President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

One of my favorite 4ths of July was an excellent Dead show at Soldier Field, 1994, followed by the best fireworks display I've ever seen.

 

Have always felt it's people trying to overcompensate for the way Vietnam vets were treated when they came back. I've worked in two towns with military bases and, even without that, it can get over the top. One game I covered they wanted to play the anthem before starting, but they didn't have a flag, so they announced "Let's all face the scoreboard and pretend it's a flag." I refused.

 

The hollow responsorial psalm "Thank you for your service" is extra cute when it's mumbled quickly.

 

CFTFG's traditional 7/4 message.

 

We should support the troops by not making them political props.

 

I was there! The tab I’d taken before the show really enhanced the fireworks. But it wasn’t July 4 in 1994, they played Chicago on July 23 and 24 that year. I hit eight shows with those two in the middle of the run.

 

Overcompensate? I disagree. No one gives them a second thought, at least in my view. What they do is embrace the troops NOW, because it’s supposed to show their “patriotism “ and love for country when that’s BS.

When was the last time you saw any Vietnam vet celebrated? Only one was McCain until they berated him for “being caught”.

Apparently there were no great military heroes between WWII and Desert Storm.

Vietnam? As I think I shared last year, my cousin survived the worst firefight of that war and I didn’t find out about it until his funeral. No one wanted to talk about that war, the country or my own family.

 

You may disagree or even despise Ms. Pelosi but she calls it straight down the line and I wish the Blue leaders would talk the same way, er President Biden. She said (paraphrasing), this is no ordinary election, you don’t just try and if you lose say “oh well we’ll get them next time “, Trump cannot be president that would be a disaster.” Plain and simple.

 

It won't matter. Gotta get the Big Orange Baby back in the WH.

 

Yeah, but Biden had his mouth open during the debate for long stretches of time.

 

That bullshit again?

They didn't get marching bands and ticker tape parades because we didn't "win," but by and large the Vietnam veterans were treated ok by society. The "spitting hippies" stories have been debunked again and again -- never happened in any legitimately reported incident.

I entered the workforce and went to college in the late 70s/early 80s and I knew a good number of Vietnam vets. They usually got preferential treatment in hiring because the management liked their "maturity and organization."

Now if they got screwed around by the VA and other "official" or government agencies, I can't speak to that. But if they did, it was mostly the doing of most of the same people who sent them there in the first place.

I hung out with a lot of people who had been, or would have been, anti war hippies during the war, and I don't recall anybody mouthing off to the Vietnam vets or blaming them for the war; usually the conversations went like: "wow, that was a fucked up war, glad you made it back."

 

I was getting a connecting flight out of DFW and they had a banner hanging up for people to write managed to the troops. Where this message was going to go I haven’t the foggiest or if it was just going to live at the terminal for faux patriotic masturbation (which is my guess). I already rolled my eyes at it (obligatory I don’t hate the troops; I hate using troops as a prop for how big your ‘Merica is) but there was one message saying there “is a silent majority who support the troops.” The fuck there is. That crowd is not just not silent, it’s the Harley riders rolling through South Park seeking attention loud. I wanted to write something to that effect but there was a sign it was under surveillance for vandals. My protest was telling an employee I was going to pass on signing and that my son wasn’t going to either because my son would just scribble all over it because he’s 3 and that’s what 3 year olds do.