Obama To Disband the Marine Corps

[FourScore]

Thu Jan 01, 2015 at 01:26 PM PST
Obama To Disband the Marine Corps
by SemDem

You didn't know this, did you?

On a flight home I sat in between two individuals, a Marine and boxing promoter. The boxing guy was an older gentleman, and told interesting stories, such as meeting Don King. Both men were very pleasant and that helped make time pass on the flight. We were all combat veterans and all Southerners, so we had a lot in common. Then the discussion, inevitably, turned to politics.

The older guy turned to the Marine and said "You know Obama is getting rid of the Marine Corps, right?"

The Marine was puzzled. He hadn't heard this news. Neither had I. "Yeah, Eric Holder just had a meeting with the Joint Chiefs. Obama is going to disband them by Executive Order."

Hooooo boy. We are going to do this now, are we? Putting aside for the moment why the head of the DOJ would be involved with restructuring a military department in the DoD, I said: "I don't think any president can just disband a branch of service. Also, this would be pretty big news. Don't you think it would be all over the news instead of a message board?" I assumed it was a message board because I follow GOP conspiracy theories on rightwing sites, and never heard of this one. Even the Marine, who was no Obama fan, agreed this sounded very stupid and we moved on to other topics.

We all parted ways and thanked each other for the talk. I told the Marine I'd see him on my flight back since there soon wouldn't be a base for him to go to.

Sure enough, I got back home and did some checking on the interwebs. Although I couldn't find anything about Obama disbanding the Corps, I did find a story that Obama was going to disband the National Guard and Reserves by fall of this year, a post that Hillary Clinton is, in fact, going to dismantle the Marine Corps, and various other hysteria/delusions in the mind of a brainwashed conservative.

I thought about the flight and wondered, how can such a seemingly intelligent, normal man suddenly suspend logic and spout such nonsense?

How can, on one hand, we discuss rationally our jobs, our cars, our families, and then BOOM, a switch goes off and FEMA camps, immigrant take-over, birth certificate time-travel, Sandy Hook being a hoax, and the ever present secret army of "jack-booted thugs" (you know, the bad kind who take your guns away, not the good kind who shoot unarmed brown people).

Paranoia, fear, contempt... it's disturbing. I think to myself, do you ever listen to how stupid this all sounds? We are coming to the end of Obama's two terms. Gun rights haven't been curtailed in the least. If anything, they've expanded and it's easier to get a gun than ever before. Also, no one was taken into camps and locked up (unless you count the record number of undocumented immigrants Obama allowed that to happen to before deportation).

Even the conspiracy theories have gotten lamer. It went from all of us being destroyed to Michelle Obama wants to take dessert away. No. Seriously.

Fox News just reported that Obama is going to ban doughnuts!

And not just doughnuts. Watch the report. Obama's jack-booted FDA is coming after (and they list these) popcorn, Christmas cookies (ohhh he hates Christmas!), crackers, frozen pizza, and canned frosting. Fox News host Clayton Morris actually said they would be prohibited!

Hoooo boy. I shouldn't have to explain this, but what they are referring to is the FDA ban on trans-fat, which was enacted well over a year ago. Trans-fat isn't needed to make anything, and has already been eliminated by doughnut companies for years! (This includes the stupid doughnuts Morris was displaying.) In other words, trans-fat is a dangerous, non-essential ingredient that has already been replaced. No one gave flying f***.

Yet Fox is lying to its viewers, again, and telling them that this year your favorite desserts will be BANNED! As Cenk said in the video, it is pretty much guaranteed that one of your brainwashed relatives will state, matter-of-factly, that Obama is banning doughnuts. It was on the "news".

Yet in a few months, when we see that our doughnuts are still on the shelves and no one is trying to take them, the Fox viewer will not once ever stop and say to himself--"Hey, they lied to me!". That is because he will already be outraged at the next lie. The cycle will continue, and I'll keep trying to get through.

To all of my conservative friends, past, present, and those I'll meet on flights in the future: Can one of your New Year's resolutions be that when you hear something SO INCREDIBLE about your president or, in fact, any politician, that you will put a minimum amount of effort to verifying it is true before you spout it as fact? Just ONE google search will usually do it.

