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Joe Wolverton, II, J.D. New American December 12, 2013
The House and Senate Armed Services Committees have reached an agreement on the fiscal year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
As approved by the committees, the text of the latest iteration of the bill is derived from H.R. 1960, which passed the House on June 14 by a vote of 315-108 and S. 1197, a version passed by a Senate committee by a vote of 23-3, later that same day.
House and Senate leaders hurried to hammer out a mutually acceptable measure so as to get the whole package passed before the end of the year.
Reading the mainstream (official) press, one would believe that the NDAA is nothing more nefarious than a necessary replenishing of Pentagon funds. Readers of The New American know, however, there is much more than budget issues contained in the legislation.
For two years, the NDAA included provisions that purported to authorize the president of the United States to deploy the U.S. military to apprehend and indefinitely detain any person (including an American citizen) who he believes “represent[s] an enduring security threat to the United States.”
Such an immense grant of power is not only unconscionable, but unconstitutional, as well.
Regardless of promises to the contrary made every year since 2011 by President Obama, the language of the NDAA places every citizen of the United States within the universe of potential “covered persons.” Any American could one day find himself or herself branded a “belligerent” and thus subject to the complete confiscation of his or her constitutional civil liberties and to nearly never-ending incarceration in a military prison.
Finally, there is in the NDAA for 2014 a frightening fusion of the federal government’s constant surveillance of innocent Americans and the assistance it will give to justifying the indefinite detention of anyone labeled an enemy of the regime.
Section 1071 of the version of the 2014 NDAA approved by the House and Senate committees this week expands on the scope of surveillance established by the Patriot Act and the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF).
Section 1071(a) authorizes the secretary of defense to “establish a center to be known as the ‘Conflict Records Research Center.’” According to the text of the latest version of the NDAA, the center’s task would be to compile a “digital research database including translations and to facilitate research and analysis of records captured from countries, organizations, and individuals, now or once hostile to the United States.”
In order to accomplish the center’s purpose, the secretary of defense will create an information exchange in cooperation with the director of national intelligence.
Key to the functioning of this information exchange will be the collection of “captured records.” Section 1071(g)(1), defines a captured record as “a document, audio file, video file, or other material captured during combat operations from countries, organizations, or individuals, now or once hostile to the United States.”
When read in conjunction with the provision of the AUMF that left the War on Terror open-ended and the prior NDAAs’ classification of the United States as a battleground in that unconstitutional war, and you’ve got a powerful combination that can knock out the entire Bill of Rights.
Finally, when all the foregoing is couched within the context of the revelations regarding the dragnet surveillance programs of the NSA, it becomes evident that anyone’s phone records, e-mail messages, browsing history, text messages, and social media posts could qualify as a “captured record.”
After being seized by the NSA (or some other federal surveillance apparatus), the materials would be processed by the Conflict Records Research Center created by this bill. This center’s massive database of electronic information and its collaboration with the NSA converts the United States into a constantly monitored holding cell and all its citizens and residents into suspects. All, of course, in the name of the security of the homeland.
Although the outlook is dire, there are those willing to stand and oppose the threats to liberty posed by the NDAA.
For example, libertarian icon and former presidential candidate Ron Paul recently interviewed Daphne Lee, a lady who calls herself “just a mom” but who made an impassioned speech in Nevada against the indefinite detention provisions of the 2012 NDAA. After talking to Lee, Paul announced that he would work to fight enforcement of unconstitutional provisions of the NDAA nationwide.
Additionally, the People Against the NDAA (PANDA) organization is promoting passage of anti-NDAA legislation in towns, counties, and states. On a website devoted to chronicling these efforts, PANDA lists 27 cities, 17 counties, and 25 states that have enacted or are considering bills or resolutions refusing to execute any element of the NDAA that violates the constitutionally protected liberties of its citizens.
While these bills are at various spots along the process of becoming laws, one state recently signed on to thwart the abuse of power authorized by the NDAA.
On October 1, Governor Jerry Brown announced that he had signed AB 351 into law.
The new statute, called the California Liberty Preservation Act, outlaws the participation of any agency of the state of California, any political subdivision of the state, employee of a state or local agency, or member of the California National Guard from
knowingly aiding an agency of the Armed Forces of the United States in any investigation, prosecution, or detention of a person within California pursuant to (1) Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA), (2) the federal law known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force, enacted in 2001, or (3) any other federal law, except as specified, if the state agency, political subdivision, employee, or member of the California National Guard would violate the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, or any law of this state by providing that aid….
