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War Parade Postponed Due to Cost; Trump Bleats Savings Will Buy “More Fighter Jets”

Commander in Chief? Heck, Donald Trump can’t even organize a military parade, let alone a full-blown military operation:

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he personally cancelled the military parade he wanted that was slated to have taken place on November 10, blaming local D.C. politicians for reports of a price tag tens of millions of dollars higher than the original estimated cost.

“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,” Trump said in a tweet. “When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it” [Elizabeth McLaughlin, Luis Martinez, and Alexander Mallin, “Trump Cancels Military Parade, Blames Local Politicians as Estimated Cost Balloons to $92 Million,” ABC News, 2018.08.17].

On the good side, it’s nice to see Donald Trump admit that spending $92 million on a vanity project is bonkers. On the bad side, Donald Trump’s immature, self-serving backpedaling on his Soviet-style assertion of military might shows he still has no concept of the real military and budgetary issues that the President of the United States is supposed to manage:

Donald Trump, Tweet, 2018.08.17.
Donald Trump, Tweet, 2018.08.17.

Trump says that now that he’s postponed the war parade, “we can buy some more jet fighters.”

If words had meaning, Jonathan Chait would be correct when he says that Trump thereby admits he was shorting real military needs to fund his parade. But Trump has no idea what he said a year or a month or an hour ago. He performed no budgetary analysis prior to his announcement of his parade and made no conscious budget decisions. Words simply tumble from his mouth, unmoored to any facts or rational discourse.

Trump can’t even connect the fact that his parade would have cost more than even a single F-35C, the delayed fighter jet scheduled to launch maybe later this year at $121 million a pop. At current exchange rates, India is getting French Rafale single-seater fighter jets for $105 million each (weapons and training not included). We could maybe get one or two Swedish Gripen jets for $92 million. Of course, maybe Trump is working on a deal with Putin for some super-cheap Russian Su-57s (because what could go wrong equipping the military with jets built by the Russians?). But no matter who the dealer is, to say that postponing this parade allows the military to buy significantly more jet fighters is absurd.

But again, don’t look to statements from the White House for honest fiscal analysis or planning. We have to ride out this constant stream of self-serving, bullying, sub-barroom-quality nonsense until We the People exercise some Constitutional means of ridding the Executive Branch of this brain cancer.

Related Fiscal Note: The joint U.S./South Korea military exercise that Donald Trump canceled as a love note to his new buddy Kim Jong Un cost would have cost $14 million. Trump called that exercise “tremendously expensive” but was still willing to throw money away on his parade when the price tag was guesstimated in the $12 million to $30 million range.

89 Comments

  1. mike from iowa

    Pentagon needed 50 mil for parade. DoD added 42 mil for personnel and other considerations. DC pols had nothing to do with the Pentagon cancelling this cluster before it ever left the shop.

    And no one seems to know anything about parade at Andrews.

  2. mike from iowa

    I sleep so well at night knowing what is alleged to be in charge.

  3. OldSarg

    Cory, what is with your posts? You berate Trump for planning a parade you berate Trump for cancelling the parade. This is why the media and your party are losing members like they are flowing over a waterfall. There is no pleasing you and the people know this. You are no longer complaining for cause but just freaking complaining about everything. It gets old dude. . .

    As far as the parade itself goes; Military parades are a historical part of the military and those traditions are followed even today on US military installations across the world. I always hated being in military parades but then I hate just standing in line. Man I hated parades. . . damn

  4. Darin Larson

    I hope Trump gets his little tin pot dictator-style parade on one of our military bases to feed his ego. They could run the same few tanks, military vehicles and troop formations around in a circle before Trump’s viewing platform as if it was an endless parade. Trump would garb himself up with some fake medals and ribbons and a Manuel Noriega style hat.

  5. o

    OldSarg – I re-read the article, and do not see where you draw the conclusion Cory is berating Trump for cancelling the parade. To my eye, the reporting has been consistent – the parade is a bad idea. Just because the President has begrudgingly given up the parade, does not mean that its consideration was not a bad idea.

    And this is why your party is in free fall – it traded its moral compass and core beliefs to bow down to this President who bought the party cheap by letting them advertise the party name along with his. You wanted a Republican in the White House so badly, you were willing to hitch your wagon to anyone willing to run under that name.

  6. mike from iowa

    Drumpf had absolutely nothing with cancelling the parade. The Pentagon did that because of excessive costs and Drumpf had to make the story about himself to save face because he doesn’t get his tinhorn dictator parade to stroke his ego.

