Tag Archives: Congress

War and the Constitution, by Andrew P. Napolitano

The Constitution isn’t perfect, but it once stood imperfectly between citizens and pure tyranny. No more. From Andrew P. Napolitano at lewrockwell.com:

Can the president fight any war he wishes? Can Congress fund any war it chooses? Are there constitutional and legal requirements that must first be met before war is waged? Can the United States legally attack an ally?

These questions should be front and center in a debate over the U.S. involvement in Ukraine. Sadly, there has been no great debate. The media are mouthing what the CIA is telling them, and only a few websites and podcasts — my own, “Judging Freedom” on You Tube, among them — are challenging the government’s reckless, immoral, illegal and unconstitutional war.

All power in the federal government comes from the Constitution and from no other source. Congress, however, has managed to extend its reach beyond the confines of the Constitution domestically by spending money in areas that it cannot regulate and purchasing compliance from the states by bribery.

Examples of this are the numerical minimum blood alcohol content to trigger DWI arrests, and maximum speed limits. In both instances, Congress offered money to the states to pave highways provided they lower both numbers, and the cash-strapped states accepted the money along with congressional strings. These are bribes from the criminal consequences of which Congress has exempted itself.

The same takes place in foreign policy. Congress cannot legally declare war on Russia, since there is no militarily-grounded reason for doing so. Russia poses no threat to American national security or American persons or property. Moreover, the U.S. has no treaty with Ukraine that triggers an American military defense. But Congress spends money on war nevertheless.

Continue reading

Lock Up the White House Silverware!

Volodymyr Zalensky has unlimited access to the American wallet. From Philip Giraldi at unz.com:

Volodymyr Zelensky is in town!

In my humble opinion the surfacing of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington last week was possibly the most disgusting example of the corruption of our country and its values since Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu arranged for a similar invitation to address a rapturous Congress back in 2015. Zelensky’s “surprise” visit had in fact been arranged over the course of several months and was a carefully choreographed performance intended to pay political dividends for both the White House, for the Democratic Party in Congress and for Zelensky and his political supporters at home. He met privately with President Joe Biden in the White House, where he presumably received most of what he was seeking as well as a pledge of total support until “Ukraine wins.” He subsequently was invited to address a Joint Session of Congress, a privilege that was most definitely not arranged at short notice, with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi predictably calling on all Congressmen to attend. The session began with a three minute standing ovation from the assembled Representatives and Senators.

So the creepy little con-man was enabled to have his say in a video link that reached a global audience. That it consisted of a gaggle of lies to justify the rapid passage of hundreds of billions of dollars from the struggling American taxpayer to a nation renowned only for its reputation as the most corrupt in Europe was not noted by the audience. As it has been from the start Joe Biden’s war, it is inevitable that the Democrats in Congress should leap around and fill the chamber with cheers every time Zelensky opened his mouth to emit yet another inanity. But to their shame, many Republicans joined in on the celebration of the odd diminutive man Zelensky, whose beatification was passionately embraced by the national media to make sure no one missed out on the importance of the event. The New York Times report on the visit began by describing Zelensky’s status as “a national hero and global superstar, having forged a leadership style blending personal daring with deft messaging to rally his people at home and his allies abroad.” In part, that message included describing his struggle as engaging in a battle pitting “good against evil.”

Continue reading→

Your Government Hates You, by MN Gordon

The government steals your hard-earned money, has plunged the country into debt, and has spent trillions on programs and wars of no discernible benefit to most of the American people. These are not the acts of an institution that loves you. From MN Gordon at economicprism.com:

“Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Capital Consuming Gluttony

Did you know that in fiscal year 2022, federal tax receipts as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) hit a near record high of 19.6 percent?

According to the U.S. Treasury, in FY 2022, total federal tax receipts and additional federal government revenue topped $4.90 trillion.  Yet, over this time, Congress spent $6.27 trillion.  The difference, the 2022 deficit, was $1.37 trillion.