That's all I ask. You'll seem more normal, less gullible, and you'll find that people will enjoy your company without suddenly questioning your intelligence.

Happy New Year my friends, and Benghazi.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/01/1355083/-Obama-To-Disband-the-Marine-Corps

[Ron Green]

1. Obama's just perfect: A right-of-center reasonable man

who serves as a socialist boogeyman of color for the mouth-breathers. What more could the Power Elite want?

[lunasun]

2. You question why Holder would be involved in restructuring the military ?

Answer he is AA and heads the DOJ it is that obvious

These morans that beleb all this crap
what is going on in their ever shrinking hater brain??

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. A couple of weeks ago a former Marine co-worker

was complaining that over 30 Marines had been killed the week before in Afghanistan and "There was nothing about it in the MSM", but he only knew about it through his connection to "informed sources".

Apparently, his connected informed sources consisted of a Facebook jpeg that has been circulated for the past couple of years and is actually referring to the well-covered Chinook helicopter crash in 2011 that claimed the lives of 31 Marines.

There's something every week that kicks his outrage button: U.N. resolutions that don't exist, Executive Orders that do not remotely resemble what his Facebook friends claim, Stalinist USSR was more free than Americans are today. He will believe anything that confirms his extreme ideology. Anything. Oh, and Snopes and all the other fact checking sites are just part of the leftist conspiracy.

[NYC Liberal]

7. I love the "We're less free than North Korea/the Soviet Union/Nazi Germany/etc" line.

If you're complaining about the government and criticizing it openly and publicly, then you've just proved yourself wrong.

Try going to North Korea and griping about Dear Leader and the government on the streets of Pyongyang.

[progree]

4. And that's not all. Obama is going to change the Constitution so he can run for a 3rd term

This was in a white working - class and muttering old man bar in 2010. I had to explain that it takes 2/3 of both houses of Congress and 3/4 of the state legislatures to change the constitution. Sheesh. (I don't know if they heard this on some right-wing hate radio station or where -- its too dumb for even Fox)

[Jim Lane]

15. I thought he was just going to cancel the election and stay in power.

Any idiot who thinks Obama would bother amending the Constitution needs to check out World Net Daily, and in particular this article: "BEN CARSON: 2016 ELECTION MAY NOT HAPPEN".

[progree]

5. Maybe Hillary wants to get rid of the Marines -- they rejected her and said try the Army,

the "dogs" take everyone. (It was because of her very poor uncorrected eyesight that she was turned down when she inquired about joining the Marines way back in her college days -- I heard Hillary herself tell this story on NPR or somesuch).

a post that Hillary Clinton is, in fact, going to dismantle the Marine Corps

[Beartracks]

6. Executive Orders as Kingly Command

There seems to be this belief among conservatives that Executives Orders: a) started with Obama; and b) are some kind of extra-legal action that a President can take that circumvents all laws and can accomplish anything the President wants -- that is, to say, like the order of a king.

They don't realize that there are very real limitations on what an Exec Order can and can't do, and when one can and can't be made -- and this, ironically, is all defined in LAW. But, no -- conservatives fancy that Obama is a king who can subvert and even abolish the rule of law with one of his Executive Orders any time he wants to.

If he was the king conservatives think he is, and he could REALLY wave the magic wand they fear he wields, he would've already made all guns disappear, disbanded the GOP, and turned all high fructose corn syrup into wheat bran.

===========================

[SCantiGOP]

17. make up your damn minds!

All I hear from the right wing are variations of two themes: Obama is weak and we are in real trouble; or, Obama is a dictator and we are in real trouble.
Can't have it both ways assholes.

[Beartracks]

18. Cognitive dissonance, thy name is Republican. n/t

[Xolodno]

8. In addition to Obama being a secret muslim...

...planted by terrorists decades ago with a faked birth certificate and a family recruited and manufactured history....who just happens to attend school with a left wing radical, etc. etc. etc.


Don't forget...9/11 was an inside job with Osama actually living in an area in Utah as the scenery of mountains he was seen "photographed", was eerily similar to those mountains in Utah.


