On Our Own - The Decay Of The Federal Agencies

As the fabric of our society continues to fray, the federal agencies we once relied on to maintain order and justice are unraveling before our eyes. In this episode, we confront the uncomfortable truth that these institutions are no longer the bastions of integrity and service they once were. Instead, they have become bloated, corrupt, and increasingly ineffective at fulfilling their mandates. For the everyday American, particularly those who cherish their Second Amendment rights, this decay poses a significant threat to our way of life.

We take a closer look at how federal agencies have strayed from their original purposes, becoming entangled in political games and power struggles that have little to do with their core missions. From the politicization of the FBI to the heavy-handed tactics of the DoJ, we discuss how these agencies have lost their way, putting the public at risk and eroding the trust that is essential for a functioning democracy. 

This episode is not just a critique of the current state of federal agencies, but also a call to action for those who value their freedoms. As these institutions continue to decay, the need for self-reliance and personal responsibility has never been greater. We explore what this means for gun owners and how the Second Amendment remains a vital safeguard against an overreaching government. Tune in to hear our analysis of the decay of federal agencies and what it means for the future of freedom in America.

Transcript

When it comes to our personal safety, we’ve been spoiled here in America for a good many years. We’ve had our local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to protect us from the evils within our borders, and the military to keep foreign invaders at bay. And because of this perceived level of safety, there are those in power, elected officials, who would strip us of our Second Amendment rights and take our guns away. But do we really have the protection promised us by the aforementioned agencies? Or have they degenerated into uselessness, requiring us to more than ever stay an armed, free, constitutional republic? In this episode we’re going to look at the details so you can decide if we’re on our own when it comes to our personal defense.

 Hey you scallywag, welcome to our A Pirate Talks Guns podcast, gun talk for the bold and unapologetic. I'm your host John Cello, the owner and lead instructor at The Tactical Pirate, a professional firearms training firm located in Anderson, South Carolina. I've been teaching people just like you to use firearms for four decades. I'm a former civilian law enforcement officer, and retired from the Army Military Police corps. We talk about all things guns here, from defense, hunting, and competition. Regardless of your skill level, you'll find something here for you. I'm glad you dropped by. Now sit back, relax, grab your favorite beverage if you're able, and enjoy the show.

  Yes, welcome and thank you for dropping in. You’re all very important to me, as without you listeners I’d just be shouting into the ether like a madman. (And really, I do enough of that as it is.) So in this episode, we’re going to discuss how the agencies we rely on for protection have become inefficient due to DEI hires, embraced political motivation, or have just become openly corrupt. Then we’ll get into some things you can do to protect yourself in the coming maelstrom.

 We’ll start by looking at the agencies that we believed would be there for us as taxpaying, loyal Americans. We’ll talk about the military, the federal law enforcement agencies, and the state and local organs, especially the National Guard. They’ve all been weakened to the point of, or very close to ineffectiveness by what the progressives claim to be necessary.

 So first up, the military. As of April 30, 2024, Depending on the source, the United States military had 1.29 million active duty service members and 800,000 Reserve and National Guard members. This includes the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. It does not count the civilians who are employed by the Department of Defense. Sounds like a lot, but compared to China which has almost double that amount, not so big.

 While we spend more on defense than any other country, we also do our best to hamstring our warfighters and make them as combat-ineffective as possible. The effectiveness of the military started its slow decline into ridiculousness under the Obama regime. Obama stripped all the branches of the military of its meat-eating leadership. Generals who didn’t support Obama’s “progressive” viewpoints were relieved, replaced by career-minded sycophants who held their rank and position far above the welfare of the country they were sworn to protect and the members they were responsible for.

Gone were the Patton types, the Schwarzkopfs, and Dahl, replaced by career minded types that worshiped at the feet of DEI, inclusion, and far-left policies. Obama relieved close to 200 senior leaders in all the branches and replaced them with spineless politicians. The Biden\Harris cabal has continued the Obama edicts, further gutting the military of effective leadership. Real American leaders were replaced with the likes of General Mark Milley and Admiral “Rachel” Levine (you know, the man formerly known as Richard). Yes, we replaced proven leaders with ass-kissing leftists and those with mental illness.

 And the failures of leadership only trickle down to the detriment of the troops, those at the tip of the spear, the last 100 yards of diplomacy. I’ll reference my time in the National Guard, where we had one weekend a month and two weeks a year to train. (And, unlike Tim Walz, I went to Iraq. And Afghanistan. Twice.) I was with a military police unit. Now, you would think that with such a limited time to train we’d have concentrated on practicing the skills to do our jobs, be lethal, and learn to survive, right? I know I did when I first joined. But alas, was not to be. I remember one drill weekend where the majority of the day was spent in a class teaching us how to be accepting and understanding of transvestites.