The difference, of course, was made up with debt.  And year after year, decade after decade, these deficits have stacked up into a mega pile of debt.  Presently, the U.S. national debt is over $31.4 trillion.  As a reference point, in December 2000, the national debt was $5.6 trillion.

In other words, over the last 22 years the U.S. national debt has increased 460 percent.  U.S. GDP over this same time, however, has increased just 157 percent, from about $10 trillion to 25.7 trillion.

You’d think with all that cash coming in from near record tax receipts as a percent of GDP Washington could balance the budget.  Maybe it could even run a surplus and pay down some of the national debt.

President Andrew Jackson, for example, paid off the entire national debt in 1835 after just six years in office.  He then took the federal government surplus and divided it among indebted states.

Alas, that’s not how the U.S. government works in the 21st century, where near record tax receipts will never be enough.  Washington’s capital consuming gluttony is well beyond the reach of a human solution.  Nature will have to take its course.

Continue reading→

Censor or Else: Democratic Members Warn Facebook Not to “Backslide” on Censorship, by Jonathan Turley

Democrats see media as nothing more than their public relations arm to further their agenda. The First Amendment is for losers. From Jonathan Turley at jonathanturley.org:

With the restoration of free speech protections on Twitter, panic has grown on the left that its control over social media could come to an end. Now, some of the greatest advocates of censorship in Congress are specifically warning Facebook not to follow Twitter in restoring free speech to its platform.

In a chilling letter from Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), André Carson (D-Ind.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Facebook was given a not-so-subtle threat that reducing its infamous censorship system will invite congressional action. The letter to Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, is written on congressional stationery “as part of our ongoing oversight efforts.”

With House Republicans pledging to investigate social media censorship when they take control in January, these four Democratic members are trying to force Facebook to “recommit” to censoring opposing views and to make election censorship policies permanent. Otherwise, they suggest, they may be forced to exercise oversight into any move by Facebook to “alter or rollback certain misinformation policies.”

In addition to demanding that Facebook preserve its bans on figures like former president Donald Trump, they want Facebook to expand its censorship overall because “unlike other major social media platforms, Meta’s policies do not prohibit posts that make unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud.”

Continue reading→

Israel’s Dominance of Washington, by Philip Giraldi

It’s been a long time since Israel has faced any meaningful challenge from anyone in Washington on anything, big or small. From Philip Giraldi at unz.com:

It’s worse than ever but the “apartheid state” is increasingly under pressure

At the end of every year, I like to comment on the progress – and the setbacks – in our struggle to make the United States government understand that it exists to improve lives for Americans rather than working full time to pander to the Israelis and their powerful domestic lobby. One would have thought that it could not get worse than the Donald Trump Administration’s crawling on its knees to satisfy every whim expressed or left unexpressed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, truly one of the most evil men ever to walk the face of the earth. Trump withdrew from the nuclear treaty with Iran, a move which was driven by Israel and its US lobby backed up by inducements from GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson. As Israel is a secret nuclear power, a program developed around technology and uranium stolen from the United States, the Trump move was the ultimate in hypocrisy, enabling what most nations would regard as a rogue state to have the nuclear option vis-à-vis its relatively defenseless neighbors.

Beyond that, and without any real urging by Israel, Trump showered gift after gift on the Jewish state, moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem in violation of the city’s “international” status, recognizing Israel’s annexation of the illegally occupied Syrian Golan Heights, and endorsing Israel’s “right” to deal with the Palestinians on the West Bank as it sees fit. None of those actions were in support of any actual American interests, nor was it even necessary to do them to placate the Israelis. Nor was it an American interest to release from parole convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, the most damaging spy in US history, so he could emigrate to Israel where he received a hero’s welcome. Since Trump’s departure from office, it has been learned that it was Trump’s Jewish and Zionist son-in-law Jared Kushner who was directing much of the policy on Israel-Palestine.

