The legal discussion is dark in the wake of the U.S. military taking Nicolás Maduro to the U.S. The path America is on today, however, is not where we need to go.
The UN — and the rest of the world — care little for internal US documents and OLC opinions that sanction by any legal standard a blatant violation of another nation's sovereignty...why would Canada, the EU, or other countries give two fucks about a 1989 Wm. Barr opinion, for god's sake? I mean, if fucking trump wants to annex Greenland, sure, there will be memos and shite waved around FOR INTERNAL CONSUMPTION ONLY justifying it, but the ROW is confronting a rogue superpower led by a lawless regime, and whatever "constitutional" brakes on such crude imperialism, or the UN Charter itself which may *theoretically* constrain such behavior, but who's to enforce it? Who "sanctions" a fucking runaway superpower? NOBODY, and case closed.
Just to be clear, nothing in this piece even suggests, let alone argues, what you’re swearing about. I was not — and to my knowledge, no one is — saying the UN cares about OLC opinions.
My point, detailed in the opening and found in the final section, was directed to those in the U.S. Americans are the ones who can do something, not “NOBODY” — and that case is not at all closed.
Lance, you're egregiously missing the point if you think that NOBODY "sanctions" a "runaway superpower" so "case closed." If you're an American, wake up and do something.
Our Constitution expressly reserves to the People the powers secured by the First Amendment (the rights and freedoms of expression, communication, association, assembly and petition). With the First Amendment and other provisions, the People used our Constitution to expressly secure the power of expression and association of sovereigns: the power to vote. So wake up and speak, assemble and vote. In this country under our Constitution, the People have the power to sanction (remove the purported public servants) who are usuring the power to purport to make the U.S. a runaway superpower, as you put it.
You miss my point entirely...where are the countries that rushed to sanction Russia after Putin launched his Ukraine invasion? Nothing heard as yet from the EU. Sanctioning US oil and LNG shipments? Bupkis. International criminal warrants issued? Zero. Bank sanctions on dollar-denominated US trade? Don't be silly, it's the world's reserve currency.
Whatever you want to say about "we can fix it ourselves", my point is that the international community, so quick to impose all matter of penalties on "rogue nations" at the behest and urging of the US, is helpless to impose like crippling sanctions on US interests, full stop. Nothing happened over the Cheney-Bush invasion of Iraq, and nothing has nor will happen in the case of Venezuela, and even beyond that insult to a country's sovereignty, trump — and Rubio — are making noises about Cuba, Colombia, and for good measure, Mexico. What happens then if this gangster regime makes good on THOSE threats, hmm? Oh, must add the bit of artwork posted by the scurrilous Stephen Miller's wife, showing Greenland cloaked in an American flag, as a reminder that "annexation" remains a trumpian fantasy.
The point is, so much damage has and can be done by this Executive in foreign policy well before traditional US politics, law, treaties, etc., can catch up to impose even a modicum of checks, as we are seeing as politicos turn out rote "expressions of concern" regarding trump's half-baked "Donroe Doctrine" inanity, which the regime laughs off as ineffectual squealing by losers, and to which the right-wing media adds its scorn.
Lance, I see your point. But I'm not as sure as you that other nations lack the power to punish the U.S. or punish U.S. citizens. I think there's much more that is included in their calculus than just Trump and the direct danger that he poses.
The bottom line is that it's up to us. Just like it was up to the People to make our Declaration of Independence amount to more than a piece of paper or parchment, it is up to the People to make our Constitution amount to more than a piece of paper or parchment.
And again, Jack, I say "Yes, but...", and the "but" refers to the explosive power available to and expansion of the Executive in foreign policy, where events get kicked off with such speed that the internal, corrective political processes have to await their turn,e.g., the November midterms. Do you really understand how much damage this senile, old fool and his Rasputins can cause before any *meaningful* checks can be imposed? Well, hang on, because it's happening in real time.
Yes, I understand the danger Trump poses. That's why I said all Americans need to wake up and do something--in large part because, as you acknowledged, nobody else can or will.
Maybe not the power--but the WILL? I agree it is up to us in the first instance: if we show that this president is repudiated by the American people, (even if the impeachment process has too little actual power to accomplish formal repudiation)--maybe then other nations may gain some will power.
