Whistle blowing 2 stories running currently.
The first is of cruel and excessive punishment
Chelsea Manning may face charges relating to a suicide attempt this year, which could lead to indefinite solitary confinement or transferral to a maximum-security facility, according to a civil rights group.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced on Thursday that Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence in military custody for leaking state secrets to the whistleblowing site WikiLeaks, was under investigation for three charges related to her 5 July suicide attempt: “resisting the force cell move team”, “prohibited property”, and “conduct which threatens”.
Manning confirmed through her lawyers in July that she was receiving medical care after having tried to take her own life.
If convicted of these new “administrative offenses”, she faces punishment that could include solitary confinement for the rest of her sentence, reclassification as a maximum-security prisoner, and an addition of nine years to her sentence. It might also negate her possibility of parole, according to the ACLU.
The second is one of deflection from what was revealed.
The FBI is investigating a cyber intrusion at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) that may be related to an earlier hack at the Democratic National Committee, said four sources familiar with the matter on Thursday.
The previously unreported incident at the DCCC, which raises money for Democrats running for seats in the US House of Representatives, may have been intended to gather information about donors, rather than to steal money, the sources said.
The breach and its potential ties to Russian hackers are likely to sharpen concern, so far unproven, that Moscow is attempting to meddle in US elections. The issue has clouded this week’s Democratic national convention in Philadelphia.
The first story shows why Edward Snowden fled as fast as he could and that is its intent.
In the second the FBI will no doubt be restricted to the who and not the details revealed as the first story indicates why a leaking any details from within America is probably not worth the risk.
We have become a country where our governments crimes have become insignificant to the perceived crime of exposing them. We have willing created agencies via the Patriot Act and its nastier cousins that enable the government to monitor our every activity.
Our government has pardoned itself from any wrongdoing, Honduras, the Iraq War, Torture, massacring civilians, War crimes and events such as the MSF KUnduz bombings [etc etc etc]. Our drone wars ignore national sovereignty and due legal process.
I watched a few of the speeches from the coronation process but god, faith and USA seemed to be the resounding theme. I have lived for to long outside if the US but this type of rhetoric sound more like launching a crusade than an election for a President of a democracy. We trumpet our military might in conjunction with religious and national exceptionalism. Some point at Trump being the only demagogue in the mix, looking from outside, he is not the only one.
It's a heady mix this "god and country" and a damn scary one, when it is also played to as the email leaks to take down a candidate, it is long past time it ended. However, pretty much every speaker I saw on the stages of both convention embraced it fully. Our founding fathers warned about this toxic brew; their warnings seem to have been in vain.
In a god you can trust, if you so wish.
Those that claim divine blessing or pretend to know divine will should be distrusted. Tying it inwith government and military rhetoric is a cause for deep concern.
PS
Suicide should not be treated as a crime; attempted or otherwise, it is a cry of absolute despair.
Comments
I am furious
I was so mad I was in tears, over the heartlessness of this. If Hillary Clinton walks free after all the shit she did with those Very Special Email servers, then Chelsea Manning should be free as well.
I have been in tears with the absolute
disregard for human life. The MSF hospital bombing was the cherry on the cake.
What makes it worse is the perceived acceptance of our own crimes by the majority.
The USA!!!11!!! can do no wrong.
Did you not hear the incessant chants of USA! USA!! USA!!!11!!!11! tonight? Patriotism, my foot. That's scary stuff.
There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
Everyone heard it, the BBC and RFO have been
showing it.
I find myself haunted by this speech:
Although, in fact, I think the "first step" was taken years ago ....
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
I'm watching H R Clinton on BBC news
worrying more than assuring
the Clinton chanting was used to cover up...
The USA USA chants were used to cover up the revolution delegates "No More War" chants. I will post an essay of how the convention suppressed our delegates to give an illussion of unity. You can check all the raw data on my FB...
From the Light House.
Nothing redolent of fascism there. No, sir! It’s Dems! Can’t be!
