Trumpco Headfakes Border, As Mom w/7 Kids Widowed After Utah Mayor/NG Officer Fragged in Afghanistan

676-800x600 goosenecks essay frag.jpg 17 years, Still Not An Election Issue for the duopoly: Utah Mayor, Father of 7, and National Guard Officer on his third tour killed in Afghanistan, the third one this year killed by Afghan friendlies.

Taylor was deployed to Afghanistan in January with the Utah National Guard for what was expected to be a 12-month tour of duty. Taylor, an officer in the National Guard, previously served two tours in Iraq and one tour in Afghanistan.

In what appeared to be his last Facebook post, Taylor shared pictures on Oct. 28 of Afghans voting and urged fellow Americans to vote.

"As the USA gets ready to vote in our own election next week, I hope everyone back home exercises their precious right to vote," he wrote. "And that whether the Republicans or the Democrats win, that we all remember that we have far more as Americans that unites us than divides us. 'United we stand, divided we fall." God Bless America."

At the time of his deployment in January, Taylor told local media that, as an intelligence officer, he will be assigned to serve on an advisory team training the staff of an Afghan commando battalion.

"Right now there is a need for my experience and skills to serve in our nation's long-lasting war in Afghanistan," he said. "President Trump has ordered an increase in troops, and part of the new strategy focuses on expanding the capabilities of the Afghan commando units."

Taylor became mayor of North Ogden, a city of about 17,000 people 46 miles north of Salt Lake City, in 2013.

More than 2,400 Americans have been killed in the 17-year-old war. Earlier this year, Army Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy Bolyard was shot dead in an insider attack, killed by one of the Afghan security members he came to Afghanistan to train.

That followed another insider attack that claimed the life of 20-year-old Army Cpl. Joseph Maciel

Was it a fragging or insider attack? The term insider attack didn't quite sit with me. FWIW I found this from some years back: Fragging In Afghanistan? By Stephen Lendman
3-29-12

Whatever you want to call it for me it really sucks that we are still in Afghanistan after all these years.

And can you imagine trying to raise 7 children now that we have a pretty good idea climate change is bringing more catastrophes and dislocations? I can't.

Election Issues

One might hope that serious debate about at least US soldier deaths in Afghanistan would be covered in the media. Nope. Although there are articles about Repub and Dem issue differences none that I have found are about defense spending or ending the wars.

At least one individual Democratic politician has brought it up:

Some candidates are proud of the status quo

Green Party

The Green Party, on the other hand, has consistently campaigned on ending the wars.

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into an anti-Trump article and somehow connect it to the migrants. Nice propaganda.

Maybe you should read the guy's quote:

"As the USA gets ready to vote in our own election next week, I hope everyone back home exercises their precious right to vote," he wrote. "And that whether the Republicans or the Democrats win, that we all remember that we have far more as Americans that unites us than divides us. 'United we stand, divided we fall." God Bless America."

So, would you rather send the border troops to the border or to Afghanistan?

Oh, and (sarcasm), of course this guy's "God bless America" really means that he is saying to stomp on all brown people, round everyone up and gas them like the Nazis did, put all of the reporters in jail, and start wars everywhere and nuke the rest of the world.

Headfake? Really? After all the open borders people argue that this is a crisis and these people need all the help they can get? So Trump responds and it's a headfake.

What other group in America, or even internationally, is going to supply the needs of these people while they await asylum hearings? I don't see any NGO's stepping up to the plate (yet).

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dfarrah

divineorder's picture

@dfarrah family.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

snoopydawg's picture

@dfarrah

You brought your argument from DO's other essay here and you have quite made your point. Do you have anything to say about the worthless loss of life of a man that has left his wife widowed and his 7 children fatherless? Let alone a small community that is grieving the loss of a good man?

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

divineorder's picture

...

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

lotlizard's picture

@divineorder  
is chairman of the board of Black Rock’s German subsidiary and is now running to succeed Angela Merkel for the Christian Democrat party internal post of chairman.

Seems like a big fat conflict of interest to me.

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Wink's picture

so they can kill their trainers apparently.
Makes sense. In a 1984, Catch 22 sort of way that is this 17 year "war."

Why is there no clamor to bring home the Troops™, end the war(s)??
Becuz most Americans believe the war is over, has been long over.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

divineorder's picture

@Wink most people still only get their news from the corporate press, which of course provides no coverage like we saw during the Viet Nam War ala Cronkite.

