House Majority Leader: Charlie Hebdo Killings Justify US Intervention Worldwide

If the statement issued Wednesday by US House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is an indication of how the US House and Senate — both now under Republican leadership — will respond legislatively to the killings in Paris last week, expect expanded authorization and funding for US military action and other intervention the world over.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Michael Scheuer: The Paris Killings Are Blowback

Micheal Scheuer, whose twenty-plus years working at the Central Intelligence Agency included several years in charge of the CIA’s Osama bin Laden unit, describes the killings at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris this week as blowback. Scheuer, a Ron Paul Institute Academic Board member, states this judgment among his extensive, insightful comments related to the killings in a Telegraph article published on Thursday.

Referring to current and former chiefs of state in France, Great Britain, and the United States, Scheuer states:

Hollande, like Cameron, like Obama, like Bush, wants to keep a lid on the fact that we’re at war with these people and they’re responding to what we do and not who we are.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Speaker Vote Highlights US House’s Unchecked Procedural Corruption

It seems unlikely that the current members of the United States House of Representatives will effectively rise up against their Democrat and Republican leaders to require that the House be run in a fair and honest manner. Yet, the potential of more Republican members opposing on Tuesday the reelection of Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) as speaker of the House than the 12 Republican representatives who chose not to vote for Boehner in 2013 is helping bring to light the crooked process by which “the people’s House” so frequently operates.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Saturday lifted the veil some on corrupt House process, explaining in a press release why he will join other Republican House members in voting against Boehner’s reelection as speaker. Massie, who joined the House in November of 2012, states:

During my first two years as a congressman I discovered a significant source of the dysfunction.  I watched the House Leadership:

• Schedule a fiscal crisis in a lame duck session on the last legislative day before Christmas to get maximum leverage over rank and file members,

• Mislead members into thinking that a vote on an unpopular bill was postponed, only to then conduct a rushed voice vote on the $10 billion unfunded spending measure with fewer than a dozen members present,

• Give members less than 72 hours to read bills over 1,000 pages long, and

• Remove members from committees simply because they voted for the principles upon which they campaigned.

Massie thus presents a disturbing though incomplete list of instances of procedural corruption.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Want to Help Injured Veterans? Stop Interminable War

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, interviewed Tuesday by Jessica Desvarieux on the Real News Network, explains that stopping the United States’ “interminable war” is one important way to help “millions of Americans, who were sent off to do their nation’s business and who are now back seriously harmed, seriously injured psychologically and physically, sometimes both.”

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Dennis Kucinich: Support for War and National Security State is Reason for Democrat Election Losses

Dennis Kucinich, the former Democratic United States House of Representatives member from Ohio and two-time presidential candidate, pins blame for Democrats’ 2014 midterm elections “debacle” on Democrat politicians in the last eight years advancing war and the national security state. Kucinich’s analysis is presented Thursday in a Common Dreams article by Deidre Fulton.

Kucinich explains in the article how Democrats in Washington, DC participating in building the national security state and putting “a nation on the war path” helped cause the poor electoral performance of the party in the 2014 midterm elections:

“The debacle of 2014 had its roots in 2006,” he explained, referencing the Democratic takeover of both the U.S. House and Senate during the final midterm election of the Bush presidency. “Here we are, 8 years later: more war, government which has turned into a national security state, an economy that has decoupled itself from Main Street, and America’s position in the world—again, a nation on the war path. I don’t care where you go and talk to people, individually or in small groups—as I’ve been doing—you find apprehension about where we’re at, and you find a sharp contrast between the security which is defined across the land as human security, and security that is defined as guns and exotic weapons inside the Beltway.”

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Ed Mullins Returns with More Marijuana Nonsense Talk

With the recent announcement of the particulars of the New York City Police Department policy change intended to reduce marijuana arrests, Sergeants Benevolent Association police union leader Ed Mullins, who previously lamented that reducing marijuana arrests in the city would be “clearly the beginning of the breakdown of a civilized society,” is back with more nonsense talk about marijuana.

Under the new NYPD operations order effective November 19, marijuana arrests are expected to drop dramatically. The new policy directs that police generally should not arrest a person who has 25 grams (about 9/10 of an ounce) or less of marijuana “consistent with personal use” in public view in a public place. Instead, the marijuana may be confiscated and the individual fined up to $100 for a first offense and up to $250 for a later offense. Police are instructed, though, to continue to arrest individuals who are in public with lit marijuana.

Mullins first attempts to disparage the police policy change by labeling it as part of a “far-left agenda.” Mullins is quoted in the New York Daily News:

‘Some guys are really blaming de Blasio,’ Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins said. ‘The guy just doesn’t get it with this whole far-left agenda, and he’s putting (cops) in a bad spot.’

That is not much of an argument. Favoring free speech and peace is often labeled as “left wing” as well; that does not make those views wrong. Mullins’ comment does nothing more than reinforce the false left-right dichotomy that diverts people from considering the real battle between freedom and oppression.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

US House to Vote on Imposing National ID Cards Worldwide ‘For the Children’

The US House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this week on HR 3398, legislation stating that it is the policy of the United States government to encourage other nations to require all citizens to have national identity cards.

HR 3398 also directs the US government to work with multinational organizations and private entities on imposing registration, identification, and documentation laws on people around the world. As is often the case with legislation intended to increase government power and expand foreign intervention, HR 3398 presents as its justification helping the children—girls in particular this time.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

 

Ron Paul: Congress Approves ISIS War Funding While Ducking Vote on War Itself

Ron Paul said this weekend that he thinks Congress will continue to duck voting the ISIS War up or down while nevertheless voting for additional funding of the war. Paul’s prediction came during a conversation with Charles Goyette regarding the war and US foreign policy in Paul and Goyette’s most recent weekly podcast discussion.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

Rep. Walter Jones Challenges Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on ISIS War

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), at a Thursday hearing of the United States House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, challenged Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel regarding the ongoing US war on ISIS. In particular, Jones complains that the US is engaged in the war despite the lack of a constitutionally required congressional declaration of war.

Jones also warns that, if Congress does some day consider authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) legislation, Jones expects that, like the AUMFs for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the ISIS AUMF will allow military action to continue without end.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.