn't have been allowed to. This is democracy out of control, something that the constitution was carefully crafted to prevent. Musk is running around shutting down agencies with no accountability to the bureaucracy or the courts. I don't know whether anyone except Trump can actually stop him.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
I strongly prefer helping my own country, town, and family before helping foreigners. But I still support foreign aid to Africa because it's ridiculously effective at saving people. So even though I value the life of random strangers less, it's still a better use of money than letting the military blow it on F-35s or whatever.
LiberalRetvrn
2mo ago
Our best hope is that he's bluffing. I doubt that he really wants to risk being remembered as the guy who caused the great depression of 2025. Maybe within a few days he'll announce that Canada and Mexico made concessions, regardless of whether that's true, and lift the tariffs. And Canada and Mexico will be too scared to contradict him. That would explain him not making concrete demands, as he can now declare victory whenever he wants.
LiberalRetvrn
3mo ago
Hinduism holds it is offense against Dharma possibly requiring being cast out into a lower caste
Examples of barbaric cultures that I would never want to live in aren't really going to convince me. All countries that are remotely civilized protect LGBT rights.
I mean if you like buttsex a lot, thats your thing.
I certainly don't, but I'm not going to have christians and jews telling me what I can and can't do. Secularism is what made America great, and religion is what keeps the middle east a dump.
LiberalRetvrn
3mo ago
"Biology" doesn't care what we do, we all die of something in the end. Technology prevents the spread of STDs a lot more effectively than purity culture. I'm not going to spend my limited time living under christian slave morality.
LiberalRetvrn
3mo ago
His critiques about Afghanistan were pretty unsubstantive. Obviously the Afghanistan war was unwinnable, but he didn't acknowledge whose fault it was that we were there in the first place. He didn't acknowledge the fundamental problem with Bush era foreign policy that got us stuck in those wars. And going further back, why were we ever so involved in the middle east that Bin Laden wanted to attack us? All of this could have been avoided by simply leaving the middle east to sort out its own problems. But Hegseth has an emotional bias at play here - he views the middle east as his holy land. His loyalties are not to the American people, or western civilization, but to his god and Jesus. The title of the book is all you have to read to understand his philosophy, and why he's dangerous.
LiberalRetvrn
3mo ago
There is absolutely nothing "immoral" about sodomy.
LiberalRetvrn
3mo ago
Well, my holy lands are in Europe, not the middle east. I don't care what happens in the middle east as long as we're not too heavily involved. The Abrahamic religions will be fighting each other until they destroy themselves. America should be aspiring to greatness, not religious barbarism.
LiberalRetvrn
3mo ago
Well like I said, I really don't know what Trump's intentions are. Given how easily he seems to be swayed by people around him, I'm definitely worried about Hegseth's influence. I don't know why Trump would appoint him if not to take his opinions seriously. Other than starting a nuclear war, I think putting boots on the ground in the middle east is one of the most catastrophic decisions he could make.
LiberalRetvrn
3mo ago
I was referring to Hegseth's book, "American Crusade", where he justifies the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
LiberalRetvrn
3mo ago
If he wanted to expand the American empire in an advantageous way, that would be one thing. But based on his appointments it seems like we'll be going on a crusade in the middle east rather than actually annexing any valuable territory or defending the West. The fact that he railed against the Iraq war in 2016 makes me think he has no coherent foreign policy or vision. I don't see how someone can flip-flop on that particular issue.
But all of this could be avoided by just ensuring due process before anyone is deported. Why would we intentionally give the federal government this kind of power that could easily be abused? It serves no purpose other than removing a miniscule number of illegal immigrants who have no real effect on anything.
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