Posted on 01/09/2020 5:09:15 AM PST by EyesOfTX
Tired of all this WINNING yet? – Gosh, it’s been like four trading days since we were able to celebrate the setting of new record highs on the various stock market indexes. Oh, hey, that’s because it has been all of four trading days since that happened. But on Wednesday that happened yet again, with both the NASDAQ and S&P 500 closing at record high levels. The Dow closed slightly below its all-time record due only to weakness at Boeing after one of its planes flown by Ukrainian Airlines was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran. Dow’s futures, however, are pointing to a record-high opening later this morning.
WINNING, bigly.
Speaking of WINNING, when did Rand Paul and Mike Lee, Republican senators from Kentucky and Utah respectively, become such LOSERS? This question arose late Tuesday after these two emerged from a congressional briefing conducted by the Trump Administration’s military and national security team on the situation with Iran, whining about what they characterized as the “amateurish” nature of the briefing.
Watch as Senator Lee goes absurdly ballistic upon leaving the breifing:
Yashar Ali 🐘 ✔ @yashar This is a stunning statement from GOP Senator Mike Lee (Utah) who just left a classified intelligence briefing on the situation in Iran.
Embedded video 5,816 4:00 PM - Jan 8, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 1,588 people are talking about this This seems to be Lee’s main complaint: “They [the briefers] were asked repeatedly, what, if anything, would trigger the need for the Administration to come back to congress for a declaration of war or the authorization of the use of military force? At one point I think one of the briefers said something along the lines of ‘I’m sure we could think of something.’ But they struggled to identify anything….They were asked a number of hypotheticals about situations in which they might have to appropriately have to come to ask for authorization from congress. Not once did they say yes.”
Oh, ok. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) and several other Republicans present for the same briefing completely debunked Lee’s statement, but let’s deal with that in more detail in a bit.
Before we do that, listen to Sen. Paul’s complaint as aired with the despicable Wolf Blitzer at CNN:
Aaron Rupar ✔ @atrupar Here’s Rand Paul telling Wolf Blitzer that the intel the Trump admin cited to justify the Soleimani killing during today’s briefing didn’t go beyond “generalities” and “stuff you’d read in the newspaper”
Embedded video 6,501 5:53 PM - Jan 8, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 2,443 people are talking about this “No specific information given to us of a specific attack, uh, generalities, stuff you read in a newspaper was given to us. I didn’t learn anything in the hearing that I hadn’t seen in a newspaper already, and none of it was overwhelming that ‘x’ was going to happen. I’m not saying that, uh – the world being rid of Soleimani is probably a good thing. But in the end, how we go about it and the ramifications of it are very important. I think it’s made it much more difficult to have engagement or any kind of diplomacy with Iran. I doubt they’ll be coming to the negotiating table anytime soon.”
This is what happens when you get libertarian ideologues pretending to be Republicans. It is frankly stunning that someone as normally savvy as Rand Paul could witness the cowardly standing down by the Iranian Mullahs that has taken place since the completely justified killing of one of the worlds most deadly Islamic terrorist leaders and be so naive as to think it makes them LESS likely to want to negotiate. He is his father’s son at the end of the day.
It is also truly despicable for Paul and Lee to complain about the Administration briefers dealing in generalities and refusing to speculate about what Lee refers to as “hypotheticals.” Oh, golly, why might that be their behavior in a room filled with seditious Democrats?
Obviously, any classified details the Administration officials might have revealed during this briefing would have ended up being air by Blitzer or someone else at CNN before the briefing had ended. Both Senators Paul and Lee know this reality full well.
And Lee also well knows that any concession by anyone in the Administration about any single hypothetical tossed at them would require President Trump to seek congressional approval would immediately become just another Democrat/media narrative that would attempt to tie the Administration’s hands against taking any further unilateral action whatsoever as it relates to Iran.
This was despicable, shameful behavior by two ostensible Republican senators who know better.
Watch as James Lankford – who no one can claim to be some flunky for President Trump – completely debunks Lee’s claims starting at the 1:22 mark:
“Yeah, it has been very interesting. I’ve seen some of my colleagues come out and make comments like that. In fact, one of my colleagues stepped out and said the whole group was doing a briefing with us and when the questions got hard that they left and they ran off. That was absolutely, positively false. That did not occur. They weren’t running away. We started at 2:30 and we finished at 4:00 because they had meetings in the White House.”
Enough. Have a good day.
That is all.
“Closet Never-Trumper?” Give me a break. Open Borders Mike Lee voted for Evan McWeirdo. Lee has ALWAYS been a Never-Trumper.