Still, the wars are not popular and wasn't there some evidence that part of the reason HRC lost was due to the unpopularity of the wars and the impact on families of those killed or wounded in action?

Nasty business.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

gulfgal98's picture

@Wink that we are still in all these wars. The only people who are aware are those with friends or family fighting in these wars. Everyone else is shocked that we are still fighting not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in other wars. I learned this from doing the weekly Peace vigils and I do not blame the public for their lack of knowledge. The corporate media is to blame.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Wink's picture

for the traitors they
@gulfgal98
are. And not just for unreported war, but for perpetuating the Russiagate bull$h!t and other such stories that lend credence to an unsupported narrative. Of which there are too many.
Hang 'em all.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

I was reading the wiki page about fragging this morning, then this essay appeared. Thanks. The noise machine is in full voice cacophony I guess. Onward! lol

The first caravan, made up of mainly Hondurans fleeing poverty and violence who began arriving October 19, yesterday entered Veracruz, walking or hitching rides on passing trucks.

Honduran migrant abandons caravan to study law in Guerrero

He told the newspaper Milenio that to demand change in his home country was impossible because “if you confront the government, they make you disappear.”

He said most of his friends are dead or have disappeared.

“There they do not look for those who have disappeared like they do here. When you disappear there you disappear and no one sees anything. Most of my childhood friends were killed and disappeared.”

Who's Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the group behind the migrant caravan that drew Trump's ire?

For over 15 years, the organization has led migrants from Central America to seek asylum elsewhere.
...
Edited: 'cause I duped a quote from above, here is the one I meant to pasta:

The group's volunteers help the migrants stay together to protect themselves from danger along the way, including from criminals and natural elements, but also to move past law enforcement officials.

Punching down won't change anything, it never has. Propaganda does change people's minds, as intended. I wish not to fight over basic human decency. peace
http://www.pueblosinfronteras.org/index.html

Hillary Clinton admits role in Honduran coup aftermath

The homicide rate in Honduras, already the highest in the world, increased by 50 percent from 2008 to 2011; political repression, the murder of opposition political candidates, peasant organizers and LGBT activists increased and continue to this day. Femicides skyrocketed. The violence and insecurity were exacerbated by a generalized institutional collapse. Drug-related violence has worsened amid allegations of rampant corruption in Honduras’ police and government. While the gangs are responsible for much of the violence, Honduran security forces have engaged in a wave of killings and other human rights crimes with impunity.

More USians voted for Her instead of Trump, ain't that the truth? US cops have also "engaged in a wave of killings", as far as I can tell.

good luck

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divineorder's picture

Hope you might write an essay with more detail on fragging. Worth discussing.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

divineorder's picture

@divineorder

http://www.pueblosinfronteras.org/index.html

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For more than fifteen years, members of Pueblo Sin Fronteras have been reaching out to the most vulnerable immigrants in the United States and to migrants and refugees on the move.

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We're not around, but we'd love to chat another time.

Funny (not really0 that for years the Republicans were all up with allowing illegal aliens into the country to work. And now?

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Big Al's picture

Yogi Berra.

People want to talk about ending the wars, ending U.S. imperialism. It's going to require ending rule by the rich/rule by oligarchy. I don't see how it can happen without that. Ending rule by the rich isn't going to happen by electing more and better politicians. It's going to require changing our political system and our constitution.

We can talk about ending wars until we're blue in the face, but it ain't gonna happen until we have the power.

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divineorder's picture

@Big Al jb found this and recs it:

It will be a war profiteer windfall bonanza!

Then there's this:

So yeah, we've got our work cut out for us.

Wonder if something like this will be the catalyst?

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Azazello's picture

LOTE voting in AZ requires an electron microscope, the difference is infinitesimal.
The Hill, 9-28-18, House votes to extend individual tax cuts

The House on Friday voted to permanently extend the individual tax cuts in President Trump’s 2017 tax law, giving House Republicans a chance to tout the law as they prepare to leave Washington to campaign.

The legislation passed on a vote of 220-191. Three Democrats voted for the legislation and ten Republicans voted against it.

Two of the Democrats who voted for the bill, Reps. Jacky Rosen (Nev.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), are both running for Senate. Rep. Conor Lamb (Pa.) is in a competitive race against Rep. Keith Rothfus (R) in the newly drawn 17th District of Pennsylvania.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

divineorder's picture

@Azazello @Azazello about her in the Evening Blues recently.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.