Kentucky Senator Rand Paul held up the confirmation of John Brennan for more than 13 hours on the Senate floor yesterday, concerned about the thought that, somehow, Barack Obama intended to use drones against non combat Americans on American soil.
Rand Paul was engaged in pure grandstanding, and it led to Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina condemning their Republican colleague on the Senate floor today!
By his filibuster, Paul only encouraged the conspiracy theorists who see FEMA helicopters about to take over the skies, arrest people who have guns, and intern large numbers of Americans in “concentration camps”, all part of the belief that our President is trying to become a dictator.
This crazy fear and hate mongering has led to more death threats against our first African American President than any other President, and we now know that there are eight times the number of right wing hate groups in 2013, as compared to 2008, over 1,300 in number!
Rand Paul and his libertarian views are dangerous, because libertarians see the federal government as the enemy, and all it does is promote militia group and “Patriot” group activities and threats against the “evil’ federal government. It is paranoia gone mad!
The only good that came out of this was that Attorney General Eric Holder came out with a clear cut statement that the President had declared that, under no circumstances, would the federal government ever use drones against non combat Americans on American soil. As if anyone who has common sense and rational thinking would think otherwise!
Why do you misrepresent what happened? Seriously I thought you were more intelligent than this. Why don’t you say that with Senator Paul, Senator Wyden, Democrat also joined the effort to get a response from the DOJ. As a matter of fact if it weren’t for Senator Wyden, Holder would not have responded the first time. You know full well that it took more than a month for the DOJ to respond a simple yes or no question and only did so after the filibuster. You have reservation about a President having constitutional authority to kill Americans abroad suspected of terrorist links. You were concerned about this constitutional authority to execute Americans when they are not in a battlefield, not in combat, but sitting in their home in Yemen, or wherever that may be. Who would have thought that a President had this authority? Especially when the then Senator Barack Obama before he was President,as well as the entire left, antiwar movement and pro-civil rights to terrorists movement, stated that a President has no constitutional authority to “torture” foreigners suspected of terrorism and much less execute them without a civil trial! Now since President Barack Obama has changed his mind on this issue it is perfectly legitimate to ask the official position of the Administration regarding American citizens suspected of terrorism within the US who pose no immediate threat or danger. You and I know full well that to use drones within the US to execute Americans citizens suspected of terrorism while they are not posing an imminent threat or danger to other Americans is unconstitutional. But guess what? There are many who do not agree, and those happen to be on the left. You say ” As if anyone who has common sense and rational thinking would think otherwise!” Really? Apparently Michael Shure who was on with Cenk Uygur on the, thanks to Al Gore, newly acquired affiliate of the terrorist link Al-Jazeera network, Current TV thinks the President is authorized to use drones within the US against noncombatant American citizens suspected of terrorism. Remember all this arose after a letter from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to Paul stating the president could legally authorize drone strikes against American citizens on U.S. soil if necessary. (See: http://current.com/shows/the-young-turks/videos/cenk-rand-pauls-a-constitutional-hero-for-filibustering-brennan-nomination-to-question-obamas-vague-limitless-drone-strike-policy ). So it was a perfect legitimate question. Did you read Attorney General Holder’s first response? You know full well that he left open the possibility of maybe, purposely confusing act of attack on US soil like Pearl Harbor and 9/11 with the issue at hand. Nobody doubts that the Executive can use force in case of clear imminent and present danger.That was no the question posed by the Senator last month. Yet Holder did not give a simple two letter word reply; NO!. The reply was given today, after the filibuster. Just a short line saying No. Now was that so difficult? Finally you just cannot help yourself and you invariably have to play the race card, don’t you? It’s is actually stronger than you. Good grief Ron, please grow up.
