They thought Twitter secure, a place where government (Department of Homeland Security DHS, and FBI agents in particular), Big Tech, Big Media, Democrats, and the Deep State, could speak freely to coconspirators to overthrow the government of the United States, more specifically its popularly serving and elected president. They succeeded in removing Donald J. Trump from the White House—a coup. America would never know and all future elections could be rigged in the same manner preserving Deep State power. Twitter conversations would never be revealed. This is what the Twitter Files, from which this column is taken, document.
Elon Musk’s solution to former Twitter brainwashing!!
One miracle of 2022 was Twitter being bought by an OUTSIDER Elon Musk for $44 billion—an offer too big to turn down. A second miracle, Musk, not a coconspirator, was strong enough to reveal to the world the secret combinations coup plans he found in Twitter. He did not have to do so. There was no profit for him in revealing these tweets. This made him the number one enemy of the Deep State (Combination). The coup had already been accomplished November 3, 2020. He could have remained silent with it and remained rich and favored by them forever.
The Combination (Deep State) upon realizing Musk was opposed to what they did and willing to reveal it, went into overdrive to first discredit him, then next to remove his advertising base for Twitter which would bankrupt him. He still chose to reveal their communications to each other facilitating the overthrow and making himself physically a target.
What follows are the Twitter Files documenting Twitter’s 2020 election rigging. These are best assembled by KanekoatheGreat of Kanekoa News. He synthesized their election interference in 34 Twitter tweets. Column space limitation allows only highlights of his synthesis which follows.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) housed a censorship branch, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), geared to identify what they considered mis or disinformation in the public sector defined as any information outside the narrative of the federal government. Lacking constitutional authority to censor the American public themselves, CISA (the government) was more than happy to team-up with like-minded private sector organizations notably the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) and social media outlets, notably Twitter, to outsource actual censorship—the dirty work—for them.
EIP claimed “every repeat spreader of election misinformation was on the right.” No wonder Trump says the election was stolen.
The EIP formed in 2020 “comprised of four organizations: Stanford Internet Observatory, the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, and Graphika.” Together the secret combination of government and private sector Deep Staters had about “120 analysts to censor millions of social media posts on elections…. [working] 20 hours a day,[enabling their] forwarding tickets of misinformation to be censored” to the obliging social media platforms. These “monitored 15 tech platforms •22 Million tweets [were] labeled ‘misinformation’ •Entire ‘misinformation narratives’ [were] targeted for platform-wide throttling.” Every repeat spreader of misinformation, the EIP acknowledged, “was on the right side of the political spectrum.” They also “flagged popular populist-right YouTube channels, including: @scrowder, @BlazeTV, @JudicialWatch, and even the @GOP War Room, as ‘mis- and disinformation’ spreaders,”—basically the Republican Party. These were/are considered domestic terrorists by the Deep State Joe Biden government. This gave them the win.
Enter Mike Benz, the Foundation for Freedom online @FFO_Freedom. founder who “comprehensively details the US government’s role in outsourcing censorship to this public-private network,” the EIP. Benz “extensively documented the individuals involved and the flow of taxpayer funds ($40M) to domestic censorship” (@MikeBenzCyber). The DHS quietly corrupted CISA’s mission when it designated domestic disinformation as cyber attacks on “critical cognitive infrastructure” (information outside the government narrative). As noted, the “US government cannot sandblast millions of voters off the Internet because of their speech about elections.” But the EIP, their private sector partners, could and did it for them.
So “who are these unelected bureaucrats who get to play judge, jury, and executioner and control the thoughts of millions of Americans?” Two main names are identified, business partners Chris Krebs and Alex Stamos. Stamos was “founder of the EIP censorship network,” a CFR member and “the director of the of the Stanford Internet Observatory,” one of the four organizations making up the EIP and today leads the organization. Others standouts include: Kate Starbird, Graham Brookie, and Ben Nimmo. Details of their collusion in the censorship of anything right on the political spectrum by Twitter is given in the Twitter thread presented.
The EIP admits flagging popular populist-right YouTube channels as well, even the GOP War Room–essentially the Republican Party. How can anyone seriously argue that the 2020 election was not rigged?