I've argued with many conspiracy theorists...what I have learned? Don't bother. Even when proven wrong.....its ignored. And they move on to the next "conspiracy". Because the government in their words...always has a plan to subjugate us. I could point out how many corporations "buy off" politicians and it isn't really the government.....and this is where I want to ram my head through a thick and reinforced brick wall....they agree...but say government has infiltrated all the big corporations to do their bidding.


I kid you not...I've gone from a position "I can help" to....I'll help until I have to pull an Einstein.

[ncjustice80]

9. Even if he did, I dont think I would have a problem with it.

Anuyhing tjat reduces the size of the MIC is good news

[Matrosov]

10. Clinton was going to hand control to the UN

President Bill Clinton, that is. The RW stupidity with wild fairy tales goes back over two decades it seems.

I also remember getting emails from conservative 'acquaintances' in 2008 about how the government was lining up the FEMA coffins in the FEMA camps, for all the people President Obama would send to reeducation once he was elected, and the coffins were supposed to be for the ones deemed as incapable of being reeducated and consequently executed.

Conservatism runs on fear and hatred.

[Kaleva]

11. It is almost normal for people to delude themselves into believing what they want to believe.

One will see examples of it here at DU.

[Scurrilous]

12. K & R

[pinboy3niner]

13. I say if the Army, Navy and Air Force can have bands...

...Leave the Marine Corps Band alooooooone!

[Archae]

14. It's not just the right-wing.

Vaccines really do cause autism, the government covers that up!
Aliens have landed/will land, the government covers that up!
The Jews control the US government, and are committing genocide against the Palestinians!
Big Pharma is hiding cures for cancer and the common cold!
The entire worldwide news media is controlled by big corporations, except for Russia Today!
The CIA/Illuminati/Nazis/Jews/Communists/gays/flying saucers killed JFK, RFK and MLK!

And so on...

Why are conspiracy theories so popular, among both the left and right?

Because reality is too random, and too boring.

[MisterP]

16. *scrolls around* oo, Truman did

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolt_of_the_Admirals

[ChosenUnWisely]

19. Anyone with half a brain would knows that the USMC is part of the US Navy

which is the ONLY branch of the US Military that is REQUIRED to exist FULL time.

The President, any President, cannot disband the USMC without a change to the US Constitution and the National Security Act of 1947 specifically 50 U.S.C. 409(b) -

'The term ‘‘Department of the Navy’’ as used in this Act shall be construed to mean the Department of the Navy at the seat of government; the headquarters, United States Marine Corps; the entire operating forces of the United States Navy, including naval aviation, and of the United States Marine Corps, including the reserve components of such forces; all field activities, headquarters, forces, bases, installations, activities and functions under the control or supervision of the Department of the Navy; and the United States Coast Guard when operating as a part of the Navy pursuant to law.'

[mnhtnbb]

20. Geeze, anybody who watches NCIS knows this.

LOL. I guess some people don't learn anything from TV!

[ChosenUnWisely]

22. WTF does some TV show have to do with this?

I don't watch NCIS either, do they delve into Constitutional issues and the USC?

[Recursion]

23. Negative. The Navy and the Marine Corps are co-equally Naval Services

The Marine Corps is not an organic element of the Navy.

Or, to be more fair to your post: both the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy, as constituted, are equally components of the "Navy" as mandated Constitutionally.

[ChosenUnWisely]

25. In practice today you are correct but legally and constitutionally you are incorrect

From U.S. Constitution - Article 1 Section 8

'To provide and maintain a Navy;....'

Sorry No mention of the USMC in the US Constitution.

[Recursion]

31. Right, and the "Navy" as allowed by the Constitution encompasses more than the specific "US Navy"

as an organization.

(For that matter, the Corps predates the Constitution by almost 2 decades...)

[msanthrope]

38. Um, Dude. The USMC was founded in 1775 by the second constitutional convention.

It also established the Post Office...and they also signed and sent a little letter to King George. You may have heard of it.

I think the founding fathers, in establishing the marines and the navy BEFORE they had even agreed on a Constitution, knew what they were about.

