Free Republic

Where were the House and Senate Republicans while the subversion of the USMC was occurring?

“This activity is done outside of HD’s jurisdiction.”

If criminal activity occurs in Home Depot’s parking lot, and Home Depot is aware of it and does not report it to the authorities, Home Depot is an accessory to the crime. If it is on Home Depot’s owned or leased property, it is in Home Depot’s jurisdiction.

Looking at her yearbook photo, her benefactors paid a significant amount of money for dental work.

“The act of 1973 is more likely than not...unconstitutional. You can’t limit the powers of the President as CIC.”

It has been argued the act of 1973 is unconstitutional but there has yet to be a definitive ruling on it.

I disagree on limiting the powers of POTUS as CIC. The Constitution clearly states only Congress has the power to declare war.

It has long been recognized the President does have the power to take unilateral action to defend the United States when it is impossible or impractical for Congress to be consulted. In the early days of the republic Congress did not meet year-round and in time of crisis it might take weeks for Congress to assemble in Washington during which time the nation would be in peril. As a result there was an implicit understanding the president could order defensive action until Congressional could convene and determine the limits of presidential action in the situation at hand, including a formal declaration of war. Since nuclear weapons were developed there has been an implicit understanding that if the US detects incoming missiles from Russia or China there is insufficient time for Congress to convene and react. Therefore, in such emergency situations where the nation’s homeland is under attack the POTUS is authorized as CIC to take whatever action he feels is necessary to defend the country including a counterattack designed to destroy the enemy’s capability to harm the homeland or US assets overseas.

The first practical test of presidential action against foreign entities, without a formal declaration of war, was the first war against the Barbary pirates which were attacking American shipping and holding American seamen hostage for ransom. In 1801 President Thomas Jefferson sent a squadron of naval ships to the region with orders to protect American ships and citizens against war and aggression. He also made it clear to the Commodore in charge of the squadron he (the president) was unauthorized by the Constitution to order more than defensive measures without the sanction of Congress. Jefferson communicated his concerns and the issues to Congress.

Congress did not respond to Jefferson with a vote for a full declaration of war. Instead it authorized the President and the commanders of armed American vessels to seize all vessels and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli. Furthermore in 1802, in response to a new request from President Jefferson, Congress passed an act for the protection of commerce and US seamen on the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea giving the president further authorization to take aggressive offensive military action against the pirates. Subsequently in 1804 and 1805 the US engaged in offensive measures against the pirates, including capturing ships and engaging in land conflict in Tripoli. These attacks resulted in the end of hostilities and the signing of a peace treaty.

It is clear from the historical accounts, President Thomas Jefferson would not have undertaken offensive action against Iranian assets (the bombing of the nuclear facilities) without some form of authorization from Congress. He would have agreed using US military assets for defensive measures (say protecting a US carrier from an sudden drone attack), without prior authorization, would be a constitution action permitted of the Commander and Chief.

Jefferson was one of the founders and the founding generation populated the Congress at the time of the Barbary Pirates war. So his behavior is indicative of what the founders, who wrote and ratified the Constitution, considered the limits of the CIC’s powers. It is clear they viewed use of American military power solely on the CIC’s authority to be limited to defending American citizens and assets. Unilateral offensive actions could not be taken by the president without Congressional authorization.

This requirement makes sense from a balance of power perspective. It restricts presidents from taking unilateral offensive action in order to provoke a war. The founders understood that war was a serious matter that would result in the death of Americans, the loss and destruction of property, and potentially the end of the nation. Engaging in a war required the full backing of the American people, not just a determination by the president the nation needed to go to war. By forcing the president to obtain authorization from Congress (the people’s representatives in government) before engaging in offensive actions the founders also wanted to prevent a rogue President from deliberately provoking another nation and dragging the country into an unnecessary and potentially unpopular war.

We saw in Vietnam how an undeclared war unnecessarily cost the nation over 50,000 lives and over $1 trillion in today’s dollars from the treasury. The loss of the American people’s support for a war, during which the nation’s homeland was never threatened, ultimately resulted in the withdrawal of the American military and the takeover of South Vietnam by North Vietnam.

The Vietnam experience would likely have been avoided if President Johnson asked Congress for a formal declaration of war before committing 500,000 US troops to a conflict on the other side of the planet. It is doubtful Congress would have approved a formal declaration of war against North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. Without the involvement of US troops, South Vietnam would likely have been defeated and conquered by North Vietnam between 1965 and 1967. The outcome of this civil war in Vietnam would have been same, but without the loss of 50,000 American lives and $1 trillion. On the flip side, with a formal Declaration of War the United States might have more aggressively pursued the war by invading and conquering North Vietnam. Failure to obtain Congressional authorization resulted in the military being constrained in the application of power.

