Summary: Today we have another Tale of New America, as the government exempts from legal challenge the shadowy neocon group United Against Nuclear Iran. The tale is told here not as information (clickbait), but to spark your anger and action at what’s happening to the Republic and what we have become. {1st of 2 posts today.}
For a decade I and many others have documented the decline of the Republic and its replacement by a plutocracy. We’re now far along in this, as the 1% begins the “pursuit” phase (the endgame) in which they exploit their victory to crush their foes (preventing subsequent conflict), and begin the post-bellum restructuring of law and society to accommodate their values and appetites. The changes to date were on the gentle downward slope of an “S Curve”. Now we enter the steep section as the 1% makes large obvious changes, without fear of effective opposition. This is our daily news.
The police become both militarized and bolder in their brutality (as in yesterday’s vignette, and the other posts about police brutality). The government becomes more open about their mass domestic surveillance; Obama boasts about ordering assassination of America citizens. Public excitement about these things produces no substantial change, just a delay in their advance.
Today we have another outrageous tale, as the government displays its power over the now-impotent institutions created by the Constitution. Accounts of these provide clickbait for the news media, excitement for the outer party (We’re informed!), and boost the reputation of the Deep State. Win-win-win.
So let’s turn to Glen Greenwald at The Intercept for today’s sad story: “Court Accepts DOJ’s ‘State Secrets’ Claim to Protect Shadowy Neocons: a New Low” —
A truly stunning debasement of the U.S. justice system just occurred through the joint efforts of the Obama Justice Department and a meek and frightened Obama-appointed federal judge, Edgardo Ramos, all in order to protect an extremist neocon front group from scrutiny and accountability. The details are crucial for understanding the magnitude of the abuse here.
At the center of it is an anti-Iranian group calling itself “United Against Nuclear Iran” (UANI), which is very likely a front for some combination of the Israeli and U.S. intelligence services. When launched, NBC described its mission as waging “economic and psychological warfare” against Iran. The group was founded and is run and guided by a roster of U.S., Israeli and British neocon extremists such as Joe Lieberman, former Bush Homeland Security adviser (and current CNN “analyst”) Fran Townsend, former CIA Director James Woolsey, and former Mossad Director Meir Dagan. One of its key advisers is Olli Heinonen, who just co-authored a Washington Post Op-Ed with former Bush CIA/NSA Director Michael Hayden arguing that Washington is being too soft on Tehran.
This group of neocon extremists was literally just immunized by a federal court from the rule of law. That was based on the claim — advocated by the Obama DOJ and accepted by Judge Ramos — that subjecting them to litigation for their actions would risk disclosure of vital “state secrets.” The court’s ruling was based on assertions made through completely secret proceedings between the court and the U.S. government, with everyone else — including the lawyers for the parties — kept in the dark.
For another perspective, Bloomberg consults a Professor of Constitutional Law to tut-tut about this next step in the long destruction of the Second Republic: “Iran Case Is So Secret It Can’t Go On” by Noah Feldman (Harvard).
What next?
“We don’t expect kittens to fight wildcats and win. We merely expect them to try.”
— Colonel Nielssen, Commandant of the Mobile Infantry’s Officers Candidate School. From Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers(1959).
The First Republic, under the Articles of Confederation, failed. We built the Second Republic, under the Constitution, which lived for over two centuries. Can it be saved? Or must we look to the Third Republic in our future? Either way the road looks long and difficult.
Knowledge and logic have failed to arouse us. I believe all that remains is to arouse anger — not just at our elites (who inevitably seek power) but at what we have become. That can spark action, good or bad depending on our character.
Weber points us toward Nietzsche as the common source for serious thinkers of the 20th century. He also tells us what the single fundamental issue is: the relation between reason, or science, and the human good. When he speaks of happiness and the last man, he does not mean that the last man is unhappy, but that his happiness is nauseating. An experience of profound contempt is necessary in order to grasp our situation, and our capacity for contempt is vanishing.
