Obama's Brutal Treatment Of Whistleblowers

I'm still thinking of how to write a post titled "How Obama Failed." I tried to write it as an essay. It could be a book. I will let a journalist write the book. I think I will just stick to a list, because the list is growing every quarter.

So while I figure out a way to present what is becoming an increasingly common argument, I can turn my attention to another obvious, but under-reported topic.

President Obama and his administration have gone after whistleblowers more aggressively and more relentlessly than any other administration in US history. 2013 was the year of the persecuted whistleblower.

This post was supposed to go up in August 2013. But this is still a relevant topic. It's even more crucial when you realize how most Obama supporters are completely unaware of it.

So here, along with the links above, are some very good starting points for learning about this mostly untold legacy of the Obama administration.

Peter Van Buren: Silent State: The Campaign Against Whisleblowers in Washington

Peter Van Buren: Leaking War: How Obama's Targeted Killings, Leaks, and the Everything-Is-Classified State Have Fused

Glenn Greenwald: Secrecy Creep

“It’s genuinely difficult to overstate the significance of this systematic attack on whistleblowers. In a nation in which government secrecy is close to all-consuming — in which the vast majority of government acts of significance take place behind a classified wall — whistleblowers remain virtually the only avenue left for learning of serious political wrongdoing. Moreover, the attack on whistleblowing, by design, seriously impedes investigative reporting”

The NSA Can't Stop. Won't Stop.

The NSA Is Storing Tons of Data From U.S Citizens and Non-Targets. Fortunately for our government, our citizens will never get mad nor demand accountability. This summer, Germany has expressed more outrage than anyone in the US ever could.

NSA Spying Revelations To Continue Well Into 2014

Edward Snowden became a household name to consumers of news media in June 2013. It also helped make The Guardian a well recognized name in elite news journalism, and they now have a Pulizer for their effors.

The reports of how the NSA has spied on virtually all electronic communications over the last 15 years (and probably longer) will continue to be released. According to SNowden, some of the biggest revelations are yet to come. We can expect more details about how the NSA partnered with corporations to collect mass data on citzens. They collect data on what you buy, where you go, and what you are into. And almost none of it related to keeping the "homeland" safe.

While we wait for more deatils on NSA programs, both past and existing, we have a blockbuster piece by two of the best investigative "Global War on Terror" journalists around, Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill. In it, they explain how drone strkes target mobile phones, using an NSA owned database of mobile phone numbers. It had long been suspected that the drones go after phones, not people identified visually. That helps explains all the "collateral damage" when these phones are detected in the open in crowded areas. Furthermore, we know US often follows an initial hellfire missle strike with a second strike in the same location to kill friends, family, and even medics (if that isn't state terrorism...). What drives the drone strikes? Data. 

UPDATE, June 26, 2014: Here is a fantastic summary of what we know as of May 2014, by Nadia Kayyali and Katitza Rodriguez of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Late-Breaking Bad News

Photo by Flickr user XISMZERO used under a Creative Commons license

Senator Jay Rockefeller has confidently predicted that immunity for the telecom corporations who participated in the NSA domestic spying program will be approved by Congress. How is he so confident? Because he's a sponsor, and he made sure the bill was swiftly approved through his committee.

Thanks for nothing, Democrats. And Senator, fuck you and your family. You're one of the only "Democrats" in that corporate-sponsored family anyway.

"I think we will prevail," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat and a chief sponsor of the bill, told reporters.

Who the fuck are "we"? We're not AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint (the three companies which stand to be protected by the bill). We're being spied upon by the Bush junta. "We" are fucked. Would it surprise anyone that AT&T has contributed $20,000 to Jay Rockefeller in the last 6 months (up from $300 in the previous 6 years)? He also voted to repeal habeas corpus. And he was one of only two Congressional Democrats briefed about the administration's torture policies. Also, he knew about the CIA torture videotapes before they were destroyed, but doesn't support a Senate investigation of their destruction, saying that it is up to the CIA to investigate itself. Like I said....fuck him.

Not all Democrats are against their own constituents. Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer, Patrick Leahy, and Christopher Dodd are going to try to stop it. Please support Senator Dodd in his attempt to stage a filibuster that would kill the bill on the Senate floor. He was able to block it on December 17th. But with Harry Reid and Jay Rockefeller pushing it through, I don't think he can stop it again.

And in other news tonight, if you own oil or gold, you are sitting pretty. Note, I didn't say you are sitting pretty if you own oil stocks. Although some oil stocks are doing quite well. One is Exxon Mobil. The street is getting excited because it is expected the Exxon Mobil will report a new record for biggest annual profit ever for any corporation. If they report 4th quarter earnings of $10.37 Billion as expected, they will have made $39.2 Billion for all of 2007, a new record. That would mean that Exxon collected $75,000 in profits each minute of calendar year 2007. If Exxon Mobil beats street estimates, it could even beat its own record for largest quarterly profit ever.

Exxon is likely to have record quarterly earnings," said Fadel Gheit, a senior energy analyst at Oppenheimer. "For every $1 [increase] in the price of oil, Exxon makes [another] $125 million for the quarter.

Now contrast that to your current economic situation,and how much you pay for gasoline. I think most of you would be a little upset. Considering the pinko-commie content of this blog, and you're still reading it, I think you would be.

Her's a question, do you think the Supreme Court is going to let a the $2.5 Billion in remaining unpaid punitive damages stand for the 1989 Exxon Veldez oil spill when it rules on the case this year? They took the case. You know what that means....the fix is in. At least Justice Alito has recused himself from the case, because he owns an estimated $200K in Exxon Mobil stock.