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Let’s Talk ‘Treason’
Treason is one of the few crimes specifically mentioned in our Constitution. And the courts have been very specific in what constitutes the offense. In Cramer v US the 5-4 majority declared:
A citizen intellectually or emotionally may favor the enemy and harbor sympathies or convictions disloyal to this country’s policy or interest, but, so long as he commits no act of aid and comfort to the enemy, there is no treason. On the other hand, a citizen may take actions which do aid and comfort the enemy—making a speech critical of the government or opposing its measures, profiteering, striking in defense plants or essential work, and the hundred other things which impair our cohesion and diminish our strength—but if there is no adherence to the enemy in this, if there is no intent to betray, there is no treason.
And that was written in 1945 when the United States was operating under the last full-blown Congressional declaration of war. Today a sitting United States senator accused a former Congresswoman and current Lt. Colonel of the United States Army Reserve of treason. And people cheered.
I hold no special regard for Ms. Gabbard. She’s a Democrat and I think some of her ideas are absurd. But I have no need to insist that any policy difference I have with her meets any definition of “treason,” let alone the Constitutional one.
And while I also hate the “chicken hawk” trope, the end of the military draft in this country has created a huge divide where those who rattle the loudest sabers and advocate for war are the ones whose children are the most unlikely to be asked to bear the burden.
The Romneys are an especially large family and an “Army of None.” Daddy George, who was 34 at the time of Pearl Harbor, didn’t enlist. Mittens got four deferments during Vietnam. Older brother Scott avoided it, too. None of his children have served.
Nor has his peanut gallery of supporters. (As an aside I will give the Kristol family props here. Bill’s son Joe was a USMC infantry officer in Afghanistan from September 2010 to April 2011.) It’s only us lowly “proles” who offer up our children for their hubris. And I’m sick of it.
I’m also sick of politicians who tell me Ukraine’s borders are inviolable to the tune of $13.6B but not a dime for our own southern border. In 2016 Jimmy Carter’s pollster, Patrick Caddell, declared that the United States was in a “pre-revolutionary” state. If someone doesn’t get their act together soon the revolution will come. And it won’t be pretty. Then we can talk about the real meaning of treason.
Published in General
Agreed. I would not necessarily be unhappy to see Mitt lose a primary even if it puts the seat in danger. As I have said elsewhere if the Republican’s win they need to take serious action to right the ship of state. Using hearings, the power of the purse, and if necessary impeachment of lesser government officials to curb the lawlessness. I doubt the have the stones to do it, but it does need to be done.
Maybe I am missing something, but how is saying “we don’t want Russia to get to the biological research labs” pro-Russia ?
Also, is this true . . .
United States does things offshore to avoid domestic scrutiny.
As I said in comment #13, no, it is not true. But the same cannot be said of their inner circle of advisors.
Kerry’s Senate COS is now Burisma’s chief DC lobbiest and one of Romney’s 2012 advisors joined Burisma’s board six months after Hunter Biden departed.
Nancy’s son, Paul, Jr, is a crook. But just a domestic one.
There was a time when I actually enjoyed Jay Nordlinger. However, his response to Trump (who I was never particularly enthralled with) completely turned me off. It is one thing to oppose the man, but to oppose all of what the man achieved, despite his shortcomings, went well beyond the Pale. Nordlinger who proudly declares his bona fides as a conservative has demonstrated over and over how little he really cares about conservatism or the direction this country is being taken in. His lauding of Mitt Romney along with all that Romney as done while in the Senate is totally in character, as is Romney’s declaration that Tulsi Gabbard is a traitor. I have had my differences with Gabbard’s ideas on some issues, but, by and large, I find her one of the more impressive young people in our political universe. Her takedown of the then ascendant Kamala Harris was brilliant. She is a person of enormous character and intelligence and integrity, three things that Nordlinger and Romney lack. I truly hope that Tulsi can find a home in the Republican party, even though I don’t have a lot of respect for the party itself. It has some great people in it who I hope will eventually gain control of it. The Democrat party is certainly no place for someone of Tulsi’s quality. She will need the support of the party to achieve what she is, hopefully, destined to reach. The Republican party would certainly benefit from her joining, and she would have a platform from which it rise.
When I see someone go Full Never Trump they usually turn out to be from New York which tells you everything you need to know about the Hoi Poloi versus the Upper Crust. Trump is considered to be Rodney Dangerfield in Caddy Shack and the elite are Judge Smails.
