HNewsWire:
By Tyler Durden
Scott Ritter was pulled off a NY-to-Istanbul flight on Monday by US officials and his passport confiscated in a startling new development in the government’s open drive to censor and silence critics of the Administration’s foreign policies at a time when the United States is supplying billions of dollars in arms to foment wider war in Russia, accelerate the attacks on Gazans and set the stage for war with China over Taiwan.
A Marine veteran and true American patriot, Mr. Ritter is also a noted former Chief UN weapons inspector, author and journalist. He was enroute to Russia to attend an international conference in St. Petersburg.
Mr. Ritter first came to my attention when he testified at a Capitol hearing I sponsored to inquire into the Bush Administration’s plans to attack Iraq. Ritter warned in August of 2002 that a case had not been made for attacking Iraq.
Had Congress listened to Mr. Ritter, the US would have been spared the loss of thousands of our soldiers and the waste of trillions of tax dollars. Over one million Iraqis died as a result of the US attack on their country. America’s financial and moral debt will never be able to be repaid, but would not exist if we had simply looked at the evidence he presented.
Mr. Ritter’s passport was confiscated yesterday by U.S. authorities without explanation.
There are several Constitutional issues at stake here:
- The taking of his passport was an illegal seizure, prohibited by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Mr. Ritter asked for, but did not receive a receipt, for the seized passport.
- The seizure represents a punitive attempt to censor his views, a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech and freedom of the press.
- His Fifth Amendment rights to due process were violated. Someone in the State Department made an administrative decision to prevent his travel and to take away his passport. Since there was no stated reason for the seizure, there was no open court hearing, no evidence to justify the confiscation of Mr. Ritter’s passport was presented publicly. The whole process has a Kafka-like Trial feeling, where Mr. Ritter cannot find out what he is accused of.
The State Department was aware of Mr. Ritter’s travel three weeks before his planned departure, giving rise to the likelihood that the interception was designed to humiliate Mr. Ritter, in addition to the blatant disregard of his Constitutional rights.
Mr. Ritter has been critical of U.S. foreign policy, and has repeatedly stated his objections to widening war clearly and cogently in his podcasts. While the State Department has jurisdiction over travel, it has no ability to cancel the rights accorded all Americans under the U.S. Constitution, including freedom of movement.
There needs to be an inquiry into the State Department’s actions here. Many serious questions arise, all of Constitutional import:
Was Mr. Ritter’s passport seized based on secret evidence, and authorized under President Bush’s Executive Order 13224, which established a national emergency, (now 23 years old!) and reauthorized last year by President Biden?
Was the passport seized under the Patriot Act? The public has a right to know the reasons why.
Were the expanded powers given the government in the recent reauthorization of Section 702 of the Patriot Act in play here?
Has Scott Ritter been under federal surveillance because of the exercise of his First Amendment rights?
Was Ritter intercepted because of his attempt to build a bridge of peace toward Russia?
This is not only about Scott Ritter.
Any American, journalist or not, who challenges the state in the current climate may find themselves subject to arbitrary procedures and even politically-inspired prosecution. That is the real state of emergency.
Chris Hedges, a man of impeccable journalist credentials, was canceled after he and I engaged in a discussion criticizing US foreign policy, on his show The Real News.
Julian Assange’s arrest and imprisonment at the instance of the US government gave fair warning to every journalist of the price which may be paid for exposing official acts of the murder of innocent civilians in Iraq.
When the Constitutional rights of any of us are under attack, the Constitutional rights of all of us are under attack. Who else will have their travel restricted because the government does not like what one is saying? Who else will be surveilled? Who else will be prosecuted? Who else will have their Constitutional rights denied?
Of equal concern was the simultaneous publication by the Washington Post which casts as disinformation the work of journalists, including several Americans, who have challenged the State Department’s narrative with regard to Russia and Iran.