[Recursion]

21. People have been predicting the Corps' demise since 1775

I'm pretty sure the Corps will go on this time, too.

[DCBob]

24. This is more than just absurd and funny.. its dangerous and a threat to our nation.

Fox news is manipulating the electoral process with lies and distortions. We need to find a way to counter them or we are screwed.

[Laffy Kat]

26. But, why, why why are they never held accountable except by Jon Stewart,

John Oliver, and occasionally other late night hosts? It boggles the mind.

[underpants]

27. That beats my co-worker who is suspicious of gas prices falling

She couldn't say exactly why but she was sure something is going on. Fox News believers-very religious-etc.

I googled looking for any sort of reference on it bit found nothing really. I think they are so paranoid at this point that every single thing now is a sign that the country is about to crumble.

[Douglas Carpenter]

28. You do know Obama has banned by executive decree all protest in front of federal buildings, didn't

you? I was sitting in a bar not long ago and someone actually said that and when challenged - they confidently told me - "Check it - Check it." Well, the only thing I could find remotely related to that is that by bipartisan consent both houses of Congress extended the authority of the Secret Service to expand the parameter whenever there is a presidential visitation. Not quite the same, I suppose.

As Bill Maher once said, "How long can a nation stand - half free and halfwit?"

[John1956PA]

29. Major Gen. Smedley Butler, USMC, is credited to have stopped a coup in 1932.

The alleged 1932 attempted coup may have been the inspiration, in part, for the 1960s novel and movie, "Seven Days in May," in which a USMC Colonial uncovers a plot by military officers to stage a coup to seize control of the United States government.

In the supposed 1932 coup conspiracy, wealthy industrialists and bankers sought assistance from certain military leaders to depose FDR and otherwise overthrow the government. Retired Major General Smedley Butler, USMC, was a highly decorated officer who had become disillusioned with the powerful entity which, a few decades later, would be identified by President Eisenhower as the "military-industrial complex." Supposedly, the plotters made several overtures to Butler who played along for the purpose of gathering information which he eventually revealed to friends in the press and Congress in order to scuttle the plot. The intrigue of those supposed 1930s events is chronicled in the book, The Plot to Seize the White House (1973) by Jules Archer.

[WinkyDink]

30. First they came for my guns. Then they came for my doughnuts, and I had no defense. Semper Pie!

[chrisa]

32. Michelle Obama is going to force us to eat those scary vegetable things! Nooo!!!

(Cue in ominous music and horror shots of a chef slicing a carrot)

[WinkyDink]

33. That's why Bush41 was better! He hates broccoli!

[Historic NY]

34. R U Sure I thought it was combining the Air Force & Army again....

I heard that the other day.

[OnionPatch]

35. I had to laugh

"Yet in a few months, when we see that our doughnuts are still on the shelves and no one is trying to take them, the Fox viewer will not once ever stop and say to himself--"Hey, they lied to me!". That is because he will already be outraged at the next lie. The cycle will continue, and I'll keep trying to get through."

After Obama was elected, my conservative cousin kept sending me hysterical emails about all the awful things Obama and the Democrats were doing or were planning to do. One by one I would debunk them and "reply to all" with links and evidence that the email was a lie. She would even write back and say "oh, sorry" sometimes, but sure enough, a week later, there would be another email from her with another stupid lie FROM THE SAME SOURCE! WTF? If someone lies to you multiple times, do you keep believing them???

After I debunked about fifty of her emails over a year's time, she simply removed me from her mailing list. That solved her problem. My other relatives inform me that the emails continue to this day. Most of them think she's a kook and many of them have simply removed her from their lists but I'm sad to say I was the only one who dared to refute and confront her.

[dawg]

36. You laugh now. But ...

you'll be laughing out of the other side of your face when you're forced to live in a hobbit home!

[treestar]

37. This:

Yet in a few months, when we see that our doughnuts are still on the shelves and no one is trying to take them, the Fox viewer will not once ever stop and say to himself--"Hey, they lied to me!". That is because he will already be outraged at the next lie. The cycle will continue, and I'll keep trying to get through.

Their attention span is so poor. Even if you can get them to remember it, they can always deflect that it's still going to happen and Benghazi!