CrimsonPermanentAssurance
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Barbara Lee's speech: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbaraleeagainstinvasion.htm
Mar 2, 2026 5:33 PM
CrimsonPermanentAssurance
21651
626
25
Barbara Lee's speech: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbaraleeagainstinvasion.htm
Whenthepiecesaresmalltaketwo
Wow
TheJuiceLoosener
My tribute post to Rep. Lee from a few years ago: /gallery/take-moment-to-recognize-hero-za0nk6A
BrianFarr
Adam Bates has some surprisingly really cool takes for a self-proclaimed right-wing libertarian. He actually walks the walk.
gschally
oh right I forgot how many thousands of troops were lost on the battlefields of Libya and Syria. That's a real reach.
idiotsonfire
Rule of Acquisition #34: War is good for business.
Ac1dBurn72
There's also a wonderful Netflix Documentary series called 'Turning Point - The War on Terror' that goes over some of this. I highly recommend any of the Turning Point documentaries.
Also. They are NOT RELATED to TPUSA in any way, that I can find.
NKato
They're not. But one should at least try to sue the other for trademark infringement so we can stop confusing the two.
the9mm
One of my clients, been around since the 70s, helps individuals with developmental disabilities.
Their name? Turning Point, Inc.
I feel for them. I bet they'd sue if they weren't a non profit
TheSlouchOfBethlehem
Motherfucker starts his own fucking war and the markets are up.
iConfirmAnythingAndEverything
Just wait until gas prices explode and everything screeches to a halt. Its already shooting up. I filled up yesterday in anticipation.. it was 114.9/L yesterday. Went up 20 cents this morning. I expect it to keep trending up as the war prolongs.
Ihatenumbersinusernames
Norwegian north sea oil is up 8% over the last 48 hours, and gas is up 50%, so far.
Grendels2dCousinOnceRemoved
Prices jump b/c of uncertainty of supply. In a few weeks, brokers & speculators will have a "feel" for what's going to happen, short-term to mid-term, & oil prices will fall to the maximum sustainable price. I predict that gas which last week was US$2.50/gal (price near my house) will have shot up to, oh, $3.49/gal, but will ease back to around $2.65 by Memorial Day in late May. People will be so relieved that the widespread anger at the Big Orange will abate. Another distraction pays off.
MyCatsAreTypingThis
Obama and the Dems leveraged the public's disdain for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to win the presidency and controlled all three branches of government. They continued the wars, didn't close Gitmo, didn't repeal the Patriot Act, and basically went Super-George-Bush.
dontrike
That "control of the government" that lasted 6 months?
CrimsonPermanentAssurance
MyCatsAreTypingThis
I'm getting downvoted because people can't admit the Dems had full control and kept Bush's wars and policies in place after campaigning on ending them. Ya it sucks, but that's what happened.
SomeDetroitGuy
Obama asked permission to expand his wars. Congress said no. He did it anyway. I felt at the time and still feel that he should have been impeached for that.
SiameseDream
President Obama sought to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) as part of his efforts to end the ongoing military conflicts that had been authorized under it, particularly in relation to the Islamic State.
LangleyofMappe
reichtwinglunatic
MAKE LIBYA GREAT AGAIN. THANKS OBAMA. fucking war criminal piece of shit. fuck everybody involved in that. fuck you, obama. and i will die on this hill, so fuck you too. And i mean the reader, not the person i am responding to, they seem aight.
ScrotusFezziwig
Incelpissbaby say what
MechKelly
Calm down, take your meds.
Sh1tMovieGroup
Well, least you'll be dead...
SebastianCrab
As prophetic as this speech actually was, I remember the rage and grief that seemed ubiquitous. She was telling the truth, but the country was too upset to listen.
andwings2go
It doesn’t make any sense to me that this speech is only 3 days later. She talks about how there was already a memorial (we were still pulling survivors out of the rubble 3 days later) and we didn’t invade Iraq till 03.
