Left Forum #LF2013 Event: Bradley Manning and Whistleblowers + I am Bradley Manning

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Dandelion Salad

OccupyIndieMedia
Pace University, New York City
June 8, 2013

Left Forum #LF2013 event “Bradley Manning and Whistleblowers” with Chase Madar, Thomas Drake, Jesselyn Radack, Shayana Kadidal and Alexa D. O’Brien.

James Bamford: Inside the NSA’s Largest and Most Expansive Secret Domestic Spy Center + Thomas Drake Prevails in Unprecedented Obama Admin Crackdown (repost)

Dandelion Salad

Repost from March 21, 2012

democracynow on Mar 21, 2012

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democracynow.org – A new exposé in Wired Magazine reveals details about how the National Security Agency is quietly building the largest spy center in the country in Bluffdale, Utah, as part of a secret NSA surveillance program code-named “Stellar Wind.” We speak with investigative reporter James Bamford who says the NSA has established listening posts throughout the nation to collect and sift through billions of email messages and phone calls, whether they originate within the country or overseas.

The NDAA and the Death of the Democratic State by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
February 11, 2013

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On Wednesday a few hundred activists crowded into the courtroom of the Second Circuit, the spillover room with its faulty audio feed and dearth of chairs, and Foley Square outside the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse in Manhattan where many huddled in the cold. The fate of the nation, we understood, could be decided by the three judges who will rule on our lawsuit against President Barack Obama for signing into law Section 1021(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Thomas Drake: Corporations and the US Government–It’s An Unholy Alliance

Dandelion Salad

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breakingtheset· Feb 8, 2013

Abby Martin sits down with former NSA whistleblower, Thomas Drake, about his personal story as a whistleblower and what he describes as a ‘total betrayal’ by part of the government.

Chris Hedges: NDAA: This Is The Final Battle Between The Restoration Of Due Process and The Imposition Of A Military State (updated)

with Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
February 6, 2013

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Chris Hedges: NDAA May Already Be Detaining Americans 2/6/13

Kenny Steven Fuentes·Feb 6, 2013

Chris Hedges speaks at the 2/6/13 press conference following oral arguments made at Federal Courthouse in New York City. Hedges v. Obama challenges key provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that legalize indefinite detention of American citizens.

Blowing the Whistle on Obama’s America

Dandelion Salad

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AlJazeeraEnglish·Jan 5, 2013

On the campaign trail four years ago, US presidential candidate Barack Obama shared his views on whistleblowers. He said: “Often the best source of information about waste, fraud and abuse in government is a government employee committed to public integrity, willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism … should be encouraged rather than stifled.”

Thomas Drake: After 9/11, NSA had secret deal with White House

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Dandelion Salad

Jul 9, 2012 by RussiaToday

RT talks to former a National Security Agency executive in the US [Thomas Drake] who sacrificed his career to blow the whistle on wrong-doings inside the NSA.

Blowing the whistle on Obama’s America

Dandelion Salad

Image by Bebopsmile via Flickr

Jun 9, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish

Four years ago, on the campaign trail, candidate Barack Obama shared his views on whistleblowers. He said: “Often the best source of information about waste, fraud and abuse in government is a government employee committed to public integrity, willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism … should be encouraged rather than stifled.”

James Bamford: Inside the NSA’s Largest and Most Expansive Secret Domestic Spy Center + Thomas Drake Prevails in Unprecedented Obama Admin Crackdown

Dandelion Salad

democracynow on Mar 21, 2012

Image by Bebopsmile via Flickr

democracynow.org – A new exposé in Wired Magazine reveals details about how the National Security Agency is quietly building the largest spy center in the country in Bluffdale, Utah, as part of a secret NSA surveillance program code-named “Stellar Wind.” We speak with investigative reporter James Bamford who says the NSA has established listening posts throughout the nation to collect and sift through billions of email messages and phone calls, whether they originate within the country or overseas.

Thomas Drake: These are the hallmarks of tyranny and despotism (must-see)

Image by dreamwhile via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews on Jan 4, 2012

Thomas Drake blew the whistle on a massive domestic information gathering scheme and was called “an enemy of the state” (speech at Sam Adams Awards)

James Bamford: The Secrecy of the Obama Administration, interviewed by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds + Thomas Drake sentenced for info leak

Updated: July 17, 2011; added video

by Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
July 17, 2011

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James Bamford joins us to discuss the case of NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, the government’s overreach in bringing espionage charges against him, and the Obama Administration’s unprecedented level of retaliation against government whistleblowers. He discusses the Obama Administration’s shift from military wars to covert-secret wars, the increased use of the CIA as a war branch, and Obama’s violation of the Presidential War Powers Act.

Inside Obama’s “Orwellian World” Where Whistleblowing Has Become Espionage: The Case of Thomas Drake (must-see)

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

Democracy Now!
May 18, 2010

Inside Obama’s “Orwellian World” Where Whistleblowing Has Become Espionage: The Case of Thomas Drake

National Security Agency whistleblower Thomas Drake faces 35 years in prison on espionage charges for alleged unauthorized “willful retention” of five classified documents. “Espionage is the last thing my whistleblowing and First Amendment activities and actions were all about,” Drake said recently in a public speech. “This has become the specter of a truly Orwellian world where whistleblowing has become espionage.”

When It Comes To Whistleblowers, Obama is the Worst President by Sibel Edmonds

by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
May 17, 2011

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The New Yorker features a lengthy story on NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake who is scheduled to appear in court next month where he will face a ten-count indictment:

According to a ten-count indictment delivered against him in April, 2010, Drake violated the Espionage Act—the 1917 statute that was used to convict Aldrich Ames, the C.I.A. officer who, in the eighties and nineties, sold U.S. intelligence to the K.G.B., enabling the Kremlin to assassinate informants.