  7. RJ

    It’s ia completely baffling to me that funds that should be allocated to provide affordable housing, healthcare and job opportunities for vets would be squandered on a military parade just so Trump can feel better about his little dinky.

  8. mike from iowa

    One correction in first post- it was the Department of Homeland Security that needed 42 mil, not DoD. Pentagon cancelled the party on Thursday.

    Drumpf wanted members of all 5 branches of military to march. He wanted troops in throwback unis from past eras and he wanted lots of flyovers with all kinds of aircraft from the past to the present. 12 mil wasn’t gonna get this puppy off the ground. Not even close.

  9. El Rayo X

    The parade could still be funded if a few of his remaining billionaire cabinet members picked up the tab or a Go Fund Me page could be set up by his most loyal supporters or Mexico could just pay for it.

  10. Porter Lansing

    🎶 “All and all he’s just a – ‘nother pr**k with no wall.” 🎶

  11. jerry

    Knowing how the DOD works, I would say that the real number is about 5 times as much as reported. Closer to 500 million by the time the parade would happen and the rest of the work needed to fix the damn roads after the event.

    When have we ever seen the pentagon and the DOD have realistic numbers? Military bloat for what? Eliminate a couple of fleets, a few air bases and close 100 of the 800 military bases we have around the planet…for starters. We are all armed so why do we need the bloat?

  12. Porter Lansing

    I have a question about the War Parade. “When does Flint get clean water?”

  13. jerry

    Porter, maybe this will answer your question:

    “Leftist veterans aren’t coming from the perspective that everyone should be in the military, but what we’re saying is that we’ve seen some of these policies put forth in the military, we’ve seen things like universal health care, things like the GI Bill covering your full tuition—we see these things, and we think, why can’t everybody have this?

    And we also have seen the waste and the stupidity . . . the containers full of s#it burned in Afghanistan, vehicles valued at $300,000 abandoned in Iraq . . . I mean, if you take ROTC paying for my undergrad, and the GI Bill paying for my M.F.A., and if I had done a Ph.D., all of that tuition put together, and all the cost of living allowance they’ve given me, would not equal the cost of one stupid Humvee that we gave to the Iraqis and then ISIS stole, and then we bombed it with a bomb that cost more than the Humvee.

  14. OldSarg

    Funny, you are all quoting ex-military as if they are the enlightened. . . You’re wrong. Because someone is an infantry officer does not mean they are experts on war, health care, education or life in general. It means they completed a series of courses and trials to qualify them as “infantry officers” period and they get a 10% discount at IHop. That is all.

    Let’s get back to the parade debacle: It was a waste of time and money. The end.

  15. mike from iowa

    RJ, none of the stuff you rightly mention can stroke Drumpf’s massive ego like a good old fashioned military parade to honor Space Cadet Bone Spurs. Drumpf will probably name stone waste of white Theodore Nugent Grand Marshall.

  16. mike from iowa

    Great link, Jerry. Nice lyrics, Porter. Hat tip to both of you.

    OldSnaggletooth, did you bother to read Jerry’s link? I’m guessing not, but you can get remedial treading help. Just ask for it. It isn’t socialist.

  17. mike from iowa

    El Rayo X- if Wilbur Ross paid back the 120 mil he stole, they could have a decent parade, but for Drumpf, the only parade worthy of this worthless piece of whatever is a perp walk from the Kremlin Annex to the nearest federal prison for treason.

  18. Porter Lansing

    Good link, Jerry. For those yet to hear it, it’s a podcast discussing liberals in the military and after the military.
    * note … Those of us conscripted to military service have been more apt to be liberals throughout our lives.

  19. OldSarg

    Dang Porter! How old are you? I didn’t know there were draftees still around! Thanks for serving!

  20. mike from iowa

    OldS. that has to be the most disingenous utterance you have uttered- about draftees. The last draft eligible people would be in late 50’s agewise.

  21. Porter Lansing

    No service, OS. My draft number (14) was picked from the hat in 1972, while I was in college. I had to leave Vermillion, which probably resulted in one less lawyer in South Dakota. I took my physical, received my orders to report and waited to go to Vietnam. Nixon stopped taking recruits two weeks before my enlistment date. USD wouldn’t let me back in until my student loans were paid off. Fastest money at the time was the oil rigs in Gillette. Came down to Denver in 1976 to snow ski, got a Teamsters union job and I’ve been here ever since.