U-S-heil ! U-S-heil !
Tears here too
"We have become a country where our government's crimes have become insignificant to the perceived crime of exposing them."
How could we have ever found out, what our country was doing, without Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning - these are HEROES, not villains. Wikileaks - showed us what we already knew but couldn't prove - the primary was hijacked by Clintons. Why shoot the source, and not the real criminals - those people at the State Department following orders from Hillary Clinton - using a private basement email system installed in their Chappaqua mansion to circumvent ANY ANY ANY FOIA request, and allow all those at Clinton Global Foundation, including Chelsea and Billy, to sync with Hillary to increase GLOBAL money grab for CGF.
This is so fucked - it's almost, just almost, impossible to believe. But, it's the Clintons, the Democratic party, so we have to accept the absurd truth of how demented, destructive the USA government is.
When we're not killing innocent people around the world with drones, we are attacking the very individuals trying to PROTECT what's left of our democracy.
This is Robert Reich from FB
Excuse me while I vomit.
According to the Times, the moneyed interests have descended on Philadelphia big time. Some big donors have even been granted time backstage or in the Clinton family box with former President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton. “This is a good place to be,” said former Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, a Democrat now running for Congress, as he glided through Philadelphia’s Ritz-Carlton. “We must have set up five fund-raisers today. This is the bank.”
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-donors....
As a protester walked with a sign denouncing big money outside the hotel, two stocky men inside were heard debating the merits of the different ambassadorships they hoped to get under Mrs. Clinton. Even a low-ranking posting meant having “ambassador” on a child’s wedding invitation, the two agreed, and would be helpful in wrangling invitations to sit on corporate boards.
Earth to Democratic leaders: The Bernie campaign may be over and Donald Trump may be the devil incarnate, but the public is still angry as hell about big money corrupting our democracy. If Hillary is elected president in November and the moneyed interests aren’t brought to heel, she won’t be reelected.
What do you think?
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
We have those that believe the show
We have others [me included[ that refuse to be taken in by the false promises of all the glitz and media.
Next year hopefully some come to terms with the consequences of their votes, I have said this before and nothing has changed, one can but hope
Sorry I am on my phone and
Sorry I am on my phone and the comment up above sort of just got dumped in. I read the story about Chelsea and was disgusted by the idea of it. Snowden had to run for his life, and the Clintons are too big to jail.
Talk about privilege. It sure as hell isn't coming from the Bernie side. I am proud of the fight the Bernie people are waging.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Money talks.
Get over it.
The Oligarchs have taken over, and the 'polloi' need to say "thank'ee m'am, may I have some more?"
Money makes the wheels go round (Estonian version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHOl2SKJO3E
There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
#AintGonnaHappen
#Justsayin....
A lot can happen in three months
May not be indictments, but there have got to be more Wikileaks.
The Trump team is ready to fight. Their ads will be spectacular. All the CW from inside the beltway which Mittens, and Bush wouldn't touch, are now fair game. G. H. W. Bush had his own "jennifer" (worked in State Dept.) so they couldn't go after Billy in 1992. Get yer popcorn here!!
Seeing online videos of Billy - he's a very sick man. Don't know if it's PD ( Parkinson's Disease) or what - noticed when he was falling asleep while $hrillary spoke, Kaine was leaning forward to BLOCK the view of the camera focused on Billy. This is not CT - he's sick.
Pictures worth how many words: Chelsea Clinton and Webb Hubbell. Funny now. Even plastic surgery didn't hide it. We make fun of the RW crap - but it's been right a lot more than it's been wrong. They're having fun
The treatment of Manning has been despicable
It's a measure of the morality of the US government.
I eagerly await further leaks, although I will be skeptical of anything the FBI says about them.
On another note, I saw that Humana is pulling out of Obamacare... the wheels are falling off.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
No matter what Julian Assange did or did not do
one can fully understand his terror of being extradited to the US>
Perhaps Ms. Manning will be more successful next time.
