P.A.N.D.A. founder, Dan Johnson kicks off great list of speakers at the Paul Festival
It’s finally here. A three day festival honoring Congressman Ron Paul for his distinct and honorable service to his country, the decades he devoted to upholding and promoting the Constitution and our founding principles and speaking out on the overreach of the centralized federal government.
This weekend has a plethora of fantastic speakers covering a wide range of topics in the promotion of liberty.
Friday afternoon began with a great speaker battling one the the most destructive laws ever seen in American history- the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Dan Johnson, P.A.N.D.A. Founder Photo/The Global Dispatch-Robert Herriman
Dan Johnson is the founder of the anti-NDAA organization, P.A.N.D.A.
Johnson immediately points out that the NDAA targets you and I. He specifically describes how the NDAA violates half of our Bill of Rights, and that its much more than a bill to fund the military. Using the illustration from the movie, “Minority Report”, where the government can arrest and throw you in jail before you commit a crime.
“The NDAA allows the government to arrest you, charge you with nothing and not give you a trial” notes Johnson. And this applies equally to American citizens as it does to a foreign terrorist.
Johnson goes on to say, “Even if you’re an American citizen on US soil, you don’t have to be read your rights, you can be held indefinitely and even tortured”.
Very scary stuff that many Americans may not even be aware of.
The NDAA was signed into law on December 31, 2011 by President Barack Obama. Under the NDAA as Johnson points out:
- You can be arrested and indefinitely detained if the president merely alleges you are a threat or a terrorist.
- You have no more right to legal representation.
- You can be held in prison for the rest of your life without being convicted of a crime.
- Trial by a jury of your peers? Nah, not under the NDAA.
- In fact, you could actually be executed without being convicted of a crime.
How on earth could such a bill get through Congress?
Dan Johnson uses SC Republican Senator Lindsey Graham as the obvious example: According to Senator Graham, “if you even think about terrorism, you’ll face three things-Death, detention, prosecution”.
According to a P.A.N.D.A. handout, you could be suspected of being a terrorist if any of the following apply:
- You speak out against the government
- You are active online to show “extreme views”
- You love liberty or the “radical Constitution”
- You exhibit “unusual actions” that catch the attention of others
Mr. Johnson goes on to talk about the most dangerous part of the NDAA later in the speech, a part that is hidden in the requirement to detain.
Johnson says:
“That requirement reads, the Armed Forces of the United States shall hold a person in military custody pending disposition under the law of war. The worst part of this is not that the American military are allowed to police our streets, the worst part is not even that you could be held in a military prison camp, the worst part is that your fate can be decided under the law of war. In truth, it doesn’t matter how many provisions of the Constitution are directly violated by the NDAA, our Congress has taken the law of war and super-imposed it on top of the Constitution. There are no free speech rights in the law of war. There are no Second Amendment rights in the law of war. There are no Constitutional tights in the law of war. They have taken the Constitution, the supreme law of the land and replaced it with the law of war. Congress has declared America a battlefield and us as the enemy, and every single Congressman who voted for the NDAA, along with the President, should be tried for treason.”
It was an informative, eye-opening and sobering talk to be sure.
For more information on P.A.N.D.A. and the NDAA, visit the P.A.N.D.A. website
