The Oath of Office is Not an iPhone User Agreement
by Stephen Friend (indefinitely suspended FBI Special Agent)
Twitter: @RealStevefriend; Truth-Social: @Real_SteveFriend
attribution to Stephen Friend at SharylAttkisson.com.
Legend holds that when George Washington was inaugurated as our nation’s first president, he improvised, “So help me God” as an addendum to the presidential oath of office. Unlike Washington’s wooden teeth or cutting down the cherry tree, the factual basis for this account is still hotly debated. Nevertheless, America’s ensuing Presidents, elected officials, military members, and civilian government workforce continually honor the tradition by pledging:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
Recent events in Arizona as well as my own experience as an FBI whistleblower warrant an examination as to whether America’s officials still honor their respective oaths of office.
Mohave County Arizona Board of Supervisors held a late November meeting to certify the 2022 election results. Many voters and officials held misgivings about possible fraud and there was public pressure to delay the certification. However, delaying certification beyond November 28th arguably represented an act of malfeasance of office by county officials- a class 2 misdemeanor under Arizona law. Mohave County certified the results. But after voting in favor, County Supervisor Ron Gould somberly remarked, “I found out today that I have no choice but to (vote in favor of approving the canvass), or I’ll be arrested.”
Regardless of one’s opinions on Arizona electoral hijinks, Gould’s decision ranks as a gross violation of his oath of office. Elected Arizona candidates swear a loyalty oath before assuming office. The would-be officials solemnly swear they will “support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Arizona…” My question for Supervisor Gould is, if he honestly believes nefarious activities influenced the outcomes of the 2022 election and infringed on citizens’ rights, didn’t his oath of office preclude him from voting to certify? I do not begrudge Mr. Gould’s desire to avoid a misdemeanor arrest. But he undoubtedly placed his personal welfare ahead of his fundamental responsibility as an elected Board of Supervisor member.
My decision to become an FBI whistleblower was largely driven by a devotion to my oath of office. I expressed this sentiment repeatedly to every level of my chain of command. I sincerely believe that the FBI’s improper management of January 6th investigations and aggressive arrest tactics against January 6th subjects are violations of citizens’ Sixth Amendment due process rights and Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. When my supervisors ordered me to engage in January 6th arrest operations, I noted the order violated my oath of office and refused to participate.
I anticipated an FBI retaliation and it ultimately arrived in the form of an unpaid, indefinite suspension from duty. But unlike Gould, I place my oath ahead of my professional well-being. While my family and I are now suffering financial hardship, I do not question my decision. The oath is the oath.
Financial privation aside, the worst cause for alarm is the thunderous silence from my FBI colleagues. I expected my fellow FBI Special Agents to follow my lead. After all, we were all vetted as people of integrity. We all swore the same oath. To my great sorrow and complete chagrin, the “fine men and women of the FBI” left me in the cold.
Why?
I contend that the oath of office has not simply lost its luster. It has completely morphed into something unrecognizable from the dignified and grand words once uttered by the father of our nation. Today’s intonements are tantamount to clicking “Agree” on the latest iPhone update. No one reads the contract. Instead, we all immediately agree. We are all hellbent on attaining the latest technological innovations and willing to sacrifice whatever personal data Apple requires for the privilege.
Similarly, swearing today’s oaths is a means to an end instead of a portentous pledge to the nation. The ends are obvious- lucrative government salaries, generous pensions, and nearly invincible job security (except for FBI whistleblowers).
The crucial question is, what are public servants sacrificing on our behalf when they click “Agree” to their oath? In the case of Mohave County, it may be fraudulent election results. For the FBI and January 6th subjects, it is the civil rights for which our forebearers pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.
As I write these words, thousands of Chinese citizens protest their tyrannical government. It is an uphill battle against an authoritarian Communist regime. The fight is made indelibly harder when companies like Apple (which long ago clicked “Agree” to the terms and conditions spelled out by the Chinese Communist Party in exchange for access to 1.4 billion potential customers) are complicit with the CCP in thwarting dissent.