Essentially the EIP rigged the 2020 presidential election and 2022 mid-terms in three decisive ways: The “EIP defined ‘delegitimization’ as speech that ‘casts doubt’ on the election process or outcome. This accounted for 72% of the censorship tickets and targeted over 99% of the post throttled by narrative, focusing on voting machines and vote-by-mail (@MikeBenzCyber).” The EIP allowed the left “to discuss the vulnerabilities of voting machines after the 2016 election” while banning the right from “discussing those very same vulnerabilities after the 2020 election.” Finally, the EIP “collaborated with its Big Tech partners to systematically censor any delegitimization of vote-by-mail as disinformation. In effect, they sided with the left and pre-banned criticism of vote-by-mail at the narrative level five months BEFOREthe 2020 election.”
The Deep State used the COVID-19 “crisis to push for nationwide mail-in voting, which increased the number of ballots cast by mail from 28.8 million in 2016 to 66.4 million in 2020, a massive 131% increase.” Thus the “percentage of Democrats voting by mail rose from 26% in 2016 to 60% in 2020, while Republican voters only saw a rise from 21% to 32%. In short, the extra 37 million ballots cast by mail during the 2020 election swung the election to the EIP’s preferred candidate” Joe Biden. Thus Twitter confesses rigging 2020 election.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org. Column # 695.
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Swearing allegiance to the Constitution is required of every office holder in our government and every person who serves in the armed forces. The Constitution reads, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic….” Should there be a penalty for violating this oath? That is now before the Supreme Court January 6, 2023. Did legislators knowingly violate the Constitution by not waiting the 10 day period to assess the evidence of fraud and alleged foreign interference in the election when they knew evidence to that end existed in the 2020 Presidential Election. Some 387 members of Congress voted against an investigation, thus thwarting an investigation.
In November 2020 alone LibertyUnderFire.com published three columns documenting that concern: “Sudden Stop in Vote Reporting Suggests Election Fraud,” “Vice President Biden, Please Hold Back for the Sake of Ballot Integrity,” and “Dominion Software Switched Millions of Trump Votes to Biden.” Virtually all investigations since confirm that election fraud existed.
Brunson brothers Raland, Deron, Loy and Gaynor (not pictured) sue members of Congress for failing to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic….” the oath taken by all members of Congress.
The Brunson v. Alma S. Adams; et al case “alleges that Congress failed in its Constitutional duty by ignoring protection of critical infrastructure (election systems) during a National Emergency.”The Brunson brothers, who initiated this suit, asked, “How do you support, and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign , and domestic? Answer: You investigate. If there are claims that there is a threat, even if you don’t believe there is a threat, you investigate. How else can you determine if there is a threat unless you investigate? You can’t. Were there claims of a threat to the Constitution? Yes. Where did these serious claims come from? 100 members of Congress. What was the threat? That there were enemies of the Constitution who successfully rigged the 2020 election. Is this lawsuit about a rigged election? No, it’s about the members of Congress who voted AGAINST the investigation thereby thwarting the investigation. Was this a clear violation of their oath? YES” (All quotes are from filing documents).
The events leading to SCOTUS accepting the case follow. Loy Brunson files the brothers complaint under his name in the Utah Federal Court, March 23, 2021. On March 31, 2021 the 1st Amended Complaint was processed by the clerk of the Court and served by U.S. Marshalls on 85 defendants, including Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters before being stopped by the Court, claiming it was a “clerical error by the Deputy Clerk”. So the Deep State was very aware of mounting opposition to the denial of requested 10 day review before the electoral count.
From this point forward they faced a wall of obstruction: amended complaints, motions to reconsider, even a Writ of Mandamus to the Court of Appeals (10th Circuit) to compel the Federal Court for movement, then a lawsuit against the two Federal Courts, again for action—all to no avail. They were thwarted at every turn and always with the same explanation “the Federal Court will eventually get to it when they can.” After more than a year of the same the court finally “issues the summons for the 388 defendants.” Everyone voting against the measure requiring 10 days of review before the electoral vote received a summons, plus the president. Defendants had 60 days to answer the complaint.
Then the U.S. Attorneys suddenly intervened shielding members of Congress from being personally responsible for their vote by filing a notice of appearance in behalf of all the defendants, making THEMSELVES “the official attorneys on record,” instead of the legislators. The brothers had not sued the U.S. Government, only certain members of Congress who had violated their oath to protect and preserve the Constitution by not adhering to it. They promptly issued a motion to dismiss Loy’s lawsuit “on the grounds that defendants are protected under Title 28 which gives defendants Sovereign Immunity from any lawsuits relating to actions of treason while serving in the capacity of their office.” What!!! Members of Congress have immunity from treason? Our Founders would have never supported this. On July 6, 2022, the brothers file an opposition to the Attorneys’ attempt to dismiss the lawsuit. The defense offered only stonewalling silence thereafter.
