John W. Whitehead

“What’s been most striking to me is just how one-sided the rules are when Americans take on their own government…. It has been dismaying to learn the extent to which rules and laws shield the government from accountability for its abuses – or even lawbreaking…. It’s been a long and frightening lesson…. The rules seem … Continue reading “The System Is Rigged: Qualified Immunity Is How the Police State Stays in Power”

When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. – John Lennon Brace yourselves. There is something being concocted in … Continue reading “This Is Not a Revolution. It’s a Blueprint for Locking Down the Nation”

“They were monsters with human faces, in crisp uniforms, marching in lockstep, so banal you don’t recognize them for what they are until it’s too late.” ~ Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children I have never known any government to put the best interests of its people first, and this COVID-19 pandemic is … Continue reading “The US Government’s Secret History of Grisly Experiments”

It’s time to bring our troops home. Bring them home from Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Bring them home from Germany, South Korea and Japan. Bring them home from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Oman. Bring them home from Niger, Chad and Mali. Bring them home from Turkey, the Philippines, and northern Australia. That’s not what’s … Continue reading “Come Home, America: Stop Policing the Globe and Put an End to Wars-Without-End”

Come you masters of war / You that build the big guns You that build the death planes / You that build all the bombs You that hide behind walls / You that hide behind desks I just want you to know / I can see through your masks…. You fasten all the triggers / … Continue reading “Casualties of War: Military Veterans Have Become America’s Walking Wounded”

“But these weren’t the kind of monsters that had tentacles and rotting skin, the kind a seven-year-old might be able to wrap his mind around – they were monsters with human faces, in crisp uniforms, marching in lockstep, so banal you don’t recognize them for what they are until it’s too late.” – Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children The U.S. … Continue reading “The Making of a Monster”

“Pity the nation whose people are sheep And whose shepherds mislead them Pity the nation whose leaders are liars Whose sages are silenced And whose bigots haunt the airwaves Pity the nation that raises not its voice Except to praise conquerors And acclaim the bully as hero And aims to rule the world By force … Continue reading “Pity the Nation: War Spending Is Bankrupting America”

“For soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, coming home is more lethal than being in combat.” ~ Brené Brown, research professor at the University of Houston Not all heroes wear the uniform of war. In the United States, however, we take particular pride in recognizing as heroes those who have served in the military. Yet … Continue reading “A Badge of Shame: The Government’s War on America’s Military Veterans”

“Why throw money at defense when everything is falling down around us? Do we need to spend more money on our military (about $600 billion this year) than the next seven countries combined? Do we need 1.4 million active military personnel and 850,000 reserves when the enemy at the moment – ISIS – numbers in … Continue reading “The Military Industrial Complex Strikes Again”

“If we’re training cops as soldiers, giving them equipment like soldiers, dressing them up as soldiers, when are they going to pick up the mentality of soldiers? If you look at the police department, their creed is to protect and to serve. A soldier’s mission is to engage his enemy in close combat and kill … Continue reading “Battlefield America Is the New Normal”