"The future American presidency does not need to — and cannot — look like the presidency that Trump is creating from the precedents of some of the United States’s most questionable international actions. "
The quote (paraphrased) that ‘we arrived in the target area, received fire, and then killed 40 people (reportedly) in self defense’ could have come straight out of Orwell’s 1984.
What an apt description, that the president (small p) is "building up examples and precedents and opinions that Trump is now rolling together like a child building a giant snowball to exert the most extreme expansion of executive power he can amass." And it seems that he will keep doing this, perhaps, as some have suggested, using our "at war" status to cancel 2026 elections. And who would stop him? This must be what it felt like in the world pre-America when kings ruled, had a sphere of sycophants with wealth, and everyone else fell under the title of subjects, in other words, ruling with unchecked power!
I want to thank you for your hope honesty courage and compassion reporting truth to power with evidence, OLC's, related to violations of international sovereignty by US JSOC and related federal employees. We must do better. 2026 elections will present candidates that will follow our constitution. We are in this together. No Kings. Peace. Christopher and family
Focusing on the Maduro arrest is the wrong question and fails to focus on the critical legal issue - under what legal authority may the president use the military to seize a sovereign nation’s natural resources for the benefit of American oil companies. What should have been clear from the outset , and if not was explicit during Saturday news conference, is the purpose of the exercise is aimed at seizing oil and the Maduro arrest is being used as a justification for American might being used to benefit American oil companies . Unfortunately spending all this ink on Maduro’s seizure and arrest detracts from that critical fact, which is what Trump and his friends are undoubtedly hoping for ,
As we come to the anniversary of the 6jan coup attempt and to an accounting of the crimes by our President and the Federal government on the people who reside in the United States and internationally. .
We must remember that freedom, democracy, and prosperity for the people of the United States means we remember our constitution, the rule of law, sovereignty, human rights, and respect for international law.
We must remember that a Venezuelan-led transition respects the democratic will of the Venezuelan people. Remember to stand with the Venezuelan people’s sovereign right to decide and build their own future in a peaceful and democratic society. For the freedom, democracy, and prosperity of the Venezuelan people.
🇻🇪
No blood for oil. No forever wars. No American fascist hegemony.
Remember the Epstein files too while you’re at it.
I’m continually reminded of Chou Enlai’s supposed response when asked what he thought about the French Revolution—“too soon to tell.”
More to the point you’re absolutely right that the Trump era has shown beyond question that the structure and institutions that comprise our society are fundamentally decayed and ineffectual beyond propping up a Mafia state.
It would be nice if Congress could pass a resolution repudiating "that" Bill Barr's opinion, Maybe come November. When the body bags start coming home--either of "boots on the ground" or of hapless oil company employees, perhaps the Blue Tsumani could become a veto-proof majority. Did Barr opine whether the arrest of a foreign leader without a warrant violated the 4th or 5th Amendment?
We can all agree that Maduro was not a good guy. So I asked AI for a review of the WAYS in which he was not a good guy. The results were startling. Trump isn't just mirroring Putin--he is in many ways mirroring Maduro. See https://substack.com/home/post/p-183382460
Thank you. We do need a better system. It's hard to think that change is possible. But change has come in this country over the years. As one person once noted, rights often come from wrongs.
I don't know how exactly it will come. Also, change often is a matter of compromise, back to the days of the writing of the Constitution. In one movie about a man fighting for custody, his lawyer asked him what he wanted. What do we want? What are we willing to compromise?
IMO, Congress needs to pass a law that says: Any executive branch officer who intends to rely on a legal opinion must provide that opinion to Congress at least 30 days prior to any action that purports to rely on that opinion, and if the executive branch officer fails to do so, the legal opinion may not be used in any proceeding, in court or otherwise.
So he's actually doing us a favor, with an unforced, whollly over the top demonstration of where all this leads.
What's next? Does he send in a strike team to detain the head of the New York Times? And why not? He can accuse anyone he wants of any crime he imagine, and the system will behave accordingly.
Can’t help remembering the overthrow of Allende … and its outcome: Pinochet’s reign of terror.
it's amazing and orienting how everybody has a different favorite kinetic intervention that didn't turn out well
The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain.
wiresouth.com/zk73nb
“Site can’t be reached.”