That's the only way she will ever be free.
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.
I'd rather see her get a full pardon
but we'd have to have a President who believes in justice first.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Important stories. Very imperative to read. But why only 2
investigations?
Why is no one who was involved in rigging this election being investigated? Manning has had his life stolen and the poor thing, they are going to try to cut yet another pound of flesh out of the poor girl. That's so cruel it is obscene.
So the clucks at the DCCC and DNC have had their secret squirrel emails stolen and it shows what a sleazy, lying, dishonest, unpatriotic bunch of bottom feeders they are. That's it, just looking for wh.o outed these assholes but not what the scheming SOBs were doing in those emails? WE HAD OUR RIGHT TO A FAIR AND IMPARTIAL ELECTION STOLEN. Someone best be looking into that bullshit for sure
Who the Hell is looking into that?????
THIS IS A LATER EDIT. i'M ASHAMED OF MYSELF. It should read Manning has had HER life stolen...
Again, that was a rude error and I'm sorry.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
We are being conditioned by threats and examples not
to look into that which does not concern us.
This is some bullshit
These people--that Party--they are sick. That's a sickness, that "drunk with power" shit, that propagandizing the masses into swallowing a "unity" that fucking well does not exist. And they're not progressive. You saw that coming years ago, how this sellout Party misappropriated the description of "progressive". They are nothing of the sort. They are disgusting war pigs, waging war on everything they touch, over money.
The thing to remember is that their media is going into overdrive to make you feel small. They're writing fantasies to repeat over and over again, creating it out of whole cloth if they have to, to get you to go along with it.
I can't wait until Hagatha finally gets it that she just lost half the Democratic Party this week, and she will have to make it up by selling out further to the Right to get GOP voters. Dare I start the Reaganesque meme of "Hillary Republicans"? LOL! Wait til she has to pander to them on abortion restrictions and then has to sell out Planned Parenthood, even though they endorsed her.
These dumbasses are going to reap the whirlwind and then some. We tried to tell them...
She'll pander, and GLADLY
She is NOT pro-choice, no matter how much she lies about it (and she lies about everything, we all know this already). She believes in restricting late-term abortions, just so long as there are loopholes for the life and health of the woman. She would not object to further restrictions at any point (not just late-term), just as long as there are the same skinny hard to navigate loopholes.
She believes, in her husband's words and as her husband meant, that abortions should be "safe, legal and RARE" - in the sense of "almost impossible to get when you desperately need one".
Too many women could tell you how that works out in real life - if they were still alive to tell you.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Hey, Hillary's Vice
Hey, Hillary's Vice Presidential pick is anti-abortion - and do you think she'll care about tossing social bones to the peons once she's cheated her way into the Presidency?
In any event, the TPP transfer of domestic law in all involved countries from the people to involved billionaires and corporations in their offshored court alters this position to corporate CEO of AmericaCorps(e) - and if that lot get away with so blatant a fraud as that rigged nomination, there's no problem cheating with the election, or with anything else they do.
Because every time, they get away richer and more powerful with no repercussions and the crimes grow as does their power until the people find themselves, as now, accepting the destruction of life on Earth for the absolute power and profit of the few because they never said 'enough is enough, it stops now and there are consequences'.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
We can only hope
that the GOP can cheat better than her, if by chance Stein doesn't get on enough GE ballots.
GOP has had a lot more experience at it,
and they won't even need to try all that hard this time. Lots of people have had it up to here, and if one Party blows them off, they'll try the other one out of sheer spite.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
The former East German ruling party was officially called
the Socialist Unity Party.
Proclaiming that the working class had overcome its historic division that had made it ineffective in preventing the rise of fascism, the Soviets forced a “merger” of the Social Democratic and Communist parties. Of course it was really a swallowing-up of the former by the latter.
Proclaiming that U.S. Democrats had overcome a division that would have made them ineffective in preventing the rise of what they term fascism, the 2016 DNC forced a “merger” of the Berniecrat and Clintonist factions. Of course it was really a swallowing-up of the former by the latter.
