Archiv: United States Constitution


15.11.2024 - 16:23 [ ABC News ]

Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is Trump‘s pick for director of national intelligence

(November 13, 2024)

„Trump ended up with some neocons around him who were trying to undermine his objectives so they could feed their goals of continuing to keep us in a perpetual state of war,“ Gabbard said, discussing his first administration. „This administration has us facing multiple wars on multiple fronts and regions around the world and closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before,“ Gabbard said when she endorsed Trump during a campaign event in Michigan.

„This is one of the main reasons why I‘m committed to doing all that I can to send President Trump back to the White House, where he can, once again, serve us as our commander in chief.“

15.11.2024 - 16:10 [ CNN ]

Trump picks Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his Department of Health and Human Services secretary

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, a choice that would add to Trump’s list of provocative picks whose confirmation processes will test the loyalty of Senate Republicans.

Trump on Thursday announced the selection, confirming CNN’s earlier reporting, saying he was thrilled to share the pick.

31.10.2024 - 09:44 [ APNews.com ]

Biden suggests Trump supporters are ‘garbage’ after comic’s insult of Puerto Rico

“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you something, I don’t, I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know, the Puerto Rico where I’m fr — in my home state of Delaware. They’re good, decent honorable people,” he said.

The president then added: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

28.10.2024 - 03:25 [ New York Times ]

Voters Are Deeply Skeptical About the Health of American Democracy

Three-quarters of voters in the United States say democracy is under threat, though their perception of the forces imperiling it varies widely based on partisan leanings. And a majority of voters believe that the country is plagued by corruption, with 62 percent saying that the government is mostly working to benefit itself and elites rather than the common good.

11.09.2024 - 13:45 [ ABC News ]

Obama: `This War, Like All Wars, Must End`

(23. Mai 2013)

Now, the speech:

The president who dramatically expanded the CIA secret drone war, ordered a troop surge in Afghanistan and aggressively prosecuted leakers made a forceful defense of his actions and an even more forceful case for winding down the war on terrorism.

The key line: „This war, like all wars, must end. That‘s what history advises. That‘s what our democracy demands.“

28.08.2024 - 14:04 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Die “Authorization For Use of Military Force” vom 14. September 2001 im Wortlaut

(29. August 2014)

Seit Beginn des weltweiten Terrorkrieges in 2001 herrschten in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika zwei Personen als Kriegspräsidenten und “mächtigste Männer der Welt”, George Bush Junior und Barack Obama. Der Kern ihrer Legitimation für

– fast jede seit dem 14. September 2001 angeordnete militärische Aktion, Operation und Invasion, wie der Eroberung von Afghanistan (2001), Irak (2003), Libyen (2011), Luftangriffen bzw Bodenoperationen z.B. in Somalia, Jemen, Pakistan, Kenia, etc, etc, pp,

– den versuchten Aufbau einer “Totalen Informationskenntnis” (“Total Information Awareness”) über alle Menschen, Gruppen, Strömungen und Organisationen im Macht- bzw Einflussbereich der U.S.A. (also dem, was die Gesellschaft heute als “Totalüberwachung” versteht),

– die folgende Erschaffung eines informationstechnologischen, Privatleben fressenden Frankensteins, eines weltweit vernetzten Golem der “Nationalen Sicherheit AG” bzw dem “sicherheitsindustriellen Komplex”, der allein 800.000 Personen (Stand: 2010) Zugang zu “streng geheimen” Informationen und damit Zugang zu praktisch allen u.a. aus Telekommunikationssystemen wie dem Internet gesammelten bzw geraubten Daten von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern in ungezählten Datenbanken und Tauschbörsen der Spione, Militärs und (Geheim)Polizeien und Behörden allein in den U.S.A. gibt, samt einer bis heute nicht verifizierten Zahl assoziierter Kräfte und Stellen, z.B. in der Republik Deutschland,

– die Errichtung des Lagers Guantanamo, sowie einer unbekannten Zahl geheimer Folterkammern und Kerker auf eigenem Territorium, in Besatzungszonen und / oder in kollaborierenden Staaten, in denen Menschen willkürlich eingesperrt, gequält oder ermordet wurden,

sowie weitere offene oder klandestine Maßnahmen, wie z.B. die “Uminterpretation” von geltendem Recht zu faktischem geheimen Kriegsrecht in ungezählten Staaten, ist ein am 14. September 2001 bei alleiniger Gegenstimme von Barbara Lee durch den Kongress gejagter und, zumindest in der Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, präzedenzloser Gesetzestext: die “Authorization for Use of Military Force”.

