The Constitution Does Not Allow the President To Unilaterally Blow Suspected Drug Smugglers to Smithereens
If the Trump administration wants to use military power, it should seek authorization from Congress, says Sen. Rand Paul.
Somewhere off the coast of Venezuela, a speedboat with 11 people on board is blown to smithereens. Vice President J.D. Vance announces that “killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military.”
When challenged that killing citizens without due process is a war crime, the vice president responded that he “didn’t give a shit.”
Sometimes in fits of anger, loud voices will say they don’t care about niceties such as due process—they just want to kill bad guys. For a brief moment, all of us may share that anger and may even embrace revenge or retribution.
But over 20,000 people are murdered in the U.S. each year, and yet somehow we find a way to a dispassionate dispensation of justice that includes legal representation for the accused and jury trial. Besides, no one really knows who the 11 people were!
This is illegal as all get out.
:Op-Ed: Rep. Andy Barr: Why I’m leading legislation to put Trump on a new $250 bill
Rep. Andy Barr is one of President Trump’s staunchest defenders in Congress. Now he wants the president on America’s newest currency.
Next year, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our Republic. This historic milestone is an opportunity not only to reflect on the courage of our Founders but also to recognize the leaders who, in our own time, have revived the American Dream.
So, as we approach the 250th day of President Donald J. Trump’s second term, it is a fitting moment to revive our push to issue a new $250 bill featuring President Trump. That’s why I am behind my friend and colleague, Rep. Joe Wilson and his legislation, the Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act.
10-8-2025 Trump called for Jailing Democratic Leaders
President Donald Trump has called for the jailing of Illinois officials, accusing them of not doing enough to ensure the safety of federal immigration officers who are conducting raids in Chicago.
The president wrote in a social media post that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, both Democrats, “should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!”
The Chicago mayor quickly fired back at Trump, saying “this is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere.”
Pritzker vowed: “I will not back down.
“Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for jailing Chicago’s mayor and the governor of Illinois, both Democrats, as military officials said on Wednesday 500 National Guard troops were now in place to be deployed in the third-largest U.S. city.
Trump has previously called the city a “war zone” amid protests against immigration enforcement. Pritzker has called the president’s actions “authoritarian”.
The Republican president spoke as hundreds of National Guard troops arrived in the city as part of his immigration crackdown.
10-8-2025 Trump ongoing terrorism
Trump has redefined the boundaries of enforcement in numerous ways:
- by detaining people without due process, some of whom have inevitably turned out to be citizens;
- by seizing law-enforcement powers from states and localities; by employing masked agents who don’t always identify their agency, and who have frequently attacked journalists and bystanders.
- These actions have generated public pushback, and even isolated and horrifying acts of violence—but hardly an insurrection.As the ruling turning down Trump’s demand to federalize law enforcement in Oregon notes, the administration’s assertion that Portland is in a state of revolution musters a total of four episodes of threatening behavior by protesters to justify this claim.
- One of the incidents is “protesters setting up a makeshift guillotine to intimidate federal officials.”
- Another was “someone posting a photograph of an unmarked ICE vehicle online.”
- The other two involved flashlights being shone in the faces of agents driving vehicles.These incidents may be regrettable, but they do not even constitute actual violence, let alone terrorism.
Trump is the modern day fascist:
- Authoritarianism – Strong central power, he has no tolerance for opposition or dissent. Says his opposition should be in jail, initiates court cases and FBI searches of his opposition. Soliciting bribes from companies such as Intel.
- Nationalism – Extreme pride in himself, often paired with xenophobia (fear or hatred of outsiders or foreigners). He hates brown people.
- Suppression of democracy – Weakening or abolishing democratic institutions like free elections, independent courts, or a free press. Every day promoting States getting himself more votes.
- Militarism & violence – Belief in using force, war, or paramilitary groups to achieve political goals. Sending troops to LA, Chicago, etc. and taking over DC.
- Control over society – Heavy regulation or control of culture, media, and sometimes the economy to serve the state’s goals. Regulating universities and museums. Taking over the Kennedy Center, and bullying companies. Illogical hysterical reaction to Tylenol.