But they haven't
so they will be exactly this:
whatever they want to call this week's Enemy, they will still not be effective.
Die Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED).
Ganz richtig.
There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
Exactly.
"Nothing to see here, move along now, there's a good chap."
There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
As Bono said
"The God I believe in isn't short of cash." And He certainly doesn't need politicians...
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
You nailed it La Fem
We are already living in a fascist state. Iron fist covered by velvet glove. And it will only get worse. But what can anyone with a conscience do but resist and fight on? I am an old, sick tired white man but I refuse to lie down like a dog for these despots. J'accuse these criminals and feudal corporate overlords. They care nothing for any of us, or for life on this Planet either. Their greed and lust for power is an abomination. Do not give in, my brothers and sisters. Do not surrender. Never give up.
With great respect and love for you all,
Steve
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Well said, SteveD.
Emile Zola, bien sur.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%27accuse%E2%80%A6!
There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
Good lord, I feel so sad and angry about what they did
and are going to do to Chelsea.
Not only did not one fucking person that slaughtered those people in the Collateral Murder video get charged with war crimes, but when Petraeous intentionally give his mistress classified information so that she could write a book, he wasn't charged under the espionage act and sentenced to prison, he was only fined $100 thousand dollars and got to keep both his rank and pension.
Hillary intentionally used a private email server because she wanted to hide the business she was doing with the Clinton foundation and skirt the FOIA so that people couldn't have access to what she did,
And it's very possible that many people from the foundation had access to the email server that contained classified information regarding the state department's business.
We know that Sidney Bluementhal stole classified information from the NSA and shared it with Hillary when he was in Sudan. He also sent her classified information from Libya and God knows where else while he was working for her foundation.
The FBI and the state department as well as Obama and many people in congress knows about all of this, yet she isn't going to be held accountable?
Everyone damned person who told the world that Hillary is the most qualified to be president is a God damned liar!
As Corbett said, Hillary's presidency is going to be a threat to humanity!
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Chelsea Clinton, Chelsea Manning: a tale of two Chelseas.
They should have given Chelsea Manning that sinecure slot on network news.
Wikileaks, Snowden / the Intercept, Anonymous, etc. are the muckraking reporters now — they could be Chelsea Manning’s regular beat.
It's way past time for a third party that can challenge
the corruption and mindless bullshit we're forced to endure spewing forth from their mouths. On one side, racism, misogyny, homo- and transphobia, and an utter disdain for the poor of a kind only a plutocrat could hold.
On the other, platitudes, corruption, and a fiercely dismissive disgust toward any idea of a true transformative politics designed to pry loose power over our daily lives -- politically, legally, and ecoonomically -- those plutocrats hold in their greedy death grip.
Here, you can see how the cowardly "No! Not this time! Trump is Hitler! We must vote for The Mad Bomber to Stop Him At All Costs!" is completely destroyed by the simple logic of "If not now, when?" a.k.a. "the fierce urgency of now" as our current betrayer-in-chief loves to say: Who Should Bernie Voters Support Now?
My only quibble with Chris Hedges in this colloquy is that I feel the Greens aren't enough: I don't think they're connected enough to today's popular progressive movements. We need to find a way to combine the strength of Occupy, Black Lives Matter, CodePink, the Fight for Fifteen, 350.org, and many others into one movement and one party to challenge the political rule of these two corrupt, sclerotic, wings of the plutocracy, whose only purpose is to suck us into their electoral trap. This, I think, can and should be the purpose and focus of this site and community.
It's past time to heed Hedges's advice, and even move beyond it. Way past time.
We can only hope it's not too late.
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon
And by the way, LaFem, thank you for yet another angry rant
exposing the ugly shrivelled heart of our corrupt governing elites.
"Anger is an energy" as the poet said
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN-GGeNPQEg]
"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."