This is a rhetorical call to arms for my fellow government employees. Unlike China, America is a constitutional republic. If we hope to retain our form of government and maintain citizens’ freedoms, elected representatives must cease clicking “Agree” and afford our oaths of office all due honor and regard. The rights of “We The People” are worth more than the latest iOS app updates and camera enhancements.
Editorial Message from Virtual Mirage: To the US law enforcement officers and US counterintelligence officials who read this blog daily, what is YOUR oath worth? If you’re looking for all enemies, both foreign and domestic, this isn’t the place that you should be looking. At the same time, you are welcome here. I hope that you learn something.
Bravo Zulu.
Well said.
The pensions are their thirty pieces of silver…appropriately, the price of a slave.
“For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother…” – Will S.
If any of the readers/lurkers have the knowhow and drive to set up a GoFundMe account for Brother Friend, we could ameliorate his financial condition.
There is this:
https://www.givesendgo.com/KyleSeraphin
Thznks, Ed..
I hit it.
We have doctors who won’t prescribe lifesaving treatments for fear of losing their job.
I know a woman who lost her husband in a hospital because the doctor would not continue to prescribe Ivermectin against the demands of the hospital administrator even after seeing the efficacy.
He told her “I have my job to think of.”.
Wheat/Chaff.
I thought their oath was “First Do No Harm”?
Their minds have been co-opted, they have forgotten that part and feel no remorse.
Do no direct harm. Like illegal medical experiments (looks at the Chinkypox vaccines.) Do no direct action that leads to harm.
It totally allows harm by inaction. Like not pursuing testing of sick people because insurance or the government or government insurance won’t allow it. Like not prescribing life-saving meds because it might inconvenience them. Like prescribing drugs that they are getting perks and kickbacks on, whether the drugs are useful or not.
And that “Do no harm” thingy is mainly a Hollyweird fiction. Seriously. Dr. Kildare, yada yada yada. If “Do no harm” was real, there would be far less deaths from hospital acquired infections and other oopsies like removal of the wrong limbs or wrong blood given or insulin injected before a surgery when it’s not required etc, etc, etc.
Seriously. I know someone whose left leg is a friggin mess because the doctor who operated and treated her after a horrible accident ,where the damage was treatable with little side effects, would not wash his hands between patients. She survived, many didn’t, he kept his license.
Someone I know almost had a huge amount of insulin, like what you give someone with a blood sugar over 500, injected right before she was sedated for major surgery. She would not have survived that if she hadn’t questioned the orders.
Do no harm. Right. Like ignoring the symptoms of a dead thyroid because the patient is fat? Screaming at a patient because the A1Cs are high therefore patient is eating like a pig (when the patient was eating 300 calories a day) and completely ignoring the extremely elevated white blood cell counts for over a year that were due to a huge tumor growing on the person’s spine (which she complained about for over a year but was told was caused by her being fat.)
To be rude, “Bitch, please.” It is an industry. Doctors must pay their bills and student loans and malpractice insurance and therefore end up caring about throughput (how many patients can they bill a day) rather than quality of treatment.
I’ve seen good doctors. I’ve seen far more doctors that needed a bullet in the head, seriously.
My physician is retiring. I have a good relationship with him. I asked him who I should go to (within the plan). He gave me two names and said that he trained them all and the rest were worthless. We have a habit of speaking plainly with each other.
I’d ask for one of the names. It might be worth the drive.
I can’t find anyone around here except the ones that don’t take insurance.
Instead of looking at Medical Doctors, DMs that is, try looking for Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, DO that is. They tend to look at the whole body as an interconnected system rather than at one particular problem.
MD – looking at a symptom – must be the part of the body where the system is showing up.
DO – looking at a symptom – may be problem with that part of the body, or it could be.
Even so, you still have to do half of the work for them. Like write down all the funny-weird things that are going on, bring in samples of any strange emissions, and ride their asses regarding a complete blood panel with WBC count for every checkup so that you and your doctor can see trends. But you have to be honest with yourself.
I had a DO, always preferred them.
Mine was private practice, but became a covidiot.