I have absolutely no respect for Rand Paul, and do not believe in libertarianism, which is the equivalent of anarchy in my mind. We should not target American citizens, of course not, but if someone is a direct threat within our borders, certainly there should be no limits to protect the homeland. I never thought that Obama would say anything else, but you can be sure that a more right wing President in the future just might target citizens, without just cause, and that DOES worry me. But Obama has set a good standard, and I DID say that Paul speaking up finally got a definite, clear cut statement, which should have occurred sooner, so there I agree with you!
And right wing militia groups and “Patriot” groups have multiplied, as I said above, and a lot of it is directed against Obama, and one would have to be naive to say race is not a factor.
Oh Ron, seriously you have a Democrat President, the anointed one Barack Husein Obama, ordering the execution of not only an American citizen abroad but his teenage son. You have your fearless progressive leader with a “kill list” , doing more than anything the evil Bush/Cheney duo ever imagined, yet you are afraid of a future Republican President executing with drones Americans within American soil!?? Give me a break! You are being totally incoherent and irrational! Also Obama did not set any standard, it is the law! US military forces cannot be used within the US territory to detain suspected terrorist, much less to execute them! It has been the law of the land since the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 way before Barack Obama’s time! Regarding those “Patriot” groups as you classify them. (What’s wrong with being a Patriot by the way?) Well if you have a President who believes like you , that not only Big “Brother” Government is here to stay but to grow eternally, it is very logical that those who believe in strong constitutional limited Federal government and individual freedom step up to the plate! As they do every time a big government statist institutes his regime upon the people,as Barack Hussein Obama, to your glee, is doing! But of course, for you it is impossible that some people actually believe that limited constitutional government is better that Big brother Government. It goes against your faith; progressivism/liberalism/statism. In any event I shouldn’t be surprised, after all this Administration considers that conservatives are a more dangerous threat to American than Al-Qaeda, that the Tea Party is more dangerous than the Muslim Brotherhood. After all only this administration would nominate ( and today cancel) Samira Ibrahim to receive the U.S. State Department’s “Women of Courage Awardâ€. Had it not been for a few conservative outlets ( the mainstream media of course remained silent) that reminded us who she was, she would have received the award! Let’s see what this woman has said. Ibrahim’s past tweets included celebratory comments relating to the death of five Israeli tourists in a 2012 suicide bombing in Bulgaria. “An explosion on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas airport in Bulgaria on the Black Sea,†she tweeted directly following the attack. “Today is a very sweet day with a lot of very sweet news.†Regarding 9/11, “Today is the anniversary of 9/11. May every year come with America burning.†Doubling down on her racist diatribes, in August 2012, Ibrahim referred to Saudi Arabia’s ruling Al Saud family as “dirtier than the Jews†and not long after, admiringly quoted Hitler. “I have discovered with the passage of days, that no act contrary to morality, no crime against society, takes place, except with the Jews having a hand in it. Hitler,†Ibrahim tweeted. Yes a really courageous woman! And to top it off yesterday she posted, “I refused to apologize to the Zionist lobby in America on the previous statements hostile to Zionism under pressure from the American government, so the prize was withdrawn” Why should anyone be surprised that someone like this would be nominated by this administration to receive the “Women of Courage Award”? Now the Department of State is “doing forensics internally on how we didn’t catch it [tweets] the first time.†Yeeeaaah right…
Juan, I fully trust Barack Obama’s instincts, no matter how much you don’t, as he is defending the nation against terrorism, and has done a better job than George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. I am not being totally incoherent and irrational, far from it! And I believe I can judge character and genuine nature, and to me, Obama and, even more, Joe Biden, are very trustworthy and genuine. I bet you are screaming as you read this! LOL But this is my feeling, and I am entitled to it, as much as you with your opinions! So get used to it!
