Posted on 11/29/2019 8:01:33 AM PST by billorites
The latest hero of the Never Trumpers the ex-secretary of the Navy, Richard V. Spencer is out with an op-ed column on what he learned from getting fired. The answer, it appears, is not much. His column, which appears in the Washington Post, turns out to be an exercise in constitutional misconception, self-righteousness, whinging, bellyaching about his superiors, and tin-eared politicking.
Mr. Spencer, a Marine, was fired Sunday for misleading Secretary of Defense Esper over the case of Chief Petty Officer Eddie Gallagher. The Navy had accused Gallagher of murdering a war prisoner and of more than a dozen serious crimes. It turns out, though, that Gallagher wasnt guilty of murder. A court martial acquitted him of that and all other charges against him save for posing with a corpse.
One would think that all those acquittals would have given Mr. Spencer, as secretary of the Navy, at least some sense of humility. Yet it seems that the only one who gained an early sense that something was wrong with the case against Gallagher was the commander-in-chief. Mr. Trump twice got on the blower with Mr. Spencer to tell him to ease up on the pre-trial conditions in which the accused was being held.
Incredibly, Mr. Spencer boasts that he pushed back. He blames that on the presiding judge in the case, who felt it was important that Gallagher be harshly confined before the trial. Hard to see why that would be, given that Gallagher turned out to be not guilty. We wouldnt suggest that a secretary should be a yes-man. Yet Mr. Spencer seems to be suggesting the president was interfering.
The idea that a president is interfering when hes exercising a constitutionally granted power is one of the constitutional misconceptions under which Mr. Spencer seemed
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
You are a lost cause.
“You are a lost cause.”
Nope, just a 32 year military member both active and civilian (two ways civilian) that has played the game with these animals since as early as the late 70’s and some a little like them in the 60’s. I know how they think and can guess what they are going to do about half the time and they beat me the other half with worse than I imagined. If you haven’t walked the mile, you wouldn’t know the scenery.
I am also knowledgeable in the military justice system and have a strong “rule of law” recognition of reasons for regulation and directives. You do anything for as long as I did and you can get pretty good at it.
My last position was with the DOD doing training of troops in this area we’re speaking of. And I disagree with you in one part of your comment, I don’t want to become a lost cause. And I don’t want innocents to be either. That’s why I disagree with Mr. Trump in his decision. It creates a hornets nest.
rwood
And yet you are still a total lost cause.
What went wrong with you ?
Why do you not respect the US Constitution.
I think you meant to say he moved from Florida to Texas.
He did so after losing his seat as a US House Rep through blatant voter fraud in Broward County FL.
A SecNav is a civilian; not active duty military.
As far as Spencer’s ideas on military discipline are concerned, he should have been focused on how in the world two big expensive boats could have caused accidents that killed 17 sailors.
I cut & pasted that part from Wiki. I think he was Texas prior to Florida, but may have moved back to Texas.
Yes he did get a raw deal in Florida.
“Why do you not respect the US Constitution.”
I am staying within the parameters of the Constitution. I’m disapproving of the actions that Gallagher took by placing people in peril by pounding his chest for Charlie to see and incite further action. I am staying within the parameters established by the Geneva Convention and the follow on training of military personnel that he ignored. Everything I have said is by the book.
I disagree with Trump’s pardon and the confusion of how the military system works when it went public and the media was given the opportunity to cut the action apart and mislead the world through falsehood publications.
This is not the WWE our people are in. It is a combat action and unless we stay within and display the proper discipline, we create casualties and define ourselves as no better than the sect we are opposing.
You find fault with that? Then you haven’t been there and by supporting this type of behavior, you approve of it. You tell me which one is a lost cause? Doing his job or acting like a lowland gorilla pounding his chest? That’s the bottom line.
rwood
I was responding to another FReeper who asked if the Flag Officers that Obama had purged could be returned to active duty.
How is that possible? Anything anyone could say about Allah can only be negative.
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!
Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia
in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly
systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of
property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded
sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its
dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must
belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or
a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam
has ceased to be a great power among men.""Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the
brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die. But the influence
of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund,
Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising faith. It has already spread
throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were
it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science
against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modern Europe might
fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."-- Winston Churchill
Just you. You are the list cause.
Twice now you have disrespected our constitution that you gave sworn to obey.
“Let me give another anecdote bearing on the same subject. A Congressman went up to the White House one morning on business, and saw in the anteroom, always crowded with people in those days, an old man, crouched all alone in a corner, crying as if his heart would break. As such a sight was by no means uncommon, the Congressman passed into the Presidents room, transacted his business, and went away. The next morning he was obliged again to go to the White house, and he saw the same old man crying, as before, in the corner. He stopped, and said to him, Whats the matter with you, old man? The old man told him the story of his son; that he was a soldier in the Army of the James General Butlers army that he had been convicted by a court-martial of an outrageous crime and sentenced to be shot next week; and that his Congressman was so convinced of the convicted mans guilt that he would not intervene. Well, said Mr. Alley, I will take you into the Executive Chamber after I have finished my business, and you can tell Mr. Lincoln all about it. On being introduced into Mr. Lincolns presence, he was accosted with, Well, my old friend, what can I do for you to-day? The old man then repeated to Mr. Lincoln what he had already told the Congressman in the anteroom. A cloud of sorrow came over the Presidents face as he replied, I am sorry to say I can do nothing for you. Listen to this telegram received from General Butler yesterday: President Lincoln, I pray you not to interfere with the courts-martial of the army. You will destroy all discipline among our soldiers. B.F. Butler.
Every word of this dispatch seemed like the death-knell of despair to the old mans newly awakened hopes. Mr. Lincoln watched his grief for a minute, and then exclaimed, by jingo, Butler or not Butler, here goes! Writing a few words and handing them to the old man. The confidence created by Mr. Lincolns words broke down when he read Job Smith is not to be shot until further orders from me. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Why, said the old man, I thought it was to be a pardon; but you say, not to be shot till further orders, and you may order him to be shot next week. Mr. Lincoln smiled at the old mans fears, and replied, Well, my old friend, I see you are not very well acquainted with me. If your son never looks on death till further orders come from me to shot him, he will live to be a great deal older than Methuselah. 1”
Thankyou Higgmeister.
This gentleman has forgotten that we have a right to free speech.
He fails to blame the perpetrators for their vile actions.
Instead he cowers in fear and wants to suppress our rights of free expression.
I am staying within the parameters of the Constitution. I’m disapproving of the actions that Gallagher took by placing people in peril by pounding his chest for Charlie to see and incite further action. I am staying within the parameters established by the Geneva Convention and the follow on training of military personnel that he ignored. Everything I have said is by the book.
I disagree with Trump’s pardon and the confusion of how the military system works when it went public and the media was given the opportunity to cut the action apart and mislead the world through falsehood publications.
This is not the WWE our people are in. It is a combat action and unless we stay within and display the proper discipline, we create casualties and define ourselves as no better than the sect we are opposing.
You find fault with that? Then you haven’t been there and by supporting this type of behavior, you approve of it. You tell me which one is a lost cause? Doing his job or acting like a lowland gorilla pounding his chest? That’s the bottom line.
rwood
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SUGAR CANDYCLIVE
Well, am I dead?
Does my knowledge count for nothing?
Experience, skill?
You tell me.
THEO
It is a different knowledge they need now, Clive.
The enemy's different,
so you have to be different too.
CLIVE
Are you mad? I know what war is.
THEO
- I don't agree.
- You...
I read your broadcast up to the point
where you described collapse of France.
You commented on Nazi methods-
foul fighting, bombing refugees,
machine-gunning hospitals,
lifeboats, bailed-out pilots and so on -
by saying that you despised them,
that you would be ashamed to fight on their side
and that you'd sooner accept defeat than victory
if it could only be won by those methods.
CLIVE
So I would.
THEO
Clive, if you let yourself be defeated by them
just because you are too fair to hit back
the same way they hit at you,
there won't be any methods but Nazi methods.