Hier dessen gerade einmal 60 Worte und keinerlei zeitliche oder räumliche Einschränkung enthaltende Wirkungstext, beschlossen am 14.09.2001 von beiden Kammern des Kongresses, Repräsentantenhaus und Senat:

28.08.2024 - 13:45 [ Just Security ]

A Presidential Proclamation to End the Iraq War: Unilateral Executive Action to Defang a Zombie AUMF

(August 20, 2024)

The current blockage in the House—particularly given its potential use for a war with Iran— should prompt the White House to consider alternative means to disarm the 2002 Iraq AUMF. One reported reason that repeal legislation has yet to receive an up-or-down vote in the House is that some members are concerned about losing a potential authority for war with Iran. (The House of Representatives already voted to repeal the 2002 authorization in a previous Congress.) To be clear, it does not do so (see here and here). Nevertheless, a desire to keep the 2002 Iraq AUMF on the books as authority to fight Iran was certainly expressed by a number of senators who opposed repeal.

28.08.2024 - 13:40 [ CBS News ]

Senate votes overwhelmingly to keep 2001 authorization for war on terror

(March 23, 2023)

Senators rejected the amendment 86-9 as they are debating a separate repeal of two authorizations of military force in Iraq. There is broad bipartisan support to withdraw that congressional approval granted in 1991 and 2002 for military strikes against Saddam Hussein‘s regime.

While those two authorizations are rarely used and focused on just one country, Iraq, the 2001 measure gave President George W. Bush broad authority for the invasion of Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism, approving force „against those nations, organizations, or persons“ that planned or aided the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

09.05.2024 - 00:00 [ Common Dreams ]

Anti-Genocide Students Are Fulfilling Their Duty to Prevent War Crimes; Will You?

In a world order in which the Great Powers and many lesser ones are turning to war and genocide, popular enforcement of international law is one of the few means for protecting ourselves and the world against a cataclysmic plunge into unlimited military destruction.

By virtue of the U.S. Constitution, international law and international treaties are explicitly a part of U.S. law. U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Nuremberg prosecutor Robert Jackson stated, “The very essence of the Nuremberg Charter is that individuals have international duties which transcend national obligations of obedience imposed by the individual state.” So, obligations under international law are also obligations under U.S. law.

26.04.2024 - 13:55 [ Axios ]

SCOTUS probes assassinations and coups in Trump immunity hearing

The immense gravity of the case weighed heavily on the Supreme Court on Thursday, with justices across the ideological spectrum expressing fears of the new order they could unleash.

The immediate question is whether Trump will face trial in his Jan. 6 criminal case before the 2024 election. But the conservative-led court‘s decision will shape history well beyond November.
„We‘re writing a rule for the ages,“ Justice Neil Gorsuch observed.

04.03.2024 - 22:38 [ CNN ]

Takeaways from Trump’s big win at the Supreme Court in the 14th Amendment case

Monday’s Supreme Court decision appeared certain to shut down those and other efforts to remove the frontrunner for the GOP nomination from the ballot.

“States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office,” the court’s unsigned majority opinion read. “But states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency.”

04.03.2024 - 22:29 [ New York Daily News ]

Supreme Court rules 9-0 that Trump can stay on Colorado election ballot, preventing future removal efforts

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that former President Donald Trump can remain on Colorado’s presidential primary ballot, reversing an extraordinary state court ruling that had deemed him ineligible to run for the presidency and preventing future attempts by states to remove him from their ballots.

The decision, which came one day ahead of a slate of Super Tuesday primary elections from coast to coast, further cements Trump’s widening path to the Republican presidential nomination.

18.02.2024 - 04:00 [ Freedom of the Press Foundation ]

Tell the Biden administration to drop the Assange case now

The U.S. Department of Justice claims that Assange broke the law by receiving classified documents from a source, speaking with that source, possessing the documents, and publishing some of them. In other words, things journalists at news outlets around the country do every day.

If Assange is convicted under the Espionage Act, there will be nothing to stop the government from prosecuting other journalists who publish government secrets.

Take action to protect press freedom: Tell the Biden administration to drop the Assange case now.

