America, Meet Your New Dictator-in-Chief: The President’s Secret, Unchecked Powers

by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead | June 01, 2022

America, meet your new dictator-in-chief.

As the New York Times reports, “Newly disclosed documents have shed a crack of light on secret executive branch plans for apocalyptic scenarios—like the aftermath of a nuclear attack—when the president may activate wartime powers for national security emergencies.”< The problem, of course, is that we have become a nation in a permanent state of emergency. Power-hungry and lawless, the government has weaponized one national crisis after another in order to expand its powers and justify all manner of government tyranny in the so-called name of national security. The seeds of this present madness were sown almost two decades ago when George W. Bush stealthily issued two presidential directives that granted the president the power to unilaterally declare a national emergency, which is loosely defined as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.

America, Meet Your New Dictator-in-Chief: The President’s Secret, Unchecked Powers

Missing Links/Links Behind Paywalls:

Secret Emergency Orders May Include Focus on Internet, New Files Show

Report: Military may have to quell domestic violence from economic collapse

Known Unknowns: Unconventional “Strategic Shocks” in Defense Strategy Development (PDF)

End the Imperial Presidency Before It’s Too Late

Too Much Presidential Power — We’ve Got to Address the ‘Unitary Executive’ Question

The Mauritanian: 14 years in Guantánamo detention camp—the horrifying reality of America’s “war on terror”

The Mauritanian: 14 years in Guantánamo detention camp—the horrifying reality of America’s “war on terror”

In an interview with Forbes, the filmmaker talked about Barack Obama not closing Guantánamo—one of his election promises. “Most of the people in Guantánamo—the vast majority—were just farmers. They were people sold down the river by somebody they thought was a friend who accused them of being al-Qaida for $50,000 or $100,000. I think something like 80 percent of the people sent to Guantánamo were basically just victims of that.”

Related:

Lt. Col. Stuart Couch on His Refusal to Prosecute Abused Prisoner

Guantánamo Diary author released after 14 years in illegal detention