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Saigon was falling. President Ford was playing golf. By March 1975, the situation in Vietnam, and South Vietnam specifically, was dire. Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu, the last in a long line of military dictators propped up by the United States was, according to historian Edward Rasen, “making decisions based on his daily astrological chart, while Graham Martin, U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, had terminated daily CIA briefings, threatened to ‘cut the balls off’ CIA Saigon station chief Tom Polgar, and was becoming increasingly detached from the reality on the ground.” Amid the rapidly accumulating military losses in South Vietnam, President Gerald Ford was in Palm Springs, California, on an eight-day Easter holiday. Staying with his golfing buddy, Fred C. Wilson, founder of the Trans World Insurance Company, Ford played several rounds of golf, including one with Bob Hope, Leon Parma and William G. Salatich, president of the Gillette Company. On March 31, 1975, Ford dodged reporters by breaking out into an all-out sprint when asked by a reporter what he was doing about the “military losses of the South Vietnam Government,” according to a report by the New York Times. Receiving a report on April 5 from Gen. Fred Weyand, Army chief of staff and former commander of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), who had just departed Saigon after assessing the situation, the president was told amid the luxe background of Palm Springs that “the current military situation is critical and the probability of the survival of South Vietnam as a truncated nation is marginal at best.” Just 19 days later, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissenger, in an urgent cable to Graham Martin, U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, wrote that his “ass isn’t covered. I can assure you I will be hanging several yards higher than you when this is all over”... Full article at title link

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Define "realistic way." It's a fairly ironic thing for you to say considering that in two posts you make this suggestion: Exactly which system do you exist under? Are you suggesting that the legislature create a new form of the judiciary that is not subject to appeal or review? Would this fast track system exist without a path to the supreme Court? Exactly what is a "fast track court" and how much funding do they require? Do the Republicans get to pick the judges for these courts? Would the illegal immigrants still have the right to taxpayer-funded legal counsel? Are we going to fund "fast track attorneys" to handle this process? There certainly aren't enough public defenders to handle 20 million immigration cases "quick(er)", so would these fast-track attorneys be required only two weeks of law school instead of the full 3 to 4 years? Personally, I love the idea of an immigration court with no right to appeal and Trump-selected judges that will run through ~ 5,000 cases per day. Unfortunately, even then it would take 11 years with no holidays or weekends to process the 20 million illegal immigrants floating around our country. Now, who's not addressing things in a realistic way again? There is, flat out, no realistic way to provide millions and millions of illegal immigrants the due process that we would consider constitutional for an American citizen. That is an inescapable reality. The progressives are making this argument because they know the only solution under this context is amnesty, because we will bankrupt ourselves before we are able to process that many people through our current legal system. As I said before, I am 100% in support of due process for any illegal immigrant that we are attempting to put into prison. But sending you back to the country you came from is not punishment. It is simply a response, and a rational one. And if you as an illegal alien parent decide to take your American citizen child (anchor baby) with you, that is not equivalent to deporting an American citizen. That is a mother choosing to stay with her child. There is a very real debate around the criminal illegal aliens that we sent to a Salvadorian prison. Unless they were Salvadorian in the first place, in which case, I don't care what El Salvador does with them once we sent them back. That tactic needs Supreme Court review. You just don't like the answers you're getting. That doesn't equal dodging the question.

Valid, and it also describes 99% of the gov, regardless of political affiliation. The whole lot of congress is mostly rhetoric and nil action. It’s all about elections and not about getting shit done, whether R, D, or I.

You're almost doing the meme! I would prefer the United States not be flooded with third world immigrants, regardless of their legal status or propensity for crime. The illegal ones certainly shouldn't be rewarded with a fast-track to permanent residency or citizenship. They should be removed swiftly. The more people from those regions come to my country, the more my country will resemble the places those immigrants are fleeing from. Naturally, I don't want that. Presenting the bipartisan border bill proposed in 2024 as a meaningful solution to the illegal immigration crisis immediately discredits you as either uninformed or bad-faith, I don't know which. Did you read the language of the bill itself or just the headlines at the time? It would have permitted thousands of daily border crossings without any enforcement mechanism, given immigration jurisdiction to partisan courts, and more. We do have a Republican president and legislature, though. You're right about that. And the fact that they aren't working together to pump out legislation to solidify and implement the political will of the American electorate is part of the reason that I would never in a thousand years call myself a Republican or conservative.

I replied to him with a specific opinion on a specific subject one page back & got no response, so your accusation is invalidated. Instead he (or she!) is creating composite narratives with which to argue; a bad faith tactic and one for which there is no need since real people with opinions are right here. This is a fun page with lots of cool folks holding diverse perspectives yet shared experiences. It's priceless really. However trolls are sand in the gears and must be purged. Not saying this dude is one (you certainly aren't) but I am saying this conversational practice is a red flag, hence my sharper than normal rebuke.

