46 thoughts on “Classic Mr Smith Goes to Washington filibuster against Drones and CIA nomination @SenRandPaul #StandwithRand”
@John Green, You have at best established that you disagree with Paul’s positions, not that he is dumb or incompetent. Also, I agree with Ron Paul despite your insistance that he rambles, because he is proponent of the Austrian school of economics, which has been prescient with regard to the latest foibles and bursting bubbles of our central bank driven economy. Not everyone who disagrees with you is stupid. That is only an indication of a fundamentally different way of viewing the world. That is to say that the libertarian view of the world is indeed different than the statist view, whether it is statist on the left or statist on the right. As a victim of statism, I personally would not be stupid if I suggested that it is time to allow those of the Austrian school to propose their views instead of just simply treating them as idiots. Had people listened to Ron Paul in the first place, there would be smaller government, smaller debt, and no deficit. That would mean no bankrupt government, fewer wars, freer people and no need for FATCA to chase down their money because the United States would be a welcome place to invest capital instead of bankrupt state that is hunting down its expats to allegedly pay their fair share.
The alternatives gave us FBAR, FATCA and extra territorial taxation and the beast: the bloated irresponsible United States government, persecutor of its expats.
Joe Green,
Are you a Homelander?
Rand Paul is one of the best (perhaps the best) friend American ex-pats have in the Senate.
He has sponsored bills to eliminate the cap on the foreign earned income exclusion.
He is against FATCA.
His stance against the use of drones is spot on.
So what gives?
Wouldn’t it have been great if Rand Paul had fillibustered Jack Lew’s nomination because of FATCA, talking 13 hours non stop about the negative effects of this law. Oh well…. one can still dream…
Too right wing for me.
@John Green,
Okay, so name a lefty in the Senate or the House who gives a S#!T about issues that are harming ex-pats.
@Wilderness, the democrats love FATCA. They sponsored the bill and they voted for it. Their president said that he was going to make those expats pay their fair share. Their intention IS to hurt expats and anyone else who thinks that they can run.
” It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: “Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?” The answer to that question is no.
@Em
I just watched that CNN discussion. Thanks for the link. I thought Rand Paul got a lot of good opportunities to discuss the core issue, as well as discuss the mechanics of the filibuster, so I probably wasn’t as critical of it on substance.
Poll: Majority of Americans Opposed to Being Killed by Drone
A lot of the outpouring of conservative support for Paul’s filibuster on Obama’s drone policy went beyond the libertarian and anti-interventionist blocs of the movement who were also deeply troubled by Bush era counter-terrorism policies. Even those conservatives who may not agree with all of Paul’s views on presidential war powers were supportive if for no other reason than they relished seeing a conservative win a messaging war with Obama. It was impossible to dismiss this as just a right-wing Tea Party attack, because a lot of liberals agree with the substance of Paul’s criticism.
This filibuster had to get under Obama’s skin. As much as anything else, he was elected on a promise to turn the page on the Bush era and conduct the war against terrorism with greater concern for civil liberties. Watching Paul’s filibuster last night, I couldn’t help but think that this is how Obama imagines himself – a principled crusader for justice. When Bush and Cheney were running the show, whatever could be said about them, at least they were consistent in supporting broad presidential powers in the realm of national security. But it’s hard to look back at the pre-2009 Obama and see him as anything other than an arrogant hypocrite now — somebody who thinks a muscular executive branch is okay so long as he’s running it.
Drone Strikes – Is Rand Paul a Constitutional Hero?
@John Brown…
Exactly. Glad to see TheYoungTurks spell it out so pointedly. This is NOT a partisan issue. Real Progressives, if that is how you identify yourself, should absolutely support Rand Paul in his stand, even if you disagree with him on everything else. Thanks for posting that.
