Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Brian McFarland

Well, the collective level of intelligence on the forum just decreased by several points.

Agreed, and my guess is Rich washed out of an ICE academy, even though the latter has been selectively advertising for right wing extremists and gun nuts, and hence his "hiatus" from the AM. 

Coming back on topic, Rich, of course, in his "mind", will take the moral high ground and claim, as he did, that Trump is pursuing Maduro for altruistic purposes. So, for example, if the main natural resources of Venezuela was bananas and walnuts and not oil, Trump, in his psycho version of the "Donroe Doctrine", would have gone for it anyway...

"Trump says US will ‘run’ Venezuela, control oil production"

“We’re going to be running it with a group, and we’re going to make sure it’s run properly,” Trump said."

"The president went on to note that the U.S. would also take control of its oil production."

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money..."

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5671157-trump-venezuela-oil-production/

"For the officers who had already been fighting for hours, it had become a ferocious last stand."


"Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, U.S. Capitol Police: The rioters were vicious and relentless. We found ourselves in a violent battle in a desperate attempt to prevent a breach of the Capitol by the entrance near the inauguration stage."

"Officer Michael Fanone, Metropolitan Police Department: The fighting in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel was nothing short of brutal. Here I observed approximately 30 police officers standing shoulder to shoulder, maybe four or five abreast, using the weight of their own bodies to hold back the onslaught of violent attackers. Many of these officers were injured, bleeding and fatigued."

"Officer Abdulkadir Abdi, Metropolitan Police Department: A few people rushed the front of the line, and then that kind of instigated the rest of them to follow suit. At that point, it was just complete hand-to-hand combat, but very little space to maneuver."

"Detective Phuson Nguyen, Metropolitan Police Department: "it escalated into full fighting."

"Officer Daniel Hodges, Metropolitan Police Department: There’s a couple dozen of us in there against, you know, the thousands and thousands outside, and we just held it as long as we could. It was a brutal fight."

"Officer Abdulkadir Abdi, Metropolitan Police Department: "It was just physical, people hitting each other, punching, people with poles, metal poles."

"Officer Abdulkadir Abdi, Metropolitan Police Department: Every about five to 10 minutes, they would switch and then we would end up fighting a new batch of fresh bodies. That just continued on."

"Officer Daniel Hodges, Metropolitan Police Department: It was a battle of inches, with one side pushing the other a few and then the other side regaining their ground."

"Officer Jesse Leasure, Metropolitan Police Department: Someone handed me a pitchfork at one point. It made its way all the way up the stairs. I don’t remember if it was a civilian or an officer, but they said, “I don’t want this being used against you guys.”

It continues:   https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-book-excerpt-trump-32429c15e05de5b1de34fe799ba89882

The plaque honoring the efforts of the officers on that day has been removed from the capitol building, and we know who pardoned all of the perps....

Originally Posted by James Lacey

There is no comparison between the slow buildup of limited US military forces off the coast of Venezuela, a significantly smaller and weaker country than the US in terms of overall military power, economic output, and conventional strength, and the complex and challenging task of removing a large-scale military presence in Afghanistan that had been there for two decades. The only valid comparison is that, oh boy, here we go with yet another foreign regime change adventure that will likely fail and waste god knows how many hundreds of billions of dollars, while Americans can't afford healthcare. America First! Am I right?

Now that we've heard from the oil execs that Venezuela is "uninvestable", the only thing left for Trump to do to avoid looking like an idiot for doing this in the first place is to subsidize the oil companies for going in there and paid for by Americans. He said he intends to do just that. Davis loves that, too...

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Are you still in love with Mamdani?  We Now get to just how wonderful the socialism/ Communism that you crave across the nation works in New York City.  

What's your guess?  Will it be a disaster, or do you think it will result in a booming economy in New York City whereby they don't need any funding from the government?

Or will it result in taking more money from other taxpayers who are productive to fund the non-productive?

Typical whataboutism from dodgeball Davis. In this case, it seems his right wing extremist news sites didn't report the Trump-Mandani bromance meeting in the oval office or Richie didn't bother to read them or has selective amnesia so we'll enlighten him:   
“You know, I met him, he came to the Oval Office, and we’ve had some nice conversations and very good."   "Trump added: “He’s got a great personality, he’s a nice guy."  "Trump, who had called Mamdani a “communist” and threatened to cut off federal funds to his hometown, pivoted in the joint appearance, predicting that the youthful politician “is going to surprise some conservative people, actually.” “I met with a man who’s a very rational person. I met with a man who really wants to see New York be great again….  I think he wants to make it greater than ever before.”

https://nypost.com/2026/01/08/us-news/trump-surprised-mamdani-hit-me-on-venezuela-but-praises-nyc-mayors-great-personality/

My guess on Trump's about face on Mamdani is business: Both want to expand real estate offerings and the only way to do that is build up which means Trump can get a piece of the action with bigger skyscrapers. Business is business...

And, as for Trump's afghanistan pull-out timetable:

"President Trump's timetable for Afghanistan withdrawal evolved, starting with the Doha Agreement in Feb 2020 setting a May 1, 2021 deadline for all U.S. troops to leave, contingent on Taliban commitments. He then accelerated draws downs, aiming for 4,500 troops by late 2020 and even tweeting "home by Christmas!". Ultimately, his administration reduced forces to 2,500 by January 15, 2021, just before leaving office, leaving the final withdrawal to President Biden, who extended the deadline to September 11, 2021."
"President Biden inherited the May 1 deadline but pushed it to September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of 9/11."
"The Trump administration left no detailed plan for the final execution of the withdrawal, according to a Biden White House report."

