Post-9/11, an array of
police state laws, executive orders, memoranda, various national security and
homeland security presidential directives, along with other repressive measures
eliminated constitutional protections.
Indefinite detention without charges or
trial became the law of the land. Torture-obtained evidence may be used against
detainees in trial proceedings, despite earlier Supreme Court decisions ruling
it impermissible.
Amending longstanding Insurrection Act and
Posse Comitatus protections allows federal troops to be deployed on US streets.
Big Brother watches everyone.
Whistleblowers exposing government wrongdoing risk long term imprisonment under
harsh conditions.
Obama’s war on freedom risks eliminating it
altogether, America under his tenure a hair’s breadth from full-blown tyranny.
First
Amendment rights are threatened like never before. Truth-telling on vital
domestic and geopolitical issues is now considered fake news or Russian
propaganda.
Targeting
it is the hallmark of fascist dictatorship. Washington wants views contrary to
its own suppressed, writers like myself and many others silenced.
When
truth-tellers become enemies of the state, freedom no longer exists.
In early December, Congress overwhelmingly
passed the Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act as part of the annual
National Defense Authorization Act – an unconstitutional measure against First
Amendment freedoms.
On December 23, ahead of the Christmas
holiday weekend, Obama signed it into law practically unnoticed. Along with
approving bloated military spending, it establishes a Center for Information
Analysis and Response – a de facto Ministry of Truth.
It aims to ferret out truth-telling on
vital issues, suppress what everyone has a right to know, countering it with
state-sponsored propaganda – along with perhaps targeting reliable independent
sources of news, information and analysis for elimination.
Orwell once said in times of universal
deceit, truth-telling is a revolutionary act. In America, it’s an endangered
species, heading toward becoming criminalized, its disseminators risking
prosecution, imprisonment or elimination by other means.
Obama governs under a police state
apparatus, hardened throughout his tenure. When truth-telling becomes fake news
or Russian propaganda, criminalizing it is a step closer to reality.
Reprinted with permission from GlobalResearch.ca.
Stephen Lendman [send him
mail] lives in Chicago. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with
distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive
Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at
noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. Visit his
blog.