Essays

Michael Scheuer: Obama, Rice, Kerry, McCain, and Graham intervening for more war

"Today there are only two parties in the United States: (a) the bipartisan and interventionist elite and their ideological, fifth-column, and globalist supporters and funders (AKA: The Tyranny), and (b) the rest of us who are taxed to death for the privilege of paying for, and seeing our children die in their unnecessary, intervention-caused wars. How can Americans change this reality? It seems clear that intervention cannot be stopped at the ballot box. On the issue of options, there are many to consider. But one can get off to no better start than to reread the works of John Dickinson, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine written in 1775 and 1776." Continue reading →

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Four Centuries of Surveillance: From Privy Councils to FISA Courts

"Letters to or from England were carried by private ship captains, who often hung a bag in the local coffeehouse to receive letters for shipment. The price was generally a penny for a single letter and two pence for a double letter or parcel. In 1591 the Crown had issued a proclamation granting itself the monopoly of all foreign mail, and in 1609 the Crown’s proclamation extended its own monopoly to all mail foreign or domestic. The purpose of this postal monopoly was quite simple: to enable governmental officials to read the letters of private citizens in order to discover and suppress 'treason' and 'sedition.'" Continue reading →

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America’s Emerging Police State: A Brief History

"As Congress and the American people grapple with the fallout from Edward Snowden’s stunning revelations, we are hearing a kind of defense coming from the authoritarians in our midst: none of this is new, they argue, so what’s all the fuss about? In a sense, they are right: the 'legal' and political outlines of an American police state have been emerging from the fulcrum of war and the turbulence of our domestic politics since World War II. The only difference now is the technology, which has developed far beyond the imagination of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI’s first director, who widely deployed the earliest wiretapping capabilities of government snoops." Continue reading →

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Civil Unrest Coming to America

"The 'start-up job rate' in our country – the number of jobs in newly created American companies – has fallen during the Obama administration to 7.8 per 1,000 people, a 31% decline from the first President Bush. Those missing jobs and the resulting impact on unemployed youth are the kindling that ignites fiery riots. When our unemployed youth reach the point where they perceive that they have little left to lose, well it will be London and Stockholm and Athens all over America. That’s a when, not an if. The question I wonder is how America will react. Will the riots be enough to change the stupor in Washington?" Continue reading →

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How the CIA Helped Disney Conquer Florida

"Starting in the mid-1960s when Disney set out to establish the Disney World Theme Park, they were determined to get land at below market prices and Disney operatives engaged in a far-ranging conspiracy to make sure sellers had no idea who was buying their Central Florida property. By resorting to such tactics Disney acquired more than 40 square miles of land for less than $200 an acre, but how to maintain control once Disney's empire had been acquired? The solution turned out to be cartoon-simple, thanks to the CIA." Continue reading →

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Lebanon’s Banks Have the Highest Cash Reserve Ratios in the World

"There are three features that distinguish the Lebanese financial system: 1. The banks have the highest cash reserve ratios in the world. 2. The central bank holds the second highest gold reserves on a per person basis. 3. Real financial privacy. Lebanon is also one of the few countries left in the world that still has real financial privacy, both in theory and in practice… just not for Americans, though, thanks to FATCA, which Lebanon has indicated it will comply with. Additionally, Lebanon ranks only behind Switzerland in terms of gold reserves per person according to this chart below from The Economist." Continue reading →

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The Secret’s Out: Now Is the Time for International Diversification

"For the United States and other debt-addicted countries, years of profligate spending have more or less sealed their economic fates. With the stage set, further encroachments of privacy are practically guaranteed. Faced with economic uncertainty, governments will search for new ways to plunder the productive members of society. These may include capital controls, more onerous regulations, or wealth confiscation, either explicitly or by way of the printing press. The developing NSA story along with the crisis in Cyprus prove that desperate governments will stop at nothing to prevent their house of cards from collapsing, no matter how futile." Continue reading →

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I Only Regret That I Have But One Life to Give for My Country: Yours

"Today, for America’s spies, Nathan Hale’s job comes with health and retirement benefits. Top officials in that world have access to a revolving door into guaranteed lucrative employment at the highest levels of the corporate-surveillance complex and, of course, for the spy in need of escape, a golden parachute. So when I think about Nathan Hale’s famed line, among those hundreds of thousands of American spies and corporate spylings just two Americans come to mind, both charged and one convicted under the draconian World War I Espionage Act. Only one tiny subset of Americans might still be able to cite Hale’s words and have them mean anything." Continue reading →

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Obama’s abuse of the Espionage Act is modern-day McCarthyism

"President Obama has been unprecedented in his use of the Espionage Act to prosecute those whose whistleblowing he wants to curtail. The purpose of an Espionage Act prosecution, however, is not to punish a person for spying for the enemy, selling secrets for personal gain, or trying to undermine our way of life. It is to ruin the whistleblower personally, professionally and financially. It is meant to send a message to anybody else considering speaking truth to power: challenge us and we will destroy you. Only ten people in American history have been charged with espionage for leaking classified information, seven of them under Barack Obama." Continue reading →

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How Martial Law In America Will Affect You

"The lock-down of the Boston area is not an isolated incident. It is part of a well-funded, coordinated federal program called Operation Urban Shield. Law enforcement is being trained to impose martial law. Americans are being trained to obey without question. People sometimes marvel over how a civilized populace like the pre-Nazi Germans were blind to the approach of totalitarianism. How could they miss the signs? Most Americans are missing the hint presented by armored personnel vehicles rolling into a peaceful community. The best way to avoid martial law in America is not to be here when it occurs." Continue reading →

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