New Blog and Web Site for Mark Nestmann

Mark Nestmann (January 29, 2012)

I’ve moved my blog and updated blog archives from The Sovereign Society to Nestmann.com . Here are the most recent three entries:

• Offshore Banks Will Need to Disclose Precious Metals Held by U.S. Clients
• IRS Admits Offshore Enforcement Efforts Leading to Soaring Expatriation Rates
• IRS Makes Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Framework Permanent

To sign up for my new blog just click here.

I’ve also launched the new Nestmann.com site to bring our extensive resources into one easy to use solution. You’ll notice the difference in the new Nestmann.com visually right away. And you’ll find a lot more free information on second citizenship & residence, wealth preservation, international tax planning., and of course, privacy.

And if you have any suggestions or comments about the new Nestmann.com, drop me a line at info@nestmann.com.

Incidentally .I’m continuing my association with Sovereign Society and will be speaking at their conference April 22-25 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. My associate P.T. Freeman will be joining me there as well. Hope to see you there!

Overseas Radio Network to Launch with P.T. Freeman as Host

Mark Nestmann (December 21, 2011)

By: P. T. Freeman

In the first days of January 2012, the Overseas Radio Network will begin broadcasting, aiming at people who desire for one reason or another, to leave the United States and set up a new life elsewhere.  It will be primarily talk radio that will be broadcasting online.  There will approximately 40 show hosts with various themes and topics, most of whom are experts in their fields.

Yours truly (P.T.) will have a show entitled: “The Second Passports and Expatriation Report: The Life of a Perpetual Traveler.”  This will be a 60 minute program that will commence at 16:00 US Eastern Time.  My friend and colleague Mark Nestmann will be a guest on the show from time to time.

I invite you to join me each Friday as I discuss second passports, loss of nationality, immigration, travel experiences and opportunities abroad.  We will also take calls from listeners during that time.

For further information, please see overseasradio.com.

Nestmann Interviewed by This Week in Money & Sovereign Man

Mark Nestmann (December 10, 2011)

I’ve recently been interviewed by Phil Mackesy of “This Week in Money” and Simon Black of “Sovereign Man.”

Here are the links to the archived interviews:

This Week in Money: http://talkdigitalnetwork.com/2011/12/this-week-in-money-9/.  My interview starts at 31:33. In this interview I give a chapter by chapter breakdown of my book The Lifeboat Strategy, including numerous practical recommendations to lower your vulnerability to lawsuits, asset seizures, and other threats

Sovereign Man: http://withoutborders.libsyn.com/mark-nestmann-on-201-9efc9f-mp3 . In this interview, I discuss my personal experience with “civil forfeiture,” and how that led to my interest in offshore asset protection. Simon and I also discuss what’s to come in the USA as the global financial system continues to deteriorate.

Enjoy listening!

Can Obama Send U.S. Citizens to Guantanamo Bay?

Mark Nestmann ()

The blogosphere has been humming the last couple of weeks with condemnation of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act. This bill, which funds U.S. military forces for the coming year, has a neat little provision tucked away in Sec. 1031.  It permits anyone the government claims is “a member of, or part of, al-Qaida or an associated force” to be held in military custody “without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.” Including, according to numerous blog posts, U.S. citizens residing in the United States.

The bill has passed both the Senate and House, and is now before a congressional conference committee to iron out differences between the House and Senate versions.

Because the bill, after all, funds the almighty military, there’s close to a 0% chance that it won’t show up on President Obama’s desk in the next few days or weeks. And, despite Obama’s threats to veto the bill, he won’t. More importantly, even if he did veto the bill, it wouldn’t change anything. The president already has or has assumed most if not all of the powers this bill provides. Perhaps that’s why leaders of both chambers have agreed to insert language to the effect that, “Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect existing law or authorities, relating to the detention of United States citizens, lawful resident aliens of the United States or any other persons who are captured or arrested in the United States.”

“Existing law or authorities” leaves a lot of room for abuse. For instance, President Obama claims the authority to assassinate U.S. citizens without a trial, and has done so on at least one occasion. In September, he authorized the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born militant preacher with alleged al Qaeda connections. A U.S. drone armed with a missile subsequently killed Awlaki in Yemen.

The military also has authority under existing law to lock up U.S. citizens indefinitely, without trial or any due process whatsoever. That’s a consequence of the Military Commissions Act, enacted in 2006, which allows the president to throw anyone in a military prison, including U.S. citizens, without access to any court. With this authority, the law repeals, or attempts to repeal, the constitutional principle of habeas corpus.  If you’re classified as an “enemy combatant” under this act, there’s no requirement that a trial of any kind will ever occur. You can be held indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay or another military facility, without ever being accused of a crime.

The blogosphere seems to believe that this bill would make the entire United States a “battlefield.” Well, the United States already is a battlefield, in law if not in reality. In 2006, Congress authorized the president to deploy troops within the United States when, in the president’s judgment, the authorities of the state are incapable of maintaining public order. This may occur without the consent of state authorities. Two years later, the U.S. Army announced the first deployment of a combat brigade within U.S. borders since the end of the Civil War. It functions as an “on-call federal response force for natural or man-made emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks” and for “crowd control.”

So…the president can already assassinate U.S. citizens or detain them indefinitely without trial. Obama can also deploy the military anywhere in the United States to maintain public order. He can do so indefinitely, not just until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force. In that sense, the authority in the National Defense Authorization Act is actually more limited than that which the president already possesses.

I don’t want to minimize the seriousness of provisions such as those in this bill. The fact that these powers already exist underscore the fact that Obama and for that matter any U.S. president already has the powers of a dictator, including the authority to assassinate U.S. citizens without trial or other legal process. Obama has the good political sense to use these powers only against individuals such as Anwar al-Awlaki. The real question is…

Who’s next?

Copyright © 2011 by Mark Nestmann