When a reporter for the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command interviewed Frank Zappa for the commands news syndicate, the story was held by a superior who demanded that Zappa – who had been rather hard on the army – answer one more question: just who does he think will defend the country without the army?
Zappa’s reply: “From what? The biggest threat to America today is it’s own federal government…. Will the Army protect anybody from the FBI? The IRS? The CIA? The Republican Party? The Democratic Party?….The biggest dangers we face today don’t even need to sneak past our billion dollar defense system….they issue the contracts for them.” The interview was not run.
*Note: It’s uncertain whether the above exchange ever took place, since the interview was never run. Nevertheless, the point is clear, instructive and serves as the perfect introduction for this post, whether the words were actually said or not.
One of the greatest afflictions affecting these United States at the moment is the general public’s overwhelming gullibility when it comes to government. You may think this sounds insane given surveys that consistently show Congress with a less than 10% approval rating, but I think this clouds the fact that most people have yet to accept just how completely corrupt and authoritarian government has actually become.
I don’t mean for this to become some sort of big rant against government in general. Our founders set up a brilliant system which has served the country well for over two centuries. What people seem to forget is our system of government wasn’t set up to create a new set of parental authority figures for the public. The entire intent behind the Constitution was to create a series of checks and balances to restrain government from becoming too powerful and working against the interests of the public. Government’s primary role in America is supposed to be to protect the Constitution and defend the cherished civil liberties defined within it. In 2016, it does precisely opposite.
Our government isn’t just corrupt though. Indeed, the primary function of government at the moment is to protect status quo criminals from the public, not the other way around. This is why the rich and powerful are never held to account, which is in turn why it continues to get worse and worse. A key gatekeeper in this whole scheme against the citizenry is the FBI.
Time and time again throughout U.S. history, you see the FBI working to undermine the public’s freedom in order to protect whatever racket their status quo masters happen to be running at the time. There are countless examples, but I’ll list a few that I’ve covered, spanning the last 50 years to the present:
Disturbing Claim – FBI Interrogated Former Senator for Wanting “28 Pages” Declassified
Apple Vows to Defend Its Customers as the FBI Launches a War on Privacy and Security
Read the Letter That Turned Folk Icon Pete Seeger Into an FBI Target
Parents Beware – The FBI is Launching Program to Recruit High School Kids
The Full Letter Written by the FBI to Martin Luther King Has Been Revealed
The list goes on and on, but you get the point. The FBI doesn’t work to protect the public. That’s just Hollywood and primetime television spin. Its true function is to protect government and its rich and powerful patrons from the public.
This sad reality is about to be demonstrated once again with the Hillary Clinton email investigation. If you or me had done what she did we’d be locked away forever without a second thought, but since the FBI works to protect the powerful, nothing will happen. That’s not to say there aren’t some great people who work at the FBI. I’m sure there are, but they aren’t the people making the big decisions. The decision makers know who they work for, and it isn’t you or I.
All you have to do is understand the umbrella the FBI works under. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice; the same department that jumped through every hoop imaginable to avoid jailing a single bank executive during one of the most destructive white collar crime sprees in American history. The one man who ensured the bankers were protected during his tenure was none other than Eric Holder. Now that he’s spun back through the revolving door to Covington and Burling, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that Mr. Holder is heading up a fundraiser for none other than, you guessed it, Hillary Clinton.
The Hill reports:
Former Attorney General Eric Holder will headline a “lawyers for Hillary” fundraiser for Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton later this month.
Available tickets for the fundraiser, which takes place May 31, range from $500 to $2,700, according to Clinton’s campaign website. “Young lawyer” tickets, priced at $250, were sold out as of early Sunday afternoon.
Actress Julianna Margulies also will attend the fundraiser.
The fundraiser comes as the FBI continues its probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of State.
Yep, that’s right. The man who ran the DOJ and had oversight over the FBI during most of the Obama administration; the same man who refused to prosecute any powerful bankers, is now hosting a fundraiser for a presidential candidate under active investigation by the FBI. The idea that Hillary Clinton will be served anything resembling justice is preposterous.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. When it’s not protecting the rich and powerful from the public or creating fake terrorist plots, it’s busy spying on the peasants. The latest example comes to us courtesy of CBS News in San Francisco:
OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Hidden microphones that are part of a clandestine government surveillance program that has been operating around the Bay Area has been exposed.
Imagine standing at a bus stop, talking to your friend and having your conversation recorded without you knowing. It happens all the time, and the FBI doesn’t even need a warrant to do it.
Federal agents are planting microphones to secretly record conversations.
Jeff Harp, a KPIX 5 security analyst and former FBI special agent said, “They put microphones under rocks, they put microphones in trees, they plant microphones in equipment. I mean, there’s microphones that are planted in places that people don’t think about, because that’s the intent!”
