Tag: Obama
Edward Snowden and the Wolf Who Cried Plant
Naomi Wolf is taking a lot of flak this week from supporters of alleged NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for her suggestion (via Facebook post) that Snowden may “not be who he purports to be” and that his “emphases seem to serve an intelligence/police state objective, rather than to challenge them.” The upshot, of course, being…
A Banalidade da Condenação
The following article is translated into Portuguese from the English original, written by Trevor Hultner. Parece que a reação padronizada da mídia ao surgirem denunciantes em nossos dias é distorcer-lhes a imagem de tal maneira que nunca ninguém possa vê-los como pessoas simpáticas. Assim aconteceu com Daniel Ellsberg. Aconteceu com o segundo cabo B. Manning. E, agora,…
Public Enemy Number One: The Public
It’s important, when listening to the official shapers of opinion in the media, to ask ourselves what they really mean by the words they use. As Orwell pointed out in “Politics and the English Language,” those in power use language to obscure meaning more often than to convey it. A good example is the recurrence…
The Banality of Condemnation
It seems that the standard media response when whistleblowers come out these days is to twist their images in such a way that no one could ever find them sympathetic figures. It happened to Daniel Ellsberg. It happened to Pfc. B. Manning. And now, it ‘s former Booz Allen Hamilton system administrator Edward Snowden’s turn…
Obama, Former Civil Rights Attorney, Shreds Constitution
The Fourth Amendment: “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…
True Justice Must Be Served For Guantanamo Detainees
President Barack Obama lifted a moratorium on transfers of Guantanamo bay detainees to Yemen – a moratorium he put in place. Why Obama put this moratorium into place after vowing, on a multitude of occasions, to do whatever he could to restore justice and shut down Gitmo is neither here nor there. I don’t intend…
What the War on Journalists Means For the View From Nowhere
The US government has declared war on us. By “us,” I mean the many thousands of people who work as journalists in this country, myself included. This war extends a larger, more subtle war on whistleblowers that the government, and the Obama administration more specifically, has waged for several years. Last week, the first overt…
Could Katrina vanden Heuvel Please Just Shut Up?
Katrina vanden Heuvel, publisher of The Nation, is at it again, this time on Twitter (@KatrinaNation). This morning she tweeted: “Ginning up IRS story to make government seem like oppressor fits into Right’s decades-long narrative. Government for common good is needed.” Pssssh. That America has ever had government for common good is one of those…
The Government’s Us? Not Last Time I Checked
In a speech last month about proposed gun control legislation, President Obama decried opponents’ attempts to encourage “suspicion about government.” “The government’s us,” he responded. “These officials are elected by you. They are constrained as I am constrained, by a system that our founders put in place.” But if government were “us,” why would we…
I Should Know — I’m the Sheriff by Kevin Carson on C4SS Media
C4SS Media presents Kevin Carson‘s “I Should Know – I’m the Sheriff“, read by James Tuttle and edited by Nick Ford. “The real reason killing people extrajudicially with drones is (in the words of Obama’s CIA pick John Brennan) “legal, ethical and wise” is that constitutional restraints on executive power are qualified by the clause…
A “Libertarian” Case for Background Checks?
Knapp: The only thing “libertarian” I can find in it is Levy’s claim to be one.
Capitalism Comes in Many Flavors?
Carson: Capitalism may have many varieties, types or flavors, but they all have one thing in common – they have nothing to do with a free market.
Querido Conservador Estadounidense
Byas: Le recomiendo olvidarse del conservadurismo y las elecciones completamente. Lo mejor que puede hacer para defender sus valores es convertirse al anarquismo y promoverlo, haciéndose parte de la izquierda radical.
Eric Schmidt Wants To Protect You From Your Neighbor’s Drone. But What About Barack Obama’s?
Hummels: If Schmidt was at all aware of the state’s capacity for mass killing and organized violence, he might become less wary of the local yokels.
How Much “Civilization” Does Your Tax Money Buy?
Carson: The state, by its very nature, is the executive committee of a ruling class. It’s the mechanism by which landlords, usurers, bureaucrats and rentiers extract wealth from the majority of the population.
Glenn Greenwald: “Three Key Lessons From The Obama Administration’s Drone Lies”
Greenwald: “In light of this evidence, any journalists that continue to rely on US government statements about its killing program are revealing themselves to be eager propagandists…”
Human Rights Groups Against Human Rights
Goodman: Human rights organizations shouldn’t be in the business of handing out awards, accolades and executive positions to human rights abusers.
Kevin Carson Interviewed on The Corbett Report
Kevin Carson, Senior C4SS Fellow and Karl Hess Chair of Social Theory, was interviewed today on The Corbett Report: Open Source Intelligence News.
Health Care: When Krugman is Right …
Knapp: “Privatization” is one of those Humpty Dumpty words that means just what the political class chooses it to mean, neither more nor less.
Contradições Letais: Privilégios de Patente versus “Salvar Vidas”
Embora os políticos prometam repetidamente proteger a saúde pública, de há muito eles usam poder coercitivo para aumentar os custos médicos, sacrificando a saúde pública em benefício de lucros privados.
Anarchy and Democracy
Fighting Fascism
Markets Not Capitalism
The Anatomy of Escape
Organization Theory