  22. jerry

    What the Lt. is talking about is when you are actually in the battle and you see, hear and smell what is going on. In my case, I felt the same afterwards, as you have a deep retrospect of seeing that fighter pilot’s face flying in close to drop ordinance called danger close. You then understand the futility of it all and see the terrible waste right in front of your eyes. You understand that the people involved, all ordered to kill one another, are more alike than different.

    It is at the time you leave that killing zone that you see inside yourself to know that you will be back to the same place in a reasonable amount of time to do the same thing. What a waste for the biggest racket of all, War and the lies that surround the word.

  23. Porter Lansing

    Well composed, Jerry. Bravo!!

  24. Nick Nemec

    I’ve been a participant in more damn military parades than I care to remember, without exception they suck for the military personnel actually in the parade. The only good part is the under their breath mocking, jokes and insults of the dignitaries on the reviewing stand. If you really want to honor the military give then all an extra week of leave at the destination of their choice plus free drinks and food wherever they go that week.

  25. jerry

    Indeed Mr. Nemec, formations, attentions and parade rest and all of the rest of the causes of fainting in the ranks add to an even more surreal joke of the day. An extra week of leave, yes! Extra pay and allowances, most definitely.

    This trump is a clear and present danger to our country. He needs to be deported along with the rest of the cadre who follow his misguided ideas.

  26. mike from iowa

    Sounds like IRAN has a South Dakota wingnut style gubmint already-

    Though there are increasing signs that more and more people in Iran, even voices in the regime itself, are blaming the economic crisis on the regime’s corruption and cronyism, and not on U.S. sanctions,

    Sorry for the OT, but it is astonishingly similar to Pierre.

  27. Porter Lansing

    I’m a foreign film buff and have watched three movies lately by Iranian filmmakers set in Tehran. One was a film based on the theme of Death of a Salesman. It’s probably hard for Dakotans to grasp but Iran is far more culturally, economically and socially advanced than rural America. They’ll be fine until Trump has moved on from government.

  28. OldSarg

    Porter, growing up a lot of my friends had lived in Iran (we were military brats). They all loved it. In 78 I was at Black Hills in Thomas Hall. Party dorm. I was just a freshman. The guys in the room next to me were both from Iran, a lot of fun and had posters of Khomeini on their walls. I didn’t know who he was and it didn’t make a difference. Just as today’s youth put up pictures of Che, the young men thought it was cool to have the pictures of their rebellion they didn’t understand. In the second semester they both went home. I can remember their tears and fear. Both their dad’s taught at a university in Iran and both had been killed. Seeing what was once a center for the arts and culture die so quickly changed my view of islam. The way they treat women and children is beyond reason. They are culturally corrupt and evil. They have prove to the world that everywhere islam is allowed to exist will die. I worry for Europe and (get this) Minnesota. I was in Mankato in July and spoke to a elementary principle who was overwhelmed with the behavior of the islamic Somali adults. he called them “animals” and knew the children were in more danger at home than in school. Very sad.

  29. jerry

    Comrade old Soviet, you are full of crap. Truly you are, what a fraud.

  30. OldSarg

    Sorry jerry. You wouldn’t know.

  31. jerry

    Yeah, I would know. Your kind of fraud always goes after something they know nothing about and it is always about a “black friend” or a “Native friend” or a “gay friend” that they went to school with or had sex with or some other kind of fraudulent nonsense. Your kind of fraud is just like trump, a lying traitor that colluded with a foreign government to get elected.

    Fraud dude, I tell you this, I am not a religious man. But I do appreciate what the religion of Islam did and has done for the world. That religion educated the masses for the betterment of all. Yep, a socialistic ancient religion that thought an educated populace made for a better tomorrow. Of course to a fraud like yourself, you would know nothing about solidarity and social justice, only ignorance is your calling card.

  32. Porter Lansing

    1. You’re generalizing about a political upheaval and a time gone by.
    2. You’re generalizing about the culture of ISIS not the culture of Islam.
    3. Women in Iran (unlike Saudi Arabia) are allowed to drive and move with relative freedom. There are no restrictions on female primary or secondary education. At the university level women now compromise the majority of students. Women are accepted in the workplace in Iran. Of course, Iranian women deal with countless ceilings, as do American women.
    4. In an America run by Donald Trump, you call Iran “culturally corrupt and evil”? Hogwash.
    5. Conflating a civilized, first world Iran (they dress like us, drive the same cars as us, have iPhones and computers like us and think like us.) with Somalia is invalid.
    6. You have a history here of stretching the truth and what you say completely contradicts the truth about Iran. You’re talking about the third world life of Afghanistan, Saudia Arabia and Iraq. A day in downtown Tehran is similar to a day in downtown Paris, London or New York.

