❝❝I just want to point out that American "defense" policy involves military action against nations when Congress hasn't declared war.

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Even Trump complained when Obama launched military actions without Congressional approval.

You tell me. Should we change the Constitution so the President can attack any other nation on his authority alone? Or should we insist Congress does it's job?

Is this about America, right or wrong?

Or is it about liberty?

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How about multiple missile attacks?

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And is it right to launch missiles into other nations? You've said that eight months is sufficient. Is four months? Is four weeks? Is four days?

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Is it right for other nations to launch missiles into our country?

After all, we have a proven record of meddling in the governments of other nations.

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So you are saying that the U.S. has the unique power to fire missiles into other countries.

So much for freedom.

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Obviously there is.

And it's even covered by that top ten list of yours.

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At the very least, I think using a missile against innocents qualifies as murder.rob

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Too late.

I do have a solution for the opium fields. But it doesn't involve armies. It would be a lot more effective though.

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Oh?

There are an awful lot of people who got shot at who would disagree with you.

ETA: Not to mention all those overseas military bases.

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You're arguing over definitions and a matter of degree.

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Might doesn't make right. I've told you that before.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something. Or that you are justified in doing it.

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Justified?

And if we're wrong, does that make us weak? Or just a bully that no one wants to face?

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There is a century old story that I tell sometimes. Back during the Russian revolution, President Wilson sent American troops to intervene. The "mission" was murky at best, which led to failed promises and out-and-out lies. Wilson did this without Congressional authorization, we weren't at war with Russia.

Fast forward a couple of decades. Some of the Soviet General Staff had faced American soldiers in the trenches. They knew exactly what American words were worth.

And after WWII, that shaped the Cold War.

All because an American President took it on himself to intervene in a revolution without Congressional authority.

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Don't get mad at me. It's right there in the Constitution. And if Congress hasn't declared war, then why are American troops fighting?

Considering who has been President, do you really want no checks and balances when it comes to war?

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So why do we have troops fighting when war has not been declared?

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Politicos have sacrificed the nation's honor and the lives of American troops for what?

Why do we have troops fighting when war has not been declared?❞❞

Tags: picture ∙ American ∙ defense ∙ military ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Barack Obama ∙ Constitution ∙ presidential power ∙ Congress ∙ missiles ∙ Robert Taft

America's Media Meltdown

❝❝In the 2008 campaign, reporters ignored the close and disturbing relationships between the mostly unknown Obama and a cast of unsavory characters: his racist and anti-Semitic pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the neighborhood confidant and former terrorist Bill Ayers, and the wheeler-dealer and soon-to-be felon Tony Rezko.

Instead, journalists quickly started worshipping candidate Obama in a manner never quite seen before, not even in the days of the iconic liberal presidents like Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. Newsweek editor Evan Thomas declared Obama to be a deity (“Obama's standing above the country, above the world, he’s sort of God.”) His very words were able to make the leg of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews “tingle.” His pants’ crease proved for David Brooks a talisman of his future greatness, along with the fact that the mellifluent Obama “talks like us.”

While a few journalists were aware of their cult-like worship, most were hooked and competed to outdo one another with embarrassing hagiographic praise. Upon election, Obama was summarily declared by one presidential historian and television pundit to the smartest man with the highest IQ ever to have been president.

Obama himself channeled the veneration, variously promising in god-like fashion to cool the planet and lower the seas, remarking that his own multifaceted expertise was greater than that of all of the various specialists who ran his campaign. For the next eight years, the media largely ignored what might charitably be called an historic overextension of presidential power and scandal not seen since the days of Richard Nixon’s presidency. A clique of journalists set up a private chat group, JournoList, through which they could channel ideas to promote the Obama progressive agenda.❞❞
     — Victor Davis Hanson

Tags: clipping ∙ Victor Davis Hanson ∙ Barack Obama ∙ Jeremiah Wright ∙ Bill Ayers ∙ Tony Rezko ∙ FDR ∙ JFK ∙ Newsweek ∙ Evan Thomas ∙ Chris Matthews ∙ David Brooks ∙ presidential power ∙ scandal ∙ Richard Nixon ∙ JournoList ∙ progressive