Recently, Trump, for whom the word “delusional” often seems to apply, stated emphatically that Israel has “rightfully” controlled the US Congress but does not do so any more. In an interview with someone named Ari Hoffman, Trump declared that “The biggest change I’ve seen in Congress, Israel literally owned Congress –you understand that?–ten years ago, fifteen years ago. And it was so powerful. It was so powerful. And today, it is almost the opposite. You have, between AOC and Omar and these people that hate Israel with a passion, they’re controlling Congress. Israel is not a force in Congress anymore! It’s amazing. I’ve never seen such a change. And we’re not talking about over a very long period of time, I think you know exactly what I’m saying. They had such power. Israel had such power, and rightfully, over Congress. And now it doesn’t! It’s incredible, actually.”

Continue reading→

Doug Casey on Insider Trading… Why Politicians Can Do it and You Can’t

Those who write the laws can exempt themselves, either de jure or de facto, and they do. From Doug Casey at internationalman.com:

Politicians

International Man: What exactly is insider trading? Is it inherently unethical?

Doug Casey: The term insider trading is nebulous and as open to arbitrary interpretation as the Internal Revenue Code. A brief definition is to “to trade on material, non-public information.” That sounds simple enough, but in its broadest sense, it means you are a potential criminal for attempting to profit from researching a company beyond its public statements.

Is the use of insider information ethical? The government says, “No!” I say, “Absolutely, whenever the data is honestly gained, and no confidence is betrayed by disclosing or using it.” The whole concept of inside information is a floating abstraction, a witch hunter’s dream, and a bonanza for government lawyers looking to take scalps.

When the SEC prosecutes someone, it can cost millions of dollars in legal fees to defend against them. And as with most regulatory law, concepts of ethics, justice, and property rights never even enter the equation. Instead, it’s a question of arbitrary legalities.

Whether someone is prosecuted of insider trading is largely a question of who he is. A maverick researcher and a powerful government official will tend to get very different treatments. It’s also a question of the psychology and motives of the prosecutor. Insider trading is generally a non-crime that can be used in a Kafkaesque manner by upward-mobile prosecutors.

Continue reading→

Congress, in a Five-Hour Hearing, Demands Tech CEOs Censor the Internet Even More Aggressively, by Glenn Greenwald

Jack Dorsey raised himself up one rung in hell by displaying the indifference to the congressional inquisitors that they deserve. From Glenn Greenwald at greenwald.substack.com:

The repressive objective of the Democratic-controlled Congress is to transfer the power to police and censor political discourse from these tech giants to themselves.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google/Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Mar. 25, 2021

Over the course of five-plus hours on Thursday, a House Committee along with two subcommittees badgered three tech CEOs, repeatedly demanding that they censor more political content from their platforms and vowing legislative retaliation if they fail to comply. The hearing — convened by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Chair Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), and the two Chairs of its Subcommittees, Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) — was one of the most stunning displays of the growing authoritarian effort in Congress to commandeer the control which these companies wield over political discourse for their own political interests and purposes.

As I noted when I reported last month on the scheduling of this hearing, this was “the third time in less than five months that the U.S. Congress has summoned the CEOs of social media companies to appear before them with the explicit intent to pressure and coerce them to censor more content from their platforms.” The bulk of Thursday’s lengthy hearing consisted of one Democratic member after the next complaining that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google/Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have failed in their duties to censor political voices and ideological content that these elected officials regard as adversarial or harmful, accompanied by threats that legislative punishment (including possible revocation of Section 230 immunity) is imminent in order to force compliance (Section 230 is the provision of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that shields internet companies from liability for content posted by their users).

