Hegseth to Return Memorial Biden Tore Down in Arlington National Cemetery

GoldenBoy89 · Thursday at 9:04 PM

Aldebaran said:
Its removal certainly accomplished that goal.

Yes and now bringing it back accomplished much the same while also reopening old wounds.

Fantine · Thursday at 9:19 PM

Always in His Presence said:
They were our brothers and sisters. Yes they were at war with the North, but read the history and why the President of the United States and Congress at the time felt it was important and right.

You call them brothers and sisters. But to many they were Massahs, owners, brutalizers, enslavers.

Being white, could i consider them brothers? Well every family has its black sheep and they don't hang his picture on the wall.

Hans Blaster · Thursday at 10:27 PM

Always in His Presence said:
Hegseth* to Return Memorial Biden Tore Down in Arlington National Cemetery

It’s official — the Biden administration’s historic eraser just hit a major snag.

In a move that’s already got progressives clutching their pearls and composing angry Twitter threads, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Confederate Memorial — yep, that one — is heading back to Arlington National Cemetery.

The very same monument that was yanked out of the ground under Biden’s watch, boxed up like unwanted furniture, and banished to a Defense Department storage facility in Virginia? Yeah, it’s coming home. And not quietly, either.

You probably remember the removal last December. Tucked neatly between headlines about inflation, border chaos, and the latest round of DEI appointments, the Pentagon quietly took down the Reconciliation Monument — a 109-year-old sculpture commissioned in an era of healing, built by Moses Ezekiel, a Jewish-American Civil War veteran who also happened to be buried nearby.

No debate. No vote. Just poof — gone.

Why? Because the monument dared to acknowledge that, after the bloodiest war in American history, some people believed in moving forward. Because it honored Confederate dead not as heroes, but as fellow Americans buried on U.S. soil. Because it referenced reconciliation — something that apparently doesn’t fit in today’s progressive glossary.

This was not a monument celebrating slavery, or glorifying rebellion. This was a tribute to lives lost. A monument built at the direct approval of a future U.S. president — William Howard Taft — placed beside the graves of over 400 Confederate soldiers, meant to symbolize national healing.

*The reports of Hegseth's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

The confederate monument was part of UDC campaign of confederate memorialization in memory. It deserved the fate of all traitors monuments:

[alt text: the traitor R.E. Lee melts]

A New Dawn · Thursday at 11:44 PM

Fantine said:
Remembering they were the Cause of so many American deaths, their monuments should be in museums, helping future generations learn from past mistakes.

That's what Arlington National Cemetery is, a museum.

Look what Germany did, rebuilding the holocaust camps, with the saying by Santayana inscribed on a monument outside them, "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it". Nothing different about the Civil War statues. You can't learn from something that you don't know anything about.

Hans Blaster · 2025-08-08T00:56:31-0500

A New Dawn said:
That's what Arlington National Cemetery is, a museum.

It isn't. Just check the name.

Pommer · 2025-08-08T01:01:28-0500

Try as I might, I cannot form an opinion on this one.
Next!

Fantine · 2025-08-08T01:06:09-0500

A New Dawn said:
That's what Arlington National Cemetery is, a museum.

Look what Germany did, rebuilding the holocaust camps, with the saying by Santayana inscribed on a monument outside them, "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it". Nothing different about the Civil War statues. You can't learn from something that you don't know anything about.

My daughter's high school had the Rebel as its mascot. People put front Confederate license plates on their cars. When the school board finally ditched the Rebel, nine years after she graduated, there were huge protests and attempts to unseat the board. The Confederate statue was removed from the school entrance.
And I learned something all right. I learned that the town my husband's job had transferred him to had a lot of racists.

Always in His Presence · 2025-08-08T06:34:21-0500

FAITH-IN-HIM said:
This is one aspect of the GOP and southern culture that puzzles me: why do we celebrate or honor Confederate soldiers?

Reminder, the Confederate self identified as Southern Democrats, why wouldn’t the Grand Old Party (Republicans) still want to heal the wounds today?

Let stop all the division. It doesn’t do this nation any good.

GoldenBoy89 said:
Then another president felt it was important and right to bring the statue down and now another president thinks it’s important and right for it to come back up.

Maybe these decisions should be left to someone other than the current president?

Why? Because you don’t like him?

A New Dawn · 2025-08-08T06:38:33-0500

Fantine said:
My daughter's high school had the Rebel as its mascot. People put front Confederate license plates on their cars. When the school board finally ditched the Rebel, nine years after she graduated, there were huge protests and attempts to unseat the board. The Confederate statue was removed from the school entrance.
And I learned something all right. I learned that the town my husband's job had transferred him to had a lot of racists.

We’re they “racist” because someone was trying to change the mascot of the school they went to even though they, themselves, never did racist stuff (kind of how people accuse Trump of being racist), or did they really do racist stuff (like tell blacks if they didn’t vote Democrat they weren’t really black (like Biden did)?

FAITH-IN-HIM · 2025-08-08T07:22:21-0500

Always in His Presence said:
They were our brothers and sisters. Yes they were at war with the North, but read the history and why the President of the United States and Congress at the time felt it was important and right.

The southern states became known as the Confederate States of America and engaged in war with the United States of America.

I am well-versed with the history of the United States, including instances where citizens renounced their citizenship, established a foreign country, and engaged in conflict with the United States of America.

