Author Topic: Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of America - Daniel Ellsberg  (Read 1455 times)

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Offline DCPatriot

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Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of America

Snowden's whistleblowing gives us a chance to roll back what is tantamount to an 'executive coup' against the US constitution


 In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago. Snowden's whistleblowing gives us the possibility to roll back a key part of what has amounted to an "executive coup" against the US constitution.

Since 9/11, there has been, at first secretly but increasingly openly, a revocation of the bill of rights for which this country fought over 200 years ago. In particular, the fourth and fifth amendments of the US constitution, which safeguard citizens from unwarranted intrusion by the government into their private lives, have been virtually suspended.

The government claims it has a court warrant under Fisa – but that unconstitutionally sweeping warrant is from a secret court, shielded from effective oversight, almost totally deferential to executive requests. As Russell Tice, a former National Security Agency analyst, put it: "It is a kangaroo court with a rubber stamp."

For the president then to say that there is judicial oversight is nonsense – as is the alleged oversight function of the intelligence committees in Congress. Not for the first time – as with issues of torture, kidnapping, detention, assassination by drones and death squads –they have shown themselves to be thoroughly co-opted by the agencies they supposedly monitor. They are also black holes for information that the public needs to know.

The fact that congressional leaders were "briefed" on this and went along with it, without any open debate, hearings, staff analysis, or any real chance for effective dissent, only shows how broken the system of checks and balances is in this country.

Obviously, the United States is not now a police state. But given the extent of this invasion of people's privacy, we do have the full electronic and legislative infrastructure of such a state. If, for instance, there was now a war that led to a large-scale anti-war movement – like the one we had against the war in Vietnam – or, more likely, if we suffered one more attack on the scale of 9/11, I fear for our democracy. These powers are extremely dangerous.


more at:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/10/edward-snowden-united-stasi-america

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Offline Rapunzel

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Oceander Perino is on The Five right now all upset about this leak..... more and more I see how liberal she is... and more and more I can't stand her.
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline DCPatriot

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Quote

The fact that congressional leaders were "briefed" on this and went along with it, without any open debate, hearings, staff analysis, or any real chance for effective dissent, only shows how broken the system of checks and balances is in this country

But what is not legitimate is to use a secrecy system to hide programs that are blatantly unconstitutional in their breadth and potential abuse. Neither the president nor Congress as a whole may by themselves revoke the fourth amendment – and that's why what Snowden has revealed so far was secret from the American people.



As Lando stated in another thread, I, too, find myself in complete agreement with Sinkspur with virtually any major event topic.   Going back well over a decade.

That's why it was eating at me all day when I saw him describe him guilty of treason and a traitor.

So....ran across this article today and well, it sums up where I'll stand.

By the bye, notice he went to the Guardian and not the New York Times or Washington Post.  Why?   Is it because there isn't a legitimate Amercian major news organization that would assist him?

And...is that because he's a 'traitor'....or is it because he's a cancer to their agenda and that it would damage Obama?  We all know the answers.

"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline Cincinnatus

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By the bye, notice he went to the Guardian and not the New York Times or Washington Post.

Actually there are reports he did.

The Washington Post revealed on Thursday the existence of a secret National Security Agency program code-named PRISM, which reportedly allows the U.S. government to tap directly into the servers of several major Internet companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and Google.

The blockbuster story, which included PowerPoint slides provided by a “career intelligence official,” landed online at 5:43 p.m. and led the front page Friday morning.

But roughly 20 minutes after the Post story appeared online Thursday, The Guardian –- which had already broken a major story the previous night on the NSA’s seizure of millions of Verizon customers’ phone records –- published its own story on PRISM, complete with PowerPoint slides. The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald, who broke the Verizon story, shared a byline on the PRISM story with Washington bureau chief Ewen MacAskill.

That two news outlets would publish stories on a secret government program so close together is striking, and the timing suggests there was a race to get the news up first. Indeed, Barton Gellman, who co-wrote the Post’s story, told The Huffington Post that he “started to hear some footsteps, so I had to move.”

Gellman has won two Pulitzer Prizes with the Post, but readers haven’t seen his byline on the front page in some time. He left the paper in 2010 for Time magazine, where he continues to write on a non-exclusive basis. But for the PRISM story, Gellman returned to his old stomping grounds.

Three weeks ago, Gellman and Laura Poitras -- a filmmaker who has chronicled security in the post-9/11 world, and whom Gellman knew from a previous fellowship at NYU -- approached Post editors with the PRISM story. Gellman described his co-author as having done "really tough, ballsy, documentary film work” on surveillance issues in the past.

Gellman, who is currently a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, said he chose to write the piece for the Post because it “felt more like a newspaper story than a magazine story” and because of his experience reporting major national security stories there in years past. “It calls for a whole battalion of support,” Gellman said of the staff needed for this type of story...

Recently, it became clear to Gellman that the scoop might be broken elsewhere and so the Post “decided to push it through." Gellman said he “would have been happier to have had a day or two” more to work on the PRISM story, but it was clear, for competitive reasons, the Post had to move quickly. (A Post spokeswoman did not provide anyone to speak with The Huffington Post for this story).

"The Guardian was working toward a 6pm deadline in order to allow the technology companies referenced in the training document to respond to our request for comment as we believed it was an important element of the story," a Guardian News & Media spokeswoman told The Huffington Post when asked about Thursday's publication.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/07/washington-post-prism-guardian_n_3402883.html

Snowden released classified material on top-secret NSA programs including the PRISM surveillance program to The Guardian and The Washington Post in June 2013.[3][4][5][6][7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_snowdon
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Offline DCPatriot

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The Administration was notified that he was going public on such and such a date......and they released their own version of events through the Washington Post.

IOW, it was no scoop.  It was damage control.
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline GourmetDan

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Snowden's whistleblowing gives us the possibility to roll back a key part of what has amounted to an "executive coup" against the US constitution.

Unfortunately, nothing will ever be 'rolled back'.  That will never happen.  And, after they get through with Snowden, you won't have to worry about whistleblowers anymore.  What will happen is that everyone will start acting more like a 'terrorist' and Any Rand will be right again.

"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kinds of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of lawbreakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."




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