Fortunately almost a year before, June 21, 2021, realizing that they could double their chances of getting to the Supreme Court with a second identical suit but under the name of another brother, this time Raland, the brothers sued members of Congress again. But once again the U.S. Attorneys, “acting in behalf of the United States (not the defendants)” ran interference and filed a motion to dismiss Raland’s lawsuit using the same reason as cited for the Loy suit.
The Brothers knew their only hope was to bypass the biased circuit court and it came to them that they could use Rule 11 (National Emergency) to vault over the obstructionist 10th Circuit of Appeals and “go straight to the Supreme Court.” If a fraudulent election with foreign interference was not a national emergency what was? On September 23, 2022 their petition for a Writ of Certiorari (national emergency) was received by SCOTUS. A week later “the Clerk of the SCOTUS calls Raland requesting a revision of the Petition that would include a motion to dismiss and motion to waiver. Having these included in the paper work it is believed bolsters the evidence that defenders had every chance to oppose. The brothers felt pressured to get it in ASAP, they did and their case was docketed October 24, 2022.
“The government hereby waives its right to file a response to the petition in this case,” Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar
The clerk notified the brothers that “they have everything they need.” The U.S. Attorneys had until November 23 “to respond showing why the Supreme Court of the United States should not move on this case.” They provided no defense. Nor did they ask for a motion to oppose, an extension, or a continuance. Nothing! Miraculously all opposition melted away (“Brunson and the Supreme Court Case that Would Fix 2020 and Bring Treason Charges for 388 Officials,” The Pete Santillo Show, Interview with Loy Brunson, Nov. 30, 2022).
A month later “Elizabeth B. Prelogar, the Solicitor General of United States, the official attorney on record for the defendants, and in behalf of the 388 defendants, waived their right to respond to this lawsuit, thus allowing the SCOTUS to move forward!” And it did setting the conference date for January 6, 2023. It requires four votes to have a hearing and five to remove from office all defendants, making this case potentially the most consequential in U.S. history.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org Column # 694.
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It was in the eighth grade when I moved from Santa to Christ as my main focus of Christmas. I remember well the star saturated night when the heavens overwhelmingly testified to me of God’s awesomeness. I could almost feel the words of my favorite Christmas carol “Silent Night” go deep into my soul as never before as I both sang and pondered its words. Perhaps it was the scenic nativity-like setting where I found myself hand milking my neighbors cow while he was away for a week. The three-sided shed allowed my gaze into the dark but star-lite, cold, cloudless night enabling my peak into the heavens. It was Christmas Eve and I was alone with Christ. It could not have been more impressive and it was the same every night for the week of Christmas.
The original Christmas was ALL about Christ.
I never had that experience again in the same way but I always had an intense love for the carols that spoke of His birth: “Oh Holy Night,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “Joy to the World,” and “The First Noel.” They were just different somehow—far more powerful than regular jingles. My background was not particularly unique for the time period. Santa was there for the children but he never competed with Christ for the spotlight. The transition to Christ just followed with maturity. Years followed years, I had children and now they have children and, because of home and church the songs have passed on as they had for hundreds of years before. But, unfortunately, this does not happen for everyone.
Today the earth is still bathed with happy songs but radio stations ever more infrequently play the ageless Christ-birth songs: “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains,” “With Wondering Awe,” “Away in the Manger,” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Outdoor nativity decorations are virtually non-existent unless you make your own. Even indoor nativity scenes are hard to find. Stores have almost nothing to purchase that speaks to this Holy Night. We have removed Christ—the source of all light and truth—from Christmas.
There are no television shows or movies that address Nativity themes but Hollywood never really did much in this direction anyway, the “Waltons” or “Little House on the Prairie” were the exceptions, but then again that was in an earlier generation. There is no Nativity symbolism on television programs today. Everything is “feel good,” like, I found a new love on Christmas, or Santa related. Even the Grinch is given more attention than Christ.
Almost all references to Christ have been removed from our schools and teachers dare not encourage the singing of traditional Christmas carols, although any tune without the mention of Jesus Christ is encouraged. A culture that did not know the words of “Silent Night,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” “Joy to the World,” or, “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful” would have been unheard of in my day, but is the norm today. Only the churches and homes give any exposure to Christ in Christmas, as was so for me and generations before me. Sadly some churches may give more emphasis to Santa than Christ. Neither churches nor communities have Nativity plays as once they did.