… knowingly using state funds and funds allocated by the state to those local entities on and after January 1, 2013, to engage in any activity that aids an agency of the Armed Forces of the United States in the detention of any person within California for purposes of implementing Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA or the federal law known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force, if that activity would violate the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, or any law of this state, as specified.
Interpreted broadly, the Liberty Preservation Act would outlaw state cooperation in any federal act which violates the state or federal constitutions. Although Governor Brown almost certainly didn’t intend the provisions of the law to be applied this liberally, the black letter could arguably be used to protect citizens of California from deprivation of a wide panoply of fundamental rights, including the right to keep and bear arms.
It will be worth watching court dockets in California to see if anyone relies on this language to fight the state’s infamous disarmament statutes.
Originally sponsored by State Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a conservative Republican (now running for governor), the bill’s senate sponsor was one of that body’s “most liberal lawmakers,” Mark Leno.
“Indefinite detention, by its very definition, means that we are abrogating, suspending, just throwing away the basic foundations of our Constitution and of our nation,” Leno said.
After being warned by some of his fellow Democrats that siding with Donnelly was tantamount to political suicide, Leno stood firm in defense of liberty. “It doesn’t matter where one finds oneself on the political spectrum,” he said. “These two sections of this national defense act are wrong, unconstitutional and never should have been included.”
Then, in November, a similar bill was introduced to the Ohio State House of Representatives by state Representatives Jim Butler and Ron Young. This concurrent resolution condemns “Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012” and urges “the Attorney General of the State of Ohio to bring suit to challenge the constitutionality of Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.”
While neither the California law nor the Ohio resolution is a perfect example of absolute nullification of an unconstitutional federal act, both stand as examples to other state legislatures of attempts to heed the counsel given by James Madison to states that want to resist federal consolidation of all power.
In TheFederalist, no. 46, Madison recommended that an effective way to thwart federal overreach is for agents of the states to refuse “to cooperate with officers of the Union.”
In order for Fiscal Year 2014 NDAA to become the “law,” the House of Representatives must pass the bill this week and the Senate would have to follow suit by the end of next week. This gives Americans only a few short days to contact their federal representatives and senators and encourage them to reject any version of the NDAA that infringes on the timeless civil liberties protected by the Constitution.
This article was posted: Thursday, December 12, 2013 at 1:47 pm
At Alternate Viewpoint, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us (See this article to learn more about Privacy Policies.). This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by Alternate Viewpoint and how it is used.
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Tuesday; October 22, 2013 – Los Angeles – 10:00 am
The Pete Santilli Show With Special Guest: Dan Johnson (PANDA UNITE)
Dan Johnson is 20 years old, an Eagle Scout, and has been recognized as one of the top 30 impromptu speakers in the United States. He is a Political Science Major at Bowling Green State University, and speaks a moderate amount of Japanese. He was always interested in politics, and was appalled when he saw the direction our country was heading in.
He founded PANDA (People Against the National Defense authorization Act). PANDA is supported by groups across the political spectrum, and is now one of the fastest growing liberty movements in the nation; with over 30 state teams across the country.
Recognized by many as an upcoming expert on the subjects of Liberty vs. National Security, the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, the 2001 AUMF, and the gradual slide toward an American Police State, Dan Johnson has spoken at the Northwest Ohio Conservative Conference, the Oathkeepers Midwest Regional Conference and P.A.U.L. Fest, writes for many online publications including the Huffington Post, Policy Mic, and Western Journalism and has been interviewed on multiple radio shows including Coast to Coast AM, Liberty Roundtable, and Red Ice Radio.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is a bill that normally funds the military. However, in 2012, two sections (1021 & 1022) made the NDAA the most dangerous law since the U.S. Civil War. Repeating the mistakes of WWII, when we detained 120,000 Japanese-Americans on race alone, this law authorizes the indefinite military detention of any person suspected of an affiliation with terrorism. This law applies to American citizens in America, non-citizens in America, and American citizens abroad. It doesn’t matter.
No charge. No trial. No day in court. Passed 93-7 in the Senate, 283-136 in the House.
How does it affect you?
