It’s a Start
I have been away from news and the internet machine for the entire afternoon so I as a tad pleased to learn that congress passed the War Powers Act.
Trump can’t make war unless the use of armed forces “is necessary and appropriate to defend against an imminent armed attack upon the United States.”
Well, isn’t that what he said before assassinating the last guy? And, Republicans claim the resolution is not legally binding. Well, neither is chasing an intern around the desk in the oval office, but they sure got upset about that.
And, if you’re keeping score …
The vote was 224-194. Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Francis Rooney of Florida crossed party lines to vote in favor while Democratic Reps. Max Rose of New York, Ben McAdams of Utah, Anthony Brindisi of New York, Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, Elaine Luria of Virginia, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Kendra Horn of Oklahoma and Stephanie Murphy of Florida voted against the resolution.
Write down those names and put them on your refrigerator door. If you get on their email list and they ask for money, tell them only if they roll it up, stick up their nose and set it on blazing damn fire.
And the names of those cowards (15 +/-)
1who abstained were?
D’s who did not vote.
No Vote WI 3rd D Kind, Ron
No Vote AZ 2nd D Kirkpatrick, Ann
No Vote VA 4th D McEachin, Donald
No Vote NY 15th D Serrano, José
American hero fighting cancer so unavoidable John Lewis Ga 5th.
What are the others excuses? After all even tulsi gabbard choose to take a position on this one.
R’s
2No Vote FL 16th R Buchanan, Vern
No Vote AR 1st R Crawford, Eric
No Vote PA 1st R Fitzpatrick, Brian
No Vote CA 50th R Hunter, Duncan
No Vote GA 11th R Loudermilk, Barry
No Vote ID 2nd R Simpson, Mike
chasing an intern around the desk in the oval office
This is not what happened.
The power imbalance made that relationship improper, but both participants entered it willingly.
If I recall correctly, the first overt overture was the deliberate display of thong underwear. It wasn’t Bill’s.
3Loudmouth Gaetz crossed party lines in favor? Must have read his various court jester impeachment antics and thought it well to reel it in just a little bit.
J.J. your post “I’m going to say it” re: Orangey’s pronunciation, has a followup story that is rather creepy and prescient.
Headline: Trump’s Iran speech showed that he’s clearly not well — why are people afraid to say that?
a.) The Kings Speech or words to that effect – collection of butchered english.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE9BXkQ-SRc&feature=emb_logo
b.) Now watch a 1988 Oprah Interview 32 years ago. Reagan redux!
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=SEPs17_AkTI&feature=emb_logo
https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/trumps-iran-speech-showed-that-hes-clearly-not-well-why-are-people-afraid-to-say-that/
4Congress didn’t pass anything, it was just the House. It wasn’t an Act, just a resolution. And, sadly, Republicans are correct, it isn’t legally binding, even if it were to somehow be passed in the Senate.
But still, better than nothing. And nothing is what the feckless Dems did when they passed the bloated Defense Authorization that included funding for Trump’s wall and provided funding for those projects that Trump illegally raided to pay for his wall last year. And they stripped out protections for Trans military members. So you know, I’m not going to get too worked up about this meaningless resolution. Let me know when they do something that actually matters.
5Let me know when [Democrats] do something that actually matters.
Realistic suggestions for actions that meet this bar eagerly awaited.
They’re somewhat constrained by the actual laws.
6@Joel, the Dems were not required to pass the GOP Defense Authorization. The Repubs in the Senate played hardball and said they would refuse to pass Dem amendments. So the Dems caved. Which is what they do.
The Dems are my only option, but I don’t have to like it.
7Yup.
8If they’d passed an act, it’d go to the Senate. Where it’d fail by not getting a simple majority. If by some miracle enough repugnantcans voted to pass it, what are the odds that a supermajority in the Senate would vote to overturn the veto?
But don’t get me wrong, the House had to do whatever it could. If for no other reason than setting precedent that might be able to be used in some currently unforseen future circumstances. This opportunity might never come again.
Thanks J.J. for providing that link to the CNN video which provided a more expansive explanation to exactly why the House vote was taken and what the messaging was intended to do.
I swear, I might have jumped in without watching that video and started making all kinds of terribly abrupt conclusions.
9Oh by the way dear heart, the Oprah interview with Trump is in the Alternet link at the tail end of that post is the working one.
https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/trumps-iran-speech-showed-that-hes-clearly-not-well-why-are-people-afraid-to-say-that/
10Re Dotard45’s unwellness, Stephen Colbert “went there” in his show tonight, uttering the word “Adderall” and sniffing loudly a few times. I sure don’t hear this brought up in the MSM.
Personal note: I hate that Adderall is getting a bad rep because it basically helped save my highly ADHD kid’s life (like he wouldn’t have finished high school without it), but then he took it as directed and orally, not snorted up his nose.
11Max Rose was against this? The guy is a war hero and made no bones about his war experience when he campaigned.He is also a native NYC guy. He knows how bad Trump is and has been ever since potty training. Would love to hear his explanation.
12Trump doesn’t care and probably has never read a raggedy old document sitting behind bullet proof glass in the National Archives building. I’m surprised to see that Matt Gaetz roused enough to vote in favor of the resolution. I’m also proud of my representative, Lizzie Fletcher, for her vote on this and her vote in favor of impeachment.
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