David Kravets — Justice Sotomayor says technology could lead to “Orwellian world”

Let's hope that Sonia Sotomajor becomes the next William O. Douglas.

Ars Technica
Justice Sotomayor says technology could lead to “Orwellian world”
David Kravets

h/t Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism

John Nichols — Defend Journalism That Speaks Truth to Power: From Ferguson to Washington

“A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both,” declared James Madison, the author and champion of the Bill of Rights. “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

This is still the essential truth of an American experiment that can only be advanced toward the equal and inclusive justice that did not exist in Madison’s time by a broadly informed and broadly engaged citizenry. When journalists are harassed, intimidated, threatened and detained, the basic premise of democracy — that the great mass of people, armed with information and perspective, and empowered to act upon it, will set right that which is made wrong by oligarchs — is assaulted.

Where assaults on the gatherers and purveyors of popular information occur, those assaults must be challenged immediately. Social media and then mainstream media did just that after Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post writer Ryan Reilly were arrested, detained and then released without charges or an explanation by police in Ferguson, Missouri, as they were reporting on the tensions that developed after 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed in a police shooting. The detention of reporters is merely one illustration of the seriousness of the broader battering of civil liberties and civil rights in Ferguson, a battering so severe that Amnesty International has made the unprecedented move of deploying human rights observers to the city.

Moyers & Company
Defend Journalism That Speaks Truth to Power: From Ferguson to Washington
John Nichols

See also Katherine Fung, James Risen: Obama Is 'Greatest Enemy To Press Freedom In A Generation' at Huffington Post.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd spoke to Risen for her Sunday column"Where’s the Justice at Justice?"


"How can he [Obama] use the Espionage Act to throw reporters and whistle-blowers in jail even as he defends the intelligence operatives who 'tortured some folks,' and coddles his C.I.A. chief, John Brennan, who spied on the Senate and then lied to the senators he spied on about it?" Dowd wrote.

Risen had one word to describe Obama's actions: "hypocritical."

"A lot of people still think this is some kind of game or signal or spin," he told Dowd. "They don’t want to believe that Obama wants to crack down on the press and whistle-blowers. But he does. He’s the greatest enemy to press freedom in a generation."

"How can he [Obama] use the Espionage Act to throw reporters and whistle-blowers in jail even as he defends the intelligence operatives who 'tortured some folks,' and coddles his C.I.A. chief, John Brennan, who spied on the Senate and then lied to the senators he spied on about it?" Dowd wrote.
Risen had one word to describe Obama's actions: "hypocritical."
"A lot of people still think this is some kind of game or signal or spin," he told Dowd. "They don’t want to believe that Obama wants to crack down on the press and whistle-blowers. But he does. He’s the greatest enemy to press freedom in a generation."

David Ferguson — Ed Snowden claims he raised concerns with NSA officials more than 10 times (via Raw Story )

Ed Snowden claims he raised concerns with NSA officials more than 10 times (via Raw Story )

Former security contractor and National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden said that he tired to bring his concerns to the attention of superiors on at least 10 occasions before deciding to leave the organization with a massive cache of secret…

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Eric Dolan — Illinois Republican: Same-sex marriage debate should be about the Bible, not human rights (via Raw Story )

Illinois Republican: Same-sex marriage debate should be about the Bible, not human rights (via Raw Story )

Illinois state Rep. Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon) on Tuesday complained that supporters of same-sex marriage frequently spoke about human rights but neglected the Biblical scriptures. “The other thing I didn’t hear today was the fact that this nation…

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Glenn Grennwald — As Europe erupts over US spying, NSA chief says government must stop media

With General Alexander calling for NSA reporting to be halted, US and UK credibility as guardians of press freedom is crushed

The Guardian
As Europe erupts over US spying, NSA chief says government must stop media
Glenn Grennwald

Democracy, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights out the window in an exchange of liberty for "security"?

This is what happens when military general officers are appointed to civilian posts in government. The military mind is incompatible with democratic governance.

 

Radley Balko — As The Drug War Escalates, SWAT Teams Become 'Bullies With Badges And Guns'

Former Sheriff William "Dub" Lawrence has watched with dismay as America's war on drugs has escalated, and SWAT teams have become more aggressive, more militarized, and less focused on resolving disputes peacefully.

