("Quid coniuratio est?")
[From an interview with Linda Thompson on the For the People radio show, Feb. 11, 1994. Host is Chuck Harder.]
[Continued...]
CHUCK HARDER: Uh, I think, I think it's important to point out here also that last night, 60 Minutes, which is the mainstream press, went out just a little tiny bit on a limb -- and I praise CBS for doing it although they are, they're part of the problem most nights. Uh, you know, and they talked about the congressman who "told it like it is." {1}. And he says, you know, you go out, you start telling the truth and suddenly, you're not gonna get re-elected because they won't raise money for you.
LINDA THOMPSON: Well then you also have congressmen that, for instance, we've had some congressmen who have been active in trying to get something done about Waco. And coincidentally, two of those congressmen's children were arrested on drug charges.
This is... and I have had one congressman's legislative aid call me and tell me that he was threatened! So, this is the kind of thing that we're seeing: even if you've got an honest congressman trying to do something, the pressure is put on him too! That's pretty significant pressure when they start comin' after your kids or they threaten your life or your family's life, or you know for a certainty that you can never get re-elected because you're going to be defeated by money alone. This is what's happened. That's how our Congress has been taken over, is by the people with the money.
HARDER: And I think it's important also to say (and I wanna thank you very much for the call, "T.K."), but it's also -- Linda, you know this -- the Internal Revenue Service, as they have done to us, they have been with us now for a year. Uh, their audit procedures started a year ago. And there have been 3 different IRS auditers that have been engaged, one way or another. Uh, they are on what is called, in the auditing business, a "fishing trip." Uh, they've already determined nothing's wrong. But they're still "fishing." {2}.
A "fishing trip" like they are on can, by the time it's all over with, cost us $100,000.
THOMPSON: It can cost you that in nothing but trying to prove you did nothing wrong.
HARDER: Right. And, you know, after you spend $100,000 and they finally go away, they are convinced that they hurt you to the tune of $100,000. And that's what's going...
THOMPSON: And they have hurt you.
HARDER: Yeah.
THOMPSON: That's a very powerful weapon.
HARDER: We'll be back.
[...commercial break...]
HARDER: We are back. Linda Thompson is our guest, and we're taking your calls at 1-800-TALK-YES. Or, you can try us at 904- 397-1500.
O.K. Linda, you are back on the air. Are you there?
THOMPSON: Yes. Hi.
HARDER: O.K. Good. Let's go to uh, let's conference in right now. Huntington, West Virginia. Bill, go ahead.
BILL: Hi, Linda. Hi, Chuck.
HARDER: Hi.
THOMPSON: Hi.
BILL: I had a question about the Waco situation. Is it possible that somebody could bring a civil suit against Janet Reno at all? I mean, maybe a class action suit? {3}.
THOMPSON: Well, I have. And you don't want a class action. That's one thing, I want to take the opportunity while you've got such a huge audience here to explain.
When you bring a lawsuit against a company -- for instance, we've all heard of class action lawsuits against General Motors, this kind of thing -- the person bringing the lawsuit does not want [it] to be a class action. Because if I were to, as a single individual, sue a large entity like General Motors over a defective part in a car and win, all the other 10,000 people that bought that car can then individually sue, too, and get the same amount of money I did. Because I've already set the precedent for them, and that's another 10,000 guys that could each bring their suit and automatically win.
So what happens is, when you sue on a case like that, General Motors would be the one that makes it into a class action. Because what they want to do is have to settle everybody's claim in one lawsuit, because it costs them less money and they end up paying out less money. You notice that, whenever there's a class action lawsuit, the attorneys get most of the money, they get half the money. And then the remainder of the money is distributed amongst 10 or 20 thousand plaintiffs! And everybody gets maybe, 10, 15 dollars. That's nothing. That's peanuts.
That's why the defendants are the ones that want it to be a class action suit. You, as a plaintiff, the person bringing the case, you never wanna be a class action. (Unless you're an attorney and you want the money!)