The Washington Post has retracted the central claim of Joseph Menn’s (@josephmenn) hit piece against @TheGrayzoneNews. (https://t.co/BHDaLKDM3V)
In his sleazy article and in the tweet below promoting it, Menn falsely claimed that GZ’s “top leaders have taken money from Iran as… https://t.co/pBOwdJd8vD pic.twitter.com/zJQLRBaAeE — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) June 4, 2024
It would seem the Washington Post has taken seriously the sardonic dictum of A.J. Leibling: “Freedom of the Press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” The corporatization of the First Amendment, and the concentration of media into fewer and fewer hands, are major reasons why America is under constant threat of war and why our Constitutional freedoms are in trouble.
Independent authors and journalists are struggling to provide a response which protects our freedom of speech. They also have access to the same Constitutional protection of Freedom of the Press as the Washington Post, the New York Times and other large corporate publishers.
Governments’ fear of being challenged is as old as the case of John Peter Zenger, who 1734 printed the New York Weekly Journal. Zenger’s persistent prodding of the Crown’s provincial governor resulted in him being charged with libel. He won the case, establishing truth as a defense.
Today the well understood truth is as deeply offensive to liars as freedom is offensive to tyrants. “Our liberty,” wrote Thomas Jefferson ten years after The Declaration of Independence, “depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
Today’s independent American journalists are fighting for their freedom, and ours!
Give the gift of great skin care. Our Soap and Shave Bars are gentle and produce a smooth creamy lather that is nourishing to your skin. They are handmade in small batches. We use only high-quality natural ingredients that you can pronounce. No chemicals, no sodium laurel sulfate, no phthalates, no parabens, no detergents. The set can include Soap Bar, Shave Bar, Shave Brush, and/or Shampoo Bar. These come in a white box and are perfect for your gift giving needs.
Our soaps are made with skin loving ingredients including olive oil, coconut oil, lard, sweet almond oil, shea butter, and castor oil. We do not use palm oil. Scented only lightly with fragrance oils.
The Shave bars give a very close and smooth shave with no razor burn. They leave your skin feeling amazing. A lather can be built up in your hands and then applied to your face, but it is best to use a shaving brush. These bars will only produce a thick foam when used with a shaving brush.
Our Shampoo Bars have a thick lather. A lather can be built up in your hands and then applied to your hair, but it is best to rub the bar gently in your hair. Rinse and repeat.
You choose a scent:
A Thousand Dreams is a whimsical blue scented in a warm mix of fruity and floral notes with peach, peony, lily, musk, sandalwood, and amber.
Bay Rum Spice is a nice masculine scent similar to Old Spice. The scent notes are clove, pine needles, cedarwood, orange, vanilla, and musk.
Birch Woods is a great outdoors-type scent. The notes are bergamot, patchouli, vetiver, and tonka bean.
Cool Clear Water is a refreshing scent. The notes are crisp water, oakmoss, pine, cedar, and musk.
Lavender Champagne has a wonderful scent of Lavender and Champagne and has a light purple color. The scent notes are lavender, sparkling Champagne, grapefruit, orange, thyme, oak, and amber.
Midnight Waters is a moody-mystical scent that opens with fruity notes of red berries, juicy tangerine, and bergamot. Then unfolds into bubbly Champagne, violet flowers, cashmere, amber, and musk.
Raspberry Vanilla is an all-time favorite fragrance for soap. It is a beautiful magenta color. The scent notes are raspberry, strawberry, lemon, coconut, peach, honeysuckle, plum, and vanilla.
Warm Sandalwood is a warm, rich, and woodsy scent. The colors are warm and rich with brown, gold, and white.
A Soap bar will weigh approximately 4 ounces and be approximately 2.25 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall and 1 inch thick. A Shave bar will weigh approximately 3 ounces and be approximately 2.5 inches across and 1.25 inches thick. A Shampoo Bar will weigh approximately 3.5 ounces and be approximately 2.5 inches across and 1.25 inches thick. Please keep in mind that our products are handmade and hand cut. Each bar is unique and might vary slightly in shape, size, design, and color from those pictured.
Please keep your Soap Bars, Shave Bars, and Shampoo Bars well-drained and allow to dry between uses. This will ensure longer lasting bars.
Allergen: Our products contain oil from tree nuts. Please test on a small area of skin prior to use and stop using if irritation occurs. Do not use if you are pregnant. Do not use on infants under the age of 24 months. Do not get in your eyes as it will sting slightly. GoShopping
