Tag: Patriot Act

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

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

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

Another Terrible Choice for Biden’s “Disinformation Board”

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

By Lev Golinkin | May 27, 2022

Michael Chertoff’s experience detaining Muslim Americans, justifying CIA torture, and helping to draft the Patriot Act make him an all-too-appropriate choice to advise this Orwellian agency.

Another Terrible Choice for Biden’s “Disinformation Board”

H/T: It’s NOT a joke, Biden’s Ministry of Truth just got WORSE | Redacted with Clayton Morris on YouTube.

Related:

Who’s propaganda?! 👇

“I have a greater respect for the American people than you do. I think the American people can figure out the truth,” the senator said. “And if you think the American people need to be told there’s not fentanyl in the vaccination, feel free to say it. But the thing is, is if you are going to go around saying that you’re the arbiter of information and of disinformation, I think you have no clue. And you don’t have the perspective of history knowing that disinformation, the largest progenitor of disinformation in our history, has probably been the U.S. government.”

…

“Do you know, the greatest propagator of disinformation in the history of the world is? The U.S. government,” Paul said. “Are you familiar with McNamara? The Pentagon Papers? Are you familiar with George W. Bush and the weapons of mass destruction? Are you familiar with Iran-contra?”

“I mean, think of all the debates and disputes we’ve had over the last 50 years in our country,” Paul continued. “We worked them out by debating them. We don’t work them out by the government being the arbiter. I don’t want guardrails. I want you to have nothing to do with speech. You think we can’t determine, you know, speech by traffickers is disinformation. Do you think the American people are so stupid they need you to tell them what the truth is? You can’t even admit what the truth is with the Steele dossier. I don’t trust government to figure out what the truth is. Government is largely disseminating disinformation.”

Rand Paul grills Mayorkas on disinformation: ‘I don’t trust government to figure out what the truth is’

No, Biden Can’t Just Sell Off Seized Russian Yachts and Central Bank Assets to Help Aid Ukraine – International Law and the US Constitution Forbid It

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Posted by Yves Smith

Yves here. It is instructive to see that a law professor who served as an expert witness for Naftogaz, the Ukrainian national oil and gas company, after Russia seixed its operations in Crimea, is concerned enough about the prospect of the Biden Administration selling confiscated Russian assets to speak up and advise against it.

However, I have my doubts that the US has been as scrupulous about not selling assets of sanctioned and belligerent nations as Professor Stephan suggests. Iraq owned a magnificent, very wide townhouse on East 80th Street between Park and Lexington as its embassy. It was promptly seized after the war started and sold within a couple of years. I sincerely doubt the proceeds were remitted to the new government.

No, Biden Can’t Just Sell Off Seized Russian Yachts and Central Bank Assets to Help Aid Ukraine – International Law and the US Constitution Forbid It