The UN — and the rest of the world — care little for internal US documents and OLC opinions that sanction by any legal standard a blatant violation of another nation's sovereignty...why would Canada, the EU, or other countries give two fucks about a 1989 Wm. Barr opinion, for god's sake? I mean, if fucking trump wants to annex Greenland, sure, there will be memos and shite waved around FOR INTERNAL CONSUMPTION ONLY justifying it, but the ROW is confronting a rogue superpower led by a lawless regime, and whatever "constitutional" brakes on such crude imperialism, or the UN Charter itself which may *theoretically* constrain such behavior, but who's to enforce it? Who "sanctions" a fucking runaway superpower? NOBODY, and case closed.
Great start to Year Two of trump 2.0.
Just to be clear, nothing in this piece even suggests, let alone argues, what you’re swearing about. I was not — and to my knowledge, no one is — saying the UN cares about OLC opinions.
My point, detailed in the opening and found in the final section, was directed to those in the U.S. Americans are the ones who can do something, not “NOBODY” — and that case is not at all closed.
Lance, you're egregiously missing the point if you think that NOBODY "sanctions" a "runaway superpower" so "case closed." If you're an American, wake up and do something.
Our Constitution expressly reserves to the People the powers secured by the First Amendment (the rights and freedoms of expression, communication, association, assembly and petition). With the First Amendment and other provisions, the People used our Constitution to expressly secure the power of expression and association of sovereigns: the power to vote. So wake up and speak, assemble and vote. In this country under our Constitution, the People have the power to sanction (remove the purported public servants) who are usuring the power to purport to make the U.S. a runaway superpower, as you put it.
You miss my point entirely...where are the countries that rushed to sanction Russia after Putin launched his Ukraine invasion? Nothing heard as yet from the EU. Sanctioning US oil and LNG shipments? Bupkis. International criminal warrants issued? Zero. Bank sanctions on dollar-denominated US trade? Don't be silly, it's the world's reserve currency.
Whatever you want to say about "we can fix it ourselves", my point is that the international community, so quick to impose all matter of penalties on "rogue nations" at the behest and urging of the US, is helpless to impose like crippling sanctions on US interests, full stop. Nothing happened over the Cheney-Bush invasion of Iraq, and nothing has nor will happen in the case of Venezuela, and even beyond that insult to a country's sovereignty, trump — and Rubio — are making noises about Cuba, Colombia, and for good measure, Mexico. What happens then if this gangster regime makes good on THOSE threats, hmm? Oh, must add the bit of artwork posted by the scurrilous Stephen Miller's wife, showing Greenland cloaked in an American flag, as a reminder that "annexation" remains a trumpian fantasy.
The point is, so much damage has and can be done by this Executive in foreign policy well before traditional US politics, law, treaties, etc., can catch up to impose even a modicum of checks, as we are seeing as politicos turn out rote "expressions of concern" regarding trump's half-baked "Donroe Doctrine" inanity, which the regime laughs off as ineffectual squealing by losers, and to which the right-wing media adds its scorn.
And that's the state of play today.
Lance, I see your point. But I'm not as sure as you that other nations lack the power to punish the U.S. or punish U.S. citizens. I think there's much more that is included in their calculus than just Trump and the direct danger that he poses.
The bottom line is that it's up to us. Just like it was up to the People to make our Declaration of Independence amount to more than a piece of paper or parchment, it is up to the People to make our Constitution amount to more than a piece of paper or parchment.
And again, Jack, I say "Yes, but...", and the "but" refers to the explosive power available to and expansion of the Executive in foreign policy, where events get kicked off with such speed that the internal, corrective political processes have to await their turn,e.g., the November midterms. Do you really understand how much damage this senile, old fool and his Rasputins can cause before any *meaningful* checks can be imposed? Well, hang on, because it's happening in real time.
Yes, I understand the danger Trump poses. That's why I said all Americans need to wake up and do something--in large part because, as you acknowledged, nobody else can or will.
Maybe not the power--but the WILL? I agree it is up to us in the first instance: if we show that this president is repudiated by the American people, (even if the impeachment process has too little actual power to accomplish formal repudiation)--maybe then other nations may gain some will power.