 I can’t make this shit up. With everything the military police need to know, higher up decided that a be nice to transvestites class was the most effective use of our training time. Bear in mind, I retired in 2018. Things have only gotten worse since then. Active duty military has it even worse these days, with smaller unit level commanders under pressure to push up daily trackers; spreadsheets and Power Point slides that show how many members were trained on whatever the leftist masters think is important this week. Higher loves this stuff, because they can have their little “I’m more woke than you” contests at the Pentagon, because that’s how you get promoted these days.

 Gone are the days when the meat eaters were in charge and they were concerned about a unit’s score on the rifle range, number of sorties flown, or any other thing that impacted a servicemember’s ability to do their job at protecting the nation. It’s so bad in the military these days that prospective recruits, the ones you’d really need to have in the military, are shying away because of the wokeness, the incompetence, and the general disdain the current administration has for the military. So instead of quality recruits, they’re filling the ranks with DEI hires.

 This means the military probably won’t be there to defend you against foreign invaders. There may be many members who are willing, but their leadership will cower like their leftist masters in politics. Remember, in 2016 the Obama administration allowed the Iranians to board and seize two riverine patrol boats. Iran. The same country Obama sent a plane loaded with $400,000,000 in cash to as part of the “nuclear deal” that Iran continues to break to this day. So no, as long as the American military is infected from the inside and ruled by corrupt administrations, you’re more likely to see the military turned against us.

 And a nice segue into agencies turned against us, this brings us to the FBI. Yes, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that conservative arresting, campaign-interfering, armed thug contingent of the Democratic party. The same agency that brings a SWAT team to search a former President's home that is occupied by the Secret Service. (And more on those losers coming up.) Yes, the peerless law-enforcement agency in the world, the FBI.

 There is an archaic term, “sellsword”, which is a mercenary that sells their services as a soldier with a sword. I was going to use that term for the FBI, but at least the sellswords were warriors. No, for the FBI I’ll use the term for someone who sells their services that more truly applies to the leadership of this once fine organization, whores. Starting with Comey, the FBI has thought themselves better than real Americans, and have stuck their noses where they absolutely don’t belong while ignoring the crimes that they should be pursuing. All because the treasonous hack Wray has whored himself out to the Democrats. And I blame every member of the FBI, from Wray down to the lowest level for the decline and truly criminal acts they have committed. FBI leadership gets its marching orders from the Democrats, they pass these down to the rank and file. If a rank and file agent sees the impropriety of an order, but doesn’t question it, they’re no longer a law enforcement officer. They’re a coward, keeping their mouth shut to keep their job. This “we were only following orders” crap they use when caught red-handed doing something wrong doesn’t work. It didn’t work for the Nazis, who they are apparently trying to emulate, when they used that excuse at the Nuremberg Trials, and it isn’t working now. If the rank and file agent didn’t see the corruption taking place in the bureau, they obviously weren’t observant or intelligent enough to be investigating crimes.

 I was in civilian law enforcement. I have families and friends in law enforcement. I’m a huge proponent of the men and women who enforce the law in our country. I firmly believe that the defund the police movement is one of the most dangerous, ill-conceived movements the whack jobs in the left profess. But I will shout to the heavens that the FBI needs to be done away with. The entire bureau is beyond salvation. It has to be burned to the ground. (Figuratively, not literally.) They have zero credibility. Their crime lab needs to remain intact under rotating civilian oversight and their law enforcement functions need to be turned over to the Texas Rangers.

 So don’t expect the FBI to do you any good at all. In fact, if you’re a white, Christian, conservative, you have a lot to fear from this agency. In a message to pro-life activists, the FBI sent two dozen agents, with guns drawn, to the home of Mark Houck to arrest him for two felonies. The felonies? Violating the FACE Act. The FACE, for Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act , forbids physically obstructing, injuring, intimidating, or interfering with anyone “obtaining or providing reproductive health services.” And how did Houck violate this? What heinous act did this scofflaw commit? Why, he drove 2 hours from his home to pray across the street from an abortion clinic. 

 How dare he disrupt the left’s right to destroy human life by praying. Local authorities didn’t even think it would be worth the misdemeanor charge it might have called for. But the outraged left demanded this man be punished. So the Democrats sent their brownshirts, their sturmabteilung in the form of armed FBI agents to arrest him. They’re not law enforcement, they’re political activists along the same lines as BLM and ANTIFA.

