FINALLY---Someone in Congress Asks the Right Question

U.S. Congressional Representative, Ted Lieu of California, asked a Trump Admin official (in a Hearing) the following:  "Under the Constitution, does the President have the authority to declare war?".  The Trump guy hemmed, hawed, beat around the bush, and never answered the query.  Then Rep. Lieu said he would make it easy:  "The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, right?".  More hemming & hawing from the U.S. Envoy to Iran.  Kudos to Representative Lieu.

Those who rely on the War Powers Resolution (often called the War Powers Act), or any other "resolution", to declare war are violating the Constitution and their Oath of Office.  In our system of government, it isn't up to the President to decide when to go to war.  The Founders believed that could be subject to abuse, and so they made certain that only Congress had that power.  At least then, We the People supposedly would be represented in the decision.  Plus, Congress was not given the authority to transfer that power to the Executive.  The President only has power to manage a war...once Congress has declared war.  Finally, no Law supercedes the U.S. Constitution.

According to recent News reports, Trump & Crew are considering using the 2001 Resolution as authority to go to war with Iran.  That's ludicrous.  Not only is it ludicrous (and illegal) because of the paragraph immediately above, but also because that Resolution had absolutely nothing to do with Iran.  Nothing at all.

The last time Congress declared war was in December, 1941.  Over the decades since then, members of our Gov't have ignored the war clause of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States.  That means each of them has violated his/her Oath of Office.  Very few people seem to care.

The case for war with Iran is so flimsy that it really doesn't exist.  The Warmongers' efforts to make the case have a strong stink about them. More importantly, the President does not have the Constitutional authority to declare war on any nation.  Once any part of our bedrock Supreme Law of the Land is by-passed, then the same can happen to any other part.  Hello.  This whole scenario reeks of "The Grand Chessboard:  American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives".  Empire on steroids.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

What the Next USA President Should Do

Use the Office and/or its Bully Pulpit for---

1.  promoting laws to break up the Mega Banks & Mega Tech Companies (clearly they are monopolies);

2.  the cessation of all Trade Wars;

3.  the withdrawal of combat troops from the Middle East & Central Asia, as well as cutting the number of our military bases on foreign soil by half---that number is now about 800-900 or so---and the military budget by half (currently that budget is more than the next seven largest military budgets in the world combined);

4.  the reinstatement of Nuke Treaties;

5.  ending of our Central Bank, as JFK started to do (we don't need a Middle Man to produce Gov't currency... especially one who charges interest);

6.  a return to some version of the Gold Standard (the amount of gold in the world doesn't prohibit that...only the artificially depressed price of gold does);

7.  the end of blanket surveillance by the NSA, CIA, FBI, and any other Agency;

8.  a return to the Constitutional requirement of Congress having to declare war before troops are sent to war;

9.  a repeal of the "Real ID Act";

10.  a reinstatement of EPA Rules trashed by Trump & Crew;

11.  policies/laws addressing the threat of Climate Change;

12.  promoting the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act;

13.  the reinstatement of "Net Neutrality";

14.  promoting the establishment of Banking as a Public Utility;

15.  the establishment of the Internet as a Public Utility;

16.  the complete revision of the IRS, or maybe, the elimination of it;

17.  promoting laws that require Congress to read legislative bills before voting on them, and to vote only on one subject/bill at a time (instead of attaching unpopular bills as riders to bills that are guaranteed to pass);

18.  making pot completely legal, and codeine an OTC drug (as it was earlier in my life);

19.  reducing our nuclear arsenal;

20.  promoting laws that prohibit Usury (laws we once had);

21.  prohibiting Gov't interference in foreign elections, prohibiting coups, & prohibiting assassinations by the Executive Branch (according to the Constitution, only Congress legally can order assassinations);

22.  promoting laws that establish Term Limits for all elected officials in the Fed Gov't;

23.  promoting laws that prohibit electronic, black box voting... use paper ballots only;

24.  limiting Executive Orders by Presidents to only the two described in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution:  the Pres can require written reports by his Dept Heads, and can grant pardons to those convicted of Fed crimes (those are the only two described in the Constitution);

25.  policies which abide by International Law, and in particular, recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court (we didn't mind doing that when we set up the Nuremberg Trials).

Those are only some of the things the next President should do, but they would be a great start toward returning this country to sanity.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Points For and Against the Current Oval Office Occupier

For---
1.  He kept us out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  I've covered the disastrous downside of that Trade Pact elsewhere on this venue, so won't go into it again in this piece.  Talks related to joining the TPP were started under Dubya Bush, and accelerated under Obama.  Trump killed it his first day in office.

If interested in why the TPP is the worst Trade Treaty in history, use this blog's Search function to locate my assessment of it.  Or even better, Google/Bing/etc. :  Lori Wallach and the TPP.

2.  There is no number 2.  I was tempted to list his meetings with North Korea, but decided against it because he's the one who provoked that country with virtually insane threats of nuclear annihilation.  The person really responsible for averting (for now, at least) catastrophe is the President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in.

