by John & Nisha Whitehead
This article was originally published by The Rutherford Institute on August 22, 2022. It is reprinted here with permission.
“We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. FBI is tending in that direction.” —Harry Truman
With every passing day, the United States government borrows ...
by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead
“In a closed society where everybody’s guilty, the only crime is getting caught.”
—Hunter S. Thompson
The burden of proof has been reversed.
No longer are we presumed innocent. Now we’re presumed guilty unless we can prove our innocence beyond a reasonable ...
by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute
“The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes.”—Thomas Paine
The government wants your money.It will beg, steal or borrow if necessary, but it wants your money any way it can get it.
The government’s schemes ...
by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead, Rutherford.org
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows when you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness’ sake!
—“Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
Santa’s got a new helper.
No longer does the all-knowing, all-seeing, jolly Old St. Nick need to rely on antiquated elves on shelves and other seasonal snitches in order to know when you’re sleeping or awake, and if you’ve been naughty or nice.
Thanks to the government’s almost limitless powers made possible by a domestic army of techno-tyrants, fusion centers and Peeping Toms, Santa can get real-time reports on who’s been good or bad this year. This creepy new era of government/corporate spying—in which we’re being listened to, watched, tracked, followed, mapped, bought, sold and targeted—makes the NSA’s rudimentary phone and metadata surveillance appear almost antiquated in comparison.
Consider just a small sampling of the tools being used to track our movements, monitor our spending, and sniff out all the ways in which our thoughts, actions and social circles might land us on the government’s naughty list.
Tracking you based on your health status. In the age of COVID-19, digital health passports are ...
The All-Seeing Fourth Branch of Government
by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead
It is just when people are all engaged in snooping on themselves and one another that they become anesthetized to the whole process. As information itself becomes the largest business in the world, data banks know more ...
“The Fourth Amendment was designed to stand between us and arbitrary governmental authority. For all practical purposes, that shield has been shattered, leaving our liberty and personal integrity subject to the whim of every cop on the beat, trooper on the highway and jail official. The framers would be appalled.”—Herman ...
by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute – Commentary
“If you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t ...
by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute – Commentary
“Police fail to grasp that they are public servants for peace. They should provide a civil service, to enforce the laws equally, without bias and with discretion. They must understand that they do not have immunity or special ...
by John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute – Commentary
“Anyone who cares for someone with a developmental disability, as well as for disabled people themselves [lives] every day in fear that their behavior will be misconstrued as suspicious, intoxicated or hostile by law enforcement.”
—Steve Silberman, The New York ...
by John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute – Commentary
“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 ...