The partisan acts of the FBI aren’t reported by the mainstream media. This is by design, as this way they can keep their acts in the shadows. Just know there is a history of politically motivated acts against real Americans. Enough for their own podcast. Hell, enough for an entire podcast series.

 I mentioned the Secret Service earlier, and since they’ve had the most recent, and most spectacular failure let’s move on to them. This is the agency that doesn’t get a lot of attention because, up until now, they performed their duties quietly and effectively. That all came crashing down in July of this year, when someone managed to hit President Trump with a rifle while he was at a rally. Yes, the agency who is responsible for protecting the most powerful man on earth fell down on the job. So who managed to negate their protection? A Russian Spetsnatz kill squad? An Iranian group of professional hitters? You would think a team of this caliber would be required to get past the federal agency that is known throughout the world for its abilities in executive protection. You’d be wrong.

 To recap, the Trump assassination attempt was when a twenty year old incel managed to infiltrate the security perimeter set up by the world’s most vaunted protective service. Or at least that’s what the former head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, would have you believe. She insisted that there was no deliberate attempt to expose the Republican candidate for president to harm in any form. After all, that’s strictly the machinations you’d expect from some third-world Hell-hole, where the sitting leader has government agencies destroy their opponent, right? There’s just no way anything at all like that would happen in the good ‘ol U.S. of A.

 Now, this is not to intimate that I think Joe Biden stooped to an action like this. On the contrary, I don’t believe that he had the capacity to mastermind and put in motion a plan like that. This was made glaringly apparent at the Biden-Trump debate, where it seemed like he was auditioning for the spot as poster boy for cerebral aphasia. And even though evil Jill told him after the debate that he did great, and “answered all the questions and knew all the facts”, well he didn’t. Besides, we all know that Hunter is the brains of the Family. Joe, and what Joe has access to, is just the commodity Hunter sells.

 But I digress. The manifold failures of the Secret Service can’t be attributed to political motivation alone. There was a more insidious cancer metastasizing. Cheatle, the second woman to head the Secret Service (the first being Julia Pierson, sworn in by Obama) stated in 2023 that she wanted to have “thirty percent female recruits by 2030.” Apparently, that goal superseded hiring actually qualified women. If you haven’t seen the video, you need to watch it. The protection teams reaction after Trump is shot can only be, charitably, described as a shitshow. And from the looks of it, thirty percent of his detail were women.

 Now, the fact that Trump was shot at all is just a complete and utter failure of “an elite law enforcement agency”, in the words of the Secret Service’s chief of communication Anthony Guglielmi. But once they realized that shots were fired, they sprung into action. One went so far as to either use Trump as a shield by getting behind him on the stage floor (the MSM will probably say she was looking for threats behind them in the crowd). Once they did manage to remove him from the stage to a waiting vehicle, shielding Trump’s six foot, three inch frame with their five foot nothing, yet chunky bodies, the scene became reminiscent of a Keystone Cops episode. 

 One “agent” apparently thought it would be a good idea to draw her gun. In the next instant, she apparently thought it would be a better idea to re-holster it. At this point hilarity ensued, as she tried to holster her gun in her belt mounted badge a couple of times, moved it back and made a couple unsuccessful attempts to put it in the actual holster, then said the Hell with it and held it in both hands while performing the most intimidating display of gum-chewing the likes of which the world had never seen. Call me too harsh, but in my opinion if you’re on a close in personal protection detail, doing a shitty job of basic gun handling like holstering your gun shouldn’t be a thing. I can’t imagine the outcome if she had to actually shoot the damn thing.

 So the thirty percent female recruits plan of Cheatle’s is going swimmingly. That is, if the destruction of any scintilla of confidence in the once vaunted Secret Service was her goal, and being appointed by a leftist regime, it probably was, then mission accomplished. Cheatle’s oompa loompa like band of bimbos, undeniably DEI hires, was more than likely part of the plot. I said from day one that the shooter was supposed to kill Trump, which would stir conservatives out of their torpor and, finally, take on the most corrupt administration in history. This of course would enable the resident houseplant to declare martial law, which would eliminate the upcoming election. Then the Bidens would be able to gut the country while continuing to fill their coffers.

 The Bidens would rule in perpetuity, supported in their third-world dictatorship by the Democratic party, the corrupt mainstream media, and the pathetic useful idiots that worshiped their government handout idols. This Venezuelan utopia has been the dream of the left for a good many years. It used to lurk in the background, never spoken of outright but alluded to to keep the faithful voting Democrat. Or bringing in illegals to keep the Dem votes flowing. But the past several years have the leftists not only saying the quiet part out loud, they’ve been shouting it from the rooftops.

