Weeks later, the House appears ready to reauthorize FISA 702 — which has been abused literally hundreds of thousands of times to spy on Americans without a warrant — without requiring the government to get a warrant.
Mar 29 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
Proxy wars are fraught with moral peril.
Those who fund proxy wars (from a safe distance) can easily convince themselves that, by outsourcing the fighting to others, they avoid moral accountability for the tragic and inevitable consequences of war.
The moral implications of a proxy war are especially heightened when those funding it profit from the war’s duration and intensity.
Mar 27 • 8 tweets • 1 min read
In the world of politics, nothing makes me happier than a candidate stump speech citing Wickard v. Filburn to explain what went wrong with the federal government.
The Commerce Clause can’t authorize Congress to everything without nullifying the Tenth Amendment—and the broader principle of federalism along with it—and doing that leads to the erosion of separation of powers between the three branches.
Mar 4 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
🧵 The problems with this massive-earmark-bloated spending bill don’t end.
On a first read, it fails to accomplish the following: 1. Fails to prohibit taxpayer funding from being able to be used to prosecute a presidential candidate 2. Fails to prohibit taxpayer funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or labs controlled by hostile governments.
Feb 14 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
🧵 🚨 Update Re: FISA 702 🚨
1. Just as the House was making progress on FISA reforms, the GOP “Intel Bros”demanded that the House adjourn—without reforming FISA 702 or even prohibiting warrantless “backdoor” searches of American citizens under FISA 702.
2. I stand by my prediction from December: the Intel Bros will likely (1) seek another FISA 702 certification from the FISA court between now and early April, and then (2) argue that 702 operations may proceed until 2025, even if 702 expires in mid-April. They’ll rely on this language from 2018:
Feb 12 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
🧵 1. The Senate rules allow for unlimited debate. Yesterday afternoon the Senate approved “cloture”—a motion to end debate on the Ukraine supplemental spending measure within 30 hours. Now we are in that post-cloture debate time.
2. Because Schumer advanced the Ukraine supplemental on an unrelated piece of legislation, the Senate faces one more cloture motion to end debate at a time certain. Republicans continue to ask for amendments but are still being blocked.
Feb 11 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
1. The Senate is voting right now on my motion to table the procedural device Chuck Schumer is using to prevent the Senate from considering amendments to the Ukraine bill.
I’m going to list just a few of the amendments he’s trying to kill—without even a vote.
2. Senator Rubio has an amendment to place illegal immigrants convicted of DUI into expedited removal proceedings.
Jan 30 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
🧵 1. The FACE Act criminalizes an odd assortment of offenses, including blocking access to and vandalizing (1) abortion clinics, (2) places of worship, and (3) pregnancy centers.
How many prosecutions has Team Biden brought in the second category?
2. The Biden DOJ has enforced the FACE Act a few times in the second category (pregnancy centers). But cases involving pregnancy centers—which provide pregnant women with free counseling about non-abortion alternatives—remain infrequent relative to criminal acts against them.
Jan 18 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
🧵 1. The federal government’s authority is quite narrow
That means most government powers “are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”
You’d never guess that based on how D.C. spends and regulates today—far more than all 50 states combined
To what end?
2. Is what the federal government does for you of such great value that it’s worth working months out of every year just to pay your federal taxes?
Jan 14 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
🧵 1. Those who enter the U.S. without papers and apply for asylum are supposed to be detained until their claims can be adjudicated. That doesn’t happen under Biden.
2. Biden gives them a plane ticket, a work permit, and a mild suggestion that they show up for their immigration hearing, which might take place sometime in the mid-2030s.
Jan 10 • 9 tweets • 1 min read
🧵 1. By not including @SpeakerJohnson in these border-security negotiations to give him what he needs, Senate Rs are setting up the GOP to get blamed on the border. Why exclude the Republican House Speaker?
2. This gives Biden and the Dems a massive win as soon as it gets out of the Senate (CYA on border and opportunity to hammer House Rs for not passing it) in exchange for marginal gains for Rs and the border.
