The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385, original at 20 Stat. 152) signed on June 18, 1878 by President Rutherford B. Hayes. The purpose of the act – in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807 – is to limit the powers of the federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. It was passed as an amendment to an army appropriation bill following the end of Reconstruction, and was subsequently updated in 1956 and 1981.

not only what you guys are advocating is against the constitution it is against the law; and we in the military are aware of this law and would not follow orders to disobey this. not even the 'A' team, sorry hauta

Proselytizing in the Air Force Academy doesn't mean the Air Force is compromised by theocrats.

@TrPrado In most European countries the prime minister is not head of parliament. The British system is very different from the rest of Europe.

@Brad You made a comment on European failed states, so dragged Europe into this debate.

Torture is against the law too as is using chemical weapons against civilians. The military didn't disobey those orders, did they?

No, but it does provide another example of how the military is most certainly willing to tolerate violations of the constitution. I think there is solid justification for a lack of faith that the military will respond appropriately when tested

Trump has been ruling by executive orders and unless blocked by the courts he is using them as the law of the land. Even when blocked by judges they have been carried out in some cases with immigration and confusion on what they mean.

I can see Trump rallying his supporters by Twitter by saying those that oppose him are un-American. Demonization of his opponents has been a repeated tactic to get his way.

(By the way, Lee is pushing Garland in order to get him off the D.C. Circuit so trump can appoint another judge. Not going to work)

Demonization of the Republican party has been a repeated tactic of the democrats to get their way for quite some time. This tactic goes back to Franklin Roosevelt

Brad shows classic Trumpian tactics. It ain't Democrats calling for a conservative genocide. It ain't Democrats who have been doing the whole "if you not with us, you're a traitor" business. It ain't Democrats who started saying "we will oppose everything the elected President does (payback's a bitch). It ain't Democrats with Fox News and infowars and breitbart attacking Democrats with bullshit 24/7. It ain't Democrats who demonize LGBT people and minorities. How about his morning's lovely nugget? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/05/14/republicans-in-n-c-senate-cut-education-funding-but-only-in-democratic-districts-really/?utm_term=.58b3606c85a4#comments
Sounds like Brad's been looking in the mirror and engaging in a little prohection
I will quote Truman here. I don't give em hell. I tell the truth and they think it's hell

What happens if Trump publishes "facts" that support the unambiguous conclusion that what he asks the military is Constitutional. That is, assuming the military is able to accurately analyze all orders in terms of their constitutionality, we no longer live in a world where facts are absolute. So if Trump says that we were attacked a certain way, whether it be cyber or biologic or whatever, even well-intentioned personnel might find themselves being the unwitting participants in his slow-rolling coup.

Hauta your living in a fantasy land. go watch burt lancaster try to take over the government in 'the seven days of may' and then go have momma change your diaper

yeah, movies count as reality now

Ironic captain brad admonishes Hauta for living in "fantasy land" and then cites a MOVIE as, what?, real life experience?

hahahaha

@Brad, "Seven Days in May" is from 1964. They had talkies back then? You're old.
Anyway, blurb says it's about military coup to overthrow the President. Hardly applicable to this thread.

Anyway Brad, what if the "facts" indicate that the President's request has merit? Does the military also analyze the veracity of the facts (as well as the constitutionality of the request)? Gee, is there anything our military *can't* do? For mere mortals, they seem pretty omniscient.

as i said in PM the military is quite aware of the constitution, separation of powers and the rule of law. we don't coup here.

@Brad, that sounds like a Sean Spicer answer...unless your position is that the military is omniscient.

Tell you what, I'll bet anyone on here a $1000 that there will not be a military supported take-over/authoritarian crack-down in the United States during the Trump administration. Any takers?

"Tell you what, I'll bet anyone on here a $1000 that there will not be a military supported take-over/authoritarian crack-down in the United States during the Trump administration. Any takers?"

There won't be any takers. Talk of that sort is either fear mongering done to alienate support for your political opposition/demonize their current members, or the severe paranoia of someone out of touch with reality.

Depends on your definition. By some measures, you've already lost your bet.

In any event, what we'd see would be something more like the institution of a PRI style one party state. Sure, there'll be elections, etc., but the odds will be sufficiently stacked and independent voices sufficiently harassed that the opposition won't have any real opportunity of winning. You don't need a full scale military dictatorship, just harassment and suppression. That we already have to a substantial degree.

I'm guessing Manwe is younger than 23 and has never lived in a dictatorship.

King Cyrus, what are the odds?

@Manwe, I got this from http://www.whatwouldthefoundersthink.com/a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it:

At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Franklin was queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation. A lady asked him “What have we got, a republic or a monarchy.” Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you can keep it.”

Stop being so fucking ignorant. If your posts weren't uniformly shit, I'd think that you were just trolling. You can mock the likelihood of a long-shot event (which is what this might appear to you right now), but you cannot mock the gravity of it. Wouldn't it be nice to address a threat before it looms large? -- Akin to seeing if that one termite wandered in from outside or whether the structural beams are about to collapse.

If there were a threat, maybe. But this isn't even a slight threat because it CANNOT and WILL NOT happen.

@Prado, do you think that Trump will serve out his full term?

Yeah, that's crushing logic there TrPrado. "It can't happen here" is the motto of people who are truly ignorant of history.

Meanwhile, Trump isn't just storing low level classified information on a server, he is actively handing out top level classified information to adversaries. Oh, but we need to investigate Clinton. What bullcrap.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html

""It can't happen here" is the motto of people who are truly ignorant of history."

I say it can't happen here BECAUSE we've learned from history and there are checks in place to prevent it from happening here.

That's right, it can't happen here because it can't happen here. In German it translates to: Es kann hier nicht passieren