Consider if under Biden’s administration, the autopen signed a document ordering the Secretary of Defense to immediately employ US aircraft in Europe against Russian ground troops in Ukraine and to attack Russian supply depots inside the boundaries of Russia. The Secretary of Defense receives the document and calls the President to confirm its authenticity. Jill Biden answers the phone and tells the secretary Joe cannot be disturbed and he should follow his orders. Such offensive action would almost certainly precipitate a shooting war with Russia and a retaliation which might involve an attack on the American homeland.

Should any president have the power to take such unilateral offensive action in the absence of an imminent threat to the homeland? The founding fathers would say no. Congress needs to meet, debate, and authorize the commitment of the nation to war for the military to engage in hostile offensive attacks.

To progressives hypocrisy is an attribute.

When you have no standards, you have maximum flexibility.

World War II was a declared war under the requirements of the Constitution. President Roosevelt asked Congress for the authority to engage in war with Japan, Germany, and Italy. The authorization was passed by an overwhelming vote.

Passed by Congress in 1973 the War Powers Resolution, also known as the War Powers Act, governs the president’s use of military force without a Constitutional Declaration of War. It was intended to prevent Presidents from engaging the United States in long, deadly and expensive foreign wars (like Vietnam) without consulting Congress.

The current debate involves the War Powers Resolution, which has a lengthy history of disputes between the Executive branch and members of Congress since 1973. The current debate over war powers has nothing to do with Congress voting for a formal declaration of war.

“I would like more lands open up for use, but not for sale like this.”

Reauthorize the Homestead Act that allowed individuals to settle on defined plots of surplus government land. If they lived on it, and improved it, they could acquire title to it.

Make the land grants small, limit them to individuals, require the individuals to live on the property for a defined period of time, and require improvements to be made. Also require American citizenship. Possibly also include a minimum number of years before the land can be sold. These restrictions will keep out the foreign companies, hedge funds and billionaires like Bill Gates.

“Everything that the Kenyan communist stood for has been largely undone...”

Obamacare still stands and has almost destroyed the U.S. healthcare system. Healthcare prices have skyrocketed since the “Affordable Care Act” was passed. Independent doctors have retired or sold out to big hospital chains which are practicing assembly line medicine. Big pharma and big insurance are gouging the consumer.

The voters have the opportunity to replace Murkowski in 2028.

Massie is elected by the citizens of his district. He represents them in Congress, not the House Speaker, not the President.

Trump’s focus should be on increasing the number of Republicans in the House by capturing Democrat seats, not wasting the money on punishing what he perceives as lack of loyalty. If he loses the House in the 2026 midterms, he will spend the last two years of his term fighting a Democrat House that controls the power of the purse, and which unlike the Republican House, will use it to further their agenda.

“Nice broad list - off the top of your head?”

Yes

“Rand should have stuck to dentistry.”

Rand Paul was a practicing ophthalmologist before election to the Senate.. He was not a dentist. He received his medical degree from Duke University.

At one time experts claimed black people were inferior and therefore deserved to be enslaved.

At one time medical experts treated many symptoms by bleeding the patient with leeches in order to keep the humors in the body balanced.

Based on the claims of climate change experts, Glacier National Park erected signs throughout the park claiming the all of the park’s glaciers would disappear by 2020.

At one time mental illness was treated by surgically removing sections of the brain.

The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 based on the assertion of intelligence experts Iraq had developed weapons of mass destruction.

At one time medical experts appeared in advertising proclaiming the health benefits of smoking.

At one time medical experts used mercury to treat syphillis.

In the 1870’s the experts at Western Union declined to purchase Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patents because it was a “toy” and in their expert opinion the telegraph would continue to dominate communication.

At one time government medical experts approved and conducted medical experiments in which black men were infected with syphillis without their consent or knowledge.

In the 1970’s computer experts insisted there was no reason anyone would want a computer in their homes

Prior to its first voyage maritime experts claimed the passenger ship the Titanic was unsinkable.

In the 1890’s the most prominent physicists claimed heavier than air flying machines were impossible.

In recent years medical experts insist Covid 19 was spread by unvaccinated people and the vaccine was 100% safe.

At one time experts insisted the earth was flat.

Experts throughout history have frequently been wrong.

“They aren’t ready for democracy.”

Prior to the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, most of the people of the civilized world did not consider the British North American colonies ready for democracy, or any form of self rule.

Who are we to determine what government is appropriate for any nation? Look at our failures with imposed governments in South Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Or the Obama administration’s attempted regime changes in Egypt and Libya?

In fact, Iran is a lesson in the failure of US imposed governance. In 1953 the United States supported a coup d’stat by the Iranian army and the Shah of Iran to overthrow the democratically elected prime minister. This action was taken at the behest of western oil companies who opposed the Iranian government’s plans to nationalize the oil industry and expel foreign oil corporations it determined were exploiting the country. For the next 26 years the Shah ruled Iran with an iron fist. In 2013 the US government formally acknowledged the US role in the coup by releasing classified files documenting the CIA’s work.

