We shouldn't be wasting any time on this, but it's so obvious that the 2001 AUMF does not give this Administration the power to wage war on Iran that virtually every Democrat running for President feels secure enough to say so. Our Administration argues, such as they do, that the AUMF authorizes an attack on Iran because a) Iran supposedly attacked two oil tankers in the Middle East like they've been doing for decades and b) according to Secretary of State Pompeo, Iran and al-Qaeda have "very real" ties. Like how he says "very real" like he's afraid you won't believe him if he just says "real"? Naturally, even our intelligence community has found zero evidence that al-Qaeda had any involvement in the oil tanker attacks. This Administration is just as much a foreign-policy clown car as Tha Bush Mobb was, and unlike Tha Bush Mobb, this Administration won't have 9.11 to help us feel sorry for them.
Our President's hour-long interview on ABC Sunday night comes in third in its timeslot, with fewer than four million viewers. Fun fact: Celebrity Family Feud, which held that timeslot the previous week, got over six million viewers. Of course our President will tell everyone he outdrew 60 Minutes, which also isn't true (he outdrew 60 Minutes in certain demographics, and not overall), but when has that ever stopped him? I sure hope this is a sign that the American people are sick of this guy. I even hope (though some would call me an optimist, or worse) that we're also sick of the bad drama he epitomizes.
Sen. "Mob Boss Mitch" McConnell (E-KY) actually goes on Fox and Friends to wonder aloud why Jon Stewart was all "bent out of shape" about Congress's failure to extend the 9.11 Victim Compensation Fund. Again, mob bosses prefer someone else to do this kind of messaging, even though Mr. Stewart criticized Mr. McConnell by name. But "many things in Congress happen at the last minute" is not exactly confident messaging. And, ah, is Mr. McConnell sure he wants to pick a fight with Jon Stewart? Jon Stewart did as much as any of us to preserve this Republic during Tha Bush Mobb years, so that's a hornet's nest I wouldn't poke.
Our Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (or ICE) agency did not tabulate deaths-in-custody for a full calendar year, and has been tabulating them differently for about a year since then. Plus, at least one internal memo says that "preventable harm and death to detainees has occurred," and an NBC News investigation found that two dozen folks died in ICE custody since our President's inauguration. If you're thinking 24 isn't very high a number, please do three things: 1) slap yourself, 2) ask yourself why the greatest country on Earth should tolerate any deaths in custody, and 3) recall that everyone is someone's mother, father, sister, brother, partner, or friend.
Finally, while we're talking about ICE, our President announces that ICE will begin deporting "millions" of undocumented immigrants next week, though later on an Administration hack said the effort would mostly be about the one million or so immigrants who have already received final deportation orders. No matter -- our President said it, so his votaries consider it already done, and next time they get angry about TEH ILLEGULZ!!!!!, they'll just put this "great work" of our President out of their mind. I used to think it had to be hard to reconcile such contradictions, but it seems that about a quarter of the electorate does so merely by yelling slogans in your face.
We will only have enough of the drama if we know that we have had enough of it and do something about it.
Posted by: ndemi | 2019.06.19 at 03:47 AM