Ray McGovern and the Sam Adams party have presented the Sam Adams award to Edward Snowden. I am delighted. This from Ray’s account of the event:
In brief remarks from his visitors, Snowden was reassured — first and foremost — that he need no longer be worried that nothing significant would happen as a result of his decision to risk his future by revealing documentary proof that the U.S. government was playing fast and loose with the Constitutional rights of Americans.
Even amid the government shutdown, Establishment Washington and the normally docile “mainstream media” have not been able to deflect attention from the intrusive eavesdropping that makes a mockery of the Fourth Amendment. Even Congress is showing signs of awaking from its torpor.
In the somnolent Senate, a few hardy souls have gone so far as to express displeasure at having been lied to by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and NSA Director Keith Alexander — Clapper having formally apologized for telling the Senate Intelligence Committee eavesdropping-related things that were, in his words, “clearly erroneous” and Alexander having told now-discredited whoppers about the effectiveness of NSA’s intrusive and unconstitutional methods in combating terrorism.
Coleen Rowley, the first winner of the Sam Adams Award (2002), cited some little-known history to remind Snowden that he is in good company as a whistleblower — and not only because of previous Sam Adams honorees. She noted that in 1773, Benjamin Franklin leaked confidential information by releasing letters written by then-Lt. Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson to Thomas Whatley, an assistant to the British Prime Minister.
The letters suggested that it was impossible for the colonists to enjoy the same rights as subjects living in England and that “an abridgement of what are called English liberties” might be necessary. The content of the letters was so damaging to the British government that Benjamin Franklin was dismissed as colonial Postmaster General and had to endure an hour-long censure from British Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn.
There has been a determined attempt by government to justify the need to intercept everybody’s communications, all the time. We have, yet again, had MI5 claim there are many thousand violent Islamic terrorists running around the UK, (yet somehow not managing to kill anybody). The cry of “paedophiles” is raised, as always. I can imagine them suggesting the entire population be shot dead, and justifying it as making sure they get the paedophiles. The tabloids would go with that.
There still had not been a single credible claim by the mainstream media that any named individual has died, despite that contingency being trotted out all the time as the reason Snowden and Manning should not have revealed state crimes and abuse of power. I am hopeful that, with the internet still largely free to the dissemination of information, out next massive whistleblower is only weeks away.
Habbabkuk, I’ve deleted a swathe of posts from you just now. Please stop commenting, at least until such time as you are invited back. The transparent strategy of getting involved in various discussions, and receiving premature welcomes from various posters, won’t work.
I will persist in trying to email Craig re your ban.
Komodo, why do you assume any of your ‘trolls’ supports Israel? Do you honestly believe that because Dreoilin posted the Lancet’s findings we all felt it necessary to descend on the blog and attempt to divert the thread? Do you think we are in secret communication with each other? I mean, how flipping paranoid are you? How is it that you have created in your addled mind this idea of paid ‘hasbara trolls’ and ‘disinfo agents’ being dispatched to the blog, the 2nd/3rd/4th etc pages of which probably only a very few people read anyway? Your mind is clouded with conspiracy theories, Komodo. You have reached the point where you can no longer hear a different viewpoint without imagining a Zionist plot.
Habba, Res Diss, Villager, Kempe and myself have all condemned Israel’s frequent crimes against Palestinians, not that supporting or condemning anything here makes one iota of difference to the lives of Palestinians anyway. What I, and I suspect others, can’t understand is why your overriding obsession in life is with Israel and the Jews.
A prime example of Komodo’s paranoia is that he actually believes English Knight/Hasbarista/Krishnamurky etc is some sort of agent assigned to bring the blog into disrepute by posting anti-Semitic comments. Komodo’s judgement has become so clouded that he cannot comprehend that an anti-Semite might, for whatever reason, be attracted to commenting here.
Jon, do you believe that anyone really gives a sod about what Habbabkuk said to A Node all those weeks ago or are you just using the contrived outrage to silence one of the blog’s sharpest critics?
Taking over AlAqsa mosque and turn it into a synagogue is the most devillish plan to take over another quarter of Jerusalem, whilst scorning the worlds Muslim community.
Its the equivalent of occupying Westminster cathedral/Withorn priory and demanding it to be changed into a synagogue.
And…
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/10/israel-freezes-shipments-gaza-over-tunnel-20131013212952228201.html
Israel reinstated building material supplies a month ago. The IDF reports that the tunnel must have taken a year to build. Conclusion: blocking building supplies does not prevent Palestinians building tunnels. Israel has put back the blockade.
Israeli NGO Gisha, which lobbies for freedom of movement for Palestinians, urged Israel to lift the building material freeze, saying it would affect civilians and humanitarian projects in blockaded Gaza.
“It is not clear how blocking the entrance of construction materials, including those intended for international projects, promotes that goal.”
Silly billy, Gisha. When the civilians get bombed, we holocaust victims want them to stay bombed. And swimming in sewage….
