Du-u-de. Epic f'king rant, man. I swear to f'king God, if I was the type to wear hats, mine would absolutely be off to you. (I don't wear hats as a rule, except a knit hat when it's cold. I tell people I don't want anyone to think I'm bald or something... and of course I'm a bald guy, so I'm being factious. Ironic even)
Unfortunately, as to the point of the conversation, you came in in the middle. I'm somewhat centrist, leaning liberal. Pro choice. Jewish, but "BDS" and "Peace Now" Jewish, "civil rights" Jewish, not Zionist. A supporter of national heathcare. Subscriber to "The Nation" , a reader of Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal. You don't need to tell me our history in Chile. Or Vietnam. Or Nicaragua, Guatemala, Greece, Iran, etc. Hell you can throw in Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Palestine, the Philippines. I read. You're preaching to the choir. I mean, I guess you can say I'm more than a little liberal in that respect.
Raymond and Flash on the other hand are both die hard Trumpanzees... bigots and haters to the core, neither of them American though, so there's that bit of irony. I have no idea why you'd think to weigh in on their side of this. If you need some context, have a chat with them about Chile. Or Vietnam. Or Nicaragua, Guatemala, Greece, Iran, etc.. Do it offline. I'll wait.
I point out my military service, not because I'm a militarist, but because I won't have my patriotism questioned by a couple of hateful, bigoted turds, especially ones who talk sh't but have never had enough hair on their @sses to put any of their own skin in the game. (And by the way, Army, not Marines... I was tough, not crazy)
I won't tell you how I saved your @ss from communism. The Soviets were collapsing when I got there. (They were an actual threat once though... More than us? Marginally, yes. Were you there?) My father and his brothers did fight in the good war against fascism. My grandfather before them served in the trenches in WWI. I won't argue about whether military service is proper. I don't believe in how our military's used, but I still believe someone has to serve. And I'm still proud to have done so.
Put you go ahead and chat with Raymond and Flash.. No, please. Let me know what you think.
Peace, young man. Carry on.