Isn’t Lee the senator who’s trying to get legislation passed to allow a zillion Indys into the US with H1B visas?
They should lose their committee jobs ,they’re a security risk
I don't think that's their point at all.
Their issue is the Administration won't just say "we killed him because he needed killing", they insist on saying he posed an imminent threat to hundreds or thousands of Americans.
Trump wants legal cover.
Lee and Paul are saying if you want to say you did everything by the book then you need to provide some evidence.
Trump can say he did what's right and screw the War Powers Act, but instead he's trying to have it both ways - ignore the act but claim he didn't.
Senator Lee, thank you giving us the opportunity to meet with you today. We wanted to show you some photographs which would certainly have a bearing on your future presence in the Senate. We understand that Utah has a very high standard of morality. Anyway, to get to the bottom line, we need your help on dealing with Trump's activities to drain the swamp......
I know so little about war act things. If you have a minute, would you describe how getting rid of this known terrorist is different from Bush getting rid of Saddam Hussein and Obama getting rid of Bin Laden? Thanks.
Get off your high horse and respect another opinion. If you have a logical argument against what I stated, present it. Quit being a jack ass. You are what’s wrong with America today. We should be able to discuss opinions openly.
I have never been afraid to change my mind. Change it with a good argument.
It is pretty simple. When it comes to Judas scumbags like Lee and Paul, it is NOT worth debating. They can either support the President or get the hell out of the way.
I'm not certain but I think Lee and Paul would say both of those killings were clearly authorized under the AUMF Congress passed in 2001.
They don't seem to think it covers killing an Iranian general today.
Opinions vary.
Thanks for the explanation. Thought I read on FR (or somewhere?) that technically the US was still under that which Congress passed in 2001.
If so, Lee and Paul should be ashamed for causing such trouble. Americans want to be able to defend this country and its citizens (citizens here and abroad) from terrorists.
Well Rand internalized some of the disgusting crap his father spouted.
The chip didn’t fall to far from the bull.
It's still in effect. The argument is whether it covers going after an Iranian general in this case.
The authorization says:
"...the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons."
It's been stretched by every President since but some feel this is going too far.
Mike Lee, and Mittens, we really need some Conservatives elected in Utah. Such a small population yet such huge jerks in the senate
What if other Senators came out and spoke to the press specifically to call Lee out for false information?
PS They did.
Not everything said in a SCIF is classified.
That seems circular.
The reason he needed killing is because he has already killed and maimed 100’s of Americans and is a threat to many many more.
I firmly believe they did have intel about planned operations and just as firmly believe that info should not have been divulged to the press or to Senators.
We are supposed to give Senators deference but when lives are at stake we need to get real and act based on their leaking, lying, partisan, America hating behavior of which we have a surfeit of evidence.
Keeping America safe requires restricting info on terrorist operations and the amount of intel we can obtain, to the need to know individuals who have not demonstrated their knowledge would put America at risk. That means Congress needs to be out of the loop! When it comes to war, not just an operation like this then is when Congress should vote.
They may indeed think that but it seems more that those people are addressing a pet peeve than making a meaningful objection to the current targeting.
The last phrase: “in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.” would certainly seem operative.
I don't think anyone's saying the President can't act, without Congressional authorization, to prevent imminent harm.
Pelosi's complaining about not being notified was because Congress was dissed, not because he needed prior authorization.
Once the threat's been dealt with, however, the President has an obligation to convince Congress that there really was an imminent danger.
That means Congress needs to be out of the loop!
Maybe in the short term but if the people's representatives are providing the taxpayers' money they have to know that the threat is legit.
Agreed. They do need to be kept in the loop but they can’t use that connection as a way to search for politically charged talking points. It would be negligent to pass sensitive information to the Congress and no one can change that except Congress themselves.
Right now we have a seriously diseased political process distorting the functioning of the G’vt. I blame it partly on TDS but that is only the proximate cause. The Democratic party has moved left, embraced the anarchist and Marxist worldview. The ends justify the means, graft is good, anarchy is a tool & no crisis should be wasted. In their attempts to gain more control & power they have not followed the Constitution or displayed any moral compass. They are enemies of the Country. I’m glad I read Orwell as a young person because now I’m living it.
“to convince Congress that there really was an imminent danger”
Wouldn’t the recent actions by Iran be considered a danger?
According to news, US forces have faced several rocket attacks in recent months by pro-Iran Hashed factions. And one of those attacks killed a US contractor. Would Congress be happier if 20 contractors died before President Trump acted? Maybe 50? And some troops?
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