This January, the Foreign Relations Committee recommended a vote to ratify Montenegro’s accession to NATO. This week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) attempted to do just that, requesting unanimous consent that the Resolution of Ratification be approved by the full chamber without any more debate on the floor.
Sen.Rand Paul (R-Ky.) objected to the request and then walked off the floor, leaving McCain so furious that he openly declared that the junior senator from Kentucky was in cahoots with Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismember NATO.
“The only conclusion you can draw when he [Paul] walks away,” McCain remarked on the floor, “is he has no justification for his objection to having a small nation be part of NATO that is under assault from the Russians.”
But McCain’s rationale is simple-minded and ultimately misguided. …
Fortunately, the bullying tactics aren’t cowing Paul into submission. There is a strong case to be made for why Montenegro becoming the 29th member of NATO isn’t a good idea. At the very least, the Senate should have a full debate on the matter, exercising its powers of ratification. …
Paul may be a minority in the Senate, but his view is much more practical and in line with the American people. For what, exactly, does Montenegro — a tiny country of less than 630,000 people, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of only $3.9 billion and an active military of approximately 2,000 troops — offer NATO that it doesn’t already have?
It’s difficult to see what the positives would be for Montenegro’s inclusion. The Montenegrin government spends 1.6 percent of its GDP on defense, short of the 2 percent threshold that NATO now uses as a guideline. As my colleague Charles Pena wrote last November, it would be unwise policy for the United States and the NATO alliance to take in yet another member that won’t contribute their fair share of the defense burden.
Currently, 23 of NATO’s 28 members contribute less than the 2 percent benchmark. Montenegro would add yet another dependent country to America’s coattails, while hardly making Americans safer.
Rand Paul has responded to John McCain‘s accusation that he works for Vladimir Putin.
This morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Paul said, “You know, I think he makes a really, really strong case… you know, for term limits.”
After letting that burn hang for second while the hosts and in-studio guests tittered, he mused, “I think maybe he’s past his prime. I think maybe he’s gotten a little bit unhinged.”
Watch above to see Paul describe how the globe would look if there were a picture of an “angry McCain” over every region he wants the active troops to go into.
No, this isn’t from The Onion. John McCain just broke the Senate rules to claim that Rand Paul is actually working for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Wednesday accused Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., of “working for Vladimir Putin” after Paul blocked consideration of a treaty that would allow Montenegro into the United Nations.
McCain tried to call up the treaty and warned that anyone blocking it would be helping Russia maintain its influence over the small country across the Adriatic Sea from Italy.
“If there’s objection, you are achieving the objectives of Vladimir Putin,” McCain warned. “If they object, they are now carrying out the desires and ambitions of Vladimir Putin, and I do not say that lightly.” …
“The senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin,” McCain concluded.
Rand Paul opposed McCain’s consideration of a treaty that would allow Montenegro into the United Nations. His reasons for this objection are currently unknown, though it’s likely that, after this controversial and false accusation, he will address the topic in the future.
John McCain’s actions on the Senate floor are in direct violation of Senate Rule 19, which requires that Senators never impute other Senators:
2. No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.
No, this isn’t from The Onion. John McCain just broke the Senate rules to claim that Rand Paul is actually working for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Popular post-election Joe Biden meme triggers firefight between rival biker gangs.
(AP - Phoenix, AZ) A popular meme making light of Joe Biden and Barack Obama’s friendship started a shootout between rival biker gangs at the Bike’s’n’Broads club in Callard, Az, last night killing three and wounding six. The meme was created by one of the dead men, identified by police as Frank “Cherrypicker” Franks, a member of the Asphalt Honchos biker gang out of Phoenix.
The confrontation started when Franks hung a color print of the meme, based on the image above, making a colorful and derogatory reference to the “membership” of rival gang, Phirestarters, out of Tempe. A group of the Phirestarters entered, and witnesses state that a physical confrontation rapidly became deadly, with a dozen members of the Phirestarters and about a score of Honchos exchanged gunfire.
1200 expended rounds were counted by police evidence teams, and eight firearms, including a homemade “greasegun” type submachine gun and four AR-15s were recovered at the scene. 120 10-round high-capacity magazines were found, and a police source states that they only stopped shooting when they ran out of ammunition, right around the time the police arrived less than five minutes later.
Six Honchos and two Phirestarters have been charged with murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and reckless endangerment. Further charges are expected against white members of the gang as well.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has introduced legislation that would expand anti-libel laws to include memes and exclude them from satire protections. President-elect Donald Trump said he would sign the legislation, although he argued for making the law more restrictive.
Bikes’n’Broads reopened two hours late this morning and expects to remain open during the investigation.
They have taken down the print.
Totallynotfakenews has elected not to reprint the offending meme out of respect for the dead and in order to end the toxic masculinity associated with penis size.
Is anyone interested in drawing a picture of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Lewis, and John McCain sitting on a cloud watching the election returns? I just think this would be a really cool image.
Implying that Arabs can’t be good people is pretty fucking terrible. Utterly bizarre to see people hold that up as an example of McCain’s supposed scruples.