05.02.2024 - 19:00 [ Robert F. Kennedy Jr / Twitter ]

I tell @DrMercola that when I‘m President, I will get the Federal Reserve under control and make sure we restore sovereignty in the American people over our money supply. #Kennedy24

(03.02.2024)

05.02.2024 - 12:00 [ theHill.com ]

Democratic and Republican elites fear RFK Jr.’s growing path to victory

As noted on the Archives website: “The House of Representatives elects the President from the three (3) Presidential candidates who received the most electoral votes …”

Now, we come back to that magic number: 34.

If Kennedy were to get 34 percent of the vote, there would be a great deal of pressure on the House of Representatives to “do the right thing.”

“Impossible” yet again?

I give you Donald J. Trump being elected our 45th president in 2016 as evidence as to why such a scenario is entirely possible.

05.02.2024 - 11:45 [ Politico.com ]

Forget No Labels. Biden’s Third-Party Peril is on the Left.

Biden’s deep-seated fear: that Netanyahu is eager to drag the U.S. into a wider war in the Middle East, a conflict that would ensure American weapons keep flowing to the region, troops soon follow and, in the maelstrom, international pressure on him to agree to a Gaza cease-fire and his domestic political difficulties both dissipate.

Not that the president would ever say such things in public.

17.01.2024 - 20:32 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Die “Authorization For Use of Military Force” vom 14. September 2001 im Wortlaut

(29. August 2014)

Seit Beginn des weltweiten Terrorkrieges in 2001 herrschten in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika zwei Personen als Kriegspräsidenten und “mächtigste Männer der Welt”, George Bush Junior und Barack Obama. Der Kern ihrer Legitimation für

– fast jede seit dem 14. September 2001 angeordnete militärische Aktion, Operation und Invasion, wie der Eroberung von Afghanistan (2001), Irak (2003), Libyen (2011), Luftangriffen bzw Bodenoperationen z.B. in Somalia, Jemen, Pakistan, Kenia, etc, etc, pp,

– den versuchten Aufbau einer “Totalen Informationskenntnis” (“Total Information Awareness”) über alle Menschen, Gruppen, Strömungen und Organisationen im Macht- bzw Einflussbereich der U.S.A. (also dem, was die Gesellschaft heute als “Totalüberwachung” versteht),

– die folgende Erschaffung eines informationstechnologischen, Privatleben fressenden Frankensteins, eines weltweit vernetzten Golem der “Nationalen Sicherheit AG” bzw dem “sicherheitsindustriellen Komplex”, der allein 800.000 Personen (Stand: 2010) Zugang zu “streng geheimen” Informationen und damit Zugang zu praktisch allen u.a. aus Telekommunikationssystemen wie dem Internet gesammelten bzw geraubten Daten von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern in ungezählten Datenbanken und Tauschbörsen der Spione, Militärs und (Geheim)Polizeien und Behörden allein in den U.S.A. gibt, samt einer bis heute nicht verifizierten Zahl assoziierter Kräfte und Stellen, z.B. in der Republik Deutschland,

– die Errichtung des Lagers Guantanamo, sowie einer unbekannten Zahl geheimer Folterkammern und Kerker auf eigenem Territorium, in Besatzungszonen und / oder in kollaborierenden Staaten, in denen Menschen willkürlich eingesperrt, gequält oder ermordet wurden,

sowie weitere offene oder klandestine Maßnahmen, wie z.B. die “Uminterpretation” von geltendem Recht zu faktischem geheimen Kriegsrecht in ungezählten Staaten, ist ein am 14. September 2001 bei alleiniger Gegenstimme von Barbara Lee durch den Kongress gejagter und, zumindest in der Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, präzedenzloser Gesetzestext: die “Authorization for Use of Military Force”.

Hier dessen gerade einmal 60 Worte und keinerlei zeitliche oder räumliche Einschränkung enthaltende Wirkungstext, beschlossen am 14.09.2001 von beiden Kammern des Kongresses, Repräsentantenhaus und Senat:

17.01.2024 - 20:21 [ Buzzfeed.com ]

60 Words And A War Without End: The Untold Story Of The Most Dangerous Sentence In U.S. History

(Jan 17, 2014)

By the end of the meeting, it was clear that this was the resolution, a single sentence and 60 words:

That 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.

