Bernie is a NATIVE NEW YORKER! C'mon New York, you can welcome home a Native Son..

[Ken Burch]

46. There is nothing militarily we can do in Syria. We all know it.

Just defeating ISIS(which is probably impossible) wouldn't change anything. The other armed factions in Syria differ only in degree from ISIS's values. None are feminist, none offer a program of actual change, and none think that gay people deserve to live.

And there is no armed faction in Syria that is fighting for anything but power for itself.

And getting rid of Assad would do nothing at all to stop ISIS.

We should focus just on humanitarian work in the world now. Just doing good rather than doing harm.

As regards to the Thirties...we should have refused to ever recognize Hitler as the leader of the German government, withdrawn the recognition of Mussolini that Harding, Coolidge and Hoover extended, economically blockaded those countries starting in 1933 rather than 1938(when it was already too late to matter), supported the Spanish Republic, and taken in all refugees from fascism and Naziism(including every Jewish person in Europe), while organizing the able-bodied among them into anti-fascist militias.

Those steps would have brought down Hitler, prevented the Holocaust, and made World War II completely unnecessary.

As for the present, we could freeze Saudi, Turkish(Turkey and the House of Saud pretty much underwrite ISIS) and Syrian assets in the U.S, and take in the Syrian refugees until the fighting stops. Those steps are bound to be much more effective than anything military we are doing or might do.

There are a lot of ways to be present in the world, to play an active role in the world, without killing people.

We can't do anything militarily in Syria but make life worse.