The problem with Tulsi is she sees all the corruption in the national security swamp but then wants socialized medicine, for example, and expects it to turn out any differently.
She might grow out of it.
And she should know better than most that it doesn’t work. The VA system isn’t exactly a model that we would want to extend anywhere. Whenever someone tells me we need socialized medicine I tell them to fix the VA and then perhaps we can talk.
It may be on back order but, for now anyway, we are well and truly fecked.
One can hope.
You may note that I stated that I have my differences with her on several issues. The fact that she has integrity, and that you can pretty well assume that what she says is what she believes which is a major difference between her and 99% of politicians and some Supreme Court justices.
I’m reading Dereliction of Duty by H.R. McMaster. With each page and each paragraph my blood boils a little more. I read these pages and think to myself “This is why Oscar died”. Oscar was my friend. We played baseball together in high school. He didn’t come from a rich family, his father was a security guard at the paper mill. When high school graduation came Oscar joined the Army rather then get drafted. Even still, Oscar went to Vietnam and died there. When I read McMasters book and begin to understand the casual condescending attitude of McNamara, Taylor, McBundy, Rusk and the rest I want to scream. @ejhill you’re right: these elites are real good at spilling the blood of other peoples children.
Yes. Twitter is not the floor of the Senate, so no speech immunity attaches.
It will not happen unless we force every primary candidate to declare against McConnell and McCarthy as leaders, pledging to not add their name to the Republican conference unless the rest of the gang agree to dump their old leaders to secure their chairmanships.
Putin can construe any humanitarian impulses on our part as an act of war. Win-win for him whether we act or whether we don’t.
. . . is what I’m sayin’. It’s not up to us to decide if we’re “technically” at war with him. It’s his perspective that matters.
True but he risks a lot more by escalating. My supposition is he we continue to use rhetoric to attempt to limit our aid, which appears to be working. If push comes to shove he has no hope of winning a nuclear exchange, no one really wins that. Also getting NATO involved at this junction is a bad result for Russia.
Please understand I am not advocating for escalation or saying that there aren’t risks for our current path. I am just pointing out he is as constrained by us as we are by him. The biggest risk at the moment is our feckless leaders are sending mixed signals. This could cause unforeseen and unfortunate results.
And chips.
What’s funny about all of this is that Fauci’s organization funded, through a cutout, research that was prohibited to be done on US soil. Last I heard, Fauci isn’t getting fired, but you can quite clearly draw a line between his actions and potentially millions being killed, not to mention the economic devastation.
Again, we’re now being directed to focus on the Ukraine. The politicians and media might as well be holding up semaphore flags at this point, just to make it perfectly clear what we should pay attention to, and not pay attention to.
Like Mao’s. He had a voice, too.
Napoleon was right- a nation of shop keepers. Very honorable and not a sneer as Napoleon meant it.
I am no apologist for Obama administration policies, but this certainly illustrates the evils of the deep state finding ways to circumvent lawful governing policies.
Good point. I relieved myself of some words about risk of action vs risk of inaction yesterday, maybe on the RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA thread. Any risk that exists on either side of the balance is not meaningless, but it is cancelled out for decision-making purposes.
Our feckless leaders have already sent a ton of mixed signals, . . . for several years.
For example, Putin was always the bad guy when the Democrats needed to tie him to Republicans. But then they adopt energy policies helping him become Europe’s energy powerhouse, or do something like approve the NordStream 2 pipeline that enriches him directly. Or we could go back to the Clintons handing him Uranium. And then right now, they depend on Russia to cut a deal with Iran to get them nukes. Putin also knows how we’ve been messing around in Ukraine, assisting with coups, or enticing them with NATO membership which we’d promised him wouldn’t ever happen.
It’s crazy how back and forth they have been on Putin. Greatest enemy one moment, partner in crime the next.
Trustworthy and consistent our leaders are not.
From what I understand, Rand Paul is currently introducing some kind of legislation that would yank Fauci off-stage permanently. (Though right now he seems to be in Witness Protection or something.)
EDIT: Eh, I guess Republicans rode in to save him.
The usual suspects.
If there was still honor in the Senate, Romney would be drummed out for saying such a thing of another member with no shred of evidence but honor in the Senate died with Mary Joe Kopechne.
Don’t ignore the possibility that Putin is only constrained if he wants to be.
True but if that is the case then a nuclear exchange ending the world is inevitable, and we would need to consider either alternative means of removing the threat or be contemplating a preemptive strike. I consider both of these too high cost to act on the possibility that you are accurately describing.