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« on: January 09, 2020, 05:45:09 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 1-9-2020
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
Jan. 9, 2020
https://patriotpost.us/digests/67803-mid-day-digest-2020-01-09
THE FOUNDATION
“In times of peace the people look most to their representatives; but in war, to the executive solely.” —Thomas Jefferson (1810)
https://patriotpost.us/fqd/67799-founders-quote-daily-2020-01-09
IN TODAY’S EDITION
The dust-up over war powers is important but a bit misplaced.1
Virginia Democrats are still attacking gun rights.2
Daily Features: More Analysis3, Columnists4, Headlines5, Opinion in Brief6, Short Cuts7, Memes8, and Cartoons9.
IN BRIEF
Capitol Hill War Powers Dust-Up — Symbolism Over Substance10
Much of the mainstream media made hay over comments from two Republican senators — Mike Lee (UT) and Rand Paul (KY) — following the Trump administration’s briefing of lawmakers over the airstrike that took out Iran’s top terrorist11, Gen. Qasem Soleimani. “It was probably the worst briefing I’ve seen at least on a military issue in the nine years I’ve served in the United States Senate,” Lee complained, adding that he found the responses from administration officials “insulting and demeaning.” Though Lee supported taking out Soleimani, he declared he’s now in favor of the Democrats’ recently introduced resolution on war powers, which is designed to prevent President Donald Trump from further military action against Iran without explicit authorization from Congress.
However, other Republican senators disagreed with Lee and Paul’s assessment. Marco Rubio (FL) argued that the brief was “compelling,” before asserting, “Anyone who walks out & says they aren’t convinced action against #Soleimani was justified is either never going to be convinced or just oppose everything Trump does.”
So, what’s going on here? There are two important things to note. First, both Lee and Paul are well known for their libertarian bent, which informs their noninterventionist instincts — and those instincts arise from their laudable concerns for adherence to the constitutional separation of powers. The trouble is, as we have repeatedly argued, Congress long ago abdicated much of its war power to the executive branch. That was most particularly done via the 1973 War Powers Act, which ostensibly was designed to rein in the executive branch’s authority to engage in armed conflict. Yet, in practice, the law has proved to be a convenient way for Congress to avoid political accountability by passing its own responsibilities to the executive branch.
Second, Wednesday’s briefing was not designed or intended as a forum for senators to carry on a debate over the question of war powers. Its purpose, as Rubio cogently pointed out, was to inform members of Congress on the specifics surrounding the decision to take out Soleimani. Administration officials weren’t going into the meeting with the mindset of defending the question of war powers; their job was to explain and defend the merits of the decision. It’s a significant distinction that the mainstream media failed to note.
Given the fact that the House will vote on a war powers resolution that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and company ridiculously argue is necessary to prevent Trump from starting a war with Iran, it’s understandable to view Lee and Paul’s comments as only lending support to the Democrats’ anti-Trump efforts. However, the reality is that even if the Senate were to pass the Democrats’ resolution, it would do so by a slim margin and would not be able to overturn Trump’s certain veto. Lee and Paul know this, so their comments serve more as a symbolic expression of their principles than any serious threat to limit Trump’s ability to confront Iran.
Footnote: Regarding the dispute over Iranian missile funding… Trump said during his remarks Wednesday, “The missiles fired … at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.” Mark Alexander noted yesterday12 that this is essentially correct, as it falls under the “take Trump seriously, not literally” maxim. Money is fungible, as even The Washington Post “fact checker” conceded13 … before proceeding to take Trump literally in order to “disprove” his assertion. But anyone with any sense knew what Trump meant. Barack Obama gave the Iranians billions of dollars in appeasement cash, which, along with his overall policy toward Iran, made those missiles possible. No one will find an invoice specifically tying those Obama bucks to those missiles, but Trump means to say those days are over.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67798-capitol-hill-war-powers-dust-up-symbolism-over-substance-2020-01-09
VA Dems Target Shooting Ranges14
In their ongoing efforts to curtail and severely limit Virginians’ Second Amendment rights, the commonwealth’s Democrat lawmakers, led by Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam, have proposed and pre-filed a litany of gun-control bills. One of them is House Bill 567, which, if passed, would essentially make it unlawful for a private company to run an indoor shooting range in a building that employs 50 or more people.
H.R. 56715 states:
It is unlawful to operate an indoor shooting range in any building not owned or leased by the Commonwealth or the federal government unless (i) fewer than 50 employees work in the building or (ii) (a) at least 90 percent of the users of the indoor shooting range are law-enforcement officers, as defined in § 9.1-101, or federal law-enforcement officers, (b) the indoor shooting range maintains a log of each user’s name, phone number, address, and the law-enforcement agency where such user is employed, and (c ) the indoor shooting range verifies each user’s identity and address by requiring all users to present a government-issued photo-identification card.
The most obvious target of this clearly malicious legislation is the National Rifle Association, which maintains an indoor shooting range at its corporate headquarters in Fairfax. What possible constitutionally legitimate rationale is there for seeking to eliminate all large privately owned and operated indoor shooting ranges?
Fortunately, Virginians aren’t content to sit back and watch their Second Amendment rights be eroded without a fight. The Second Amendment Sanctuary movement continues its rapid spread, with the commonwealth’s largest city, Virginia Beach, declaring itself a “Second Amendment Constitutional City” on Monday. Currently, 88 of Virginia’s 95 counties are 2A sanctuaries, along with 30 cities.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67783-va-dems-target-shooting-ranges-2020-01-09 |