FBI agents hid microphones inside light fixtures and at a bus stop outside the Oakland Courthouse without a warrant to record conversations, between March 2010 and January 2011.
Harp said, “An agent can’t just go out and grab a recording device and plant it somewhere without authorization from a supervisor or special agent in charge.”
Because that makes me feel so much better…
If Congress wasn’t so busy being corrupt shills for the powerful it might do something to stop this. I’m not holding my breath.
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G
Follow me on Twitter.
“Our founders set up a brilliant system which has served the country well for over two centuries.”
Not really. Read Hologram of Liberty: The Constitution’s Shocking Alliance With Big Government by Kenneth W. Royce and Boston T. Party.
I am not holding my breath either. But thanks for a chance to repeat my soapbox. For over sixty-five years in one form or another the taxpayer funded abusive application of the state secrets privilege doctrine, espionage act, executive order, administrative action, regulation and related policy abuses has continued. Thanks to the ACLU we have at least gotten the discovery process to go forward on three more recent torture cases. Your quote of a quote, “The biggest threat to America today is it’s own federal government” is right on target. Having said that I am a fan of James Comey the current FBI head.
… and the biggest threat to the FBI today is the West Coast scorpions. They have the habit of hiding under rocks, so the FBI bullies had better be trained to handle them safely. A few agents may already have been eliminated by scorpions. If so then we’ll never get to know about it since it’s one of those EYES ONLY affairs. Is Mr. Max K. man enough to research this for us or will we have to hire redoubtable Ms. (?) Stacy H. for the job?
Thank you for this article. The corruption is even worse than I thought & I am sickened by it. Hillary will be president no matter what we do or how hard we fight back for Bernie Sanders. How can we fight this?
You can’t fight it. You are wasting your life trying.
Think outside the box (country). Find a small jurisdiction (the smaller the better) and build a new life. There are lots of them. Even better: find several and move between them. Visitors are always treated better than citizens. Citizens are nothing but milk cows for government, and when fiscal policy goes off the rails they are beef cows. Diversify your life. When the SHTF you’ll be glad you did.
Political migration from the west, interesting hypothesis for the future.
But I think running away will not solve the problem, the key is for the general public to be aware and able to articulate critical thinking.
We have a great example of that here on this blog (I wish your blog also came in the form of a newspaper for grand distribution Michael). We need more people to turn away from mainstream media/ establishement propaganda to forge their own opinions on current matters.
However, the thought that Bernie Sanders might never be elected is incredibly sad.
The Constitution was the best government man could produce, but the treaty (contract) clause is used to get everyone to lay aside their rights and be ruled over by equity courts.
Great article.
If the public only knew that they have always been surveyed as far back as the technology made it possible, people would be amazed. People are not honorable or righteous, ever. One example: Telephony; neighbor listened in on neighbor. operators listened in on callers as if it were a gossip/soap opera show. The lines were given privacy, operators went away, party lines diminished. Or we thought. it’s all an honor system, full of dishonorable people. I would call that insane. As a telecommunications technician and my coworkers started finding wire taps in the line bags on the poles, the pedestals on the ground, we were never briefed about them and we are very possessive about protecting our customers “private” lines. We started cutting out these unauthorized tap devices. There was such a disruption in the wire taps, that those who put them there, now had to come and brief us not to touch these taps (without any court issued warrant, I might add!) We just nodded our heads and continued what we were doing if the wire tap had no warrant. Those good men and women who protected you all behind the scenes are now long gone and retired and the newbies behind us don’t have the knowledge to know right from wrong unfortunately. Our children and grandchildren will rise up against each other and their communities with a false sense of entitlement and won’t think twice about destroying anyone that gets in their way. I have already seen this happening in my own youngest siblings. It will and is getting worse, not because the good men and women are doing nothing, it is more of, they are out numbered by the growing wickedness in the hearts of mankind. Selfishness abounds and to be selfless, there is no example for the masses to follow. It has all become deception and greed. You think you are selfless, examine yourself in the details of your life and honestly reflect on who you and what you support with your time, thoughts, labor and monies. Are/is it truly selfless or selfish. Those selfish things can be purged from your life once you are aware of them, but unawares, they will consume you and put you in a bondage you’ll never be able to escape.
WE THE PEOPLE need to WAKE UP to their reality. What kind of country are you living in, do you really know ? Judge Anna Riezinger explains this very well. Many have talked about this, but just a few listened. Such is the case of Jordan Maxwell. I´m talking about Common Law, Maritime Law, and WHAT LAW is the one that maintains it´s unjustice grip in the American Justice System. The Republic has been hijacked as well as the Constitutional Rights, and no body gets it, The USA is not a Republic, it is a CORPORATION….. LISTEN CAREFULLY to Judge Anna Riezinger… it is very important…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhFmhqG-ARw