General Discussion
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(16,884 posts)Blecht
(3,803 posts)Retweet that with:
#TrumpHatesOurMilitary
#TrumpHatesVets
#TrumpResignNow
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Cha
(296,775 posts)Blue Owl
(50,238 posts)Trump needs to be destroyed. DESTROYED.
a kennedy
(29,606 posts)NCjack
(10,279 posts)I hope all who have special sad dates like Howard demand to know where Donald-fuck-about was on that date.
dalton99a
(81,386 posts)Illumination
(2,458 posts)RVN VET71
(2,689 posts)of his make-believe bone-spurs?
Illumination
(2,458 posts)HAB911
(8,867 posts)lame54
(35,259 posts)dalton99a
(81,386 posts)ProudProgressiveNow
(6,129 posts)sarge43
(28,940 posts)Condolences sir.
Hekate
(90,537 posts)Illumination
(2,458 posts)military service, still value their sacrifices, commitments, & mourn their passing...
NNadir
(33,457 posts)That was tragic, I'm sure, and I'm also sure the pain never went away, as it can't.
I need less than that to give that awful beast Trump a Fuck you, but I appreciate the good doctor doing so with far more justification.
coti
(4,612 posts)sarchasm
(1,011 posts)... and I mean that in the best and most enthusiastic way.
RussellCattle
(1,529 posts)2naSalit
(86,308 posts)I come from a family of six generations serving in the military including currently. And I have been a civil servant for different agencies, I have been offended by that cad since he took office.
Raven
(13,877 posts)blue-wave
(4,342 posts)The memory of my grandmother collapsing as the military gave their gun salute at my uncles funeral is forever etched in my mind.
Fuck You! Trump
Nevilledog
(50,984 posts)usaf-vet
(6,161 posts)..... doesn't suffer from those who will want to stop by someday and say goodby.
Nevilledog
(50,984 posts)usaf-vet
(6,161 posts)Definitely NOT in a veteran's cemetery. Maybe if things go right it will be in a paupers cemetery on the island off of New York City.
Nevilledog
(50,984 posts)usaf-vet
(6,161 posts).....down toilet. With adequate necessities including running water to flush and a sink wash your hands.
Sorry, I forgot the females of the species don't like him any more than the males of the species.
Nevilledog
(50,984 posts)RVN VET71
(2,689 posts)They openly mocked John Kerry's 3 Purple Hearts at the 2004 Convention. Their disrespect for the military was displayed with purple bandaids in the shape of a heart. With 4 months in combat, Kerry was wounded 3 times and won the Silver Star. The GOP -- at George W. Bush's -- remember how he protected Texas from the V.C.? -- nominating convention. They mocked and insulted Kerry and his service and I have despised them, every fucking one of them ever since. But I'm not partisan about this. Someone posted somewhere, maybe DU, that McCain was cozying up to his Vietnamese captors and I challenged the post and suggested that the post-er never mock a man who sacrificed and suffered for his country.
But these people, these hateful people here, these low life scum bags, still make me sick to my stomach. It's not just Trump, dammit, it's the whole damned party, and has been for the past 20 years at least.
ffr
(22,665 posts)Lasher
(27,533 posts)flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)I know it is too early to tell, but damn. This might be the scandal that finally does this f**ker in.
BigBearJohn
(11,410 posts)ffr
(22,665 posts)cp
(6,615 posts)My heart has been heavy since I read the Atlantic article. This made me cry.
bucolic_frolic
(43,027 posts)Trump overturned a hornet's nest, and the episode is reaching public awareness at this crucial time before the election. I doubt the timing is by accident. Patriots are closing ranks, saying in effect, no four more.
BootinUp
(47,053 posts)coti
(4,612 posts)My god. Now that is some fucking righteous anger.
AlexSFCA
(6,137 posts)we need more of that. tired of constant rationalizations of trump.
MerryBlooms
(11,756 posts)dsp3000
(482 posts)They recovered deans brother's body and Howard Dean personally thanked all of them. Nothing but respect for Dean and for that agency!
BumRushDaShow
(128,372 posts)Dean's sentiment is rippling through the military community - notably the families who lost loved ones.