2009: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8236733.stm
2013: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1309/S00337/looming-environmental-disaster-gaza-sewage-pumped-into-sea.htm
Komodo, why do you assume any of your ‘trolls’ supports Israel? Do you honestly believe that because Dreoilin posted the Lancet’s findings we all felt it necessary to descend on the blog and attempt to divert the thread? (rant continues)
There had to be some reason. You certainly give the strong impression of posting in concert. Maybe you want to swamp Mary – you’ve got your work cut out – or you just detest Craig. Whatever. Consider the thread diverted; well done you and your little bruderbond.(But do feel free to comment on the First Amendment right to free speech in the US versus the total impunity of the intelligence services here. I’m not stopping you.)
Anon, I concur.
Re Habby, I wouldn’t even say sharpest critics, lest it is misunderstood here by people, deliberately or not, although I fully realise you mean it in its most positive sense. I might even just say sharpest observers, if you see what i mean.
Meanwhile, Jon the Liberal has made himself happy with the use of his petty power. And, Jon if anything, you should be seeking Craig’s reluctant approval before effecting a ban on anybody, rather than telling us that you’ve been persisting for weeks to get his input after banning anyone. You can’t have it both ways. It is your ban that is premature and ill thought through not the welcome back that Habby received.
Quite sickening in the context of free speech, a valued principle of Craig’s.
It is Jack Straw who will be getting into the limelight for the next few weeks, because he seems to have most to fear from the revellations of Ed Snowden, his misleading in the Belhadj case and over extraordinary renditions.
The Guardian is taking flak and so seems Jill Abramson of the NYT. Whilst the Grauniad had to take drills and cutters to computers, Ms. Abramson showed our spooks the door.
This from its live feed.
” And a Guardian leader column asks whether politicians can be trusted to supervise the security services.
Do those who have oversight really understand today’s technologies? And are they themselves free of personal inclinations? The former home secretary Jack Straw has been critical of the Guardian’s reporting. But his own life and career raise their own questions. In his autobiography there is a revealing passage in which MI5 tells him in 1974 that he and his family have been under surveillance since Mr Straw was a teenager. They questioned him about his sexuality. They believed (probably falsely) that his sister was a communist. MI5 had notes of a pub conversation he had had with a “politically suspect” friend years earlier. Many people would find this deeply disturbing. Not Mr Straw, who was “neither surprised nor shocked”.
Is it reassuring for the rest of us that Mr Straw went on to have responsibility for the work of our spy agencies as home and foreign secretary? Mr Straw accepted the unreliable intelligence assessments which led us into war in Iraq. He faces troubling questions (and civil proceedings) about rendition. He backed secret courts. He supported blocking the Serious Fraud Office inquiry into corruption at British Aerospace. Quis custodiet? The answer, for many people, wouldn’t be Jack Straw. Which is merely illustrative of a question which won’t go away.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/14/nsa-files-live-coverage-of-all-developments-and-reaction
‘You have shown your hands by attracting attention over this issue, once again, Jack. Time to get out of your box and come clean’
Villager:
Of course you do. It’s what you do. It’s all you do.
Creep.
Komodo, Mary gets ‘swamped’ because she is the most prolific poster of idiotic views here and either considers herself above, or is completely incapable of, defending herself when challenged. Hence her supporters step in, even though they know that most of what she posts doesn’t bear scrutiny.
“or you just detest Craig.” Nonsense, Komodo. Though I don’t always agree with him I think Craig is a decent and principled man. His blog is ruined by Israel obsessives and anti-Semites who haven’t the balls to admit what they are.
Straw’s sticky fingers all over this story (May)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/22/uk-support-cia-rendition-flights
Anyone heard how Abdul Hakim Belhaj vs Jack Straw MP is going? Or did a large sum of taxpayer’s money change hands?
So while we are on the subject of censorship perhaps those who are always clamouring for the silencing of Habbakkuk might wish to expound on which of the following models for freedom of expression they most admire and would like to see replicated in the UK:
Gaza under Hamas
Syria under Assad
Russia under Putin
Soviet Union
Iran
China
Libya under Ghadaffi
Iraq under Saddam
Afghanistan under the Taliban
Because as far as I can see all of their efforts are aimed at denigrating the freedom of expression that they have here in the UK (and making use of it at the same time I should note) while we hear barely a criticism of what is happening in their pet regimes.
[Posted as “We are all Habbabkuk”, actually “anon”]
Mary gets ‘swamped’ because she is the most prolific poster of idiotic views here and either considers herself above, or is completely incapable of, defending herself when challenged.
Translation: (a)you don’t agree with her and you want to shut her up and (b) she’s easy to taunt. Do tell me more about the First Amendment.
PS I think Mary’s a pain in the ass too. But she has a perfect right to be, as do you. As do I. That’s worth defending, no?
Topic:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/13/snowden-leaked-secrets-guardian-trustworthy
Sorry, Komodo, but no one said anything about wanting to shut Mary up, did they?
Nice bunch of strawmen you have there, ‘We Are All Neocons’.