"SWAT teams have been infiltrated by bullies with badges and guns who foster a mentality that killing criminals reduces recidivism," he says. "We're on the wrong track. I look at what's happened to law enforcement today, and I'm ashamed and heartbroken by what I see. We've lost sight of what's important. We've lost sight of what the job should be about, which is protecting the constitutional rights of the people."

The Huffington Post
As The Drug War Escalates, SWAT Teams Become 'Bullies With Badges And Guns'

Radley Balko

Mixture of hooliganism and hard fascism right here in the good old USA.

Between the war on drugs and the war on terror, human right and civil rights are down the toilet.

Scott Kaufman — U.N. torture investigator seeks access to California’s prison isolation units (via Raw Story )

U.N. torture investigator seeks access to California’s prison isolation units (via Raw Story )

Juan Mendez, the United Nation’s special monitor on torture, told the Los Angeles Times on Friday that he wanted access to California prisons in order to determine whether inmates held in solitary were having their rights protected. He argued that…

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L Michael Hager — Path to Autocracy: Could America Become a Police State?

It is time for Americans to say: "Stop!" Let's stop building a platform and all the related tools that some future autocrat could use to stamp on our faces. If enough of us complain now to our elected representatives, we can overcome the powerful lobbies that would take away our hard-earned civil liberties.

Truthout | Op-Ed
Path to Autocracy: Could America Become a Police State?
L Michael Hager

Dominic Rushe — Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer on NSA data requests: ‘You don’t comply, it’s treason’

Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook struck back on Wednesday at critics who have charged tech companies with doing too little to fight off NSA surveillance. Mayer said executives faced jail if they revealed government secrets.

Yahoo and Facebook, along with other tech firms, are pushing for the right to be allowed to publish the number of requests they receive from the spy agency. Companies are forbidden by law to disclose how much data they provide.

During an interview at the Techcrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Mayer was asked why tech companies had not simply decided to tell the public more about what the US surveillance industry was up to. “Releasing classified information is treason and you are incarcerated,” she said.

The Huffington Post
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer on NSA data requests: ‘You don’t comply, it’s treason’
Dominic Rushe, The Guardian

Gaius Publius: IRS is Using NSA Data Too. Who in Town Isn’t?

Summary of the sorry state that has come to pass in the US by trading faux security for liberty and constitutional rights.

Naked Capitalism

Gaius Publius: IRS is Using NSA Data Too. Who in Town Isn’t?

Lawrence E. Rafferty — Is Freedom of the Press Dead?

Not quite dead yet, but on life-support.

Jonathan Turley
Is Freedom of the Press Dead?
Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

Washington's Blog — The Fact that Mass Surveillance Doesn’t Keep Us Safe Goes Mainstream

Top Terrorism Experts Say that Mass Spying Doesn’t Work to Prevent Terrorism

Washington's Blog
The Fact that Mass Surveillance Doesn’t Keep Us Safe Goes Mainstream
WashingtonsBlog

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell — Rules are for fools. Trust me.

Hey, rules are for fools. We don’t follow rules. We are the government. Trust us.

Rules for rubes. Privilege from rules for the meritocracy. Because, you know, some are better than others.

Creeping socialism is the road to serfdom? Looks to me like the creepy imperial presidency that began with Nixon — "Whatever the president (read king) does is legal." Obama is just the next step in a trend from republic to empire that began post-WWII.

WTF was the American Revolution about anyway?

Monetary Sovereignty
Rules are for fools. Trust me.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Washington's Blog Everything You Wanted to Know about Spying … But Were Afraid to Ask

Spying, the big picture

Link roundup

Washington's Blog
Everything You Wanted to Know about Spying … But Were Afraid to Ask

J Clifford — Post Office Spies On All American Mail, NSA Style

In the latest of a series of revelations of the surveillance systems that the U.S. government has arrayed against the American people, we have now learned that the U.S. Postal Service has been storing images of every single piece of mail that is sent within the United States, recording who is sending letters and packages to who, and entering that information into a gigantic database that can be accessed by law enforcement agents, who can read through lists of who any American is corresponding with – all without a search warrant as required by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The program was put in place by George W. Bush, and Barack Obama has continued the program, despite Obama’s promise to end Bush’s attacks against Americans’ constitutional rights. They call it Mail Isolation Control and Tracking.

