John W. Whitehead

The War on Drugs Has Become the War on the American People

"On July 29, 2008, my family and I were terrorized by an errant Prince George's County SWAT team. This unit forced entry into my home without a proper warrant, executed our beloved black Labradors, Payton and Chase, and bound and interrogated my mother-in-law and me for hours as they ransacked our belongings… As I was forced to kneel, bound at gun point on my living room floor, I recall thinking that there had been a terrible mistake. However, as I have learned more, I have to understand that what my family and I experience is part of a growing and troubling trend where law enforcement is relying on SWAT teams to perform duties once handled by ordinary police officers."—Maryland Mayor Cheye Calvo in testimony before the Maryland Senate

Identity Ecosystem: Big Brother Logs On

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busy bodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”—C.S. Lewis

Television News: Are We Amusing Ourselves to Death?

"We've got the bubble-headed bleach-blonde who comes on at five. She can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye. It's interesting when people die. Give us dirty laundry." —Don Henley, "Dirty Laundry" Anyone who relies exclusively on television/cable news hosts and political commentators for actual knowledge of the world today is making a serious mistake. Unfortunately, as Americans have devolved into non-readers with woefully short attention spans, newspapers providing even semi-analytical content have found themselves struggling to stay afloat while television, which delivers little more than news sound bites sandwiched between superficial chitchat and entertainment buzz, has become the prime source of so-called "news."

The Plight of Marco Sauceda and the Loss of Our Freedoms

"A person should feel secure in their own home. No matter black, white, Hispanic, Asian, I don't care who they are, they should feel secure in their own home. The police have no right to come in your house and push you around and beat you up and do the things they did on March, 15, 2009."—Ryan Deaton, defense attorney for Marco Sauceda

Fulfilling Orwell’s Prophecy: 15 Futuristic Films You Should See

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever.”—George Orwell It has been over 60 years since George Orwell published his novel 1984. Described as political satire, it is, in reality, a political prophecy—one that is being fulfilled in our own times.

VIPR Searches and the American Citizen: ‘Dominate. Intimidate. Control.’

The transition to a police state will not come about with a dramatic coup d’etat, with battering rams and marauding militia. As we have experienced first-hand in recent years, it will creep in softly, one violation at a time, until suddenly you find yourself being subjected to random patdowns and security sweeps during your morning commute to work or quick trip to the shopping mall.