But no cigar.
They didn’t have to.
Did they?
Do you get a troll point for every off topic post anyone responds to?
Why am I not allowed to change my name when I want to or is this only a privilege afforded to the sage of the Surrey Alps?
If not could you please go back and post a similar correction on April Showers etc. posts – should keep you busy for a while!
Perfectly valid point about the warped world-views on display here and Komodo responds with a childish and pathetic slur about Neocons. Worthy of an Alex Jones blog.
On the subject of the poisoning of Arafat being poisoned – what does anyone make of Arafat’s widow’s view that it couldn’t have been the Israelis who committed the deed and the measures taken by the PLO leadership to avoid having an inquest. There are also others who point the finger of blame very clearly at Hamas who were the clear political beneficiaries of Arafat’s removal.
Anyone got any further info on the supposed storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by Jewish settlers? Press TV does about one of these every week and their article is about two sentences long.
“Do you get a troll point for every off topic post anyone responds to?”
No just shekels – but beware we have counter agents who post material we can shoot down in flames who get paid even more (in your more paranoid moments you may wish to spot them)
We pay Mary 50 ILS /hour
Afternoon Anon,
Trust you’re well. I’ve mentioned many a time here that undeclared name changes are generally seen as sock-puppetting. I won’t spend the time searching for my having said this, but it’s there aplenty if you want to try a search engine.
Several posters have changed their handle, and where it is obvious they have done so, it is fine. I actually wouldn’t mind if you would change from “Anon”, since we have several of those. If you can choose something memorable and then change it only every few months, that’d be great.
Addendum: I mentioned it before that Habbabkuk was banned for his final, quite dreadful, post, but it was in the context of months of needling and unpleasantness. I would have just let it slide if it was a single event. I’m sure I said this at the time, but quite willing to say it again.
Why should fingers point to Hamas? Despite the fact that Hamas and Arafat did not see eye to eye, maybe something to do with Arafats amassmernt of monies in foreign funds, we have to look at the tim e line.
The first time the openeing of Arafats grave and his exhumation was the news, Israel attacked the Gaza strip, postponing the operation.
They then killed Ahmed Jabari, Hamas go between with Israel who was actively involved in peace negotiations.
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2012-11/21/content_27183543.htm
Unless you can show how Hamas got hold of Polonium, not easy to mix in your kitchen, it’s hard to see how your assumption can hold up.
Israel on the other hand had some experience with polonium since 1957
“According to the book The Bomb in the Basement, several death cases in Israel during 1957-1969 were caused by 210Po.[41] A leak was discovered at a Weizmann Institute laboratory in 1957. Traces of 210Po were found on the hands of Prof. Dror Sadeh, a physicist who researched radioactive materials. Medical tests indicated no harm, but the tests did not include bone marrow. Sadeh died from cancer. One of his students died of leukemia, and two colleagues died after a few years, both from cancer. The issue was investigated secretly, and there was never any formal admission that a connection between the leak and the deaths had existed.”
http://www.bionity.com/en/encyclopedia/Polonium.html
‘This week, 7,000 people will arrive in the UK looking for a better future’ etc
‘Every day this week, we will examine a different aspect of the subject of immigration’.
Who is this? Why Sky News of course. They had May on just now saying that immigration does have an effect on jobs, not one to one, but generally. They have invited viewers to send in short videos. You can guess what the tone of the majority of those will be.
I knew your bite was poisonous Komodo, but not your tongue. Leave out your ad hominems. I ignore those from the trolls of course.
Hi Mary.
“Who is this? Why Sky News of course.”
As the owner of Sky is an avowed globalist and proponent of mass-immigration, what is your point here?
Mary,
Immigration is an interesting conundrum, especially given the subconscious bias one would expect from May and Sky, which I think would be quite similar. On the one hand, their view is broadly pro-capitalist, dressed up in “pro-business” positivity. On the other, it is small-c conservative, being itself wary of foreigners and substantial social change, and therein lies its internal contradiction.
If the Tories play the immigration card too aggressively, they may steal some ground lost to UKIP etc, but it could also annoy capital – at least if one subscribes to the view that immigration lowers wage costs generally. Thus, they have to choose between pleasing business and getting elected, despite the propaganda that says the success of big business is good for everyone. As it is, Labour are hugely ahead in the polls, and look set to form the next government, which would not require a coalition.
I should say that I don’t talk about a possible Labour victory with any triumphalism – whilst I like Miliband’s recent direction, I’ve otherwise been unimpressed with his performance as leader of the opposition. He’s picked a fight with the trade unions, which despite their structural problems are still the best democratic connection that working people have to Parliament, and has been very poor on standing up for the right to organise generally. Perhaps I should give him time – aside from his position on capping energy profits, he was extremely brave to take on the hawks over Syria, and is undoing at least a little of the Iraq/Blair legacy.
@Craig “..our next massive whistleblower is only weeks away.”
I hope he doesn’t blow it 🙂