So the question is, Why would the United States celebrate the heroism or sacrifice of a foreign nation's soldier?

Would it be appropriate to place a monument of Admiral Yamamoto at Prel Harbor as a gesture towards reconciliation?

Would it be appropriate to place 9/11 hijacker’s monument in DC and NYC?

FAITH-IN-HIM · 2025-08-08T07:56:29-0500

Always in His Presence said:
Reminder, the Confederate self identified as Southern Democrats, why wouldn’t the Grand Old Party (Republicans) still want to heal the wounds today?

What wounds remain 160 years after the Civil War? Lincoln pardoned Confederate soldiers to encourage national unity, but what are we trying to heal now? Should Germany install a Hitler monument in Berlin because many Germans were Nazis and need reconciliation? Should America honor Arnold Benedict since some Americans supported the British during the War of Independence?

Today, North or South makes no difference—we are united as Americans. Fortunately, calls for secession from the US are considered fringe and not part of mainstream political discourse.

Despite the current political discord, I am confident that the vast majority of Americans would not accept any state seceding from the Union. Today, it is difficult to imagine Americans tolerating even a single city separating from the United States, let alone seven states.

Installing Confederate monuments in Arlington is inappropriate and disrespects those who gave their lives for this nation. It would be comparable to burying German soldiers in the Normandy American Cemetery.

It is remarkable that many Americans who support Confederate monuments in places like Arlington, courtrooms, or Congress would be deeply offended if a German general such as Rommel were honored in the same way in USA.

GoldenBoy89 · 2025-08-08T07:56:58-0500

Always in His Presence said:
Why?

Because we change presidents by the season. The decision to keep or tear down the statues should be with the local people

Always in His Presence said:
Because you don’t like him?

Because he’s terribly unpopular and this only pushes more division. Do you want unity or do you just want things your way?

wing2000 · 2025-08-08T08:00:33-0500

A New Dawn said:
That's what Arlington National Cemetery is, a museum.

Look what Germany did, rebuilding the holocaust camps, with the saying by Santayana inscribed on a monument outside them, "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it". Nothing different about the Civil War statues. You can't learn from something that you don't know anything about.

....just when I thought I had seen the worst comparison ever.

Fantine · 2025-08-08T08:01:10-0500

A New Dawn said:
We’re they “racist” because someone was trying to change the mascot of the school they went to even though they, themselves, never did racist stuff (kind of how people accuse Trump of being racist), or did they really do racist stuff (like tell blacks if they didn’t vote Democrat they weren’t really black (like Biden did)?

Let me use a contemporary analogy.
They call the confederacy "states rights" (to own slaves.)
What do opponents of abortion say about states rights (to allow abortion.)
Well, slave owners not only beat and killed their slaves, they raped the mothers who gave birth to them. Their descendants hanged blacks beside burning crosses. That's the history they glorify?

GoldenBoy89 · 2025-08-08T08:04:07-0500

A New Dawn said:
That's what Arlington National Cemetery is, a museum.

Look what Germany did, rebuilding the holocaust camps, with the saying by Santayana inscribed on a monument outside them, "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it". Nothing different about the Civil War statues. You can't learn from something that you don't know anything about.

We also have these things called history books.

Have you heard of them?

GoldenBoy89 · 2025-08-08T08:05:16-0500

Aldebaran said:
It's removal certainly accomplished that goal.

I hadn’t even heard of it until now that’s being put back up. Maybe it was only you that was distracted?

Desk trauma · 2025-08-08T08:07:41-0500

A New Dawn said:
That's what Arlington National Cemetery is, a museum.

Look what Germany did, rebuilding the holocaust camps, with the saying by Santayana inscribed on a monument outside them, "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it". Nothing different about the Civil War statues. You can't learn from something that you don't know anything about.

Such a pity nothing was written about the civil war and all we have to go off of is statuary erected well after the war to go by.

Hans Blaster · 2025-08-08T08:32:54-0500

Always in His Presence said:
Reminder, the Confederate self identified as Southern Democrats, why wouldn’t the Grand Old Party (Republicans) still want to heal the wounds today?

Do we need explain Civil Rights Era party shift again?

Always in His Presence said:
Let stop all the division. It doesn’t do this nation any good.

Start by not honoring traitors.

essentialsaltes · 2025-08-08T08:35:56-0500

A New Dawn said:
Look what Germany did, rebuilding the holocaust camps, with the saying by Santayana inscribed on a monument outside them, "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it". Nothing different about the Civil War statues.

Except there are no "Nie wieder" signs in front of the monument sanitizing the institution of slavery.

A New Dawn · 2025-08-08T08:50:07-0500

Fantine said:
Let me use a contemporary analogy.
They call the confederacy "states rights" (to own slaves.)
What do opponents of abortion say about states rights (to allow abortion.)
Well, slave owners not only beat and killed their slaves, they raped the mothers who gave birth to them. Their descendants hanged blacks beside burning crosses. That's the history they glorify?

So the people in the town where your husband still own slaves and beat them? Or you heard them saying they want to go back to owning slaves? Or they were high-fiving all those people who did the nasty stuff? I’m confused.

Or you are suggesting that just because they liked the mascot of the school they went to that that means they were glorifying slavery? Because unless they were actively promoting slavery, I’d say you are reading waaay too much into it.

Hegseth to Return Memorial Biden Tore Down in Arlington National Cemetery

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