Scott Ritter allegedly kicked off flight to Russia; passport seized

[maspaha]

20. Interesting perspective on human behavior...Foul Language Warning!

First a warning about my mood today. I fucking hate MAGAts and Republicans. I lost my St. Bernard yesterday and a fucking huge black Ford pick up truck with Trump stickers on it “road raged” me while I was rushing to get him to the ER vet.Truck dude was pissed because an old silver haired lady driving a 19 year old Honda Civic blew past him on a left turn he was trying to prevent me from making. Can we all just appreciate the power of a manual transmission coupled with 48 years of driving experience. That and DO NOT fuck with me when the life of my loved ones is involved.

So OK, here goes….I absolutely do NOT condone Scott Ritter’s actions, however, I think FarPoint has some interesting insight on his behavior.

Scott Ritter was literally born and raised in the military where nasty, shady shit happens all the time. Killing is always wrong…except when powerful people want to take, to steal, to loot everything of value from those less powerful, less fortunate (looking at you Bush family with your corrupt CIA connections and your oil (Operation Iraqi Freedom) interests), then sure, go kill every body. The military protects women and children…except when military leadership looks the other way or blames the victims when they’re assaulted. Do you know the rate of sexual assault among women enrolled in the military academies by their fellow “soldiers” (that’s why I forbid military recruiters to interact with my daughter in high school; she graduated at 17 and was just what they wanted, an accomplished athlete and academic with NO money for college; I was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer, when she was 10 years old, before the ACA passed when our health insurance deductible was $12,000 per year…it was a pissy decision to make, spend HER college fund and live or I die). What about domestic violence in the military? And that shit’s just the tip of the hypocrisy iceberg.

BTW, can someone please fucking explain to me why Wernher von Braun was treated as royalty in the US rather than executed as a war criminal? On second thought, don’t try explaining. I don’t even want to understand. And I’m an engineer; I fucking love math & physics. For me, the blood on von Braun’s hands washes away his academic contributions. Yeah, yeah, life is shades of gray, I know. I accept it’s there, I just don’t want to look at it.

The hypocrisy and the abuse of power that defines a military led by corrupt humans chews up and spits out the very soul of those soldiers who literally trust that leadership their lives. Once that soldier’s trust is betrayed what happens? I doubt Ritter could even judge moral right from wrong after his time “serving” his country.

Please, make no mistake, Ritter’s abuse of children is disgusting and vile and SHOULD be punished. BUT, and a big fat BUT, why weren’t Ritter’s peers and his “employer” not providing any psychological/psychiatric support to him? Yeah, I know, he didn’t ask. But, (yeah, another but) I think many of us have seen the difficulties of transitioning from the military’s structured life where most decisions are made for you, to the unstructured life of civilians (pardon the fuck out of me for wanting to decide when, how and with whom I’d like to start a family but, ya know, we can trust a woman flying a fighter jet armed with missiles but we can’t let her make her own family planning decisions) and that’s without a fucking war (oh, I’m sorry Congress never declared war). Damn, look at people coming out of prison; don’t most of them go back? But mental health services cost money and the Republicans can’t spend money on…Oscar Mike Foxtrot Gulf (translate…Oh My Fucking God) helping PEOPLE!?!

These soldiers, these heroes that the Republicans LOVE when they’re all clean and shiny in their uniforms but are embarrassed by and turn their backs on when those same soldiers come back dirty, filthy and broken from the war the Republicans fucking started.

I intellectually understand why the US has and needs a military and I’m grateful there are folks that do that job. BUT, my conscience and my heart will not allow me to participate. I got a damn MS in engineering to defer my student loans because I would not in good conscience work for the blood thirsty defense contractors (thanks Ronald Reagan) recruiting me, offering me a job, sight unseen, with only a posting about me on the job board in the engineering admin office, a chick (check that box and keep the ca$h flowing) with a BSME, a commercial pilot rating and A&P license. Thankfully, I ended up getting on with a startup cargo airline before spending more years starving to pay off student loans working at the commuters. But not everyone is as stubborn as me.

Maybe Ritter followed in the “family business” because the military crushes the creative thinking skills of some folks to see a different career path. Or maybe the military turned Ritter into a creepy bastard and then disposed of him when he was no longer useful to them.

I don’t mean this to be a military bashing response. I truly respect and admire folks serving and who have served. And I have spent a great deal of time among former military (I worked with pilots and mechanics) as well as active military (I almost married a sweet submariner who disappeared under the water for months at a time). They are among the best people in the world. I mean it to be a Republican bashing response to the damage, perhaps caused to Scott Ritter, by the Republicans!

That is all now. Please be gentle in your responses. I am grieving the unexpected loss of my 6 1/2 year old St. Bernard (and if you know them, you know why they’re called Saints) to previously undiagnosed hemangiosarcoma. Fuck every cancer. I’m gonna go wash my mouth and fingers out with soap now.