The government just redefined a “terrorist.” It’s not someone convicted of blowing up buildings anymore. It’s everyone. According to multiple documents from the FBI, department of Homeland Security, and other agencies, It’s people who are “reverent of individual liberty,” “suspicious of centralized authority,” and “antifederalists.” It’s people who carry cash instead of credit. It’s people who are against fracking. It’s Constitutionalists, Ron Paul supporters, Democrats, Republicans, tea partiers and occupiers. It’s everyone.
What can you do?
The problem is big, but there’s an easy solution. All politics is local. We’ve forgotten that. It’s time to go local. Your police, sheriff, city council, they all took an oath to protect your rights. It’s time to hold them to it. We’ve been fighting this battle for almost two years. And now, we’re created the tools for you to do it too.
If you’re ready to take back your town, it’s time to roll. There are 3 steps: Learn, Build, and Act. Here’s how you do it.
The 2012 NDAA is the most dangerous law since the U.S. Civil War, and America’s politicians don’t want you to find out about it…using every trick in the book to stop you from understanding. Know your enemy, and you can fight it.
About your local government
First, you must know your public servants. Secondly, you must know your process. Research your local government; know when they meet, the rules for public comments, and how to get legislation introduced, voted on, and passed.
Build
Your team
Start small. Hand out a basic flyer to coworkers, family, and friends, and ask them to join you in defending liberty and justice. Gather a core team of at least 4 people, ready to stand with you to stop the NDAA in your community.
Your coalition
Go to local Tea Party meetings, occupy assemblies, and activist groups. Reach out to neighborhood groups, local parties, and activists groups. Show them how this endangers their group. Ask them to join your coalition.
Act
Inform
Flyer your neighborhood with your core team. Write letters to the editor. Create a website: takeback(yourcity).com
Pressure
Meet with your representatives/commissioners/councilmen. Speak out at public comment. Videotape it. Upload the video to this website and inspire the nation. (Upload link coming soon.) The law of war is the backbone of the NDAA. Pressure your officials until they introduce, and vote on, a law blocking it in your community. A prewritten sample is below.
Win
Win. Get your city council, county commission, or sheriff to pass a law blocking the NDAA, protecting activists, families, and businesses everywhere in your city/county. Hold your representatives accountable. They will try to trick you. They will ridicule you. They will try to refer it to committee. They will stall. The police will refuse to enforce it. Go back. Over and over again. Never give up. If they try to weaken your law, stop them. Do not compromise. Do not accept defeat. Know that you are on the cutting edge of the revolution.
That’s how we win. It’s that simple. Learn, Build, Act. You have been looking for something that works. You see the path our country has traveled down. You want a future for your children. You are ready.
We’ll provide extra support when you need it. We’ll provide advice, and you have the power to take back your town. Thousands of people stand behind you.
Joining Pete today was Anthony Antinello, media representative for Adam Kokesh, with an update on Adam’s status while being held a political prisoner in Washington DC.
Broke on: October 4th 2013 by: jeffrey Filed under: Blog
On July 4th Adam Kokesh did the most epic civil disobedience in modern history because he believes in liberty and that
self-defense is a civil right. click here to see the video.
On July 9th his home was raided and ransacked for 5 hours by over 50 officers with a tank and helicopters. click here to see the aftermath.
Since then, Adams team was sabotaged, all the money raised for legal defense was stolen.click here for the details.
Despite all that, he has been podcasting from jail. click here to see the podcast’s.
He and his team are working hard to use this opportunity to spread the message & raise awareness of jury nullification. for more info click here.
We need all the help we can get, email kim@adamvstheman.com if you want to volunteer.
Adams trial is coming up on Oct.24th & we are hosting a rally that evening in DC, to help out with that email salvi@adamvstheman.com & RSVP on the FB event page.
Keep an eye on this latest market move, as it indicates where inflation could be heading in the run up to 2014…
MEMORIES OF THE 1986 PRICE CRASH
Like the US debt ceiling saga – with the only possible result being more debt – the ultra-magic triple-digit dollar oil price of US WTI, and of course more for European Brent, needs extraordinary measures to stay that overblown. In the case of the US debt mountain the Fed does the extraordinary (over)blowing, but for oil WTI counts on heavy lifting by leading members of Wall Street’s oil market manipulator clique – often referred to as “investors” – who not so long ago forecast WTI as easily able to attain $ 125 per barrel by December 31st.
So the shading of New York oil prices below $ 99.99 on 21 October was something of an historic event…
Even by mid-morning, New York time, on 21 October the plunge protection team was clearly at work trying to repair the damage – because falling oil prices are a challenge to New Normal.