The reason for the season is Jesus Christ, that is why the event is called Christ-mas but few homes show any evidence that He is center placed. Someone once said that we are all “Inn Keepers” to the extent we allow Christ in our lives. Unfortunately there is no room in the Inn for too many. Most Americans consider themselves unchurched (a term for those without religious affiliation) so the incentive to read, tell or act out the “Old Story” is mostly gone. Seemingly each generation transfers to the next less of Christ in Christmas.
Today some few want to turn Christmas into Winter Break and Easter into Spring Break, undermining both. It is not the break they object to but the name. No one seems to object to the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, or any other holiday—only the holiday with Christ’s name associated with it. We were founded as a Christian nation; so what if some object, everyone gets the same break!! The undermining of Christ’s special day is endless and seemingly intentional. The result is an increasingly darkened world ethically and morally.
Why not change to a traditional Christmas this Christmas season, like generations before. In your home play mostly the traditional Christ centered songs. Instead of a Santa or reindeer in your front yard, make a nativity scene. Take yourself or family to a church service. Find a service that will speak of that special night and rehearse the events of that most special day. Go caroling to shut-ins or to a nursing home. Read to your friends and loved ones on Christmas Eve the story of the birth of Jesus Christ—the one believed by all Christians to be the Savior of the world. If you have children let them act it out. Give Christ a few hours of your month. Greet everyone with Merry Christmas. You will never be sorry that you took this challenge. Then you will not be an accomplice in removing Christ from Christmas and will join those who wonder why anyone would want to.
Most will never have a special moment in a shed milking a cow on a cold starry night as I did as a 14 year-old boy but this same special feeling will find a way of filling every soul that will allow “room in the Inn” for Christ, just as intensely in its own way. Those with a relationship with Jesus Christ recognize it more easily than those without. The days before Christmas are the most special days in the year as though the planet had been dusted by angels. It has. There is noticeably more giving, sharing, kindness and sacrifice for others. Thoughts of others and gratitude fill the air. Non-Christians too benefit from these attributes.
Merry Christmas to my appreciative readers around the world.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org Column # 693.
Subscribe now for free columns at this address. Help preserve our Republic while we still can.
The indefinite detention of the January 6, 2021 participants is the most egregious violation of Bill of Rights Amendments V, VI, and VIII in U.S. History. Regardless of where readers stand on detainees’ guilt or innocence, no political party, president, or congress can justify the length of detainment without bail or trial gave January 6, detainees. None can say they follow the Constitution!! The presumption of innocence as the base of our judicial system has been shattered by the political party presently in power. Worse, the inhumane treatment of suspects, THOSE NOT CONVICTED OF ANYTHING, could become the precedent for the rest of society. Indefinite detention without trial is now designed to punish before guilt is established.
No political party, president, or congress can justify the length of detainment without bail or trial given January 6, detainees!! None can say they follow the Constitution! Some 34 men and women remain indefinitely incarcerated under hellacious and cruel conditions. The Bill of Rights Amendments 5, 6, and 8 was discarded for these Americans.
Consider the Amendments noted above beginning with Amendment V. No persons may “be deprived of…liberty…without due process of law.” Due process of law mandates completion of a process—accused, arrested, and sometimes detained for a short time, tried, guilt or innocence established, then freedom or incarceration—each a part of due process. Never is infinite detainment, and/or punishment while detained, without due process acceptable.
Amendment VI is essentially removed from the Bill of Rights. “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.” After nearly two years of confinement, no one can argue that this was speedy. It also violated the Speedy Trial Act of 1974 and, as amended, August 2, 1979, which placed time limits defining speedy trial on the prosecution. These too were ignored by the Joe Biden government. In this case, the accused is denied a trial at all. When a public trial is convened, if ever, the amendment requires that the accused “be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”
From the start legal necessities for a prisoner’s defense became tools of punishment and control. January 6 detainees have, “No Access to Discovery,” “No Legal Support such as laptops, printers, and copiers,” No “Legal Mentors,” and they lack “Legal Documentation on Tablets.” Also, guards prevented them “from attending court dates.” How can any prisoner believe that those confining him will take seriously his “compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense?”. (“34 US Political Prisoners in DC Gulag Demand Transfer to Guantanamo Bay,” By Harold Pease, Ph.D., LibertyUnderFire.com).