  33. jerry

    Fraudulently generalizing as he does best. trumponian as it gets.

    “Regarding Iran “On Monday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in the country’s most important political decisions, ruled out negotiations with the Trump administration.

    He said that as demonstrated in the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran will only enter into negotiations in the position of strength “so that US’ pressures and uproars won’t affect us”. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/pompeo-forms-iran-action-group-post-nuclear-deal-policy-180816184453565.html

    So there you go. trump and the republican/Russians, know that the boots of justice are closing in. They want to get as many right wing judges put in place to appease the Evangelical right that pushes us towards their view of Rapture of which, I have a different view, that is a whole different deal.

  34. jerry

    Good news though! NO PARADE FOR THE TRAITOR!

  35. OldSarg

    Guys, if you think siding with those who wish to destroy our home, and profess so publicly, how do you think people think of you? Seriously, you are defending the largest supporter of terrorist in the world.

    By the way, “But I do appreciate what the religion of Islam did and has done for the world. That religion educated the masses for the betterment of all. ” where the hell did you get that? You need to read some history. “Persia” was not islamic. Iran was a follower of Zoroastrianism when they brought advances and culture to the middle east. Islam brought torture, abuse slavery and death to the world. I do understand your confusion. Most of those who have not studied history do the same thing as the media has been confusing the two in their efforts to fool those who do not put the work into educating themselves. Saying islam is a religion of peace or anything other than the animals they are are foolish. Islam is not just a religion. It is a political system that uses a deity to advance its agenda of global conquest. This isn’t their first rodeo. What do you think brought on the dark ages in Europe?

  36. Porter Lansing

    Sarge … If you think siding with Russian propaganda is anything other than siding with the largest supporter of psychological and cyberterrorism you’re a Communist unwitting dupe.
    Islam is a religion of peace. ISIS and fundamentalist fake-Islam are political systems that use fools to conflate it with the millions of peace loving Muslims worldwide. It’s Russian propaganda, OS!
    FYI … The Dark Ages were brought on by the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the waves of invasions and raiding that followed.

  37. OldSarg

    “The Dark Ages were brought on by the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the waves of invasions and raiding that followed: this is true but it was islam that invaded and raided Europe.

    No, islam is not a religion of peace and just saying so doesn’t make it true.

    Please site one example where the introduction of islam brought peace to anywhere in the world. I am honestly open for this discussion so long as we can keep it civil.

  38. OldSarg

    Muslim terrorized the Mediterranean, blocking trade, This caused an economic disaster in Rome by blocking products moving from North Africa and the Middle East to Rome. This is why Rome fell.

  39. Debbo

    I understand that Minnesota drives OS nuts. It’s a beautiful state, successful in every way SD and most other red states are not. We welcome immigrants and their positive contributions to our state.

    OMG, the immigrants are imperfect! There are some whose actions are negative, even criminal — at a lower rate than white Minnesotans.

    But OS, you keep grabbing every straw and generalizing that to the entire state because it fits your narrative. You have an insurmountable obstacle though. Overall, blue states are more successful economically and socially than red, with one or 2 exceptions.

    But you’re worried for us because we’re gonna crash at any moment now. Right, chicken little?

  40. OldSarg

    No Debbo. What I worry about is the introduction of a group of people who have no culture, only death and historically islam has proven to be only that, death. Those of the islamic following will not integrate and do not believe in equality. Simply crime, abuse of women and the sexual abuse of children. As they say in Kabul “Boys are for pleasure, women are for children”.

    Instead of defending Minnesota, which is a fine state, discuss the topic at hand: What islam is bringing to your state that is positive and prove it.

  41. Porter Lansing

    There are more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide — who live peacefully. Extremist Islamic groups believe only in a “fringe” version of Islam well outside the scholarly consensus. These group’s practices are not legitimate in Islam. It is Muslims on the ground throughout Iraq and Syria who are leading the fight against the Islamic State. If the tenets of Islam could truly cause violence, all these Muslims would be joining the Islamic State instead of risking their lives to stop it.
    These are just a few places where the introduction of pure and peaceful Islam is bringing peace.
    *But … I have little hope that OS will have a “Come To Jesus” moment and relinquish his militarily brainwashed hate. Because, as military officers often say, “Apes need an enemy.”

  42. OldSarg

    Porter you are confusing “Muslim” with Islam. Muslim is a religion. Islam is all things from religion to law.

