Plus, by the time the sub surfaced, it might have been too late. And how deft at rescue would a sub be, once surfaced, anyway? Finally, the Sri Lankans relied on aircraft as well as ships to rescue whom they could and recover many of the dead.
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We’ve seen time and again over the last year: Congress has abdicated any powers they have to the President. Even in the face of being primaried or retiring, they’re still siding with him.
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Yes. To protect us when we’re attacked.
War is not “defending the national interests” when the President (a) claims to solely know those interests and (b) won’t explain those interests because they’re that sensitive.
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I suggest there’s some really bad data out there on this guy and that’s hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles.
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She doesn’t have to – other sources, I’ll guess, monitor Russian shipments to Iran and could release that information.
There are a lot of competent people in countries and companies with an interest in that kind of information. A lot of them (e.g., Ukraine) have no reason to cover it up.
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The best option to stop the war would be for President Trump and the DoJ investigators to compel Jerry Powell, the Federal Reserve Chair, to raise interest rates by 3-5% to prevent runaway inflation. Retail prices are increasing rapidly. The President should release crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve asap.
“Appropriations”?
Correct me if I’ve misremembered, but didn’t the Supreme Court (heh) okay Trump to spend any appropriated monies – or not spend them – on anything he chose to do? If he wants “a Wall”, he can take it out of military housing, for example?
As for the Republican Congress, they need to do what the RNC did in 2020 and 2024: declare that their only “program” was to be 1000% behind any whim or misconception their Great Sacred Leader has. Formally surrender all their powers, even though it would clearly be unConstitutional! The current “Supreme” court would find no fault.
I love that we now have to beg Ukraine to teach us how to shoot down Iranian drones. Meanwhile, as we do that, Leavitt is blaming Ukraine and Biden for a weapons shortage that she also says doesn’t exist.
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Nebraska rep Mike Flood today went one step closer to Kremlin-framing the Iran war by referring to it as a “significant military operation”. At $1 billion a day in direct costs to the US treasury, and as much as $10 billion a day in disruption costs to the global economy, probably time to use the “w” word. Otherwise, we’ll still be taking about this “significant military operation” four years from now and the US will have been transformed into a wartime economy with oligarch-controlled media and agitprop messaging.
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Same words that North Korea would use if they launched a nuclear missile at Japan?
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In the case of pols who are retiring from Congress, I suspect they want to stay “in” with pols and influential non-pols back in their home states so they can continue to wield some political influence at home (they live and breathe political wheeling and dealing) and to be on good terms socially with their cronies and country club friends. And then there’s money. Thom Tillis, for instance, is only 65 and might hope for a sinecure or even a serious job that will rake in the bucks. To get such work he can’t afford to be too rebellious. (He’s already opposed by part of the Repub establishment in NC for being too “moderate.”)
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Johnson was elected to be the weakest speaker ever. He’s just overperforming a little.
Before Congress decides how to vote on supplementary war appropriations (and after it actually sees the bill) they need to ask and get answers to three questions.
- The obvious. What are the reasons for going to was in Iran, and what is the endgame?
- What is the status of the US munitions stockpile and its ability to resupply, on what timeline. Using supplementary funds to continue the war is pointless if the ammo runs out before the war is ‘finished’, by whatever definition.
- What if the US is unable to dictate terms, end its involvement in the war and/or control the economic damage if Israel is determined to carry on?
Russia has largely taken over production from Iran along with their technology. In fact, due to Ukraine, current Russian drone production far exceeds the US who is really late to the game, particularly drone interceptors. We’re using $10M ordinance to shoot down $25,000 drones (and we’re running low on those). This was all well known a week ago before we attacked an apex drone country. So much winning.
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No Congress will ever pull the rug out from under a President’s feet during active hostilities. Like it or not.
Given the risks inherent in starting a war, the US government must focus getting answers to these important life-or-death questions. It seems the best way to expose the fact that this is a poorly thought out war. all things being equal, poorly thought out wars may tend to risk American lives more than well-thought-out wars. It may also put some constitutionality back into the matter. A procedure is often done in a specific way for good reasons.
I see Johnson as an idealogue, not a blackmailed hostage. He’s a lawyer, an apparatchik and a tool. He believes in what he’s doing. That’s the horror of it.