Day: May 5, 2016

When All Else Fails, Sue The Bastard!

I close my posting day with a piece about our continuous wars and how could we stop the insanity…..

Some of us bloggers have been bad mouthing Obama and his predecessor, GW for going to war without getting the approval of the US Congress….personally, I do not think that American troops should be used unless absolutely necessary….going to war is just an easy option….it takes little thought and even less conscience.

It appears that someone has stepped up to make the point…….

It’s not that Army Capt. Nathan Michael Smith doesn’t want to take out the Islamic State. It’s just that he doesn’t think President Obama has the authority to wage war against ISIS without Congress’ OK. That’s the crux of the 28-year-old intelligence officer’s lawsuit filed Wednesday in US District Court in DC, in which he cites his “conscience” and the promise he made as a serviceman to uphold the Constitution, the New York Times reports. “To honor my oath, I am asking the court to tell the president that he must get proper authority from Congress, under the War Powers Resolution, to wage the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” he says in the 53-page document. Smith, who’s currently stationed in Kuwait, lodged his complaint on the heels of the president’s recent announcements that he’s sending more troops to both Iraq and Syria.

Obama has said before that he doesn’t need Congress’ approval because the current campaign falls under the umbrella of 2001’s Authorization for Use of Military Force, put into place to authorize the president (then George W. Bush) to go after any “nations, organizations, or persons” that had something to do with the 9/11 attacks, including al-Qaeda and its affiliates. But it gets sticky with ISIS: Although the group is an al-Qaeda offshoot, it didn’t exist in 2001 and has since been officially cut loose by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. But a senior analyst with the RAND Corporation said in 2014 that it’s a little more involved than that, and that although ISIS may not be part of al-Qaeda anymore, “they are organizations from the same swamp.” What could make Smith’s case difficult to win, a Harvard Law School professor tells the Times: the fact that Congress has appropriated money to put toward the current ISIS conflict, which could signify it’s on board with the president’s initiative.

It is time to reconsider this damn thing……I feel that anytime that 50+ US troops are deployed in a war zone then there MUST be a congressional approval.

This may sound like a waste of time but at least this will bring some attention to a serious breach of protocol…..but I am not optimistic that much will come out of this lawsuit….but I will give him an “A” for the effort.

In defense of America First

Here it is…..that moment that all dread….the Professor and his damn historical perspectives……

The 2016 election has brought about a renewed interest in a movement from the 1930’s…..the America First movement…

Mr. Trump has as a slogan “Making America Great Again” and that has a renewed interest in the slogan “America First”…..but with all the hoopla with the election what is truly meant by “America First”?

Sadly, I do not think that Trump’s ideas have anything to do with international entanglements……

America First was a young, politically diverse, and surprisingly well-lettered movement that wanted to keep America neutral (like Switzerland or Ireland) as Europe descended into World War II. Though it started on the East Coast, it was concentrated in the Midwest and had over two million members nationwide. It counted major American political figures, Democrat and Republican, in its ranks, as well as many men of letters.

Source: In defense of America First

There will always be a historical perspective……to the dismay of many…..

When Is a Boot on the Ground Not a Boot on the Ground?

Let me begin by saying that I am f*cking tired of the use “Boots on the ground”……it is a dehumanizing technique to refer to troops that will possibly die in defense of their country…at least do them the honor of treating them with some sort of respect.

Onward!  I have been writing about the use of American troops and then trying to deny that they are being used to the public.  It is a propaganda p[loy to try and lessen the impact of our troops dying to the public.

This article tries to answer the question posed in the title…..

No one disputes that U.S. military forces are fighting in combat in Iraq and Syria — except maybe President Barack Obama and some members of his administration.

The semantic arguments over whether there are American “boots on the ground” muddy the view of a situation in which several thousand armed U.S. military personnel are in Iraq and Syria. Obama has said more than a dozen times that there would be no combat troops in Iraq and Syria as the number of service members in those countries grows; last week, Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged the military personnel there were in combat and “we should say that clearly.”

Source: Q&A: When Is a Boot on the Ground Not a Boot on the Ground? | Military.com

Women And The Draft

The big news, at least for some, is that women have been approved for roles in direct combat units…….and the peasants went batcrap crazy at the news….they say that families will be destroyed and other such fears…..

So if we have a draft will women be forced to register?

Well Batman….if they turn 18 then yes they should register for the draft….but then we have some like this tool from the Congress, Duncan Hunter,……..

A key congressional committee voted last week to require young women to register for potentially compulsory military service, but the gender-equalizing reform threatens to make felons out of women who refused to participate.

Though prosecutions currently appear unlikely, men jailed for not registering with the Selective Service System and some former authorities who participated in the cases are concerned about criminalizing a large swath of the population.

Enforcement wasn’t always lax, and the law that may be applied to women allows for five-year prison sentences for “knowing and willful” non-registration with an equally long statute of limitations.

Source: Gender-Neutral Draft Registration Would Create Millions of Female Felons | US News

This is so much CRAP!  And yes I capitalized it because it is that much crap.

This may be a moot point…..there are some in the Congress that wants to do away with the draft altogether….but I think that is to protect the rich from actually having to serve this country than it is to protect women.

As far as I am concerned……if women are capable of doing the job then they should have the same chances as a man…..as far as the ruination of the family goes….NO one cares that the fathers have to go and the family has survived….the family will survive if women are sent to war.

The Baltics: Countdown To WW3?

I recently read an article about the region of Europe called “The Baltics”……it was not a very optimistic story of the future…..but first I have been watching the events in the Baltics…..I wrote an op-ed about the region……

Source: The Baltic: The Land Of Wonder – In Saner Thought

Then I saw another story on the region……

Russia’s economy is reeling and its military forces are increasingly engaged in Syria and Ukraine, NATO commanders, governments and analysts are concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adventurism has not run its course. Most anxieties focus on the Baltic states as Russia’s next potential military target.

Russia has many advantages in the Baltics. The situation of Russians there, particularly in Estonia and Latvia where many Russians remain non-citizens, provides Moscow with an issue with which to stoke tensions.

Source: Counting Down to a Russian Invasion of the Baltics

I then read more on the possibility of some sort of confrontation between Russia and NATO…….as I am always looking for the possibility of confrontations that could possibly lead to a widening conflict in the future….

And then I ran across another piece that lead me to consider the possibilities that I fear…..the US or should I say NATO is dedicating more and more assets to the Baltics……

Get ready for the new cold war, which will no doubt turn hot if Hillary Clinton gets into the White House: NATO has just announced it is “considering” the addition of 4,000 more troops to be stationed in Poland and the Baltic states, i.e. right on Russia’s western border. The Washington Post helpfully informs us […]

Source: What Is the US Military Doing in the Baltics? – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

Who is the most paranoid?  Russia or NATO?