Tag: war powers resolution

America loves war. Just admit it.

Roger Mitchell2 Comments

“The Constitution gives Congress the sole power to declare war. Congress, representing the weakest of the three branches of government, has refused to follow its obligation since WWII. The Senate has shown a bit of backbone here, with the Democrats (and five Republicans) voting on a War Powers resolution to limit what Trump can do in Venezuela. Trump will undoubtedly veto it. Congress loves war as much as the people who keep voting them back in office do.” — https://donaldjeffries.substack.com/p/the-gangsters-of-manifest-destiny

Hoo, boy! Isn’t that the truth? But, just to make sure everyone understands the statement clearly, let me rephrase it.

The people who keep voting the politicians into office love war as much as Congress does!

Ahhhhh! Now we’re getting somewhere. And there is no better example of that assertion than the continual and long-standing re-election of uber-hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, who has never seen heard about a war he didn’t love, especially those which wreak havoc, death, and destruction on people and societies which are, supposedly, the “enemies” of the self-righteous, so-called Christian community of the state he hails from and the “national interests of the US. Whatever that means.

Compassion for the poor, down-trodden, hungry masses of foreign peoples outside the “respectable” circles of the Pharisaical confines of the most-segregated community in America today, the Christian church1, is not considered. What is more important is the constant and constantly increasing flow of “blessings”, read dollars, to the industries and services which are a large part of the economy of South Carolina (and every other state as well), from the bellicose machine known as MICIMATT, of which the US Department of War is its very public face, and for which the president (Donald Trump being the latest example) is the main cheerleader.

Hip, hip, hooray! Let’s go kill some despicables today! Kill them over there so we don’t have to kill them over here! Yeah, you know, because we’re a Christian nation and they’re not, except for Venezuela, of course, which is also Christian, but just happens to be full of oil which it was selling to “our” adversary, China. Thank God that “our” modern-day Herculean hero, Mr. Donald John Trump, was given power to put a stop to that bullshit. If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank the President!

War is the health of the State, Randolph Bourne told us a century ago, and that is no less true today than it was when he penned the words.

“…the nation in war-time attains a uniformity of feeling, a hierarchy of values, culminated at the undisputed apex of the State ideal, which could not possibly be produced through any other agency than war. Other values such [as] artistic creation, knowledge, reason, beauty, the enhancement of life, are instantly and almost unanimously sacrificed and the significant classes who have constituted themselves the amateur agents of the State are engaged not only in sacrificing these values for themselves but in coercing all other persons into sacrificing them.” — https://www.panarchy.org/bourne/state.1918.html

Sadly, this prevailing attitude is directly opposed to the teachings of another famous person, who may or may have never written anything down for posterity to read, but who fundamentally changed the world–Jesus Christ.

  1. “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.” — Luke 6:27
  2. “Blessed are the peacemakers2, for they shall be called the sons of God.” — Matthew 5:9
  3. “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” — Matthew 26:52
  4. “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” — Luke 23:34

Etc., among many others, and there is also this order from the Ten Commandments, which bears repeating: “Thou shalt not steal.” — Exodus 20:15. Stealing, of course, is an involuntary taking of something, anything, from someone else which belongs to them, whether by force, fraud, or law. Taking the life of someone else would fall into this category.

Donald Trump, at the very least, is honest with his principles. He has stated that he is NOT a Christian, which can be seen in his actions,3 which he makes no excuses for, and which he does not try to hide. (Except for anything which might be exposed in the full and complete release of the Epstein files, if there’s anything there.) Not so for the millions upon millions of skin-deep Christians who claim to worship the Prince of Peace as the King of Kings, but who harbor a deep reverence and love toward the militant State which constantly practices deceit, theft, and murder on a world-wide scale.

“There is a moral order. Beware of unintended consequences when it it violated.”4

    1. Segregation of churches according to skin color is a prominent part of Christianity in the Christian church today, especially in the South. This is a dirty shame and may be a reason why the Church in America has no power today. ↩︎
    2. Peacekeepers, as commonly understood today, are not identical to peacemakers. Peacekeepers use the threat of violent force to maintain an artificial truce between warring factions while they discuss and negotiate the methods by which they might live in a state without overt war. On the other hand, peacemaking is the process by which war itself, is completely eliminated from the community of individuals/nations and is accomplished by voluntarily submitting to the will of the Prince of Peace Himself and loving your neighbor (enemy) as you love yourself. ↩︎
    3. “By their works you will know them.” — Matthew 7:16 ↩︎
    4. Jordan Peterson, We Who Wrestle with God, Penguin Random House, 2024, chapter 3.8. ↩︎

    No Going Back. The Rubicon is Behind Us

    Roger MitchellLeave a comment

    That didn’t take long.

    On June 19, I posted an opinion that Donald Trump would not attack Iran and listed several reasons why I considered it possible, even likely. Less than three days later, my reputation as a geo-political forecaster lay in wreckage, much like the Fordow nuclear station in Iran after it was (allegedly) hit by numerous bunker-busters delivered by Trump’s B2 “stealth” bombers. My mistake, it seems, was supposing that Trump would act rationally and reasonably because America (meaning he) had too much to lose. Wishful thinking on my part. I threw the dice and wound up snake-eyes.