-- John Lennon
Well, we can look for a third party solution that doesn't exist
yet, or we can try to build on a nascent third party. The Green Party has the realistic possibility of gaining the national spotlight of the general election debates this fall and is already far closer to the views of Bernie than the Democratic Party will ever be.
So, we can stamp our feet, grab a pitchfork and take to the streets to get maced (or worse) because our two major parties have presented shit candidates for our consideration. Or, we can start working for an existing orginazation, or another one reputedly about to launch, and continue work for a sane and hopeful future.
But what we have to realize is that there will be no quick fix, no quick and easy process that will ever succeed in removing the pond scum that has floated into a thick mat atop our political and electoral system. There is no man, no woman and no party that can stop the machine in its tracks by November, no matter how loud we shout.
“What the herd hates most is the one who thinks differently; it is not so much the opinion itself, but the audacity of wanting to think for themselves, something that they do not know how to do.”
-Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
It is easily within our grasp to topple the Democratic Party.
We can deliver a defeat to Hillary and take down the neoliberal cartel that runs the Party at the same time. Just dilute the vote and vote directly against Hillary.
The Democratic Party created this House of Cards. The people can take it down to the ground in November.
If they want to self-govern, that is. Otherwise they can just surrender. They will never get another shot at it, again.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
'Not Hillary' is not on the ballot.
We can, in most states, vote for Trump, Stein or Johnson; against Hillary. That's it? That's all that is required is a sufficient number of votes against Hillary to
What, they resign en mass and invite Bernie to take over?
Perhaps I am exceedingly dense and need to read up on the plan but I am at a loss how to connect the dots to make sense out of your comment.
“What the herd hates most is the one who thinks differently; it is not so much the opinion itself, but the audacity of wanting to think for themselves, something that they do not know how to do.”
-Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
But there are no
"non-Democrats" or "non-Republicans" downballot for Senate or House, are there?
So without Congressional support, what can she do?
The US is not a Parliamentary system, where the Prime Minister controls (more or less) the House of Commons and serves at its pleasure (i.e. a loss of Confidence or Supply (budget) leads to the Governor General [the Queen's representative] dissolving Parliament and calling for new elections.)
There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
This nation has become so politically and morally corrupt
that I honestly don't know where it will end. WTF are we doing with Chelsea? Are we going to make her suffer even longer and make the suffering even worse? Humans suck.
There now is no doubt that the DNC sabotaged the Sanders campaign. What are we going to do about it? Nothing means voting Hillary. I'm not doing nothing, they (Democrats) will be punished for screwing us. Basically they took away our vote. They allowed us to spend money on a rigged contest. Now they want to gloss over it by yelling "Russians!". Fuck that, I'm not ready to make nice.
There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties.. This...is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.--John Adams
Meanwhile, stop TPP before lock in more of the coup d'etat
Here is a German video with sub titles about how the "trade" deals take away citizen sovereignty
Politicians are saying that TPP can be stopped with a few votes flipped. Time to call people in congress and attend meetings
German TV Documentary
And Chelsea Manning. Many people were suprised at how coherent she was at the trial after the earlier "treatment" (the UN called it torture) she had had prior to the "trial".
I read in YES magazine that was handed out at NN16 that Angela Davis' sister led a world wide protest against Angela's improvement. We need that kind of action with regard to Chelsea. And remember, none of the documents she released were Top Secret.
A recent article noted that journalists get behind a journalist who is being attacked by the state, like James Risen, but give far too little support to the whistle blowers. With about 1 million with security clearance at a given time, a whistle blower is about a 1 in a million event and the state does everything to squash them.
What if the STATE had listened to whistle blowers BEFORE the invasion of Iraq? Trillions wasted and world destabilized.
It looks like it will take a Trump or a Hillary to resurrect a peace movement.
In case you are feeling as bad as I am, it is hard for dystopian writers because the present is worse than any future that they can make up.
Is the Present Worse Than Any Fictional, Futuristic Dystopia?
The first 2 paragraphs
Probably a typo?
Did you mean to say
?
There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.