Against---
1.  He's a serial liar; he, himself, has proven that over, and over, and over.  In terms of frequency of lying, Trump beats out both Dubya Bush and Obama... which I didn't think was possible by anyone.

2.  He's mentally unstable, and thus emotionally unfit to be in any political office, much less the Presidency.  He, himself, has proven that over, and over, and over.  Now admittedly, I've had only a couple university pysch courses; however, you don't have to be a master carpenter to recognize a shack.  😊  Plus, there's a long list of psychologists and psychiatrists who have stated that he needs to be professionally examined.

3.  Based on his words and actions, he doesn't have a broad understanding of anything that a President should know.  His understanding of key issues, world affairs, diplomacy, statesmanship, war, the economy, the environment, fiscal and monetary matters, cultural matters, science, genuine capitalism, the Law, health matters, etc. is so limited as to be nothing short of comical.

4.  He promotes divisiveness in our country and in the world.  Plus, such promotion is not inadvertent.  He does it on purpose.

5.  While in office (never mind previous to that), he has violated Laws of the Land.  Here's only one example---
https://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/2017/07/trumps-violation-of-nepa-sepa-laws-rules.html
Read it carefully.  The acronyms and other abbreviations used are not as confusing as they first appear.

6.  He doesn't have even a rudimentary understanding of the United States Constitution.  Many times, he has violated his Oath of Office by failing to "preserve, protect, and defend" the Constitution.  For example, he (like many other Presidents) has violated the War Clause of Article I, Section 8.  Another example--- the Executive Branch (of which he's in charge) violates the Fourth Amendment on an almost daily basis.  Another example--- it's crystal clear that Trump is violating the Emoluments portion of Article I, Section 9 (the Nobility Clause).

7.  As President, his conflicts of interest truly are beyond the pale.

8.  Similar to numbers 1 & 2 above, Trump is the King of Public Gaslighters.  Nothing he says can be trusted.

9.  He cares not at all for the common people of this country.  He's merely manipulating & using some of us in order to further enrich himself.  This is so obvious that it's painful.  Some of his supporters finally have realized it.

10.  He is both an embarrassment and a danger to this country.  I've detailed all that in previous posts, so enough said.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well
p.s.  For any new readers, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat.  Ironically, neither is The Don.

Relax - We Have a Stable Genius as President

If you don't believe it, just ask him...he'll tell you so.  Oh, I forgot, he's already done that.  What a sorry, sad individual we have in the top spot of the Executive Branch.  The more I learn of his whole history, the sorrier & sadder he gets.  We all should be thoroughly embarrassed that he's in office.

This would not happen in a country with honest politicians elected to the top slots, politicians who truly represented the People instead of Corporations.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well
p.s.  For any new readers of this blog:  no, I'm not a Democrat...neither am I a Republican.

Comey's Testimony - Wow!

Below is a copy of most of an email I sent to my son, other family members, & a few friends.
......................................................

As to Comey's testimony---

1.  Regarding who's lying, Trump or Comey, The Don is the loser...Trump is lying...it's not even close.

2.  McCain sounded like a befuddled old man:

more than once, he referred to Pres. Trump as Pres. Comey; and more importantly, he couldn't seem to keep the difference between two investigations straight.  His questions were just bizarre.

3.  I'm not a fan of Comey's (or for that matter, some of what the FBI does---such as sometimes writing their own Search Warrants), but I'll say this:  after watching all 2+ hrs of his testimony, I'm convinced that in that particular matter he was professional, truthful, totally open, and did a bang-up job.  Compared to Comey, Trump has proven himself to be unprofessional, ignorant, clownish, & an unrepentant liar.  Why he's still in office is beyond my comprehension.

The Repubs most likely won't vote for Impeachment (although that's not guaranteed...I imagine many would rather see Pence as Pres.), but I still predict that Trump will be out before the end of his 1st 4 yrs.  The probability of that is very high.

...............................................

Be Well

US Combat CONTINUES in Afghanistan

Not too long ago, President Obama announced that the US combat mission in Afghanistan "has ended".  Like many of his utterances, this one also proved to be untrue.  It wasn't long after the announcement that the NYT reported this:  Obama had signed a secret order authorizing the remaining 10,800 troops to engage in combat.

Most recently, just the other day, the NYT also reported that combat night raids by US Special Forces had increased... now that the "combat mission in Afghanistan has ended".

Another lie from a Fed politician... go figure.

If there ever has been a President begging for impeachment, it is Barack Obama.  The man truly and literally is incredible.  Not only does he lie, but he violates the Constitution over and over.  [I've detailed such violations in several previous posts.]  Of course, he most likely won't be impeached because Republicans commit the same violations.  None of the DC politicians want a public discussion of why the President is not permitted to put this nation at war.  Only the Congress has the power to do that.

Not just my opinion.  Be Well