The “Patriot” groups are gun nuts who think we are having another American Revolution, and are mostly white supremacists, as well as being anti Semitic. There is nothing “patriotic” about domestic terrorists, who often are more dangerous internally than Muslim terrorists. And the Tea Party follows along with this mentality, and wants the “good old days” when women, African Americans, and other immigrant groups “knew their place” in society, but that is never coming back. Libertarian government is a pipe dream, an illusion, and I would never trust the leadership of a person such as Rand Paul, whose father Ron Paul associated with many extreme right wing groups during his career, and is rightfully seen as a loony!
Obama has killed more Muslims than Bush, and yet people still contend that he favors Muslims, a totally preposterous idea, but of course he is not entitled to credit for getting Osama Bin Laden, while Bush would have bragged to the skies if he had done it, just as he did when in 2003 he declared “Mission Accomplished”, when it was far from reality.
As far as this woman is concerned, it is a simple error, of which there are a multitude of such in every Presidency, embarrassments that are unavoidable in many cases, but the important thing is that the error was caught and rectified.
I can see it now, a remake of the classic with Professor Irwin Corey playing the part of Rand Paul. And considering why the filibuster ended and a scatalogical reference to his politics, MTM (Metro TeaParty Mugwump) presents:
“Mr. Sh*t Goes to Washington”….. ; )
Ron, thank you thank you and thank you! For confirming every single time the progressive faith. You write ” I am not being totally incoherent and irrational, far from it! ” and then write “But this is my feeling, and I am entitled to it, as much as you with your opinions!” You contradict yourself! You are relying on your feelings yet you say you are not irrational!! LOL! As with all progressive, you base your faith on feeling, reason and data be damned! So, lets try this one more time, if there are over 1000 terrorist white supremacist racist groups in America, if the Tea Party follows that path, what is the DOJ waiting for?? Today coincidentally is a very embarrassing date for America. Today the Obama administration embarrassingly began the trial of Osama Ben Laden’s brother in law, Sulaiman Abu-Ghaith. Instead of in a Military Tribunal, the trial will take place only blocks from the site of the hijacked plane strikes on the World Trade Center, in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, a civilian court. I think it is appropriate to remember Sgt. Eddie Jeffers, who would have been 29 yrs old today and to read his letter, Hope Rides Alone, that he wrote on February 1, 2007, a few months before dying in Irak. Jeffers was only 23 yrs old, but his letter dissected the left in America with outstanding precision.
“I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others.
I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again…and yet, I too, am just a boy….my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead. I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid…because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there.
There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own…but that are necessary for survival. I’ve made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets…who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not.
And to think, I volunteered for this…
And I am ignorant to the rest of the world…or so I thought.
But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn’t fit your average man. And then, I will be alone. And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler.
I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home. I use the word boys and girls, because that’s what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class .
People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don’t realize its effects on this war. In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy’s brutality because it’s against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward’s war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation’s news outlets. And every day, the enemy changes…only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our
lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society…and they are becoming our enemy.
Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word “quagmire” around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.
Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet…and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed…for doing their job.
It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we’ve done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It’s all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.
America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It’s not like World War II, where people rationed food and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a service member, its life as usual…the war doesn’t affect you.
But it affects us. And when it is over and the troops come home and they try to piece together what’s left of them after their service…where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can’t touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.
We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause and see it to its end. But the country must unite in this endeavor…we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It’s supporting our President, our troops and our cause.
Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, hope rides alone. But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn’t.
Let’s stop all the political nonsense, let’s stop all the bickering, let’s stop all the bad news and let’s stand and fight!Isn’t that what America is about anyway?”
The thought that John Kerry is the current Secretary, the same Kerry said of our soldiers in Irak and of his fellow soldiers in Vietnam the following is disgusting; “You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.†“American soldiers [are] going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the …of .. the historical customs, religious customs.” -John Kerry in 2005 “[American troops in Vietnam] personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, [blew] up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to…the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country. …There are all kinds of atrocities and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed….” –John Kerry in his 1971 testimony before Congress.