@Just Me, and Em,
I bet many journalists are green with envy over that title; “Poll: Majority of Americans Opposed to Being Killed by Drone”
@John Green, You have at best established that you disagree with Paul’s positions, not that he is dumb or incompetent. Also, I agree with Ron Paul despite your insistance that he rambles, because he is proponent of the Austrian school of economics, which has been prescient with regard to the latest foibles and bursting bubbles of our central bank driven economy. Not everyone who disagrees with you is stupid. That is only an indication of a fundamentally different way of viewing the world. That is to say that the libertarian view of the world is indeed different than the statist view, whether it is statist on the left or statist on the right. As a victim of statism, I personally would not be stupid if I suggested that it is time to allow those of the Austrian school to propose their views instead of just simply treating them as idiots. Had people listened to Ron Paul in the first place, there would be smaller government, smaller debt, and no deficit. That would mean no bankrupt government, fewer wars, freer people and no need for FATCA to chase down their money because the United States would be a welcome place to invest capital instead of bankrupt state that is hunting down its expats to allegedly pay their fair share.
The alternatives gave us FBAR, FATCA and extra territorial taxation and the beast: the bloated irresponsible United States government, persecutor of its expats.
Joe Green,
Are you a Homelander?
Rand Paul is one of the best (perhaps the best) friend American ex-pats have in the Senate.
He has sponsored bills to eliminate the cap on the foreign earned income exclusion.
He is against FATCA.
His stance against the use of drones is spot on.
So what gives?
Wouldn’t it have been great if Rand Paul had fillibustered Jack Lew’s nomination because of FATCA, talking 13 hours non stop about the negative effects of this law. Oh well…. one can still dream…
Too right wing for me.
@John Green,
Okay, so name a lefty in the Senate or the House who gives a S#!T about issues that are harming ex-pats.
@Wilderness, the democrats love FATCA. They sponsored the bill and they voted for it. Their president said that he was going to make those expats pay their fair share. Their intention IS to hurt expats and anyone else who thinks that they can run.
Rand Paul got an answer to his question:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/03/rand-paul-gets-a-letter-from-eric-holder.html
” It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: “Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?” The answer to that question is no.
Sincerely,
Eric H. Holder, Jr.”
Another report – with reproductions of the correspondence in question:
http://www.businessinsider.com/drones-rand-paul-obama-eric-holder-2013-3
CNN was more interested in the mechanics of the filibuster rather than the substance but that’s par for the course.
http://12160.info/video/sen-paul-appears-on-cnn-s-newsroom-with-dana-bash-3-7-2013?xg_source=activity
@Em
I just watched that CNN discussion. Thanks for the link. I thought Rand Paul got a lot of good opportunities to discuss the core issue, as well as discuss the mechanics of the filibuster, so I probably wasn’t as critical of it on substance.
Poll: Majority of Americans Opposed to Being Killed by Drone
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/03/poll-majority-of-americans-opposed-to-being-killed-by-drone.html#ixzz2MyZU82PB
@ Just Me
The New Yorker has always had a good sense of humour. 🙂
Senate Finally Confirms John Brennan As CIA Director
great poll
Rand Paul’s moment and the end of Obama envy
Drone Strikes – Is Rand Paul a Constitutional Hero?
@John Brown…
Exactly. Glad to see TheYoungTurks spell it out so pointedly. This is NOT a partisan issue. Real Progressives, if that is how you identify yourself, should absolutely support Rand Paul in his stand, even if you disagree with him on everything else. Thanks for posting that.
@Just Me, and Em,
I bet many journalists are green with envy over that title; “Poll: Majority of Americans Opposed to Being Killed by Drone”
Pingback: The Isaac Brock Society
Sad state of affairs when it has come to this…
S. 505: A bill to prohibit the use of drones to kill citizens of the United States within the United States.
Introduced by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Like the satire above from Borowitz, a 100% support for this bill so far.
https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/s505
Medal for Drone Operations given to pilots who are never in any danger? Such a medal maybe having a higher status than some medals awarded to people in the line of fire?? http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2013/03/12/tsr-dnt-tapper-hybrid-drone-award.cnn