But Amendment VIII may be the most violated. “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” We know of no bail or fines implemented for any of the remaining 34 January 6 detainees. Respecting cruel and unusual punishment, certainly the seven paged letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland by the 34 remaining Jan. 6 detainees, noting 70 abhorrent violations of human rights in their nearly two-year imprisonment without bail or trial, testifies of such. Their treatment was so bad that they unanimously requested a transfer to Guantanamo and argue that non-citizens, those who killed nearly 3,000 Americans on 9-11, received better treatment than they in the DC Gulag.
Detainees believe their confinement and torturous treatment is largely punishment for their support of Trump in the Electoral College vote count—that is why they were in the House chambers. They believe themselves American political prisoners. Indeed, MAGA supporters are subject to reeducation (brainwashing) through education tablets, these filled with C.R.T. propaganda and racial biased media. Guards, mostly black, routinely racially profile detainees, mostly white, and prisoners who are “repeatedly mocked and or insulted for our skin color or ‘religious’ documentation.” These are threatened, maced, physically harassed, beaten, invaded in the middle of the night, assaulted politically, mocked by staff, and verbally assaulted being compared to beasts, dogs, and hogs by the guards. Remember DC. guards are decidedly far left, as is the DC environment from which they came, thus they view their MAGA detainees as enemies.
Those able to get messages “out to the public tell of their long-term solitary confinement without cause, sleep deprivation techniques, beatings at the hands of guards while in restraints, and threats of harsher treatment for speaking to the media (“Ignore the Dissidents of Our Time at Your Peril,” by Sarah Corridor, Homefront Crusade, October 13, 2021).
Nathan DeGraves One of the 34 DC Gulag January 6 political prisoners requesting to be transferred to Guantanamo because the treatment for those who killed almost 3,000 Americans, they believe, is better than what they have gotten in the DC Gulag.
Nathan DeGraves, one of the 34 demanding to be sent to Guantanamo, after four months in the Gulag was able to smuggle out a description of the conditions he suffered. “The conditions here are inhumane,” he wrote, “DC’s Gitmo January Sixers experienced daily lockdowns for 23 to 24 hours before being allowed to leave our small 120 square-foot cells. The physical and mental anguish that results from this kind of severe isolation has caused many people to go on a rapid mental decline. As a result, a large percentage of us are heavily medicated with anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs, which help to cope with the psychological and mental abuse we endure. Many times the little recreation we do receive is stripped away if our cell isn’t up to the standards of the guard on duty. This changes from day to day.” All this is both cruel and unusual punishment.
“January Sixers have lost recreation time, and out-of-cell activity time, for any news interviews about the jail when they are aired on TV, when people speak up about our conditions, or rallies are held in our name. We’ll probably have a lockdown upon the publishing of this letter. So I have already warned those I know in advance” (Nathan DeGraves: “An American Political Prisoner,” By Harold Pease, Ph.D., LibertyUnderFire.com).
If we do not stop the injustices and human suffering surrounding us, someday we too may suffer the same.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www. www.LibertyUnderFire.org Column # 691.
In America, land of “Liberty and Justice for All,” 34 political prisoners, both men and women, remain held indefinitely without bail or trial just short of two years in what has been referred to as Biden’s Gulag. This is in open violation of the Bill of Rights Articles VI and VIII. January 6, inmates now beg for extradition to Guantanamo Bay where real terrorists were housed after bringing down the Twin Towers and damaging the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, killing 2,996 Americans twenty one years ago. In Guantanamo they believe they will be better treated.
The first of several pages written to Attorney General Merrick Garland by the 34 remaining Jan. 6 detainees, noting 70 abhorrent violations of human rights in their nearly two year imprisonment without bail or trial. They requested transfer to Guantanamo and argue that non-citizens, those who killed nearly 3,000 in 9-11, received better treatment than they in the DC Gulag. Garland, the Democratic Party and press ignored it.
Their heartbreaking letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, dated October 2, 2022, listed 70 unacceptable grievances or abuses. They called conditions there hellacious and referred to the facility as a “dungeon of Human Rights Violations.” The food, they said, lacked nutrition, calories, and nourishment contributing to scurvy, loss of head hair and eyesight. Worms were found in salads and rust in the drinking water.
Cell conditions seemingly designed to torment include: black mold found everywhere, denial of “basic cleaning equipment to sanitize living space,” broken sinks, and toilets that won’t flush but flood. Mice and cockroaches infested everywhere. Personal grooming supplies are denied.
