Ukraine War Update

Ukrane Conflict Updates from the Institute for the Study of War

 

Commentary

The US form of government is that of a Constitutional Republic. A republic (Latin: res publica) is a form of government in which the country is considered a "public matter", not the private concern or property of the rulers. A pure democracy provides no protection to minorities and is a form of mob rule. Governments can be classified based on the source of their authority or power with Anarchy at one extreme and Totalitarianism at the other. A constitutional republic is a state in which the head of state and other officials are representatives of the people and must govern in accordance with an existing constitution. The existance of constitutional limits on the government's power makes the state constitutional. Choosing the head(s) of state and other officials by election, rather than by inheritance, makes the state a democracy. Until the Seventeenth Admendment was approved in 1912 after 86 years and 187 resolutions, the US Constitution only provided for popular election in the House of Represenatives.

 

Nuclear Energy. What would happen if you discovered that everything you knew about nuclear energy was wrong? Director Robert Stone exposes this controversy within the environmental movement head-on with stories of defection by heavy weights including Stewart Brand, Richard Rhodes, Gwyneth Cravens, Mark Lynas and Michael Shellenberger. Undaunted and fearlessly independent, PANDORA'S PROMISE is a landmark work that is forever changing the conversation about the myths and science behind this deeply emotional and polarizing issue.

 

Deficit vs Debt. Why is there no discussion on reduction of the debt? All we hear about is reducing the deficit. Deficit reduction just means a reduction in the ratio between debt and income. It still means that the Government is spending more that it is collecting in revenue. To fix the problem, we must first acknowledge that there is a problem. It is, as Senator Obama stated in 2008, "unpatriotic to keep increasing the Federal debt"! To see how large the problem is, go to National Debt Clock. This website shows the financial sources and expenditures of the federal government. To learn more about the problem, go to The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is a bipartisan, non-profit organization incorporated in 1981, committed to educating the public about issues that have significant fiscal policy impact.

 

 

Call for Action

A proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution^1,4. A proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution states: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States”. I support this idea but encourage you to read the "surprisingly sensible" article written by Mark Drought in the AP news on Feburary 19, 2019. It may alter your thought on the proposal.

 

Proposed Amendment to the United States Constitution for Term Limits.⁶ Several bills have been introduced in both the the House and Senate to limit the number of terms that a Member of Congress may serve. The founding fathers never conceived of career congressmen and would have been astonished by the tenure of some of our senior politicians. Currently, US Term Limits (USTL) has teams working in many of the state legislatures to pass a resolution calling for a national term limits amendment proposal convention. Go to the USTL site and add your name to the petition.

 

 

Fix the Debt.^2,3 The debt now exceeds the US Gross Domestic Product and is an immediate threat to us, our children and our grandchildren. Please read and sign the Citizen's Petition to Fix the Debt and urge your congressman to support a balanced budget amendment. The national debt exceeded the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 for the first time since 1946 and the end of WW2.

 

President-elect Donald Trump has recently appointed Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to head the Department of Government Efficiency. Despite the name, it is not a government department. It is a non-governmental commission that will provide advice to the Trump administration. The plan centers around three main initiatives: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions, and cost savings. These efforts, Musk and Ramaswamy explain, will be grounded in two landmark Supreme Court decisions: West Virginia v. EPA (2022) and U.S. v. Texas (2023). These cases, they argue, provide the legal framework to rein in federal agencies and restore presidential control over executive functions.

 

Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has been tapped to lead a new House subcommittee that will work with the Department of Government Efficiency. Greene and House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., have met with Ramaswamy and his team and, hopefully, this commission will be more successful than prior budget cutting efforts!

 

Visit USADebtClock.com or FiscalData from US Treasury to learn more!

Year    Gross Debt in $Billions undeflated from the OMB
1940	50.7
1950	256.9
1960	290.5
1970	380.9
1980	909
1990	3,206
2000	5,629
2001	5,770
2002	6,198
2003	6,760
2004	7,355
2005	7,905
2006	8,451
2007	8,951
2008	9,986
2009	11,876
2010	13,529
2011	15,000 (source rounded to nearest trillion $)
2012	16,000
2013	17,000
2014	18,000
2015	18,000+
2016	19,000
2017	20,000
2018	21,000
2019	23,000
2020	27,000
2021	29,000 
2022	31,000 
2023	33,000
2024  36,000 (est)

Since the 1970's, the debt has more than doubled every 10 years!

 

Fix Overreach of the Federal Government.⁵ Amendment X to the US Constitution states "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." The Founders knew the federal government might one day become drunk with the abuses of power. The most important check to this power is Article V of the constitution. Article V gives states the power to call a convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution. Washington D.C. will never voluntarily relinquish its power. Left unchecked, the government will continue to bankrupt this nation and destroy the liberty of the people. It is time for citizens and the States to act. Learn more about calling a Convention of States or the limits on Federal Government at the Tenth Amendment Center.

 

Start a national discussion on Birthright Citizenship.⁵ Amendment XIV, Section 1 to the US Constitution states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." The Problems lies with interpretation to the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof". This would seem To exclude children of non-legal residents, however the convention has been otherwise. Birthright citizenship is a strong attraction for illegal immigration. The child is entitled to family sponsorship and this privilage encourages parents to violate the immigration laws of the U.S. However, an estimated 4.5 million U.S.-born children have at least one undocumented parent. Without birthright citizenship, millions of possibly stateless children would be outside the margins of our society and would be at risk of exploitation or deportation. For more information about the issue, see ProCon.org

 

Stop the transfer of cash from US to China⁷ To stem the cashflow - buy American!

 

Chinese Owned or Majority Owned Companies:

• GE Appliances
• AMC Theatres
• Smithfield Foods
• Legendary Entertainment Group
• Waldorf-Astoria
• Strategic Hotels & Resorts
• Riot Games
• Sheraton Universal Hotel
• Marriott Downtown Los Angeles
• Ingram Micro
• Motorola Mobility
• Lenova
• Terex Corp
• Teledyne Continental Motors
• Mattituck Services
• Tiktok

Links:

• Chinese Companies on US Stock Market
• Top 10 S&P 500 Companies With the Highest Revenue Exposure in China

 

Quotations

¹Once it becomes acceptable "to tolerate a law not obligatory on the legislature, as well as on the people, the people will be prepared to tolerate anything but liberty." James Madison in The Federalist No. 57.

 

²"Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt." Herbert Hoover (President, 1874-1964)

 

³"Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the hidden confiscation of wealth." - Alan Greenspan - 1966

 

⁴"One might plausibly contend that Congress violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers when it exonerates itself from the impositions of the laws it obligates people outside the legislature to obey." - Ruth Bader Ginsburg

 

⁵"Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States; as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both congress and the courts – not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. " - Abraham Lincoln

 

⁶"Too many in Washington display a ruling class mentality, and congressional term limits would go a long way towards restoring the citizen-legislator ethos of the Founding Fathers." - Ron DeSantis