President Trump is considering canceling the security clearances of certain senior intelligence officials extended as a courtesy when they retired. Former CIA chief John Brennan, who called Trump a traitor for meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly top on the list, are highly political former officials like James Clapper and Susan Rice. Opponents of the move claim it is an attack on these officials’ “free speech” rights. Are they missing the point? Also, was the FISA process abused by FBI officers when they made the case to spy on Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page? Tune in to today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:
Secretary of State Mike R. Pompeo discussed the current administration’s Iran strategy during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California Sunday evening. His remarks reiterated White House talking points disparaging the Islamic Republic and defended President Donald J. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the multinational Iran nuclear deal.
Since Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA on May 8, his administration has declared a new strategy toward the Near Eastern country, including reinstated sanctions and a concerted messaging front directed toward the public, the media, and Iranian expats in particular.
This speech was part of that push to "erode support for Iran’s leaders," according to Reuters. Leading up to the Sunday evening remarks, Pompeo’s Twitter feed and the State Department’s ShareAmerica propaganda website have shared various graphics and articles denouncing the Islamic Republic and touting the liberties enjoyed by Iranians living in the United States.
President Trump sent out a red-hot Tweet last night threatening Iran with destruction if it does not stop threatening the US over US threats to change the Iranian regime. Round and round it goes, with the well-funded neocon think tanks pushing ever-harder for a US attack. Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is extremely close to one of the most bellicose of these, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which is staffed by many of the same people who gave us the disastrous 2003 war on Iraq. Is Trump being misled by his ill-chosen advisors…or are his war cries all his own? Tune in to today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:
"It is rare that we praise Donald Trump, but meeting with both Kim Jung Un and Vladimir Putin was the right thing to do. If our goal is to build peace, then calm talks, rather than threats and military escalation, are always the better path to take."
CodePink Statement, June 17, 2018. (Emphasis in the original.)
Thus read CodePink’s remarkable and courageous statement in the wake of the Helsinki Summit. To link the word "praise" with President Trump is to invite ostracism in progressive circles – even when nuclear Armageddon is the issue. But CodePink succumbed neither to Trump Derangement Syndrome nor to the related disorder Russophobia.
A new Gallup poll may spell trouble for Democrats hoping to cash in on what they believe is an anti-Russia feeling among American voters. The percentage of people who believe that Russia is a great threat to the United States is so low that it is almost unmeasurable. People are most concerned about the bad quality of government and about immigration. The elites continue to obsess about things that the average voters could not care less about. And they think this time it will pay off? More in today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:
Washington, DC – Reps. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) and Walter Jones (NC-03) hosted a press conference today to introduce a bipartisan resolution reclaiming Congress’s constitutional right to declare war. H.Res. 922 would define presidential wars not declared by Congress as impeachable "high crimes and misdemeanors."
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said: "For decades, Congress has ceded its Constitutional responsibility of deciding whether or not to declare war, to the President. As a result, we have found ourselves in a state of perpetual war, without a declaration of war by Congress and without input from the American people. Since 9/11 alone, our country has spent trillions of dollars on interventionist regime change wars, costing the lives of many Americans, taking a toll on our veterans, and causing people in our communities to struggle and suffer due to a lack of resources. Our bipartisan resolution aims to end presidential wars, and hold Congress accountable so it does its job in making the serious and costly decision about whether or not to send our nation’s sons and daughters to war."
"We are here today because Congress is not meeting its constitutional responsibility," said Congressman Jones. "If Congress does not debate sending your son or daughter to fight for this country, then we don’t need a Congress anyway. Nothing is more sacred or important than sending a man or woman to die for this country."
