The Daily Show's Awesome Re-imagining Of How Whistleblower Thomas Drake Was A Spy
from the papers-blazing dept
We've written plenty about the ridiculous government case against whistleblower Thomas Drake, who exposed waste and fraud at the NSA, only to find himself charged under the Espionage Act as a spy, because he had kept a few documents on his computer that shouldn't have been there. While the government case completely fell apart (and ended with Drake agreeing to a plea that basically admitted the government had no case), it's nice to see that the vindictive nature of the feds using the Espionage Act against whistleblowers has been getting more mainstream attention.The latest? The Daily Show, which did a hilarious interview with Drake, complete with Jason Jones' attempt to turn his story into a spy thriller movie, only to be disappointed by the lack of anything remotely spy-like happening (and, yes, I know, non-US viewers can't see this, blame Viacom):
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Filed Under: espionage act, the daily show, thomas drake, whistleblowing
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Not a nickel
Wouldn't surprise me to see 4 years pass without it happening again.
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Let's ask, how could Obama have been faced with so much mutiny from its investigative units? Well, the last 10 years has something to do with it, I think. These investigations were largely not fresh and what the US has gone through is a main part of the reason all of this mutiny has been taking place. There was internal backlash to difficult situations in these agencies dealing with feared enemies (you didn't just almost have your house destroyed by an attacker flying a bomb with your name on it, but pretend for a moment). Many Americans even support the torture to some degree and certainly want an ordered mechanism for dealing with deviants and do not support a politician pushing around these people whose careers have been to protect the nation. Sure, this idealism is not shared by everyone, but I think there would be significant pushback to interference with ongoing investigations and decisions by these people inside our security network trying to defend their protocols and decisions of the past decade.
After public uproar of some degree, Manning was moved to a reasonable holding environment from his harsh cell. The case against Drake was weakened when Obama took over and the rest fell apart, as it should have and probably would have regardless. That is easier to do, of course, to lose a case in a public forum, than it is to be bold like NOTA and rebuke the decision-process in these agencies and order indictments to disappear. DOA really was probably unavoidable, yes.
NOTA would make a tremendously bold President if perhaps not representative of the majority of the people in avoiding prosecution in a quasi-public forum while rebuking behind the scenes key US security agencies (and heavens knows opening the door to how many more whistleblowers about this suppression being committed by a mere politician). Unfortunately, NOTA has been confirmed to be too old for the office and cannot be elected.
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http://gremlin.net/images/wasted/cthulhu2012.jpg
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Better yet, vote for the person you know will give you what you want. Vote Anonymous Coward!!
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Jack Johnson: And I say your 3 cent titanium tax doesn't go too far enough!
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I won't begrudge anyone for voting Garry Johnson, but nor will I humor their smugness & pride as they congratulate themselves for bucking the 2 party system while putting down citizens that support major party candidates.
The system needs to be blown up, but it's more effectively done on the state & perhaps congressional level. Were there a middle-of-the-road candidate that put forth a great campaign and advocated for sensible reforms that matched my own instincts, I may well vote for that person. As would millions of others. Alas, that White Knight has been around the corner for a few hundred years, and will be for a few hundred more.
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Planning to write in Ron Wyden, because then at least I know I voted for someone who deserves the job, rather than the "less bad" candidate.
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Romney would probably just nervously laugh about he's a man of god and how I should be grateful for accepting the body of Christ in a rhythmic fashion.
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Is it right to be worried ?
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Re: Geolocation
More than a little funny that a site that's generally opposed to geographically prejudiced distribution models is forwarding a video that is not supposed to be available outside of the USA. Uh oh, more people might watch the show...
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Whistleblowing Perspectives from a Whistleblower
Read chapter 2 of my firsthand account as a bank whistleblower exposing the largest bank fraud in history here: http://thoughtforyourpenny.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-boy-who-cried-force-placed.html.
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I love this statement. I've done some trolling in my day, but using the standard "If you don't like it, get out" that the hardcore far right use in order to promote a leftist....genius! Buddy, where can I sign up to take your classes?
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And when he is not having good ideas he is doing crap like all the other politicians (and what is mentioned in the article above).
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Geolocation
Strangely enough, the video works perfectly from Norway, as have previous Daily Show-videos.
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Freedom of Information Act
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Piracy to the rescue once again!
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