    “In gambling, snake eyes is the outcome of rolling the dice in a game and getting only one pip on each die. The pair of pips resembles a pair of eyes, which is appended to the term ‘snake’ because of the long-standing association of this word with treachery and betrayal.” — https://gambiter.com/dice/Snake_eyes.html

    Treachery and betrayal. After a few days of reading commentary from various sources, it appears to be quite certain that the DT1 has been quite adept at playing this kind of game over the last few weeks. First, after the Israeli attack on Iran which killed many top nuclear scientists and military leaders, came his admission that he knew about it beforehand, yet gave out that negotiations were still on track so as to deceive the Iranians into remaining complacent and letting their guard down. Second (this is where I made my bet), was when he proclaimed that he would make his decision known to the world within two weeks, giving the impression that he was allowing things to cool down, while all the time planning to send in the B-2 bombers and missiles.

    Sucker punches! The whole thing reeks to high heaven of treachery and betrayal, and the one thing that Trump has just demonstrated to the entire world is that he is not capable of honest, above-board dealing. From now on, his word will be distrusted, as will that of those underlings who are close to him. With respect to this, America has lost its credibility and trust, even among its own “allies”, although without doubt, they (especially Great Britain) will follow his lead, doubling down on one disastrous move after another until the entire West is out of chips and retired from the game.

    Constitutionally speaking2, Trump does not have the authority to declare war or to attack another country on his own initiative and say-so. Congress holds the constitutional responsibility to declare war, but has abdicated in every conflict since WW2 ended, beginning with the Korean War. There are noises, at least little grunts, being made about taking that back, including a war powers resolution introduced into the House by Thomas Massie, R-KY, and Ro Khanna, D-CA, but this is not likely to gain any traction and Trump will probably carry on virtually unimpeded. Impeachment for his “crimes” may occur if he loses and will not even be mentioned if he wins. However, the odds for impeachment rise dramatically if the Democrats retake control of the House in 2026.

    The one sure and certain way that Congress could put a dent into the military ventures abroad would be to simply draw the purse strings tight, denying the administration (DOD, MIC, etc.) the necessary funds to support such endeavors. If representatives and senators exercised fiscal sanity and rectitude, they would just say “No”, and all this would come to an end.

    Will this happen any time soon? Will pigs fly tomorrow? To ask these questions is to answer them as virtually every Congress critter is in the pay and thrall of the MIC or AIPAC, very likely both. Where is Jeanette Rankin when you need her? She was, after all, the only Congress(person) to vote against becoming involved in both WW1 and WW2, actually casting the only “No” vote in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which ended her political career. Talk about sticking to principles regardless of cost!

    BTW, Trump is far from the first president to “unofficially” sidestep the Constitutional restraints because they were too restrictive and confining. He certainly won’t be the last.

    In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a participant in aptly named Operation Keelhaul, had this to say in his Chance for Peace speech.

    “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

    Sometimes, at least twice a day, even a broken clock tells the right time and in this, Eisenhower spoke the unvarnished truth. Every dollar spent on war and war armaments is a dollar NOT spent on feeding and clothing those who are hungry and naked. Every dollar spent to visit destruction and death on others is not a dollar spent to alleviate the misery and heartache of the human condition. This is not to say that we should stop the funding the “Warfare State” in favor of the “Welfare State”, but simply a recognition that lavishly slathering the militaristic sections of society with obscene amounts of “grease” is not conducive to building up and maintaining the American Dream.

    Unfortunately, there are too many people in these United States who profit mightily from the carnage. There are too many who may not profit financially but thrive in the smug belief that they, as part of the American Empire, are elevated above those who are debased. There are too many who simply believe that Donald (Cap’n Warp Speed)3 Trump is the new Messiah and can do no wrong.

    America MUST be saved! MOVE OVER, JESUS, AND MAKE WAY FOR THE DONALD!!

    In the end, though, Trump will only be with us a little while longer. When he is gone, who will take his place, or perhaps more importantly, what will be our condition when he vacates? Of one thing I am certain, it will not be pretty, gentle, nor compassionate. We should be prepared for THE REAL DEAL to be visited on us in all its brutal, tyrannical, vicious, and murderous ways because, as the Word tells us,

    “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” — Luke 6:38

    Candidly speaking, America has “given” death and destruction to many, many others throughout its history and become, so to speak, drunk with its power to the point of reckless arrogance. Is there any reason to believe that our “generosity” will not be measured back to us in spades?

    Jesus Christ does not share His throne or His Glory. With anyone. Donald Trump, kiss the Son while you still can. You might spare America an enormous amount of grief.

    1. DT is also an abbreviation of the term ‘delirium tremens‘, which refers to the symptoms suffered by an alcoholic subjected to abrupt withdrawal after a bout of heavy drinking. I tend to think that Donald Trump is only the first manifestation. ↩︎
    2. I am of the Lysander Spooner persuasion. I have never signed nor agreed to the stipulations of the Constitution, therefore, as a contractual obligation, I am not subject to it. Ted Weiland has a different take on it. You can read his viewpoint here. ↩︎
    3. I use this term because many people are aware of it and make the connection to Trump’s work to force the Covid-19 farce and fiasco on the world. Personally, I prefer to call him Colonel Bombast, which is a reference to the clownish power-mad character, Baron Bomburst, in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. If you can imagine Trump with a full moustache, the two would even resemble each other. ↩︎