Weber’s science presupposes this experience, which we would call subjective. After having encountered it in Nietzsche, he spent the greater part of his scholarly life studying religion in order to understand the non-contemptible, those who esteem or revere and are therefore not self-satisfied, those who have values …
— From Allan Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind
, chapter “Values” (1987).
For More Information
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. If you would like to do something you’ll find ideas in the posts at Reforming America: steps to new politics.
See all posts about our courts, chronically the growing deference judges give to the Deep State — putting them outside (or above) the Constitution. For some scary reading see Forecast: Death of the American Constitution and Scary lessons for America from pre-revolutionary France.
“U.S. Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence“, John Stanton, Dissident Voice, 17 September 2014 — “A Fusion Center for United Against Nuclear Iran & Foundation for Defense of Democracies?”
cryptome.org/2014/07/uani-donors.doc
no surprise at all that the judge tossed the case…
i also got trolled for the efforts above by PlotSpoiler– an individual clearly on the lookout for criticism of Israel…I document that below….verify by checking out the logs on Wikipedia…I was surprised to learn that Pro-Israel groups are very active on the local, city levels too…One note–I listed the wrong person as head of Oracle in the piece below….
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/08/americas-deep-state-foreign-agents-lobbyists-corporations-military-intel/
ahhhhh. got the Cisco head wrong in one of the pieces
“a judge burns the Constitution”
Good phrase. Now if only they they would teach us in grade school that judges have done that throughout our history, and that constitutions (laws) are only as good and the people who interpret and enforce them. The courts allowed the rights of blacks to be taken away for several decades during the Jim Crow era. As George Carlin said: it’s not a right if it can be taken away.
Gloucon,
Everything in history is omnipresent, but it’s the variation in magnitude that provides the pageant of history. Magnitudes matter, otherwise history appears to you ony as a blurr.
Yes, there have always been judges who distort the Constitution (e.g, Dred Scott). But what makes our time distinctive is the massive move by so many judges too mke such large changes in our system.
Judges at war with the public:
“Absurd Fourth Circuit ruling embodies everything that’s wrong with drug raids” (Washington Post, 3/27/15) http://tinyurl.com/p6n2emq
Wherein the Circuit Court upholds a 4:30 AM no-knock raid where the occupant, confused as to who was breaking in and attempting to defend himself with a sheathed knife, was shot in the face and killed by police. A small amount of marijuana was found.
The worst part is that the court denied justice to the plaintiff (the victim’s father) despite egregious police misconduct. I guess “So sue us” will be the mantra of police departments everywhere. Good luck with that.
We are now worse off under the 2nd Republic than we were under George III. “But while today’s search warrants require both specificity and some evidence of wrongdoing, in many ways the colonists had more protections than we do today. For example, the British soldiers could serve warrants only during the day. And they were always required to knock, announce themselves, announce their purpose and give the resident time and opportunity to come to the door to let them in peacefully.”
Arms Merchant,
I agree on all points. But so what? I read Naked Capitalism each morning and wonder what people get from this. My guess is that it’s entertainment for the outer party to read about such outrages. Boo! HISS! Equally so for those reading National Review Online. BOO! HISS!
Very exciting. The Right wins because they are slightly more effective at moving their tribe to political action (e.g., compare the Tea Party with the OWS). But the 1% own both parties (that’s not to claim moral equivalence), which I think most people acknowledge to some degree — and I see little interest in organizing to change this.
My posts discussing ways to effect change get few hits and few comments. Perhaps they’re too disturbing for people to read.
“My posts discussing ways to effect change get few hits and few comments. Perhaps they’re too disturbing for people to read.”
Changing institutions is difficult and time consuming, especially for part-timers. We had a bare majority on the board of our county party organization. But it was always difficult to get everyone to show up (hey, we have lives outside of politics). Then this year, the empire struck back and booted us all off. Two rules of politics: show up, and show up with a majority. We failed at both.
Arms merchant,
I agree on all points. I have considerable experience at local organizing, sometimes with temporary success — emphasis on temporary. The machinery is owned by the 1%, and requires determined and organized people to overcome it.
I have found few such people in my community. Appealing here to a larger audience, I find even fewer.