Accommodations also seemingly designed to torment include: improper medical care, “arriving months later, or none at all!” The same for mail, “delayed 3-4 months prior to delivery.” Laundry is returned “with brown stains, pubic hair, and or reeking of ripe urine.” Vaccines are mandated for: visitations, visitors, haircuts, religious services, and speaking with lawyers in person. One must be “boosted” for access to the Internet (most opposing the COVID vaccine and boosters are MAGA supporters—thus hated) and reeducation (brainwashing) through education tablets is prominent, these filled with C.R.T. propaganda and racial biased media.
Legal necessities to their defense become tools of control. January 6 detainees have, “No Access to Discovery,” “No Legal Support such as laptops, printers, copiers,” “Legal Mentors,” they lack “Legal Documentation on Tablets.” And, guards prevented them “from attending court dates.”
Guards, mostly black, routinely racially profile detainees, mostly white, prisoners are “repeatedly mocked and or insulted for our skin color or ‘religious’ documentation.” These are threatened, maced, physically harassed, beaten, invaded in the middle of the night, assaulted politically, mocked by staff and verbally assaulted being compared to beasts, dogs and hogs by the guards. Remember DC. Guards are decidedly far left, as is the DC environment thus they view their MAGA detainees as enemies. To help hide these insults and abuses, grievance forms on tablets were removed so nothing could be reported.
If more was needed to control the political prisoners, outdoor recreation was arbitrarily denied as were access to the Internet, attorneys, law library, and worship services. And prisoners are “stuck in cells for 9 days without [a] shower.” If this was not enough they were “sent to ‘the Hole’ if we express any political views whatsoever”—“solitary Confinement for 25 ½ hours or more at a time.” This is still thought by most Americans to be “cruel and unusual” punishment. Trials too were “postponed for at least 6 Months or almost a Year,” seemingly to punish or control.
Why isn’t more said by members of Congress? The prisoners answered, “Entry to Congressmen & Women who came to check on us [was] Denied.” And the Leftist press doesn’t care. Imagine a member of Congress denied access, they serve essentially as the city council for the District of Columbia, it is their shared responsibility to fund and know what is happening in THAT facility.
But this is not all, detainees wrote of “death threats from within the jail” and they received threats upon “our homes and families through the mail.” All this led to their list of abuses and request to Attorney General Garland to serve elsewhere—although not convicted of anything.
Their plea, “We hereby request to spend our precious and limited days, should the government continue to insist on holding us captive unconstitutionally as pre-trial detainees, to be transferred and reside at Guantanamo Bay,” a detention facility,” they maintained, “that actually provides nutritional meals, routine sunlight exposure, top notch medical care, is respectful of religious requirements, has centers for exercise/entertainment for its detainees despite the fact that those residents are malicious terrorists, real members of the Taliban, and few are United States Citizens,” instead, they wrote, “of remaining trapped within the wretched confines of cruel and unusual punishment of the DC Jail.”
Those, signing having experienced all or most of the above were: Brian Mann, Pete Schwartz, Brandon Fellows, Jeffrey McKellop, Andrew Taake, Scott Fairlamb, Daniel Caldwell, Ryan Nichols, Sr., Joseph Padilla, Guy Reffitt, Troy Smocks, Chris Quaglin, Sean McHugh, Shane J. Jenkins, Dominic Pezzola, Edward Lang, Peter F. Stager, James McGrew, William Chrestman, Ronnie Sandlin, Nathaniel Degrave, Jorden Mink, Cleveland Grover Meredith, Alan Byerly, Thomas Ballard, Julian Elie Khater, Marshall Neefe, Jonathan Mellis, Robert Gieswein, Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson, Garrett Miller, David Dempsey (“BREAKING: 34 US Political Prisoners in DC Gulag Demand Transfer to Guantanamo Bay to Escape Intolerable Conditions in Heartbreaking Letter,” by Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit, Oct. 2, 2022).
It has been two months since this heartbreaking request was made. I have waited to hear the other side. They have answered with deafening silence. The beatings will continue!
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. Column # 690. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www. www.LibertyUnderFire.org Subscribe now for free columns at this address. Help preserve our Republic while we still can.