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

I'll put up the inconvenient facts for you again since you still can't answer the questions.

If there was a timeline which Donald Trump made in Afghanistan, which was in May of that year how is it that Joe Biden was able to arbitrarily move the date that the United States was supposed to leave all the way forward three months to the end of August?

How did that happen if it was set in stone according to people like you, fraudulent leftist hypocrites out there?

Go ahead and enlighten everyone here with your wisdom.  

If the date of withdrawal was set in stone, one just need to look at agreement and see Trump agreed to withdraw from Afghanistan at the end of May, so how did Joe Biden magically move the date forward By 3 full months if that's the only reason he withdrew at that time because he lied and said that he had no choice?

Perhaps you can explain his lie? I will wait you see your next tap dance.

While I won't speak for James and his (accurate) quotation, it seems you have your usual reading comprehension problems since I already noted that :   "President Biden inherited the May 1 deadline but pushed it to September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of 9/11."
"The Trump administration left no detailed plan for the final execution of the withdrawal,..."

So, there is no "lie:".

And of course, you know to a certainty that the same suicide bomber wouldn't have done the same no matter what the date happened to be...

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll

I'm no fan of orange Julius Caesar, but Biden is fully responsible for the exit in Afghanistan. He didn't lack the authority to modify any exit plan, including the timing.

"Yes, President Biden, as the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces, had the constitutional authority to order the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan."

"The President has the power to manage military operations and deploy or withdraw U.S. forces abroad. The 2021 withdrawal was a presidential decision made within the executive branch's authority."  AI

"Biden admin acknowledges mistakes in Afghanistan exit but defends decision to leave"

"President Joe Biden takes responsibility for the outcome, a spokesman said."

"While it was always the president's intent to end that war, it is also undeniable that decisions made and the lack of planning done by the previous administration significantly limited the options available," Kirby said Thursday. "Thus, President Biden's choice was stark: either withdraw all our forces or resume fighting with the Taliban. He chose the former."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/biden-administration-share-reports-afghanistan-withdrawal-congress-official/story?id=98409466#:~:text=Overall%2C%20he%20said%2C%20President%20Joe,6%2C%202023%2C%20in%20Washington.&text=Still%2C%20Kirby%20and%20the%20report,He%20chose%20the%20former.%22

The last paragraph seems particularly relevant given what's happening now with Venezuela...

Since Davis is resorting to his usual whataboutism in comparing a military operation in Venezuela with a war in Afghanistan, it seems to me both he and the mighty-righties in the GOP should do the same in Bush's "Mission Accomplished" madness in Iraq:

"After President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech in May 2003, declaring the end of major combat in Iraq, the majority of U.S. service members killed in the Iraq War died; out of the total of over 4,400 U.S. troop deaths, most occurred in the years following the declaration, with significant casualties continuing for nearly a decade until U.S. combat operations ended." AI

Originally Posted by James Brown

Here is a voice of reason; Alicia Nieves a young, liberal, front-line immigration attorney/activist, (not the journalist of the same name).  She makes a lot of really good and sane points, without defending ICE or Trump at all.  Most compelling perhaps, is the truth that Renee Goode and the other activists disrupting ICE in Minneapolis and elsewhere are not actually helping any immigrants.  Who are they helping?  Anti-Trump politicians and media I suppose.  Hardly worth jeopardizing your safety for, but hey, it provides anti-Trump bona-fides in certain social media circles.    

What do you all think of the Memphis model she describes toward of this longish but compelling article?  https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-pro-immigrant-activism-turned-dangerous/

"Most compelling perhaps, is the truth that Renee Goode and the other activists disrupting ICE in Minneapolis and elsewhere are not actually helping any immigrants."

So, when they blow whistles, honk their horns and alert people of their presence, they're not helping? And when they temporarily block a lane, hold up signs, and yell, none of the latter is really an example of "not helping immigrants," it's called a protest, Jim, just like the thousands did today in Minneapolis, despite the snow and the subzero temperatures.  

And when a school prncipal speaks out like this, it isn't "helping"?    https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/23/us/video/ebof-liam-conejo-ramos-principal-jason-kuhlman

Originally Posted by James Brown

No Rod, obstructing law enforcement is not helping the plight of immigrants one bit.   At best it might defer deportation for a day or a week, but of course it also causes Trump and ICE to redouble their efforts.  Blowing whistles and blocking active law enforcement with your cars and bodies is not “protest”.  It is self indulgent theater.   Protest is fine - carry all the signs you want, and march down any avenue you want, as permitted by the local authorities.  Legitimate protest does not involve blocking active law enforcement.  Everyone should know that.

Blocking law enforcement is worse than unhelpful because it backfires.  You realize that Trump won a majority on the illegal immigration issue.   The riots in Minnesota play right into Trump's hands.  

Did you read the article?

Oh please, they didn't obstruct anyone and if they did, they were arrested,  and when Renee Good tried to drive away, which she had initially been instructed to do, she was shot in the face. And there's nothing wrong with blowing whistles, either. You know WHAT IS WRONG? The SCOTUS decision of a conservative court on Citizens United Vs FTC wherein the cons decided giving as much money anyway you can, i.e. superpacs, somehow constitutes "free speech." And all the dark money and otherwise followed. But in your book, "blowing whistles" isn't free speech or a protest...