"The future American presidency does not need to — and cannot — look like the presidency that Trump is creating from the precedents of some of the United States’s most questionable international actions. "
Who, indeed, are the leaders?
The quote (paraphrased) that ‘we arrived in the target area, received fire, and then killed 40 people (reportedly) in self defense’ could have come straight out of Orwell’s 1984.
I’m shocked at whom we have NOT heard from who purport to be leaders.
I'm not.
What an apt description, that the president (small p) is "building up examples and precedents and opinions that Trump is now rolling together like a child building a giant snowball to exert the most extreme expansion of executive power he can amass." And it seems that he will keep doing this, perhaps, as some have suggested, using our "at war" status to cancel 2026 elections. And who would stop him? This must be what it felt like in the world pre-America when kings ruled, had a sphere of sycophants with wealth, and everyone else fell under the title of subjects, in other words, ruling with unchecked power!
Chris,
I want to thank you for your hope honesty courage and compassion reporting truth to power with evidence, OLC's, related to violations of international sovereignty by US JSOC and related federal employees. We must do better. 2026 elections will present candidates that will follow our constitution. We are in this together. No Kings. Peace. Christopher and family
wiresouth.com/zk73nb
Focusing on the Maduro arrest is the wrong question and fails to focus on the critical legal issue - under what legal authority may the president use the military to seize a sovereign nation’s natural resources for the benefit of American oil companies. What should have been clear from the outset , and if not was explicit during Saturday news conference, is the purpose of the exercise is aimed at seizing oil and the Maduro arrest is being used as a justification for American might being used to benefit American oil companies . Unfortunately spending all this ink on Maduro’s seizure and arrest detracts from that critical fact, which is what Trump and his friends are undoubtedly hoping for ,
You remember America.
🇺🇸 Remember America.
As we come to the anniversary of the 6jan coup attempt and to an accounting of the crimes by our President and the Federal government on the people who reside in the United States and internationally. .
We must remember that freedom, democracy, and prosperity for the people of the United States means we remember our constitution, the rule of law, sovereignty, human rights, and respect for international law.
We must remember that a Venezuelan-led transition respects the democratic will of the Venezuelan people. Remember to stand with the Venezuelan people’s sovereign right to decide and build their own future in a peaceful and democratic society. For the freedom, democracy, and prosperity of the Venezuelan people.
🇻🇪
No blood for oil. No forever wars. No American fascist hegemony.
Remember the Epstein files too while you’re at it.
I’m continually reminded of Chou Enlai’s supposed response when asked what he thought about the French Revolution—“too soon to tell.”
More to the point you’re absolutely right that the Trump era has shown beyond question that the structure and institutions that comprise our society are fundamentally decayed and ineffectual beyond propping up a Mafia state.
It would be nice if Congress could pass a resolution repudiating "that" Bill Barr's opinion, Maybe come November. When the body bags start coming home--either of "boots on the ground" or of hapless oil company employees, perhaps the Blue Tsumani could become a veto-proof majority. Did Barr opine whether the arrest of a foreign leader without a warrant violated the 4th or 5th Amendment?
We can all agree that Maduro was not a good guy. So I asked AI for a review of the WAYS in which he was not a good guy. The results were startling. Trump isn't just mirroring Putin--he is in many ways mirroring Maduro. See https://substack.com/home/post/p-183382460
Thank you. We do need a better system. It's hard to think that change is possible. But change has come in this country over the years. As one person once noted, rights often come from wrongs.
I don't know how exactly it will come. Also, change often is a matter of compromise, back to the days of the writing of the Constitution. In one movie about a man fighting for custody, his lawyer asked him what he wanted. What do we want? What are we willing to compromise?
IMO, Congress needs to pass a law that says: Any executive branch officer who intends to rely on a legal opinion must provide that opinion to Congress at least 30 days prior to any action that purports to rely on that opinion, and if the executive branch officer fails to do so, the legal opinion may not be used in any proceeding, in court or otherwise.
So he's actually doing us a favor, with an unforced, whollly over the top demonstration of where all this leads.
What's next? Does he send in a strike team to detain the head of the New York Times? And why not? He can accuse anyone he wants of any crime he imagine, and the system will behave accordingly.
Yes, and how will Gen Caine respond again? Illegally according to their military oath?