Dec 14, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
🧵 1. We never needed this FISA 702 extension—either in the NDAA or otherwise.
Laws passed by Congress at the end of 2017 would allow 702 collection to continue, at least through April 11th, 2024, even if 702 lapsed at the end of 2023.
2. So why did the FISA Cult and its congressional acolytes demand this?
They’re delaying the day of reckoning.
They’re trying to avoid an angry electorate until a more convenient time.
And it’s making Americans mad.
Really mad.
With good reason.
Dec 13, 2023 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
🧵 1. If at least 41 senators *oppose* The Firm’s™️ motion to waive @RandPaul’s Rule 28 point of order tomorrow, FISA 702 will be stricken from the NDAA.
The Firm™️ will try to scare senators, warning of inevitable catastrophe if FISA 702 expires at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
2. This line of reasoning is misplaced. In the first place, it’s not at all clear that the government’s electronic-surveillance program operating under 702 will “go dark” if this provision doesn’t stay in the NDAA, even if Congress doesn’t pass a free-standing extension.
Dec 11, 2023 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
🧵 1. The House Intelligence Committee (“HPSCI”) is advancing a bill purporting to reform FISA 702.
That bill’s actual reforms are at best illusory.
But it’s worse than that.
The HPSCI bill would actually make it easier for the FBI to spy on Americans without a warrant.
2. HPSCI’s FISA 702 bill has some serious, glaring problems. Most obviously, it lacks a warrant requirement for all “backdoor” searches directed at American citizens whose communications have been “incidentally collected.”
Dec 10, 2023 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
🧵 CONGRESS AS A LAW FIRM: 1. “Welcome to the law firm of Schumer, McConnell, Johnson, and Jeffries (‘The Firm™️’). You should know how things work around here. You know those people you think you represent? They really need Firm Security to spy on them, even if they deny it.”
2. “Remember, you’re here to do whatever we tell you to do—regardless of what those you represent think. And by ‘we,’ we mean the four of us—the four named partners of The Firm.”
Dec 5, 2023 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
1. FBI Director Christopher Wray just told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Congress (1) MUST reauthorize FISA 702, and (2) MUST NOT impose a requirement that FBI obtain a search warrant before conducting “backdoor searches” of American citizens through the 702 database.
2. I asked Wray about specific instances in which FBI personnel have abused the rights of Americans under FISA 702.
He insisted that those things are in the past and won’t happen again now that FBI has adopted new procedures.
Nov 25, 2023 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
🧵 1. It’s wonderful that a few of the Israeli hostages have been returned, with more to follow in the next few days.
2. Sadly, Hamas has now proven that taking hostages works, as Palestinian terrorists have been released in droves, hundreds of uninspected truckloads “humanitarian relief” have been sent to Gaza, and Israel has agreed to a temporary cease fire.
Nov 5, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Most of the time, abortion isn’t a federal issue. In the context military spending, it is.
Most of the time, Americans are sharply divided on abortion. In the context of using taxpayer funds for abortion, they aren’t.
So why attack Tuberville?
thefederalist.com/2023/11/01/gop…
Sure, they disagree with his strategy here. But why wouldn’t they direct their frustration toward @SecDef, who chose to make this an issue in the first place—in a manner contrary to the spirit (if not also the letter) of 10 USC 1093? @SecDef could end this impasse today.
Oct 28, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
It’s officially time to withdraw all U.S. funding for the U.N.
The U.N. does a lot of bad things. And if it can’t even do a good thing as simple as condemning war crimes, it’s over between us.
🧵 1. I’ve been on a conference call for the last 90 minutes with my colleagues and key Biden administration officials regarding the recent Hamas attacks on Israel. Heres what we learned:
2. The administration is mincing words and hiding behind classified-briefing doors, leading members to infer it is more to protect their own public image than as a means to actually giving the people’s representatives the truth. The only actor this helps is Iran.
Oct 5, 2023 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
What about cost of living? Border security?
#NotOurWar
#MitchIsWrong
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