In 1979 the Iranian people, unhappy with the authoritarian rule of the Shah, supported a revolution by the Islamic fundamentalists, resulting in the explosion of the Shah from Iran and the establishment of an Islamic Republic.

So if not democracy, what form of government does the United States wish to impose on the Iranian people who we have deemed not ready for democracy? A truly free republic would propose a democratically elected republican government or a pure democracy. An empire giving lip service to individual liberty would impose a dictatorship.

“Not a good idea to replace Tillis especially if he’s running against Roy Cooper.”

Roy will beat Tillis.

“America is going to finish this war if Iran doesn’t get right in the next 24 hours they will be destroyed in the following 24 hours.”

War is a very serious matter given it will minimally lead to the death of American citizens and depending on the outcome could lead to the end of the nation. Recognizing the people must be fully committed to a war for its conduct to be successful, the Constitution gives only the Congress, not the President, the power to declare war against another nation.

Read Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution which makes it very clear where the power to commit the nation to war resides. If our nation is entering into a war against Iran, the President must ask Congress for a Declaration of War. If President Trump wants to commit the armed forces to destroying Iran, he needs to ask Congress to declare war.

Congress represents the people of the United States in government, as well as the 50 states. A president asserting the power to commit the nation to war on his own whim, is no different than a federal judge who stays the hand of the President on a whim. There is plenty of time for the President to request and receive a declaration of war. In 1941, Congress declared war against the empire of Japan within hours of the request from President Roosevelt.

The words of Article 1, Section 8 appear below:

“The Congress shall have the power . . . . To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.”

In my lifetime the nation has seen in Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq the outcome when war is conducted by a President ignoring the Constitution and taking the nation into protracted wars with no clear objective and without the consent of Congress. These three wars wasted the blood of tens of thousands of American soldiers and added trillions of dollars to the national debt. In each of these wars the United States after years of fighting, simply withdrew from the battlefield leaving victory to its opponents, parents in the homeland mourning the death and injuries to their children, and a mountain of debt for future generations to pay.

Israel attacked Iran. If Israel needs the United States to finish a war it began, let’s see the members of Congress do their duty to stand up and publicly vote to commit the people of this nation to finishing a war started by another nation.

The founding fathers created the Constitution as the sacred contract between the people and the government created to preserve the life and liberty of the American people. Either we follow the Constitution or the contract is broken.

China buys a significant amount of oil directly and indirectly from Iran. The Atlantic Council estimates China has a sophisticated oil trade network established to avoid western sanctions on Iran and is likely purchasing 90% of Iran’s oil exports. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/the-axis-of-evasion-behind-chinas-oil-trade-with-iran-and-russia/

If the US directly intervenes with Israel to destroy Iran’s oil export capability, China will have to respond economically and/or militarily. Hopefully the neocon war hawk planners who appear to now be in charge of US foreign policy are prepared for China’s response to direct US military intervention in Iran. The US support of Israel’s attempt to destroy Iran has the potential to trigger WWIII.

Reading the Wikipedia page for At Home shed light on the bankruptcy issue:

1). In May 2021 the company was acquired by Hellman & Friedman, a private equity firm for $2.8 billion. Private equity firms are notorious for stripping companies of assets, loading them with debt, assessing huge management fees, and then casting them off into bankruptcy. Witness the demise of Sears, Kmart, and other once powerful retailers after private equity takeovers.

2). “Supply chain issues in 2021 and 2022 saw the company absorb more than $300 million in higher costs, . . “. President Trump did not implement tariffs until 2025. The company’s supply chain management cost issues predated the Trump tariffs and can just as easily be blamed on President Biden’s inflationary economic policies.

3). “In October 2023, Fitch Ratings reported that At Home was nearing a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.” This statement shows At Home has been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for nearly two years.

At Home was sinking into bankruptcy long before Donald Trump assumed office in January 2025. Tariffs are simply an excuse for supply chain cost issues that have been plaguing the company for years.

The highly competitive home goods retailing sector is littered with the corpses of home fashion companies that failed to control costs and provide consumers with compelling products and a satisfying shopping experience. The creative destruction of capitalism results in poorly managed companies failing and well managed companies earning the business. The bottom line is At Home failed to delight customers and operate efficiently. Other companies in the industry are thriving, are adapting to higher tariffs, and will welcome the customers At Home failed to please.

The real test for Republicans comes with the appropriations bill for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025. If they can’t pass a budget with a meaningful spending reduction from the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, they have failed miserably. Meaningful is in the range of between $500 billion and $1 trillion in real spending reduction.

“While CA Republicans cower in their little mouseholes.”

Are there any CA Republicans? Ronald Reagan has been dead a long time.