war

It’s a Friday afternoon, and President Trump has signed an executive order that, according to some analysts, will allow him to recall retired military to active duty in case of a coming “National Emergency.”

The EO amends the Executive Order 13223 of September 14, 2001 (Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation), and it reads as follows:

AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 13223

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and in furtherance of the objectives of Proclamation 7463 of September 14, 2001 (Declaration of National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks), which declared a national emergency by reason of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York and Pennsylvania and against the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States, and in order to provide the Secretary of Defense additional authority to manage personnel requirements in a manner consistent with the authorization provided in Executive Order 13223 of September 14, 2001 (Ordering the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces to Active Duty and Delegating Certain Authorities to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation), it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Amendment to Executive Order 13223. Section 1 of Executive Order 13223 is amended by adding at the end: “The authorities available for use during a national emergency under sections 688 and 690 of title 10, United States Code, are also invoked and made available, according to their terms, to the Secretary concerned, subject in the case of the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, to the direction of the Secretary of Defense.”

Sec. 2. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

October 20, 2017.

If your first reaction after reading this is, “Oh, shit! Here it comes,” you are not alone. What this EO amendment does is allow the Secretary of Defense to call any recently retired member of the Regular US Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force back to active duty.

Trump is granting the Secretary of Defense full power to recall anyone who has served and/or retired in the last 20 years.

Trump may be preparing us for war.

Section 688 of the US Code deals with recall of retired service members.

Section 690 sets limitations on the numbers of officers from each service that can be recalled. Of note is Subsection (c).

(c)Waiver for Periods of War or National Emergency.—

Subsection (a) does not apply in time of war or of national emergency declared by Congress or the President after November 30, 1980. Subsection (b) does not apply in time of war or of national emergency declared by Congress or the President.

Look back at the highlighted portion of the EO Trump amended today.

America, if we are reading this correctly, grab your ankles.

By The Portly Pundit

After four months in the belly of the right wing media beast, and after a full four days of hot showering, everyone's favorite Portly Pundit is once again weaving tales of progressive pulchritude on Breitbart Unmasked.

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