That was it. After more than a day of negotiations between the White House and Congress, Republicans and Democrats, this is what had emerged. Congress could take it or leave it. There would be no going back to the drawing board.

06.01.2024 - 05:36 [ Robert F. Kennedy Jr / Twitter ]

Let’s be clear. In a democracy, intelligence agencies are not supposed to interfere or “be active” in elections. They are supposed to be the servants of the people. They are not in charge. The people are in charge, and whoever they elect is the boss. #Kennedy24

06.01.2024 - 05:14 [ Associated Press ]

The Supreme Court will decide if Donald Trump can be kept off 2024 presidential ballots

Underscoring the urgency, arguments will be held on Feb. 8, during what is normally a nearly monthlong winter break for the justices. The compressed timeframe could allow the court to produce a decision before Super Tuesday on March 5, when the largest number of delegates are up for grabs in a single day, including in Colorado.

06.01.2024 - 05:12 [ CNN ]

Supreme Court agrees to decide whether Trump can be barred from holding office

The high court’s decision to hear the case puts the nine justices squarely in the middle of the 2024 election as voting starts in the early primary contests and represents the court’s most significant involvement in a presidential race since its highly consequential decision 23 years ago in Bush v. Gore.

03.01.2024 - 09:31 [ Council on American-Islamic Relations ]

CAIR Says President Biden Is ‘Ignoring the American People and Enabling Genocide’ After Bypassing Congress to Arm Israel Again

(31.12.2023)

President Joe Biden once again bypassed Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel, despite growing domestic and international outrage over Israel’s mass killing of more than 21,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and including hundreds of UN workers, journalists and medical personnel.

[NOTE: Yesterday, CAIR welcomed the launch of a case by South Africa in the United Nations’ top court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.]

30.12.2023 - 21:16 [ Justin Amash / Twitter ]

Congress, not the White House, is the legislative body of the United States. The Biden administration’s abuse of emergency authority to sell weapons to Israel—or any foreign country—is unrepresentative, irresponsible, and unethical.

30.12.2023 - 20:05 [ Leroy Green / Twitter ]

Where did Blinken get the authority to approve foreign aid packages? Where are the checks and balances? Why is Congress sitting idly by? This total mob rule.

30.12.2023 - 19:57 [ Associated Press ]

The Biden administration once again bypasses Congress on an emergency weapons sale to Israel

“Given the urgency of Israel’s defensive needs, the secretary notified Congress that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer,” the department said.

09.12.2023 - 11:20 [ New York Times ]

The War in Gaza Is Splintering the Democratic Party

(November 17, 2023)

Already, there are signs that the party is fracturing over Israel. According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, about three-quarters of Democrats want a cease-fire, but few in the Democratic establishment share their views. Last week, in a rare gesture of defiance, more than 100 congressional staffers walked out to demand that their bosses back a cease-fire. More than 500 alumni of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and Democratic Party staff members have signed a letter imploring Biden to call for a cease-fire, saying, “If you fail to act swiftly, your legacy will be complicity in the face of genocide.”

04.11.2023 - 11:58 [ PewResearch.org ]

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy 60 Years After the March on Washington

(August 10, 2023)

On Aug. 28, 1963, about 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic “I Have a Dream” speech advocating for economic and civil rights for Black Americans.

01.11.2023 - 19:00 [ Reuters ]

Arab American support for Biden, Democrats plummets over Israel, poll shows

(31.10.2023)

A quarter of Arab Americans said they were unsure whom they would support in 2024; 13.7% said they would back Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and 3.8% are backing Cornel West. (…)

The poll showed that 45% of Arab Americans were concerned about their personal safety due to the recent violence in Israel and Palestine.

30.10.2023 - 15:56 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Zur Verfassung von Palästina

(14.Januar 2015)

Stets wurden die Palästinenser von den Großmächten für geopolitische Zwecken missbraucht. Ihre eigene Oberschicht hat diesen oft zugearbeitet. Dieser Artikel soll nun keinen Versuch einer Intervention darstellen oder einer solchen direkt oder indirekt zuarbeiten, sondern in ehrlichem Interesse an der prosperierenden Koexistenz zweier Staaten im für drei Weltreligionen heiligen Land ein paar Ideen vorbringen.