Democrats never use the word republic to describe our political system and Republicans rarely use it, both preferring to use the word democracy. Consequently most people ignorantly refer to our political system as a democracy and have to be reminded that this word is not in the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, or any other document given to us by our Founding Fathers. Our Pledge of Allegiance to the flag identifies our form of government as a republic. In the 2022 midterms the Democrat’s principle campaign slogan was saving democracy which is the antithesis of our republic. Why would we save that which our Founders clearly rejected?
Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1759, “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” A republic has seven major components necessary for liberty listed below. Necessary to democracy is majority rules.
First, the importance of majority rules is recognized but limited. Is the majority always right? No! Mother made this point when her teenager asked to smoke marijuana on the basis that everyone was doing it. She asked, “If everyone jumped off a bridge would you?” The Electoral College and Bill of Rights are based upon the recognition that the majority is not always right.
Second, minority rights (less than 50%) are protected FROM the majority in a republic. In Franklin’s analogy the lamb had the right to exist even if the majority, the wolves, disagreed. A lynch mob is a democracy, everyone votes but the one being hanged. Even if caught in the act of a crime the accused is entitled to the presumption of innocence: protection of law, a judge, jury, witnesses for his defense, and a lawyer to argue his innocence; all necessary in a republic, even expensive. Then, if found guilty, hanged. Because democracy only considers majority rules it is much less expensive and decidedly faster. A rope tossed over a tree limb will do.
Third, a republic is based upon natural inalienable rights from God; first acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence. This document asserted to the world that we acknowledge that humans have rights from a source higher than mere man. A reference to deity is mentioned five times. If there is no God there can be no inalienable rights coming from Him and we are left with man as God. What man is good enough?
Fourth, a republic emphasizes individual differences, democracy absolute equality. We are not equal, even from the womb, and never will be if equality means sameness. An infant with a cleft pallet may need three operations to look normal. Some come out of the womb with a laptop, others with a basketball, and the real tough deliveries are from those bringing their golf clubs. One of my first great insights in life was that everyone was better at everything than I. A second, was that life is not fair and never will be. A third, free men are not equal and equal men are not free. Genetics makes one fat, another bald, and gives yet another terminal cancer in his youth.
Nor is monetary equality possible. Should I bestow my students each with a million dollars in exchange for everything they now own, shave their heads, and give them identical uniforms, to approximate sameness as much as possible, with the only requirement that they return in five years with some ledger of net worth. Would they be the same in what was left of the million? No! Work ethic and talent differ. Why does government try so hard to do that which is impossible? A republic looks upon our differences as assets ultimately benefiting everyone as was the invention of the automobile or computer. This is decidedly not the base of democracy.
Fifth, limited government is also a major aspect of a republic. Centralized government is good so long as it remembers that when it oversteps its bounds it becomes the greatest threat to liberty as it pulls decision-making power away from the individual. Excessive government, as the cause of the American Revolution, must never be forgotten. The Constitution as created, handcuffed the government from dominating our lives, thus the powers of the federal government were listed (Article I, Section 8). The Founders understood that the more government at the top the less at the bottom and that was the essence of freedom.
Sixth, a republic has frequent elections with options. Frequent elections happen in some socialist countries, so this alone does not ensure liberty. In fact, it may be somewhat deceiving as it fosters the notion that we choose, thus deserve, our elected officers. It also assumes that the people are correctly informed, which assumes a free press and equal access to ALL information. The part of the phrase “with options” is the part that ensures liberty. Elections under socialism provided choices but often no options as all participants are from the same party or ideology.
Seventh, in a republic exists a healthy fear of the emotion of the masses and of its potential to destabilize natural law upon which real freedom is based, as for example the notion that another’s wealth belongs to them through excessive taxation. Such destroys freedom as it had in Athens and Rome. We need a caring, sensitive, compassionate government but emotion must not be allowed to overwhelm reason and time-tested natural law constants. Aristotle taught that the poor will always envy the rich and that the rich will always have contempt for the poor. A republic will not allow the poor to destroy the rich in their quest for the wealth of the rich, but does incentivize the poor to increase their wealth thus becoming the middle class, which, in time, become the largest body.
As explained, democracy does not protect liberty and in time could become its enemy. In Ben Franklin’s analogy it would have allowed the wolves to have eaten the lamb simply because the lamb had been outvoted. No wonder our Founders rejected democracy in favor of a republic, something we too are obliged to do today to protect our liberty.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. Column # 689. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www. www.LibertyUnderFire.org Subscribe now for free columns at this address. Help preserve our Republic while we still can.