KatyaR
(3,445 posts)I had forgotten this. That asshole in the WH has put his foot in his mouth one time too many.
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)Ty for sharing!
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
crickets
(25,951 posts)There are so many who lost loved ones who served and have had the painful wound of loss ripped open again by trump's callous words and actions. Good for Howard Dean for calling him out.
bdamomma
(63,791 posts)more nails in your coffin. You bastard.
Cha
(296,775 posts)DFW
(54,268 posts)A friend of mine worked with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency until his retirement from the Pentagon some ten or so years ago. He passed away two years ago, and was widely known for something he in reality was not. His last active years were spent looking for closure for the families of Vietnam (etc.) MIAs. Though best known as a radio announcer in Saigon in the 1960s (the portrayal of him by Robin Williams in a movie had almost nothing to do with what really happened), Adrian said that his most rewarding posting was that last one.
qanda
(10,422 posts)😂 But, it was well said.
denem
(11,045 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)I have the highest respect for Dr. Dean but the fact is that while many Americans were executed in Laos it was all done by the Pathet Lao and always against the wishes of the North Vietnamese who wanted to keep the POWs alive so that they could be traded for prisoners and for public relations reasons.
It is a common trope to accuse the North Vietnamese of these actions but our government has long admitted in secret documents that the North pressured the Pathet Lao to stop executing Americans as is detailed in this unclassified document:
https://www.loc.gov/item/powmia/pw003473/
To understand why the Pathet Lao executed Americans it is important to understand the context of US operations in Laos. The United States dropped more tonnage of bombs on Laos than any other country in history, including Germany during WWII:
http://legaciesofwar.org/about-laos/secret-war-laos/#:~:text=From%201964%20to%201973%2C%20the,country%20per%20capita%20in%20history.
From 1964 to 1973, the U.S. dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos during 580,000 bombing missionsequal to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history
Unfortunately, as can happen in war, mistakes were made when you drop bombs more than 500,000 times. President Obama extended sympathy to the Laotian people and offered assistance in clearing up hundreds of thousands unexploded ordnance. The US estimates that more than 20,000 Laotian civilians have been hurt or killed by unexploded bombs. Only 1% of the area covered by these unexploded bombs has been cleared.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37286520
When the CIA bombers (not the Air Force) made an error and accidentally bombed a suburb in Vientiane with massive loss of life the Pathet Lao executed 74 American POWs and warned the US that further bombing of civilian areas would result in additional executions.
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000119211.pdf
As noted above the North Vietnamese were not only not executing Americans in Laos they were pressuring the Pathet Lao to stop executing them.
The story and execution of Charles Dean is well documented, he was a back packer who accidentally drifted on a raft into Laotian territory (the area is very close to where the Thai football team got trapped and saved in the cave).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Charles_Dean_and_Neil_Sharman
My guess is that a local Pathet Lao either killed them because of personal animus because he had lost relatives to the bombing or that they died during some ham handed interrogation effort. Charles was not a serviceman nor with the CIA (the CIA had a small army of Hmong in Laos and had no need of an American who didn't speak the language, nor would they have used a raft to infiltrate Laos as they had a very large "secret air force" called Air America that controlled the air over Laos.
Interesting side note is that while we didn't have diplomatic relations with North Vietnam the United States never broke relations with Laos and maintained a small consulate in the country.
Charles Dean death is a sad event, especially for the Dean family but he was not executed by the North Vietnamese. Whenever you see a story about Americans "executed" by the North Vietnamese it is almost certainly a short hand reference to events in Laos which the NV did not control.
calimary
(81,085 posts)Ive loved him since I first heard/heard about him in 2004.
I remember that cool campaign button of his, Dean for America with the rainbow. I actually wore it around on my shoulder bag strap, and I ordinarily dont ever do that. But I was out in the open about him. A woman even came up to me asking about that campaign button and where she could get one. I kept it, and kept the matching bumper sticker in my cars back window even after John Kerry got the nomination. And I actively supported Kerry from then on, but my heart still belonged to Howard Dean.
STILL love my Howard. The doctor is STILL and very definitely IN!