The nightmare for new normal oil and its unreal pricing – totally unrelated to natural gas and coal prices due to oil being so “noble” – would be a repeat and remake of the 1986 price crash. This featured plenty of the parameters, and the same Mid Eastern and other actors, we have today.
The official story for what happened in 1986, which resulted in a cool 67% or two-thirds reduction of the oil price through 6 months, followed by 13 years of low prices, can be given but doesn’t have to be believed. The story says Saudi Arabia “abandoned its swing producer role”, cutting back its production from a little over 10 million barrels a day (Mbd), close to today’s claimed 11 Mbd, to just 2.3 Mbd by August 1985, because of increasing price weakness signals in the market, or at least clear signs of reduced Saudi revenues. The story continues that Saudi Arabia had been tinkering with pricing options and alternatives, from compensation-offset trade deals, to increased refining action to reduce crude as a percentage of exports, to netback-pricing concepts tying the crude price to the value of refined petroleum products in certain markets, in a global refining system like today’s but more extreme – beset by high costs, overcapacity, outdated technology, and so on.
In fact the most basic problem was soft global demand for crude, which had not recovered from the 1979-83 recession. The Saudi action of hiking its production above 10 Mbd had spurred other OPEC members to increase crude production and offer their own barter-offset and netback-pricing deals for buyers. World supply and stocks of crude and products rose through late 1985 and continued into 1986. The average per-barrel FOB (free on board) price for OPEC crude oil dropped from around $ 23.45 in December 1985 to $ 9.85 in July 1986 and for some crudes, and some buyer markets, it dropped further than that. Prices for crude oil from nonOPEC countries of course followed the same track. A 13-year price decline ensued
ENERGY ECONOMICS VERSUS GEOPOLITICS
Rather similar to today, the US-Saudi prime concern of the day was the Iranian menace, even if Syria’s al-Assad of the day, called Hafez was less of a problem than his son Bashr. In 1985 the Iraq war effort against Iran in their war which started in 1980 was weakening by the day. The war was partly financed by Saudi Arabia and mostly armed by the US, including the supply of chemical weapons to Iraq, but by late 1985 was failing and tapering down. Iran had not been beaten. There was stalemate.
Through the period to late 1985 and into 1986 the Middle East “war risk premium” on oil was often estimated at around $ 10 a barrel, or more. Today’s estimate is about the same. By late 1985 however the taper-down of the Iran-Iraq war was becoming hard to ignore, eroding the risk premium, but Saddam Hussein’s demands for financing, loans and weapons, and even fighting men to throw at Iran were higher than ever. A collapse in oil prices was about the worst thing possible for keeping the war popping – but the war popped its clogs and fizzled out, in major part due to insufficient funding, made worse by falling oil prices!
The impact of the oil price collapse on the US oil sector was dramatic. Crude prices 60% lower reversed the upward trend in US oil production that had operated for the previous 5 years. High-cost wells, made economic by the doubling of oil prices in 1978-1980, became unprofitable and were shut in. US oil imports soared, from 3.2 Mbd in 1985 to over 8 Mbd by the late 1980s, and peaked at 9.1 Mbd in year 2000 except for imports from the Gulf Arab states, which peaked in 2003, according to US EIA data.
Through 1986-99 the collapse of world oil prices had most and first affected OPEC crude. OPEC oil exports to the US grew and overall oil consumption of the US rose from in those 13 years by nearly 4 Mbd, from 15.7 Mbd to 19.5 Mbd.
The energy economics of the crash were drastically simple. When oil prices decline, Saudi Arabia pumps less and the US imports more. When oil prices rise Saudi Arabia pumps more and the US imports less but as the 1986-99 period showed, OPEC producers apart from Saudi Arabia taper down less, or not at all, to try conserving oil revenue totals. Non-OPEC producers can also react this way, even in high cost oil provinces like the North Sea where oil output went on rising as prices crashed and stayed high throughout the 1986-99 period. The USSR’s production through the 1980s was rarely below 11.6 Mbd, and only seriously declined from 1990.
