We previously discussed the rapid drop of the United States in the protection of the free press. Now, the respected Reporters Without Borders has produced a separate report on Internet freedoms. In yet another dubious distinction for President Obama, the United States is now listed with such “Enemies of the Internet” as Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. This is our first time on the infamous list — a true accomplishment for an Administration that has been denounced for its wholesale attacks on privacy and other core civil liberties.
The Administration (and its Senate allies like Sen. Dianne Feinstein) spent little time in setting itself against the open Internet forum and has sought a variety limitations and sanctions for Internet speech. Our mass surveillance programs features prominently in our inclusion of this list. The National Security Agency has worked furiously to break down walls on the Internet while the Justice Department has pursued various individuals for web posting.
There will come a day when Democrats will seek again to speak in favor of core values of free speech, free press, privacy, and the like. When that day comes, there will be a chorus of howls from civil libertarians who have watched in astonishment as the Democratic Party enabled these assaults on freedom either actively or by acquiescence. The trading away of the power of principle for the power of personality will, in my view, be judged harshly in history. Obama will leave office in a few years and what he will leave a much larger security system, more extensive surveillance, and a mountain of hypocrisy for his supporters to climb in his wake.
I am not sure how the Administration will celebrate its latest distinction, but the First Lady is currently traveling at great public expense in China. That would seem a perfect place to celebrate since the White House told reporters that they would not answer any questions. However, the First Lady (despite announcements that she would avoid discussion of human rights) did call for respect for freedom of speech and other rights.
Source: Salon
“Spy Chief James Clapper Wins Rosemary Award”
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20140324/
“Whopper to Congress Clinches Worst Open Government Performance of 2013
Prize Named for Nixon’s Secretary Cites U.S. Surveillance Establishment for Outrageous Secrecy
Team effort at National Security Agency, Justice Department National Security Division, FBI, and White House misled public, Congress, the Supreme Court, the wiretap court, and even each other
Spy chief’s lawyers swore under oath the text of the 4th Amendment was classified (TS-SCI)
But the Award also recognizes Clapper’s fellow secrecy fetishists and enablers, including:
Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, for multiple Rose Mary Woods-type stretches, such as (1) claiming that the secret bulk collection prevented 54 terrorist plots against the U.S. when the actual number, according to the congressionally-established Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) investigation (pp. 145-153), is zero; (2) his 2009 declaration to the wiretap court that multiple NSA violations of the court’s orders arose from differences over “terminology,” an explanation which the chief judge said “strains credulity;” and (3) public statements by the NSA about its programs that had to be taken down from its website for inaccuracies (see Documents 78, 85, 87 in The Snowden Affair), along with public statements by other top NSA officials now known to be untrue (see “Remarks of Rajesh De,” NSA General Counsel, Document 53 in The Snowden Affair).
Robert Mueller, former FBI director, for suggesting (as have Gen. Alexander and many others) that the secret bulk collection program might have been able to prevent the 9/11 attacks, when the 9/11 Commission found explicitly the problem was not lack of data points, but failing to connect the many dots the intelligence community already had about the would-be hijackers living in San Diego.
The National Security Division lawyers at the Justice Department, for misleading their own Solicitor General (Donald Verrilli) who then misled (inadvertently) the U.S. Supreme Court over whether Justice let defendants know that bulk collection had contributed to their prosecutions.
The same National Security Division lawyers who swore under oath in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for a key wiretap court opinion that the entire text of the opinion was appropriately classified Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (release of which would cause “exceptionally grave damage” to U.S. national security). Only after the Edward Snowden leaks and the embarrassed governmental declassification of the opinion did we find that one key part of the opinion’s text simply reproduced the actual language of the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the only “grave damage” was to the government’s false claims.
President Obama for his repeated misrepresentations about the bulk collection program (calling the wiretap court “transparent” and saying “all of Congress” knew “exactly how this program works”) while in effect acknowledging the public value of the Edward Snowden leaks by ordering the long-overdue declassification of key documents about the NSA’s activities, and investigations both by a special panel and by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.”
AY, I suspected as much, it doesn’t really matter, they sound very similar at any rate.
AY and annie,
You both sound like a broken drum. Actually, the first lady is part of the administration. She has a staff at the WH and her own office, she has 70 personnel with her in China. And we are paying for them. She is fair game, the kids are not.
Are First Lady’s considered part of their husband’s administration now? If so then yes, it might be fair to include them in the criticism. If not, then it’s simply a cheap shot. Since Professor Turley included her expensive trip to China in this blogpost, I guess it makes it part of the subject matter of this discussion.
The big question is why attack Michelle Obama when Laura bush was worse…. Attack the policy’s of the hypocritical presidents rather than family….
Annie,
In case you haven’t figured it out nick and dagda are one in unison…..
http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/06/20/to-hannity-ann-romney-is-off-limits-but-michell/184518
swarthmoremom,
According to the MSM, Fox and Murdoch are not part of the mainstream media. That is also according to President Obama.
annie,
The bigger question is why not drag the First Lady into this. She is spending lots of our money, shouldn;t she be responsible for justifying it? When she meets secretly with students in the US Embassy she is acting on ‘our’ behalf.
dagda, Murdoch’s media empire is part of the mainstream press no matter what you and Sarah Palin say.
“Our Guest Bloggers are asked to avoid any tit-for-tat fight with trolls and critics. Likewise, most of our regulars refuse to engage in such exchanges. Please help us keep this an island of civility and mature discourse on the Internet. Address the issues and not the individuals in our debate. Be passionate but don’t let it get personal.” (J. Turley)
http://jonathanturley.org/civility-rule/
And yes, it appears Spinelli forgot about civility in his agitation.
Policies.
Spinelli, take a pill, it will help you with your issues with agitation. Why don’t you explain in your oh so wise way why it the First Lady is fair game on a blogpost regarding the President’s polocies and his the internet? I’m sure everyone here wants to hear you impart your vast knowledge on any given subject.
swarthmoremom,
It is hard to accept Fox News as part of the mainstream media. The mainstream media has been giving Obama and his wife and administration a pass for 5 years. They get kicked around and yet they come back and asked to be kicked again. The masochism of the mainstream press is hard to take for the rest of us because they are not doing their job as the “fourth estate.” Sadly, they have become part of the problem.
http://jonathanturley.org/civility-rule/
If the (gum)shoe fits:
“We do not tolerate personal attacks or bullying.”
Travelinglimey,”Then vote Paul and Snowden”. Well, Snowden certainly won’t be on the republican ticket with Paul. Has Paul even proposed amnesty for Snowden?
Read the piece and you might be able to comprehend why. Serenity now.
Why drag the First Lady into this?
http://washingtonexaminer.com/press-covering-michelle-obama-shoved-screamed-at-blocked-from-events-in-china/article/2546166
Check the article for suppression of the press by the Obama administration and Chinese officials.
This guy makes Nixon look good.
samantha, Sure the mainstream media has been critical of Michelle Obama clothes and trips: Think the blog is just catching up with Fox TV host Sean Hannity: “Seriously, y’all? What is Michelle Obama thinking, going on this important overseas visit to meet the Queen of England and other world leaders dressed as if she wanted to make some sort of good impression? Surely she should have swaddled herself in Council Flat gladrags or the sort of tunics preferred by the ancient Picts kept at bay behind Hadrian’s Wall or something? That’s Sean Hannity’s argument, anyway! He’s just all burnt up with THE POPULIST RAGE that Michelle Obama could dare dress her best “in the midst of an economic slowdown.” Huffington Post.