If you preach the rules of the game while they
use every foul and filthy trick against you,
they'll laugh at you.
They'll think you are weak, decadent.
I thought so myself in 1919.
I heard all that in the last war.
They fought foul then
and who won it?
I don't think you won it.
We lost it, but you lost something too.
You forgot to learn the moral.
Because victory was yours,
you failed to learn your lesson 20 years ago.
And now you have to pay the school fees again.
Some of you will learn quicker
than the others. Some will never learn it.
Because you've been educated to be a
gentleman and a sportsman in peace and in war.
But, Clive...
..dear old Clive...
..this is not a gentleman's war.
This time you are fighting for your very existence,
against the most devilish idea
ever created by a human brain.
Nazism.
And if you lose...
..there won't be a return match next year.
Perhaps not even for a hundred years.
Oh, you...
you mustn't mind me, an alien, all this.
But who can describe hydrophobia better
than one who's been bitten...
..and is now immune?
Retitled to:
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP
I suspect he was a putz too.
“How is that possible? Anything anyone could say about Allah can only be negative.”
And Hebdo going public with his entries got a busyness fire bombed and 12 people murdered. They have improved the actions they can take to get even since Churchill passed.
rwood
The rules for engagement and the Geneva Convention were invented and published about 80 years after Lincoln was assassinated. I can’t disrespect our Constitution by quoting law and the GC. I gave you the places to read it throughout the thread.
If you all wish to go out on your own, with your own ideologies inconsistent with the law and the implementation of it without proof, I won’t call you anything or say you’re wrong in what you think. It just isn’t important enough for me to try to squelch your right to your opinion like many on this board have tried to do with me.
The only difference between all those and me is no one has bother to show me where I’m wrong . They’ve just called me names, insinuated I did something I didn’t, and questioned my emotions, my worth, and intelligence. It’s a real waste of my time if no one wishes to converse on an equal basis using proof of their information like I did. Merry Christmas all.
rwood
What a poor lost soul
He seems to thing that the 'rules of engagement' were invented '80 years after Lincoln's assassination'. LOL
He is willing to quote our ROE and the Geneva convention, but not the U.S. Constitution. Very telling
If you all wish to go out on your own, with your own ideologies inconsistent with the law and the implementation of it without proof
Um, really dude ?!?
And nobody has bothered to point out how you are wrong?
1. FREE SPEECH
We have the right of free speech.
2. PARDON AUTHORITY
The U.S. President is the Commander in Chief. He has the right to pardon.
So, care to read the U.S. Constitution. (and yes, it was written before the rules of engagement and the Geneva convention,.
“....because we play by the rules when they never will.”
Please show me where I said they were right for doing the things they do. If you construed that, you are absolutely wrong.
But at the same time, if you condone what Gallagher did, then you are supporting the same thing the Islamist terrorist do by supporting Gallagher. So, at that point, are our soldiers that do things no better than the terrorists do which causes you to hate them so much, and rightly, on the same level as they are? You’re putting them there.
If you don’t like the way the rules are, then contact your congressman and start actions to try to get them changed. I didn’t write them as I was in the crib when they were implemented in the late 40’s. And whether I agree with them or not, doesn’t mean a lot in the scheme of things. I worked in them for over 30 years and followed them. And that’s what make Gallagher and myself different.
And I can look at myself in the mirror every morning and not be embarrassed as to who I am or what I did in six downrange deployments in over 30 years to different locations, all combat related. I’ve been there. And I played by the rules. And that’s why I can disagree with what’s happened. That’s my right. And I’ve earned it. And I respect all your rights to disagree with me. But I can’t agree with you until you can show me where what he did is legal or even humane.
You all have a good Christmas. I’m tired of repeating myself showing the right places to read the rules and understanding them and being attacked for it. Don’t need it.
rwood
That paper could be the paper owned by Kushner’s family.
I don’t think so. Kushner founded and owned Observer Media until 2107 after which someone else was named owner and publisher.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_Media
Here’s info (including history) of the New York Sun:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Sun
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