The Steady and Alarming Extension of Federal Power Against US Citizens Since 2002
When did the White House get in the business of censoring US citizens?
By JOHN LEAKE
The legal mandate of the Praetorian Guard was to protect the Roman Emperor, but over time the Guard amassed such enormous power that it became unclear who was really in charge—the Emperor or the men who were purportedly protecting him. A few Emperors were assassinated by the Guard.
Some historians have pointed to the Praetorian Guard as emblematic of how an institution can arise that becomes the true seat of executive power. Each successive executive who enters office, either through his birth to a royal family or through a popular election, is merely the puppet of the men who run this institution.
It’s not the executive himself, but the career administrators—the denizens of the “Deep State”—who call the shots. If the executive is a relatively young, vigorous, free-thinking individual, he may find himself coming into conflict with these administrators, particularly if they have held their offices and amassed influence over a long period of time. If, on the other hand, the executive is intellectually weak or perhaps old and frail, his occupation of the office may give the administrators free rein to do as they please for themselves and their friends.
This scenario came to mind this morning when I saw an Epoch Times report on how the White House has sent E-mails to social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter, directing them to censor prominent public speakers such as Tucker Carlson and Robert F, Kennedy, Jr. There was a time not so long ago when a White House censorship program against U.S. citizens would have seemed unthinkable. How did the Executive Branch obtain power to censor U.S. citizens? Did Congress pass a law in violation of the First Amendment, authorizing the executive to abridge the freedom of speech?
Throughout history, aspiring dictators (whether they be individual executives or oligarchies) have always relished public emergencies—real, perceived, exaggerated, and fabricated—because they provide a rich opportunity for expanding their power. Because fear tends to switch off the critical reasoning faculty in most people, most people will not be inclined to question the executive’s assertions about the purported emergency and its true causes.
The current, blooming garden of unchecked federal power seems to have germinated in 2002 with the passage of the Homeland Security Act and the Homeland Security Council, an entity within the Executive Office of the President created by President Bush’s Executive Order 13228.
In response to my post last Friday—Is the USA No Longer a Constitutional Republic?—our colleague and legal scholar par excellence, Katharine Watt at the Bailiwick News Substack, sent me the following drum roll of laws passed by Congress and the President, expanding the power of the federal government to do whatever it pleases under the guise of protecting us.
2006/10/17 - Congress and President Bush passed NDAA/John Warner Defense Authorization Act for FY2007 - PL 109-364, 120 Stat. 2095. Section 1076 amended 1807 Insurrection Act, (10 USC 333, renumbered as 10 USC 253), providing exemptions to 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, to expand the authority of federal government to deploy US military on American soil against American citizens during “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States.” Repealed in NDAA for FY2008. Passed again in NDAA for FY2012.
2008/01/28 - Congress and President Bush passed National Defense Authorization Act for FY2008. PL 110-181, 122 Stat. 325. Section 1068 repealed 2007 amendments to Insurrection Act which had expanded exemptions to 1878 Posse Comitatus Act limits on US Presidents’ power to deploy the military domestically. Amendments passed again in NDAA for FY2012, again giving President power to deploy military domestically.
2011/12/31 - Congress and President Obama passed National Defense Authorization Act for FY2012 - PL 112-81, 125 Stat. 1298. Section 1021 codified authority for US President to order military arrest and indefinite detention of American civilians without charge or trial under 10 USC 801 et seq. (Uniform Code of Military Justice), to the extent the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed under the 1973 War Powers Act, (50 U.S. Code § 1541) is construed as putting the United States in a permanent state of war (Global War on Terror) and the national emergency first declared by President Bush in 2001 is extended. It has been extended, every year since.
2016/12/23 - Congress and President Obama passed National Defense Authorization Act for FY2017. PL 114-328, 130 Stat. 2509. Established DOD Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) and Director of DSCA, with authority to coordinate and synchronize US military with foreign military forces, and conduct domestic military campaigns in violation of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act. Codified at [10 USC 382].
2017/01/23 - Department of Homeland Security published Biological Incident Annex to the Response and Recovery Federal Interagency Operational Plans. At p. 70, stated that 10 USC 382 “permits Department of Defense to provide support to the Department of Justice under certain circumstances in emergency situations involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, including biological weapons and materials.”
See also Presidential Executive Orders on globalized, militarized public health/population control frameworks, bioweapons development, Artificial Intelligence and Presidential authorization for foreign troops to control American civilians on US soil: 13674 (Obama, 2014); 13732 (Obama, 2016); 13747 (Obama, 2016); 13859 (Trump, 2019); 13887 (Trump, 2019); and 13961 (Trump, 2020).
In other words, if you question the state’s “emergency powers” and its actions to quell purported emergencies, it seems you will find little refuge in the United States Constitution. The broad powers amassed by the federal government since 2002 have apparently enabled the state to deem you a “misinformation spreader” or “domestic terrorist” and censor and even detain you.
Some of us saw this for what it was way back in 2002! The Patriot Act and subsequent NDAA's told me the Republic was dead. Arabs with box cutters? Towers free falling into their footprints. The war on "terror". The destruction of the Middle East. TSA? Homeland Security? I never imagined they would use the medical mafia to push us over the edge. But they did. And I watched as the sheep lined up and gave away their rights. Is this acceptable speech here on Courageous Discourse? I hope so.
This piece is brilliant. It will not be acceptable to the masses, of course, for they do not appear to have been schooled in how things really work. It is way too complex for them to absorb as they are still seeking easily digestible mother’s milk and jarred, puréed peaches and peas. Way to hard to “chew” on something real. Too much heavy lifting. The way the Collective truly operates can only be known and comprehended by the Individual who questions, challenges, and debates.