  43. Porter Lansing

    You just made that up.
    Is·lam
    isˈläm,izˈläm/Submit
    noun
    the religion of the Muslims, a monotheistic faith regarded as revealed through Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah.

  44. Porter Lansing

    OS said … Please site(sic) one example where the introduction of Islam brought peace to anywhere in the world.
    ~ I cited the 1.5 billion souls living peacefully and creating and adding to their peaceful livelihoods and their country’s peace. I cited Iraq and Syria where Muslim warriors have defeated ISIS and returned peace to their homelands.
    Why the crickets, OS?
    LWIY … last word is your’s (until I return :0)

  45. jerry

    Russia is our enemy Comrade old soviet, it is you who is siding with the enemy, Russia, right along with the other traitor, trump.

  46. OldSarg

    But Porter they are not living in peace. They are at war around the world. Like, all around the world. Everything they touch is on fire.

    Jerry, put your finger back up your butt and shut the hell up.

  47. OldSarg

    Sorry Porter. I made a stop at Dakota Point. I’m back.

  48. jerry

    The “moors” were invited to Europe, and even provided the fleet to carry the Berber Horsemen across the Mediterranean, to defeat the Visigoth’s. They succeeded when theyn formed alliances with the oppressed Jewish forces in Spain to finally defeat the Visigoth’s. So Islam, and Judaism were involved heavily as an alliance.

    “Although the relationship between Tariq and his commander broke down and they were both recalled to Damascus, the conquest of Spain proceeded apace. The original problem of the Moors was lack of manpower, as they barely had any troops; this was initially solved by enlisting and arming the heavily oppressed Jewish communities of Spain as the military garrisons of the largely Christian cities. By the end of the early 8th century, the Moors had conquered the entirety of Spain and a coastal strip in southern France called Septimania. The only regions of Spain which escaped their control were the mountain highlands of northern Asturias and the Basque country, which were themselves barely included in the Visigothic kingdom and only superficially Christian, even to-day.”

    “https://www.quora.com/When-did-The-Moors-rule-Europe-and-how-did-it-happen

    Islam remained in Europe until 1492 when the last of the Moors and the Jews were expelled from Spain and then the Inquisition by the Catholic Christians. The main achievement from the Moors during that 800 years was education. Ordinary folks who were completely illiterate, could then read and utilize the libraries that were built as well as the science knowledge that became available with their ability to read and reason. Christians did not teach ordinary folks how to read as that went only to the clergy and their helpers. They did not trust the ordinary folks with knowledge as then they would be unmanageable.

    THE TRAITOR TRUMP STILL DOES NOT GET A PARADE. Beautiful, man, just beautiful

  49. leslie

    “old ” sarge- I think its time to change the moniker youngster. no wonder your posts lack maturity. ever hear of the baby boomers? you ain’t likely one of us

  50. jerry

    While we speak of war and an idiot who wants a parade for being a traitor, let us know that we all can live together in peace and stability. War is a racket and should never be used as cavalier as the Russian wants with something as degrading as a parade.

    “Islamic Spain (711-1492)

    Islamic Spain was a multi-cultural mix of the people of three great monotheistic religions: Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

    Although Christians and Jews lived under restrictions, for much of the time the three groups managed to get along together, and to some extent, to benefit from the presence of each other.

    It brought a degree of civilization to Europe that matched the heights of the Roman Empire and the Italian Renaissance.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml

    Let’s not kid ourselves into believing the tripe that comes from the ignorant. They spew their nonsense without knowledge because of their lack of education.

  51. Jenny

    I See OS has gone off the deep end again.
    People like OS talk about this huge Islamic take over of the United States. I have yet to see it happening.
    WowOS, people like you are so scared Of anyone a Little bit different it’s a wonder you survived being in the military!
    The far Majority of the Somali population in Minnesota are hard-working taxpaying people Like everybody else. Quit trying to tell us otherwise. Go dig a hole and live in it if you’re that scared of Muslims.

  52. OldSarg

    Dear dumb sh&t, I mean “Jerry”: “The main achievement from the Moors during that 800 years was education.” the “Moors” are not islamic and you are 600 years after the rise of islam. Almost 270 million “nonbelievers” have died over the last 1400 years for the glory of political Islam. Get a clue. I thought I had given you instructions earlier to clear up your speech? Did you know islam NEVER kept written records of their conquests? It was always a culture that did so. For their whole of history islam has only destroyed to include recently the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Islam has burned every library they have come across. There is no book but the koran to islam. There is no peace under the boot of islam. As far as your silly link, look again. The period started in 700 AD. Many years after islam destroyed Rome and Europe.

