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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDavid Sirota: America hates its whistle-blowers: The tortured legacy of Edward Snowden
from Salon:
America hates its whistle-blowers: The tortured legacy of Edward Snowden
On the second anniversary of his historic act of civil disobedience, we review what has changed (and what has not)
DAVID SIROTA
Two years ago this month, a 29-year-old government contractor named Edward Snowden became the Daniel Ellsberg of his generation, delivering to journalists a tranche of secret documents shedding light on the governments national security apparatus. But whereas Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers detailing one specific military conflict in Southeast Asia, Snowden released details of the U.S. governments sprawling surveillance machine that operates around the globe.
On the second anniversary of Snowdens historic act of civil disobedience, it is worth reviewing what has changed and what has not.
On the change side of the ledger, there is the politics of surveillance. For much of the early 2000s, politicians of both parties competed with one another to show who would be a bigger booster of the NSAs operations, fearing that any focus on civil liberties risked their being branded soft on terrorism. Since Snowden, though, the political paradigm has dramatically shifted.
The most illustrative proof that came last month, when the U.S. Senate failed to muster enough votes to reauthorize the law that aims to allow the NSA to engage in mass surveillance. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Pauls prominent role in that episode underscored the political shift a decade after the GOP mastered the art of citing 9/11-themed arguments about terrorism to win elections, one of the partys top presidential candidates proudly led the fight against one of the key legislative initiatives of the so-called war on terror.
There has also been a shift in public opinion, as evidenced by a new ACLU-sponsored poll showing that almost two thirds of American voters want Congress to curtail the NSAs mass surveillance powers. The survey showed that majorities in both parties oppose renewing the old Patriot Act. .................(more)
http://www.salon.com/2015/06/13/america_hates_its_whistleblowers_the_tortured_legacy_of_edward_snowden_partner/
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David Sirota: America hates its whistle-blowers: The tortured legacy of Edward Snowden (Original Post)
marmar
Jun 2015
OP
Octafish
(55,745 posts)1. Not ALL Americans.
Just the ones working to subvert the Constitution, the will of the People, and the law.
As for Congress, the Executive and SCROTUS, who do you think the NSADIACIAFBIetfrikkkingcetera is blackmailing?
WillyT
(72,631 posts)2. K & R !!!
Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)3. America hates mirrors.
And people with long memories.