Author Archives: John W. Whitehead

The new FBI powers: Cointelpro on steroids

Listen closely and what you will hear, beneath the babble of political chatter and other mindless political noises distracting you from what’s really going on, are the dying squeals of the Fourth Amendment. It dies a little more with every no-knock raid that is carried out by a SWAT team, every phone call eavesdropped on by FBI agents, and every piece of legislation passed that further undermines the right of every American to be free from governmental intrusions into their private affairs. Continue reading

SWAT team mania: The war against the American citizen

The militarization of American police—no doubt a blowback effect of the military empire—has become an unfortunate part of American life. In fact, it says something about our reliance on the military that federal agencies having nothing whatsoever to do with national defense now see the need for their own paramilitary units. Among those federal agencies laying claim to their own law enforcement divisions are the State Department, Department of Education, Department of Energy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service, to name just a few. These agencies have secured the services of fully armed agents—often in SWAT team attire—through a typical bureaucratic sleight-of-hand provision allowing for the creation of Offices of Inspectors General (OIG). Each OIG office is supposedly charged with not only auditing their particular agency’s actions but also uncovering possible misconduct, waste, fraud, theft, or certain types of criminal activity by individuals or groups related to the agency’s operation. At present, there are 73 such OIG offices in the federal government that, at times, perpetuate a police state aura about them. Continue reading

Private Bradley Manning: A victim of the military empire?

Depending on your view of the endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and America’s role in them, Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the 23-year-old Army soldier who is accused of “aiding the enemy” by leaking classified military and diplomatic documents to the anti-secrecy website, WikiLeaks, is either a courageous whistleblower or a traitorous snitch. Manning is alleged to have leaked over 250,000 United States diplomatic cables, as well as footage of an American Apache helicopter airstrike in Baghdad from July 12, 2007, in which 18 people were killed, many of them civilians. Two of those killed were Reuters journalists. If convicted, Manning could face the death penalty. Continue reading

Alford v. Greene: Are we really mere creatures of the state?

Not only is Alford v. Greene the first major case involving Child Protective Services to go before the United States Supreme Court in 21 years, but it is also one of the most important parents’ rights cases ever to reach the Court. If it goes the right way—i.e., to bolster parents’ rights—it will mean that state agents will have to obtain a court order in order to question a child at school. If it goes the wrong way, however, which the Obama administration is advocating for, along with 40 state attorneys general, law enforcement agencies, social workers, prosecutors and defense attorneys, it will be a serious blow to parental rights as well as the rights of children in the public schools. Continue reading

Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar, go figure

Do you ever wonder why some of the greatest performers and directors of all time have never won an Oscar? It certainly has nothing to do with lack of talent. For example, the man considered the greatest director of all time, whose films have affected millions and changed the history of cinema, never received an Academy Award for best director. Continue reading

The FBI has gone rogue

The history of the FBI is the history of how America—once a nation that abided by the rule of law and held the government accountable for its actions—has steadily devolved into a police state where laws are unidirectional, intended as a tool for government to control the people and rarely the other way around. Continue reading

Sex trafficking: There’s more to the Super Bowl than sports

The wildly popular Super Bowl, with its revelry of sex, drugs and alcohol, invariably imparts a Bacchanalian aura to whatever city plays host to it, and Super Bowl XLV, which will take place in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday February 6, 2011, will be no exception. With greater numbers of Americans reportedly planning to celebrate the showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Greenbay Packers by throwing a party, attending a party or watching at a bar or restaurant, consumer spending is expected to reach $10.1 billion. Continue reading