  53. Jenny

    And the priest Pedophilia rings That are happening all over the world and being covered up by the diocese and the Vatican does not bother you? Thousands of Catholic children molested Through the decades and pedophiles entering the priesthood knowing that they will be safe and protected?
    Hmmmm I wonder which religion has more pedophiles in it.

  54. Jenny

    I take that back probably millions of Catholic children that have been rapedsince the start of Catholicism.

  55. OldSarg

    Different topic jenny but I agree with you that is so wrong. Still not islam.

  56. OldSarg

    “The far Majority of the Somali population in Minnesota are hard-working taxpaying people”~ Somali’s unemployment rate is over 21% in Minnesota and of those that work the majority (over 65%” are women yet the male to female population is 50/50. That means more than only 35% of the employable men even try to work. You add in their children and the vast majority of the Somali’s in Minnesota are not working and on the public dole.

    I’ll be honest with you; Prior to islam in Africa the Somalia area was advanced and at peace. Only one thing changed. . . But that is the story of every place they touch.

  57. jerry

    What a pity that you are uneducated. Here son, I will help you to fill those pages in your empty head where you should have been at least, doing remedial history and reading. And, it is free, courtesy of Cory and his blog. Why don’t you at least ring the tip jar bell.

    “A Golden Age
    Stability
    Stability in Muslim Spain came with the establishment of the Andalusian Umayyad dynasty, which lasted from 756 to 1031.

    The credit goes to Amir Abd al-Rahman, who founded the Emirate of Cordoba, and was able to get the various different Muslim groups who had conquered Spain to pull together in ruling it.

    The Golden Age
    The Muslim period in Spain is often described as a ‘golden age’ of learning where libraries, colleges, public baths were established and literature, poetry and architecture flourished. Both Muslims and non-Muslims made major contributions to this flowering of culture.”

    Indeed, the great Islamic architecture of Granada with the Alhambra, exquisite beauty written about by the great American author, Washington Irving. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Alhambra

    Wonderful book. Washington Irving actually lived in the Alhambra and studied the beauty of the intricate geometric work. A true wonder of the world.

  58. jerry

    THE TRAITOR TRUMP DENIED PARADE!!! Man, that is beautiful.

  59. Jenny

    You need to reference those statistics,OS.

  60. Debbo

    “discuss the topic at hand: What islam is bringing to your state that is positive and prove it.”

    That’s not the topic at hand. Tangerine Wankmaggot’s ridiculous dictator-wanna-be parade is.

    I will say this, Jenny and I live in Minnesota. Here on DFP we are the experts on our Muslim neighbors in this state. If we say they are good, decent, peaceful people to live amongst, that’s a fact.

    Now OS, tell us where you REALLY LIVE. And be specific. What country, what state, what nearest larger town. Eastern Ukraine? Aladamnbama? Texas? Russia?

    C’mon OS. Come clean. You always play games about your location but you throw in local stuff you could pick up from any newspaper, with a fair share of vagueness.

    You’ve made it clear that the memes on order are “Evil Muslims”– long term. And “Democratic Party is disintegrating”– short term. The goal is to sow doubt and suppress turnout among the Left.

    So. Tell the truth. It’s time.

  61. bearcreekbat

    Jenny, OS seems be referencing stats from 2011-13. Don’t fall for any implication, intended or otherwise, they are current stats.

    “The most recent figures, for 2011-2013, put Somalis’ unemployment at 21 percent, . . .”

    https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/04/01/somali-unemployment

  62. Richard Schriever

    Not really so old (a college freshman in ’78?) says, ” …..they are not living in peace. They are at war around the world. Like, all around the world. Everything they touch is on fire.”

    Hmmm, remind you of a certain nation that has military bases in 130 countries around the world and has been at war for 90% of its existence (242 years) ?

  63. Richard Schriever

    OS reminds me of a certain character called himself “tank commander” from 12-15 years ago I used to engage in in political discussion.

    He once claimed to “know” I was “lying” about my frequent travels on public transportation through South Central LA/Watts/Long Beach/Compton etc. as a white business person in suit and tie, carrying briefcase and so on without ever being treated in any way discourteously, let alone been harassed or threatened, because “two guys from Compton” supposedly under his command said it wasn’t possible.

    It wouldn’t surprise me one bit to learn that OS and TC are one and the same person.