Paul, you always add a touch of humor, and I thank you profusely! 🙂 LOL
Juan, I am the first person to condemn what has been done to our veterans, sent into a war in Iraq without adequate equipment and supplies by the chicken hawks such as Bush and Cheney and the arrogance of Rumsfeld, and then being ignored by the Republican Party, as they were seen as only important to be sent over to do the work that should have been shared by a raising of taxes on all, including on the rich, rather than tax cuts favoring the rich.
They were sent into a war that was based on false premises, and then were mistreated when it came to veterans benefits. Whatever the cost of taking care of veterans should be taken from the massive profits of the war industries as a penalty tax for their insane profits! It is a crime against humanity what our government did in Iraq, not only victimizing mostly poor whites, African Americans, and Latinos who fight our wars, while the wealthy get wealthier through corporate war spending, but also innocent civilians in Iraq who were victimized in the name of liberating them for a so called “democracy” that will never happen.
And YES, we have committed war crimes in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and no matter what, that is inexcusable and immoral, with hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children being slaughtered in the name of liberating them.
I will not be defensive on the reality Iraq was a disaster, and that while our soldiers were victims, so were the people of Iraq, and all we have done is to embolden Iran by attacking Iraq, due to the arrogance and lying nature of the neocons!
Yes, I have feelings, Juan, and you display them as well for your side as I do for my side and true beliefs. But I am also backed by facts and reality. The best thing now is that we have combat solders who know what war is—-Kerry and Hagel—rather than arrogant “Chicken Hawks”, who have no concern about sending mostly poor men and women into the horrors of war!
And if drones overseas can be used to prevent combat troop commitment, as we fight terrorism more effectively now than ever before, then so be it, and all plaudits to Barack Obama for doing what is right, as Rand Paul’s isolationist mentality is ludicrous in the modern world, but the neocons, who want to send us constantly into war with poor kids, are also wrong!
I agree with using drones overseas! I am not criticizing Obama for that oneQ Who said anything to the contrary! As for Senator Paul his question was about using drones within the US! Why do you always confuse the issues? Seriously! Now I don’t agree with your assertion that “we” that is the US government committed war crimes! The US as a policy did not commit war crimes! That doesn’t mean there might not have been individual actions by certain soldiers who have committed abuses! That always happens during war. But to state that the US committed war crimes is to state that it was the official or unofficial policy of the US government and Armed Forces to commit war crimes is… I reserve to myself the adjective, but you can just imagine the worst insult possible and it would be appropriate in this case! It is comparing the US government to the Nazi regime, to the Soviet regime, to the communist regime in China, to Imperial Japan, to the Regime of Slobodan MiloÅ¡ević in Serbia, to Mugabe, to Idi Amin Dada! It is wrong, as a legal matter to say “we” committed war crimes when what we are talking about is individual actions that were committed.
Juan, going to war on false pretenses IS a war crime of Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld! There was no need for the Iraq War, as there were and are other tyrants just as evil that we have decided not to intervene to throw out of power, but of course the oil industry wanted intervention, thinking they would gain an advantage! And Cheney became rich from his involvement in Halliburton, and feels no need to admit anything wrong that he engaged in! Who could possibly say Cheney has character and decency? 🙁
We ignored intervention in Cambodia and Rwanda because there was no advantage to involvement there to stop war crimes, as there was in Iraq due to its oil. And again, all we have done is make Iran a more dangerous nation even before Obama became President.
I am NOT saying that “WE” are as evil as the governments you mention above, of course not, but stop making it that our country is not accountable for what is done in its good name We have destroyed a whole generation of young kids, who gave their life and limb and their minds to their nation, over and over again, while the country “shopped”, as Bush called for, while he evaded his service in the National Guard, hardly showing up, and getting away with it, due to who his dad was! Absolutely despicable–both Cheney and Bush, as well as Rumsfeld! And no matter what the cost, veterans need to be helped financially and medically to the full extent, even if the rich have to pay more taxes, along with the rest of us!