Die Republik

Die Staatsform Palästinas wird letztlich auch dessen Gesellschaftsordnung prägen, vielleicht sogar entscheiden. Die Republik ist die höchste Form der Demokratie, da sie diese schriftlich durch eine Verfassung sichert und bei entsprechender Umsetzung und Teilung der Gewalten garantiert, statt sie der Willkür und dem Missbrauch ehrenwerter Monarchen, Medienmogulen, imperialer Präsidentschaften und manipulativer Mechanismen ausliefert.

Anzunehmen ist, dass es auf eine Republik Palästina hinauslaufen wird.

Sicherlich ist ebenfalls anzunehmen, dass es gesellschaftliche Gruppen in Palästina gibt, die eine Islamische Republik nach dem Vorbild des Iran bevorzugen würden. Die P.L.O. sollte diesen Standpunkt akzeptieren und gegen diesen einen eigenen Verfassungsentwurf vorlegen, ohne zu versuchen andere Entwürfe zu unterdrücken oder den sinnlosen Weg eines Konsens zu versuchen. Gruppen, letztlich lediglich Milizen, wie der “Islamische Dschihad in Palästina” oder die “Volksfront zur Befreiung Palästinas”, sind bei jedem auf Wahlen basierenden politischen Prozess irrelevant. Bei der Hamas sieht das schon anders aus. Gegen sie verlor die P.L.O. die Wahlen von 2006. Das sollte der P.L.O. zu denken geben.

Entscheidend wird sein, wie die Palästinenser, die als Staatsvolk genauso divergent und vielfältig sind wie jedes andere, einerseits ihre Differenzen austragen und andererseits ihre verschiedenen Strömungen insoweit interagieren, dass sie sich auf einen tragfähigen Gesellschaftsvertrag einigen, eine Verfassung.

Jedweder Verfassungsentwurf, der von provisorischen, indirekt gewählten, oder sogar gar nicht gewählten Gremien entwickelt werden sollte, etwa durch die Autonomiebehörde oder den Legislativrat, ist zum Scheitern verurteilt. Selbst wenn dieser Entwurf, in westlicher Manier von “magischen” Rechtszerbrechern zu London entworfen und auf die Etablierung einer weiteren Finanzkolonie in Vorderasien zugunsten des weltweiten Bankenkartells ausgerichtet, alternativlos dem Palästinensischen Volk vorgelegt werden sollte, würde dieser bereits den Keim des Verfalls und der Destruktion in sich tragen. Von Neid zerfressene Imperialisten und Usurpatoren, allen voran die Menschenschinder der saudischen Monarchie und ihre Brüder und Schwestern in der Nomenklatura Israels, würden alle Hebel in Bewegung setzen um die Republik Palästina und deren Aufblühen über ihren leider immer noch vorhandenen Einfluss auf die winzige palästinensische Funktionärs-Kaste bereits im Keim zu ersticken.

Nur ein Gremium, dessen Mitglieder ausschließlich die Aufgabe der Entwicklung eines tragfähigen Verfassungsentwurfs haben, die mit dieser Aufgabe keine weiteren Profit- und Karriereinteressen verbinden können und die direkt aus dem Volke Palästinas gewählt sind, wird dieser Aufgabe gerecht werden.

Womit wir zur Verfassungsgebenden Versammlung kommen.

Die Verfassungsgebende Versammlung

Was die Meisten nicht wissen: nach der Revolution in den nordamerikanischen Kolonien des Britischen Imperiums im Jahre 1776 dauerte es zwölf Jahre und einen Krieg, bis vom ersten Kontinentalkongress (1774-1775), vom zweiten Kontinentalkongress (1775 – 1781) und dem Kongress der Konföderation (1781-1789), bis sich die dreizehn, bis dahin lose über die “Konföderationsartikel” verbundenen ehemaligen Kolonien schließlich 1787 in einer über vier Monate andauernden Versammlung in Philadelphia auf eine Verfassung der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und ein Regelwerk zu deren Inkraftsetzung einigten.

Mal abgesehen vom Schicksal der dortigen Ureinwohner: das kann kein Maßstab für das 21. Jahrhundert sein. Aber einerseits ein Hinweis darauf, wie schwierig die Entwicklung einer Verfassung tatsächlich ist, sowie andererseits für die Größe der Chance die mit einem Gelingen verbunden sind.