Oil geopolitics in no way has to converge and comply with the energy economics. Mainly for internal domestic political reasons, Saudi Arabia soon threw in the towel on its production-cutting effort or “price discipline” role, defending prices by producing less. From 1989 to 1991 it hiked average daily output by 3.1 Mbd, to 8.1 Mbd, and throughout the 1990s with prices often down to $ 10 – $ 15 per barrel it held its average output at around 8.1 – 8.4 Mbd. The claimed “target price” agreed by OPEC and promoted by Saudi Arabia, was $ 18 per barrel, but this was rarely attained for a period lasting 13 years from 1986.
WILL IT HAPPEN AGAIN?
Theoretically it would be totally impossible to have a comparable more-than-60% fall of oil prices, today, with prices cut to around $ 40 per barrel, and held at that low level for over a decade. The crash of oil prices in 2008-2009 was a radically rapid decline-and-rebound event.
Today, both Saudi Arabia and Russia work on short national financial and economic fuzes, and the US economic fuze is so short that any massive cut in oil prices – creating a wave of panic in the US domestic oil industry – would likely not bolster economic growth or lead to a big uptick in US oil consumption. In 1986 world oil production and refinery overcapacity was huge, but the overhang is not so large today. The price crash of 2013-14 would therefore be more restrained, and could not feature a cut of oil prices by more than about 33% from present prices.
Nevertheless, today, both Saudi and Russian oil output are at record highs – and US output also. The smaller OPEC producers, and a host of small non-OPEC producers are often at or near record output. The potential for oil stocks growing radically outside the US, and potentially also in the US, certainly exists and reporting disclosure of radically rising crude and refined products stocks will always add further downward pressures on prices if and when they are already falling.
The Middle East war risk premium, assuming it is around $ 10 per barrel can be heavily cut given the basic US-Russian entente or deal to not bomb Syria and remove its chemical weapons, whatever Saudi Arabia might think of that. This would take oil prices to about $ 89 per barrel for WTI. About another $ 10 below that price level we start approaching actual US shale oil producer prices, making further declines less easy, but still possible.
The likely sustainable floor price – meaning a long term depressed price level – could be as high as $ 70 – $ 75 per barrel, after trading swings and plays have turned down.
HELPED OR HINDERED BY THE DOLLAR?
Conventional oil analysts and trader lore says that if the USD declines, oil prices in dollars normally rise “mutatis mutandis” but even if we forgot our Latin, the outlook for the USD plunging – against what? – presents a lot of intellectual problems. Against oil is what the oil bulls hope.
Quoted on Pravda.ru, October 16, scholar Mikhail Khazin said: “Those who are professionally engaged in economic matters, in one voice say that there are not years, but months or even weeks left before the collapse.” To be sure he meant a collapse of the USD and its role in world trade – especially oil trade. Conversely, Khazin said nothing at all about the Russian ruble becoming the world’s new petrodollar, nor the CNY-RMB, nor gold – and we can tell him that oil-gold trades will be hampered by persistent weakness inside the bullion market, upstream corporate debt for miners hitting extremes, but revenues declining, and soft gold mining stock prices being sure and certain for some while forward.
Forecasts that the USD is going to tank – against what? – face so many hurdles in the real world we can bet with the contrarians that the world value of the dollar will rise a little, if not a lot, in coming days and even weeks. Dragging down the oil price.
In a normal world, nothing like New Normal, as pointed out by Alistair Macleod in a long interview with Chris Martenson on ‘Peak Prosperity’, October 19, the role of QE worldwide and whether this concerns the US Fed, the ECB, the BOE or the BOJ, has reached a saturation effect in artificial wealth creation. It is now only a wealth transfer operation. Only those players close to the money spigot will now get the spinoff or “trickle down” from printed money.
This is a deflation crisis, likely or certainly followed by hyperinflation, but presently a deflation crisis. Outside the trickle down, everywhere else in the economy, local and global, we get deflation. Oil prices will therefore deflate – not inflate.
Episode 5 of Sunday Wire Radio Show with host Patrick Henningsen aired Sunday Oct 6th…This week’s theme: ‘Spies, Lies and Common Law’ This week THE SUNDAY WIRE talked with former MI5 whistleblower and author David Shayler, for a frank discussion about 9/11 and 7/7, as well as realities of Common Law in the 21st century, followed by regular contributor and pundit Basil Valentine and his rant on elitists in Britain. The final hour we spoke with Brian Gerrish of the UK Column to discuss the shadow state in Britain and elite’s plans for a OneWorld Government who are now constructing a corporate state in Europe and the US – this show is guaranteed to stimulate the mind!
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