Posted by Joshua Cook
March 2, 2014
Gem County, Idaho is the first to vote to prohibit the application of the laws of war, including the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force and any similar law or authority.
The NDAA is a federal law that this renewed annually, which includes two sections added in 2012 that allows the President of the United States to order the military to detain any person, indefinitely and without charge or trial and applies the laws of war to U.S. soil. These new editions have critics shaking their heads.
The critics include the organization, PANDA, which stands for People Against the NDAA. That organization has introduced or pushed over 18 pieces of state legislation, including 2014 legislation in Arizona, Idaho and Wyoming. On the local level, PANDA has helped NDAA resistance leaders in four cities, including Albany, New York, prohibit the NDAA’s detention provisions and the laws of war in their city.
When PANDA Idaho showed up with over 40 people to a Gem County, ID Commissioners meeting on Monday, the Chair of the Commission, Carlos Bilbao, ordered over 30 people to leave. PANDA Idaho’s Jason Casella was there: “Concerned and vigilant citizens came to the county commission at 4pm on a Monday leaving work early or completely missing work to ensure their rights are protected. They were blindsided when they showed up in support of the RCG and shuffled into a room upstairs where they could hardly hear what was happening. When citizens informed commissioner Carlos Bilbao that ‘the clerk has an open courtroom and we can use that’ the commissioner responded that ‘he is in charge, not her.’”
Regardless of the actions of the chair, the Restoring Constitutional Governance Resolution (RCG) passed 2-1. Representatives at PANDA point out that Chairman Bilbao actually voted for the resolution by accident according to PANDA Idaho leader Jason Casella.
Watch interviews with Jason Casella and Dan Johnson