 And while we’re on the subject of illegal immigrants, or as the current admin calls them, “newcomers”, let’s look at ICE. ICE, or Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents, are charged with enforcing the immigration laws. Charged with, but not allowed to. See, ICE falls under the Department of Homeland Security. Now, the head of Homeland Security is Alejandro Mayorkas. That Mayorkas. The one impeached by the House for following the orders of the Biden\Harris administration. Mayorkas allowed millions of illegal aliens across our border. He stood by silently while the Biden\Harris administration flew illegals in from other countries and sprinkled them all across our great nation. The concentrations were carefully allotted, ensuring that the restructuring of voting districts due to population would benefit the Democrats. And all the smuggling, housing feeding, clothing, and medical care for the illegals was done with your tax dollars. And Mayorkas did nothing.

 Mayorkas is equally responsible for the rapes, murders, and drug trafficking committed by illegal aliens he’s let in as Biden and Harris are. If there were to be any justice, Mayorkas would be criminally indicted and convicted, and civilly sued by the victims and their families for the horrors his inaction caused.

 So neither DHS nor ICE is on your side.

 Which essentially leaves us with state and local law enforcement agencies. These are the men and women who, day after day and night after night risk their lives to keep us safe. They’re actually doing the job. We owe them a debt of gratitude that we can never repay.

 But their job gets harder and harder. They bust their asses making cases and arresting people, only to have the progressive prosecutors dismiss charges, or have progressive judges give low or no bail judgements to have the criminals back out on the street.

 Law enforcement is scrutinized like bugs under a microscope for any infraction they may commit, while the justice system gets a free pass. Attorney General Merrick Garland, in lockstep with Wray of the FBI doing the bidding of the Biden Crime Family, is primarily to blame for the state of the American justice system. As the country’s top cop it falls on him to ensure the laws are enforced equally and in accordance with the constitution. He has done anything but.

 When the savages from BLM were doing their level best to burn and loot as many American cities as possible, the DoJ did a truly pathetic job of prosecuting the few that were arrested. Now, understandably, Garland would have to have had a spine to push for the proper levels of prosecution for these scum since the Vice President was contributing to the fund to bail them out. And Garland comes across as a careerist, interested only in his position and fat salary. In other words, another gutless coward that abandoned his oath for power.

 It amazes me that anyone would want to get into law enforcement these days, what with the system stacked against them. I can’t express how much respect I have for the troopers, deputies, officers, and other state and local level law enforcement personnel. They’re the heroes. They’re the ones that are on your side and will protect you.

 I did tell you that I’d say how to protect yourself, so here it is. First of all, vote. It begins at the local level. And toss out all your pre-conceived notions. Don’t vote along party lines just because, don’t vote because someone is likable or charismatic. Don’t vote because of what the media tells you as they have an agenda. If you haven’t wondered why every single mainstream media outlet runs the exact headlines with the exact phrases, maybe you really aren’t smart enough to vote. If all the outlets have the same message with very minor wording changes, and you don’t realize they’re ALL getting them from the current administration you’re really not putting any effort into this whole voting thing. Which is exactly what they want.

 And don’t vote for what a politician says they’re going to do. Campaign promises are all lies. Much like Harris saying she’ll make changes on day one if she’s elected president, while meanwhile as vice president her policies have caused what she claims she’s going to correct. Lies, all lies.

 Take the time and do the research. What has the individual actually done? The mainstream media, in the face of audio and video recording to the contrary, will paint people however their leftist masters tell them to. They’ll rewrite history, because they know the faithful will swallow whatever they’re fed. Don’t be that low-info voter. What’s that prosecutor's won-loss record? What cases have they prosecuted? What has that hopeful state senator done, and what are their plans to do what they promise? Get the local scene under control, then we can move against the federal level.

 For your personal safety, hit the range and hone your skills. If you don’t have any, or you’re having trouble in a specific area, get help from an instructor. Have a plan to defend your home until law enforcement arrives. B situationally aware and prepared to defend yourself outside of your home. You are the primary provider of safety for yourself and your loved ones. Get proficient at it.

 And that will do it for this doom and gloom filled episode 

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Disclaimer: "This podcast is for the purpose of education only and is not a replacement for professionally conducted training. We suggest you seek out the help of a trained instructor for help with your specific situation. Opinions expressed are solely those of John Cello."