There's only one office forcing this to be a constitutional crisis. The Rs have 2 of 3 levers of govt. They could fund a fast track courts to go through these quick(er). but as we saw the the R border bill in 2024, it's better to scream about it in the news than actually solve the problem.

No, I hated Obama's use of drones and splattering citizens. Impeachable. Opens the door to anyone getting called a terrorist and being disappeared...kinda like the rhetoric we're starting to hear now. "Mass invasion" is interesting wording. We have a refugee process that should be followed and funded to operate. A Venezuela refugee fleeing a communist dictator warms my Reagan-era heart. Non-violent illegals here wanna cut my grass, build houses and make baller tacos? I'm down, let's fund the process to make them not-illegal. Violent ones, here and coming here? GTFO.

Like you'd address it in a realistic way if he did.

Well said. Banzai your post is boring and your thoughts shallow. Is there a specific thing you want to talk about or is this general purpose amalgam condemnation?

Dodged a couple massive bullets regarding those two.

I was projecting.

Why? Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Negative Dibs Visual friendly, Tally tagert, right side open fire.

Many wins chalked up, but for now, today, this is my favorite:

The pilots at Selfridge have to be psyched to get the upgraded -15 over fat Amy.

Also no one here is defending any of the shit that he's crying about. Which gets to the real point, he's just upset that we don't care as much about those things as he does. Combining the arguments of 30 different people, and then layering on conservative news media as though that somehow represents the views of anyone here, then combining all of that into one hyper-conservative Boogeyman, and naming it "you guys." And then getting upset that no one is willing to take up the mantle of the fictional debate opponent he's created. Like, what am I supposed to say about Pam Bondi's obviously stupid tweet? Politicians have been overstating their accomplishments for as long as I've been alive plus a few thousand years. Yawn.

Your moral superiority cup runneth over today. bravo

The projection, defensiveness, and grasping for straws is simultaneously hilarious and sad. Not to mention how the standard “defense” is literally whataboutism. It’s also funny how the whole group is desperately in search of “good” pieces of news to upvote and cling to, even when they aren’t good at all lmao (because let’s be honest, you guys are struggling - egg prices, really?). It’s gotten to the point where there’s no use in feeling annoyed or upset at the obvious disconnect from reality - you just feel bad for the bros who have found themselves trapped in a cult. There’s so many examples of this in action. Like in the last week how the cult - who was rightfully upset at Bidens mental downfall (this was bad and should be criticized) - is incapable of addressing similar behaviors in their own party. These include obvious false statements (the fact that the admin openly proclaims that egg prices are “down 93%”, that gas is less than $2 a gallon, and that groceries are “cheaper”), obvious classified leak double standards, or statements like the admin quadrupling down that Abrego Garcia’s knuckles LITERALLY say “MS 13,” not “interpreted.” If you’ve ever seen Beyond the Curve, it’s that. The earth must remain flat, because they can’t say it’s not without severe social repercussions. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” I challenge those of you that can to reassess some of your core assumptions and to think more critically about not just if things are true but why they are said? Why is the AG pushing a narrative that fentanyl policies literally saved a third of the population from death? Maybe it’s just a misinterpretation? Hmm.

I'm fine (and in favor of) more punishment based on the outcome of the infraction. But at a minimum I want a permanent loss of license based on the decision. If a guy gets 2 DUI's for driving his tractor down an empty country road and never hits anyone or anything, he doesn't deserve jail for life. But he shouldn't drive anymore, ever again. Can the Mods spin this out into a thread called "DUI law" to keep this thread focused on the hero we lost?

I just flew a trip with one of their previous CC's and he mentioned that Whitmar was working a deal with Trump to get some new iron (he assumed 35s). I was actually surprised they didn't get the 35 instead of either MSN or BTV. MTC has local support and they have the Alpena Complex just 50 NM north, which is one of the largest airspace complexes in the US. Giving it to the BTV and MSN, where the locals have a vocal disdain for the military/noise, with ok airspace, never really made sense. I've flown at both and was shocked at what they have to do to keep the neighbors happy. Of course I was used to have locals stop me because they were upset that we don't fly low/loud enough around their house. Of course that was after they picked up our bill before we could pay for our lunch. Love the red blooded Americans in the Midwest. For a good laugh/cry, google VT Digger F-35, that news outlet really has it out for the 35s.

Fifty years ago today, on April 30, 1975, the Fall of Saigon occurred with North Vietnamese forces capturing Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam marking the end of the Vietnam War. The city was subsequently renamed Ho Chi Minh City. This day is most remembered for the chaotic evacuation of American personnel and South Vietnamese allies, symbolizing the conclusion of a long and contentious conflict. Footnote: There have been a lot of similarities noted between this day and the fall of Kabul in 2021...