Continue reading→

Congress Escalates Pressure on Tech Giants to Censor More, Threatening the First Amendment, by Glenn Greenwald

The government telling, or implying, backed up with an explicit or implicit threat, an ostensibly private media company who they can and cannot publish or broadcast is as much an abridgment of the First Amendment as a direct government ban. From Glen Greenwald at greenwald.substack.com:

In their zeal for control over online speech, House Democrats are getting closer and closer to the constitutional line, if they have not already crossed it.

CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey (R) and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (L) are
sworn in to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in
Washington, DC, on September 5, 2018. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
(Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

For the third time in less than five months, the U.S. Congress has summoned the CEOs of social media companies to appear before them, with the explicit intent to pressure and coerce them to censor more content from their platforms. On March 25, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will interrogate Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Facebooks’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai at a hearing which the Committee announced will focus “on misinformation and disinformation plaguing online platforms.”

The Committee’s Chair, Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), and the two Chairs of the Subcommittees holding the hearings, Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), said in a joint statement that the impetus was “falsehoods about the COVID-19 vaccine” and “debunked claims of election fraud.” They argued that “these online platforms have allowed misinformation to spread, intensifying national crises with real-life, grim consequences for public health and safety,” adding: “This hearing will continue the Committee’s work of holding online platforms accountable for the growing rise of misinformation and disinformation.”

Continue reading→ 

Dear Congress: Hold On to That Fear, by Mike Ferner

As I said in “The Gray Curtain Descends, Part 2,” given what they’ve done to America and the world, Washington’s politicians should live in perpetual, mortal terror. From Mike Ferner at antiwar.com:

Dear Congresspersons and Senators,

This letter is about that nauseating, trembling fear you felt when that hate exploded at you on January 6. Please don’t forget it. Journal about it before it fades. Tolerate the nightmares. Keep pen and paper on your nightstand to record what woke you from screaming fits. Don’t block it out. Don’t let it go.

If you can bank those emotions you had as you huddled together and hoped the doors would hold, that day may turn out to be a blessing for you…and even better for our republic. In fact, it may just be the thing that saves our republic if that is still possible.

The fear you felt that day was an authentic, if brief, reflection of what millions of people have endured because of the votes you and your past colleagues cast in that very room, sitting in those very chairs, as they authorized trillions upon trillions of dollars to feed and unleash the largest war machine on Earth.

Think about the votes you cast “to support the troops,” which in truth sent them to beat down someone’s door at 2 a.m., rush in, scream at a cowering family, steal their savings, terrorize the women and children, seize the men and tell them all the next time you will make their village “look like the moon.”

Continue reading→

New York Wants COVID Concentration Camps, by Simon Black

Simon black’s weekly compilation of the absurd. From Black at sovereignman.com:

Are you ready for this week’s absurdity? Here’s our Friday roll-up of the most ridiculous stories from around the world that are threats to your liberty, risks to your prosperity… and on occasion, inspiring poetic justice.

Congress Goes Gender Neutral, Starting with “Amen, and Awomen.”

It’s tradition that an opening prayer is read on the first day of the US House of Representatives.

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver led the prayer which he concluded, “Amen, and Awomen.”

Nevermind that ‘Amen’ does not at all refer to sex or gender, it comes from the historical Hebrew word meaning “so be it.”
(and I suppose that ‘awomen’ comes from herstorical Shebrew?)

So Congressperson Cleaver tried to play it off as a lighthearted jest, to welcome the record number of women into Congress.

Except that at the same time, Congress has passed new rules banning gendered speech in the House of Representatives.

“Seamen” is now “seafarer”. “Mother” and “father” are simply “parent”. “Brother” and “sister” become “sibling”.

Even more technical, legal language, like “ombudsman” is now “ombuds”. “Congressman” and “Congresswoman” are now “Member”.

Click here to read the bill or here to watch the video of the prayer.

Concentration Camps for COVID in New York

New York legislators have introduced a bill that would authorize state health officials to detain people without charges.

The law would apply in the event the government declares a health emergency, like the ones in force for essentially all of 2020, which were used to justify the COVID lockdowns.