  64. mike from iowa

    When did Islam come to Somalia?
    Islam was introduced to the northern Somali coast early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. Zeila’s two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque in the city. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard.

    Can’t source this, but Islam has been around Somalia for centuries without overt violence. That seems to be what happened in the past century.

    Can’t find the source of this but

  65. jerry

    Very good information bcb, it looks like those folks are willing and able to work, it is just that employers are not hiring them. As many know, these folks came here as war refugees from the civil war and starvation in Somalia.

    “The Somalis are here as legal refugees, largely. The Somalis Minnesota story tracks to 1991, when civil war broke out in Somalia. Millions fled to refugee camps, many in Kenya.

    Two years later, the first wave of Somali refugees were sent to Minnesota.

    “In the beginning the U.S. federal government assigns people,” said Samatar.

    To qualify as a refugee, there is a process. The U.S. State Department ultimately decides where refugees will live, but it has to do with the voluntary agencies, called VOLAGS, that contract with the State Department.

    Minnesota has very active ones like Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities, and World Relief Minnesota. Those agencies agree to help the refugees get settled, to learn English, find housing, get health care, and begin a new life.” https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/01/19/good-question-why-did-somalis-locate-here/

  66. OldSarg

    You have still not provided ANYTHING that islam contributes positive to society. or our culture. That is the purpose of immigration. They are not meeting that requirement.

  67. bearcreekbat

    Trying to convince someone that consistently makes misleading and or false statements in support of his own personal bias is a futile task. But for readers of this blog here is a bit of additional info:

    Islamic history is replete with pioneering inventions and discoveries, many of which are ingrained in modern society, such as:

    1. Public Libraries
    During the early decades of Islam, mosques acted as hubs for intellectual discourse across the Muslim lands. They were not only places of worship, but also housed libraries full of books on religion, philosophy and science. These libraries were open to the masses and not just the ruling and intellectual elite, as was the common practice then.

    2. Surgical Tools
    The great 10th-century Muslim surgeon Qasim al Zahrawi, described as the father of surgery, invented many surgical tools still used in modern medicine, including the scalpel, the surgical needle and surgical scissors. He also discovered catgut as a reliable material to administer internal stitches as it can be absorbed by the body, preventing the need for a second surgery to remove them.

    3. Algebra
    The study of algebra flourished during the Islamic Golden Age under the scholarship of mathematician al-Khwarizmi. The word algebra is derived from ‘al-jabr’, an operation he used to solve quadratic equations. The introduction of algebra as a unifying theory significantly broadened the concept of mathematics and its development path.

    4. Optics
    In the 11th century, the scientist Ibn Haytham overturned ancient ideas of how our eyes see. While some said light rays came out of the eyes, others thought something entered the eyes to represent an object. Through systematic reason and experiment, Ibn Haytham discovered that light is not emitted from the eye itself, but in fact is reflected off an object and enters the eye.

    5. Coffee
    Coffee beans were native to Ethiopia, but the Muslim Arabs developed the beverage we know as coffee in the 15th century in Yemen when they traded with the Ethiopians. They ground and roasted the beans, then boiled them in water. Religious men (Sufis) began to drink coffee to refrain from sleeping so that they could spend the night in prayer.

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rua-wani/5-muslim-contributions-to-modern-society_b_9279298.html

  68. Porter Lansing

    BS … OS – I provided the blog with the fact that 1.5B Muslims live in peace, around the world. You countered with the lie that 1.5B Muslims are at war. Where’s the war? You mean the war in Indonesia? The war in Pakistan? There’re no Muslims at war, except the Muslim warriors that cleared ISIS out of Syria and brought peace back to their homeland.

  69. jerry

    Military denies trump meaningless parade. Meanwhile, the 30 year war in Afghanistan, remember that place, goes on unabated…that we are loosing just like the rest of the empires past. The military knows that this is a cash cow that keeps them in the money with the best pensions possible. War is a racket.

    “Despite that military’s supposedly apolitical role in this country’s affairs, its leaders are uniquely capable of blocking any attempt to end the Afghan War.
    And with that in mind, almost 17 years later, don’t think that victory is out of the question either. Every day that the U.S. military stays in Afghanistan is indeed a victory for… well, not George W. Bush, or Barack Obama, and certainly not Donald Trump, but the now long-dead Osama bin Laden. The calculation couldn’t be simpler. Thanks to his “precision” weaponry — those 19 suicidal hijackers in commercial jets — the nearly 17 years of wars he’s sparked across much of the Muslim world cost a man from one of Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest families a mere $400,000 to $500,000. They’ve cost American taxpayers, minimally, $5.6 trillion dollars with no end in sight. And every day the Afghan War and the others that have followed from it continue is but another triumphant day for him and his followers.”

