I heard about this yesterday, and I can't say I'm surprised. When governments like the Obama Administration officials, start threatening to charge journalists for publishing information they consider damaging (but can't explain on what grounds) like Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras...who are both living in exile, because of rumors the Administration will stick them in the same hole they have waiting for Julian Assange, there is an obvious chilling effect that goes out and impacts on the way mainstream journalists report the news. Every dictatorship makes an example of some journalist they consider stepping over the line, and in good times, that keeps everyone else from asking unwanted questions.
I just finished listening to the 2nd part of a two part public broadcast radio interview of NSA whistleblower - Thomas Drake (
here), and Obamabots who still live the fantasy of Hope and Change aren't going to like it, but in Drake's assessment of any differences between the Obama and Bush administrations, he concluded that things got worse....much worse under the Obama Administration than they were before under Bush/Cheney. If anything, Bush had regrets about the growing power of the NSA and how extensive surveillance was becoming, as well as the projection of power by stealth assassinations without trial. Obama has embraced the use of drones so much that he brags about it and has allowed deliberate leaks of how they set up the kill list in their Terror Tuesday meetings. Maybe it's a matter of wanting to be respected so badly by the military brass, that he will sign off on everything and anything they want to do. At least Bush ended up having to say no a few times to Cheney! With Obama, aside from appearances and image, this is like Cheney running loose with the all of the levers of power at his disposal, and no limits on how his underlings use and abuse those powers!
Yesterday, rumors were flying about...thanks in large part to Buzzfeed...that Edward Snowden will be dispatched by a targeted killing of some sort, if there are continued stories leaked out to Greenwald, Poitras and Jeremy Scahill's new media venture. They don't care whether or not Snowden still has files to release, or if Greenwald and others have those files. They would risk any backlash at killing Snowden to try to silence Greenwald & co.! A few years ago, we all would have relegated a rumor like that to tabloid news; but what has been discovered is that the U.S. has a government populated by political and department officials who have no respect for freedom or rule of law. So, should anyone be surprised that the U.S. is on its way down to third world status regarding press freedom?
BTW,Part one of the Drake interview is here:
Podcast: Whistleblower Former NSA Exec Thomas Drake On Obama's Speech, Bengazi, 911 and more- part 1 | OpEdNews
Lets knock off the personal remarks here folks. Stick to the posts and leave the posters alone or you will be infracted and banned from the thread.