Retired FBI are standing up for Friend:
https://nypost.com/2022/09/28/30-ex-fbi-agents-stand-up-to-support-whistleblower-who-exposed-agencys-political-bias/
Giving lip service to their Oath…because THEY DON’T CARE. Or worse, have never been made to care, knowing full well they will never face consequences because scum protects scum.
Stephen Friend may be dismayed, however no one is surprised of his shunning. Heck, we have DEFINITIVE proof The _Resident has committed treason against America with our enemies, using his reprobate son on his behalf…and people are running hard interference to turn it into news cycle vapor.
And he’s just ONE.
Now even “elections matter” has become symbolic…Arizona being THE LATEST prime example…glaringly obvious to everyone paying attention. Yet cowards like Gould never step up to the plate in defense of The Oath, easily sold his soul out of fear of reprisal. Weakling.
These bums are no different than the tough guy perp with a gun…take the gun away and he’s nothing but a punk.
Re: Oath ignoring Sunshine Patriots, and Kingdom of Heaven being discussed here recently, I’ll add this:
King Baldwin IV: “None of us know our end, really, or what hand will guide us there. A king may move a man, a father may claim a son, but that man can also move himself, and only then does that man truly begin his own game. Remember that howsoever you are played or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone, even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power. When you stand before God, you cannot say, “But I was told by others to do thus,” or that virtue was not convenient at the time. This will not suffice. Remember that.”
Convenient virtue indeed.
Well said.
One of my most favorite movie quotes that encompasses honor and integrity…or as my dad would say – paraphrased and without Marine-level language: “There is no ‘I don’t or didn’t know’ or excuse…use your head.”
One of Hitler’s key steps in establishing complete power was having the military swear loyalty oaths to him personally, rather than to the German constitution.
To those with dead souls, the oath of office is a meaningless ritual they go through to get what they want. If it wasn’t for the harm they cause you could almost pity them…..kinda like a dog with rabies.
There’s a treatment for dogs with rabies.
Like Travis and Old Yeller.
Your editorial response is as strong a public service message as I have, in recent memory, read.
FIBS: “I’ve got ten years in, so I have to just go along and follow orders until I get my pension at 20 and then double dip in the private sector.” Todays FBI is totally corrupt at the top and a shadow of it’s former self. What to do about it is the question.
You’d need to purge the system and start over.
It’s been that way since at least the 60’s. Maybe the 50’s. Or maybe, just maybe, pretty much from the beginning of the organization (which is what I truly suspect.)
Too many stories and rumors from the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s etc.
What’s that phrase? “Look to the one in your group calling for action and they’re the government stooge/informant/FBI agent.”
It’s surprising that the organization has managed to achieve anything considering how horrible their record, when scrutinized, really is. FBI Crime Lab? Lotsa pseudo-science that wouldn’t hold up in court without the ‘FBI’ label. Rifling marks, ejector marks, firing pin marks, gunpowder residue, fingerprint/palmprint/footprint analysis, carpet fibers, blood analysis, DNA analysis (especially early DNA testing but even today’s modern testing) and so much more. Serious issues involved with lots of cases. Most state crime labs have a better record of truthfulness than the FBI’s lab.
All of you here can think of at least 10 cases where the FBI outright lied, 10 cases before the start of the outright coup the FBI ran starting in late 2016. I bet if we collected all of those cases there would be 5-6 common ones and then a whole host of less commonly known to outright singular, especially if you listed all the instances of corruption by the vaunted FBI.
There are reasons uncountable why most state and local LEOs hate with the passion of a burning sun the FBI.
Not to mention all of the leaks, outright lies, theft, embezzlement and other crimes committed by the not-agents of the FBI. From janitors to secretaries and staff assistants and and and and and…
And after the last 6 years, actual Roman Decimation of everyone in the FBI would be a good start. Sealing most of them inside and burning down the building and salting the earth afterwards also is a viable option.
Decimation (Roman style) was a random selection of 10%. When you look at what they have become, (1) Random wouldn’t be nearly enough (2) 10% wouldn’t be nearly enough.
Hence rounding them all up, sealing them in the building and burning it down.
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