- Cult of leadership – Glorification of a single leader (himself) who is portrayed as the embodiment of the nation, selected by God, etc.
The idea that the U.S. President has “plenary authority” under Title 10 of the U.S. Code is a false and misleading legal claim. While Title 10 grants the President significant authority over the armed forces, including the ability to federalize the National Guard, this power is not absolute or without limits.
- Constitutional checks and balances: The U.S. Constitution, which establishes a separation of powers, prevents any single branch of government from having limitless authority. The President’s power is checked by Congress and the federal courts.
- Explicit restrictions: The authority granted to the President under Title 10 is tied to specific, legally defined circumstances, such as responding to an invasion, a rebellion, or the inability of states to enforce federal law.
- Judicial oversight: Courts can, and have, reviewed the President’s actions under Title 10. For instance, courts have ruled that the conditions for federalizing the National Guard were not met in cases related to protests, invalidating the executive action.
- Posse Comitatus Act: This law generally prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. Title 10 must be applied in a manner consistent with these restrictions.
- Required procedures: Certain uses of military force, such as those related to suppressing a rebellion under the Insurrection Act, require the President to issue a proclamation ordering those involved to disperse before military action is taken.
10-7-2025 Trump
Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!
10-8-2025
I lost my consultant job in 2010 because the Federal Government did not pass a budget, but all federal employees got reimbursed for the length of the shutdown. Trump passed a law that said they would get their salaries. Now Trump is saying :
As the government shutdown hits the one-week mark with no end in sight, President Trump issued a new threat, saying that furloughed federal workers may not be reimbursed with back pay once the government reopens. It reverses what’s been a long-standing policy and possibly goes against a 2019 law that ensures back pay for federal workers.
- Coverage: It applies to both furloughed federal employees and “excepted” employees who are required to work without pay during a government shutdown.
- Payment timeline: Affected employees are to be paid as soon as possible after a lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of regular pay dates.
- Scope: The law applies to any government funding lapses that occurred after December 22, 2018, ensuring coverage for the 2018–2019 shutdown and all future shutdowns.
- The argument: The memo asserted that back pay for furloughed employees would still require a specific appropriation from Congress after the shutdown ends.
- Legal challenge: This interpretation contradicts prior guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and has been disputed by legal experts, who argue the White House claims lack legal and historical basis.
- Current status: As of October 7, 2025, the matter is contested, introducing new financial uncertainty for federal workers who are not contractors.
10-4-2025 Trump talking
[Background]
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Friday released a slew of documents that she said implicate members of the Obama administration for “treasonous” behavior during the 2016 election.
The claims confuse the allegation that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with the idea that Russia actively tried to change results by hacking into voting systems. CNN’s Jeremy Herb and Katie Bo Lillis went through them and talked to people who worked on a bipartisan Senate review of the 2016 election.
“Wildly misleading” is how the information was described by one source in their report.
But that didn’t stop President Donald Trump from accusing former President Barack Obama of treason, a crime punishable by death in the US, when he was asked about it in the Oval Office on Tuesday. Trump made the accusation while appearing at an event to discuss trade with Philippines leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Trump’s very long, meandering answer (below in Black) is a window into how his mind works. All roads lead back to immigration and his 2020 election loss.
Obama’s office issued a rare statement in response:
“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one,” said spokesman Patrick Rodenbush. “These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction. Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
Here’s a look at what Trump said, along with some context from CNN reporting.
(From CNN’s report: The new allegations from Gabbard lean on assessments before the election and statements from Obama-era intelligence officials finding that Russia did not alter the election results through cyber-attacks aimed at infiltrating voting systems. But the January 2017 intelligence community assessment never concluded that Russian cyberattacks altered the outcome of the 2016 election or compromised any election infrastructure in the first place, though state voting systems were probed.
Instead, the assessment focused on Russia’s influence campaign ordered by President Vladimir Putin and cyber operations against US and Democratic Party officials, including the hacked emails released by WikiLeaks.)
(Trump did win in 2024. It was far from a landslide.)