Constitution

By Cindy Cohn and Nadia Kayyali Over the past year, as the Snowden revelations have rolled out, the government and its apologists have developed a set of talking points about mass spying that the public has now heard over and over again. From the President, to Hilary Clinton to Rep. Mike Rogers, Sen. Dianne Feinstein […]

Bill of Rights

“Man-Up” Kerry tries to Swiftboat Ed Snowden

contributors

By Jon Queally U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is facing widespread criticism for his comment that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden—increasingly seen by the American public as a heroic figure for exposing government surveillance—should "man up" by returning home to face criminal charges. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempt to bully Edward Snowden with […]

Bill of Rights

Gov’t to Class of ’14: Getting to Know You, Getting to Know all About You

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt via Tomdispatch Internet Class of 2014, I’m in awe of you! To this giant, darkened auditorium filled with sparkling screens of every sort, welcome! It would, of course, be inaccurate to say, as speakers like me once did, that after four years of effort and experience you are now about to leave […]

Bill of Rights

Mr. Kerry: Why Snowden can’t “Make his Case” in “Our System of Justice”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Secretary of State John Kerry said that Edward Snowden should “return home and come back here and stand in our system of justice and make his case.” Kerry seems to have a high opinion of the Department of Justice and the US courts when it comes to national security issues. I can’t […]

Bush

Bush-Cheney Committed War Crimes: Terrorism Czar

contributors

Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! has an exclusive interview: ” Exclusive: Bush Committed War Crimes Says Ex-Counterterrorism Czar Richard Clarke” Excerpt: Amy Goodman: “Do you think President Bush should be brought up on war crimes [charges], and Vice President Cheney and [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld, for the attack on Iraq?” Richard Clarke: “I think things that […]

Constitution

“Joe the Plumber”: “Your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights.”

contributors

“Joe the Plumber”: “Your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights.” (via The Political Carnival) “Joe the Plumber” (Sam Wurzelbacher, the not-plumber), wrote the following in response to the grieving parents of the kids slaughtered in Santa Barbara by a gun-toting, knife-wielding murderer who took his own life: By Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher… —— […]

Constitution

‘Journalist’ Michael Kinsley says Gov’t should make Publishing Decisions

contributors

Glenn Greenwald spends the last third of his excellent new book, “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the US Surveillance State”, exposing the mentality and function of pseudo-journalists like David Gregory, who are in fact better understood…

Bill of Rights

House Passes Fake USA Freedom Act; Only hope is Senate

contributors

As explained earlier, due to pressure from the White House and NSA’s supporters in Congress, what could have been real NSA reform was completely changed at the last minute, in secret. The bill, which was substantially different than what both the Judiciary…

Central Intelligence Agency

America as Torture Central: From Prisons to “Black Sites”

contributors

(By Sarah Lazare) Amnesty International report on global torture exposes inhumane acts perpetrated by United States Thirty years after ratifying the UN Convention Against Torture, the U.S. government has dodged accountability for perpetrating torture in domestic prisons and CIA black sites and embroiling foreign states in inhumane acts. So finds a report on global torture […]