  70. OS, having been forced by plain fact to concede that Trump’s war parade was a “debacle” and a “waste of time and money,” plus having had his initial distraction technique of impugning my journalistic integrity demolished by O, resorted to a racist allegation to get the conversation off track. And it worked.

    The parade was a terrible idea, motivated solely and dangerously, like all of current U.S. Executive Branch policy, by the raging, childish ego of Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s statement upon postponing the parade represent his utter ignorance of simple budgetary fact.

  71. Debbo

    Everyone notice how OS, in addition to dodging the issue of this post, also ignored this:

    “Now OS, tell us where you REALLY LIVE. And be specific. What country, what state, what nearest larger town. Eastern Ukraine? Aladamnbama? Texas? Russia?”

  72. RJ

    The best way to handle people like OS and Anne Beal is to simply not respond. I was super pissed off after reading both of their posts on multiple occasions and I’ve realized no logic, no heart or empathy will sway them to even listen openly to different perspectives. OS went on a tirade about Islam and I was going to share stories to counter his ignorance and basic hatred. OS, you had a long winded, gasbag story about people who were from Somalia. I honestly stopped reading because you’re boring. Having gone to grad school in a diverse area, I have learned that there isn’t a superior religion, nor race, nor sexual orientation. Basically, be kind and be open minded. I’ll look forward to seeing you get roastes on the next ignorant thing you say.

  73. grudznick

    Ms. Geelsdottir, while I am one of the few bloggers here who actually live in SD, and you are not, if Mr. Old Sarg lives in Iowa, or New York, or New Mexico, or Newfoundland, do you think that makes his points any less valid than somebody in Minnesota? If so, please explain why.

  74. OldSarg

    You all need to take a pill, get a life, live within a society of reason, thought and introspection. You all need help. Give me an example of ANYTHING islam has brought positive to the world in the last 100 years. You can’t. they are leeches who bring no more than death.

  75. OldSarg

    gruggy, I live in Rapid. West side across from Stevens. If I look south I see the Guard practice range. Figure it out.

  76. OldSarg

    This is what makes you all fools: Trump played you all on the parade. When he first proposed it you all ran after him on his support of the military. When he shut it down for cost you all attacked him for being financially responsible. He is playing you and you don’t have the sense to not chase the ball. Cory included.

  77. OldSarg

    Further clarification:

    Trump = pro military. You are not

    Trump = fiscally responsible. You are not.

  78. Debbo

    Grudz, the problem isn’t where OS really lives. It’s that he LIES about it, along with many other things he lies about. I guess I should expect that, since he worships at the feet of the Liar-in-Chief.

  79. Porter Lansing

    They are leeches who bring no more than death? You’re a cowardly pig, OS. Saying something on the internet that you wouldn’t have the courage to say to a Muslim man’s face. Cowardly pig!!

  80. A war parade in Washington DC would have done nothing to challenge or defeat real enemies of the American way of life. A war parade would have celebrated the culture of death that OldSarg pretends to decry.

    Had that parade been representative of military demographics, 40% of its participants would have been something other than white. Three out of 1,000 marchers in that parade would have been Muslim.

    And the money we would have spent pulling those troops out of their regular training to supplement Donald Trump’s daily Viagra dose will not cover the cost of a single American-made jet fighter, contrary to Donald Trump’s misinforming, irresponsible words.

  81. Fiscally responsible = not trashing the streets of the nation’s capital with heavy equipment for show.

    Pro-military = basing decisions on hard facts and evidence and deploying troops for the sole purpose of protecting American interests, not the ego of one unqualified commander in chief.

    Fiscally Responsible & Pro-military = maintaining strong relationships with our allies so they will always stand with us in opposition to our enemies and minimize the chance that our soldiers will have to go it alone in a shooting war that intelligent diplomacy and trade could have averted.

  82. mike from iowa

    Jerry, wasn’t it Jason who said China only had one submarine?

    The force currently numbers 56 subs — four nuclear-powered missile subs, five nuclear-powered attack subs, and 47 diesel-powered attack subs — and is likely grow to between 69 and 78 subs by 2020, according to the Pentagon.

    China has built 10 nuclear-powered subs over the past 15 years. Its four operational Jin-class missile boats “represent China’s first credible, seabased nuclear deterrent,” the Pentagon report said.

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