04.10.2023 - 12:15 [ Wikipedia ]

United States Electoral College: Contingent presidential election by House

If no candidate for president receives an absolute majority of the electoral votes (since 1964, 270 of the 538 electoral votes), then the Twelfth Amendment requires the House of Representatives to go into session immediately to choose a president. In this event, the House of Representatives is limited to choosing from among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes for president. Each state delegation votes en bloc—each delegation having a single vote; the District of Columbia does not get to vote. A candidate must receive an absolute majority of state delegation votes (i.e., from 1959 (which is the last time a new state was admitted to the union), a minimum of 26 votes) in order for that candidate to become the president-elect. Additionally, delegations from at least two thirds of all the states must be present for voting to take place. The House continues balloting until it elects a president.

The House of Representatives has been required to choose the president only twice: in 1801 under Article II, Section 1, Clause 3; and in 1825 under the Twelfth Amendment.

29.09.2023 - 08:18 [ Wikileaks / Twitter ]

„Press freedom does not exist while my husband Julian Assange is in jail“ „Press freedom groups and journalists recognise that the fate of the press is tied up with what happens to Julian“ | Stella Assange @Stella_Assange

16.09.2023 - 02:10 [ Newsweek ]

Courts Strike a Blow Against White House‘s Social Media Censorship | Opinion

The plaintiffs in the case, led by the states of Missouri and Louisiana, eminent doctors, and others alleged that under guise of combating „mis-, dis-, and mal-information,“ the Biden White House and nearly a dozen federal agencies have, alongside private-sector cutouts, cajoled and colluded with Big Tech platforms to silence millions of Americans. The topics social media platforms have censored at the government‘s direction, measuring likely hundreds of millions of posts, range from the Hunter Biden laptop story, to matters of election integrity, to virtually every aspect of the coronavirus pandemic.

15.09.2023 - 22:26 [ ResponsibleStatecraft.org ]

Freedom Caucus won’t support Ukraine ‘blank check.’ What‘s that mean?

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) expressed hesitancy about whether and when it was worth it to pass a funding measure at this point in time. “Why are we talking about Ukraine supplemental when we can’t figure out how to fund our own operation of government to do what it‘s supposed to do?” he asked during a press gaggle on Monday morning.

“I want to see what claim there is for actual success in Ukraine,“ he added. „And I want to know how every dollar that $113 billion is going to be spent. Come present that to me as a member of Congress, and then talk to me about” what future funding should look like.

15.09.2023 - 21:55 [ MisesInstitute.org ]

America Since 9/11: 22 Years of Lies and Despotism

Just last week, Dick Cheney took to social media to condemn Donald Trump as a threat „to our republic.“ This video echoes a similar condemnation from George W. Bush in 2021.

In a more reasonable world, people like Cheney, Rice, Bolton, et al, would all be forgotten, shamed, disgraced politicians. They all would have been forced into retirement and shunned years ago after overseeing multiple disastrous wars abroad and the creation of a surveillance state at home. Many of them would just now be emerging from prison for their crimes against both international law and the US Constitution.

Unfortunately, we don‘t live in a more reasonable world.

22.08.2023 - 17:35 [ US Supreme Court ]

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, ET AL., APPLICANTS 21A244 v. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, ET AL

(13.01.2022)

Administrative agencies are creatures of statute. They accordingly possess only the authority that Congress has provided. The Secretary has ordered 84 million Americans to either obtain a COVID–19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense. This is no “everyday exercise of federal power.” In re MCP No. 165, 20 F. 4th, at 272 (Sutton, C. J., dissenting). It is instead a significant encroachment into the lives—and health—of a vast number of employees. “We expect Congress to speak clearly when authorizing an agency to exercise powers of vast economic and political significance.” Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Servs., 594
U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (per curiam) (slip op., at 6) (internal quotation marks omitted). There can be little doubt that OSHA’s mandate qualifies as an exercise of such authority. The question, then, is whether the Act plainly authorizes the Secretary’s mandate. It does not. The Act empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.

(…)

The Solicitor General does not dispute that OSHA is limited to regulating “work-related dangers.” Response Brief for OSHA in No. 21A244 etc., p. 45 (OSHA Response). She instead argues that the risk of contracting COVID–19 qualifies as such a danger. We cannot agree. Although COVID–19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most. COVID–19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases. Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily life—simply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clock—would significantly expand OSHA’s regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization.