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution plainly prohibits this kind of universal dragnet seizure and search of Americans’ private communications. The amendment reads: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Our letters are our “papers”. The government is seizing them without oath or affirmation, without probable cause, and without particularly describing the things to be seized. This program is a blatant violation of our civil liberties as guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Constitution is the fundamental law of the United States of America. It is the document that established us as a nation of liberty.

Taken one at a time, the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program, PRISM, FBI spy drones, and the NSA domestic telephone and Internet surveillance programs each constitute a serious threat to the democratic institutions of the United States of America. Taken together, they show a purposeful plan to replace a free and open society with a totalitarian surveillance state.

Irregular Times
Post Office Spies On All American Mail, NSA Style
J Clifford

The US Constitution suspended? Was martial law declared, but it's a secret?

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell — The arrogance of our vicious guard dogs grows

NSA, for instance, is a secret nation, creating its own laws in secret. These laws are approved by judges in secret, based on secret testimony, and prosecuted and tried in secret with secret evidence....

They are kept secret “for your protection.” Presumably you could be breaking one or more of those secret laws, just by reading this blog. There is no way to know.

Monetary Sovereignty
The arrogance of our vicious guard dogs grows
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

1984 is so 20th century. Now we have the new and improved 1984, and it  is not a novel. Animal Farm, too, has become reality.

David Edwards — McConnell: ‘Absurd’ to ban corporations from having same rights as ‘people’

McConnell: ‘Absurd’ to ban corporations from having same rights as ‘people’ (via Raw Story )

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Friday said that he opposed a constitutional amendment to ban corporations from having the same rights as people because the idea was “absurd.” Speaking to the conservative American Enterprise Institute, McConnell accused President Barack Obama’…

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Steven Rosenfeld — 10 Things Americans Underestimate About Our Massive Surveillance State

There are two relevant questions. The first is what is the optimal way to keep American safe while also protecting human, civl, and constitutional rights. The second is, what has the government been doing, what is it doing now and what does it plan to do — which are being guarded as state secrets known only to those "with a need to know."

What is the tradeoff between liberty and security? Is it possible to have both, or must one suffer. If the later, which one is most important? On what decision criteria?

AlterNet

10 Things Americans Underestimate About Our Massive Surveillance State

Steven Rosenfeld

Eric W. Dolan — Andrew Sullivan: U.S. stopped being a free country under Bush

“Is that really fair to say we stopped being a democracy and a free country?” CNN host Anderson Cooper asked.

“When a citizen is able to be seized by the government with no charges and tortured for months on end, that’s not a free country. He’s a citizen,” Sullivan replied.

The Raw Story
Andrew Sullivan: U.S. stopped being a free country under Bush
Eric W. Dolan

Emily Swanson — Drone Poll Finds Opposition To Use Against American Citizens In U.S., Even To Stop A Terrorist Attack

After an uproar this week when Attorney General Eric Holder wrote thattechnically speaking, the president might have the authority to kill an American citizen on U.S. soil using a drone in an "extraordinary circumstance," a newHuffPost/YouGov poll finds that Americans are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of drone strikes in the U.S., with half saying that ordering one would be unjustified even if it would prevent a terrorist attack.

Only 33 percent of respondents to the new survey believe there should be circumstances in which it is legal for the president to order a drone strike against an American citizen within the U.S., while 47 percent said it should be legal under no circumstances. Majorities of both Republicans and independents said that there were no circumstances under which ordering a drone strike against an American citizen on American soil should be legal, but Democrats were more likely to say that it should be legal under extraordinary circumstances, 43 percent to 32 percent.

The Huffington Post
Drone Poll Finds Opposition To Use Against American Citizens In U.S., Even To Stop A Terrorist Attack
Emily Swanson

Democrats on the wrong side of this one.