We have been discussing the collapse of the American civil liberties movement and the attacks on the free press and privacy under the Obama Administration. As discussed in prior columns, we continue to refer to the United States as the “land of the free” despite a comprehensive reduction of civil liberties and due process in this country. The Snowden affair has put that record in sharp relief as the White House and Congress has joined together in barring the prosecution of perjury by high ranking officials and pursuing Snowden with close to unhinged rage. As previously discussed, our governing class has created a new American Animal farm. Long ago, American politicians adopted a type of dismissive paternalism toward the public as shepherds to so many sheep. Then one sheep goes and spooks the flock. The response has been bipartisan rage that has included demands to cut off aid to entire nations if they grant sanctuary to this whistleblower and even boycott the Olympics. The shepherds want Snowden made into mutton for stampeding the flock and no measure appears too extreme. Now Jimmy Carter has entered the fray and said what many citizens are saying in denouncing our duopoly. Carter told Spiegel “America has no functioning democracy.” Of course, you have to live in Germany to read such views.
Carter has rightfully pointed to the dramatic reduction of the United States as a moral authority in the world after Bush and Obama. He clearly views Edward Snowden as a whistleblower. Yet, the media has yielded to the demand of the White House that Snowden not be called a whistleblower. This is follows media allies who have attacked Snowden and even mocked his concern about coming back home. As for the refusal to call him a whistleblower, it seems part of the full court press to demonize Snowden or prevent favorable references to him. [It brings to mind the successful effort to convince media to call waterboarding “enhanced interrogation” in the media rather than “torture” as it has long been defined by courts] Snowden is a whistleblower in my mind. It is true that the Administration can argue that these programs were lawful to the Supreme Court’s precedent stripping pen registers of full constitutional protection in Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735 (1979). Many of us disagree with that ruling, but this is a new application of the precedent. While the government has long sought the information for individuals, the Administration is essentially issuing a national security letter against the entire population. Moreover, it does appear that violations have occurred in these programs.
Putting aside the legality issue, whistleblowers are defined more probably by public interest organizations. For example, The Government Accountability Project, a leading nonprofit handling whistleblowers, defines the term as “an employee who discloses information that s/he reasonably believes is evidence of illegality, gross waste or fraud, mismanagement, abuse of power, general wrongdoing, or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. Typically, whistleblowers speak out to parties that can influence and rectify the situation. These parties include the media, organizational managers, hotlines, or Congressional members/staff, to name a few.”
Snowden clearly fits that more common definition of whistleblower, even if the government contests the application of statutory protections. Many can legitimately question Snowden’s chosen means for objecting to this program. However, the hostile and dismissive treatment by the establishment reflects an obvious fear of the implications of this scandal. We saw the same full court press in defining Julien Assange in a way that avoids calling him a journalist or a whistleblower. He is just an Assange.
Carter’s voice at this moment is incredibly important. Most media has ignored such criticism of Obama and his authoritarian powers. Even the story on Carter has been given limited attention and only because smaller blogs have continued to spread the word. We are living in the greatest crisis of civil liberties in our history and the public is facing a unified front of all three branches against efforts to deal with erosion of the rights of citizens in this country. The question is whether the public will finally awaken to this peril. Carter’s courageous voice could not have been heard at a more critical time for this nation.
Michael,
Thank you. I also agree with Mike S. What he wrote bears repeating: “That a former President would state that this country is no longer a functioning democracy is quite significant, whatever one thinks of Jimmy Carter’s career. He is acknowledging the current state of affairs in our country and the fact that his statement received little attention in our media, illustrates how far this country has fallen from its purported ideals.”
There is more about Manning’s charge in The Guardian. Mostly, it seems if you want to get real information about USGinc. you need to go to foreign sources. That says a lot!
If Jimmy Carter had any sense he would go on tv in favor of Trayvon and then blurt this stuff out while on tv live.
SwM,
Wow … you really touched a nerve!
Ya Darren,
Good job on your Manning article the other day.
I wanted to comment on it & post a video on the war crimes he exposed, but I ran out of time again. Like now & everyday;)
**Jill 1, July 18, 2013 at 1:18 pm
Personally, I believe Infowars is a rightwing honeypot site run by USGinc. **
Jill, infowars may well have tries to certain elements inside our govt.
I wouldn’t describe infowars as rightwing though, politically I see them more as centrist, Libertarian-Liberal, made in the same mold as Thomas Jefferson, Franklin, Madison etc….
Note infowars is in basic lockstep with Professor Turley’s views on Civil Liberties & the legal system.
Two nights ago Prof Turley was on NPR with 3 other guest re: the 3 fools case/Zimmerman/Martin/Obama.
Two of the guest embarrassed themselves on air & completely ignored the legal arguments the jury had to consider as presented by Prof Turley.
Propaganda for the masses at it’s worst.
Their position, Forget the Facts, Forget the Law, we’re just here to push the political narrative of the US AG Holder & the WH’s Obama, AKA Kill the people’s Bill of Rights.
Disgusting.