22.08.2023 - 17:32 [ Justin Amash / Twitter ]

The Supreme Court blocked President Biden‘s OSHA mandate, which was blatantly and egregiously unconstitutional. The principle is simple: The president is not a king with the power to do whatever he wants regardless of the law and the facts.

(Jan 13, 2022)

08.08.2023 - 11:30 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Die “Authorization For Use of Military Force” vom 14. September 2001 im Wortlaut

(29. August 2014)

Seit Beginn des weltweiten Terrorkrieges in 2001 herrschten in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika zwei Personen als Kriegspräsidenten und “mächtigste Männer der Welt”, George Bush Junior und Barack Obama. Der Kern ihrer Legitimation für

– fast jede seit dem 14. September 2001 angeordnete militärische Aktion, Operation und Invasion, wie der Eroberung von Afghanistan (2001), Irak (2003), Libyen (2011), Luftangriffen bzw Bodenoperationen z.B. in Somalia, Jemen, Pakistan, Kenia, etc, etc, pp,

– den versuchten Aufbau einer “Totalen Informationskenntnis” (“Total Information Awareness”) über alle Menschen, Gruppen, Strömungen und Organisationen im Macht- bzw Einflussbereich der U.S.A. (also dem, was die Gesellschaft heute als “Totalüberwachung” versteht),

– die folgende Erschaffung eines informationstechnologischen, Privatleben fressenden Frankensteins, eines weltweit vernetzten Golem der “Nationalen Sicherheit AG” bzw dem “sicherheitsindustriellen Komplex”, der allein 800.000 Personen (Stand: 2010) Zugang zu “streng geheimen” Informationen und damit Zugang zu praktisch allen u.a. aus Telekommunikationssystemen wie dem Internet gesammelten bzw geraubten Daten von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern in ungezählten Datenbanken und Tauschbörsen der Spione, Militärs und (Geheim)Polizeien und Behörden allein in den U.S.A. gibt, samt einer bis heute nicht verifizierten Zahl assoziierter Kräfte und Stellen, z.B. in der Republik Deutschland,

– die Errichtung des Lagers Guantanamo, sowie einer unbekannten Zahl geheimer Folterkammern und Kerker auf eigenem Territorium, in Besatzungszonen und / oder in kollaborierenden Staaten, in denen Menschen willkürlich eingesperrt, gequält oder ermordet wurden,

sowie weitere offene oder klandestine Maßnahmen, wie z.B. die “Uminterpretation” von geltendem Recht zu faktischem geheimen Kriegsrecht in ungezählten Staaten, ist ein am 14. September 2001 bei alleiniger Gegenstimme von Barbara Lee durch den Kongress gejagter und, zumindest in der Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, präzedenzloser Gesetzestext: die “Authorization for Use of Military Force”.

Hier dessen gerade einmal 60 Worte und keinerlei zeitliche oder räumliche Einschränkung enthaltende Wirkungstext, beschlossen am 14.09.2001 von beiden Kammern des Kongresses, Repräsentantenhaus und Senat:

08.08.2023 - 11:26 [ Center for Strategic and International Studies ]

What Does Niger Have to Do with the AUMF?

(October 26, 2017)

Q1: Several members of Congress have shared that they weren’t aware of U.S. military presence in Niger. What is the appropriate role of Congress in the oversight of foreign troop deployments?

A1: At best, the Constitution is ambiguous about the congressional role in the use of military forces abroad. Under Article I, the Congress is given the power to create a military and to declare its use in wartime. Yet Article II names the president as commander in chief and thus establishes a system whereby the executive and legislative branches share the power to use force. Furthermore, since the mid-twentieth century, the range of military activities outside the strict definition of declared war has broadened dramatically. Although the War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires the president to notify the Congress about combat deployments in a timely manner, notification of deployments under conditions where combat is not anticipated, nor war-like engagements intended, is up to the president’s discretion.

04.08.2023 - 08:00 [ CNN ]

Exclusive: CNN obtains the tape of Trump’s 2021 conversation about classified documents

(27.06.2023)

CNN has previously reported that Trump at the time was furious over a New Yorker article about Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley that said Milley argued against striking Iran and was concerned Trump would set in motion a full-scale conflict. (…)

“He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn’t it amazing?” Trump says as the sound of papers shuffling can be heard. “I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this – this is off the record but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.”