Hi Joe,

Looks a great lineup. Took me a full second, almost, to have the Peter Green goin';. My research indicates he never played a bad note.

Those John Hammond and Rev. Gary Davis albums were GREAT last week!

Thanks!

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OT, but related to a question I asked a few days ago on the Trump impeachment. Vindman said that Trump wasn’t following the rules congress set for Ukraine and his opinion carried a lot of weight and so he was impeached.

Congress cannot legally declare war on Russia or Iran, since there is no American militarily grounded reason for doing so. Russia and Iran pose no credible threats to American national security. Moreover, the U.S. has no treaties with Ukraine or Israel that trigger an American military defense. But Congress spends money on those wars nevertheless.

Last week, the Biden administration announced that it was sending around 100 troops to Israel to man the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, the U.S. has sent there. Then, the administration announced that it was sending a second THAAD unit and another 100 troops. The THAADs will presumably be used in Israel’s defense against Iran.

Congress has not only not declared war on Iran; it has not authorized the use of American military forces against it. Yet, it has given President Joe Biden a blank check and authorized him to spend it on military equipment for Israel however he sees fit, without a lawful or even credible American military objective.

Now back to the Constitution. The War Powers Resolution, which requires presidential notification to Congress of the use of American military force, is unconstitutional because it consists of Congress giving away to the president one of its core functions – declaring war.

The Supreme Court has characterized delegating away core functions as violative of the separation of powers because when one branch of the federal government cedes its powers to another, the receiving branch threatens the constitutional order and potentially jeopardizes personal liberty.

Nevertheless, Biden has not informed Congress of his intentions to use American troops in Ukraine or Israel.

Don’t be surprised if Biden gives War Powers Resolution notice secretly to the Gang of Eight. That’s the Congress within the Congress. It consists of the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate with which the president legally shares secrets.

This, too, is unconstitutional. Just as Congress cannot delegate away its war-making powers to the president, it cannot delegate them away to the Gang of Eight. The concept of the Gang of Eight is antithetical to democratic values. Informing them of whatever violence the president is up to is done under an oath of secrecy. What kind of democracy operates and kills in secret?

Do Congress or the president uphold the Constitution? They do not. They also don’t understand that the problem with searching the world for monsters to slay is that they have a way of following you home.

So it looks like Trump’s first impeachment was unlawful and he should sue to get it expunged. I don’t think he had lawyers present at the trial or if one wasn’t allowed. I could be wrong cuz I didn’t pay attention to the farce. It was government employees (working for/in Ukraine) bringing a case against the president who had every right not to send weapons that congress authorized.

The comments are arguing that congress can declare war on anyone it wants, but that’s not the point of the judge’s argument. Congress hadn’t declared war on Russia and so there was no valid reason why Trump HAD to send the weapons.

Now back to your regular scheduled program…