“There are countries that do not tolerate speech critical of the government and its institutions. There are countries where citizens who publicly disagree with the actions of the government and its institutions are condemned as disloyal citizens, investigated and tried. There are countries where people with political views that differ from those of the governing authorities are subject to governmental abuse and ruin just because of their political opinions. We have a name for these countries. They are totalitarian.“
Willie is having difficulty transitioning to being a full time left wing political hack. People used to have to listen to his opinions. I hope he doesn’t snap during the process.
Dear Admiral McRaven, thank you for your service to our country. Now please kindly go stifle yourself.
Twenty Eighth Amendment: Congressional Term Limits
1) No member of the House of Representatives shall serve more than four terms in office irrespective of whether those terms are consecutive nor be eligible to run for election in another district.
2) No member of the Senate shall serve more than three terms in office irrespective of whether those terms are consecutive nor be eligible to run for election in another State.
3) Upon adoption of this amendment the limits shall be applied upon the following election and every subsequent election for every member of Congress but shall not be retroactive.
Twenty Ninth Amendment: Executive Sunset
1) No agency created by Congress shall be in perpetuity but shall have an explicit date of dissolution not to exceed twenty years from its creation.
2) Congress may issue legislation for extension for any such agency upon appropriate process in the same manner and rules as other legislation subject to Presidential veto but such extension shall not exceed twenty years.
3) This Amendment shall not take effect retroactively but from the date of its adoption.
Or maybe just:
No person shall be eligible to become a federal elected official who currently holds or has held in the last 18 months any elected office or position of public trust.
They will just re-authorize in omnibus.
The amendment should force individual reauthorization or they will take the easy way out.
Agreed, no omnibus legislation should be allowed.
That and a clause stating the clock starts for all existing agencies when the amendment is adopted. If Congress wants to avoid them all evaporating at once they can take actions to extend on an individual basis and stagger the clocks.
Not that anything like either of these has a chance in hell.
But I think they are both existential for the continuance of the Republic. To use an over-worn word.
I would add to the 29th language to this effect:
3) Congress shall not create any agency having the power to issue regulations which carry the force of law. Congress has no authority to delegate the powers of any other branch of government, and shall not create any agency having the powers of the judiciary. The Administrative Procedure Act is hereby repealed, permanently.
The opposite has happened here in the Midwest. Our Secretary of State was granted power of “executive order by email” by the legislature, inasmuch as they passed a law stating that any communication from the SOS office carried the full weight of Administrative Law, not subject to any normal publication, comment period, or enactment delays. Penalty for failing to abide is a felony and a minimum $10,000 fine.
To my knowledge, nobody has fallen under the blade yet to be able to challenge it in court.
We still have the issue of what happens to rules and regulations of a dissolved agency. I’d put in another clause stating all such rules and regulations become null and void upon dissolution. Big hammer. The problem though is now agencies get continuous renewal just to “protect the rules’ and no other reason. This needs more thought.
If an agency has no ability to issue regulations with the force of law how are they enforced? By civil suits in the courts?
You have my vote. But reduce each by one term or three years.
I thought that was a quote from McRaven and wondered where was his voice under Obama and over the following years of government abuses but then I read the link and he supports the government abusing its citizens.
What damages our institutions is abusing them by turning them against fellow Americans for naked partisan conquest.
Every government employee should be upset this is happening and be speaking out against it. It is troubling that so many support authoritarian abuses of the people who make their lives possible.
There are a lot of military people, and government workers in general, who have zero comprehension of the source of our power.
McRaven is as much of a disappointment as Mattis was.
So, to say this was not a fair trial undermines the most important institution that we have and that’s our judicial system.
For a guy that claims to know our country’s history, he seems quite ignorant of how our judicial system works. Appeal courts have existed since the foundation because trials are often not fair. And sadly, our nation has a long history of unfair trials. For example, see Kamala Harris record as DA.
Even Judge Merchan is having to admit he might have to call a mistrial, because jurors were set to convict regardless of evidence presented. Admiral McRaven should stick to what he does best, making beds.
Oh my, a juror discussed the case with a family member who blabbed on Facebook relating a predisposition to convict before the start of deliberations. I will have to declare a mistrial.
. . . not!
Nevermore.
https://youtu.be/3w7xbuRAVus?si=cTJTDqZbjYACDPZn
There are some who see judges as the black robed high priests of the law, above all criticism. I see a lot of judges as little more than failed lawyers with sufficient political connections to get appointed or elected to the bench. Judges are just as fallible as anyone else. They are not above criticism.