RestlessVagabond
There was a memorial service three days after the attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcYOHNWZ3jQ
SeenItDoneIt
I don't know what "we" you are referring to, but I assure you that some of us were in Iraq in 2002.
andwings2go
The US invasion officially began March 03
xHasten
Idk what memorial she’s referring to; it may have been some impromptu moment of silence or other gathering in the wake of what happened. Regardless, you realize the reason 9/11 happened (other than it being an inside job) was because the US was involved in and proliferated conflict throughout the middle east for decades beforehand, right?
RestlessVagabond
There was a memorial service 3 days after the attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcYOHNWZ3jQ
LazyUsername99
"Officially" being the key word. Basically any of us in the military can tell you that what's on paper and what happened are rarely the same things.
FrancsTireur
Yup, here's a fun game, without naming the countries, how many nations did you serve in that we never had any official presence in?
For me its 9, not counting places we flew over that we werent meant to, cause that'd be like 20+.
taez555
I wonder where history will mark the point/date at which the United States ceased to exist. 2025 seems good. Although 2000 with W getting the Presidency from the SCOTUS might be a contender. Oh well.. I suppose we'll leave that up to the historians to argue about one day. We should at least change our name.
wearecometooutliveourbrains
Some time in 1492. We shouldn't have existed. White dudes are the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.
KPodol
The to rest of the world, never. It's what the US has always been.
unluckyandbored
My vote is October 26, 2001: The date the PATRIOT Act was signed into law. That was the beginning. That was when our rights first began being stripped away in earnest.
Donfolstar
I would argue the death came in waves starting with Reagan. Previous to Reagan, Republicans were dead wrong about many things but you could find common ground with them on most issues. Reagan's election flipped that to wrong on most things and common ground was rare. Bush's sham election in 2000 broke everyone's brains and we've be spiraling deeper and deeper since.
Smartbutnotreally
It started with Reagan IMO
pgdave
Nixon was the clear precursor. And McCarthy before him.
layinginbedfeelinglikeaquesarito
No, 2000 was a slip, but it wasn’t the cause of where we are now. If we want to find the first slips it would be 1776 with the accordance of language, then 1783, then so many and so many more. The biggest slip was allowing Americans to think they were inherently anything other than human. The next slip was allowing that believe to encourage the devaluing of education, don’t need it if you’re the best, right? Christianity/religion was also a problem. This is just a culmination of centuries.
pgdave
Really it all starts at the Big Bang - terrible idea, shouldn't have let it happen.
Navrodel
Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
MikuJess
Jan 6th, no contest.
wejustdontknow
Wayyyyyy before that. When Ford pardoned Nixon, it set a precedent that presidential crimes were irrelevant.
Overextendeddullard
Sounds about right
Wapusk
Five more years and you can be the Balkanized States of America if you really want.
heroesblood
November 2016.
RooGryphon
it ceased to function for the workers but not the rich when nixion was elected. 2016 was the year it ceased compleatly when trump got elected the first time. now its a roge state actting as a puppet for russia and isrial
Snooj
It's funny to me now how bad we thought we had it when GWB was elected a second time.
taez555
It almost seems quaint now.
Snooj
I recently watch the first Hillary/Trump debate (well, parts of it) and even the civility there seemed out of date, especially compared to the Trump/Biden debate.
BeckyLookAtHerButt
When the states are no long united would be a good point for a name change. If you want to qualify that to when the US no longer follows its Constitution and want to change the name of the recognized for of government to something else... you make that point, certainly in 2026.
onychoprion
the 1830s, when Jackson defied the Supreme Court and got away with it. The Constitution has always been a fraud. It was never actually enforced against those who had the power to break it.
RyanH42
It ended the instant you clowns elected him the first time.
taez555
I'm sure we'll learn by the 3rd or 4th time.
somebackup
imo Bush. He didn't win but was awarded the crown anyway. It could have been steered back, but that was not in the dems interest.
wejustdontknow
This is a good point though 1980 was a clear pivot in the country that led to all of that.
somebackup
While the effort to create this situation happened 20 years earlier, I don't know if that can be counted. I guess we'll see when we are on our deathbeds.