@Jill : v.good comments. Thanks… and thanks for your part in the Manning case. You have already said it, so it does not bear a long repeat : what sort of society we will have is in the balance in this case and the others.
These are transitional times.
Re InfoWars as source : there is another angle that seems obvious and also makes the primary point of the post : how is it that this is the only source that is reporting what Carter said. (Now, apparently also HuffPo per above).
That Pres.Carter could even say such a thing should be front page news and precipitate a full on debate. Maybe that debate that Obama said he wanted! (and likely is not ever going to happen).
Essentially agreeing with @Mike Spindell above.
Sorry for using that broad bush, I know plenty of people that are focusing on more important issues elsewhere.
(Keep focusing all your attention on the 3 fools case,)
Keep focusing all your attention on the 3 fools case, Zimmerman,Martin, Obama & pay no attention to any other issues like this one, the world Jap/GE nuke disaster:
Steam Rising Again From Fukushima Reactor
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-18/steam-rising-again-fukushima-reactor
Personally, I believe Infowars is a rightwing honeypot site run by USGinc. However, what I believe about them 1. is irrelevant to whether any story they discuss has independently verifiable truth value and 2. is irrelevant to what Carter said. Carter is making an important point about the state of affairs in the US.
This is a govt. which has a secret court. It imprisons the innocent. It engages in torture. It sells weapons to every side of every conflict. It is surveilling the US and other nations through various methods. The executive branch has secret meetings wherein it decides to kill people. Citizens may “lawfully” be rounded up and put into indefinite detention.
There is and has been collusion between Congress the administration and the courts to bring all of the above into place. If anyone claims this is indicative of a functioning democracy then place state how that is.
SWM
I am familiar with the controversial nature of InfoWars, but if more conventional news outlets are not willing to take up the story, who is to be cited.
Not all that is on controversial websites is false, I know they might lack creditbility, but sometimes they are correct. Often it is the case these sites are more brave to reveal certain news.
Der Spiegel is more or less equivalent to Time Magazine in the US. But the source of the article was in German. So there can be issues in sourcing a news article that is not in the same language as the readers here.
Yet, very little in the reporting of this from the larger news outlets.
As of a couple minutes ago I googled “President Carter US No Longer a Functioning Democracy” . Nearly all of the hits on the first three pages on Google were from either news aggregators (like drudge), a few to spiegel.de, blogs such as dailykos and us, two to dailycaller and only one tied to a large news site (now.msn.com)
It doesn’t seem like at present the large news sources are too interested in this type of story here in the US. That in itself is troubling.
SwM,
Please explain to all of us what actions the SPLC was up to in the training camp that trained those who blew up the 165+ people in OKC & why didn’t they warn all those, including lil kids, that died.
SPLC has creditability problems on that case & many others!
The doc: A Noble Lie
It’s free to watch on youtube.
SwM,
😉 … confirmed!
SwM,
Yes, it’s shocking, in Amerika of a places, using a group of people’s work who consistently 24/7 promote Freedom/Liberty & Civil Rights as a ref. source to a news worthy story.
No doubt Obama/Bush people should either waterboard torture the Infowars crew or just use a drone to take them out. (sarc off.)
Aside from that when we post links here we help promote this site here & the other site we linked too.
The bigger question is why some are so afraid of Alex Jones & his Infowars crew.
If their info/opinions either false/corrupt/twisted it should be easy enough to discredit them publicly.
Until then their audience is growing exponentially, just as I expect them same for Prof. Turley’s blog here.
Many now believe the nation is in serious trouble & they are seeking answers to what’s wrong.
That’s why they will end up finding sites like Infowars, jonathanturley.org ,Greg Hunter’s site USAWATCHDOG, etc..etc….
Darren, I took exception to the elevation of the fringe website InfoWars. You might do a little research on Alex Jones and his crew at the SPLC website or even wikipedia for that matter.
SwM, (OT and not meant to hijack)
Very interesting article concerning 2016 and Jeb Bush
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/has-the-g-o-p-gone-off-the-deep-end/?nl=opinion&emc=edit_ty_20130718
SwM,
Hadn’t considered that angle … could very well be
Blouise, Think he could possibly work for Infowars and Alex. They slowed down after the new black panthers , “Obama’s security force” didn’t cause any riots.;)
Darren,
Ya don’t say … 😉
SwM,
Probably hangin’ with Metrocowboy
For those who take exception to the source of news credited, here is the spiegel.de page via google translate:
Translated – Ex-President Carter Condemned US Spying
Here it is in the original German
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/nsa-affaere-jimmy-carter-kritisiert-usa-a-911589.html
Today’s Spiegel is really taking the US to task on the spying:
Here are the main articles on today’s
The NSA apparently wants to expand its espionage activities in Germany: In Wiesbaden, a new high-tech interception center of the U.S. Army has been created. Now evidence is accumulating that American agents also want to use the facility.
Commentary on the NSA Scandal, America is Sick
Civil Rights vs Security
NSA Spyware Program: One suspect and millions of people in their sights.
Wikileaks Informant: Manning is threatened with life imprisonment.
usw.