Fri 1/3: Did our president just start a war to win an election or to distract from his impeachment?

Action – That Americans will die because at least one of these is true is a tragedy.  Call your legislators. Take away his power to start war.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code]. I understand that although Gen. Soleimani was an enemy of the US, killing the second most powerful man in Iran is equal to Iran assassinating Generals Petraeus and Mattis, the head of Special Operations Command, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I have a question and a demand. Trump authorized this assassination without Congressional authorization, consultation with the “Gang of 8” or with our allies.

QUESTION: What was Trump’s legal justification for this action and its apparent violation of Executive Order 12,333? What is his justification for violating international law by basing the attack in Iraq without that government’s consent?

DEMAND: Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) has been fighting against presidents’ unlimited use military force since 2001. It is time for you to join her and stop to this lawlessness with legislation NOW by approving  H.R.1274 – Repeal of the Authorization for Use of Military Force (which repeals Public Law 107-40. –‘Authorization for Use of Military Force’’). (For senators, demand that they introduce legislation matching Rep. Barbara Lee’s H.R.1274For GOP senators, remind them that impeachment is becoming more urgent, not less.)  (Read about Rep. Lee’s fight here. Her current statement is here.) Continue reading “Fri 1/3: Did our president just start a war to win an election or to distract from his impeachment?”

Wed – 2/27: Congress – take your power back now!

Quote from this great essay by Captain John Byron, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Action: Block Trump’s Ability to Unilaterally Wage War in Venezuela, Iran and Yemen, and anywhere else…

In the nationwide daily Civics 101 class we now live in, it took the border wall debacle to remind Congress that they are in charge of the nation’s purse. It’s also time for them to take back their power of declaring war, both to halt our current 18-year run of continuous undeclared combat, and to stop Trump’s plans to distract us from Cohen and Mueller with new armed traumas against Venezuela, Iran and Yemen. Rep. Barbara Lee came so close in 2017 to stopping this runaway executive-branch war machine, only to have her legislation stripped from the Defense Department spending bill by now mercifully former-House Speaker Paul D. Ryan. Let’s help her out now.

Continue reading “Wed – 2/27: Congress – take your power back now!”