TheOldSchoolisBack
Suggestions? “The disunited states that haven’t quite imploded yet of America” is accurate but doesn’t quite have that ring to it.
Crawler4122
The divided states of billionaire land
m4uboy
gilead
unluckyandbored
Take a page from other nations ruled by tyrannical despots. Call it the Free Democratic People's Republic of America.
taez555
The Techno Feudalists and their Child Raping Puppets of America.
Syovere
The collapse of an empire is never instant, it's simply ongoing decay without reversal until at some point, years later, you realize it was already gone and all that lingers is tattered flags and a meaningless name.
Look at Rome. One could argue the Roman empire fell 4 Sept, 476 CE, when the last emperor was deposed - but that wouldn't have been a fatal blow without decades of decay making it such.
1877, if I had to pick a year. End of Reconstruction. Eventually, the slavers won.
Debadguy
One could also say Rome still exists, under a new name and flag. Long live the empire of Finland!!!
MikeRInternetTraveler
Everything we are seeing now is a direct result of the southern states getting slaps on the wrists. Confederate leaders, political and military, should’ve been hanged. Confederate flags and monuments should’ve been outlawed.
pgdave
The slavers winning isn't the ending of the US though, it's just a continuation.
Syovere
Also a fair argument.
ivymantled69
I think it would be beneficial for the US to divide like the Roman Empire did. That way the ideological descendants of the Dixie Confederacy pro-slavers can marinade in their Christo-Fascist pedo empire without the society, science, education, and resources of the rest.
Syovere
The problem with that is the number of innocents that'd be left to die, it's a bit Reaganesque like that. Moving is neither cheap nor easy, and emigration can be a nightmare (which is 90% of why I'm still stuck here). I could support this idea if that were accounted for though.
ivymantled69
I’d bet that the ‘Union’ side would fund relocation - unlike the MAGA side. You’d probably get universal health care and better gun control pretty fast too.
Syovere
I wouldn't bet on it at all. Too many people ostensibly opposed to the fascists are willing to say "serves them right for voting republican", even if the people in question *didn't*.
Lotta bloodlust in this country, unfortunately.
crazyspelling
Real problem is, every state has blue areas and red areas. There are a few close-to-monochromes, but it's not normal. Breaking into 50 states wouldn't solve the problem, it just makes 50 new problems. Maybe break into metro areas, like the old city-states of Italy and Greece. Suburbs could apply to be annexed by the metro or the rural communities as they prefer. Then the Rurals could enact their theocratic methocracies in freedom.
bananabonanza3
Citizens United
elvisdumbledore
agreed
pgdave
What, specifically, about Citizens United do you think was a problem? The ruling was that people are allowed to spend money on political speech - not donating to politicians, not donating to campaigns, just that the law that restricted people from spending their own money making a video of their own political opinions was unconstitutional. It didn't prevent Congress from adding restrictions (so long as they were reasonable) nor did it allow for any donations.
PolitiCat
Yeah, politicians of course will decide to limit the money they can earn from donations...
In what fantasy world are you living?
pgdave
Politicians have already limited how much they can get in donations - are you unfamiliar with the laws that currently exist?
bananabonanza3
Uh, yeah. It’s the decision that means that corporations matter more to politicians than their constituents.
It takes donation limits off of shit, so it lets billionaire fuckers like Musk buy elections and politicians. In what universe do you want our government run by money, not the will of the people.
Begging your pardon, but I think you’re a fucking moron.
pgdave
There are still donation limits - a few thousand per person per race, and about 50k per party per year.
bananabonanza3
Yeah, and who the fuck can afford that but the ultra wealthy? It makes money speak, not people. Who the government NEEDS to be accountable to, not who has the most spare change.
bananabonanza3
Actually, extra context, because you don’t actually know what Citizens United is, it’s the mechanism that has been fucking over American politics for decades.
https://youtu.be/EHD2Ul1pajU?si=Q8mxXlcW3xRVX44W
pgdave
I've read the decision, a few times. I'm *very* familiar with it and what it did.