Yesterday, this committee heard some of the most disturbing testimony that can be imagined in a free society. We heard evidence that for decades the institutions designed to enforce the laws and Constitution of our country have been engaging in conduct that violates the law and the Constitution. We heard that the FBI, which is part of the Department of Justice, took justice into its own hands by seeking to punish those with unpopular ideas. We learned that the chief law enforcement agency in the federal Government decided that it did not need laws to investigate and suppress the peaceful and constitutional activities of those whom it disapproved.
Mondale added on the floor of the Senate:
We heard testimony that the FBI, to protect the country against those it believed had totalitarian political views, employed the tactics of totalitarian societies against American citizens. We heard that the FBI attempted to destroy one of our greatest leaders in the field of civil rights [referring to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.], and then replace him with someone of the FBI's choosing.
On April 23, 1976, the U.S. Congress released its final select committee report on these activities:
We have seen segments of our Government adopt tactics unworthy of a democracy and occasionally reminiscent of the tactics of totalitarian regimes. ... [T]he chief investigative branch of the federal government [FBI], which was charged by law with investigating crimes and preventing criminal conduct, itself engaged in lawless tactics and responded to deep-seated social problems by fomenting violence and unrest.
Fascism is nothing new to the United States. It's always been especially potent to the white population here (with a history of indigenous genocide and institutionalized slavery, how could it not be?). But right now, the creeping danger of fascism feels especially real. In the COINTELPRO era, the FBI had to cover up their political assassinations because they were nothing more than murders. They were illegal. Now? Now the president orders political assassinations himself, and openly praises them as patriotic. Thanks to the bipartisan efforts of the Bush and Obama administrations, everything that was illegal in the COINTELPRO era is legal now.
The New York Times just revealed that Barack Obama has been keeping a secret 'kill list.' This is not a situation that is out of his control. The CIA is not a rogue agency doing as they please without the president's knowledge. Barack Obama personally decides who is and who is not worthy of being put on this list. He decides when it's feasible to murder them. If their families are with them, or if there are civilians present, "the president has reserved himself to make the final moral calculation." And as the case of Anwar al-Awlaki shows, being an American citizen does not exempt you from being put on this list. Obama told colleagues that the decision to assassinate someone protected by the Constitution was "an easy one." You got that? You have no right to a trial. If the government thinks you're a "terrorist" (whatever the hell that phrase is going to mean in a few years) they are going to come and murder you.
It was revealed that the Obama administration -- not the Bush administration -- has redefined what a "combatant" is in order to manipulate civilian death statistics. A "combatant" is any male of military age within the vicinity of an American strike. Let me reiterate this. If the United States decides to drop a bomb on you, then you are a terrorist. Abdul Rahman al Awlaki was a 16-year-old kid from Denver. There was this thing called the "Magna Carta," which is the basis for all anglo-American law, written about 800 years ago, that declared that no one shall be subjected to a violation of rights without due process of law. Abdul was supposed to have those rights. As an American citizen, he was supposed to have the rights guaranteed to him by the U.S. constitution. And as a child he wasn't supposed to be murdered as he sat down to his dinner. One of Obama's predator drones blew him apart. He was a "terrorist."
This is unprecedented. No one is safe. This is the most terrifying power-grab in the history of the United States. The Constitution no longer applies to American citizens. We do not have rights. It's important that the American people start grasping this.
But they won't. The American people are going to continue their ignorant complacency as the blade is eased in. Obama-supporting Democrats, who so bravely boasted of their love of freedom and justice during the Bush years, have revealed themselves for what they truly are -- utterly disgraceful hypocrites, lacking any sense of moral integrity. Not only do they not care that Barack Obama is worse than George W. Bush, but simply acknowledging the fact that these things are occurring will cause them to shut down entirely. Rocky Anderson's Justice Party posted this story on facebook. This was the first comment:
At this point, editorials like this are making the job for Mitt Romney much easier. I am a true progressive and while Obama is not the best, he's the best on the ballot that is offered. If I continue to see crap like this posted, I am just led to believe the Justice Party is becoming a vehicle for Mitt Romney, someone I DO NOT and progressives DO NOT want to see elected!
Unfortunately for him, facts do not cease being facts when you choose to ignore them. He's isn't outraged that Barack Obama is a child-murdering war criminal. He's outraged that someone had the gall to post about it on facebook, so that others might become aware.
The White Rose was a resistance movement in Germany during the Nazi regime. They were a group of intellectuals, mostly students, who wrote and distributed pamphlets. The six most prominent members were eventually arrested by the Gestapo and beheaded. Today in Germany, they are hailed as national heroes. These are the closing words of the fourth pamphlet they distributed: "We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace."
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