Um, but an actual plaintiff: you wanna go individually against that entity, win a pile of money, and then let all the other 9 million Americans, or how many are affected, also then file their own cases all over the country. They already have your case that set the precedent, that has made the rule that has said, "You won." O.K.?
HARDER: By the same token, let me squeeze this in: If you do file an individual suit and you lose, it does not prevent somebody else from "comin' back." [i.e. filing their own suit of similar nature]
THOMPSON: That's right. And the government can argue, "Well, this person lost," but you've always got the opportunity to say, "Well my circumstances are different. It's not the same case. I'm a different plaintiff. I can still sue."
But if the other person wins, then you identify with that person and say, "I'm just exactly like this guy that just won. And he got," you know, "5 million. I should too." And then the government's on the defensive. They have to prove why not.
But it makes it eminently easier for the plaintiff, and much more difficult for the defendant, if it's not a class action.
BILL: Let me ask you: Did you say you filed suit?
THOMPSON: Yes.
BILL: Who do you represent?
THOMPSON: Myself.
BILL: Yourself?
THOMPSON: Uh-huh [affirmative]. I... You have to have "standing" in a case. For instance, an average citizen, it's very difficult to find a basis to sue the government on, when you aren't directly involved. For instance, if you're not a Branch Davidian in Waco, even though all of us as American citizens, our rights are being affected by this case and the things that are going on, that's not good enough to bring a lawsuit over it. The court'll kick you out and say, "Well you aren't directly affected by that." So you don't have what's called "standing."
Well I have standing, because while I was down there I was held at a roadblock and an ATF agent held a machine gun at my head for 20 minutes and they illegally searched my car. They took property out of my car. They detained me for 2 hours and questioned me at a tent alongside this roadblock without probable cause, never filed charges, and eventually let us go.
And stole some film from us. I got a picture of this ATF agent holding a machine gun at my head! And was able to smuggle it out of there successfully; I hid it behind the glove box of the car before they searched the car.
Now that's my standing. I was directly affected by the entire, illegal operation that was going on in Waco. That ATF agent wouldn't have been in the roadblock legally, period. He wasn't there legally. And he was only there because of everything that led up to the Waco siege and because of the direct involvement of the executive branch. That gives me the right to sue everybody that had anything to do with it. And that's why, what I'm doing.
(to be continued)
-----------------------<< Notes >>------------------------------- {1} "...the congressman who 'told it like it is.'" I saw this 60 Minutes episode. To my recollection, the congressman he is referring to is Luis Gutierrez(sp?) from Chicago.
{2} "...still 'fishing.'" Just like the highwaymen. They also go "fishing." For example, they put up signs lowering the speed limit because there is "road construction." So you slow down, form a single lane, and the people behind you are tailgating you, etc. "Come on, you moron! There's no 'road construction!'"
A while later, you come to another "reduce speed" because there is "road construction." So you again slow down, form a single lane, and the people are tailgating you, etc. "Come on, you moron! There's no 'road construction!'"
Then again, you come to another "road construction" situation. The sign says to reduce your speed to 45 m.p.h. But there is nobody doing any "road construction!" Here is your big mistake. A half mile ahead, there is a highwayman, fishing for taxes. But you figure, "Well, if I actually see anybody working, I'll slow down." A quarter-mile later, you see up ahead that there really are men working up ahead. So of course, you slow down. But it is too late! The highwayman has laid his trap well. He already has you on his radar.
Conclusion of tale: The highwayman demands you pay the $75 in cash. But if you have "too much" cash, the highwayman will not like that either.
{3} Regarding bringing a lawsuit against Reno, etc. UPI has reported recently that Koresh's relatives have indeed filed a $153 million lawsuit against Janet Reno and others. [From the For the People News Reporter, July 11, 1994, page 1.]
I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
"Justice" = "Just us" = "History is written by the assassins."